mayfield_logs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Cain Knightlord and Charles Fei-Ong
What: Killing two birds with one stone IE some concert practice with a side of detective work
Where: High school auditorium
When: Backdated to the week before the event
Warnings: N/A

[guess who's shown up at the designated meeting spot way before the actual meeting time? this guy! surprising, considering how rare it is for him to even manage being punctual. the stage of the auditorium was cluttered with bits and bobs from drama practice and mediocre music classes though, so of course he had to take it upon himself to make the stage presentable. even if it's only a recital round, and not even a dress recital at that, everything must be in perfect working order.

so here he'll be waiting, already tuning his own ~~stolen~~ borrowed violin up at one of two stands that have been placed in the very front and center of the stage. it's not exactly as grand as he's used to, but it'll do for now.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[IT'S THE TWILIGHT ZONE

or just Charles using his favorite conversational tactic of verbally boxing people into corners.

as for that question... he decides a mostly-truthful answer would be best for the time being, and he gives a little shrug.] I'm just curious. I was in the church with your body, but I couldn't see it at the time and no one spoke of it afterward, so I had no idea what happened.

[Abel hadn't really talked about what happened to his body, for some reason he had assumed... it had just vanished. To hear Charles had been in the church with his corpse was unnerving to say the least.

The only way to make Charles think he was over it and unaffected was to reply as calmly as possible.]

I was decapitated.

[imagine what it had been like from his point of view. ...or his point of smell, as it were.]

I could tell, somewhat. [because poking at corpses is the best way to determine what's going on with them, clearly. he basically has the entire scenario worked out now between Abel's reaction and what Cain had said, coupled with his own knowledge of the carnival.]

[He doesn't want to, thanks. Spending time with a decapitated corpse is not his idea of a party.]

Have you died here before?

[Turnabout is fair, Charles, even if he never actually answered the original question.]

Three times, yes.

[that whole "acting like it doesn't bother you" facade Cain has going on is reflected back in a practiced and near-perfect form in Charles. he had been bothered by it the first time, naturally, which is why he assumes the same of Cain and the carnival. by now? the novelty has worn off, and he views dying as more or less without consequence.]

[It's not the act of dying that's distressing, per se, it's what comes with it. It's a knowledge he failed and lost control of the situation, and it's knowing he hurt his brother in the worst way possible.]

Death shouldn't be like this... temporary.

[a shrug. he never cared much about "dying" in his own world, either.]

Humans should get the most of it while they can. It isn't normal for them to die more than once.

[He doesn't like it, it's unnatural to have to live with your failure this way. Though there is a double standard that he would always want Abel to come back.]

Is it normal for your species to die more than once?

It's not normal for my species to die at all. If you were to count things that could kill a human, though, it would be accurate to say that we're capable of "dying" an infinite number of times.

[only difference being that their hearts pretty much never stop beating, even if they're temporarily put out of commission through head injuries or extreme physical trauma ~~like incendiary bombs~~.]

It isn't the same for a human, who might not get up again after one well placed shot.

Edited (how did i forget the i in "it's"...) 2012-09-22 02:53 (UTC)

[From what he has been told and understands, it's much the same way with what Abel has become now. He might not be entirely invincible, but he can 'die' any number of times and return.]

And yet that's not true here, we can all get up any number of times... again and again.

[he shifts a little, glancing to the front of the stage.] Precisely. Most can't move past the notion that it isn't natural and grow distressed when in reality, they aren't dealing with a true and final death. A mockery of it, certainly, but something that barely possesses a shadow of its true finality.

[it's not that he doesn't understand why a death in Mayfield can be troubling; the exact opposite is true, which is why he's taken up this stance.]

[Wait.

Wait a minute.

Is this Charles' roundabout way of being concerned about Cain after his death? He is tilting his head towards Charles, eyebrow raised a little.]

And yet we don't know if that could change, there's no certainty to it.

[shhh no one must know. he only enjoys the company of certain corpses okay, and Cain's is surprisingly not one of them.]

There's a fair amount of certainty, actually. I've never seen a permanent death here outside of Grady and Samantha. It could change, but the chances are extremely low.

[Ohoho.

But now he knows, which means he will remember and tease Charles about it in the future. It's okay, he'd never admit it, but he wouldn't enjoy seeing Charles' corpse either.

Bffs.]

Oh, I agree the odds are greatly stacked and it's an extremely high likelihood of coming back. But this town is nothing if not vindictive, you can never know how it will react.

[musictrollbros 5ever. don't think that means he's above pitching Cain under a bus if he ever brings up this moment of vague caring...]

Sometimes one must let the chips fall where they may, so to say. [a shrug, and he pivots on his heel. his way of saying that not all death is avoidable, so there's no real reason to torment yourself with what-ifs.]

[He will bring it up ALL THE TIME, which serves Charles right for daring to admit he might be a little sad if Cain died.]

Do you think so?

[He doesn't.]

[DON'T BE RUDE, CAIN!!!]

I do. [he's been in almost every situation possible here, including things like throwing himself into potential danger for a potential gain, and taking a hit for someone else. death in Mayfield, as he sees it, isn't something that can be avoided entirely.]

But it isn't something most need to fret over. [a beat] Let's continue our practice tomorrow in the church.

[It's Charles' own fault for admitting he cared, even in a roundabout way, surely he wouldn't think Cain would just let that go...]

Alright, I hope the acoustics there are better than here.

[He even manages to sound a little world-weary, as though he knows what the hell he's talking about.]

[sometimes he forgets that all of his acquaintances are secretly dastardly villains okay]

Anything would be better than this. [his nose wrinkles and he moves to take apart his music stand, folding it up neatly to set in the waiting area between front and back stage.] I'll fetch you when I find a decent day and time to set up the equipment, all right?

[He gives Charles a mock salute, because clearly the way to end this day is annoy the deadlier boy by being a loser.]

Yes, maestro!

[he's really going to end you one day, Cain. be prepared.

for now though, he'll just get the stands folded and stored away and repack the sheet music into his little bag, slinging it over his shoulder. he hadn't gotten exactly what he wanted out of this conversation, but it's close enough for the time being.]

Have a good evening, then. [LIKE HE HADN'T JUST ENDED THE CONVERSATION BY TALKING ABOUT THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH good job Charles. with one step, he's off of the main stage.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only