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

[backpacking]

No. [ She'd meant to say 'yes,' and is bewildered, momentarily, at the honesty. To cover her tracks, then, she adds: ] It's just - you reminded me of someone. [ And then, firmly: ] I don't want to talk about it.

[ That's honesty right there. ]

[thecourier]

Okay, okay. [His hands come up, and he drops the topic (even if her mind won't let her do the same. He picks up a nearby stick to prod the fire, collapsing a couple of small logs inside it that had all but turned to ash.]

How 'bout y' ask me somethin' instead. I ain't got much of anythin' I wouldn't wanna talk about.

[backpacking]

[ Ellie blinks, grateful for the change in subject, but at a bit of a loss for what to ask. ]

Uh... okay... [ May as well accept the opportunity to move on with the conversation. ] ... What's your favorite thing about where you came from?

[thecourier]

Favourite thing? Hah, shit.

[He knows what's going to come out before he says it, but he doesn't try to stop it. It's been a long time since he last talked about this to anyone at all.]

'S... a person, actually. 'is name's Arcade Gannon.

[backpacking]

A person? [ Ooh. She peers curiously at him, crossing her ankles. ]

That's... a name. [ Ellie snorts lightly. ] So, what's so special about "Arcade Gannon?"

[thecourier]

[Okay, so this is how it comes out. To a teenager he barely knows, under some kind of truth curse, where he can't help but talk about it.

Dan grimaces slightly before he replies.]

Smartest guy I know. Fuck knows why 'e keeps hangin' around me. [He relaxes into it, exhaling a soft huff and shaking his head.] We, uh. We could'a had somethin'. But-- [Mrgh. Shit.]

--I was um... I guess I was scared.

[backpacking]

Oh. [ Oh! Her eyebrows raise, and though Ellie has more tact, the 'curse' draws out: ] I didn't know you were into guys. [ ... ] Not... that it matters. To me. I mean, it's not my business.

[ fUCK ]

Shutting up now. [ She finishes delicately. ] But... I mean, I know what you're saying about being scared. I totally do.

[thecourier]

[He can't help but grin crookedly at her.] Ain't somethin' I keep secret. Jus' not somethin' that comes up in conversation.

[Why would it? He's with Evelyn at the moment, so the fact that he also finds men attractive is entirely irrelevant.

Dan studies her for a moment, then smiles again, a little more softly.]

Seems t' me y've had a lot t' be scared of, fer yer age.

[backpacking]

Sure. Yeah, makes sense.

[ It's personal info, after all, and none of her - or anyone else's - business. ]

Well, that'll happen when you're from... where I'm from. [ "Zombie world," "post-apocalyptic," whatever you want to call it. ] Other people have it worse.

[ Probably. Some of them. ]

[thecourier]

Sure, plenty people have it worse, but that don't mean y' don't get t' complain about how shit it's been fer you.

[People have it worse than him, too, and he has a laundry list of traumatic incidents to rattle off... that he never talks about.]

But we ain't talkin' 'bout you, right?

[backpacking]

No. [ She replies immediately, crossing her arms. ] We were talking about you before you changed the subject.

[ Sneaky. ]

[thecourier]

[Dan brings both hands up in surrender, laughing.]

Didn't do it on purpose, miss, I swear.

[Begging your pardon, Miss Ellie.]

[backpacking]

Uh-huh. [ She's got your number, Dan. Don't try any funny business. ]

Well, I don't wanna answer any more questions. [ Ellie informs him, producing a more enthused frown than she perhaps feels. ]

[thecourier]

Right, right, won't ask y' none.

[She's a funny girl. Reminds him of some of the kids he sees back home.] What can I tell y' about... [He clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth a few times, thinking.]

How 'bout Zion Canyon?

[backpacking]

Zion Canyon? [ Sounds interesting enough. She taps her heels against the ground, looking curiously over at Dan. ] Alright, shoot. What's that?

[thecourier]

'S a place where the people 're still livin' simple lives. We call 'em Tribals. They live in small groups, huntin' an' livin' off the land.

[Dan pokes at the fire, smiling a little.]

My mom was one. Her name was Rushing Dawn. Pa met 'er on 'is caravan route.

[backpacking]

You don't do that, though? [ Sounds like her own life. Small groups, hunting, living off the land.

She thinks of winter, of course. Of the deer. Of the cold and the hunger. ]

Pretty name. [ Ellie notes, leaning forward a little on the log she's sat on. ]

[thecourier]

Heh, yeah. Tribals have names like that. Lucky I didn't end up wi' one.

[Thanks to his father, no doubt. He knows that he loved his wife but there was no way in hell he was going to let his kid walk around outside Zion with a Tribal name.]

I didn't do anythin' like that. Left my parents when I turned eighteen... did some dumb shit... then got on with a courier company.

[backpacking]

Everyone does dumb shit. [ That's a fact of life, right? ] So... what d'you do with the courier company?

[ She can guess, based on the words themselves, but it's better to hear it from the man himself. ]

Get any horse riding into the job?

[thecourier]

Deliverin' letters mostly. Packages sometimes. Wasteland ain't got a postal service.

[Sometimes the packages were dangerous. Sometimes, they were almost deadly.]

No horseridin' though. Horses don't exist no more. Got on here. Big fella in the stables. Evelyn taught me t' ride.

[backpacking]

Evelyn? [ It takes her a minute, and then she realizes. ] Oh, her! She doesn't seem like the "big horse-riding type."

[ Of course, Ellie doesn't know the librarian particularly well, clearly. ]

M'sorry you don't have horses anymore. We don't have a lot of them back home, but they're so cool.

[thecourier]

Hah, yeah, I guess not. [His smile softens as he says it - to say he thinks a great deal of Evelyn would be a complete understatement.

He pokes at the fire for a moment, then shrugs one shoulder.]

The one I got here, he's a real gentle one. Don't reckon 'e'd mind if y'd wanna meet 'im some time.

[backpacking]

Oh. Yeah, cool. [ She seems a little surprised, but pleased, with the suggestion. ] I had one back home, but he... got killed.

[ Normally she wouldn't share that detail, but the event coaxes out the truth. Ellie sighs, shrugging helplessly. ]

He was a good horse. I miss him.

[thecourier]

[He can skim past the part where the horse got killed, because he's already figured out that Ellie isn't into talking about those kinds of things, but he decides to press at least that little bit on a topic that might be better.]

Yeah? Y' feel okay talkin' about him?

[backpacking]

About Callus? [ She chuckles, surprised. ] Uh... I mean, I guess I didn't have him all that long; we borrowed him sometime in the fall and then lost him later in the winter. But he was with me all that time after Joel got hurt. I'm not sure I would've made it without him.

[ He'd helped with the sled, after all, and had made looking for food a lot easier. ]