What Could Have Been: Epilogue Edition

[Fenris]

hey yall i figured i'd make this a thing cause i was thinking bout it and why not

basically this is a What Could Have Been but specifically: what could have been if This Kid won? this can be any plans you were seriously or semi-seriously considering in the event that you won, or just ideas that you had but never seriously intended on using because your kid was never intended to win, or like stuff you just thought up now, whatevs floats your boat, i am not the ideas police

(eta: "what if this kid escaped" is also a totally valid premise for the sake of this thread)

only rules are dead kids only and v7 kids only. dead kids only because theres always a chance no matter how slim that any living kid might end up winning and then woops you spoiled your whole epilogue. v7 kids only because the prior versions already have epilogues and theres a non-zero chance of toestepping so lets just make that chance zero

have at it

[MurderWeasel]

Phillip Olivares

This is gonna be brief because Phillip was doomed even in the context of my V7 cast, who are collectively doomed even in the context of SOTF. Phillip had no chance of making it out of the situation alive unless like the CIA stormed the buses or something. That said, i think it's important to a character's mentality to have a vague picture of what their life would be like were it not cut tragically short, so here goes.

Basically, in a timeline where Phillip lives (be it by outlasting everyone or getting rescued) it'd mess him up something fierce. For all he can be dark in his humor, that's pretend and fantasy and the island was taking its toll on him even just in the first day. He'd lose a chunk of his good humor and have a hard time with his coping strategies--might be able to joke about it some, but without his heart in it.

Any follow-up would of course have to reckon with juggalo culture. Most likely, Phillip would have a pretty ambivalent relationship with his fandom family--on the one hand, a welcoming, non-judgmental support network is like exactly what would be best for him under the circumstances, and would help keep him from slipping entirely into isolation and depression. On the other, good odds he would by virtue of going home be a literal killer clown and that's not necessarily a status that would be dealt with particularly sensitively by the killer clowns fanclub, like probably people would try but it'd just... probably get weird.

Ultimately he'd likely end up more withdrawn and understated, and either ditch his performing entirely in favor of something more quiet (maybe literature study/teaching)--especially likely if he hurt someone--or else take a less clowny, more dignified magician persona on.

But again, all my V7 kids are turbo-doomed and Phillip was from the start the most doomed of their number.

[Frozen Smoke]

So, as some of you might be aware, I am rather fond of planning. As such, it'll probably come as little surprise that I, too had some plans for what to do in the statistical improbability that my now dead child happened to be the last person left standing. In fact, I even had thread titles picked out. So, I figured I would share for posterity - And before I ritually cleanse the document from my Google Drive.

Red Team Operations

So, if Parker was going to have a remote shot of winning the game, he wasn't going to be able to hide behind good decision making and allies who were more than willing to do his dirty work for him. That probably means shooting a lot of people in the back. I actually had a scene planned where he would, in another downtime scene realise just how fucked the life he'd been working towards before SOTF was. There's approximately a 0% chance his offer to attend to Virginia Tech would stand with the blood of his classmates on his hands, and somehow even less of a chance of actually getting a job in a field he cares about. Given all that, Parker would look at all the options laid out in front of him as he lies in a bed recovering after the game, and make a decision.

He would join the AT. Not that I'd make that immediately apparent in the epilogue.

Now, how this would actually be portrayed in terms of writing would be based on staff to some extent, as for all I know Tracen might drop the "Lol jk" - But one thing I would not want to do is ruin the 'fill in the blanks'/'nothing is scarier' part of the AT that makes them an effective villain in the setting. So, rather than actually going through the process of being initiated into the AT in detail, I'd mostly be cutting in the perspective that the wider IC universe has on what happened. A thinkpiece a year later postulating that he died in AT custody, posts on a conspiracy board throwing out everything from the CIA having recovered him to use in some MK Ultra-y thing, to him being about to expose the fact that SOTF was an exercise in crisis actorship. Probably some more things like police reports, a news article about the death of his mother and suicide of his father, that kind of thing.

