C'est la mort. (Open)

[lazyinlove]

Date & Time:Tonight, around 7.
Location:The viewing windows.
Characters:Anyone who knew Peace or who might stop to pay respects at a memorial even if they didn't know her.
Summary:A memorial gathering for an Exsile who ceased to exist with the most recent world change.
Warnings:Tears, cursing, bitterness? Not sure yet. People can label threads as they come up. Everyone is free to make their own and jump around. Prose and action are both fine.


It's a waste of emergency torches, but there are a few set up around anyway, lit that soft unearthly blue of emergency lighting. The flowers are paper, clumsily folded from discharge sheets, some from the prison, some from the clinic. There are no photos. All of the ones she was in before are empty spaces, or pictures of Stanley or others who'd been holding her at the time. The music is strings, playing softly from a haphazardly tossed tablet. There are no chairs. Instead, every pillow from 144 is on the ground as seating.

Stanley isn't sitting on one, though. He's standing at the window, staring down at the planet so far below. Today, he's combed his hair. It's still in his eyes because it's too long, but he's made the effort to tame it at any rate.

He's not sure how to start things off, but if someone shows up he'll greet them. That's what you do, right? So that's what he does.

"Thanks for coming."

Comments

[gevurah]

It is, even if there are good intentions behind it.

[ She's not a bastion of perfection herself; she's had to toss the little white lies here and there to ensure her identity was protected, but more importantly, that ones who could get hurt were safe as well. ]

[reassures]

[It sounds like something Kate has experience with. Especially that little tidbit - "ensure her identity was protected". She mostly chalks it up to someone else using the ease of the system here to change their name, like Kaneis. If that's the case, then Nill can respect it. Even if it does seem... slightly hypocritical.]

I never knew that.

[gevurah]

It can be complicated.

[ Like what happened with her father. ]

[reassures]

[Unsure of what else to say, Nill nods. It seemed like most things involving the truth were complicated.]

I'm going to go check on Stanley.

[Which is, you know, a not very subtle way of finishing up the conversation. She offers Kate a very, very slight smile, before walking over to wherever Stan is atm.]

[gevurah]

[ She nods and lets her walk off, waving in farewell before turning her own attention back to whatever else has been laid out for the memorial. ]

[lazyinlove]

Sun is alright.

[It's not exactly stimulating conversation, but the edge of panic is dissipating a little.]

[lazyinlove]

Someone will throw a party again someday.

[That's...all the promise he has to offer right now, right? It's easier than trying to plan something. His brain just isn't cooperating with processing information today.

Worse than usual, even. He can operate fine with a bit of a haze hanging around him, but whatever this feeling is -grief? guilt? regret?- it's suffocating.]

[lazyinlove]

"Nothing. Just asking." He says. It's obviously not the truth, but it's nicer than saying that involved discussions about girls and their shitty taste in music aren't things he wants to go over at the moment.

[lazyinlove]

Pretty sure you can't do takebacks.

[reassures]

[Not stimulating is maybe a good thing right now.]

What do you do if you don't have school?

[inafadingcrown]

No. But I might bring food, if you have need of it. Or simply sit with you, if it would bring you comfort.

[lazyinlove]

Nothing.

[Well, things. But what they all add up to is something like nothing. It's nice. No deadlines to fail to meet, no objectives to miss the point of, no boring droning lectures that could've been condensed into ten minutes of reading or film or even power point instead. Teachers are always going over the same point so many times that he doesn't even try to catch it at first, and by the time he bothers they're usually already bent out of shape about the snoring.]

[lazyinlove]

[That's...actually really nice. For once he's actually not hungry, but later he probably will be. It's normally pretty constant. Growing is hard work.]

Yeah? Maybe, yeah.

haha no worries

[lazyinlove]

Lunch?

[It's nice to hear that Giovanni doesn't seem to hold this against him. The dude still seems to be cool with Stan like before. But that part is hard to acknowledge, so he grasps the other conversational straw instead.

