Also, in case it wasn't clear, it is not yet supposed to be known what this gimmick is. I feel it would be best kept secret for now.

Though, some of you will no doubt realize pretty quick. ;)

A koala.

You're an impala beastgirl. Your entire tribe is made of herbivores who primarily hunt animal carnivores to sew into shelter and bury in the fields for a better harvest.

In short, your whole tribe is weird and you're pretty sure you're the only one who can see this. Everyone else is too stupid or apathetic to understand what you're saying.

Or maybe they're just staring at your body as a trophy to be won. Well, you're one hell of a trophy, anyway. And you won't share.

>>884848
Yeah this is really interesting.
But make it "A koala, except you don't know what they actually look like."

A headache remedy? I could probably fix one up with some boiled toad and pine needles.

Is that a drawing of a mountain?
Last I remember, your name is Kent, and you're so lethargic that you could fall asleep standing up.

You were about to draw yourself, as a mighty hunter that everyone loves and fears.

Your name is Amare.

Your personality is volatile, tending towards simmering anger and violent outbursts, but you generally manage to avoid hurting those who do not deserve it. You have a charisma that makes people like you despite (or because of) your passionate nature, but you don't find the idea of leadership appealing and prefer to latch on to people who you think have better judgement and self-control than you.

OP 2018/05/17(Thu)22:33 No. 884858 ID: 45105b
File 152662162259.png - (699.19KB , 1003x901 , Logo.png )

>>884848
>>884850
Your name is... Impala. Or you are an Impala? You feel like both could be true. Even though your not sure what an impala is, exactly.
Oddly, you don't really remember having a name up to this point? In fact, as far as you were aware, your name was "child" or "young one" or "unsplit" or other variations of that.
Yeah. That's odd. All the adults in the tribe have names, though thinking back your pretty sure the other children also don't? It seems impractical, now that you think about it. Impractical and odd.

Honestly, a lot of things about your tribe are somewhat odd.

But you can't really take the time to consider it right now, because your headache is WORSE.
SO MUCH WORSE.

You think this is actually the most pain you've ever felt? Wow! What a terrible experience!

You try your hardest to get enough of a grip to go visit the shaman. As much as they are a creepy weirdo, you think you really need help for this.

Before you can do that however, your body involuntary jerks, and you-

Slam your face into the stone wall.
You try your hardest to stop, surely this can't be helping? But you don't quite manage to get your body under control. You don't understand. You begin crying out of your left eye. Not from pain (the hard shell around your head protects you quite nicely) but out of confusion. Why can't you control your body?

Eventually, you stop. Thank god. But not before managing to crack off most of your shell.

...Huh. You actually feel a lot better now. Was that somehow the right thing to do?

You peel the remaining pieces off with your hoof-
Hand?
Your right hoof is a hand. Why? Why???
You look down at yourself.

Your body is normal on one half. The same sort of brown-white fur that, okay actually you don't really remember what your supposed to look like? All you know is that the left half of you is fine.

The right half is not.

The right half of your body has lost all it's fur, revealing a pale green skin. Your right hand and leg now end in and hand and a foot.

You don't know what to make of this shit.

Just then, one of your parents walks in. A majestic purple elk beast. They stare at you, mouth agape.

Shit. How do you explain this? What do you say to them?

Cry for help.

I think I've seen one quest before that had a person whose left and right hemispheres were separated, but nothing with a split in physical form. This sounds interesting.

OP 2018/05/17(Thu)23:57 No. 884865 ID: 45105b
File 152662663827.gif - (866.74KB , 650x650 , d2543361d7d0108d03b8efc1b7cab1035cc7f92a_hq.gif )

>>884861
At this point, your mentally exhausted. You try to come up with an explanation for what just happened, but you have no idea what just happened, and honestly feel a little put out that you're obviously going to be the one who has some explaining to do, rather than someone explaining this bullshit to YOU.

So, you don't think you can be blamed when your explanation basically amounts to crying.

"What's happening to me?!" you cry out.
...No. No you didn't. You didn't say anything. Your mouth was busy screaming and crying. But you definitely just felt your mouth move??? And words came out???

This shocks you enough to stop crying for a moment, and let out a strangled "Huh?"
"What?" says the voice again. Yes, that was definitely-

Yeah. You totally have two mouths now. Okay. You guess that's a thing now.
And it talks by itself...?

