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

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan turns, and returns the smile. She looks a little worn-out herself.]

Hello, Rakka. Are you ready to go home?

[charcoalfeather]

[A full day of killing a conductor, zombies, and coming back from the dead really did take it out of a person.

Rakka hesitated for a few seconds, but finally nodded.]

Yes, I think so. I know there's people back home that are probably worried about me right now.

[she'd come a long way from not remembering anything.]

What about you, Susan?

[ninehundredlives]

Oh, yeah? Did you remember more?

[Susan doesn't mention what's waiting for her back home just yet. She isn't really sure herself.]

[charcoalfeather]

Yeah. Uh, when I became a ghost I suddenly remembered a whole lot more about when I'm a Haibane. [Was that... no, she didn't explain it, did she?]

I have friends back where I came from, Haibane, like me!

[ninehundredlives]

Oh! That's wonderful!

[And here she'd wondered if Rakka was the only one, or something like that.]

What are they like?

1/?

[charcoalfeather]

Ah! There's a few of them, Reki, Kuu, Nemu, Hikari, and Kana! They're the older Haibane, like me. We all live in this old building, called Old Home, it was given to us by the Humans. [look she figures she might as well try and explain exactly where she's coming from a little, now that she remembers that much.]

Kana is really loud and energized, there's a clock tower in the town I live in that she works at! And Hikari is sweet and works in a bakery... and made treats out of my halo. [long story MOVING ON] Nemu works in a library, she's older then I am, so she's more mature and easy going... and she also likes to sleep, a lot. Ehehe....

[charcoalfeather]

And Kuu and Reki are great! They're really...

[charcoalfeather]

[....Wait.

Oh.]

done/in the right spot/Haibane Renmei spoilers

[charcoalfeather]

....They were really important to me.

[In the rush of memories, it's sort of just hitting her now.]

[ninehundredlives]

[...Susan suspects she's missing some context.]

...good. I'm glad you have people like that. They'll be happy to see you back.

[charcoalfeather]

[So was Rakka, until she died.]

...Thank you, I think so too. [There's clearly something unsaid here. would they ever talk about it?] If anyone is still there, I'm sure they're worried about what happened to me.

[She glances at the older woman.] What about you?

[ninehundredlives]

Oh...I don't know. The friend I was living with is dead now, and I don't remember everything that's happened since...

[She supposes she must have made some other friends, but she literally doesn't remember the first thing about them. They may as well not exist.]

[charcoalfeather]

[....Oh. Well, that's dealt a good blow to the mood Rakka was feeling so good about earlier. The hopeful expression on Rakka's face dims.]

I'm sorry. Losing a friend, especially if they cared about you, is always hard.

[And she also forgot that not everyone had the full extent of their memories returned. She could certainly sympathize; there may be things Rakka will never remember again.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Oh. Dear. She hadn't meant to upset Rakka. Susan's lived with this knowledge, and more than that, long enough to have come to some kind of peace with it.]

Well...she'd been sick for a while. Even before I met her, you know? She held out a lot longer than we thought she might...

[charcoalfeather]

[Unfortunately it's in Rakka's nature to get upset for the people she cares about. sorry, Susan!]

Sick? You mean with a fever, or something? [Well, Rakka's collective knowledge of the world now gave her... at least an inkling of understanding what Susan meant by that. It could mean many things, all of them bad.]

[ninehundredlives]

[.....you know, Susan's already had to explain Nazis to people today. She's not sure she wants to have a go at brain cancer.]

It was a bit worse than that.

[charcoalfeather]

[....Yeah. There had been at least one particularly "interesting" conversation with Rakka, back in Deadland. Very, very interesting. Let's shelve the brain cancer discussion for a later date.]

Oh, alright. I think... I understand.

[She does, in more words then that. But Susan didn't exactly look up to talking about it either.]

...At least you can still remember her? [She hopes that's a good thing.]

[ninehundredlives]

Yeah...at least I've got that. It's not so bad, as far as these things go. We both had time to prepare ourselves.

[charcoalfeather]

That's good. [Sometimes that's the only thing you can do.

...Mmgh...]

Maybe... we can help you find the rest of your memories.

[ninehundredlives]

There must be something out there in all those universes, right? [This isn't really a declaration of confidence; more like she's trying to guess what Rakka's thinking.] Maybe...

[charcoalfeather]

There has to be! [She says with certainty. If there was some great force that could bring them all together here, surely there must have been a force that could fix it.

Mostly, Rakka just didn't want to see her friends dealing with the same thing she did.]

So many universes... maybe my memories are out there, too.

[ninehundredlives]

They must be, right?

[Susan doesn't know how, but there's obviously magic out there.]

[charcoalfeather]

[She nods quietly. Clearly there was something more out there, judging even from their little group of friends. And Dio. Magic, or something like it, was out there. Rakka knew she wanted to see more of it.

Still, she seemed reserved for a brief moment. Her eyes weren't looking at the bonfire anymore.]

...But, maybe I'm just not meant to know them? I guess a part of becoming a Haibane means I need to move on from that. [Her hand clenched noticeably, but it wasn't in anger or fear.] I already know... that someone cared about me.