Memory Cave

[voidtreckermods]

After the passengers see a glimpse of a life that is not their own they appear in a cave. It is light, a strange moss glowing on the walls and ceiling illuminates the cave nicely and it is large enough for them to pace around in without trouble.

They are not alone. In the cave with them is another voidtrecker. Maybe someone they know well, maybe someone they have only seen in the aisles of the train. But they are together in this cave together.

The cave has no exit, at least not yet. They know that it will, eventually. When the time is right.

But for that time to come, they first must talk...

(OOC: For reference: memories!)

Comments

[bloomingdespite]

"That's... that's definitely everything from my life, yeah."

(They still feel guilty about ditching the session, even though they didn't have any choice in the matter.)

Wester visibly winces when A-Qing brings up Yakkou, but shakes off their discomfort. Right. Only fair to confirm what they saw. "I saw you wandering through a market, looking for... something to do with farming, I think? You were mentioning cultivation. And I saw you...

"...

"In a cabin, with Xue Yang and somebody else that was on the train for a few days. Relaxing. Smiling.

"It was... surreal."

[spikelet]

"Cultivation isn't farming," she points out, first, because it's the easiest thing to correct. "Cultivators are warriors with spiritual powers. Like teacher Lan, or daozhang Xiao. I wasn't looking for farmers, I was looking for people strong enough to kill that bastard Xue Yang. Right before..."

She gestures, to encapsulate, 'all of this'. But they haven't seen anything damning, is the important thing. She finally relaxes. So they know she can see? So what? She's more secure now. She can deal with one person, especially someone that people might not like. "Me and Daozhang Xiao and him, we lived together for a long time."

[bloomingdespite]

Wester's silent for a few more moments as A-Qing's words sink in.

It's all they can do to keep themself from punching a wall. How dare he- after all that time, after sharing good memories together, after everything-

"...you know, knowing all that makes me regret putting the bastard through his punishment even less now. How could he?"

[spikelet]

"You shouldn't regret it at all," is her first, immediate response. "He wanted to torture daozhang for something in their pasts, so he pretended to be someone else so he could stay close to him. Daozhang was so nice to him, he must've gotten all confused and decided he likes him instead, but that doesn't stop all the evil tricks he pulled before that! And... and what he did, after..."

She's so glad she didn't have to watch that again. Time to change the subject.

"Hey, what were you playing? With the paper and dice?"

they are so dumb

[bloomingdespite]

Wester turns away, biting their lip and nodding along to A-Qing's story...

Then immediately brightens like a puppy whose name just got called when A-Qing asks about Monster World. "OH! That's called Monster World it's like my second favorite hobby in the world I love playing it I've actually been looking to put a group together except crap it would be hard to have you play unless you were willing to have me read the dice to you wait hold on are you like interested interested in it or just mildly curious," they babble.

[spikelet]

"I'm interested interested!" She doesn't know what that repetition means exactly, but she gets the feeling behind it, and, look, she really is interested, but she's also intensely interested in not talking about her memories any more so it's a two for one deal.

From the way their face glowed when she asked, she's pretty sure it won't take much to encourage them. She leans forward.

"I was you, remember? I know how fun it is!"

[bloomingdespite]

Good gravy, how is it possible for one person to pack so much sunshine into a smile?

"Okay, so."

Better prepare for the real flood now, A-Qing, because you've opened the gates. (They can tell that A-Qing doesn't want to talk about her own memory. Wester isn't stupid. But pushing her would be worse than just talking about other things.)

"Monster World is a type of cooperative storytelling game where you create, customize, and control a heroic adventurer in a campaign that the Dark Master, or DM, narrates. Your character is kind of like a piece in a more traditional board game, but you control every aspect of their abilities, and you... well, you act as them like they're a character in a play! At the very least, you need one DM to narrate and control all the adversaries and locations and one hero, but it's most fun when you have a bunch of friends create their own characters and form a party with them. You still with me?"

[spikelet]

She settles down to listen, the relief of the subject change enough that she has the space to think, furiously, what she needs to do about her act. Keeping it up really isn't working, not living so closely with all these people. Missions are so dangerous, it's gonna get her killed...

Their explanation occupies at least three-quarters of her attention, though.

