[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

[souldeterminant]

It changes things.

Does it, really?

They suppose it does, in some ways. In only one way left that matters. It was once in two ways, two people who held everything in their souls without knowing, two people for whom two LVs walked off the edge for one final time. Reset. All the way down. Back to one.

Just the one.

Sans is gone. Maybe, wherever he went, he can finally be happy now. Maybe he's in a place warmer than this, full of light, and he won't have to think about it anymore. Maybe one day Wade can go there with him. Not for the first time, that ugly, selfish thing twists in Frisk's chest, where they don't acknowledge just how much of it burns them.

Maybe one day that could have been a long tomorrow ago, Frisk could have gone there, too.

But they've already made that decision. And brought their Partner with them.

"I know," they say simply. They watch the little stone tumble in the fire with a wash of ash. "Do you want to do anything about it?"

[achievementhunter]

"...Not yet." No, not yet. It's slipping and falling around them- and perhaps they should have expected this, a cover so full of holes from the very start. It was never meant to last, but then, neither of them were meant to last this long, either.

One or the other has to give. Two down to one. It's just a pity that what breaks first isn't them, the way Frisk had wanted it to be.

The way Chara did as well, of course.

Of course.

"It's inevitable- we may as well allow it to run its own course. And when it does, we shall simply need to face those consequences head on."

[souldeterminant]

One day, they're going to run out of things to give. All they have is each other. They've crafted their world to be so; kid one and kid two.

Striped shirts covered in dust, scattered in a dresser. A trowel sized for children dug into the fringes of a flowerbed. Those things don't make people think that hard. Sometimes kids just grow up.

They don't always just disappear.

"I told Tim something a long time ago. In the castle."

They run their thumb over their knuckles.

"I told him I could choose my consequences."

[achievementhunter]

If it were anyone else, Chara would laugh. Except out of anyone they've ever known, Frisk would come closest to doing just that. Choosing their consequences as simply as flipping a switch, going back to the start. Erasing the cuts from their skin and the exhaustion in their bones whenever it suits them. If Frisk had told them that, Chara would be hard pressed, not to consider them capable of it.

Once upon a time.

"And now?"

[souldeterminant]

They stare into the fire. The silence stretches thin. In some ways, because they always strive to without trying, it feels like they're not even there.

"I don't know."

They don't have the answers to everything. They don't have the answers to anything. They've only done anything in their life because they were afraid, or because they felt like it, or because they wanted to be forgiven. Maybe they climbed a mountain, once; they saved an Underground, once; they met a child and danced patterns into dust, once; they ERASED themself, once.

It was their choice, but maybe they weren't choosing their consequences after all. Maybe they were just doing whatever they wanted.

Maybe they were in control all along.

They don't know.

[achievementhunter]

They don't know.

Chara hums; a tone that shouldn't hold even a fragment of humor, but if the twitch of their lips is any indication, it does. Frisk doesn't know- didn't plan this far ahead, wasn't expecting everything to go wrong. Neither had Chara, but when it had, had they really been all that surprised?

They may be at the epicenter of death, Partner, but they'd hoped to spare you from this. A sense that nothing you do truly matters in the long run, or matters far too much, in ways you never expected or wanted.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

"I don't know, either. But Frisk-


"Despite everything, it is still just you."

And there are consequences to that.

[souldeterminant]

Frisk smiles.

Maybe it's a silly thing to do, after admitting to the person they owe everything that they know nothing. That they have only themself to give, as always, when they've already taken even that away from Chara time and time again. Isn't it ridiculous? Isn't it laughable?

To think that they were free.

They smile, and they don't try to understand why it feels so genuinely easy. Despite everything, it's still just them. Whether that's good or bad or anything else. They're not Kittu, or an anomaly, or a savior, or whatever. They're still just Frisk.

Always, to Chara: just Frisk.

"I want to make something clear, Partner."

[achievementhunter]

They don't judge. For Frisk, at least, they can offer some small sense of reservation that the rest of the world has failed to provide. Their Partner smiles, and they make the effort to not read anything in it- to not assume what feelings it conveys. If Frisk wants to tell them, they will. And if they don't

Here, at least, such feelings cannot harm them. It's the one positive of this dream.

"I'm listening, Partner."

[souldeterminant]

Frisk knows. They let the silence stretch, anyway -- kick their feet through the sand, almost absently. If they were just a little shorter, their feet wouldn't be able to reach the ground. It's weird to think they haven't grown. Haven't LOADED, but haven't grown. Even without their intervention, some things just don't change.

"I'm not playing to win, anymore."

They look into the fire.

"The game is over."

[achievementhunter]

Sounds a lot like giving up. It would be natural, to allow protest to fall from their lips- natural, to meet such sentiment with condescension and a refusal to follow it. There are a lot of things Chara should be doing, but right now, they simply have to wonder how much longer they're expected to do this. To run on fumes, keep listening to that tiny, unyielding piece of themself that refuses to give up.

Their entire being aches with exhaustion. As always, Chara's wish is simply to be done with this, all of it. Something clear to see in the way their body seemingly shrinks, just another small, sullen child staring into the fire.

"Ending it was the point."


But not like this. Never like this.

[souldeterminant]

"There's always a point," Frisk replies. They don't miss a beat this time; the response is undeliberated, a piece of reaction time, something they let go of and don't look behind to see how it fell. They stop kicking their feet. They lean forward, resting their elbows on their knees, their chin into their palms.

"I know I messed it up." I. Frisk. There's no room for debate in their tone, nor a plea for forgiveness. "That's the point. It's not a game anymore. We're not in control. It's not about being an anomaly or finding a happy ending. So I won't look for one."

They shrug. Hair loosed from their bun spills down their shoulder.

"If you can handle that... I'd still want to be your Partner."

1/2

[achievementhunter]

For the first time ever, Chara finds themself glad of something that...usually inspires the opposite. They are glad, for the first time, to not be connected to Frisk's SOUL. Glad, for the silence in their head. Glad, not just for the physical distance, but all the other, usually unnatural distances, as well.

They are glad, because with a conscious attempt to remain expressionless, Frisk will never know how much Chara hates them in this moment.

[achievementhunter]

"Why wouldn't I?" They ask- and every other blistering word they could say remains inside, burning their throat. Why wouldn't they, Partner? After all, you're all they have left.



That's your fault, isn't it?

"I will follow you to the utmost. As always."