Five people have not left their homes for over a year, for some of them it has been much longer. Having bonded over the internet they think they understand each other better than anyone outside their circumstances ever could. One of them has mysteriously vanished, leaving behind only cryptic clues. The authorities don’t seem interested. These are the only people who seem to care that Kevin is gone. The only ones who can or will do something about it.
Their objective is:
- Find out what happened to Kevin Washington (at 0% they’ve only just started).
Sharon Payton was once a promising athlete pegged as an underdog hopeful for the 2012 London Olympic Pentathlon. An elderly driver in a Honda put an end to that: shattering her pelvis, fracturing her skull, both legs and her left wrist and elbow. After twelve weeks in traction she could walk again but her Olympic dreams were over. To cope she exaggerates the extent of her injuries, refusing to leave her flat and seeking validation from people who don’t directly know or can seriously question her, which led her to the others.
In spite of her condition Sharon still compulsively eats a strict diet and sticks to a rigorous callisthenics regime, her sparse and hard musculature stretched a taut over a lanky frame. She is unhealthily sensitive about her face since the accident, fussing over subtle, imaginary deformations. This sensitivity makes her caustic about other’s weaknesses (especially if tested on her own) but she tries to keep a lid on it after an early outburst put her on the outs with the rest of the cabal.
Sharon considers the younger Sonja her protege, admires Jason’s practical smarts enough to see him as a mentor but has never really gelled with Araki. Kevin is her favourite, her attachment to him isn’t romantic but he never fails to brighten her day. Her sister was the one who made sure she got groceries and tried to patiently coax her back into the land of the living but Sharon has completely neglected her side of that relationship.
Jason Skaggs was always heavy. Ostracised for his weight as a child the problem compounded itself as his anxiety and negative parental influence on his relationship with food made the problem worse, coping with compulsive overeating. Jason has found refuge in computers and the internet, an arena in which his physical issues aren’t an impediment. As an adult he now runs several BBSs from his backyard cottage, getting by on the money he receives from the subscription services they offer.
Jason is a staggeringly large (in both width and height) man with unruly dark hair, a smooth, jowled face and coke-bottle glasses. He wheezes as the result of his excessive weight and is loath to admit that he walks with the aid of a cane. He’s generally soft-spoken and reasonable but gets priggish and bombastic once he’s wound up.
He adores Sonja (his favourite) in a way he understands is unhealthy enough to keep his infatuation under wraps and thinks of (his guru) Araki’s musings as deep wisdom out of a combination of racism and appreciation of their simplicity. Jason never really forgave Sharon for some of the cruel things she has said to him but he respects her enough to be civil. Kevin is his protege, the man may have a better way with people than Jason but he needs him to understand that knowledge is just as important.
Sonja Little loves to be fawned over but has extreme social anxiety: products of an upbringing as an only child highlighted by ping-ponging parental ambivalence and isolation from her peers caused by constant relocation. To cope Sonja has developed an unhealthy relationship with social media exacerbated by her financial dependence on work as an Instagram influencer, where she projects an entirely false image of her life. It’s more than just a job to her. It is both her personal kingdom and a suffocating web of parasocial interaction that she has deliberately snared herself within.
Sonja is pretty in a manufactured sort of way: blonde, blue-eyed and good enough with a makeup brush and some judicious photoshop to calculatedly appeal to the jaded and unfortunately prurient interests of her fanbase. She belabours her whole cutesy act as a way to keep a barrier between herself and others, even to her friends. She’s been doing it so long she’s not entirely sure who she’d be without it.
Sharon is her favourite, Sonja always dreamed of having a big sister and never gets tired of hearing her stories of travelling and former glory. She thinks of Araki as a pet project and her very own personal ESL student, relegating him to responsibility. Her relationship with Jason is more tenuous, she doesn’t feel comfortable with overtures he made towards her early on but he hasn’t repeated them. Kevin is her mentor, when they all share their problems he is the one with the most concrete solutions.
