Young Writers Society

In this universe, there exists an infinite amount of worlds and planets with various laws of physics and magic. No matter how archaic or advanced these worlds may be, they all share one thing in common: intergalactic TV.

Yes, folks, you heard that right. An intergalactic TV that crosses various dimensions across time and space to give you—that's right, you—the entertainment you so deserve. Maybe you want to watch a cheesy soap opera involving magic and drama and endless ships, or maybe you want to watch the dumpster fire of news from 2020/2021 Modern Earth.

Or, maybe, just maybe, you want to watch the award-winning reality TV show called I Survived a Roleplay Realm Game Show. Haven't heard of it? No problem; some poor, sad worlds do not have access to TV, which is a shame. But that is exactly the premise of the reality TV show.

I Survived a Roleplay Realm Game Show is an entertaining show that randomly and magically selects seven lucky individuals across space and time to play in an hour-long episode a day. They are picked only on one requirement: they must never have heard of the show. The audience—The Roleplay Realm—can watch the show on channel OOC, and the technology is so high-tech, they can even live-comment their reactions via a 'thread'.

(... Oh, you don't see this option? Sigh. Okay. Pay the monthly cable fee—199 carina nickels—and then I'll let you in. Don't click the link at the top of this post until you pay up.)

Bright lights, a stage, and large red curtains opening up to reveal a rowdy, cheering audience in distant seats.

Carter knew he wasn't home anymore.

He stood on the side of the stage, just behind the curtain, and peered out onto the stage. It was set up with a large elevated desk, behind which a freakish white dog sat behind. To the side of the desk, there was a long, plush red couch in front of a colorful backdrop that kept blinking various patterns and colors. A tinny song started playing, radiating from gods knew where, and Carter watched as the dog opened it's mouth to speak human words.

"Now, to introduce our first contestant-" he heard a high pitched voice start. Their voice almost didn't sound real. Something about it sounded wrong.

"Carter Haddon!"

An unknown force drew him forward, and he stepped out onto the stage. Though confusion was the primary emotion swirling in his mind, he had already determined to step out onto the stage with the full confidence of someone who had done this a million times before, and expected to be here. Wherever here was.

He smiled warmly and waved to the audience, making his way to the end of the couch closest to the desk and the dog. He didn't know why it felt natural to do so, but it seemed to make intuitive sense. The dog - no matter how much of an abomanation it was, defying all laws of nature - had introduced him, and whether he liked it or not, it seemed he had entered into some kind of contest against his will.

As he walked, the dog kept talking.

"Hailing from the land of Nye, here we have the captain of the Moonlight Kingdom's armies. Though he's a bit on the small side, don't let that make you underestimate him. He's got a sword! Don't go waving that thing around, mister."

The crowd erupted into uncanny laughter, and Carter clicked his tongue, smiling and shaking his head as if to say "I could never," to the audience as he gestured to the sheathed sword on his side.

"Coming as a surprise to no one, this man's been living in other people's shadows all of his life! And it's not because they're all taller than him!" The dog winked. The audience laughed. Carter's smile twitched ever so slightly.

"Oh, at least he pretends to be a good sport about it. Give him one last round of applause!"

This was bizarre, but Carter leaned into it like it was some kind of fever dream. Perhaps that was all this was.

Though he had no idea what this context was about, or what the goal was, he already felt an inclination to try to win. That seemed to be the logical ticket out of this.

Carter sat down and bowed his head to the dog, who still remained nameless and disturbing.

"Next up, I'd like to introduce you to--"

Now Lordy wasn't unfamiliar with bright, flashing lights and music loud enough to wake up the neighbors in another continent; as a matter of fact, under normal circumstances he welcomed it. But these weren't normal circumstances. This was the farthest thing from what he expected when he laid his perfectly groomed sideburns to rest that night, and even after pinching himself, he still wondered if he was dreaming.

"No more brandy before bed." Lordy rubbed his temples.

As if on cue, he was dragged out on to a stage where he met the eyes of hundred of onlookers. Some cheered and some booed but what caught Lordy's attention was the talking dog standing not too far from him.

He opened his mouth to speak, "What-"

"LORDY LORDSHIRE EVERYONE!" The dog squeaked out in a voice only a rubber ducky could love, "The self proclaimed Knave of Hearts hailing from Wonderland!"

