At the top of the TSI Research Tower, someone is about to press a button that they really should have tested more thoroughly beforehand.
The Council recently approved a new avenue of research for the scientists at the Techno Solar Institute, dealing with the memories stored within Lifelines. Memories, like the Lifelines themselves, are incredibly precious things, and the majority of those in charge of The Chronolium have been hesitant to mess with them, because getting something wrong could be disastrous.
The head researchers at the institute tested on their own Lifelines first, and the results were promising. Their memories were more clearly read from the Lifeline, more vivid, like they were made yesterday. Even moments that the researchers had completely forgotten about were easily revisited... for better or for worse.
They were excited, encouraged, and cocky. They were so confident that they were ready for the next step. All Lifelines would eventually entangle with any other Lifeline, if you followed it for long enough. So all they had to do was place a dozen or so of their research devices (which they called "memory amps") in key locations around the city and turn them on. Which they did.
The first thing to happen was that it became apparent by the numerous warning signals turning on back at the tower that while these devices work fine on a small scale, they cannot handle the hundreds of thousands of Lifelines throughout the city at once. One of the next things to happen was a hasty call to their PR department.
"A NOTE FROM TSI: Due to an unforeseen incident, you may be experiencing some degree of specific memory loss. At present, we are unable to resolve these issues, however you may find these issues lessened or fixed altogether with great concentration and effort made to recall the memories in question. We thank you for your patience while we look into the matter."
Due to a mishap at the TSI Research Tower, your muse may have had some of their memories lost... sort of. A more apt descriptor would be "locked," because it's the kind of memory loss where you can remember that there should be something there, and it's just on the tip of your tongue, but you can't quite recall it right away. Your muse may be able to tell immediately what these memories are (for example, they might realize that they can't remember the details of their graduation day, but that means they do at least know that the missing memory is related to their graduation) or they might not know what memories were lost at all, only that they're gone.
Or, they might not have had any memory loss at all. That is completely up to you, and will still leave you with good opportunity for threads with others during this event for reasons that will be explained below.
Regardless of whether they did or did not lose memories, the message above from TSI was sent to every phone in the city and played on plenty of television screens, displayed on billboards, etc. So no matter what, your muse will most likely know that something happened for them to react to.
WHAT KIND OF MEMORIES ARE LOCKED?
Technically, it can be any memory you want, and more than one memory can be locked at the start of the event. The team at TSI tried to focus on "core" memories, though, so it's a little more likely than not that an important memory to your muse will have been locked away. Whether it's an important memory or just a memory about the time you found a dollar bill on the street three years ago, your muse will have that vague nagging sense in the back of their mind to clue them in to what is missing.
The memory can also technically be as long as you want, but since the ones that are locked are probably specific moments in time, they probably won't be longer than a couple hours, if that.
HOW DOES MY MUSE GET THE MEMORIES BACK?
By trying really hard. If they hold their Lifeline (whether it be the loop on their
phone or their Lifeline in the city) and try to recall the memory, they will. But, from their perspective, it will be as if they are genuinely reliving it. The memory will be so vivid that they will forget that it is just a memory, and they will truly think that they are back at that point in their life and reliving the same thing again. They will look like they did back then, they will feel when things touch them, etc etc.
Like a vivid dream, they will forget that it is not actually reality. The memory will play out exactly like it did in their past. Unless...
HOW DO OTHERS GET INVOLVED?
Every Lifeline in The Chronolium will touch everyone else's Lifeline at least once, somewhere along the way. It may not be anywhere visible, it may be underground or it may be at the core of the city, but it will happen. So while these memory relivings are meant to be private, sometimes, someone else can be pulled into a muses memory with them because of this. It's not guaranteed, however. And while it is more likely for it to happen with someone the muse is Connected to, it can also be someone completely random.
If someone else (henceforth referred to as the visitor) is pulled into your muses memory with them, it will still feel real to the visitor, but they are much more likely to be lucid and know, the whole time, that it's just a memory. If the visitor is lucid, they can try to convince your muse that it's just a memory too, if they feel that is best, and it will be up to you to decide whether or not your muse believes them.
If the visitor is not lucid, then you and the other mun are free to decide whether the visitor still knows who your muse is, or if they are granted the part of coincidental bystander to whatever is going on in the memory.
WHAT IF THE VISITOR CHANGES HOW THINGS HAPPEN IN THE MEMORY?
If the visitor alters how the memory plays out, or convinces your muse to act differently than they did in the true memory... then the memory will change, of course. How much it changes is another thing that is up to you. It may end up that, no matter how much the visitor tries to change things, the end result stays the same somehow. Or the memory may change completely and end up nothing like the true memory, like an alternate history being played out, and you will get to decide how the situation goes when the actions taken are changed.
WHEN DOES THE MEMORY END?
When your muse reaches the same "ending point" as the memory that was locked, or the closest equivalent to it. A bit hard to explain, but bear with me. If, for example, the locked memory is of the time your muse found a dollar on the ground and used it to buy a drink from a vending machine, then they would finish reliving it after they got the drink from the vending machine. If a visitor altered things so that you got in a fight at the vending machine instead though, and you never actually got your drink, then the memory would probably end after the fight, as that's the most logical stopping point, as one could reasonably say that all of that is connected to one event, so to speak.
After your muse has finished reliving their memory, it will be as if they are waking up from sleep wherever they were when they started reliving the memory, as if hardly any time at all has passed. The same will be true for the visitor; they will be kicked out of your memory when the time comes, too.
MY MUSES MEMORY WAS ALTERED DURING THE RELIVING. WHICH VERSION DOES MY MUSE REMEMBER AFTER WAKING UP?
Which version do you want them to remember?
Your muse might, upon waking up, immediately know that the memory that just played out was simply a reenactment that played out differently, and so they will remember the original, true memory from their past, and also now remember the time they and their friend did things differently this time. Essentially, they will remember two versions of the event, one of which is the true version in the past, and the second being the reliving that happened "just now."
Or, if it's more to your liking, the altered memory could replace the old memory entirely. Your muse will no longer be able to recall the true memory, and will only be able to remember the altered version, and in their mind, the altered memory will still 'feel' like it took place in the past, like a normal memory would. Further still, you could then decide that they still know that it's an altered memory, and they just can't remember the true memory. Or you can decide that now your muse will just think that this altered memory is actually how it played out in their past. Surely no consequences can come of that, right?
The visitor, on the other hand, will always know that it was just a relived memory that went differently, and that it didn't actually happen that way, because it was never their memory to begin with. If you're a visitor, good luck trying to convince the host of the memory of that, though, if their mun opted to replace their memories...
IF MY MUSE DOESN'T RELIVE THEIR MEMORIES, WILL THEY STAY LOCKED FOREVER?
Spoiler alert! No, they won't. Your muse doesn't know that, but we're letting you know that so that you don't need to worry about any potential permanent alterations to your muse that you don't want.
WHAT COUNTS AS PARTICIPATION?
Any in-character post that references the events of the event will count as event participation. Drabbles, minis, replies, it's all fair game, regardless of the word count and regardless of whether or not your muse lost memories or visited someone else's memory.
Please send it to the masterlist (not the Council blog)! There's probably a good 75% chance, at minimum, that there was a super obvious FAQ question that we forgot to answer here, so if you need answers to something then we will answer it ASAP!
The event will end on April 22nd at 11:59pm EST.
