xistentia | RAIN & MEMORY SHARE

Entry tags:

RAIN & MEMORY SHARE

Characters: Ensemble cast, any/all characters of Xistentia!
Summary: Rain has come to the world, and with it, comes whacky memory share phenomena— certainly not all of which is wanted. Characters are driven to find shelter and solutions.
Date(s): September 30-October 7
Warnings/Notes: None specific, please warn in your subject headers

Awash In Memory

The landscape after cruelty which is, of course, a garden

The Rain

At first, it's just rain, expected to last a week. A swirl of silver cotton-candy clouds in the sky that rolls into a mist, and then a drizzle that freckles the gutters and chases people to their cars or into the shopfronts. It's nourishing and not too cold— a good excuse to share an umbrella or maybe just fitting of a shitty, blue mood if you would like to walk around in a billowy coat like the King of Pain.

Gimme Shelter

It can be a cute or enormously embarrassing way to meet people, pretty much up to you. Fall in step with someone under an offered umbrella, or dart around like a panic with a pizza box or plastic bag over your head. Maybe you'll just find an overhanging tree branch or store awning to tuck yourself under. Hopefully you're stuck with someone you like.

Quite a few restaurants seem to be offering rainy day specials, including Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, comprised of hot cocoa and half-off a second cup if you're buying for a friend. You probably won't be the only one there.

However, for those of you who are taking the weather more seriously, the citadel has opened for shelter. Here, there are beds aplenty scattered throughout, and the bar and lounge is open with its terrible soundtrack as well as plentiful if repetitive food and drink. Residents are also exchanging resources of their own, including harvested foodstuffs and clothes. You can also check out the control room to see the meteorological analysis and forecast... which is behaving a little unpredictably, but-- it'll probably be fine.

Like My Mood

Alternatively, #mood.

Maybe everything sucks because you got stood up for a date or otherwise rejected recently-- it's a good time to storm around tragically in the street. Alternatively, if you're the happy type, there is an entire musical dedicated to the fine practice of dancing in the rain. Who needs musical accompaniment when you have the rhythmic drubbing of water on the earth and the sweet smell of petrichor?

Or maybe you're in the mood to talk. Certainly, there's an increasing sense of nostalgia going around that's stronger and more widespread than the average effect of poetic weather...

Oh Shit

However, the downpour steadily intensifies over the next few days, and soon after F.A.T.E.S. issues a warning— D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. has hijacked the climate. At first, there are only a few concerns— herds of animals coming into the city seeking shelter. Be careful if you find a herd of bison gathered under the highway overpass, or your kitchen is suddenly full of fairies. Hell, maybe you're a Good Samaritan, trying to rescue some hapless native cat or other.

But then it begins.

The Memory Share

As the rain grows heavy, the nostalgia turns into something unexpected. Characters who touch one another find themselves sharing brief sensory memory. These can vary from the sudden and terrible pain of old battle wounds, to the overwhelming, heart-pounding joy of welcoming a new child to the family. The scary thing is, these memory share are uncontrolled, and might come from even the shortest, most accidental touch.

The Telexistence Temple

News from your fellow residents: Era Ra and Ezekiel won visions during the fair. And now Era has information to share, that uploading memories at the Temple can lock and protect them from the involuntary release, as well as fortify the defenses of the city. She's also talking about some kind of a key hole there, which you can check out yourself. Weird!

You can teleport East from the Citadel to the Temple, or you can walk there on your own two legs. Weather allowing.

Within the Temple the chamber lays behind a large round door covered in inscrutable carvings. It's surprisingly bright in here now, in contrast to what Era's message held. It contains numerous strange beds, all of which are now online, having awakened in answer to the rainfall. The characters must lay down on while the daemons connect to a holographic interface.

From there, the memory share becomes intuitive even for the most technologically impaired of Xistentia residents.

The Temple Chamber

If you should choose to share, you may control who sees it; filter it to someone of your choice, or leave it open for everyone. You may post anonymously, but visual cues of identity cannot be erased. Pain is muted and impressionistic, but pleasure tends to be evocative enough. It's the way the mind works. Daemons will flag graphic or commonly disturbing material. With every new memory shared, the rain seems to be lessening.

You can also choose to lock it away, preventing anyone from seeing it for at least another month. Unfortunately your memory will not help to shield the city, but at least it will stop embarrassing you. Let's hope it doesn't provoke any intrusive questions in the meantime.

