Road to Romance - The Chosen

A detailed write up of a paranormal romantic thriller playtest

This is one of four stories which were being told simultaneously by a game group. The other stories will be added here as they are released. These are transcripts of live sessions, and not carefully plotted short stories, so please don't expect them to be polished!

• Unexpected Strength
• Bodyguard
• The Chosen (this one)
• Face from the Past

Safety Discussion

We wanted to push the boundaries of what we were comfortable with, and so elected to aim for sensual/steamy romances. We did a lot of check-in during the game to make sure that everyone was comfortable with where we were going.

“The Chosen”

A Paranormal Romantic Thriller

• Protagonist: Aurora, a strange young woman who is seeking healing, and is plagued by a sense of guilt or shame. Played by Belton.
• Paramour: Lorelei, a beautiful woman with ashen skin and auburn hair. A flirt and a tortured artist. Played by Diana.
• Trouble: Sapphire, a disapproving friend. On the surface, she is trying to get Aurora to a place of physical healing. In reality it is about keeping Aurora close to herself. Played by Eileen.

Introduction

The setting is sort of modern day, sort of our world. Two women are sitting on the slow train somewhere in Siberia, heading westward. One is almost insanely pale-skinned. Aurora’s friend Sapphire is sitting with her. Sapphire loves Aurora, but Aurora is pretty oblivious to that.

Aurora is wearing dark glasses that cover her eyes completely. They are dressed pretty well. Not luxuriously, but definitely better than other people on this train. They are in their 30’s.

Sapphire is trying to engage Aurora in conversation, but Aurora isn’t having any of it.

“But you have to talk about it” she says.

“No. I. Don’t” Aurora replies emphatically.

“I’m one of your dearest friends, I’m here and I’m in your corner”

Aurora recognises that, but needs to get somewhere where she isn’t known. She peeks over the top of her glasses a little bit and her eyes are all blue.

“It’s safer here” Sapphire says, “I want you to be safe. It scares me”

“Why should I care about safety? I don’t even know where we are going. What are we going to do when we get to Warsaw?”

“We’ll figure it out. With two of us it will be much easier to negotiate”

“Will there be doctors there? Doctors that can treat a chosen?”

Then the door to their carriage jerks open.

Encounter

A younger woman stands in the doorway. Mid-twenties perhaps? Ashen grey skin and deep auburn hair. She glances at Sapphire and then her eyes look at Aurora, then looks at all of her, leans in the doorway and bites her lip.

Aurora is still wearing her glasses, but you can see her raised eyebrows behind her glasses. She is so surprised.

“Hello, who are you exactly?” Aurora asks. She notices an almost overpowering scent of roses.

“I’m Lorelei. And who are you?...” She’s not looking at your eyes...she is searching Aurora’s clothes, and Sapphire hasn’t registered for her at all.

Lorelei takes off the mandolin which was slung on her back and just cascades onto the bench across from them.

“Where are you travelling to?” She asks.

Aurora pulls back

Lorelei says “Oh you poor thing, just a wounded bird” and she goes to reach for her cheek.

Aurora takes her glasses off, showing her blue, pure blue eyes and, just like that, they connect

“Oh, yes” Lorelei gasps.

“Why don’t you play?” Aurora quietly asks.

Lorelei breaks eye contact and knows just the song. She starts to play a song from childhood, a warm lullaby. And when she looks up to meet your eyes, her eyes are a little bit blue.

Aurora starts to put her glasses back on and then reconsiders and holds them in her lap.

“It’s a cuter look when you take those glasses off.. but you can save it for later...”

“People react” Sapphire snaps. “Badly”

Lorelei introduces herself to Sapphire briefly. Sapphire ignores the outstretched hand.

Complication

Sapphire is concerned that Aurora is risking herself by not wearing her glasses. “We’re out here, we have no idea who is on this train. And I don’t trust her”

“You think I do?” “Absolutely, given the connection you have”

“The powers of the Chosen are... unpredictable” Aurora said.

“That doesn’t make her trustworthy. She’s a little young for you too”

Aurora had been running away from a relationship with a man. Sapphire had thought that Aurora was unreachable because she was only attracted to men, but now she is starting to reevaluate what is going on.

“I’ve seen you go through too much recently, you don’t need a rebound like this”

“Maybe a rebound is exactly what I need”

“Certainly not! Not on a train with a bunch of strangers heading for Warsaw! I’m here to keep you safe.”

Aurora looks distant for a moment, as she thinks back. “I might have killed him you know”

“You can’t believe that, you’re a good person. The circumstances don’t change that”

“I’m glad you think you”

Aurora is engaging with Sapphire, but her eyes keep being drawn back towards Lorelei. Sapphire unbuttons a button.

