Stolen Memories of a Stolen Century

[umbrastaff]

who: Lup + anyone
what: memory share + catch-all
when: October
where: Places
warnings: Death, skeletons, Tom Arnold

Closed Memories (Just hit me up @ draiol if you want one, new and old CR alike!)

you and me, always

It starts in a semi-dark and cramped space, a small door opened just a crack to let in light from the outside. The legs of people in some sort of formal clothing can be seen walking around outside, making the space recognizable as a closet or pantry. The jam at the right might sell the latter idea.

Inside it are two small identical elven kids, all knees and awkwardness, too big ears and noses. They cannot be any other than twelve, and even that might be a stretch. Especially since one of them is wearing a way-too big dress with a belt barely holding it together over what might be the same formal tunic and pants that the other elf is wearing.

They both look solemn, eyes puffy and red from crying as they lean to each other for support. The murmur outside is a little difficult to make out, probably because there was just too much going on at once - but some voices finally pick up above the rest.

"I must say this will be difficult. It's a miracle that their aunt managed to take care of them for so long. Who is going to take them now?" One says, taking a drink of something. The 'concern' falls flat in their voice. It's only gossip to them.

There's a long-suffering sigh from another. "There are no more close family, and there will not be room for two of them in any of the homes." That last word makes the twins huddle together even closer. There was no such thing as 'homes'. This was home!

"I heard it was hard enough for them to stay in once place before their aunt, and now they're known for getting in trouble. It would be easier to split them up to raise independently." Says a third, and, at least from the memory, she sounds nearly happy about it.

Lup grabs her brother's arm tightly, trying to control herself even though her other hand is making a fist to get ready to fight. "They can't split us up! I won't let them!" She whispers, fury in her eyes and hopeless fear in her gut.

Where she is anger and fury, Taako seems numb as he holds on to her as well, but that manages to calm his sister down enough to dim the need to rush out and kick shins. Instead they sit in silence for a long time until the chatter outside seems to move on elsewhere.

Carefully opening the door, the twins sneak out and head for their room as fast as they can. Entering this safe haven, this place where they had felt happy and at home for years, they simply look at each other and nod. Grabbing a bunch of stuff into two bags (blankets, clothes, important but useless knickknacks), they carry one each before lacing their fingers together again.

Leaving their room, they sneak by the kitchen where two elves seem to be looking for them, and head for the door. It has always creaked a bit when opened, but tonight it seems like they are blessed with silence as it swings easily to reveal the big vegetable garden outside.

Lup remembers hot summers, cool autumns and beautiful springs spent here, getting the ingredients for whatever their Aunt was cooking. Things that now would go to whoever bought this old cottage. They would get to eat the beans she planted. Not her or Taako. It makes her stomach feel sour and she stops for a moment, looking at the garden and then back at her brother.

He meets her eyes, and nods. As one, they descend upon what could be harvested now, refusing their hard work to be taken by someone else. They grab vegetables from the familiar stalks and fertile earth, shoving them in their bags and probably squishing a few as they do.

Then they leave the garden, and the cottage behind them. Side by side, connected and whole, existing as the other's heart. Nothing would ever pull them apart for as long as they lived, they promise as they step into the woods and disappear in the undergrowth.

his best day

The light is coming in through a window in a room, shining on a bed where Lup is sitting next to a sleeping man. She looks soft and happy, wearing a red robe and fully dressed while running her fingers through his short brown hair. Leaning in, she gives him a kiss on his temple.

"Hey Bar... it's time to get up, babe. I got a day all planned for you!" She says softly, smiling brightly as this 'Bar' mumbles something and turns to face her. He's a human man, middle-aged and slightly chubby (with a close resemblance to Tom Arnold). He yawns, wraps an arm around her and sleepily leaning up for a kiss. "Is that so?"

