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1.
Karl is a keeper of many things. He has two rings on a necklace to play with when he’s awakened by another vision of the past, because some things he just can’t afford to forget. He has his own library with the books of his authorship filled with stories of lives the server lived and people he knew. He has a clock filled with soul sand that counts precisely ten minutes, not more and not less. He flips it and watches the grains of sand fall to the bottom.
One after one, they count the second and slowly run like his own time is running each day. He can’t feel it, he’s pretty sure he’s not supposed to either, but now he knows the visions are not just nightmares, but memories of who he used to be before his rebirth.
There should be someone or something he could come back to, to hold his hand as he’s discovering himself again, and Karl hopes that the more he can save before his memories dissolve, the easier it will be. He hopes so.
The others don’t have to know, He isn’t one to keep secrets, but the things that hurt others he’d rather leave for himself.
2.
Ghostbur might not like his new name, but there is truth in how Phil flinches when he hears his footsteps, and looks almost through him, trying to find the man that used to be his son before his glance darkens and he greets him with the cold you wouldn’t offer your family. Ghostbur haunts them, and his past haunts him in return.
The memories are hidden in the averted eyes, the broken voices and paintings in New L’Manburg, where the blue flames devour his other self, light a new fire to keep Ghostbur warm. He might not wear blue often, but it’s always been his favourite color.
He spends his nights in the archives and libraries, hunched over the books that tell his story. People say it’s destined to repeat itself, but there are many things they say that he doesn’t believe or maybe doesn’t understand yet. He’s not a bad person, but maybe some part of him used to be.
He brings some books to Technoblade, the avid bookworm, who pays for stories from the battlefield and about military strategies with a conservative smile, the corners of his lips slightly lifted. Ghostbur likes to think that everyone he knows is his friend, even Tommy with a fear of him he simultaneously understands and doesn’t, but there’s something special in how Techno invites him for the night to hide from the blizzard and knows how to make tea for him just right.
There’s kindness there, too, when he silently listens to Ghostbur’s discoveries like he wasn’t there when the story was written, and when he nods or winces at the mentions of his name. Ghostbur finds peace with history at those moments free from the pressure of living up to the legacy behind him and people he left behind.
3.
Foolish is braiding flowers into her hair.
His hands were made for building, for fighting battles, but right now they’re planting little oxidaysies into her curls. “They used to be your favourite” he says and Eret knows that Foolish doesn’t mean her, not really, but she doesn’t have the heart to tell him she’s always loved cornflowers more.
He doesn’t mention their past often, when Eret wasn’t who she is, and her soul hadn’t found a new body. And though you cannot mourn a stranger, when Foolish’s voice is quiet and full of love as he reveals a memory they used to share, something in Eret misses the times she didn’t know.
“Should I make a flower bed for them?” the question makes Foolish stop.
“Oh, that would’ve been great! And if you wanted to go bigger, I could build you a greenhouse, and erm- I didn’t think you liked gardening that much, you never mentioned it.”
“I don’t think I do. I just like the idea and I want something to remind you of the past,” she says because part of her will always understand the need to preserve and, well, remind herself of her deeds.
“Then you don’t have to,” he decides. “I can handle that myself, I don’t want you to try to be someone I used to know. Making friends with you again is worth the things I can’t return.”