piper90npcs: (Default)
piper90npcs ([personal profile] piper90npcs) wrote in [community profile] goneawayworld2020-12-01 08:29 pm

HERE, HAVE SOME SPIRIT

Who: Three Ghosts and the little New Hires
What: Sharing the Christmas Spirit
Where: Good question
When: Post-Rose Tattoo
Warnings/Notes: Possible violence, angst, likely visions of death.

Are you sleeping?

Maybe. Maybe not. It's hard to tell. This could be another ARE, after all. What you can tell is that the halls are filled with mist, the smell of pine, and the sound of jingling bells off in the distance.

And then comes the wailing.

Tearing past you, screaming like a damned soul, skeletal figures flood through the halls. Some of them wear business suits, weighed down by chains crafted from ledgers and money boxes. Some of them are soldiers, bound by their own twisted weapons. Police, politicians, no one seems spared. Someone whispers, warning you, begging you to pay heed. For you will be visited by three ghosts who are on an errand of great import.

And then something charges with a howl and all goes white. Slowly, the light dims, and the mass of spectral entities is gone. Instead there stands a figure, or maybe two or three of them. For each person, it's different, as they'll have different messages and purposes for each.

One is neither male nor female, the only certain features being a well-muscled, well proportioned body, wearing a white tunic and a beautiful belt of pearl. Its hair is long, white, as if ancient, but no matter how its face changes, there's no sign of age upon it. There seems to be an aura of white flame around its head and, in a voice that belies nothing but charitable warmth, introduces itself as the Ghost of Christmas Past. It will show scenes of someone's past, offering enlightening details with little judgment.

The middle one is a large man on a veritable throne of food, tantalizing and delicious, wearing a fur-lined red robe and a crown of holly upon his head. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a big man, with brown hair, and a booming, jovial voice that can turn blisteringly harsh and back in a single sentence. He'll show what the character was doing immediately prior to their arrival upon the rig. Perhaps what they're doing right now. But he'll also be content to walk either the character's home world or this Gone Away World, viewing the sights and people enjoying Christmas with the character.

And the final one, a phantom in a dark, green robe, green smoke billowing around it. Its skin is pale, pulled gauntly around whatever body part it exposes. The gaze underneath the hood is as cold as the grave, and it would be wise not to try to match that for too long. It remains utterly silent, simply guiding its guest through the Christmases Yet To Come with a pointed finger. It will show how a character dies and how they'll be remembered by others after. It acts cold and merciless, but this very visit is a mission of mercy, one it silently prays will succeed.

The surprise, though, is that they aren't showing the character that history. Instead, they'll be guiding their guest through someone else's life. Maybe just a fraction of it, maybe a full span. But when it's all over, it's as if no time has passed. In fact, no. The characters are returned to an hour before the ghosts visited them.

[[Remember, this isn't your typical memshare. The ghosts are NPCs, but they'll be controlled by the players. They will not show characters their own histories, presents, or futures, only those of different people. They can show the same scenes to different people or different scenes to different people. One person might not even see all three of the Ghosts.]]
just_rogue: (hard choices)

[personal profile] just_rogue 2021-05-08 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Rogue walked along the hall, delighted at first seeing the photos. Watching the evolution of a family, from a young wild street urchin to a boy with a proud father and the apple of Mattie's eye.

There were pictures of the X-men she didn't remember being taken, they all looked so young, so happy. Smiles on all their faces, playful poses and pranks caught mid way through. Back when times weren't so dire and life had seemed like maybe...

Things matured as she moved down the hall and she paused for a long time in front of a picture that was obvious a wedding and there was that weak in the knees feeling again. Her dress was stunning, and the setting was beautiful and flowers and everything looked perfect but none of that even mattered. There was only Remy and the expression on his face of absolute love and adoration that he was looking at her with. Her heart lurched in her chest with a surge of emotion she hadn't even known she was capable of feeling. "Oh, Remy."

She didn't want to look away but felt compelled to move along the hall to the rest of the pictures and saw a shocking sight, herself making a face as Remy grinned madly, his ear pressed to her rounded belly and giving a thumbs up to the camera. A proud papa if ever there was one. If she hadn't already seen the children that would have made her knees give way for sure.

She studied each picture carefully from there on out, greedy to learn the details of their lives and try to imagine the stories of the moments where each one was taken. It wasn't long before Remy became absent from them and she stepped back a few paces to see if she'd simply missed him somehow. But no, no Remy going forward...and no her. And then there was Raven with the children but the light nature of the earlier pictures was gone. Eventually Remy was there again but without her.

Then she noted the large picture, the wedding dance and the candle beneath it, the candle lit in remembrance. Rogue's head fell forward, her watery vision obscured by white and chestnut locks.

"Yer the one that tells folks bout their death, how the world goes on without 'em." She nods, her voice thick with emotion. "Ah fergot that was yer part in all this."

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, straightened and tried to compose herself. "Ah'm ok with it, really Ah am, so long as you can tell me that they are alright. Tell me they are safe an happy an that's all Ah need."
kingofneworleans: (Default)

[personal profile] kingofneworleans 2021-05-16 07:40 pm (UTC)(link)
If she remembered back, the Ghost of Christmas Present had told her that this was a possible future, not one that was certain. Everything could still change due to the choices made from here out.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come, though, still didn't say anything. But they didn't need to. A pair of loud squeals came from the room to the right, where all the family sounds were coming from. A set of toddlers barrelled out toward the kitchen, strawberry blonde hair around their shoulders. "Poppa! Poppa!"

Oli came out of the kitchen, catching both kids up on his arms with a grin. "What are you two doing over here? Aren't you supposed to be staying with Mama and Tante Mattie?"

"Takin' after their grandparents, they are." Mattie came out of the living room, still looking very well for a woman who had to be over a century and a half old. But, then, Rogue would know better because Remy knew better. She aged slow. "De LeBeau side, at least. Can't say I know enough 'bout deir mama's family to be talkin' 'bout 'em so."

"Let's just say I'm kinda hoping the next one takes after Megan's family." He paused, then added, "In some ways, at least."

Mattie smiled at Oli and Rae behind him, and the two strawberry blondes with black and green eyes. "They'd be so proud of you both."
just_rogue: (am18)

[personal profile] just_rogue 2021-06-06 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
She couldn't take this, she couldn't. Her heart was like to burst out of her chest and shatter like glass. She and Remy got it right after getting it wrong for so long, and had beautiful babies, and their babies had babies.

And she wasn't there for them.

Mattie came out and Rogue gasped again, it was turning into one of those bad telenovela soaps for her with how she was reacting. The woman hardly looked a handful of years older than when Rogue had first met her in Remy's memories.

It was the past tense that hurt, she'd assumed that she was gone, but she'd hoped somehow Remy was still there just maybe busy. Guild work or... something. He had to live, he had to.

"Is... is being with me what makes Remy... is it why Remy dies?" She asked the Ghost. It was the hardest question she'd ever had to ask and the one thing she wasn't really sure she wanted to know the answer to, because what if that answer is yes? Then she only has one choice.
kingofneworleans: (Default)

[personal profile] kingofneworleans 2021-06-30 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
For the first time, the Ghost looks to her. After all the questions that they seem to have ignored, this one gets their attention.

They don't answer out right, but instead look back to the picture and the small family. Which is answer enough, perhaps. Even if she WERE the reason that he dies, which isn't to say she is, would Remy have it any other way?