fracturarpg | [mingle] the space (april).

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[mingle] the space (april).

interim mingle

( WELCOME BACK, TRAVELERS. )

There's nothing but the clatter of train tracks, and the odd feeling of almost floating.

When you wake, it's hard to tell exactly what it is that you're missing - only that you are. There are pieces that aren't quite right, even if you're not sure where those pieces would normally be. Pieces of what, exactly....? Well, if you had to put a word to it, it would be - yourself, probably. Or did you get something back recently? In addition, characters will find that they've been allowed to bring back souvenirs from this most recent trip - trinkets, nothing violent, but items that can fit in your character's pockets, whether that be sentimental or otherwise.

The place you've found yourself in is strange, certainly. It's probably worth exploring a bit. For those who have been here a while, they might notice some expansions. Though it just as easily seems that the only form of welcome or explanation that you have, comes from nothing more than a slab of marble.

It might've changed since the last time you saw it. Today it reads:

(*´ω｀)o That wasn't so bad, was it?
Hey, you know how that old song goes?
Do you believe in magic? (☆▽☆) Do ya?

Hope you found what you were looking for!

You might have changed since the last time you saw yourself too - perhaps with a new emblem on your clothes, or a portrait on your skin. In addition to that, it seems like Home Base is on the fritz again…?

It seems that suddenly and at random, characters will be able to suddenly see visions of memories that aren't their own flash before their eyes. Pieces of your lives or where you were before this will suddenly slam into other's heads, as clearly as if they experienced the event and the feelings themselves. You might have an inkling of where your memory went and what it was - but you'll need to talk it out with that person in order to recollect it in all its strength back to yourself. Don't you want to keep those precious parts of yourself? It's best if you don't fall more to pieces while you're here. (Memories that have been lost in fragments cannot be sent to others - that's more fun for the future!)

There's no need to fret that much though. You've already gone through the ordeal once, and you might be able to see results from it. Or maybe you'll get a glimpse of where you're going next. Even so, it's best that you don't get too comfortable, because there is still the unshakeable feeling:

There's still much more ahead of you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[DON'T JUST FUCKIN HAHA ABOUT THAT YOU DEMON

Wow, though. Hm. HM!! Even if the malfunctioning Home Base didn't give him a sense of who got his own memories, he'd have known to look for Shinobu anyway. That person - an older sister, again - had looked so much like her. The resemblance was unmistakable.

SO UH TIME TO HUNT DOWN SHINOBU!! Fortunately, he's already had a little experience with this new and very specific hell they all get to party with, so he has an idea of what's happening and what to expect. Which is why, whenever and wherever he does finally spot Shinobu, he leads with a simple:]

—I think I have something of yours.

[And vice versa, but he's never really put himself first, anyway.

TERRIBLE THOUGH he can't even congratulate her for her past world's spice tolerance properly because he's too busy still being mired in the depths of emotions that aren't his own, but were for a brief moment. They still linger fresh and strong, a steely grip through his veins that make him look unusually serious for a change. Funny, that the emotions he'd forgotten closely mirror these.]

[ what're you going to do about it SLAY me?

When he finds her, she's not her usual composed self. She's seated, trying to separate all of his emotions from hers. Most of them aren't things she hasn't felt before in some degree, but that unnatural anger—

She looks up at him. ]

I think I have something of yours, too.

[ Her voice is quiet.

She recognized Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, at least. ]

[i can't believe you come into my home on this the day of my daughter's wedding and pun at me

WOW THOUGH THIS IS TERRIBLE. Why is it that he's always responsible in some way for these terrible expressions! He's not a fan!! He sure does just bring curses with him wherever he goes.

In any case, it's with a somewhat grim expression that he sits down beside her - at a somewhat greater distance than he would under normal circumstances. If things work this time in the way they had the last time, then he's sure about to be the bearer of some awful news.]

...Has this happened to you yet?

[ maybe you should cultivate your tags so i can't do something so terrible

Her brows are knit and she's still struggling a bit, but she notices that distance. ]

No. This is the first. What have you figured out?

[ She guesses it's nothing good because of where he's chosen to sit. ]

[YOU WON'T TAKE IN MY EXTRA BEAR BUT YOU'LL COME FOR MY LIFE I SEE!!!! I SEE HOW IT IS!!

Yeah though haha it sure isn't. The smile he offers is tinged with apology; it's about all he can offer, given how intimately tragic the memories he'd ended up with had been.]

