18

[takethat]

[Phoenix was whistling when he'd headed to Geoff's room, big goofy smile plastered onto his face and ready to share his good mood and maybe a few drinks with his dearest friend. It wasn't until after he'd knocked a couple of times that he noticed the missing nameplate.]

...oh, no.

[He tries the doorknob, finds it unlocked; when he slides into the room, everything is dark and bare, save for a few piles of personal belongings and a catlike Pokemon asleep amidst them all.

For a long while, Phoenix just stands there in the middle of the room, staring blankly. In some way, distantly, he's sure he's lucky--he's been here for eight months now, and this is the first time he's had to say goodbye to someone he's been very close to--but that thought isn't really helping. Looking to distract himself from threatening tears, he begins examining what's left behind in the abandoned room, and soon notices a stack of letters nearby. It doesn't take long for him to skim the opening note and sort through each of the labeled messages until he finds his own.

After he's read it over many times, he softly repeats the words he'd spoken to his friend that difficult night more than a month ago.]

Geoff... you still have people here who care about you, and you always will.

[And then, with a resolve that doesn't quite make it to his wavering voice, he cracks open his journal for the inevitable.]

Geoffrey Chaucer went home.

There's some stuff here. I guess we should divide it up, or something. And he left... there are letters. I don't even know some of you, but here are the names on the envelopes:

[Silence and a written list follow.]
Martel, Wesley, Ashura, Dairine, Del, Felix, Mark, Crowley, Fred, Nora, Cole, Gwaine

Comments

[impetuous]

[ The journal remains open to this entry for a while. Another one gone. Gwaine cannot dredge up enough energy to even be surprised. He feels nothing really, a hollow, encompassing nothing. He should speak up. He owes it to his friend to learn whatever the man had to say.

In the end, he says nothing. Whatever the contents, he does not want to know.

(when did I turn into such a coward?) ]

Action

[wizard_redfive]

[Dairine was actually in the process of checking her friends' nameplates after her extended loss when she got the news.

She stops in the middle of the hall, staring at the journal for a few long hard minutes. Then sighs. 'Guess she wasn't going to be that lucky.

Chaucer's room wasn't that far away, so instead of replying, Dairine just wanders over. She feels strangely... hollow, seeing the blank nameplate. But she steels herself and opens the door. Whoever made that announcement should still be here, right?]

[takethat]

[He's just popped open one of the leftover bottles of... something, and is sitting on the floor drinking it, when Dairine comes into the room.]

...oh. Hi there...?

[takethat]

[Should he ever change his mind, Phoenix intends to leave the letters (and any unclaimed items) in a neat stack in Geoff's abandoned room, as long as the room should stay empty--following his bizarre little vigil there tonight, anyhow.]

[wizard_redfive]

[She's probably looks like the odd one out of Chaucer's friends... certainly the youngest. But the weary look in her eyes and set expression hints at someone who’s dealt with loss a lot in her short life. Someone far too mature for her age.

Phoenix seems to fit right in the room, drinking alcohol straight out of the bottle. The sight is so familiar (between Chaucer and Bucky), but Dairine can’t find the heart to comment on it.]

Hi. I'm here for a letter?

[takethat]

[He blinks at her, taking a moment to register all this; his mind's a little sluggish from the emotional overload. A bit too late, he tries to hide the bottle he's been drinking from, behind his back.]

Oh--right. Yeah. Who are you...?

[He's peering at her, wanting to ask how a young girl ended up knowing someone like Geoff, but he holds that question in for the time being.]

[heloise]

He would like us to recite verses in his honor.

[takethat]

You... you think so? That's probably true...

[heloise]

Yes, and wine. He likes wine.

[takethat]

Wine I can do. I don't have much of a mind for poetry, unfortunately.

[heloise]

I have no talent for verses either. Perhaps we can find a few that others have written instead.

[takethat]

Geoff left books here. Looks like books of his own as well as others'. There's probably something there...

[Though looking might be a little painful.]

[eat_me_beat_me]

[There's a sound of a paintbrush falling to the floor] No.

No no no you're fucking kidding me. [She snatches her journal off its stand and races out the door, headed for his room]

[fistfullofmagic]

[Dhaos had happened to be tracking down Phoenix at the time he received the message over the journal, hoping to learn the reason the human had seemed to recognize him, even before they had all had the false memories implanted into their minds. He's not terribly sure who it was that had left this world, but... there is a small part of him that empathizes with the one he briefly called his brother in-law.

Quietly, he enters the room and shuts the door behind him.]

...Phoenix?

Dictated

[demontobeloved]

[There's silence for a good, long while before Cole actually speaks up.]

Are you in his room now?

A FRIEND IN NEED /DONS CAPE

[cantacquityou]

[Upon hearing this, Edgeworth sets his book aside and heads to Geoff's room. He waits nearby until the remaining letters, and those who have come to claim them, has been dispersed.

He then approaches Phoenix from behind, resting a consoling hand upon his shoulder.]


...Let's go.

[wizard_redfive]

[She's not going to comment on his less than sucessful attempt to hide what he's doing, not really caring.]

Dairine. [Keeping it short and to the point. Less risk of emotion slipping into her voice that way.]

[thebutz]

Nick, man, are you okay...?

[He met Geoff once but he wasn't aware that Nick had known him also.]

How well did you know him anyway?

[takethat]

Dairine? Oh, yeah.

[He sifts through the letters, finds hers, hands it over.]

I'm Phoenix. Nick, for short. ...looks like Geoff left a lot of stuff behind, here.

[takethat]

[There's a voice he's heard before, and he cycles through the names on the letters until he finds the one it calls to mind--Nora.]

I wish I was kidding.

[takethat]

[Phoenix's head snaps up at that, startled by the sudden "intruder."]

Who--Dhaos?

[Blinking through the shadows, he distantly hopes he got the man's name right, never being completely sure of it in the first place. He's almost relieved this isn't one of the people Geoff had left a letter to. It'd be an easier confrontation, that way.]

Dictated

[takethat]

Yeah. I am. And I'm taking some of his booze, so I'll be here for a little while.

[takethat]

Really well. We were--

[He pauses. By now he's more than aware that everyone from his own world seems to think Larry should be his best friend, but thanks to his loss, that's impossible. It takes him a moment to choose his words carefully before continuing.]

...well, Geoff was my first real friend after I came to this place.

[takethat]

Miles.

[Torn between surprise to see Edgeworth there and the sense that he really oughtn't to be surprised at all, he holds out the bottle he's about three-quarters through.]

There's still some left.

Dictated > Action

[demontobeloved]

Give me a minute.

[And then Cole just shimmers into Geoff's old room.]

You'd better save some of that for me.