A1S2 - Behind-the-scenes

[01:09] <Roland> ==START!==
[01:10]  * Levi_Devaux is crying... a lot.
[01:10] <Roland> You are Levi Devaux. You have just murdered your moirail after arriving too late to stop his own killing spree.
[01:10] <Roland> Your sword drips with his blood. Your knuckles white beneath the fresh coat of cerulean.
[01:11] <Roland> Your vision seems to focus on the corpses on the ground, like you can't pull your eyes away, like something is making you look.
[01:11] <Roland> *Look, boy! Look what your sloth has wrought!*
[01:11] <Roland> Then...
[01:11] <Roland> You smell cigarette smoke.
[01:12] <Roland> You may act, snapped from your reverie.
[01:14] <Levi_Devaux> I give a heaving breath, hearing the beating grow distant from my ears, and release a half choked sob. This... there... Cigarette smoke? Something about that feels untenably wrong.
[01:15] <Roland> "Levi."
[01:16] <Levi_Devaux> "roland." My voice bears the weight of too much grief.
[01:16] <Roland> "Levi. It's okay. I'm not dead."
[01:16] <Roland> "Well, I AM dead, but I'm here. In the corner."
[01:17] <Levi_Devaux> "WH- WHat?" I whirl around to look at the corner where the voice is coming from.
[01:17] <Roland> "Theeeeere ya go. No need to cry, son. It's just a possibility. No guarantee it actually happened."
[01:18] <Roland> "I mean, it COULD have happened, but... Ach! I'm supposed to represent all of us, and I can't even explain it!"
[01:18] <Levi_Devaux> "BU- BUt... i killed you... and you killed them..." I look down at the cerulean blood all over my hands.
[01:18] <Roland> "Well... Maybe. It certainly COULD have gone down that way."
[01:19] <Roland> "I mean, I'm angry, Lily's talkin' shit, I shoot, Evey joins the fight, and before I know it, I'm lost to grief and rage."
[01:19] <Roland> "It tells us something about these sessions."
[01:19] <Levi_Devaux> "i don't know... you didn't explain..."
[01:19] <Roland> "It's a hypothetical."
[01:19] <Levi_Devaux> "or... you didn't get time to... i..."
[01:20] <Roland> "Well, I watched it from the beginning. Yeah, that's what happened."
[01:20] <Levi_Devaux> "oh."
[01:21] <Roland> "There are so many of these, and they keep splintering off."
[01:21] <Levi_Devaux> "you're not supposed to be here right/ i... remember what happens next..."
[01:21] <Roland> "Show me."
[01:21] <Roland> ((Go nuts, bro))
[01:23] <Levi_Devaux> "I... stand like this... forever it feels like..." Time passes forward, another Levi stands before the bodies, tears streaming down his cheeks. "i couldn't figure out... i was unable to... move any of you... but i could not leave you there either..."
[01:23] <Roland> "Go on."
[01:25] <Levi_Devaux> "i finally... i do not know how to describe it... summoned the courage is too heroic... this was an act of defeat almost..." Levi walks forwards, picking up each of the bodies one at a time, taking them out of the room, and returning covered in dirt for the next.
[01:25] <Roland> "You buried us."
[01:25] <Levi_Devaux> "in my garden."
[01:26] <Roland> "That's beautiful. I thank you for the gesture."
[01:26] <Levi_Devaux> "nowhere else seemed correct..."
[01:27] <Roland> "It's not the only hardship we've been through."
[01:27] <Roland> Roland stands up. "Follow me."
[01:27] <Roland> He leads the way out the front door, and you are now standing next to Lily's pool.
[01:28] <Levi_Devaux> "what is here/"
[01:28] <Roland> You (a different you) are beating Roland savagely while he encourages you to continue, telling you to "get it all outta yer system"
[01:28] <Roland> "That one's my favorite." Roland adds to the mollywhopping.
[01:29] <Roland> "Give it two minutes. We'll hug it out."
[01:29] <Levi_Devaux> "oh..."
[01:29] <Roland> "You might actually remember this one."
[01:30] <Levi_Devaux> "i... do i? i just... i keep thinking about my splinter... what happens next..."
[01:30] <Levi_Devaux> I shake my head, "why are we doing this roland/"
[01:31] <Roland> The bruised and bartered Roland says, "Well... I reckon... I reckon you hit me till you figure out if it hurts more 'n it helps."
[01:31] <Roland> The "real" Roland says, "doing what? Watching this?"
[01:31] <Roland> The two splinters hug after Levi stops hitting Roland. "That's why."
[01:31] <Roland> "Because that happens."
