[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

[ichininyaanshi]

[Maybe this was -- a mistake.]

[She huddles up next to him, and his arm reflexively goes down around her shoulders, and she's too small to be one of his brothers but too big to be one of his cats, and he doesn't have anything to compare with the nameless, warm feeling that tightens his lungs. Suddenly he's fifteen again, crying into his mom's shoulder. He's sixteen, pushing Osomatsu off and saying he's too old to be touchy-feely with anyone anymore. He's seventeen, and Karamatsu won't let go of his arm, no matter how loud and cruelly he yells.]

[Except something happened, something changed, and here he is now, the adult with the child at his side. Seeking his protection and warmth, just because he offered it to her. For a brief second, he wonders -- is this what it felt like to be his mom, his older brothers, when he wanted and needed them?]

[For the first time, Ichimatsu is floored with what it's like, to want to be someone worth relying on that badly. To have a reason right here. To be able to protect her from loneliness, or ghosts, or the cold.]

[It's embarrassing, super fucking embarrassing, but tears prick the corners of his eyes and he wipes at them with a sleeve, reaching up to ruffle her hair the same way Osomatsu sometimes does his -- but gently.]

Ah? Maybe that's just because I wear a hoodie. You could try it sometime.

[catpiper]

[The contact is nice-she can't help to close her eyes and wonder if that's how it feels when you're a cat and have someone running their fingers over your head. She can see why they purr and purr for attention, in that case. It brings a smile to her face and she doesn't move to fix her hair. That can be her new style, avant garde bedhead.

Unfortunately for her precious cat, she decides that this is a gesture she wants him to experience too. If he lets her, she's going to raise her hands and lightly ruffle his hair. Then begin fixing it into tiny, little braids that won't last, but she's gonna try.]

Sometimes you don't have that thing on-

[He took it off when they played together on the sandy beach for the first time-when the sun got too hot after he took his afternoon cat nap.]

But your pretty heart is still like that. That's how Murasaki-chan is special.

[ichininyaanshi]

[Seeing Ren's reaction gives Ichimatsu a sort of immediate understanding of why Osomatsu likes doing this to him so much. He only has two little brothers, and neither of them exactly jive with this sort of affection: Jyushimatsu is too kinetic, never sits still long enough, and Todomatsu... well, besides being the last person who deserves it, would probably stab him with a phone stylus if he ever tried it.]

[It's not like petting a cat, but it's... nice.]

[He smiles at the turnabout, too, letting her ruffle his hair as much as she wants; she's not as playfully rough as Osomatsu, but that only makes both of them special in their own way. It's when she moves her fingers through his hair and starts winding them into braids that he pauses, the sensation utterly foreign to him.]

[Even without turning his head, though, it doesn't take him long to figure out what she's doing. What else do girls do with someone else's hair?]

[He feels his face redden, and he looks down, busying his hands with the hem of his hoodie. Aside from the times Todomatsu has attacked him with a comb and hair gel, this is definitely new. And sort of... soothing. His impulse is to shake his head at her words -- but he suppresses it, not wanting to interrupt her work.]

...

... can I ask you something, Ren-chan? It-...it's all right if you don't wanna answer.

[catpiper]

[It's because he doesn't shift and shake around that she continues on without a care in the world. The braids are tiny-they won't stay. She has nothing on her person that will keep them from unwinding moments after she finishes, but it doesn't stop her. She continues to play, sometimes stopping to pet the top of his head because he's being so good.

But she's surprised he asks first. There are only a handful of questions she wouldn't answer, less still if they came out of the mouth of a cat.]

You can ask me-I'm good at answering questions now.

[Just accept her responses will be Bad and make no sense and it's good? It's fine.]

[ichininyaanshi]

[She gives him permission without a second thought. Ichimatsu, conversely, is made of nothing but.]

...

When Ren-chan is looking at people. When it comes to someone like Seto, and... someone like me.

['Me' curls on his tongue with disdain. He isn't fast enough to catch himself, so he barrels on instead. What he's trying to ask... he speaks slowly, doing his best to phrase it in her words.]

There's no way Seto's heart looks like mine, right? So what makes a heart 'pretty' to you?

[catpiper]

[It's unexpected because there's no question about it in her mind. An explanation is hard to muster up and she keeps her hands busy by winding stands of hair together, then apart, then twisting them back around instead of hemming and hawing over words she can't figure out. There's a prolonged silence, not because she doesn't want to answer, but because she can't.

All cats have good hearts, but she doesn't recall one as pretty as Ichimatsu's in her world. Maybe that's why it's hard for him to accept it-because he's used to being like all the other cats without truly seeing how exceptional he is among them.

That's how it is isn't the response he wants, even if it's the first thought that comes to mind and-

It had been so easy back then. She didn't need doctors to whisper to her or talk to scientists to see what they truly thought about her. About the project. About their own worries and issues and problems that extended beyond the four walls she was trapped in. It had been easy, but lonely. Easy, but upsetting. Easy, but she never saw one beautiful heart in all her years among those people.]

It's because Murasaki-chan makes it pretty-that's how I can see it that way.

[Without feeling hearts like she used to, distinguishing the true thoughts and feelings of others is hard, but with that difficulty, everything feels genuine. She's forced to place her trust in people, hoping they're honest with their words and seeing their hearts shine how they truly should, without her own interfering in that nonverbal translation.

