theafflicted | 04 - week four

04 - week four

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

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The portal takes Hien to the vestibule of a small church, where three figures are gathered. Two of them, one a teenager with
blood-red hair and black eyes framed by spectacles and the other a small boy with black hair and red eyes, hang back from the front entrance as the boy hides behind his older brother's legs. As the loud knocking from the entrance continues incessantly, the last of them, a silver-haired man dressed in a priest's cassock, finally pulls one of the wooden doors open. On the other side are a pair of soldiers in Prussian blue uniforms, assault rifles slung over a shoulder as they greet the priest less than cordially with clear annoyance and scorn in their voices as they complain about 'wasting their time delivering things to pigs' before rattling off a letter followed by string of numbers.

Spooked by the soldiers' ire, the boy clings to his brother even more tightly, although the teenager mollifies him with a brief smile and a quick pat on the head before lightly extricating himself from the boy's grip to step forward and receive the delivery with a grim expression. Immediately after a few papers are roughly thrust into the teenager's hands, the soldiers sneer at them and quickly take their leave.

As the priest leads the boys over to a back room, the three of them walk straight past someone standing right by one of the pews, not even sparing him a glance. The Shin that Hien knows, for his part, merely stands and watches the figures quietly from where they just breezed past him, gaze fixed on their backs. Looks like he's along for the ride for this one too.]

[ Hien has been used to stepping inside portals and being able to affect the memories personally, so that's why he's surprised when no one even spares him nor Shin a glance even when they're right there and horribly out of place.

He doesn't like how the scenario starts though, and walks up to Shin. ]

Are we like ghosts in here...?

[As absorbed in his thoughts as he is, Shin actually tenses up for a second at the sound of Hien's voice.]

...It seems that way.

[Meanwhile, the three figures disappear behind a door and the surroundings seem to fade soon after, only to be replaced by the walls of a plain room with a small kitchenette. Seated at one of the chairs by a modest-sized table was the little boy--Shin, at eight years old--who looks confusedly between the priest and his older brother.

There's a noticeable tension in the air, most of it emanating from the older brother as he stares at the paper on the table--a notification of death, plain and unadorned with naught but a simple printed statement confirming that someone was deceased. With an identification number used instead of a name, it provided the bare minimum of information in the most impersonal way possible. The priest, resigned as he seems, looks over to the older brother with sympathetic silver eyes.

'...Rei.'

The older brother, Rei, doesn't answer as he tears his eyes away from the notice and looks over to the small sheaf of papers in his hand--an enlistment directive from the government of the Republic of San Magnolia, emblazoned with a coat of arms at the corner.

While there's a moment of awkward silence in the memory, Hien is free to move around as he wishes for a bit if he wants to look around the area even if he can't interact with anyone directly. Shin, for his part, will just stand in a corner as it all plays out.]

[ Hm. Since it seems Shin wants to stay in the corner, Hien goes to look around. His first object of interest are the papers that Rei is holding. Shin as a tiny child looks cute, but he doesn't like seeing children look too confused or worried. ]

Who's getting enlisted...

[ He looks over at older Shin. You? ]

[The papers are written as formally as you'd expect an official government document to be, with the first page dedicated to outlining some sort of legal guarantee to enlistees; particularly, 'the restoration of civil rights and restitution of seized properties will be granted to individuals and their families after serving a term of no fewer than five years' and other similar language. One of the other sheets is the notice itself, but the language that's used is forceful, making it clear that refusing isn't an option. And the rest of it is just forms and paperwork to be filled out by the enlistee.

As for the who, the papers are unfortunately not too helpful in answering that question considering the notice is addressed to the same string of digits that one of the soldiers rattled off earlier. However, Hien can probably infer that the ID number refers to Rei; older Shin will also confirm that by shaking his head at the implied question and directing his gaze to his brother.

And despite the clear tension in Rei's frame, he keeps a lid on his emotions for the most part, although there's an increasingly noticeable crinkle left on the papers as he skims through the pages. At some point, he drops the papers on the table and slips out of the room.]

[ Oh...

Hien watches him go but then looks back down at the younger Shin. He's so cute... Hien wants to squish his face.

Alas.

He follows Rei out. It's so nice not having to be sneaky, so he just walks normally. ]

[Rei, for his part, seems to return to his own room. And as the fading light of the setting sun floods in from the window, Rei's composure finally slips as he weeps, sobs full of grief and anger in equal measure. It's hard to say exactly how long he stays there, but by the time he stops, the faint pink-purple hues of the sky give way to the cover of night as faint beams of moonlight illuminate the space. At this point however, it's also plenty apparent that much of the sorrow in his face has drained away only to leave a tenuous balance between the hollow emptiness in Rei's eyes, and the indignation simmering underneath.

And that's when the door creaks open behind him, revealing the small silhouette of an eight year-old, and the older Shin standing behind him as he watches on silently. In sharp contrast to Rei, young Shin's face is full of nothing but simple, childish confusion.

'Brother... Where's Mommy? Isn't she coming back? Why...? Why did she... die?'
There's silence.]

[It only takes an instant.

In one moment, Rei is standing silently and in the next, he's slammed the eight year-old Shin down into the floor, hands tight around the boy's neck. But even though he struggles instinctively, there's little Shin can do against the mass and force of someone that much older. And so, there's nothing he can do but listen to the words that Rei shouts at him.

'It's all your fault. Because you were there, Mom went to the battlefield. Mom died because of you. You killed Mom!'
The fingers tighten around his throat further.