"What the hell!" You yelp. "AAAAAAAH!" Screams the other mouth, as you partially lose control of your body again, and have to sort of force yourself steady to keep from falling over.

It's at this point that your dad finally comes over towards you. Both your mouths are freaking out and both your eyes are crying now. Symmetry for the win...?

Your dad sits you down on the bed. The soft furs against your own feels a bit weird, but the other half of your body can feel it just fine. Yay?

"Okay girls, listen up." Begins your dad. "So, some of this you probably have already figured out, but you have finally undergone The Split."

Oh.
OH!
OH OH OH!
Okay this makes sense now.

The split...
Every child looks forward to the day of The Split- The day that you finally get to go on hunting parties, or work in one of the crafting shops, or begin shaman training, or all the other cool things adults are allowed to do!

There's more to it then that though. You always zoned out when people talked about the other aspects of The Split. You SERIOUSLY regret that now. What were you thinking??? Your father has to fill you in on quite a bit.
The split happens randomly. A unsplit gets a headache one day, and begins instinctively removing their shell. As they do this, their body morphs to reflect their true selves.
Partially.
The other half of their body, on the other hand...

Well, basically, the brain splits in two during the split.
The other person is your "sibling". In this case a "sister" apparently, due to you both being girls. But of course, you don't have to put up with her forever. On the day of the solar eclipse, you and her will stand before the village elders, and argue. You will argue for your very existence. For every ideal you represent, for every virtue you hold, for every use of your form.
The elders then pick a favorite. The losers hold over their mind will then be weakened, allowing the winner to easily, and permanently, gain control over their mind.

...What
What.
WHAT?

"So the the loser dies then?" You ask indignantly.

Your dad doesn't respond with anything more than a discomforted look.

He then tells you that it's customary for the new siblings to spend some time alone, and get used to each other. He says to come out when dinner is ready. He leaves the room.

...

"So! My name is Saras!" Your sister says.
"...I'm Impala." You respond.
...

Your pretty sure she isn't going to stop talking and let you come to terms with the fact that your dad basically said you have a 50-50 chance of fucking DYING, and he's apparently okay with that??? But if that's the case, you guess you need to... get to know her?
What do you say?

Go with the truth. Your hit your face and it fell off. Crying is also appropriate.

So we're supposed to get to know each other and then fight to the death. That is nice. Let's be friends.

Say nothing.

Begin fondling yourself affectionately.

Oh! I do get the gimmick.

At least you can be comforted by the fact that it gets worse and never gets better.

More importantly you were first, so don't let this invader act all self-important.

So is your sister a slightly different version of you (different priorities / outlook, same memories?) or is she a whole new person who just appeared whole cloth?

>your dad basically said you have a 50-50 chance of fucking DYING, and he's apparently okay with that???
Realize you have no idea which adults were people who had their body the whole time, or were new siblings who took over their body at the split. For all you know your dad if fine with this because he was his sibling's Saras!

Or less hysterically, every parent has know for years there's a 50-50 chance their child is going to die and be replaced by a new child. And no matter what happens, they're going to lose a child. Your dad's known this pain was coming for years.

>On the day of the solar eclipse, you and her will stand before the village elders, and argue. You will argue for your very existence. For every ideal you represent, for every virtue you hold, for every use of your form.
The elders then pick a favorite. The losers hold over their mind will then be weakened, allowing the winner to easily, and permanently, gain control over their mind.
So... what happens if you bail, and never show up to that meeting?

>get to know her?
So... what are you into, sis?

OP 2018/05/18(Fri)17:47 No. 884982 ID: 45105b
File 152669087064.png - (34.90KB , 1200x1200 , 1200px-Yin_yang_svg.png )

>>884867
>>884876
>>884958
...Your dad used to be two people?
Shit.
Your mom too-
All the adults in your tribe-
You feel your worldview shattering. How is this okay? How is any of this okay? You knew your tribe was screwy at times, but you guess you just... never thought about it enough?

You resolve to be more critical of weird shit in the future, so as to avoid being blindsided like this again.

...Can you just not show up? I mean, you would rather not risk death. And your sister is... Uh... Well, she might turn out to be tolerable-

"So what's with the fur?" She asks in the most destainful voice you've ever heard.

Ah. Yeah, that's a problem. You only achieve your true form after your sibling fades away, right? So if she has her heart set on achieving a body of pale green skin and hands and feet or whatever, this could prove to be a major issue.

