lifeaftr_mods: (Default)
The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] aftr_stories2018-10-19 08:54 pm

[MU] - FEELING LIKE A GHOST (PART II)

"No, no...no!"

The Storyteller's voice cuts through the inkdrop-dark, frantic and scrambling. A distant blot of campfire gutters in the far distance - far from where you are. The disorientation of the week preceding this one has translated into Mu, and everything is hopelessly out of place. The Storyteller sounds muffled, clearly addressing someone or something else, their voice cushioned by the uniform, void-like night.

"Stop it. Stop it! I wasn't gone for very long at all. You can't behave for two weeks? You have to make it all...all...wrong? I can't keep this up - not with what I've had to do since returning - !"

Gradually, however, the shadowy campsite solidifies into being. Or...a semblance of it does, in any case. Four glistening pyres rear out from the shadows, each glowing a different color. The strange material that domes them almost resembles worked steel, forming different patterns against their multicolored backdrops.
[ ♆ ] The first glows a deep crimson, kicking scarlet embers into the dream-night air. Its pit sphere portrays a crowd of people in silhouette, heads bowed in genuflection - paying homage to some looping, many-coiled shape in the sky above.

[ ♆ ] The second glows a deep orange. Its pit sphere is worked into the shape of a looming mountain, with what might be some sort of village or ruin sprawled at its base.

[ ♆ ] The third's flames are a rich green. Its designs are most abstract; the starburst patterns that swirl across the metallic composition of its fire pit sphere could be explosions, maybe...or something else entirely.

[ ♆ ] The fourth pyre is one bearing host to golden flames, amber sparks sprayed out from behind the shape of a set of scales nestled among a flurry of birdlike shapes.
Beside each pyre is heaped a pile of sticks, colored to correspond to their respective flames. The Storyteller sounds agitated when they manage to speak again:

"Will you let them at least make the choice I left to gave them?" When there is no response, they sigh. "If you can hear me...I can't make it clearer than that, at the moment. Pick one. Pick one, quickly, and try to get out before it decides to make things worse! Just add a stick to whichever one looks best to you!"

Unfortunately, whether you abstain from voting or make your choice, that's not all there is to this night...



Tonight's Storytelling, further warped by Mu's capricious nature, will likely feel familiar to those of you who were with us in December of the year prior. Only this time, you don't get much choice in what kind of story you're telling...or, indeed, any choice in the matter at all. As you wake by the Storytelling campfire, Mu shifts to form three separate events from your character's present - which is to say, within one full year of their current canonpoint - 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.



While the initial setting will be familiar for oldcomers, and newcomers will recognize it from the introduction they received in their dreams, things will be far more similar to the memory share that occurred in December. All memories must be from within one year of your character's canonpoint. For questions, please refer to our OOC event post!

Even those who prefer not to voice their stories aloud are not safe this time around. The memory does not need to be willingly recalled in essence in order for Mu will shift to accommodate it in full.

Just like the last time this happened, all memories will be worth two offerings each, as if in compensation. So at least there's that!
want_to_belong: (Arms folded)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not a failure...

[He whispered back sharply, slightly defiant. His gaze traveled back to the flames.]

And you're worse than a pining schoolgirl.
scourgingstars: (when your whole world is black)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
For the last time, it's not your concern.
want_to_belong: (Thoughtful)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
Iggy's my friend. Anything that happens to him is my concern.
scourgingstars: (falling like ashes to the ground)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
And if I haven't killed him yet, do you really think me likely to change my mind?
want_to_belong: (Side glance)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
Dude.

I'm accusing you of liking him, not of killing him.
scourgingstars: (and the city is out of time)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
Imbecile. I'm saying I won't kill him, so you have no reason to be involved.
want_to_belong: (Thoughtful)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
I have total reason to be involved. There's things that can happen other than death. I mean, like, if Iggy was getting married, you don't think I'd be at the wedding?

[Okay, so a wedding was going to happen, but the point still stood. Stuff that happened to Iggy mattered to him.]
scourgingstars: (over and in last call for sin)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
....What the hell does that even mean.
want_to_belong: (Serious)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
It means there's more to life than just killing! Iggy's my friend, and anything that happens to him matters to me. Good, bad, or... whatever.

[Did it even classify as a 'good' thing if Ardyn liked Iggy? That was highly questionable.]

So you can't just tell me I have no reason to be involved.
scourgingstars: (my affection it comes and goes)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't know, I don't have friends. You'll just have to take the matter up with him for all I care.
want_to_belong: (Thoughtful)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
You could have friends.

[He shook his head, quieting.]

But I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you. It's probably pointless to do that.
scourgingstars: (taking my sulking to the masses)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, do allow me to get right on that and meet new and interesting people who shall brutally stab me in the back.
want_to_belong: (Sullen)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
...

'm not even gonna blame you. If Noct stabbed me in the back, I don't know how long it'd take me to trust again.

But there are good people out there.

...

And, if it's Iggy you're trusting, you chose the right person.
scourgingstars: (i will deliver)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
I don't trust anyone.

[. . .]

...But I despise him less than most humans.
want_to_belong: (Arms folded)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:19 am (UTC)(link)
That's a start.

[Quieter than a bit ago, but he truly wasn't trying to argue here. If anything, that might be quite something for Ardyn to admit.]
scourgingstars: (and the city is out of time)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
...I've no intention of hurting him. I don't know what I'm doing, but that isn't currently on the table.
want_to_belong: (Side glance)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
I'll trust you on that. Even if it might be incredibly stupid of me to do so.

