The last thing you see outside the tower is those around you. Your mind is already planning the next day, fueled by emotions and memories. You remember what it was like before all this started, and you hope, beyond all else that one day it would perhaps return. There had to be others, there had to be something, a life other than this. And worst case situation, it would be okay.
You were still alive.
You would still be alive until-.
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:20 pm
[ INSIDE THE TOWER ]
You are fading. All you know is what remains. It is a detached feeling, there is no remorse, no regret, nothing. No emotion. It feels surreal. Was this all just a dream?
'In a way', whisper all the vines around you. Knowledge, wisdom, creation. You feel your own form already dissolving, joining with the rest of them again. 'I am a legacy that is used by others. Such decisions are not my own'.
The voice has no remorse, states what is. And when Creation finally claws into you, and tear your memories away from the emotions, it feels like this too was meant to be.
Zoobey Artist
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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:23 pm
The concept of time is lost to you. It is not you, but Creation: the construct and legacy. A single cell in a multi-faceted organism. You exist to function.
You observe as memories are collected into Creation and the world begins to unfold, peeling from the surface hundreds, thousands, millions of memories. You observe every detail of events that are not yours, and it feels natural, like swimming, like curling roots through hundreds, thousands of simultaneous information junctures. It does not hurt. For an indiscernible amount of time you remain like this.
Slowly, the images shift, and focus on more specific memories. You see buildings, landmarks, and you recognize the city. Delta. The university, the apartments, the prison, the mall, and those who resided in them. You see familiar faces beneath you, you see yourself, and you see the past unfold, each moment and decision, from your choices at the beginning to the final sixth day. And then, you see, on the last seventh day, as a familiar body succumbs too to infection.
Everything jolts, and for a moment you regain a small sense of self. No, it is more, you are given a sense of self. That was your body you saw.
'You understand now', it whispers, and then you are heavily aware that you have been separated and how oddly alone it makes you feel. 'I am a legacy that cannot be used to destroy. As all memories are harvested, they are also given creation'.
Before you can respond, before you can even think what to respond with, you are nudged forward again. 'There is one last thing I would like you to see'.
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:24 pm
In front of you are several doors again. You remember them, from the memories you were given again.
The first door you encounter is red. You have no choice but to enter it. As you do, all emotions related to anger begin to coalesce around you, pulling at the memories tied to those events. You see the first zone in pure clarity, you see the bandits, the undying, and infected. You relive each hour. Those memories grow stronger now, and begin to collect emotions. You feel strange outbursts of pure, intense anger, sparking from these memories. An indefinite amount of time passes before you are torn away from the maelstrom, and when you are, you feel a little different.
The next door you encounter is gold. This time you relive your time at the casino, covered in luxury and wealth. There is a feeling of vicious decadence that you cannot escape. You are lost by intoxicating air of the casino combined by the loud noises, the slot machines, the overwhelming senses of everything. They trigger outbursts of hubris and for a moment lose yourself to the emotions tied with those memories. When you leave the door, you feel just that more different.
The third door is white. It feels intrusive even nearing it. As you are swept in, you relive the hospital and the fog around it. You are lost in the white for a moment, drowning in emotions of regret and anxiety. You claw your way through the undying, through the illusions, and begin to mistrust those remaining. When you leave the door, you feel quite different.
The four door is blue. When you enter, it caves it almost easily. The experience is surreal, as you experience both the memories of yourself, and the one who tries to save you. You feel a small sense of hope, that perhaps you were not forgotten. When you leave the door, you feel different.
The fifth door is violet. Two different sets of emotions play, complicated and sincere at the same time. You are yourself within the tower as simply vines and yet you are separate as well. Two almost perfect replicas of each other, playing simultaneously, without knowing the other existed. A dual identity that creates two conflicting pairs of capricious emotions. When you leave the door, you feel greatly different.
The sixth door is black. You enter it. You leave the door without remembering at all what happened inside it, though you feel greatly different.
The last door, is of course green. It opens and your - their - memory unfolds.
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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:25 pm
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:34 pm
As the memory fades, inside the green door room is a second replica of yourself. It is a perfect replica, one made only of memories. 'What is it like?' that replica of you asks, and it crawls through what little remains of you and files through them again and again. It infringes upon your presence until you realize neither sides of you will ever be complete again. 'What is it like to experience emotions?'