Then, it would be all wrapped up with an insight into what everyday life is like for Parker now, which depends heavily on how staff want to actually have him constrained. But cruel, initial pitch would be for him to be working a minimum wage job in retail under an assumed name and identity, bussing shopping carts and going back to a tiny apartment to sit and wallow in resentment. Until, at last, a phone rings - And Parker takes up his position in helping to plan the next version.

[ItzToxie]

Eh, figure I’d throw this out there since it’s been a while since he’s died.

What would have happened had Marco won?

Truth be told, I had no plans of winning with him honestly, at most he’d have been in endgame and on his way out of being fatally injured he’d have been ecstatic, being all “ Wow, so this is what this feels like... What a rush!” In yet another Ichi the killer nod, but had he somehow won despite me not wanting that well...

Option 1: The Shitpost. Marco wins and was like “knew I could do it” Terrorists come to pick him up, and Marco gets froggy when he sees them. Whoever came to pick him up would be killed rather suddenly, followed by Marco getting killed by the others. He dies thinking the world would know that despite all he’s done, he was the only winner who fought back when given the chance. Obviously this is not the case, the footage is deleted, if it were ever recorded in the first place, and Marco officially died due to “complications”.

Obviously this would be the shortest epilogue ever, and would probably make a couple people extremely mad I imagine.

Option 2: An actual ‘happy ending’? In my SOTF? More likely than you think...

The real epilogue. So Marco wins. He goes to talk to Danya the general spiel. Marco gets buttmad from an offhand mention that he did what he did because of them. He states everything he’s done and experienced was due to his own volition, and when offered to join the AT, Marco refuses, calling them a bunch of cowards who can’t even do the deeds they’ve done in person (proving Danya right that it technically was their actions that forced Marco into his path, which throws him through a loop.)

Marco goes home. He spends a few months doing various odd jobs and flip flops unemployment. He has massive issues functioning in society, and refuses to get help while his parents step around eggshells near him. He had a few public appearances through media, but they all end in disaster, usually with Marco throwing a tantrum when someone insinuates he’s a victim. This gets even worse whenever another SOTF survivor has an appearance with him.

Through many of these events, Marco feels as though he can’t relate to anyone, and his alien mindset leaves him jaded and unable to focus in normal life. Depressed, he tries to crash his car one day, and ends up surviving. During this he feels a spark of his old self he hasn’t felt since the island, and decides to keep living, just for another chance to experience it.

One day on a whim, Marco picks a fight with someone in a dingy ass bar, and ends up nearly killing the man with a broken bottle. Police arrive and Marco is arrested. He gets tried and charged for attempted murder, and Marco gets his sentence drastically increased by acting up in court.

First week in prison, Marco gets jumped by a couple of dudes looking to gain some rep to join a prison gang. He loses badly, but survives and is taken to the infirmary. His last conscious thoughts before he passes out is a feeling of nostalgia for the island.

Timeskip as he recovers. Another day in the prison yard. Marco is in a great mood. He grabs a 20 pound dumbbell, and returns the favor to the group that jumped him, killing at least one before prison guards taze him the fuck out.

For the most part, he’s rather jovial in his new life, and he’s become a lot more relaxed about talking to other people. He’s even been talking to a couple of journalists and writers about his experience. Of course he doesn’t have that much time to do it, due to the fact that during what little time he’s out of solitary violence tends to escalate to obscene levels, but he’s not complaining.

By the end of the epilogue another time skip happens. Shits probably around V8-V9 now. Marco has fallen into obscurity in the outside world, but in prison he certainly hasn’t. He’s become a 21st century Charles Bronson (the prisoner, not the actor) like figure, who’s been in and out of solitary confinement and prison transfers for his antics. It turns out, he LOVES prison, and despite the bars, he’s never been more free. Near the end, there’s mention that the outside world is learning about his various escapades. His story ends with him talking to a journalist, and reminiscing about how great of a life he’s had, and if given the choice, he’d do it all over again.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

Hi y'all. Now that both of my children are dead, I'm here to share epilogue ideas. Namely, Cam's epilogue ideas, since I didn't really have a clear picture of what Mei would do if she won.

So! What would happen if Camilla Bell won? (CW: Suicide)

Well I said in my what-could-have-beens, the idea I had for Camilla from the island's start was that she'd kill someone under her care. However, one thing to get somewhat clear!