After 48 hours, enough memories have been shared. The sky over the city and the sphere of forest surround the urban bounds develops a barrier that looks almost liquid, translucent. Though residents can pass through it, it cuts the rain down to half. A few hours later, the storm wanes out and stops entirely. The shield also fades away, and the animals begin to ebb as well, back into the wild. It's only been a week, but it might feel much longer.

The memories will dissipate from storage in a month, regardless of whether or not they're viewed again.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Mandy has been rapidly alternating between being melancholic and flat out pissed for the last few days, for no real reason she can pin down besides the fact the rain makes her think of London which makes her think of why she left London. Thankfully, she knows herself well enough to know when she's approaching the point of snapping at someone who doesn't deserve it, and she'd been toeing that line all morning and the only target would have been poor sweet Arthur who wouldn't deserve any of it.

So, she'd gone out with the excuse of having to grab something from the club to clear her head. All that happened was her head got soaked and she couldn't even light up because it was raining, so eventually now she's given up the venture as a lost cause. It always had taken her too long to see those for what they were. But she's also shivering and her shoes are absolutely flooded, so she decides to duck in doors just long enough to sort that out.

Surprisingly for her, she's too busy taking off her shoes to empty them out to notice Rose. She does note the sound of dogs, but as long as they're not jumping on her she's not bothered. She's lived in big cities too long to be put off by noise.

When she does look up, she laughs for the first time in what feels like years even if it's just a few days, even if the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes]

I think I should be the one apologizing for not having anything to pay you with.

[ Thankfully, her canines are definitely well behaved enough to not do any jumping. They do come out to investigate Mandy,
however, snuffling curiously and wagging their tails. They won't shake the excess water off their fur close to her though one does give a shake and his collar jingles some few feet off inside the building.

The comment gets Rose to laugh at least; any tension that had been present at the worry of seeing her scars practically melts away.]

For you? No charge at all.

[ It's easier to joke about than admit that there had been a time once she had been paid for her time. Not anything as risque as stripping but she'd been a hostess once, for a time. Businessmen will pay a nice fee for an evening with a pretty lady to play the role of their wife or young mistress. It was usually nothing more than a bit of convincing PDA and smiles. Besides, it was how she'd met Charlie and-

Her smiles wane a little at the thought of the man. He's been on her mind a lot lately these days. Same with Roxanne and Ren. Anyway. ]

Don't worry about it though. My fault for not being more prepared with, like, a poncho or something, jeez.

[It shouldn't be so nice to hear someone genuinely laugh, but given the memories she's been sinking into of a time that was damn fake in its joy, it really is. She even chuckles a little herself, a bit of it for the dogs as much as Rose. She's always been a cat person, but she had a dog growing up so she has an old fondness for them]

My, it's been quite a while since I've been able to get into the show for free.

[she notices the way Rose's smile falters--of course she does, she's well used to seeing the masks slipping. Which is why she's also well practiced in pretending she doesn't see them fall away. It only takes a moment for her to think of the way to change the atmosphere, hopefully, and she makes her own eyes brighten as she holds her coat out towards to Rose]

You'll still look like a drowned rat, but the lining's still fairly dry.

Ah, jeez, thanks. The cold doesn't bother me, but being drenched is never a good time. Unless it's a wet T-shirt contest? But even then, it's only fun if I win.

[ She grateful for Mandy trying to salvage the mood. She'll keep on making dumb jokes, too, in order to lift this melancholy nostalgia that seems to be trying to take hold.

She lowers one arm to take the coat, then turns back around in order to shrug it over her shoulders. Her scars are only visible for a second but it's enough that Mandy can likely get a good look. They look like claw marks, deep and old. ]

Sorry if I stretch it out or anything.

[ Rosie, you're like one hundred and ten pounds right now soaking wet. It's fine. ]

Which, of course, you would.

[the party girl may be more of a mask than she was in the past, but she still fits and is useful in these moments.

While she may make a soft intake of breath when she sees the scars, Mandy isn't going to bring up the topic first. She has her own that aren't just emotional that she does her best to hide, and she knew too many boys and girls and people who didn't fit either who had them too, for any number of reasons. She'd been an outright ass in her day, but she'd never gone that far. There was more than reason so many of them got good with makeup, after all]

Oh, really darling. Even if it were something I was worried about ruining, you certainly couldn't do it any harm.

[is she sincerely flirting, or just trying to lighten the mood? Who knows with Mandy, she sure doesn't. Flirting is quite honestly a second language, and although she might be rusty, it's one she still slips into without always recognizing it or realizing it might mean something different to other people than what she intended.

So if her fingers happen brush Rosie's as she hands over the coat, it might be completely incidental, or it might be a honest platonic reassurance, or...something more. Who knows.]

