The Tongue Game
UNI
It always starts with a drink.
The game spreads best where the lights are low, and the laughter is loud—old pubs, sticky-floored clubs, backyard garden parties. Somewhere in Derbyshire, someone hears it for the first time:
"Look in a mirror at midnight. Stick out your tongue. If it sticks back first... you win."
They never ask what the prize is.
Uni appears with a blink and a wobble—soft white form, wide black eyes, and a big, red tongue. He’s silly. Childlike. A giggling spirit born of dares, pranks, and half-remembered traditions. He exists where rules are bent for fun, where adults slip into mischief for a moment.
Some say Uni was born from a wedding toast gone wrong, a groom’s nervous reflection pulling a face before he did. Others swear he came from a haunted photo booth in Matlock Bath. The truth doesn’t matter.
What matters is this: he’s real. And he’s watching.
For those who play along—those who dare to mimic him—Uni offers a gift. A feeling like something has been lifted. Embarrassment, shame, maybe even a specific regret you can't quite name. You leave the bathroom lighter. Happier.
But some get cocky. They roll their eyes. They laugh too hard. They stick their tongue out too late—or not at all.
And that’s when the mirror fogs. The light dims. And Uni vanishes.
NOCTI
It always ends in silence.
Nocti doesn’t arrive with laughter. She comes in the quiet that follows, in the reflection that lingers too long. Pale-eyed. Tongue hidden. Expression unreadable.
You don’t call Nocti. You invite her.
Fail the game, and she marks you. Not with pain, not with curses. With truth. Deep, unbearable truth.
Her black form appears in places you don’t expect—reflections in dark windows, the gloss of a phone screen, the back of a spoon. You’ll see her once. Then again. And again. The next time you open your mouth to speak, the wrong words fall out.
Secrets spill. Lies die mid-sentence. You confess things you never meant to say. Things you didn't even know you were hiding.
Nocti is not cruel. But she is merciless.
She is the shadow of the dare. The second player. The consequence.
They say if you meet Uni and Nocti in the same night—and complete the dare without flinching—you’ll gain more than you lose.
But almost no one does.
Most just play the game.
And lose.
