It may very well be the worst thing that's ever happened to you! | OPEN MINGLE

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE!
Where: EVERYWHERE!
When: Friday October 27th - Tuesday October 31st
Rating: PG-13, warn if you're gonna go higher!
Summary: A catch all for the Horrible Memory Truth Event!
The Story:

For the duration of this event, everyone's entire room will be replaced with a memory playing on loop. They will likely recognize the moment as soon as they see it – it is a moment they remember as the worst moment of their entire lives. It could be a memory from home or something that happened in Wonderland. Lengths of the memories will vary, but they will find that these are not memories they can merely watch – they can step into these memories and attempt to make changes to them, and the memories will be long enough that they have time to make changes (though no more than 24 hours). However, anyone who tries will find that it is futile. No matter what you do or how hard you try, the outcome is always exactly the same somehow. No changes you make will prevent that horrible outcome. It just happens over and over and over again no matter what you do.

On top of that, perhaps complicating any attempts to make changes, everyone will be forced to be honest for the duration of the event. No lies or half-truths are allowed, and filters will be gone for the entire five days. If something bothers someone then they will blurt it out, regardless of whether or not it hurts someone's feelings, and no one will be able to simply keep quiet when they have something to say. They must be truthful and honest with every word they say.

This is a catch-all log for all of your Worst Memory needs! Please mark your threads clearly in the subject line with your character's name and Room Number + Floor for character rooms, or just location if you're making a top level for a public place in the mansion (like the tea rooms or the kitchen) so people can see if there's already a thread available. And here's the plot post if you need it!

Have fun!

Comments

[heroica]

All right. [ She smiles fleetingly at the meow, walking alongside Nathaniel as they head out of the hall and to the front doors. ]

I won't ask what you saw, but if you... would feel better by talking about it...

[ Robyn doubt sit, but she's a talker, so she has to ask. ]

I hope it wasn't too awful.

[ Her own memory is still playing over and over in her head. ]

[noble_son]

About what you'd expect.

[He doesn't really want to tell her, for more than one reason, but the most glaring one being that it wasn't her. Knowing that she isn't the same Robyn that he knows isn't something he feels the need to remind her of, and neither does he want to linger on what he remembers feeling back in those days.

He's putting a brave face on it, but the current event isn't done with him yet as he continues despite himself.]

I'd never been concerned about becoming my father until what happened in Vigil's Keep.

[heroica]

I know I can only say so much about it, since I haven't lived that for myself, but... I understand your feelings. I obviously reacted terribly when you first came here, and I can hardly blame you for your resentment toward me at Vigil's Keep.

[ They both had thought the other responsible, at least in part, for the downfall of their families. ]

But, Nathaniel - [ She presses, taking his hand and squeezing. ] It's enough for me to see how far we've come. We're allies, now, and friends. Fellow Wardens. There shouldn't be room for any lingering animosity.

[ She's speaking only on her own behalf, here (as if she would still resent him for anything). ]

[noble_son]

[She takes his hand, and he visibly stalls mid-step before continuing on.]

There isn't.

[That comes out easily, and he knows for certain now that it isn't a lie.] What you did... I would hope I would have done the same.

[Though his grip is loose, he doesn't venture to let go of her hand just yet. That is honest, too.] I... hated you so much then, but I learned... I had to see that everything that had happened to my father had been what he had brought on himself. [He scoffs softly, shaking his head.]

He almost destroyed my family. I'd always thought that family should be the most important thing, but in the end, the person who saved me was the very person I threatened with death should I see them again. It was you-- or... that version of you-- [He makes a face.]

That doesn't matter to me.

[heroica]

I won't say that it wasn't me, because we've learned that there can be different... versions of ourselves, of the people from Thedas. The Robyn Cousland that met you at Vigil's Keep was just one that made different choices, but I still have to take responsibility for that.

[ She chose to bring Alistair to Morrigan, apparently, and it had kept her alive. The idea twists her stomach, but she won't talk about that now. ]

I wanted revenge when I saw him, but... I also wanted a fair trial. I wanted to avenge my parents, but I didn't want more slaughter. [ Looking torn, she shakes her head a few times and releases his hand to clench her own into fists. ] I didn't have the time to choose. He wanted to fight, and we weren't able to subdue him.

[ He'd attacked, and they'd fought back. To the death. ]

I'm sorry that it didn't go another way. [ Robyn murmurs, jaw tight. ]

[noble_son]

[His palm tingles as she releases it and he subtly rubs both of them together in front of him as they move. Talking about his father... what he did, what she did... it's always been difficult. It's no less difficult now, but there's an urgency behind the words, like they're something that needs to be said.]

