aftr_stories | [MU] - DECEMBER STORYTELLING / MEMORY SHARE

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[MU] - DECEMBER STORYTELLING / MEMORY SHARE

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.

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[This is the first time Soma has volunteered stories. Perhaps because he has heard of the boons offered and has a plan set in mind for them. Maybe it's simply because he wishes for his friends to have one last opportunity to grasp who they've befriended before it's too late to turn back, before breaking a friendship becomes less of a protective mutual understanding and more the kind of betrayal that will form new mires of bitterness to join those of his myriad pasts.

For his first and second stories, his voice seems different somehow, his manner of speech more formal, his accent shifting slightly. Lost in the past, he becomes one of the many people that part of him always is. He is both Mathias and Soma, and at the same time so many others who are all the same soul. He tries to speak of it as if it happened to someone else at first, but he abandons that soon enough. It's his story, after all.

He doesn't see the reshaping of the world around the storytellers and the listeners until it's too late and he's halfway through the third story, the one of his own, more recent, personal hell.]

I still remember the confused look on Leon's face.

He was Mathias's dearest friend, a brother in all but blood. Mathias leaned on him when his wife Elisabetha died of sickness, and Leon never held it against him when later he began to grow distant and secretive. So why was Mathias there in that dark castle, too pale and eyes glowing with power?

"Excellent. I never spent a better night." Mathias tried to feel nothing when Leon reacted in shock. "You didn't disappoint me, Leon. I knew without a doubt that you would accomplish this." And it hurt to taunt his friend, to stand there triumphant through the pain of knowing all that he'd sacrificed. Not just lives, but bonds as well.

"Your betrothed, Sara... Rinaldo... and Walter... I used all of you."

Leon would never forgive me....

He noticed the Crimson Stone, felt the hate of the soul trapped within his whip, and that was when he finally understood what I'd done. That I'd abandoned humanity, cast aside mortality. That had been my goal all along: an eternal life in which to defy and curse God, for taking away my beloved.

"If limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it! And within that eternity, I shall curse Him forevermore!"

He understood. He had suffered greatly, and though it was at my hands, he still empathized with the bitterness and hatred I felt. He should have attacked me then and there, but he understood.

And yet I still offered him eternity with me. I loved him, the brother of my heart, and if we were both doomed to be bereft of our cherished ladies then we could be together in our sorrow. Of course he refused, I'd become a monster. He raised Elisabetha's memory, threw her back at me and said that I would never have loved a woman who could accept what I'd done. I knew he was right. I had walked willingly into the darkness, embraced it, and separated myself from her soul for all eternity.

Yet I couldn't let go of my hatred. Elisabetha and I... we had done much in our devotion to God, and yet he stole her away from me at such a young age. Was that our reward for our love for Him? Just as Leon's assertion that I could not love Elisabetha if she had been selfish, I could no longer love God. That fruit had withered and died on the vine. Leon's heart, too, was tainted with hatred for Walter, the pawn I had set upon him and Sara. I thought I had proven hatred's power over God.

"Eternity without her... would be nothing but emptiness."

Eternity without Elisabetha... without Leon... with no one... hatred cannot fill that sort of emptiness. I had lost everything, but I had come too far to turn back. If I had thrown myself to the sun at that very moment, I would still be separated from my love forever. I had naught to lose by seeing my pain through to the end.

And so I left him there before dawn broke, hearing the vow from the depths of his heart, that his descendants of the Belmont clan would hunt me and my kind for the rest of their days, to spare others the same cursed fate I had brought upon his betrothed and myself. So it has been for nearly nine centuries, a cycle of darkness, death, and hatred....

Edited 2017-12-21 18:32 (UTC)

Some three hundred years later, a human woman named Lisa captured Dracula's-- my heart. Her kindness, her gentleness, her beauty... she was surely Elisabetha reborn. I knew God was taunting me, bringing back the love of my endless life long after I would have died had I remained mortal. But in deathlessness I found her again, and from our reunion we created that which our first marriage had never seen fit to grant us: a son she named Adrian. He would never walk fully within either the human or vampire realms, but we were content for a time. I watched my son grow, and for a time I nearly forgot my hatred. Dare I say it, I was almost... happy.