Lup nods happily, meeting that kiss with barely contained excitement. "I let you sleep in for once, you workaholic." She affectionately pokes his thick nose with a slender finger. "I've got food waiting for us, and then we gotta get going."

She reaches to hand him his (extra nerdy) glasses and then abruptly pulls the covers back. Thankfully, the man is wearing boxers. (Traditional white ones with little hearts.) "Babe!" He laughs, getting out of the bed with a grin to find his clothes. The first thing he puts on are a pair of blue, sturdy jeans before he slides a shirt over his head - and gets his glasses a little tangled in it.

Lup saves him from that conundrum and then melts into his arms for a while. There's a silent, comfortable moment before he kisses her on her forehead and begs for coffee. Together, they head out to have a crazy breakfast with a ton of pancakes, toast, Fantasy Poptarts that he likes and she loathes the very idea of... and nicely fresh-pressed coffee that Lup puts way to much sugar in.

He drinks it anyway and they have a moment of peace in this kitchen that seems large enough to hold far more people than just these two. It was their chance for some alone time between all the hustle and bustle with the rest of the crew. After finishing their breakfast, they lazily leave the dishes in the sink as Lup pulls the man with her towards the door. "I know this is your day and your faaaavorite thing is working yourself to death, but I got something else planned." She winks at him as she walks down what looks like silvery stairs to the quiet world outside.

They are standing in front of what looks like a silver space ship, and Lup leans in to Barry and whispers something in his ear. He immediately looks both excited and a little pink, and they head off together.

Hand in hand.

wave echo cave

And We See Lup...

for megabond

Lup goes off in in the mess that is the robot world, and the speech afterwards. (Serious/Funny/Sad)

Merle brings her a horrible gift. (Funny)

Open Memories (Feel free to hit up her inbox or thread here if you see one of these!)

Lup's Final Battle Speech (Epic)

Lup crushes the pre-space flight interview and micdrops. (Funny)

The best day ever, including setting a DMV on fire. (Funny)

Telling her brother she's gonna become an undead monster for the greater good. (Sad)

Lup finds a gun??! (Funny)

Also Available: Shared Dreams!

Comments

Loki, Taako

[umbrastaff]

[She's been a little nervous ever since Taako told her about Loki and this vessel thing, but she was happy to talk to the man about it. She had mostly just been trolling him with jokes ever since they met, but he was one of Taako's closest friends here, and honestly she should get to know him better.

(Even if it meant starting in a really awkward way.)

She floats a little bit to the side of her brother, throwing up a hand in 'hello' as they meet up. By now, Lup was ready to try anything to get this lich mess in order. Normally it wasn't that much of a big deal, but after scaring Rin so badly, she's been staying home a lot... and that really wasn't her style.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ For people who do not know Loki, he looks fine. But Loki himself feels ragged around the edges. The slow migration of his memories, drifting over to other people plus his mother's ghost haunting the corners of his life was slowly deteriorating his sanity. Not that he had much to begin with. But he pours his magic into creating a vessel, crafting one part bit by bit until it was ready.

It lies there on the table. The likeness is uncanny. If there's one thing Loki is good at, it is getting the details. He pushes his hair over his hair with a brittle sigh. If her form is startling, Loki does her the courtesy not to react adversely to it. He has some knowledge of how well it cuts to the bone. ]

Hopefully this will serve.

[spellslots]

Well that's fucking creepy.

[No less creepy than the slowly growing body they've got floating in a tank back at their place, but creepy none the less.]

But thanks, bubbale, pretty sure if she scares off one more potential date I'm gonna kick her ass, incorporeal or not.

[He's joking because it's what he does when he's worried.]

[umbrastaff]

Shit.

[That's Lup's first reaction, because how fucked up is it to see your own body like that? Even if she had seen herself a few times after becoming a lich, it was still creepy... and this version was pristine. Not a cut or bruise.

Her skeletal hands a shaking a little, because what if this didn't work? Was he going to have to hide for the rest of this whole duration while her tank body was nothing but a little bean with barely-there limbs?]

