what's the worst that I can say? things are better if I stay

[facilitated]

Who: OPEN
What: The funeral of Phil Coulson and Maria Smith
When: Day 47, afternoon
Where: The Cemetery
Warnings: Discussions of character/NPC deaths? Will update as needed.

Notes: The headers are there to just help in chronologically ordering things, other than that it's party style. After the funeral there's a thing resembling a wake at the town hall. Mingle, have fun, mourn the losses.




It's been a pretty hectic twenty four hours for the people involved with arranging the funeral. Time hasn't exactly been on their side, but somehow they've all managed to throw something together. Laura for one looks absolutely exhausted - she hasn't actually slept yet, but in some ways that's almost preferable. Too much on her mind for that to be pleasant. Besides, there's been priorities like arranging a funeral in a day, and it's not the worst send off in the world, all things considered.

There's a second announcement the day after, and tired as she sounds Laura gives everyone the details for the funeral. That afternoon, at the cemetery. She's done the best she could do in a day, and it's not much, but at least it's something. That doesn't make the whole situation any less upsetting though, and it certainly doesn't make it any easier to drag herself through the day. She's there though, waiting at the cemetery for people to arrive.

Comments

BEFORE - breakfast with Jesse

[facilitated]

BEFORE - arrivals, commentary, preparation etc.

[facilitated]

THE CEREMONY - eulogies

[facilitated]

THE CEREMONY - other

[facilitated]

AFTER - Town Hall

[facilitated]

AFTER - other

[facilitated]

[facilitated]

Despite the fact that the sun is rising, Laura's still awake. She's gone from heavy pacing to slumped on the couch though, knee jittering lightly as she looks around the room. It's got to be enough, right? That's got to be everything. She's sure there's something that she must have forgotten though, a glaringly obvious detail that must have been missed. She can't quite put her finger on it, but it's got to be there. She's working herself up about it too much, has been for hours and it's stopped her from even so much as napping. Too much to do, too little time.

It's still ridiculously early, sun barely in the sky, and no one else is awake yet as far as she knows. She can't hear Jesse moving around, who knows where that Lucifer guy is. Laura hasn't seen anything of her other housemate beyond that first, very exposed meeting besides brief glimpses here and there. Slumped away on the couch, birds singing like there's nothing wrong about today, she can't help but slide down a little further on the couch. maybe if she just shuts her eyes for a few minutes. Jesse's got to wake her up when he gets up, right? She's out in the lounge, there's no way he can miss her.

It's slow going, but eventually she does manage to doze off.

[enchangement]

[ River arrives with a basket colander full of flowers, torn bits of cloth with the Mandarin characters for safe passage written on them, and incense sticks (the latter of which were found in some kitchen of some house that River doesn't even live in) pressed against her midsection.

She walks up to Laura and offers them with a small smile.]

AFTER - Town Hall

[enchangement]

[ There's a girl in combat boots and a dress milling around amongst everyone - she has an eye out for some people in particular but it's not as though she's ever disinterested in another soul. ]

[magnets]

It's ass o'clock in the morning and Jesse's still perched on the side of his bed, a notepad in his lap, a pencil in hand and absolutely nothing scrawled on the page. Laura's not the only one who didn't get any sleep, not really. It was his own fault, really, taking a little something to take the edge off the afternoon; he's wired, his knee's jarring around, and the two would have made quite the pair had they been in the same room. Jesse kept sequestered in his own space for the time being.

Something was off, and it wasn't just the dirt that he didn't think he'd ever get un-caked from under his fingernails. God, digging graves. It wasn't even a whole new low, was the biggest problem. No, it was just a middle ground, a new set of skills to add to his resume. He felt all over the place, he felt weirdly wrong. He couldn't sleep. His thoughts were about as scattered as his actions felt.

He had to fix this. The two of them had been awkward all day and if he wasn't sleeping, he wasn't just gonna sit around and wait around for the inevitable crash later. He had to keep himself busy, and that came with ideas that sounded really, awfully good when you were still a little high. He didn't even know what they had in the kitchen that would qualify as a breakfast, but he was sure as shit going to throw together something incredibly slapdash as a kind of apology that he still hadn't really mustered himself into saying.

It means tiptoeing past the couch when he gets up, making his way into the kitchen and starting to piece together some sad excuse for a meal that he can with what they have for food. Noodles and peas or some shit? That wasn't breakfast. He'd kill for some eggs.

He's awfully delicate when he's picking the frying pan out of the cupboard, but it makes an unmistakable bit of a rattle when he pulls the thing out. Oops. He's trying awfully hard not to wake her yet.

[noblexcompanion]

[ Funerals are always so emotionally draining. Donna hates them. Yet at the same time things don't seem right without a funeral. It's closure and sometimes that's exactly what you need.

She's just glad they managed to find booze for the wake. It's definitely needed and welcomed. ]

[facilitated]

Hey uh, thanks for coming. [ That's what you say, right? She hasn't been to a funeral in a long time, not since she was a kid. She'll take the offered colander though, smile a little and gesture vaguely with a hand as she looks at River. ]

What a way to get yourself acquainted with the town, huh. A funeral.

[greenisnteasy]

Bruce spent some time figuring out what he ought to say, and he has some notes written down, but that doesn't make this any easier. He steps to the front and clears his throat before he pulls out his glasses and slips them on.

