open: lol never mind.

[cozen]

WHO: Open!
WHAT: A memorial that doesn’t go as planned.
WHEN: Justinian 1
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Nah.

The ceremony takes place in one of the side courtyards that’s been converted into a garden, where the oppressive architecture is offset with flowers and trees. There’s a small pyre, for those whose traditions call for pyres, but no bodies to burn. Instead there are tokens, flowers, favorite foods, treasured possessions—not yet lit.

(For the others, the Dalish and Nevarrans and anyone else with a different wish, their friends and family will have made different arrangements alongside the pyre, probably, if they aren’t universally reviled.)

Anyone who wants to speak, whether it’s a prepared speech or a single spontaneous sentence, can do so. The tone is respectful but only so solemn. It’s been more than a week. For many, the worst of the shock has passed, and the sun has continued to rise and set, and there’s room between bouts of misery for fond memories and occasionally laughter. The memorial is a door that’s closing—slowly, kindly—and tomorrow, on the other side of it, the war will continue.

Today, on this side, the only people judging anyone else for crying are the assholes.

***

Across the harbor, more than a dozen filthy and tired people come to a stop on the docks, and the loitering ferryman pauses to take stock of them, then starts laughing. There isn’t even any local mythology about ferrymen and the dead. It’s just that funny to him on its own, that he’s been rowing miserable people around all week, and here’s the source of all that misery, dirty and tired but significantly less dead than believed.

When he stops laughing, he offers to dunk everyone in the harbor before rowing them over. For the smell, you know. No one is going to be happy to see them if their eyes are watering too much to actually see them. Then he laughs some more at his hilarious joke.

But he does eventually load up his boat—and maybe there isn’t room for everyone all at once, maybe some dramatic reunions will be delayed, maybe some people will be even more fashionably late to their funeral than the others—and carries everyone across the bay, still chuckling intermittently.

***

In the courtyard, the speeches and anecdotes (and singing, perhaps) wind down to long silences peppered with murmurs or sniffling. Someone is preparing to light the pyre. And then the gate creaks open.

Comments

[circleprodigy]

Inessa certainly hadn't attended the wake and she nearly missed the memorial; that numbness wouldn't go away and what was the point? There were no bodies, no pyres. Just personal effects that she couldn't stop staring at, then putting away, then bringing back out to stare at again. She should just hang out with Potato, who seemed to understand her distress and was a lot more accommodating because of it.

It was on her mind to visit the roost, but...well, she saw others heading toward the memorial and a last minute impulse decided things for her. The slight elven woman was thinner, if possible, less alert to her surroundings and more in her own mental fog. However, Garahel was paying more attention. The mabari, right at his mistresses' side, perks up and begins sniffing around, then barrels toward Kain before Inessa even begins to register the movement.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain is still a bit in shock as he stares around at the gathering. It's incredibly surreal to be attending such an event, after all. But then some motion catches his attention out of the corner of his eye, and he turns, gasping as a certain mabari comes bounding toward him.

"Garahel! How I've missed you..."

He crouches down, arms wide open to welcome him and give him all of the petting he deserves. But he also glances up and around, knowing, and hoping that Inessa is also close.

[circleprodigy]

Garahel's a good boy, he doesn't usually jump or make a racket. Mabari training and Inessa's distaste for those things have kept such incidents rather rare. But seeing Kain again excites the mabari so much that he can't help it, making excited whines and wiggling all over Kain. If the latter doesn't stop him, Garahel will lick any part of Kain that's within reach of his large tongue.

Inessa's attention on the memorial is disrupted as Garahel darted off, and she frowns, knowing this wasn't like him. He was plastered to her side in the past few days, so to just go running off? Rather unusual. She tries to follow, weaving around people and silently cursing her short stature.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain is vigorously petting Garahel, definitely making the most of this reunion. He doesn't mind at all that the mabari's enthusiasm leads to him ending up finally just outright sitting down on the ground as he slobbers all over him. He's already grimy as it is, so a little mabari licking isn't such a big deal right now. Kain has missed this, and thought often of them both while trudging along through the desert and Deep Roads.

"I hope you've been well, while I've been away... and Inessa..." He oddly feels guilty, as if he'd abandoned them, when he knows it was nothing of the sort, nothing that could be helped.

[circleprodigy]

At mention of Inessa, Garahel whines and wags his tail expectantly. He even moves back so that Kain can stand up, or at least no longer use him as an excuse for sitting on the ground. Either way, it doesn't stop him from pacing away and then back, trying to get Kain to follow.

