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

[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.

[mucked]

...We'll be in a damn spot of trouble if we end up using too many of the same people, no matter what the name becomes. [ shield, whatever. ] God knows how much of the SSR has grown lazy and compromised since the war ended. There are some tremendous agents in the ranks but -- there will always be those keener to play politics.

[outstandingbalance]

Oh, it's not always the same agency. [Natasha says it with some very real bitterness. All the games and politics are very familiar, and she's not the best person to discern what's necessary compromise and bureaucracy, and what's more sinister.

She chokes back a comment about Operation Paperclip. Whatever Peggy has already heard, Natasha isn't particularly interested in dragging either of them through that conversation.]

Maybe not the best conversation topic for the moment.

[mucked]

[ certainly! it would be a conversation peggy would be considerably surprised by. apart from some of the preliminary arrangements made at the very close of the war, she's been divorced and isolated from those tippy-top sort of decisions. that was never her brain-child.

although the question must be raised: ]

Is there a topic you'd prefer to pursue, Miss Romanoff?

[outstandingbalance]

[Prefer is a tricky word. Especially in this context. Natasha isn't always good at knowing what she'd prefer. If there were choices, it would be easier, but off the top of her head... it's a little too much like wanting things. At best, Natasha's wants still tend to be reactive.

It's one of the things she likes about Steve, and respects about Tony even when they disagree. Both of them have a sense of vision, creativity about what they want. They can picture a best case scenario where she tends to be trying to minimize the worst.

She blames that word in combination with the truth compulsion for her answer, if only internally.]

I don't know. Boys? Guns? Favorite shade of lipstick?

[Technically all things she'd prefer to talk about than the convoluted history and future of SHIELD, lacking any real plan.]

[mucked]

[ her scoff -- quiet as it is -- isn't meant maliciously. it's more like a tuft of surprise caught in the back of her throat. as though, somehow, she hadn't expected the conversation to take so simple a turn. peggy's grateful, really. ]

I prefer men to boys, a PPK to just about all else, and my lipstick dark and red. [ in that order. but something akin to a smile cracks across her lips. ]

-- I've got the gun. Cosmetics were tricky, at first, until I figured out how the closets worked. And I'm not much in the market for a man.

[ well. so much for smiling. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Good gun. Not my choice, but I can respect it. Not convinced most men aren't really boys at the end of the day, though. They get older. They don't usually get better at cleaning up their own messes.

[Which is, apparently, her distinction.]

That's a bold color choice, though.

[mucked]

...Not so bold. Is it?

[ her question is genuine. after all, the red had been so commonly worn that it was included in ration kits.

and maybe this question is easier than teasing out the differences (or lack thereof) between the men and the boys. peggy doesn't agree with natasha's assessment, but arguing the point would only drag out examples. ]

[outstandingbalance]

The actual answer depends. In the 20s or the 40s, maybe not so much. Now...

[Natasha smiles, as much for the choice of topic as for the subject matter itself.]

Let's say it's more of a night look. But a good one.

[mucked]

-- Does it look dated?

[ peggy isn't concerned. not really. if there's something about her look that isn't in fashion, she's not much bothered by it. but she's curious. she can't really tease out any firm assumptions over modern fashions. there's more variety than she ordinarily expects.

but if she ever needs to pass herself off as something other than 'vintage' then perhaps natasha's answer will help her pick a different colour. ]