Lordy looked out into the crowd and raised his cane in as a greeting. The mixed reactions continued as he began to walk towards the seats on stage, almost naturally.

"Uh, what the-" he began.

"Look at that cane! Did you get injured? I mean, your back must hurt from carrying the ENTIRETY of the Wonderland Rift storybook back in 2014!" The nameless dog cut him off.

The crowd laughed as Lordy tried to zone everyone out and focus on what was going on. A small man sat on a rather comfy looking sofa that Lordy wished he had back home, and other than him and the dog, there was no one else on stage.

"Ah I know what you're thinking Lordy," The dog continued, "You wish you had a tan like our friend Carter here! Ha! I'm only joking. Pale skin looks good on you, it brings out your beady eyes!"

The crowd laughed some more as Lordy took a seat next to other man, Carter?

"Anything you want to say to the people watching at home?" The dog asked him.

He took a look at the crowd once more, everyone silent in anticipation. He turned to Carter, then to the dog, then back to the crowd before clearing his throat.

"What the fU-"

Jerica looked like a cat standing in a bucket of water, all of her limbs rigid and eyes wide as she froze in place. She didn't feel much better. All of her senses were being assaulted at once -- too much light, an awful ruckus that felt like it was stabbing straight into her brain. Where in the he--?

Her thought was cut off as she was suddenly being pulled forward by an invisible force. She yanked her sword from its scabbard, glowering as suddenly the lights got even brighter. As her eyes adjusted, she realized there were hundreds of people seated and staring at her with wide eyes, raptured in silence. She blinked. Some sort of a gladiator battle? Nothing made sense. Just tell me what I need to kill to go home.

"JERICA AINSLEY!" A squeaky voice suddenly shouted. She whirled around and found a... talking dog? She sighed. Can't say that's the weirdest thing I've seen. She frowned at him. She didn't like hurting animals, but if he wanted to challenge her, she wasn't one to back down.

"Squeaky Dog," she acknowledged, glaring at him. "You wanna go?"

"The King's Assassin!" He shouted, turning his attention back on the crowd. "No manners, but lots of muscles!"

The crowd erupted with cheers.

Her gaze flicked back and forth between the dog and crowd, progressively more bewildered. What the HECK is this supposed to be? Was she... not? Supposed to fight him? Wait, what did he mean--?

"Don't let that simpleminded look fool you, folks!" The dog shouted. "I hear she can be quite smart -- well, a smart-a** anyway!"

The crowd laughed.

Jerica scowled.

Biryn had outdone himself this time. Usually, he filled her dreams with blood and pain and death. Somehow, he'd managed to make it even worse this time. She'd sell a thousand souls if he'd turn off this music. She couldn't handle it much longer.

"Oh, lighten up!" the dog goaded. "Such a grumpy look on such a pretty little face."

"I'll pretty little face you," Jerica took a step towards him angrily. The invisible force carried her towards the side, away from the dog as he laughed at her. She strained to sense for her magic to counteract it, but couldn't seem to find the source of this humiliation.

"Better put your sword up, sweetie-pie!" The dog continued as she was rapidly forced towards a couch with two men sitting on it. "Before Lordy ends up needing a second cane!"

The crowd guffawed again.

Suddenly the force released her but gave her a push towards the couch. She stumbled forward, giving a final glance around her before her gaze locked on the man sitting nearest her. She glowered.

"I had nothing to do with this, for the record," he said, glancing down at her sword before he met her gaze again. "I'm just as confused as you are."

"I'm not confused," she snapped. She was, in fact, very confused. She glanced around again then awkwardly sank down onto the couch, sword-arm resting on the cushion between herself and the man.

The dog started shouting again. "Now I'd like to introduce you to--"

As the dog moved on to the next introduction, Carter leaned in towards Lordy's ear.

"I think the dog is possessed," he whispered.

The first thing Corrick Malair sensed was this incessant battering in his ears of something terribly high-pitched, like multiple bees echoing in a cavern. It was terrible. His eyes squinted open to something far too bright and horribly white.

Someone pushed him forward. He turned back but no one was there. What was going on? This had to be a nightmare. He could barely think with that NOISE blaring all around him.

