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Entry tags:
Truth Meme
Truth Meme
Somehow, there is kirin on you.
Most likely, it is the fur of the kirin that was caught in the environment of wherever you’ve been; there is a stray hair on you because one was on the seat you sat on upon the train or because it blew onto the brim of your hat in the wind.
Or it may be because you met the kirin—a playful ungulate moose-sized spirit who prefers not to speak—and engaged with him and gave him a pat, or a scratch behind an ear. Maybe the kirin nosed or licked your hand because you made him laugh (it’s an adorable ‘keh keh keh’ sound).
Unfortunately for both you and the kirin (who had not meant to trouble your day like this, truly), this exposure to his dander has only one reaction, and it happens to 100% of Star Children: you are compelled to tell the entire truth. About what is less specific; you are compelled simply to announce things about yourself—your life, experiences, thoughts, opinions, feelings. No matter if it’s something silly and inconsequential, deep or secretive, life-altering or commonplace. Some may choose to do this by employing Foxi and their relic; others by finding people to exchange truth with to face to face.
When you have met the kirin’s subconscious desire for four hours, you will be free from the truth telling and the recipient of 24 hours of good luck. The good luck will be sometime in the next year rather than in the next day, and you may have no idea where it came from, but you’ll know a lucky day when you have it!
- This meme is game canon unless marked otherwise at the start of threads! Threads can be used for spoons and application samples.
- Assume all characters involved on this meme are affected.
- Characters will compulsively state truths about themselves/their feelings on the network or in-person. Top-levels may include either/both options.
- Please include prompts in your top level.
- All questions will be answered with complete and total honesty. No special abilities, half-truths, or omissions can avoid sharing all of the truth.
- Meme is open until the next truth meme!
- After one month, you may use the kirin mechanic generally in game. It can be one-sided! All truth-telling characters must consent.
no subject
[ There is some mild confusion. Vincent has every reason to think that Zack should be the one hating him after all. He didn't stop things in the past. And he tried to kill a teenager who hadn't done anything yet. ]
I need to speak with him. Resolve the misunderstanding at least. Try to understand what happened to those people that should have been there. If we're going to change things, whatever happened there may be an important key.
[ No, Sephiroth shouldn't need to be contending with any of this. It isn't fair. But this time, Vincent seems to stand firm against the teen's wishes. What happened, when it happens. They're getting an opportunity to change things and having other allies that Sephiroth could trust...
Vincent's full attention was on the youth. Of course he was thinking of plans and alternative options, ways to arm Sephiroth with the knowledge to carry out the tasks he's set himself to. But those tasks, given bitter outline just then, become part of a stark realization.
The former Turk's brow creases and then eases lightly with an accompanying string of emotions. Sorrow and remorse. A deeper concern than is usually felt. He steps forward. For the moment, he disregards the question about the executives. Reaches over to try and place a hand on the teen's shoulder. ]
You shouldn't have to worry about any of this at all, Sephiroth. Not Deepground or wars. Or killing someone or preventing the return of the Calamity. Stopping the planet from dying because humans are foolish and greedy.
[ Don't mistake those words for denying that's the reality that's being faced. ]
You're just a kid. I know it doesn't change much to tell you that. But... you should know that no one who cares wants you... wants you to be in this spot. To be able to do this alone.
[ His gaze shifts to the meal. Probably still barely eaten if at all. Vincent for himself had only put together a small plate mostly for companionship and he hadn't touched it yet. ]
Say the word. And I'll not stop until I find a way to come to your time. Or... if you need a moment... an hour or a day to just do something else. No planning for the future. Because it's fine to take those moments. It's... sometimes important to. We did.
[ 'They'. Cloud and the others. And even grumpy, cold Vincent Valentine. ]
no subject
[There's a twitch, a flicker of some unpleasant dark feeling at Vincent's touch, but he doesn't shrug it off. He's managed to eat a couple things but mostly it's just getting moved around. Eating while under enough stress simply didn't happen.]
'Shouldn't' doesn't matter, and you can't get to my time anyway. I have to. I want to, if there's anything I can do ... I can't not do it. Wasting time with frivolous distraction is not okay.
[His life didn't value as high as that of so many others, and though it hurt to think about, that part didn't bother him - that it meant the cessation of all else did. If he dwelt on it too long, the selfishness led to ribbons of resentment ... but what did anyone do to deserve that?
The things Nero had only hinted at..
But the truth is never so sweet and pure and selfless, and with the compulsion is the rest. The selfish, pathetic child underneath it that he could barely tolerate if he thought about it much.]
But I wish I didn't have to. I just ... wanted to live a normal life. Do all the things normal people get to do, plan for a future, look forward to growing up.. I don't want to die.
[The resignation tinges with something like despair. He raises one hand to his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if it would somehow help.]
I don't know if life isn't fair, or if it is and this is the price for the things I normally would have done. To feel even a fragment of what I made others endure.
no subject
[ Sephiroth can kill Hojo. But did Hojo have anything to do with why he was without his friends when the fated moment came? Vincent doesn't know these things.
But they're moving on and for better or worse, the truth has kicked in again. Vincent couldn't say he'd forgotten about it. And deep down he also couldn't claim that he wasn't in some way wanting to hear the answers while they couldn't be avoided.
