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]

Sharon? We ran into each other at the gym.

[And managed to spend most of their time together pretending they didn't know each other. But that's how things go sometimes.]

[mucked]

Sharon. Yes. [ a small nod. ] Possibly one of the bigger plot twists since I'd arrived.

[outstandingbalance]

Finding out your niece and your ex were flirting? Badly. [The speculation falls out of her mouth before she can stop it. Natasha's lips tighten but she doesn't quite wince.

There's no such thing as a safe topic.] Or just the fact you had a niece.

[Since that's probably enough.]

[mucked]

-- What?

[ she does go a bit bug-eyed. as if learning about her death (and the when of it) isn't tricky enough, this bombshell lands in her lap. and it's just as well, really, because it's so much easier to circle back around do being frustrated by steve rogers than feeling sorry for him.

because for christ sake rogers. ]

Steve's not my ex. [ and maybe it hurts her (just a little) how very true that assertion is. they were never anything but a possibility before he was yanked away from her. ] His personal life is none of my business -- something I told him not long after he informed me of his involvement with Barnes.

[ involvement. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha doesn't so much keep her surprise off her face as her surprise mostly involves freezing, then blinking slowly and whispering shit under her breath in Russian.

So Peggy isn't the only one who's learning something new today.

Maybe she shouldn't be so surprised after all. It's not as though she's not aware of how intense Steve's feelings about Barnes were, especially when he became the one person in the world who knew Steve from before. Her time with Steve here had overlapped so minimally, she doesn't have to wonder why she didn't know before.]

Well. That checks out.

[Very wryly, and wondering if it's too late to back out of this direction. Even with a part of her nagging at the assertion that Steve isn't her ex. Obviously she's telling the truth, but in a situation like this, semantics and perception would go a long way.]

Sorry. That was not the direction I wanted this conversation to go.

[mucked]

[ ...it's certainly an unwelcome direction in peggy's eyes, too. worse yet she feels a stab of guilt and betrayal (her own) that she should spill steve's personal details to anyone. as hurt as she'd been by the revelation, it's never been her desire to crucify him for it.

it's a tricky, knee-jerk thought. one born of the understanding that what he'd told her would see him tarred and feathered and worse, back home. her heart still hasn't caught up to the fact that such a love isn't a liability here. although it's a complicated position to be in: heartbroken and heartsick and still prepared to protect him to the bitter end.

but then natasha says something about it checking out and she lets loose a scoff. she'd wondered, too often, whether it had been a development unique to wonderland or whether the seeds had been sown earlier and elsewhere. she presses her palms on her hips just to keep them from fussing with her hair. ]

I know. It all reflects rather poorly.

[ -- a twitch of her nose. she didn't mean to say it, even if she fears how true it is. peggy doesn't like caring about what other people think. but she can't help but realize how childish this anger makes her feel. like she said, steve was never her ex-anything.

an ex-hopeful, maybe. an ex-daydream. an ex-whatever-keeps-you-slogging-forward. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[ex-almost-was is still something, and while Natasha is not the kind to dwell too much on ships passing in the night, the fact that she knows just how much Peggy meant to Steve lends the situation a certain extra gravity.]

Not sure I'd say it reflects poorly. Mostly it's just not any of my business one way or another. Not to drag it out of you, at least.

[If Steve were still here and she'd found out this way, he'd be getting an earful, though.

She'd like to believe the two of them were close enough and trusted one another enough that he would have mentioned it given the opportunity though.]

[mucked]

It shouldn't matter.

[ and that much she most assuredly believes. peggy won't try and say that it doesn't matter -- that would be a lie, and she's not permitted to tell one of those just now. but she knows (or thinks she knows) where her priorities should be pointed.

and even if steve were here, peggy would still have been making an effort to move past this little drama. ]

We've got bigger fish to fry than Steve bloody Rogers.

[ she frowns -- hurt, it seems, to even say his name again. ]

[outstandingbalance]

If things only mattered when there was nothing more important going on, then none of us would ever have relations.

[Finding a little humor in that, and from trying to walk a safe path between prying and being reasonably supportive to someone who, even if they're not close, clearly isn't in the best position.

It's a position Natasha can find some sympathy for.]

Not that I wouldn't love to talk about one of those more important things, just just now I don't have any new information on how to get out of Wonderland or prevent events from trying to kill us or airing our dirty laundry, so...

[mucked]

[ thing is, of course, that's exactly how she and rogers managed to dodge what ought to have been their inevitable crash together: the war got on the way. they kept their priorities firm.

they tried to. maybe she wasn't quite as successful as she'd hoped. still, she misses some of that emotional distance just now. ]

...I have magical window cleaner that might maybe let us see through to the mirroside, only I haven't tested it. Yet.

[ peggy blurts out. almost (it seems) with relief. ]

It's only a theory. Not even mine, actually.

[outstandingbalance]

[Better topic! Probably. At least it's safer, less likely to lead to personal revelations or admissions.]

Window cleaner. So how's that supposed to work? Suddenly the mirrors aren't mirrors anymore?

[mucked]

Maybe. Possibly. [ she shrugs -- it's the sort of uncertainty she wouldn't normally voice. and certainly not with someone as with whom she's less familiar. ] As I said -- I've not used it. But if the mirrors can be used to look in on us, an acquaintance of mine posited that perhaps it might be instrumental in leveling that field.

[outstandingbalance]

I follow the logic. Though seems like we'd have to be real lucky to look through the right mirror at the right time.

[Still, it's hard to argue the advantages of having a peep hole.]

How much of that do you have?

[mucked]

Not a lot.

I'd estimate there's enough for a few uses -- several, perhaps. More than two but less than eight.

[ five, actually. but she doesn't know it. ]

[outstandingbalance]

So not enough that you're in a hurry to waste it.

[They, as a group, would have only a limited number of tries to get this right.]

You have a plan for where you want to try listening in.

[mucked]

Otherwise, I would have already seen it tested. [ ... ] It's a gamble I admit. We can only guess at its use, yes, but I'd rather be disappointed in future than wasteful now. Provided I'm open to the possibility of that disappointment.

[outstandingbalance]

That still leaves the question of when and where would be worth taking that chance.

[Inclining her head slightly.]

[mucked]

I suspect we'll know that when and where when we see it. [ ... ] Most likely the next time we get a whiff of some agitation on the mirrors' side.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha huffs, not presenting any argument to the contrary.]

Guess we'll just have to keep an eye open for when that happens, then.

[mucked]

All that's left to say, I suppose, is that if you see an opportunity arise? Do give us a call.

[outstandingbalance]

I know how to reach you. Provided you don't suddenly go home, I suppose.

[mucked]

Now, wouldn't that be nice? [ she means it, too. peggy is tired of this place and its games and its baited hooks. ] But, Miss Romanoff, do reach out if anything occurs to you. Hell -- reach out even if something doesn't.

[ it's not a bad idea to nurture these ties to her own world. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[There's a pause, and it's impossible to pretend in the moment that Natasha isn't considering her answer carefully.]

I'll keep that offer in mind. [She says in the end.] I could use it.

[mucked]

...That makes two of us.

[ who could use it: some measure of connection that isn't based on blood-ties or near blood-ties. something from home that isn't gummed up by both their reputations.

she lifts her thermos of tea and gives it a waggle. ] But -- I suppose I ought to be going before we end up saying anything else. We can save the insightful chit-chat for some moment when we're both a little more in control.

[outstandingbalance]

I'd like that. We can have tea.

[That's a good foot to start on, isn't it?]