SENDOFF.

[openterrain]

[ Does it ever stop?

Maybe not, but Jean doesn't actually have an issue with that. The immediately visible zombies have been taken care of and the group is ready for any others that might shamble their way. It's still the dead of the night as Jean moves about the town square, gathering up every last bit of dry wood he can find and building up the basis of what could become an impressive bonfire. Strangely, he leaves it unlit - or perhaps not so strangely, since it really should be time to move on.

Instead, Jean goes back - back into the school and through the hallways and down to the courtroom. He makes several side trips as he goes, gathering up rope and matches and spare blankets along the way. He's not particularly surprised to see that Kimblee's corpse has been a bit abused since they last left him, nor is he depressed or angry or pleased.

Kimblee got what he deserved.

Jean takes the time to carefully wrap Kimblee's corpse in the spare sheets and secure them with rope, more out of consideration for the more squeamish of his fellow survivors than any respect for Observant himself. Wrapping him up is pretty simple, luckily. Dragging him back up the stairs and all the way over to the bonfire is simple, but not easy. He's a big, heavy bastard as it turns out and the very first hints of dawn are glimmering on horizon by the time Jean finally gets him over to the bonfire. Unsurprisingly, Jean will happily accept any offers to help with the body moving process.

There's no pomp or ceremony to Kimblee's 'funeral'. There's no moment of silence, no carefully selected works, not even a few personal possessions tossed onto the pyre with their tormentor of the past two months. Jean simply kindles a few sparks at the base of pyre, and then steps back to watch the flames grow into a blaze and consume flesh and wood alike.

... He does take care to stand upwind of the pyre, however. Burning bodies aren't exactly a pleasant scent. ]

Comments

[announcemyvictory]

[Elise is there, though, and she nods to herself.]

I suppose there's nothing else more to do, is there?

[openterrain]

Yeah.

[ It's cold and snowy but... you know what? Jean is gonna sit his ass right down on the snow. Fuck, that was exhausting. ]

At least now we know we never have to deal with him again.

[hashtagafreakingghost]

[All we need are marshmallows. (Ashley could probably ask Rick to get some for them, couldn't she? What a disaster.)

...But, uh, before the burning starts, as Jean's dragging him out and Ashley slowly realizes what's wrapped in there, she asks:] Can you- can I have just a moment, please?

[openterrain]

[ Jean gives Ashley as slightly puzzled look, but he doesn't hesitate in the slightest to drop Kimblee's corpse and take a step back. ]

Yeah, no problem.

[withabigsmile]

[...Blue is nearby, but Wiggly's the one that takes that spear Blue carried out with her and uses it to poke the burning body, because this is what we're doing with our lives today.

Fuck that guy. And double fuck that guy for hurting Beedrill.]

[shuttermouse]

[ You don't mind being petted and scratched behind the ears while you poke the corpse, right. Because Chie will be doing that unless Wiggly has any objections. ]

[charcoalfeather]

[Bunny why

Rakka just kind of... watches for a moment, because wow. Um, that is happening.]

Um, maybe you shouldn't do that?

[she's talking to a bunny now.]

[swirlied]

[ Well.

Yuuri's image of Wiggly being a cute, innocent pokemon is shattered. ]

[oftheland]

[...Beedrill is not 100 percent yet and therefore does not want to get too close to the fire, but he gets close enough to be able to approvingly nod to Wiggly and have the other Pokemon notice.]

[decrees]

[WIGGLY PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THAT FIRE OH MY GOD--]

...I'm not sure if this feels like a fitting end or not.

[Hi, Blue. It looks like Logan's finally calmed down from wanting to smash everything with the warhammer. He's got his head tipped slightly to the side as he studies the pyre over there.]

[charcoalfeather]

[For once, Rakka found herself fortunate to be wearing the winter clothing she arrived in. Still, she can't help but hug herself as the pyre goes up in flames. Nope, not gonna watch a body turn into burning goop.

But she's glad he's gone. He was truly a monster at the end of it all.

Quietly, she reached into her coat pocket, producing what appeared to be a lighter. She stared down at it, flipping the cap off and fiddling with the mechanism. Seems she's trying to figure it out.]

[announcemyvictory]

Oh, one of those lighters from the machine?

( one/three )

[blazeit]

[ This might not be a very good time for this. In fact, it... is really an awkward time for this, considering the actual burning body of the captor that caused a bunch of them to die, but better sooner than later or... something. ]

Hey, Rakka, before I forget. I held onto your box for you.

[ And here he is now to return it, in case she was wondering where it was! He holds it out for her to take. ]

[blazeit]

[ ... Although for a few long moments there, it looks like he has something else that he wants to say. But he also kind of looks like he's either (1) suddenly been punched in the stomach, (2) is about to take the most nerve-wracking test of his life, or (3) is about to parachute off of a plane and isn't entirely sure about the quality of his parachute.

Or in other words: he is super super hella nervous about something.

He opens his mouth.

He closes his mouth...

For once, he does not open his big mouth any wider. ]

[blazeit]

[ ... ]

Right, so.

... Here it is.

[ A gold star for Katsuki Bakugou!