And where would I be, if it had? [Nathaniel wonders aloud. He has considered this many times over the years.] My father favoured my brother. I don't believe I would have ever been given the arling. [He lets out a soft, short chuckle.]

I could have spent years more in the Free Marches, wishing that I was somewhere else.

[It hadn't been terrible, but he had never really wanted to be there.]

The Wardens would never have been my first choice, but they were my choice... one that wasn't dictated by my father or my so called noble blood.

[heroica]

I know you didn't like the Marches much. [ Conversely, she had loved Highever and could have stayed there forever, but doesn't say it. ] I don't think many people choose the Wardens, but... we're part of why Ferelden is safe. That's worth something.

[ No matter what kind of blood they have. ]

I do miss the others, though. [ She admits, tone wistful. ] Though, admittedly, it's painful to be told that some of your closest friends don't remember you at all.

[noble_son]

[Perhaps if he'd gone to the Marches under different circumstances, he might have felt better about the place. As it was, it felt like more of a place for his father to get rid of him, and it had worked very well in that regard. It was just as well, he supposed... If he'd been around during the Blight then he might well have died along with his father.]

It's... strange. [He admits. The idea of multiple versions of her, or their companions, or even himself is a difficult one to get his head around.]

The ones who remember me have almost always remembered me poorly.

[heroica]

Poorly? [ That brings her pause, and she frowns deeply, glancing over at him. ] Who said that?

[ Carver, maybe? No offense to Hawke the elder, but the younger brother had been... a little unfriendly during his time here. Who else could it have been? ]

As I recall, I'm the one who attacked you outright...

[noble_son]

[He smiles briefly.]

You weren't the only one to draw a weapon on me. [Nathaniel tells her. He'd never mentioned that Alistair, too, had seen fit to point a blade in his direction on their first meeting.] Though, you were the only one to put a dagger against my throat.

[Not that he blamed her. He hadn't then and he didn't now.]

I imagine I might have done the same. I would have.

[heroica]

I wasn't? [ That surprises her, somehow, and the honesty compels her to ask: ] Who else threatened you?

[ Is she offended on his behalf, despite the hypocrisy of it all? Yes. ]

From what you've told me, you would have been justified in doing so. [ Against her, anyway, who he'd viewed as the person responsible for his family's downfall. ]

[noble_son]

Alistair.

[He sounds a little amused by it. Looking back, he can see the humour. Like he and Robyn, they had eventually put it behind them.]

I might have been star-struck at seeing the king in person, if he hadn't been pointing a sword at me.

[heroica]

Ah. Of course.

[ It can be difficult to imagine Alistair threatening anyone, sometimes, but he would have known about Arl Howe's support of Loghain, if not Howe's betrayal of the Couslands. ]

It's still strange, hearing him called 'king.' [ She admits, a smile playing at her lips. ] In my world, it was Anora alone who took the crown, so that Alistair could stay with the Wardens.

[noble_son]

[Nathaniel visibly stalls, then lets out a soft laugh.]

Differences like that are so strange to hear. [He couldn't imagine what might have happened had Anora taken the throne for herself. After what had happened to her father...

Well, a lot of people lost their fathers over the political events surrounding the Blight.]

But I understand it was a difficult decision.

[heroica]

You have no idea. [ After all, he'd told her himself that she'd lived when she knew that she'd died, so 'strange' is an understatement. ] ... Truthfully, Nathaniel? I'm really not sure why it fell to me.

[ Of all the nobles and advisors and leaders present, why had she been the one to make that final call? It had rattled her then, and it unsettles her now. ]

It's too much power for one person. [ Robyn mutters, low. ] I... never wanted that.

[noble_son]

I think... it may have been that no one there wanted it to fall to them. [He sighs as he says that. While he likes to think he might have spoken up against such a choice at the Landsmeet, he's sure he would have been quieted by someone else.]

You know as well as I do that many nobles will palm off difficult decisions to others if they can. The more difficult the decision, the less likely they are to want to make it.

[It does sound like she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.]

Add to that that the Wardens are so often touted as a 'neutral' party... Though I hardly see how they could have considered you, as a Cousland and of noble blood yourself, to be entirely neutral.

[heroica]

I can understand that. [ She sighs. After all, she hadn't wanted to be in that position, either. ]

But... I think I can see why they wanted me to be the one to do it... because of my blood, not in spite of it. To have someone who is both a Warden and who knows the people involved... must have been valuable.

[ Her family has - had - ties to all parties, after all. Loghain and his daughter, Howe, the late King Cailan. Of course, her father had been friendly with Duncan, too. Before. ]

If I had been entirely neutral, though, I might have pushed Alistair toward the throne. [ Or to a marriage to Anora, though the thought twists her stomach. ]