[01:32] <Roland> "You need to remember this. You're gonna see some horrid stuff."
[01:32] <Roland> "And if you can't keep the good stuff at the front, you'll go insane."
[01:32] <Roland> "Wanna watch a memory where we lie together?!" Roland asks, with a wicked grin.
[01:32] <Levi_Devaux> "i'd rather not..."
[01:33] <Levi_Devaux> "what's worse than what i've already seen, besides/"
[01:33] <Roland> "Well... Lemme see if I can pull it up." Roland says, closing his eyes.
[01:34] <Roland> After a moment, you see a troll in a confrontation with a troll who looks similar to, but not exactly like Roland.
[01:34] <Roland> "He's out and about, and he's only got trouble on his mind."
[01:34] <Roland> "You know this troll?"
[01:34] <Roland> "The cerulean, I mean."
[01:35] <Levi_Devaux> "... i don't... i... maybe/" something nags at the back of my mind.
[01:35] <Roland> "That's my ancestor. I called him The Wayfarer. He went by Harken, in his life."
[01:36] <Levi_Devaux> "ah..."
[01:36] <Roland> "He's not supposed to be here; Leeroy is only supposed to be simulating this generation, and only for combat purposes, at that."
[01:36] <Roland> "If she's simulating alpha sessions... Something's not right."
[01:37] <Levi_Devaux> "roland... i still do not understand any of this... what's happening... why aren't i still in my splinter/"
[01:37] <Roland> "Because you weren't obligated to stay."
[01:38] <Roland> "When I came to, I was making out with Palmer. Blech."
[01:39] <Levi_Devaux> "oh... that... does little to answer my question..."
[01:39] <Levi_Devaux> "why was i not obligated to stay/"
[01:40] <Roland> "It's hard to answer, Levi."
[01:40] <Roland> "But when you stepped away, the splinter kept going."
[01:40] <Roland> "I called you out, when you were ready, and nothing was ruined as a result of it."
[01:41] <Roland> "We could have seamlessly stepped into the next splinter we saw, as well."
[01:41] <Roland> "But we can't get too far off track right now."
[01:41] <Levi_Devaux> "why this me, then/"
[01:42] <Levi_Devaux> "if you called me out, why me/"
[01:42] <Roland> "You are all of you, Levi."
[01:42] <Levi_Devaux> "i'm all of me/"
[01:42] <Roland> "It could have been any one of you, and you would still remember all of it. Soon, these splinters will begin to resonate, and you'll feel it."
[01:43] <Levi_Devaux> "roland... i don't understand... any of this/"
[01:44] <Roland> "We have time, even if it doesn't seem like it."
[01:44] <Roland> "Take a moment, if you need one. Take a thousand, even."
[01:45] <Levi_Devaux> "i just... i still feel like i'm inside that house, afraid to go out, afraid to see the reminders of my failures, wasting away inside..." The scene shifts, bringing us inside Levi's kitchen, where a malnourished Levi is scooping out the remains of a mostly uneaten dinner into the trash, being careful not to look outside.
[01:46] <Roland> "Holy *shit.*"
[01:47] <Roland> Roland looks like he wants to run over and shake Levi out of it, but, he steels himself.
[01:47] <Roland> He reiterates: "You are all of you."
[01:47] <Levi_Devaux> "i got so weak... they killed me..." The house is in ruins, Levi's screaming, the only thing remaining is the wall and door leading to the garden. I stare at it.
[01:48] <Roland> "Stop! Enough! I... Damn. You are all of you, and you are this you, too." Roland changes the scene.
[01:49] <Roland> You stand in the middle of Lily's living room, wearing a ridiculous priestly get up.
[01:49] <Roland> A splinter of Roland bows and says, "Your Holiness."
[01:49] <Roland> Everyone is smiling and laughing.
[01:49] <Roland> "There's more to it than our deaths. It's happened differently, even in that session."
[01:50] <Levi_Devaux> "i..." I turn away, and open the door to my garden incongruously standing in Lily's wall, stepping through into what's beyond.
[01:51] <Roland> A splinter of Levi, clad in heavy armor, leads a prospitian charge against the black King, even as the reckon rains down around him, all the fury and hellfire Skaia has left to give.
[01:51] <Roland> "Somewhere in you, Levi, there's a warrior who won't give up. Need I show you more evidence?"
[01:51] <Levi_Devaux> I walk past him, there's somewhere I need to go, "i never did it in my life roland, i never looked at them..."
[01:52] <Roland> Roland lights a cigarette, following.
