logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: GRAVES

EVENT LOG: GRAVES

EVENT LOG:
GRAVES

characters: everyone.
location: Bonfire Square.
date/time: July 12-19.
content: mysterious shrines appear and bring visions of death.
warnings: likely violence and potentially gore.

time to pay your respects.

It happens when no one is looking, when most of the town is asleep and the rest are inside. A makeshift cemetery has come to Beacon, taking up residence in the middle of Bonfire Square. Each monument, shrine, and altar is dedicated to someone who now resides here, a memorial of their previous life.

Some may be drawn by curiosity, others by fear, and some may simply have to pass through this strange graveyard to get to the Bonfire itself. Whenever a person gets near, the altars beckon with a mysterious urge— an urge to approach, and an urge to leave something behind. They will feel compelled to make offerings at the various shrines, but doing so has a curious effect; it causes one to experience the death of the person whose grave they've honored.

Whether you resist the compulsion or give in willingly (or something in between), you'll also have to wrestle with the fact that a grave exists for you. Will you let your death be known, or try your best to keep it secret? Destroying it sure won't work, as it will return— with a duplicate somewhere else in town.

However you choose to deal with this, one thing is hard to ignore— this a tangible reminder of your death, and the fact that it's probably permanent.

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( he shrugs a little, one shoulder lifts up. )

Never saw him again.

[She flinches, instantly sympathetic.]

Jesus. I'm so sorry.

( he reaches out an' touches her shoulder, gentle an' soft. )

It's all right. I'll see him again one way or another. We Hicks boys, ah, we've got a queer relationship with death given the whole. You know. Al an' I've always been at odds.

( al was so hurt an' betrayed he went to new york. he did it for them, removin' a mouth to feed at the table an' makin' money to send home besides, but he never saw it like that. just abandonment, plain and simple, an' it was made worse by gene's goin' in the war. joinin' the marines the following year was his way of hittin' back hard enough to hurt. gene thinks a lot about that pic that time magazine ran of those dead soldiers on buna beach an' just how vicious an' violent the war's been in the pacific, but. al's tough. he's the consummate fighter of them all, an' he'll survive. he has to. )

[She reaches up to cover his hand with hers, wondering how this keeps turning into him comforting her.]

Is he older or younger?

Younger. I'm the eldest of four.

( their protection always fell to him in one way or another. al resented that plain enough. )

[She hums softly, considering.]

I should have guessed that. How old is Al?

Little more than a year young'n'me.

( he keeps comin' back to that summer storm, his memory of pullin' al away from the screendoor as it rattled when all he wanted to do was watch the green swirl of the sky. he thinks that might've been what set the tone for the whole of their relationship. there ain't no question of the love bein' there. there were a lotta nights when the two of them were just out in the woods an' fields around agathine relyin' on nothin' else so much as each other, but when their ma died — al took it the hardest outta all of them, an' grief changed him. )

[They were close in age, then. Kyna wonders if that was strange for Al, if maybe the fact that he was almost the oldest but not ever grated. She and Nico are four years apart, and while his bossiness sometimes grated, there was never any real question that he had more experience and maturity than she did. She's not sure how a smaller gap would have changed their relationship. She doesn't want to ask that point blank, though.]

What's he like?

( he sort of. exhales. flexes his fingers, an' tries to really consider it. what would he say to al about a stranger? kyna ain't hardly that, an' besides this is the first time he's really even talked about his brother with anyone who ain't reggie's shade in years. none of the fellas in the company save alex even know he's got brothers. )

He, ah. He's difficult. Complicated. Always has been. He'd've followed me into Hell when we were younger, but after we lost our Ma he changed some, lost his way.

( it's the kindest way he can think to describe what happened after. al was forever gettin' into fights afterwards. he became volatile at a word. more than once gene had to step in on his account, an' in hindsight near every time he did he'd haul al home by the scruff lecturin' him. he'd tried so hard to fill the gap their ma left. must'a felt to al like he'd lost both his ma an' his brother at once. his expression softens at the realization. )

Truth be told, I left for New York at fourteen an' when I came back we were strangers, near about. He felt I'd abandoned them, an' I can't rightly blame him for sayin' so.

I think I get it. My dad kind of, um...

[She hesitates, shifting awkwardly.]

Ditched us, and my mom had to work all the time, so it was mostly me and my brother when we were growing up.

[And if he'd left, she can imagine being hurt and angry and lonely, too. Not that she blames Gene, necessarily—it sounds like it sucked all around.]

Did you, like... write him or anything?

( oh kyna. he doesn't think much of men what walk out on their families like that, to be sure, but it ain't anger on her behalf so much as sympathy that flickers in his expression. )

Some. Ain't much that makes it past the censors, an' deliverin' from one war zone to another on the other half of the planet ain't easy. But Reggie'd check in on him for me now an' then an' let me know how he was doin'. Al's the only one of us that can. Mm. Ghosts describe us as a beacon, almost. Like a light in the dark. Al can black it out so's he can't be found. No clue how he does it, but sometimes it means Reg' has a harder time findin' him.

