Grace Is Gone

[skyward_eyes]

WHO: Nida Nomura, Some Closed Starters, Otherwise OTA
WHAT: Drinking with Wanda, Missing Persons Announcement, Dangerous habits
WHERE: Wanda's Room, Roof of Dorms
WHEN: August 1st - 7th
WARNINGS: Drinking, Grieving, Possible mentions of death and self-harm.


One Drink To Remember - Closed to Wanda

When he wakes up, bed mostly cold, arms empty, no noise from familiar breathing, his heart aches. This hadn't happened yet, not to someone he knew. Not so far as he knew. Because it definitely hadn't been a year. Not even close. Not even...

Within an hour he's gone to the store and come back, and is knocking on another door in the dorm. Pounding really. He's got a nice tall bottle of vodka, grief in his heart, and someone that needs to know before anyone else. Especially since he couldn't find their information on the network anymore.




Then Another To Forget - OTA

This isn't what he's supposed to do. He knows that. It's not healthy, it's not smart, and it's definitely not what he should be doing, but hey, who needs good life choices? In this case the choice manifests in the form of a young man lying on the edge of the building, a bottle of vodka near at hand, claimed every few minutes for a swig as he stares up at the sky above him.

Is this a risky place to be, especially tipsy? Hell yes. Does Nida care? No. But he does flinch when the door to the roof opens? Yes. Is that possibly bad? Yes.

"Close the door," he'll call, his voice a bit uneven. "You're letting the warm out."

Which he thinks is pretty funny, leaving him chuckling.




Network Post - Audio Only

[Definitely Nida's voice, but also very clearly slurred just enough to imply someone has been drinking. Probably more than he should. Which is any at all.]

For those who would care? Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd are gone.

Filtered to Seifer

Yes, I know. You're disappointed and I shouldn't be drinking. Whatever. Can I borrow Eos for a few nights?


[OOC: Nida is going to be in a bad emotional state, and mostly walking through life a bit broken. He's cool to have custom starters for anyone, just directly message me, hit me on plurk churbooseanon or discord (Churby#4290). I can have something ready rather easily.]

Comments

AUDIO UN: dpdhank

[sociallychallenged]

[Uh oh. He remembers Nida being determined not to sink back into alcohol. He doesn't know the people that are missing, but knows that Nida drinking about them is a serious issue for him.]

Sorry to hear that. How much have you had to drink?

UN: BrokenWings

[skyward_eyes]

Not enough? I've still got, like...

[A small, humming thoughtful noise.]

More. If there is more, it's not enough.

[sociallychallenged]

[Hank doesn't want this poor guy to end up in his shoes.]

You might want to stop before that. Or someone may fucking break through your window and throw you in a cold shower. Believe me, that shit sucks.

[Starting the whole process again isn't going to be fun for Nida. He hates that's going to happen to him (or at least he hopes he'll try to dig himself out).]

[skyward_eyes]

That sounds funny actually. Seifer would. And take pictures.

[This bottle will stay in hand until someone takes it from him.]

Another to forget

[bravers]

[The night's pretty cold, and as Cloud walks back from a particularly late job, he almost doesn't head up to the roof. Almost. Since he and Squall had started work on the chocobo shelter up there, it'd been habit to check, to assess what materials would be needed on the next run.

...It's cold. And while he almost doesn't check, he does. And as soon as he opens the service elevator door, the sound of a bottle scraping against concrete causes him to investigate. Then, he hears a familiar voice. Familiar, yet not familiar. It's vaguely slurred.

He closes the door, and he follows it.]

...

[He should call Squall, huh.]

[skyward_eyes]

[Nida lifts his head and twists enough just to get sight of the other man. Ah, that one.]

Well hello, Chocoboco Man. Come up for the views? Can see things from here.

[bravers]

[That one looks less than impressed at present. He's got one hand on his communicator, Squall's number half-dialed.]

No. Guess you didn't, either.

[skyward_eyes]

[Good, if this was something Cloud was impressed, that would be stupid.]

Views are good. It's all pretty.

[The sky is overcast, and he isn't looking at the lit up city, so probably no, not for the views.]

Private|UN: Almasy

[firacrux]

Then I guess I don't need to start reminding you about what happened last time. Come down here.

Private|UN: Almasy

[skyward_eyes]

What happened last time? Which last time. Enlighten me, brother mine, of what happened. I'll toast your memory. Hold on. Let me find the bottle.

[firacrux]

Get your ass down here, or I go find you.

[skyward_eyes]

I'll be there. Later.

[Is that the sound of a bottle scraping against stone? Yep. He's a very bad person. Be disappointed. He doesn't care.]

network - not here.

[scathefires]

[jason cares that billy’s gone. he wasn’t as close with billy as nida was, obviously, but billy was a friend, showed jason compassion and care at a time when he needed it badly, and he acutely feels the loss that comes with his disappearance.

he knows what it feels like to lose someone you love - it’s happened to him over and over, as those memories that were shared against his will showed. but every loss brings its own unique pain, and jason can only imagine how awful this must be for nida.

he should say something. he should try to comfort nida, who insisted on making jason a part of his family. jason knows he should try, but he told nida he’s shit at being anyone’s family, and he’s felt too much pain and loss already. so he doesn’t try. he doesn’t say anything - not because he doesn’t care, but because he cares too much and he doesn’t know how to manage it except to withdraw into himself, to collect all of the pain he’s accumulated over the years of his life and hold it all close so it doesn’t infect anyone else. it’s the least he can do, right? just stay out of nida’s way and keep from making anything worse.]

