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@@.smear.blur;<h3><<fadein 7>>D I G E S T I O N<</fadein>></h3>@@
<<fadein 11>>[[START->FIRSTSTEPS]]<</fadein>>
<<fadein 11>>[[ABOUT->WGJ]]<</fadein>>
This is my entry for the 31st week of the Weekly Game Jam.
The theme this time around is //Digestion//. I hope you brought your appetite.
//digestion// (dī-jĕsˈchən, dĭ-)►
//n. Physiology// The process by which food is converted into substances that can be absorbed and assimilated by the body. It is accomplished in the alimentary canal by the mechanical and enzymatic breakdown of foods into simpler chemical compounds.
[[Yum!->START2]]The man across from her [[seemed off->SEEMEDOFF]] somehow.
His gaze seeped into the room, a humid thing which clung to everything it touched. She could almost feel the remnants of it on her body. [[Curious and eager->CURIOUSANDEAGER]].
She wanted to leave but had promised herself that she wouldn't. Not this time. [[Not again->NOTAGAIN]]. Shifting in her chair she shook off the feeling.
Forcing a smile, she looked at the menu in front of her, its edges pale in the <<fadein 3>>[[low light->HUNGRY]].<</fadein>>
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<<fadein 20>>And then you are once again [[falling->StatueP2]].<</fadein>>
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[[START->FIRSTSTEPS]]
[[ABOUT->WGJ]]//I made it myself.//
His voice wasn't altogether unpleasant she thought. [[As far as voices went->WASNT]].
//Hm?//
She looked up at him, carefully hiding her thoughts away.
//The menu. I made it myself.//
Leaning forward she picked it up. It sat heavy in her hands, waiting to divulge its <<fadein 3>>[[secrets->SECRETS]].<</fadein>>
How many of these dates had she been on now?
She could hardly remember anymore. Perhaps that was a blessing.
[[...->FIRSTSTEPS]]//I wanted this moment to be special.//
There were three dishes on the menu, each admittedly more delicious-looking than the last.
//You must be an excellent cook!//
He [[regarded her quietly->TRYING]] for a second, almost as if he were trying to determine something about her.
//The ingredients shape the flavour. I simply put them together.//
She smiled with genuine <<fadein 3>>[[pleasure->PLEASURE]].<</fadein>>
//It's quite lovely. You're very talented.//
A look of satisfaction crept onto his face as he studied her.
//Oh, it's nothing. Just a little hobby of mine.//
Something about that look made her skin crawl. It seemed practiced, [[coated in oil->OIL]].
//You didn't have to go through all this trouble.//
She felt as if she were traveling to the centre of a <<fadein 3>>[[swamp->SWAMP]].<</fadein>>
//You almost make it sound as if they guide you.//
He smiled faintly as he poured them each a [[glass of red wine->REDWINE]].
//They inspire me. Or rather, the essence they hold within does.//
She accepted the glass from him, its dark liquid a restless ocean.
//Their essence?//
He held out his own glass to her. Lightly they touched them together, a collision ringing out into the <<fadein 3>>[[night->NIGHT]].<</fadein>>
//Every thing in this world is changed by the things it takes in from its environment.//
She swirled the wine in her glass as she listened, watching as the liquid tried to cling to the rim.
//We are what we eat. Is that what you're saying?//
He looked at her for the longest time, an emptiness in his eyes echoing <<fadein 3>>[[inwards->INWARDS]].<</fadein>>
//It's sad.//
Confusion twisted his features. [[A mask of light and shadow->SHADOW]].
//Sad? How so?//
She raised the glass to her lips and took a sip. Placing it back on the table, she watched the liquid settle.
//Doesn't that mean that everything we are is simply borrowed? That we're empty. That we end up empty at the end.//
He placed his hand on the table and waited for her to take it. Closing it with her own, she trapped light in the <<fadein 5>>[[hollow->HOLLOW]].<</fadein>>//Take this wine for instance. Everything about the vine it grew upon has determined the way it tastes.//
He was looking at the contents of his glass almost lovingly. She began to feel that just maybe she had [[judged him too quickly->JUDGED]].
//What about us? Are we stuck on a vine until we're ready to become something more?//
He smiled slightly, an oddly [[crooked thing->ALIGHTING]].
//You could say that. If we're willing.//
The wine seemed to hold an impossible depth. Its heart as dark as the <<fadein 3>>[[abyss->ABYSS]].<</fadein>>//Do you feel that?//
He looked at their hands, their fingers [[weaving an intricate pattern->FINGERS]].
//It's warm.//
She felt his touch [[intensify->LINGERED]], almost as if he too could not let go.