[Thus far he hadn't, and from what little he knew Ardyn had done things to protect Iggy. That was promising, at least. But he'd put on a show of helping back at home, too.]

...Iggy's a good person. He'll do whatever he can to help.
scourgingstars: (don't pin it all on me)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 06:28 am (UTC)(link)
I'm long since beyond 'help'. Whatever Noctis thought I used to be isn't someone that can be saved.
want_to_belong: (Thoughtful)

Sorry if a double post happens, connection error

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
I guess we'll see.

[For a moment he went silent and it didn't seem like he would continue, but he added a genuine question.]

Have you ever considered the possibility that you could be wrong?
counterblows: (϶ and your eyes are blocking)

[personal profile] counterblows 2018-10-21 06:47 am (UTC)(link)
Player Name: Zero
Character Name: Agent Washington
Character Journal: [personal profile] counterblows
Number of Memories: Three
Offering(s): if you were church
scourgingstars: (dear lord help me out)

[personal profile] scourgingstars 2018-10-21 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know, have you considered the possibility I know myself better than you?
want_to_belong: (Thoughtful)

[personal profile] want_to_belong 2018-10-21 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
Not even you can know what the future holds for sure. A lot of people are seeing something that you aren't. Maybe you just don't know how to see it anymore.
forwearemany: (headdown)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2018-10-21 07:15 am (UTC)(link)
(Poor comfort indeed. The reminder that their allies are watching adds to their humiliation.

Their people allied with the Reapers.

Their hardware was used to facillitate this alliance.

They do not look at the Knight.)
shatteredlenses: Kingsglaive (Kingsglaive)

Ignis Scientia | OTA

[personal profile] shatteredlenses 2018-10-21 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Spoiler Warnings for both FFXV and FFXV: Episode Ignis.]
shatteredlenses: Don't (Don't)

Lost in the darkness, hoping for a sign

[personal profile] shatteredlenses 2018-10-21 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
[This is hardly Ignis' first time on a train, but it might as well be. Nothing feels right. He's learned to handle the disorientation that comes with movement unaccompanied by sight; at least he has for movement by his own two feet. Movement via a vehicle is proving much harder. Ignis hasn't dared to leave his seat since the train started moving. At some point, he'll have to, but right now it seems safer to remain where he is, with Prompto at his side trying hard to keep nervous energy at bay, and Noctis across the the aisle doing his best to fight off the depression that has haunted him so much of his life. If anything is going to cause him to relapse to the state he was in his teens, it will be this. So much lost on top of already losing his father and his home, Ignis' own sacrifice just one more burden upon his young shoulders despite the advisor's multiple insistences that he regrets nothing of what happened.

And then there is Gladio.

The Shield is a powder keg who's fuse has already been lit and is burning steadily toward explosion. This, perhaps, more than his lost vision is what has set Ignis so off balance. The tension is near suffocating, and while in the past he would have been able to sit Gladio down and work him through things, now Ignis can barely keep his own mind together and steady. How can he hope to provide the outlet he is suppose to in order to keep Gladio calm when the balance between them has shifted so drastically? Why had he not thought of these consequences before he donned the Ring? It wouldn't have changed anything, but he could have at least planned. Prepared. Found some way to mitigate the damage that is being done. Instead, an act that was meant to protect and preserve has instead pulled them all apart.

A sudden increase in the tension in the air-- so much it feels as if the Archaean is standing on his chest--yanks Ignis from his thoughts and forces his attention outward again. Just in time for the powder keg to blow.

Gladio is not yelling, not yet, but his anger has boiled over and the harshness in his voice doesn't need volume to get its point across. Even as drawn into himself as Noctis is, he can't help but rise to the bait. Ignis wants to snap that they both need to stop acting like children, but he knows that it won't help defuse the situation at all. Instead, his fingers tighten around the top of his cane and he remains silent. Next to him, Prompto is nearly quivering out of his skin with nervous energy, and Ignis can't help but wonder if the blonde will actually say something in Noctis' defense, though he can't blame the gunslinger if he does not. After all, Gladio is at least twice his size. Who would really want to pull the attention of an angry behemoth in their direction willingly?

Each angry word makes it harder for Ignis to stay still despite his better judgment. All better judgment flies out the window, though, when Gladio brings his injury into the argument, wielding it against Noctis like a dagger.

And that, he can't stand for.]


Enough, Gladio!

[The only acknowledgment of his words is a sharp click of Gladio's tongue and then he's back at Noctis. Perhaps it's seeing Ignis' request so thoroughly ignored or the fact that the fight is escalating so much against Noctis, but a moment later, Ignis hears Prompto rise from his seat and actually try to place himself between the angry Shield and his friend. Just as quickly though, Prompto is all but shoved back into the backrest of the seat. Ignis almost pulls himself back to his feet, one hand gripping his cane so hard he fancies he hears the wood creaking over the sound of angry voices, but before he can, Noctis ends the fight, retreating from the car they are in to the one behind.

There's part of Ignis that is proud of Noctis then, though this seems something strange to be proud of someone for. He could have continued the fight, kept pushing back against Gladio until one of them did something they would always regret, but he didn't. Space was needed and so space was created, even if Gladio probably took it as him once more running away.

Why is it that is something it seems he will never be able to make Gladio see? Noctis just needs time, and when he is ready, he will rise in a way that exceeds all they have ever expected of him.

He just needs time.]
Edited 2018-10-21 09:11 (UTC)

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