hugtopia_logs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

♥ Who: Lup + Close CR (who will be contacted! <3)
♥ Where: Lup's house
♥ When: start of August
♥ What: A ladies (kinda) night, the redux!
♥ Rating: PG and up, probably

Those who Lup deigned to grace with an invitation will receive one at random: that at the recipient's convenience if they so desire, they are invited to join her in what she is calling (without explanation) a Pocket Dimension Party. As per the instructions, any time within the next 24 hours, they can enter through the garden back door and "find the cat".

Should one accept the invitation and follow those instructions, they can find Ditto curled up in the grass beside the house, dozing, though at the arrival of any visitor he perks up and stretches. Rubbing up against their legs, Ditto will head over to a section of the wall and paw at a corner, until a door abruptly glimmers into existence and opens for him. He meows plaintively and waits. Go on in! Just close the door behind you.

Inside the doorway, visitors will find… a mansion. Elaborately decorated, warm, and inviting, it is like entering a rich and immaculate house that someone's taken a lot of time and TLC to make perfect. No one greets them as they enter, but if they call for attention and no one is in the immediate vicinity, a semi-transparent spectral servant will arrive and guide them to Lup. Otherwise, they are free to explore the house and make use of the facilities as they please.

The following areas are available:

An extravagant entrance hall with soft wood paneling and fancy art on the walls
A lounge area with big fluffy couches, pillows, and blankets, as well as a projection screen that works with communicators and whatever digital media Lup is familiar with, or a music mix in lieu of said media being played
A full-service kitchen and dining area, where a collection of spectral servants (features to be determined) will upon request cook any meal a person desires, assuming they (and by association Lup) are familiar with the recipe and ingredients. It's all delicious, too!
A sizable basement with regenerating training dummies, various targets, and more servants who will act as moving targets on request. They can't be hurt, but they can move around freely.
A big and beautiful spa with all the soaps and pampering material that anyone could ask for
A "pet room", AKA a room devoted to toys, climbing shelves, cat trees- whatever an animal might want to stay entertained for hours unsupervised

More details to be added as needed! This is a mingle free-for-all, there is no set schedule. Visitors can come and go as they please for 24 hours, and at the end of the spell anyone still inside will be summarily booted out into the garden.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... Good.

[ It is a relief, somehow, to feel that it had gone well. The words that Era speaks so confidently and yet carrying that grave intimacy of it all hits Honerva in a way she does not expect, and she's quiet for a long moment, taking them in.

This is what hope brings. ]

Wherever it leads you... hold onto that. Keep it close, and safe, so that it might guide you, but not bind you. The happiness you are able to share with him right now even for those dreams, is what is truly beautiful.

[ Era nods, quiet and pensive. ]

...I know that little girl will likely never live beyond our dreams. That she exists at all even as just a concept... That is a promise holding more weight than any ring I could place upon his finger.

That I can think of any future with him is a gift I will hold close.

[ She pauses, once again taking time to consider her words. ]

But I think you may understand that better than most.

[ While phrased as a statement her words are a query, spoken in a way that leaves Honerva welcome to answer if she pleases, but is equally welcome to ignore without consequence. ]

Mmm.

[ It's a soft sound, almost wistful; a weight in the invitation that settles against complexities. ]

There is much more that I am learning, I would say. Experience can only bring one so far, and so many paths are hidden. Yet I can see how strongly you feel for this choice you have made, and just how important this time that you two have together is. Perhaps... there is something familiar in it.

I believe there is always more to be learned, and it is important to always strive to keep learning.

[ Always seeking new knowledge, experiences, and adventure. Knowledge is easy to come by in this place, at least.

Era watches Honerva as she speaks, knowing that there is more to be said, but she doesn't pressure her friend to continue, leaving it up to Honerva to steer the conversation now. She instead reaches into her pocket and pulls out a bottle of caelumfruit wine, then into her satchel to retrieve two plastic cups. Not the most refined of things, but Era has ever chosen practicality over luxury.

