[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

The Fall: Scattered Rays, Cast Adrift (Warnings for mention of Character Death)

[shatteredlenses]

I've always risen in time to greet the dawn much to the dismay of my fellows. It surprises most how accurate my internal clock is on even just an hour or two of sleep. Perhaps deep down, the part of my soul that was connected to fate and knew the results of the paths I tread before I did, realized there were only so many dawns I would see before darkness became my world and was determined that I not miss a one.

Maybe it was just that, like so many other things in my life, the dawn called to me.

That morning in Galdin Quay was no different than any other. I awoke before the others ready to greet the dawn and start a new day. Hopefully, one that would finally see us on our way to Altissia. Instead, I stepped into a world that was irrevocably different than the one I stepped out of the night before.

I knew something was wrong the moment I saw Coctura standing at the Mother of Pearl's bar. Her body language was completely different than it had been the night before when we talked of recipes and cooking. When she looked in my direction, I didn't miss the way her eyes widened and her skin paled. Beside her, the normally relaxed Dino was tense in a way I didn't even think was possible given the reporter's laid back--and frankly frustrating-demeanor. A newspaper lay on the bar between them, one Coctura actually made a motion to pull away as I approached.

Perhaps there was something in Dino's nature as a reporter that didn't let him abide by news being kept from someone, because he gave Coctura a look that had her aborting her action immediately. As soon as the paper was laid flat again, I understood the reasons behind their strange behavior and I dearly wished I didn't.

I could live in darkness for a million years and I'll never forget the headline splashed across the front of the paper. We'd left on our way to a wedding and celebrating a treaty; I woke that morning to news of a massacre.

Insomnia Falls. All it took were those two words to bring the world to a halt around me. I couldn't hear the waves any longer and the gulls were no more than soundless travelers on the breeze. Breeze, I no longer felt as it pulled at the paper. I still don't remember picking it up, but it somehow made its way into my hands because when I finally came back to myself, it was in the seat next to me as I tore the Regalia from her sleep in a blind rush to find...

I don't even know what I hoped to find when I set out that morning. The radio only confirmed the words on the page and the stark pictures that they wrapped around. I wanted nothing more than to turn it off, but I knew silence would be worse than hearing the words over and over again.

Insomnia Falls. Her court fallen with her. My uncle...

No, more importantly, the King and with him, no doubt, his Shield. Noctis' father. Gladio's father. Our home.

Gone. Just like that...

I...knew I couldn't be gone long. A couple of hours at the most and Gladio and Prompto would be up as well. Two hours if I was lucky. Just enough time to check a few of the places we passed on the way here. There had to be more. There had to be something.

Only this time, there wasn't. My search only lead me back to the place I'd started. There was no miracle. No hidden source to assure me it was all a lie. Some ruse put together, some trick...

A trick. I remember feeling like I'd been hit by a truck when I realized there was a trick, but the trick was not the one I hoped for. Tears I had no strength to fight back slide down my face as collapsed forward over the steering wheel.

He knew! The King knew the treaty was a lie. Which meant Clarus knew. Which meant...

For the second time that day, everything around me stopped. I knew I needed to get moving. I needed to catch the others before they left the room. I needed to pull myself together and make sure they weren't hit with the shock as hard as I was. I needed... I needed...

I don't know how long passed, but I was finally jolted out of my tear-filled daze by the sound of someone rapping on the car window. I half expected it to be Gladio or perhaps Prompto trying to find where I'd disappeared to, but to my surprise--and I must admit, relief--it was Dino of all people. I took a deep breath to push away the tears, gesturing to let him know I would be out in a moment. There was only so much I could do to straighten myself up, but I went through the motions anyway. It was strangely calming, the routine of it. Wipe my face--though it would do nothing for the redness of my eyes. Clean my glasses, before fitting them back into place. Taking another deep breath before stepping out of the car, newspaper in hand, shirt brushed free of wrinkles, braced for Dino's energetic words to come crashing over me.

He surprised me then, this odd man who'd sent us running on a fetch mission the day before in hopes of getting on the ferry today. His hand found its way to my shoulder and just stayed there, a look of understanding in his eyes that I never would have expected to see there.

Why the understanding? It took me a moment to realize and my eyes attempted to betray me again by growing wet when the understanding came home.

Being the bearer of bad news. He was a reporter. Of course, he knew how it felt. News couldn't be hidden. Truth had to be told.

No matter how much it hurt.

I took a deep breath then knowing I couldn't linger any longer. A quick nod of my head was all the thanks I could give at the time, and perhaps it was all he expected because he took off toward the restaurant before I had taken a step toward our room.

An eternity and yet only a minute or so later, my hand rested on the door knob of that room. I shut my eyes a moment, squaring my shoulders and banishing away the knot that kept trying to rise in my throat. One more deep breath and that was it. I opened the door and the first thing I remember of the new world beyond it was the scattered rays of light that hit my eyes from the window across from me. Morning's light. The sun shining as it always did.

After that, nothing would ever be the same.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet bows her head quietly, a moment of solemn acknowledgement for another's grief, even if Ignis can't see it.]

Sometimes, there is no way to spare someone pain. All one can do is try to ensure that it's no worse than it must be.

Still, I'm sorry that you had to give them such news.

[Even in their brief acquaintance, she already knows that watching his friends be hurt by the news would have bothered him as much or more than his own pain.]

[shatteredlenses]

[It hurt to tell them so much more than his own pain had. Even as much as he had prepared, once that door opened and he cleared his vision enough to look at them, he couldn't make himself say the words. All he'd been able to do was hand the paper to Gladio in silence and let things go from there.