Did you notice something go missing? [He taps the side of his own head. Normally he'd just assume that of course someone so observant had noticed, but she'd clearly been rattled, and it took even him a little while to pin down the sensation of loss in his own mind underneath the borrowed fear and rage and despair.]

So far, it seems like the memories from one person end up being given to another - not just experienced by them, but removed from the original person that the memory actually belongs to. They don't recall those missing pieces until they're told about it again. [...] The things I experienced weren't-- good memories.

[What a terrible gift to give your friend that you keep giving terrible gifts to! What a disastrous way to accidentally pry into things that were likely meant to be kept close to the chest! He wonders what the gaps in Shinobu's memories look like right now - if she can recall the pieces around missing fragments, if there's nothing at all to indicate what's to come. How do you tell someone all over again that their sister died in their arms? That they themselves ended up being so horribly overwhelmed?]

[ yea that's how we do things in this part of the world

Her brows knit, as she processes his words. Is she missing something? Something more than she already is? What she saw from him, his adoptive parents dead, his sister dying—

She has an idea, and she shuts her eyes. There are enough things she remembers that not being to recall that... ]

What I experienced... wasn't happy either. I don't imagine it's something you'd ever want to talk to me about voluntarily.

[ Since he likes to be so evasive when it comes to himself. ]

How much tragedy must befall beloved older sisters?

[absolutely chops u in two

Wow though, he hates that! He hates all of this honestly. She's not wrong - he doesn't voluntarily talk of... just about any part of his past with just about anyone, honestly. He'd have certainly preferred to keep things that way too, especially with Shinobu, who he's still on unsure footing with.

But what's done is done. There's a terse set to his jaw for a brief moment at the mention of tragedies and older sisters before his posture relaxes again, giving little away.]

Even the smallest sadness is too much. Good, kind people deserve to spend their days surrounded by wonderful things.

[Things that make them happy, that make them laugh, that ease their pain instead of bringing it on anew. Why is it that these people suffer? His fingers flex.]

—Would you like me to go first?

[ For how little he gives away, she still notices, and it only serves to make her sadder. She can't even feign her usual smile. She's too unsettled by losing and receiving memories and all that goes with it. ]

Their happiness deserves to be protected.

[ It's what she staked her life on. To keep the foundation of good, kind people's happiness from being shattered. ]

Please go ahead.

[Why is it then, he wonders, that it's always the good and kind, the innocent and uninvolved, who end up suffering so much?

He sighs, hands balling into loose fists that rest at his knees as he tries for a moment to find the right way to word it. He gives up on that endeavor quickly; there is no way to say this that will make the contents of it any more bearable.]

—The first thing I saw took place in some sort of alley. You were holding your sister and crying. She wanted you to leave the demon hunters - said that you were working hard, but that it would be enough for her if you found happiness and lived until you were old.

[There's a smile, then - reflexive. An upward quirk without any of the humor.]

But how could anyone possibly live a normal life after losing their sister in such a cruel, senseless way?

[ There is no way to soften the memory of someone so dear and beloved dying. Time only makes her accept the reality of it. It doesn't make it hurt any less. Shinobu can't even smile as a defense.

Her unending anger sparks beneath her grief. ]

On more than one occasion, I've been told to seek a normal life. [ Each word drops from her lips like a stone, sudden, with gravity, and little emotion. ] Even if it's what my parents wanted, even if it's what my sister wanted, there's no way I could pretend they weren't slaughtered for the selfish whims of a demon. I couldn't live with myself if I did. I can't lie like that. What happiness can be found in that?

[ Her small hands clench into fists. That kind of fake happiness can rot with all those self-serving demons. ]

How can I be happy when they died like that? I can't!

[Happiness over glass - the swiftness that it's snatched with, how hard it is to get it back when it's been lost once. He understands it all too well, even with the gaps in his memory. He'd never lived a normal life again after war had found his home, and he hadn't survived long enough to even consider trying for one after his own sister was killed.

In Shinobu's situation, knowing the emotions she felt, how could he possibly fault her for refusing to follow their wishes?]

...Even if she'd prefer for you to live a life you couldn't, she understood, at least.

[Or else, why would she give the identity of that demon? It's what he knows of elder sisters with stubborn younger siblings. They'll be sad for the things they can't change, but understand why they can't change it.]

