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

no worries

[lazyinlove]

[The question sounds...bizarre. It's one that people generally never ask in these situations. And it's the sort of thing that people never answer honestly.

Except that Stanley does. So he stares for a moment, shrugs, and tells her the truth.]

I was tired. But now I can't sleep.

[gevurah]

[ It's always been condolences and how-are-you-doings as far as Kate's ever known. Etiquette and all. Stanley's young, too, she worries about most of the young kids and the state of their minds in all this. ]

Try showering before you sleep.

[lazyinlove]

It's always cold.

[He wrinkles his nose. The small talk is a little easier. He's managing to focus on the conversation mostly and everything. There's this thick barrier of fog between them, but if he ignores it then maybe Kate won't notice it either. They can just keep talking about how shitty the showers are.]

[gevurah]

[ There aren't many solutions up here. When her mother died, she had had difficulty keeping food down as well as sleeping problems. ]

Try some stretches, then. Loosen your muscles.

[lazyinlove]

[As a matter of fact he'd been telling Peter and Mike earlier that his stomach was in knots,. Maybe it's common. He wouldn't know. Most of the memorials he's been to were for the elderly, and no one was that distraught. The few times classmates or kids from the neighborhood have died, they've never been close friends. He's not sure how grieving is supposed to work. But it's nice of Kate to try and help. He'll have to do better than a shrug or a nod this time.]

Okay.

[gevurah]

[ She wonders if it's in good form to ask what exactly happened. Stanley is such a quiet, fragile type from her two conversations with him, and the second hadn't exactly been in the most exciting of situations. ]

Do you want to be alone?

[lazyinlove]

Uh. You gotta go?

[He doesn't, actually. But it's not exactly fair to expect people to stick around in the first place. Especially people who never even met Peace. So he nods. Sure, yeah. He can...go stare out the window some more and wonder what's going on down there on the planet.]

[gevurah]

No.

[ She doesn't have to be anywhere for the time being. She does a lot of her work via tablet up here unless her fists are needed. ]

You brought Peace up here yourself?

[lazyinlove]

Uh. Yeah. Sorry.

[He's heard the lectures about that at least a dozen times, so it seems easiest to try and head them off with an apology.]

[gevurah]

That's a brave thing you did.

[ How can she say it isn't wise to save a life? What did her own father tell her before she spent two years globetrotting around the world training to be the soldier she is today?

A single life counts.

Maybe they can't save everyone in this war, but they can still save someone out there. ]

[lazyinlove]

Not really. Just walked past security like I knew where I was going. They were kinda distracted.

[Still, she's the only one besides Nill who realizes he meant to save the girl. It's oddly reassuring to hear, even in the face of clear and obvious failure. It makes the knots in his stomach contract, sends a queasy shiver up his throat, but it's just gratitude getting stuck there. Maybe with a bit of bile, but definitely gratitude. Someone in the room doesn't think he did a stupid, cruel thing. That counts for something.]

[gevurah]

[ Whether or not he takes it as a patronizing gesture, she finally extends a comforting hand toward his shoulder. ]

It was brave.

[ Braver than anything she's done. Now she stands guilt ridden. Why hadn't she tried to bring any of the Exiles aboard? ]

[lazyinlove]

[If he's offended by the gesture, it doesn't show. He leans into the touch instead, grateful for the small comfort it offers.

There's something nice about physical contact. It's like saying to each other "I'm another human, and I'm here too, and I acknowledge you being here with me." He sighs quietly. The majority will never forgive him, but two people do. Two people is something. He can hold onto that much, at least.]

I thought...I thought it was saving her.

[gevurah]

You did.

[ No doubt it looks like nothing came of it at the moment, but she's not ready to let go of the sliver of hope she's been clinging to all this time. The timeline can erase or create; Peace might be back on Earth, as apparently the bomb has never happened now. ]

I don't know if we can save everyone, but even one life counts.

[ She wants to believe they can protect billions of people.

She really wants to. ]

[lazyinlove]

Well, yeah. Why wouldn't it?

[Though he's still not sure that what he did to Peace was saving her. It's nice to hear that someone thinks it was.]

[gevurah]

[ His question is met with a small, soft smile. ]

Sometimes people don't realize that.

[ Even she had to be told that. ]

[lazyinlove]

I'm not a soldier.

[He counts everyone. But then again, he's not much use in a conflict situation.]

[gevurah]

You don't have to be.

[ She thinks it's an unfair imposition to place on the kids. ]

[lazyinlove]

I won't.

[gevurah]

Besides...

[ Kates gestures around them, to the memorial he's set up for Peace. ]

It's important to remember.

[lazyinlove]

[The response is slow to come, and when it does, it's sot. Barely there, and painfully honest.]

It's hard.

[gevurah]

[ Her brows continue to pull close together, the corner of her lips turned down. She nods slowly when her gaze extends back to Stanley. ]

It is. [ Especially at the start. ] But don't forget you're not alone here.

[ Nill, Peter... the ones who came. It's not just about Peace, it's about Stanley, too. ]

[lazyinlove]

[That's supposed to make him feel better. He's pretty sure it is. So he nods, going along with it.

It's never a good idea to admit that you're the guy who doesn't have friends. We'll. no friends in this millennium anyway.]

Thanks.

[gevurah]

[ If only Kate knew better, she would feel awful. ]

You're welcome.

[lazyinlove]

[Communication is hard. He's best at it in short spurts, when people aren't even sure if they heard him correctly.]