(no subject)

[makopoison]

.

the death meme


(TRIGGER WARNING. This meme deals heavy with death and also possibly with strong violence or with suicide/depression. If you are not comfortable reading about that, please PLEASE do not proceed further.)

This is it. The final curtain. You're at the end of your life, and there's someone here you really, really need to say something to before you die.


CAUSE OF DEATH

1 - Accidental. Nobody meant for this to happen, but it doesn't matter now. Due to negligence, arrogance or just plain bad luck, you've become gravely ill or injured and are now in your last moments. This covers all kinds of accidental deaths--strangulation, drowning, car accidents, unintentional beheadings, whatever you can think of.

2 - Murder. Somebody really didn't like you. Enough to kill you, it seems. You're now dead by someone else's hand. (Maybe even the person replying to you?) As with accidental death, this covers all types of intentional, malicious murder, regardless of method--so poisoning, stabbing, shooting, etc., all work here. Same with all the below options: any possible variation you can think of on it will work!

3 - Suicide. There is no hope for you, and no way out. You've reached the absolute bottom pits of despair, and the only recourse you have is to take your own life. Someone shows up to stop you... but they're too late to help you now.

4 - Terminal illness. You have cancer, or tuberculosis, or cholera back when people got cholera. The doctors have done everything they could and it wasn't enough. The only thing to do now is give your loved ones the bad news.

5 - Starvation. So thirsty. So hungry. Maybe you've been traveling in the desert for hours, or maybe you're just really poor. Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter, because you're slowly wasting away until you're nothing but skin and bones.

6 - Death in battle. You've died a hero's death, and gone out in a blaze of glory. Or maybe you were a coward who got shot for deserting? Either way, you're now a casualty of war. Will you be honored with a parade or scorned as a traitor to your country?

7 - Natural causes. You've lived a long, happy life, and now your story is at an end. In a warm bed, surrounded by your family and friends, you peacefully drift off. Just make sure that you've made a will somewhere, or at least use your deathbed to set the record straight. Otherwise, who knows what kind of squabbles might errupt after you leave this world?

TIME LEFT

1 - A few minutes. You're fading fast and you don't have much, well, any time left. Better tell the person with you that you love -- or despise -- them with your last breath, because you'll never have the chance otherwise.

2 - A few hours. You haven't got much time left. Is there someone you still need to kill? To kiss? Better do it quick. (Note: last kisses not recommended for people dying of highly contagious illnesses.)

3 - A few days. The doctors have given you the news, and it's not very good. You've only got a couple days left to live. You should start trying to make peace with people and saying your final goodbyes with the days you have left.

4 - A few weeks. Take that vacation you've always wanted to go on but never had the chance to. Go do that thing you've never thought you'd be any good at. You've got only weeks left to live. Don't waste them.

5 - A few months. While you aren't quite on death's doorstep yet, your lifespan has still dwindled considerably from what you probably thought it would be. How are you going to spend your last few months on Earth? Making the world a better place and telling your family you love them? Or raising as much hell as possible?

RELATIONSHIP

1 - Lovers. This is your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, mistress, whatever you call them they were the person you wanted to spend your life with. Too bad you don't have much of a life to spend with them anymore.

2 - Siblings. Your beloved little or older sibling is just standing there, watching you slowly waste away before their eyes. Can you say anything to comfort them? Note that it doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted literally; adopted siblings and friends so close they might as well be siblings work too.

3 - Parent and child. Nothing is worse than a parent having to bury their child... except, maybe, a young child now alone in the world after losing their parent. As with the sibling prompt, this can be expanded to include parental figures and people who are LIKE a father/mother to you as well as actual biological parents.

4 - Co-workers, teammates or classmates. You were fighting for the same side. Or you worked together in the same office for years. Or they sat behind you in biology all semester. However you met, how do your react when you find out someone who used to be a fixture in your life is going to die?

5 - Friends. You're the best of friends! You go everywhere together, know all each other's secrets, and are never seen apart. At least, you didn't use to be. Now one of you is dying and the other one is left alone in the world. Or maybe you're dying together. Wait, is that better or worse?

