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

[mypartnerintime]

He... what?

Might get lost. Wants to sleep it off. Would rather be alone.

The little bits and pieces of this whole fiasco start to come together into one coherent picture, and at its core is the motive that pulled Tim ever deeper into the forest. Max was slow to get it. Dumb! But maybe not too late to change things, or at least close them in a way that ends with everyone alive.

She turns back to Tim slowly, ignoring Sans for now. The fake calm that she was using earlier dissolves into something aunthentic. It's strange; the stakes are higher, so she shoves aside all the worry and concentrates.

And while a seizure is so alien to her, a friend in need isn't. Someone standing on the edge of a roof. Or walking into a dark forest. Wanting peace.

Tim needs more than a rewind and a few pills, and right here, now, it's just Max and Sans. A trio of screw ups, maybe. But that might mean they can all understand each other.

Max regards Tim without any fake smile or forced cheerfulness. Instead her eyes are soft, and when she speaks it's quiet, almost a whisper. Her tone isn't pleading or pitying, but sincere- just a friend asking for a small favor.

"Tim... Don't. Please."

[postictal]

"Why the hell shouldn't I?" he flares up abruptly, balling his fists at his sides. Sans is tired. Sans has reached his limit. He's pushed Sans to his limit, which means that he's not gonna go about chasing him anymore. And Max - if he tries to run, will she follow? Will she throw in with Sans? She's known him longer, hasn't she?

Fuck this. Fuck this.

"You see how this spreads," he says, jabbing a finger to his own temple, and he can't shake the chill of realization that it's exactly what Alex said, it's almost exactly how Alex said it as he lay there bleeding out on the concrete. "If anyone says anything, if I say anything, it's gonna start all over again, and I don't want - I don't want Alex to have died for nothing."

Fuck.

Fuck. This.

[punful]

Can't run anymore. Won't teleport. It's bad enough that most of the time, Sans can't even be bothered to lift a finger to help or save anyone. It's worse to realize that the times that he does bother, he physically can't. Hits a limit eventually and just can't keep going.

Useless, ineffectual, worthless. All he ever really has is words, and nothing he's said so far has done a goddamn thing, has had any weight to it, has made Tim think twice at all. Nothing has helped. And he's so tired, and his head hurts so damn much, and he just can't think of anything to say.

Except one more word.

"please."

[mypartnerintime]

She's taken aback at the mention of Alex. Though she's not entirely sure what he means, it's disturbing to see him invoke Alex's name like that.

"I know Alex had this whole idea about... getting rid of everyone who knows about It. But he was crazy, Tim. Crazy crazy. And I know you're not like that because you... haven't tried to kill me."

Unlike Alex. It's sad for Max to have to talk about him this way, when they were so close before. But it's the truth. She glances toward Sans, hoping he'll back her up on the whole Tim's not crazy bit.

"In fact, you were nice to me, Tim. Try and treat yourself the same way." She tries to catch his eye, to get him to look at her straight on. "We're in the same boat now."

[postictal]

He's trying to breathe through it. He's trying, he really is, trying to breathe through the haze of lingering panic and trying not to hyperventilate when Sans is pleading and Max is calling him nice, and he wishes he could just say that she's lying but she isn't. Alex tried to kill her. And he hasn't. And that's - that's her set of standards, right? That's the best he can do! Not kill her.

"I - I - "

He can't form enough of a sentence to hurl back as an argument. He's not crazy? Of course he's fucking crazy. That's all he's ever been. Lunatic, locked up in the hospital so he doesn't hurt himself and everyone else!

A faint sound works out from his throat, from between gritted teeth, and Tim sinks into a half-crouch with his hands mantled over his face.

He's going to start crying again. Again.

"I don't want to," he mumbles into his hands. "I don't want to go back and think of everyone staring at me."

[punful]

He nods slowly, agreeing, eyesockets sliding closed again.

"alex had problems. i never knew all...all this stuff, about why he was like that. didn't even know you were from the same world till a...a little while ago. but think about how...when he didn't trust something, he took it out on everyone. you're taking it out on...on yourself."

Tim isn't a bad person. Tim doesn't have LV, as far as Sans can tell, and he does know that the rules work differently for people from other worlds. But Alex had the closest thing to LV. He was the sort of person who would try to kill a kid just for acting a bit spooky.

"we don't think you're crazy. or bad. or any of that."

It's honestly hard to talk at this point. Everything's starting to feel sluggish, like his mind is wading through mud.

"you don't hafta...go anywhere, tim. we're not gonna m...make you. we can just..."

He slides down the tree, and in the darkness it hopefully looks more like he just decided to sit down to be at Tim's level and less like his legs just gave out.

"we can just sit here for awhile."

[mypartnerintime]

Given some time to reflect, it will eventually dawn on Max that she called Tim nice. Or, to be exact, that she said he was nice to her during that one conversation. The sting of the Neverland event always hits her whenever she sees him, enough that she can't quite think of him in a good light. But over time it's gotten harder and harder to actually dislike him. How do you stay mad at someone who's gone through so much? And who's huddled down on the grass now, so vulnerable?

"That's a good idea." she says. Sans sits down (or his legs give way? She can sort of tell), so Max does too. She draws her jacket around herself and shivers slightly, turning to talk to Tim. "We can stay here if that feels better... Until you're ready."

It's too cold to sleep out in the open, but they could probably spare some time to get tents later.

"And Sans and I can just shut up. If you want."

But not leave. Max excels at being a wallflower. If Tim wants her to be practically invisible, she can do that. But no way in hell is she going to leave him alone, not after everything he's said. Not yet, anyway.

And she's not going to mention him crying. Or him huddling on the ground. She's just going to sit, and watch him from the corner of her eye, and just... be there, in case he wants to talk.

[postictal]

He’s wrong about one thing: there’s a trail of bodies to Tim’s name, a great long list of people dead because of him - because of his life, his presence, a slip of a blade slammed through someone else’s throat. The crack of a skull against concrete.

Every single one of them paid for it. For knowing him.

He’s tired. They’re tired. And he’s put them through enough. Hasn’t he? Tim sniffs faintly, pathetically, wiping his nose on his fucking sleeve like some kind of kid.

And then he nods.

“Okay.”

[punful]

He hears Max sit down. He's not gonna comment on it, and he's not gonna comment on Tim crying. If Tim decides to get back up and run, there's going to be nothing that Sans can do about it. He can only hope that Max will be willing to follow.

Letting someone else do the hard work, as usual.

But Tim finally agrees, and Sans can't help a shaky sigh of relief. Thank god. Thank god he's decided to live for at least another day. It's not much, but Sans will absolutely take it.

"okay."

[mypartnerintime]

It looks settled, then. They're just going to have to sit out here and bear the cold. But that's okay.

For the first time for this whole series of events, Max lets herself breathe easy. Did she help? Coming immediately when Sans called her, stopping Tim from seizing, staying long enough to calm him down... sort of. It all sounds good in her head, like she did something useful and didn't screw up, and back home she'd have been really happy with this outcome.

But it doesn't feel that way. With Kate, after that one terrible afternoon, the healing began almost immediately. Everything changed for the poor girl. But with Tim, Max feels like nothing's really changed at all.

She's still going to call this a victory and try to feel good about it. But there's no elation.

"Okay," she agrees, sealing the deal between the three of them, and preparing for a long night of not talking.