... Yes, we both knew each other well enough and trusted each other to that extent.

[ There really was no going back. They made that promise to each other years and years ago to do what they can to save others from meeting the same sad fate they did.

Kanae has always been too compassionate for vengeance, but Shinobu is not. ]

Because she's always been kind and wouldn't want me to be too unprepared. He's supposed to be one of the strongest.

...She sounds like someone people would be more than just fortunate to know.

[A stray thought wisps through his mind, wondering what Kanae had been like in her life if that was the way she was on the doorstep of death. He won't ask - not yet, at least. Not when memories are still settling.

The mention of that - he's supposed to be one of the strongest - has his expression briefly creasing, openly weighted and sorrowful. Shinobu's emotions still rest heavy in his heart, but his own surge up just as strongly. Death is an inevitability. He himself had never expected to return from it, and he's had more people taken by it than he knows what to do with. It never gets any easier, though, to know someone you dearly care for has gone.]

—He was there, in the other memory that I saw.

[Certainly a powerful being. Unfairly so, but it doesn't seem like Shinobu's known much of a fair life.]

Yes. I don't know anyone who didn't come out better from knowing her.

[ Her voice is soft, full of love and adoration. Her sister was too kind and compassionate, and that was what made her so strong. It was also what made her so sad.

Shinobu knows her thirst for vengeance can cloud her judgment, but she also knows what's at stake for her world. Her promise to protect and her will to carry out a dream shine brighter and weigh heavier in her mind. ]

He's reprehensible, isn't he? [ There is something missing, but she remembers enough to know still: ] Every word he said made me want to retch.

[ There goes her pretty and formal language. ]

[BYE PRETTY AND FORMAL LANGUAGE...

It's not like this is unfamiliar either, though. He's known reprehensible people - people who make his skin crawl, who make his blood boil with fury. Had known, rather. None are still alive.]

Doesn't matter the world or the type, hm? Anyone who would raise a hand like that the innocent and weak have no right to life.

[There are shades of whiplike anger threading through his words that she didn't get to see at Algos, but certainly did in Montevallo. After a beat:]

If you've remembered the first, I can tell you that one next.

[ Something hard and bright flashes in her eyes to match the blade sheathed at her side. Anyone who would wreck the lives of innocents deserves to be beheaded at the very minimum.

She folds her hands and rests them on her lap. Her smile is thin and flinty before it drops completely. She could never keep up any kind of expression other than fury at the thought of that demon.]

Did I stand a chance?

[ She knows more than anyone her weaknesses as a Pillar. ]

[The fact that he doesn't say anything right away is probably as much of an answer as any word could be. Her abilities were astounding; quite frankly, the feeling of oh, come on that Shinobu experienced in that moment is one he shares even without their surprise empathic connection.]

You attacked with enough ferocity and determination that it caught him off guard. You moved with so much force even with a collapsed lung that he questioned how realistic it is to see something like that from a normal human... Even he seemed surprised by how far you pushed him.

[And then he had to be fuckin CREEPY AND WEIRD ABOUT IT. His lip curls briefly, an expression of disgust much milder than the actual feeling thinking about that evokes.]

...But he regenerated too quickly. You couldn't deliver enough poison, even when you managed to strike his neck.

[ It's more or less what she expected. The most surefire way to kill a demon is to cut their head off or have them burn to death in the sun's light. All the poisons she could concoct would be less potent against an Upper Moon. They're too powerful, too adaptive, too repulsive— The rate at which they evolve sickens Shinobu to her core.

Why do beings who revel in causing so much pain and suffering have the ability to become so strong so quickly? It makes anger seep deep into her bones. ]

I anticipated that I wouldn't be able to win alone.

[ She faces Wei Wuxian with full honesty. ]

I planned to die.

[ From her posture to her unwavering voice, her acceptance and serenity with that choice is clear. ]

[Hm. ...Well, he's certainly the last person to judge anyone for planning or choosing to die, even if it strikes a sick and difficult chord in his chest. He hates this for her - because she, from what he knows of her, has done nothing to deserve the sort of things that fate seems to keep shoving her way.

But isn't that always the way things work? In any world, it seems. Over and over. He breathes in, quiet.]

You intended for Kanao to finish the job?

[He remembers, toward the end of that memory, "himself" sending some sort of signal to her. His lips thin, pressed into a line before he shakes his head.]

If you planned it, then it must have been a meticulous one.

