Later, dawg [Open!]

[meat_mooks]

|| Attention, crew. Those who wish to attend the funeral of Matthew O'Connor, please report to the Observation Deck. ||

Another death announcement so soon after the last. It's a sad day.

Once again, the Observation Deck is arranged for the launch. The departed crew member, better known as Punchy in his lifetime, is encased in a central pod. The deck is lit by the starlight pouring in from the open window, a blazing blue star that will soon be Punchy's final resting place.

Another life lost. Time to say farewell once more.

Comments

Eulogies

[meat_mooks]

Anyone who wishes to is invited to step forward and speak.

Re: Eulogies

[morphitudinous]

Billy hadn't taken this news well at all. Not by a long shot. He'd dropped his project of the moment and bowed over the desk, fighting the outpouring of pain and rage that had threatened to overtake him. Laboratories are not good locations for an emotional breakdown: too much delicate equipment can be damaged.

He'd spent the entire time prior to the funeral announcement in his room, curled up on the bed. What did Rangers do when one of their own died? Zordon had never given him the answer, there had (luckily) been no need of it. Billy turned his power coin in his hand over and over, mulling over his ideas. He owed his friend, coworker, and teammate the best sendoff he could muster.

Finally, it was time. Billy arrived on the Observation Deck in his Power Ranger uniform, his helmet tucked under one arm. It was more difficult than he could have imagined, but he kept his head held high. Billy was proud of everything Punchy was, and he was going to do his best to show it.

"Losing Punchy like this is incredibly painful to me. When I first met him, I doubted we'd ever mesh. He spoke...like a rapper, and we talked past each other sometimes. But after further reflecting, I realized we'd had that in common: back in high school, I tended to be more verbose than I am even now. A friend of mine needed to translate almost everything I said."

It was almost funny. Billy chuckled, but the high-pitched and uncertain sound felt out of place. He swallowed, walking toward the pod.

"So we understood each other that way. And he was a brilliant programmer. Always supportive, and dedicated to his task. He was my late-night companion in the lab, always ready with coffee. I'm really going to miss that."

Billy reached the pod then, spreading his gloved hand on the surface. One last goodbye. "He was also my teammate: a Power Ranger, true to the end. He didn't hesitate when we needed someone to join us. He made us laugh, he was always supportive, and...I'm sorry that I didn't have longer to fight beside him, because it was truly an honor to have him as my teammate. He was more than a worthy Blue Ranger. If my mentor on Earth had known him, I'm sure he would have approved. Punchy was a real hero to the end, and better yet, he kept our spirit alive."

Time for the finale. He stepped back, balling his fists in an effort to fight tears. "Goodbye, my friend---though I suppose you would've liked me to say---oh, this is going to sound ridiculous. But it's for you. And only this once."

He inhaled, paused, and fixed his eyes on the casket. "Later, dawg. Your memory will be with us always, and may the Power always honor you."

Re: Eulogies

[bonnypiperlad]

It wasn't the first time that Jamie had lost someone close to him. Culloden hadn't been good to the clans that fought that day, and he had seen many a good man die - friends as close as family, in many cases. And it was true that he had seen his share of death even before waking up on Stacy. People he barely knew, for the most part, but there were a few he considered friends. People he'd come to care about, even if he'd only known them a short time.

Most of the people that had been lost since he came out of the pods, though, weren't those he had known well at all. That is, until Punchy, and for once, he felt as though he had to do more than just play the pipes. So he stepped forward.

"I'll not say as I understood what Punchy was saying half the time. In fact, when I first met him, I thought that maybe something'd gone wrong on the Omnicomms. I think maybe some of ye might have thought the same. But once ye got to know him, ye knew that he was a good man. Someone brave, and loyal, and willing to fight even when the odds were against him, and the way he spoke, well... Ye got used to it."

He paused a moment, turning a small datapad around and around in his hands while he tried to find the rest of the words that he wanted to say. Eventually, they came to him.

"After the battle with SHODAN, I found him saying goodbye to his sister. We talked a bit, and from what I gathered, she'd not had a chance to see him like what he was here. I thought something then, something I'd not said to him, and I wished I had. And that was that she'd be proud of him. Of who he'd become. That's not changed. He was a bonny fighter, a good teammate, and a good friend. I'm grateful to have had the chance to know him."