[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

[hyperlit]

All things considered, it was one of the more pleasant images in their arsenal. It marked the approach of a god on their behalf, the imparting of a loosely defined quest, the hope that there might be a cure down the line for the illness plaguing them, for the Immortal Cell's frequent nightly visitations, invading their subconscious with visions of their own grisly death.

A quest doomed in the end, but how were they to know that? There was the remotest chance of success, and so that was sufficient.

not that simple

A polite refusal, paired with a slow bob of their head, the closing of their dark eyes into slits.

but thank you

[shineinside]

Not that simple... she supposes that there's more to their story than she knows, and that she probably never really will know it. But still, she can't help but care.

"...Is there a cure?"

[hyperlit]

A shake of their head.

No.

There is no cure. They fought in the vain hope that there would be, but one by one, every one of them with that illness seeped into their lungs in toxic drips of pink and scarlet, succumbed. The only respite is the hope that, with the destruction of the Cell, that plague will trouble no one else.

but perhaps it will trouble no others

[shineinside]

No cure. So they're... going to die?

It doesn't feel fair. She doesn't know their story, but it seems like they've been through so much, from what little she knows.

"Is that what you did? Stop the source of... whatever it is?"

[hyperlit]

They cannot be sure, is the thing. Even now, they cannot really, truly be sure. The promise of clear water by the end, that vision interspersed in their head - they cannot know, not for certain, if that was the jackal god's doing or little more than a fever-addled vision from a dying soul, who so desperately wished that it all meant something.

They could comfort her with that. Could they?

How could they, when they cannot even know that for certain?

unknown

[shineinside]

"That's..."

The more she learns about the other people she's met, the more pain she uncovers. Why are their stories all so cruel? If people have to suffer, why can't they at least be rewarded for it in the end? Why can't the world be fair?

Yuka looks down in awkward silence, unsure of what she can say to any of this. Whatever words she can think of, they would just sound to her like hollow platitudes.

[hyperlit]

There is nothing she need say. The Drifter has had no reason to mask their fate, and there would be difficulties in doing so, given the obviousness of their illness. They did not embark upon a quest for comfort or for sympathy.

So they merely incline their head, polite as ever.

do not worry

[shineinside]

Easier said than done. But still, she shakes her head and attempts a smile.

"Sorry, on top of everything I shouldn't make you worry about my feelings, too... if you say I shouldn't worry, then I won't worry."

[hyperlit]

will endure
always do

That is their specialty. Resolve in the face of all else. The overpowering and singular ability to never retreat - to take even the vaguest, faintest possibilities for an achievement of their goals and convert them into something tangible.

They endure.