Clarissa

<center> CLARISSA <style> img { max-width:75%; max-height:75%; } </style> <img src=https://perfectmakotonode.neocities.org/characters/Clarissa3.png> </div> </center> [[Enter->Start 1]] [[Help ->Help 1]]

(display:"styles") You wake up. It's another glorious day in The City. You are Clarissa. Employee of Pomeline et Primevère Tech (P-Corp). You're employed as a nurse. You have been working in the "Saint District Hospital" in District XX for about five years now. You're passionate about what you do. Even if it doesn't bring in a significant amount of money. Or... Well... it does, but you have a terrible habit of spending it on things that you really shouldn't spend it on. Mostly (text-colour:magenta)[snacks] and (text-colour:magenta)[pressure enhancements]. You quickly get dressed, adjusting your scrubs to fit your awkward frame, and start out the bedroom. [[The Hallway->Start 2]] [[Who Am I, Again?->Who Are You?]]

You step into the Hallway and look around. <img src="https://perfectmakotonode.neocities.org/characters/ClarissaApartment.png" alt="Your Empty Apartment" style="width:500px;height:500px;" > You don't live in a huge apartment. Obviously. You were just learning about how bad you are with money. That's the fault of your generosity as much as it is your own indulgent behaviors. They ask you to stay late frequently. They KNOW you'll say yes. No overtime pay, of course. That's okay, though. You don't tend to make mistakes. You already have to be careful in your line of work thanks to your shape and size. Speaking of...There's the mirror in the hallway. Maybe you have time to just double-check everything. Make sure it's where it should be. [[Look At Yourself->Choice 2]] [[Go to Work->Choice 1]]

(display:"intrusive thoughts") It costs a lot to get any real semblance of size. You're the biggest in your hospital's staff, for example. Almost everyone else has either bills to pay or a healthier work-life balance. Still, you're not THE biggest ever. Not by a long shot. There are some truly massive people in this district. You've seen them. Still you're fairly big. Typically, size is almost entirely correlated to wealth. The bigger the wealthier. That's what makes you such an anomaly. Your otherwise asetic lifestyle means that you have more to spend on the one "luxury" you get. Though if Director Vartej was inclined to do the same, she'd be able to easily afford to outclass your size and not break a sweat. Or her wallet, for that matter. It's a vicious cycle, though. You spend on snacks and size increases. But increasing your size necessitates needing more food. You're already a snacker from being this big. Rich people can afford a lot of good food, or compressed food-pills. You? Well. Hopefully, you get a promotion soon. Speaking of... [[Go to Work->Hospital 1]]

You decide against it. You already eat up enough time during the day with everything else you have going on. Best to just go to work. [[Go to Work->Hospital 1]]

(display:"styles") You arrive at the hospital. <img src="https://perfectmakotonode.neocities.org/Clarissa%20Game/hospitalext.png" alt="It's you. You look huge." style="width:500px;" > There's always something going on here. One of the draw backs of living in P-Corp territory is that there are a lot of explosions. Well. The company doesn't like calling them explosions. They call them "Spontaneous Distruption Events" or "SDE's." Put simply it takes a lot of effort to compress things. The less profitable stuff isn't done by machines, it's done by humans. Machines compress the pills that have a year-long slow release that feeds rich people year round. Common rubes make the octodectuple compressed glass that, when it works , can deflect tank fire. And when it fails, causes an SDE that shreds Anyone standing too close to it. Incorrectly compressed medical dosages, industrial accidents, self-compression indicents, overpressurization incidents..... |E>[Those are the worst....everyone keeps joking I'll have one.] |D>[Maybe they weren't joking.] Of course the more mundane things happen as well. But the fact that you have such intense patients coming through so often? It slows things to a crawl. [[See Your First Patient -> Patient 1]] [[See Director Vartej -> Director 1]]

(display:"styles") You forgot already? Well.... That's okay. |Union>[//We can remind you.//] [[Remember ->Who Are You? 2]]

