Support Group - March 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

[not_as_i_do]

The cardigan does seem to give off some pretty strong Dad Energy, he's noticed. Martin glances down at the notebook and sees what seems like an entirely different language. He blinks in surprise, but otherwise doesn't say anything about it.

"That ... is about the crux of it. If you're really curious to see how strange it gets, they have a portal they maintain in the park that goes to a different universe entirely. I didn't believe it until I went for myself. It's like one of those Renaissance Faires, only you can pay for things in water."

[tobodlygo]

Jim feels his browline raise in disbelief.

"An actual portal? Just. In a park? How-? How come no-one else knows about that?"

Five thousand and one questions run through Jim's head. How'd they keep that hidden? How is that possible? Why do you have to pay with water? Do you need protective gear to go through it? Is it to a different point in our universe or an adjacent universe?-

Hold on a second.

"I just asked all that out loud, didn't I?"

[not_as_i_do]

"Only three questions," he shrugs good-naturedly. "Really, not that many, all things considered."

He pauses just long enough to decide how to answer, and in what order. "The Bureau keeps it all very well-hidden. When you remembered the first thing from your other life ... and you came to ... did you notice any of them talking to other people around you? Or were you alone?"

[tobodlygo]

"I was in my office at work," he shrugs. "I didn't have anyone there around me, but they told me that my Event took out at least the two buildings next to mine."

He doesn't sound very proud of that fact at all.

[not_as_i_do]

The pride in his voice makes Martin chuckle. "I was at a cafe near my apartment. It took out the bodega next door, but that was about it. My point is ... they had to alter the memories of everyone else in the cafe, so they wouldn't remember what happened. I'm not sure how, exactly, it worked, but ... they escorted me out into the street and everyone who came out afterward looked as though they were just going about their day. I'm sure they use the same procedure on anyone who gets too close to the portal."

He thought about that for a moment, reaching up to rub a thumb over his frizzing beard. "As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they've got people convinced it's an art installation or something like that."

[tobodlygo]

Jim's brows raise.

"They just-" he waves his hand in front of his face, "they just wipe people's memories like that?" That's terrifying. What the fuck. No wonder the majority of the Different here have an extreme distaste for the Bureau.