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

(CODE)

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[He silently watches Ren as he answers, although his gaze flickers over to Hien when he speaks up too. Well, it makes sense. It's only natural to think that way when you've spent enough time with someone who's taken care of you.

He'll answer Ren's question this time, though.]

...I don't have anything that tells me he's not a monster or something else. But I don't have a reason to think of him as one either. That's all there is to it.

[If looking different was enough for him to brand Hien a monster, then that would really make Shin no better than the Republic.]

[ Despite how obvious Shin's answer should be, Ren seems to brighten up with it.

"See? That's what I think too! You're such a good guy. I like that."

Hien isn't surprised, but relieved. ]

Sorry, he gets excited when he meets a person he ends up favoring. There's no one like that in town.

[Huh. That's quite a turn, but if anything that just says how much Ren adores Hien.]

I don't mind. I don't think I said anything worth praising though.

[ "Small things go a long way with a lot of people."

Ren seems happy while smiling over at Shin.

"I hope this isn't much to ask, but can you stay tomorrow? I want to celebrate my birthday... with more people."

It probably has been just Hien (And Goldie) for all those years. ]

I don't mind, but it's ultimately up to him.

[Ultimately, he is a stranger to Ren, so it is a little strange to be asked that. Moreover...]

...I don't really remember how to celebrate birthdays. [...] But if you're okay with that, I can stay.

[ "I'd like that. Thanks."

Living in a tent in front of a scorched townhouse is already strange, so what's not to like? Ren seems pretty happy about it though, with the addition of Shin being there on his birthday. But then he glances over at Shin.

"Psst... Maybe you can tell Hien that it's okay to give me my present early." ]

I heard that.

[ "But I wanna know! I know it's going to be good too!" ]

You're gonna find out like everyone else: on your birthday.

[He gives Ren a sidelong glance back. In another situation, he most likely would have ignored the request or brushed it off, but...

......]

I don't think there's any harm in letting him take a look. It's not as if giving him a present is the only thing you have planned for tomorrow, right?

[ Hien doesn't say, but he definitely does. Ren seems to know that too, and that's why he ends up grinning.

"He's right! Please, Hien, please...?"

He's getting out the sad puppy look and Hien just sighs. ]

Alright... fine.

[ Hien digs into his hammerspace cloak and pulls out what seems to be a book covered in wrapping paper.

"A book! Is this another textbook?"

He seems so excited that he'll bounce off that tent walls any minute. ]

... You'll find out... tomorrow.

[ His resolve is getting weaker... ]

[There's a surprised blink as the present is pulled out of there like some sort of magic trick, but it's clear from Ren's (lack of) reaction that this is probably an everyday sight for him. So he'll focus on Hien's reaction here, which... hm.

Shin tilts his head slightly and looks at the book.]

What's it about?

[ These kids are unfair... Hien looks at Shin and then at Ren, who still stares with a kicked puppy face. ]

... It's a psychology textbook--

[ Ren suddenly seems even more excited.

"Really? You got that for me?! Can I open it now? Please? Please?!"

Hien looks so overwhelmed. Help. ]

[Well, he is a helper...]

...You might as well let him open it. I doubt he'll get much sleep tonight otherwise.

... Alright. You can open it, Ren.

[ Ren looks extremely happy that he might as well be glowing from excitement and tears the wrapping paper apart. Indeed, there's a high school edition basic psychology textbook. For most people, it would probably be a bad joke. Ren goes up to Hien to give him a tight hug.

"Thanks, Hien! I was looking forward to this one for a long time."

Hien gently pats his head. It's a smile, because he's happy to see Ren so happy with a simple present like this. His happiness means a lot to Hien. ]

I'm glad you like it. Happy birthday, Ren.