[ Shinobu watches his expression, and she holds out a hand to him. She knows he chose to sit farther away for a reason, but she's not going to blame him for something he couldn't control. He didn't choose to pluck some of her worst memories from her mind. ]

She's the only one who knew what I'd planned for myself, but I made it so any of my colleagues could've finished him. Anyone who made it that far in that house would've had the ability.

[ She trusted the other Pillars, and she Tanjiro and his friends and their potential to become stronger. It's why she put so much effort in nurturing them after treating their injuries. ]

I made myself poisonous.

[ It's a little odd, talking about this after the fact, like she's recounting some story that didn't affect her life. ]

[He looks at the hand extended toward him, looks up toward Shinobu's face. It's only after a second or two of silence that he reaches out in return, hesitance hooking his motions. He takes her hand; his hold is light and his hand is a little cool to the touch, as always.

Talk of her colleagues has him nodding in understanding. It makes sense, after all, to rely on more than one person in an undertaking that big. It's what follows that gives him pause. He's quiet again for a beat, and the look that he gives her is scrutinizing, but completely lacking in judgment. It's easy to put two and two together, between her admittance that she'd planned on dying and what that demon had said when he had pulled her back into his arms.]

You intended to be devoured from the start. The amount of poison you can deliver in one blow if it's equivalent to the weight of a person, and internally on top of that, would certainly be much more deadly than the amount you could deliver externally with a sword - even a fast-moving one, even through the neck.

[It's an ingenious plan. He wishes he could appreciate the brilliance of it more.]

But there was still the chance he could adapt and withstand it, so someone needed to be there to take his head after you died.

[ She keeps her hold on his hand just as loose. She offered her hand for his sake. Even if he judged, it wouldn't change what happened and it wouldn't make her regret her decision.

She smiles, as if to reassure him, before it shifts to something a little more fond. Every time he proves that he's intelligent instead of only of a menace, she feels more justified in her observations. She knows it's terrible to speak of her death so frankly and that it would still hurt everyone she cares about, everyone who cares about her, but the life expectancy of a demon slayer has always been short. ]

Yes. I knew he favored consuming girls, especially strong and healthy ones.

[ And that's what she was. ]

Even if the poison wouldn't kill him, it'd weaken him long enough. I'm satisfied.

[Something about this all just seems terribly unfair. His own nephew had apparently once wondered why people like Wei Wuxian, like Wen Ning, get second chances when people like Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli don't. Why is it that Shinobu's sister had to die in such a horrible way? Why is it that Shinobu herself has to be satisfied with the way she's died, after living a life in which a "normal person's happiness" was unattainable from the start? Why is her success story being able to help bring down a demon on her way out? It's laughable.

He doesn't laugh, but he does give her hand a gentle squeeze and offer a smile. If she's satisfied with it, what else can he do?]

There are plenty of unsatisfying deaths in the world. I'm glad that you could at least have that.

[Perhaps because she'd known him so well in Monvetallo, and Monvetallo's version of Wei Wuxian is still Wei Wuxian, she'll be able to tell that a rolling anger runs below his easy expression and reasonable words.]

That's hundreds of people you've saved with that plan of yours, then. No small feat! Those you side with are lucky to have you in any world you're in.

[ She can tell, and it makes her smile, something genuine. She didn't expect his anger, but in some way, it touches her. ]

If that's not how you feel, you don't need to pretend for my sake. If you'd like to complain, I'll listen.

[ Whether she'll agree is up in the air, but she understands it isn't fair. She knows it isn't, but what else could she have done? She wanted her vengeance, and she wanted to save as many people as she could. She knows he realizes that from his words, but there are also those memories of his that she experienced. ]

You've experienced more loss than you should have, too.

It is how I feel.

[It's just not all of how he feels, but, y'know. It would feel a little silly complaining to someone who'd walked with such conviction and strength into their own death about the unfairness of life.]

There's a lot I could complain about, but it won't change what's happened already. There isn't any magic that lets you turn back time. If you're satisfied with what you've chosen, then you're satisfied with it. I only hope he found what he deserved.

[SUFFERING AND MISERY haha. He doesn't say that, at least, but the sharp edge to his smile probably says it for him. He is kind at heart, but when he feels some wrong has been done, he's bloodthirsty about the punishment.

Then, with a wryness to his smile:] Looks like I'll have to trouble you to get that back.

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