Fiftieth Theory [Voice/Action for Housemates]

[i_speak_softly]

[When Don opens the door to the storage room, he immediately forgets what he went there for. His housemates will hear him shouting:]

No!

[Later, when he's calmer, a Voice post:]

Derek Bliss has gone home.

[... That's all he can manage.]

Comments

[Action] SO MUCH FOR THAT HIATUS. /SOB ... replies will be slow but I'll be here. >_>;

[ninjacane]

[Splinter is there in a matter of moments.]

Donatello?

[Action] /just threads here if that's okay?

[honorthecode]

[Leo's there quickly, too.]

What happened? [He'll look around the room, but he will notice things missing.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don just gestures wordlessly into the suddenly-much-emptier storage room. What can he say? Splinter and Leo were more familiar with Derek's belongings than with the man himself.]

[honorthecode]

[Leo just stares for a moment, before he gives a sigh. Another one went home. Even if he barely knew the man, Derek seemed like a pretty nice guy. Even if he did have issues.

He'll put a hand on Don's shoulder.]

I'm sorry.

[voice---later.]

[lists_to_port]

[This is an announcement Jack Sparrow has to process. Derek is gone? One of his oldest friends---true friends---here in Luceti? There is a hollowness at Smart, Traitorous Turtle's words. There is only one way to try to fill that sudden gap.

Derek has gone home to die.

The pirate grabs the surfboard Derek found for him and makes his way to that one spot where the two men often enjoyed hitting the waves together. His first ride ends in a spectacular crash. Then the next. And the next. But the fourth ride is a success---a freeing, wondrous, blissful success. Derek, his friend, has gone home to die. He has to do some living before he can face that.

Finally, a breathless, soaked pirate sits on the beach and opens his journal. Talking to Donatello has been an infuriating task ever since the threats leveled against his Joanna. But he feels he has to say something about this.]

He was a good man, was Derek. Better than us.

[i_speak_softly]

[In better times Don would agree quite emphatically to the assertion that Derek is a better man than Jack. Right now, he still agrees, but in the simplest possible terms.]

Yes.

[lists_to_port]

[And Jack shuts his journal. He's not interested in conversations with Donatello. He doesn't trust the turtle one bit.]

[Written]

[shadedsunlight]

[Derek? No, that wasn't right. They'd just talked about rebuilding the flats and platforms from the play. They were going to start up a rock band and perform at Cloud Nine or other venues around the village, they were supposed to meet later to discuss it. He couldn't be gone.

But it's not the sort of thing one jokes about in Luceti.]

Thank you for letting us know.

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

[It takes him a few minutes to notice the written message, a few more to place the associated image. Like with all the others, he doesn't know what to say.]

It's the least I could do.

[slaying]

H-home?

[ the vampire slayer -- a compatriot, a colleague, a comrade -- can hear her own voice shake. derek is the man she went to when other men went home. who, then, could help her shoulder this loss?

don't cry don't cry don't cry. ]

Are you sure? He didn't just...maybe he's in the caves again. Donatello. I'll check the caves. I have to check the caves

[i_speak_softly]

Buffy... all his things are gone.

[Part of Don wants to believe that Derek snuck into the house and carried away all his possessions, but - it's just too implausible. The man is gone.]

[slaying]

I'll check anyway.

[ stubborn. she will not lose him. ]

[i_speak_softly]

Please find him...

[As though Buffy could do so by sheer determination in searching. Then again, if anyone could shift reality through force of will, the Slayer could.]

[Voice]

[consultmybooks]

[...Giles' reply is a while in coming.

He has some feelings to sort out.

Finally:]

Th-Thank you for telling us.

[i_speak_softly]

Are you okay, Giles?

[consultmybooks]

[No. No, he isn't. "It's better this way" is far more of a lie than usual, right now.]

...I'll, um, I'll...be all right. It's just, um, i-it's...always a bit of a shock.

[Then he checks himself.]

I will miss him. A-And, I'm...s-sorry it had to turn out this way.

[i_speak_softly]

Do you think he'll ever come back?