And then Lisa, a wise woman and a great healer... those foolish, ignorant humans, those bleating sheep of an uncaring shepherd-God...!

They condemned her as a witch. They burned her at the stake, right before the eyes of our son, and I was too late to save her! She entreated him not to hate them even as she died in agony, begging him to consider that theirs was already a hard lot in life. As if they deserved mercy for their stupidity! And Adrian, with his soft heart so like Lisa's... he listened. He could have helped me to punish them, but he listened and turned against me to protect the humans that stole away his mother!

And so, as I had come to despise God, I swore that I would wipe all of His vile human creations from the world. They deserved no less than utter genocide. But it was not to be. My own son did as the Belmont clan had done so many times before, and sent me to my temporary grave once again.

Edited 2017-12-21 18:33 (UTC)

In 1999, Julius Belmont and the Church sealed Dracula and his castle inside a solar eclipse. I don't know how, but Dracula's soul slipped out eighteen years later, maybe during another eclipse, and was reborn in 2017. That's... me. Other people were born at the moment he was sealed, and they thought maybe they were Dracula's reincarnation. They had special powers, so it's a reasonable thought. But no, it was me all along. I didn't know until I was pulled into the 2035 eclipse over Japan and I ended up in the castle. I was told to go to the throne room, that I'd find a way out there. So I fought my way through demons, kept absorbing their souls and using their powers as easily as most people breathe. They filled me up, whispered secrets to me, welcomed me home even though I was as far from home as I could get.

It was terrifying, but at the same time... exhilarating.

There were three souls in particular I was nudged into using when I fought one of Dracula's "candidates" at the throne room. Somebody left ancient books lying around, describing "a demon from hellfires, the King of Bats, and a beautiful nightmare." So I fought Graham with Flame Demon, Giant Bat, and Succubus at my command. I didn't realize their powers echoed Dracula's native abilities. I only focused on fighting for my life when Graham started attacking me, calling me a thief and a usurper. At first he looked human, but then he changed into a demon that... its form almost didn't make sense! Two huge women chained together through their eyes, giant clawed hands, exposed ribs and dripping organs, with his human body buried in the middle of it all... it took every drop of willpower I had not to run away, even with everything I'd already seen. He almost ripped me apart with a few lucky hits, but I kept fighting until that monster died and the castle's Chaos started flowing into my body.

I've never felt anything like it, and I never want to again. Lifetimes of memories, ancient rage, and the deepest darkness... but it wasn't just entering me, it was welling up from something locked deep inside me. The seal cracked, and I... I remembered. "Soma" is just another of Dracula's personas, a mask I wear until I fully awaken as the Dark Lord. The malice is right there under the surface, ready to crush what you all know. The people who want to be Dracula are so horrible, but they're nothing compared to the real thing. I know what I am, I can't pretend I don't.

Edited 2017-12-21 18:33 (UTC)

That's enough!

[Ignis has seen a lot of memories this night. They've caused him to feel so many things, but this is the first time one has made him feel anger toward the teller. Of course, the anger has less to do with the memory itself and everything to do with how the owner is presenting it.]

Do you really believe Dracula would warn others of the danger he may be to them? Would that ghastly man you fought have shown any kindness or concern for another? But you. You have done these things repeatedly since I met you.

[Of course, he still remembers the feel of teeth at his throat that night when they both drank too much, but that doesn't change anything. Soma could have killed him. Dracula would have.

And yet he's still breathing.]

Will you stop hating yourself for the fate you were handed and let someone tell you how they see you for once? Perhaps then you will finally see how blind you are being!

[Soma freezes, staring at Ignis with wide eyes and a slack jaw. He couldn't be more stunned if the man had leaped up from his seat and slapped him across the face. The teen is actually speechless, all thoughts of further protest shattered like glass, the shards of so much negativity scattered and disorganized.

When he finally gets sound to pass his lips, it's weak and uncertain, maybe a little afraid.]

But Mina... she... I-- I've known her almost my whole life, and she... she backed away from me... she was terrified of me....

'Terrified of you' or 'terrified for you?' They are two very different things which are easily confused, even by those feeling them.

