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's a nice set-up you have here.

[ With the little they do have for a memorial, the paper flowers are a nice touch. ]

[anklets]

For-

[ she stops herself and knits her fingers ]

I can't tell you what to hope for.

[lazyinlove]

[The shoulder pat is appreciated, though there's not much to say about it. These situations defy words, don't they? Stanley nods anyway, in response to the question. That's just how it was.]

Gone overnight.

[heroxide]

Just gone.

I wonder if it's better or worse that way. ["Than seeing her actually die", but he won't say that.]

[lazyinlove]

A lot of them. Not all.

[lazyinlove]

I'm open to suggestions.

[It's not like he has anything in mind. He used to hope the girl he liked would like him back, or that he'd do better than a C on his trig exam so his dad would get off his case, or that the gelato place would have his favorite flavor that day. Shit like that. But in a situation like this, what is there to hope for?]

[lazyinlove]

[It makes him suck in a breath. Good, okay. Inhale accomplished. Maybe eventually he'll even get a pattern going. It stings, way more than he's expecting. Like a shock. Like having ice water thrown down your back. Talking about this with someone who's got some idea of what's going on in his head is painful.

The words are...good. Not helpful, but not unhelpful either. They mean something. It's important. They can't forget her. Except that isn't what comes out when he opens his mouth. It's something else.]

Think I'm gonna try.

[lazyinlove]

[Is it? That's good. He tried. It helps if it comes across that way. He doesn't put effort into many things, but this felt important.]

Okay.

[werewolfing]

[that's like a slap in the face. but as someone who practically runs from things for a living, he kind of gets it. it hurts too much, so he's running.]

If that's what you've gotta do, man.

[survival is the most important thing, after all.]

[lazyinlove]

Me too.

[The response is soft, but this time it's there. With No small amount of guilt laced through it. He hadn't known about this. None of it. Not until that anon post a few days back. To have it proven so suddenly, painfully, personally true is a slap in the face. But bigger than that. Harsh and brutal and senseless. An avalanche. If all of the horrible things don't even end well, how are any of them supposed to live with themselves?

If Steph wanted to gloat now, she could. She was right. He'd fucked up by taking Peace. He'd known it since that first day on the moon. But he couldn't just put her back. There wasn't a back. There was nothing, and less of it all the time. They just kept breaking everything they touched.]

[lazyinlove]

They didn't all know her.

[Some of them barely even knew him, in fact. But he couldn't stand the idea of no one else knowing she'd been there at all.]

[lazyinlove]

[The flowers are unexpected, but maybe it's stranger that he wasn't expecting any in this situation. He watches Ella place them, but doesn't approach right away. It's tough to psych himself up for greeting people at the moment. All he wants to do is curl up in the corner and stare at the wall. But that would make for a shitty memorial, so he doesn't. Eventually, he shuffles up to Ella and addresses her quietly.]

Thanks.

[lazyinlove]

I don't know.

[Things are blurry. Maybe it's just his eyes. It's difficult to tell. He's had this feeling since it happened, where every movement is like trying to swim through thickening tar. How do people keep their head above the water at all?]

I don't know what to do.

[lazyinlove]

It makes me feel crazy.

[That's probably a bit too honest for a new acquaintance like Spike, but there aren't any close friends to babble at, either. Besides, Spike won't really care. Or at least he never seems to. It's predictable. There's something reassuring about that.]

[heroxide]

[A part of him considers mocking Stanley.

But he's improved himself through time from "unbelievable asshole murderer" to something only slightly better.]

I know the feeling.

[lazyinlove]

Really?

[So far, everyone keeps looking at him like he's sprouted an extra head whenever he asks for a reality double check. It's apparent that most people in this place have more dimension hopping experience than he does.]

[werewolfing]

[he lets out a breath, the kind that almost sounds amused but really isn't. an audible grimace. he shakes stanley's shoulder a little.]

Welcome to life. You're gonna do the thing that you need to do, and that'll be enough.

[controlledvariable]

[Gloating is the furthest thing from her mind; she thinks it was a mistake to bring Peace up here, but she knows that it wasn't Stanley's intention, that he did his best despite the terrible circumstances.

What she does do is lay a hand on his arm, the touch light and careful, like she's scared he might bolt.]

Why don't you go get some rest, I can pack everything up.

[It's the only thing she can think to offer.]

[heroxide]

[He shrugs, keeping it nonchalant.]

Maybe a different sort of loony, though. Can't say I blame you much.

[reassures]

[She kind of wonders if anyone really knows Stanley very well.

But if Kate was here, then he had probably invited her, just as he had invited Nill. Which meant...]

Did you get to meet Peace?

[reassures]

[That made sense. She was a small girl, after all - children tended to get around, didn't they? She's not that surprised.]

No one will forget her.

[It's a depressing thought, she supposes. But when you deal with time shenanigans, usually memories are the only thing left over. They're important.]

[lazyinlove]

I don't know how everyone else is just...fine.

[He frowns a little, not able to even attempt to piece it together at the moment. His thoughts are all loose and fuzzy and hard to catch.]

None of this is okay.

[lazyinlove]

[That's supposed to make him feel better. He can tell it is. But it doesn't. None of these people are supposed to know her. Did it do any good? Did showing them a face that they're responsible for snuffing out of the universe do anything positive here?

Or did it just make things difficult for him and everyone around him these past few months?]

[heroxide]

Okay? Most things aren't.

At least everyone's not bright 'n cheery, yeah? That would rankle a bit more than "okay". [Every cloud has a silver lining? Nauseating thought.]

[gevurah]

I didn't. I had heard there was an Exile child who'd been snuck up here.