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

[scoutsniper]

[It takes a long moment--too long--to place her--not from New York. Not from Central Park. And it takes another moment to dredge her name up. He gets up, confused.]

Helen? Why are you here? [Because he has a premonition, something deeper than that, that things were going to go bad real soon.]

[longaevus]

I was concerned after our previous conversation.

( she didn't know him, but helen knew plenty about the reaction that she'd seen in him when they'd barely discussed the topic, and the pain underneath. after his warning had come true for her own room and memories she'd needed to check, to find a way to help him if she could )

I wanted to make sure that you'd be alright.

( to pull him away, to restrain, to make sure his memories didn't hurt anyone else as he'd feared. something )

[scoutsniper]

[Shit. He doesn't deserve this. That's the first thought in his head--the first coherent thought that wasn't looped into the memory. He doesn't deserve anyone caring about him like that.]

I'm...not all right. [In case that wasn't obvious. He didn't want to say that, any more than he wanted to live through this memory, again. ]

[longaevus]

( whether or not he'd meant to say it it was better that he had, and helen takes a few more steps towards him )

You don't need to stay here.

( he shouldn't. she didn't know what was about to come but helen had been in her own room long enough to recognise that the memory would continually repeat and that there was no changing it )

There's nothing that you can do. I've already tried.

( it was an awful thing to have to realise, especially when the memories could haunt you without them physically being there. when they involved other people )

[scoutsniper]

It's worth it.

[To see them again, happy, if only for a few moments. ]

I know. I know how it ends. I always do. It's just the beginning.... [That hint of a life he could have had.]

[longaevus]

The fact that this memory is here says that it's with you too -- the good of it.

( the bad obviously was, but whether he could remember or think of it often he obviously still had this happiness with him too )

You don't need to relive it to experience that.

( to feel the unnecessary pain just for that happiness )

[scoutsniper]

It's not. It's really not.

[He shakes his head and then rubs a spot on his temple, where there's a small scar. He'd hated that damn doctor at his trial, but he'd been right: their deaths replayed themselves in his head a thousand times a day. Dead. Dying. Leaving him with nothing. ]

I see how this ends, every day. Every time I close my eyes. Every damn time. But I don't get the beginning. Like it's faded, covered in red.

[longaevus]

( she doesn't believe that he'd be able to see it if it wasn't there. buried perhaps, with the trauma and the injury. her attention focuses on that spot, considering the damage that could be underneath depending on what exactly had caused it. it could easily have affected his memory, but it also may not have )

Is it worth what will happen?

( there are things that helen would love to see again, happy moments and people that she has lost but knowing the acts that follow--

he was afraid of what it would do to him, of what it did before. is he really prepared to repeat it? )

[scoutsniper]

I can't stop what happens. It happens.

[That's the part that's scarred over. Seeing his family, happy, trusting, with him...that was the new wound.]

Can't make me worse than I already am.

[longaevus]

Are you willing to test that? To go through this again just to see?

( she turns her gaze from frank to those that he's with )

Take this moment with you. Leave before you have to find out.

[scoutsniper]

Yes.

[He meant no, but the word slipped out, in spite of himself. His brow furrows, because he knows she's right, he knows she's onto something. It's logical. It makes sense. But there's another part of him that wants to argue, wants to stay, inertia and pain.

He's not sure what to say, so he does the best he can, reaching out a hand to her, for an anchor. ]

[longaevus]

( the hand is all that helen needs, and she doesn't hesitate to reach out, taking it )

Come with me.

( there's a gentle motion, almost a pull on his hand to urge him along. it's difficult, she knows, but he's not alone )

[scoutsniper]

[The hand is an anchor, something to hold onto with his mind, more than something he counts on actually being able to pull his weight. It's a gesture from someone who doesn't have to do or say anything to help. That means something, and it gives him something that pulls him apart from the memory loop.

He takes the hand, nodding, and the memory shimmers for a moment, like a ripple on water, as he follows her lead.]