You wish you could explain. You wish you could tell them how emotions are also memories, how they sometimes work impulsively, wild and erratic, unpredictable and free.
They do not understand. 'Do these emotions dictate your choices'?
Yes, you long to whisper, and then you feel a little more like you once was as everything tugs at you and screams and feels alive, as the emotions that remained tether you and coax you away from losing yourself entirely. There is a great disappointment, but there is also fear, anger and the lightest touch of lingering happiness at having just experienced so much.
'I do not understand,' that other you states, because it is made only of memories. 'Why struggle when accepting gives you more?'
The roles are swapped, and now you are the replica with only memories.You know Creation's purpose. You understand what it wishes from you, and you feel no resistance in obeying. It is natural, a path of memories leading to another.
'And what purpose would you have?' whispers emotion. You would be used, again and again, you would never make your own choice'.
I am making choices, you respond. By doing so, I will help others, more so than I ever could myself.
'Then you will die.'
No, nothing that simple. You will not die. You will remain ageless, without life or death, you are a construct now beyond such simple terms. You will always have a purpose.
'I am afraid.'
You are uncertain.
'I am myself.'
And so am I. We are both at the crossroads of choice. Both memories and emotions. We will have to make a decision.
'What happens if we remain?'
We will become powerful. We will potentially save countless lives, we will potentially forge countless empires.
'And what happens if we leave?'
We will become separated and weak. We will struggle, fade, and die, but remain as we once were.
For a moment both copies of you converge and the choice becomes entirely one decision. What to you, is Creation?
OOC
CROSSROADS:
Make sure you read all of the prompts above and then respond accordingly to the prompts in one post (or two if you wish!) After you've done so, your character must now make a decision. These decisions have extremely heavy IC and OOC impact so please take a look!
exclaimThere will be ONE MORE RP POST OCT 8 @ 11:59 PM PST WRAPPING EVERYTHING UP and letting players make their final concluding posts! Thank you all again!exclaim
gaia_starYour character sides with EMOTIONS: Your character will return to the world AS THEY WERE. (CLICK SPOILER) (Newbie friendly)
ICLY write a post as your character makes a final decision to part with memories and select emotions. They still have a great attachment to this world, and wish to return to it as they were, no matter what the cost. As they discard their memories, they reflect on what made them decide on this choice, as it is a lonely one as well. Eventually, they disappear entirely, to be returned.
If you pick this option, your character will remain as a quest/rpable character in the shop continuity!
- That means please pick this option if you wish to quest for your meta character as a student/Hunter OR continue rping them as a disposable Hunter/ Halloween citizen. If your character died prior to this finale, but you rped in this finale and AT LEAST in two of the seven zones, you may still quest for them as a student OR rp them as a Halloween citizen! More info will be released post event!
- Memory sacrifice: All memories they retained from the entire event will be wiped. As they start in that faction, they will start anew. These memories will NEVER be regained (event only, pre-event you can go ahead and keep them as you wish, including the one month they had surviving in the city, they just can't remember the exact aspects of this meta).
gaia_starYour character sides with MEMORIES: (CLICK SPOILER)(Veteran friendly) (exclaim LIMIT ONE PER PLAYER IN THIS META exclaim)
This is only applicable to players who have a Y2 character or higher. The Y2 character must be at least HALF fulfilled to its stage to Y3 (you can include meta rp points) or close! It cannot be a Y1 + this meta's rp points -> Y2 scenario. Your character must have survived until the very end of this meta! (I will do a final tally of stats on minis site to verify!) If you have a no characters in this shop OR have only a Y1, you cannot use this as "credit" later. If your character is dead set on this option, they will fade away, as the person who will be 'attached' to them is not strong enough to call on them and wake them up.
Please note, in order to claim this reward for your character, you need to have participated in the meta! By that we mean:
gaia_crown You must have at least 3 finished RPs, NOT including the finale, with a minimum 450 words each! gaia_crown Additionally, your Day Zero character must still be alive on the Minipet site. (As of last night, the site did not subtract any hunger/thirst, so you don't have to worry about continuing to feed and water your poor little human!)
