2018-10-17: One Single Memory

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<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    It's a strange thing still to be back on Filgaia. It's been well over a month since they returned and this observation remains at the forefront of her mind. Perhaps after spending so long on Lunar she had grown accustomed to a world that was fresh and green, if tinged with Malevolence.

    Or, perhaps...

    No, it's the fact that Filgaia has undergone changes since their return. The Guardians' silence isn't the end of it.

    East. They must go east. She can feel it, even if trepidation lingers in the thought's footsteps.

    She's outside today, casting aside her work in wax for an apparent day in the sunlight.

    A day that she's spending measuring some of the glittering gems she collected from the Ruins of Memory. She holds one of those stones up to catch the sunlight; it shines like a lantern.

    These gems can store memories. Or at least, each can store a single memory... 

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    East... Dean can't feel the things that Avril can, but he trusts his friend implicitly, so if she says they need to go east, then it's east they need to go. Dean, being the emotionally adaptable sort, doesn't think it too strange to go from Filgaia to Lunar and back again, but... well, it's definitely true that comparing Lunar to Filgaia makes it even more noticeable how much Filgaia is dying. And there's the way things have changed in the short six months or so since they were gone...
    
    But for now, he walks up behind Avril, boots crunching in the dirt, and leans over her shoulder to get a closer look at what she's doing. The glinting sunlight makes the jewel she holds up *sparkle*. "Wow, that's pretty," he says, impressed despite not usually being into jewels--unless of course they're a Golem part. "That's from the Ruins of Memory, right?" He digs into a pocket, then pulls out a bunch of metallic seed-like objects. "I found these pretty recently myself. They'll turn into whatever you want them to! Pretty cool, huh?"
    
    It's Metal Demon technology, in fact, specifically created by Kalve. Perhaps Avril will recognize this; perhaps not. 

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca meanwhile is in the middle of a handstand. She's held it for the past ten minutes with almost nary a wobble, her twintails laying out on the ground beneath her.

This isn't even training for her. At best it's a light stretching session. Allowing one of her legs to fall smoothly into a ninety degree angle from the other. Then the other until they formed a near perfect line.

Her attention isn't on her stretching though. It's been on Avril. Rebecca's been doing this on a rooftop - she didn't come up here to spy on Avril - Avril has just happened to be there.

Every time she tries not to spy on her, the glitter of the gem hits her eyes just right and brings her wandering back.

So she's resolved herself to just stare stoically forward. Until Dean walked up and started talking to her.

That breaks her concentration utterly because Avril is talking to Dean alone. Even though the two have done this a million times or more probably, the thought of it still drives her crazy trying to figure out what they're talking about. On impulse she pulls out a gift from Lydia.

-=-=-

Rebecca's head pops out of the ground, then her shoulders, as she lays her two arms folded over the edge. It may help to understand this fact by the outline of the portal there just behind Dean. Leaning over to the side, she puts a finger to her lips as she looks at Avril.

Then starts to climb out. Slowly. Deliberately. Pushing herself up and over the edge, then putting down a foot, and raising herself up behind Dean silently. Pulling off a glove, she licks the tip of a finger, and runs it across the back of Dean's neck the same instant she speaks.

"Which means you're going to use them responsibly - rather than just frivolously making whatever pops into your head - right Dean Stark?"

Although it's admonishing, it's probably because she's interested in the shiny objects too and is just acting like she isn't.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "Yes, it is."

    Avril's answer is a simple one, now that she's found the right place to inspect the stone under sunlight. "It appears that they will store a single memory, if you concentrate upon one. After that, the memory can be played back by the one who holds it. It is useful, though limited."

    Thus, the memory must be important enough to store.

    If she had had one long ago, what memory would she had bequeathed to a gem?

    "I suppose it must be the work of the Elw. I understand they are the ones who built what has become the ruin."

    Distantly, atop a roof, Rebecca goes through stretches. Avril had noticed her friend up there earlier, before heading off on her short walk here with Dean, and had opted not to pester her if she was already occupied.

    Her gaze drifts behind Dean, noting a spot of movement.

    Avril's eyes widen after this, but still and silent -- on the matter of their friend's sudden arrival -- she so remains.

    "From the mirage out in the desert? Riesenlied thought it work of Kalve's. Judging from what we found, it appears she is correct."

    She's probably the only one who could maintain such a poker face as Rebecca's finger comes closer and closer to the back of Dean's neck.
    Or keep up such a normal line of conversation.

    "Oh? Perhaps that is how that axe made of unicorn statuettes came to be."

    ...Relatively normal.

    And here, Rebecca's finger strikes home and...
    Here, Avril's facade finally cracks and, lifting a hand to her mouth, she giggles, shoulders shaking. 

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Dean nods at Avril's simple reply. Many of her responses are simple ones, despite her intelligence; maybe that's how the two of them get along so well. Dean isn't *stupid*, per se, but his way of thinking isn't the same as most people's. Breaking things down so they're easy to understand is the best way to get through to him as a result. "That *does* sound useful," he says, hunkering down next to her. "Think of how much easier it would be if you just had some of those gems before you lost your memories, huh?"
    
