Author Games Compilation [Cycle 1]

Final Note on Ren Cayse

AN ENDING BEFOREHAND
"NAKED AND EXPOSED"

I walked in with thoughts dangling from my sleeve.

They were never so obvious that someone could leap forth and rip them away, like a loose string snapped from clothing.

I left naked and exposed.

Metaphorically, of course, though I'd have much preferred the literal sense of that. For some reason, bearded redheads just have a way with me. They sneak around and see a string that no one else sees and, in an attempt to make things crisp and clean, they yank them off and I'm left a bloody mess on the ground because that string was a seam and they've pulled it right out without giving me a chance to explain what exactly it is.

I should've been more careful to keep it hidden anyhow.

This whole thing is pretty melancholic, yeah? Oh, wait - should've used 'depressing.' Gotta dumb it down, gotta be simple.

But complex is so much more interesting, isn't it? Who the hell wants some character-repeat that says the same damn things any other character's said before, hm? Who wants someone with his head screwed on all nice and tight and why the hell do people think that makes for an interesting story? I'll never understand it. You pack all these clones into a little box and they come out all the same. I refuse to be locked up in cardboard. Maybe a wooden coffin, but never cardboard.

Not that I'm some character in a story. I'm all too real, honey.

Because characters in a story never truly die. You can always press "backspace" on that and rework some abused bundle of words' fate.

Real people die.

I guess the one similarity between the two is that words are weapons. You type up a sentence, a character is writhing on the ground in pain because some sassy monologuer just kicked him in the baby-maker. That's, like, basically incapacitation. You say things to someone real, and they get reckless. Words in a story get messy, words in reality are gone over with careful precision only after they've been said.

Words struck me down.

That's what makes me real, kiddos. Words have struck me down and now I never get to see if I ever get married to someone that actually gives a shit or if I end up having a sweet little kid that slobbers all over my hand but gets all my love anyways.

This kind of bullshit happens every fucking day, like some parasite hopping from one host to the next. It's sick.

I think it's a good thing that sexy little redhead tugged at my strings. It's a good thing I'm here (metaphorically) naked and exposed.

Now I'm as real as you.

~ ~ ~

REN CAYSE OVERALL

2nd Place

I'M SO PROUD OF THIS SASSY LITTLE FUCKER.

And, several weeks after the ending, I'm still a mess. Not because he got second - placements are never the case - but because I accidentally fell in love and the fact that he's dead is just *sigh*. No tears were shed over his death this time, which was both surprising and completely expected at the same time. Like, I knew it was gonna happen, but now it's over. When else am I gonna be able to write about a character highkey tryna seduce someone in the midst of a casino massacre?

He was born to die anyways. Literally, I was going to write him by Milo's side the whole time and just completely hope that Milo won because from task one I saw perfection (even though Garrett says otherwise). Ren was never meant to live. I had no expectations associated with him.