[MU] - NOVEMBER STORYTELLING

[lifeaftr_mods]

After the chaos of last month's Storytelling, it's probably nice to have a little routine involved. Compared to the bombast and terror of October, tonight is downright peaceable.

Maati still awaits. But for now, you can rest and relax and trade tales of your exploits.



It is time, once more, for you to tell a story. The setting will be familiar for oldcomers, and newcomers will recognize it from the introduction they received in their dreams. This too is a dream, and the ink-black dark is illuminated only by the bonfire surrounded by log seats. And seated around the fire are your fellow islanders, many of whom doubtless know the drill by now.

One by one, you will each have the opportunity to share your stories, as stories possess a certain undeniable power. Newcomers can tell whatever tale they wish, but for those who have been in LifeAftr for at least one Storytelling, only stories of their time in LifeAftr will count down the road. The story need not be long, or conventional, or even verbal; as long as the Storyteller knows it has been told, it will qualify. Those of the nonverbal persuasion have, as of a request issued by Ren (catpiper), an alternative means of telling their stories if they so choose, in the form of the Chamber of Glyphs.

If you prefer to keep your mouth shut, that's always an option, though you're more liable to benefit if you do. Perhaps you'd rather not relive any of your history, varied and variegated as it must be. Or maybe you're something of a compulsive un-truther, prone to embellishments and long, fanciful tangents. As long as the core of the story is true to its spirit, you are free to spin your tale however you like.

So choose well.

Comments

IC || STORYTELLING

[lifeaftr_mods]

If you wish to thread out the relaying of your story so that other characters may react to it, you may do so here!

[thegoofball]

i; let’s play the feud

[Lance is sitting in front of the fire with his legs crossed, and when it’s his turn to tell his story, he actually...spends a moment thinking about what he wants to talk about first. Things have...Happened. A lot.]

Well, let’s start this off with something fun. [He claps his hands together.] So! We’re out in space, travelling, trying to get back to Earth, when one night we wake up on a set. A game show set! We don’t have any idea what’s going on, when this guy [read: alien] Bob pops up and starts going on and on like nothing strange is happening at all. He says we’re on this show called Garfle Warfle Snick, we’re the contestants, and we’ll be trapped on the show for all eternity unless we can get quazcenbullion credits.

I know, right? [Right?] Anyways, Keith - [And at this he points across the fire, to where Keith is sitting.] - is first up, for Pictation. He has to draw things within blazzle hoochas, everyone else has to guess, all that jazz. He’s not a very great drawer, so we were kinda screwed on that one, and then Zarkon shows up [and yes he expects you to know who Zarkon is] with Haggar and Lotor and some...guy. And then Lotor decides the next person going up has to go it alone and decides to pick the dumb one.

And then they say that’s me! And everyone starts calling me a dumdum, and they do that like, 18 times! [He huffs.] I’m not that dumb!

ii; touching family stories

[Garfle Warfle Snick out of the way, Lance...is a little bit at a loss for what to tell a story about. Hmm.]

We did make it to Earth, though. I got to see my family again - my niece and nephew were so much older and bigger than I remembered them being. [He shifts, bringing a knee up.] We had gotten caught in some…weird bit of time, and what we thought had only been a trip of a couple weeks had been...three years. So to my family, it’d been four years since I’d left Earth.

It was good seeing them again, even if it wasn’t for very long. [He lets out a sigh.] Anyways, they’re okay. That’s all the matters.

iii; welcome to earth

Kind of hard to believe it, what with...everything happening there. [His other knee goes up. It’s...quite the change in attitude from his story of Garfle Warfle Snick.] Those three years we were gone, the Galra were moving throughout the galaxy. Sendak decided he would go after Earth and take over the planet.

[He...is having a harder time talking about this than he thought he would. Unfortunate.]

It was rough, going back and then...immediately we had to find a way to liberate the planet, or else everyone was just going to- going to die. And we couldn’t just let that happen. Too many people already had.

[Mmmm…]

Anyways, it’s fine. We managed to fight off the Galra in the end. It took a lot of fighting, but we did it.

ii

[antepone]

[ Mira is here, of course, beside him. Gently, she nudges her shoulder against his. It's... so, so obvious that Lance loves his family. And she can feel how much he does, and how much he misses them. ]

I'm sure they were really happy and relieved to see you.

[thegoofball]

[It's been so long, even longer for them, but he doesn't think he'll forget the way his mother held him.]

Yeah, and they shouldn't miss me while I'm here.

[Not that he worries about that, nope, not at all.]

[antepone]

They love you, Lance. Of course they'll miss you when you're gone.

... but it's hard not to worry, right?

[thegoofball]

Yeah, but am I gone or am I...not? It's hard to know how time works here.

[He sighs.]

It really is. I'm sure they're okay, but...I won't get to know.

iii

[galrarm]

[ For a while, he isn't sure what to say. What do you say to something like this, really? He doesn't doubt that things turned out fine. The paladins are strong. Determined. Shiro is proud of them.

