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

[reassures]

[Somehow, the idea that Peace might not exist anymore had never occurred to Nill. She knew every little thing that they changed in the past affected the future; that it was dangerous and foolish, and that the Initiative didn't know what they were doing most of the time, even if they pretended they did. She knew that everything they did endangered Transports and Exiles alike, and yet...

That little girl hadn't been an Exile in Nill's mind, though. As soon as they got to the moon it wasn't Transports and Exiles anymore-- it was Transports and the Initiative, and Peace had been a Transport in her eyes. Now she was just... gone. And everyone on this base was responsible for it.

For all the danger her friends have gotten into in the past though, Nill has never attended a funeral. She'd witnessed one or two during her time living in the church, but this was different. Being something of a mourner instead of an observer, she had no idea what she was meant to do here. Without any better idea to go off of, she finds herself lingering over by the paper flowers, and watching as people come and go.]

[lazyinlove]

[Stanley approaches Nill after a while. He's sort of moving through a fog, so it takes him some time to notice her there. But it's nice of her to come. So he shuffles over, silently, and rests a hand on her shoulder gently. Maybe he doesn't have to say anything. That'd be nice. There's such a big lump in his throat right now.]

[reassures]

[She'd figured he probably wanted to do his own thing, even if he was the one running all of this. Loss was difficult, especially when you had devoted most of your time to that person - especially so if it was a little girl like Peace had been. Children required so much more attention than anyone else. Stan might never think so himself, but Nill really believed he had done well.

She offers him a small smile, and lifts a hand to put it on top of his, briefly. She makes no moves to pull out her tablet. Instead, she glances at the paper flowers, and gives him a thumbs up, as out of place as that might be at the funeral this is meant to be. A silent sort of "you're doing well". She's not sure how well it'll translate in this situation.]

[lazyinlove]

[Stanley gets the idea, more or less. It's tough to care what anyone thinks of the flowers. They're not for these people anyway, not really. They're for someone who won't even see them. It makes his breath hitch painfully in his chest. He understands that Nill is trying to make him feel better, not worse. So he gives her shoulder a soft squeeze, still not trusting his voice to work properly at the moment.]

[reassures]

[At least he gets the general idea. She's not expecting to do much to help-- there's pretty much no way to help a situation like this. But the way she figures, she can be there, and maybe that'll be enough.

Even though this situation is terrible, and should never have happened, Nill is a little grateful for Stanley. Because of experiences in her own world and in the Port, there was always this divide in her mind; the people who were there first, and the people who came after, whether they wanted to or not. One group was always treated horribly, and because of that she'd judged the Exiles in much the same way as she had Natives, or some of the people in her own world.

She's a little ashamed of how long it took her to realize just how awful that was.

Stan's not up to talking though, and trying to say thank you now - or ever - would probably just worsen his opinion of her further. So instead she lifts her hand from his, and reaches into a pocket of her jacket to pull out a hair ribbon. Then she reaches over and picks up a paper flower, and kind of wraps the ribbon on it like a bow, before setting it down again. It's not a very nice color for the occasion, but it's all she has. One thing that she recalls of funerals involves placing flowers on caskets, and it's all she has to offer.]

[lazyinlove]

[That's a little confusing at first, but...it seems like a gesture. That's nice. People making gestures. It's kind of beyond him at the moment to figure out how this goes. The only funerals he's been to were for old people, and no one was all that distraught.

This isn't like that. Who knows what the rules are? Maybe tying up the fake flowers with cheerful ribbons is good enough.]

[reassures]

[She's not really sure what to do either. Her methods for dealing with dead or missing loved ones have... not been the best, typically speaking. Even given that, it hadn't really been unexpected. It was the same at the church; she always worried there would be a day Badou wouldn't come back with Heine. With Peace it was so different that it was a little jarring.

But after a moment, a question occurs to her that might not be too bad to ask. It's unrelated at least.]

Where are you staying here?

[lazyinlove]

144. I think it's in the east wing. Jesse's place.

[He knows his way, that's all that matters. He even learned the room number in case of emergencies. Besides, it's hard to give a shit about details at the moment. If he gets lost sometime and has to wander around a while to find it, then he does. It's no big deal.]

[reassures]

[The most she offers in return is a brief nod. He was there back on in Exsilium too, wasn't he? It'd make sense that he stayed there. She would've liked to make sure he got back okay after this, but... She's not sure if he's still living there.]

I'm in 196.

[lazyinlove]

[What'd she tell him that for? In case he needs something? He's not sure what this mysterious need people expect him to have might be. Should he call them up and let them know when the kitchen is out of toaster pastry? Should he ask for something arbitrary to make them feel useful? Maybe he could start collecting sticky notes. He could score stacks of them right now. Leave notes on everything. Maybe label things around the bunks humorously. Maybe he can remember the Spanish words for most of them.

