~Character Chat~

Suddenly, a minute shudder passed through Peter's body. He gave a sort of quiet, breathy gasp...
...And did not take in another breath.
Senet gave a much louder gasp of his own, all but jumping to check Peter's pulse on his wrist. Senet didn't want to believe it...couldn't believe it...
But right before his eyes, Sesria faded from existence.
"N..." Senet uttered, his voice barely audible to himself. Then, at the top of his lungs, in an ultimate cry of sorrow and anguish, "NON!!"
The tears picked up with astounding fervor, sobs wracking Senet's frame. He buried his face in his arms and in Peter's clothes, saturating the fabric with warm, salty liquid as he wept.
The wind picked up to a howl, roaring in Senet's ears.
But he heard nothing.

T.Mor stood awkwardly, watching the scene unfold with sympathy, but no real social protocols on how to address such a thing. As a result, he just stood.
"What...What happened?" Riddle was still not facing the right direction, so while she heard Senet's cry, and felt the wind, she had no idea what had gone on. T.Mor walked over and clapped a hand over her mouth, before she had the opportunity to say something insensitive. She seemed to get it after a moment.
Even August was whine free. He stood...Seemingly a statue. Just staring.

Ezra swore loudly, hot, angry tears stung at his eyes. "Why?! Why him?!" he screamed to no one in particular.

Liz reached out to Ezra, she too was crying. "Ezra, calm down. It's not you're fault."

He shrugged out of her grasp, tears leaked down his cheeks. She had never seen him like this. "YES IT IS!!!!!! If I hadn't made T. Mor switch places with Andrew, I could've helped him. If I hadn't asked him to take us along, he and his team wouldn't be like this. If I had done a better job fighting, he wouldn't be dead!" Ezra let out a heart-wrenching cry.

"mmrtgh." Riddle ground out after a moment from behind T.Mor's hand. He shot her a look. A 'shut up, crap just got real' look.
T.Mor hated showing this absurd level of stoicism, but it was an automatic reaction left over from his job, and as such, couldn't really claim to control his detachment. Part of him wanted to go over and pat Senet on the shoulder in the most comforting way he knew how...and part of him thought that well...Senet hadn't explicitly expressed such a need for a reassuring pat, and he didn't want it to be taken the wrong way...and if he left where he was currently, Riddle would certainly say something insensitive. T.Mor was just a ball of conflict.

He was shaken out of this ball of conflict by Ezra's yelling. "You know...I would have been content to just blame it all on the Sybek. Like...Seriously. I mean. That would have been fine. But you...You just have to go and turn all the attention back on yourself. Someone just...DIED. And...and you're complaining of what you could have done. In my world...crap like that doesn't fly. Saying all that you could have done won't give me your sympathy. I mean...I could have been chuck norris. I could have not shot Riddle. Heck. MAYBE IF I DIDN'T EXIST AT ALL PETER WOULDN'T HAVE DIED." T.Mor ranted sarcastically. He was just kinda...Not feeling up to tolerating anything, in lieu of the recent downward turn of events. "But...what use is that? What use is saying crap like that? Wallowing in self pity will get you nowhere, except shot in the foot. Like seriously. I kinda want to shoot you in the foot for that. If you're going to cry, cry for the person who we've lost. Not for the things that could have been. Because...Well. That's stupid." He finished.

Sarah rose sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Why's everybody yelling?" she asked, grogginess clinging to her voice. She turned her attention to Senet's current state, recognition dawning on her face and turning to horror. "Is...?" she mumbled. "Is he...? No, don't... Don't say that...he's... Tell me he's okay!"

"Uhm." T.Mor looked from Sarah to Senet holding Peter, and then back again. "That would be a lie." He said flatly. He wasn't used to delivering bad news like this. "Uhm." He repeated, increasingly uneasily. "He's kinda... a little bit...Dead." He winced saying that. He had never actually delivered any bad news to anyone before...ever, he realised.

Sarah looked at him, her gray eyes round and wide. Her mouth moved as though she were trying to say something, but no words came out. She felt like the ground was falling away, felt like she was tumbling through the air. He couldn't be... There was no... This wasn't real...
...But it was. Peter was dead.
Peter was dead.
Peter was dead.
Peter. Was. DEAD.
The words finally sunk in, slamming into Sarah with the force of a ton of bricks. Tears sprang at her eyes. Shakily, she moved to wake Nike and Izzy.
She'd never told him...never told him that...

Riddle finally managed to just bite T.Mor. He withdrew his hand with a little "ergh" of pain. "Wait. Peter died? Am I hearing this all right?" Riddle asked, still sounding like two gravestones rubbing together.
"Yes. Now...Shut up, will you? I have a feeling that people are going to get really...upset. Really fast. I don't need you yelling about...Artichokes or whatever on top of it all." T.Mor told her quietly, as though he were talking to a five year old at a fancy dinner party.
"Oh. Ok.." Riddle said calmly. "Can you turn me around then? So I won't have to aske all kinds of questions?" She asked. Something seemed to have clicked that the time for yelling was not now.
"...Sure." T.Mor rotated her as much as he could to face the group.
Then they stood in silence, and T.Mor's hand oozed a little bit of blood, unnoticed by him.

Ezra wheeled around to face T. Mor, his dark eyes blazed fury while tears still streamed down his cheeks. "Don't you see?" he asked, "it's my fault he's dead. He shouldn't...it shouldn't have....why him?!" Ezra's head was bowed, as his tears dotted the ground. His shoulders were shaking as his breath came out in gasps.