Araki Tashima is a 48-year old hikikomori who lives with his widowed mother. Crushed by decades of isolation and unemployment Araki sees the outside world as a distant fantasy, beautiful and fascinating but forever out of reach. Even tentative exploration via the internet is a rare bravery in comparison to the months and years of mute existence that preceded it. It is his window to the world and he treasures the friends he has made through it more than he would ever dare tell them.
A shaggy-haired and unshaven middle-aged Japanese man, Araki has forgotten many of the tenets of basic hygiene. His mother hasn’t complained. He is earnest and forthright in a way that the others find insightful in a very down to earth way, which embarrasses him. His English is functional but stilted and he’s prone to malapropisms.
Jason is Araki’s favourite, he admires the man’s technical skills to the point of hero-worship that doesn’t entirely cross the language barrier. Conversely he has no real connection to Sharon outside of the rest of the group and is bashful towards Sonja, shying from her attentions which makes Jason jealous to no end. Kevin is his guru, he is the one that always made Araki feel the most welcome.
And their missing friend:
Kevin Washington, Agent of Renunciation for the Room of Drowned Stagnation, is a failure and a liar. He always was a failure - by bad luck and self-sabotage - but it’s this place that turned him into a liar. These people aren’t really his friends. He cares about them but he hasn’t done what’s right for them. He wants them out of the Room they’ve been unknowingly trapped in for years, because he’s responsible for it and it's killing him.
Growing up Kevin was always “the smart kid”, always destined to do something big with his life. Everyone told him so. Unfortunately like a lot of gifted kids he coasted on praise and intelligence developing bad habits which made him lazy. Combined with a lack of direction he would abandon pursuits when they didn’t go his way and tell himself that he just hadn’t figured out what he wanted yet. Eventually he ended up with nothing and it broke him. He spent six months locked in his apartment before the Room of Drowned Stagnation claimed him.
When it was done with him he chose to stay on as a caretaker. He controls the environment of the Room, which mimics the inhabitant's original surroundings, catering to their needs and figuring out exactly what push they will need to restart their lives. Unfortunately the new purpose that the Room gave him did not erase a lifetime of bad habits and he has been lax in his duties. It doesn’t help that the passage of time works differently here but he’s dithered so much that multiple inhabitants have piled up in a Room only meant for one. He’s become attached to them. He’s gone native.
The Room is breaking down. Holes are appearing in the facade and it’s only a matter of time before the entire thing collapses. A week ago Kevin woke up to find chunks of his right hand and arm were missing, the remains hollow, charred and shiny like burned away celluloid film. He has faked his disappearance in a desperate attempt to jar the others loose, he hopes they can forgive him for what he has done.
The Room has the following revelations to offer:
- Sharon has driven away the only family who cared about her. She hasn’t even noticed that it has been almost 6 years since she entered, 6 years since her sister stopped by to check on her. What if she could reconnect and discover a new purpose?
- Jason has been in the Room since 1993 and doesn’t realise the time he has lost. 26 years spent in isolation, a lifetime unlived. What if he could start anew?
- Sonja has rationalised away offers of employment that would see her travel the world, something she would dearly love but is too terrified to do. What if she took the chance?
- Araki, the Room’s most recent claim, is avoiding admitting to himself that his mother is dead. He found her lying on the kitchen floor one morning and he hasn’t been back into that part of the house since. What if he could have done something?
The Room offers no chance of actually fixing these things out in the real world, but dangles the illusion of agency to shatter self-imposed restrictions and prepare occupants for their expulsion. If an occupant seizes and realises this chance their mental bonds are broken, erasing all notches on the Helplessness and Isolation gauges. Thereafter if they consider returning to their old ways the thought coerces the relevant gauge with their old hardened rank unless they dismiss the idea. If it doesn't work the Room floods with stagnant water and resets for another run.
That’s how it’s supposed to go. However the illusions are running together in the cramped, crumbling space. The cabal might not have to face their demons alone but they may find themselves fighting each other’s. Finding that in the very next room are people they thought were a world away. Finding that one of their closest friends has been orchestrating their lives for years. That perhaps even this is an attempt by the Room to dislodge someone on the path of life avoided. That one of them might have the chance to replace him.
A full write up of the Room of Drowned Stagnation can be found here.
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