...But that's probably not why she mentioned it. She's probably being polite. So he nods in response, and doesn't make any cracks about toaster pastry or sticky notes. 196, got it.]

[reassures]

[She was thinking more along the lines that he might need a distraction, and if what she'd 'overheard' from him earlier was true... he didn't seem to have the best friends here, if they couldn't see what a good job he'd done with Peace. And it wasn't like he could smoke here. Not to mention living with Jesse...

He can do with the information what he likes, she supposes.]

Did she know many people here?

[lazyinlove]

A lot of them. Not all.

[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]

[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?]

[reassures]

[It's not a surprise that it didn't work, but she liked to think the effort was important. Maybe. She's not sure how important it was if it just made a sad boy more miserable, but st least in this case... it wasn't all about Stanley. If something like that were to happen to Nill, she would want to be remembered. She was sure a little girl like Peace wouldn't want to be forgotten, either.

However, it's becoming more obvious that she cant do anything else to try to cheer him up. Finally, Nill folds her tablet over, tucking it back into her pocket.]

[lazyinlove]

[He sees the tablet go away, out of the corner of his eye. Usually he'd come up with something to try to make Nill feel better, but he's tapped out. Maybe they can just stand there together silently. It would be a lot less work.]

[reassures]

[She's not really the one that needs it. She feels horribly over Peace's nonexistence, but nowhere near as badly as he does, and she knows that.

Anyway, standing in silence sounds like a good plan. Nill will probably stick around until most of the people he told about this come and go.]

[lazyinlove]

[There isn't much that gets said between fumbling attempts at greeting others and spacey attempts at conversation that generally don't end well. He's not really in the place to carry things at the moment. But it's nice to have someone familiar nearby. He thinks about brushing her feathers, and how nice it might feel, but he doesn't reach for them again. That much he learned the first day. The warmth of her presence is enough.]

[reassures]

[Nill does her best to try conversation with others - she mostly succeeds with Kate, if briefly, but she figures the attempt counts for slightly more than nothing.

And it's good that he doesn't reach for her feathers, because she probably wouldn't let him touch them more than once. The way things are is a good one, and Nill does her best to just be there, for as long as this ordeal takes. Even if she had somewhere better to be, she probably wouldn't go.]

[lazyinlove]

[He can't imagine anywhere better to be on a moo base, funeral or no. So he'd be surprised if anyone excused themselves for that. Not that Nill does. She's there, hovering uncertainty in a way he wants to validate. Not that anyone listens to him, but it's nice, is all. It's nice that she wants to help with things. Nice that she wants to lay Peace properly to rest.]

hahahaha moo base, space version of the cow house

[reassures]

[She's had too many friends who didn't get laid to rest. Too many people who just disappeared one day. It wasn't like what happened to the little girl - the others still had photos. But the end result would be the same. Eventually, no one would remember them, and they'd be just like Peace. Gone.

It was too sad, too cruel a fate for such a little girl. She deserved so much better. But this was all they could give her, and if it was all she could do, then Nill was going to do it. For both her and for Stan. Even if she can't manage much, she can at least try to make sure he doesn't get overwhelmed with this whole thing though.]

spaaaaace cows

[lazyinlove]

[People do start to drift away eventually, at which point Stanley takes a seat beside one of the pillows in the back, still just sort of staring at the wall. He's trying to comprehend all of this, but it's not easy.]

the best kind

[reassures]

[Nill waits until it gets a little bit emptier - not totally empty, because who knew how long that would take, but so that it could be close to an 'ending' to this. She's not really sure how long it takes. It's more difficult to tell the time here than it was in Exsilium anyway. But she walks over, and crouches down, a message already typed up on her tablet.]

I can help you take the pillows back to your room later.

no the best ones are cheeseburgers!

[lazyinlove]

Huh?

[He glances her way when she shows him her tablet, but it takes a few read through to get his brain to latch on to the meaning of those words. Slowly, he nods. Sure, okay. She's probably right. He should take them back up. People might complain if they're missing.]

AN EXCELLENT POINT. I retract my previous statement.

[reassures]

[She's less worried about anyone getting upset and more worried about leaving the pillows here and people snagging them. And then Stanley not having any pillows. That, and she's a little concerned that if she leaves, he'll just... stay here.

She's not really sure what the best thing to do right now is, given everything about the situation they're all in. She just wants to make sure he gets back to his bed.

It's pretty obvious he's not quite up to that though, so she offers a slight smile, and shifts to just sit where she'd been crouching instead.]