July Support Group

[tramitem]

Who: OPEN (Including to all the new characters who app throughout the month)
What: Bureau Run, Non-Mandatory Support Group
When: There are meetings at various times during the week, whatever works for your character between 8 am and 10 pm
Where: There are meetings at various locations around NYC, whatever works for your character
Rating/Warnings: We ask that players put appropriate warning labels in the subject lines of their threads as they become necessary


There’s a generic spread of food on a table off to one side of the room: donuts, muffins, bagels, and cookies; coffee, lemonade, water, and because one of the Different asked for it, hot chocolate. Maybe you’re hungry enough to try it—it’s free after all.

Or maybe you can’t stomach anything, given the event you’re attending.

The space is a local rec center. The beige-painted cinder block walls and the fluorescent lighting are a terrible combination. Maybe they are reminiscent of the public school you attended in your youth?

Why are you here? Curiosity? Maybe the Bureau official will say something that will help you make sense of things? The meeting was interesting—who knew there were so many people like you, receiving memories of a past life? The group was led by someone from The Bureau—the Department of Medical Services. Some people are staying in their chairs and chatting—they must know each other from previous meetings. Some of them are gravitating towards the food.

How do you feel about tonight? Has it helped you come to terms with the dream of memories you’re having? Maybe it’s time to talk to others, get an understanding of their experience.

Comments

once more with feeling;

[traceofeffort]

Another week, another support group meeting; Lisa's gotten used to these, although here lately she's had enough on her plate that she sorely wants to dump some of it on the collected people here. That might be too mean, though, and beyond that she doesn't want to tip her hand to anyone that didn't know that she went through the portal before it was strictly permitted. So instead she shares a brief portion of her memories of Roselia: a family restaurant, likely in Japan given the language she's come to recognize, where she and four other girls roughly her age are celebrating a successful live show - here, she shifts and the soft guitar bag on her back moves with her. They made plans to play something bigger, Future World FES, their vocalist had called it. Their ticket to the big time. And they'd have to dedicate themselves to the band, if they were to make it. "She asked me, 'are you prepared to fully devote yourself to Roselia?'" Lisa continues. "And I told her I was. I know, in my heart, I was, from then on. And I still am, even now. It's sentimental, but... Roselia lives on through me, and I want to prove that Yukina chose right. It's silly, but it makes me happy. That's all." A brief laugh. "Oh, and speaking of, I'm playing two blocks south of here tomorrow night! Five dollar cover, one drink minimum, tips appreciated ♪"

Not that she'd shared anything groundbreaking, but it still make her feel warm to remember. She took a long pull from her Styrofoam take-out glass of sweet tea and sat through the rest, watching. There did seem to be at least one new face, so she'd made a mental note to grab him at some point before everyone gave up on the meeting, but eventually he came to her. She waves off the drink with a smile. "I haven' trusted their lemonade since the first time I came to one of these. I don't know how you screw up the powder'd stuff, but they manage it. Thanks, though." There's a brief, tiny surprised look on her face; her (presently faint) Southern accent took her by surprise, but perhaps it's the story she shared earlier. "You're welcome t' join me though - that's what these are for, right?" She shifts just a tiny bit to let him in without crowding him. "I don't recognize you, and I try to come to more than a few of these - just joined the club, as it were?"

[faimommy]

Jem looks at the lemonade for a moment and laughs lightly.

"I don't know, kind of reminds me of childhood." Or the better part of it he had, anyway. Getting to play 'lemonade stand' with his siblings will always be a treat to remember. Even if it tastes terrible.

He drops himself into the seat next to her, setting the lemonade to a side he's sure it won't get knocked over. He'll probably drink that later since she doesn't want it.

He nods in response.

"Yea, it's my first time here. Is it... as weird for everyone, the first time? Meeting Mr. Martin, I mean," he gives a casual smile.

"So you've got performing memories, huh? I wonder what mine will be like." One taste of his former life certainly isn't enough to garner who he once was. Or if he'll like it. But if that first bit is anything to go by, then it would probably be more fun times.

[traceofeffort]

"Mama didn't settle for the cheap stuff there, so not so much here, but I get that. Cherish your memories - either set of them," Lisa says seriously. "And yes. Lord Asshole- ah, sorry, habit. Mr. Martin is a little on the enigmatic side. But hey! Welcome to our little slice of the Big Apple. Everything's a little stranger, but the company's good."

