Invasion!

[goneawaymod]

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.]]

Comments

[credit_not_blame]

[Under almost all other circumstances, Stacia would protest being told to close her eyes and follow someone into something without shifting into Crinos or Lupus so that she could be better prepared to defend herself in case of an attack. But she can't be harmed here, and these are Bunny's memories, he's allowed to ask for privacy. So she shuts her eyes and holds onto his fur as instructed.]

[She doesn't see the wreckage of Bunny's home and holy place, the mud and the dead plants and the frozen rotting rabbits. But in the dark behind her eyelids, she smells the rot and mud and the peculiar non-scent of cold, and she hears the silence punctuated by the occasional fall of something heavy though her human ears aren't powerful enough to pick up the sounds of a single digger alone in the distance.]

[She straightens a bit when she hears past-Bunny speak in that dead-sounding voice, and when Bunny turns to put his arms around her, she presses in close, wrapping her arms around him in return to offer what comfort she can in his time of...whatever badness this is. At least she can bury her face in his fur to try and get a break from the stench.]

Bunny, I know this is private, so I'm still keeping my eyes closed, but...did some of the other rabbits go exploring? Is that why you were digging graves? It's not that guy with the goggles coming to say I-told-you-so, is it?

[It simply doesn't occur to her that he's trying to protect her, just that he doesn't want her to see it with her own eyes.]

[bringinghopewithme]

[But the next voice that speaks has an African accent - close to the ancient people of Ghana, if Stacia had an ear for it.

"I . . . hoped there would be fewer to dig."

The Aster of the past says a word that he currently wouldn't let slide in front of a child.]

Oh, strewth.

[There's probably no stopping Stacia's hearing any more than there's stopping his, so all Bunny can manage to do is turn where if she peeks she won't see the bodies, she'll see the dogsized spider, pausing and . . . as far as spider body language can be read, appearing to stare at the 6'1" Aster.]

Stacia, past-me's going to swear like a kid's not here. I know you've probably heard it all but you're not supposed to hear it from me.

[It's an odd, small detail to focus on in all this horror. That a kid's going to hear him saying a swear. But a kid shouldn't be here to experience any of this. Especially not a kid with hearing and a sense of smell likely as good as Stacia's probably is.]

And no. It's not him. He's . . . they're all dead.

[He lets up on her, enough that she can turn to see the argument about to happen. She shouldn't have to keep her face buried for as long as this fight's going to go.]

A friend paid me a visit.

[Still, he says the phrase with such dull, flat resignation that the visit cannot go any better from that last swear.

"Ssssssssoooo," the spider says, in the tone of someone who's not used to awkward silences, now finding themselves in the awkward position of having to break a terrible one. "This is what happens when one person has the power of a whole people." And the dog-sized spider begins growing as it creeps slowly forward, until the black shell splits open and a man's body emerges from the receding carapace. The dark-skinned man keeps four of his spider's legs as he uses them to keep his human feet out of the rotten muck, approaching Aster, who is already standing with his chest rising and falling with anger, as if he's already mid fistfight. He looks ready to get into one.]

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia doesn't recognize the accent, but files it away in her memory too for later questions. She almost giggles when Bunny warns her about how his past self is going to start swearing. She's unconcerned by such things at this point, but the fact he's embarrassed for her to hear him swearing is...sweet. Especially because he acknowledges that he knows she can take it, but he wants to protect her anyway. She doesn't get a lot of that from people who know that she can turn into a giant wolf-monster at will.]

[Her mouth drops into an 'o' of horror and she tightens her grip on him.]

Oh Bunny, I'm so, so sorry!

[When he lets up on her rather than keeping her pressed to his chest, she raises her head to show him her closed eyes.]

I'm not going to look unless you say it's okay. I can't stop up my ears enough not to hear it, but I can at least give you that much privacy if you want it.

[bringinghopewithme]

You can look up.

[He's probably not going to be proud of how this fight went down, but it's not going to be traumatic to see the way thousands of corpses would be.]

Just don't look backwards.

[Usually that's a surefire way to get someone to look backwards but with the smell of this much rot in the air, Stacia's curiosity is surely not that intense.

"Oh that’s what you turned up for? To gawk at me? Coulda done that when everyone was still in the ice. Coulda done that when I wasn't half-done breakin' 'em free."

