AUDIENCE: SORA

[retellers]

Comments

week 1, sunday

[retellers]

[ there's not even a warning it's just one second swan is there, the next they've grabbed sora's wrist and have teleported them both to the forest again. at least they picked a nice fieldish area ]

Are you mad at me? You got hurt on Thursday and you didn't come see me and I've been worried but then there was those dead people and I couldn't just ask if you were okay and

[ maybe stop them ]

[reconnective]

[the suddenly teleportation means that a.) sora almost drops the cupcake and b.) he sort of yells suddenly in surprise? AHHHH!!

but once they're in the field and he regains his balance, he sort of stares at swan with wide eyes as they keep talking.]

Swan, Swan it's okay! It's okay, I'm not mad. Why would I be mad?

[retellers]

You're not?

[ they sound almost disbelieving ]

[reconnective]

No? [that's fine, he sounds incredulous and just sort of shoves the cupcake in their face to see. specialized! friendship! cupcake!] Things just got a little busy and I...wasn't sure you'd want to see me after what happened this week.

[retellers]

A koala...

[ he REMEMBERED... they grab the cupcake like it is a delicate gift ]

Why wouldn't I want to see you? You were hurt! I was worried!

[reconnective]

[he can't draw but i guess he can decorate cupcakes. i'm pretending remy taught him some other shit and he figured stuff out. but with his hands free of cupcake he kind of rubs the back of his neck and promptly accidentally shows off his arm burn.]

Be...cause? [he does not have a reason.] I don't know. I kind of thought maybe I did something to make it happen until I heard about the other group, and then I was going to see you and sort of fell asleep...[rip.] And I couldn't talk to you Friday or yesterday.

[retellers]

Even if it had been your fault, I'd still have wanted to see you! You got hurt! [ they slump a little ]

[reconnective]

...sorry. [he does look like he feels bad, at least.] I also didn't want you to worry more than you had to with everything going on here.

[retellers]

How was that going to worry me less when I knew you got injured?

[ POUTS ]

[reconnective]

I don't knooow, I'm sorrryy. [they're both the same brand of stupid because he pouts back.] I already messed up on the moon, and then that happened so it was just a lot.

[retellers]

Exactly! You got injured twice!! And then it was like you only came to see me because I told you to with the Queen thing, so I thought maybe you were mad and I'd pressured you or something.

[ :( ]

[reconnective]

...don't be dumb. [don't be rude?] We're friends, aren't we? I didn't want to make things worse, but that doesn't mean I was mad or that I'm forcing myself to spend time with you.

[retellers]

Then that goes for you too. [ forcefully? ] You're not going to burden me by telling me things, okay?

[reconnective]

Yeah...okay. [he'll sit on the ground and stare at the sky.] There's a lot that happened this week that was kind of messed up. I'm still trying to figure out what to do next.

[retellers]

[ they sit on the ground next to him, immediately leaning because it is now cuddle time since sora isn't mad ]

Talk about it? Maybe I can help you figure it out.

[reconnective]

[i'm glad every swan thread is just cuddle hour. but he lets them and leans back against them.]

...how much do you already know if you can see stuff?

[retellers]

I don't like, spy on you, promise! I know the big picture stuff. And I couldn't totally see what was happening when you were stuck in that... whatever. [ they shrug a little ] But sometimes even just talking through stuff can help, so you can pretend I don't know anything at all if it helps? Or just assume I know enough.

[reconnective]

...well I think you know about the moon. Izumo and I went past the barrier and followed these voices...but they got so loud they were screaming until our ears bled and we almost blacked out. There was a monster down in a canyon, but not the alien Taako and Won and Shima saw.

There isn't a way to fix our hearing, right? It's just like this now?

[retellers]

I don't think there's even medicine for busted eardrums. And since we don't have access to healing magic...

[ they sigh a bit and lean on him harder ]

Um, it'll fix itself, but it takes a couple of weeks, I think.

[reconnective]

[they can lean...he doesn't always let himself relax but he's learning and letting it happen.]

That's okay. Nobody else went out there that far so my signs worked. [but he frowns.] Hopefully the screaming stops soon, too.

[...he goes quiet again instead.] ...the other thing was...strange. I still don't know how we got there, but one of the other leaders says it sounded like we ended up in a memory. But I don't know how when it wasn't familiar to me except for the parts that were. It was like they were taking my memories to make me see people I knew. And the burns are real, so...how could it only be a memory?

[retellers]

Well, the space station and the moon, all of that, that's just a memory, too. The Realm only connects to places and people through nova, and that's all memories.

[ they make a small ball of light, about as big as a firefly and let it float for a second ] The memories we make connect to one another. [ they make a few different balls and then make them go around in a circle, faster and faster until it's just a circle of light ] And all of that flows from one place to another through here. So everything we see in this place, everywhere we visit, those are memories. And if there are any gaps in the memories, it fills it in with something else that's similar. That's why it's not an exact copy of a place.

[ they pause ]

So maybe, you went in someone's memories, and those bits that were familiar to you were the Realm trying to fill in the missing gaps of the memory. Does that make sense?

[reconnective]

[he watches the light go round and round with a tiny little "oh" noise like he's surprised.]

Yeah. I remember what you said earlier. And I asked one of the others and they said that the bridge is going to connect us to somewhere else later. A different memory. It's weird though.

[it's not weird, it's the plot of chain of memories.]

But that makes sense. I guess what I want to know then is whose memory was that? There's really no way of us knowing, is there?

[retellers]

I don't think so. Everyone's losing memories and the Realm's flow is disturbed, so honestly, it could be anyone's memories. [ they keep up the spinning for a bit because they can. ] Is it important, whose memory it is?

[reconnective]

Probably not, but I thought maybe if we knew, we could help return them somehow, or find a way to use them to make things better. [he watches the spinning.] Like...I don't know, what if maybe they were yours, but you don't know it because you don't remember at all?

[retellers]

Oh. Maybe? [ they tilt their head, and now they are just making the light show spin in different directions ] I guess I don't have any proof that it isn't mine, or one of the other Leaders'. But even if that's the case, you can't just grab those memories and give them back.