04 - week four

[afflictionmods]

WEEK FOUR

Saturday comes to a close, and it’s time for some rest and recovery. Perhaps the TLC you deserve will come this week, or perhaps the nightmare will continue. It’s hard to say with things being so strange around you, from Wei Wuxian’s disappearance to the sudden addition of objects and places and creatures from your homes. Who knows what this week will bring? Nothing ordinary, that’s for sure.

You wake up on Sunday to an increase in those little glimpses you saw yesterday. What were snippets of songs, locations that might’ve seemed familiar, and creatures that were dormant, are now all alive and whole. When you go to the karaoke bar, the songs you once knew are there. Monsters and animals are alive and sentient. New business are abound. Vehicles are operable, and perhaps some of your old belongings are back, too.

However, some of these things aren’t even things that should exist outside of your dreams. They may be far too strange and unusual to be real, or just things you don't remember ever seeing. The only thing you remember about these things in particular is that they were, quite literally, in your dreams this week.

That being said, every few hours, all of these things from your homes and dreams fade out and get replaced by new sounds, places, beasts….only to maybe come back again at another time.

Well. At least there's one constant here: You’ve got a handful of new locations to look at, with the fog having spread once more, and they aren't going anywhere. There aren’t as many new places that are native to Estelline this time around, but that may be for the best, considering everything going on.


SETTING TRACKER

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

NEWSPAPER SUBMISSIONS + EDITION #1

SAGE / FLORENCE / LORELEI

MEM SHARE DETAILS

OOC NOTE

OOC: Details on this week can be found here!

Also, we have a lot of participants for the news activity from last week. Neat! Everyone who participated in some capacity will have a small polaroid camera delivered to their doorstep. There's limited film, though - 10 photos per camera. It doesn't seem like there's any extra film at this time, either.

Finally, there will not be any weekly tasks this week. You guys are going to be busy with memshare and dreamscape stuff; instead, enjoy the Estelline University Newspaper!

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

please mind individual cws

[imitationsoul]

[ You are free to assume these memory portals pop up any place that would be convenient for you to make your character enter the one you're interested in! They can also pop up over all days of the event ]

1. re:birth day - MAJOR CW for CSA (sexual slavery) as well as war and displacement

[ Once you enter this memory, the first thing you may notice is that it smells horrible. You're in a dimly lit bunker, populated by people who clearly have not had access to good soap in a long time nor had any interest in cleaning the place. Every small of human activity you can imagine lingers in the air, enough to make you gag.

From the rest of the bunker, you can hear the voices of men. They sound agitated, shouting in Russian. There are no adults in the back-room you find yourself in, however. A group of children roughly between ages 6 and 15 populate this room, some sitting on the row of uncomfortable-looking metal beds, some listening at the door, some praying in a corner. They're malnourished and not well-kempt.

And one of them looks familiar. It is eerie, really, how much 8 year old Miach resembles her 19 year old version. Long white-blue hair, big blue eyes, a fragile form... it's as though she'd simply been downsized. She is sitting on the bed closest to you, arms wrapped around her legs. ]

2. you finished what you could not start - CW for suicide

[ In this memory, you find yourself outside a futuristic apartment complex with a nice tranquil lakeside atmosphere. Towards the road a levitating car is parked that might be hard to identify as an ambulance first-glance. It is made obvious, however, by the stretcher that is being carried towards it - there is a small human form on it, covered entirely by blanket including the head. Whatever this ambulance came here for, it came too late.

But you are not here to investigate the ambulance, just to watch it, alongside the 12 year old girl who is standing on the lawn close to you. Again, Miach is Miach, recognizable at any age. But she is squeaky clean this time, dressed up like a darling little doll. She doesn't seem to be able to take her eyes off the stretcher. ]

3. like bodies on a battlefield, i can't live with how you feel

[ This one is nice and peaceful. You are in a public park and you can see three girls in high school uniforms lazing about. One of them is Miach, still a bit younger than you know her, and she seems to be clearly the leader of the group. The other two are listening with near rapturous attention to what she has to say.

You are free to approach them for a chat. ]

4. i love you in the same way there's a chapel in a hospital - CW for suicide and self-starvation

[ You are in a bedroom. It's a fairly non-descript girls' bedroom - the most notable thing about it is the bookshelf at the right hand side that stands completely empty. Miach is at home. She is sitting on the floor by the large window, staring out at the lake.

She is looking to be in pretty bad shape, like she hasn't eaten in a while. Her breathing is shallow. And though you just appeared in the middle of her room, she does not immediately turn to you. When she finally does spot your reflection in the window, she merely turns to you and tilts her head - curious, not afraid. ]

i

[selfconcept]

[ He wandered into the portal out of curiosity, but now that he's actually in here, a lot of things hit him at once: the smell, the sight, the status of all the selves of the kids at once-- Hien feels like he's about to get a headache, but then he sees someone familiar, or at least should be famiilar. ]

Mimi.