[When Ignis learned of Noctis' fate, he'd felt both 'scared of' and 'scared for' his dearest friend. The 'scared for' part was obvious: He didn't want Noctis to die. The 'scared of' part of it, though? Well, he only realized later that he couldn't understand how the boy he had practically raised could just accept being told he had to lay down and die after fighting so hard for so long. It was like he was looking at a total stranger then instead of his brother in all things but blood.

Even now Ignis isn't sure he can understand. In fact, he's positive he doesn't understand, but he doesn't hold it against Noctis. Instead, he's looking for a way to change things so that Noctis doesn't have to make this decision Ignis can't bring himself to understand. Ignis doesn't know this friend that Soma mentions, but he can't help but wonder if her reaction was caused by a similar mix of feelings.]

Did you bother to ask her what she thought or how she saw you after she did that or did you just assume you knew everything you needed to know from that one moment where she was shocked by the cruelness of fate and didn't need to?

She told me I looked scary, Ignis. And when I asked her how she'd feel if I wasn't Soma on the inside anymore, if I was someone else... "I might not like you anymore. And that look in your eyes scares me. I'd rather see your exterior changed, but not the inside." That's what she said. There's not a lot of room for mistaking her feelings there. I don't blame her, though... not when I scare myself, too.

[He'll never blame Mina for her fear. She knows him, loves him like a friend and maybe even a brother, but how could anyone take this sort of revelation calmly?]

You can't see what she saw. If you could....

You are being a bloody fool! You asked her if she would like you if you were someone else inside. She likes you, Soma. Of course, she won't like you if you become someone else inside. It's not you anymore then.

[A statement whose meaning can't be mistake. By the Six, that obviously isn't the case considering how mistakenly Soma has interpreted her words.]

Being scared of someone doesn't necessarily mean you hate them. The powerf--

[Ignis cuts himself off suddenly with a soft frustrated sound. These words. They aren't getting across what he wants to say, so instead, he abandons the attempt and moves onto something he hopes will make Soma listen to him more.

He takes a few quiet steps towards where he believes Soma to be standing and then begins to speak softly.]

Hair the color of freshly fallen snow with skin to match. A face so fair of form it is as if it was carved by Shiva's hand herself, skin still bearing the chill of the Ice Goddess' touch.

[He hasn't seen? Is that what Soma thinks? Oh, but the description makes it very clear he has seen. He's seen everything.]

Perfect things often come off as unnatural to others. Red eyes full of drive and focus. Oh yes, people fear because one with such drive and focus can change so much. I know because that drive has been my constant companion over the years. I know because I've heard the whispers behind my back of what a perfect little robot I was. Inhuman. Unnatural.

[One more step forward brings him close to Soma, Ignis can sense his presence and drops his voice as he continues.]

I do not fear what I see in the mirror when what I see is myself.

[At first, the only thought that comes to Soma's mind is how eloquent Ignis is even when he's emotional. The man's words, the description of Soma, are poetic and almost embarrassing in their praise.

And then it strikes him: how can Ignis describe him so perfectly when the man is blind?

His heart's racing. Why is it doing that? Is it the thought that the other man can somehow see him and isn't afraid? Is it how close Ignis is, close enough to touch? Soma barely hears him describe the disparaging remarks made by those from Ignis's home, but he still registers them nonetheless. Inhuman. Unnatural. Perhaps not in appearance but in demeanor, another way Soma himself was scorned by those who didn't know him well. Ignis understands.

But that still doesn't explain how the blind advisor knows what Soma looks like.]

H-- how....

How you ask?

[Ignis' voice remains soft, low, steady, as he continues.]

Are you so wrapped up in your hatred of yourself that you have been spared seeing the memories of others? If so, how fortunate for you for whoever or whatever is behind this has not even seen fit to spare the blind man this gift. I have seen more pain tonight than I have ever wanted to. I've had to stand helpless as my vision has returned over and over just long enough to let me see those I care about hurt, only to have it vanish again before I can even cross to their sides to comfort them. I've had enough!

[His voice finally rises then, emotion slowly breaking loose of the binds he's tried so hard to keep it tied down with.]

I refuse to stand by and allow another person I care about be hurt, especially when the one causing the pain is himself!

[Maybe Ignis can't see it, but Soma huddles in on himself, arms crossed in a protective self-embrace as if he's chilled. He swallows a few times, fighting for the words, fighting down a disquieting sense of nausea. He never wanted to upset his friend. Seeing Ignis this rattled and knowing he's the cause tightens his throat, not with his earlier self-hatred but with regret.]