6 - Bitter enemies. You hate, hate, HATE this person. In fact, maybe you killed them. Or they killed you. Or maybe nobody killed anybody and they're just bitter that Mother Nature got to you before they did. Regardless, they want to confront you one last time before you bite it, if only to rub your nose in your imminent demise and their ability to outlive you.


✗✗✗

HOW IT WORKS:
1. This is where I am changing it up. Feel free to choose how you are going to die, just be sure to list the closest matching categories in your subject bar, along with your character and their series.

If you are having trouble coming up with a prompt or situation, feel free to use the random number generator. Or if you rather just take a risk feel free

2. Responding characters then roll for the relationship between the two of you. Optionally responding characters can also share your cause of death/time left to live or roll for their own, but that's not required. A living character caring for (or horribly mutilating) a dying one is fine, too.

However, considering this is in our RP feel free to have your characters keep their CR, just make sure to inform the person which ever way you're going with it before responding!

3. Tell the person what you need to tell them before you bite it.

4. Have fun!

✗✗✗

ETC

Other relationships -- such as murderer/victim, doctor/patient, etc. -- can be added in along with the randomized relationships at your whim if you feel the need, or even used to replace the relationships under that heading. Just, check with the other player first if you're going to do something extreme to their character! Or, in the case of canonmates, if you want to ignore the table and just go with your characters' canon relationship, you certainly can do that as well.

Also, if you would prefer to ignore the table entirely and just play out your own death scenario, feel free! This is a meme, so rules are pretty lax. If you like, you can also replace "death" with some other irreversible, negative scenario, such as being trapped in another dimension. The main point is that the characters conversing will never get the chance to talk to one another again, so you better make the last things you say to them count.

Immortal characters can be AU'd into non-immortals or otherwise made to fit the settings however their muns would desire. Also, if you get a death prompt and a time limit that don't make sense together you can either interpret the prompt as liberally as necessary to make it make sense OR you can simply roll the time left again until you get a time limit that makes more sense! :3

- reposted from here.

Comments

cloud strife | ffvii (r) | ota

[makopoison]

6/1+2?!/1+5!

[unattainables]

[ you know how the story goes.

they suffer together, they escape together, they go on the run together. zack lugs cloud everywhere, looking after him, talking to him, encouraging him. doting and affectionate as if he isn't just dead weight. wouldn't think of leaving him behind for anything. protects him from everyone and everything, then eagerly tries to take him home.

but they don't make it. zack tells cloud to run, faces down the shinra army all alone, and goes down in a horrible hailstorm of bullets. bloodied and battered and broken, he collapses on the cliff outside of midgar and bleeds a river of blood as the storm that's been building above them breaks.

only this time, he doesn't die right away.

he's still got the strength in him to crawl away, but not now. in a minute, when he's gathered himself, maybe. staring up at the sky, his eyes squinted against the rain, zack breathes shallowly with his fingers curled loosely around his sword. the damage that's been done, a potion and a cure materia aren't going to fix it this time. but he thinks he might be able to get back up. the light doesn't fade yet from his eyes. he's just—catching his breath, that's all. yeah. maybe, if he can grit his teeth and bear it, he can get cloud to midgar after all. as for himself, well...

well, we'll worry about that later. his eyes blink open again and a familiar face comes into view. guess it would've been too much to hope that he'd really run. zack tries to smile, his teeth colored red, blood pooling over his lips only to be washed away by the falling rain. ]

Still with me, buddy...?

[makopoison]

[ cloud can't fully comprehend what is happening. where he is. why he's here, why there's water falling from the sky and there's a sea of red mud surrounding them. part of him knows that this is a battlefield and that they are survivors, but the rest can't pull the pieces together. the world is noise, terrifying and vast.

and zack is the only constant. familiar and soothing even like this. the blonde reaches out with a clumsy hand to touch his hand, brows knitting together when his fingers touch blood. ]

Nn...

