Support Group - Feb 2021

[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

[phdmotherfucker]

She tapped a finger against her cup and considered if this was a line, pick-up or serial killer. Both had a thing for secondary locations. But she wanted information, and Anakin had been part of this ... experience for longer than anyone else at the group tonight.

"You buying?"

[darkforcerising]

It was none of those. Anakin was being completely honest... while trying to be subtle about the Bureau.

"Sure," he said with a shrug and then took a bite from his donut.

He gestured for the door. "I'm ready."

[phdmotherfucker]

Harleen grabbed her purse and followed him to the door. She tapped out a quick message to a friend about where she was headed, just in case, and shoved her hands in her coat pockets to keep from obviously fidgeting.

"Sooo." She chewed her lip before deciding, screw it, might as well get it all out. "How much of a shitshow is this whole thing, really?"

[darkforcerising]

"Umm..." They were out of the room where the Support Group was taking place but Anakin waited until the door of the building shut behind them and they were making their wait to the corner to cross the street before answering.

"The biggest shitshow in this universe. No one trusts them," he jerked his head back towards where the meeting was being held.

It was cold out, it was the dead of winter in New York City, they'd recently been dumped on by mother nature, and snow was piled up everywhere. Their breath puffing out white clouds. But still, Anakin didn't react to the cold.

"So, I guess, first... that memory you got- more will show up."

[phdmotherfucker]

"Oof," she grimaced at the confirmation that more memories would happen whether she liked it or not. "No thanks."

Harleen stopped at the crosswalk and shifted her knees to keep the blood moving while they waited for the light to change. She glanced sidelong at him. It was true that she didn't believe the Bureau had been wholly upfront and the Support Group seemed more to keep track than to help them, but that didn't mean she was ready to trust Anakin either.

"When you say no one trusts them, who all is 'no one'? Has the Bureau done something suspicious or is it just ... Just a feeling?"

[darkforcerising]

"Okay, you're right," Anakin said. "No one, is hyperbole. Plenty of those people back there trust the Bureau. They're the ones that talk in the meetings. But there is a group of us who don't trust them."

The light turned and he stepped out into the walk.

"Partly because those meetings are creepy as fuck. Partly because we're cynical. Partly because there's nothing in public records about even the building- that address listed on the card they gave you when you first get hit with a memory and all the people are swarming around-" Anakin smirked at Harleen. "And when Mr. Martin glares at you... Ya, well, some of us have looked into it and that building exists physically but doesn't exist in city records. But you can look that one up for yourself. You'll have to tell me how frustrated the city clerks get being asked that one again."

[phdmotherfucker]

Her heels tapped on the street as she kept up with his pace. "How can that even be possible in this city? I mean, what, are we in Men in Black?"

Maybe her comparison was more apt than she intended. Something about the group of people experiencing a supposed conspiracy theory firsthand and a secretive organization keeping tabs on all those people, there was definitely an alien abduction vibe about the whole thing.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin flashed a smile. "It'd be more fun if it was more like that. At least the agents would be likable, then."

But he shrugged. "It's a bit like that."

They were across the street now, the bar was right there on the corner. He got to the door first and grabbed it for Harleen.

[phdmotherfucker]

She nodded briefly in thanks before stepping past him inside the bar.

"I'll cut to the chase. Do you think the Bureau instigated these events, are we being specifically targeted, and what makes you a more credible source than them?"

[darkforcerising]

"Do I think the Bureau is behind this? Yes."

He headed for two seats open at the bar and asked for rootbeer and told the bartender he was paying so Harleen could get whatever she wanted.

"Do I think they are targeting us specifically? Uh... I don't think they spy out on the city and they just point to someone walking down the street and are like 'Them!' But I donno, maybe they do do that.

"I can't prove I'm more credible. But I know it's not smart to badmouth the Bureau right in front of them."

[phdmotherfucker]

Harleen ordered a beer on tap and leaned in toward Anakin. The closeness would make it easier to discuss delicate subjects, and if they looked overly flirtatious to others then strangers wouldn't want to eavesdrop on cloying sweet nothings anyway.

"What else do you know?"

[darkforcerising]

Anakin grabbed his backpack and unzipped a pouch. He reached inside and pulled out a different phone.

"Don't freak out, this one can't connect to the internet. But..."

He pulled up a picture that was a picture of the deed to the Bureau Building. The original picture was good quality, Harleen would zoom in on various parts and see pertinent names and dates - 1943, the property belonged to the Manhattan Engineer District. And of course, the address was the same one listed on the little card Mr. Martin gave each new Different. The deed looked old, like it certainly came from the 40s.

"Last year a few of us were contacted by someone just going by M-M-F. He sent a bunch of us this picture. Do you know what the Manhattan Engineer District was?"

[phdmotherfucker]

Her brows furrowed and she tried to connect the dots. The name did sound a little familiar...

"The... The Manhattan Project?" She pressed a hand to her temple and frowned. "Okay. Wait. Are you implying that the Bureau, and these memories, are related to nuclear weapons?"

[darkforcerising]

Anakin nodded.

"What nuclear weapons have to do with it..." he said in a low voice, shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders to indicate he didn't know.

He slid his finger over the phone to reveal another image, it was a photograph of the back of the deed. There was a hand-written message: "Finally someone willing to poke the beast. Keep it up." ~ MMF.

"This MMF guy has popped up a few other times. He claims he's one of us, but no one's actually met him face to face."

[phdmotherfucker]

She immediately assumed MMF stood for Mysterious Motherfucker.

Harleen rubbed her temples and stared into the foam of her beer as if it would reveal secrets.

"Is there any part of this that is not completely insane?"

[darkforcerising]

And he hadn't even shown her any of his powers yet. But he didn't blame her. He at least had the advantage of learning these things at a controlled pace.

"Have you had enough for one night or do you want to know more?"

[phdmotherfucker]

"Keep it coming." She propped her chin on her hand and snorted. "I'm not gonna sleep tonight anyway. Might as well give me plenty to stay awake and obsess over."

[darkforcerising]

"Just remember," Anakin said. "You asked for this."

He glanced around to make sure no one was watching them before lifting his hand close to his bottle of rootbeer, but with a clearly distinguishable distance between it and his hand. And reaching into the Force, he mentally slid the bottle over to Harleen.

The bottle looked like it was moving all on its own.

[phdmotherfucker]

"Oh-kayyy..." Harleen frowned at the bottle, her forehead wrinkling in consternation. She picked it up and turned it around, examining the bottle for any hidden tricks. "What am I seeing, exactly?"

[darkforcerising]

Anakin reached into his pocket to pull out his air pods. He held them in the palm of his hand and then lifted them into the air with the Force so that they hovered about six inches above his hand. Then he started them rotating slowly, on their axes, but also around each other.

"Telekinesis," he said.

"Sometimes we don't get just memories, sometimes, some of us, get... unique abilities."

He pulled his hand away from the floating air pods, though they stayed in the air, maintaining their slow orbits.

"Sometimes... our bodies change." He finally tugged on the fingers of the one glove he was wearing to reveal his prosthetic arm.

[phdmotherfucker]

She stared at he air pods spinning in the air.

And finished her beer in one go.

Because, really, what other reaction can a person have to that bullshit except drink?

[darkforcerising]

Anakin caught the spinning air pods with his metal hand.

"Yup," he said. "It's a lot you've just landed in. I don't know what research into radiation has to do with this. 'Cause, c'mon, radiation just kills you, it doesn't give you superpowers. But... maybe it's a cover for what the Bureau is actually doing to us."