deernet | voice; un: lowell

[homer simpson caption: it isn't his business...YET

anyway, Blue catches up, his eyes downcast on the ground ahead of him before Yuri's feet are in view. he looks up, giving a soft sound of regard before reaching over for his arm.

had he not already touched on the volatile state of Yuri's emotions, doing so now would've been a struggle to adjust to point-blank. as it stands...he can still stand and hang on, finding breath and a space to linger in this grim and grieving state...and some bit of strength to draw from it.

he closes his eyes to evade any distortion from Yuri triggering the lantern, still unused to this kind of travel. it's at least easier with company.]

[ Yuri isn't even thinking about that, about how touching him would hurt Blue. He forgot, didn't fully know, and just asks the lantern to transport them to the house in Crenshaw.

It appears before them, quaint and brick and just big enough for the menagerie of animals who live there. The lamp is in the small font yard, walled in by a low stone fence.

Yuri leads Blue to the door, not letting go of him now that he has the excuse to hold on, but he can't open the door. It's in front of him, shut, the house still alight with the lamps he left on-- he doesn't know how long ago. When Daisy came to get him, when she was frantic and scared and hurting.

Flynn's body is inside. He's in here, dead, pale, rotting, and Yuri isn't ready, he isn't ready to do it, his feet planted firmly outside the door. ]

[a few seconds after their arrival, Blue opens his eyes to take in the structure in front of them. the lot of them are still quite new to this world, and Blue himself finds settlement and being 'at home' something hard to grasp, but Yuri still carries notion that moments and memories have taken place here, the way homes ought to.

but more than that, he feels the mounting dread, the awareness that there is something terrible within.

Flynn...

Blue closes his eyes for a moment, pressing back his own sense of dread and the recollections of loss in his own, long life. he is here now for Yuri.

while he hugs Yuri's arm a little tighter for a moment, the lion paces around to nose at Yuri's free hand (sorry Repede).]

Please wait here. I want to go in alone.

[ Yuri looks down at the lion and nods. He doesn't say anything, but he his arms are limp. Blue can let go if he wants to. The door isn't locked.

When he goes inside, he'll find a staircase directly ahead of him, a kitchen on the left, and a living room on the right. Flynn's body is prone in the living room, and a small kestrel is standing guard over it. He'll puff himself up, threatening Blue away until Blue or his lion reassure him.

Yuri, for his part, doesn't move. He stands where he is, his head bowed, hair falling in from of his face. Repede stays with him, resolute. ]

[the lion walks Blue to the door, but once the Mu has passed through, it turns back, pacing around and standing at Yuri's side, a more imposing and present physical form than Blue ever could be.

Blue makes his slow way inside, following more the notions of the paths Yuri's walked than his own intuition to step into the living room where the somber scene is set. his expression, purposeful and grim, begins to shift into something more openly mournful.

to the angry bird(tm - sorry, not sorry), bringing one hand over his heart and the other out to appease.]

Will you let me near? To tend to him in Yuri's stead.

[ The bird watches him, and he gets the sense from Yuri that he can trust Blue. So, with his dark eyes fixed on Blue, he flaps up to the mantel, leaving the space clear for Blue to work. But he's watching, he's going to be watching.

Flynn's body is covered in pale blue crystals, intermingled with the rot that looks like he's been dead for a lot longer than a few hours. ]

What...?

[when...did this happen? and how? the effect has echoes of a death in the vacuum of space, but this isn't right at all. of all the death he's seen and felt before, this is...dreadfully wrong. the wrongness of it strikes heavy in Blue's heart as he lowers himself to kneel before the body. there's not a whole lot a Mu can do at this point - without a mind to discern, what can be learned?

but if his eyes are not already closed, Blue will close them, and he will unwind the scarf from his neck and fold it over Flynn's face.

...this body shouldn't stay here. Yuri needs help to sever this sight from his beloved companion. it can't come from Blue and he knows it. he knows it and it rankles...but he can't change facts.

Blue isn't too terribly long, ever-aware of Yuri still lingering in a state outside. the lion moves to the step as he reappears to provide something to hold onto while exiting, guiding him back up to Yuri.

if there's no resistance, he'll take his hand in both of his, much as he did as a specter, head bowed and eyes closing. there are things that can be conveyed that can't be done so in words, and that's what a Mu does best. commiseration, consolation, a faint light into the bottomless dark of grief that oscillates from anxious fury to the chilly numbness of a lack of purpose.]

[ Standing out there, Yuri barely thinks. He just stares at the ground, at the faint light from in the house, his face blank, his heart in his ears.

He's gone, he's gone, he's gone repeats in his head, pounding like a drum in time with his heart beat.

He doesn't notice that Blue is back until he takes Yuri's hand and those feelings wash over him, calming him down, pressing into his heart, his stomach, his soul. Those feelings, Blue's hand in his, helps him step over the threshold. He doesn't want to look at Flynn, not again. He doesn't want to have to face this. But pretending like it didn't happen won't do anything. His eyes go to Flynn's body, then skip away. ]

Let me. Show you your room.

[the longer Blue stays in direct contact with him, the more his blood quietly compels him to draw on that deep font of misery. it makes his own steps more sturdy and exhaustion lessen, but to Blue, it's the sense of duty to support that must truly be motivating him to rise above his frailty.

he wordlessly follows Yuri's lead, even as that flickering glance sends something of a heavy prod in his heart - one more thing to motivate him to keep moving.

only after clearing full sight of the living room:] What is it...your people do to...honor and part with the dead?

