Starring:
Date: April 24, 2015
Summary:
When there's just one thing in your World that works differently from the rest, that thing tends to get a lot of attention.
"What If? Get in the Game - The Yellow Mouth"
The World
The Timer reaches the assigned number, and Cherii comes into being. She stands in place in the dark corridor between the electric blue walls, waiting for the Timer to reach the number at which she will no longer exist. That is the Rules.
Everything in the World follows the Rules. The stationary Dots, the drifting Ghosts, the increasing Scoreboard, all. Some Rules are simple, like the number which is added to the Scoreboard when a Dot is Eaten. Others are far more complicated, like the intricate formula which guides the floating dance of the Ghosts. Yet in the end, all of it is subject to the Rules, unbreakable, indifferent, and calculable.
…Except, perhaps, in regard to the Yellow Mouth.
The Absolutists are quick to argue that the Yellow Mouth DOES follow the Rules, and thus there is NO REASON to believe that anything exists outside the World. The Yellow Mouth is bound by the Walls, it slows slightly as it Eats the Dots, it interacts predictably (if by differing Rules in differing situations) with the Ghosts, AND YES, its direction of movement is decided by a Rule! >P
…Decided by A Rule. One, single Rule.
…A Rule which keeps *gritteeth* changing.
Cherii doesn't care about the endless debate between the Absolutists who say the Yellow Mouth's directional Rule must simply be determined by higher (yet still within the World!) Rules which they have not yet figured out how to see, and the Church of Who-Man, who point to the Yellow Mouth's mysterious movement as evidence of a being that transcends the World and the Rules, perhaps even created them. To Cherii, it doesn't matter why the Yellow Mouth's path is so unpredictable. What matters is, she doesn't know whether she will be Eaten.
Cherii can hear the Yellow Mouth elsewhere in the World, Eating the Dots. Unlike her, they will not cease to exist according with a number in the Timer; that is not their Rule. They have a high expectancy of being Eaten. The only occurance which might spare some of the Dots that fate is the exhaustion of the Lives.
*pakupakupakupakupaku…*
Cherii's heart skips a beat as the Yellow Mouth passes within sight of her corridor. C.C; It's a miracle it didn't choose to come her way…or so it seems, until a pink form slides past Cherii. Ah, a Ghost had been coming from the other side…it's uncanny how the Yellow Mouth's directional Rule seems to make it evade those. -.-;
The Church of Who-Man tends to hold that being Eaten, as it is a common part of what they expect is a rational and (they hope) benevolent design, is not so unpleasant as one might expect. Indeed, many of them expect that it is a liberating experience, transferring one's existence from an individual consciousness in the Maze to a transcendental whole in the Scoreboard. The Absolutists tend to pooh-pooh this notion, casting it as the irrational hopes of a bunch of doomed Dots. But then, they don't have much indication that this isn't the case either, benevolent design or no; they just don't like how it provides motivation to join the Church. :P
A whirring alarm informs the World that the Yellow Mouth has just Eaten a Power Pellet, thus shifting which Rules govern its interactions with Ghosts until the Timer passes a certain value. This could be a reprieve for Cherii, or it could be disastrous. Statisticians have observed that the Yellow Mouth does tend to chase the Ghosts rather aggressively in this period, having seemingly far less interest in Eating other things…but at the same time, it is also uninhibited in where it may roam. C.C;
It occurs to Cherii that all of the speculation about the nature of the Yellow Mouth is largely useless; even if they knew precisely how the changing Rule worked, they couldn't do anything about it, because everything they do is precisely according to the Rules. At the same time, ironically, it's precisely because all of their overt actions are rigidly determined by the Rules that they spend so much time wondering about it. It's not like they have anything better to think about, right? :P All they can do is observe, wonder, and hope.
……Wait.
……What if…
……What if that's…exactly what determines the Yellow Mouth's directional Rule at any given moment? O.O
The concept seems totally bizarre, and yet, it would take something bizarre to explain that ever-shifting Rule. Could the collective hopes of the World be altering which way the Yellow Mouth is moved? This could change EVERYTHING! 8O If the World could be united in its hopes, the Yellow Mouth could be controlled! 8D
But then…to what end should it be controlled? c.ca Certainly there are many who would like to have it remain in a corner, pushing against a Wall, but then the Ghosts would catch it very quickly and exhaust the Lives — and the Ghosts can't help doing that, their Rules are always the same. If that happened every time, the Timer would never come to the value which causes Fruit like Cherii to exist in the first place. There would always be a few Dots that unavoidably get Eaten, too. And what about the Church of Who-Man's beliefs? If they're right, then the World should be hoping for as many Dots and Fruits and even Ghosts to be Eaten as possible. Maybe that's why the Yellow Mouth's Rule tends to take it on paths which do that alrea —
The Yellow Mouth turns the corner into Cherii's corridor.
Panic grips Cherii as she realizes she has no time to share her revelation, let alone decide which fate would be best or organize the World into hoping toward it. If hope does determine the Yellow Mouth's directional Rule, it appears that the hope of one Fruit isn't enough to sway it from its current course. Cherii abandons her fervent tries to alter the Yellow Mouth's looming movement, and simply hopes that the Church of Who-Man is right about the Scoreboard at least. @.@;
*100*