"I didn't know Maria very well, but I think it's safe to say that none of us did, considering." He clears his throat and glances up, eyes moving among the crowd to see if there's any recognition there. "She turned out to be more than just a science teacher, and in the end she tried to help us. That's probably why she's here today."

He glances at her casket, punctuating the end of what he has to say about her, and then turns back to his notes.

"Phil and I were closer. I can't say I'm a fan of G-men, but he was different. He was open and kind, and one hell of a nerd. What I know about Phil is that he was willing to sacrifice whatever was necessary to keep people safe, even if that meant sacrificing himself. He was a good friend with a good heart, and I'll name my next RPG character in his honor."

He offers a small smile at the crowd, then turns it on his casket. He gives a silent nod of farewell, then slides his glasses off and rejoins the group.

[greenisnteasy]

[ Bruce recognizes her as a recent arrival and comes over to her, smiling. ]

Hi. I don't think we've met. I'm Bruce Banner.

[greenisnteasy]

[ It seems strange to mingle after something like a funeral, but Bruce isn't sure what else to do with himself, either. Go sit in solitude and reflect? Meditate? But does he really want to be alone with his thoughts right now?

He'll stand for being alone with this cookie, standing beside the food table and watching. He just might be in your way, but he's unaware of it. ]

[venatical]

[ He gets there's a gathering happening, so he pops his head in out of curiosity. It doesn't take long to figure out hey... Funeral. Awesome. He hangs around awkwardly, then shuffles up to someone. ]

Hey. Um... Who died?

[venatical]

[ Look, booze! Best funeral ever. He grabs a beer and takes a drink, then shoots a polite smile at the redhead he's standing next to. ]

Hi. You, um. Know the... [ Stiffs? No. ] You know.

[noblexcompanion]

[ Donna is about to answer that yes, she knew Phil but then she recognises the voice and then the face and OH MY GOD! It's Dean flippin' Winchester! Dean 'I can make you come just by staring at you' Winchester!

She squeaks. She won't admit to it, ever. ]

Oh my God!! You're back! [ Sorry, Dean, questions are on hold while she glomps you. ]

[enchangement]

[ And suddenly, Bruce is the center of River's attention. At least for a moment but man, that has to be an intense feeling.

Fifteen seconds is about how long that moment lasts before she blinks. ]

Tony was true. A trustworthy doctor.

[enchangement]

There are worse things. [ River gives Laura a quick hug. ] It's a good sending.

Re: THE CEREMONY - other

[thezerothlaw]

Daneel hangs back during the ceremony. He's not sure if he has any right to be here. He was only faintly acquainted with Phil, and knew Maria not at all, but humans have died, and it troubles him, and for reasons he can't explain, he wishes to be here.

He's never been to a funeral before. It's a very human thing. Maybe he should excuse himself.

Maybe not. He'll stay, and observe.

[onteamdyson]

[Despite her creepy, soothing love of cemeteries, Kenzi absolutely hates funerals. If anyone asks, she usually chalks it up to being unable to handle 'hysterical' but it's a little bit more than that.

It wasn't even that long ago that she'd been at Ciara's funeral with Bo and everyone else. Before all the shit with the Norn. Before she ended up here. Phil had meant too much to her not to show up, but she didn't want to say anything. She didn't feel like she had a right to say anything compared to people that actually knew him!

So Kenzi just hangs back with Galen. Present, but not her usual positive-and-upbeat self. Good thing she already had a lot of black in her wardrobe.]

[reluctantsword]

Bruce.

[Wallie gives him a nod as he wanders close. The urge is to give Bruce a friendly smile, but that's... not appropriate right now.]

It was a good speech you made.

[gleans]

[ He helped organize this thing, but has made a conscious effort not to let himself take over running it. Funerals are pretty straightforward, anyway: they're for saying goodbye, and it looks like the people present have a good handle on the flow of the service.

Still, being more involved and busy would help keep his mind off of the fact that Terri was just at her own grandfather's funeral, and she has no idea...

Standing with Kenzi helps, even though she's strangely - but not surprisingly - quiet. When he feels like he's thinking too much he puts an arm around her shoulder, glances around for Jesse. ]

[facilitated]

Laura is a light sleeper at the best of times so it's a miracle that just walking through the room alone didn't rouse her. She's pretty out of it at last, getting in a few moments of clearly needed rest. The clattering around in the kitchen does it though, she yawns and rubs her eyes a bit before suddenly sitting up straight. Shit, she'd fallen asleep and there's still so much to do and- and, what was that noise in the kitchen?

Rubbing at her face again to try and wake herself up a bit, she drags herself up off of the couch and starts to quietly walk towards the kitchen. When she gets to the doorway and peeks inside she's surprised to see Jesse though, and hovers a moment before actually walking in. It's still awkward, neither of them quite able to muster up an apology. He spent a day helping her dig graves though, and no amount of awkwardness is going to make her ignore that. It's not every day someone does that for you after all.

It takes another moment and a soft sigh under her breath, but finally she walks in and shoves her hands into the pockets of her cardigan as she clears her throat a little to announce her presence. She doesn't want to sneak up on him or anything. With a little tip of her head towards the frying pan, she gives a little half smile. "Hey. What're you doing up so early?"