[MU] - DECEMBER STORYTELLING / MEMORY SHARE

[lifeaftr_mods]

Something is wrong.

This may not very well be obvious, at first. The Storyteller is not present to put forth yet another diatribe, informative or apologetic, and the backdrop of guttering flame and sandy campfire is as present as ever...albeit briefly.



Those who tell their stories will start to notice something...odd taking place. Indeed, no matter how they intend to begin their tale, the land of Mu will immediately start to warp to accommodate it, or something utterly unlike it, until storytellers and listeners alike may find themselves in an exact recreation of a seemingly random memory, in the most stark and painstaking of detail. There is no altering the memory, nor is there any preventing it once it's begun to play - you will simply have to witness memories that are not your own this go around.

Furthermore, stories that take place in worlds other than LifeAftr will be, frankly, inevitable. Those memories, too, will be recreated, to be relived by the teller and lived by the listener.

---

It is time, once more, for you to tell a story...with a slight twist! This is, in fact, our first player plot, as provided by Dragon! The initial setting will be familiar for oldcomers, and newcomers will recognize it from the introduction they received in their dreams.

Yet for this Storytelling only, people can imagine whatever stories they wish, from both their homes and their time on LifeAftr, as long as they don't mind the fact that others will be reliving those stories in the form of an impromptu memory share.

Even those who prefer not to voice their stories aloud are not safe this time around. If the memory is recalled in essence, Mu will shift to accommodate it in full.

There is, however, a benefit to this: those who venture memories to be relived will receive both a befuddled apology from the Storyteller, who will assert that this was most definitely not meant to happen (they're the Storyteller, not the Rememberer!), as well as a tired promise that the relived memories will be worth two offerings each, as if in compensation.

Not that it counts for much, probably.

Comments

[ohshitsweetflips]

With all that boiling in his mind it's easy to forget the circumstances here, in the present, outside himself and all his shame. For instance, he forgot other people were privy to this mess, and boy does that not do anything to make him feel less stupid over a bunch of shit that is firmly in the past. For a moment, Taako stares through his tears at the proffered hand like it's some kind of, of accusation.

And it kind of is. Or at the very least, a very concise symbol he can't ignore, a direct contradiction of all his wounded disavowal of the concept of trust. It doesn't make what happened less hurtful, ultimately. The good and bad thing about the past is that as long as people leave your memories the fuck alone it doesn't change. But Ren isn't a waste, or a vulnerability, so his math doesn't quite check out. He takes her hand like someone who does things like that naturally all the time, even though he's already opening his mouth to deny needing anything, ever.

"Didn't even know I remembered that cycle, to be honest. Kind of a dea-- a boring year,” he says, as blasé as someone trying to wipe their eyes surreptitiously can be. “'S fine. Lup's back, anyway. Don't worry about any of the other stuff.”

[catpiper]

The words don't match the look in his eyes-on his face. It doesn't convince her to not worry about it and her eyes stay plastered on his face. Try as he might, the pained expression is hard to wipe away. He might need a spell to convince her he hadn't been crying that whole time. But she's happy, for one, he took her hand. A hand she clutches like he's going to be pulled back into a memory she can't see and she's using every bit of strength to keep him grounded here. It's a thought that disturbs her. Scares her enough to reach for his other hand, so she can hold both, if he lets her.

"It looked lonely," The scenary, the boy, the missing sister. Even in the brief seconds she thought Lu's presence would help, he still fell asleep alone with no one to hold his hand after whatever painful event he had to go through. "But Lup is next to Taako now. You'll wake up soon and she's going to smile at you. That'll make your heart feel better."

[ohshitsweetflips]

Taako lets her take both his hands, and he's a little startled at the strength of it. He's reminded again, inasmuch as he ever lets that comparison rise to the surface of his thoughts, that Ren really does have a wellspring of determination to her. A willpower that manifests itself in holding on to things and people (and life) that he can't help but assume has its foundation in some fear of loss. Is she afraid of losing him? What a dumb thing to be afraid of. Maybe she just hangs on so tightly because it hasn't occurred to her to do anything else. He hopes it stays that way.

He tilts his head--uncertainty? A concession? She's right, even if she's wrong, even if he set her up to be, with his cagey bullshit. Lup's here and fine and that makes him happier than he knows how to really nail the expressing of, anymore. And that's what's really got his stomach in sour knots of humiliation. In the memory, he grieved for Lup; in the memory's shadow he, perhaps selfishly, grieves for himself, and hates it.

Whatever. It's not like he can explain to Ren that he wasted friendship on someone, or that it's nearly impossible to know what someone will do to you if they're able to. Vulnerability, he thinks that one's called. Leaves a real bad aftertaste. Ren doesn't deserve that lesson. Let her be wrong about why he's upset. He'll never have to explain. "It...was only kinda lonely. I still had friends, they just--" Weren't Lup, since she was dead. Weren't Lucretia, memory to the contrary. "Were asleep. No bigs." He meets her eyes on the tail end of this mess of unvoiced hurts and mostly-truths, squeezes her hands in gratitude. "Know what'd really make my heart feel better? Not having to make breakfast. You should tell Lup that, first thing."

[catpiper]

No bigs sets off warning bells for a reason she can't pinpoint. Maybe because it sounds so eerily close to the it's okay she uses, regardless of whether or not it isn't. Because it's easier to dismiss the issue with two words than it is to muster up the voice needed to describe everything that hurts you. It's not a stretch to think that Taako, with all the kindness in his heart, wouldn't want to reach out and say it. That he would resort to a no bigs after realizing she was worried.