She offers one of the cups to Honerva in askance. ]

[ Yet another strongly familiar sentiment, one that sinks in, deeply. She tilts her head at the offering, but reaches over to accept the cup; it matters not to her how refined they may or may not be, even if the quality is unfamiliar.

She seems to consider the contents, though from their prior conversation and the other fruit being given to her, she can deduce which one this must be. Something new, different; much like anything else she is learning... and Era had certainly shared much of herself.

She wrestles with the silence, but eventually, she softly speaks. ]

... I had been married myself. There are times now when I am revisited by such dreams, even though they are lost to me as they are. I had given... all that I was and more for them.

[ Era is in no rush. She takes very small sips of her drink, allowing the flavour to set on her tongue before swallowing, though it's less to savour the taste than it is to ensure she doesn't drink too quickly.

By the time Honerva speaks again there is a comfortable warmth in her core thanks to the alcohol—faint, and pleasant when in trusted company. It helps to counteract the sorrow that rises in response to her companion's words. ]

...Do you regret giving so much?

[ Honerva exhales, sharply, at that. A softer sigh follows. She did not know what sort of response to anticipate from Era, but it was easy to keep her gaze focused on the contents of the cup. ]

...Not to give. Or rather... it is complicated.

[ She falls quiet for a moment more, contemplating the cup though does not yet sip from it. When had it been willing and when had it been her own desires? That she could not say or differentiate. And here, this was already much to say that she could not take back. A burden, for trust. ]

...What I regret... is losing sight of all else, along the way. It was ... a different time. I cannot reach the memories, but the repercussions live on, so bare to me now because I have had the time away to realize them.

Edited 2020-08-13 20:53 (UTC)

[ Honerva's words strike a familiar chord, giving Era pause. After a moment, she moves her tail until it lays right next to her companion's leg; close enough to be felt, but not quite touch. Honerva is not someone she feels she has implicit consent for such things with. ]

Sometimes... it is impossible to keep from giving yourself to others until there is nothing left. In those times it is far too easy to become lost.

[ She wraps her arms around her legs, then rests her chin atop her knees. ]

Those without memories are oft more acutely aware of the ripples of the past.

I hope you've begun to find your way again.

Or they are shrouded from it, unburdened by what else they may cause until the truths make themselves clear.

[ She notices the gesture Era makes with her tail, and tilts her head to acknowledge, ears flickering slightly in question. An offering of comfort, but not quite? From her perspective, she knows that Era dislikes touch. ]

The way forward is with my family... the one that is here.

[ That seems an appropriate moment to actually sip from the wine, to delicately savor the taste of something new. ]

[ Era hums a small, pensive note. Catching the Honerva's movement, she shifts only the lower portion of her tail until it leans against the woman's leg. ]

Perhaps it's different when there are ripples to be found. I spent years searching for any.

[ She takes another sip of her wine. ]

Full glad am I to hear it.

[ It was an interesting taste, this wine; granted she did not partake in such drinks often, depending on what the twins had on hand. She doesn't quite know what to make of it; alcohol was always... a gamble. She holds it before her again, contemplating the depths of it. ]

There should be scraps there to be found, even if it takes... years. In my case, it took far longer than what should have been possible to... even know my own face, let alone my true name.

Whatever scraps they may have been have been long buried with the dead.

[ Not a hard conclusion for her to make. She has traveled all areas she could have reasonably been recognized and never once learned of herself.

Given what she discovered while here... Era thinks it safe to assume that all memory of her had been burned away in the Battle of Carteneau.

So she's learned all she can of Kiyomi, though there's still the chance she may learn more of Hemera. ]

Do you feel the time and effort worth the knowledge you've gained?

... I had not known what was lost.

[ Certainly, she'd said years, but that did not account for how many there truly were that had passed. How much of her history that truly no longer exists. She shifts the liquid in the glass again. ]

Knowledge only comes with the realization of all that had been lost, for all that time, to know that all I had loved or hoped for had been twisted, neglected or destroyed. The only true gains are that which are around me now. Companions.