Aster looks so close to throwing paws that it would be understandable if his visitor simply turned around and left. But the spider-legged man doesn’t seem particularly bothered by the possibility of conflict, as he picks his way on his long spiderlegs high above the muck. "Would you believe I was snowed in?"

"Should I believe you?"

The spider-man starts to open his mouth, beginning to look frustrated, but looking around at the state of the warren, he seems to think better of it and takes a deeper breath. “You are awfully mad at me when I didn’t do any of what’s made you so mad. I came to see you when I could.” He has begun to sound a little hurt.

“Oh lucky me. Sorry I didn’t already have the kettle on. You’re gonna have to cut my hospitality some slack. Please don’t mind the morgue I’m suddenly managing.”

The man tilts his head to the side. “I did come here to help you.”

“To help or tell me the truth, which is it?”

"It might be easier to tell you truths if I knew what you were asking me.”

"I'm asking if you knew."

It takes a moment for Aster’s meaning to come clear. The spider-man scoffs. Then scoffs again as the 6-foot rabbit stays serious.

“If I knew?” he repeats. “Knew what, my friend? I know many things, but this –“

"I wondered why you hung around, you know.” Aster’s interruption is loud. “I didn't wonder hard, but I did wonder why you were so willing to slum it with a mortal. It couldn't be just to get Eos' attention, we weren't around Her often enough. At the end of the day, I'm just one pooka who's good at escaping trouble -" he gestures behind him, to all the trouble he managed to escape - "and you're the Great Anansi, the trickster with the future in your webs." He exhales. "Was this the future you hung around me to see?"

The Great Anansi, offended, does not appear to be someone used to holding his tongue when offended.

“How heartless do you think I am?” he finally asks.

“You tell me how heartless!” Aster shouts. “You tell me why now of all times you turn up expecting me to believe your stories, conveniently when the work is done. Did you know that I was going to be the only one left? Did you know the Old Man was going to murder them? Did you know, and tell me nothing?"

Anansi has set his jaw, but maintains his temper. “If you will consider calming down –“

“Calm down?” Aster does the opposite. “The Warren is a mortuary! Even my Goddess is dead! And you want me to calm down?”

The ragged edge of hysteria is starting to rattle his voice. However many tears he’s already shed, there may be yet more left.

“I didn’t know this was . . . the extent,” Anansi says, and somehow that doesn’t have a calming effect.

“You lying, no good –“ the swearing begins in earnest. Even Anansi raises his eyebrows at some of the inventiveness of the word choice. Bunny reaches out and covers Stacia’s ears. “All this time, you saw this coming, and told me nothing?”

“I did not see this!” Anansi has finally lost enough of his patience to shout back. “All our years of friendship, and you are this quick to blame me when you know full well who killed your people, and that I am not him?”

“You knew! You knew something was coming! Do you deny it?”

“No,” Anansi admits. “But if you’d let me –“

“I’d suffocate you under them if this place weren’t already so desecrated it couldn’t stand a little more violence.”

Anansi suddenly looks curious, as the newly 6-foot Aster’s back paw slides into a more martial stance. “Do you think you could?”

“Did you come here to find out?”

“I came here,” says Anansi, inhaling with an attempt to convey great patience, “because you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

"Alone is all I am!"

The silence following Aster’s shout is broken as another sheet of ice cracks from the ceiling and falls, shattering on a rock.

The tension leaves Aster’s stance, and he turns his back to the spider. “There’s been too much violence here already. Get out.”

Pity has wound its way back into Anansi’s tone. "My friend -"

"You're not my friend."

"Haven’t enough of your ties been cut already? Don’t add me –“

"You're not my friend. If you read a word of this in your webs and told me nothing, you're worse than not my friend. Get out of my Warren."

There’s no arguing with the finality of his command, and no arguing as Aster returns to his task of gravedigging. The spider-man doesn’t linger long, his spider form swallowing up his human shape again as he backs into the Africa tunnel, leaving in the form of a spider the size of a carthorse.

Bunny keeps a paw on Stacia’s shoulder, so she doesn’t look at the bodies behind her, as he covers his eyes as if rubbing away a headache.] I’m not sure why something decided you had to see that.