Actually, for once in his life he's not hungry. His stomach feels off. All tied up and heavy and tense. But he doesn't really want Giovanni to leave yet. It's reassuring to have someone older and smarter and stronger there. So Stanley nods. If he can't eat it, he can at least try to pay attention to how it's made. He'll be hungry later. He's always hungry. Growing is hard work.]

Okay.

SO bad with names. ^,^

[deadlybanker]

[Truth be told he wasn't particularly hungry either. It was just an excuse to see that Stanley had something... and he had to admit it, to spend time with him. It had been very lonely here since Ezio left. The only ones he really had to look after were these two and then this happened to Peace... ]

Va bene, I am glad you agreed.

[He led the way to the door. ]

We can leave the memorial here for any others to visit and return to it once we have had something.

[crocodilesmiles]

It takes her time to fumble through the contents of her bag to get everything she thinks she needs. "Right, right," she says agreeably.

SO COMMENCETH THE HAIR CUT! More to a point, Collette brushes his hair out with her fingers and starts to cut up from the bottom of his hair, shortening his bangs first. Heeeere Stanley Stanley Stanely, let's find your eyes under all this hair!

"Ever been to Super Cuts?"

[inafadingcrown]

[And she's also guessing that she's a better cook than he is. Call it a hunch.]

As I said, you need only ask.

[lazyinlove]

"I dunno, I never read the sign out front."

He's been to wherever his mother took him, because his farther would have insisted on cutting it all off. At least moms understood about things like romantic gestures in the form of haircuts. Besides, even if he'd grown it out for someone else, he likes it. It keeps his neck and ears warm, and it's great for ducking behind when he just doesn't want to look at something.

It's just the not being able to see anything anymore part that's started sucking.

[lazyinlove]

[There's a very real possibility of that, yes.]

Thanks. Um. I will.

[lazyinlove]

[Stanley didn't argue about leaving for a while and coming back later. as far as he was concerned that was fine. What could happen while they were away? Nothing. No one was going to trash the place, and anyway, so what if they did? Peace would never know.

The thought made Stan's stomach roll over again, but he calmed it with the palm of one hand as he hurried after Giovanni. Anywhere was better than here.]

We're kind of like...neighbors...or something. I don't mind.

[Hanging out, that is. In fact, he usually likes it. At the moment it's tough to get past the crawling feeling of loneliness and grief and existential weight, but somewhere under even all of that, he's grateful.

[crocodilesmiles]

"I was going to say I'm probably better than they are, but if you don't know the name, it's not so reassuring!" His eyes start to emerge from his hair hideaway with each deliberate snip. She gives him shorter, accidentally looking layered bangs, just from how she cuts up and not straight across.

"Ever thought of just shaving everything?"

He looks nice with longer hair, but she knows personal preference is all over the place.

[lazyinlove]

That gets a reaction. Okay, so he hadn't cared before, but now he's not sure he's alright with this after all. Stanley ducks out of range and puts his hands protectively over his hair.

"What are you doing? Jesus. No!"

It'd sure make his father happy if he went back home with a military cut. So it's got three strikes against it before he's even willing to give it a try. Sure, hair grows back, but he doesn't have any hats to keep his head warm. And girls don't think shaved heads are sexy unless you're a tough guy.

[crocodilesmiles]

She has to laugh, glad he's reacting, even if it's over the top. It's a release. "Relax, all I've got are scissors, not an electric shaver on me! What exactly do you think I'm going to do to you?" Collette shakes her head, lowering her hand with the scissors.

[lazyinlove]

"I don't know what you do for revenge."

He grumbles, having seen some impressively cold servings of that dished out. But she's laughing, so it's probably not the case. Stanley glances nervously at Collette one more time, but he drops his hands away and leans forward for her again.

[crocodilesmiles]

It's a story she gathers in bits and pieces. One she wants to hear more completely from him, if he'll speak, in this aftermath of heartbreak that had always been coming.

"Why do you seem so afraid of me?" There's no malice in her asking, only the can't of her head as she tugs on her hair with nimble, rough fingers, scissors snipping with more careful precision as she begins working on the hair around one ear.