[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

Looming Fear: The Night Before

[shatteredlenses]

I'm afraid.

Those are words that I rarely allow to leave my lips. Not in any serious manner that is. Fear is an emotion that I can't allow to overtake me. It is far too dangerous to a mind that must remain ordered and level. Yet that night as I stood on the balcony of our hotel room overlooking Altissia, I will readily admit I was afraid.

Three men to evacuate a whole city. One Prince and one Oracle to tame the rage of an angry god. How were we going to survive the coming day intact? How would we hold back the tide when man, machine, and god all turned against us? What would hold fast? What would fall?

What would fail?

My hands closed tightly over the railing before me, cold iron biting through my gloves. Something would have to give. Someone. What we faced was imp--

I closed my eyes then, gritting my teeth together so hard it hurt. If I let fear rule me so much, then whose mind would lay the plans ahead? Who would keep everyone together and alive? I could be afraid, but I couldn't let it rule me. I couldn't let anyone sleeping in the room behind me down.

Not the Shield ever at our backs; not the brave young gunner whose heart held so much love; not my charge who already had lost so much.

Fear made every beat of my heart hurt, but Will made me open my eyes and gaze at the moon and stars hanging high overhead.

I swore and oath to protect him. I wished to see us all complete this journey together. Failure was not something I would allow, fear or not.

No matter the cost.

[encircling]

She listens, and what she hears makes her heart ache. Ignis... and his friends, all of them, they were up against so much, she thinks. So much at risk, so much they could lose and so much they had lost. It's a feeling she knows well, even if perhaps she doesn't understand completely. Different worlds, after all.

"What cost did you pay?" she asks softly, hands folded behind her back.

[shatteredlenses]

Ignis doesn't respond right away. Instead, he just gives her a small, sad smile and raises a hand to tap the edge of the scarring around his left eye.

"It was a a small sacrifice in a greater battle. I don't regret it, but I sometimes wish I could actually remember the details of what happened that day. I suppose I should be happy we didn't lose more considering the odds we faced, but I can't help but feel like I'm missing something important," Ignis rests one of his hands over his heart, remember back to when he mentioned a similar feeling to Terra. "There is a void my heart screams to have filled no matter how painful the truth may be."

[encircling]

Ah... so that was how it happened. Mira nods once, falling into a pensive silence. She understands him, at least. To give something important up, to protect something arguably more important....

"You... can't remember?" she asks softly. That doesn't bode well. If he's forgotten... it must have truly been traumatic. Mira thinks for a moment, then walks over and places her hand over his. "... I'm sure it will come to you in time. And if you need someone to shoulder its burden... I will be here for you, just as you have for me."

[shatteredlenses]

"Thank you," Ignis wraps his hands around the one she's placed over his, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I think sometimes the fact I was pulled here so soon after it happened had something to do with it, but it is just as likely my injuries are to blame."

He bows his head then, lips pressing into a thin line, "I may need to take you up on that sooner rather than later. I think the memories are actively trying to resurface now. I keep getting snatches of feeling, nightmares that seem to be of that time, but are gone from my mind the moment I awaken. These things have happened on and off since I arrived here, but the frequency has been increasing at an alarming rate over the last few weeks."

[encircling]

Nightmares, brief moments of emotion... She doesn't have to think too hard to guess that it's anxiety. Mira frowns a little, giving his hand a squeeze back. Needless to say, she's worried about him.

"You'll know where to find me, I think." They don't live too far from each other, after all. "I will always lend you an ear. It's the least I could do after everything you have done for me... And from the sounds of it, you will certainly need someone to help carry the burden." And there's no shame in that. Ignis is one of the strongest people she knows... but even the strongest need a shoulder to lean on sometimes.

[shatteredlenses]

At first silence is the only answer she gets, though if she looks close enough at Ignis' face in the shifting firelight she will see he's biting his lip as he fights his natural inclination just to say he will be fine. He can carry this burden like he's carried so many others.

But it's not fair for him to say that. It's not right when they've been so open to each other, and so he eventually nods, only able to, for the moment, push one word softly from his lips.

"Yes."

[encircling]

Yes.

It's such a short, quiet answer, but it carries a great weight. Mira isn't a fool--she knows how similar they are, how they tend to internalize things because they think they can do everything alone. That in and of itself is foolish, she won't deny that, but everyone has their flaws. But the fact that Ignis is allowing this, it's...

He's going to let her help carry his weight.

She knows damn well how difficult that can be. Isn't that why she'd refused to let Mae in on what happened in the caverns? Of course. If she were less self-aware, she wouldn't know why that single word uttered makes her throat feel tight, makes her eyes sting with barely-there tears.

"Thank you," she says, and she can't even bring herself to be dismayed that she sounds like she's about to start crying. Geez... It is a little embarrassing, though.

[maku]

[ She mutters something softly. The name's unfamiliar, but the way she says it makes it clear that it's some kind of curse, the way you might mutter Christ, under your breath in disgust at some injustice or other. It's one thing to serve a god, to fight its aggressors when you have its power but-- ]

How the heck are you supposed to fight a god?

[shatteredlenses]

Very carefully, my dear. How else?

[Defensive joking aside, Ignis turns a small smile in her direction in hopes of comforting her. He didn't miss that exclamation as soft as it was.]

It took all of the Prince's power and all the Oracle's skill to subdue her, but she bowed in the end. Afterward, the Prince slept for three days if that tells you anything.