It's amazing. I mean... it looks just like me.

[To be fair, she also looked just like Taako with flesh on, so hey.]

I... thank you, Loki. This is... I don't even fucking know.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki shakes his head. ]

Thank me if it works. It is a new area for me as well.

[ He's never conjured a whole body. And technically, he can't. He built it, piece by piece, one building block at a time. ]

If not, I'll start over until it works.

best day + lich reveal combo!

[scholiast]

(Lup's best day is a really fun memory to watch. Lucretia loves the little break this gives her from what has been a really stressful go with memories and shared dreams thus far. For this one she just lingers on the edges and watches with a smile on her face the entire time. She remembers Taako asking the rest of them to clear out for a day so that he could give her this. He hadn't talked about it later and Lucretia hadn't asked, because she wanted it to be able to remain their thing, but she's happy to be seeing it now. It fills her with a soft, hopeful love for the both of them.

And then the memory slowly winds down into the moment Lup told her brother she was planning on becoming a lich, and the tone of everything shifts abruptly. Lucretia watches Taako the entire time, carefully. He seems absolutely fine, but she notices that underneath of the table his knees are shaking, hands clenched into tight fits on top of it, and his betrays his calm. He is scared. He doesn't try to talk her out of it though, and when the memory ends and Lucretia comes to in her apartment, slightly dazed, she doesn't know how to feel at all.

Gathering her bag, she leaves the apartment, re-casting her wards with a wave of her hand before she heads out to Taako and Lup's place. Taako had said after all that she was free to show up at any time, so. She pulls out her phone as she starts to walk briskly there, just in case Lup is elsewhere.)

You at home? I saw one of your memories; could I talk to you?

♥

[umbrastaff]

[Oh. Lup has to mentally go through what memory Lucretia could have gotten that she didn't already know, but draws a blank.

Instead she quickly writes a reply;]

I'm home. Door's open.

[scholiast]

(She doesn't bother replying; Lup will gather that she's on her way.

When she reaches their place and lets herself in, kicking her shoes off by the door she realises how that initial text might have sounded. Like she's angry, or something. Oops.)

Lup? (If that girl comes out of the wall unexpectedly Lucretia's gonna, like, throw something.)

[umbrastaff]

[To be honest she's quite tempted to do so, but it already sounded like she was in trouble or something.

Instead she's floating in the living room, putting coffee on the table for Lucretia.]

Hey, Luce. What did you see?

[scholiast]

(Aw, she does look a little guilty. She's even made coffee. Lucretia chuckles, giving Lup an apologetic look as she comes to claim her cup, leaning back against the counter.)

I saw the day that Taako gave you. Your best day ever.

im a homestuck, you know i gotta have that lich reveal for some good, good drama

[heirlift]

[ You've seen one person's memories in your sleep, you've seen them all. --well, no. That wasn't quite right. This is different, and John knows it, but at the same time, the feeling comes naturally to him. He should probably feel like he's butting in on some kind of private family moment, and on all levels he's doing just that. Only this, he feels, has already happened. There's no changing it. His presence isn't going to make a difference, at least he hopes.

But maybe the owner of this memory didn't really want him knowing.

Maybe someday he'll figure out the key to waking himself up on cue, but today isn't that day. And anyway, he can't pretend he isn't slightly interested in hearing what Lup has to say. (He's not sure if this memory is his or hers; maybe it doesn't matter all that much.) His brow furrows; it feels like watching a movie, almost, where you want to reach out and just say don't do it, but you don't even know why, and it's not even really your place, and the story can't exactly go on if it doesn't happen. John knows that as well as anyone, maybe even more so.

All the same, he finds himself misting up a little, and he has to pull off his glasses to wipe at the corners of his eyes. Good thing there's no here to see him getting all blustery over someone else's memories. Right? Right? ]

[umbrastaff]

[Of course this memory seemed popular, and Lup swears it is getting more and more emotional to see now after knowing how fucking scared Taako had really been. It took a lot of the fun of that night out with it.