He truly deserves it. ]

[mortyfied]

[We sure are sitting around a dead guy's burning body, aren't we? Not really... not really the most uh. Touching. Moment or anything but hey, everyone kind of needed it. It's not like this kid hasn't seen or done worse and at least Kimblee was a legit bad guy. He deserved it.

Either way, Morty'll be sitting somewhat near the fire, knees pulled to his chest with a small stack of blank papers resting on them, and a pencil in hand. Looks like he's.. writing some final letters? There's also Ashley's beanie sitting on his head and one of the many Cabanela scarves wrapped around his neck, and not to mention a big pile of what looks to be arcade tickets sitting on his side. He might throw a few of those in the fire to help keep it burning, though.]

[forcegalactic]

[Mordecai is naturally drawn towards people that are currently writing, and while Morty isn't someone he's necessarily close to, he doesn' exactly hate him. Murderer or not, he's a small teen, and it's not like he's the first kid to have killed more than one person.

He's wearing the purple and blue scarf Ashley made for him weeks ago. Now that she's alive, he finds no reason to leave it by the memorial. Besides, it's cold.

For a moment, he's at a loss for what to say.]

Look out for yourself.

[hashtagafreakingghost]

[You know, while everyone's getting set, it seems suddenly, Ashley remembers something- and she hurries back into the building with a quick exclamation. ...Headed down to the basement, it seems, to rooms that...none of the survivors have seen, if they happen to follow her. A hallway to the left, that leads back behind Kimblee's booth (where she'd spoken to them, that one time, by accident?)- and a hallway to the right, with a few rooms, one a dorm room, one with two twin beds, and one a conference room.

...She's not going to linger here or even explain what she's doing, honestly. Just into two of the rooms and out.

When she returns outside, it's with...dear god, child, maybe you should've asked for some help! She's got two heavy-looking pillow-cases, which she half-drags across the ground with a grunt.] Excuse me! Everyone, I've got things for you! We explored the basement and- well, we found the letters we all sent Kimblee, and, uh... Some information he had on us! [She starts pulling things out. There are twenty-nine photo albums, some much thicker than others. ...Also twenty-nine books, journals of some kind. Each one has each person's Graceside title written on them.

Naturally, she takes her right out.]

These rightly belong to us, so...I figured we shouldn't just leave them here, right?

[midnightsea]

Are those...

[oh JESUS CHRIST excuse him while he snatches his right up]

[because frankly none of you have the faintest idea of the shit dio has pulled and you're not about to find out like this]

[mortyfied]

Oh, hey. Thanks Ashley! [He'll take the ones that are rightfully his and curiously flip through the journal. His curious expression is uh.. kind of.. quick to falter though.

That's... oh...]


H-h-how did he figure this stuff out about us? [Good ol' Morty, knowing jack shit until the very end.]

[withabigsmile]

[Blue went in with her for something completely different, but once they get out, that's kind of...]

Information on us?

[Does. Does she want to know.

...Please give her hers. ...Actually-]

Can I have Mister Giovanni's?

[Blue no.]

[rickdiculous]

[Ugh, you kids are so touchy feely about this. Rick uses the portal gun to step out of this dimension for a few minutes, both to recharge the gun for the many dimensions he'll have to visit and to acquire obscene amounts of marshmallows, hot dogs and whiskey.

When he isn't off sulking, Rick can be found attempting to roast weenies over Kimblee's burning corpse.]

[hashtagafreakingghost]

[Well, hello, Grandpa.]

Oh, good. I was gonna ask for you to get us some of those. [...] What kinda whiskey's that?

[A damn beach party in the snow is what this is.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan stands nearby, bundled up in her scarf from Ashley and what remains of her clothes from home. She watches Kimblee burn impassively. Good, let's set him on even more fire.

What's she going to do when she gets home from here? London feels like a lifetime ago now. She supposes she'll simply have to figure it out when she gets there. At any rate, she has promised to go give Ashley some help first, and that's certainly more important. Maybe they should form some kind of plan before they arrive.]

[charcoalfeather]

[Susan's not going to be alone with Kimblee's burning corpse for very long. As Rakka comes up beside her and, after a moment, lightly touched her arm. She offers the older woman a tired smile.]

[forcegalactic]

[Kimblee doesn't deserve a funeral, and if it were up to Mordecai, he'd let his body rot in the basement of the building. The pyre seems to calm down a decent portion of the group, so he lets it stand for now.

At one point, he approaches the pyre carrying a large stack of papers in his hands. Too many people have read his fanfics, which were meant only for his own eyes. For the multiverse's sake, it's best to burn the evidence before it's too late.

He's going to miss some of those stories.]

[charcoalfeather]

[...Is Mordecai doing what she thinks he's doing? A light gasp!]

Mordecai? What are...?

[icysemblance]

[If this had been entirely up to Weiss, she wouldn't have gone quite this far. It's at least some kind of closure, though, and she's glad for it, in the end.

She sits upwind of the fire, eventually standing up and page by page feeding all those photographs and all the documentation into it.]

I'll be glad when it's all gone.

[She could do it faster, but it's more satisfying this way.]