[ Rose is good with make-up too for less than happy reasons. Yes, it makes her look fabulous. It also hides the fact that she sometimes goes days on end without sleeping. It hides how exhausted she feels down to her bones sometimes. Thankfully, those things have gotten better since Vanyel and Farraige but with things still a little rocky between them, well... ]

I'd rather be safe than sorry, y'know?

[ which is probably hilariously untrue, coming from Rose. Someone who's a lot more sorry than she ever is safe with the way she likes to dive headlong into danger.

Rose knows that Mandy doesn't mean it. Not the touch - that she might very well mean and Rose isn't about to be bothered by it - but the memories she sees. It's a very colorful scene and everyone seems very... happy. She watches people kiss and laugh and there's a distinct feeling of enjoyment in the moment. The blond draws back suddenly, like she's been shocked.

This feels so invasive. Even if it was a good memory, it wasn't one that Mandy was allowing to be shared. After a year of Eudio's consent culture, it really bothered her that she kept getting glimpses into people's lives like this without their permission. ]

Sorry, [ she says, almost immediately. ] I mean, that was. I saw you? A younger you, I think. It's been happening. I think it's, uh. It's the rain.

[it wouldn't surprise Mandy in the least to get a little melancholic touching a woman, because jesus that had been a rare pleasue for the last few years, but...

Bloody hell, if that's not a kick in the head. She's been thinking about the Sombrero quite a lot as of late, but that...she could swear she'd been able to smell the queens' cheap perfume.

She releases her own grip to finish handing Rose the coat, clearing her throat just a little too loudly. Her eyes are definitely burning from that memory of cloying cigarette smoke, sure, go with that] Hey, it's not like it's the first time someone's walked in on me. At least I was dressed, if not exactly decent.

[sometimes she hates how well the girl she'd been had made some of her masks. Right now, she's grateful for the party girl facade that still holds on despite some rather large cracks]

Really luv, don't worry about it. It could have been a whole hell of a lot worse than that. Although, I could have gone the rest of my life without anyone seeing that dreadful perm again. I don't know what I was thinking. [she has a feeling her smile is probably too tight, but it's better that than...some of the things she's done when she remembers those days]

You made it work, [ Rose says, honestly. For once. She did sincerely think Mandy looked beautiful. It reminded her a lot of a time that she had missed. While Rose had landed in humanity at the tail end of the 80s, she wasn't called a 'new age hippie' without reason. She was all about freedom of expression and love. It was kind of neat to meet someone who had truly lived through that time and reveled in it. ]

Curls aren't all that though, [ she says, giving a point to her own mop of hair. It isn't anywhere near curly right now thanks to being damp but usually it's a frizzy mess these days. ]

It looked like you were having fun, at least. Was it always like that?

[Mandy just snorts at the idea that hair wasn't one of her more regretful if least impactful mistakes. But...it's impossible to deny the Sombrero was fun. As much as she'd love to say every moment after she met Brian was shite...it wasn't. Which is probably a large part of what makes the parts that were stick out so much.

She leans against the wall, unconciously crossing her arms about her midsection, and if she realized she was acting on guard she couldn't say what from. The memories, or the reality that had replaced them before she came here]

It was, for awhile. I didn't own the place like the one here, but I have certainly taken inspiration. It was...one of the few places a lot of us could be ourselves without worrying what someone was going to think of who we were with or how long or short our hair was. A man could walk in wearing one of his mother's old frocks and bright pink platforms, the only comment anyone would make was about how you could certainly tell it was his mother's frock.

[she's still a bit suprised to feel herself smile talking about the past; it wasn't missing the girl she'd been, precisely, but the joy and gusto with which she'd just thrown hereslf into everything, and the wonderful loop of energy that had seemed to create] But yeah. I can't really remember a dull night. I think all of us had more than enough of those when we had to be anywhere else, so even when we weren't blitzed out of our minds...people were always happy. Or at least faking it well enough it counted. You might have been appalled by some of the music though. I won't say my selections were always impeccable.

[that skirts Brian, a bit, but her entire damn life skirts Brian. She can't pretend the stain he left on a good five years isn't there]

[ Rose can understand that. While she doesn't look back on her time as a hostess fondly, it is how she'd met Charlie. Times with him weren't perfect either. He was his own downfall, honestly, and she had known from the start his hatred would burn him alive from the inside. It was actually a bullet through his heart that was his demise but his hatred had driven him there. ]

Eudio was pretty good that way, I think. Here it too! Most people don't think twice.