Maybe he wants to hide from it too. It's a feeling she can understand and a path she's not going to block off. He can hide with his words and she'll make sure to cover his tracks, if that's what he wants. Because it's easier-because it hurts too much. His face showed it only moments ago, even if his heart doesn't want to share it now. She can't shake the image of how upset he looked at a memory so innocuous and she knows there's something beyond that hurts him.

"I can find breakfast. That's something I can do. You should stay with Lup," That feels important and she can rummage up something from their camp, from the woods, from the bottom of her bag-she's sure of it. She looks down at their joined hands and raises them up, instantly seeing a problem with the silent plan she was about to lay down on this poor fool. It doesn't quite work, so she lets go of one his hands, compensating by vice gripping the one she's still holding, and lets it hover over the bottom half of his ear. "You can hide after you eat-you can do that until your heart is better. You can cover the top and I'll cover the bottom. You won't hear anything and you can shut your eyes."

[ohshitsweetflips]

It's so weird how Ren can be so much like him in her coping strategies and yet such a good person nonetheless. He's big enough to admit that she's both of those things, but he's not going to look into it further. He's too busy, it's unfathomable that Ren has his back this way. Is it fair to say he underestimated her? He didn't estimate her either way, Taako just accepts, that's the foundation of their little jungle society. So it's a surprise and it just says too much about her own life as well as his and he has no way to deal with this, with any of it. Offering to feed and hide him, like the kind of gross wildlife parents never want their kids sneaking home out of misguided compassion. His heart twists like a dishrag and you know what, she's right, he really would like it to feel better.

But not, actually, at her expense, because he's not a contraband shoebox weasel and she doesn't even have parents and definitely doesn't deserve this. He should, he should do something meaningful here, like say words that aren't funny, or hug her? Maybe both of those? Instead of feeling bad about feeling bad in a way that made her feel responsible (bad)? That's a shitty hall of mirrors if he ever saw one. He doesn't, but he'll think of something really cool to do later, instead, that will definitely balance this out.

He clears his throat, a ragged announcement: turns out all of this is also in the past now just like that memory, he's callin it and they're moving on. But it's important that Ren doesn't feel like her help is rejected, he has to make sure, he can't be the cause of any wear and tear on her sincerity. How would she do it? How would she make him feel like he's made some kind of difference? Probably way better than he's about to.

"I'm sure it'll be better when I wake up. Lup will be there, and so will you, and that means," wow he hates this, and he says it anyway, "I won't need to hide." Ren is killing Enso's favorite wizard right now. He looks her in the eye anyway, and doesn't make any gross crying related faces or sounds because he legitimately feels better, if also weirdly in need of a nap, for someone who is already asleep. He sighs, darts a quick glance around, buckles back down to the terrifying labor at hand. "I'm glad I found you rooting around in my backpack, and I'm glad me 'n' Lup decided to keep you. You're a really good kid. And you don't have to find breakfast." NAILED IT.

[catpiper]

It's not a rare occurrence to hear words that are so strikingly unfamiliar, that it takes time to process. Terms are thrown around on this island and she tries to gather the context from the world around her. But she knows all the words he said. The meaning is clear, in one heart stopping second, because of how warm it makes her. It feels like he wrapped her up in his arms and clutched her so tight that she couldn't breathe. It's nice. It's-

Those gentle words come out of his mouth and she can't stop her hands from shaking as she repeats them, over and over. I'm glad me n' Lup decided to keep you. No one's ever been happy to have her around, barring Seto, but that's to be expected from how lonely their broken world was. Even before their world crumbled, sometimes adults would think she was useful, sometimes they didn't. She could tell without hearing their words how they felt about her when they walked into her room. Never happy, though. They never looked at her and thought I'm glad, like Taako does. Out of reflex, she tries to cover part of his ear with a shaky hand and then pulls it away once she realizes, no, he doesn't need to hide.

He doesn't need to hide because she's here. Will be there, for as long as she can, which could end by the next morning. He won't be happy they kept her when she passes away in the night and he has to hide from his memories. He won't be happy they kept her when he understands she's sick. That she's unsuitable. That she shouldn't be there. That he wasted all those kind smiles and soft words on her, instead of someone that might live. Someone who could be there to cover his ears for years.

She look at his face and thinks I want to live so selfishly it jars her into forcing a smile on her face. Forced because she knows he's going to regret every moment spent with her. Regret saying, what might be, the nicest words she's ever heard. And she opens her mouth to speak, hoping a confession falls out, so he can take them back before her secret hurts him, but instead-

"Someone like me-I'm-," It's hard. It's too hard. She doesn't want to die. She doesn't want to leave his side. She wants to watch him cook by the campfire. She wants to see him create incredible things from nothing, to watch the expression on his face when they draw weird animals on houses and hear him laugh with his sister. Her disease is a problem she's unable to hide from, but maybe, for awhile, she can act. She can leave before he finds out why she has a hard time waking up-before she hears him say I wish we hadn't found you and that half-formed plan make the smile on her face become genuine. Softer. "Very lucky. The moon was my favorite thing before, but Taako's dope heart is something I like more. It's prettier than the moon. It's spicy. It's good-it's very good."