[01:53] <Roland> ((Go ham))
[01:54] <Levi_Devaux> The scene shifts again, I lead him to my garden. It's longer than it was... endless. There are no plants here. Every plot has a gravestone, listing a name, a time, a place, a way I let them down.
[01:54] <Levi_Devaux> "OH." I say, looking out over the massive fields of stones.
[01:54] <Roland> "This is... This is aberrant behavior, Levi. This is s'posed to be a simulation."
[01:55] <Levi_Devaux> "THey're... my failures. ALl of them."
[01:55] <Roland> "You're wasting your time, then. Dwelling on them won't make you not fail in the future. It'll just make you hesitate, make you lock up."
[01:56] <Roland> "You don't save them by dwelling. You save them by committing to the future, committing to doing better."
[01:56] <Levi_Devaux> "NO... IT's... I"m not dwelling..."
[01:56] <Roland> "Look at this."
[01:57] <Roland> "Look! This is dwelling!"
[01:57] <Levi_Devaux> "NO! THis is facing them! THAT WAS DWELLING!" I gesture towards the me in the kitchen.
[01:58] <Roland> "But look at this! This level of dedication isn't FACING them! It's being crippled by your insecurities!"
[01:58] <Levi_Devaux> "I Lived a life dwelling on them, ROland. I Died, dwelling on them. I Had to face them, and they're ALL Here."
[01:58] <Roland> "You're not seeing any of the futures, and you're refusing to accept the reality that good things can happen, and it'll kill five kids if you keep it up."
[01:59] <Levi_Devaux> "I"ve lived... SO many lives dwelling on them... GOod LOrd... SO many lives..."
[01:59] <Roland> "Doesn't that hurt?"
[01:59] <Roland> "Do you keep doing it?"
[01:59] <Roland> "Don't you think it's slightly fetishistic to do so?"
[02:00] <Levi_Devaux> "THis isn't dwelling, ROland. I"m not dwelling on them! this place," I gesture towards the graves, "WAs an accident!"
[02:01] <Roland> "Levi, when we look inward, it's useless to do so unless we look outward and forward, carrying the lessons we've learned."
[02:02] <Levi_Devaux> "I"m sorry, ROland. BUt A Moment ago I KILLED YOU> MY BEST FRIEND< BECAUSE YOU KILLED EVERYONE I CARED ABOUT> AND THEN I LIVED A LIFE HIDING FROM THAT>"
[02:03] <Roland> "That wasn't the only way it happened, though. That's the point."
[02:03] <Roland> "It's why we're here; these things keep happening in an effort to find the best possible outcome."
[02:03] <Levi_Devaux> "YEs, but that is how it happened for me. THAt was at the FOREFRONT OF MY MIND, when you came back to life.
[02:03] <Levi_Devaux> "
[02:04] <Roland> "Comin' back to life is a little egregious, I reckon, but... Well, I guess I understand what you mean."
[02:04] <Levi_Devaux> "I Am sincerely sorry that I Am not adjusting to this new situation with the alacrity you clearly wish> BUT I Barely had time to morn before you appeared and I Lived a life without you at the same time>"
[02:06] <Roland> Roland doesn't answer. He's running out of comebacks.
[02:06] <Levi_Devaux> "I"M TRYING, ROland, My very best to come to terms with this, and perhaps, I Do spend too much time remembering my failures, but THEY"RE WHAT I REMEMBER>"
[02:07] <Roland> "Soft, Levi, soft. You have time."
[02:07] <Levi_Devaux> "RIght now, ROland, I Can remember all these different lives, all these different failures, and it is helping, in some... strange way I Do not believe I Could explain."
[02:08] <Roland> "No, I suppose you couldn't. Lord knows I have trouble thinking about it."
[02:08] <Roland> "The reality is... We're small parts of a vast machine. Reality is... Tricky, for us."
[02:08] <Roland> ((Holy repetition batman!))
[02:09] <Roland> "Still, take your time."
[02:09] <Levi_Devaux> "IT's... I"m not him." I say, pointing to who I was, "BUt I Am him, and another me, and yet further mes, and somehow, being where they all have buried their failures... I"m... bonding with them?"
[02:09] <Roland> "I sent Cade after Cerxes, so she's cared for. Told him to take a low profile."
[02:10] <Roland> "Right. It's a lot to take in, ain't it?"
[02:11] <Levi_Devaux> I let out a sigh, and look out over the sea of graves, "I- I Know this is not a healthy place to be... but... over countless lives, ROland, we've known each other, you should know that... well... I Always have these failures... and I Always bury them. SOmetimes I Dig them up, and learn to be better, but I Always come here... some time."
[02:12] <Roland> Roland lights another smoke.
