Record of the 10309th Child

[twibeast]

Your name is Orthrus.


OOC: These are the memories of Orthrus' life that one will see upon holding his crystal core (which previously appeared to be just an earring). The closer to his death the more you see, but as days go on it will become harder, until eventually only the moment of death can be see from an outsider.
These memories are more feeling than visual. Only a few visual details really show themselves, and only a few names stand out based on most importance. More details are locked within and not for outsiders to see. Characters may see the image of people they care about in the place of the people in Orthrus' memories, their own friends, family and lovers. The crystal will contain a little bit of warmth at first, like the last embers of a fireplace, but will eventually become stone cold.

These are split into comments/segments for easier reading. The last memory is the one most relevant to evidence. The later half explains what happened to Orthrus between Ars Arcana and We Could Be and the reason for his coughing fits and tar. Everything else is flavor/for fun. Again only the people who touch it directly will see everything ICly.

Please be warned that all of the warnings from Orthrus opt out post apply to this. Primarily these are abuse with some mentions of events involving child death and attempted genocide. Orthrus also suffered a traumatic event involving non-consensual mindfuckery, the aftermath of which left him depressed and dealing with intrusive thoughts and suicide ideation. This specific event will have individual warnings in the comment header.

A direct link to the murder memory for quick access.

Comment where Orthrus' time between Ars Arcana and WCB begins

Comments

cw: abuse in the form of non-consensual mindfuckery, emeto

[twibeast]

The funeral is where everything falls apart.

Orpheus' mother blames Odysseus for her daughter's death. Odysseus believes it and blames herself. You remember being unable to bear seeing her this way. So you break your promise. You tell them about Orpheus' prophecies.

Her mother's fury only grows. She and half the Fair forsake the Goddess right then and there. But Odysseus' heartbreak is now aimed at you.

"You... knew this?"

She runs off. You don't have the heart to go after her. Not yet anyway. After some time you finally do.

But you're too late. Too late to stop her.

Immediately you can tell something is wrong. Odysseus is bleeding from her head, a pair of horns forming a crescent shape newly grown from her skull. Her appearance has changed to more resemble your goddess mother's but more than that you feel that same power from her.

You approach her to ask what happened. Apparently it was time for the fairy to ascend, and she had come to say good bye and grant Odysseus' wish before she left. You knew Odysseus viewed her as if she were her own child, and losing her as well today was too much for her. But you never could have imagined...

She claims she was able to steal the Goddess' power. How, you don't know. Such a thing shouldn't have been possible and yet you can tell just from looking at her that this is true. When you demand to know where the child is now, she doesn't answer you. You try to talk sense into her, convince her that she can just undo this and they can fix everything together.

She answers you by crossing the distance between you, and cupping your face with her hands like she often would.

And then the pain started.

It surges through you all at once, like being struck with lightning over and over. It feels like your mind is being pulled apart and you realize, moments too late, what Odysseus is doing. She's going through your mind - all of your memories, without your consent. And she isn't stopping, uncaring about what this kind of taboo magic might do to you.

You scream in agony, tears running down your face, but most of all you beg. You plead with her. Stop it. Please stop!

Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop sTOP STOP STOP STOP IT!!!

And then you feel it bubbling up in your throat. Odysseus finally stops but only because she sees it starting before you do. You drop to the ground immediately and start vomiting. It's dark and thick and sticky and you can't stop it. It keeps coming up and you keep expelling it.

You realize only once it starts to die down just how wrong it is. You can't just vomit like that normally. But something inside you is different. Your clay feels wrong, it feels damaged. You had heard that humans can go braindead if you go too far into their memories, but you don't have a brain. Only once that thought hits you do you fully realize: you are looking at a puddle of your own damaged, liquefied insides. A puddle of your body turned into tar.

You look up at Odysseus then and for a moment, her face shows shock and concern. Like she didn't mean to do that, like she had no idea that would happen. And for a brief moment that gives you some hope. You shakily call out her name and ask only one question:

"Why...?"

She closes her eyes for a moment, shakes her head, and then looks back at you with a cold expression.

"I had to make sure you weren't hiding anything else from me."

At that moment your figurative heart breaks. You had kept yourself together through as much hardship as you could, but this? Hearing her say that?

You're done.

You beg her again to let the fairy go, but she flees and leaves you there on your own.