Elodie's eyes flicked around the room. There were heavy secrets here, and she had a firm guess as to whose shoulders they rested upon most of all. So she looked over at Michael, and raised an eyebrow.
He was the one she knew the least, the one she had spent the least amount of time around.He was guarded about his identity; not a terrible thing, in the face of a war that might gladly come for them at home. But considering how connected everyone here seemed, it was almost unlikely to her that he was totally out of it, and so she had to wonder.
If everyone remembered Percy--an experience she lacked, as a descendant Knight--then it was likely that he had died, too. With Satine, and Ganymede, and Valhalla, and the rest of them.
Which meant that like the rest of them, he had likely been reincarnated.
Well. She didn't want to guess. And she'd made her offer, and Devyn seemed disinterested, so she simply looked over at Brielle, and nodded.
"I think that would be the best option, wouldn't it?" She said. "Obviously, my experience is different than the rest of yours, but...." She let herself trail off, and she hoped her meaning was clear.
stari-maga
Sunshine Alouette
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Guine
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:04 am
Died.
Paris struggled not to wince at the word. Death had a habit of occupying her thoughts. If it wasn’t her memories of the past, it was their current troubles that plagued her. Allies dead on the field. Other allies who went missing. Friends who were corrupted. Some could be saved, but not all. Death was a constant, yet became no easier to accept over time.
She glanced toward Brielle — braver than any of them to have uttered that word. She glanced toward Elodie, who knew the past in a different manner, one that offered a different sort of insight. She glanced toward Michael, who wouldn’t meet her gaze, and Chris, who understood things as well as she did, even if his memories were less complete.
Finally, she looked at Devyn again, and, rather like ripping off a bandaid, she explained, “My starseed once belonged to Liesel Rosenfeld. As I’ve grown in power as Sailor Ganymede, I’ve uncovered more of his memories, more than anyone else here. I remember Serge. I remember Percy. I remember you. I’m sorry, Devyn. Percy Martel died over a thousand years ago.”
The unfairness of it all struck her again — that she had to be the one to tell him this; that Chris had to confirm the things she said; that the others, all of whom never asked to be drawn into this situation, had to bear witness to it; and that Devyn had to hear this at all.
All because Michael couldn’t be bothered to do it himself.
Why? Because he didn’t care to? Because he was afraid? Staring at Devyn, knowing what she knew of the past, it seemed so selfish.
“Didn’t you know that?” she asked, gently. “I thought…”
Paris trailed off. Liesel’s memories were extensive, but there were still gaps — some that filled as soon as she thought about them, while others took more time.
Guine
Kyuseisha no Hikari
stari_maga
Noir Songbird
Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
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Guine
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 1:02 pm
It was painful, watching Devyn trying to process everything he was being told. And Chris also tried not to cringe at the way Brielle brought up the word they were trying to avoid. Maybe if Devyn realized on his own, he wouldn't have to be told by people who were practically strangers. But Elodie agreed, and Paris finally confirmed what they were avoiding, and what Michael had apparently refused to tell Devyn himself.
"I'm sorry, Devyn," he said softly, keeping his eyes on their guest instead of glancing back over to his wife. "It's been so long, maybe you just… decided not to think about it," he suggested, knowing it was difficult when loved ones passed, especially when it was sudden. Percy had been younger than anyone had expected him to die.
"I don't have Serge's memories of how Percy died, but I do remember he was very upset about it. Blamed himself for not being able to do more to protect him."
There were many things that Chris didn't like about Serge, but he had been very protective of his brother.
"I don't know how you managed to survive so long. I know the Mauvians go into some kind of stasis but…" He wasn't sure how Lucasta would feel talking to someone she should have known in the past. Chris knew her memories weren't very clear, so it could just cause more stress for everyone.
Michael grit his teeth as he stared at a spot on the floor. He didn't need to look at Devyn's face to be able to know the pain he was experiencing, the confusion and denial and hurt and--
He rubbed at his chest, near the orb that seemed to be pulsing erratically against it. Being told Percy was dead was just as horrible as Michael had expected. But he still believed that Devyn needed to hear it from everyone else.
"Let's give him a moment," Michael suggested, finally looking up so he could make his way back over to where Devyn and the others were standing. He placed a gentle hand on his shoulder for only a moment, before nodding his head towards one of the doors that led to the back of the house.
"I need some fresh air. Too hot…" he explained, hoping it was obvious that the invitation was there for Devyn to escape for a bit. Or if he couldn't be around the others, he could slip out.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Sunshine Alouette
Noir Songbird
stari_maga
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 2:05 pm
Brielle said it so flippantly, like it wasn’t some distant thought skirting just out of reach. Like it was something he wasn’t trying so hard to consider. It wasn’t her fault, but it didn’t change what it did to him.
She didn’t know.
The needle in his mind was joined by a flurry of them. He didn’t know where they started, but he felt a wave of them, in his eyes, his ears, his throat. In his lungs, in his blood, across his skin.
It was a concept he could have found some way to reject if Paris hadn’t just said it. He might have had the time to do whatever mental gymnastics he’d needed to not to think Percy was gone, but she’d said it. Which meant the only things he could do was accept the information or reject it.
Devyn was completely still with this information. Nothing changed on his face. His breathing, subtle, slowed. One hand at his side curled into a fist, but he seemed from habit more than any desire to attack anyone.
He was surrounded by people who knew but didn’t know.
He scrambled for any explanation, for any logical reason for deception.