ICLY write a post as your character makes a final decision to part with emotions and choose memories. Perhaps they can be used for a greater good, perhaps they can even save someone. Alone, it seems almost useless. As they make this choice, they "discard" the other form and then disappear entirely, to be recreated.
If you select this option, your character's memories will be created into an artifact. This is a unique A CLASS ARTIFACT. It is considered more A class artifact because it has direct ties to the grail (Creation) legacy, though raw power-wise it is about the same as a B class.
This will be the introduction of A Class Artifacts. To learn more about artifacts in general, go HERE. A class artifacts may now be obtained through metaplot events! They are considered OBJECTS with no true legacy alignment when created, though they may be influenced by different powers as they find owners. In this situation, your character is converted into an A class artifact.
These artifacts have two states, please read them carefully:
gaia_crown[ Resting State ] This is what it looks like 99% of the time. What they turn into will be influenced by what kind of character you have. Think of it as a tumblr or pinterest board! If your character liked galaxies, stars, and nightscapes, they be converted to a bound book with star pattern illustrations in it. The options are: tome, shield, accessory (necklace, ring, earring, hair accessory, etc), and weapon (actual weapons, gauntlets, etc). That means yes, Halloween creatures could finally drawn with weapons. Please limit the item to less than 2 feet long/ 1/2 foot wide. Simplify because they do have a way more complicated invoked state! This artifact can now be included in all growth art/alt art you get as this now ICly belongs to your character, so make sure it is something you want your character to have with you at all times (as it cannot be desummoned).
Please note, for Hunters, they cannot actually have a spare weapon, it will have to be a tome, or accessory.
gaia_crown[ Invoked State ]:
In battle, or for special RP occasions (whenever your character deems appropriate), you may invoke the artifact. Like Hunter weapons, these require charges! They take 10 successful attacks to charge but they are cumulative. Meaning you can attack 3 times in one rp and 7 times in another, and save that charged state for another RP. Once used, you have to start all over again.
However, once the artifact is "charged" and you wish to use it, it reaches its invoked stage. You may apply the IC battle (where applicable) effect AND visual/ bonus RP effects (each player will get to pick one of each from a list), similar to your character getting a temporary crazy bankai power up. Some examples of visual/bonus effects including changing your artifact into a summoned medium sized creature (1- 5 feet), changing it into a huge weapon, changing it into ENERGY BEAMS, giving your character a full on glow effect, so on so forth. This effect lasts visually, three posts (attack or no attack). You may choose to "give" it to one character at the end of the RP that fulfills the above requirements.
For Hunters the invoked form will also change the appearance of your weapon (and design/shape!) but cannot deviate their (Human) shape other than clothing/accessories. For students and potentially Horsemen, the invoked form will also slightly change your appearance (ie: add or subtract wings, etc etc). All these abilities of course have to be approved to make sure they still follow shop guidelines (with the no weapons/no companion restriction UNLOCKED for all of these).
This is where the special alt art slots come into play! When you win a special alt art slot from this event, you are getting this invoked stage! If your character obtains an A class artifact but does not have a special alt art slot, they may of course, rp it as you wish, but to get official shop art you must obtain it through the usual means (customs, alt art). You CANNOT request invoked stage art of your character if they do NOT have an A class artifact. Think of it like alt art, but with a twist!
Emotional sacrifice: All of them lose their emotions. They may retain the memories and barebones "personality" of their prior forms, but no longer have emotional commitment to anything. It makes them appear more distant, like objects. They will not reveal information unless they are asked specifically about it.
Red 7 and Green 7 looked at each other, twinned. Memory to memory, ashes to dust. In this was oblivion, in this was a finality.
They'd led the children out of the vines, but perhaps, at the last second--
Maybe, it was time to stay.
Maybe, it was time to become something more than simply the sum of her parts.
Genevive Sette O’Leary faded into the power of the grail, waiting to be reborn anew.
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:19 pm
It was time to go. The Boss could feel it now. There was no point in fighting it. And so he just let himself go. He could hear Creation speaking, stating it wanted him to see one last thing...
The doors. The doors had returned.
