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

[elementofloyalty]

"Sure it was," she said, her voice thick and wet. "I coulda been hanging out with someone cooler."

[anwei]

"So could he, probably," she pointed out. "But he didn't run off to hang with someone he thought might be cooler. He hung with you."

Was she using that slang right, she wondered.

She thought of the last time she'd seen Punchy, glowing in computer-projection colors, riding away on a tiger like a man being borne along by flames.

"And even the coolest of the cool die someday."

[elementofloyalty]

"...Not like this. Not so soon."

She dropped her head down, the anger slipping from her grasp no matter how hard she trying to hold on to it.

[anwei]

Anwei wondered if that beautiful multicolored fall of hair was as soft to the touch as it was to the eye.

"I wish it hadn't happened. I wish he hadn't died. But he did, and all we'll have of him now is memories of him singing, and working, and being cool. So long as we have those, a part of him is still alive."

And if Stacy tried to strip away those memories, she'd be boiled alive in her own lymph, if Anwei could manage it.

[elementofloyalty]

Nope. It's surprisingly thick, actually.

"But... he's NOT still alive. No matter what we remember."

[anwei]

"No. He's not. But we remember him, and we remember him cool. We don't let death touch our memories of him: those are a part of his life. We'll tell his story, and maybe he'll meet Death and tell his." A sad smile. "He'll probably rap it."

[elementofloyalty]

Rainbow Dash tried to be angry or stubborn or combative or -- well, anything, really, to all of this. Anything that wasn't broken misery.

She failed. All she had the strength to do was sit and not sob openly, though tears ran down her cheeks freely.

[anwei]

Anwei sat down as well, and let her own tears flow. She tried to imagine Death, blue wings thundering through the aether, and Punchy traveling with Her, mouth wide and laughing, eyes bright, going to an afterlife where the music was hot and the people were always, always cool.

"And we'll miss him."

[elementofloyalty]

"Yeah."

She didn't have words for more, but at least she had broken through the fake emotions to come to grips with how she truly felt. It hurt. So much more it hurt. But it would allow for cleansing, in the end.