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

"Sounds good."

It was a 'do-over' a smiling Anthony fully supported.

The scotch eggs were fine and could be eaten both warm or cold, though Anthony usually preferred them just slightly warm. That way there was no risk of burning anything. These ones were still steaming lightly when he glanced down at the plate so he chose to wait just a touch longer. It gave him more time for another sip of wine anyway.

"Yea, bon appetit. I'll be curious to see how you like them."

He picked one up and looked at it, "Any tips on the best way to enjoy it?" It was perhaps one of the oddest ways he'd ever seen an egg prepared but it didn't look bad.

He blew on it a little to make sure it wouldn't be too hot once he tried it. The last thing he wanted to do was to burn his mouth or something and kill any taste buds he had. He still had a lovely glass of wine to look forward to enjoying after all.

"You take a bite and chew."

He smirked in the biggest, 'you ask a silly question' sort of way.

"Though some people prefer it with the mustard dip there."

A gesture towards a small container of the yellow condiment sitting in the middle of the grouping of eggs. This was the way Anthony tried is own snack, using only a little bit of the sauce to see how spicy it was before deciding it was better without.

"So? How do you find them?"

Mustard on eggs..This whole creation was getting weirder by the second. "I wonder how they would taste with hot sauce." Wei Wuxian loved spicy foods and could eat some of the hottest things out there. He dipped the egg into the mustard, deciding it was worth a try and then shoved it into his mouth.

It was quite the feat but he still managed to chew with it in there. Once he had chewed through about half of it in his mouth he gave the thumbs up sign. And then once he was sure he could manage it, he lifted his glass and chased it down with the wine.

"Aaahh." Setting the glass back down he gave a big grin, "Very tasty. I approve."

The mustard was odd but then Americans preferred ketchup on fries instead of mayonnaise. There was no accounting for taste.

Anthony's eye grew wide as he drew back into his seat. He had never seen anyone shove an entire scotch egg into his mouth before! That was... a feat!

"Amazing... Want another?"

There were still a few left on the platter and his was still in his hand, being nibbled away on in average sized bites.

"You mind if I ask a question about your memory? I was sort of wondering when it happened and..."

Now that they were away from prying ears.

"What happened after you had experienced it?"

"Don't mind if I do." He reached out to grab another of the eggs but he paused as he was bringing it back to his mouth. His land lowered and he thought back to that day.

"It was a couple days ago. I was on my way to work and I cut through one of the back alleys as a short cut. Next thing I knew I was in the middle of the most horrifying thing. Like I had been dropped into the middle of a movie and I had no way out. It felt like it lasted forever but before I even know what was going on the suits were all there trying to explain it away."

He shuddered as he remembered that day. Bringing that next scotch egg to his mouth, he ate this one much slower as he became distracted by his thoughts.

He managed to finish off his own egg before the story actually started and it was a good thing he had. Anthony ended up listening with such rapt interest that he would have forgotten to chew if he had still been trying to eat during that.

"Just like that, in a back alley. Did you see anything that might have acted as a trigger?"

Wei Wuxian was more observant than most people and he has gone over that day in his mind a hundred times trying to figure out what he might have done differently.

"Nothing. It was like any other day. I've cut through that alley a hundred times. And I've gone back there just to see if it would happen again. Not that I wanted to see it again but just to..know..but nothing at all seemed different and it hasn't happened since."

"Damn. It's typical... Most people who have these memories have them just like that. It's a normal day and, bang, bolt out of the blue you never saw coming!"

He shrugged and refilled his glass.

"What did you think of the suits?"

"They are suits. Stuffy, full of lies, covering up what they don't want to have to explain. But they got me to come here so I guess it's not all bad." He grinned and stuffed what was remaining of that egg in his mouth.

"I deal with business men at the club all the time. They are just like them. It's like they live two lives. The one they show the public, and then the secrets underneath the suit that are a little more sinister. The ones at that support group are the daytime suits, only being showing us what they want us to see."

All of this was taken in with a very thoughtful air. It didn't sound like Wei had completely swallowed the lines the Bureau had tried to feed him but also it didn't sound like he was entirely against them either. This required more investigation.

"Did they give you that 'stay out of trouble' line? That's what they said to me. Not, hey we can help you or don't worry things will be fine, it... sounded like a threat to me."

"Honestly I stopped listening after awhile. I told them I just wanted to pretend it didn't happen at all. But they were definitely more like FBI guys trying to cover up an UFO landing then anyone who cared to make sure we were okay."

He shrugged and took another sip of his wine. He didn't really care much about the Bureau guys as long as they left him alone.

