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

[baetiful]

No, I do not.

[ And he's so blasé about it. In his eyes, it's something to be proud of -- to give no fucks and have no burdens following you around. It's certainly left him in a much better state than Theon Greyjoy! ]

But I know of what happened to Robb Stark. I know of what happened to his mother, as well. They're only ghosts of a distant past now. You cannot change what happened back home.

[ A nod toward the mirage. ]

And he cannot kill you for it. If you wish to die, then fall on your sword right now, Theon Greyjoy. But if you wish to become stronger, you'll let go of this...thing.

[reek]

[ If you’re in even a slightly better state than Theon Greyjoy, you’re probably doing pretty well for yourself, but a complete mental breakdown is an odd thing for Theon. He’s spent a huge portion of his life building up a metaphorical wall and masking his emotions, trying to pretend that nothing can hurt him. Clearly, that’s not true.

Baelish speaks and for a moment, Theon can focus on something else. He can almost ignore the creature hovering over his shoulder, almost forget the guilt, and merely survey Baelish with narrowed, suspicious eyes, as if trying to place him. It took mentions of Robb and Lady Catelyn, but he recognizes this strange man as a fellow Westerosi now. ]

How do you know of what happened? Were you there?

[baetiful]

[ Good. Focus, Theon. Focus on more important things than Robbwind. ]

I was not there at the wedding, no. But you know how the wind carries news, and that news reached Kings Landing fairly shortly after the fact. Soon everyone knew of what happened.

[ He spares a glance at Theon's ghost and wonders if it's an accurate depiction of what happened to Robb? Or perhaps it's even more twisted because it's a manifestation of guilt. Either way, Robb does seem a bit younger than he should. At least in Petyr's eyes. ]

You will likely not know of me or my family name. But I grew up quite the same as you. The ward of the Hoster Tully, a family not my own -- an outcast of my own family and eventually an outcast of theirs. I've been where you are before, Theon Greyjoy.

[reek]

[ There is nothing more important than Robbwind, Petyr. Some of us actually have friends.

Or had them.

One of them.

All the same, Theon remains suspicious, regarding Baelish with narrowed eyes as he thinks back to what he’s learn of House Tully. Wards weren’t typically mentioned in the histories taught by Maester Luwin, but Theon has lived for ten years beneath the same roof as Lady Catelyn, and conversations haven’t gone unnoticed. He knows of Hoster Tully’s ward. ]

I was never Eddard Stark’s ward.

[ Here’s where the bitterness starts to seep into his words. The wounds are clearly still fresh as he clenches his teeth and does his best to continue to ignore Robbwind. ]

It’s just a pretty word. Something the northmen like to use to cover up their own misdoings and make it seem as though I should be grateful to them for not beheading me. Have you been there, Petyr Baelish?

[baetiful]

[ The smirk on his face is an arrogant one. So you DO know me is what it says. But the expression fades at that, becoming a curious tilt of his head. ]

But you should be grateful they did not behead you, should you not? It would be rather difficult to go on living without a head -- let alone talk, think. [ Do you think, Theon? Well, that's no matter. It's far better if he doesn't. ]

I have not been specifically there, no. But I was cast out to the streets without a care as soon as I declared my affection for Catelyn. No matter how unruly and difficult you were, I know Eddard would not have thrown you to his precious direwolves.

[ He was highly predictable like that. ]

So there that leaves us. A young man who was an unwilling ward, well-cared for but one who could not escape the sea in his veins, and an older man who was not so much an unwilling ward, but could not escape the failings of his own family and returned to nothing. We're the ones of all our Westerosi counterparts in this world who are overlooked. We're the ones they all sneer at and think the worst of. Is it not time for you to start changing what they think of you, Theon Greyjoy?