[ he starts to tug his hand away, the feeling of hot blood against his frigid skin is almost too much.

but he stops.

together again. zack fair had said that faithful day, holding an arm up for a fistbump. those words had never had been spoken with a smile before, with no hint of disdain at his continued presence. there had been no surrepiticious glance to the side, hoping someone else would take the assignment. no ease back, he hadn't wiped his hand like cloud was something infectious and unpleasant to touch.

if he pulls his hand away from the sticky red mess, he thinks he'd be doing zack a disservice. instead he curls his fingers around his. the words zack's speaking only make a little sense, meaning only understood by the warmth in his gentle voice, but he has enough in him to parrot them back. ]

Still... with....

[unattainables]

Attaboy...

[ zack tries to smile wider. even the smallest of responses from cloud that are even remotely coherent are a big deal to zack, so this should be something to celebrate, right? yeah—celebrate. because they're alive, and... everything's going to be okay. zack's head turns a little to the side to keep the rain out of his eyes, his grin partly a wince. in another universe, this would be it for him. but he can keep going, just a little longer. just—in a minute. catch his breath. gather his strength.

he's a little numb, but he can feel cloud squeezing his hand and he squeezes back, his grip weak. gonna need to work on that if he wants to pick up his sword and walk away from here. he can do it, really. just need a minute. just a minute. ]

We're gonna—go home. I'm just taking a little rest. Don't worry about a thing, okay? I'll get us there. Just need...

[ just need a minute. he tries to make it kinda—subtle, the way he coughs, spits up blood. that's harder to do than you'd think. ]

[makopoison]

We're going to... Go home...

[ why isn't he getting up? zack has been taking rests more and more frequently, their journey has slowed considerably in the last few months. he's looked more tired, more haggard.

he feels so fragile.

the blonde's eyes track the trickle of red down his chin. the blonde's blank eyes start to register something like worry. ]

Don't worry... Just need...

[unattainables]

Just a minute...

[ zack allows himself the benefit of closing his eyes. just for a moment, not a minute. he can't stay here like this, but he doesn't feel like he can move. it's painful, yeah—really painful. but mostly he just feels weak, tired, numb. cold. er, damp. his smile fades when he closes his eyes, and for a worrisome second it feels like his consciousness might fade with it. but he blinks his eyes hard, opens them again. no time for resting. ]

Alright, minute's up.

[ he tries to move—legs first. his brain says bend your knee, but his body only twitches, at best. takes a wet, gurgling breath, blood oozing from his lips, and tries again. this time, his leg bends. that's one. that's a start. his smile is almost entirely grimace, but his eyes find cloud's face. ]

Gettin' there...

[mmbae]

[ It's never been easy to return to the church in Sector 5. If anything, Tifa would have figured that Cloud would steer clear of it. But that's what makes it the perfect hideout, she supposes, for someone who absolutely does not want to see her, someone who ghosts her calls and stows away with his sickness. To suffer alone and in silence in this sacred space can only make the agony too terrible to bear. What a Cloud-like thing to do, she supposes, the irony barely scraping the surface of shock and grief. These wounds are still too raw to feel.

Tifa hears him before she sees him. She is badly wounded, but the one thing that keeps her conscious is the tiny bundle she is cradling in her arms. His footsteps ring like churchbells, reverberating into eternity. She supposes it's a good a sound as any to fade out to as she sways upon the precarious threshold between consciousness and the merciful dark she can only pray to succumb to.

She is not the one dying, though she wishes that she was. If only she could trade places with the tiny body she's holding so close now, as close as she wishes that she'd always held her. Marlene. She cannot accept that she is gone. Even though she was the one to bear witness to that strange man grabbing her, unsure of how to handle such a fragile, fiesty thing. She'd fought, just like her father. Barret would have been so proud.

The sound of her neck snapping is haunting her, will always haunt her. She can still hear it, skipping like an overplayed record, the crunch-crunch-crunch of bone on repeat. An illogical part of her mind still believes that she can save her, if only she rocks her softly enough, whispers the right thing into her tiny bloodied ears. So small. Every precious part of her is too small to be so still.