Really, was that so much better than the shock he'd gotten when he'd seen the paper? Ignis has to believe so because the idea of having failed them in that is something he can't bear to consider.]

Thank you. That is what I hoped to accomplish, but I don't know how successful I was. I insisted we needed to see it with our own eyes before believing, but...

[He trails off then, shaking his head. They had gone back; they had seen it, but had giving them that little bit of hope only to have it crushed out so brutally by the truth been a better route to travel than just letting them believe from the get go?]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She nods, grimly understanding.]

For what it's worth, I think you did better to confirm the truth for yourself before taking further actions. I've... found that impulsive responses are rarely wise, when they come from grief.

[shatteredlenses]

Yes, and this grief was the deepest imaginable.

[He still remembers how Noctis had brutally torn through the soldiers between them and the overlook. There had been no waiting for them, only a heartbroken and angry Prince channeling his grief and rage into each warp and swing of his sword.]

Realistically, I know there was no way I could have healed such deep grief myself, but I still wish I could have done more.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She smiles gently, even though he can't see it, and reaches out to put one hand lightly on his shoulder- there enough to be comforting if he wants comfort, but easily brushed away if he's not in the mood to be touched.]

That's the nature of kindness. It's a gentle virtue, but not an easily satisfied one. Just remember you deserve some kindness, too.

[shatteredlenses]

I...

[Ignis bows his head slightly, a sad chuckle slipping from his lips. Despite his next words, he doesn't make any effort to pull away from her comforting hand.]

I've seen much kindness in my life already; I have no need for more.

[By the Six, he was all but adopted by the royal family, after all.]

It's more important to me to spread that kindness to others.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Kindness is not a limited resource, dearie- it's more of a plant to be sown and cultivated. Offering more to you will, with any luck, mean more for everyone in time.

[Caring about you and about others is hardly mutually exclusive, after all.]

[want_to_belong]

[A somber day for them all. Thinking back on it, he hadn't really considered how long Ignis had been out before they even found out the news. They were comfy in their room, waiting to go get on a ship. No one else in their group thought to read a newspaper that morning.

Prompto himself had been doing little more than enjoying the beautiful scenery. It was their first time out and there they were, right on the water in an expensive hotel room. Things had seemed so great at the time.

Ignis, surprisingly, had been the positive one, insisting that they didn't know for sure. He hadn't thought about everything Ignis had gone through checking the news for them. Prompto stayed silent for a while, giving himself some time to push away the pain of losing Insomnia, before latching onto one of the more benign thoughts.]

I had no idea you talked to Dino of all people.

[shatteredlenses]

[A small amused smile pulls at the corner of Ignis' mouth for a moment. Leave it to Prompto to side-step the pain of that day and focus on something so minor in comparison. Perhaps it is the best thing for them both for now.]

Well, I'm not certain of snatching a paper from him and then exchanging looks can actually be considered talking, but he was surprisingly less frustrating than usual.

[want_to_belong]

Yeah. At least he has some decency in him.

[Never mind all the little 'missions' he sent them on after that. At least it had been for a good cause.]

We were kind of busy after that. I never really got to talk much to the people around about what was going on. [What would they even say? A lot of people out there had felt outright abandoned by the royal family. Maybe it had been better that they hadn't gotten the extra opinions.] ...Dino could have at least refrained from trying to kill us later. Seriously, I think he might've been working for the bad guys the whole time.

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis can't help but snort softly as he tries to hold back outright laughter.]

No offense to our dear reporter 'friend,' but I don't think him intelligent enough to be a bad guy. No, he was just a man with an obsession, and we men who were looking for things he could supply if we fed that obsession for him.

[To be brutally honest, Dino was just that. Too honest, at least to a person like Ignis who had learned to read between the lines.

By the Six, though, he certainly wouldn't have minded if Dino had been a little more thorough when it came to detailing the dangers of the quests he was sending them on!]

[want_to_belong]

Really?

[Prompto wasn't one who usually judged based on intelligence. Dino had never seemed to be lacking to him, but who knew what Ignis saw that he didn't.]

He's at least got some talent.

[How much more was there to say about Dino? Not much. They were clearly avoiding the subject, and that was how much Ignis had dealt with on his own before he saw them. Pursing his lips, he reached out to place a hand on top of one of Ignis'. Even during Altissia the man had been rather insistent on persisting, with or without help. Sometimes, he felt like he just needed to do something despite Ignis swearing he was fine.]

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis hums softly in agreement, but doesn't say more. As Prompto says, there is only so much to be said about a man they didn't really get to know all that well outside from his insane love of gems and his network of connections.

He jumps just slightly, when Prompto's hand covers his, having been content to just let the silence stand unchallenged. When the blonde's hand remains, though, he turns his own so he can give it a gentle squeeze.]

I-It's all right, Prompto. I did what was needed at the time.

[Right, and that shaking voice says he did exactly what was needed and nothing more. When did actually dealing with his own emotions ever fall into that category?

Never.]

[want_to_belong]

I know. I'm not sure I was a lot of help.

[At the time they had all been falling apart. It was easy to lean on Ignis. Noctis might have been the most vocal, but Prompto had shut down, unable to give reassurances or be much of any help. They'd all lost their home. Including him. Including Iggy.

He squeezed Ignis' hand back before scooting in closer, so that their bodies were touching. He slipped on hand behind Iggy's back, the way he'd sort of gotten used to since Altissia but he wasn't trying to lead him anywhere, an brought his other hand over to firmly grip his hand.

Ignis hadn't been a stranger in a long time. Being Noct's best friend, Iggy just sort of came with the territory. It was when they started traveling that he had his first chance to really connect, though. Ignis had become a lot more than the kid with the top grades in the school. He was also quietly emotional.]