They are distracted as a flyer is slipped under the door - a huge concert is taking place in Warsaw and Lorelei’s face is on it. She’s in the middle of a big tour

Sapphire grumbles “God, that’s just what we need. She’s famous. She’s famous”.

Neither of them had recognised her. Lorelei is some kind of indie darling.

Aurora looks again at her; Lorelei is wearing a revealing top and near her collarbone there is a bit of a tattoo visible - the edge of a triangle with a circle on the corner. It reminds Aurora of a rebellion chapter that is conscious of the Chosen and fights for their rights. She is not sure, but the symbol strikes a chord with her.

Sapphire is concerned that a relationship with someone this famous would complicate things. Straying from their path will put another person at risk. Again. “This Lorelei? She’s beautiful. But she’s not worth it.”

Aurora unfolds the glasses and puts them on. “Thank you for the show”

Sapphire is staring with laser intensity at Lorelei. “Out!”

First Kiss

Time has passed. Aurora is dressed completely differently. Now she is in sort of a bright short dress with kind of hose underneath and some boots. And she's standing at the side of a concert stage in Warsaw. She’s thinking “How in all the realms did I get myself into this?” Lorelei said she could come to her show. She would even give her passes. And at the end of the show they can speak a little. It's almost as if Lorelei knows exactly what Aurora needs; that she can't take the whole path, but one step at a time. Still in the back of Aurora’s mind is how annoyed Sapphire will be if she finds out that Aurora didn't actually go to bed early, but sneaked off to the concert.

The show ends and Lorelei's coming off stage, and she is charged. She just finished a show. She was rocking. And Aurora's right over there. “Aurora!!” She drawls. And charges over and plants a kiss right on her face. Soft lips. Flirty. For the first time we see Aurora smiling. She seems happier. Free. Unburdened. And then it comes back. “Will you come with me for the encore? Will you come on stage with me?” Lorelei is grabbing her hand. “Yeah. I can't. I can't.”

“Oh dear, you don’t have to. You don’t have to”

One of the roadies is wearing these kind of welding goggles to protect his eyes from the lightning effects. Aurora takes the goggles off his face and puts them on, so covering her very alienly blue eyes.

“All right, why not? She says.

Lorelei takes her out, and gives her a tambourine. Then she counts the band in. “One, two, three” And this really delightful dance number comes on in a language she’s never heard before. She cannot place what this language is. The audience starts to sing along, and there's this mesmerising effect. and it kind of creeps over her. And while this song is taking place, it's almost like a trance, it's uplifting, it's happy. On another level, you make eye contact with Lorelei, and you connect, you feel, “oh, this is a safe space”.

There's something weaving these people together. It feels strong, it feels protective. And Aurora feels like she’s heard this song, but it's not in the circle of the people that she knows. The music is somehow muted, if it sounds almost underwater. But she feels that the song knows her.

And then Aurora is pulled out of it by the thunderous applause that hits. The song is over. She’s feeling “oh holy s**t, I’m on stage! What in the realms am I doing?” And they are taking a bow together.

She follows Lorelei back to the dressing room, who takes a seat. In the flat lighting her she sits in her corset and leotard, sparkly fishnet stockings and painted toenails as she kicks off her shoes.

Aurora rips the goggles off her face and throws them down. She grabs both sides of Lorelei’s face. “What are you?” She asks

Lorelei holds onto her hands “I can be anything you need me to be. What's hurting you?”

“I may have killed someone. Someone I loved. I don't want to talk about that right now. I just want now. I want this.” She's inviting it.

Oh, yes, suddenly their clothes are going everywhere. Lorelei arches her back (of course she does) and grabs Aurora’s hair gently, and then looks at her and tugs a little harder and pulls her down. and their lips are connected. Yes. mouths are everywhere, and you can hear breaths in your ears and a gentle tug of teeth, in the neck and it's a thousand degrees. There's this little montage moment where we're together. There's the detritus all around us from their costumes and Aurora is smiling and in the moment when... Bang! Bang! Bang! There is a loud knock at the dressing room door.

Catastrophe

Moments have passed. The door's not locked. It opens and neither of them has a stitch of clothing on, and they're so intertwined that you probably can't even tell exactly who's who. “What is going on here?” Sapphire demands. It smells of sex in that room.

Sapphire's nostrils flare, her eyes are like icy laser beams. “We were gonna stay undercover. We're gonna find a doctor who's gonna make everything better, right? Right? That was the plan. You are in danger”.

“Well, maybe I need more than one kind of healing, okay?” Aurora responds.

“She's not here to heal you” and Sapphire pulls a gun out and points it. Lorelei puts herself in front in front of Aurora. “Aurora is in no danger. here. Slow down. Slow down. I am not the enemy”

“I love you too much. to see you put yourself in danger like this” Sapphire retorts, her voice breaking a little. “I need to do what needs to be done. You're trying to escape this. You're trying to get away from this”.

