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

[geiger]

Hey, asshole.

[ She supposes the man in the garish suit deserves that much of a warning - she's never been one for shooting people from behind - before she fires her gun straight at his head. ]

[thecourier]

[What follows happens in a blur of activity. The man in the checked suit crumples without a word, but the tribals with him don't stand on ceremony. As the bound courier struggles with the ropes around his wrist one of the Khans grabs Maria from Benny's lax hand and wastes no time in shooting him regardless.

And just like that, the memory resets. Benny is on his feet again, idly putting out his cigarette.

Dan - the real one - grabs Nora by the arm and pulls her away. From the start he had no wish to be absorbed into this mess and he hadn't had the chance to speak up before Nora had burst in on the scene he was observing.]

Satisfyin' as that was t' see... don't do it again.

[geiger]

[ Nora shrugs apologetically, though she doesn't look as though she regretted having pulled the trigger. ]

I've always been much better at shooting first and asking questions later.

[thecourier]

Ain't an entirely desirable trait.

[He doesn't look terribly pleased she's there, or about what she did despite what he said. With the scene still playing over behind them, he gestures for the door.]

After you.

[geiger]

[ She heads through the door and out into the hallway, reholstering her gun. ]

Gotta say, it looked like you were in a heap of trouble there.

[thecourier]

Yeah, I was.

[He pulls the door closed quickly, but not before another gunshot rings out. It makes him cringe, just a little, his shoulders hunching up against the sound.]

... but I lived. That was a year b'fore I came here.

[geiger]

You survived that long after being shot in the head? [ She looks at him with a great deal of respect, and almost disbelief. ] Must have had one hell of a stimpak.

[thecourier]

Still survivin'. Ain't missed this sucker, did y'? [He taps his temple where a knotted purple scar marks the tissue just shy of his hair line.]

Had one hell 've a doctor. Securitron found me up there, carried me down t' Goodsprings. Doc Mitchell dug most a' the shrapnel outta my head an' saved my damn life.

[geiger]

[ Her eyes flicker up to the scar, which she'd always assumed he must have acquired here in Wonderland, where it wasn't a big deal for people to recover from such an injury. ]

If I ever make it out west, I'll buy him a beer.

[thecourier]

[A soft snort.]

Aye, reckon 'e'd like that. Name's Doc Mitchell. Drop m' name t' Trudy in the saloon an' she might even give y' a round on the house.

[He sighs then, though, looking back over his shoulder at the door.]

All the things it could'a picked... guess it ain't no surprise it'd be that.

[geiger]

Oh, I don't think it's so bad. [ She offers an encouraging smile. ] At least it's got a happy ending, one where you walked away.

[thecourier]

If that's what y' wanna take from it, yer missin' the point.

[For once, unusually, he actually sounds... irritated.]

I thought I was gonna die that day.

[geiger]

But you didn't. [ She sounds insistent in response to his irritation. ] What all that shows is you're a survivor.

[thecourier]

What it shows is 'm damn lucky. I live in the fuckin' wasteland, Nora. 'M already a survivor.

[His hands go into his pockets, the abrupt shift in his mood written all over his face as he turns from the door to walk away up the corridor.]

Everyone who lives in the wasteland is. Ain't nothin' special about it.

[geiger]

[ It was, in fact, one of the things that made them S.P.E.C.I.A.L., and if he'd been in better humour she might have remarked on that. As it is she just shrugs, sighing. ]

I'm sorry. I guess not growing up in the wasteland, just stepping out into it one day, I get something of a weird perspective on it.

[thecourier]

[Even in better humour, he might have had a few things to say about that particular acronym that she wouldn't have wanted to hear, so maybe it's best she doesn't say anything after all.]

Yeah, I guess y' do.

[No subtlety, there.]

Every day, out there, I survive. I ain't gonna look at that one thing as the definin' moment of it. That... was the day one fink in a bad suit decided he wanted t' see me dead, an' after everythin' 'd lived through, I really thought it was gonna be the end 'f it.

[geiger]

[ Nora wants to insist that it wasn't the end of him, and that if it's the worst memory they could find for him he was fortunate, since she still firmly believes that him surviving it and coming back stronger is an inspiring story, but she can see she's not going to get anywhere with that. ]

At least tell me this, did that asshole get what was coming to him?

[thecourier]

[A short, sharp nod.]

Yeah. Once I pieced my memory back t'gether an' remembered what happened, I got m'self down t' the Strip. [He smiles thinly, without humour.]

Benny weren't as lucky, an' I'm a better shot.

[geiger]

Good to know. Even if he hadn't shot you, I didn't like the look of him.

[thecourier]

[A soft snort.]

Folks like Benny 're a dime a dozen on the Strip. They'll all stab each other in the back fer a chance t' get one rung further up the ladder.

[Granted, Benny was the only one who had shot him, but realistically..? It could have been any of them.]

Ended up takin' on his operation fer m'self.

[geiger]

We don't have anything on the same scale in the Commonwealth. There are plenty of raiders, of course, but most of them are trying to cling onto their own little corner.

[ It was still terribly dangerous, of course, but at least for the most part there weren't any big gang bosses like that to deal with. ]

[thecourier]

New Vegas ain't so big, on the grand scale a' things. House's influence never got out much further than the walls. Y' ain't ever heard of 'im, right?

[A lion in a very fine cage, so to speak. People knew of House, in places beyond Freeside, but aside from the occasional Securitron he had very little real pull out there.]

The Mojave's its own master. 'S always been that way.

[geiger]

Name sounds vaguely familiar from before the war, but that's all. I really miss the days of national broadcasting, sometimes it feels like the rest of America might as well be on Mars for how far away it seems.