Siren's Pull

[The video opens on the Newcomer Memorial, freshly cleaned, graffiti-free, bearing new names on its endless list. At the base of the memorial is an inexpensive bouquet of flowers with a photo tucked amidst the flowers, and a few large candles flanking the space. As the viewer watches, each candle lights on its own.

The person holding the NV turns it around- it's Mary, looking sobered.]

Today is el Día de los Muertos- the Day of the Dead. In the Roman Catholic tradition, it's just called All Souls Day. It's associated with spirits of the dead who are unable to properly move on because of the weight of some earthly wrongdoing.

[She smiles a little.]

That seems like a description that fits a lot of us. Like... everyone who saw themselves as a corpse yesterday.

This memorial is for everyone who's vanished... but today, I'm setting up my own memorial here. It's for those of us who can't leave, because we don't have a "home" to go back to- because we've died in our old worlds.

It may not be easy to think about, but it matters. For some of us, this is the only life we have. This is our home. I died today, on November 2nd, and it's the one thing I never want to forget.

Anyone who wants can come down and leave something here- it's a free country. And if your situation is like mine, then... maybe it'll help you say goodbye.

(( Red for John, blue for Mary! ))

[Mary comes on screen looking flustered and extremely alarmed, hair mussed and all over the place, cheeks red. She's tying a bathrobe tighter over a T-shirt.]

That's it. I've had it. [So much flustered outrage!] I'm done.

[John leans into frame, looking more than a little perturbed. His shirt is buttoned wrong and he totally does NOT have sex hair. No sir.]

I could deal with this "machines gone crazy" bullshit until-

[Mary interrupts uncharacteristically.]

Toasters and NVs are one thing, but THIS is-

-It's pretty fucked-up. [John is a bit calmer, if still mildly traumatized-looking.

Mary fitfully pulls her bathrobe shut tighter and launches into what appears to be the start of a rant.]

We don't have enough on our minds, that we have to be afraid of-

[Fin. Someone (John) had the sense to shut it off.]

[Mary looks... well, alive, which is a bonus, but also frazzled and exhausted, with pale skin, dark circles under her eyes, lips chapped, hair falling out of her ponytail.

But more than that, she looks haunted.]

I'm back. I'm alive. [Her lips press together in a thin line. She bows her head and talks to her knees.] No thanks to those monsters.

I don't know if anyone else made it out... there were no- [sniffing hard to avoid tearing up.] -shelters. Nothing Darkness proofed. [Head still bowed tightly.] I don't know if any of those people I fought with made it out alive, but if they didn't, I'm going to tell you all right now.

[She finally looks up, eyes welling now with tears she refuses to cry.]

They hunted us. They bound us, put collars on us, they put us in cages. They chased us and hunted us down like we were fucking dogs and we couldn't-

[she claps a hand over her mouth, breathing hard to rein in her emotions. When she opens her eyes again, there's something chilling and deadened in her eyes.]

When I died at home- the first time, before I came here... it was a demon. A demon pinned me to the ceiling and burned me alive in my baby's nursery, and I didn't feel as violated as I did those two days. In that cage. [She shakes her head intently, looking away.] Those monsters kidnapped children. They wanted to see every one of us die like dumb fucking animals.

I wonder what would happen if I prayed for them. [There's a weird look in her eyes. Something you wouldn't leave your children alone with.] It's the Christian thing to do.

Would I get their souls into Heaven, or their heads on a plate?

[With a last ugly look at the NV, she turns the public feed off.]

[Private to Jinx]

I found a plus one.

[Private to the angels]

Did you hear my prayer? [The one she whispered as she lay dying.] Please, tell me none of you- tell me you didn't go there. Please.

[Mary comes on, tense-looking, unhappy, in her now-messy living room that look slike it was just torn apart carelessly.]

I have a serious problem with my home getting raided for a crime I don’t have any connection to.
( non-IC cut for reasons. )
[EXIT STAGE MARY. Cue the distant sound of struggle, Meowth’s familiar Bronx-accented voice, Mary calling out. She comes back in less than a minute. Never has there been a liner face than hers.]

Okay, so I was going to talk about getting treating like a second-class citizen and, I don’t know, some kind of legal options for us, but instead I have to go bail my cat out of jail.

Well, why not.

[Skldjfghfghkjl end feed.]

[Mary's going with voice, because she's too angry, confused, and scared to let the Network see her face.]

Does anyone else have the feeling like they're missing something?

I know I am. I keep noticing things that don't make sense- people say strange things to me or-

-There's something I'm forgetting. There has to be. Nothing else makes sense. There are weapons all over my apartment, I used to Greet at night in the Darkness, people know things about me that don't make sense, and the more I think about it the less I understand.

[This, coming from someone who was there pulling people out of the Towers rubble, who helped the night the sirens didn't sound, who talked about vampire killing in public threads. The state of Denmark isn't just rotten, it reeks.]

Can someone please teach me how to use this gun? I own four holsters and three guns and I don't know how to use any of it. There are boxes of bullets in my kitchen.

I don't know what's happening to me.

[Mary is sitting at the kitchen table in her Towers apartment, spinning a bullet idly on the table. Despite her clear effort to hide it, she has a distinct air of exhaustion to her.

After a few seconds, she catches the spinning bullet in two fingers and looks up to clear her throat.]

( non-IC cut for Greeterly PSA and shilling. )

Announcement over.

[She puts the bullet down on its end and takes some kind of card out of her pocket.]

In other news- [She holds it up- it's a Siren's Port government-issued ID. Hers.] I've been a legal citizen for six days.

I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I mean, home is home. Nothing can change that. But I guess being dead there means that I have to move on, don't I? Being a Newcomer has always meant being temporary and not belonging. Replaceable. [Softly.] We come, we go, our friends and family can't even be counted on to be there tomorrow.

But even if it's silly, I'm happy to have roots again. You know, just... being a person again. [Mary flips the card around and really looks at it, smiling a little sadly, if fondly.] It's even in the basic perks- the ones you don't think about. Going to the one liquor store in town that cards, or actually being legally married. [She isn't wearing a ring.] Heck, carrying a gun legally will be cool.

[A self-conscious laugh.]

Look at me, I'm getting sappy. [Shaking her head.] Well, that was fun. Anyway, I had another point in here that I just forgot about- oh, right. I'm going to the Newcomer Memorial this weekend [meaning she lost someone], so anyone who'll be there... see you Saturday.

Keeping that memorial up is the other way to maintain our roots here.

[A brief pause, then she shuts off the feed.]

[Anyone who knows and talks to Mary knows that she doesn't really like texting. So the fact that this is text- it's unusual.]

Dean Winchester is gone from Siren's Port. He disappeared earlier today.

If anybody wants to find me, I'll be at the Newcomer Memorial.

[Most likely drunk. Her marriage dissolved even more this week, talk about an awful month.]

[Private to Castiel | added several hours later]

Hi. Just wanted to drop you a line and ask how you're doing.