[MU] - I'VE HEARD YOU SCREAM IN YOUR SLEEP

[story_teller]

[The night of May 27th, in the familiar avenue of your dreams, you will finally receive some manner of explanation for the catastrophic mishap that has struck the local network of Stones of Farspeech.]

[The Storyteller is, unsurprisingly, harried in their delivery of this news. Perhaps their stress will be evident in the shape they have currently chosen to assume.]

- stories. I need stories to fix this. I'd not realized things had grown so dire. The monthly upkeep was not enough to sustain this ever-growing, ever-changing fabric, and so I'll require your stories. They may be past or present - it does not matter, but the sooner you can offer them, the sooner I can fix this! From as many different people as possible! Variety is critical. One story from ten people will be more helpful by far than twenty from one!

I...I will fix this. I can fix this. I only need your help to do it. The more I can accrue...

[A moment of consideration, and then - ]

Ten. Ten at the minimum. Ten should stabilize this. Twenty-five will ensure it will remain stable for the next three months. Fifty, and it will remain stable for the rest of the year.

Without your aid, I will be unable to make this right.

[If your character wishes to donate, they may comment to the corresponding top-level below. To ensure that no one goes bankrupt, we will impose a five story limit per character - and only two stories can be used to stabilize the network immediately.

If your character wishes to converse with the Storyteller, they may also do so.]

Comments

DONATION POOL

[story_teller]

Comment here if your character wishes to donate to the cause, as well as the number of stories they'll be donating. As stated, we will impose a five story limit per character - and only two of those can be used to stabilize the network immediately.

[deathfindsaway]

Toss Kravitz in for the full 5!

[reflash]

Yukio is immediately yeeting all his stories into this donation pool


So that's 3 from him

[journalname]

Asgore is also submitting the full five please make this end

[shatteredlenses]

Iggy will definitely donate the full 5 from his pool of stories.

Re: DONATION POOL

[atailoftwoworlds]

Zidane submits three!

[hellawrath]

Kind of embarrassing to have her name attached to this PR disaster so she's throwing in 4 stories!

[hyperlit]

The Drifter will contribute five stories!

[vagabone]

5 from him, this is a bag full of NOPE NOPE NOPE STOP

[solperierat]

Take the one singular story he's got he is SO TIRED OF THIS?!

[thermalwind]

Keith submits 2.

[diplomacycheck]

Allura will give only two.

[wanderingdoctorfaust]

Faust is donating the full five stories!

Re: DONATION POOL

[tenthstreetbred]

SHEP IS DONATING BECAUSE HAHA.... WHOOPS.

Donating five stories!

[scourgingstars]

If I didn't know better, I might say you're having trouble with your reign over this island.

...Mnerim, wasn't it?

[story_teller]

This little "network" was hardly my idea in the first place.

[It was something they enacted upon Lup's request. And then...did their best to maintain. Their tone is relatively stiff when they respond in kind. They didn't expect you to bring this up in the slightest, considering your attitude when you addressed them in that state, Ardyn.]

Yes. It was.

[yourattention]

[Unlike everyone else, Connor is not donating stories he already has. That would be wasteful when the Storyteller said any story would do. Instead, Connor just launches into a weirdly well-rehearsed story. Any time Connor tells a story it tends to be a weird, recursive mess so for him to basically have something memorized is a terrible red flag that he's just saying bullshit. The only things he ever says without asides tend to be bullshit.]

When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band. He said: "son, when you grow up, will you be the savior of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?"

[This is, by the way, being delivered in the same deadpan monotone that Connor says most things.]

He said: "will you defeat them, your demons and all the non-believers? The plans that they have made? Because one day I'll leave you, a phantom, to join the black parade."

Sometimes I get the feeling he's watching over me, and other times I feel like I should go. And through it all, the rise and the fall, the bodies in the street - he wanted me to know we'll carry on. Though I'm dead and gone, my memory will carry on. In my heart, I can't contain it. This story can't explain it -

[If the Dear Evan Hansen novel can deadass just copy song lyrics into the novel, I can do this. Incidentally, the Storyteller is also getting what's essentially an AMV set to this song of all the things they've done. Everything they've all gone through.]

A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams, our misery and hate will kill us all. So paint it black and take it back - I'll shout it loud and clear, defiant to the end I'll sound the call to carry on.

And though I'm dead and gone believe me: my memory will carry on. And though you're broken and defeated, your weary widow marches, on and on we carry through the fears and disappointed faces of your peers. Take a look at me, 'cause I could not care at all.

[The last verse doesn't matter. Well, it matters but Connor's not gonna say it because that's a better place to end a story.]

[story_teller]

[Stories all take time and dedication to tell- big or small, it is an expression of trust to share them willingly, particularly knowing that the Storyteller uses them to create energy. This story is specifically crafted for the now- detailed, intricate-- and fitting, to what has been experienced this past week.

It is a story worth responding to. And when they do reply, their own tone remains just as level and bland as what Connor would expect from them when speaking...even if they're singing in turn.]

Staring at the blank page before you, open up the dirty window- let the sun illuminate the words that you cannot find. Reaching for something in the distance; so close you can almost taste it. Release your inhibitions.

[Is this what you wanted, Connor?]

Feel the rain on your skin. No one else can feel it for you; only you can let it in. No one else can speak the words on your lips. Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open.

Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.

[Is it?]

[hellawrath]

[Maybe it's not surprising, to see them freak the fuck out over this, but it does worry Lup. Seems a bit out of proportion, for a mishap that's basically a watered down version of that time Mu turned into everybody's Greatest Personal Hits? She squats down to be on their level and holds out both hands calmly.]

Hey, buddy? Breathe, okay? Nobody's dying cuz their Stones are on the blink. We got this.

[story_teller]

It isn't ideal. None of this is ideal. People were angry the last time their minds and memories were on display - and this time it can at least be prevented.

[It's not the constant blaring of corrupted audio that may be, potentially, distressing. It's the thoughts and memories that have now, once again, been ruthlessly bent out of shape and placed on display for all to hear.]

[deathfindsaway]

[Oh jeez.]

I'm very sorry we let it go so long, as well. Please, don't trouble yourself, I don't think anyone is angry with you.

[They seem panicked- not a great thing all around.]

[story_teller]

It's kind of you to say - but I doubt that is the case. I should have seen this coming.

[They've never had to maintain something like this before, of course. Is it any wonder that things fell apart the way they did?]

[thermalwind]

We. [He says quietly,] We can fix this.

It's as much on us. We should have made sure there was enough to maintain it.

[story_teller]

I can't do it without your help.

[There's a shake, a ruffling of metaphysical feathers as the Storyteller fluffs their fur, as if in an attempt to smooth away their clearly frazzled nerves.]

This is new for all of us. All of us.

[tenthstreetbred]

Storyteller.

[She doesn't know what to say. She's been so out of sorts for months now, drowning in her own miseries that she failed her duty. It's a small duty, of course, and no one is dead, but it still is a blaring signal of how far she has fallen. She's Commander Shepard. She should never slip like this.]

I'm sorry I haven't kept up with the donations like I said I would. It won't happen again.

[Is she expecting a reprimand? With her stiff shoulders, upright posture and hands clasped behind her back, she just might be.]

[story_teller]

It is not your fault alone. Nor the fault of any who generously offered...so many of those who donated their stories have...slipped away. This was inevitable. I can say that I should have considered a fallback plan, but...

[There's naught to be done about it now, other than to fix the damage. Mend what went awry, and carry onward, if possible.]