Welcome to Smilie Time Theatre!

Can you tell a story using only smilies? Can you decipher a story that was written in only smilies? Well, those are the questions that this thread will attempt to answer. If you feel like writing a smilie-only story, go ahead and post one! If you want to try to guess the meaning of an already-posted smilie-only story, go ahead and post a synopsis on it. Or, if you feel particularly inspired, go ahead and write out portions of it or the entire thing.

Have fun!

I'll get us started:

The pitchfork mob made me think of Thorneau, but I can't recall a piece where the Queen or another ruling figure was so much in the forefront. Then I thought about Ariva, with the wall and all, but I'm still missing something...

Oh, sorry, I did not mean this as a reference to a specific M:EM or MTG story. It's just a random story I wrote using just smilies. I suppose I shouldn't have used the word "decipher." I more just meant "What do you think is happening in this story" kind of thing.

Such wit and beauty. It's not the words he writes, but rather the ones he doesn't.
And man, that third act twist...

~shrug~

Just thought I'd try something new, try to get a conversation started.

Man, I wasn't trying to be crappy about it, just trying to get a laugh.
I respect what you're trying to do.

It's fine. This thread is not exactly high literature or anything.

It made me think of this: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-01-23

Very nice. I like that a lot. And I certainly see the connection between the two (although their ending is far more poignant than mine).

For the record, I get what you're doing here, but I can't really get behind it.

It's all to do with my own hook-ups, though, so I didn't think it worth me commenting on it, and certainly not launching into one of my usual expository tirades.

Understandable. Well, thanks for stopping by, regardless.

I think one of things that makes deciphering a smiley story rather hard is not knowing which, in a sequence, are related to the same "side", or like, which parts are some sort of dialectic with every other smiley belonging to the same character or faction. Which allows for multiple interpretation, which can be a good thing, but it's the kind of thing that makes my mind go blank at the Aubedore prompts of the Plot Generator

In your example, I'm pretty sure a ruler gets stroppy at a subject for a perceived misbehavior, and revolution follows. I think the middle part described some idea the rebels come up with to win during a gathering, but buggered if I know what the stratagem could be. Some magical wall, perhaps? I think my mind is led to try and find the True Answer rather than come up with my own interpretation and then compare notes...

I think your read on this was pretty much what mine was. Basically, every new line is like a camera cut. So it starts with a ruler who is being praised, but then one of the praisers, probably a peasant of some sort, seems to pose a question or want to say something, which displeases the ruler, eventually leading to that peasant's imprisonment or death. This leads to the peasants getting understandably upset and forming a mob, which attacks the guards. The fight is even until, as you say, somebody comes up with a strategy, which I envision as someone "running away" to lead the soldiers after them, but then running into a wall (literal or symbolic) at which point the mob closes in around them. The mob then goes after the ruler and, as you would suspect, kills them.

But yeah, that's just my reading. Thanks for giving yours!