"CORRICK MALAIR!" The invisible person pushed him forward to something like a stage, but far too white and clean and fake, with rows of endless amount of glaring, beady eyes that stared into his soul.

His vision finally cleared and his eyes rested on a... talking dog like thing? Maybe his vision didn't clear? He rubbed his eyes. Nope, still a dog. No way this was a nightmare. He couldn't think up of anything this... crazy.

"A Prince in hiding!" The cheers were intermingled 'ooh's' and 'ahh's'. The dog continued. "A hotshot that flared too fast and burned his brother, the Kiiiiiing-in-Waiting, to a crisp!" The crowd booed at that.

"How'd you know about my brother?" Corrick stuttered.

"He asks that because he barely knew about his brother himself!" The announcer dog guffawed. "He thought of himself too much when he was younger, so now he compensates by not thinking at all!"

Corrick growled. "Let me out!"

"I thought I was the dog, here."

He was pushed by something onto a couch that glared as harshly on him as the lights and he stumbled onto it next to a woman who had a look that could cut you if you stared long enough.

"Now I'd like to introduce you to--"

Mel thought she had her eyes closed, but it only took her a second to realized she was in a dark room. A dark, noisy room. There was a loud, rowdy applause coupled with screaming, whistling, and... booing? She didn't have any time to dwell on that, because of all of a sudden, curtains in front of her opened up and she was blinded by the flashing lights.

She squinted, but suddenly some magical force brought her up to a stage. Mel barely had time to react when—

"MELAKAE! Or Mel, because that's much easier to say!"

Mel leaned in with wide eyes in disbelief, staring at the squeaking person—no, dog—in front of her.

"Huh, just Mel? No last name? That's right, you're from that Earth world. Oh, which one is that, the one with powers? Or is it magic? Care to demonstrate it, Mel?"

As weird as a talking dog was, Mel's eyes were adjusting to the bright lights enough that she could see the outlines of the random crowd around the stage, clapping and whistling away.

"I... what?" was all she managed to get out.

"Fabulous demonstration!" the dog squeaked on then winked. Mel only had time to glance at the four others sitting on the couch before he continued talking again.

"Mel can't make up her mind on anything, but what really changed her life was when she realized her family are a bunch of literal monkeys!"

She made a sour face and pouted. "They're called—"

"I wonder if there are any dogs in the mix?" the dog interrupted.

"I'm just—"

"Anyways, let's give her a warm welcome!"

She had zero time to react to anything before some invisible force pushed her towards the couch and had her crash-land next to a grumpy-looking man. The crowd cheered wildly, and Mel frantically found her footing and adjusted herself on the seat so she was sitting straight up. She glanced at the others on the couch.

"I'm just saying, they're not monkeys," she said over to the man next to her as if he asked. "But maybe, like, forty percent?"

The dog continued on before he could properly react.

"Moving on, I'd like to introduce you to—"

S1M-0N3E wondered if he had unintentionally rebooted his memory, because he was waiting for a Taxzi one moment and now was staring into darkness the next. He made a note to back up his memory soon in case this happened again. As he pondered whether to first examine his internal structure or record his external stimuli, or even do both at once, a stream of light signaled a change in his environment.

There was a stage unlike any he had seen before as various colors flashed around him. A spotlight settled on him, and S1M-0N3E realized he was currently the center of attention.

“S1M-0N3E! Or, as we’ll affectionally call, SIMON!”

[Updating ... NAME = “Simon”;

Language Detected: English;

Spectating Lifeforms: Suspected. Visual confirmation needed;

Update completed.]

Once he was finished, Simon’s legs creaked as he shuttered forward into the middle of the stage. The harsh lights glinted off his metallic skin, so he couldn’t view past the edge of the stage. He did notice a screen below that showed an image of his android body, minus his human disguise.

The dog-humanoid creature continued speaking. “Meet this artificial intelligence that isn’t smart enough to learn how to move its face.”

A roar of laughter followed the comment, confirming Simon’s detection of many other lifeforms surrounding him. The laughter meant the mood of this room was “Happy,” so Simon used his extrasensory training to change his expression to happy. It was of a static, unblinking yet smiling man.