Right before Camilla got rolled out, shortly after she killed Theo, there was a 50-50 chance I'd kill Cam unrolled if Diego died.

Essentially, Cam's whole "send the gardening club home" was an extended murder-suicide. If she finished her "mission"- by killing Diego- she'd probably try to kill herself, possibly by goading someone into shooting her. But that's getting a little off topic.

So if Camilla won, when she realizes she's the only one left, she'd be in a sort-of catatonic state, emotionally. She'd stay in that emotionally dead state throughout her time with the AT, and she would consider taking Danya's offer and joining them, because she feels she has nothing left for her back home. However, she'd ultimately refuse, because that meant she'd have to participate in sotf- if only in an indirect way- again.

When she arrives back home, her great aunt welcomes her back with open arms despite everything. Her mom... isn't quite as open minded but at least tries to be nice even if she's doing a kinda terrible job at it. And then there's her mom's new boyfriend who Camilla has only just met because they started dating after she got abducted, fun.

I had this weird idea where the epilogue would kind of jump to different moments in time throughout Cam's time after coming home, and the time between each sort of post and where they are chronologically isn't made super clear because Camilla's basically just drifting through life at this rate. While she works odd jobs and saves up to move to Knoxville so she could at least have something from her old life that she wanted, she stays with her great aunt, because she doesn't really feel welcome with her mother anymore. She talks to her dad more often in the span after, but communication between them slowly dries up. Eventually, Cam starts distancing herself from her great aunt too, because she doesn't understand why anybody would care for her anymore.

Shortly before she finally leaves for Knoxville- this is probably a couple of years later- her mom and her new boyfriend get married. Her mother wants to have Camilla do a toast, which goes... exceptionally poorly due to a PTSD and social anxiety induced breakdown!

At that point it would probably cut to Camilla living in a tiny apartment in Knoxville, leaning against the balcony, contemplating everything. She hasn't spoken to anyone from her family in months, and generally avoids people out in public too. She's been doing whatever she can to stay out of the media and the public eye, and hasn't made any statements or anything, because she feels like no matter what she says, she can't justify what she did on the island, everybody will hate her, and she shouldn't be forgiven anyway.

The thought occurs to her to finish what she wanted to do on the island, in the only way she can. She's going to hell but has nothing to live for anyway, so she thinks- what's the use? So she climbs onto the railing and falls off the balcony.

I'm kind of glad I don't have to write this ngl? I rambled haha. Honestly if I actually had to sit down and write all this, it might go pretty different, but idk. I wanted to say again, thank you everybody for such an amazing first version. Even if I didn't win .

[MK Kilmarnock]

NATHAN REVEALS IT WAS ALL PART OF HIS MASTER PLAN YOU FOOLS MWAHAHAHAHAHHHHHAH

El Presidente for life fuckos

[MurderWeasel]

Sven Vee

Once again, all my V7 kids were doomed from the word go (all their island stories start with the same sentence and it's not just for show!), and Sven was extra doomed to the point where his very first post promised that he'd die in the game even if there was a rescue or something. That said, this was only mostly true.

Right off the bat there was no chance of Sven actually winning because a. I hate the idea OOC to the point I've written an actual essay on why and b. Sven's story and its twists and turns were such that I don't think he could be the last one standing in a way that was respectful to the hard work and effort everyone else put into the game--his stuff was just too off the wall and meta and while that made him an absolute joy to write it didn't play nicely with what everyone else was doing in a very reliable way. I've also mentioned I had a pretty good mind to kill Sven unrolled if the game got too late, but whims change so I guess if stuff had somehow manifested just so in some unimaginable way where he ended up in Endgame, there was a Plan C in case for some reason the other characters also didn't want to win. Plan C was kill everyone all at once in a big explosion to placate the vengeful ghost of wides.

Similarly, if there was some kind of crazy escape/rescue, Sven was last pick, behind even Juliette whose story was really heavily geared towards hitting a specific death scene. But if somehow, someway, Sven was the only option come some big escape I would've pulled him just for the challenge.