"What do you mean? Do you not like it?"

"No."

Ah. A master of tact, your sister.

"I, ah, I see. Well, what do you like?"

"Oh! I like drawing, and mom and dad, and I bet I'm gonna love hunting, and- um... That's it! I think."

...That's not a lot to work with.
You attempt to be friendly.

"I uh, like your form! The pale green, uh, skin is really... uh..."
You fumble for words. You can't actually think of anything nice to say.
"It, uh, reminds me of grass?"
Yeah, what a great compliment jackass. Nevertheless, you can feel your sister start to smile.

The conversation comes to a comfortable lull, giving you more time to brood.

Okay. So. You have options.

You could try to skip out on the elders judgment, though the lack of anyone in your tribe with split personalities indicates that this may not really be a thing? You guess you could ask someone about it, but who?

And if it turns out to be non optional, heck even if it does, what attitude should you take towards your sister in future conversations?

On an official level, the elders are biased based on the demographics of superego and id. And on a clandestine level, the strategic choice is to select the personality with a propensity for obedience, to ensure the majority of tribal citizens are sheep-minded and the only rulers are the ones too intelligent and ruthless to be detected by their previous rulers.

And if you DON'T agree to the voting lobotomy, chances are you'll go mad over time from dis-associative identity disorder on a literal split scale. That, or get eaten by a grue because you can't sync your movement well enough with your sister.

...Well, at least you're not splitting multiple times with hundreds of headvoices...

>How is this okay? How is any of this okay?
Well, a big part of that depends on if anyone had a choice in any of this. Is this something that just happens, or is this something your tribe did to themselves?

>"So what's with the fur?" She asks in the most destainful voice you've ever heard.
Well that's not a fair criticism, it's not like you had a choice, you were born that way! ...right?

>Ah. A master of tact, your sister.
Well she is only 5 minutes old.

>You guess you could ask someone about it, but who?
Not one of the elders, that's for sure. You got anyone who's... sort of a counter culture figure in the tribe?

>what attitude should you take towards your sister in future conversations?
Kind, but honest? Sort of- she's your sister, and you want to accept her, but you're not going to hide the fact that you don't want to die and think the fact that one of you has to die is really messed up.

...and if one of you does die, do you really want the last part of her life to be sad and full of fighting. (If Saras dies that way, that would be the only part of her life). Or to have to live with the only memories of your sister being you being a dick to her.

Uhh, are we really sisters? Dad called us sisters, but dad wants to be on good terms with whoever eats the other. We haven't grown up together, we don't know each other, do we even have anything in common? Are we just two random people stuck together? Or are we actually the same person just... different aspects of them? Do we have the same memories? Does the winner retain everything of the loser?

>>884990
If there is nobody who can be considered countercultural, then that is a massive worry for the selection process. It has nothing to do with our own interests and everything to do with the eder's biases. Maybe we could do the ritual ourselves? Get some sort of better result? Perhaps we could take turns with the body, or become two people, or implant one of our minds into someone we don't like? I don't want to kill a sister I only just met, and dying is even worse!

Try to see if other kids are going through the same thing. Maybe you can gain some insight on the normality of this. Also recently split adults.

Really analyze your parents' personalities. Whoever they are is in some way what the elders look for in a victorious persona. If you can't escape this, that'll come in handy.

I'm torn between Golden rule or treating her in kind. Maybe she'll learn from being treated well, but maybe she'll take advantage. So maybe you should be just as rude or as nice as she is, pointing out that it's only fair. It's too early to say.

OP 2018/05/25(Fri)16:47 No. 886086 ID: 45105b
File 152729207105.png - (3.58KB , 281x180 , download.png )

>>884986
F U C K
Damn it, you didn't like the elders before, but now?
Sure, it's possible that the elders are all perfectly fair beings that actually are qualified to decide who lives and who dies.
It's also possible that a giant pink squirrel will fall from the sky. Doesn't mean it's actually gonna happen.
>>884990
But is she? 5 Minutes old that is? The way your dad explained it, it sounded to you like the split personality thing doesn't so much create a new person, so much as split an old person into two people.
That lines up, you think, with how your acting now. You don't remember being this analytical before- now that you think about it, your pretty sure you were just a full-blown idiot. Or rather, whenever you would try to think about something, you were distracted easily.
Now your thoughts, as terrified as they are, have an unprecedented level of clarity to them.