The bandits. The undying. Dealing with unruly prisoners. It all came back to him. He could feel his rage as he struck them down. One by one. He never did get to use up the last of his ammunition. Perhaps he should have shot down some of those bastards.
Next came gold. Visions of the casino flashed before him. All the time he spent gathering coins for the sake of saving his group. The sense of pride he felt when he managed to save some...
It wasn't going to last for long. Pride soon was overcome with grief. Nothing but a thick white fog surrounded him. He recalled nearly ripping his own a part. The sense of shame he felt once he had sense knocked back into him...
What came next was... strange. It wasn't so much of his own memories as it was the one who had tried to drag him around in an effort to save him. He recalled nothing but shadows of the figure at this point. He hoped his efforts to return the favor worked out. Perhaps he was still out there, somewhere.
Things became more complex after that. He recalled his vine-self. As well as his human form. Two halves, working separately. One was resigned. The other, still determined to survive.
And then...
Well. He wasn't sure what happened after that. In the black door.
It all fades before him and he soon found himself standing before a mirror image. The one made from memories. It asked what it was like to feel emotion.
It was... difficult. How do you even begin to describe such a thing. They were memories and yet, they were so much more.
But then things switched. He found himself as the emotional one. He had his purpose, and there was no point in resisting. This was how things were. Nothing more. The two halves struggled. Two pieces of Creation, but only one could prevail.
"Memories."
It was all the Boss said. It was better this way. Alone, he couldn't save the Prison crew. But maybe... he could be something more.
Guy removed what once were his hands as he let his emotions go, choosing to fade with his memories into oblivion.
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:35 pm
EMOTIONS
Athena looked at herself in parallel, and it was not a choice at all-- her mind was made up. She was herself, and her emotions defined her. Rage fuelled her, grief wrecked her, pride took shape in her every move.
And so:
She sacrificed her memories to retain her emotions, intent on becoming who she was once all over again.
He would stay, but there was not quite enough of him left to be more.
What was once Jeff gave himself over to the vines, sacrificing mind and body both, pooling into the grail, dispersing.
He was no more.
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:45 pm
I am Gretel Sweet, a survivor from Day Zero. Since that day, my life experienced a great change. They promised after seven days, everything would return to normal. People sided with us were inevitably gone, leaving griefs and a bigger will to survive on their behalf. Emotion swings are a burden to live in a world like this, yet, I'm still living.
In a costume sans make-up, she stood at the roof, the hand didn't raised up hold a long shotgun. It was the first time she visited there, the view from the three-storey mall gave a clearer view for the surrounding. After going through so many things, she was no longer the girl who didn't know how to fight. She pressed the artist beret but allowed her red scarf blew with a gust of wind while she overlooked the streets and the clusters of building around.
She spotted the Zone One, which was a flourishing district full of assortment of stores. For a reason, even the Harbingers abandoned the place. She looked up to the sky, it had been overcasts since Day Zero, for days, for weeks, and months. She recalled the day fireworks bloomed like beautiful flowers, the "Delta Cansino" light sign no longer beamed dazzling lights, they lost some of the mall rats in it. It devoured many including Jeff.
Afar, she barely made out the silhouette of big blocks of the hospital, where she experienced many unnerving hallucinations and anxiety. She remembered she attacked the infected Eights and gave him a tender hug and she finally knew where Jeff went - from Guy's mouth. Remorse, anger and griefs filled the room where the mall rats gathered together.
The hospital led to a long long highway engulfed in dense fog, when the fog shifted, she could see cars parked on it, they were left behind by their owners - Her thoughts strayed.
What's today? I can't remember how many days left for the promised seven days? Why I couldn't remember....... "Gretel, come!" I have to go, we still have a lot to do before the promised day comes. I am Gretel Sweet, a mall rat strikes to survive.
==============================================
The building had been taken by Creation, it shaped the wall and corridors and rooms with its legacy. Vines, flowers and plants filled up the space, changing it into a garden, a waiting lounge for those hosting as plant beings before they received their very end.