There wasn’t any. He had no resources for them to try and swindle from him. They asked for nothing. Peter and Michael had taken care of him, and they’d invited him to–
Well, this. This, that Devyn understood was meant to be a pleasant family gathering. He’d felt out of place with the invitation, but grateful. Hopeful. Now, he was just acutely aware of his intrusion. This wasn’t what this was supposed to be for them.
No one was gloating. They offered condolences, and they seemed to mean well.
He had no reason to think otherwise.
He just didn’t want to believe them.
Which would have been so much easier if he’d rejected the information when he had the chance, because without that denial to support what maybe he already knew, he felt the walls cracking. He saw Percy’s face, pale and sickly. He saw blood. He tasted poison.
Unchanging as Devyn was, his heart was the only thing that could have really given him away. It beat so loudly in his chest he thought it might have broken out of his ribcage and started rattling around inside.
Michael’s hand on his shoulder was a welcome distraction, even if Devyn hadn’t known it at the time. He felt it, heavy and warm. He felt like ice. He was frozen already, he didn’t think he’d brought that inside with him.
The words didn’t register for a few seconds but he nodded, anyway.
He didn’t need a moment. He didn’t know what he needed but time wasn’t on the list. He had questions, probably, but he couldn’t remember any of them. There were probably things to say but he couldn’t think of those, either.
His head hurt, and the flashes were getting worse.
It was probably best he didn’t disrupt their celebration, he could figure that much out.
“Thank you,” he said softly, maybe to all of them. His voice didn’t carry now but he didn’t seem like he could put in more effort than that. If he’d had the energy to, maybe. “I apologize.”
Everything hurt. His mind was spinning. The room was shifting, rolling. He could see flashes of things, fragments of memories he’d shattered and buried and denied. They snapped back together, like magnets. The dust shifting in his mind felt suffocating.
Fresh air was a convenient excuse to extract himself before this could get worse, for him–for them.
Michael was a convenient guide. The door couldn’t have been so far away but it looked like it stretched on forever.
He didn’t think there was any proper social protocol for this situation, so seeing himself out seemed like the best option. At least, until he remembered how to breathe.
i had to delete the quotes because i saw a typo oops sorry 8D;;;
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Crew
Dragonslaying Dragon
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staripop
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 4:42 pm
It hadn't helped.
Hopefully it would help, in time. Even with Brielle's memories the way they were, she'd seen how people reacted to trauma. She'd seen denial. She'd seen what it did to people. It was everywhere in the Negaverse. Devyn didn't deserve to live in a cloud of cyclical, choking lies like that. He deserved to move on, and for that he needed to know the truth.
It didn't make it any easier to watch him draw into himself even more. It didn't make it any easier to watch him head for the door, apologizing.
It didn't stop the pang of guilt that curled tight around Brielle's chest.
"I'm sorry," she whispered back, half to Devyn and half to the rest of them.
Part of her wanted to slip back and try blending in with the wallpaper again, but it didn't work like that, so she sucked in a breath and looked at her shoes and waited for someone to get after her for being rude at the very least, or perhaps to tell her that she wasn't needed her after all, since she'd run off the guest.
Guine
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Sunshine Alouette
Noir Songbird
stari_maga
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:39 am
Beau watched Michael and Devyn head out back, waiting until they were both out of earshot before he said anything else.
“Don’t apologize,” Beau told Brielle, low and comforting. “It needed to be said.”
“You shouldn’t have needed to say it,” Paris argued lightly, though none of her annoyance was directed at Brielle, who only tried to help, and, in doing so, got to the point faster than the one who should have done the talking.
Who chose that moment to escape.
Because Paris cared for her brother-in-law, she chose to believe Michael was leading Devyn out for Devyn’s sake, and not for his own.
“I should’ve just said it to begin with,” Paris muttered to herself. “Or… I don’t know. None of this makes sense. I don’t understand how he’s still alive. He shouldn’t be, but…”
But he was. Or some version of him was. The universe was responsible for some weird s**t, but this was one of the weirdest to happen in a while. Weirder than the Velencians, even. She didn’t know the Velencians. They were recognizable to her, but Devyn was.
Paris reached for her wine again. She drank half of what was left in one go.
Guine
Kyuseisha no Hikari
stari_maga
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Eternal Senshi
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:42 pm
Claire hugged Beau tighter as both Michael and Devyn decided to leave out the back door, but then she gently pulled herself away so she could go over to where Brielle was standing and wrapped her arms around her instead.
“Don’t be sorry, Doe,” she insisted, nodding along with her husband. Because no matter what they did, it was going to be very difficult to help someone who couldn’t remember, or didn’t want to remember, what was probably a very traumatic experience.
“Would you like to help me get everything pulled out for dinner?” she hummed, because it was probably a good thing to distract her. And everyone else.
Peter sighed heavily and rubbed at his head. He didn’t know what else to do. Paris and Brielle, Chris and Elodie all brought up the most difficult bits of the conversation. All he could do was stand there silently and cringe.
“It’ll be okay. He’ll just need some time to think about it. Maybe he is a time traveler?” Peter suggested again, but even he wasn’t sure he believed it now. Not when Devyn was obviously remembering something.
Chris also didn’t know what to do, besides watching his brother and Devyn make their way out back. Whatever was going to happen, they would figure it out and work through it. As a family, they were stronger together.
Devyn was, in a way, part of their family. Or at least that was how Chris saw it. He was married to Percy at one point, and since it was unlikely there was anyone else on his world that survived, he would have no one else.
As Paris drank her wine, Chris moved close to give her a quick hug and kissed her temple. It was definitely going to be a Christmas they would remember.
Quote:
Unless anyone would like to jump in and add anything else, I'm good calling this a wrap if everyone else is! Thank you so much!
