[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

Goro Akechi | OTA | Heavy spoilers in all memories

[raygunner]

[raygunner]

I smell the blood of a petty little coward

Let him in.

[ The voice is muffled behind an office door. Akechi waits patiently, dressed in a tan coat and holding a silver briefcase. He looks younger, face softer, his stance and body language only a little less self-confident. As he waits, he fidgets with the clasp of his briefcase. He looks almost worried, unsure.

A woman walks over, heels clicking on the floor—she's an assistant, and she regards Akechi with something close to disdain as she opens the door. Akechi walks in, and the door silently closes behind him.

Sitting behind a desk, papers neatly organized on the surface, is a bald man with a goatee and orange-tinted glasses. He's reading a piece of paper, and it's several moments before he deigns to lower it and regard Akechi with something close to disinterest. Akechi smiles politely, and waits. ]

How can I help you?

I understand you have big plans for this country. [ The man raises an eyebrow, but he doesn't stop Akechi. ] I have skills that can be very useful, Shido-san.

And what could a fifteen-year-old possibly offer me?

[ The memory fades, in and out of other ones. Akechi, face hidden by a black mask, using Loki to murder people inside the Metaverse... And weaved in and out of the memories is a distinct feeling: hatred. ]

[raygunner]

If I could kill you I would

[ The elevator doors open into a hallway.

Akechi walks with purpose. There's tension in the air, mingled with excitement. He stops outside a room guarded by a policeman, and gives a polite and restrained, if nervous, smile. It doesn't match the confident way he holds himself. ]

May I ask that you accompany me? Going in unarmed to interrogate a murderer makes me uncomfortable…

[ The guard nods, and Akechi's smile grows. The guard opens the door, and they step inside. Sitting, beaten and drugged, is Akira Kurusu. He looks like hell, and he sits slumped slightly forward. At the corner of the table, the guard stops, back turned to Akechi. It's a mistake: Akechi is lightning-fast as he grabs the gun from the guard and holds it at him. ]

What're you—

[ Akechi pulls the trigger. The guard falls, dead. Akechi watches, detached, and Akira's suddenly sitting up straighter. ]

I owe you for all of this... Thanks. [ He doesn't look at Akira as he speaks. The excitement in the air grows. There's no remorse, none. ] That's right. You and your little friends were vital to our plan. And now, it will be completed. [ He finally looks at Akira, expression blank. ] Your popularity truly was quite stunning. That just made using you all the more worthwhile...

[ He adjusts his gloves and turns to fully face Akira. ]

Have you finally pieced it all together? [ He walks closer to Akira, whose eyes are wide but whose mouth is shut. Shock, maybe. Fear, he hopes. Akechi turns the gun on Akira.

And he smiles. It looks wrong, it doesn't meet his eyes. The best word for it is... deranged. Unhinged. ]

Case closed... This is how your “justice” ends. [ His finger tightens on the trigger... And he pulls it. Blood pours down Akira's face, and his eyes are wide still. He falls onto the table, motionless.

Akira Kurusu is dead. ]

[bloodyashes]

[Asch watches, and as the memory fades away, he's like the smallest looming specter of death over 'Akira''s right shoulder. The hair over his shoulders is, in the cell lighting, almost impossible to tell from blood, itself.

And then the cell is gone, and there's just the two of them. Asch's eyes are still on the place where the body slumped forward in its seat.]

Probably for the better that I never much liked guns.

[raygunner]

[ Ah. There he is. Akechi turns to Asch, and one eyebrow's raised. ]

Really? I find them terribly useful.

[ haha it's joke ]

[bloodyashes]

That's exactly why. In retrospect, if I'd shot Luke, things would have been a lot worse.

[Though if he'd gotten the chance to shoot Van, some things would have been a lot easier. Some things.]

[raygunner]

It would have complicated matters to the point where the situation would have been impossible to salvage?

[bloodyashes]

[The admission is slow, and grudging, but - ]

Either of us alone wouldn't have been enough. And he managed the political side better than I could have, because he still had the ability to smile and make friends, even after everything.

[raygunner]

Politics, is it? I suppose there are some things that are constant throughout all worlds.

[bloodyashes]

It's kind of an inescapable thing when you're trying to prevent international war.

[raygunner]

Karma's gonna come collect your debt

[ The atmosphere here is different. It's cold and wrong, and things don't seem real. Not completely. For one, only cosplayers dress like the people in this memory. Looking at them from above, it's not really possible to distinguish who's who... but there's a familiar, messy head of black hair. Akechi watches, and waits until Kurusu turns around.