(display:"styles") |A>[You Are Clarissa...] |B>[...Dear Heart...] |C>[...Beloved Innocent...] |D>[Usurper.] |E>[Me...] You are a nurse. Or. You were a nurse. Nowadays your job is better described as researcher, though... you wouldn't even really call it that. |B>[Today, something terrible is going to happen to you. Something you could never have forseen.] An event where you were put to the test. You didn't break. Maybe that's what made you so useful to the Bookbinders. You're not sure. |D>[You'll be exposed for the fraud you know that you are. You thief.] You can't tell the others what happened. |E>[I...did what I could. But ultimately it's in the past now. All that matters....] |A>[Is that this is how you became....] |Union>[Us.] Keeper of The Brain's Glory. An anomaly. A chorus of friends, enemies, and more recently, your own voice. Echoing in your mind, reminding you, telling you what you need to remember, while also giving you glimpses of your future. Not today though. |E>[This is a memory...] |C>[Or maybe a what if?] |A>[Fortune is fickle like that. Maybe all of these potentialities matter. but for now you should...] |Union>[GO.] [[Leave and Stop Remembering ->Start 2]]

{ (change: ?A, (text-color:"orange") + (text-size: 1)) (change: ?B, (text-color:"green") + (text-size: 1)) (change: ?C, (text-color:"red") + (text-size: 1)) (change: ?D, (text-color:"gray") + (text-size: 1)) (change: ?E, (text-color:"cyan")) (change: ?Union, (text-style:"shudder") + (text-color:"yellow")) (enchant: "Pomeline et Primevère Tech", (text-color:"pink")) (enchant: "P-Corp", (text-color:"pink")) }

(display:"styles") (display:"intrusive thoughts") You look at yourself in the mirror. <img src="https://perfectmakotonode.neocities.org/characters/clarissamirror.png" alt="It's you. You look huge." style="width:500px;" > |E>[Goodness...I remember when I used to fit in the mirror all the way....] You've always been top-heavy. Always been big. You still have 'fond' memories of when you were starting out and someone jabbed you to make sure you weren't 'smuggling P-Corp balloons' or some such. You're...glad you don't work at that hospital anymore. The belly is a new development. P-Corp is sometimes called "Pressure Corp" because they can use pressure to do any number of things. Compress impossible volumes into small spaces, store substances in otherwise innocuous containers, and even provide localized pressure zones. Like pressurizing divers underwater, or decompressing large volumes of material at once for testing. You did this for cosmetic reasons. You're not even really sure why. It just seemed like a fun idea. Still. You were much smaller a few years ago. The maternity scrubs were Director Vartej's idea. |E>[I'm still not sure if she suggested them for practicality or as a joke. But she gets really disappointed if I don't wear them.] [[Continue->Choice 22]]

(display:"styles") You decide to stop in to see the Director first... |A>[Any particular reason for this deviation?] |E>[I just....shut up and let me have this.] [[Why Should We? ->Director 2]]

{ (if: (random:1,2)is 1)[ (enchant: "bigger", (text-color:"purple")) ] }

(display:"styles") |union>[This isn't how things played out. But you knew that already.] You know. But there are so many things that went unsaid. unexplained. unrealized... You approach the door. It's quiet inside the office. You've been in here countless times before, sometimes to be reprimanded, sometimes to chat, sometimes just to check in on someone you could have seen yourself caring about. She's dark. Shrouded by a wall of imperception. Directors are usually quite privvy to memetic effects. Your grasp of The Brain's Glory isn't quite strong enough for you to break the anti-memetic barrier on your own, even in a memory.. It's powerful enough though that you can get close. Feel the ghost of the director. The nameplate on the desk reads "DIR. ANA VARTEJ" You've been through this before. You already know that one of the things she says is her true thoughts, but until you break through the limits of The Brain's Glory you won't be able to tell for sure. What do you say? [[I'm Sorry->Apology 1]] [[I Could Come Back->Relax 1]] [[About That Joke...->Date 1]]

(display:"styles") |D>[As if they'd ever forgive you.] "I'm really sorry about what happened, Dr. Vartej-" "That's DIRECTOR Vartej to you." A sharp voice cuts through the darkness. You flinch despite yourself. Her gaze is withering. The reflection from her glasses is cutting across your very essence as if she could dismiss you from reality with just a turn of her head. "Sorry, director- I didn't mean to...." "Yes yes, you never mean to. When are you going to get serious about this job? It's never poor Clarissa's fault. Gallavanting around like you own the place. Yet the moment things get tough you decide to quit!" |E>[I'm over it. You win. Let's just go back to the correct timeline...] |D>[But you were having so much fun. At least I thought so. I know I was.] [[This Sucks.->Director 3]]

