imeeji_frontstage | ♫ Memory, all alone in the moonlight ♫

♫ Memory, all alone in the moonlight ♫

Who: Amnesiac Idols
Where: The Hotel
When: Day 231, morning to midday

[who's ready for some memories, bright and early in the morning? or around 11:30am, i'm not here to judge, you do you]

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[quietly taking a seat next to him, feeling the water with one hand for a spell]

[he sighs and rests his head on his knees]

You can see why I put off memories so long.

But you chose to now . . . Why?

Because I've been really happy lately.

Some of my memories have been hard to cope with, so I decided to only take them when I thought I had the fortitude to deal with bad news.

Did it help? To have that to call on?

Yeah, probably.

I miss my family a lot, so I probably would have had a hard time if I took this while I was already sad.

Knowing something like this was coming and being braced for it probably helped, too.

Mmm . . . I am sorry, Cobalt.

[going to shake water off one hand, reaching for his with the other]

[He hesitates for a moment... then takes it]

I suspected they were gone, but as long as I didn't remember, there was a chance they made it.

This is... closure, I guess.

[holding tightly]

You still hold their memory. Through that, they live on.

Perhaps literally, if they wound up in Liar Hell, like us.

[y i k e s]

All the more reason to remember them fondly. Not the absence of them.

[He runs his hand through his hair, tugs it. A stressed gesture.]

It's just. I--

...It still hurts. That the people I love suffered.

I can't tell if it's easier or harder to know what happens to people when the die. Which Hell did they wind up in? Are they okay? Are they still suffering? Can I get to them, somehow?

[he swallows, tight, wipes an eye.]

--Sorry.

I'm just. Sad. Scared.

It's alright, but not everyone here is dead nor do all who die come here. Whether that thought gives you comfort is your choice . . . But that is what I believe.

[He doesn't say anything, just sniffs and curls up tight with his face against his knees.]

[unsure for a moment before deciding that a hug may be accepted and even welcomed, cheek against his shoulder . . . sighing before quietly reciting something familiar to her but not in a discernible tongue]

[He leans into her. He takes a single, unsteady breath... and then he breaks, curling into himself.

It's quiet; the only indication is the hitching breaths and the way his shoulders are racked with inaudible sobs.]

[when she finishes, she just leans a little more on him but lets him have the silence, rubbing the top of his arm with her non-hugging hand]

[It doesn't last very long at all. He calms down within a few breaths, sniffs and lets out a long sigh as the tension starts to drain out of his shoulders.

It takes a bit longer before he looks up again, peeking up over the tops of his knees. His eyes are red and tired.]

...Thanks.

[leaning to make eye contact and checking on him, sad smile as she pauses in rubbing his arm]

You are welcome. And — You are not alone. Whenever this returns.

[His eyes skid away from hers, not quite able to maintain contact.]

Y-yeah... I know you're dealing with this stuff, too. Sorry.

[straightening back up, small arm rub]

Not at all. The debt will be returned. Whenever fate sees fit.

[honestly, better off not seeing what happened to her family . . . ??]

[would not recommend]

I'll be here. You can count on it.

[he sighs, calming down.

He reaches out to wrap an arm around her in a half-hug.]

[oh, return hug, ok . . . slight freeze for a moment before relaxing]

Even more, since . . . I have retracted my invitation to Absinthe.

[he felt that freeze and his touch turns light and trepidatious, easy to shrug off.]

Which invitation? Sharing memories with you?

[going to return to leaning against him, it's fine]

Yes. I had hoped to prevail upon his better self, but I can't help but wonder if I was only giving him further satisfaction.

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