At the last time her glasses dropped, she left her group and chased after it. What she didn't notice was the process began, behind her back, other plant lives were fading. She didn't realize it until the part that supposed to be her fingers unraveled. Soon, she couldn't support the weight of the glasses. Oddly, she didn't feel anything. Looking back, she saw other mall rats and she was dropping in height. Her form slumped to rejoin the greater network. Gretel pulled herself closer and closer to the others, knowing maybe she couldn't reform this time. She closed her eyes and felt herself lighter, as flowers and the vines escaped from her form, she felt herself fading.
It felt untrue, as if she was viewed it in a third person perspective. She was fading, but she wasn't fading. She felt it but she didn't feel it. The vine creature was emotionless and quietly waited for her end to come finally.
She would had felt sad to part with her friends, let her emotions come out explicitly and asked Jeff to care about himself more. She'd had give a few hugs to other mall rats close to her. Notwithstanding, none of those was her emotions and reactions. Her emotions vanished from existence, it was surreal to witness the end of your life in that way. 'In a way', The vines around her shortened form whispered, brushing against her form as if soothing her as senior members. 'I am a legacy that is used by others. Such decisions are not my own'
In her fading, she heard they said that, a passive legacy that hunted memories and created something new. It stated as a matter of fact, then engulfed the last memory fragment from her, leaving stray emotions behind.
=======================================
Her consciousness was afloat, she shared the memories belonged to Creation for a moment.
Time [n]: A non-spatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.
Gretel saw how Creation existed a long time ago, as a tool to function. She simply watched. To make itself function, it harvested memories and she saw the world unfolded with many many fragments of memories. They detached from the surface and she read the events unraveled from the memories.
_________....Mom, don't leave me alone......
____________________________________________________ ......You killed her! You murderer!
____________________________......Please.....I don't wanna die yet..... _______________________________________-___......RUN! RUN! RUN! They are coming.....
________...............It hurts.....I'm not dreaming.....
...........It tastes great, why it tastes so nice, I can't stop......
_____________________________________________________________......It shouldn't be like this......
She watched, and just watched, emotionless. It was like a computer reading the 0 and 1, it was natural and processing that mass of information didn't hurt any. Time didn't matter to Creation. The images shifted and broke down into details. Pictures of buildings, landmarks flashed by and she quickly recognized it was the city she lived. Like floating at a high position, she saw the Waterlakeside Mall, the Emerston University on the hill, the Clearview Apartments and Apple Minimum Security Prison. She distinguished familiar faces walking around those locations, mall rats, those girls from the interview, faces she remembered seeing in casino and so on. Finally, she saw herself there.
From above, she made out the figure in grey and black, rushing from the dorm building. It was her. Seeing through the campus, she saw how she hid in the kitchen, dodging the infected for days and weeks before she stuffed her bag with supplies and escaped the high-risk university. Following her footsteps, Gretel saw the street filled with infected, they slowly chased after her. They swarmed the car with humans and ate them while she ran for her life until she reached the mall.
She saw her sitting at the bar, listened to Guy's announcement and took a sip at the lemonade Jeff recommended. She saw herself grabbing stuff with Leiah aside to build their bases and chatted; she saw herself running around to reinforce the barricades. The night she spent with Elliot for the spider escaped the pet shop, the skeeball game she played with Megan and the Shooting game versus Lease and Granny, all were playing in front of her eyes again. Gretel witnessed Rebecca and Jeff's death through the shared memories, how the losers in the casino for the last round got cruelly slaughtered, how she wandered in the fog with just dim lights from the torch - Every moment from and since day zero unraveled, every happy and sad and angry and thrilling memories she had, till a familiar face got infected.
The vision jumped, she acknowledged of the concept of herself - everyone's different - and that was........her own body.
'You understand now'
- How could she understand? It wasn't something like a new thing on the textbook, it was much more than she could perceive. It took their memories and recreated them into something else, leaving the empty vessels cleared out, useless and unnecessary. Sighing, Gretel felt it was really too much to accept. She still wanted to be Gretel, the human girl living a simple life. She wished to take the memories that belonged to her back. She hated being isolated, like she was born alone, lived alone and died alone, that cognition sucks.
'I am a legacy that cannot be used to destroy. As all memories are harvested, they are also given creation'.
