Memory Mingle

[deicider]

Who: those who want to look into the past
Where: YOU decide
When: 286 Morning

[It's a breezy summer morning in Tokyo-F.]

Comments

[deicider]

[It's with some trepidation that Cardinal sits down in the park to take a memory. Finally, after staring at their phone for a few moments, they take a deep breath and go through with the purchase.

The start of this memory knocks the air out of Cardinal. They lean forward, tense and rapt.

It's another book chapter memory - not from Cardinal's perspective, but read aloud. The trial of Ockham Saneer, Sniper's sibling and former O.S commander, begins. The whole world stops to watch. O.S has maintained the peace of this utopia in the past 300 years by the strategic murder of innocent civilians, so ordered by the Humanist government. This trial will decide the guilt or innocence of the current generation of assassins, loyal to their duty even as they made a lie of the peace they strove to protect.

The trial is a wild ride full of upheavals that probably don't make a whole lot of sense from an outsider perspective, involving such topics as Sovereign Power, brainwashing, and parent murder, but the verdict is clear enough, when it comes:

This world will not abandon those who labored in the dark to nurture it. Ockham Prospero Saneer goes free.

Thick, golden tears were already spilling down Cardinal's face before the memory even ended, while they were still under its spell. As it ends, they bury their face in their hands and begin to cry in earnest.]

[skyshard]

[ he doesn't know this person, but it's hard to ignore a memory like this.

As an outsider it's hard to even truly understand what is happening, if the trial makes sense to begin with—are the ones being tried victims themselves? Is the verdict good or bad, Aether doesn't know. What he does notice is that there is someone close by that seems to be the originator of the memory. He moves over quickly without thinking, coming to crouch down in front of the other, grimacing as he hears them sob. His voice is soft, although hesitant about what to say. A hand reaches out to touch the other's head gently but refrains from making contact inches before doing so. ]

...Hey... it's okay...

[ice_69]

[hesitantly sitting next to them and bringing a hand to their shoulder]

...Cardinal?

[quickpersuader]

[Watching with great interest, although they'll give Cardinal some space once the memory ends.]

[firstworldproblem]

[He is going to sit down next to them and put an arm around their shoulders.]

[leaveofabsence]

[ Zhongli sits down next to Cardinal, quietly letting them work through their emotions before doing anything else. ]

[asonoficeandfire]

[ this memory is fairly large and a mishmash of hospital recovery and emotional breakdowns and reveals. Duality's whole family is in one place! (besides a certain burnt toast).

oh, and look W called him super cool (?!).

Duality looks about as emotionally confused as anything he watches it play out, because his asshole dad is actively crying and apologizing and his mother talks about things he had no idea about and there's just a little too much going on at one time, like an awkward sort of chaotic emotion he really doesn't like.

so naturally, blinks at his phone with an ill concealed confused frown. ]

[scarvedforlife]

[ sir ]

Do you ever get calm memories?

Like eating ice cream and chatting or something like that?

[doublefried]

[ damn, i look terrible there ]

... How you doing over there?

[bondsofsuffering]

[.............]

Well... it looks like something's going to finally get discussed at least?

[????

Why is your life like this.]

[shutthefoxup]

Seems like a lot.

[gravitydefier]

[Sakura is, as usual, perching in a tree or something when he takes this memory, of standing alone just outside of a crowd, attending a funeral for one of the adepti. Specifically for a junior yaksha named Pervases.

He makes a quiet, considering noise when the memory is done.]

...ah.

[edensresurrection]

....A funeral, was it?

[420blazeit]

[ she catches sight of the memory and wafts a brow. she recognizes that dragon. looks at Sakura briefly, but it doesn’t look like he’s got the answer either. ]

[outofoffice]

[ Ah.

He never attended a Rite of Parting himself, but in his many years visiting Liyue, he learned enough about them to recognize it immediately. ]

A somber memory to receive . . . My sympathies.

[deicider]

What did you think of it?

[skyshard]

[ ah, that's really sad. He watches, but none of it rings a bell to him in any manor, even if Liyue looks like a place he should know (or just wants to know, perhaps, instead). ]


You... don't like crowds, huh?

[untiltheend]

[.........]

How was it, if I may ask? The fish, that is.

[Clearly the important part here.]

[quickpersuader]

[...Huh.]

A memorial...?

[leaveofabsence]

. . .

Sakura?

[proceedwithcautus]

Ah—

...my condolences.

[intercanemetlupum]

[Nyx has seen people taking memories around in public, and today he's trying it out himself!! Anybody is welcome to pass by and see this if they want, he's not being private about it.

This memory is largely just harmless wordbuilding with some Cute Content focusing on two white-haired boys: Harque & Noah Ebalon. Granted, there's a slightly creepy part at the end where the scene kind of blurs and darkens and nobody watching the memory on a screen will be able to tell what's going on (Harque says a few more things, maybe????), but Nyx himself doesn't seem to mind. Actually, he doesn't seem to notice that at all? Clearly it's not an issue.

An issue DOES crop up AFTER the memory is over, though. Once the video ends and Nyx turns his phone back off, his face is reflected in the black screen.
It seems he's just now noticing: oh wait, his hair and eyes are... very very different from how they were in that memory. And going by the look that flashes across his expression (something between horror and reflexive disgust), that's not something he's too into.]

...Ah...

[bondsofsuffering]

[.................Hm!!

He's nearby, watching the memories as they show up and also eyeing Nyx - Noah's reaction, though he won't approach immediately.]

[ice_69]

[it's time for baby's first memory! unfortunately it's really fucking stupid.

orchid can only stare at her phone in confusion after whatever that conversation was supposed to be]

Um...

[bondsofsuffering]

[...Well...]

Seems like you two got along...?

[quickpersuader]

[Time to spin the memory roulette!!

The first has Kino and Hermes chased by aggressive sheep until Kino is forced to abandon Hermes and climb down a ravine for safety, swearing vengeance upon the sheep.

The second is a visit to a store in the middle of nowhere that sells only nuclear bombs. They have a pleasant chat and even lunch with the owner.

The third memory concerns a country where the entire populace wears cat ears all the time as part of an ancient tradition. Kino turns down the invitation to join in on said tradition.

The fourth memory is an encounter with a floating, talking tank that is seeking another tank that killed its commander with a stray bullet. The commander's final order was to destroy the tank that did it, along with a description of the tank. Kino and Hermes haven't seen a tank like that, so the tank moves on... only for Kino and Hermes to see from the back that the marks mentioned by the tank's commander match the ones on this tank perfectly.]

So other vehicles are able to speak, too.

[This is apparently the most enlightening part of all these memories.]