weep not for the memories

[brushoff]

WHO: Everybody!
WHERE: all cities
WHEN: March 4 - March 6
WHAT: it's a catch-all log, sucka! Tag here and thread around for the Dorian Ruins Everything Guilt Extravaganza part of the overall March plot. Please check out this ooc post for details!
WARNINGS: Traumatic memories. Possible talk of murder, death, blood, other nasty things. I'll try to update if the warnings needed but please use content warnings if it gets super nasty!

It starts off on March 4th, the early morning before the sun's even risen. You know those weird mirages that were hanging around the day before? Well now it's getting a little personal.

These mirages come and go seemingly for no reason. They might stay for a minute, they might stay for an hour. The images vary between person but the unifying factor is that the mirages consist of people the player characters have hurt, whether people in-game or from their homes. Whether they murdered them, slandered them, or even had a petty little argument, the unifying factor is the guilt each character feels towards or about this mirage. After all, you know you hurt them somehow. You know their existence somehow makes you feel guilty.

Another unifying factor? The creepy way these mirages just seem to stick to you. They'll follow you if you try to leave, staring you down with their creepy unblinking mirage eyes. And whoops: everybody can see said mirages. Hopefully you're not being stalked by someone you and somebody else both know, wouldn't that be awkward?

Have fun confronting your traumatizing past and/or wondering why your buddy's got some creepy ghost guy following him, imPorts!

( ooc: this is a catch-all log! Make starters of your characters getting haunted by their creepy mirages, have other people react to said creepy mirages, ???, profit. Hit me up on the ooc post if you have any questions! )

Comments

[khajidont]

Oof.

[ Sorry, Elena, but he can't just not react to a dude walking around with a bullet wound in his forehead. It doesn't take a genius to assume that this probably happened as she was pursuing one of those crazy stories she evidently chases, but he can't assume - who knows if she had to shoot the dude? ]

Yeah, that sounds a lot better, [ He says, even if he feels that abstractly, he should probably ask her what happened, if she's okay. ] But I'm warning you now that I only really follow the superior sport. [ He pauses. ] Which is soccer, for the record.

[storyseeker]

[She can't blame him for that. Elena wishes she could not react to him either...except she doesn't really, because that would mean hardening her heart way more than she wants. She just wishes Jeff had never ended up like this.]

Nah, you're wrong, it's basketball for sure. Playing, anyway. [She settles down beside him, flashing a grateful smile.] I don't keep track of the pro teams, though my dad insists I have to carry on his support for the Lakers.

[khajidont]

Mm, sorry, there's a reason why the whole world cares about soccer, not basketball.

[ Insists, he notes, not insisted. That makes Elena's dad fair territory, something to focus on as he looks her square in the eye, making sure that his gaze isn't leaving her face, because of it does? He's going to be staring at that poor man behind her. No, they're going to make small talk and pretend like everything is normal. ]

Haven't heard you talk about your Dad before. Are you guys close?

/BULLSHITS

[storyseeker]

[Dads are a much better topic of conversation than dead colleagues and friends. Not that it's hard.]

Sort of. We get along fine, but I do a lot of traveling for my job and he's still a workaholic himself—I'm not sure he'll ever retire. It's one of those, sometimes we can go a few weeks forgetting to call or email, but it's good once we actually get to talk, things.

[Even if she doesn't always tell him everything about her stories.]

What about you? You said your mother was here before, right?

I KNOW THIS PAIN WELL (though not for this character)

[khajidont]

Yeah. My Dad was too, but only for about a month - it was weird that they left at different times.

[ It shouldn't be weird. People leave at different times all over the place, otherwise this place would be an absolute graveyard. But it's weird to him anyway, because to him, his Mom and Dad belong together. His Mom being here is the longest he's ever seen them apart, which means that it was absolutely the longest they've spent apart since he was born, at least.

That makes it a little easier to bear her being gone. She belongs at home, with the rest of his family, with his Dad. ]

I got pretty lucky. You ask around here, you get some parental situations that are outta nightmares. [ He will never forget Killua's backstory. ] But we're all really close. Always have been. We get busy, sometimes, but we never forget to check in.

[storyseeker]

That's nice that you have that. And that you know they have each other, back home. Less to worry about here.