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia opens her eyes and respectfully does not look backwards at whatever Bunny doesn't want her to see. The spider-legged man -- "the Great Anansi" -- gets a look only as curious as the one she gives past-Bunny's new height. But her attention is more focused on their words than their appearances. She shifts her weight a couple times, like she wants to move forward and insert herself into the argument, but stays where she is. And she only jumps a little bit when Bunny covers her ears when his past self starts swearing in earnest.]

Assuming that a decision was even made. Or, if a decision was made, that it was about me rather than you. [She looks up at him, holding her hand up as a blinder to prevent herself from seeing the things he doesn't want her to see.] I don't think we know enough about the cause to make assumptions here yet.

[She's bursting with questions, though.]

[bringinghopewithme]

[nothing more happens in the memory but that the him of the past continues digging, pausing occasionally to hold back yet more tears. Bunny steers Stacia towards the Africa tunnel.

His voice is flat and dull as the memories roll back in, so many of them bad.]

Maybe it's got what it wanted. Let's try to get out of here.

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia lets Bunny steer her toward the tunnel without protest.]

Do you want a hug? After we get around the bend in the tunnel, I mean.

[bringinghopewithme]

[Bunny takes a deep breath as he draws Stacia through the dark.]

Yeah. [He admits it, in a low, quick tone, and the sadness that is both pent-up and building in there hints at a dam that could - probably, at some point, will - break.] That'd be nice.

[They do emerge - into a blank, open field of snow, so deep that when they step into it Bunny's feet act as snowshoes, keeping him only about a foot deep, but Stacia's human feet sink much deeper in. The snow is falling so thickly that it's a challenge to see the bare trees through them, and the light diffused through the clouds and refracting on the white is somehow too bright and too dim all at once.]

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia is not dressed for this weather, so when she wraps her arms around Bunny it's less about giving him the hug she offered and more about not freezing her ass off or sinking any deeper into the snow.]

N-Not where I was expecting the Africa tunnel to come out...

[bringinghopewithme]

[The hug that Bunny was already grateful to receive turns into a much more full-bodied snuggle as he does his best to bundle Stacia up, letting her have as much of the advantage of his fluffy coat before it occurs to him -]

You can shift if you want. You'd be warmer as a wolf.

["Get back here you little hooligan!" his own voice shouts from the distance, followed by a high wild laugh that's familiar to him, but not Stacia.]

Ah, strewth.

[He says it as a brown-cloaked, white-haired sprite hops into view, leaping as lightly as a squirrel from thin branch to branch, so light-footed that the spindly branches don't break under him like they'd break under the weight of a real boy. Bunny, meanwhile, is relegated to the ground, and the drifting, powdery snow so light and fluffy that he has to plow through it up to his chest, when he runs on all fours.

"You don't get another warning, Frost," Bunny shouts, circling the tree like he's a hunting hound and the boy is a treed raccoon. "It's April -"

"Is it April already?" the boy, Frost, gasps, feigning shock that dissolves into real laughter. "Gosh, guess time does fly when you're having fun! Hey, you know what else flies?"

"Don't you dare," Bunny snarls as the wind picks up.

But the boy blows away on the wind as if he were a scrap of tissue, trailing laughter and snow flurries and a diminishing "Catch me if you can, Cottonail-!"

The Bunny of the past sighs and stamps his foot. These are his memories, so Stacia feels it too as the seasons shift, like the wheel of a car being wrenched from a drunk driver's control back into the correct lane. The snow collected on the branches of the trees begins to melt, raining immediately into powder that is condensing into slush, the fat snowflakes becoming pattering drops of rain as Bunny moves around, monitoring the progress, stamping the ground here and there to ensure tunnels funnel the excess water safely away from flooding.

All while the rain soaks him, leaving him looking more and more ridiculous. And shivering in the cold. And a little bit lost in thought, staring into a budding branch, just beginning to be tipped with green, when he pauses, the snowmelt safely diverted.

A very faint, familiar laugh echoes from somewhere overhead. He looks up and snarls.]

[credit_not_blame]

[Bunny doesn't have to give her permission twice, though she does step away from him so that she's not shifting directly in his personal space with all those teeth and claws.

She watches the boy -- Frost -- with a quizzical tilt of her head, glancing down at the ground briefly when she feels it shift under her. As the Bunny of the past runs around doing...whatever it is he's doing, she chuffs sympathetically. Cleaning up after people is an aggravation she is well familiar with.

At the snarl, she looks to her Bunny and manages an interrogative noise without too much snarl in it, in spite of the teeth.]