Murasaki was one of the first to show her how easy it could be to trust people, by being himself. By sitting by her side and making her feel like everything's okay just by his presence alone. He might be a cat, but he's a little bit human too and that part of him helps most of all.]

It glows when you smile and when you say 'hello Ren-chan'. I can tell how pretty you made it when you hold my hand very tight and when you draw pretty pictures on the wall and make treasures out of food. It's pretty because Murasaki-chan is special.

[It's dumb and hard to explain. She's doing her best though.]

That's how it is.

[ichininyaanshi]

[He tilts his head in consternation. It's a reflex, one he would never have done purposely, not if it meant endangering the little braids forming in his hair. Mostly, he's thinking.]

[And it comes to him. With a flash of mild dismay, it settles inside him with perfect clarity. When she says that he makes himself pretty, that he does pretty things, that he's special, the rest of it falls in place, and he realizes exactly why he can never agree with what she says.]

[He just doesn't understand her. It's that simple. He doesn't understand her, someone who grew up truly alone, who doesn't get to eat onigiri often or play baseball. And she doesn't understand him. She doesn't understand that he's just one person among six of exacting failures, who grew up with a perfectly normal life but somehow tripped himself far before the finish line and never bothered getting back up.]

[Something separates them. Something she has that he lacks; something that makes the reverse true, too.]

[And it's better that way.]

[If it's that simple, then he doesn't really have to worry about it. Because it's not going to change. It's not something he's capable of changing, so that means he's free to just accept it. He can accept that Ren is someone he can't fully understand -- so long as it means that she won't ever be able to fully understand him. He wouldn't ever want her to.]

[Even if he doesn't understand the way she sees the world, he understands everything that makes her important to him.]

[So he smiles, nodding placidly, raising the pitch of his voice into one of dramatized wonderment.]

Ahh, so that's how it is. I get it now. Thanks for explaining, Ren-chan. You're great at it.

[catpiper]

[Her explanations leave much to be desired, even Ren knows that, and she doesn't expect people to look at her with understanding when she's asked to justify whatever thoughts and feelings she has.

But cats always get her. Whether they speak in human languages or nyas, they understand. It's why she loves them. It's why she found safety and comfort in their presence-because they understood when she was happy or scared. They didn't need words for it and Murasaki, who she worried wouldn't understand, because for once she has to use words to convey ideas-

He gets it. Like every other cat. Better than the other cats because he's a special one that reminds her with every Ren-chan and good job why she's lucky to have met him. He always makes her feel like she did something right. Something good. A feeling that was completely foreign to her until arriving on the island and one she feels with increasing frequency every passing day. Thanks to him, to the elves, to Guzma, to Kidwun and Drifter-people who look at her with kind smiles and let her drape them in flowers and allow her to catch glimpses of their hearts. She knows it's impossible for her to ever fully put into words what makes their hearts shine in that beautiful, special way that only she can apparently see, but it's enough that Murasaki understands. It makes her beam from ear to ear and- ]

If you don't remember sometimes, that's okay. I'll do a good job explaining it again. I won't let you forget why your heart is pretty.

[She lets her hands drop from the half done braids on his head to his shoulders and if he doesn't move, she's going to bury her face into his back.

He's such a good boy.]

[ichininyaanshi]

[He's sure she won't.]

[He won't forget anyway, because hearing that his heart is pretty is a jigsaw piece he'll never be able to fit inside himself; one that will never lock in, and he'll have to hold it in his hands and carry it with him for as long as it's there. And he knows it's going to be there for a long, long time. For as long as Ren believes it. For as long as...]

[He doesn't mess it up.]

[He's trying hard not to. Probably harder than he's ever tried for anyone in his life. Maybe he'll succeed; maybe he won't; but it must mean something that he wants to do something right for her, this girl who likes cats and gets scared and probably grew up so damn lonely. And this... he doesn't really know how to define it. Ichimatsu has a lot of siblings. But...]

[ ]

[She buries her face into his back, and for all he's never accustomed to anyone's touch outside of his family, Ichimatsu doesn't flinch at all. Jyushimatsu has done this before. So has Todomatsu. And he's done it, too, sought comfort in his sibling's smell, the broadness of them just being there. It's familiar. And Ichimatsu isn't a cat, but he's a brother, and he might resist them sometimes but he comes with his own set of instincts for being one.]

[So he follows them.]

[He leans forward, slowly, just enough to disengage her weight. Then he twists around and pulls her into his side -- if she lets him.]

[He doesn't say anything.]

[catpiper]

[He leans forward and she starts to twist her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, as if that would stop him. As if she could really keep him from moving away. Sometimes cats have to leave-that's how it is. It doesn't stop her from tightening the grip she has on him, for a moment, the same way she would desperately hold onto the stray cats that would want to leave, no matter how lonely she felt.

She doesn't feel lonely now-not with him by her side and knowing he understands her words with a clarity he didn't earlier. But she wants him to stay. Knows he can't stay and lets her fingers loosen in time for him to twist and drag into-

Safety. Warmth. There's a flash of tiny, grateful smile before she hides again, face pressing against the front of his shirt, arms wrapping around his body to keep him in place.

This way, she can hear the beat of his pretty heart.

She can listen to the quiet pounding as she settles into the side of this cat's body. She wants to keep him warm too. Hopes she's managing in a way she knows she can't-knows she can't offer him the same feeling of comfort he's giving her, but she's trying all the same.

He's staying with her and that's all she needs.]