[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

A

[unpurify]

[A child hides under a bed, from something that wasn't yet going to happen to them but they were aware of. Doctors announcing the time of death in clipped, clinical tones because to everyone involved it was an everyday occurrence. Nothing unusual. They were just down to one child and a project that may have just been a complete waste of time.

Maybe it's due to the fact that the Batter is viewing this from Ren's perspective but he can feel the bitter resentment. The idea that someone's death could be sorted away in this manner would be unthinkable to someone normal but to the Batter it was something he understood, in a way. He didn't care about the death that had followed him like a very persistent cat.

Judged and won. "The switch is now on OFF."

A set of...no, never mind.

The Batter isn't going to think too hard about this unless he has to, for the moment. Instead he'll look for Ren. He'll be unable to offer comfort, he knows. He wasn't made to entertain and help children. The Batter was the last person to try this.

But he's here nonetheless. It's up to Ren, however, if she wants him to stay.]

[catpiper]

[She doesn't know how to react to the memory. It's a thought that passes through her mind on occasion when she hides because that's where it started. Not when ghosts and malicious thoughts formed in her world, but when flickers of white would appear in her vision and she feared those jackets more than any spirit.

But she doesn't act afraid now. Doesn't see anything wrong with the image in front of her because it was normal. Growing up around death, knowing you were going to die, and surrounded by others who placed jealousy and blame on the man who started the project over worrying about how to save a few dying tools.

It doesn't stop her from tugging at the fringe of her jacket, knowing she still wears the medical gown after all these years. They said to wear it. It made it easier, faster, to put marks on her body and run tests without sleeves to roll up or having to change.

The Batter doesn't ask her about it and she's grateful. There's not one question she wants to answer about this place. Not one piece of this life she wants to recall.

But she does want to sit by him and moves to do so. His presence is a small reminder that it's a life she doesn't have to live anymore.]

[unpurify]

[The Batter is the last person that should be here and he knows it. Prior to this he only knew one child, his creator. Hugo. And maybe they didn't know each other all that well to begin with. Consumed by the darkness of a sickness the Batter couldn't fix besides

"From now on, there will be no more darkness."

...besides that. Maybe this was a situation where he should smile but the Batter can't bring himself to do it again. Maybe he should ask why she was there and why the emotions effected her far more then what those in the lab coats would do. Perhaps that was a similarity between the two of them.

That the emotions of others were more effective ways of hurting them, a child far too tuned into them and a man beginning to understand just what was going on his mind.

Blood and cuts heal. Those don't.

He can't think of anything he could do besides let her simply sit beside him quietly. So, as always, the Batter simply asks.]

I do not know what to do in this situation.

[He's not Seto. He never will be.]

But if there is something, I will try.

[catpiper]

[There's nothing to do about it. The memory came and went, showing a glimpse of a life that had passed long ago. It doesn't hurt her-nothing in that world can and reliving it does little more than make palms sweat. That's where she grew up. Playing, hiding and watching other children meet a fate they didn't deserve-it was all normal.

She hates that place.

But it's not her place anymore. She lives here, on an island, surrounded by kind people who don't wear lab coats. Who don't treat her like a tool, but as a friend. As-

His offer is a testament to that.]

It's okay.

[He's letting her sit by his side and that's enough.]

This is all I want to do.

[unpurify]

[He really is a puppet when he's not a monster.

When he smiled, the Batter had been mimicking what he had seen others do and applied it. Smiling made people happy so the purifier did it. And people operated puppets to express a story in a way movies and comic books couldn't.

The only solace to be found was that it was something the Batter did under his own power. He made an effort to try. But before it was normal to not try at all. He continued despite staying in one spot.

Both of their 'normal's were strange. But that's to be expected.]

Then stay.

[The Batter won't drag answers out of her if she does not want to give them.]

[catpiper]

[She's grateful.

This normal occurrence isn't a bad memory. It's shockingly neutral. It doesn't bother her more than memories of scavenging for food in destroyed cabinets or sleeping on the cold ground in a lonely world.

But stay she will. Because she no longer has a bed to hide under when her heart starts to race, but there's a guy that will let her stay by his side. It's better than hiding and she feels stronger because of it. Thanks, Batterbean.]

Okay.