Any situation in which Sven survived would by necessity focus on the fact that by any metric he knows that's totally flouting all the laws of fate and is just asking for the world to turn into Final Destination... but it wouldn't. Sven would have a Very Bad Time (TM) at first because suddenly for just this brief while everything made sense and all the things hanging over his head came true but then it got ripped away. But, ultimately, that would've been good for him--he'd slowly but surely take a little more ownership of his destiny and realize there's a lot more to his life and his options than he thought, and while he'd probably never really fully undo everything that happened or be the same he'd be able to integrate and interface with the world to a much greater degree after going through the crucible.

But yeah, that was basically never gonna happen.

[Frozen Smoke]

Well, I did this for my other child, so now that Faith's dead I suppose it's time I talked about what I had in mind for her epilogue.

---

So, the big thing that I had in mind for the epilogue of Faith was less to do with the meta plot, and more about wrapping back and reinforcing what I think was one of the key themes of V7's pregame - Interconnectedness. In order to do that, I'd mostly glaze past the more realistic trials and tribulations of someone coming out of SOTF alive, like dealing with the press and law enforcement and head right into her trying to find a way to cope with the trauma and survivors guilt of what she'd been through.

The way that I'd thought would be both fitting for Faith and interesting as a reading experience would be for her to get a tattoo with the names of all of the other people who had died in the game with her, one at a time. This would give me a chance to bounce dialogue off of the tattoo artist (who I would almost certainly have roped someone into playing at the last moment because I can't do solo dialogue to save my life), and give Faith a chance to reflect on her memories and recollections of each and every other character who died in order for her to still be alive.

It's not a super fleshed out idea, but I felt that it made for a great narrative device to explore and play around with, and whilst making 150 odd posts is certainly ambitious for an epilogue - I feel it would have also helped to give people a great way to discover new characters that they hadn't read and might be interested in doing so when it comes to future readers, as I've noticed that endgames and epilogues are typically some of the widest read parts of a version, so using it as a launching board for other stories feels like a great opportunity to shove people down the rabbit hole.

[Sunnybunny]

Things I know about Sakurako's hypothetical Epilogue:

It would be called "Happily Ever After Never Ends".

She would awkwardly joke about joining the terrorists if she got to do the announcements, but not seriously go for it. There would probably be a lot of time spend with the AT to recover from the myriad, and unfortunately for her she would start to see them as people as part of her thematic stuff is about connection and reaching out.

Back home, she would go through all the PT and various reconstructive surgeries without complaint. In fact, she would seem to be doing quite well publicly, enough to where she could fool her family and the world at large. Privately, she'd be suffering from survivors guilt and intense and extreme loneliness, and at some point, probably in public, she would absolutely crack up. Her parents would insist on therapy, which she wouldn't respond to until they asked her about some random thing that reminded her of her friends, which would finally make her spill her guts about everything.

At her lowest point, she would show up at Thomas's family's door offering both apologies and her life to atone, and however that went, it would be the start of some actual healing. This is when I'd be pulling in all the peeps to help me with her reaching out and sharing various anecdotes with her dead homies loved ones and whatnot. She'd probably start a memorial garden somewhere.

She would shave her hair down, all the way down. Buzzcut baby! It's symbolic.

The last part of her epilogue would be her at an open mic night, watching and considering taking the stage. She would also be texting Zen, thus signifying her link back to her life before SOTF.

[MethodicalSlacker]

Collected spitballs. None of these ideas I have are good—you have been warned.

[+] Liberty Wren

Bert, in an un-clobbered life, still doesn't make it very far without some serious help. I had the vague idea of her largely making her way through the game by luck, and when she got back she'd find herself in the midst of another catastrophe. Her return coincides with the death of her beloved grandmother, and the whole extended family is in town for the funeral. The epilogue largely takes place in and around this funeral, and we get to meet Bert's wacky cousins.

That's really all I got. Bert died too early for me to have anything else to say here.

