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goneawayworld2020-08-08 01:55 am
goneawaymod) wrote in goneawayworld2020-08-08 01:55 am
Entry tags:
- #memshare,
- #rig logs,
- adora,
- alloran semitur-corass,
- bunnymund,
- catra,
- dan sagittarius,
- guts,
- kevin armstrong,
- nora valkyrie,
- remy lebeau,
- rogue,
- ronald mcdonald,
- ronan lynch,
- sam winchester,
- saturday,
- setsuna higashi,
- stacia novik,
- tenten,
- ✘ aleifr bjornsson,
- ✘ remus lupin,
- ✘ sirius black,
- ✘ steven universe
Invasion!
Who: The New Hires
What: Sudden Memory Share
Where: Their Memory Palaces
When: After Intermission
Warnings/Notes: Possible in every memory, warn in subject lines.
Contact.
It's during a pause in their day. A nap. An idle moment looking across the Top Deck. Taking a slow breath between reps in the training room.
The New Hires are connected. Mental pathways locking together, they're forced into one another's innermost beings. Thrust into one another's memory palaces where the mind collects and stores everything that makes them who they are. The core of their beings are only a few steps away and no one can help the violation.
To make matters worse, it comes with no explanation or no ability to pull out and stop. Once they're through the first memory, perhaps they can find a way out, but they're already witnessing some event from their host's past. And, if they left, who knows whether or not they'd end up accidentally invading another memory palace?
And if they were there, who was in theirs?
[[So, how this works: the memories can either be viewed in spectator mode or experiencing everything themselves. The person whose memories are being shown, the host, can watch as their current self or take the form they had of their past self.
They cannot control the first memory shown, the player decides that, but they can control any other memories they'd like to show people. Of course, there's always the option of an extreme emotional reaction bringing up memories unbidden.]]
What: Sudden Memory Share
Where: Their Memory Palaces
When: After Intermission
Warnings/Notes: Possible in every memory, warn in subject lines.
Contact.
It's during a pause in their day. A nap. An idle moment looking across the Top Deck. Taking a slow breath between reps in the training room.
The New Hires are connected. Mental pathways locking together, they're forced into one another's innermost beings. Thrust into one another's memory palaces where the mind collects and stores everything that makes them who they are. The core of their beings are only a few steps away and no one can help the violation.
To make matters worse, it comes with no explanation or no ability to pull out and stop. Once they're through the first memory, perhaps they can find a way out, but they're already witnessing some event from their host's past. And, if they left, who knows whether or not they'd end up accidentally invading another memory palace?
And if they were there, who was in theirs?
[[So, how this works: the memories can either be viewed in spectator mode or experiencing everything themselves. The person whose memories are being shown, the host, can watch as their current self or take the form they had of their past self.
They cannot control the first memory shown, the player decides that, but they can control any other memories they'd like to show people. Of course, there's always the option of an extreme emotional reaction bringing up memories unbidden.]]
no subject
a. Steven versus Spinel aka the big climax of the movie where Steven gets the best song on the soundtrack, frankly. (warnings: a little bit of blood in the beginning + violence throughout)
b. That time White Diamond pulled out Steven's gem. (warnings: violence towards children, emotionally abusive language/gaslighting, some body horror/emetophobia)
c. Encountering Cluster gem experiments for the first time. (warnings: body horror, some violence)
d. And one of the many examples of Steven's habit of going above and beyond in his efforts to extend emotional labor olive branches to grown adults. (warnings: child endangerment, reference to parental death)
Steven's mood and possibly conversational quality are... going to vary in the aftermath depending on the memory in question and how he's viewed it, so slide on in here however you like and I'll kinda work things up on a case by case basis.
Although it is safe to say be prepared for apologies, because he'll almost definitely start off assuming his weird psychic dream powers weren't cut off after all and that this is somehow his doing. Being a magical boy... it's simply not always glamorous.
Feel free to reach out for plotting, hashing out closed starters, requesting some other memory options, questions, etc. ]
D
It's nowhere near a justified reason to yell at a child, but none of the other adults in the room comfort Steven after he's been yelled at. They dissolve instead into yelling at each other, fleeing the room, attending to the matter of a fallen portrait instead of reassuring Steven that nothing he's done is wrong. An adult lashing out at him is their problem and not his - but they just allow Steven to accept it as his problem, when this kid is . . . how old is this child? 8?
