chopthatmeat | No frills, no flavor, no smut, just

Entry tags:

meme

No frills, no flavor, no smut, just

The STRAIGHT-UP DEATH meme

Pick a character.
Put their name and subject line in the header.
Tagging people: RNG or just pick one below. Needless to say, this meme may contain TRIGGERS for death, violence and suicide.
Posting people: the person who tagged you is now DYING.
Have fun.

OPTIONS:

Illness: Self-explanatory. You're on your deathbed from a long and drawn-out illness. Time to call someone to your side for comfort, or for a confession...
I Cannot Self Terminate: Maybe they're horribly injured, or maybe they've been mutated into a horrific monster. Either way, they can't tell anyone that they want to die--though no one doubts it. Will you be the one to take mercy on them?
Execution: Once again, self-explanatory. You fought the law and the law won. This is probably the last time anyone will see you...or is the other character your executioner?
Secretly Dying: Letting your friends and family know that you're terminally ill, or have been marked for death, or have a curse placed on you? No way. You'd rather keep them at ease. But all lies exist to be found out...
And Make You Watch: This person has hurt you in every possible way, but you can't bring yourself to kill them...looks like there's no recourse but to kill yourself. But before you do it, there's just one way you can twist the knife a little...
Bungled Suicide: You don't want to die, but can't think of any way to live. Fortunately, one of your friends has stumbled in at just the right time...
Murder: Pretty self-explanatory. One of your characters is trying to kill the other.
Fatal Accident: Drowned? Caught in a fire? Happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? All accidents and unhappy, untimely ends go here.
Duel to the Death: You, sir/madam, have been offended in every possible way, and it's time to settle this once and for all.
Old Age: Well, you've had a good run, haven't you? Somehow you managed to avoid all the other pitfalls your friends have, but everybody has to pay the piper eventually...
Ghost: You're already dead. But you had some unfinished business to attend to, so you're making just one last visit...
Other: Make up something or combine two or three!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So this is goodbye.

...although, I haven't quite sorted out just what I want to do about all of this.

[Goodbye? Oh, no, it so wasn't goodbye-- and right now, Karen was so angry that she couldn't even say she had the most noble of reasons for sticking around. But her motives didn't really matter; whether it was because she wanted to see him suffer as punishment for being so selfish or because she would miss him terribly once everything was said and done, she had to stay.

Still, there was only so much she could put up with right now.]

What are the options? [Said after a long moment of silence and a nearly inaudible sigh. She had her back turned to him and her arms were folded again, as though that could help keeping all those feelings under control. But it didn't.]

...not many. I could curl up and let it take its course, which doesn't sound all that fun.

Or I could take matters into my own hands.

[That last one is partly why he didn't want you guys to know, by the way.

He turns away for a bit. He's not exactly sure if he wants to cry, or say anything else, but he's had a little time to think about this.]

I never pegged you for the cowardly type.

[It was a jab at his suggestion to end his own life, one that Karen clearly didn't approve of. It was odd, really, how she was usually very supportive of people following whatever path they truly found more suitable, yet it was nearly impossible to do when someone she cared for seemed to be going down the wrong route. Feelings were tricky things.

Then again, this may as well be the path she decided to follow: to not allow him to do any more stupid things. It might not be an ideal compromise, but it would have to do for now.]

You're not even going to try? [To find a cure, she means, looking at him from over her shoulder.]

I never did either, but...

I'm afraid. Not of dying, but...if I'm going to go, I want to go out as myself. Not sure if that can happen in the time frame it might take for it to run its course.

Or, if I'd even still be me by the time I could find a cure. If there is even one.

Call me a coward all you want, Karen.

[He doesn't like this, either, but his voice is getting worked up and his muscles are tensed. There's only one thing he is right now, and it's desperate.]

If only that would work, then I would call you a coward ten times over.

[Either as a means to slap some sense into his head or curing him. Ideally, both. But in reality, there was very little good to come from calling him names, and she knew that. Something else had to be done.