Cloud's footsteps, coming closer. Tifa doesn't even have the strength to cry. ]

I tried to call you. I tried, Cloud. I called you, but you didn't—

[makopoison]

[ it had taken time for the old cloud to resurface. zack's personality bleeds out of him as the memories of the older boy's death trickle in, the old cloud showing in new doubts and hesitations. he's a mess, he knows, not quite who he was and never who he thought he could be.

but he'd tried.

for tifa, for marlene, and later for denzel - he'd tried. every day he had pulled himself out of bed, determined to face the world and be better. people learned to love this new cloud and he had hoped that maybe he could too. that he would find a way to forgive himself for not being strong enough, for being the catalyst that had almost ended the world.

and he had, almost. even as fatigue started to eat at him. dizziness and headaches and waking nightmares of the past he can't escape from, accompanied by agony that drops him to his knees. he maintained that hope, that dream of the future that they had all shared before that final battle... but leads only brought him to dead ends. cloud was no scientist, incapable of figuring out what this was and why it was killing him and others that they loved. he could stand in front of an opponent and fight until the end, but in the face of inevitability - of mournful eyes and false hope, he crumbled. he'd always been a coward.

so he'd fled.

and now it's come to this.

the church, more destroyed than it's ever been. tifa bleeding, a small body in her arms. he doesn't comprehend what he's seeing for a moment, the record skip and familiar static burst of his mind trying to protect him from the worst obscures the little girl's face for a reason. but that can't save him anymore.

he bolts to their side, reaching for his chest of materia, for the maxed out materia he keeps on hand for just such an occasion - but it's not there. it's gone. ]

W-what... [ what happened. what are you doing here. what can i do? ]

zack fair ( ff7 cc ) | ota

[unattainables]

[ f u shikki ]

reno ( ff7r )

[electroburst]

Rufus Shinra (OG/R)

[ambitiousblond]

[SHIKKI :| ]

3 + 4 / 2

[makopoison]

[ soldiers have a short shelf-life.

pump them full of chemicals. throw them into battle. wait for them to burn themselves out, one way or another. perhaps if cloud had been privvy to private documents he wouldn't have coveted the title. wouldn't have thrown everything that was safe and familiar away to chase a dream that would have him dying before fifty.

he's twenty-six. he had survived sephiroth, jenova, the lifestream, and geostigma. he'd wrenched his mind back from the brink and regained himself, twice, but... in the end, he couldn't reclaim his body. the damage hojo had done to it went far beyond a handful of jenova cells and mako injections.

tifa finds him unconscious on the floor one midsummer day. pale, unresponsive, and cold to the touch. he hadn't even remembered passing out, coming to just as the ambulance arrives and some poor unfortunate EMT gets within striking distance. he's unconscious again well before they even get him out of the house.

they can't fix it.

what he has in store is a slow, painful decline. cloud is a fighter by nature and his body will fight, and fight, and fight - up until it has nothing left to fight with. the wro is looking, the say, they're going to find something. he has to hold on, and so he does, for their sake. he's allowed home until he takes another spell and something (liver, he thinks, he wasn't paying total attention) important starts to quit, and then he's back here. they're buying time until they find something in hojo's research that can help - until they aren't.

then they're just trying to keep him comfortable.

he's not getting out of this room. ]

[ambitiousblond]

[It felt like every day Rufus was finding something new Hojo had done in the name of Shinra. Name of science, whatever his justification was. It didn't matter anymore now that the damage was done. He hadn't actually been the one to create the SOLDIER program or to let Hojo start his experiments but since he was a Shinra, his father's sins were now his.

Geostigma had left his body weakened but his resolve was still strong. He had been given a second chance he knew he didn't deserve so it was not something that he was going to waste it. Part of that was trying his best to atone for the past and heal old wounds. He knew that Cloud would not accept any help from him but that didn't stop him from doing what he could to help him. He owed a great deal to Cloud and though there was no way he could ever repay that debt, he would do what he was able to do.

It was Reno who called him that day Cloud was brought back to the hospital. He had Reno and Rude keeping him updated on Cloud's condition and he had been doing everything he could to get his hands on Hojo's old research. Reeve and WRO had been cautiously helping him but it wasn't an easy task.