Though he feels the trace of dark emotion when contact is made, seem to grow for the moment, Vincent lets it continue. He'll draw back if it becomes too much; that is one of the least of benefits to this bond. ]
Reality makes that true. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't hear it from someone. And you want so badly to save... as much as you can. Everything if it was possible.
[ And that level of compassion is so terrible in its wonder that Vincent's grief for Sephiroth is, in a moment, palpable even without the bond. ]
I know. [ Quietly. ] And you should hear this too. It's okay to wish for those selfish things. To not have to do this. Even something like this. To want... a normal life and grow up, have kids maybe.
[ Something... poignant about that. ]
Don't take this to mean I think I went through the same thing, Sephiroth. But... I wanted a normal life too. [ He didn't dream of becoming a Turk as a child. Does anyone? ] And to not die. Maybe have a future with the one I loved.
[ Can he be blamed if his gaze slides as if to seek out the portrait of a certain woman? For just a second, even if it's not in sight. But Vincent is swift to refocus. ]
...If the Planet is saying you have to feel the pain of what the future you did in another reality, then it is definitely cruel.
[ And they can be frustrated by that or angry or bitter but... it's a planet. What can be done? It likely does not 'think' on such levels as a human might consider normal. ]
But for better or worse, I doubt that's the case. Everything you're dealing with right now is because the Fox decided to pick certain ones of us and bring us all here. But... I'm not entirely blaming her, either.
[ Not really. Not anymore than you can blame a planet. ]
Do you want to give up on the idea of having friends? Or do you feel like you have to?
[ He doesn't ask if Sephiroth fears it. That, in its own way, has been answered countless times. ]
no subject
But only a measure. He hates the compulsion, almost as much as he hates knowing it's not okay to want to deviate from what he had to do. To entertain even for a moment such self-centered wishes as not having to do any of it. Vincent was biased, and wouldn't say so, so he only shakes his head slightly. It's not okay.
He can guess who the loved one was, in that brief retelling. Who that future was supposed to be with.
Sephiroth wasn't the only one she left behind. Maybe Vincent wondered why as often as he did. Why none of them were enough to keep her anywhere they could find her.]
Nature is cruel, so it'd balance. Nature's not compassionate to the prey ripped open and eaten alive by its predator, and doesn't extend care either to the starving predator. Pain is ... the planet's method of teaching. Why should I be any different?
[He struggled to consider the planet as anything more than nature's laws, red in tooth and claw, that it could think, could plan, could really deliberately cause any of this besides instinctive vindictiveness was strange.
But a wounded animal, lashing out at its tormenters? At the thing that nearly killed it? Sure.
He didn't blame Thirteen at all, but Vincent's words get a low noise of acknowledgment at least.]
If it wasn't for the Fox, a lot of people would die who don't have to.
[It was more than he thought he could carry, but the Fox seemed to have faith in him even if he had none in himself. If they were to meet their greatest potential and return with it, then if no-one else did, Thirteen was certain he could overcome.
Somehow it wasn't reassuring.
Or the follow-up question.]
I don't want friends. [It's true and True; he can't lie. But there's pain lanced through it, though it doesn't show in his voice.] I don't have time for friends. And the ones I'm supposed to have weren't any help anyway. I don't want to do things that I know will make it harder later. Getting attached to someone only to have them leave hurts.
[It's not a pain he'd been taught how to resist.]
I'd have gone, if .. any of them asked me to. If Lucia insisted, if Matt said it was logical, if Glenn ... could look at me with anything but disgust. I thought they were my friends. And they left. The next ones will leave too. Or I'll have to leave them here, like I have to leave you here; either way I'll be alone. What's ... what's the point except to prove the Professor's right?
no subject
No reason to think you're any different. I guess that's what I mean. The Planet isn't treating you any different than it would anyone else.
[ It's honestly not the best sort of normal. But at the same time, it is not because the Planet hates Sephiroth for what some other him did and is thus taking it out on him. As for the Fox? ]
Well, I won't argue with that. Things will be different for your time, because of her. If she's the one behind you going back and remembering, then she's trying to help. In her own way.
[ Vincent then closes his eyes. Everything is true means he has to accept Sephiroth's answer as genuine; even if the bond itself weren't expressing how much truth is present in the bitter words. The pain, too but...
He probably wouldn't mind punching Glenn right now. Not that he didn't comprehend how it happened to be perceived, but...
Anyway if he punched Glenn he'd have to punch himself, probably. Why are all the adults in Sephiroth's life hypocrites? ]
Friends...
[ He pauses. Then begins again. ]
True friends don't need to be there to be with you. Even if we want them to. Sometimes they die or need to go somewhere you'll never see them again. It's not as if I can promise I'll find a way to your time. I can't even promise that one day you'll leave Folkmore and not... return.
[ It's always a fear. Not that Sephiroth will come back as the madman Vincent remembers witnessing. But that the young man before him will be sent back and never return.
There would be no more way to guarantee the Fox would tell him what became of Sephiroth than there is somehow reaching out to communicate with that place. ]
When we part one day, or any time you go back to your world, I want you to remember. I'm always going to be thinking of you. Not what you become or as 'Sephiroth'. But the you I've come to know. Remember and... let it give you strength.