I'm sorry....

[The words, choked and soft, betray the tears Soma refuses to shed. His friends back on his world fought for him, but not with this sort of fervor. Ignis has enough trouble in his life, he doesn't need to be worried about some emotionally unstable teenager.]

Please calm down, I hate to see you like this.

Good! Then you know how I feel when I see you like that!

[The words shove their way out of Ignis' mouth before he can stop them, but right afterward he snaps his mouth shut so hard his jaw aches, turning his face away from Soma and stepping back slightly. He would have to be both blind and deaf to not hear the change in the young man's voice. He would have to be a lot more stupid than he is not to imagine Soma cringing away from his anger.

Bloody, Ifrit-damned hell, he wanted Soma to stop tearing himself apart, but he didn't want this.]

Soma, I...

[Shame clearly colors the soft words. Ignis' wants to reach out to him, but he doesn't dare right now. What if the young man pulls away? He's not sure he could stand it.]

I shouldn't have... I just care so...

[Astrals, he's just as bad as Gladio, isn't he? Bottle up the emotion, but never deal with it. Not even when it finally bursts free and hurts all the wrong people.]

I just don't want you to suffer alone when I'm right here.

And I don't want anyone to suffer with me. It's bad enough when it's just me, sharing the pain doesn't make me feel better.

[He'd bottle it like he always has, but now that only puts him at risk for exploding into a pure, unrepentant monster with no chance of returning to who he is now. He has to let the pressure on his heart and head ease, and that means letting others shoulder some of his pain.]

You don't have to apologize for snapping. I know you're frustrated. But I don't want you to fall apart because you're trying to deal with my crap and your own at the same time. Knowing you care that much, though? It's....

[What is it? What makes the thought of someone caring that much feel so different this time? It's not like Mina fighting through her fear of him to offer him support. It's not like strangers becoming friends who care about his safety. Ignis has no fear of him, and whether that's ignorance, bravado, or something else isn't something Soma knows. This is new and different, and it's more than a little scary.]

I don't understand.

[Ignis' lips press into a thin line and he turns his head away slightly as if he wants to hide the frustration and confusion on his face now that he's been called on it. He's always helped to carry other's burdens and their pain. How is he suppose to help when he isn't allowed to do that?

A feeling of helplessness begins to creep along the edges of his mind and unconsciously, Ignis shifts his arms to wrap them around himself. If Soma doesn't understand and he doesn't understand, then what are they suppose to do? How do they go forward and heal?

He takes a deep breath and then turns his face back toward Soma.]

I don't understand either.

[His voice is hesitant. Ignis hates admitting he doesn't know or understand something, but this is all so new to him. Still, they can't just stay still. They have to move forward.

Slowly, he reaches out toward Soma.]

May I hug you?

[It won't solve their problems, but it will bring them together and as long as they stick together, they will eventually figure things out. Ignis has faith in that.]

[Soma hesitates, but only for a second or two. He steps into the bounds of Ignis's outstretched arms, first laying a hand over the man's side, just above his waist. I'm here, the touch says, I didn't run away, I just need a moment. The teen takes a slow, deep breath and presses closer, both arms slipping around Ignis, the breath released in a rushing sigh. He's shivering a little, not from cold but from how hard his heart is beating. Can Ignis feel it, because it's so fast and forceful it's like bird's wings fluttering against Soma's ribs.]

Nobody's done this in a long time.

[As soon as Soma steps into the embrace, Ignis' arms wrap around him, one hand resting against his back near the waist and the other drifting lightly over his hair before coming to rest at the back of his head. There is an instant where he thinks he feels Soma's heart beating rapidly, but with his own heart also beating faster than usual he can't be certain.

Ignis tilts his head against Soma's, words soft when he finally speaks.]

I will just have to make up for that and it will be their loss.

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[MU] - DECEMBER STORYTELLING / MEMORY SHARE

Soma Cruz | Castlevania | OTA (will match format)

I: When I was Mathias Cronqvist.... [cw: blasphemy]

II: Adrian and Lisa [cw: blasphemy, mentions of witch burning]

III: The Eclipse [cw: gore]

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