Another to Forget

[silentnarration]

He sees Nida's post and the message from Cloud late, so he checks their room first before heading for the roof. He hopes Nida is there considering the man's love for high places. Otherwise he'll have to resort to messaging him.

He opens the door to the roof and looks around, scanning the area and giving the construction area for Boko's stable a look. Once he spots Nida though, he stops a few feet away, concerned.

"I'm sorry..."

[skyward_eyes]

It's been a long day. A fucking roller-coaster of a day, Waking up, losing, seeking Wanda out, the run in with Cloud... The only highlight had been how patient Seifer had been with him, and just about falling asleep in his brother's arms after Seifer had hauled him down to the blonde's room. Sleep that hadn't lasted long. He'd been lucky, really, to slip out without waking Seifer, and he'd headed back up for the roof. The stars, you see. Nida, like Billy, loved the stars.

He's been hoping for a glimpse.

So, unable to sleep, he'd found his way back up to the roof, this time cradling a cup of coffee because he had run out of alcohol and didn't feel like going back to the store right now. Doesn't speak over the sound of someone approaching, doesn't even lift his head to Squall's words. Just holds the hot cup for a while. Has to think his way through a horrid hangover already claiming his head. Hair of the dog really would have been better.

"Guess I'm going home now. As if I ever had a choice," Nida says, his voice flat. Can a voice be dead? Can a throat have been ripped so raw from tears that a voice loses all body? All power? Perhaps. Perhaps Nida's close to that.

[silentnarration]

Squall's turn to be quiet as Nida speaks. He doesn't answer immediately and moves to sit next to him, keeping a respectful distance between them because this is Squall and he's not going to impose immediately. Not when Nida might not appreciate it.

"You can leave SeeD. Find something better." He's not good at comforting either but he's trying. Though is Nida even still alive back there?

Audio UN: Dr.Morbius (Locked)

[doesnotsparkle]

Are you going to be alright, Nida?

[skyward_eyes]

Gonna need ya to define the word.

[No, he's not going to be alright. Not for a while.]

[doesnotsparkle]

And there is the answer that I assumed.

[ He sighed some. ]

Where are you, Nida? Is someone with you?

One Drink to Forget.

[minus1twin]

Wanda had just returned from her week at the mines and had been sleeping through the exhausted that had always followed. She had planned to see the boys later that afternoon, after being away from the city for an entire week, and was surprised at the sudden banging at her door, jolting her awake.

She gasped and placed a hand over her heart as she started at her door. The confusion of sleep was replaced with worry and an ache that she couldn't identify. Something had changed, it was wrong. The energy of this place had shifted. Instinct thrilled in the way that only a mother's feelings could as she rose to her feet and walked to the door. A part of her knew. She felt it on a level that was beyond mental or physical. Billy and Tommy were a part of her, even if it was an alternate part. Her magical senses tasted the loss but she didn't believe it.

Not until she opened the door and found Nida standing there.

Wanda didn't say anything, she couldn't speak. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes because she knew what this meant. He didn't have to say anything.

She stepped to the side, silently inviting him in, all while trying to push down the cold chill that had begun to course through her veins.

[skyward_eyes]

Now there was a face that he knew shared his grief. He couldn't say for sure why she went so immediately to tears. Maybe it was the grimness of his own expression. Maybe the sag of his shoulders. Maybe just the alcohol in hand. No matter what it was, it drew the sting of them back to his, and he bowed his head as he took the invitation to step inside.

"I thought you should be the first person I told. It was... it was just like in the village. Waking up and they're just gone. Home, I presume. Tommy to get rescued from whatever happened to him. Billy to save the world and see his fiance."

He'd had a memory, from someone else in their future. Nida's so far out of the picture that he isn't within the bounds of the frame.

"We did this, when you left the village. They searched for you, and then I convinced them to come by my place since I couldn't really walk at the time. We sat around and drank to your memory. It seems right to return the favor."

[minus1twin]

She wanted to explain to him. To tell him that she felt Billy's magical absence from the world but it was hard to form anything into words. She nodded and gently closed the door behind him. It was too much.

Every time she found her family she lost them again. Over and over again. It was wearing her down.

"Thank you." Her voice cracked and she reached for a tissue to dry her eyes. "For coming to tell me. For being there for them when I couldn't." She wondered if they had felt like this when she had disappeared. What kind of mother was she if she caused them pain like this? Wanda tried not to think about it, it was only making it worse but she couldn't stop herself.

They wouldn't even remember her now that they were home.

She took a seat on her bed and gestured belatedly for Nida to join her. She knew he was there but her grief was palpable and she hadn't had time to come to terms with it. She wanted to get angry, to destroy those responsible but there was no one to direct that furry towards.

(a few days after the network post) text ; un: connor

[notalive]

[He doesn't know how to respond at first - for one thing, because gone? What does that mean? He has to find that out first. Then when he knows what being gone means, he feels weird and awkward about it. And about Billy in particular. He feels relieved - which doesn't fit the situation at all.

But that doesn't have anything to do with Nida, who's clearly been upset - humans drinking alone usually means upset - and the only way Connor knows to even try to help Nida is just to...be there. Figuratively speaking.

So he texts...albeit a few days later.]

How are you doing, Nida?

[skyward_eyes]

[Talk about a message he wasn't expecting to see.]

Frightfully sober. Exceedingly depressed. Snuggling a crocdog and trying to find the motivation to get out of my room beyond going to work or where my brother drags me.

You?

[notalive]

I don't know what a crocdog is, but if you want a different person to disentangle you from it and drag you out, I was thinking about going somewhere.
Or if you don't want to be dragged out, I could bring you something if you want.

[Connor, a man who wants to be helpful, but has no idea how.]