( he scuffs his heel in the dirt to allay an itch, an' then tips his head to one side. )

You ever met up with your father again?

[Kyna's about to ask what exactly it means to be a beacon, but then he asks about her dad and she scoffs instead. At least she's willing to answer now. A year ago she would have just muttered a "yes" and instantly changed the subject or shut down completely. Now she just sounds bitter.]

Yeah, but it wasn't because he wanted to see me. I was on a job and he just wanted to swipe these artifacts we were hired to grab because they were cursed and super dangerous. He pretended he was psyched to see me so he could follow us and grab them. Guess how well that went.

( lord, he can't imagine the betrayal. the flame of that anger gutters, but it don't have place between the care and regard. he takes her hand again an' squeezes it gently. )

Ah, sweetheart. I'm sorry for that.

[She uncoils a bit when he squeezes her hand, but doesn't relax completely. Instead she shrugs, dismissive.]

He was an asshole who cared about magic more than his kids. My brother always sucked at it, so our dad never had time for him. I lasted a little longer because I'm good at it, but then he got bored with me, too. Good riddance.

[Clearly, this is a very healthy viewpoint to have.]

( with a quiet sort of conviction — )

You deserve better.

( she's the sort of lady that he has no doubt had to fight her own share of demons, but it never hurts to hear your value none, neither. )

[That throws her off completely, and she blinks at him, at a loss for words. Kyna squeezes his hand impulsively, and her voice is softer when she finally answers.]

Thanks. Um, sorry, I didn't mean to get all... You know.

( he makes a soft sound of amusement that ain't quite a laugh. )

Well, seems like we're havin' that kinda night, just about. Lordy, I ain't talked this much to anyone in the whole'a my life all at once I don't think.

[She smiles a little.]

It's your fault. You're easy to talk to.

( teasingly, )

We're puttin' this on me, now?

( a squeeze to her hand, an' then he pulls back an' away. )

You're just the same, you know.

Yeah, whatever.

[Kyna lets him pull away, and then, impulsively and in a rush, she adds:]

I know it really sucks that we're here, but if we had to get stuck, I'm glad it's at the same time.

( death can't be so bad, if it's given him a chance to meet folks like her, can it? )

Me too.

( ain't no changin' them bein' here. but they can make a good run of it, can't they? which. leads him to another point. he draws a deep breath like he's bracin' himself for the conversation, because damn he knows full well that this is somethin' of a breach of confidence. he's havin' to choose between keepin' wash's secrets or tryin' to help him, an' the medic in him can't ignore a hurt on account'a someone's pride or trust. )

I talked some to Wash earlier. He, ah. I think you oughta maybe talk some to him. He blames himself for what happened to you, an' I think he's gonna carry that a long time without some manner of addressin'.

[At that, Kyna reaches for the dogtags around her neck reflexively. She doesn't seem at all surprised by what he's saying, though she is a bit surprised Wash talked to him. He's always had trouble trusting people, but maybe it's different with someone who's had such similar experiences.]

I know. We've talked about it a little, but... I guess not as much as we should have. He's always blamed himself for this kind of thing too much.

( he's seen the chain a few times, but hadn't thought to ask. now, it seems plain whose they are. that's a mighty big sign of regard from anyone who's served. )

I saw his. You know.

( a little twitch of his hand. death. grave. )

Didn't mean to in my case either, I had no notion prayer counted as an offering. But I felt how he feels about you, an' we spoke on the matter afterwards. ( his brow furrows a touch, it's fair obvious that he's some species of upset he couldn't assuage that fear of wash's, but. they also haven't known each other long enough for his word to mean much, either. ) But if you don't mind my sayin' so, Miss, you don't seem the sort to put blame on others.

I don't blame him.

[She's never blamed him for anything, really, and she would never, ever blame him for something like this.]

It's just... I don't know. Sometimes it's just something he has to figure out, you know? Sometimes nothing anyone else can say will shake it. He's been through a lot.

I gathered as much.

( it's a soldierin' thing, maybe. you learn to look at a man and assess. gene's been doin' it amongst veterans all his live-long days, wash is just the latest he's known, an' that he's been through hell is self-evident. oh, he can't speak to the specifics, but. he thought it on the first night they met an' he reiterates it now, if he were the man's medic in a warzone he'd have recommended to the CO that he be given furlough by now, an' a hot meal an' a good bed besides.

it ain't that he can't stand it, or that he ain't tough enough to take it. it's the fact that he's got a gentle soul, an' war weighs on men like those. at least he's got kyna to help weather it. )

But I'd like to help, much as I can. I know we ain't known each other long an' it ain't my place, but — bein' in the military, you watch out for your brothers.

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