Crikey. [He tries to get Memory Steven's attention.] This isn't mine to see, I know that. I can look away if you want but I can't do anything about hearin' it.
no subject
Is she okay?
Well, I'm gonna go find her.)
But his double appears off to the side to answer while Memory Steven is turning to talk to Lion, gearing up to follow. A perfect match for how he appears in the memory. He's kind of annoyed about that, actually. It wasn't so long ago he was talking to the Gems about not being a kid anymore. ]
It's okay. [ These things happen. Apparently. He guesses he's overdue for a routine "are psychic powers still offline" check.
Even now, Spectator Steven's attention is more towards the warp pad Pearl took off from than anything. It isn't the worst memory someone could be let in on, really. Just rough around the edges. ]
I mean, it's awkward. Buuuut looking away wouldn't exactly make anything happening less obvious. I, uh. I wasn't too subtle back then. [ All those three or so years ago. The disconnect between how he looked and his real age hasn't occurred to him. It just feels like a long time ago now.
(Man, is he glad they all got past this stage.)
At least there's more context with a visual. He'd feel worse making someone cover their eyes than letting them watch, when neither of them gets a choice in what's happening.
Memory Steven's personal quest to chase down Pearl with Lion is, perhaps predictably, not greatly successful as the old Gem battlefield fades in around them. If the pursuit that follows her clearly-ignored "leave me alone" is any indicator.
Yep. There's the subtlety level they're working with. ]
no subject
[To say nothing of the tantrum two adults just threw in front of a child, one yelling at said child, while the third zeroed in on a painting and let the child go to do the peacekeeping. Despite the adult dropping the 'leave me alone' that would be expected coming from, say, a teenager to their gaurdian.
And Steven's concerned about his subtlety.]
Are those three your guardians?
no subject
And yeah! Those are the Gems. Garnet and Amethyst were back at the house-- the tall one, that was Garnet. This is Pearl.
[ Steven is starting to get nervous about the prospect of accidentally putting Pearl's old emotional situation on blast like this, to say nothing for what may have slightly been a near-death Moment. It sure doesn't look like this memory is about to roll to a stop mid-chase.
And while he's got the benefit of both hindsight and really knowing the Gems on his side, he's the only one here who does.
This wasn't exactly anyone's finest hour.
Hm. ]
For the record, this isn't even close to a memory I'd pick to give someone an accurate first impression. Especially for Pearl. [ Things like this are things that happened. Not who they are. ] Just-- keep that in mind?
no subject
[But any parent that lets their kid chase after them, leaping from unstable floating island to unstable floating island over a fall to the death, without swallowing their own trauma to go and gently stop the kid . . .
Not that there have been parents that faced those same circumstances in Bunny's world. But if they had, they wouldn't have kept their kids very long.
By the time Steven nearly falls to his death but for a, frankly, supernaturally incredible last-minute grab - how strong are this kid's hands, how good is his dexterity? Bunny is gaping in horrified astonishment, having barely restrained himself from leaping to intercept the falling child, even though this is just a memory, even though he knows Steven will survive.
By the time Pearl leans over the edge of the island to check that Steven is still alive and . . . do nothing about it, Bunny is out of patience.]
She didn't even pull you up?
[His voice is rising with his anger. He suspected Steven was raised by aliens who didn't know exactly how to raise a human child. He didn't expect anything this bad.]
Steven, everyone has bad days, but none of that was all right.
[The Gems throwing their tantrum in front of Steven, the Gems allowing him to do the emotional cleanup, the Gems allowing him to run around in immediately dangerous to life circumstances with minimal attempts to put their own problems aside to guide him somewhere safer - to a role more appropriate for his age -]
no subject
It's not a good look. A worse look than he maybe remembered, seeing it from the outside. Watching himself have to climb.
But he can't help a jolt of knee-jerk defensiveness. The need to explain. ]
Hey, I was fine. Still am. I mean, this looks-- way worse than it really is.
[ The fact that she didn't pull him up was part of what made it so clear that she wasn't herself. And at that point, he was pretty committed. Otherwise he put in all the risk for nothing. ]
I couldn't just leave her there.
no subject
[Bunny keeps an eye on the conversation as Pearl gets into her speech about Steven's mother, the "sometimes you look just like her" sticking out. He's always suspected this. Steven is a very human kid, and these are distinctly nonhuman creatures, who are allowing him to put himself in mortal danger over their emotional breakdowns about . . . about Steven's dead mother? And their wondering if Steven is, what, channeling her spirit somehow, for them to sort their pain over her out with?]