But what?]

...I don't know what I want. I don't know what I can even do, in this case. I've already seen a doctor; that barely helped at all.

...

[Well, it's only fair he tell her...]

I'm turning in my letter of resignation tomorrow. If you want to know my whereabouts after I leave, be my guest.

[Karen instantly whips around when he drops the bomb, her eyes staring at him in a mix of disbelief, shock and anger. Just what in the hell was he doing and, more importantly, did he really think she would let him get away with that?]

That's it? [She takes a single step forward, partially to keep her balance (the unexpected shift had thrown her off a bit) and partially because she very much wanted to launch herself at him and do something-- anything that went beyond words alone. Alas, words were all she could muster at the time.] You're planning to simply slide into the shadows until life is done with you? That's the best you can come up with?

[That's it. He stands up, a very, VERY incensed expression on his face. He's...just completely lost it by now.]

That's the best I can come up with because there isn't really anything else left. What can I do? Engineer some asinine way for me to go out in a blaze of glory? It'd be just as stupidly faked as the rest of my life was. Should I try to find a cure? It might not even be there and I haven't even sorted out the matter of who's going to care for my Pokemon, because for all I know I might have a matter of weeks.

[And he takes a deep breath. Physically, he's been growing steadily worse as well, and it's starting to show.]

I know what I'm doing is pathetic. I know there's probably a half a million more dignified ways to go out, thank you very much for reminding me.

[The look on his face mellows out a little. It's clear he regrets his words, and maybe he hasn't been himself, but good lord, he's not going to use that as an excuse.]

I'm sorry I'm not meeting your expectations. I'm not even meeting my own, either, this is what I've come to. Do you think I like it?! If I go for the full run and this thing takes its course, I lose everything.

Every bit of sentimental garbage that makes up whatever can be called my personality, too, not just biological functions. The body can live without the mind, but I happen to think that's even worse than just dying.

I won't even remember your name.

That is not what I want.

[It's a little more than that, too: if he's going to die, he wants it on his own fucking terms. However gruesome that may be.

He's not entirely sure if she'd understand.]

Edited 2012-10-24 04:03 (UTC)

But I will still remember!

[It is the first time in years since Karen last raised her tone by that many octaves, and even then it barely qualifies as a yell. The words come from behind gritted teeth, and her hands are, once again, balling into fists, closed so tightly that it wouldn't be surprising to find red marks on her palms later; to those who knew her well - and Will certainly did - it was clear she was trying oh so hard to cling to that last bit of cool composure she normally presented herself in, but it was growing steadily harder not to give in to a whim and--

--no, absolutely not. There had to be an alternative, anything that wouldn't lead her to the one outcome she was striving to avoid. And what follows next will have to work.]

Now, you listen to me. [She closes the gap between them at last, grabbing the psychic by his collar with the kind of physical prowess to make even Bruno proud - it was enough to lift Will to a semi-seated position, Karen herself using one knee on the mattress for support.] I don't care if your body shuts down, or about how pathetic you sound. I don't even care if you forget my name. Because that is the one part of this whole ordeal you can't change by yourself.

[By this point, she has abandoned all pretenses of speaking on behalf of their colleagues; this was all very much Karen.]

But if you leave behind the people who care for you before it's time, if you willingly abandon the people who have contributed to your so-called sentimental garbage and will still remember you every single day of their lives, all for the sake of your selfish reasons? That will be all your doing, and your doing alone. That, I will not forgive.

[And perhaps she wouldn't forgive herself for that burning sensation in her eyes, either. Ah, so much for fighting the tears.]

Edited 2012-10-24 04:54 (UTC)

[Truth be told, Karen, you're not the only one who's fighting back tears, although his...took a while. He's just kind of numb at the moment.]

I'm not even sure what I want to do anymore.

Maybe I should stop pretending I know.

All the more reason for you to ask for help, idiot.