Aurora (to herself) “There's no escape for what I've done”

Lorelei jumps up, naked, and reaches for the gun and tries to wrestle it out of Sapphire’s hands. The gun goes off and it fires through the ceiling; it is tossed to the ground. You hear footsteps. The door bursts open, and there are security people here that were for the show. They see Aurora here, not just unclothed, but no glasses. Her eyes are easy to see.

The security team stop and bow and say “Chosen, you cannot be here”.

Sapphire is completely confused. is looking at Lorelei. “I'm going to borrow this” Aurora says, and she takes a robe that's hanging on a peg.

Sapphire picks up the dark glasses and is trying to help Aurora sort of like Rudolph with the soot on his nose. She wants to cover Aurora’s eyes, not understanding the significance.

We hear Lorelei’s voice, plaintive, “You don't have to go. I want you here. You, you don't have to follow those rules.

Aurora says quietly “That's who I am.” Sapphire butts in “You've done enough damage. We need to go now”.

Lorei grabs up the gun. Surprising everyone, she points it at the security guards “This is not how this world should work!”

As the guards go for their own guns, Aurora looks more sharply toward her. “Stop it”. She’s looking at Lorelei, but all of the guns start to glow; becoming too hot to hold, they are dropped to the floor

“Please don't do this” Lorelei says plaintively.

“I have to” Sapphire says more gently “Come with me. Let's go. Let's go” and she shoots an angry glance at Lorelei as she ushers Aurora draped in a robe out of the doors. She thinks to herself “I’ve won, for now” And Aurora's head turns partway, but she doesn't look all the way back. and then walks out.

DG: That's a dead end road for Lorei. I don't know how we're gonna fix that one. It's a rough one!
EC: I like the guns getting hot and falling to the ground.
DG: And the guilt and the shame. Sapphire trying to prevent another mistake,
BM: Reminding Aurora of her duty.
DG: And the contrast of perspective between art and safety.
BM: Aurora needs healing, but it’s not really about healing of her body.
EC: Sapphire isn’t recognising that.

Comeuppance

Sapphire just walked away with Lorelei’s love. Lorelei who can give Aurora the healing that she needs; the emotional healing that she didn’t know she needed until all this started. Sapphire is thinking “Aurora will love me in time. I’m her best friend...” with the crazy eyes.

Lorelei is somewhat plugged into the underground in an auxiliary way, in Warsaw where the chosen congregate. She's not allowed to go. This is a sacred thing, but she knows where they all meet, where they're all headed. The group believes that there is a lot of injustice done to the chosen, or blamed upon them, and there is not enough protection for them. Many people view the Chosen as oppressors, even if they are really not. They were Chosen, but they didn’t choose it.

Lorelei is young and God, is she in love. She leaves her tour. She drops several concerts Vienna, Paris, London - it makes news that she has called off those upcoming shows.

She's changed her appearance a little. She's started to wear a bit of makeup to get rid of the ashen gray complexion of her skin.. She's searching and talking to her contacts, and she thinks she has a pretty good idea that she can find Aurora in a speakeasy space behind a dining establishment. Where the chosen are known to connect. Quietly.

Lorelei is waiting near the bar, sort of concealing herself, and looking to see if Sapphire or Aurora are anywhere near. She has been waiting for several nights now. She doesn’t look flamboyant; she is in a hooded cloak and with her auburn hair tied back in a tail. Blending in to the scene.

Then she spots Sapphire across the bar, and Sapphire looks happy and at peace, very different from the Sapphire she met in the train. Sapphire feels a tap on her shoulder. “Sapphire?”

“You”

“No, no, no, no, don't. Could we just. Could we just talk?” Lorelei asks.

“What do we have to talk about?”

“I don't know yet, but we could talk it over something, and please, just one drink” and she points to a booth in the corner. “For old times' sake”

And they slide into this round red leather booth. Lorelei pulls back her cloak a little bit. “I see that you... are protective of Aurora”

“Very. You have no idea”

“What has made me the enemy?”

“I love her. I love her. I don't want you to take her away from me. She's the only thing I have, and I want to make her whole. You can't make her whole”

“What would make her whole?” Lorelei asks.

“To be healed. to find the right doctor, to be able to let go of some of the shame that she's carrying, to be able to choose a new path and a new life with someone who has her best interests at heart. She's dealt with too much pain. She doesn't need another one like you”

“Your love of Aurora is something I can't possibly know. It has a history, it has a deeper knowing. But you can't deny that Aurora craves some other things...

“And that's only gotten her hurt. I don't want you to hurt her” Sapphire snaps. “She's suffered too much”

“Can you see that we both want Aurora's happiness and healing and wholeness?”