[02:12] <Roland> Or was he always smoking?
[02:12] <Roland> It doesn't matter.
[02:13] <Roland> He remains silent.
[02:14] <Levi_Devaux> I stare off at the graves for a long time. And then, I smile a little.
[02:14] <Levi_Devaux> "SOmetimes... I Lived good lives."
[02:15] <Levi_Devaux> I turn to him, "WE... uh... we can exit now. I Cannot assume it would be pleasant standing within this place."
[02:17] <Roland> "Yeah. Reckon I've seen enough." Roland returns for the door, opening it to a small saloon. Several crow consorts serve beer, play cards, and drink.
[02:19] <Levi_Devaux> I follow him inside.
[02:19] <Levi_Devaux> "SO... IF I Might inquire, what is this about your ancestor and LEeroy?"
[02:20] <Roland> "My ancestor... Harken, he goes by, has gotten out of the simulations. He's probably like you were five minutes ago."
[02:20] <Roland> "He's got one outcome of many on his mind, and he's carrying it with him. It's driving his actions."
[02:21] <Roland> "He's gone, so none of his splinters can be pulled, like you were."
[02:21] <Roland> "This is one of the alpha memories I've been finding, and I think the trail starts here."
[02:22] <Levi_Devaux> I nod, "I See. SO you would have me accompany you as we follow his trail to glean an understanding as to what exactly has occurred here?"
[02:23] <Roland> "Right. And I can feel something else in these things, too. Close your eyes. If you listen, you should be able to hear her. Hear them."
[02:23] <Roland> "You'll recognize those voices, whether you realize it or not."
[02:24] <Levi_Devaux> I give you a brief look of confusion, before closing my eyes and listening.
[02:24] <Roland> You hear your sister. It's a much younger version of her, certainly, but it's her, all the same.
[02:25] <Roland> And you hear someone else, too.
[02:26] <Levi_Devaux> I open my eyes quickly and look at you in shock, "THat was... my sister. ANd... someone else?"
[02:27] <Roland> "Aye, and Harken Sirius, in all of his 'dangerous killer' glory. Follow me." Roland gestures, and he phases through several crows on his way back to a rear door, behind the bar.
[02:27] <Levi_Devaux> I do so, awkwardly attempting to phase through the crows while offering befuddled "excuse me"s.
[02:28] <Roland> ((I will refrain from linking dogsong here, badly as I want to))
[02:28] <Levi_Devaux> ((this is srs bsns))
[02:30] <Roland> You and Roland peek through the door, and see Harken and your sister, Lexi, sitting at a small table. Lexi's hand is covering Harken's, and he's looking up, wearing a look of incredulity that slowly morphs into one of confusion.
[02:30] <Roland> Then, the whole image disappears.
[02:30] <Roland> "He's covering his tracks. Bastard. You can feel that bond better than I can feel his darkness."
[02:31] <Levi_Devaux> I blink, more than a little confused. "THey knew each other?" I try to wrack my memories.
[02:31] <Roland> "Right. Alpha session, Levi. Their our forebears. Or, maybe our descendants? Lily never gave me all the details..."
[02:33] <Levi_Devaux> "HOw very strange... I Shall do my best to detect their bond." I reach out and *feel*.
[02:33] <Roland> "Did you feel their bond? We can trigger the memory again if you need another try to lock it in."
[02:34] <Levi_Devaux> "I- I Don't think so. MY apologies, my powers are fickle more often than not. IT is a rare thing for me to harness them fully."
[02:35] <Levi_Devaux> "LEt us try again, I Think I May know better what I Ought to do."
[02:35] <Roland> "It's fine." Roland leads the way out the door, then back in again. This time, he heads straight back to the rear door, saying "focus on 'em Levi. Get the mental picture. Hear her tone. Look at his face."
[02:36] <Roland> The voices are slightly more distinct, now
[02:36] <Roland> Well, Harken's is.
[02:36] <Roland> "...don't understand...this?...I've...kind of a cuck, and yet..."
[02:38] <Levi_Devaux> I watch them, yes. I see their faces, hear their tones, their words, all of it, but that is not what I need. I take what's beneath it, the unfelt connection. I feel their bond, like the string of a violin, carefully tightened, and being tuned, but more than that even. I take in all of it, and follow it.
[02:39] <Roland> It feels like a rope, sliding through your fingers. You manage to grasp it *just* before it slips out. The scene vanishes, but you know where to go.
[02:40] <Levi_Devaux> "GOt it." I say to Roland, "FOllow me." I begin leading the way.