"So... one person tells a story, and if I don't like how the story's going, I can change it?" She zeroes in on the best-sounding part. "How do they choose who gets to decide? Is that what the dice are for?"

[bloomingdespite]

"Natch!" Wester snaps their fingers, delighted that A-Qing already understands. "While you can't control the world or the other characters like the DM, you can control exactly what your character does and what they do to influence that world. That's where the dice come in; whenever you do something that has a chance of failure, you roll them and the result determines the degree of success."

[spikelet]

Oh, she's not sure she likes that idea. But then again, she's watched people flip dice however they like, so maybe it's not actually as random as they're making it out to be? More a question of skill, to get what you want. Hmm. It wasn't like any of the characters really failed to do anything in the memory, after all, even if they complained a lot when they rolled low.

She nods. "How do you win?"

[bloomingdespite]

"By telling the best story," they say, completely earnestly and without hesitation.

Oh dear.

want the exit to appear soon?

[spikelet]

Hmm. She needs more information. Or, she's not ready to go back yet. Her eyes narrow, then widen again, guilelessly.

"What's the best story you've ever told?"

sounds good!

[bloomingdespite]

"Hm..." Wester taps their chin, deep in thought. There's a lot of good stories they could use, but they have a feeling A-Qing will especially like one in particular. "Probably when I had my Diabolist rank-up into a Devil Knight. For the entire campaign, she was struggling against the control of a demon that she'd contracted with to defeat her parents and constantly fought against it... until the moment where the entire party went down except for her, and she realized she couldn't afford to be afraid of the demon anymore.

"So she snapped, went on a huge rant about how as a mortal with infinite potential as opposed to a stagnant spirit she could outclass the demon on any day of the week, made the demon her bitch, and since the DM was impressed by that moment he gave me XP and I promoted her to Devil Knight.

"Then she wiped the floor with the enemy and kissed the princess they'd been holding captive that she'd been having this tense rivalry with the entire campaign.

"...I think the Ring-Spirit was a bit bemused, though. He is technically a demon himself, after all."

[spikelet]

There are several excellent parts of that story, and A-Qing can't work out which she wants to ask about first. She's so satisfied with it that she doesn't even bother to interrupt. A mortal with infinite potential outclasses a stagnant spirit, she loves it.

Behind Wester, a gilt door begins to shimmer out of nowhere. She ignores it.

The princess bit... girls don't normally kiss princesses, but she's willing to ignore that, since they obviously knew each other beforehand, and the princess is important and, naturally, rich... Ah, she's figured out what she wants to ask first. She totally ignores the bit about the Ring-Spirit for now.

"Did she marry the princess?"

[bloomingdespite]

Wester slumps.

"...you know, I was actually planning on having her propose, but I got kidnapped by the train the day of the session."

[spikelet]

Oh no.

She flops back down too, a tremendous sigh on her lips.

"That's so annoying! Right at the end?!" She's annoyed enough, in fact, to switch subjects, because she doesn't want to think about being kidnapped by the train right now. She perks up again. "So-- the Ring-Spirit is a demon... and you're like a 'Diabolist', right? Because it gives you its powers? Did you make the Ring-Spirit your bitch? Is that why it got mad?"

She has no idea what bemused means.

[bloomingdespite]

...

"..."

Wester can't help it. They freeze for a moment, then begin wheezing, doubled over in laughter.

"Oh my god- he'd be FURIOUS if he heard you say that- I'm dying, I can't-

"It's... the Ring Spirit was the Dark Master for that campaign. We call him that because we don't really know his name and he lives in a huge golden ring, and after learning his deal calling him by his host's name just seemed rude."

[spikelet]

He'd be furious? They're dying? She almost flinches, but keeps it under control. The conversation's been going so well, she can't spoil it now. Besides, they're laughing, so--

She blinks at them doubtfully, and decides that they're exaggerating.

Wester is so confusing sometimes.

"I get it," she doesn't, but she'll work on that. "That was a good story, though. Thanks."

[bloomingdespite]

Wester smiles down at A-Qing, even though they're internally wincing. Right. She came from a world with significantly less friendly demons (although calling the Ring-Spirit friendly was a stretch). That... probably didn't sound too good from her point of view.

"It's no prob." They blink turning towards the exit. "Looks like whatever weirdos run this place gave us an out. Wanna go back to having fun in the sun?"