The Shimmer Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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theshimmer2020-08-08 11:35 pm
shimmermods) wrote in theshimmer2020-08-08 11:35 pm
WEEK FOUR
FOURTH WEEK
The Shimmer may have left you physically, but it's always with you; it's something it had insisted on yesterday, and it's something that continues to be pervasive even now, both in thoughts and within you in other, perhaps more noticeable ways. The statements that have been made weigh heavily; your surroundings continue to be influenced by something or other - plants you recognize are still present here, even as the trees themselves continue to crystallize, growing glassy white and transparent around mechanical insides - and the changes to your physical bodies are becoming more evident and difficult to ignore.
Perhaps more disturbingly, when you went to sleep in the clearing there were sixteen of you.
When you wake up, there are fifteen.
No matter how many headcounts you take, you keep coming up one short; the fact of the matter is that Rean Schwarzer is no longer among you. There's no visible evidence of where he's gone, and all of his belongings are still here; perhaps in some part of your mind, the possibility registers itself - maybe he's not with you because he went to the Shimmer. Not in the same way the cultists went, and not in the same way the ring of bodies seems to have gone, but maybe...
The thought is difficult to shake; the fact of the matter is that he isn't here, and you probably don't want to stay here. After all, your options are currently either to do what you set out to do, to return to the base and very possibly be killed for your efforts, or to remain here with the corpses.
The hike uphill is steep; perhaps it's fortunate that you're no longer tiring out like you used to. It's easier to keep going nowadays, even if it feels somewhat mechanical in doing so; your limbs know what they're doing, even if there's some reason for your mind to disagree. You seem to be making good time in moving toward the site of the initial impact of the meteorite; perhaps it won't be much longer before you find your objective.
That is, if all goes according to plan.
SUNDAY | MONDAY |
TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY
Perhaps more disturbingly, when you went to sleep in the clearing there were sixteen of you.
When you wake up, there are fifteen.
No matter how many headcounts you take, you keep coming up one short; the fact of the matter is that Rean Schwarzer is no longer among you. There's no visible evidence of where he's gone, and all of his belongings are still here; perhaps in some part of your mind, the possibility registers itself - maybe he's not with you because he went to the Shimmer. Not in the same way the cultists went, and not in the same way the ring of bodies seems to have gone, but maybe...
The thought is difficult to shake; the fact of the matter is that he isn't here, and you probably don't want to stay here. After all, your options are currently either to do what you set out to do, to return to the base and very possibly be killed for your efforts, or to remain here with the corpses.
The hike uphill is steep; perhaps it's fortunate that you're no longer tiring out like you used to. It's easier to keep going nowadays, even if it feels somewhat mechanical in doing so; your limbs know what they're doing, even if there's some reason for your mind to disagree. You seem to be making good time in moving toward the site of the initial impact of the meteorite; perhaps it won't be much longer before you find your objective.
That is, if all goes according to plan.
no subject
[ Perhaps Hugh himself is included in this number? ]
So then...
A long time ago, in a world far away from here, there was a group of children. Though they were different, they were inseparable; one was a scaredy cat, one was grumpy, one was kind, one was timid, and one went along just to hold onto their hands. It was a group of four boys and one girl. They were of the age where gender hardly mattered, that golden time when children just want to play together and explore.
All but one of the children, that is. You see, the kind child was something of an old soul, and he looked at the girl, the one who always held his hand as not simply a friend but a lifelong companion. He may not have had the words for it yet, but he considered her to be his wife. And the girl, well she was alright with this arrangement as long as she wasn't alone. The kind boy had even gifted her a ring made of a four leaf clover that she proudly wore all day until disintegrated; plants you see, make poor material for lifelong vows.
Together, in groups, in pairs, the children played and played until one fateful summer day. It was a school trip out into a forest and a lake, teeming with creatures though none more dangerous than the errant bee. But the group of children were determined to go off on their own adventure, and they found themselves at the lake. None of them could really swim, but if they just splashed in the waves it didn't really matter.
Or so they thought.
Even the most grizzly ocean explorer can misjudge the power of the tide, and in no time flat what was once safe, was suddenly too deep for them to stand. All but the girl and the scaredy cat were able to make it back to shore. The kind boy knew what he had to do.
[ A pause here for breath and also reaction. Unfortunately, this story may be a tragedy, or perhaps it's just one right now. Time is weird like that. ]
no subject
[ Lancer wasn't expecting such a thought-out, suddenly drama-angst romantic story like this from Hugh. He was probably anticipating a casual romance between two lovers in a distant land...
