voice; un: lowell

[vibing]

cw: grief, talk of death, suicidal thoughts, language

[ The feed clicks on to ragged breathing, too close to the Omni ]

Who the hell killed Flynn? Some guy with a light sword. Give me names.

[ Yuri's voice is low and rough, somehow both heated and emotionless. His emotional state has been degrading since Flynn's omen led him to Flynn's corpse. He growls and there's rustling over the Omni ]

If you killed him, be at the Gate at midnight.

Comments

voice; un:blue

[firstroar]

What-

Flynn...?

Voice; UN: Willow

[frogfear]

[The news comes as a shock, and she listens in disbelief. She's hoping it's not the same Flynn from the pirate ship.

'Light sword' is a familiar term too, and she can't help but think of the confrontation with Maul in the street near her old home in Deerington.]

Flynn? Blonde? Knows how to use magic and a sword? Really friendly? That Flynn?

un: trienemybest; video

[droptheious]

[Varian recognises the guy from when they arrived here- and he understood Flynn meant a lot to him- that was clear from speaking to either of them. He's been worried about people dying here since he got here. With Ramona gone, he doesn't know if resurrection will work or not.

It's the mention of a light sword that really catches his attention, though. Subconsciously, his hand moves over to his middle, where Maul left a mark he's never going to forget. Goddammnit, this better not be what he thinks it is. Not again. ]

What sort of light sword? Do you know what colour it was? What it looked like?

[He hesitates- he wishes he could say this is a temporary state to be in but he just doesn't know. ]

...I'm sorry this happened.

[vibing]

Yeah. Flynn. Some guy killed him at the Gate.

I'm going to fucking kill him.

[vibing]

Yeah, that Flynn. You know who killed him?

[ Sorry, Willow, he doesn't have time for any pleasantries. He has a single-minded mission right now, and that's to kill the bastard who killed his best friend. ]

voice

[vibing]

Yeah. Me too.

[ He's more than sorry. He's furious, angry at Flynn, for fighting a fight he couldn't win, at himself for not being there, and mostly at this bastard who killed him. His hand curls into a fist so tight that it hurts, but that pain is grounding. It's grounding and he needs to focus, to find him ]

I don't know. I wasn't here, but a woman told me that a guy with a light sword killed him. There can't be that many of them.

[ Right? Well, if there are-- he'll deal with that when the moment comes. ]

[firstroar]

[after a long delay:] For him? Or for you?

text; un: doublehedgedsword

[laminae]

[Okay, wait. What?]

Flynn died??? Flynn the Knight Flynn??

[Maybe there's another Flynn here???? Maybe.......]

what the flip man

[frogfear]

[She's silent as she processes this. In Deerington, if someone died, they'd be back in a week, give or take a couple days. This is the waking world, though, and not a dream. It hits hard that death might be a far more permanent condition here.]

I - I don't know - not for sure, anyway. What happened?

[vibing]

[ That would normally give him pause, but his mind is too focused on what he needs to do right now. He needs to show this guy what happens when you mess with people that Yuri cares about ]

For him. For this place. What kind of person just kills someone for sport? I fought ten people in there are we're all alive.

[firstroar]

[funny, Flynn didn't strike Blue as someone who would appreciate anguish-fueled vengeance in his name.

perhaps Yuri knows this, perhaps he doesn't. it's not for Blue to say.]

...Are you there right now? The Gate.

text

[vibing]

yea

u no lite sword guy?

[laminae]

[Fern needs a minute to process the fact that an experienced knight like Flynn is already dead here. He doesn't know the guy well but they had fought together, and Fern had thought he was really cool, and a great fighter, so this is kind of shocking.]

geez man
i'm sorry
this is messed up

i know a few guys aren't here with light swords
one of em likes murdering people for fun because he's a huge wad who doesn't care about anyone and only acts like your friend as a way to hurt you

[He's... a little sensitive about that.]

so um
it was probably him

[vibing]

That guy killed him in the Gate. Cut his hand off and killed him.

[ Yuri's voice is hard, like he's just reciting what happened which, well, he is. He can't think too hard about it because Flynn is dead and that-- that doesn't make sense. Flynn was never supposed to die, not before he was old and accomplished and content. He was supposed to be the one who stayed alive, who did good. Yuri wishes there was something he could do to trade places with him right now, to be the one rotting in their house instead of the one left here, at odds for what to do.