[02:42] <Roland> You lead the way to a solitary door. It looks forlorn, standing alone like that. It opens into the same saloon, empty now but for Lexi and a drunken Harken.
[02:42] <Roland> Harken's face is on the bar counter, and Lexi's rubbing his back. Harken vomits on the floor, cries a little and loses one HP.
[02:43] <Levi_Devaux> I wince sympathetically for all my similar experiences of tears and hp loss.
[02:44] <Roland> Lexi's saying something. Roland can't quite make it out.
[02:44] <Roland> "Can you hear her? I can't hear shit from her."
[02:45] <Roland> Harken just keeps asking, "why did I do those things?!"
[02:46] <Levi_Devaux> "NO, nor could I Hear her previously... HMm... this is strange..." I feel the rope, gently running my fingers over it to learn its shape, something within it ought to have the key, if not, I shall need to employ some other method.
[02:47] <Roland> The individual strands of the rope seem to be memories that make up the whole of the relationship.
[02:48] <Roland> It was frayed at first, then it grew newer and stronger.
[02:48] <Roland> The rope begins sliding again as the scene changes. Not to make a pun of this, but you're nearing the end of the rope
[02:48] <Roland> It cuts off, very suddenly.
[02:49] <Roland> They're arguing about something in this memory, near the end. Harken is begging her to stay. You can't tell why. You think it's because she's about to do something dangerous and heroic, knowing your sister.
[02:50] <Roland> He's trying to say they can just live the rest of the game out quietly. The session will never produce anything, and the reckoning will never come.
[02:50] <Levi_Devaux> An uncomfortably familiar conversation...
[02:50] <Roland> But Lexi believes differently.
[02:50] <Roland> "I think we're getting close, Levi."
[02:52] <Levi_Devaux> I nod, feeling the near end of the rope, "WHatever is about to happen... IT is not good." I follow it to its conclusion.
[02:54] <Roland> Harken stands over Lexi's body in the middle of the desert. There's a sword stuck in her body. It appears to be Lexi's own. How it got there, neither you nor Roland can tell. Harken sobs profusely over it. Then he looks up, and walks away, a splinter leaving a splinter. He then hides amidst a group of ghosts, and you can see Leeroy pluck him right out of the
[02:54] <Roland> crowd, mistaking him for Roland.
[02:55] <Levi_Devaux> "OH."
[02:55] <Roland> "So what does he need the squirrel boy for...?"
[02:56] <Roland> "I think... I think he wants to pull her out, too?"
[02:56] <Roland> "But we'd need to find some dominant memories."
[02:56] <Roland> "And that might take a while."
[02:57] <Levi_Devaux> I nod, "HArken, despite what my sister might have seen in him, is dangerous I Presume, do you believe it is a while we would have?"
[02:58] <Roland> "Maybe. It's different here. I wanna get a solid lead on one of Lexi's dominant memories, and then I'll send Lyra after it."
[02:58] <Roland> "She's got quite the investigative nose."
[02:58] <Roland> "You still feel that rope?"
[02:59] <Levi_Devaux> "YEs, this is its end, but I Maintain a hold along it. WHat is your intent?"
[03:00] <Roland> "See if you can't isolate your sister from it."
[03:00] <Roland> "We'll pick up on a dominant memory, and I'll summon Lyra."
[03:04] <Levi_Devaux> "HRm..." I investigate the rope in my hands. "MY..." I begin, before reconsidering, "BOnds... WEll... ER... HOld for a moment, I May be able to do so." I take the rope, and then reach out, to one of my memories. A very distant memory, one that is barely even of the same me, one that took care of Lexi, as an older brother. I take the two ropes toget
[03:04] <Levi_Devaux> her and... tie a knot in a manner of speaking. "HEre." I hold the knot out to Roland, "BOnds are... STrange and complex... BUt this knot should lead LYra to my sister."
[03:05] <Roland> "You done good, Levi. You know that." Roland whistles. "Lyra! Here girl!" Another whistle.
[03:08] <Roland> An imposing young lady with a half burned face seems to appear out of nowhere. "Yes, Roland? What can I do for you and the cutie here?"
[03:08] <Roland> "I need you to follow this. I'm gonna report in on Leeroy's end."
[03:08] <Roland> "Levi..." Roland says... "I'll be back."
[03:09] <Levi_Devaux> I don't react to Lyra's flirting, I swear, that blush is from something else, how can I still be this bad at this stuff, good lord. "*ahem* VERY WEll then."
[03:11] <Roland> "Cutie with a booty!" Lyra intones, checking out your ass as Roland strides off, and into the "sunset".
[03:12] <Roland> ==END?==