sirenspull | video;

[Chuck looks, in a word, busted. His face is tense and stressed, gelled hair messy from the wind. When he backs away from the NV it's obvious that he's posting from the top of a cliff, and seemingly hasn't noticed that it's almost time for evening sirens. He looks down solemnly, unsure how to make his announcement.]

As of Wednesday, Anna Milton is dead. [He killed her. His hands twist his shirt nervously.] If you were in Sector Four that day and saw a weird flash of bright white light- that was her.

[The smallest tense sigh.]

She's gone, and if there's any mercy left here, she won't come back the way she was. Fred hasn't come back, either, and they're far from the only ones.

[He takes a deep breath and then, a little unusually for him, looks up and right into the camera, silhouetted by the last rays of sunset.]

And there's something I think I need to say. A lot of people wonder what the point is to being here- between this much loss, so many comings and goings, and the constant knowledge that going home means forgetting the Port, you wonder if there's even a point to being here- to trying. Why does it matter, you think, if nothing here changes what happens at home.

[Chuck is making a speech here, but it has an almost pleading note. It's as genuine as it is personal.]

But if you've been here for more than a week, if you've met a single other person here and told them your name, then you've done something. If you've made a friend here or an enemy or looked someone in the eye and told them a truth you didn't think you knew, then you've done something. Maybe the epiphany you had or the feelings you expressed don't last when you go home, but the person you connected with- they'll remember. Even if you vanish tomorrow, you left a mark behind.

I lost people this week who are really important to me- one person from home who needed a second chance, and an amazing woman from a world I'll never get to see. If she comes back she might not know me- I'll never see that version of her again. That doesn't invalidate the year she spent here. It happened, and it matters, partly because she made a difference to everyone she met. She wasn't afraid to really live here.

[He falls silent for a moment, looking out over the cliff-side at the setting sun. It's getting hard to see him now in the twilight.]

Everyone you meet here is in the same boat you are. If you keep losing people here or you learn things about your future you wish you didn't know... Whether you're getting a second chance or if you're someone else's second chance- whatever the case may be, you owe it to the people around you and to yourself to try and do something with it.

Because even if you get sent home and you forget, the one thing you will never be... is forgotten.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Gabriel sounds exhausted. Feeling a sibling go up like that... It's never easy.]

Anna... Y'know, when I first met Jinx, I told her all about her. It struck a chord in her somehow. And now here we are...

[He nods.] Yeah.

[Chuck hesitates, then pulls something out of his belt. It's a sword.]

Can you- take this? I don't want it.

[And then there was Gabriel, looking like Chuck is asking him to take a live grenade. Just tossing it into the ocean wouldn't do, because it would just wash up and someone would get their hands on it, and you can't melt down a sword made in Heaven, nor can you break it. So locking it up was the only option.]

Yeah. [He holds out a hand.] Did you go see for yourself? [It's the only explanation he has for how he got the sword.]

[He hands it over with slightly shaking hands and shakes his head no.]

She attacked me. Uh, she- [a steadying breath.] -was hurt really badly from a fight she'd had before, I guess with Michael? And wound up fumbling the sword.

[He finds something extremely interesting on his shoes to stare at.]

So you...

[He thinks about getting up the energy to be annoyed by that, but he can't actually manage it and he just huffs in sorrow instead.]

She was supposed to have it easier here.

[He bows his head tighter.]

I know.

[They all were. They all are. And somehow He still managed to ruin her, even here, so far away from home and duty.]

[He slides the sword into the interior pocket of his jacket and sighs.]

Win some, lose some. No sense harping on it.

[A sigh of his own.]

With any luck, she'll get a second chance like Sam did.

[Snort] Would she like it if she did? This place wears on people more than it grows on 'em. Then again, it's better than home.

[He looks up at Gabriel sadly.]

Yeah, it is- she has a real chance here.

[Kicking a pebble idly.]

Just not like that.

Maybe she'll be back. Get another do-over. [But will they ever let her forget what she did? People come and go here all the time.]

When she does, it'll be- perfect. Or at least better.

[He takes a deep breath and finds himself turning around to lean against a tree, a burst of desperately rare honesty pouring from Him.]

That's all I want for any of you. Every single person deserves a second chance.

[After so long, so much pressure built up, it's starting to hurt. This is exactly why He used to stay away.

Eternity in a lie is a long time.]

If she comes back, the first thing that'll happen- I think Michael's gonna apologize. I really think that.

You think? [They really have changed, if that much is true. He's barely spoken to Michael since the older angel's failed attempts at getting Lucifer and him to get along. Then again, Michael and Lucifer have learned to be civil. Miracles happen.]

Yeah.

[He spends a moment getting his shit together, breathing deep, so he can turn around to face Gabriel, looking normal.]

You know, he told Rachel she could live on her own and get her own job if she wanted? It practically melted her brain.

[That gets a laugh out of him, a small one, but it's not really bitter or jaded.] What d'you know? Miracles do happen.

video;

no subject

private 8(

ACTION;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject