Lt. Cmdr. Data (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ltcommandroid) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
unknownseas2021-02-20 08:28 pm
ltcommandroid) wrote in unknownseas2021-02-20 08:28 pm
it is a funeral.
[Well. That was certainly something.
Emotions are clearly high, so for once, Data steps out of his helper role and takes on the brunt of organizing the after-trial gathering. He's seen enough of them by now to know what's what. He's also seen more than enough in this particular trial to decide that the bar, while possibly being the most logical location, may be distressing to some! So instead, we're gonna do something different. Data will deliver invitations, that sort of look like a computer printed them, to each of the rooms:]
Please come to the ice cream parlor if you would like company at this time.
- Data
[Everybody likes ice cream!
There are no decorations, but there are some snack selections from the buffet and the cafe, depending on what you want, and a tray or two of mixed drinks courtesy of Jimmy Buffett. Data and Parker are both here. If you're sad, you may pet Parker (probably). If you're too depressed to make your own fancy sundae, Data will do it for you (definitely).]
Emotions are clearly high, so for once, Data steps out of his helper role and takes on the brunt of organizing the after-trial gathering. He's seen enough of them by now to know what's what. He's also seen more than enough in this particular trial to decide that the bar, while possibly being the most logical location, may be distressing to some! So instead, we're gonna do something different. Data will deliver invitations, that sort of look like a computer printed them, to each of the rooms:]
Please come to the ice cream parlor if you would like company at this time.
- Data
[Everybody likes ice cream!
There are no decorations, but there are some snack selections from the buffet and the cafe, depending on what you want, and a tray or two of mixed drinks courtesy of Jimmy Buffett. Data and Parker are both here. If you're sad, you may pet Parker (probably). If you're too depressed to make your own fancy sundae, Data will do it for you (definitely).]
no subject
It would have been so much easier if she'd just been as awful as usual...
[Not that she wasn't awful, it was just... less so. Really unsatisfyingly so.]
I do too. I'm sure he would have been eager to try to cheer everyone up.
[Maybe he would have hurried to put together his next performance. Somehow, that thought just makes it worse.]
no subject
[Gods, what she'd give to have something to be angry at. Properly angry at. It had been easy during Shard's trial to just be angry that he nearly cost Lady Freyja her life. Allenby's was harder, due to her state, and how much of that was truly her.
...She hates Alice for this, but she finds she can't judge, and the strange, empty feeling in her chest from all of this is insufferable. The anger and rage is at least something.]
...He would have. That was just...always the kind of human he was, you know? He wanted to find a way to make everybody smile, and he always endeavored to have a smile on his face, even when things were rough. Here, and at home.
[...]
He really was the strangest human I've ever seen. I've never met a human so dedicated to something so...blatantly good-hearted.
no subject
He's one of a kind. There aren't many humans who are like him. Most of us are pretty terrible, in the end.
[He exhales sharply; it's almost a laugh.]
I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate that, though. From the sound of it, he joined a group of like-minded individuals, and they went and saved the world.
no subject
Oh, the lot of them absolutely are. They're filthy and horrible beings.
[That gets the slightest bit of a ha from Plumeria--congrats, you've managed to get that much from her, even in this state. Even so, she finds herself nodding her head.]
Yes. He told me about that. Apparently they managed to pick themselves up after that evil lord managed to destroy Yggdrasil, and they still managed to save the world despite it all. Despite sacrifices, heartache, everything...they truly managed something impossible.
That kind of determination seems like it could only come from a storybook. And yet, he'd probably be a little irritated at the lack of credit. [Plumeria wipes at her eyes again; the tears haven't stopped, but she's at least just...glad to talk.] And...I don't know. When you see someone like him, you just believe in what he says. You know?
no subject
[And it wasn't easy, and it didn't come without a cost. But they did it, and they persevered no matter how bad things got.]
I do, ja. At first I thought he was faking it - I thought he had to be faking it. No one can be that cheerful all the time without there being something dreadfully wrong with them.
[not like he'd know!!!!]
But he always was that kind and genuine; it was hard to think that any of what he said could have been anything but the truth. It's not often you meet someone like that.
no subject
No, it isn't. He was just...simply very dedicated to his passion, and that was making people happy. Usually humans exist on their own selfish happiness, but he truly seemed to be happy making others happy.
[...]
I couldn't really believe it either, at first. When we first met, I hated him. He had the gall to try and tell me that I could use some optimism, and I let him have it. How dare a human tell me how to feel? He didn't have the right, and we got into an argument over it. I asked him why he was being so insistent, and...I got so thrown off by his reasoning that I just faked a smile hoping he'd go away. And then he apologized, and I wound up even more confused.
...And the more I heard from him, about why he did what he did and why he was the way he was...well, the more I thought well of him. He was just so consistently kind, even to someone as bitter and sour as me.
[Not that she remained that sour with him for long, if she's being honest. Stiff, maybe, but not sour.
...Plumeria's expression goes a little more subdued.]
...I was honestly a little worried for him, sometimes. Did it ever seem to you like...I don't know, he never really let himself express any other emotions?
no subject
I'm not surprised by that, honestly. He really did hold strong to his convictions, so I'm not surprised you two butted heads initially!
[As for that question though... Hmm.]
It isn't as though he had no other feelings. He had a few hard moments here. But... I think it wasn't a matter of not letting himself feel anything else so much as it was wanting to be upbeat so the rest of us could rely on him. He wanted to help. If he could be there for someone emotionally, then he would be. It wasn't that he couldn't or didn't want to feel anything else... it was that he knew how to bounce back from them.
[Can you imagine being competent with your emotions?? What kind of sorcery is that.]
no subject
...I guess that makes sense. I don't really understand why, really, but...
[Plumeria shakes her head.]
...It's likely not important, at any rate. He certainly was good at bouncing back from such things, but I suppose it worried me when I saw it. He really did always think about ways to help others.
[...]
...He didn't deserve this.
no subject
[And even though Alice is dead now, Decus is still here and still partially responsible for what happened. They may have seen the Captain's face and learned his name, but does that really help them? Sylvando's death isn't any different from the others that have come before him - not really, anyway.
It's frustrating to think about.]
...It feels like it's been a lot longer than four weeks, doesn't it?
[Four weeks. That's nothing. He's known people for far longer and wouldn't care if they died. But this place really has changed things, hasn't it?]
no subject
[Plumeria doesn't even need a moment to consider that; it really feels as if it's been much longer. That's the only way to explain how this is hurting, isn't it...?]
It's strange. Maybe it just has something to do with our circumstances. I don't know why it feels like it's been...longer, really.
no subject
[There isn't anyone else to talk to, so you're going to find yourself getting to know someone better than you otherwise might have. But even then...]
I wonder how much longer it will be before we find a way out of this.
[I wonder how many more people will die may be a more accurate question.]
no subject
...Yeah, I guess that makes sense. You'd think being trapped in a situation like this would drive everyone apart more than anything, though.
[Plumeria just...sighs a bit. Unfurls from the curled up ball she's in and swipes at her eyes again.]
...Good question. The sooner the better, obviously, but... [...] Do you want a realistic answer, or is that just going to depress you?
[Plumeria's been trying to subsist on realism, but like. There's a time and a place.]
no subject
[The guilds, the plucky orphans, even the Empire's managed not to be a total shitshow lately. It's odd how easy it is to see that now.
Plumeria's question gets a laugh from him, though.]
I try not to be grossly optimistic in general. I think we both know many more people will die here before this is all over. I do appreciate the effort, though; there are some here who would prefer not to face that right now.
[A time and a place indeed.]