Because your mother hurt them, so you have to - to sort through the feelings they have about her, because you remind them of her? Who told you that was your job?
no subject
[ There was a long time where it felt like the least he could do. All things considered. But he doesn't think it changes the core of it.
Steven tracks the motion of the hologram forming. Unlike Memory Steven, his expression only flattens. He thinks he'll go ahead and check out of paying attention to the replay. Maybe it'll change, one day, but after everything he's still tired just seeing her. ]
Mom probably didn't bother telling them what having me would do to her in the first place. Going by her track record. [ Why deal with her own consequences when she could put them off? Keep another secret. Tell another lie. ] There was always gonna be a mess left over.
C
But with everything he had seen, he seemed to take it in stride. He'd recoiled at the strange gem... things. But after he caught his breath, he settled back into his usual tense, upright posture. His eyes were a little wider. His jaw had tightened. But those were small give aways, easily missed.
Shit. That's fucked up.
no subject
He sort of forgot what it was like. Really seeing these for the first time. Forgot in the way that comes with time and distance and other problems to think about. Seeing it again, he thinks it would be crystal clear to think about it without the replay. The distorted screams, the glitching form, the way Garnet just froze--
No. Not a good time. This is why there are things he doesn't think about when he has the option. ]
I'm not much for swearing personally, but I won't say I don't agree. [ Fine way to condense it into four words, really. ] This wouldn't, uh. This wouldn't be my first pick for a Gem history lesson. I'm sorry.
no subject
[Actually, that depended on your perspective. Like if you were the one stuck like that...]
Or it's about even with this. And I didn't have to deal with it when I was a kid.
[He stared at Steven. He wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for beyond the small cracks people wore on their faces as they came close to their breaking point.]
If this is the first history lesson, just how bad are the rest?
no subject
As much as it's awful that so many people on the Rig can relate, it's good to not be accidentally messing anyone up through this dream memory situation. ]
I dunno. I think this is on the worst-things side. The only thing a step up that's like this is the Cluster, and that's... what these were prototypes for.
[ He gives a sort of "what can ya do, that's life experiences" shrug. ]
Gems have a pretty long history of terrible stuff. It's been a lot to work through.
no subject
[Ronan knew how to comfort people. At least he hadn't given examples.]
But most people don't have to see it.
[He watched Steven, trying to piece together just why he'd relaxed. Some things were a bit beyond him but he guessed it was that Ronan had been through something horrible too. People said misery loved company but in his experience people liked knowing that someone else understood.]
You alright?
d
But the longer she watches the memory, the more... wrong it feels. All the adults stay behind and then allow the child to run after the woman in the middle of an emotional crisis. Why did they do that? Why is the boy so eager to help that he's putting himself at physical risk? And the woman keeps jumping away as the boy struggles to follow, risking his life, asking if he did something wrong as the woman refuses to answer. The boy almost falls to his death and then the woman just lets him climb back up the cliff. And then he coaches her through her feelings like a trained therapist while she relives something having to do with what seems like her lover. Is that woman related to the boy? His mother, maybe? Jesus Christ, Vanya really hopes that the woman hasn't just willy nilly made a hologram of the little boy's missing mother appear just to make it all about herself.
Vanya watches the memory play out, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper as she does. By the end, yes, she's certain this is wrong. Maybe the women in this memory aren't verbally crushing the little boy into dust, but they're still forcing him into a role he shouldn't have to play.]
How... often did this happen? If you don't mind me asking. [Vanya asks the question softly as she hesitantly sits down on the grass. She's not one to pry into other people's lives, but... it looks like maybe Steven could stand to have someone listen to him.]
no subject
He's gotten recent takes on this moment in his life that he can admit make a strong case for reevaluating on his own time. Even if getting to that admission took some digging in of his heels.
It means a lot that she asks. And it means a lot that even when she does, she leaves the option for an out. Flexibility doesn't hurt. Steven seems more or less unbothered in the face of that. ]
Not all that often. We mostly dealt with world-protecting, actually. Crazy stuff used to pop up all the time that we'd have to fight or figure out. Whenever something like this happened, it was a big deal.
[ He pulls his knees in. Looks up towards the stars. ]
Baggage can make people do stuff that they'd normally never do, you know? This wasn't anything like Pearl.
[ A few thousand years' worth of stuff will bend the metaphorical bones from time to time, he thinks. ]