You feel a twinge of pity for your sister. Is she more like you were before? Or heck, the split might have made her even dumber...

>>884996
You've never heard the words "sister" or "sibling" in any other context. If the words have any other meaning, you don't know them.

...Hm. Someone counter-cultural?

You think over the people in your tribe you know.

Okay, well...

Uh...

You don't really... know anyone very well? Nobody in the tribe has any interest in talking to an unsplit, so you haven't really had many opportunities to socialise. You do know that the forms you see most often seem to prioritise speed and strength, so the elders might be biased toward that.

Your body begins moving. You panic, and lock up your legs.

"Hey, what the heck! Let me move!" Yelps your sister.

"But where are you taking us?"

"Dinner, and to talk to dad. "

"About what?"

"Well I was going to ask how we can just stay in the same body. "

A feeling of relief rushes through you.

"Oh thank goodness. For a moment I was worried I would have to convince you that was the way to go." You explain. "However, I doubt that it's going to be that easy. If it were, dad would have just told us how, rather than doing all this. It is likely that sticking together is against some kind of rule, or drives us insane after a while, or something like that. "

"WHAT?!" She shrieks. "W-B-Wh-whaaat? No way that's true!"

"Then why did dad make it into this sadistic senario?"

"I don't know, but we can ask him!"

And with that, she begins walking again.
You exit your family cave, and trudge over to the center of the village. People busy themselves with the meat, turning it into a variety of dishes.

You ignore them, trying to find your dad, or heck, even your mom.

Aha! There he is. You see his antlers peeking up over the pile of fresh prey.

You run over to him. It seems he's talking to one of the elders. Blade, you think their name was? Their entire body is made of interlocking blades, shifting and swiveling constantly, yet somehow not making noise.

You are immediately terrified. Fuck, what if he just straight up kills you for asking questions? You doubt that, but who can really say?

You run over to your dad. But before you can say anything-

"Oh, Hello Impala, Saras." Says the elder as he notices you. "What do you need young one?"

"I want to talk to my dad." Your sister says.

You turn to face your him.

"So hey, how do we get out of doing the ritual thing?" Says your sister before you can formulate a cautious way of asking.
"Assuming we can?" You add, attempting to minimize damage.

...

"Get out of? Oh dears, that's simply impossible."

"But-" You say.
"But-" Your sister says.

Your dad cuts you both off. "Why would you want to anyway?"

What.
Why would you... want to?
Did he actually just ask that?

"Is that even a real question?" You say, unable to hold the words back, your prior caution forgotten. "I can't believe this. You want us to basically kill each other. Of course we want no part in that. "

Your dad seems shocked. The elder is unreadable.

"But- don't you hate each other?"

...What?

"No?" Your sister says.

...

"Oh, I see." You say. "So I suppose this practice originated from the two halfs not normally getting along then? Well, as you can see, that isn't a problem for us. "

"Give it time." Blade says grimly.

"So it's inevitable then? You continue.

Blade nods his head solemnly.

Your sister gasps.

"I don't believe you. " You say, fury burning in your voice. "Of course you would say that. It only helps you elders, right? Being able to exterminate the half of the population least useful to you. "

"That isn't true-"

"Prove it then. If me and my sister can get along, then let us skip the ceremony. "

A thick silence hangs in the air, as the elder stares at you. You assume so, anyway. You don't really know if any of those swords function as eyes. How does he even talk? He has no mouth...

"...Well? " You ask, desperate for a response.
Blade continues to say nothing.

"Please? " Your sister chimes in.

"...Fine. You will fail, as many others have failed before you. But fine. "

Your face contorts in shock.

The dinner bell rings.

The elder walks off, seemingly done with the conversation.

"I didn't think that would work..." You whisper, dumbfounded.

You guess the elders aren't so bad? He's willing to give you two a chance at least.

You take control, and slowly trudge over to the food table.

The sensation of taste is overwhelming, due to tasting with two tongues. Your sister seems to enjoy it though.

You go to bed.

DAY 1 COMPLETED.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: WARY, BUT FRIENDLY.
DAYS UNTIL ECLIPSE: ??? UNKNOWN.

Alright! Tomorrow is the first day that your finally allowed to leave camp, and help hunt! If you have anything you want to get done tomorrow, or any plans to put in motion, now is the time to discuss it.

>You've never heard the words "sister" or "sibling" in any other context. If the words have any other meaning, you don't know them.
When parents have more than 1 child. It sort of has to happen, or else population will get cut in half every generation.

