COLLAPSE THE WAVE MEME

[rampantfantasy]

Collapse the Waveform Meme

A meme for characters CRAU'd to heck and back.



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How many times now have you used that journal? How many places have you played that character?

How many friends, lovers, families have they found?

Well, here's some headache-inducing news: Ultimately, they're all the same person.

And now, the wave form has collapsed, and they actually are the same person. All of those memories, plus any new abilities and scars, smashing down into a single soul, a single incarnation.

On the bright side, at least whatever universe this is, you're not alone in it. On the less bright side, good luck navigating your relationships now.

Any CRAU character can respond to this meme, though of course, it's more interesting for characters who have been to at least two games. Meet your old friends, your new friends... Your friends' friends? Whatever. Consider noting down not only what games your characters have been to, but if you're open to three-people threads, for extra juggling-of-memories fun!

Comments

[penumbral]

[He does not know what name to use for himself. Saïx, Aïs, Isa, Furugawa --

Who is he, really?

... his hair isn't brown, so he thinks he can safely scratch Furugawa off the list. But each history, each memory, is equally real. Including the memories of this kind of situation, of remembering everything. Memories of that being the norm.

It has been a long time.

And it feels different this time. It feels more as though he is... composed of many hearts stitched together, instead of one heart visiting many worlds.

Whoever he is, he recognizes the seated figure in front of him. (Of course he does. All these memories.) He wasn't present for each of these... selves, but he still knows which name to call him.]

Noah.

[judicatus]

[ that name should not sound so familiar to him now, and yet it does — and so does the man who gives voice to it, so painfully familiar. the long years between them unfold before his mind's eye in a flash: every quarrel, every mistake, and every moment that drew them together in spite of it all...

it's a lot to take in. he starts to wonder if all the time he spent alone was any easier to bear.

and he starts to wonder... ]

You have but one name to call me, and yet I have several for you. [ somehow, in spite of all the troubled thoughts spinning around in his head, he manages a wry smirk. ] Which one shall it be this time?

/breaks out the dw tools icons bc rip money

[penumbral]

[He hesitates. How does he answer this, when he isn't even sure what name to use for himself within his own thoughts? (That twist on Noah's lips causes an ache in his chest, and he feels fascinated with watching his expression shift, and one of the hearts in the quilt whispers, He is alive. He is alive.)] Do you have a preference? [is his dry response, quietly very relieved for all the experience in keeping his face neutral.]

rip.............................

[judicatus]

[ gabranth shuts his remaining eye as he takes in a deep breath through his nose, as he turns over memories like stacking stones in his mind: some with smooth, rounded edges, easily handled, while others are honed into sharp, jagged points. he treats each one with the same amount of care. ]

Compared to all the rest, it would seem I knew you best as Aïs. [ he looks up to him again, time time with a faint smile on his face. ] For better or worse.

[penumbral]

[He is alive, he is alive, he is alive and right here and I could touch him. He doesn't move.] Aïs, [he repeats softly, trying not to dwell on the shape of Noah's smile and failing.] It has been... [A long, long time, since he was the Nobody of that boy. Isa is so much more recent, and arguably more prominent. There is an ache in his chest, one that tastes like old lives and longing. But instead of finishing that sentence, he asks,] Which do you think it is? For the better, or the worse? [Questions, always questions, always as if he's circling every subject, restlessly seeking... what? Potential pain? Weakness? Disappointment? Even he isn't certain in this moment. He only feels the need, and this is a whim of the heart he can safely indulge.]

[judicatus]

[ if gabranth had even an ounce of energy left in him at this point he would be using it to stand, to meet saïx at his level. but the weight of reliving so many memories, so many years all at once, keeps him on the ground. ]

I should think...for the better. [ he takes another deep breath, another soft sigh. ] I should think that true no matter which name I called you. No matter how many hurts we might have left upon each other... I should think any time we spent together vastly preferable to those in which I was alone.

[ and he has spent so, so much time alone.

he looks up to saïx then, and stretches out a hand towards him. ]

[penumbral]

[The stitched-together heart in his chest experiences a deep, aching pang at Noah's words. Perhaps he should feel relief or gladness at his answer, given the first part of it, but... Alone. That had always been the way of it for him -- If he wasn't sent to another world, he was left isolated, deserted. And...] You never did weather being alone as well as I am capable of. [His voice is low, quiet, as if they're surrounded by others and he intends his words only for Noah. He hesitates, then slowly reaches out a hand to meet Noah's offered one. I, too, missed you.]

[judicatus]

[ once saïx's hand meets his own, gabranth lightly squeezes his grip, as though confirming that — yes, he is real. he is here. this is no cruel dream. ]

Aye, perhaps you've been better accustomed to it... But I cannot imagine that made your time alone any more pleasant than mine.

[ he smiles again, faintly, faint enough that it doesn't reach his eyes. as he looks to saïx, he pleads without words: Sit with me. ]