[It's odd for her to call him that, seeing as Karen is not one to usually insult others. But that might be because she also usually kept enough distance as a safety measure, a way to avoid the inevitable attachment to things and people from this world, and the psychic trainer just so happened to be one the exceptions to her rule.]

I won't leave you to your own demise, Will. [Her grip on him looses just a little bit, though she doesn't move from her spot otherwise.] This is a packaged deal; you don't get to make stupid decisions and expect them to not affect everyone else. And you can't expect them to not fight for you, either.

I'll try not to say anything too rash anymore.

...I always did admire you.

If you think that was harsh, you should have let me carry on. [It's said in a slightly more playful tone, though it's also terribly serious; had they not come to this small truce, her words would probably have hurt them both beyond comparison.

His latter comment, however, prompts a weird mash of a smile and a smirk from her, along with a couple of tears trickling down her cheeks. Damn, he really was ridiculous and stupid sometimes. And she already missed him terribly.]

And you should know I can't be bought with cheap praise, either.

The funny thing is, I'm not trying to buy anyone.

I'm sure you're well aware of my tendency to act like a complete, fickle douchebag, but what I'm trying to say is that I'm being honest here.

[He's seldom vulgar, Karen, but when he does swear he makes it count.]

And I think out of all the colleagues I could possibly have this conversation with, I'd prefer it be you.

I know. [Said both in reference to his honesty and to everything else.] Although, if we're picking preferences, then I would much rather we never had to have this talk at all.

[And wasn't that the truth. Now that all animosities have cooled down, Karen can let go of his collar so he can sit however he finds more comfortable, her own back turned to him afterwards. There was still a lot to be said, and other things that would remain forever unspoken; either way, she found it easier to do if she didn't have to face him.]

I called you selfish, but I am the same. Ultimately, you're the only one who knows what's best for you, and I have no right to demand that you endure more than you can handle.

[She knows this, and she's been perfectly aware of it all along. It's just that it's impossibly hard to sit back and watch people make Bad Life Decisions when you care about them.]

I guess what I hate the most is that this thing acts like it has any right to kill me.

[Which is why he's going to deny it that right as much as he can.]

There is a lot to hate about this, but that is not going to change anything.

[Cold hard facts. Sometimes that's what she needs in order to cope, even though others might see it as insensitive. Oh, but she was so, so bad at offering comfort like most people would, and that was in no small amount due to the fact she rarely ever let others return the favor for her.]

The only thing that can be done now is to think about what we're going to do from now on.

[Said after a sigh, one hand wiping the last salty remainders off her face. Yes, Will, you heard that right; she has no intention of letting you deal with this by yourself. If neither death nor herself had any right over him, then her battles seemed somehow justified.]

If I'm gone, what do you plan to do?

That isn't really any of your concern. [Both because she doesn't quite know what she'll do without him (though refuses to admit it) and because he'll be gone, anyway.] Besides, it's you who we should be thinking about.

Edited 2012-10-25 01:33 (UTC)

It is very much my concern!

[And he buries his face in his hands.]

I don't have much ahead of me left. But you...

[... oh, Will. Sometimes you make her wonder what you would do without her.]

Listen. [A sigh later, she turns to look at him again, though it's done in an unusual fashion: by bending her upper body backwards so he will be facing her down, her head almost on his lap. It was like watching a lazy feline moving, but the hand clawing at his was anything but sharp, gently pushing fingers aside.] I'll figure it out when I have to figure it out. But you're here right now, so now is not the time yet.

[Really, Will. Take it one day at the time.]

Edited 2012-10-25 03:32 (UTC)

Well, first of all, I figured I'd give my girls a little break. I'm not in the right mind to train them as I am, and it's probably not the best thing to do if they'll have to adapt to someone new.

Otherwise? No idea.

Hmmm. [She mumbles to herself, eyes closed as she her arms now work as a makeshift pillow.] It might be best to leave them with someone they're already familiar with, so it won't be too much of a change.

[It still would be too much of a change.]

[That earns a small chuckle from him.]

If you're implying yourself, I can think of a million ways that could get interesting.

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