Andrew looked in shock at Ezra, he had never seen him like this. This Ezra looked like if you added another burden, another loss, he would collaspe under all the pressure. The Ezra he knew seemed to be laughing at his own private joke constantly, you could never know if he was laughing at you or the world in general. Andrew wanted to trade this Ezra back, this Ezra was broken.

"It's not yer fault," Andrew said quietly. Peter's death had torn him too, but he could not cry any tears for the dead cannot cry.

T.Mor was tempted to execute an improvised head-desk. Didn't he get it? At all? "Erm. Seriously? You're going to admit to that? You're really going to admit to that...And then expect sympathy from me? From anyone here? In my home...In my home city...A response like that would be met with a bullet to the brain. If you're stupid enough to INSIST that it is your fault...I'm sure I can find the Dakka to do this traditionally." He paused. He'd just threatened to kill someone...Off duty. That...That was crazy. " You give away your guilt like candy on Hallowe'en. You didn't even SHOOT hiim...Or torture him...Or anything. I mean...I cannot control you. I can't. But blaming yourself for circumstancial variables THAT NOBODY SHORT OF...Ceiling Cat Could have controlled...That's just..." T.Mor stopped. He took a breath, trying to sort out the mess going on in his head. "So...No. Maybe I don't see. Maybe I've killed too many people directly to understand the emotional difficulty you seem to be collapsing under. But all I can say is...Stop forcing your guilt, before I am COMPELLED to find more dakka."

"Do it. I don't want your sympathy." said Ezra.

"Ezra Cox, I swear-" started Liz but Ezra cut her off.


"You and I both know it's going to happen anyway. Why not now?" he said, looking at her. He was at his lowest point, she wanted it to stop. She wanted Peter to be okay, she wanted Ezra to.be okay.

Well...That had been unexpected...T.Mor shrugged. He reached into his combat boots, wonering if he'd absentmindedly put more dakka down the sides of his boots before he left his house...That seemed like ages ago. Nothing. Right. He'd given most of it away as payment. "Anyone have any unused dakka?" He asked seriously, going to pat Riddle down for bullets as he spoke.
Riddle contained no bullets. Just...A myriad of other miscellanious lethal things. Or...Lethal in her hands.

Liz was crying harder now. "Don't do it! Please!" she pleaded, but it was useless for Ezra had already made up his mind.

"I can't do anything without any Dakka..." T.Mor said irritably. He felt bad intruding on the team's loss with more violence, but it was sort of...He didn't know. "I mean...I could probably slit your throat...But...It's so...Messy..." T.Mor remembered Riddle's boot knives, but did not want to do that. It was too...Personal. Shooting was easier.

"Just do it or I will," Ezra reached intto his pocket, and pulled out a thin dagger. He handed it to T. Mor by the hilt.

"I have my own, thanks." T.Mor muttered irritatedly as he pulled one of Riddle's knives from her boot. He had practice using those knives, and knew how they handled. He was still unhappy at the lack of dakka, as throat slitting seemed entirely too personal for the occassion.
T.Mor walked to stand behind Ezra, and wincing as he did so, he dragged the knife across Ezra's throat, feeling tissues seperate as he went. There was a brief spatter of blood. He hated this...Killing people thing. But...really. Really.

Ezra let out a small gasp, dropping the knife. So this is what it felt like to die, suddenly he was very terrified but there was no turning back. His knees collapsed under him, as he began to fall.

"YOU IDOIT!!!!" Andrew shouted furiously.

"Correction. He was the idiot. T.Mor warned him about blaming himself...Like twice. Even I can't miss a hint like that." August said flatly. He still looked a bit shaken from all the death. He was a bit shaken from all the death, and would have given anything to go hide or something.

T.Mor stepped away, cleaning Riddle's blade on his pants leg. He returned it to her wordlessly.

"You fool! You of all people should know that most don't come back! We could have found another way, you didn't have to die!" Liz screamed to Ezra, even though she knew he was dead.

Andrew grabbed her, holding her back but she continued to fight him, "Liz! He's gone! Stop!"

Liz ignored him, she tried to claw her way to Ezra, "WHY?! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS BLAME YOURSELF?!"

Sarah just looked on, numb. She tipped her head to the side at Ezra. Someone else...dead?
"What..." she started. "Did... How..."

T.Mor looked toward Sarah...Not entirely sure how to explain. "Erm. He claimed the guilt. Protocol...Dictates..." He sounded like a monster to himself. Protocol? Really? Protocol...Here? Ceiling Cat knew HOW many miles from Auda? "Protocol dictates that admissions of guilt be met with death..." He finished the sentence flatly.

"But... Wasn't..."
Sarah appeared too much in shock to coher a forment phrase. She just looked at T.Mor, wide-eyed and dazed, uncomprehending. Beside her, Izzy and Nike were still weeping.

"It doesn't matter if it was his fault or not. If you're stupid enough to admit guilt...You're stupid enough to die." T.Mor explained, feeling more and more like a complete monster. What right did he have to impose Audian Law on some other person from another UNIVERSE? None...Really...Except for the overwhelming feeling that he deserved it for the whining.

He wasn't even sure that's what Sarah had been trying to ask...But...filling the space with words felt a lot better than sitting in silence to him.

Liz had given up clawing, instead she sat crying while Andrew held her. He could hear her heart beating. Andrew knew that Ezra would have been a better choice, and now both her choices were dead.

"He...broke his promise...that wasn't the only reason...h-he did it!" Liz sobbed.

Andrew sat Liz down, and walked over to Peter's body. He place two fingers on his eyes and gently closed them, after doing the same for Ezra, he made the sign of the cross. "What now?" he asked.