[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

[scourgingstars]

You're wrong. The only thing I am searching for is a conclusion. I don't want to be salvaged, if ever I could--I just want to end and I don't know how many ways I have to tell you this before the message gets across.

[He scowled at the question, still bitter and angry even at his best and yet not directing such anger at those who didn't deserve it.]

...I'm not afraid. It is common sense and not fear which leads one to avoid a foregone conclusion.

[bloodyashes]

[Oh no. Oh no, Ardyn, you shouldn't have denied it. Asch's expression is entirely that of a cat who has found the cream.]

Really?

[He's not good at this. But he is actively working on it, and the more he turns it over in his head, hesitation and all - ]

Because I'd find it more surprising if you weren't afraid of it happening again, after being hurt the way you were.

[scourgingstars]

I've nothing to be afraid of. Pain like that isn't even something I can feel anymore.

[bloodyashes]

[First of all, Asch doesn't even believe that second part, but secondly - ]

Right. Because fear is completely rational, which is why Izunia had me screaming on the floor ten minutes ago.

[Ardyn really.]

[scourgingstars]

I'm telling you the truth. That thing I am only feels hate and fury. Fear, joy, compassion...none of that is part of it.

[bloodyashes]

I'll believe that you think it's the truth. But if that were truly, in the literal sense, all you're capable of feeling, then that wouldn't be different now.

[He's got that conviction again. The half-mad one of someone who has glimpsed something of a truth no one was meant to see.]

But that desert doesn't create the impossible. This person - [He shakes the hand in his grasp up and down, briefly.] - couldn't be here if he didn't exist in even the narrowest possibility.

The Ardyn in front of me right now feels compassion. The Ardyn in front of me is afraid, too. So, the Ardyn that exists everywhere outside this island can still feel those things, even if he doesn't want to.

[scourgingstars]

It's not worth it, Asch-!

[Ardyn quickly cut off the frantic note that crept into his voice, shaking his head and pressing a hand to his eyes.]

It isn't. One tiny sliver of humanity, one proverbial needle in an endless haystack--the risk taken in reaching out to that massively outweighs the possibility of any success. You and the others have shown me more compassion than I've seen in two millennia, and for that I'm grateful--so I don't wish to see you hurt because of me. Because you wished to salvage that which may never again be unearthed and provoked a monster in your attempts.

[bloodyashes]

[Oh Ardyn, you bloody idiot. (Oh Asch, you smaller, slightly more blood colored idiot.)]

I got attached to the monster first, you idiot. You think he's going to scare me off now?

[scourgingstars]

You can't get attached to something like that, you imbecile. You'll be manipulated until you're of no further use, and then I'll more than likely kill you. Possibly several times, given how this miserable place works.

[bloodyashes]

[And there's no real point hiding how his anxiety spikes up at the words, even so, because surely Ardyn knows enough by now to realize that it's manipulation rather than death that Asch fears.

Deep breath.]

I don't think so. It's a lot of effort for not a lot of return, isn't it?

[ - but by the same token, he's always on guard for manipulation, and it actually would take effort to lead him around, unlike Noctis and company.]

[scourgingstars]

Prove enough of an annoyance in an endeavor as futile as this, and an imbalance of effort won't be a hindrance.

Please. If you truly claim to care at all then simply once, think about what I actually want of you. Don't do this.

[bloodyashes]

What you want is for other people to not get hurt. But you don't get to make that decision for us, either.

[scourgingstars]

I should think I have some say in it, considering it's my hands your blood will be on.

[bloodyashes]

What's it matter? I thought we were all going to inevitably betray you anyway. Isn't that what traitors deserve?

[The question is casual, almost amused - except that there's an undertone of danger to it. Whether that's just because he's cutting close to home and looking for when the blow lands, or because Asch really does think that traitors deserve exactly what they get, is impossible to say.]

[scourgingstars]

What part of this is so hard to understand?! [Ardyn snapped his response, frustrated out of what was unmistakably concern.] Even when you do turn on me, I don't want to kill you-!

[bloodyashes]

Why not?

[Yes he's gonna make you explain it with words.]

[scourgingstars]

Because who I am right now is tired, Asch. I'm tired of hatred, of fury, of homicidal rage against people I once cared about. Gilgamesh, my brother, all of what became the kingdom of Lucis--I loved them once, and then I turned to destroy the world all of us sought to protect.

...I don't want this anymore. I don't wish to live drowning in murderous hatred against people that were once kind to me, even though they should one and all betray me in the end.

[bloodyashes]

Then keep that.

[There's a soft smile.]

Carry the memory of that as much as you can. Even if your kindness is a needle in a tornado, it'll be easier to find again if you tie a string to it.

[scourgingstars]

A single thread is not much use to one sinking to the bottom of a dark and endless ocean. It won't be enough, and even this memory will be discarded and lost to the dark before long.

[bloodyashes]

Even if it is, 'before long' might be long enough to let the rest of us pull it up.

[He squeezes Ardyn's hand, gently.]

I'd say 'let us try,' but we're probably going to try either way.

[scourgingstars]

I haven't much choice in the matter, do I?

[He sighed, shaking his head.]

I suppose that I'm used to that.

[bloodyashes]

[Asch squeezes again before letting Ardyn's hand drop. There's something fiercer in his expression, now, no longer gentle.

He knows what that comparison is to, and it makes him see red, briefly, before he can entirely get his temper contained. But to Ardyn, who genuinely doesn't believe that anyone would want to help him... Of course it would seem to be the same.

So he holds back the snap.

Instead, eventually, it's black humor that comes out of his mouth - ]

What, doesn't Lucis have some system for medical proxies for those who aren't in their right minds?

[He can't keep up the joke for long, but - ]

There's no one in the world with the power to fix this.

[He waves a hand at the memory that's finally starting to fade around them.]

But you're free of the world that only lets you down. Let this one be different.

[scourgingstars]

You've seen my true face now, and surely you must know that darkness remains darkness wherever one may go.

[Ardyn had determinedly not looked up as the scene had shifted to Angelgard, to the lone prisoner in the darkened cell. Sane as he temporarily was, part of him screamed never again, I'm not going, don't send me back on repeat and he adamantly refused to even acknowledge the stone walls around them. To have it finally, finally fade back to the dreamlike island that passed for reality was a relief that likely showed no matter how Ardyn tried to hide it.]

I've yet to see reason to believe people are truly different no matter the world from which they hail. Humans fear the dark by nature alone, and by the same nature do they destroy that which they fear so.

[bloodyashes]

[And that - that gets a laugh.]

I'm trained for infiltration, you complete idiot. I'm one of the things in the dark that people are supposed to be scared of. I lost my light a long time ago -

[Ashes, charred remains of the sacred flame, not the warm, comforting glow - ]

- the darkness is like coming home.

[scourgingstars]

...

[Ardyn laughed softly, a tired and broken sound.]

Then I suppose I'm out of arguments to dissuade you for now. We'll simply have to see what happens one way or the other, but please don't say I failed to warn you when this goes poorly.