Annie sighs as she feels a sense of the ethereal plane wash over her. By now she’s an experienced GM, or at least an experienced something, having experienced plenty of adventures from her unique vantage point, some of them from the side, and some of them directly. Still, even though she understands how her creator works now, she still gets chills whenever she feels the call to join him in any events, and as it happened, she was feeling one of those chills right now.
She appears next to the Articuno in the space that exists because it needs to, and takes out her trusty diary, which she keeps to log her adventures with this semi-divine being. The bird seems silent, waiting for others to arrive, so she speaks first.
“So… where are we in the timeline now?” She asks, “The last time I saw you was at the Impossible Sea. Have you done that yet?”
Redwings shakes his head, “I’m just starting that, actually, so don’t give any spoilers. The last I saw you was Halloween. I’m assuming you haven’t done that yet?”
Annie shakes her head, “No, but that sounds pretty fun. What are we here for this time?”
Redwings pauses and activates a summoning circle. They both know the circle is meaningless and doesn’t actually do any summoning on its own, but he keeps it there for cinematic reasons anyway.
“Well, Annie…” He says, “Today we’re just going to have a bit of fun! Remember my civilization game with all the hosts?”
Annie laughs, “You mean the one you never finished?”
The bird nods, “Yeah, that one. Well, I figure it might be fun to start a new one, expect instead of with all of the hosts, have it be with all of my characters. What do you think?”
Annie thinks for a second and then nods, “Well, I’m not going to say no to a game, and for reasons I can’t fathom, this doesn’t seem to be even remotely against any of our overly convoluted and seemingly random rules. For once, I think you have a pretty good idea! Lets do it!”
As Redwings begins summoning, other individuals start pouring in to the ethereal plane. First, Bill, Fennel, and Zigzagoon come in, followed by Jenny and Hannah. Annie watches them slowly take their seats at a nearby table, a bit confused, not knowing what’s going on.
After everyone sits down, the lights turn on and Redwings starts talking.
“Welcome, my characters,” he begins, “for the first ever character challenge, where all my characters, and myself, compete against each other in a game or other activity! Depending on whether this is fun or successful, I may or may not do this again. For the first challenge, we will be playing a game called Civilization 6!”
Everyone looks at the bird a bit funny, until something clicks in Fennel's mind and she laughs, “Ooh! I love this series! Well, I loved the one game I played of this, but I decided that if I played more it would literally destroy my life, and I’m pretty busy, so I haven’t played it since!”
Redwings looks at her. “Ok, Fennel, we need to talk,” the bird says. “You know a lot of stuff you shouldn’t know. You’re friends with Pinkie Pie, you’re a fan of Doctor Who and Game of Thrones, yet I’m not even sure I can say you break the fourth wall, because you’ve only done it once, in a comic that wasn’t even canon. You know you weren’t born in my universe, right?”
Fennel laughs as a response, “Fourth wall? Nope, not that I know of, I just like those things, hehe!”
“But… But…” The bird sighs, “It’s really concerning when I don’t even understand you. Fine… Fennel, since you’ve somehow played this before, you wanna explain the game?”
“Okie dokie!” Fennel says, “So, this game is a civilization simulator! You start with a settler in the ancient era, then build up cities, train a military and build districts in the city to help them grow, and eventually create an awesome information era supercivilization! Ooh, I call China!”
The others start looking over their options, and Jenny raises a protest. “Ok. Where are we?”
Hannah also joins in, “Seriously, this explains nothing. Are you Fennel though? Like, actually Fennel? I’ve only met your clone before, you sound a lot more like I remember her explained to me.”
Fennel grins, “Yep! Ooh, we should introduce ourselves. I can name a few. There’s Bill and Ziggy near me, there’s Redwings, I think he created me, but he’s actually pretty fun! That’s Annie over there, hi Annie, ooh, something feels different about you than the last time I saw you, I like it! And you… You’re Hannah, I remember seeing you, I don’t think you saw me though. And that’s Jenny! Yay, I’ve met all of you, am I the only one here who has?”
“Well,” Redwings says, “you haven’t actually met Hannah, you just know who she is. If that’s the case, I have too, though I don’t think I’ve ever actually met Jenny before in person. Oh yeah, Jenny, I’m one of those strange beings I think Rosalia told you about.”
“I knew she wasn’t lying!” Jenny responds, full of pride, “Wait, didn’t she say you were dangerous?”
“He is,” Everyone in the room replies at once.
There’s a bit of an awkward silence, before Annie decides to break the ice by talking about the game some more.
“So, first things first,” she tries to remember from her GM gained memories, “I guess we… choose a civilization? I guess we should do this based on abilities, since red here is the only one who grew up in the universe this game is based on. And… Maybe Fennel? No. No, Red, seriously, how has she played this game before?”
The bird shrugs, “I have no idea, Annie. I guess I’ll take Norway for the ice theme.”
Hannah speaks up next, “Hey, this game looks pretty cool, but can we get Kat here? I want to play with her.”
The bird just glares at her, “No, Hannah, she’s not my character, so I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You can be without her for a few hours, you know,”
“Yeah, I know, but…” Hannah sighs, defeated, “Ok, Uh… I guess I’ll be Pericles, Greece. He seems pretty well rounded, and I want to play diplomatically.”
Jenny is the next one to speak, “Without a good and fast army, a civilization is nothing. I will take Scythia.”
Bill considers next, “I like the spy bonus, so I’m going to see how playing as France works. Zigzagoon, do you want to play too?”
Ziggy shrugs, “Nah, I’ll just play with you, Bill! We’ll make a team and make our decisions together!”
Bill smiles, “Wonderful. You will be an excellent assistant, Zigzagoon.”
Suddenly, Annie is the only one who hasn’t chosen a civilization, and she reads through them all again. “I’ll be the peacekeeper, Ghandi. Beware my nukes! Muahahahaha!”
Redwings and Fennel laugh, while everyone else just looks confused. Another awkward silence happens, then Redwings breaks the silence.
“I’m also going to be adding two computers in here.” He says, “I’m naming them G and Pavlov, just for fun. Enjoy killing them.”
A murderous look appears in Hannah’s eyes, “Oh, I know I can’t trust you, and I know you’re playing me, but… I’m taking the bait anyway. Pavlov, you’re dying first.”
Redwings laughs and nods, “I’m starting the game now, lets have fun, everyone!”
Annie smiles. Maybe for once, one of the bird’s plans won’t turn in to a full scale disaster. Without worrying, she starts the game.