My world was pretty accepting too, like... I had a girlfriend, for a while. But I know it wasn't always like that. And it still isn't, in some spaces and about some things. I'm glad you guys had a place though where you could just be you. I think that's important.

[Mandy nods, gaze maybe a bit distant as she thinks about two places that had only been ten years and an ocean apart that might have well have been in seperate universes]

Yeah. I've heard that--Arthur, the boy I've been rooming with who's from the same era, he was apparently in that--Eudio place for awhile. It's...still bizarre for me to think about that, places where actually not giving people crap for who they shag has been the status quo for a long time. I mean, we really only had a couple years like that, before we got a complete arse for a president who took us all back a couple decades in that regard.

[she hasn't kept up with the politics in England as well as she should have, because England hurts to think about too much, but she's sure it can't be much better]

I think I took the Sombrero for granted, considering. After I...got together with my ex, I just used it to promote him, and as soon as we could we moved on to bigger venues and never really looked back. Which, obviously we did our own good there and had lots of fun without anyone around us caring, the rock star life does have its advantages but...[she lets out a long breath, shrugging] There's something to be said for just having a little club where you actually know most everyone, not a whole...world of people who think they know you just becuase they've read a couple magazines.

[she's still not sure which life she misses most. Maybe she misses them equally. They were all beautiful and great and messy in their own ways]

That's why I wanted to do something similar here. Even if no one gives a crap if I'm as queer as three dollar bill, it's still nice to have a place where any boy or--whatever with the leanings can put on a bad wig and red lipstick and belt out some torch songs for a bit.

[ Rose had worked for enough rockstars to know it wasn't all glitz and glamour. She'd seen the ugly sides of it, both from the celebrities themselves and the media twisting things in a way to paint them in terrible lights. Mandy's right though. The rockstar life definitely did come with the advantage that sometimes the people chose to nitpick wasn't actually the worst of what they got up to.

Most people didn't care about the hedonistic tendencies of rockers and instead chose to focus on their personal lives and drama. Kind of funny, when she thought of it. Funny, and a little sad. The blond had been propositioned more times than a few. It was more prevalent in the 80s and 90s than it was near the end of her time home, but... It still happened.

It was in this moments she wondered if that life was as lonely as it seemed. Having the world at your fingertips didn't really mean a lot when you didn't have anyone to truly share it with. When it felt like you were the only one at the top. She likes the idea of being a rock star maybe more than actually becoming one. Still, she knows of some who made it without being corrupted or disheartened. Maybe she could make something good out of the industry. ]

Yeah, it was kind of like Pandemonium in Eudio. That was the first time I really felt like I belonged somewhere that I worked, I guess. We were like a little family. Kind of why I want to start something up here myself, maybe... Or at least have part in opening a place I could call mine here.

[Mandy nods, knowing without a mirror that she looks both tired and wistful]

I've heard about that place from a couple people. Arthur was there for a little while, apparently. I'd say it sounds impossible, but…[she gestures to where they are, smirking a bit]

But yeah, when we started out...we wanted to give that to more than the couple people who were lucky enough to find those clubs. We wanted to make the world the sort of place where they wouldn't need to seek out a bar tucked out of sight that they could only find out about from someone who told someone else. Or at least, I did. I'd like to think Brian was genuine in that at first, at least. [she actually snorts] I mean, we were both clever with business, but we still weren't positive the public wouldn't just turn on us when he came out.

[for both of them. That had been the thrilling, terrifying thing--being with him in that moment, him telling the world that a bisexual man could love a woman enough to want her forever, because she felt the exact same way.

She raises a brow slightly at Rose] An actual dance club? With the--lights that give you a migraine and all that? [but her eyes light up at it. The Masquerade is a cabaret, and honestly even if it had felt like competition, she didn't think this place could hve too many places for people to get smashed and make decisions they might regret in the morning]

[ Considering that Rose is in a similar situation with Vanyel, she'd... be interested to know people of his world take to their quirkiness. He was taught the ways he was so she knows there's more like them but it definitely, from her understanding, doesn't seem like something so openly discussed. Maybe they could change that, or. Be the first ones to spread Dibella's word as a couple. That'd be something, wouldn't it?

She laughs at the mention of the lights. They could be a little much,
she supposes. ]

Maybe something like that, yeah! I always enjoyed the dancing aspect of clubs, honestly. The music too, of course, that's my specialty. It sounds like I'd be doing more live performances though with what this guy has in mind. Maybe I could start a proper band. That'd be cool.

[Mandy laughs too; nodding] Before I sort of redesigned a lot of it, the Sombrero had one of those floors that lit up as you danced--the technicolor rainbow panels that were all the rage in the late sixties.

