Glacia, Kaeleer, Thursday Evening Fandom Time

[glacial_witch]

Karla stood in front of her entire army, expression formal and solemn. Those who had been left behind to train had been recalled, as had those who had gone ahead to scout. It had taken several days, but Karla had not been willing to begin until every person who followed her was in attendance. Behind her were five shrouded boxes; small ones, not

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[trigons_child]

Raven stood close to Karla, listening to her address her people. She was trying not to dwell on her inability to help Lief. She couldn't heal everyone; she knew that. It was just hard to accept sometimes.

[glacial_witch]

As the people formed a line for their good-byes, Karla stepped closer to Raven and folded her arm around her friend.

"Is there anything I can say that will help?" she asked. Lief's mind had been turned to ash at the first brush of psychic power against it, but she didn't think the reminder was what Raven needed.

[trigons_child]

"I was going to say the same to you," Raven said, managing a very small smile as she leaned against Karla. "How are you doing?"

[glacial_witch]

"I'll let you know when I'm done keeping a stiff upper lip," Karla sighed, resting her cheek against Raven's head. "So far, I'm throwing myself into all this pomp and circumstance to keep me from feeling anything."

[apocalipped]

This was probably the first time since coming to Glacia that anybody might be able to catch Jono standing in silence. Not running around and trying to train the multitude that had arrived to support Karla. Not going over maps and strategies, trying to figure out a way to fight a better war.

Just standing in silence, crimson eyes locked on the coffins that were set out before the crowd, his shoulders straight, his jaw squared, and a frown pulling on his lips.

The first dead of the war, and they hadn't even made their way into Sidra yet. He wasn't going to let himself dwell on the fact that, depending on how messy this war got, they weren't going to be able to give the courtesy of a proper burial to all of the men and women who were standing here today. War didn't always allow for that luxury.

No, right now was for standing at attention, and for paying respects to those who were gone.

[glacial_witch]

"You okay?" Karla asked, once her speech was over and the filing had begun. "You know this wasn't your fault, right?"

She had a feeling she'd be saying that a lot tonight.

[apocalipped]

"I know," Jonothon replied, though he hadn't quite let his posture slip, wasn't quite capable of taking his gaze away from the best caskets they could manage, all things considered. "I know, logically, that none of these deaths were on me."

That didn't mean he wasn't feeling it, of course. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.

"We're going to be doing a lot of this in the coming months. But the first... the first shouldn't have been so bloody soon."

[glacial_witch]

"I know," Karla said, voice all but inaudible. "I thought we'd have more time. More time to prepare them, prepare ourselves...something. But we didn't and we don't even know why."

[blondecanary]

Dinah had been off to the side. Mostly to conceal any flinching that might happen during the funeral. There had been... less than she thought there would be. But still some.

[not_a_parakeet]

"How are you holding up?" Warren looked a little on the concerned side as he stepped up to Dinah after the service was through. "I've only heard the bare bones of what happened from Bob, but..."

He glanced toward the caskets, frowned a little, and then lifted a hand to rest on her shoulder, if she'd let him.

"I'm sorry you went through this, Dinah."

[blondecanary]

"I got out fine," Dinah said, still staring at the caskets. She didn't move away, hands cupping her elbows. "I just... There were so many things I feel like I should've done differently." She swallowed. "And this is just the first one."

[not_a_parakeet]

"You know it's not your fault, right?" Warren chewed on his lip, and then after a moment's hesitation, he held his arms open for a hug. "There are a million things you could've done differently in hindsight. There always will be. But you never saw this coming. You had no warning. And four of you came back alive. That's four more than your attackers were aiming for."

[heromaniac]

Momoko wasn't in her most cheeriest of moods, but she was putting on the best face she could. The time it had taken to get everyone together and get this event underway (plus her conversation with Jaime) had given her the time she needed to work through her own pain. She was sleeping through the night now, and her classes and drills were no longer so severe that people were passing out and wishing they were in Jono's group.

After taking a moment to visit and pray at each of the caskets, Momoko was standing in her place, full of respect, and willing to talk with or help anyone who needed it. Unless there were questions about why, because she was still working on that herself.

[apocalipped]

Jono waited until the ceremony was all but completely over before moving away from his place, well after most other people had started to mingle. He still felt partly responsible for what was going on, and there was a definite tint of red to his eyes that he'd rather not wander around the group with, lest he alarm anybody with it.

The joys of being a mutant, sometimes.

Mostly, he was concerned about other people here. Particularly the ones who had survived the attack, or those who were close to the victims. And so it was Momoko that he approached, a worried little frown on his lips, his shoulders still rigid, still at attention even though the need for it had passed.

"Sleeping better, luv?"

[heromaniac]

"Better, yes." Momoko smiled up at him, so glad that he didn't know her well enough to spot her fake smiles. "Still not perfect, but better."

"I promise this won't happen all the time."

[apocalipped]

Jono's return smile was faint, but about as forced and mostly just sad and sympathetic.

"Our losing people, or you losing sleep over it? Because I can tell you here and now, luv, that I haven't slept a full night through in years. You're already doing better than I am. I'm not here to cast stones."

[not_a_parakeet]

Warren was actually taking all of this... more or less in stride. He hadn't known the two on their side that had been killed, not personally. If anything had him shaken at all, it was the fact that he'd nearly lost two friends in the meantime, and, possibly more than that, that the attack had happened with Karla as the intended target.

He listened to her speech, faced the coffins and put every ounce of respect he could possibly manage into his posture, drawing on the Protocol he had been taught over the past couple of years, and he frowned silently to himself the entire time.

This was how it started, then.

[glacial_witch]

"Is it too late to just settle down in Fandom and teach for the rest of our lives?" Karla murmured in his ear and she drew him into a tight hug. "I could teach Shakespeare or something. And you could explain economics..."

See? Not even asking for a lifetime in Hawaii! This was totally doable?

[not_a_parakeet]

"Teach the students the importance of holding on to their receipts or something," Warren offered, pulling her into his arms and wrapping his wings around her. "Encourage them to read the classics. Or we could teach a joint class and just settle for having them keep track of book receipts."

It could be important to someone, somewhere?

[glacial_witch]

"I was really hoping this day could be put off a little longer," Karla said softly. "At least until we'd gotten further south. Would that have been too much to ask?"