Do you regret ever learning of what was lost?

[ She swirls the wine left in her cup with a smooth motion of her hand. Watches the whirlpool of dark rose continue on after she stills her hand. ]

Companions are a precious gift. I'm happy you found a family, Honerva.

[ Era's words now give her room for pause, a long enough one that it almost seems that Honerva might not answer.

Not that she would not, but perhaps that she could not -- and yet she knew silence could well lead others to their own interpretations. To regret... her ears cast downward, a hand curled to her chest, head canted down but not quite looking to the liquid in the cup anymore.

It is not Era's fault, that she does not know what she treads upon, but such a topic is never easily breached.

What she had now was precious, but with all that had come before... she'd had to learn so much in so short a time, slowly piece together from memory that had not even been her own, an unintended side effect of what she had originally been after. As though the person she had been then had truly been her at all. A different life, long lived and yet so stagnant. ]

If... I did not ever learn of what was lost, we would not be here speaking of it. I would be someone else.

[ Era waits patiently, content enough to let Honerva take what time she needs to answer if she chooses to do so. Then, once receiving it, Era nods her acknowledgement and takes some time to mull it over herself. ]

If I had not forgotten Kiyomi I would not be Era.

[ So she thinks she can understand, to some degree. ]

[ Era's voice draws her attention back to the liquid in the cup, though again, it's not quite easy to speak on vulnerable subjects.

Yet Era's questions, strangely, seemed persistent around the same concept, "regret", as though losing it all had been an active choice. ]

Now that you have had a chance to grasp at Kiyomi again, to know she yet lived, does she not reach your life as Era?

[ She says this, knowing that when she spent time with the much smaller Kiyo, she had noted the similarities in personality even if she had been a child beyond memory. Her own memories from the shifts in age had not lingered. ]

[ While the question is not necessarily a surprise it catches Era slightly off guard all the same. Her brows knit together in a thoughtful frown as she ponders what the answer may be. ]

...Not any more or less than my myriad other incarnations would, were I to have knowledge of them.

You remain yourself.

[ It is a thoughtful hum, gently shifting the cup and the liquid within. Even with names shifted, memories lost or splintered. split across eras and reality, Era remains... consistent.

Honerva can only but hope that in other realities her life did not end up so twisted and painful, but surely all would be lacking something. Such considerations were complex and worst of all would draw focus from the present, so she tries not to linger there, as potentially fragile the future she currently seeks is. ]

Perhaps you are luckier than you know.

[ Or would dare admit, for all she'd gone through. ]

...I suppose so, yes.

[ She doesn't make it clear which statement she's responding to—it could be either, or both.

She sips her wine pensively. ]

[ She's no stranger to vagueness, and there's little reason to press upon it.

Still, Era had come to deliver her news, this was meant to be a happy occasion, and she allows herself to finally sip again at the wine. A gift. ]

Do you mind if I ask of you... why regret was the foremost question on your mind?

[ As though there were some piece she were seeking, despite her limited information... or if it did not perhaps relate to what Honerva may have regretted at all. ]

[ Era remains silent, though it is again that pensive silence that brings with it the expectation of response. ]

Sometimes...it can be painful to remember what was lost. [ She answers eventually; quiet, almost distant. ] Sometimes there are memories best left to the past.

... Mm.

[ She understands this; trauma exists in many forms and some bear it harder than others. Sometime the exactness of a memory was not necessary, for it would never truly be exact again, whatever form it would take next.

She too, is quiet again, oddly cognizant of Era's tail still curled near. ]

Such matters are complicated, perhaps because we are different. Painful or not, I cannot lose sight of them again. That is the reality that I must face.

Once remembered something cannot be forgotten, and all that is forgotten deserves to be remembered.

The past holds no regard for the future, and yet the future is nothing without it.

All the while, one has to make sense of the present as well.

[ She'll sip at the rest of the wine for that. The pomegranates, she keeps, to save for a salad proper. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only