'Sin. It's in your name. Fitting. It's all your fault. All of it--everything is your fault! Mom dying, that I'm going to die--all of it--it's all because of your sin!
...

And with that, the world blacks out, leaving only present-day Shin and Hien standing in a featureless void. Shin himself is still just looking blankly at where the image of his past self was being strangled, and at some point a hand has drifted up to grip the scarf at his neck, but he doesn't do much of anything otherwise.]

[ Oh... When the world blacks out, he looks up at Shin, who's gripping the scarf at his neck. He thinks he gets why he wears that, even though he didn't really think of it before. ]

Shin.

[ He calls out in a tone as if to ask the followup question of whether he'll be okay. ]

[At Hien's voice, he seems to snap out of it a little, blinking slowly a couple of times before closing his eyes and letting out an exhale.]

...It's fine. I just didn't expect to see it like that.

[His hand slackens a bit so it's no longer like he's clinging to the scarf anymore.]

... It's different when you see it from a third person perspective, isn't it?

[ He looks around. ]

Huh. Feels just like home. I wonder how long it'll be like this.

[There isn't any kind of affirmative or even a nod to the question, but from the way Shin seems to fall silent, Hien might get the sense that Shin agrees.

Still, Hien looking around gets Shin to do the same too, eyes narrowing slightly.]

If we're still here, then...

[And as if on cue, small flakes of snow start drifting down as the scenery of an abandoned city blanketed in white begins to phase in around them. Although the streets are mostly undisturbed, there are clear traces that something large and wide traversed an area near them somewhat recently, leaving a trail of flattened snow with some 'footprints' to the sides of it, giving the impression of some large spider that migrated across the street.

From the looks of it though, the trail leads to the sturdy double doors of a large library, which stands mostly undamaged despite most of the buildings nearby appearing damaged or partially collapsed.]

[ Hien looks around, staring at the "footprints" for a while before following it. He's naturally drawn by curiosity, but looks back to see if Shin will follow. ]

You coming?

[Shin, in contrast, is looking in an entirely different direction entirely as he stares down another street--but he turns back the moment Hien addresses him.]

...Yeah.

[The good thing about being functionally a ghost means not needing to trudge through the deep snow, so it won't be much trouble to make it to the library. The other good thing about being functionally a ghost means not needing to open doors like an actual person, so from the looks of it they can just noclip straight through it if they want. Convenience!]

[ Such is the perk of being a ghost. Before Hien goes through the door, he looks back at Shin again. ]

Something caught your eye on the other side?

[He shakes his head.]

...No. I was just wondering if I'd hear anything.

[In any case, he'll pass through the door without any further ado. The library itself has clearly seen better days, with plenty of shelves in disarray or books that are outright missing. With no electricity or any other signs of life, a clear trail of snow leads further inside into an wide open area, where a small boy with a thin blanket around him leans back against a four-legged machine as he dozes.]

[ Oh... it makes Hien want to give the boy more blankets, but he can't. He looks at the machine too. ]

... Is this a different kind of Fido?

...No. That's what I used to use, when I was still fighting in the Republic. They were classified as unmanned drones, though.

[So like, half-right by technicality since Fido is also considered a drone...?!

As they do their ghost thing though, the boy begins to stir, almost like he can hear their conversation... except it'll quickly become apparent that isn't the case, since his gaze passes straight through them when he lifts his head and starts looking around for something. And as his eyes fix on the direction of the library's exit, he gets up and slings an oversized assault rifle over his shoulder and heads over.]

[ Hien watches the boy go with that AR, and then looks over to Shin. ]

Stranded? Or just stationed by himself?

Stranded. The rest of the squadron died in a battle the previous day... but by the time it ended, it was too dark to navigate back to base and I was separated from Fido. So I took shelter here.

[Which wasn't altogether unusual, as far has happenings go. So as he watches the younger Shin open the door and leave, his expression goes pensive.]

This is probably the day I found my brother's body.

... I see.

[ He wonders what Shin was trying to hear, now that Hien knows what Shin was expecting. ]

Who found you?

Fido did, I guess. We went back to base together.

[And as if on that cue, the library fades out and a scene from the snowy city fades in, set in front of a damaged cathedral. Out in the open was a machine similar to the one in the library, except with the armor covering the top half of the cockpit completely torn off, exposing who--or rather, what was inside. Because the only thing that remained there was a weathered, headless skeleton, dressed in faded camouflage fatigues and blanketed by a layer of thick snow. And leaning over to peek inside was the younger Shin, who mutters, '...Brother.']

[ So Shin was familiar with this even before he was a teenager. He quietly sighs as he also goes to peek inside. ]

... How could you tell this was your brother?

[ There's no head... furthermore, this is a skeleton. ]

...It felt like he was calling for me.

[There's a long pause like he's considering if he should continue. But he'll finally speak.]

I can hear the voices of the dead who linger without passing on. It wasn't the same as the other ghosts I've heard, but... that was probably why. [He glances over at the skeleton briefly, with a tinge of melancholy coloring his gaze before he blinks and then shrugs.] I just knew it was him when I saw it.

Edited 2022-06-27 02:18 (UTC)

Oh.

[ ... ]

The battlefield must be a cacophony, huh.

[ That can't be a good mix, especially on Shin's mental state... well, if he wasn't messed up from being a child soldier in the first place. ]

Is that condition rare?

04 - week four

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1/2

2/2 cw: strangulation, child abuse

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cw corpses

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