Flynn wouldn't want you to kill for him, a voice in his head says, but the buzzing anger in him is too much, too powerful, and he can't stop himself from moving forward, with no real direction except to find the person who did this ]

[vibing]

[ Blue is exactly right, and if Flynn was here, he would be telling Yuri not to do this, that it would accomplish nothing, but he isn't there, and Yuri's mind is buzzing with hurt and pain and anger is easier to process than grief. ]

No. Yeah. I'm--

[ Leaving. Looking for this guy. Trying to do something because standing still isn't going to accomplish anything but making him have to deal with the fact that Flynn is gone. ]

[firstroar]

Alone?

[please keep talking, Yuri; Blue needs a moment to garner some strength to project and seek you out!]

[vibing]

[ Finally, information. Fern knows who did this. That's good. That helps. He has a direction to put all this pain toward ]

the name

[ If he has a name, he has someone to blame. Someone to focus on, to let out all of this-- everything that's wrapped up in him, making him feel too full and completely depleted at once. ]

[vibing]

Repede's here-- I don't want you in the middle of this, Blue. Stay home.

[ He doesn't want anyone else to get hurt. This is his mess to clean up, now. If anyone else got hurt, especially someone like Blue ]

[frogfear]

[It really does sound more and more like Maul. Except it can't be. Flynn is a Sleeper and Maul can't hurt another Sleeper without suffering intense pain himself.]

I'm sorry about Flynn. It sounds like you two were really close, huh?

[firstroar]

Yuri...

[beat. exhale.]

You don't...have the voice of a man who can...see a hunt through to a good end.

I don't want you to walk to your own death.

[vibing]

...yeah. He's my best friend. He's-- the best damn person I know.

[ And it aches. It aches, like a hole punched through his own heart, that he's gone. ]

Thanks. It's good, that he knew people. That people here care about him. He's, he's--

[ His voice chokes on the words, he can't say them. He can't say how good of a person Flynn was. Was. That fucking hurts. That hurts. ]

[droptheious]

There's a few of them, from the same world. Assuming it's that sort of light sword.

[Which it might not be,"light sword" is pretty broad, and this is a big city.]

...But going after them isn't a smart idea. If this is anything like the dream, they might not have even been in their right mind when they did it. And even if they were, what would attacking them solve? You kill them, they kill you, either way, there's an extra dead body- two if you somehow kill each other. It won't bring him back or undo any of this.

[Varian's all too familiar with revenge at this point, he doesn't want to encourage it now, especially not with the limited knowledge they have.]

There has to be a better solution than just adding to the body pile.

[vibing]

[ He doesn't care. He doesn't care, is the problem. He doesn't care if he dies. His life isn't worth very much, for himself, to anyone, really. Except Flynn. He mattered to Flynn, and that's half of why he kept going. Why he kept trying. And now Flynn's gone.

He doesn't know how to respond to that. He doesn't say it out loud, that he doesn't care if he dies. That it doesn't matter, because saying it won't do anything to say it, either.

He cuts the feed.

If Blue does want to find him, he's on the streets outside the Gate. If Blue is nearby, Repede will go find him and lead him back to Yuri. ]

[laminae]

Maul

[Fern sees absolutely no reason not to give a name. His mind is telling him it's a good idea, that it might mean getting Maul back violently for all the hurt and trauma he's caused.]

he's got a lot of powers so he could hurt you really badly too
attacking the guy head on isn't the way to fight him

[He would know, he's tried that before.]

[firstroar]

...

[the cut to electric silence is a leaden weight set in his stomach. this...cannot be right, that every person Blue connects to finds a miserable, tragic end.

as Yuri had clung to Blue's hands to keep his focus on what is right and true, so to does Blue owe it to him to try to do likewise.]


Yuri.

[Repede returns to their person with Blue in tow - part of him, at least. Blue's form is like a glimmering ghost, pale and the color of his namesake, save for the red ringing his eyes. clad in the Soldier's garb he's always identified with, he drifts near, but halts at a safe distance to avoid giving him too big a fright.]

Yuri, wait.

[he realizes that had it not been for that omen, Blue would find Yuri's mindstate almost unrecognizable from a distance. he's still him, but the miasma that this tragedy colors him in makes him something of a different facet of himself - a facet new to the Mu.

they've not known each other long at all, after all.]