Ah well, he's heard enough Irish folktales to have an idea of where this was going (not to mention his own origins regarding that, but hey.) ]
That sounds like things went to the shit real fast. But, what'd he do? Did he try to go back for those two? I mean, probably, right? He's a kind boy and his lover's out there, along with his other friend!
[ ...He really was getting into this story, apparently. ]
no subject
And you're right, of course. The kind boy journeyed back into the water, saving his future wife first. Once they were safely ashore, he wasted not even a second to head back in for the scaredy cat. Miraculously, he was able to save him too.
But everything has a price.
A current gripped the kind boy at the last moment, taking him and carrying him well underneath. The tears of the other children might have been enough to fill that lake...
But.
Life has a beginning and life has an end. But souls know a journey far longer, and souls remember. Sometime later, the kind boy woke up in a strange mansion where it always rained. He remembered his past life, but most of all he remembered the girl. Perhaps he could keep his promise to her after all.
"That can be arranged." Said a strange man with no face, who wore a strange butterfly bracelet around his wrist.
[ Buckle up Cu because this is anything but a normal fairytale. ]
no subject
And then he mentioned the boy getting pulled over and he slapped his own leg like a silent 'I KNEW IT WAS COMING' ]
...That's not the end, was it? 'Cuz not you gotta keep goin' when shit gets weird like that. So c'mon, hit me!
[ He's...in for the long haul, despite everything, apparently. ]
no subject
Of course the kind boy—kind man by now, seized this opportunity. He would do anything for his beloved, even make a deal with the devil, who else could wear smiles and faces as easily as a pair of shoes?
The man with no face, the master of the manor, had simple demands. If the kind man was able to find the shards of a lost treasure, an enchanted kaleidoscope, he would return the kind man to life to be with his wife. No matter how the kind man tried, he would find himself unable to leave the mansion otherwise, you see. Ah, and to be his servant of course.
"There's ways to cheat if you try hard enough." said the master, and that held true for life and death. And so, the kind man agreed.
Time went on, and on, and on.
The kind man soiled his hands under the orders of the master, deceiving and dooming countless to the Abyss, an end beyond death. But it was a necessary sacrifice for the hand of his future wife.
What a surprise it was then, that one day she turned up in the manor out of the blue. In a cruel twist of fate, she had suffered an accident in the very same lake the kind boy drowned in and now was trapped in this land beyond death like he was.
They were finally together. But at what cost? For a cost that hadn't needed to be paid. Still, the kind man was overjoyed. Even when she couldn't remember him at all, he resolved to make her fall in love with him all over again. And so, they were happy for some time.
If only either of them had seen the master's smirk.
[ He tilts his head at Cu with a particular smile, it might be unsettling given the words he's just finished reciting. ]
And that is the end. The end to their beginning, at least.
no subject
...He should just kick that guy's ass and run away with his girl now that they're kinda together again.
[ Look he didn't even trust that smirk from the 'master' in the story. Nobody in their right mind would!!
Anyway, he'll clap a little. ]
That was one hell of a story, though.
It doesn't sound like you just literally pulled it out of your ass either. Were you waitin' a real long while to tell that one?
no subject
[ Is it the wise one hangs in the air. His smile relaxes into something a touch warm. ]
No, but it is one of my favorites. I've seen many things and written many stories.
no subject
[ Especially since he magically got his gf back again... ]
...So that means you've actually got a book of stories somewhere?
[ Well, not necessary. But that's the first thing that came to mind. ]
no subject
He reaches inside his cloak and pulls out a thick book. ]
"Somewhere" indeed.
no subject
You actually brought it with ya?!
[ Beat. ]
Damn, were you also prepared to actually start advertisin' your book in a place like this? Now that's dedication!
no subject
[ From the way he says this, his writing is more important than his very sense of self. ]
Ah, it's not for sale. But I don't mind sharing when the opportunity beckons—what I told you was an excerpt from one particular tale. The larger story is about two butterflies, and their journey.
Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, if I had to pick a name.
no subject
Ya realize I'm gonna ask you more about this tale, right?
Including what else happened with the guy and his girlfriend.
{ He had to know what happened! ]
That's a real creative title you just picked outta nowhere. Unless you've had that one in mind for awhile now.
no subject
[ He seems mostly okay with it, though. ]
It was something I was considering for a while. It's the first in a two part series, so I've given it some thought.