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

[choosetruth]

"So lock yourself in a room! Hide in the caves or something! Duct tape your mouth if you think it'll help." She throws a hand out. "Something that doesn't involve fucking dying."

[postictal]

“With all the shit people around here can pull? Teleporting, or - or just dogging me until I give something up? It’s Jay. Dying wasn’t enough to get him off my fucking back!”

Now it sounds like he’s calling Jay a burden. Fantastic.

[choosetruth]

"So what do you think happens now?" She crosses her arms. "How do you know he won't follow you now and get himself killed as well?"

It's probably a low blow, but she's never been above that. Not when it might mean saving someone's life.

[postictal]

"What's it matter? He's already dead, because I tied him up and left him!"

Fuck. That's the truth of it, isn't it? He couldn't save him then. He can't save him now. He's trying, trying harder than fucking anything, as if that will atone for any of it when he knows it won't. It won't.

[choosetruth]

"He's not dead here, is he? And we know that just because you come back to life doesn't mean dying here is a good idea." She scowls at him. "If you won't stay alive for your own sake, then stay alive for him."

[postictal]

"He's the reason I have to do this," he whispers. "If I don't, he'll get...he'll look for the answers he knows I have. He thinks that'll fix things. It'll just make it worse. For him, for everyone. I never should've been a part of - of this, of his life."

Jay didn't deserve this.

He didn't deserve Tim's bullshit. He didn't deserve any of it. He just wanted to fucking help an old college friend, and where'd that get him?

[choosetruth]

"See, this is why lying is total bullshit."

Georgia tugs her sunglasses off so she can give him the full force of her glare.

"How long are you going to keep going like this? I get--" the words choke out. She frowns and tries again. "I don't entirely understand why you can't tell the truth, but I do understand that your world is different enough from my own that I can't apply the same standards."

Ugh. She's never been one to lie much, but shortening the truth is nice for conversational flow.

"But Jay doesn't get it. And he's circling closer and closer and you won't be able to lie to him forever and dying won't fix anything, especially here! You need a better solution. You need to talk to him."

[postictal]

"So I do it later." There's no mistaking the terror in his voice, stark and unveiled. The idea of talking to Jay about any of this properly, laying it all out pat, picking and choosing which fractions of information to feed him, is nothing short of utterly horrifying.

What choice does he have?

"And not when he can make me spill it all just by looking at me. It's trying to show people the truth that got him killed - that spread me, and my problems to everyone who thought his stupid videos were worth a watch. I have no idea how many lives I've ruined!"

[choosetruth]

"No," she says, voice surprisingly soft at the admission. "Telling him now would be a very bad idea. Even I can see that."

She doesn't like lying. But she knows the truth can be just as dangerous. Especially now, in a situation like this. Tim needs to talk to Jay and be honest with him, but he also needs to figure out how best to do that safely. And blurting everything out? Kind of the opposite of that.

"Dwelling on that is a very good way to completely paralyze yourself into inaction. And yes, of course this is speaking from experience." She glances down at her hands. "You have no idea how many people have died because I wouldn't stop telling the truth."

[postictal]

That's a level of awareness that, despite the panic that's rapidly seeding itself into his chest, manages to arrest him into stillness. He hadn't expected her to admit that, not now and not ever, particularly not since Tim made a point of trying to catch her in some kind of act of childish hypocrisy. The more he insisted, the more it seemed she dug in her heels out of principle.

But now? Now, there's no avoiding it. There's no avoiding any of it.

"How do you live with it?" he whispers. "How do you keep going after all that?"

[choosetruth]

“By having someone who’s equally fucked up to hold me through the nightmares?” She cringes visibly. That was... definitely more honest and vulnerable than she’s intended. Her nightmares are no one’s business but her own. She exhales, then presses on.

“Shaun helps. So does knowing that while my actions may have led to innumerable deaths, there are others who are more responsible. Pissing off people that evil can’t be all wrong, can it?” She swallows, then the event forces out: “I hope not, anyway.”

[postictal]

"That...must be nice."

His shoulders slump. It must be nice. For her. For someone like her, who has someone she can trust unconditionally. For someone whose work has actually helped others instead of merely making it all worse. That's not a luxury available to him.

Maybe it never will be.

He turns away, his tone listless. "Hope that works out for you."

[choosetruth]

“It is. I wouldn’t be able to be the person I have to be without him.” Which is another thing she didn’t want to actually admit aloud even if it’s obvious to anyone who’s spent significant time with the two of them. “Don’t die.”

[postictal]

"No promises," he says. Which is...at least a bit better of a guarantee than yes, I am definitely heading out into the woods to die. So not yet, maybe.

Yeah. Not yet.