[More defensive joking. He's obviously uneasy talking about it for more reasons than just that he doesn't remember such a large chunk of that day.]

It was a harrowing ordeal. One I'd rather not repeat anytime soon.

[maku]

Just two people?

[ She sounds a little stunned. Not doubtful -- she hardly thinks it's something Ignis would lie about. But considering how many Vertexes it takes to stand a real threat to a Hero, someone borrowing a god's power... just two humans being able to stand against that is an unsettling thought.

... then again, it would only ever take one Vertex to destroy the Shinju-sama, wouldn't it? And that's just as unsettling a thought. ]

The gods, where I come from... they're not exactly the type you can just go out and throw down with. Assuming you'd even want to in the first place. Are they just kind of... there, where anyone can find them?

[shatteredlenses]

Just two.

[That's all he says. What else can he say that won't be him just ranting angrily about how unfair it was? There is no way to say if five people would have made the outcome better, but Ignis can't help but think if they had all been together, something would have gone better.]

The gods of our world--or Astrals as we call them--have both physical and spiritual bodies. Some remain in spiritual form and are harder to reach. Bahamut and Ramuh are examples. Others, like Titan, remain in their physical forms. Anyone who visited the Disc of Cauthess would have been able to see Titan's physical form as he held up the meteorite he kept from crashing into Eos, though he slept within that form until just recently. The physical form of Leviathan, the Tide Mother, slept beneath the waves of Altissia until she was awakened as well.

[Shiva...well, her physical body still lays where it fell for anyone who wanted to brave the blizzards and terrible cold. Then there is Ifrit, the Betrayer, and few wish to run into him be it in physical or spiritual form considering his great hatred of humanity.]

[maku]

Huh.

[ It's so... different. The very idea that you could just walk up to a god and look them in the eye is kind of mindblowing to her. She knows some Heroes, some miko, could hear the Shinju-sama's voice but the idea of actually getting up in its face? She half-expects to be struck down on the spot for even considering it. ]

Your gods are a whole lot different than the one I have.

[ maybe a whole group of them would've had a better chance at keeping the Vertex out. Who knows. ]

What kinda reason would you have for just squaring off with a god, anyway?

[crosslaced]

[ordinarily there's a lot to relate to in this memory. he can respect the struggle in facing a challenge bigger than one can fathom. but the vision of Noctis lingers, verdant with warmth and virtue and devotion, and the taste it leaves in his mouth is bitterness.

The moment I start thinking my life is of more value than anyone else's is when I start becoming just like the very villains you speak of. of course. the only kind of idiot who would believe that is the kind who has never left the sunlight, who believes the whole world to be filled with it, who will no doubt turn on him the moment he finds out about any of Laurent's many crimes. A part of him has always known this, and yet when he looks at Ignis-

Laurent looks at Ignis, fretting over the man who will cover the Citadel in Ardyn's blood, and for a moment thinks that Ardyn deserves better than him.]

Why are you afraid?

[Ignis has seen nothing of his badness; might not even recognise this for what it is, as casual as his words sound. he has been so good for so long. practically speaking he should continue, but-]

We know now your dear Prince Noctis slaughters the villain and saves the day. A little too much like gutting a pig for my taste, but what can we do? The world is much brighter for it.

[shatteredlenses]

[The first response that Ignis gives Laurent is a snort of repressed laughter. Brighter, yes, if one goes by only the very strictest of measures. The Dawn returned, the Starscourge gone for good, Ardyn allowed to leave the life he was so tired of.

Brighter. Not that he ever sees it. Not that Ignis wants to see it without Noctis at his side.]

Tell me, Laurent. Have you ever won a victory only to realize you have lost everything that means anything to you in the process?

[Darkness. Darkness he can and has grown used to, but not having Noctis in his life after giving everything to raising him? That is what Ignis truly fears.]

[crosslaced]

Yes. That's the nature of kingship.

[now this is laurent being aggressive. has poor Ignis been upset by him? because all those have been batting around with claws sheathed. his claws are out, giving up everything for a victory is the entire shtick of a magi, take fucking notes.]

Is this the first time the universe isn't bending over for you, is that's why? Something happen to Noctis?

[shatteredlenses]

[Is Ignis upset? Actually, no, he's not upset. Already, he has a feeling he knows exactly where Laurent hopes to steer this conversation, and he has no interest in wandering down that path. Because of that, he simply shuts down, becoming cold and detached in his responses.]

If you're asking that question, I suspect you already know the answer. Or at least, you believe you know the answer. If you wish to lecture me about how foolish my views are, do it and be done. We both have better things to do than spend this night dancing around the fire with each other.

cw: some sexual language.......

[crosslaced]

[He stands and circles around to where Ignis is sitting, so that when he speaks it is suddenly and uncomfortably much closer. Damen doesn't need to hear this, because he knows Laurent too well and will try to make him stand down. Neither do the kids around the circle, whose presence severely limits his vocabulary.]

Like propositioning Ardyn? How could I forget your favourite storytelling pasttime.

[he looks and sounds like he might as well be talking about the weather.]

You say you belong wholly to Noctis but you offer your attentions to anyone, like a whore on the street. Are you all sweet to Ardyn so he'll have mercy on your dear prince? I suppose that kind of incentive is worth how much you're throwing yourself at him.