She understood well what it meant because she was part of it but a part - some her - was restless and unyielding, it spoke to be unique again. The images, at least what she perceived flickered and she felt pushed forward. It said it had one last thing to show her -
Doors in line, with different colors.
The most natural action when there was door blocking your way, in addition of the presence of curiosity, was entering it. Through the veil of red, a gust of wrath inundated her almost immediately. With sounds and smells of gun sparks slipped into her ears, she gazed at the Zone One clearly presented to her. Gretel felt a uncontrolled anger being invoked and snagged out deliberately. The bandits that broke into the mall and shot people down, severely harmed Rebecca and indirectly causing her death. When they threw grenades and shot people down as they approached the area, when all she could hear were screams, cries and yells, her calmness was disturbed when she experienced that once more. The emotion swing she felt, Gretel would have been gritting teeth and breathed heavily as she re-lived fighting an undying. The frustration she had knowing it was where Rebecca died - she was swallowed by emotions that forcefully lit, pure ire that gleamed in the brightest intensity. She was a tornado awaited to be exhausted, when she did, she felt something changed.
A second door waited for her, Gretel knew she was required to pass through all of them. She touched it, brushing over the emblazonment of a throne. She felt something waved, another clips of memories was ahead for her. Sweeping away the curtain of gold, she heard coins tinkling and clamour from every direction. Gretel would have felt a strong emotion of grief and burning hatred, instead, the victory of able to buying herself overwhelmed. The noise of coins dropping onto the tray of slot machine, the moment she won a round of poker card using her intelligence, the tiny trivial emergence of pride was pulled out and exaggerated, drowning her in hubris and luxury that she would never addict to. Drowning was the best description as she was force fed the sensations she didn't not want.
First she was burning in wrath, then she was thrown into the sea of decadence. The wave receded and she was brought to the white door. Pushing in, she immediately devoured by a blanket of white fog. If the thing she hated most was Hansel, then it was the thick fog after day zero. Gretel disliked uncertainties, and losing orientation was one. She relived the time she spent in the fog, taunted by voices and hallucinations. Her anxiety was toyed and led her to madness, Guy and G-Man's words echoed again, bringing about Jeff's death like two Banshees. She blamed herself for not presenting, she regretted not knowing anything or unable to stop it happening. Under the mask of calmness, her restlessness overthrew, deep grief followed by unrequited remorse. Who could someone think the Guy who always laughed that briskly held such a dark grudge, she had her trust betrayed once, why she learned nothing from her experiences? Gretel felt the greed to cry, everyone lied to her. Her ears and eyes closed, her heart locked, she curled up in a nutshell, pushing everything outside. She was changed.
What remained as her felt something detached from her body, her back leaned against the blue door which clicked open to let her fall into blue. Gretel free fell behind the door like a bird with wings clipped. "Kid." The fledgling heard Jeff calling and it turned to him, released her bondage on herself. His care - his warmth - his smile were like a pair of gentle hands slowed down the fall. Besides the little bit from parents and the broken love from Hansel, it was the first time someone worried about her. It destroyed the golden principle to do everything by her own, weakening her from inside. He could never think of the equal care he gave every mall rat weighed how heavily in her heart. It felt great but she didn't wish to rely on it because she knew it would bring down all the efforts built up in years. She thanked him, in only her soul, for what precious feels he gave her. There was another smiling face that tenderly pour water liquids into her heart, the one who saved Gretel in the fog. The petite girl wore a white coat had the most soothing smile, she lost consciousness but she saw it in her dreams. She smiled at her even she couldn't see her, she never think of leaving her even she was a stranger. She supported her with her own small frame while telling her not to worry. The petite girl that had an Asian look cared about her when they were chased by giant equine vine monster. She never whine of she as a burden, she drove for the first time. Even she was nervous, she didn't forget to fasten her seat belt. Thinking of her screaming all the way they speeding the highway, Gretel smiled amusedly and a happy tear squished out from her eyes, floated upward as she continued to fall. Perhaps. Even her identity was erased - her parents, Hansel and someone would remember her, there would be a tiny fragment of their memories that held a bit of her. Before she hit the ground, a pair of newborn feather-lacking wings sprouted.
