tramitem_log | March Support Group Open Log

Entry tags:

March Support Group Open Log

Who: OPEN (Including to all the new characters who app throughout the month)
What: Bureau Run, Non-Mandatory Support Group
When: March 1st - March 31st. There are meetings at various times/days 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.

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"I need this to go away," Yotsuyu grumbled in a fit of pique. "Do not worry, though, dear, I'm aware you've as much control over...all this, as I do." Which was to say, absolutely none.

Perhaps that was what galled Yotsuyu the most, when it came down to it. She'd always had some small modicum of control in her life, and now? That seemed to have gone out the window, with these sudden, strange visions.

She shook her head. "As it is, I'm sure Elliott is around here somewhere. He...caught me earlier." Not to put too fine a point on it. "I dropped my first cup of coffee, I suppose I am considering if another is wise, at the moment."

It probably wasn't.

Lisa had wound up to say something when the second bit hit her, and she stopped cold as she turned to look again at the woman. "No, maybe wait a second or two on that, in case I say something dumb," she suggested blandly, as she tried not to let the shock color her tone too much. "Elliott is your son? And... caught? Like, caught you here unexpectedly?"

Because that had the potential to get really ugly, really fast. He hadn't seemed the type to hold a grudge over that, not when she'd met him a week or two ago, but...

"Yes, he is. And yes. I'd told him I had a meeting to go to. I meant this meeting, of course, but...I did not explain to him that it was this one, you know?"

She shook her head. "I feel...embarrassed. Ashamed. We usually have a very good relationship and are very honest with each other. And...I lied."

Elliott was such a good boy, and here Yotsuyu was, being utterly dishonest. Ashamed was too weak of a word, but she hadn't thought up a better one yet...

Lisa frowned. She didn't know Elliott that well, but... "Hold on. Sure, that's kind of a big thing not to talk about, but I'm not sure it's all that? I'm no mother, but that just feels like protecting him, right? If Elliott hadn't been here, there wouldn't have even been an issue," she pointed out. "Besides, he'd been planning to tell you anyway. So now that he knows you'll believe him - since, y'know-" Lisa gestured out at the room around them "-that might be reassuring?"

...belatedly, Lisa wondered if Elliott had ever mentioned that he'd met her the other day.

He hadn't, but that was likely more of a factor that Yotsuyu hadn't been home from her business trip for terribly long, than any lack on Elliott's part.

"That is why I was loath to mention it to him. I did not want to worry him..." Yotsuyu sighed at that. "It is just...It does not make me happy to know that he too is so afflicted. He's so young--and for that matter, so are you!"

She wasn't angry, but there was just something that irked her now about this difference simply choosing to afflict others willy-nilly, with no pattern that she could see.

"Yes, though I probably would have believed him anyway. Elliott isn't given to lying." In truth, he was an awful liar. He'd be terrible at poker.

"I'm starting to get the sense he'd worry anyway, though," Lisa somewhat dryly responded, smiling. "He seems like he does that. I'm certainly coming to appreciate it."

The reminder about herself caused her to blink, but she just shook her head with a glance at the wall. "And yeah, I am young, and so is he, but I don't think that matters. We're stuck in this together. That means if we want answers, we'll all have to work together, right?" Not that she thought it'd be easy or anything, but. She just snorted at the thought of Elliott being capable of lying. That was clearly impossible.

"He would, and that is precisely why I did not want to say," she admitted. "It is one of the best points about him, though. You've befriended him?"

Which, in her mind, was all to the good. Yotsuyu did have a jealous streak, perhaps, but it was only proper that Elliott went off and made friends--even friends who were girls. It was inevitable, really.

"There is truth in that, as well. Ah well, another thing to heap upon my plate." At least finding answers was something she considered herself somewhat good at...though Yotsuyu was much more used to doing that for a far different reason than...all this.

"Mm! We met over the network, and we've talked a few times since then," Lisa offered brightly. "I offered to help him with some research... something related to his new memories. I have an idea of what he saw, but he can probably explain it better than I can, so I'll leave it to him to tell you whatever he'd like to." It was probably a bit more diplomatic than the situation required, but it was his mom, so he could decide how far to let her in on the crazy. Instead she added, "I hope we can be good friends, though. He's been a fantastic support so far, and he seems to work pretty hard."

She sighed good-naturedly at the reminder that none of them really have time for this Different business. "Surely we all have free time that we're not doing anything else with, right?" Lisa drawled airily, in an over-dramatic tone. "We can afford to spend extra hours figuring out why we're like this and where to go from here. Definitely. No problem." She dropped the affect and sighed more heavily. "This stuff's a mess. I just wanna be normal. This isn't helping. I'm sure it's the same for you, ma'am."

"Oh, please. It's Yotsuyu, not ma'am." Even at work, she wasn't terribly fond of being formal, and with Elliott's friends, she tended to quash the "Mrs. Naeuri" thing quickly--because there certainly was not, and had never been, a "Mr. Naeuri."

She'd never willingly gone by her actual husband's last name, and discarded it quickly after he'd died, as well. And he and Elliott had absolutely nothing to do with each other. Thank the gods for that.

