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

[outstandingbalance]

[The compulsion to be truthful doesn't make the truth any less complicated. In this case, Natasha has to wonder if that's not a blessing in disguise. Natasha licks her lips at the question, her jaw working briefly on conflicting impulses before she almost laughs.]

Worried is not a strong enough word. But here we are.

[mucked]

[ ...she should stop. but she can't, she can't, she can't. ]

Afraid, perhaps?

[ these are the sorts of considerations that should stay locked up behind the gums. peggy takes no pleasure in asking; she knows how soon and how mercilessly the tables might get turned on her. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I don't scare that easily.

[And wouldn't Natasha like to leave it at that. But she can't quite help but clarify.]

Have you ever parachuted, Agent Carter? Or maybe climb a building without lines, and end up dangling from one hand? Something where it's just you and gravity, and there's not enough room left to be afraid?

Something like that.

[Something between dread and fatalism, because at that point you know either you're going to make it or you won't.]

[mucked]

I'm familiar with the feeling. [ certainly, she's done both. but it's not the act they're discussing, is it? ] That hop in your stomach and coil between your shoulder-blades. And there's only you and your wits and the air beneath your feet.

[ that tension found just before free-fall: anticipatory and harrowing. peggy nods. ]

I'm feeling it too.

[outstandingbalance]

Except that’s more fun.

[A little bitterly.]

I’m sure I’ll be worried later.

[When there’s time to see just how compromised she is.]

[mucked]

...How long did it take you to get out of your room?

[ there's a flicker of apology in her eyes as she asks. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I didn't time it. Not long. Just long enough for me to figure out that someone else could get in.

[And making sure that didn't happen was the highest priority.]

Besides, no reason to stay there.

[mucked]

[ -- peggy, too, hopes the locks will hold on her door. ]

No reason, no utility, no chance. [ to do anything but drive yourself mad in your own room. ] The man whose memories spawned this event was quite adamant about that.

[outstandingbalance]

Obviously. There's no changing the past, is there? It's all done.

[She's thought about this. She's thought about it a fair amount.]

Even if we could change things here, it would just be here. It wouldn't be real.

[mucked]

Indeed. Even if we could change things here, [ she echoes natasha's words, ] it would only serve to taunt us with the could-have-beens.

[ the should-have-beens. ]

Still, it's a siren's call. I won't blame people for getting caught up in the temptation.

[outstandingbalance]

Blame isn't the word I'd use. Just... I guess I can't really sympathize. Some things there's just no fixing.

[Natasha glances aside, thoughtful for a moment. She's not being fair, but life isn't fair.]

I can feel sorry for them having to learn that now.

[mucked]

[ peggy might not have been suggesting that natasha was blaming anyone -- but then again, she suspects the nasty nature of this truth compulsion hasn't helped matters in that department. she hums out a moment, settling on her honesty in a way that doesn't much bother her in this particular instance. ]

Do you? [ ... ] Feel sorry for them?

[ do is different than can, after all. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha's brows pucker at the question. It should be easy to answer—either say yes or no. But it's not that easy, because right now she can't just pick an answer and makeup a justification.]

I don't know. [Natasha shakes her head then, admitting a certain helplessness in the face of the truth effect.] Maybe. I know how hard that lesson can be.

Mostly, I'm just worn out.

[mucked]

...Have you been sleeping?

[ there's a twinge of concern. distant, not overtly familiar, but concern all the same. peggy knows she's been missing rest. there's no good place to catch a quiet moment when you can't return to your own quarters. everywhere else is far too public. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Not much. Not to mention, at least. [Catching naps where she can, in closets and quiet corners. Nothing restful.] You? Imagine there's a lot of insomnia going around.

[mucked]

Not enough. [ said all too easily. her nose crinkles. ] But I make do with what I can get. It won't have been the first time.

[outstandingbalance]

Not enough. [Natasha's head bows slightly. Her smile is more of a grimace.] No, definitely not. I imagine you had plenty of those back in the war.

And after it.

[mucked]

More during than after.

[ she doesn't mind admitting that she isn't one plagued by nightmares. oh, it's not always easy to reconcile the work done -- but peggy doesn't wear her trauma the way some do. it doesn't haunt her at night. ]

If you can believe it, for a while there working for the SSR was practically a nine-to-five job. Plenty of time for a good night's sleep.

[ and altogether too much coffee-fetching. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Enjoy those good nights sleep while they last.

[Natasha has every confidence that they won't. She can't speak for Peggy, but she knows that eventually, Peggy ends up in position that doesn't lend itself to eight hour days and restful nights.]

Can't say I've ever had the pleasure.

[mucked]

...And I can't say it was all that pleasurable.

[ which is probably exactly the sort of thing one shouldn't ordinarily confess. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Taking that literally is probably part of the truth effect, hm.

[Not really a question.]

I have a hard time seeing you as the nine to five type.

[mucked]

So did I. [ she doesn't exactly smile at the implication. but it's not the worst thing she could be made to say. ] It helped to find a side project or three.

[outstandingbalance]

In a situation like that, the side projects are the real work, aren't they?

[mucked]

-- Considering I'm starting to get the feeling that the current one, back home, might actually lead to the dismantling of the SSR?

[ well. peggy's smile doesn't touch her eyes. ]

I suppose it is.

[ real work. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I'm not sure agencies like that are ever actually dismantled. Re-tooled, maybe. Re-branded, definitely.

[But that could be the Russian in her. Or it might be her experience with SHIELD and Hydra talking.]

Sometimes it mostly seems like shuffling the same people into the same jobs with a different name.