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 Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 9:22 pm
A break in the weather had found him restless. When night came it would be easy to power up and work out any lingering need to get out that way, but during the day? There were only so many places that he could go. Once his paperwork was in order he'd see about enrolling in classes again, maybe getting a part time job. He'd see about reclaiming the rest of his life.... Until then? Arin tucked his hands in his pockets as he strolled along the concrete path weaving through the memorial park. There was a quiet beauty to the architecture around him; statues, mausoleums and memorials of marble and granite. Memories. Family, friends, lost love... He paused by a particular memorial that he'd paid visit to once or twice before. The name on it was familiar-- Honestly, it should have been. It was his own. No. That wasn't quite right. It had been his own. The plot was small, the headstone simple. Rikard U. Colby. The name was bold and beneath it in a small note was the line that he always came back to read. Seek elsewhere what can no longer be found here. The young man took a deep breath, releasing it slowly while brushing his fingers back through his hair. The way forward was elsewhere. Pausing here, searching and seeking for something that had eluded him-- It was a reminder that if he stopped here he should keep going and continue moving on. He couldn't very well move on with life while still looking back to what he couldn't recall of the past.
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Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:35 am
Lysander knew going out to Rik's grave was something he should, needed, to do and he'd set his phone to remind him so he couldn't take too long to do it either. Even so he'd stood around in a flower shop wondering what Rik would like far longer than necessary. He wasn't really stalling on purpose but the longer he stood there in the shop the longer it would take the really face the reality of RIkard being gone. He didn't have to go look at his grave stone and know there was a physical reminder somewhere of what he couldn't get back. The shop keep noticed him eventually and embarrassed at being caught he managed to get out an excuse for why he was standing around. Shortly after he was back out on the street with a small bouquet of lilies. It was a short enough walk from the flower shop to the memorial park and once he was inside he wandered over to the main building figuring someone could tell him where the grave was. They kept records of those sorts of things surely. The older woman at the desk was happy enough to look it up and show him where RIkard's grave was on a map of the park. He thanked her quietly and headed back out so he could wander in that direction. As he moved past the various statues and the trees he was surprised to see someone else over where he was headed and as he got closer wondered if he had picked the wrong day to come out. Someone else standing by Rik's grave, someone he didn't recognize, was probably a bad sign.
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:45 am
A small part of him knew that he was taking a risk every time he came to the memorial park and paused by the engraved granite marking the end of one lifetime and the start of another. Sure, a glamour kept his secret safe and it wasn't as though he'd had many connections left in his life before. He had drawn away from so much, behavior becoming so erratic.... But what if someone else came by? What if they recognized him? Arin played a dangerous game that extended into his powered life as well-- Purposefully wearing his Negaverse medals as Mag Mell to let them all know that he had once been one of them? He was asking for trouble. He... He paused as he heard footsteps behind him, rocking on his heels only to turn and cast a glance over his shoulder. A young man stood with flowers in hand and he was likely standing in the way of someone who had come to mourn one of the other lost souls here at the memorial park. Arin ran his fingers through choppy locks of hair once more before stepping back, giving the mourner a chance to move around him to wherever it was he was heading.
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:08 am
"Sorry. I won't take long." He tucked a chunk of hair behind his ear as he took a few steps closer toward the grave he'd been pointed at. There was no mistaking Rik's name caved into the stone and that little bit of him that had been holding on to hope that he was wrong finally let go. He really didn't want to cry in front of a stranger so he leaned down to set the flowers against the stone before straightening up. Whoever the other man was, given that he was handsome probably Riks' new boyfriend, he had a better reason than Lysander to be there. He'd hoped to get to spend a bit of time at the grave but standing there with someone else, when he was likely to cry again, would just be awkward.
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:31 am
"You knew him?" The words coming from his mouth sounded surprised; more so than he had intended them to be. Whoever this was, he hadn't instantly recognized him at a glance, but there he was lying flowers down. Arin suddenly felt guilty, like he hadn't stepped back nearly far enough for the unexpected situation unfolding. "I-- Come out here to walk every now and then. It's quiet; different than the rest of the parks in the city. Spotted his headstone once and had to pause and ponder why they would've etched what they did onto it." He shifted awkwardly on his feet, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jacket to keep from fidgeting. He stepped back after that, intending to give the other man more space. "I'm sorry for your loss."
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:46 am
"I lost him before this happened." He murmured, voice quieter than it usually was as he kept his eyes on the gravestone. The saying was strange but somehow it seemed to fit Rik. "Kinda always though I'd be able to get him back. Life doesn't always work out how we want huh?." He tipped his head back slightly and took a deep breath as he tried to keep himself under control. It worked, mostly, even though he could feel tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. "Seek elsewhere what can no longer be found here....His parents probably put it there so his friends wouldn't feel like they needed to be held back by loosing him. Rik would have told you there wasn't anyone who'd care that much. One fight we always had."