"Oh, he does. Elliott has always had a drive to know and learn. He's a good boy, does well in school..." But she could brag about him all day, and Yotsuyu know how quickly that got old.

"Though your assessment--that I'd prefer to simply be normal? That is spot on, yes." She shook her head. "I'd imagine it's much more difficult for you, though. Mostly because teenagers can be so judgmental..." At least from what she remembered, when she had been one.

"If you say so, ma- Yotsuyu," Lisa hastily corrected. It felt a little strange, calling the mother of someone her own age by her given name, but she'd asked, so Lisa would adapt.

Lisa was definitely sure Yotsuyu could brag about Elliott all day, and made a mental note to ask about him later, but for now, business. "I'm not so worried about what the others think of me, not like that. If they want to get on my case, let them. I'll find the people that like me for me. I bet you have the same issue, to an extent. Work culture isn't that far removed from college culture."

There was something to be said about politeness. Yotsuyu did catch the beginning of another "ma'am", but Lisa caught herself swiftly enough, which elicited a smile.

Though her next comment made Yotsuyu laugh. "There is something called a 'dragon lady'," she said, her smile turning somewhat fierce. "I have a bit of freedom from my employer to be such--I am the guardian at his gate, and so I try to be as fearsome as I can to those below me, when need be." Which might be somewhat at odds with her slight form--she couldn't be much more than 5'6--but there was quite the personality that snapped from those yellow eyes. "I get by. Quite well."

Lisa can't help but grin at Yotsuyu's explanation; she needed a job like that. "Getting paid to be imposing, huh? That sounds like it could be fun under the right circumstances. Probably sucks for making work friends, though, if you have to turn around and breathe fire at them the next morning for staying out at the bar too late." She doesn't doubt there's enough strength there for the older woman to make that work - she could feel the presence, kind of.

"Oh, I am not there to make friends. I am there to do my job. Though I admit some of it is fun for me." She didn't have a terrible amount of sympathy for those who couldn't handle their liquor and who then possessed a large head come the next day.

Yotsuyu always made certain that she was careful. Though these days, the care was a bit more hard to come by, with the stresses of the new and unbidden memories that had invaded her consciousness. Yet for the moment, she persisted well enough...

"You seem to be holding up well, despite...all this," Yotsuyu said. "No one to dig into your business?" That alone could be a boon. She herself was doing her best to let Elliott come to her, not digging into his business.

Lisa nodded. "Yeah, that seems about right for the job. Be feared, and be respected in turn. And if they can't handle it, well, sucks to be them." She revised her earlier thought: a job like that would be cool, as long as it wasn't actually anywhere near Yotsuyu. That sounded like a recipe for disaster.

Her smile turned a little less bright at the reminder of her situation. "I'm... not doing as well as I'd like, honestly. I don't have anyone to poke me and get me to talk about stuff. So talking to people here, and maybe rarely on the network, is all I really get." And as she looked around the room, she didn't recognize enough faces to feel like she got that on a regular basis. "I've been a little disconnected lately, so this has sucked a lot."

"It's all well and good to be beloved, if you can. But if you cannot...be feared, indeed." She was not entirely certain that respect was a proper word. Oh, they respected the businessman whom she toiled under, but she herself? Yotsuyu wasn't so sure.

However, they did fear her. It was enough.

Though her brow furrowed, then. "Certainly you talk to Elliott. Would it help you to talk to me? I am not certain at all what I might do, but if naught else, I've an ear that you may bend. If it is not an embarrassment!"

She was well aware that while it might be fine to talk to a peer, talking to a peer's parent was an entirely different kettle of fish!

Lisa started to say something, then paused, looking thoughtful. Would someone not her own age, and incidentally her own gender, be helpful to order her thoughts against?

-well, that's not really a question, where she's concerned.

"I think I'd like that," she answered after a second. "Elliott's great, don't get me wrong, but he's... well, he's a boy, for starters." She chuckled; there wasn't really a fix for that one. "I hope you'll forgive me if I try not to talk to you about him, though."

Yotsuyu couldn't help but laugh at that. "I believe I understand--I did have a brother of my own. There are things you simply cannot talk to a boy about!" Well, if you were a girl, in any case. Not that Yotsuyu would talk to her brother at all, if she could help it.

Or the rest of her former family, either. Elliott was the only family that mattered, now.

"I think that might be awkward for both of us, depending on the subject matter," she said with a chuckle. "Some light conversation touching upon him is fair, any inner secret thoughts about him, if they come? I think we may skip that. Matter of fact, I think I should prefer it!"

Hey, Elliott was a good-looking young man, even if she was biased as his mother....

Did have - possibly not a safe topic, and certainly not polite conversation for a first meeting and/or while talking about her own son. She could understand that. "Of course, of course." She giggled softly to suit the direction of things, even if that was her own doing to an extent. "Perfect, if he confuses me too much I know where to get answers. Or we can be confused together. One or the other. And you can claim perfect lack of knowledge if something weird happens!"

...Lisa, honey, that wasn't reassuring, no matter how hard you're trying.

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March Support Group Open Log

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