//What if we never have to feel empty again?//
He loosened his grip but did not release her. Instead, he placed his other hand on hers, closing the <<fadein 3>>[[circle->CIRCLE]].<</fadein>>There was a sadness in his eyes. A longing just below the surface. She wondered what might have marked him so deeply.
[[...->SWAMP]]//I don't know if that's possible.//
She could feel her palm steadily growing warmer as if the lines there were trying to [[align with his->LIGHT]].
//Sometimes the only way is to pass our essence on. To share it with someone so that it may be returned to us.//
He let go of her hand. Sitting back in his chair he turned his head towards the furthest reaches of the gathering <<fadein 3>>[[darkness->DARKNESS]].<</fadein>>
//What would you do with my essence?//
There was something mesmerising about the way he seemed to slip out of existence for a moment, as if he'd traveled [[beyond the horizon->BEYOND]].
//I'd show it what eternity looks like.//
The silence between them seemed to swell, [[blooming outwards->SILENCIO]].
//Wouldn't I just be a passenger? Nothing more than a memory?//
He drew in a deep breath, chest expanding as if he wanted to fill the growing <<fadein 3>>[[void->SILENCE]].<</fadein>>
//Our memories tie everything together. They fill the spaces between moments, influencing every choice we make.//
She felt a noise rise up within her. A tidal wave of curiosity threatening to [[sweep her away->AWAY]].
//It sounds like a dream.//
He turned back towards her, eyes glinting like signal-fires along a shoreline long since <<fadein 3>>[[forgotten->ABANDONED]].<</fadein>>//Would you like to see what exists beyond the vine?//
She couldn't look away. His eyes sang in a chorus of voices trapped in rapture.
//I don't want to be alone.//
Something glinted at the corner of her eye. The flash of a fish in a dark river, ever so briefly catching the sun on its side.
Then, just as suddenly, it was gone.
Pulling her into the <<fadein 5>>[[depths->GONE]].<</fadein>>
She couldn't figure out what it was, but she couldn't completely ignore it either. Maybe she'd just been on too many lousy dates lately.
[[...->FIRSTSTEPS]]She had seen this kind of look before. It was the look men gave women they desired. There was something else to it though. Something crawling at the edge of it. Something just out of sight.
[[...->FIRSTSTEPS]]Every date she had been on in the last year had been an utter disaster. It had gotten so bad that she had begun to wonder if the fault didn't lie with her.
Perhaps she had just gotten to used to being by herself. That had to be a thing she thought.
//You seem distracted.//
She was so lost in thought that she almost gave out a little yell at the sound of his voice. Warmth flowed into her face.
//I'm sorry. I was just thinking about the past.//
His eyes moved from hers to the side and she knew that she had begin to blush. She could feel it lighting up her ears as if a distant sun had begun to rise behind them.
Scrambling for a distraction she picked up the little menu in front of her.It was soothing. The more she listened to it, the more she seemed to relax. She reminded herself to be careful. She'd made that mistake before.
[[...->HUNGRY]]The menu was made of what appeared to be parchment. It looked rough to the touch.
[[...->HUNGRY]]She had long since tired of the moves men used to win a woman over. More often than not they sounded just as rehearsed as they no doubt were. The wine was pretty good though, so she'd go along with it for now.
[[...->SECRETS]]
[[...->SWAMP]]The label on the bottle was old, faded. The smell of something she thought she recognised drifted in the air. A hint of cloves perhaps. No, that wasn't it.
[[...->PLEASURE]]
[[...->PLEASURE]]Wrinkles appeared on the sides of his eyes when he smiled. They looked like the feet of a crippled crow, struggling to hold its balance where it perched.
[[...->INWARDS]]There was a deep well of passion within him that she had not noticed at first. Perhaps it was this same passion that she had misread.
[[...->INWARDS]]She was shocked at how different he looked when he frowned. It was as if he were somehow innocent, as if the world's problems were something he could not quite comprehend. It made her want to tell him that everything would be ok.
[[...->ABYSS]]Soft electricity coursed through her. It was as if their hands were the only thing holding the universe together.
[[...->HOLLOW]]It scared her, but at the same time she could feel herself come alive with the strength of the current bristling between them.
[[...->HOLLOW]]The air around them felt thin, almost brittle. It was as if the slightest sound could crack open the world.
[[...->DARKNESS]]She did not know what he saw in that far away line which divided earth from sky. All she knew was that he seemed lost somehow.
[[...->DARKNESS]]She was falling. Plummeting towards the surface of an ocean she could not see.
[[...->SILENCE]]She wondered how closely the experiences etched into their hands mirrored each other, how differently life had carved its mark into them.
[[...->CIRCLE]]<<fadein 4>>[[F I N->THANKYOU]]<</fadein>>Hello, whoever you are.
Thank you so much for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it and that the feeling of it persists, even if just for a moment.
Until we meet again.
[[plym->START]]