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 11:24 am
"Must have worked if that's what they'd intended to do-- I've been by here once or twice and this is the first time I've seen flowers." He let the words hang there between them for a moment before drawing one hand out of his pocket, holding it out to the other man. "Name's Arin, by the way. You're sharing enough about your personal life with me that the least I can do is offer that..." It was also a way to get a name in return, he hoped. The face before him wasn't familiar enough for his mind to grasp immediately and everything else was still to jumbled to pick out any other bits that he might recognize. "For what it's worth, I've found that life has a way of making sure there's a door opening somewhere to make up for the ones its closing. You really think his parents were the ones who decided to have that put on the memorial?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 11:38 am
"Could also be because his parents didn't pay much attention to him so they're not coming out to refresh them." It was a little sadder to think that no one else had come out either. Rikard had friends so someone should have been bringing him something every once in a while. He rubbed a hand over his eyes before holding the dry one out to the other man. "Lysander. I doubt his parents would have asked anyone else' input and honestly I dont want to think bout Rik having though about what to put on his tombstone." At least not also thinking that he'd left it somewhere his parents would be able to find.
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 12:38 pm
He'd already taken the other man's hand in his own when it was offered, before he'd given his name. Lysander. Arin felt his shoulders tense and tried to keep that reaction from following down his arm into his grip on the other man's hand. He was certain that it didn't work, convinced that his grip had tightened on Lysander's hand and he'd have no way to explain it because how could he? Arin swallowed, eyes watching Lysander's face for a moment as his grip eased up and he drew his hand back. "If you don't mind me asking... Why hold on to something you lost long ago? Just trying to find closure?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 12:48 pm
"I never got closure before." With his hand back he tucked both into his coat pocket. He'd felt the other man's hand tense slightly at the mention of his name and wondered what that was about. He hadn't been in town long enough for his name to have gotten around again. So unless Arin had been fibbing about just passing by... "I assume Rik dumped me since he stopped answering my texts and phone calls but I never really knew. So I guess it would have been nice to know what the reason was." He wasn't ever going to find out now though.
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:49 pm
"Well, you said the two of you used to argue about whether or not anyone cared. Think that could have played into it? Not-- Not that it's any of my business." He shrugged his shoulders, tucking his own hands back into his pockets least he start running his hands through his hair or fidgeting with zipper pulls. After Lysander had left Destiny City things had gotten hazy for him in general. He recalled enough of who he was before to know that he'd gone through a period of just going through the motions. He hadn't clearly recalled why, but even that was starting to make a little bit of sense now. You can't change the past. "I'm sure you'd like some time. I didn't mean to interrupt..." Arin rocked on his heels again, taking another unsteady step back. "Maybe that epitaph was left there for you."
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:58 pm
"It could have and I told him he could have come out to Cali with me but he didn't want to." He'd offered every time Rik had mentioned not begin happy, or seemed unhappy, while they were talking. Other than his usual stuff he hadn't noticed Rik being any more sad about him being gone, they still talked all the time until Rik had stopped responding. He'd known it would be hard going into it but he hadn't thought it would end like it had. Arin's last comment caused him to laugh slightly. "It would be the universe playing a pretty nasty trick on me if it was. I might be vain but I'm not that bad." He shook his head, looking back over at the headstone.
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 2:52 pm
"Most people have something that's holding them back, even if it's something they can't share... Or won't." It didn't make anything easier, though, and it hadn't made anything easier then. He'd still been young to the Negaverse when he and Lysander had met-- Young to more than that, if he was being truthful. Something had stopped him from leaving... A worry? Transportation? A sharp pain shot through his temples and he winced, hand coming out of his pocket to rub at the bridge of his nose as though it would do anything to relieve any of the tension that had sprung upon him. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the universe, Lysander." Cosmos, maybe. "It would just be your own words-- You said the epitaph was probably put there as a reminder to his friends. If you're the first to bring flowers by here then you're the one who needed to see it. The answers you're looking for aren't here. You won't find them in ash or stone... But maybe you'll find them somewhere else."
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 3:09 pm
He huffed a soft laugh, shaking his head. "My usual answer for 'elsewhere' to find answers would be the bottom of a glass. I doubt that is going to do me any good though." Drinking too much was just likely to make him think more about Rik and thinking more about him was just going to make things worse. After a moment he looked back over at Arin. "If it was put there so someone would see it first and learn something from it ... well you saw it before I did." If the universe was putting messages around it would be for the first person to find meaning in it which seemed to be Arin. "I did at least find one answer here, even if it's not one I wanted" His phone chirped, interrupting the rest of his thought and he pulled it out to check and see who'd texted him. "Speaking of the present, duty calls." He smiled slightly, nodding his head before he headed back down the path.
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 3:58 pm
"Maybe it was put there for both of us." He said too late after Lysander had already walked away-- That seemed to be a habit of his. Arin lingered on the path for a bit longer, watching after the other man as he left before turning on heel to head in the opposite direction. Maybe this was what he needed to finally move on himself.
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