    The work of the Elw. Dean nods again, this time thoughtful. "The Elw, huh... They've sure made a lot of incredible things, huh? It makes you wonder why they all disappeared. If they could create memory gems and world teleporters and stuff like that, how could they just up and vanish?"
    
    As for Rebecca, well. He'd noted her on the way here, but he'd opted not to bother her. Dean knows better than to interrupt Rebecca when she's in the middle of her daily exercises. You've got to practice everyday if you want to get good enough to join the circus, after all! However, that means he thinks she's on a nearby rooftop, and doesn't note the portal opening up at his back, or Rebecca creeping out of it...
    
    "Yeah, that's the one," he says to Avril. "Ida said the same thing--about it being Kalve's work, I mean." He frowns. "I think they're both right, too. When he broke that one Statue, he used this weird metal plant that kept growing and growing to do it. It was a lot like the stuff in the mirage. I'm kinda worried about what he's doiIIIIIHHH!!"
    
    That would be Rebecca sliding a wet finger down the back of his neck. After that yelp of surprise, Dean launches himself backwards, twisting around in midair to land on his butt, to find his childhood friend at his back--and with the nerve to lecture him about the copy seeds, no less.
    
    "Responsibly?! That's rich, coming from you!" he declares, jabbing a finger at Rebecca. "You just used Lydie's portal guns to play a prank on me!!" J'ACCUSE!! ...Though at least Avril enjoyed it. When she starts giggling, Dean's outraged glare can't help but melt into a fond smile her way. This surely won't make Rebecca jealous or anything. 

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Avril's poker face is something Rebecca is infinitely grateful for, as well as her indulgence in a prank. Even though Rebecca is having to keep a straight face on her own at the idea of an axe made out of unicorn statuettes. Her whole form nearly spasming at the thought of it. Her lips mouthing 'What?'

Yet when Dean falls on her backside, with this big grin on her face, between Dean's reaction and Avril's giggling.

Putting her hands over her chest in a 'moi' gesture as Dean redirects accusations her way, she snorts, "W-Well it's not much different from just sneaking up on you and costs me nothing - but the seeds sound like one time use - things!" Listen to her just rationalizing it away. "So it'd be like stuffing heal berries up your nose just to see how many you could fit up there or something! A big fat waste!"

However she does catch the way Dean just... smiles because of Avril's giggling, how it seems to thaw his anger, and Rebecca's big ol' grin falters for a moment there. It could be innocent - after all she liked Avril's laughter too. But...

Feeling the panic rise, she holds up a hand to Avril for a high five, "Anyhow I'd like to thank my co-conspirator for being such a good sport and not giving up the game early."

Whether Avril takes her up on that or not at least it feels like she's sharing in what Dean is smiling at that way.

However she then turns back to their earlier conversation, "Anyhow hopefully Ida will... rein Kalve in some. Be a responsible force in his life. Aha..." She seems nervous about that though. After... what she's seen of Ida at her lowest. Then clearing her throat, she mentions, "Are you... considering recording a memory on it Avril? Or... saving it for later?"

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "I was thinking that, actually..."

    Her gaze fixes on the stone again, glittering against the sun. "Though, that would have meant that these stones would have had to be available for me to use, wouldn't they?" She pauses, lowering the stone. "I wonder, though, for what reason these were left in that ruin. They were empty. Did no one have any memories they wished to store within them, themselves?"

    The Elw...
    Did they have anything important they wanted to protect?
    "...I do not know. Perhaps..."

    The Elw. There's something... familiar, vaguely familiar. Another outline of a fact she can't even grasp for.

    ...Sorry, Rebecca: Avril doesn't elaborate on the axe. Or mention any of the other weird objects they found (the engine made of eyeglass frames...).
    Or the mysterious Golem serpent that popped up to eat the axe, the engine, and a whole assortment of strange objects.
    It was pretty strange.

    "Then, you have seen it before. That confirms it." As if there were all that much doubt remaining when they'd reached that room within the complex. And read those notes within. "Do you know whether it could spread beyond the valley--"

    Right up to the last second, she keeps a straight face.

    "...Dean..." Avril starts, in those moments after she's able to stop laughing.

    "...You should have seen the look on your face." Her lips twist, as if she's struggling not to laugh again.
    Even Avril has her silly side.

    Right up until the point where Rebecca names her as the co-conspiritor, in fact. "...It's true. I apologize, Dean, but I am afraid I was compelled to assist her," she says, tilting her head to one side, in what must be a bit of a tease.

    This... must be what friendship is like. I'd... been so jealous, she thinks, her gaze turning towards Rebecca on that thought and there lingering.
    Her amusement, if by inches, flees. Ah, that's right.

    Rebecca...

    She blinks, returning to the here and now. Still, she steps into the conversation as if she'd hardly missed a second of it. "Oh... do you think so?" Her forehead creases. "Perhaps we might speak to her of this? --Oh?"

