[open] we could strike the chord

[headinjuries]

CHARACTERS: Anyone who wanted to go to the vigil!
WHERE: Royal Street Gaming Parlor.
WHEN: DAY :031
SUMMARY: Concordia honors the dead. Hosts honor the dead, or maybe just do a little 007ing. As in snooping, not macking on hot ladies. We hope.
WARNINGS: TBA.

This is here for any and all of your mingling needs. Start your own top-levels, harass each other, etc etc.

Here is what we know is happening, courtesy of our fearless mods:

The hosts will be few in a throng of relatively peaceful people. Most people in attendance are younger (30s and below) and a proportionally large number of them have some kind of physical modification, though most are relatively low-profile mods. There's also a small contingent of androids in attendance.

A low platform has been erected in front of the Royal Street Gaming Parlor and the speakers for the vigil either stand on it or, as is the case with some more high profile appearances, they speak across an extranet connection via a holoscreen projected onto the Parlor itself. For the most part the speakers are small time: a few workers from a small local chapter of Mind Life (accompanied by a few skittish looking androids), a beta block councilwoman, a Mother and Sister from a nearby Church of Lirinity. Most of them have nothing more than words of support and condolence.

Somewhere close to the middle of the vigil, Seong-Hye Ngazi, the Public Security Commissioner for Concordia, speaks via extranet connection. She seems somber, competent, but also confident, and speaks about condolences for the losses, regret for the circumstances of the attack, and Public Security's dedication to finding the party responsible for the attack.

Otherwise: it's your fairly standard memorial gathering. Poems are read, some tears are shed, there are some people with signs and a small contingent of rabble rousers on the fringe of the gathering that quickly get chased off by Public Security, etc. You're welcome to create and interact with your own NPCs if you feel so inclined!

Comments

[erbier]

( It does. Communicating with my brood helped me to become more comfortable. )

[ The brood could be a net of comfort, she believes that firmly, even when her own brood is a great flaming fucking mess. ]

[shiro2hero]

(Talking... normally, or talking like this?)

[He really hopes she means talking normally. But figures it's the opposite. That would just be his luck. And make more sense for this place.]

[erbier]

[ A small pique of amusement. ]

( Both. The symbiote is happy amongst its own. )

[shiro2hero]

[There's a moment of Ugh -- the sort of almost instant dislike and revulsion that doesn't quite have a word ascribed to it.]

( People saying things like that makes me wish I read the waiver before I signed on. )

[erbier]

( What will you do, now that it is done? )

[shiro2hero]

(Exactly what I said I would do, before I agreed to be here.)

[Save everyone.]

[It hadn't even been a choice. Let his friends, this little family he's pieced together after horror after horror, die, or go with this stranger. And it's still fresh and clear in his mind, how he'd held out a hand without hesitation, as soon as he'd known.]

[“You swear? You swear I can help them? All of them? I'll do it.”]

(There are people depending on me. I can't let them down.)

[I can't let another crew down.]

[erbier]

( Well, then, I suppose the rest of it doesn't matter. )

[ The politest way anyone has ever been told to quit their whining woops. ]

( No one depends on me. I am only here because I selfishly refused to die. )

[shiro2hero]

[He doesn't say anything to that -- because making a noncommittal noise in your head is hard.]

(We've all got our reasons, I guess. I imagine there are others here in that same boat.)

[erbier]

( Most are like you. )

[ A vague tinge of disapproval: the longing for a thing that is gone. ]

[shiro2hero]

(You say that like it's a bad thing.)

[Instead of something to fight for.]

[erbier]

( Pining for what is gone will not help you. )

[ I mean. She is possibly a hypocrite, she occasionally pines for wha was familiar but only because... she had grown used to it. She understood it. She knew what to expect: a swift burning death. ]

[shiro2hero]

(It might not be gone. It's something to fight for. Even if we can't go back.)

[People to fight for.]

[erbier]

[ She understands the concept, has used it herself, uses it against others: being brave for the sake of someone else. ]

( But what if it is gone? )

{ Purely a hypothetical, no cruelty implied beneath it. ]

[shiro2hero]

(No. No, I can't accept that.)

[Stubborn. And a little desperate. There are so many reasons why he can't accept it, he doesn't know where to start.]

[Or which ones are too personal to let slip.]

[erbier]

[ How unfortunate. What a weak will... ]

( I see. Then there is no need to dwell on it any further. )

[shiro2hero]

(All right. If you say so.)

[Sort of an odd reaction, if you ask him.]

[erbier]

( Of course, put yourself at ease. )

[ But she's maybe kind of disappointed and not put very much reassured. ]

[shiro2hero]

(What do you mean by that?)

[He was going to 'hang up', but that gets his attention more than anything.]