[+] Max Rudolph

Max continues his crusader(chan!) quest and player hunts himself to the end of the game somehow. He argues with and annoys the shit out of the terrorists—they have to deal with a more verbose and less incellish Ben Shapiro, and they probably don't take too well to him. The political motivations of the terrorists are, if not explored, at least openly called into question. Briefly Max attempts to assume the role, mentally, of a Danya figure, and try to retrace the logical steps he would have taken to conceive of Survival of the Fittest as an ideological device. He refuses the offer to join the terrorists ultimately, and is sent home.

The terrorists drop him outside his house, in a bush or something, and he is quickly recovered by his parents. A family gathering is held to celebrate his return—Max's family, for the most part, believes he is a hero. Invited to this gathering is one Randy Rudolph, whose POV is temporarily assumed (or Max just has a conversation with him idk) that checks up on how he's doing. Worth noting is that Randy's previously casual viewpoint on SOTF has shifted at this point—he's a bit more serious than the character we see in Writing the Enigma here, for reasons related to this taking place after that, that I won't say.

Max probably also meets Misty at some point. Or tries to. A meeting is at least suggested. He'd want to see her. Max's family sets him up with a lawyer. They start making media appearances, particularly on conservative news networks. He tries to pivot it into a pundit career and gets to be an opinion writer on some shitty alt-right website at a rather young age. Maybe at some point in the far future he'd advance into politics and become a future Trey Gowdy style asshole, but that's a bit far in the future to go. It's hard to fill out most of this because Max didn't amass a kill count, but I had a distinct idea of this at some point. The Max that I wound up writing wouldn't have had this ending, and I'm glad, I like that ending better.

[+] Lucas Diaz

To get a Lucas that could have an epilogue we have to rewrite history. Diaz was always death-bound. The most I can say is that Milo and Lucas would have a lot of catching up to do, and Lucas would probably fuck off and leave home pretty soon after getting back. I think his kill count would be pretty low but he'd want to elope with Ophelia or something. He'd want to visit the families of the various Clout Gang members/whatever other friends he'd made and he'd probably have to thank Gyu-ri for her help at home. I think his meeting with the terrorists would be largely uneventful, he'd mostly just start mouthing off at Tracen. Maybe he'd also get to meet Dana again, though maybe that's best not followed up on in the Epilogue.

[+] Violet Schmidt

In an alternate timeline where Violet managed to stay on top of her occult eternal death/thought spiral, avoids damnation and makes it through to the end, my idea was to start past the terrorist stuff and do it in flashbacks in the back of an [MSMU]-style crossover event. I did a lot of thinking about this over the years. Not quite an Avengers level of bombast but it'd dovetail with all but the Colorless saga. I really just wanted to open the floodgates if I got there and go all out. Here are some sentences that vaguely point at things I've thought about at various points in time words words words words words words words

Violet explores her house Gone Home style because the terrorists drop her off while nobody's home and she somehow makes it there on her own. She finds her room rummaged through by Dana, and her computer has been looked through as well. Dana has found out about Violet's SOTF watching, and now that Violet has won... well, a reunion probably wouldn't be pretty, Violet quickly surmises. Fearing death again, Violet flees (probably after taking a backpack of stuff and putting on different clothes, a magickal item here or there), wandering the streets of Chattanooga. Some people recognize her on the street (the aforementioned families, perhaps?). She eventually makes her way down to the park and the boardwalk, and sits on that same Ferris Wheel on Fire bench and here we get our first flashback.

If Violet won, I estimate her kill count would be somewhere between 4 and 7 by the end. Regardless of number, her last two kills would be unambiguously Violet's responsibility. Violet mostly complies with the rules of the game in this hypothetical run. I'd cut past the initial breakdowns and freakouts and "we aren't going to hurt you"'s to Violet mostly calm, at least un-rageful. Goes through the terrorist debriefing interviews and also likely some medical checkups as the many injuries she accrued are healed (or don't, she could have lost fingers, I can't say). The death spiral loop is given its first honest rational look at for the first time, and it will be assessed as a strange, though effective coping mechanism. This assessment is also called into question.