[she'd met Brian on that floor with lights that made his eyes sparkle even more than they usually did, and the faint memory of it still hurts, but not in the sharp way it did once]

I'm not horribly much at performing anything but show tunes and the like, but if you'd like a hand with the logistical stuff if you decide to do it, I'd be delighted to pitch in. I was sort of my husband's roadie and tech for a bit too, so I'm pretty competent at most the backstage sorts of things.

[she knows she's underselling herself a bit, which is horribly ironic given how she used to pump them both up, but...well, she's happy to blame Brian for that]

Don't judge me but I, uh. I might've started my current relationship with a dance on one of those light-up floors. It was a rose pattern to Seal's Kiss From A Rose and everything. The cheesiest thing you can imagine, but-

It worked.

[ More effectively than planned, actually. She wonders if the scratches she'd left on the table of Pandemonium will be there if Eudio's restored.]

I don't wanna' take you away from your business, but I definitely appreciate the offer. I was a roadie myself before all this though I'm not about to say 'no' to a second opinion.

[Mandy's smile gets a little sadder, for a moment] So did I. My uh...ex and I, we met by doing the jive on that floor on New Year's 1969.

[the end and start of a new decade, the end and start of a life. She can't help seeing that night as symbolic, even if she wants to see it as just another night.

She shakes her head quickly, forcing a chuckle]

Oh darling. A little competition is healthy. Besides, my place is a little less rock, a bit more cabaret and camp. I'm sure we'd get some of the same patronage, but they'd still be their own creatures.

A proper one? Well, good on you. I know that is pretty much a boy's club, or at least they try to act like it's one where I'm from. You had to prove you were more than a groupie with most of them.

[ Hm. Rose catches that melancholy. She wishes Mandy didn't associate it with a bad time. She wonders sometimes, honestly, if she and Vanyel part ways... Will it be in a way that she look back on it all fondly? ]

Well, you do have a point there. I guess we'd be happy to have the extra help, whatever ends up happening...

[ At the compliment, Rose can't help but puff up a little pridefully. She knows exactly what a 'boy's club' roadies can be. ] Tell me about it. I showed up more than a few people who tried to discredit my work.

[Mandy's gotten used to being sideswiped by the past, it doesn't exactly roll off her back but it's not something that's going to lay her up in bed feeling sorry for herself. Most of the time]

I always have done better when I've got a million projects going on anyway. If I were slightly more of a masochist, I probably would have tried to go into management properly just to give myself the headache of getting four men halfway sober and where they need to be on time.

[she actually snorts at that, shaking her head]

See, I knew that was probably a universal constant. The boys don't want us actually working because then we're not as ready to jump in for a shag all the time. Or, the groupies decide we're hotter.

[there were some benefits to having a partner who, at least for a time, had been happy to share no matter who was involved after all. She'd been the one who got jealous, as much as she doesn't like to admit it.]

I hear you there. I try to keep myself busy. Probably why I want to do this so bad, actually... I worked a DJ gig back in Eudio as well as live performances all around town, so. It's weird, going from that to a whole lot of nothing.

[ It's made her ridiculously antsy, honestly. It's probably why she's been getting into so much trouble. ]

Gods, right. That job helped me perfect my 'not interested' face more than anything else in life ever did. Don't even get me started on the jealous groupies I had to deal with either. Like, yes, I touched Adam Levine for like five seconds backstage once get over it.

Yeah. Think that was the crappiest part of being part of my ex's PR team and all that, leaving him also meant I lost my job. And it was a job I actually liked.

[she's sort of admitted this to Arthur in some ways, that the divorce hadn't just been losing someone she loved but also the work they did together that she adored

She grins at that second remark though] Imagine how bad it is when you're married to the star. Even though we were both entirely open to sleeping with all of them, I still got several girls who were ridiculously catty with me. Of course those were usually the straight ones, or at least the ones convinced they were straight. No matter how much I said I didn't give a shit, that ring still made them hate me.

[look, she knows some people only play for one team, but it's hard to believe anyone who was around Brian was entirely straight]

[ Rose's face scrunches a little at the idea of that.
]

Yeah, I can only imagine. I got enough flak just fetching them coffee or, like, having to do make-up checks.

[ It wasn't often that Rose interacted with the A-List stars. Most of the people she got to help hands-on were local, underground bands on the verge of making it big. Just important enough to need roadies but not yet quite stars. ]

I miss my job though, sometimes. I wanna' do something musically here again but... we'll see if it pans out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

RAIN & MEMORY SHARE

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