drakenet | [video]

[video]

[ meanwhile, back at the ranch...

the keijen blade concert was televised, for anyone curious to watch, although many of the failboaters had cautioned (including a sign taped to the TV by kat) to keep it on mute, lest they get brainwashed by blade's voice.

the cameras did not last through the entire thing, but what they did see was... disturbing. at one point, in the giant concert hall, a large glass pane lifted between blade and the audience, as he sang a taunting number, at the end of which, the ceiling split open pouring boiling hot lava onto the hundreds of concert attendees, who were boiled alive. Some might know that they had friends away on that mission, friends who had said they were going to be in the crowd as back-up. The last images broadcast before cuts to a live newcast trying to make sense of what was happening as the cameras melted seemed to confirm the deaths of anyone inside.

The panicked reporters spoke of unusual sightings in the area, a horribly darkening sky above the concert hall. Monsters appearing out of nowhere. Chaos.

Los Angeles is burning.

Feel free to play out text or IC reactions to the broadcast here ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[he makes room on his bed (that he was sitting on and i didn't say bc i'm great) for cora. he doesn't like this. not necessarily cora and stiles being here — he cares about them, because abigail did, but ... he was never the one to deliver the bad news. not when he was a police officer. he didn't have the right manner for it. too awkward. too blunt. he doesn't want to hurt them, but he doesn't have the strength to use kid gloves.]

Not here. ... I think we should be realistic. About what happened. [walking encylopedia of weird murder statistics he is, he doesn't know about deaths via lava, but he knows fuckin enough to say] The chance that Abigail is still alive is slim to none.

[Stiles doesn't sit. He prefers to pace. But as soon as Will tries to be realistic, he stops dead in his tracks and drops his arms to his sides.]

That's not-- No. [He shakes his head a little to hard.] She can't be-- She's fine, right? She has to be.

[Yep, Cora isn't entirely ready to be realistic either. She knows she'll have to be, eventually, but she doesn't want to jump to those conclusions until there's a reason that she should. Some would probably think that a stadium filling with lava would be enough to be those reasons, but not as far as she's concerned.

And since neither of them are answering her question, she'll get up and go in search of that proof herself, moving to leave the room and head to Abigail's.

Sorry, boys.]

[tbf the "not here" was meant to be about jamie but it's easy to miss ok. will hasn't seen jamie but he hasn't gone looking for him either. what would the point be? prolonging the denial? he can't. it's all too much, he's drowning in it.]

No, she doesn't. She doesn't have to be anything. She's gone.

[Stiles takes a step in Cora's direction as she gets up to leave, but stops himself. If she needs space, he'll give it to her. All of this is a lot to process right now. Instead, he moves to the nearest wall and slides down to sit on the floor.]

What do we do? How do I..? [his threat tightens as his eyes water. He was supposed to be the one who got himself killed one day- not her. She was the smart one, practical- not reckless like him.]

[When she gets to Abigail's room, she can already smell the answer to her question, but she pushes open the door anyway. She needs to see it with her own eyes, experience it with her own senses. As much as the stench of death lurks in the room, she makes her way forward, trying to swallow down the bile and the urge to run.

She rounds the corner, and resting on the floor is the body of the small black fox, and that's enough to tip Cora over he edge of her denial and into acceptance.

This Cora never lost Boyd. In fact, she doesn't even remember him, the Veil having stolen those memories away. But in the end, she still managed to lose her best friend anyway, this crushing feeling of panic in her chest at the person who knew her best is gone. The person who understood her most was gone. And as the tears finally slipped down her cheeks, she moved down to sit against the far wall, one hand covering her mouth as she fumbles with her phone to send a text to Stiles.]

Jamie's dead.

[Which is probably as much confirmation as they were ever going to get. And once that text is sent, she buries her face in her knees and cries.]

[he's already shutting down, shutting off. he hears a buzzing which he presumes is stiles' phone, but he doesn't need to know what it says to confirm what he already knew all along inside. he knows he should try to be there for stiles (and for cora, if she comes back), but he doesn't have it in him. abigail wasn't the only person he lost in the fire.]

I don't know.

[he wants to be alone with his misery, but doesn't have it in him to ask stiles to leave.]

[If Stiles had more of his wits about him, he would probably pick up on Will's desire to be left alone. But he's sinking into a full on panic attack. The buzz of his phone drags his focus away from the sensation of the ground trying to swallow him whole. He glances down and sees Cora's text.

The words don't make sense at first. Jamie can't be dead. That would mean that she's really gone. That would mean there's no chance of her coming back and proving them wrong. That would mean...

Suddenly, he lunges forward, the twisting in his gut translating to a real physical reaction. He barely reaches a trash can before he retches and vomits into the receptacle.]