We get back to the present day after a good stopping point, maybe getting the first hint that she's going to finally meet some higher-ups. Violet finds a pay phone and calls her Mom, who comes to pick her up downtown. They get McDonalds and there's a Randy cameo—he recognizes her instantly and can't keep his mouth shut, though he quickly realizes his mistake and hastily flees, thumbing out a message to Marie as he goes. Or that doesn't happen because it's pointless and adds nothing, I dunno, random bouts of maximalism sometimes happen and I can't account for them. Violet learns that Dana hasn't been home in a while (she's staying with Terry). The events of Years of Pilgrimage are recounted outside of a dream sequence or strange formatting bullshit for the first time. Violet is shocked and disturbed by this course of events. They get home—Violet's father is also absent when they get home, but comes back later. Violet and Carol almost really connect here, I imagine in a conversation about the island and what Violet did there. Carol didn't watch but Dana described parts to her. We learn through Carol's questions, based on Dana's opinionated retellings of events, what Dana thought of the parts that she watched. This unsettles Violet, who feels that at this point she truly has nobody to turn to.

I'd want to involve Kyle's family at some point—I feel like Violet would get caught up in trying to redeem herself, maybe even believing that the initial karmic debt was still standing for a time, though likely not. I can imagine that they'd not have nice things to say to her. Nor would Layla's, or Dante's, but the former kinda robbed her and the latter was killed by somebody else anyway, so I'm not as strong on their inclusion here. Violet turns down requests for media interviews and makes an effort to disappear from the public eye. Snapshots of days and weeks spent inside pass by. Violet takes her gap year but mostly spends it drifting through life. She works on her coding, and plays some video games. We get to read a transcript of a vocal break during Dana's radio show maybe. The FBI questions Violet, and Violet cooperates. Marie's article comes out and it's either mentioned that Violet reads it or we get a snippet; similarly Violet's father is writing a piece, though Violet finds out about this by accident, and they have an argument about it. Violet doesn't want to be written about. She wants the story to be over.

It doesn't end, though—not yet. Tracen's interview with Violet comes through in bits and pieces, interspersed with other moments from her captivity with the A.T. Violet mentions the idea of joining and Tracen feels the need to more concretely shoot it down this time—due to recent events in the Announcement fluff, his bullshit tolerance is rather low. He's becoming a bit more like his father, in brutality if nothing else. The softness with which he could address Amaranta and Min-Jae at times (yeah I know he's not a good person but come on he's a cutie he's a sweetie-pie we've all seen the fan art what a lad) is still present, but a little worn. A little rough around the edges. Maybe a bit of Greynold's influence, maybe someone else's. The interview ends, and Violet is about to leave the room when Tracen says something like "Oh, I almost forgot, I wanted to ask you—what was the deal with the hands?" but Violet doesn't get to answer before we cut to the present again.

It's Violet's nineteenth birthday. She's been home for a while. Dana hasn't. Bob wrote his piece, but decided against submitting it—he's been doing some local reporting on business closures and stuff like that in the meantime. Violet has started seeing a therapist again for the first time in years and it's been good. They have a good relationship—her name is Julia. People are starting to get anxious for some kind of statement. Autumn is here. It's a quiet, low-key affair—they get cake from the store and eat it but there's not much else. Things are good. She puts a record on, maybe Black Sabbath, and reclines. Stares out the window and watches the leaves falling off the trees.

But then a key turns in the door and in steps Dana. We almost get a record scratch moment but Dana says "wait" before Violet can turn off the tone arm. It's time for the two to talk, and after some initial indication that things might escalate they go for a drive. Violet sits in the passenger's seat this time, and they go on a drive, but this time it's not to a convenience store—as they talk and reconcile (well not quite but enough for now) a mutual understanding is reached that Dana misunderstood Violet and jumped to a grisly conclusion that, while not-altogether wrong, was still not the case. There's a moment where it hitches and we get a hint that maybe this conclusion isn't really what Dana believes is right, but overall things go well and it's wholesome and they come together as family, and Dana even takes her down to the university radio station and Violet gets to DJ for a bit on Dana's show. Violet doesn't speak on the air, but she plays some songs. It's clear that Violet and Dana have a lot of work to do, but somehow Violet has turned things around a bit, even if the road ahead is uncertain.

I hope I'd have the good sense to leave it there, I think that's a pretty nice spot to put things. Maybe Violet shows up in the [MSMU] later, but more likely she gets a break from being a POV character for a while. Dana too.