It made it more private, too.

She's definitely not into people she doesn't know seeing her garbage, but at least John was kind of cool. He might not make a huge deal of all this.

...okay scratch that, the nerd was sniffling.]

I can't give you a tissue in dream land, my dude, so reel it in.

[heirlift]

[ John feels a little more sheepish for having been caught, but he sniffs once, rubs at his eyes, and tries to give his standard dopey grin. He mostly succeeds, but it's pretty clear that behind the embarrassment of being caught in the act, he really is having some of his own Feelings™. ]

It's fine, it's fine. I'll be fine.

[ He will. He really will, but that does nothing to address the actual elephant in the room. ]

Sorry for spying on your memory. I'm not very good at waking myself up out of these things, I've tried before.

[ Gosh. This is really awkward. It's not really his place to ask if she wants to ~talk about it~ but... he kind of does want to talk about it, for his own selfish reasons, all the same. He can't help it. ]

You wanna get out of here? I'll see if I can show you one of my embarrassing memories if you want.

[umbrastaff]

Sure, sure.

[She moves to join him, watching herself and Taako have some Grey Goose and just enjoying their twin time even after she dropped that bomb. For ages she had thought Taako was cool with it, but now that she had peeked into his version of this thanks to the damn memory thing, it was a lot more tinged with sadness for her.

Still, she shrugs a bit and crosses her arms.]

Don't worry about it. It's not as if anyone can help this mess.

[The sharing of memories or the memory itself.

He seems antsy, though, and Lup steps back a bit.]

We could try leaving, yeah. I don't need to see anything of yours, though. This was kinda private, but not... bad. It all worked out in the end.

[heirlift]

I mean... it's not a big deal or anything.

[ He heads off in an arbitrary direction, but as dreams do, it works out all the same, though maybe it's only easy because he just expects it to work that way. ]

What do you mean, it all worked out? Did you end up going through with it, or...?

[Closed]

[megabond]

[It has been 2 weeks ever since the incident and right now, Sycamore was looking around the market area, which has been repaired after the attack. As he sees the people flocking to the stands and store, he is relieved that everything is back to normal. Although, he is still guilty at his own actions due to Malamar's brainwashing to him. In fact, the thought of being helpless reminds him a lot of the time with his Garchomp and Team Rocket twice.

However, he is lost in thought about the events that he unknowingly "phased" through someone as he walks down the street.]

[umbrastaff]

[It wasn't the first time someone walked through her or she passed through people, but it sure as fuck was the first time a memory came with it. Lup sees the event and is beaming as she turns to look at the person who was responsible for it.]

That is the coolest thing ever! I just saw you make your dragon buddy all extra!

[megabond]

[Well, this was a surprise. Once he phased through Lup, he saw through her memories, which he becomes shocked and confused. It was only that hearing Lup's reaction makes him snap out of shock just as he turns his attention to her.]

E-Excuse me? You saw my dragon go what?

[umbrastaff]

Your dragon-thing! Big thing with like... flaps on it? It... ate the marble and became even more flappy?

[It was really weird, okay. Cool as fuck, but weird.]

[megabond]

[If he had to guess, that means for some reason, she saw his memory of that day. Weird, but shocking.]

Oh, I see. I think you saw my Garchomp Mega-Evolved.

But... How in the world did you see it?

robot world

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco sees the memory in bits and flashes, watches what happens on the world full of robots through Lup's eyes. He knows it must be her memory, because she's the one missing from the crew, and because he recognizes her voice as the one that is saying those things - making the rest of the crew laugh, and then saying how she has hope they will defeat the Hunger and save all its victims, that they need to promise never to let the darkness get the best of them.