But still. Knowing how the Galra operate... it's a lot to process. ]

Sendak led the invasion?

[ Let's start there. ]

[thegoofball]

[It's at this point where he realizes he has made a grave mistake.

Shiro's not supposed to know this. Shiro is from ages in the past. He shouldn't know this.

And he has history with Sendak. Bad history.]

I mean... Yeah.

[N-nailed it.]

[galrarm]

[ Ah. That's.

Troubling doesn't even begin to describe that. Nor does horrifying. Really, if there's a word for his feelings on the matter, he isn't sure what that word is.

He leans forward, arms resting on his thighs. Shiro's quiet for a long while. It's obvious that Lance is extremely uncomfortable, and Shiro doesn't want to be the source of that. ]

... I'm proud of you guys. For fighting so hard.

[thegoofball]

[Lance fidgets, picking at the hem of his pants. He shouldn't have brought up Earth, or brought up Sendak.

But Shiro is doing his best, and Lance fidgets more.]

It was all thanks to you. You really saved our bacon.

[Shiro is more of a hero than Lance could ever be, and he admires everything that he's ever done, everything he's managed.]

[vagabone]

[Héctor's still missing his own voice--truly missing it, one of those sorts who really are in love with the sound of their own voice. He was a singer once, why wouldn't he be?

Luckily, he's figured out a loophole. Good for him. (And there are only a few hours left of this, though he doesn't know it.)

He's clutching his stone of farspeech and thinking about speaking to Lance, who is only a few feet away. Behold, a boring monotone voice! Doesn't match his skeptical expression at all.]

Wait, wait, wait. You've been to space?

[thegoofball]

[It's weird hearing the monotonous voice, but at least it makes conversation just that little bit easier.

Lance raises an eyebrow, before nodding.]

Dude, yeah. We were out there for like a year.

[He misses the stars, down on the islands, but he does enjoy solid ground and solid food.]

[vagabone]

Hey, you never told me you were an astronaut.

[The fake voice can't even sound indignant. It's pretty awful.]

...so you met aliens and all they wanted was to put you on a game show?

i

[thermalwind]

Not very good. Look, you've seen my drawings come to life. They're fine. You just have trouble seeing. [It's not his fault. If Lance sucks at Pictionary that's his business.]

...who was that guy at the end. I didn't recognize them at all.

[Maybe some Galra from their future. He was kinda small and looked a little pathetic.]

[thegoofball]

There's nothing wrong with my eyes! You're the one who couldn't get things done in blazzle hoochas!

[You're asking the wrong person for that one, Keith. Lance? Is not great with names and faces.

But Keith doesn't know just how bad he is just yet.]

No idea. Someone we probably ran into once? I think? He was just kind of a punching bag.

[thermalwind]

He looked like a tool. [Keith sets his hands knees and stares at the fire then back at Lance.]

I like to take my time with drawing but I can do quick sketches just fine. I'll prove it. What was I supposed to draw?

[thegoofball]

He was Galra and worked with Zarkon. He probably was a tool.

[He leans back onto his hands, humming.]

Well, what you were drawing when time ran out...was Haggar. You know, the witch? Zarkon's wife?

[piercetheheart]

[Waking up at the fire again is... so disorienting. At least last time Gladio had known what happened. He was dead, he'd followed Iris into the ocean...

Now he's just confused.

He's just going to sit on the ground in front of this log, staring at the fire uncertainly, looking around for his boyfriend. Did something happen? Did Enso get attacked while he was asleep?

What else is wrong with him!?

But no, a tentative hand to feel along the neat, twist of his Altissian braid assures him that the issues with his shoulders are even fixed. Hell, the braid is even still tight so-]

What the hell?

[savedbyasong]

Gladio? [Shion noticed Gladio looking confused. He hadn't known he was back, though he had tried to check in with Ignis every day. He had been worried. But disappearing was a thing that happened and all they could do was hope that they did return.

Here wasn't great but better hear than frozen somewhere in suspended animation. At least here there was life, growth. And here Gladio had Ignis. That was important.

Gladio is getting a hug.]

[piercetheheart]

[Gladio smiles, pleased to see Shion. The hug surprises him though and he makes a soft questioning sound. Not that it deters him from wrapping his arms around the younger man and squeezing him.

Maybe a little harder than necessary but dammit he can move again.]

[savedbyasong]

[Shion is slightly squished but he figures his ribs can take it.] Are you alright? [He wriggles out of the grip just enough that he can look Gladio up and down, assessing him for any injuries.]

[piercetheheart]

Far as I know? And the snag in my shoulders seems to be fine now, too.

[And since Shion is giving the space Gladio looks him over in return.]

What about you? What happened?

[want_to_belong]

[Hello Gladio.

Did you know someone was on top of you?

Well. Now you do.]

[piercetheheart]

[Hopefully you don't need to breathe Prompto because he's just crushing you to his chest now.]

[want_to_belong]

[Hopefully Gladio could understand what he was choking out.]

I see you're feeling better.

[And crushing him.]

Where the heck have you been??