[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

[unpurify]

The whole world is ending. And yet something is different.

There is a monster before him and a child beside him. The Batter watches as the child struggles against unseen binds and realizes for as much as they want to break free, they are there through unseen and seen consequences. Bindings that are real and metaphorical.

A hell that is at least self-inflicted.

But Kittu comes to a conclusion fairly quickly. They cannot be saved. But with what power they had left, then maybe they could save someone else.

And that 'someone else' turns into many. A woman covered in white fur that the world 'mother' seemed to come as naturally as breathing with, a giant monster with fire in his hands. A distinct feeling that he shouldn't have to and Kittu firmly states they won't hurt him. Either of them.

"I told you I didn't want to FIGHT you."

Continue. A woman with sharp teeth and a vicious yet warm smile when she is freed from whatever noise has consumed her. A creature that's small and seems to be bending into herself to become smaller and smaller, to disappear when no one's looking. A resonance of feelings when she asks if she is hated.

No. No worse then yourself.

And then they are saved and a pair of skeletons appear. Words expected and not expected but Kittu did not exactly read between the lines, but touched the book that contained them. And then they are gone and he - they - wonder if it's enough to inch closer offering some bit of redemption.

A hand, a tip of the blade, and a conformation that it would be allowed, welcomed even. But this is not the Batter's story.

And then there's nothing but the winged creature and Kittu. They feel in in their soul what needs to be done. It has nothing to do with a weapon in someone's hand or a switch being pulled.

They're not the right person. Yet they still reach out. They still continue.

The Batter watches the memory finish in silence. Perhaps it was a byproduct of a blank slate witnessing memories, but he could understand the feelings within them somewhat better then normal. But his question is unrelated to that.

"How does it end?"

[souldeterminant]

Frisk looks up at the Batter. Of all the people who could have witnessed this memory in particular... they really don't mind if it's him. He's not the sort of person who would judge them for the decisions they made -- and more importantly, he's not the sort of person who would ask the questions they don't want to answer.

Who are they? Who is he? Who are you?

But no. Sure enough, the only question he does ask might the the only one with a happy ending.

"I saved him. I saved everyone." Their tone is flat; they don't seem to think a lot of this achievement.

[unpurify]

No, he wouldn't judge. The Batter has been in that position of being judged and came out of it victorious. However that is defined for Kittu is however they choose to define it. Win, lose, refuse to acknowledge it, and so on. It's their's alone.

Consequences chosen seem to be a running theme, after all.

And the Batter does note their tone. That was the strangest thing the purifier kept running into when observing others on how to 'be good'. Often the good deeds someone does for another seems to be a bad thing. Saving someone was 'good' by textbook definition.

Kittu saved a number of lives by allowing them to continue to live. The Batter saved a world by pulling the plug on it. So does it matter in the end, the method? Or did he just not understand to begin with.

"You do not sound happy." He notes. Apparently for all the Batter doesn't express, he doesn't miss emotions in others.

[souldeterminant]

Frisk shrugs, kicking their feet through the sand. Their mouth thins as they deliberate.

"There's a lot missing from that memory," they finally say. "It doesn't show what happened before. Nobody remembers what happened before. It's for the best. But it still happened."

To say that they saved everyone and leave it at that is just about the most disingenuous thing they can think of. Sure, they saved everyone, but what first? First, they learned what dust tastes like infused with magic; first, they learned what it was like to burn, to bleed, until hardening their SOUL with LV felt like the only option. It wasn't, of course. That was their mistake.

"I have a question for you."

[unpurify]

A lot missing from their memory. It stands to reason that a few facts and a lot of context would be missing. The Batter couldn't and wouldn't claim to know everything about Kittu from that single memory. Especially once they make a point that it didn't show everything that happened prior and that 'nobody remembers'. There was more to this, more to what appeared to be a child saving their friends.

But again, lack of facts and context. He's not going to assume the best or worse. The Batter's standards on that subject are currently...well, Zacharie would likely say they were 'all over the place'.

"What is it?" An answer for an answer is fair. Although how far he's going to get depends on exactly what Kittu asks.

[souldeterminant]

They stop kicking their feet.

"If you thought you lived in a world where it was 'kill or be killed', and it turns out you were wrong... would you try to fix it? Even if it was easier not to?"

For their part, Frisk's tone is completely blank. There's no indication in their face that it's anything other than a hypothetical bit of pondering.

[unpurify]

Kids here really have a knack for asking questions of him that were not easy to answer.

The Batter doesn't answer for a moment. His own world didn't quite 'run' on that principal. The specters that corroded it attacked and killed simply because that was what they did. Dedan was a fouled-tempered man who lashed out, Japhet was something driven insane by the neurosis and fears of others, and Enoch trapped his workers in a cycle of happiness, death and madness.

The Batter? His reaction to it all was very simple. End it.

"It depends on how one defines fixing it." Is the Batter's eventual answer. A hypothetical bit of pondering or not, it's still a subjective topic. Even purity is subjective, in the end. "Your answer will differ from mine. But I would end it."

Permanently.

[souldeterminant]

"How?"

They notice his moment of deliberation and they file it away. It sounds like some things, even for someone as straightforwardly goal-oriented as the Batter, aren't always cropped in the simple terms of black and white. In its own way, that's a little bit unsettling -- but it makes their respect for him tick upwards. Sometimes hesitation can be a good thing.

After pausing for moment of their own, they elaborate.

"What if it was harder to not kill than to kill? What if they were in your way?"

[unpurify]

He's been learning about gray areas, something the Batter thought beyond his understanding when he first arrived. And despite 'kill or be killed' sounding extremely straightforward, something tells the Batter it wasn't that simple.

"It is hard to not kill." That much the Batter can admit. In his world there was no choice but to kill. He dug and tore up the intestines and bones of the world and was given the answer of himself. But part of that was a personal ideology of the Batter's that he would not share here.

"I would continue, even if it meant death followed me." And it did. The only reason his own deaths stopped was because he became strong enough that it didn't happen anymore. Everyone else's....ahhaha. "But if they stayed out of my way, I would not."

Because the Batter did not go out of his way to slaughter people. Those who tried to stop him, the specters and the Guardians...yes. But he wasn't a sadist.

He commended them all to a quick death. That's all.