[ Is he calling her that despite never calling her that in his life? Yeah. Also, hi. Sorry for this random adult popping into the kids' space. ]

... What's going on here?

[ Sorry for his weird voice and eyes. ]

[imitationsoul]

[ There are a lot of whispers as the kids notice his presence, but all of them recoil from him and refuse to make direct eye contact lest something even worse could happen to them.

All of them but Miach who looks at him with wide eyes, uncertain but unafraid.

'Mimi' - he is looking at her, talking to her, and her name does start with a Mi, but... no, she hasn't seen this man in her whole life. Not even in her dreams. ]

... you're not with the soldiers.

[ It is not an answer and it's also a pretty obvious observation but she has to make sure. Nobody but the soldiers ever come here. ]

[selfconcept]

Yeah. Being a soldier isn't my thing.

[ He's trying to ignore the smell, but it's really hard with how sensitive his nose feels. If only his powers could do something about it...

...

Oh, wait. He can. Without waiting for Miach's reply, he just sits down on the floor, replacing all the walls with clean versions of itself. Somewhere out there in the many universes, someone is dealing with a dirty version of the room. Sorry, not sorry. It makes it a little better.

He gets up to look at Miach. ]

But yeah, I'm not a soldier.

[ Says the man who just made the room clean in a blink of an eye after sitting on the ground. ]

[imitationsoul]

[ ....... ???

Miach merely gasps at the display of what she can only assume is some sort of witchcraft. Another kid yelps, the whispers increase yet again.

But after a second has passed, Miach takes a deep deep breath. She hasn't felt her lungs this clean in a long time. Emboldened by the sensation, she stops clinging to her own legs and crawls forward on the bed instead. ]

Then, what do you want from me?

3

[cloudalike]

[ This one had seemed normal enough...? ]

Hello there. I'm sorry to disturb you, but may I ask where we are?

[imitationsoul]

[ The girls all sit up a little bit straighter now that they are being approached. The one with the short red hair seems a bit disgruntled, like they've been interrupted during something precious. Miach just tilts her head, unspeaking.

It's the girl with the green bob who answers, sounding hesitant: ] Yoyogi Park, of course? Are you lost?

[cloudalike]

Rather than lost, I think it would be more apt to say that I've been found by something I'm unfamiliar with.

[ A glance at Miach. ]

Never mind that. You three look like you're enjoying yourself. Do you often come here?

iii

[goodfaiths]

[ He'd waffled on stepping into Miach's portal for too long; it's given him no choice but to enter, judging by how it pulls him in so quickly. And what he's met with are three girls, two of them unrecognizable but the third is all too familiar.

Perhaps the wiser thing to do would be to try to listen in and see what's happening, but Riku would rather just do what he feels like doing, so he approaches instead. He's confused. ]

Miach? What's going on?

[imitationsoul]

[ I hope Riku is ready to be scrutinized by three teenage girls who all don't look very happy to be interrupted. The redhead is actively frowning, the girl with green hair looks sheepishly awkward and Miach - Miach looks at him with a piercing gaze he may know well, but zero recognition. The other girls are clearly waiting on her to clear up what is going on, too. ]

... where do I know you from, again? Morality center group therapy?

[ The only reason she is currently bothering to answer is figuring out why this dude even knows her name. ]

[goodfaiths]

No, from Estel-

[ ...Okay, wait. Riku is using his brain this time, because these portals aren't normal and Miach doesn't entirely look like herself here. He hasn't seen the other two in his entire life. Maybe it'd be better to... ]

I-I mean, yeah! Group therapy?

[ He's a horrible liar, though. ]

2

[herlocksholmes]

[Detectives are able to figure out the situation from one glance. Just from a glance, Sholmes can tell something pretty bad happened here. This is the result of a tragedy, that's so blatantly obvious.

And in the midst of this, there's Miach. Sholmes approaches after a moment and talks, trying to be as kind as he can. This is Miach, but he can't bring himself to have any levity in this situation and when she's so young]

You should stop looking at that. It's not good for you.

[imitationsoul]

[ This man looks like a weirdo.

It surprises Miach. There aren't a lot of weirdos in Japan, and they certainly don't have the audacity to enter suburban living areas like this. She gives him a long, long look before she even answers. He's white, that is interesting too.

What he says, meanwhile, is very standard. ]

There is nothing to see. They already covered him up.

[ What would harm her here? Logically nothing. There is no body, and she has seen her share of bodies. But... ]

[herlocksholmes]

If there's nothing then there's even less of a reason to stare, young lady.