    Glancing down at the crystal, Avril neither confirms nor denies. "I was thinking of doing so, but it is difficult, to think of what memory would be best." 

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "Yeah, exactly," Dean says to Avril as she reasons through the matter of the memory stones. "Were they just... brand-new stones? Did they have used ones stored someplace else?" He rubs his chin. "...Maybe if they left for another planet, they brought them with them or something?"
    
    And then he's KER-PRANKED, by Rebecca Ker-Prank.
    
    Dean grumbles good-naturedly as Rebecca and Avril exchange high-fives over the prank while he climbs to his feet. The prank has pretty thoroughly distracted him from the topic of unicorn figurette axes, so he doesn't remark on that either. "I haven't done that since I was five, gimme a break," he instead complains when she brings up stuffing heal berries up one's nose. "I'm not gonna do that with these! For one, they'd probably grow into a copy of *me*, and then I'd have a metal me bursting out of my nose. Way gross!"
    
    Not to mention potentially deadly, depending on how far up his nose it was. Either way, he shares that grin with Avril, apparently not minding her barely-repressed laughter or conspiring with Rebecca. "Ahhh, it's fine. It wasn't a big deal anyway," he reassures her. "I'm sure it was pretty funny from the outside!"
    
    Friendship. Yes, it's something all of them share with each other, as far as Dean's concerned. If anyone is jealous of anyone else, he's oblivious.
    
    "Uh..." Ida, a responsible force in Kalve's life? Dean may care about his friends, and he may have busted his butt to help Ida overcome her Hellionization, but... even he knows that her problems started way before that all happened. "M-maybe," he ultimately agrees, because he doesn't want to badmouth someone who's doing their best, especially a friend.
    
    Fortunately, Rebecca herself provides a topic change, and Dean focuses back over on Avril. "Yeah, you might not have any of your *old* memories, but you've still got plenty of *new* ones!" Which one would be best, though? He pauses, then folds his arms, face scrunching up in thought. "Yeah... It's hard to pick, isn't it?" He grins and jokes, "Hey, maybe *that's* why they weren't used. The Elw couldn't make up their minds what memories to record, either!" 

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca offers, "I know right? Priceless." To Avril in response to the look on Dean's face. And her assistance... "And it's a good thing you did! Gotta keep Dean Stark on his toes." Not realizing that while she's jealous of Avril and Dean, Avril is jealous of her and Dean. Such a thing would probably tie her up in these strange knots.

All she knows is that Avril is prettier than her and even her giggle sounds nice to her ears and that it's no wonder Dean would smile when Avril is showing off that side of her that so few get to see...

Such thoughts though mostly wind up crashing into the next statement. Because she realizes it... sounded better in her head than aloud. And even Dean is a maybe... "Well people... settle down once they're in a relationship you know?" However she then adds the qualifier, "Most... people."

She's very grateful to move on to the idea of memories again, "Mmm." Looking pensive as she considers the idea. Think of a memory now - or wait for later?

Then Dean presents his idea and Rebecca actually gives it consideration because she could think of being anxious... "Wouldn't that be something? Just to keep thinking-"

She holds up a hand like it's the memory crystal, "-'this one isn't precious enough so let's wait until later.' Then doing that for the next one. I bet if they'd met Avril - they'd have changed their minds though."

Sometimes you have to lose something to realize how precious the things you have really are.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "'Keep him on his toes'? Hmm," Avril considers, looking Dean over.
    She'd better not be having trouble with idioms again.
    "It seems that everyone benefits from some unsettling from time to time," she comments, clasping her hands before her (and thus cupping the memory stone there).
    A strange comment, but at least she understands the basic idea this time...

    "Perhaps," Avril allows, head tilting briefly to one side. "Though... I do not know what became of the Elw."
    To be fair, the majority of people on Filgaia don't.
    Key word: majority.

    Dean remarks on the fact that he's not going to do something like he did when he was five and stick them up his nose. One can already see the wheels turning in Avril's head -- 'is this what children do' 'how did you get them back out' and other unfortunate unwanted completely serious questions -- but it's fortunately his statement that these berries would result in something very bad happening that prompts her to nod.

    "Yes, they might. It could prove quite dangerous, Dean."

    Indeed.

    ...Which brings the topic back around to Ida and Kalve.

    Most people... settle down? Avril's gaze sort of drifts. Off to one side.

    One could possibly hear a pin drop here as... the collective consensus veers towards a singular conclusion.

    "..."

    Fortunately, a distraction reers its head in the form of 'what Avril is going to store in the gem'.
    Actually, she claimed a pair.
    "There are so many different types of memories. Good memories... important events... things we learned... It's difficult to decide which should be preserved."

    Maybe even the Elw had trouble with it.

    "Do you think so?" she asks her friends. "Perhaps that was why they left them, in the hopes someone else might be able to make use of what they could not," she says.

    And it's in that moment that she realizes what memory she wants to record. A priceless, perfect moment.

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