[Her eyes drift to the mirage behind Jaime, and then she looks down into her coffee as if it might hold all the answers. Or at least blessed caffeine.]

Sometimes I wish someone I know would show up here, even just for a little bit. So I could know how things turn out.

[khajidont]

Yeah. I mean, time stops at home anyway, so... no matter how long I'm here, they won't notice.

[ He rubs his thumb absently along the rim of his mug, trying not to think about it too hard. His parents had lost him once, so it's for the best that they don't have to experience it again. ]

Know how what turns out?

[storyseeker]

The story I was working on. The warlord we were trying to stop.

[Her eyes drift in the direction of Jeff's phantom for a moment.]

And my injuries, from the grenade.

[khajidont]

...yeah.

[ He's not sure what to say to that, because I'm sure you'll be fine is a vapid, illogical response. He has no reason to think she'll be fine other than to will it into being that she'll be fine, just like many, many spunky journalists before her.

Lois Lane always seems to make it out of the other side okay, but Elena may not have a Superman looking out for her. ]

That's when, uh... that happened, huh.

[ They can't just ignore the ghosts in the room, after all. ]

[storyseeker]

Yeah. A couple days before.

[Jeff doesn't look like he's been dead for days, though, or even the months that she's lived between now and then. But he doesn't look alive, either. He's trapped somewhere in between and she hopes like hell that that's not the case for the real Jeff, wherever he is now. Let him be at rest.]

We were in the middle of a civil war in Nepal, trying to prove it was being stoked by this warlord that NATO thought was dead. We kept a few steps behind him, but could never get any closer. [She sighs.] I'm not sure we would have if we hadn't bumped into my ex-boyfriend who'd had a run-in with him.

[khajidont]

I'm sorry. That's rough.

[ He doesn't know if Elena and this guy were great friends, or just co-workers and acquaintances, but does it matter? Of course one's generally worse than the other, but watching someone die is never easy, no matter who they are. ]

Your ex, is he...?

[ There's no tactful way to ask whether or not someone's still alive, is there? ]

[storyseeker]

[It is rough, but it had been easier to put out of her mind when she was focused on taking Lazarevic down, on making Jeff's death mean something, and then when she'd been here and had a whole other set of things to think about. It feels a lot rougher with him staring at her like he is.]

He was there when the grenade went off, but I was standing in front of him. I was the closest.

[God, Nate had had to watch that. For the first time, it occurs to her how awful it must have been for him, even if they weren't a thing anymore.]

Nate's got to be okay. And if anyone can take Lazarevic down, it'll be him.

[khajidont]

[ Jaime looks down at his hands for a second. He likes Elena. He likes her an awful lot, actually; she's got enough attitude to be worth talking to, but she's also one of the more down-to-earth people he's met here, and while others may be okay speaking lackadaisically on their horrific experiences, the same may not go for Elena. He doesn't want to overstep his bounds.

But he looks up and does it anyway. ]

That's good - I mean, it's great. But if you're with someone else who's okay, that means there's someone who can take care of you, too.

[ He saw what rough shape she was in fresh off the Porter, after all. ]

[storyseeker]

I know. It is.

[If there's anyone she'd want by her side in a moment immediately following the grenade's detonation—well, aside from an EMT-trauma surgeon-field medic type—it's Nate. She already knows how far he'll go to save anyone he cares about. If Nate can save her, he absolutely will.

But she's not sure he can.

For now, though, she puts the thought aside and manages a smile.]

Hey, don't look so down. I'm here and I'm fine right now, aren't I?

[khajidont]

Yes! I mean, of course! [ He offers her a sheepish sort of smile. It's hard not to think of what's going to happen, what could happen, after all of the people he's met here, but he does believe that she'll manage to make it through. She has people with her, her wounds weren't bad enough to die right off the bat - that sort of thing means there's still hope, and Elena's a tough sort of lady. ]

Man, this is backwards. I should be the one saying that to you!

[storyseeker]

Yeah, probably.

[She's still smiling, though, and clearly isn't holding a grudge. For now, she's going to focus on what's in front of her. What happens in the future will take care of itself, or it won't.]

You could buy me one of those muffins if you really want to make it up to me.