Story 1, Episode 1

This is an installment of a story. Each week we will write a new piece of a story, and invite you to use your comments to help choose what happens next, or just add description to whatever is already going on. Assuming it works at all, sometimes we will have an arc in mind, sometimes we will toss dice, sometimes we will be at your whim. Let's have some fun!

Intro
Alyx paced through the trees, stroking bark, watching ant patterns, checking how the shadows changed as the afternoon passed. Trying to be calm and notice things while urgency poked and nickered at them. Something strange was happening in this area and there wasn't a lot of time to figure out what it was, But rushing was only going to make it harder to see or hear or smell whatever was twisting the breeze, making that occasional burnt acid scent, and why that tingling, ringing thing kept happening inside their ears.

a. Alyx doesn't have long on this planet for some unrelated reason
b. Alyx is on the run, but is a spirit who is responsible for this forest
c. Alyx only exists for a day
d. Alyx is your mom

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I kinda like this shit, tho.

all of the above! but also, although alyx is my mom, i was left to rot under a tree stump at birth. was i stillborn? was it infanticide? up to the reader's imagination

“Trying to be calm and notice things while urgency poked and nickered at them.”

Does Alyx use they/them pronouns or is this just awkward grammar/not a complete sentence? Or both?

Alyx needs and editor.

"them" refers to the "things" in the previous sentence as the relevant antecedent. Also, how ironic...

There is no subject in the quoted fragment it is structurally incorrect and clumsy. There are many other grammar mistakes as well that any editor would have caught such as the "figure out what it was, But rushing was only" portion of the massive run-on that is 4 lines of a 6 line, 3 sentence paragraph.

No need to be defensive. Revision is where the real writing begins.

The "and" was a joke. A nod to a needed editor. Get it?

I first thought, who farted in the forest that Alyx is smelling? But, flatulence is a bit too easy and irrelevant. My next thought was that Alyx is a fluffy bunny in some Watership Down-esque situation, which would necessitate solidarity with the warren as they try to escape or alter their circumstances. Given that this is a anarchist site I would humbly suggest that Alyx finds their comrades in order to kick up some serious rabbit droppings.

C

E) "bark" is what Alyx calls their penis. The ants making patterns do not appreciate Alyx's staring at them while stroking bark and prepare an organized retaliation.

That's pretty lewd, maybe save that idea for an erotic story.

Alyx ambled through the forest, touching the bark of several trees, watching ant patterns near the path, checking how the shadows changed as the afternoon unfolded. Trying to be calm, noticing things, while urgency poked and nickered at them. Something strange was happening here and it didn't feel as if there was a lot of time to figure it out. Rushing was only going to make it harder to see or hear or smell whatever was twisting the breeze, making an occasional burnt acid scent, and what is that tingling, ringing thing that kept happening inside their ears?

How many mgs was that edible again? "Oh shit", Alyx thinks, "I didn't take an edible today...."

Realizing they must have been dosed earlier at the Gathering of the Juggalos, Alyx whoop-whooped for a cab and when it came near the license plate said 'Fresh' and it had dice in the mirror. If anything Alyx could say that this cab was rare but they thought "nah forget it, yo Holmes, to Bel Air!"

correct. all of these “choices” are merely a numbered list of exposition, a series of facts about the character, not different courses of action as is common in “choose your own adventure” stories

choose your own adeventure? more like your fate is sealed from the start, right? but then again so it is in all of these types of books. but here we're give the chance to comment as input for the next entry. or maybe they're just playing with us and not take it into account

I have it on good authority that the plan is for thecollective to exploit your creative labour for a massive book-plus-film deal with a mainstream publisher/production company and cut you out of the profits entirely! You will never be attached to the story of Alyx while they rake in the loot. So messed up.

b!

E. It's Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2! She's either running from the Combine, or the G-man has placed her in some pocket dimension forest to keep her occupied while in stasis after the events of Half-Life: Alyx.

C.
I think it may be easier to collectively write a story when it already has some kind of agreed upon end.

that goes against the fun of free association (of ideas, stream of thought), there is no end goal, just an exercise in absurdism, surrealism, dadaism, anything to get you out of the box and the habit of control and being in control

It's cool as far as this remains contributive storytelling. This game isn't called "cadavre exquis"... you might wanna start it if you'd like, but leave the poetry somewhere else, plz.

11:07 anon is a bore
demanding that everyone
act like their whore.
Spending all day refresh this site
trolling away with all of their might.
All the while being slowly killed by an undetected disease.

Roses are red
Alyx strokes bark
while staring at ants
in their big city park.

and just melted out of that rancid poem.

I appreciate your perspective, but who are you to say there is no end goal? That also goes against the fun of free association, hypothetically we could collectively decide together whether or not there should be an end goal.
The reality though is that the people writing the story and posting it to the website are the ones in control, we can only share our opinion, and we can only do that here for as long as we are allowed to.
I shared my opinion (C.) because I thought of Crass and how it's predetermined end date inspired action and commitment to it's cause. Life is fleeting, death is unpercievable for most of us, but fixed goals can be measured against and for better or worse, inspire action. Like the 2050 climate change tipping point, parliamentary election cycles, the Doomsday Clock, Crass' end date, and, perhaps the end of a fictional story chosen by some anonymous strangers online, but thats just my opinion.

maybe Alyx is a forest sprite or a fairy, maybe they will find other fairies

Yup, and I'm a forest ogre and I'm gonna observe my prerogative as the forest creationist being and mate with Alyx!
C'mon over to daddy Alyx!

c. alyx only exists for one day

and spends the rest of the day doing ant ethology and botanizing the forest

i know the answer to this riddle! alyx is an anteater! they are scratching bark and looking for ants to eat. maybe there is a forest fire or maybe an ant got into their ear making it ring. maybe they were a lab animal and they were pouring acid on it to experiment but the animal liberation front came in guns blazing and liberated it and now they’re free but their ears are ringing

No, Alyx is a Mesodma, as featured in Julian Langer's short story of the same name.

ALYX IS A HUGE FREAKIN' BORING SPOOK MAGNET WHO'S EATEN TOO MANY SHROOMS !!

Alyx smelled the toxins in the air. She walked in the forest she had helped to plant long ago after loggers cut it down. She asked to herself, What is that smell, and where is it coming from? Just then, she saw a raccoon come out from the tree in front of her. The raccoon looked at her intensely clearly also in distress from this acrid smell. The raccoon turned to the left and started frantically run through the trees. Alyx followed the raccoon. As they ran, the smell got stronger and stronger. Then, the raccoon stopped at a river. On the other side, there was profit chemical company. There were people dumping barrels of toxic chemicals into the river. "My offspring is right near this river." Alyx got her phone and recorded what they were doing. "This is why I'm so sick. I know it! I'm going to tell my offspring what is going on and we'll see what we can do about this. "

Alyx's inherent naivety inbuilt into all spook-magnets meant that she follows everything that looks at her in an intensely distressed way, and so it was with the raccoon, who she had followed to the most toxic part of the river bank, The Death Zone!
Raccoon seemed to stiffen, let out a loud screech, then a gasp, lifted itself onto one foot, did a ballerina pirouette, and fell on its face. At the same time, Alyx felt a burning tightness in her throat, stiffened and pirouetted towards the river bank, and did a belly flop into the toxic pool, sinking out of sight below the floating chemical scum. Such is the fate of spook-magnets in the coming desert abyss!

"Alyx's been running away for it, tho even in the deepest of the forests it'll get back at ya."

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