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

jay! hates! this event!

[burntvideocassette]

...Guess we got something else in common.

The voices thing, not the, uh, calming down.

[Sure, let's just announce it to everybody now!]

it is the worst!!

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun raises an eyebrow. That's new information, but--

He snorts quietly and shakes his head.]

Well, I'm not in any position to judge someone else for hearing voices.

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay makes a choked sound in the back of his throat, bringing his hands up to his face. He'd say this was the worst day of his life, just like Alice suggested, but the competition in that area's pretty steep.]

[Why the hell is everyone being so nice about this?]

Mine're more...more visual than anything else. And the whole thing's kinda...new for me, so I guess I'm still getting used to Tim telling me shit's not there.

[He doesn't want to vent! He just wants to lock the door and hide somewhere until this blows over!]

And there's the camera, I guess-- [He lifts it up.] --but I still don't like the idea somebody could just tell me something's not there when it is, and I wouldn't know the difference.

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun eats a couple of gummy bears before speaking again.]

I never thought about using a camera to verify what was real and what wasn't, but then, I have people around me most of the time who know just how crazy I am and are pretty good at keeping me on track.

It's easier to tell what's real and not for me, though, because I only see George, and she's dead. The first time I hallucinated her outside of my head, she was telling me it was okay I killed her, plus--she's George. Even her hallucination is honest enough to remind me she's a hallucination.

[Wow, he does not in any way want to be saying any of this. It' snot like he would lie about it if asked, but he's sure not in the habit of volunteering just how deep his crazy runs.]

[burntvideocassette]

[So instead of a camera, he's got people to keep him on track. People he trusts. Lucky him.]

[And then Jay's eyes widen, and all plans of maybe trying a single grain of popcorn evaporate immediately.]

You killed George? [Well, there's no salvaging that. But he can always try.] I'm...I'm guessing there was a good reason. I mean, assuming she knows. She knows, right?

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun blinks. He hadn't known? Well, George has been pretty open about the fact that she's dead, but she hadn't really gone into detail. Shaun suddenly feels a little tired. though he feels like he shouldn't be. Talking about this after reliving it so many times should be a breeze.]

Oh. Yeah. She knows. She told me to. Otherwise she was probably going to eat me. Or maybe not. We'll never know for sure I guess.

[jay voice] that's rough, buddy.

[burntvideocassette]

Oh.

So she was, uh. She... [He strains to remember the word.] 'amplified?'

[In the awkward silence, Jay tries to subtly wipe away an old tear track from earlier. He doesn't quite nail 'subtle.']

Y'know how events sometimes make you...like, put false memories in your head? I remember having to...Alex. We worked together with Tim and another guy, Brian, and Alex just...dropped dead. And then got up again. I had to...yeah.

[He scrubs at his eyes again, less 'subtly' this time.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

Yeah, she amplified. After someone shot a dart full of live virus at me and hit her instead.

[He grimaces a little when Jay explains one of the false memories that Wonderland had given him. Having to take care of someone who amplified or is amplifying... it sucks.]

I'm sorry, man. That sucks. Was he a friend?

[burntvideocassette]

[Holy shit. So that thing he and George were investigating, the vials full of live virus--somebody did use it for an assassination.]

[And it was George's, intentional or not.]

[Yeah, he was, Jay tries to say, but the words stick in his throat. Not true enough. Instead, what comes out is: ]

In the memories, yeah, but back home, I...I guess I called him a friend, but he wasn't really... We were more acquaintances, I guess. We were in a couple of the same classes.

And then when he went missing I basically gave up four, almost five years of my life trying to track him down and watched hours and hours and days and weeks of footage of him just walking around and existing even though the only times we talked I don't even remember and then the first time I saw him in years he didn't say a word he just lifted up his gun and shot me and--

[He forces his jaw shut.]

[That was too close. That was entirely too fucking close to what Tim's been scared of this whole time, and Jay's not willing to risk it today.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun's eyebrows went up. Shit. That was pretty rough. And it was pretty easy to guess what Jay had closed his mouth to avoid saying. Shit.]

That sucks, man.

I feel like I should be offering you a drink instead of popcorn.

[burntvideocassette]

Nah, probably good you've got popcorn. [Jay grabs a single popcorn kernel off the top of the pile.] Don't think I should be drinking. Honestly, I don't think I'd stop if I started.

[Thanks, event.]

And I'm kinda scared it'll dull my reflexes.

[Thanks, event.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun actually doesn't read too much into any of that. Sometimes, when things are shitty, the best thing to do is not get wasted, because there's only so much good escapism can do you before you start using it to avoid your problems all of the time, instead of just take a temporary break from them. And as for the second statement.]

That's pretty much why I don't drink. Well, I'll have a drink once in a while, but I almost never get more than a little buzzed.

[burntvideocassette]

[Huh. So he's not alone in that. Guess it makes sense that a guy living in Zombie Politics Hell Future needs to keep his guard up.]

Yeah. Haven't really had a drink since I started the whole detective thing. Too many people...breaking into my apartment and/or trying to kill me.

[He stuffs his mouth full of popcorn in the hopes that it'll convince Wonderland to let him just. Stop. Talking. Somehow, this time, it works.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun whistles quietly.]

Yeah, being stalked by people who want to shut you up and kill you is pretty much the worst, and an excellent reason to stop drinking. I recommend making friends with someone who has her own private team of security ninjas.

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay raises his eyebrows.]

You know anybody like that?

[He's only half-joking.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

Yup. [Shaun's not.] She pretty much saved all our asses by letting my team crash at her place after they blew up our neighborhood.

[burntvideocassette]

[Security ninjas? Security ninjas?]

Is she here or back home?

[adaptiveimmunities]

She's here. And also back home. It's Maggie--have you met her yet?

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay's eyes widen in recognition.]

Y--yeah, at the party. She's the--she's into horror movies, right?

[She's into horror the movies the way Jay decidedly isn't. But that's not really true, is it? He knows monster movies--the classic, weird ones. He knows about modern horror movies, even if he's only really seen the award-winning ones, the ones that people like Alex talked him into seeing for the cinematography or whatever. He knows about how the slasher films of the 80s got cannibalized by the...the capitalist movie machine pandering to the lowest common denominator, Alex called it.]

[Jay knows about them, but he doesn't really like most of them. Maybe that's the difference.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

Very. [Shaun's tone is cheerful. It's not his jam, but living in a horror movie makes the entertainment version seem a little tame in comparison. He's an Irwin.]

And also tiny epileptic bulldogs.

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay stiffens for a second, eyes wide, before leaning back in relief.]

[And, of course, the event's effects take hold once again.]

I did not think that sentence was gonna end with the word "bulldogs". To be honest, I heard "tiny epileptic" and I thought for a second you were gonna be a prick about Tim. Or me, I guess, but I'm less tiny.

[Wow! Nope! Nope! None of those words are words he wanted to say out loud!]

[adaptiveimmunities]

I mean, I'm definitely an asshole, but I try to be at least marginally friendly to people I like.

[burntvideocassette]

...I'm one of the "people you like?"

Not really used to that.

[God, he sounds like a teenager. All this feelings stuff.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Feelings are gross. Shaun understands. He gives him a wry grin.]

Yeah, well. There aren't a lot of people I like, but.

Don't make a big deal of it.

[burntvideocassette]

I can do that.

[Not technically a lie. He can do that, yes. Will he? That remains to be seen.]