[ The memory fizzles out into static for a moment until things are clear in view. Shin will find himself standing outside the tent. The bloody mark on the back of the tent that he saw before is there again and it's obscenely fresh. The bloody trail leads out of the driveway, Hien is seen staked to the ground with a pole through the center of his torso. For some reason, he can't seen to get up. Though his screams aren't because of the physical pain. It's from seeing someone yanking out poor Ren's heart out from his chest at some distance away. The light in his mismatched eyes die as his body slumps onto the street, lifeless. The murderer looks like Ren, only older. He looks around Hien's "age". ]

[Ah.

He's used to death coming suddenly; that's just how it is on the battlefield, where a stray shell or machinegun fire could easily snuff out a life. But the sudden shift between the tent and this scene is still disorienting enough that it makes him tense and narrow his eyes a bit even as he automatically suppresses whatever emotions this situation elicits.

Distantly, almost mechanically, he finds himself evaluating the Ren lookalike. Getting access to the human heart is a difficult thing to do, to say nothing of how Hien is currently impaled too. If he managed all of it with his bare hands, then Shin knows he'll be outmatched in strength at minimum. Ren, meanwhile, is written off as a lost cause... and normally he'd write off Hien as one too, but the fact that he's screaming is a good sign.

There's nothing that can be done for the dead, but one of them is still alive. So even if this is a memory in the end, he still walks over to Hien with silent footsteps so he can check the extent of his wound and if that pole is actually affixed to the ground or not.]

[ The pole has been struck through the gravel of the street, so it might be tough to get it out with the average human strength. However, Hien just seems limp aside from the earlier emotional outburst. There are still tears streaming down his face, but he's quiet about it now.

"Oh, are you a friend of his?"

The older Ren suddenly seems to be leaning in next to Shin from behind in a second. ]

[It's not a favorable situation for sure, and he's aware there's not much he can do without risking further injury even if he could pry that pole out of the ground on his own. ...Not that he's given much of a chance to do anything regardless, because with the lookalike being right behind him the only thing he can do is stiffen in surprise and turn around. When did he...?

After he's had a moment to recalibrate he'll look back with narrowed eyes, looking for any signs that the older Ren will attack.]

I was passing by.

[ "Is that so~? You're awfully active for a bystander."

Thankfully, there are no signs that the older Ren will attack, but he's very uncomfortably inside Shin's bubble.

"Since you have no stakes in this, maybe you should tell this guy here that he should give up. There's no point in doing this again and again." ]

[Well, it could be worse. As much as he doesn't care for having this guy so close, it doesn't feel like putting distance between them would help much even if he did attack, and Shin's specialty is close-range combat anyways so he might as well just stay here.

That's an interesting way of putting it, though. Again and again?]

...What do you mean?

[ "That he should try to stop saving him, because I'll be coming for him every single time."

He smiles with a certain sort of sadistic glee on his expression. It's definitely not the kind of smile Shin saw earlier in Ren. ]

Fuck off, Renatus.

[ "No."

:) ]

[There's a lot of questions he could ask about all of this, but those can wait. Even if this was Hien's memory and the Ren lookalike-- no, even if Renatus answered them on Hien's behalf, it would feel like a breach of privacy. And while he doesn't expect to be able to get Renatus to leave, he can at try to figure out if there's anything more to this besides tormenting someone for the hell of it.]

You already did what you came here to do, right? Or are you here to finish him off?

[ "Hm? He can't die."

Renatus reaches over to the pole that's staked through Hien and twists and stirs it around. Hien had been regenerating around it, but that hurts a lot. There's an obvious grimace on Hien's face.

"That's why it's so fun to play with him!"

Though those are his last words before the older Ren disappears. The memory also distorts itself into static and Shin may catch a glimpse of the very familiar Estelline University's lecture hall before the memory ends. This sure was a memory Hien experienced right before arriving in Estelline. ]

[Not even enough time to bury the body, huh... or maybe there was, but things played out slightly differently because Shin was there. It's hard to say. Either way, it's something to think about, even if he's not keen on prying into open wounds. Well, if it comes up, it'll come up.

Guess he'll wander off and get trapped into some other portals now?!]

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04 - week four

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1/2

Cw blood, gore

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