“Unfortunately, you viewers at home won’t be able to get the full experience of Simon’s telepathic powers, but we’ll make a visual for you.” A crudely cropped smiley face appeared on the screen over his white globe where his computer chips were stored. More laughter followed.

“He started off no better than a long-distance Google translate, and his best upgrade was to an off brand, robotic Pinocchio!” Simon continued to record the dog’s descriptors of him but was confused by some of his words. This must be due to nuances of the language that he was not yet familiar with, which he stored in a folder labeled “Sarcasm?”.

“Just don’t let him get too close to your iPhone200XE, or it might start acting on the fritz!” It seemed as if the dog had finished its speech, since Simon was being redirected towards a group of five other lifeforms who were already seated, all of whom appeared human.

If androids could sigh or even feel relief, that is what Simon experienced. He was quite good at blending in among humans.

“Last but not least, allow me to introduce—"

"Possessed?" Lordy looked at the dog as it yapped away, "Probably. Who wouldn't want the chance to be a dog for a day? Where I'm from they call me one everyday."

He looked between the lady- Jerica, and Carter, "Would either of you happen to have brought any rum?"

Carter laughed lightly in good humor with Lordy’s self deprecation and followed it with a slight shake of his head.

“Had I been able to choose what I brought with me, I might’ve brought a whole barrel. Seems we’ll need it.”

Lordy shook his head, "You got me there."

He pulled a flask from the inside of his suit jacket and took a swig.

"Here," Lordy said, handing the flask to Carter, "I guess we'll have to share mine then."

Mel couldn't help but stare at this Simon fellow sitting next to her. He gave her an uncomfortable uncanny valley feeling, otherwise known as "the creeps." For a moment, she debated who was creepier: Simon, or the talking dog man.

While the squeaky dog droned on, her attention was diverted to the right of her when she heard mumbling chatter from the others.

"What'd they say?" she asked the grumpy man next to her—Corrick, according to the name tag that magically seemed to appear out of thin air. She didn't wait to hear his response before leaning forward to peek at the two sitting at the beginning of the row.

"Whatcha drinkin'?" she casually asked.

Jerica felt dazed. She was so tense, and angry, and scared, and confused -- that she didn't seem to be able of anything but sit perfectly still, somewhat deflated. There were more people being paraded across the stage, and it was almost comforting that the dog was scorning them just as harshly.

She looked up as the men to her right started talking and realized they had nametags on -- Lordy and Carter. They almost seemed... friendly? She couldn't be sure. But, Lordy had liquor. He drank some himself... surely it's not poisoned... At this point, she didn't particularly care if it was or not. One way or another, it was sure to bring some relief from this endless hell.

Jerica leaned back and awkwardly shoved her sword into its scabbard -- a gesture of good-will -- and then looked between the men. "Rum, you say?"

Carter passed the flask to her and Jerica took a swig, savoring the burn of rum as it made its way down her throat.

The girl on the other side of the big man on her left leaned forward. "Whatcha drinking?"

Jerica looked at her as she swallowed. It wasn't hers to share. She ignored the girl and looked back at Lordy, returning his flask to him.

"Rum," Lordy answered crisply, recapping the flask and slipping back into his jacket.

Jerica smirked and looked back at the girl. "Otherwise known as 'not for you'."

The audacity of this man, Carter, to mindlessly offer someone Lordy's rum. And the even BIGGER audacity of the woman named Jerica to suck down as much of it as she could before handing it back to Lordy.

He made a mental note to kill them later.

"That's right, not for you," Lordy said. And none for anyone, he thought. "I have a feeling this isn't going to end soon, so let's just savor the moment shall we?"

Mel pouted at Jerica's snippy comment, and she pouted even more when Lordy affirmed the comment. She leaned back and looked at Corrick as if he was her only ally, even though he hadn't said a single word to her yet.

"They're kinda rude, aren't they?" she mumbled to him, then shifted her attention back to Simon, who was looking back at her with the weirdest squinty-eyed look, like he was analyzing the situation and tried to pretend he was intoxicated.

She stared at him for a second and then offered a 'haha-this-is-uncomfortable-but-I-don't-know-how-to-react-to-your-strange-face-so-I'm-just-going-to-try-to-smile-back' look before shifting her attention back at the talking dog, finally listening to what he had to say about the next person coming in.