[ They start up the stairs, and Yuri goes as slowly as Blue needs. Huh. Maybe having him sleep upstairs isn't a great idea. But, well, that's where the rooms are. ]

Usually... a funeral. Say some nice things about them, spend some time together remembering them, then we burn the bodies. I'm not from the richest place, so we didn't have fancy coffins and burials like the nobles do.

It... I dunno if it's worth doing, if he might, might come back.

[ Will he? It's a tenuous thing, wishing he would. ]

If...what?

[Blue's next step halts for half-a beat as he looks at Yuri in confusion.]

What do you mean?

[ Yeah, that did sound weird, didn't it. ]

Just... something that some people were saying. That death wasn't permanent in the dream. That it might be the same way here. But it, I don't know. He's the first one to die.

[ Yuri grimaces, taking another step. On the landing, there's a short hallway with three doors: two bedrooms and a bathroom. Yuri pauses there, and realizes he didn't think this through.

He can't give Blue Flynn's room. Not if Flynn is dead downstairs, and definitely not if Flynn might come back, might be alive again.

So, it's his room. He turns them to the left and pushes open the door. ]

Here. You can have this one.

[Blue keeps a hold on Yuri's arm, his expression more taut with concern.]

In the dream... [he shakes his head a little.] Yuri, I don't understand.

Yeah. In the dream, where a lot of these people were before here. I guess that a Pthumerian brought them back to life, like the ones who, I dunno. Do stuff here. Like gods, or something. A lot of people who were in the dream think that Flynn's going to come back.

[ His voice sounds dead when he says it. He doesn't believe it, not really. But he also doesn't want to discount it. They know more about how this works than he does.

He picks up his bag from the floor of the room and starts packing away his sparse belongings. Repede sits next to Blue, on alert. ]

[it's still...troublingly vague. and Yuri's doubts in speaking of it don't encourage much trust.

Blue stands at the doorway, watching Yuri move about gathering things, trying to process this, a dog on one side, a lion on the other.]

And...until you are sure... [he grimaces.] Do you mean...to keep that body here?

...yeah. For a while. In case.

[ In case there's a chance. But he realizes, just then, that that might not be the best environment for Blue to stay in. He lets out a breath, turning back to him. ]

I-- sorry. For springing that on you. You don't have to stay. I can take you back to the hospital, or find you another place around here.

I was planning to just, y'know, not be in the living room. Or, find another place for him, for now. Everyone I talked to seemed to think it would take a week.

[certainly:] I don't mean to leave. I only...need to understand your intentions. So I can help you. In whatever way I can.

[which, he thinks, means picking through some dreaming brains for this whole coming-back-from-the-dead stuff...]

You don't need to help me. I'm fine. I'll be fine.

[ He isn't fine ]

I just, look. I think this is good for both of us. Unless you really liked living in a hospital, being here is better. And--

[ Goddess, honesty is hard sometimes, but he's wrung out, he can't think too hard about hiding his intentions ]

I like you, I like having your around. I know myself, and I'll probably do something stupid if I'm alone, so having you, someone I trust, here? That's good for me too. Win-win.

[Blue finally moves into the room to meet Yuri within it, reaching to put his hand on Yuri's back.]

I'll stay. I wish to, so long as you'll have me. And I wish to help you, however I am able.

Don't help me if it's going to hurt you.

[ He doesn't move away, though. The feeling he gets when Blue touches him calms him down, and he knows Blue is helping him, but that makes him so uncomfortable. He doesn't like to be helped. ]

You can stay as long as you want.

[Blue wonders if that statement is spoken in reverse without Yuri's knowing. don't help me if it's going to hurt me. that resistance from his disposition, his ingrained pride, does nearly compel Blue to withdraw his hand, but not quite.

with a faint note of humor:] Not everything I do hurts me. Least of all being near for a friend.

[at that, he does draw his hand away.]

...And I...I didn't want to stay there. Despite their wishes. Their intentions.

Well, good.

[ Yuri breaks into a small smile then, and waves Blue more into the room. It's pretty small, and mostly dominated by a big, plush bed. It's not made, sorry about that. Yuri didn't think he was going to give up his room today. The walls are covered in windows that look out on the back garden.

It's sort of pride, but it's also that he doesn't believe he's worth hurting over. ]

The hospital? Yeah, can't blame you. Not fun places.

[Blue's attention moves to the windows, quietly appreciative of them. he's spent more than a decade confined to a bed in a windowless space...in space. he'd more or less accepted that he'd never live to see himself settled on Terra, and that still stands...but it seems he's destined to settle all the same.

he hums a faint, pensive sound.]

Hospitals...homes...they're still new to me. [he feels the lion moving under his fingers, pacing around to sniff at the space before lazily bumping Yuri and Repede on its pass around back to Blue's side.] Kindness from humans... [he looks over at Yuri, the point in case.] That, too.

I don't know how long it will take to acclimate. I hope not too long.

Well, take your time. And let me know if you need anything. I'm a decent cook, but don't let Flynn--

[ The words catch in his throat, choking him for a moment. Flynn. Right. He didn't forget, exactly, but he... momentarily, it felt normal. It felt like Flynn was here, in his room or in the kitchen, cleaning something to brushing Daisy.

He coughs, looking away from Blue ]

If, if Flynn does come back. Don't let him cook for you. He's awful at it.

[no blush or flinch from Blue, despite feeling that little pang. it's been, what, hours? it's not so strange to hear.]

I'll remember. [that's not condescension, that's certainty.] And I'll want to learn. I never had to before.

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vibing - 2021-09-23 01:08 (UTC) - Expand