Instead of merely sending her a text, the way he has for people he doesn't know very well, Cisco swings by her house unannounced, knocking in the hopes that she'll be there, that he'll be able to speak to her. Normally, he would bring some candy to share, or something like that, but since she's gone all lich-y, he's had to make a few adjustments. So instead of candy he's brought something fun he'd found in one of his recent scavenging trip: a set of plastic tools used for blowing bubbles, and a big bottle of bubble solution. Is it a little childish? Maybe. But Cisco doesn't see the harm in that. ]

Hey, Lup, you here?

[umbrastaff]

[For a moment there's nothing, but then Lup sticks her head out through the door (literally). She makes a face at him and then smiles.]

Heey, Cisco! Come in! How are you doing?

[Popping her face back inside, she opens the door with mage hand and lets her friend inside. Floating ahead of him, Lup makes her way into the living room, since it had the most open area for her to not awkwardly phase through things, and nice seating for people with butts.]

What's up?

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco is getting used to Lup as a lich, but it does still give him a bit of a fright, when she sticks her head through the door like that. He startles, and then immediately laughs, more at his own jumpiness than anything else. He is still shaking his head at himself as he walks in the door, closing it behind him as he follows her in to the living room. ]

I come bearing gifts.

[ He lays out the bubble gear on the coffee table, for her to inspect whenever she'd like. He makes himself comfortable on the couch, saying, a little evasively: ]

Since when do I need an excuse to hang out with you?

[ It's not very convincing, though, and he knows it. Cisco sits forward, sighing shortly, and admits, with a small shrug: ]

Actually I, uh, stopped by because I had a vision about you. Not a vibe. I mean the kind of vision that everybody's been getting these last few days. With people's memories and whatever. I just. Wanted to tell you, I guess.

[umbrastaff]

[ She's giggling as he does, amused at the startle but pleased that he didn't freak out. That was exactly how she liked her lich scares. Magnus made the best sounds.

It would be a lie to say she didn't notice his slight weirdness, but she chalks it up to being a little unused to a floating ghost. Plus, he was bearing gifts so she's easily distracted by the strange contraptions he brought, wondering if it was some kind of plasticy magic wands. ]

Of course you don't! I was just curious. Like... and what are these?

[ Lup picks one up with mage hand and twirls it a bit, but almost drops it again when Cisco mentions getting a memory from her. She should have suspected that, seeing she saw one of his. ]

Oh man, really? Was it cool, at least?

[ She'll take cool over horrifying deaths or anything like that. ]

[franciscoramon]

[ Rather than launch into a complicated explanation, Cisco merely holds up a single finger beckoning her to wait. He unscrews the top of the bubble solution, dips one of the wands in, and holds it up. Then, he blows a stream of bubbles, with precise accuracy, towards Lup's somewhat skeletal face. ]

Bubbles! It's just a toy, from my world. I thought you might have fun with 'em. You can do it this way, too.

[ He dips the wand once more and then drags it through the air in quick arcs, leaving trails of shimmering bubbles as he goes. They drift gently towards the floor, some popping in the air, others when they hit the coffee table or floor. ]

You know I'm not really sure cool's the exact word I'd use.

[ Cisco smiles softly, a little lopsided, and a little melancholy. It's always a bit risky, talking to any of the IPRE folks about things from the cycles. Even the memories that seemed innocuous might be painful, and Cisco doesn't want to cause pain. Particularly now, and particularly to Lup, because he knows that her emotional state is somewhat more volatile, as a lich. She needs things that make her happy, that remind her she is loved, and of the person she is. But Cisco believes this can be one of those things. ]

There was a planet full of these robot people, and they needed this crystal to keep living or something, and you were defending it 'cause... Taako wanted to destroy it, I guess. And then... back on the ship you gave this speech about how you all couldn't let yourselves get that dark ever again, and get just as bad as the Hunger. You were talking about how you believed you were going to save everybody that it ever consumed, and you had to hold onto that hope to keep going.