As it turns out, Garahel's efforts are unnecessary. His mistress finally emerges from the crowd of people, looking over upon hearing her mabari's barking. "Garahel! You know better--"

And the rest of that sentence dies in her throat as she catches sight of Kain with him. Her eyes widen and she stands still, wondering if this is real or if she's finally become one of those mad mages.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain gives Garahel some more enthusiastic petting, before he glances up and sees Inessa approaching. He gets up, then, staring back at her for a moment, as well. It feels like the journey here had taken far longer than it truly had... He'd been so certain at times that they wouldn't make it back. He sure had tried envisioning this moment, quite a few times, to keep himself going, hoping for it, but not daring to hope too much...

"Inessa. I..." He trails off, not even sure what he'd meant to say, instead just closing the distance between them. So what if he's a bit of a mess, he's going to hug her anyway.

Final Fantasy IX moment

[circleprodigy]

Garahel looks from one to the other, a soft pleading whine as they just stand there and stare at each other. He's about to take action and nudge Kain when the human decides for him and bridges the gap between them. Satisfied, the mabari wags his tail and barks.

For her part, Inessa remains in shock and doesn't quite believe what she's seeing...but touch is different. The feel of his arms around her, his scent, his voice...it's all abundantly clear that this is real. Blinking doesn't take away any of that; he's still here and present, alive. It's almost more than she can process and in lieu of words, she just rests her head against his chest. Words still beyond her, she just lets out a sob. One of her slim, delicate hands forms a fist that begins pounding at his chest, which doubtless has zero impact on him, let alone a bruise.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain is still astonished himself. It's been such a long, exhausting journey, and he'd dreamed so often of this moment... He had been certain it would never truly come. So it all seems quite unreal to him, as well. He's really here, isn't he? This isn't some kind of hallucination as the life leaves him, right? But Inessa in his arms feels real, and that's enough to ground him in reality.

So Kain holds her, doing what he can to be soothing in the moment, knowing she has a lot to process with all of this. He cannot imagine being in her position and believing they were all truly gone...

Her pounding on his chest indeed doesn't bother him at all, and he understands the emotion well, so he stays quiet, letting her have this moment to feel, to let it all out. Finally, when he speaks, all he can say is, "I'm here. I'm here how."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa is not usually at a loss for words, not like this. Her throat closes up, and she can't force anything out of it, hot tears sliding down her cheeks. It's as though a dam has burst, and her thin shoulders shake with a force that surprises even herself. She can feel the mabari leaning against them both, but there is no energy to spare for him at this moment.

She finally draws in a shuddering breath which ends in a slight hiccup, unable to look back up just yet. "I...we thought...how...."

[in_death_sacrifice]

For a while, all he can do is hold her, and do what he can to give her comfort. He can't imagine how things must have been here, believing the entire group had been killed. He can't imagine... He leans in, kissing the top of her head, a gentle sort of gesture as he listens to her question. He's wondered that himself plenty during this long, strange journey.

"It wasn't easy. We ended up traveling through the desert and deep roads... and finally the mountains. It was a relief to breathe fresh air by the time we got to the surface again. There were many times when- well, I wasn't so certain we'd ever make it back. And so often I just... missed you, and worried..."

[circleprodigy]

That top-of-the-head kiss helps calm her breathing, at least though her grip hasn't let up by any means just yet. In, out, in, out. He's here, flesh and blood, and she can do this. They are together again, at least until that dreaded day where one of them succumbs to--no, not going to go there. Not now.

"It sounds like an enormous ordeal. I wish I could have been there, even so. Anything is better than not knowing...or thinking the worst." Her eyes meet his, a little reddened from crying. Garahel nuzzles their legs, and she draws in a deep breath, trying to think. "We should get you to the infirmary, have you looked over...please don't tell me you don't need it."

[in_death_sacrifice]

After such a long ordeal, it's an extreme relief to be here holding her like this, touching her, assuring himself that she's real, that all of this is real. The last few days especially feel like a blur, nothing more than a nightmare. Hopefully he can put it behind him, as much as possible. They're here, and he doesn't intend to go through this again if he can help it.

"I wish you had, too. Next time... if something like this comes up again, I'm going to insist we both go." If they risk death, so be it, but they can risk that together instead. He sighs heavily, sort of knowing she'd insist on that. "I really do feel fine... but... I also don't want to be sat upon by Garahel. So... all right..." Because he knows he wouldn't hear the end of it if he doesn't at least get checked out. He does have some dried blood, some cuts and bruises here and there, even if there are no really hideous wounds... this time. Not to mention, he probably needs to eat and drink properly too.