There was little he could do but he still had Tseng drive him down to the hospital in Edge that day, arriving just as Tifa left Cloud's room. She frowned when she saw him but didn't stop him from going in by himself. He went to Cloud's bedside, looking down at him.]

[makopoison]

[ hospitals still leave a bad taste in his mouth. scientists and doctors leave him tense and scared in a way that makes him feel small and childish. he hates it. hates this. hates knowing that this is where he'll end, slowly, feeling like a science project once more.

the room is dim. cloud's on his side, sheets pulled up to his chin. the light burns his eyes now, he keeps them closed most of the time. they crack open now to take in the sight of the older blonde, expression haggard and worn down to the bone. ]

What do you want?

[ambitiousblond]

Did you really think I was going to abandon you?

[Rufus sat by Cloud's bedside, looking directly at him. What was happening to Cloud happened to the rest of Hojo's experiments and he hadn't been able to do anything in their cases. He wasn't going to let go of Cloud easily and admit defeat. They had known each other for too long for that.]

I'm going to have you taken to Healen to stay with me. You'll be comfortable there- the medical staff there aren't former Shinra medical personnel.

[Something he had been very thorough about ensuring. He had never met any of Shinra's medical staff who weren't interested in Hojo's projects. It was rather disturbing.]

[makopoison]

[ 'comfortable'. cloud scoffs softly. the best lead they had to fix it was in how project g had survived the degradation process. but genesis wasn't speaking - he'd been sighted in the city of the ancients and had flown off anytime someone had tried to speak to him. ]

It's a waste of your time and resources. I'm not of use to anybody right now.

aerith ( ff7 og/r )

[precaria]

4/2ish? who knows/6ish

[ambitiousblond]

[The first time he saw her he thought she was merely a hallucination brought on by the high fever and pain he was in. He often saw visions of silver hair and green eyes that struck fear through his heart but seeing her for that passing moment brought him only an uneasy peace he didn't understand.

He had never met Aerith personally aside from that night on the roof of the Shinra building. He knew what they had done to her and her mother though. What Hojo had wanted to do. He thought that she was the key to an entirely new world that he would make his own.

But that hadn't turned out to be true. Everything fell apart and now every day he was reminded of the crimes he had committed as the black sores spread day by day. He had only so many days left to him to try to repair the damage Shinra had done to the planet but it wouldn't be enough. He just had to do what he could in the time he had left.

The second time he saw her was when he had just had an injection of the stimulate. The Turks had left him to sleep for the night but sleep wouldn't come. When he opened his eyes again, he saw her standing there as if she was alive once more.]

Aerith. Why are you here?

[He's talking to his own hallucination, that's not a good sign but he's just going to go with it for now.]

[precaria]

[ she probably shouldn't be here, but she just can't help herself. they say grace is what the heavens give you when you don't deserve it, and mercy is what they give you when you do. there's no real way to say which is true for Rufus Shinra, but whatever it is... well, whatever it is, at this stage, it doesn't truly matter. there isn't much time for him left on this Planet, and this is all she can do to ease his suffering.

he probably really doesn't deserve that, either, but there's a reason why she's the avatar of forgiveness here, and not someone who might judge just a little more harshly.

it's awhile before Rufus finally notices her, and when he does, she leans forward, looking down at him with a soft gaze. gentle, kind, but without an actual smile. almost like she's curious, enigmatic in the sort of fondly indifferent ways that angels painted on church ceilings look. of course, she'd be really offended if you described her like that. ]

Can't sleep? Is it because you're in pain? Or, is it...

[ something else? ]

[ambitiousblond]

I don't want your pity.

[The pain was manageable with the stimulant but he wasn't going to admit even to a figment of his imagination that the last couple of days had been the worst since he had gotten sick. He was going to have to talk to Tseng about making preparations soon even if that would mean finally admitting defeat. He had to be practical now.]

You're wondering if I feel remorse for what I've done.

[His voice is quiet, thoughtful. He did feel remorse, it sat heavily on him and weighed him down. Seeing the other Geostigma patients at Healen was a constant reminder of what Shinra did that he was forced to face every day. He never looked away no matter what he saw of the patients with the most advanced cases.]

