tramitem_log | May Support Group Thread

Entry tags:

May Support Group Thread

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I know," Anakin said, stepping up next to Wei. He was also shoving his own cookie in his mouth.

After picking up a selection of treats, he'd scouted the crowd for any new faces and found one not standing far off.

He bit down on the cookie to hold it in his mouth and shifted his backpack around so he could get to a pocket and then he popped out an air pod - that was still blasting music loudly - and put it in the pocket. To be polite and give the man one free ear.

He took the cookie out and finished what he'd started to say. "They don't even have skittles or nerds." And he shook his head to show how disappointed he was in the Bureau.

Wei Wuxian glanced over when someone walked up next to him. He knew he should have just left..He just hoped this guy didn't try to get him to talk about what he saw. He really didn't want to relive those seconds.

He listened to the others music blasting, thinking at least this one seemed to have some good taste in tunes. Might as well make the best out of the situation now. He could no longer just blend into the scenery and hope for the best. Not that he had ever been good about blending in.

He smiled a little as he heard the disappointment over the lack of candy. "I guess they were trying to give us more healthy options. But honestly..if they really expect us to talk about our feelings or whatever the hell this is, they need to give us something a little more engaging then bagels."

"Oh," Anakin snorted, shaking his head. "I wouldn't share my emotions with them for all the skittles in the world." He looked pointedly at the Bureau official here conducting the meeting.

Anakin held up his right hand - his robotic prosthetic hand - for Wei to shake.

"I'm Anakin."

Wei Wuxian raised an eyebrow when he saw the hand but took it without hesitation. "Wei Wuxian. You can call me Wei or Wuxian. I'm good with either." He gave the hand a shake.

"That's a pretty sweet hand. Can I ask or is that kind of a touchy subject? No pun intended."

His smile grew a little as he released the hand.

Anakin was in a good mood today. So he laughed and said, "The pun was appreciated."

Wei did also gain appreciation in Anakin's opinion when he didn't balk at Anakin's hand.

"You can ask. As a teaser," he raised a brow. "It cost the U.S. government a hundred million dollars." An odd point of pride, but when Anakin burned out, he burned out big.

"Wow. well if you have to lose a body part, at least make the government pay for it. So I'm talking to a hundred million dollar man and shook a hundred million dollar hand. This must be my lucky day."

Wei should go out and play the lottery. It's not every day you get touched by something that costs more then he will ever see in his entire lifetime. Or two lifetimes if you believe what the people in this place want you to.

"Oh this," he held up his prosthetic hand, "is only 'bout sixty-thousand. If you lose your body in service to the government, they pay for the bare ass minimum for replacements. This-" he moved his hand again, "I volunteered for a private study- your brain still sends signals down your nerves when you try to move your limb like you used to. This thing can read those signals and then interpret them to make the prosthetic make the same movements." There were a few more steps involved and a computer, but those were the basics.

"I was in the air force," he added, to round out the picture. "My jet crashed me. I'm lucky I still have-" he did some mental calculations. "Nine-tenths of my body." That seemed like the appropriate figure.

Wei Wuxian was clearly impressed as he listened. "I like how you call it only sixty-thousand. That's a lot of money in my book." Because that was clearly the most impactful part of the story in his book.

"I'd say nine-tenths is pretty good for being in a plane crash. Plus you get to show off some awesome hardware." Not that Wei Wuxian wanted to have any sort of artificial body part, but he was allowed to enjoy it on someone else.

This guy seemed pretty young but already had quite the life story. Wei Wuxian was just a little jealous. If his real life was this crazy, his supposed past life must have been quite the ride. He then shook that thought away, still not wanting to believe all that crazy talk.

"It is a lot. If I break it doing something reckless, I'll be in trouble. If I break it doing normal, everyday stuff- that's fine, because that's part of the study. To see how durable it is. But as long as I do my part, I won't have to pay for it. The price of being a guinea pig that they write a publishable paper on."

And Anakin was okay with that.

"It's part of why I'm in New York... You got a story why you're here?"

"Nothing quite as interesting as all that. I was born here, live here and work here. Just your typical life." Maybe not quite completely typical but certainly not military veteran bionic man kind of interesting.

"Go to work, go home, have fun in between." He has a lot of fun at work too. He made sure he did something he enjoyed with his life. "okay so maybe just have fun all the time. But that is why all of this.." He waves a cookie filled hand at the room. "Is not really something I'm glad to be a part of."