[Sholmes doesn't look away from this all, though. It's a bit morbid, to think his profession requires to be so unflinching in the face of any kind of death and situation, but that's just how it must be]

Inform me of the circumstances, if you will. I assure you I ask not out of idle curiosity.

1

[undertakings]

[Peeking in on people's memories is something he doesn't care for considering his own desire for privacy, but the portals being everywhere make it hard to avoid being pulled into at least a couple.

Which is why he finds himself instinctively crinkling his nose at the smell. As terrible as some of the conditions were at the bases he's been assigned to, they weren't confined to a room as these children were either. He finds himself scanning the surroundings automatically, noting the single point of entry and poor furnishings. And, of course, the girl sitting on that bed.

He doesn't stand out like a sore thumb at least, not being much older than the oldest of them, and he's dressed more casually than usual with a t-shirt and a pale scarf around his neck. But still, he doesn't make an effort to curb the bluntness in his tone as as he addresses Miach.]

Miach. Do you understand what they're saying?

[imitationsoul]

[ She hasn't seen this person before. Is he part of the Russian armed forces? Miach wasn't even aware that they'd made any effort to learn her name. She's 'the pale one' a lot of the time - and if someone inquires after her, she is not inclined to introduce herself to begin with.

But he doesn't sound rough when he talks to her. Miach wonders how long it has been since she's heard herself called out to with anything resembling kindness. She can't remember. Everything but the here and now feels like a blur.

She nods. ]

A lot of it.

[ In her village they'd been speaking a Chechen dialect, but the rare occasion of trade meant that conversational Russian was passed around as well. Miach has been hearing very little but in the last month, it's become familiar. ]

Something's coming.

[undertakings]

[That could mean a lot of things, and so Shin finds himself looking back at the dirty, nondescript room again, taking stock of the children's appearances and demeanors before directing his attention back to Miach. They've been detained here for a while, that much is clear, but...]

How did you come to be here?

4

[escardos]

[ even without his abilities, flat understands what mental interference looks and feels like. illusions, hypnosis, suggestion, and even memory retrieval are all part of his repertoire, along with anything that he puts his mind into.

which is why, as soon as he sees that thin and frail miach, he knows what's happening. there's no shock in his expression, only an intense curiosity, towards the situation as a whole and the miach that stares at him. ]

Hello! I'm not a delusion, so don't worry. I'm also not an intruder--or, well, I guess I am. But I'm not a bad intruder that's going to steal you or your stuff, so you don't have to worry about that. [ he looks around, and decides to make himself comfortable by...sitting on her bed. without her permission, of course. ]

[imitationsoul]

... that... sounds like something a delusion might say.

[ After all, some part of her brain might be aware that she is delusional and trying to trick the rest of it into accepting that? It's a complicated thought and it makes her head spin a little bit. Too little energy to think about that. ]

I have nothing left to steal anyway.

[ Nothing that matters to her at least. If someone robbed her in the last days, that would be kind of amusing though. Maybe she should encourage this weird person to take something - just to see if he can. ]

[escardos]

It does, doesn't it? And while we are under some sort of a delusion, I can assure you that it's affecting the both of us.

[ and how novel that is! the first mental interference with the clumsiness was an odd one, but something as elaborate as this is absolutely fascinating! is it using the link between them as some sort of catalyst? he just has to know.

but, first, he's gotta figure out how to get out of here. and he can't do that just sitting down, so he'll stand up from the bed and start tapping the wall with his knuckles, as if trying to look for a hollow spot to break through. in the meantime, he talks casually. ]

What's wrong, by the way? Are you sick?

4

[pr159]

[ Hm. It's impossible not to see how poor her health is here, but the cause isn't immediately apparent. He crosses his arms and looks down at her, tilting his own head in the same direction she does. ]

What's wrong with you?

cw suicide, starvation

[imitationsoul]

[ The reasonable response to this would be 'what are you doing in my house', but Miach doesn't care that much about such fine details anymore.

The man looks far too eccentric to belong here. Maybe her mind is making him up. ]

I'm starving to death. Why?

2

[superstructure]

[ There's a quiet pause as the pieces of what's going on here get put together. It takes a moment of watching the scene, also seemingly stuck on the small form on the stretcher, before he pulls himself off, looking down at the young Miach standing nearby. That look isn't something unfamiliar to him, especially at that age.

A hand goes on her shoulder. ]

You don't need to keep watching if you don't want.

[ Not really a scold or anything, just a gentle reminder. ]

[imitationsoul]

[ Miach looks over at the hand, the stranger attached to it, and back at the hand. She does not feel particularly comforted by the gesture. She does not like to be touched - but she's also not going to defy an adult right now. ]

I want to watch. It's the last I'll see him.

[superstructure]

[ Her lack of a reaction is more than enough for him to pull back. ]

Was he a friend of yours?