“I don't disagree with that, but I don't think you're the right answer”

“I might not be... Sapphire, all of the things you're saying are what my friends and I believe in. We're part of the call and we stand for the Chosen, and all we want is for the Chosen to feel healed and protected and understood. And I feel like you would be such an asset if you were to join our cause”

“An asset?”

“Words are not my thing”

“Clearly not”

“Would you. Would you just join me for a meeting?”

“Sounds like a cult”

“We're doing things that are making a difference. Would you just come with me to one conversation? I think we have a lot to learn from your story with Aurora”

“If you promise to never see Aurora again. Can you do that?” Sapphire asks.

“Would a promise like that bring her happiness?”

“I think so”

“We may need more time to figure out our path forward, but for now, I'm coming to you, not Aurora. I need Sapphire on our side”

“I'll listen. But you need to leave Aurora alone”

They head off to the meeting and it's a group dressed in hooded cloaks, concealing their identities. When the time comes for people pull their hoods back, Sapphire's surprised to see dignitaries, politicians, important figures from society. She recognises some faces and is suddenly quite honoured to be in this room. and opening remarks are made, and Lorelei stands and says, "I'd like to introduce our very important guest today, Sapphire”

Sapphire is nonplussed.

As the people present share stories about the obstacles they have faced and the improvements they have made in the lives of the Chosen, Sapphire realises that she has been incredibly short-sighted. This secretive group have been moving in bigger ways than she had imagined. Of course, Sapphire has been lying all the time... her desires for Aurora are nothing to do with Aurora and all about what Sapphire wants for herself.

As the meeting proceeds, it becomes clear to Sapphire that Aurora needs emotional healing, and she is receiving that from Lorelei, and probably never will be able to be supported in that way by Sapphire herself. The realisation is devastating.

Sapphire goes back to the bar, and has too many drinks. We see her staggering out into the street, into the darkness. And behind her we see a hooded figure following her into the shadowed streets. We never see her again.

Happily Ever After

Lorelei is out searching for Aurora. We are on the street, that same night, and there's a crumpled form lying against a building. That's Aurora, but she's more dishevelled than she's been in every scene before this. She's falling apart. She's almost finished. And Lorelei enters the scene frantically because she’s been looking everywhere for her, and finally found her. “Aurora, sweet, is that you?”

“Who's there?”

“Aurora” Lorelei whispers. She straightens the glasses which are a little bit askew, and gently strokes Aurora’s hair. “I’ve found you. I've been looking everywhere”

“I thought I'd lost you. I walked away” Aurora says sadly. “Why did you come after me?”

“Because you need to heal”

“Yes, but I might hurt you”

“You can't hurt me. Not in ways that matter, in ways that truly hurt me. Aurora, you're afraid of things that could happen, but you're also afraid of all the wonderful things that you won't let happen”

Aurora is weak. Can barely stand without help.

“This is not okay” Lorelei worries

“I know” Aurora responds wearily. “Sapphire said there were two more doctors to try in Warsaw and then maybe Berlin. But I've only felt healthy once. And that was the crazy night at your concert.

“We're going to get you better”

“All right”, and Aurora takes Lorelei’s arm. “I'm going to choose. Yes, I'm going to choose” And where Aurora is grasping Lorelei’s arm, the greyish tint of her skin becomes much more healthy and normal looking, spreading over Lorelei. “Where do you want to go?”

Lorelei is feeling the Chosen's power over her right now. She flirtatiously tugs on Aurora’s hand, leading her back into a dark alley, where she knows these streets.

“I've toured this town”

“Tell me, at least there's a bed”

“Oh, there’s a bed”

“Then let's go!”

It starts to drizzle a bit. There are cobblestones in this older part of Warsaw town. They start to glisten a little bit, and the streets are slick and oily and shining, and resplendent with rainbow tones. And there is a halo around the street lights and they begin their foreplay in the street.

Lorelei takes her to an inn. There is music from inside, a mandolin. The door is open, and as they are about to go in Aurora takes off her glasses and they fall on the wet ground at the doorway, while Lorelei pulls her in.

The final scene is those just glasses lying there, with the rain still coming down.

DG: Yeah. I love that.! I'm so happy for them.
AW: That's nice. It all started on a train.
BM: Yep, it all started on a train. But I sort of feel like the whole thing is an adventure in a way. I wanted to go away from the train because I felt like. then it became her adventure daring to go to the concert to allow herselves to be led step by step away. She would not have gone normally.
AW: She's adventurous. Yes.
DG: She's kind of accepting death of self, her past self.
BM: She thinks, in a way, she's already dead. I think, at the beginning.
AW: I love that there's all the unspoken things in that setting that we don't really talk about, the chosen or the blue eyes...
EC: Yes. It existed without being explained, which I absolutely love.
BM: And we know there's something about Lorelai, too, but we don't really know what it is. And one of the things I liked at the end is the idea that Aurora can kind of heal Lorelei too...

• Romance