[Video]

[mismanagement]

Lilith is gone.

[If you don't know Maketh well, the redness around her eyes might be mistaken for a restless night and not from crying.]

The patrol roster will be adjusted accordingly. That is all.

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[text | private]

[dedikated]

I'll bring some. Where are you?

[text | private]

[mismanagement]

guard post

>> action

[dedikated]

( she turns up pretty promptly, bottle in one hand, and knocks on the door before entering. )

Want me to stay or just th' drink?

[mismanagement]

[Maketh rubs her face briefly, then stands up from her desk. She's still in uniform, though her face is red all over again. It's foolish to cry this much. It accomplishes nothing.] It would be selfish not to share. Come in.

[dedikated]

Thanks.

( it's a word that always sits a bit awkward on her tongue, but she's trying to say it more, to thank instead of say great or excellent-

it seems more appropriate here. Kate steps in, hands over the bottle and takes a seat, letting breath out like an untied balloon. ) Want to talk about her?

( some people do. some don't. it's something Kate knows, knows from Bianca's reaction to Johanna's disappearance, from all the losses in her own life. )

[mismanagement]

[There are no glasses. It feels inappropriate, but Maketh simply pops the cork and drinks straight from the bottle.

She drinks. Lets it burn for a moment, then passes the bottle over before flopping down in her seat.] I don't know. Does that...help?

[dedikated]

Depends on th' person, I guess.

( she always went with no, personally.

(but then, Kate's a mess. don't be like Kate, Maketh.)

she takes the bottle, pouring a measure of tequila down her throat. )

[mismanagement]

I feel foolish.

[Maketh rubs her face, sadly.]

I should have known it would not...

[dedikated]

( she's silent for a while, taking another drink before passing it back. although Kate might not actually know the full story here... well, it's something everyone's been dealing with on some level, she imagines. that fear that growing close to these people is just a waste of time and energy, that they'll all eventually leave. )

Nothin' does. ( some things last longer than others. some buildings stand for thousands of years, but they can still go. ) Hard to remember that, though.

( people learn to clutch, to refuse to let go. )

[mismanagement]

I knew that once. [Maketh feels certain of the fact. Once, she had known better.] But we're all different now. Perhaps it's worse. Perhaps not. I wouldn't have known her at all if not for this place.

[dedikated]

( knowing better doesn't always mean listening to that knowledge. they may both know better, and yet-

attachments still form here. ones that are too deep to simply cut away. )

That's- ( she breaks off, hums awkwardly with a glance away. it's something that makes this place all the more complicated. ) Guess you either take it as a blessing or a curse.

( she's not sure what she takes it as. not yet.

Christ, things were simpler when she thought there was only the one version of Earth, of the universe. )

[mismanagement]

[Maketh huffs, tipping her head back to drink. That's the great horror of this place. Not all of it is bad. Some of it is even kind. It hurts all the more when it's ripped away.]

I thought of it as a dream for along time. Some...ruined part of my brain firing off before I died.

[She grins, not kindly.]

I did die, you know. But I don't think this is a dream. That would be too easy.

[dedikated]

( as things go, a dream would be far easier than this. and that's why Hope will never understand why so many people here hate him. blame him for their arrival here, wrong or not, perhaps - but the worst of it is that hope makes people happy when it will all, eventually, go wrong.

(she's spent the months since the fuck up with the fog trying to separate Hope-the-god from hope-the-emotion.) )

Most dreams make more sense than this.

( but she rarely dreams. even when she does. they're not usually. about this. )

[mismanagement]

I wouldn't know. I hardly ever remember mine. [Maketh rubs her face, eyes half-lidded. She wants to get horribly drunk and forget this thing ever happened.] But here we stand.

[dedikated]

( to being profoundly fucked by traitorous emotions, then? because that sounds like the best plan of the night. ) How'd you find out she was gone?

( sure, let's start in on that can of worms instead. )

[mismanagement]

[Maketh sighs. Under difference circumstances she might have protested the question. Right now she's too tired.] I woke. She was not next to me.

[It had been a small thing, just a moment, sharing space. Maketh rubs her face absently. At least she had that for a little while. That was something, wasn't it?]

[dedikated]

( her breath catches in her throat at that.

well. )

Think this fuckin' place'd let you say goodbye. ( the bitterness lies strong in her voice. all the things this place puts them through and the only good thing - the people you meet - disappear in the blink of an eye. )

[mismanagement]

[Maketh snorts. She's never been able to say goodbye to anyone who matters. Why would Lilith be any different?] Why would they? More sorrow that way.

[dedikated]

( true. she doesn't necessarily believe they would, but still, wouldn't it be fair if they could get this one tiny little thing in this shithole of a town?

honestly, she's just worried. worried about the fact that she could go through this too and-

well. fuck. ) Fuckin' exhausting. Gotta wonder what the fuck the people before us were like.

[mismanagement]

[Maketh snorts, motioning for the bottle.]

Long suffering. Or something far from human.

[dedikated]

( she gladly hands it over, tilting her head back as if that will allow her to contemplate a race of beings that would be alright with these gods. )

Said that about us, back home. Not human. Always thought it a bit weird.

( and then again. ) Even th' people who aren't human here get it. ( she's not so much talking about herself here, but the people who don't even look human. so what kind of beings lived with these gods? )

[mismanagement]

[Maketh tips her head back to drink, scowling.] Not all of us were human on Lothal. Most. Not all. But they weren't--like this.

[dedikated]

( well. that's. different. she wonders what that would have been like, really, knowing that not everyone was human. not human and not considered evil. )

Don't think most are.

[mismanagement]

[Maketh huffs.] Nothing is like this place.

[She pauses, considering.]

Maybe a nightmare.

[dedikated]

( there's a long silence at that. honestly, Kate's not sure if she'd rather have her nightmare worlds - Marc isn't here, which means she can't lose him again. but Faith is. other people she's come to care for are.

so maybe. )

'Bout th' same.

( it's not that different. just with the added bonus of housing. )