He jumps down, and even Akechi's dressed differently. He's dressed like... well. A prince, with a tengu-like red mask. ]

Long time no see.

[ The memory proceeds--the Thieves fight his psychotic shadows, courtesy of Loki and his Desperation skill. They fight hard, and suddenly, Akechi's on his knees. The others look... tired. Worn out. But determined. Their resolve pisses him off, and Akechi wants to... ]

I'll kill you... You're all gonna die...! [ he snarls, bitter hatred coating every syllable he spits out.

The blonde, pigtailed girl in red speaks up, ] Will you please stop?! You're fighting the wrong people! We both hate the same guy! Why do we have to go against each other?!

[ He isn't listening. He can't. His rage is roaring inside his head, and the memory is... confused. Akechi doesn't want to listen. If he listens-- ]

You don't hate Joker, do you?

[ It makes him angry. Worse than angry. He wants to destroy them, utterly and completely. ]

Why am I inferior to you...?! I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so someone would want me around! I am an ace detective… a celebrity! But you... you're just some criminal trash living in an attic! So how...?! How does someone like you have things I don't?! How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me?!

Look inside yourself, [ Akira says, and that anger and hatred and sense of worthlessness threatens to explode. ]

Don't give me that cliché bullshit!

[ Akechi grips his head for a moment. And it's just a moment, but his appearance changes: from prince to assassin clad in black.

The memory shifts again, a blur. They're trying to get him to stop, but he can't. He doesn't want to, not when he's so close and they've fucked him over so, so thoroughly. They deserve to suffer. Akechi's expression is twisted behind his mask, and he's grinning in a way that doesn't look quite right. Somehow, though... it fits. It fits him in his rage and despair. ]

Justice? Righteous? Keep that shit to yourselves! You and your teammates piss me off! You're going down... I'll destroy you! Go down with me!

[ He's laughing, laughing, and it's raw and absolutely insane. In other words: Goro Akechi has lost it. ]

Now! Let's see you drop dead one at a time, in front of your precious friends! I will kill you! Destroy you! Crush you...!

[ The memory ends there. ]

[shineinside]

[ As the memory plays out, gears turn in Yuka's head. Puzzle pieces sifting into place.

"I wouldn't be as presumptuous as to say I thought I knew him better but... I wanted to get through to him. Kinda hoped I could, but it was impossible."

This is him, isn't it? ]

...Excuse me, I... I think you're someone I've been trying to find for a while.

[raygunner]

[ Needless to say, he's incredibly displeased that his memories are being on full display. Livid, in fact. What the hell kind of place is this?

When he registers that Yuka is talking, he turns to her, and there's... there's no expression. Akechi watches her, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why. ]

You've talked to Kurusu, have you?

[shineinside]

[ Of course he'd be able to figure that much out. No point in denying it, she nods. ]

He wouldn't tell me much about you, but I think... we might be similar to each other.

[raygunner]

[ Possibly, she's expecting him to receive her warmly... but instead, it just makes him mad. ]

Really? And why do you say that?

[ His voice is calm, quiet. Dangerously so, because his hands are shaking a little. ]

[shineinside]

[ Yuka freezes at that response. She wasn't sure what to expect, but even then, this feels like an extreme reaction. So, she pauses to choose her words carefully. ]

...Because... I also tried to change the world. And I was willing to go to lengths that most people wouldn't understand in order to do it.

[raygunner]

"Tried to change the world"...

[ Is that what she thinks. Akechi watches her carefully. ]

I suppose he told you that's what I tried to do. In reality, it's quite wrong.

[ Normally he wouldn't divulge anything like this. It's reckless and stupid and his image would be tanked. But with these memories, it's been done already. So why not continue on? ]

The only goal I had in mind was to see a single person suffer.

[shineinside]

To see someone... suffer...?

[ Even after seeing that memory, she thought she had the right idea. Was she mistaken from the start? ]

So that was all... what, for revenge?

[raygunner]

Yes, you're absolutely correct.

[ He smiles, but it looks... wrong. ]

Don't be mistaken, though. Kurusu wasn't the one I truly wanted to see crash and burn.

[shineinside]

...Who was it?

[ She isn't sure if that question has an answer that would make her trust him more, but Kurusu definitely would have been her first guess. ]

[raygunner]

Do you really want to know? The truth might shock you.

[shineinside]

[ What could be so shocking that it would be disturbing even if they're from different worlds...? ]

...If you feel like you've already revealed too much, I won't pry further, but otherwise, go ahead.