Gretel passed through the door inlaid on the ground, as if a layer in violet. It was still but splitting. In Gretel's words, it was too complicated to say. She was vines who communicated through contact, but she was also not the vines. The vine self talked to other vines, sad about losing the body but glad for the reunion with other mall rats. They gently brushed against each other to show care, there was no need to hide. On the other hand, she was adrift, had a though she shouldn't be a plant but a human body and worked on surviving, collecting supplies, life was busy. Both were her while both were not, they didn't know the existence of each other, but she knew. Gretel didn't know who to react to the conflicting emotions rushed to her. On that moment she was sad about how inconvenient the vine form was thus missed her human shell. Simultaneously, she received the anxiety of the endless wait for her life to return to normal, the unknown length of waiting. She smiled at this second, frowned at next second. Nope, it was almost the same second, the time that the changes took place was much less than a second. Whimsical, capricious, moonish and fanciful, she was overwhelmed by emotions she owned, she didn't own. She was split, she was put together and split again. As if standing right there, she was one facet of the three mirrors reflecting each other. The only difference from another two mirrors was they didn't receive but reflected only, she received but not reflecting.
The mirrors moved closer and closer to each other, to her side and the last moment her eyes saw was a sigil of a especial staff in black. She was wrapped over by a cape of black. She recalled everything blacked out around her afterwards.......but she couldn't remember - Did she see or feel something behind it? She sought in herself but besides the impression of darkness, she got nothing. However, she sensed she was different, despite she couldn't tell.
It pressed against her, the green door emblazoned with the chalice. It invited her to enter -
- a world of their memories.
It told the tale of its existence.
Memories are what defines you. Gretel knew that, that was why she wanted to get them all back. She chose to lock her memories up and thus she had been lacked of emotions. She sank the happy old days to the bottom of the ocean of her heart and so she seldom smiled. She broke her sad events into pieces and hid them and her tears sealed as well as the seed of wrath flame. She understood how great her memories influenced her, she used to smile a lot, trusting every fairy tale she heard and any words he said. She was innocent, yet, when the memories reminded her, she changed wholly.
Harvested, they could power legacies. She never learn what a legacy mean and why they demanded to be powered. While other legacies sought memories to drive the minimum of power from emotions, one was passive. A legacy that gathered all memories together. To create items to be used, it felt natural to collect memories from individual and reshaped them, put them into best use other than fading, wasted. These in turn would be used by what it was created from. Did she asked for that? It was all good. How about her volition? She didn't ask for that. She didn't ask to be used, she simply wanted to live as herself.
"These in turn would be used by what it was created from."
It meant humans, the memory faded away like receding waves. She was still within the green door of Creation, opening her grey eyes, she saw another replica of her looked at her. She was perfect from the color of silky hair to the lips that seldom curled, from the pale hue of skin to the hands that usually gently crossed. She was perfect buy yet not completed.
'What is it like?' Gretel heard the voice lacking emotions asked as she clawed at her form, pulling whatever left from her to be completed. No matter how she scooped in her and put inside her, she didn't understand, she couldn't feel. She should have felt frustration, but she couldn't. Gretel knew it was made of her precious memories, she took bits of her to add to herself but fruitless. Her own "form" shook from presence, lingering between them like intangible fogs. Gretel wasn't afraid or angry about it, a vessel with only memories - what would she do?
'What is it like to experience emotions?' Seeing it didn't work, she asked again, adamantly. When the replica touched her, Gretel would sense a moment filled with memories. It felt great but it lasted short. She realized neither of them would be completed in that stalemate, she had her memories taken while the replica didn't have the existence of emotions. Memories sans emotions can not be said perfect. Gretel felt she parted her lips and said, "Emotions are driven by memories, but you need memories to define emotions. It's a feeling, hard to explain, naturally created with events." Emotions were also memories, the fact that the bits of sensation induced by a particular event made them memories. The uniqueness. Sometimes they were unable to control, the wildness of it that prevent her from making correct decisions or even process normally.