He doesn't find nightmare filled, supposed previous lifetime, drama to be much fun at all.

Anakin would trade his interesting life story for his arm back in a heartbeat. Two years out from the crash, he was only just now getting back into old hobbies because it had taken him this long to work up the skills again with his left hand and gain some minor mobility with the prosthetic.

"A bunch of us don't want them either. I'd rather not see the things I've seen. And yet..." He sighed a bit.

The next thing he said was a lot quieter than before. "Some of us skip these meetings and deal with this stuff without the Bureau."

"Oh?" He glanced back at the other people in the room, "Is that better somehow? Do you think they hold these as a means of keeping track of us or something?"

He really didn't understand any of this but he thought maybe if he came he would get answers or a way to make sure he never saw that horrible scene play out before him again. His 'memory' had been a nightmare and he doesn't want any more of those.

"How do you deal with it instead?"

Anakin gave a small nod, not wanting to be too conspicuous.

"Mostly we talk about what we're experiencing..." he said quietly, and then added, "Try to find answers."

"And have you been able to find any?" Wei Wuxian lowered his voice. If they were doing such a thing in secret then it meant they really didn't trust the people who told him to come here. And honestly, he wasn't sure he did either.

Anakin shrugged a little, “We’ve mostly just started. We’re trying to figure out a way to communicate without …” He glanced at the Official: them, “knowing. Scouting out who trusts them. Finding places to meet.”

Wei Wuxian grinned, "I mean..if you want a place to meet that these guys aren't likely to show up at, my club would probably be the best hideout ever." It wasn't exactly his club, but where he worked. And really any club would probably have the same affect.

"We have small private areas small groups can sit in and the music is so loud it isn't like they would be able to bug us or anything." Now he was thinking about all the spy movies he had watched. "It would just look like you were out having a good time."

Anakin thought about it, but then had the question, "I'm assuming this club is twenty-one plus? I think the youngest of us is fifteen."

He quickly shook his head. "Obviously you can't drink until you are 21, but I was working there when I was 18! We have certain days where they open up parts of the club so that it's pretty much open to everyone. We get a lot of younger people." Those days are usually his performance days. A lot of his fans fall into the younger crowd, which he really doesn't mind but they do get to be kind of loud. The club likes the extra revenue that the teenagers bring in on those days because they also like to eat.

"There is a door charge but its not a lot and I can probably get you guys in for free."

"... Maybe as a backup," Anakin said. "These kids have parents they can't exactly tell they're having visions of past lives. Adding going to establishments that primarily serve alcohol and is used for pick-ups..." Anakin was sure he didn't have to spell that out fully.

Wei Wuxian shrugged, "Well if you guys ever need the option, just let me know and I'll get you hooked up."

He paused and looked at him confused, "Why would the kids not tell their parents about the visions? Of all people I'd think the parents would understand.."

As someone who never had parents he doesn't really know what a family life was like but he assumed understanding stuff like that would be their job.

"Their parents aren't getting visions," Anakin said. "How many people have you told about this? How many of them have the power to..." Anakin shrugged. "Commit you if they think what you're experiencing makes you a danger to yourself or others?"

"I haven't told anyone. The people at work probably wouldn't like to hear something like that..I'm kind of their face and if their poster child is crazy it would be bad for business. But would a family really do the same thing? If your kid is hurting or experiencing something weird.." He just always assumed that's what family did. They stood by you no matter what.

"I guess that's the whole point of this group then." It made sense but if even this wasn't a safe place then what were they really supposed to do?

Anakin made a face. "They wouldn't be trying to hurt their kid, seeking out mental health help isn't inherently abusive. But how many doctors do you think will believe you if you say you're getting memories of a past life? I didn't believe in past lives or visions before this all started."

"But then..just call them dreams. Very strange dreams..why even mention the past lives? I mean..I don't believe that part myself really. It's just something that the suits around here tell us so we can't really be sure right?"

He just felt kind of sad for the kids. He knew what it was like to not have anyone to trust and so he didn't wish that kind of life on anyone else.

"Then why tell them anything at all if you're just going to lie?" Aankin asked.

"Give it some time, we all experience something that confirms there's more to this than... I donno, over-active imagination."

May Support Group Thread

Re: Wei Wuxian | The Untamed | OTA

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