>Nobody in the tribe has any interest in talking to an unsplit
Geeze being a kid must really suck if people won't even talk to you.

>"...Fine. You will fail, as many others have failed before you. But fine. "
Well, that's confirmation others have tried, at least.

>If you have anything you want to get done tomorrow, or any plans to put in motion, now is the time to discuss it.
If you're going to try and stick together, you're going to need to practice coordination. If you're each only driving half the body, that puts you at a disadvantage compared to everyone who has full control of a body.

You also need to learn a lot very quickly. Yesterday you didn't even know what the split really was, and no one was really talking to you. Today you decided to defy a status quo you barely understand. You need to learn a lot about how things work, and what's been tried before, if you want to succeed.

>You feel a twinge of pity for your sister. Is she more like you were before? Or heck, the split might have made her even dumber...
Careful with that line of thought. Analytical thought has some clear advantages, sure, but there's different kinds of intelligence, and they have different strengths.

They're up to something.

>You will fail
Plausible, even likely. But why is he such a dick about it?

>You've never heard the words "sister" or "sibling" in any other context.
The adults don't socialize with unsplit. Not doing any favors to their fragile psyches, either. They might also have different definitions of parents and siblings as a result of their split-kill culture. Like whelps and hive-mates. Or 'emergency lunch'.

>help hunt
First up: does your sister like hunting? Secondly, what is your basic schedule for tomorrow? Here's a list of stuff you can add-

* Practice different 1h weapons
* Prepare hunter squad equipment
* Observe veteran hunters
* Forage for herbs and poisons
* Hunt an herbivore
* fapfapfap
* Ask about different hunting styles
* Learn to brew poisons
* Clean, cook, and sew from kills
* Build some basic technology

>>886086
>"...Fine. You will fail, as many others have failed before you. But fine. "
So, you two aren't the first. Your dad seems entirely unaware of the possibility, so it's probably before his time, but I'm guessing that the elder has seen this fail multiple times. That doesn't mean that you are doomed, just that you really need to understand how difficult this will be, and try to impress that on your sister. What that means in practical terms is every time you two get heated you need to remember that getting along takes precedence over anything else you want. And that'll have to go both ways.

>If you have anything you want to get done tomorrow, or any plans to put in motion, now is the time to discuss it.
Figure out a method for who takes control, and if there's a way to split control. For the former, a signal like tapping in, so the current controller doesn't instinctively try to resist; and also allow for expressing why one of you is taking charge without getting in the way. Like a smoother version of what you did earlier, where your sister took charge and explained what she was doing, and between the two of you managed exactly what you both wanted.

>>886102
>Careful with that line of thought. Analytical thought has some clear advantages, sure, but there's different kinds of intelligence, and they have different strengths.
Agreed, social and emotional intelligence is important, and until you get to know your sister you can't count her out for either. Clearly she intuited that just confronting your dad was the right choice, whereas analyzing would've left you where you started.

Okay... We seem more analytical, and she seems more impulsive. She is probably better on the hunt and we are probably better at making preparations, but that is terrible time-management. How about she-
-she probably won't like being told what to do, it would be grounds for hostility, especially long-term. Discuss our plans with her and say we hope she is okay with them. Admit that we are going to seem manipulative but we're just scared of getting into a fight that will kill someone, so she just has to ask and we will... not suppress ourselves entirely, but try to reign in our impulse to control and look for a compromise... and, uh, be more fun?

The plan would be for us to make a list of items we'll want while she chooses the big obvious items(main weapon and outfit) to get them just right. On the hunt, we do most of the crafts and observation, like camp-making and tracking, while she focuses on pursuit and attacking, and we take equal turns doing anything we agree is boring. As annoying as it is, we want to get better, so we should watch each other and think of ways to do things better, but don't interrupt each other while we're concentrating unless it is important.

Things we want:
Whatever everyone else has that looks important.
A strapped-bag with a bright mark on one side(to hide or expose as needed) that we can drop quickly and find again later.
Medicine. Straps for covering blistered feet or closing large wounds, soothing ointment if we can get it.
Repairs: tailoring supplies that will fit in one hand and some cloth patches and spare bow-strings or such.
Rope, enough to drag anything we might catch by, maybe four times our height.
Food and water, food kept in a separate container so as not to attract wildlife.
A knife.
A fire-starter and spade.
A signal whistle?