[will decides to do the emotionally mature thing and ........ leave.]

I'm going to give you a moment. [to be alone with your vomit. he rises to his feet, and lemon hops off his lap and onto the floor, ready to follow him.]

If Cora comes back, you both can stay here however long you'd like. I'm going out.

[and like that, he's gone.]

[Stiles only sits there for a few seconds after Will leaves before he straightens himself and grabs his phone. He can't be entirely selfish here. He's not the only one hurting. So he texts Cora back:]

On my way

[With that, he leaves the room (leaving his vomit behind sorry, Will) and walks briskly towards Abigail's room. When he gets there, he knocks on the door frame, face still pale from the nausea.]

[She glances up at him, her eyes red and face wet, and she tries to decide what to do. She probably should get up and leave, not drown herself in the sense of dead fox and Abigail but she knows that's going to fade soon, and she needs to hold on to this denial for as long as she can.

So she inches over, giving Stiles room to sit next to her, and slowly lets the what ifs begin to play out.]

Maybe they can bring her back.

[Her voice is soft, knowing it's a long shot, but she's seen it happen before.]

[He heads over to the bed and sits beside her, numbly looking at the body of the little fox.]

I hope so. [The panicked hope that he had been clinging to previously is starting to slip away.] I really, really hope so.

[She doesn't know what else to say after that, but she can sense his panic and anxiety starting to rise, and she reaches over to take his hand, gripping it tightly so that it isn't just hope.]

She has to.

[Cora doesn't want to lose more people. She doesn't want to be knocked off kilter with one of her true norths missing. She just wants her best friend, and she is clearly still sitting in the "denial" phase.]

[He glances down at her hand in his and grips back tightly (not as tightly as her probably but tight enough).]

Yeah. [His voice is hoarse, throat tight.] Should we-- Should we bury him? [He looks down at the familiar.]

[She glances over to the body of the fox for a moment, and part of her thinks they should weight until Abigail gets back so she could be there, but the truth is clawing away at that denial, slowly but surely.

There might not be enough of Abigail to rez. They might not bring her back. She saw the lava, she should know better ...

But she swallows those thoughts down hard, pushing them to the side and focusing on the things she can do.]

Yeah. I think she would want that.

[His hand slowly releases hers as he stands up. He finds a tshirt of his that's been left in here and uses it to wrap up the familiar's body. Gathering the fox into his arms, he takes a deep breath.]

C'mon. Let's go find a nice spot outside.

[She nods as she gets to her feet, turning that over in her head for a moment, before the right place comes to her.]

I know where. We can stop for a shovel on the way out.

[He nods, trusting her to know somewhere appropriate.]

Lead the way.

[She nods and after they grab a shovel from the gardening tools, she'll lead the way out into a small clearing where she and Abigail had gone camping after the castle attack, when Cora didn't want to be indoors. She pauses for a moment, glancing around to see how far they were from the trees and then turning back to him.]

Here. It should be here.

[He doesn't know the significance. Abigail probably told him about camping out, but this particular spot doesn't mean anything to him. But it's nice. It's quiet. And its as good a place as any.]

Alright. [He gently sets the fox down.] Do you want me to or..? [The digging, he means. She definitely would do it quicker but he's not going to put it off on her.]

[She shakes her head as she grips the shovel and starting to dig. She needs to be doing something, rather than just standing still and watching. He's right and it doesn't take long for there to be a deep enough hole that the dogs or wolves won't get into it, and she steps back to let Stiles handle the next part.]

[He steps forward and lowers himself to one knee and gently places the fox into the spot Cora dug up.]

Should we... say a few words? [He doesn't really know how to handle all of this. Plus it feels almost like it's for Abigail more than for her familiar.]

[It is in a lot of ways, more for Abigail. And Cora doesn't even know how to begin, but she nods because they should say something.

But she looks to Stiles. Stiles has always been better at words than she has.]

[He's better with words, but he doesn't feel equipped to handle this. He'll try, though.]

It's, uh-- [His throat starts to tighten with emotion but he swallows and continues.] It's not going to be the same around here now. We're really going to miss you. I hope you're not hurting, wherever you are. And I hope you know we love you. Because we really... really do.

[He sniffs and wipes his eyes, reminding himself what he's doing and trying to correct course.]

You were a great familiar and a great friend. Rest easy, buddy.

[Cora reaches over as he speaks, taking the hand closest to her and giving it a squeeze. She knows it's not the same as actually saying anything, but she knows that anything she tries to say will end in tears.

She's really tired of crying.

But after that moment of silence, she lets go and moves to start covering the grave.]

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