(display:"styles") "I could always come back you know." |A>[Can you? I don't think that's your promise to make...] You can't see her expression from the depths of the darkness. Still. You get the impression that the Director is smiling. "You know you're always welcome here, right?" "Of course, Director Vartej~" |E>["Of course, Director Vartej~"] When you say it so sincerely it almost feels true. Maybe she actually means that. Means it on a level that you can divine, even at this distance. The depths of her psyche... |E>["The hospital will always be MY home. Everyone I care about is right here."] "I sure hope that includes our patients." |E>["Of course, Director Vartej~] |C>[That one felt like a lie...] It...it wasn't meant to be. |A>[Maybe this isn't the healthiest way to cope with what happened?] Maybe. But it's not like the alternative is any less exhausting. [[It's Nice to Feel Wanted, Though..->Director 3]]

(display:"styles") |C>[This seems particularly indulgent....] You approach the desk of the director and half sit against it. Turning a longing gaze towards the dark void where the director should be.. "Director, about that...joke earlier..." Motion you didn't percieve a moment ago pauses. Had she been writing? Or maybe you just had the impression she'd always been writing when you entered. The director's gaze shifts, looking directly at you. Their expression is impossible to read. And yet.....You keep looking. "Maybe...maybe we could get some coffee later...Talk about that a little more." The silence is more stifling than normal before she finally speaks. "You know...your uniform really suits you. It's better than the oversized tent you tried to wear when you first started improving your size." You reach a hand into the darkness, where her hand should be. The anti-memetic field burns. It always does. Even when you're reaching for a memory. You can feel the anomalous barrier burning your hand away to nothing. Into non-being.... You lean in... |E>[I swear...I can almost smell her perfume...] |A>[Don't.....Don't do it....] You pause for a moment. [[I Should Go.->Director 3]] [[Lean In.->Date 2]]

You stumble out of the Director's Office. Exhausted. [[Get To Work-> Patient 1]]

(display:"styles") |union>[DON'T] It's too late. By the time The Brain's Glory calls out to you, your face is already in the void. It hurts. But at the same time, you swear you can feel the contour of her face, the softness of her lips. You have only a split moment to appreciate this before- ... .... ..... You blink into non-being for a second. Not death. Non-being. This is all in your mind, a memory gone arwy, but The Brain's Glory is nothing if not vivid. You don't have to have experienced non-being before. The Brain's Glory can accurately inform you of what it's like. You don't percieve your limp body falling into the void and destroying your memory self. You flicker once out of reality, then....You wake up. [[Wake Up->Start 1]]

(display:"styles") This is a Twine Narrative. You advance by clicking the blue text at the bottom to make your choice. --- What is this? This is the story of Clarissa. One of my TTRPG characters. It is about her reliving her traumatic inciting incident. This story (at the moment) does not have an abundance of kink content. Though I might add some more later on to lighten the story up. Right now? It's kind of depressing tbqh. Clarissa herself is a big girl, but it doesn't have anything to do with the content of the story. Multiple characters who only exist in clarissa's head (including a version of herself) speak during this story. Any colored text you see is one of these voices speaking to the reader who is taking on the role of clarissa. |A>[This is the voice of the one who guides Clarissa] |B>[This is the voice of the one who is empathetic.] |C>[This is the voice of the one who is uncertain.] |D>[This is the voice of the one who hates Clarissa] |E>[This is the voice of Clarissa herself, and usually speaks in first person] |union>[This is the voice of everyone speaking at once.] Once this gets big enough, the way I would encourage you to play this is to rarely, if ever rewind to the previous room. During this early stage some of these rooms are going to be dead ends, at which point feel free to rewind, but in general, most lines loop back on themselves, which is the ludonarrative point. You are Clarissa, and Clarissa is playing this same span of time over and over again in her mind.