[OPEN] Maybe Things I've Misremembered, Maybe Things I Just Forgot

[lasthumanvoice]

Who: Cecil Palmer and YOU
What: Settling in, making friends
When: October, generally
Where: Pumpkin Hollow
Warning(s): Description of panic attack in Prompt 5

1. Birds and heights and movie credits [Downtown Pumpkin Hollow]
Maybe you're shopping, or trying to go to work. Maybe you're heading to get a bite to eat. You're going to be delayed, though. There's a reporter waving you down, running up to you, preparing to ask questions.


2. Crowds and puppets, dying in a fire [Town Hall]
A large sign--no, not a sign, it's not that legible from a distance. A grid? Some sort of grid is posted on the wall of the Town Hall building. It has seven columns, each one of five rows plus a header. Days of the week? Oh! It's a calendar. Cecil has posted a Community Calendar, thoughtfully for anyone to use, to mark off days they'll need extra help at their shop or when they might be having a sale or throwing an event.

He's even taken the time to mark October 8th as the day the next edition of the Gazette comes out, and the evening of October 7th as Simchat Torah (with the preceding week marked out as Sukkot). Alright, he's guessing on those, based on the phase of the moon on his arrival, but look, he'll find time to mark his celebrations as best he can all alone.

Still, if you come to look, you're going to be offered a pen to add something of your own. Birthdays? Holidays from your world? Odes to long-dead gods? Here, have a pen!


3. Ferris-wheels and certain blues [Fall's Promise Cemetery]
"It features a plethora of carved headstones of varying ages and states of care..."

Cecil's first visit out here was to get a scoop, to see if there was information to be gleaned from the headstones. But upon seeing the condition of things, well. He left, and returned the next morning with a scrub brush and a bucket of soapy water borrowed from a local business, taking both to the moss and grime coating each pale stone. It's simply not proper, in his mind, leaving the stones untended and dirty. Even if death isn't working properly, even if new graves aren't regularly being added, it's just the done thing, to ensure the resting places are cared for.

He might be singing to himself as he cleans, so if you're meandering past, you'll hear someone bellowing modern music off-key. Whoops, sorry for that!


4. Oh, but mainly losing you [Wildcard]
Find me at darkersolstice on plurk, discord, tumblr, unsplash or elseweb to plot or request a custom starter.

*****

5. And this growing sense of distance that keeps building in my mind [Commercial District]
Perhaps you're headed for the Shady Merchant's shop. Perhaps you're just doing your shopping. Either way, you might pass a huddled form crouched against the side of a building, having a near-silent panic attack, struggling to breathe. It is Cecil, and he has visited Calloway and now everything is Bad.

Help? Help.

Comments

[batteryacid]

Eddie snorts after that correction, then rushes to explain, "Sorry, that wasn't really at you. I just... pictured the kind of face Stan would make during the times he, Richie, and me would shoot the shit about religion as kids."

Eddie thinks about it, then says, "All memorials are like that, in a way. About the people left behind. I think... really I'm the only one who'd care, but... it feels like I should do something." He sighs, "As for the date... May 29th, 1985. Which was about five weeks ago from my perspective."

[lasthumanvoice]

"I see. So you're just outside shloshim, the first thirty days. But I bet you didn't really have the opportunity to observe it. Or shiva, either." Short I, like the type of shiv snuck into a prison, not like the Hindu god.

[batteryacid]

"He had a family. Mother, father, wife. I'm sure they've done the official, proper mourning. But I... haven't really done anything and--" Eddie cuts himself off, swallows hard. "I just really feel that I should."

There's an odd intensity to his certainty -- Cecil wouldn't know this, but it's the same sort of certainty of direction that allowed Eddie to lead the Lucky Seven into the sewers and to the lair of It, both in 1958 and in 1985. It isn't something he thinks, but it is something he feels.

[lasthumanvoice]

"Alright." Cecil nods, following the way Eddie's thinking. "...do you have a knife on you? Or a pair of scissors?"

This is absolutely relevant, he swears!

CW: suicide of a friend

[batteryacid]

Between handling one of Dahlia's very nice knives for a time during Parade Day, and his standing friendship with blacksmith River la Croix, Eddie has gotten a much better blade to keep on his person.

The blade is about six inches long (with an additional four inches for the handle, which has a disc-shaped guard to keep the wielder's hand from sliding down to the cutting edge. Eddie pulls it from the sheath on his belt and holds it up for Cecil to see.

"Before we start anything else, though... Does the fact that Stan committed suicide change anything?"

[lasthumanvoice]

Cecil reaches to take the knife from Eddie.

"It makes me even more certain that you're existing in a state of guilt and need permission to grieve in the manner that will be healing to you."

[batteryacid]

Eddie adjusts his grip on the knife, so that he's offering it to Cecil handle-first.

"All seven of us made a promise to fight a monster. When he knew It wasn't dead, Mike called us to remind us of that promise. And Stan killed himself pretty much right after Mike's phone call."

The words communicate only the facts. The tone, though, probably makes it clear that Cecil is right on when it comes to Eddie's guilt.

[lasthumanvoice]

For a moment, the next move Cecil makes might look threatening. After all, the blade of the knife approaches. But Cecil's other hand plucks at Eddie's collar. He cuts a small gash there, in the cloth, and tears it a little further. Just an inch, maybe two.

"We rend our clothing, as a mark of mourning. To show we are incomplete, right now. To show we're walking wounded. Baruch atah Eloheinu melech ha’olam dayan ha’emet.. Blessed is the Lord, the ruler of the universe and the true judge."

[batteryacid]

Sure, maybe it looks threatening, but since Cecil had also mentioned scissors Eddie doesn't think there will be stabbing happening. And the notching and tearing of his shirt collar proves that right.

Eddie nods at the explanation, and then softly, softly repeats the English words that Cecil said, "Blessed is the Lord, the ruler of the universe and the true judge." His hand comes up to feel out the tear in the fabric, and feels a bit like when he was little and had lost a tooth. Poking at the gap, the loss.

[lasthumanvoice]

"There you go. Now spend a couple days in active mourning, and let other people take care of you for a bit. Traditionally, you'd have lots of people, and you'd get a full week, but I'm not sure how accurate that is, here."

Though there's at least one person who'd care for Eddie if asked, of course.

/wrap

[batteryacid]

A small, but grateful, smile flickers on Eddie's face. "Thank you," he says to Cecil. He accepts his knife back, sheaths it again, and bobs his head in a little bow before moving away from Town Hall and the group.

He looks thoughtful as he walks, feet taking him almost on automatic toward Angel's townhouse...