"That's an interesting theory."

Even if Wei weren't being entirely serious it still got Anthony thinking.

"It is very 'men in black', isn't it? They must be government... Were there any people around you when you 'remembered'? I was surrounded and they all seemed to have forgotten anything had happened. So like the movie, like they had been... what's the word, neuralized?"

Thinking about that for a moment, he slowly shook his head. "I was in the alley so I was pretty much alone but I think I remember them talking to people on the street in front of me."

His eyes widened. "You think they might seriously have little mind forget zappy things? I mean if they do..then it's just as easy that they have something that can put memories into a person's head."

"That's Alec's theory."

He blinked, realizing that his new friend would have no idea who he was talking about and that he ought to preemptively explain.

"My cousin. He thinks that all these memories have been implanted in our minds for some kind of nefarious purpose... experiment or something. I can't think of why they would do it. What would there be to gain from it?"

"I didn't like those guys before but now I really don't like them.." No one is allowed to just mess with his head. But he didn't see the guys until after the memory so when would they have done it?

"Doesn't seem smart to me...I mean some people aren't going to take too well to this kind of thing. What happens if they implant it into someone that could lose their mind completely and go on some sort of murder spree or something? Like if they found out they were a serial killer or something in their past life." Hell..maybe he was one. If his memory involved death who is to say he doesn't do the same.

"If these memories are being implanted why would they give some one the memories of a serial killer?"

If there were no child... One of his own memories bubbled up as they tended to do at the worst times. Sitting on a bench and plotting the murder of a young boy he had helped to raise. It was horrible, but how did it help anyone?

"Wouldn't they want to give us memories they could use, like... turn us into soldiers or scientists. What would be the point in making all these so random?"

"Too many questions, too few answers." Wei Wuxian shook his head again and finished off his wine.

As he set the glass down he stared at it silently for a moment, wondering if they would ever really find out the truth or if they were doomed to just keep following whatever path the suits laid out for them.

"I guess all we can do it just keep on living and dealing with whatever dreams come our way."

Anthony reached out for the bottle of wine and tilted it at Wei in silent question if he needed a refill.

"That is what we have been doing. Trying to ignore it,"

Which had been his move.

"Or rationalize it,"

Which had been Alec's idea.

"Or take a more active sort of role... Some have been trying to find the answers in the Bureau itself."

He grinned and nodded, holding his glass as he let it be refiled.

"I don't know about trying to get answers from those guys..they seem pretty set with not giving any."

And they could be dangerous if poked. Growing up alone, Wei Wuxian had often poked at authority and if he weren't as smart as he was he probably would have ended up in a lot of trouble a lot of the time. But he knew how to get away with a lot. The Bureau had a lot of secrets and probably would go to great lengths to keeping them quiet.

The wine was poured right up to the top. Heavy topics like this once required plenty of booze to wash them all down with.

"Apparently some one asked them a question, which like you said, didn't go anywhere... There has been talk about doing more than asking."

He let that statement lie to see how Wei would respond but he hadn't yet said so much that he didn't feel he could backtrack if need be.

"Doing more? What? Like barging into the building with weapons blazing?" He quirked his eyebrow, thinking that would be a pretty bad move on anyone's part even if they were desperate for information.

"If they really are the government, they have a lot more resources available to them then we do. Unless by chance one of the people who got visions happens to be a really excellent hacker."

"Yeaa... that certainly isn't me. I'm not a hacker and I've never held a gun in my life. I'm British we don't do guns."

He sipped at his wine.

"Might not even be true. It's just one of the many rumors that I have heard floating around out there. We aren't being told anything, so people are coming up with their own answers."

"I'm not British but I certainly don't know anything about guns. I'm a lover not a fighter." Except when he has to defend himself when he's tried to show love to someone whose significant other doesn't approve. In which case it's self defense. But weapons are never factored into the equation.

He took another drink of wine as he considered what options might even be out there for them. He was coming up with nothing. Of course, he didn't really know who else had visions and what their skill sets were. If he had an idea he might be able to come up with some options.

"I could ask around at the club. We get a lot of people there and some might know things if I can ask the right questions."

"It could be dangerous asking questions like that."

The warning dropped like a bomb and his steady unblinking gaze tried to catch Wei's eyes.

"We don't know anything about these people and if they hear anyone is out there asking too many questions they might just try to shut you up. They have certainly done a good job of that so far. I hadn't even heard rumors of people regaining long lost memories until it started happening to me. If you do ask anyone, make sure it's some one you trust."

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