10)) mourning

[andcountry]

Ben has [ pause ] died.

[ A drop of water soaks into the page but is hastily smeared. What drop? You didn't see a drop. ]

There is no body, just [ another pause ] some personal effects.

Comments

[man_genius]

[Just....staring. At this page. And feeling utterly numb at this point.]

He--what?

I just--no what?

[Pause. BREATHE GENIUS.]

How?

[andcountry]

The Tree did it.

[man_genius]

[His pen is wobbly]

Like Sniper?

[andcountry]

I guess.

Quicklog for Genius

[andcountry]

[ Cephiro walked into the clinic not long after writing the probably too-short announcement, still pale-faced, tight-lipped, and red-eyed. Then he stopped. He had initially thought that what he had at the moment constituted a medical issue, but now he wasn't so sure.

Here there were patient sign-in sheets. He wasn't a patient, that much was certain. And he didn't have a patient with him. He was pretty sure all he had was a grimy mechanical hand carefully wrapped in equally-grimy robes. That wasn't a patient. If he wasn't a patient and he didn't have one in tow, what was he even doing here?

There were also double doors leading to an area of the clinic that you were probably weren't supposed to enter without a nurse with you. He technically had part of a nurse with him, but the overly calm part of his brain that was keeping him upright and making more-or-less sensible decisions deemed this insufficient for just waltzing into the clinic proper

\o/ QL

[man_genius]

Numbness. That's all Genius felt as he stumbled his way through the halls of Medical. At some level he felt detached from his body, as though he was looking on from a distance. This was fine with him. After all, what was he supposed to feel? Sniper was dead. Fred, Cloud and Grift were alive. Veda was alive and doing well. Ben was dead. Even the most sane person would have a difficult time dealing with such a rollercoaster of emotions, so for Genius it was much easier to shut himself off. Click. Like the flip of a switch. Too much to process in too short of time.

The mood at Medical was a somber one. Ben had been one of them after all and news traveled so quickly. Nobody said anything when Genius decided to leave early. He stayed just long enough to check up on a recovering Veda before he made his way out towards the lobby.

He was just in time to run into a sad little boy holding a bloody bundle of rags. Wait--no. Not just any boy…]

Cephiro?! What happ--

[He cut himself off. Ben.]

QL

[andcountry]

[ Cephiro looked at the ground and didn't say anything for a second or two. ]

I don't know what to do with his hand.

oops I totally fucked up that HTML. Sorry!

[man_genius]

His hand?

[For a minute, Genius looked rather green as he stared at what was left of Ben. Then, maybe because Cephiro looked like a child and all adults have an instinctive urge to not lose their shit in front of children, he snapped out of it. The receptionist looked horrified and there was a small crowd starting to gather around them.]

Let's...go back inside.

[He pushed the door back open and gestured for Cephiro to follow him.]

[esoteric_rose]

[She has the page open for a while, before writing very slowly.]

Thank you for notifying us.

[andcountry]

[ No answer. No thanks needed - this is just what you do, right? ]

[worrybot]

That can't be, surely? What a tasteless joke.

[ Nooooo, not my favorite human. ;; ]

[andcountry]

[ Cephiro deals with death by calling the deceased an idiot, so he's not too concerned about people who deal with it by blaming the messenger. ]

Not a joke. Sorry.

[worrybot]

But how is that possible?

[andcountry]

He was a very brave and probably selfless man. That's how.

[npc_kun]

Has he now?

Tragic.

How did it happen?

[andcountry]

[ It's kind of a combination of factors, really, but those three sentences have "creeper" written all over them. Not to mention that Cephiro isn't particularly comfortable going into detail over the journals about his theories on how Ben died.

So he'll not-quite lie. ]

I don't know the details.

[npc_kun]

I see. But there must be something you can tell his loved ones, correct?

[andcountry]

Yes, and I will.