She's earnest - she's excited to meet new people, whether she otherwise likes these things or not. Lisa pauses a moment to sip her tea and catch her breath, then grins. "Yep! I was already a musician before, mind you, but my memories are teaching me new music... a new instrument, too, if I can drum up the courage to play it. Ah, pun not intended? It's a bass guitar."

[faimommy]

Jem's eyebrows shoot up at that.

"Lord Asshole? What's he done to deserve that, now?" It's said seriously, and almost with concern. Is calling him that really necessary? Of course, he plans to hear her out - things do happen. Maybe her reason is justified.

He smiles at her enthusiasm.

"It looks like a lot of fun. I play a bit of piano myself. Is the bass guitar the new instrument from your memories? Or the old one?"

[traceofeffort]

Lisa counts on her fingers, drily. "Stingy on answers to questions. Appears out of thin air. Thinks he can tell us where we can and can't stick our noses. May or may not be able to appear in multiple places at once. And beyond that I just don't like him much," she admits, nose wrinkling. "Too stuffy to put on first contact duty, yeah?"

But she lets out a breath and allows herself to cheer up some. "Ooh, piano! Rinko would probably like to meet you... well, if she existed here and not just in my head. But anyway, the bass is new, I already play acoustic."

[faimommy]

"That does sound like a lot... I don't know if that's worthy of being an asshole, though."

But then again, the decoded message said that he was a problem and that a lot of that should be kept secret from Mr. Martin. He could just be missing something. And, though it's a bit of internal stamping, he decides to ride it out before judging Lisa on her choice of words to describe Mr. Martin.

Still, the mention of Lisa's friend, past life or otherwise, enjoying the piano makes him smile again.

"Well, if she turns out to be here someday, I'd like to meet her, too. Are you playing the bass or the acoustic tomorrow night, then?"

[traceofeffort]

"Maybe not, and I admit it's kind of petty," she agrees with a shake of her head. "I just don't appreciate that he walks up to me on my college campus and starts accusing me of things in front of everyone, out in the quad, and he expects me to turn other people in for things I don't know anything about? It was kind of the last straw. I'm frustrated and I certainly can't vent it at him because he just walks off when he's done saying his piece, so." The annoyance rolls off her in waves, even if it's pretty clearly directed elsewhere.

Thinking of Rinko brightens her mood again too, though. "Oh, if she's anything like the one in my memories you'd love her. Really shy, but super dedicated to her music. She'd get into the zone and just..." Lisa vibrates in excitement, lips sliding into a cat-like grin. "She was amazing and I wish you could meet her. Oh, and the acoustic tomorrow night. I haven't actually had my bass back that long," she admits a little sheepishly. "I'm working on it, though!"

[faimommy]

"Okay, that makes a lot more sense." Jem shakes his head at the new information, a deeper frown forming. "I wouldn't take being accused either."

Jem makes a mental note to keep an eye on Mr. Martin, if this is the kind of person he is.

Watching Lisa light up as she talks about her friend from her former life is enough to fill him with his own joy; Lisa is contagious as she talks up Rinko. And when he sees Lisa literally vibrating, he can't help but let out a small, but warm, laugh.

"Well, then, I look forward to both - the acoustic tomorrow, and the someday in seeing you play the bass. Any plans to join a band? If you aren't part of one already, that is."

[traceofeffort]

"Mm. I don't trust him. We'll see what the rest of them are good for." More department heads... well, she'll burn that bridge when she gets to it.

"I play little shows around the city all the time - it's how I pay the bills. So if you're looking, you'll find my guitar and I all over the place. The bass... I'm waiting for the right moment, I think." Better not to go off half-cocked on that one and mess something up. "I'm a little weird on the whole band thing right now, though - too many memories of the band I was in, before. Let's call it a hard maybe?"

[faimommy]

"I can't say I blame you, at this point."

Jem briefly wonders if he should try to chat with Mr. Martin sometime. If he could. Find out if he treats everyone the same way he treats Lisa. And maybe find Mr. Martin's superiour and loudly complain.

"Well, I'll certainly be cheering you on. What happened with the band you were in before? Only if you don't mind me asking." Trying not to pry on a potentially sensitive subject.

[traceofeffort]

Lisa huffs but says no more on the Bureau thing; really, Mr. Martin has whatever happens to him coming.

She laughs lightly at the other question. "Ah, that's... before before. Not me, but the other me. The Roselia I was talking about. So I have a band, but I'm the only piece." Weird indeed. "But hey, either way, I'm glad to have more people looking forward to my music!" And the smile on her face really sells that much. "So! When you're not attending shady emotional support groups run by sketchy organizations that are still full of cool people, what do you do?"