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]

-- Asking that is hardly playing fair, is it?

[ but she exhales and marches through the words she must say. ] The event will finish and I'll have a drink. Get a bit of sleep. And I'll be better. I doubt I'll be alright, but I know I'll be better.

[ and better is an important stepping stone. she eyes tony. ]

What about you? [ turnabout is fair(ish) play. ] Are you also going to survive?

[revokes]

I'll survive.

[ so much is easy enough to say. he'll never be alright, not really. he has so many other fears, pepper, the vision he saw - the avengers dying, aliens, the mothership and - ]

I'll keep busy. I'm good at that.

[mucked]

...I do not doubt that you're exactly that. [ good at keeping busy. peggy feels as though she used to be, but that's when work was plentiful and she could throw her shoulder into cases and files and adventures. it's trickier, here, when her whole vocation feels rendered moot.

redundant. ]

Tony, I'm -- [ her mouth tightens; she's terrible at displaying emotion ] -- I am grateful I got to meet you. Even alongside these dreadful circumstances.

[ and she'll meet him again, in time, yes. but right now? she can't but feel as though they need each other just a bit. ]

[revokes]

Yeah well. Never imagined you were that hot.

[ oh come on, it's funny. he wants to make her laugh. ]

bet that ruined the near-hug moment, right?

[mucked]

[ ugh. why her? why this? why must he and this event both ruin what might have otherwise been a perfectly lovely moment in the wake of all this horrible tragedy.

peggy shoves his handkerchief back into his care -- a hard push, palm planting the fabric against his chest. ]

Never speak again.

[revokes]

[ he laughs, deep and genuine, enjoying a rather good joke. the look on her face! some things are just worth it all. he doesn't hug but he does cover her hand with his for a fleeting moment. ]


Kodak moment, right here.

[mucked]

[ for the thinnest moment -- for a split second -- all she sees and all she hears is howard. in the loveliest, most wonderful of ways. all the bullshit sloughed off and only friendship remaining. except...

he laughs. peggy laughs, too, after a moment. it's a defeated snicker offered up out of exhaustion more than entertainment. it's that old familiar feeling of giving a stark a pass because beneath the brassy attitude and the bad jokes there might actually be a good man worth working with. ]

Maybe the problem with no one getting your jokes, [ she pulls her hand back, ] is that they're not particularly funny.

[revokes]

Made you laugh.

[ just saying. it's worth noting, a small victory in an otherwise bleak day. tony's failures chase him and his grief is a step behind him but he can sit here for a few minutes more and pretend something in his life is normal. ]

so they gotta be a little funny.

[mucked]

Perhaps I only laughed out of pity. [ she defies him -- there's a lingering smile just beneath the red of her lips. something not quite mirthful, but mirthful once.

just now, sitting on the fountain, she feels strangely transported back to the war. back to one of those moments where you realize you must take your good humour while you can, because you never know when the next press will come or the next hail of bullets will arrive. ]

Or -- perhaps -- you are indeed a little funny.

[revokes]

Okay, I may not know you well.

[ not her, not this young version of her, anyway. ]

but something tells me you're not really the sort of person to laugh out of pity. which really leaves us with one option.

[ he's funny. a little. a lot. ]

Basic elimination, yeah?

[mucked]

I can't believe you're going to abuse the very nature of this event to make me admit you are -- indeed -- a little bit funny.

[ how childish! how rude.

but if you squint, she did indeed just say it honestly. ]

[revokes]

I'm absolutely going to abuse the nature of this event to make you admit that.

[ that, and nothing more. he's not that much of an asshole. ]

I won't get another chance at this.

[mucked]

Go on, then. [ her chin lifts -- a little defiant. ] One free question with no hard feelings. Shoot away.

[revokes]

[ he should ask something silly, should ask something downright stupid, if only to keep this whole affair light and easy.

tony looks at the sky and then back at her. ]

if you hear something else - about my time, something weirdly futuristic that you'll really want to blame yourself for and get drunk over, can you promise me you'll ask about it before you pull out the vodka? seriously, it's very important.

[mucked]

[ ...it surprises her. enough to make her wonder whether it's altruism at work or a selfish bid to control the story. peggy's jaw shifts; her tongue picks through the back of her teeth, like trying to dislodge the lies she wants to tell but can't.

they won't hug. they don't hug. that moment's been and gone but maybe she can hold out a hand -- as if to shake and seal a deal. make a promise. her fingers waggle in the air. ]

You have my word. [ a puff of her cheeks. ] Although it wouldn't be vodka. It would never be vodka. Please don't tell me I take to drinking vodka in my autumn years. I'll be sorely disappointed in myself.

[ whiskey, on the other hand... ]

[revokes]

[ it's perhaps both. tony wants to help her avoid the biggest danger of it all, the feeling of responsibility for a future that is yet to come; selfishly, he also wants a chance to explain his mistake if they are ever exposed. ]

I don't think I ever saw you drinking vodka.

[ so all is still safe. he shakes her hand. ]

last chance for you to ask something, take it or leave it.

[mucked]

[ she breathes in. peggy knows which question burns most in her imagination -- it's not a pretty one. far bloody from it. but it's been lurking on the fringes of their conversation ever since she saw the memory unfold in his bedroom.

their handshake transitions almost seamlessly into a handhold. her grip is tight but affectionate. bolstering. ]

I have to know. [ her chin dips. ] If they return -- Rogers and Barnes, one or the other or both -- what will happen? [ no, that's not the most honest wording of her worries. ] What will you do?

[ because she can remember the power of that fight. she can remember the bruises on his face when he arrived. she just hopes that tony remembers their agreement: one free question. no hard feelings. ]

[revokes]

Nothing much I can do.

[ and it's hard to admit to someone like him, someone who prides himself on his abilities. but tony stark, contrary to what many think, can learn from his mistakes. lately, all he sees are his failures. ]

Rogers apologized. I didn't accept, I can't accept. Maybe one day. I think I'm pretty much done hitting him.

[ but then there's the other thing. ]

Barnes is dangerous. Especially here, especially when we know they can twist our minds. I've seen what he can do when he loses it. I can't kill him. I'd definitely monitor him. He could kill half of the Mansion before the other half finds out.

[mucked]

[ tony's not wrong. indeed -- she's had tastes both first-hand and hearsay of how this place can trip a man's programming. if programming is even what it can be called. she's quite certain what happened to mister hunter is markedly different from what happened to barnes, but the two instances still stand together in her imagination.

if he came back, if something happened to activate whatever behaviours hydra had implanted in him, then could they even stop him? and if steve was here, would he do what had to be done? an uncharitable part of her thinks not. but she knows that's the part that's thinking less with her head and more with a broken heart. ]

A follow up, then. [ she changes their 'rules' on the fly. ] If either does return -- I'm not saying you contact me first, exactly, but awfully damned soon once it happens. We'll talk.

[ she doesn't want to be left out in the cold. more importantly, she doesn't want either tony or herself to do something stupid and rash.

it's almost as though she's suggesting her hat is in his ring. ]

[revokes]

Alright. We'll talk.

[ he can give her that much. he can try and not relive the scene in his room again. in all honesty, he'd like not to relive it once more. hurting rogers. rogers hurting him. tony's not stupid. something big is coming, rogers isn't his first problem.

one day, they'll have to work together again. he just hopes that day isn't too close. ]

You got it.