[locked to sthenyaer, mo_intheblood at the start]

[ghostmeta]

It's a warm, breezy day; the sun shines brightly over the cemetery Todd stands in today. He's dressed in his usual garb - long-sleeved black jacket, jeans, and a pair of white gloves. The wind catches his hair and blows it around, leaving it a mussed tangle of strands

Comments

[sthenyaer]

Melinda comes, perhaps unwisely.

She's wearing a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and her sneakers. Running shoes. She did not bring Sisu. She has no weapons with her. She's frightened.

The girl looks slowly around the cemetary. He wouldn't try to kill her. He promised. Melinda remembers the first day she met him- I'm not trying to hurt you, Mel, it's just - the chance is too good to pass up!"

Was that still true? That he wasn't trying to hurt her?

She sees Todd, and walks slowly over. Mel shoves her hands in her pockets. "I'm here." she says. Melinda watches Todd, warily.

[ghostmeta]

Todd doesn't have any visible weapons, either. Which doesn't mean he's defenseless - there's the faint shimmer of light barely visible above his jacket collar to give the lie to his ever-present markings

[sthenyaer]

"It's good to see you again, too, Todd." she says, in response to his greeting. Melinda almost smiles when he does, because it's Todd, and she loves him. Maybe it's only puppy-love, but in a way, it's love.

Melinda listens to him while he speaks, silently watching and waiting. She winces slightly when the tombstone cracks, but doesn't speak. When he shows her his hand, Melinda looks at it. It's fascinating. Melinda forces herself not to reach out to look closer at it, and does so well- she just stands there.

When the tree turns into butterflies, Melinda watches them fly off. She likes watching other people do things like this- it's refreashing, slightly, because she's usually the one doing it.

She thinks about what to say next. What the hell do you say to this? What the hell do you do when you discover the person you adore wants to destroy his world?

"What's going to happen to them all? All the people here? Are they going to die?" she asks, looking at Todd. It's morbid curiousity and fear that keeps her rooted to the spot.

[ghostmeta]

Todd pauses and takes off his other glove, kneeling to touch the soil with his naked, branded flesh.

"Yes," he says. "This world and all the worlds connected to this world, this vast multiverse my civilization has conquered and contained, every last living soul that breathes - none of us will survive. No matter where we are." The ground flares to brilliant life.

"A successful writer knows when to kill their baby." Todd looks up at her. "Sometimes an idea just doesn't work, and you have to start over - or scrap it entirely." He pulls his hand away from the ground, and the lightshow snaps off. "This idea didn't work. So I'm scrapping it." His eyes narrow. The ground trembles beneath their feet. "And this time for good."

He slips his glove back on and points at Mel. "How many times have you been rewritten, Mel? How many times have you lived your lives? Do you know