[MINGLE] Post-Bunker Support Group

[markwatney]

WHO: Mark Watney
WHERE: Town Hall & Inn
WHEN: 6 September 2018, Evening
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Warn on your threads, please. PTSD is probably a given.
NOTES: Support group mingle! If your character needs some support after the latest meta plot or just generally, send them on over to Town Hall. Also, feel free to do top levels having to do with signing up for a tube monitoring shift. Please let me know if you want a Mark thread, I have notifs off for the post.

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So, I have been down to what we all seem to be collectively calling the Bunker. It is... something, to say the least.

For some people it feels like hope and for others despair, and I can honestly see both sides of it. Some people need to feel like they have some control, even if it's illusory — Having a puzzle to possibly solve makes them feel less adrift. For others, it's too much reality, or the perception of, anyway. I can't say I'm personally convinced by any of it.

See, I've been here since the start of whatever this is, with a group that's almost entirely gone now. It's been five months since we were birthed into this expanded world, and I don't know if it's any more real than the last. That isn't me putting on a tin foil hat, that's just respecting the environment. Mars was the same way: You do what you need to do to eke out a life, to survive or even thrive, but it's dangerous to think you have any real control. Everything can go to shit in the blink of eye, and then you're tumbling around in an airlock while your entire food supply is turned to dust.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people should stop hoping to get home, stop trying to figure it all out. I'm just saying we might all be a little easier mentally if we could express how scary it is to know, deep down, that the rug can be pulled out from under us at any moment... And then to accept that feeling that way is okay.

With that in mind, after a little meditating during my daily work in the fields, I put up two notices on the blackboard in the South Village inn:

Volunteers to monitor the bunker tubes for new arrivals, please sign up for a shift on the paper on the bar.

That's one thing we can do, at least. Just the illusion of control, but still important to some people, and definitely helpful for anybody new.

Below that:

Support Group Tonight
Town Hall - 7:00 PM
Everyone Welcome

I don't know how many people will actually show — We've got a surprisingly stubborn, resilient group, in my experience. But even if it helps just one person, it's worth doing.

Comments

[fwips]

For the most part, Peter has gotten used to the fact of what brought him here. Sure, he still has nightmares about it way more often than he likes to think about, but it's just a different sort from the ones he had before, and that day he lost it on Mr. Stark, that was a whole bunch of things all bundled into one. If anything, it's the hopelessness that gets him here, that sneaks up behind him and whispers in his ear that he'll never get home, that they'll never fix it.

So it surprises him a little that Kamala's reacting so fiercely, although it makes plenty of sense. And maybe it's not just about the simple fact of it for her, either; maybe it's more about being here, and hovering in that place between giving in and settling down, or wishing for something else. Or maybe it's about where she's been, or where she might end up, or something Peter can't begin to understand.

But the crying he really doesn't know how to handle.

"Oh, that's— No, please don't cry," he hastily replies, both hands held forward and uncertain, his expression pinched somewhere between soft concern and total horror over not knowing what to do. "It's not— I'm here," he reminds her, and finally lays a hand on her shoulder. "I mean, yeah, it sucks, but maybe there are people back home who are fixing it right now. That's what Mr. Stark thinks." Or theorized could be possible, at least.

[morphogenia]

The shoulder does a lot to help her pull it together. She comes from a family of huggers or at least she thinks so. Kamala always responds positively to small gestures like that. She wipes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and blows it out her mouth. Okay she's got this. Probably. "I hope so. That's what we're supposed to do, right? The heroes fix stuff."

It's the easy answer. She'll always believe in heroes... until she doesn't. That's a heartbreaking story she may never get to. For now Kamala does her best to meet his eyes and level with him as best she can about why this hit her so hard. "I know you're here just like everyone else who died and came back, but I was always taught that death was painful even for the most righteous souls. I hate that people I care about suffer so much even knowing they came back. It still isn't right to go through all that once and know it'll have to happen again someday. You... all of you deserve better." Death still means something to her even if everyone around her may perceive it as cheap.

[fwips]

"It didn't hurt," Peter offers, not knowing if that will make her feel any better about it or not. "Physically, I mean. Emotionally, it was—" He hitches in a breath, looks down as his hand falls from her shoulder. "It was scary. The scariest thing I've ever— I didn't know I was going to end up here. I thought that was it." He swallows roughly and pushes up a slight shrug.

"But thanks for caring," he remembers to add, and flicks a glance back up to her. "Seriously. I know that's a kind of weird thing to say, but I mean it. I don't want you to be sad, but it's nice to know you care. You're a really good person, Kamala."

[morphogenia]

It might be a weird thing to say, but she gets it. Sometimes it is hard to see who around you really cares. She's had a lot of time to think about who she took for granted back home. At the very least Peter seems to realize she values him. Maybe people can change for the better in a weird situation where everyone might be a clone.

Her smile is soft as he meets her gaze. "You're my friend. I'm not always the best friend. I got distracted a lot back home. I might get distracted here too, but I do care, Peter. Don't forget that, okay? And thanks for being honest with me. I know it's not easy to talk about the stuff that hurt you." She's speaking from experience. There's a lot she's kept to herself over the past year. The few times she does open up it really does hurt. She appreciates his effort.