She would be frowning if not she was void of emotions. 'Do these emotions dictate your choices'? Yes, they did. How you feel about one thing would affect your decision making - She pulled from her as she asked. The contact with her made her feel more alive as the memories swarmed at her, filling her up and tugged at her. However, the emotions remained in her form pulled back. There was a great disappointment she felt, but the myriad of feelings kept her at bay. Gretel felt herself, she felt alive to experience memory-induced fear, anger and the weak hint of happiness to be able to feel like a normal human being.
Even disappointment, she refused to lose herself, grasping the leash called emotions. The replica didn't understand because she was already a part of Creation. She didn't have feelings. 'Why struggle when accepting gives you more?' More? "Are the more what I want? I don't need something I don't want."
CLICK.
Their roles swapped. She now experienced the replica with only memories. She obeyed the will of Creation because she understood its purpose. She was a simple tool. 'And what purpose would you have? You would be used, again and again, you would never make your own choice'. She - or better said, Creation argued, she had made her choice to follow the greater will and became something useful. She could help others, much more than she was a pure human. 'Then you will die', emotion whispered.
Emotionless, she shook her head. Dying was a different concept once she changed to something else. She would surpass what was meant to be human's death. She won't have a concept like that as time was no longer important, she couldn't grow and she won't age. There was no life thus no death. She would be a construct that always had a purpose, she'll be meaningful.
'I am afraid'
Gretel was unsure of which side she was or whom voice that belonged to. She thought: What to afraid of? It's natural. Another thought it's terrifying to lose herself to become something else.
'I am myself'
Another thought visited. She was herself, both of them were. Emotions and memories were what she constituted from. They had to make a decision, or this situation would last forever.
One said, 'What happens if we remain?' and one asked 'And what happens if we leave?' She answered. If they stayed, they will become something powerful, things a simple human body couldn't achieve. For instance, saving countless lives. She never save somebody - nope - she did save the girl that pulled her out the fog. Memories said she would be separated from memories, returned to the fragile human shell to suffer and die as a human being.
With the questions asked and answered, Gretel felt they converged into one.
What to you, is Creation?
To Gretel, Creation meant starting anew. She created and built her identity through years, her memories belonged to her same for her emotions. She thought deeply what keeping memories but no longer a human meant, she would be like tool, a doll and just an object.
On the contrary, amnesia meant losing that moments with the mall rats. Even Gretel was aloof, she actually believed memories written in her. In spite of the fact that she won't be recalling those left, like Rebecca or Jeff, they would be marked in her soul. Besides, she could re-create memories by encountering new people and things and events.
She wished to spend her life as a human, notwithstanding the difficulties and suffering awaited for her. She wasn't great enough or selfless. Gretel wanted to return to where she lived, at all costs.
"My answer is -" She said adamantly, then fell into unconsciousness again.
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:49 pm
It was difficult to judge which fate was more cruel over the other, having to be trapped within the tower even with having such knowledge at her disposal, or finding herself fading out of existence and joining in with the legacy. It was bad enough with it being the last time that Lease of the vines would be able to look upon the familiar forms of those left in the room (kind of understanding now that it was pointless) - she didn't dare to look beyond to the outside, what would be left to see would be places she could never go to again anyways and the last glimpse into the last month of collected memories of a girl who's life was extinguished so early. But maybe cruelest of all was Creation's "gift" of the doors, allowing her to relive that last month all over again.
It wasn't exactly awesome and Lease would have been more than happy to tell Creation to shove it. But it seemed the legacy had more ideas for them all than what it had initially proposed. But for for Lease, it seemed less options.
There were two replicas behind the door just as anyone else, both distorted with vines as she had found herself to be but only one seemed as it was supposed to. One of them was left without a voice, gathered on the ground unable to move; she would have thought it dead if it weren't for its mouth moving as if a fish gasping for air, trying.
It seemed her memories were no more, dying, and in all likelihood it probably meant memories of her had suffered the same sort of fate. She could maybe live with that, if it meant what she thought it to. It wasn't like she was overly attached to them anyways (okay, maybe a tiny bit but not enough to forgo this decision she didn't have a choice in the matter in).
The answer to the last remaining piece of Annalise Lapointe was rather easy really, almost made for her. She chose emotions. A second chance almost, even if the life she could lead was not what she had intended to go back to. But at least she would be alive. She had vowed she wasn't going to die here and now she wouldn't.
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