MEMORY SHARE: 12 OF BEETROOT EVENT (May)

[voidmissions]

JEMA'GRETHY MEMORY SHARE

The caves of Jema'grethy will allow for a few different ways for memories to be interacted with. But for most, such as those entering in bonds, it will be seen like a vision in their head, putting them in the position and perspective of whose memory it is.

For people sharing bond memories, and also memories being shared while moving through the Memory Cave, this is the spot to place said memories! It's not necessary if you'd like to write it during the thread, but hopefully convenient for others. Just make a toplevel with your character's name in the header, and remember to include any content warnings thereafter for each memory, as applicable!

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The Good Old Days - Positive

[its_dad_sanzo]

The moon is just a sliver tonight, but curved in the way that means it will grow over the coming weeks. I'm comfortable, sitting on the stoop of the little temple, smoking from the elegant kiseru pipe my former mentor and his eyebrows had given me, so long ago, when he'd gotten me to start smoking with him. It's a nice night, a little cool, but the air is crisp and clean. The crickets are out singing, and almost no one else is awake at this hour. It's quiet.

And on cue, the silence is punctured by a piercing wailing from the room behind me. I immediately tap the ash out of my pipe and tuck it into my sleeve as I rise from my post. It only takes a second to sweep into my (entirely smoke-free) room and to the simple wooden crib a villager down the mountain had made for me, after hearing of my new charge.

For someone so small, Kouryuu has incredible lungs.

"It's okay, it's okay," I whisper, scooping my hands under the little bundle of baby, only a few weeks old now. So tiny. "You're so loud, little baby! It's good. You show the world you're still breathing, won't you? No drowning for you."

I pull him against my chest and shoulder, and fold the sleeping robe I'm wearing over him, bundle of blankets and all. I don't wear my whole uniform even during the day, now. The old women in the village told me he needs contact, and not with cold, smooth bamboo. I don't have what he's probably looking for by instinct, but I do at least have skin. Scarred and bruised as it is, it's at least that much.

One of the few people awake at this hour is one of my attendants, who quietly slips into the room to offer me a bottle, freshly warmed. I give him a smile, taking it, and he's gone as quickly as he'd come. No one here is quite sure what to do with me, yet. I am a Sanzo priest, the youngest ever, bearer of two sutras. I could go anywhere, and I'm here in this tiny, remote mountain temple, wandering around smoking tobacco and throwing paper airplanes.

And now, I've gone and dove into a river in all of my ceremonial finery, and returned to shore with a half-drowned baby, right in front of everyone. And even after I coaxed the water out of his lungs and he'd begun screaming into the air, painfully shrill, I wouldn't hand him off.

"They must think I'm the strangest Sanzo to ever walk the earth," I tell Kouryuu, as I sink down to sit cross-legged beside the fire-pit. There's still enough heat coming off the coals to keep the room warm for the baby, but I nudge it a little higher with a spark of chi. Somehow, I don't light the pair of us on fire doing it. Goudai would be so relieved.

I offer the bottle and now Kouryuu's mouth is too busy for crying, and I smile a little and offer in a conspiratorial whisper, "They have no idea how strange I am, hm Kouryuu?"

I suppose the baby doesn't either. But he has a fantastic excuse for that; he is a baby.

"We haven't found anyone looking for you," I say next, pulling the bottle away a little bit to make sure he doesn't go too fast. "So I guess you're like me, hm?"

Only, I'd been abandoned on the steps of a temple, placed there by hands glad to be rid of me. Kouryuu had had those prayer beads in his toppled basket; someone had cared. Someone had wanted him to be safe. It's a lot more heartbreaking; he'd been wanted, but something tragic had happened, and there's no doubting that. The world is a tragic place.

Kouryuu's slowed down on the bottle enough that I pull it away and set it down next to the coals to stay warm. I shift him up more onto my shoulder, rubbing his back. "Will you settle for me, little one? Or should I try to find you some proper parents?"

It's a thought I keep having, guilty for wanting to keep him here when I know what temple life is like for people like us. But... I'd heard a voice. I still hear it, I think, but it's not screaming in terror anymore.

A little hand has wormed its way out of the blanket cocoon, and has latched onto my ponytail.

"You're not terrified at all anymore, are you?" I sigh, wincing a little as Kouryuu gives my hair a good pull. It's good that he's not very strong yet. I definitely don't want to go bald.

"Are you going to sleep now, if I put you back?" I ask, distantly aware that I ask this tiny little person who probably doesn't have any complete thoughts of his own yet... an awful lot of questions. But it's not like he can get annoyed by it yet.

Near my ear, Kouryuu gurgles.

I heave a great, dramatic sigh, and rise to my feet. "Very well. Stories, or singing?"

The warm bundle of blankets and skin against my thin chest and sharp collar bone actually kicks his feet a little inside the bedding, and I laugh. "We'll start with stories, then. So bossy, Kouryuu."

I couldn't feel more affection if I tried.

So I bundle us both up in a second layer of robe, making sure his head's still sticking out of it near my ear, and we go walking around in the garden. I point out the stars with my free hand, making up stories about the absurd constellations I've made up over the years. Fairy tales, mostly. That one's a dragon! The shield of a brave knight. The ear of the youkai prince the brave lady knight will save from the dragon.

Only, it turns out the dragon is also a captive! And they must work together to get them all free!

I spare no ridiculous flair, other than keeping my voice down. Kouryuu's quieted, as if he's listening. He's definitely still awake. I head back toward the room.

"That won't do it tonight, I see. Perhaps some singing to finish you off, my tiny adversary?" I get whacked in the cheek by a little squishy baby hand, and stumble through the door into my room as though punched by a great force. "You may be too strong for me! My evil plan!"

Once the door's slid shut again to keep the heat in, I extract him, make sure he doesn't need changing yet while I bundle him back up properly, and return him to the crib. I sink down into a crouch next to it, one skinny arm snaked through the polished wooden bars so that my hand rests on his little chest through the blankets.

Quietly, quietly, but without my usual silly swerving off key to make people laugh, I sing until his breathing has gone even and slow, little violet eyes slipping slowly closed in the dim firelight.

I leave my hand there for a while anyway, watching him with all of my focus, with none of my thoughts wandering at all as I examine this tiny life under my palm. He's nestled in among his prayer beads, left by a desperate someone who probably isn't out there, anymore. I'm probably not the least qualified, really, but...

Here, he'll at least have someone on his side, someone looking out for him, someone who loves him. I can do that. Surely, even I can do that much. I can't help but try. I'm already so attached, feeling a warmth I thought myself no longer capable of, and I know that if I had to take him somewhere and leave him behind, it would break what's left of my heart.

And I'm... happy? About it? I've never felt so at peace as I do in this tiny infant's company, taking care of him. I don't think I've ever dared.

Even as I take my hand back, I whisper a promise, "I will keep you safe, Kouryuu."

And then I lean in close to the bars, and add, "...And we're going to cause so much trouble, you and I."