Do you think I deserve this?

[precaria]

Mm... mm-mm.

[ Aerith shakes her head, her hair falling in her face. she lifts her chin to see clearly again, still bent forward to be closer to Rufus's eye level. she could just sit, but... not now. she's far enough out of reach that it follows just to look like a vision, or a ghost, or whatever they want to call her. ]

I know you do.

[ feel remorse, she means. but what she thinks? about whether he deserves it? she seems to think about that, head tilted somewhat to the side. but she wouldn't be here if she didn't already know what she thinks. ]

I don't think anybody deserves this. Not even you.

[ambitiousblond]

[Rufus didn't look away or reach out to see if she was real. His mental state must be worse than he thought since he could swear she was really in the room with him. It was strange how she felt like a comforting presence, it was something he couldn't explain and seemed entirely foolish.]

I can't do everything I need to in the time I have left.

[There is something vulnerable in his voice that he hates. He hadn't been willing to accept his death when Diamond Weapon had fired on his office, when he had been chained in that basement- but he could only fight so much from the corruption of Jenova's cells eating away at him bit by bit.

And a part of him was afraid, no matter how much he tried to hide that from everyone, especially himself. But he was alone now, with just a vision of the flower girl for company.]

Why are you here? Why haunt me?

IM ON MY OWN SHIT

[combatmode]

[ They all saw the visions of this accursed place, standing together on the precipice of manifest destiny and a timeline wild and untamed. They'd all stood shoulder-to-shoulder before the screaming wall of that storm, the only thing keeping each one of them from crumbling beneath the fear and misery the unbreakable bulwark of the bonds they had forged. Tifa remembers how tightly she'd grasped Aerith's hand back then as their senses were assaulted by the scent of someplace earthy and primal and ancient, as water-spun lightbars sizzled over them and they watched Aerith's face, a mask of peaceful repose, sink down, down, down into the cerulean expanse, her hair a halo round her head, her fingers clasped in prayer.

Tifa thought the point was to never have to see that again. That the decision between them was unanimous: they would cross the threshold, together, and fight til the bitter end for the freedom to tell their own story. They'd forge their own path, together, and reclaim their destiny once and for all from those blind and bitter things that cared not for broken hearts and too many friends left to die.

And then Aerith disappeared. With the curse of foresight, all of them knew where she had gone, but the insult here was that the mad rush to find her still brought them to this place. Tifa endured the journey on a stomach too wracked with fear and grief and nausea to speak. She knew what was going to happen, had carefully run through every eventuality with that special eye of hers, and only one outcome was in the cards. By the time she caught her first in-person glimpse of that liquid resplendence that haunted the worst of her nightmares, she could hardly stand, overcome by the sour vertigo of her wrenching stomach.

Everything is so wrongly perfect. Aerith is kneeling in prayer upon the platform. Cloud is taking the lead, holding out a hand to still the rest of them. He'll handle this, he says, just like always. What he doesn't expect is the spinning kick to the sharp line of his jaw, to falter with a curse as Tifa springs over him, hopping over every other pillar with searing determination. Her lungs are burning almost as badly as her legs, her whole body an overblown inferno ready to detonate at any moment. Time slows but for Cloud's wounded yell behind her. She hears him scrambling to follow. He'll never catch her.

Cloud is owed a life where he never loses Aerith, and Aerith is owed a life, any life at all, for giving away so much of her own. Despite her tears, despite the ragged edge of fear tearing through every dwindling nerve she's got, she's smiling when she grasps Aerith's wrist and spins her round with it, like papa used to do in those days when he called Tifa his little princess and danced with her standing on his shoes. She just doesn't want Aerith to see when that split second of Not Right puts her in the path of Sephiroth's blade in her stead, the wicked edge of it slipping through her like a hot knife through butter almost before she's gotten Aerith completely clear. It was so, so close, but she's done it.

Aerith's destiny belongs to her again. ]

red xiii ( ff7 og/r )

[stardustray]

katsuki bakugou | bnha

[allfight]