[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

[ishotyouuu]

The naivete of this girl makes him grin despite himself; makes his fingers unconsciously give hers a squeeze. It's the sort of plan a child much younger than her would've come up with, like covering your eyes with the idea that if you couldn't see the person you were hiding from, then they couldn't see you.

"I'm not sure that's gonna work, kiddo," he tells her, as gently as he can. "I ain't no botanist, but I'm pretty sure there's not many six-foot-four, two hundred pound flowers out there in the world. Unless you count Audrey II, I guess."

[catpiper]

First of all, this is a tropical dream island. Things are bigger here-who's to say he can't be a flower? Ren can be stubborn in her own right and if it's for the sake of hiding someone-a gentle person that squeezes her hand and may be hurt from his memories, that's how it's going to be. She's going to protect him.

"You can be the first," She starts off, because this is A Good Plan and until someone a little wiser takes over the plotting, she's going to stick with it. Apparently a giant plant existed under the guise of Audrey II, so using terrible logic and basic math, she quickly tacks on-"You can be Audrey III. That's what I'll tell everyone."

[ishotyouuu]

It seems cruel to denounce her idea any further, not when she's so bound and determined to help him out of this dream. Wade nods, making a show of looking this way and that as if worried someone might overhear them.

"Might have a better chance of hiding if we duck into one of the rooms down the hall," he tells her, his voice low as if to prevent anyone from listening in. "Then we can both pretend to be flowers, yeah? It'll probably be easier if you're there with me-- you'd make a prettier flower than I ever could."

[catpiper]

The compliment that reaches her ears while she desperately tries to reformulate and create new plant based plans-it's one that makes her fingers twitch in his hand, surprise showing on her face because again-

A kind heart, she's finding, is a quality shared by many she's met on the island. People who say things like you'd make a prettier flower, as if it were nothing. As if it's normal to say that to someone like her. As if they don't understand that she's going to hold that in her heart for months to come, repeating it to herself when she's sad, because there are people out there who see something pretty in her.

She studies the mask covering his face, trying to see what his expression might be underneath it, before realizing it doesn't matter at all. The sound of his voice, the way he feels at the end of all this-that's what matters.

She has to keep him safe, because he's like her-because he's better than her.

"Okay," She begins in a low voice of her own, following his sneaky plan lead. "We'll stay together. We can be a pretty field of Audreys in that room-we'll shut our eyes and pretend for a long time. You'll feel better if we do that. You won't feel lonely."

[ishotyouuu]

He can't account for the surprised look on the young girl's face, as if she had never been complimented in such a way before. She's a stranger and thus unknown to him, so unfortunately his thought processes are less "she must not be complimented all that much" and more "shit, I hope that wasn't creepy". She doesn't seem to be uncomfortable around him, however-- doesn't let go of his hand, in any case, giving it a squeeze as if he's the one who needs comfort right now.

You won't feel lonely.

That's a laugh, and indeed Wade feels a dark and cynical part of him snicker at the sentiment. There hasn't been a time when he hasn't felt lonely. Those three years in Haven had done well to trick him into thinking that this was it, that despite all the horror and desolation he'd be exposed to, he could survive it as long as he had steadfast and loyal friends at his side.

"Fool me once, shame on you", as the saying went.

But there's no reason to disillusion the girl any more than she probably already is. Wade is not so heartless as to darken a child's outlook with his cynicism, especially not now that she's borne witness to one of the more horrible memories of his extended life. Wade merely offers her a fleeting smile, nodding and pressing a finger to her lips to indicate that she should be quiet, and begins to gently lead her across the room to the door across the way.