[Sh4dE]

If I ever won a version I'd procrastinate writing the epilogue for at least ten years

tru story

[MurderWeasel]

Juliette Sargent

Obligatory "all my characters were doomed but Juliette was extra doomed" tag aside (she was extra doomed because her story was designed to end in a specific death which is why it happened when and how it did), Juliette wasn't cruising for a good time. Way way way back in the (sadly neglected) V4 "What Could Have Been" endings thread I mentioned that my outside plan for Aaron (who was also turbo-doomed) was to try to join the terrorists and get shot down. There's an entire lengthy spiel on this better suited for SOTF general discussion, but basically I think there's a lot of IC evidence that in most cases the offer is not made in good faith, and I think it's OOC problematic to the point where it's perhaps the only thing I wouldn't mind seeing explicitly off the table.

So anyways, yeah, even in some magical world where Juliette somehow made it out, her entire driving motivation wouldn't happen. If she progressed to the end in some halfway reasonable way, or if she escaped somehow, there's a decent chance that after some quality time reviewing the tapes and figuring out the spin she would've tried to leverage it into political success. While she was mean and unhelpful, a lot of that stuff could be brushed under the rug or reframed to look slightly less bad ("I knew Marco was going to flip so I was getting Kelly out of harm's way! I threw her a life preserver!"). The problem is that this would've been a long-term slow burn commitment and also pretty boring because she wouldn't really change or grow in any meaningful way except maybe getting a little nicer or something.

If, however, Juliette got out but with some political albatross around her neck, something that meant she had no chance in politics (even if not, say, a kill) things would've gone a lot differently. Basically, for a good while she'd be depressed and lost and aimless, but over time she'd learn that letting go isn't always so scary, that there are other forms of success than accumulating power, and that what's important is what makes her happy. Probably she'd end up doing something really mundane and menial for a while, but because she's smart and driven she'd make it work, make some friends, try to get over her hideous romance hang-ups, maybe come out somewhere almost okay, albeit with that eternal "but what if?"

[MurderWeasel]

Darlene Silva

Unlike my other three characters, Darlene was just normal doomed. I had no grand design or hideous ideological reasoning that demanded her demise beyond the usual, but that was more than enough.

The thing was, however, Darlene was a character who in a lot of ways played with mundanity. The island provided an interesting opportunity to play off of that, to promote her to a PC, if you will, but a lot of what made her fun and special to write was how she played off and interacted with the other characters. A win would have by necessity removed that factor. Basically, probably in that scenario Darlene goes home, spends some time in therapy, tries to forget anything ever happened, hides away, and becomes a middle school music teacher. That's it. It's not precisely scintillating and would just be an endless slice of life slog. So I guess that's why Darlene was extra doomed—the things that would've happened would've been boring, or would've not fit her.

However, what made her not so extra doomed was that if there was some grand rescue or escape or whatever I would've fairly seriously toyed with the idea of pulling her, because I think in that context, as a face among a group, she could've potentially been interesting. In this situation, Darlene finds herself clinging to and defined by a bunch of relationships with people she doesn't actually know all that well and in some cases doesn't even really like. There's much more room for a reckoning with some of the honestly not-very-great things she did in the game, and for a life that doesn't fade back into the shadows. She probably still ends up eventually teaching middle schoolers to sing in a small town, though.

I guess, thinking about it now, there's a certain rhyme to a conclusion from the outside, seeing her from a bunch of other people's perspectives (when her story often brought her perspective to unsuspecting bystanders) as a bookend, but I already did that somewhere else and I don't think it would've fit my goals here as well anyways.

The more interesting Darlene stuff is by and large in-game, which I'll do maybe later today or maybe not.

[Buko]

Ace “Beats” Ortega

Ace, was my only character through pre-game and game proper and he existed in this unique balance in my heart—I had to be both ready to end him mostly at any time and he was the only one who could possibly receive all my SOTF dreams as well. Ace’s story was always set to go one of two ways and the thesis of the character was pretty clearly formed after this one shot.

“It’s easy to do anything in victory, it’s only in defeat that you find yourself.”

Ace’s story in loss is one of confrontation and denial of self but ultimately of a resolute mind to go forward. The important thing isn’t victory or defeat, but the constant effort and the barring of ones soul. That is what makes a game special, that’s what makes someone a good player. For Ace, sport and games are core tenets of the character and sportsmanship a value. Whether it’s football or SOTF if there are games to be played—Ace will play them and play them with all he has. The key phrase with him is “Prisoner of the moment” and whether it’s the desire to run away, the desire to do E, the desire to hook up with Ivy or hold up Garnet or Marco or stay in a place where he isn’t wanted—Ace is a slave to impulse.

So if it’s easy to do anything in victory and if it’s only in defeat that you find yourself—the story in victory then shifts to the cost of winning.

"If it's easy to do anything in victory--what does victory cost?"

Ace’s story on the island was one in which redemption was not possible. To win the game, he would’ve had to and it is in my intent, stuck on the path that he was on. Fake it till you make it. If you don't know how to act, act like how you think you should. Ace wanted to be the villain. Ace wanted to be cold and strong and feared. Not at first, but after loss after loss and after seeing killer after killer being rewarded for playing the game that way. Ace had already decided his path to victory and it was by cutting down everybody else in his way. It wasn’t about what he wanted to do. It wasn’t about what he needed to do. It was about…

Well, you get the picture.

As a winner, Ace would be confronted with his actions and refamiliarize himself with his guilt and self loathing. In his time with the AT, Ace would rekindle the talent that he showed on the island—perseverance and the ability to compartmentalize. Ace stated what he wanted to do if he got home. He was going to go to school, he was going to play football, win the Heisman, a Grammy, join the NFL and give up all his salary to the victims of SOTF. Ace would get home and immediately insist on going to Memphis as soon as medically cleared. The same mindset that had driven him forward on the island would drive him forward in football.

But SOTF isn’t football and life ain’t a movie.

At Memphis, Ace would be viewed as both fragile and sorta crazy (no shit). His coach would redshirt him and not give him any play in practice. Ace has mandated therapy that he doesn’t take well to and his frustrations at Memphis lead to multiple conflicts with coaches and teammates. His father, a free-lance A/C tech, moves his business to the city but Ace is not someone who is accessible. Ace’s mother is on maternity leave from the post-office and eventually gives birth to a baby brother. Ace’s father moves them both out to Memphis and the three of them begin living together in earnest. This is not something that pleases Ace and it causes more distance to grow between him and his family.


This would culminate in Ace having a non-contact career ending injury at practice at Memphis. This destroys Ace mentally and the idea of the dream that he fought and killed and sacrificed so much of his soul to achieve leaving his grasp provokes him to go into a spiral. This spiral causes everything he has compartmentalized and the PTSD he has tried to suppress in the name of his own “strength” to manifest in more debilitating ways. After hitting rock bottom, Ace does what Ace does.

He moves forward.

Ace returns to Chattanooga, broken and apologetic, but resolute in his desire to give back and restore a sense of honor to his name. He starts a football charity he calls the Ace of Hearts Foundation and coaches youth football for disadvantaged youth in the area. Ace never raps again and doesn’t mess with music—the last time he rapped was on Day One and that would remain true regardless.

I toyed with the idea of Ace’s epilogue having a bunch of random NPC romances to make fun of his reputation and story on the island. Ultimately though, in my heart of heart, Ace would be done with love and I think too damaged for those sort of relationships. Ace is a homebody who values family and desired love and loyalty (even as he failed to live up to or provide those things himself). I think he would find solace in his parents, his new younger brother and the children he coached.

It wouldn’t make up for the teammates and friends that he lost or take back the people he killed and hurt in the name of his own name and survival. But it would’ve always reminded him of the days in which he was capable of dreaming and feeling genuine joy. After all the struggle and murder and shirtless selfishness--Ace would be left with a simple life and a large amount of guilt and self loathing.

There would be no path for redemption for Ace on the island, he was a prisoner of the moment. But off the island, maybe there wouldn't be a path towards redemption--but there would be keys to break out of that prison and live for more than just the moment or today.