to; all

[hairington]

i've never made one of these so sorry if it's wrong

but if you knew Nero- i know he's been here a long time so there's probably a lot of you. you deserve to know.

he's gone.
and not back home or into the pond or however the other places bring us all here
he's gone gone.
dead. died. not coming back.

just thought everyone should know.
if you need to know details and shit i can tell you
i was there
so
yeah

fuck

Comments

[nomnoms]

DE A D NERO

:'(

[blackeyedprince]

i fucking hate this place

[magicalarchaeologist]

[ Istredd has never heard of a Summoned dying so this is a genuine shock. His complicated feelings around Nero also make it a shock. He has so many questions; how could anyone kill someone so strong? He fought monsters during the rifts with no trouble. It feels like the only explanation could be a god.]

Thank you for letting us know. I would prefer not to re-traumatize you, so I apologize, but how did that happen? Nero was exceptionally powerful.

[divinityfrompain]

[ Absolute shock. ]

I'm so sorry, Steve.

[hairington]

yeah, nanaue
he's dead

[hairington]

[ it says something about just how far he's gone that he very nearly responds with 'it's fine' but then is able to stop himself. ]

thanks
it's
yeah

[ sorry, julia. he wishes he was more talkative because this just feels wrong and kind of rude, but he also doesn't really know what else to say. ]

[hairington]

you and me both, man
and it kind of feels like its getting worse

[nomnoms]

WHERE NERO DEAD

GO IN HOLE?

NO EAT

[blackeyedprince]

our part clearly went to shit completely this month

private;

[righteously]

Are you okay? How you holdin up?

( He met Nero. Liked him a lot. The news is a blow.
But Steve's the one that's here right now, and so he shifts his mental processing to focus on that first. )

[vecna]

[It’s hard for Henry to reach out for the sake of empathy, but dire curiosity and the need to know exactly what happened do the heavy lifting for him instead.

And it’s Steve, so.]

What happened?

[sketchycharacter]

Shit.
Didn't know him but...condolences.

[Wow Nate you are the best in a time of loss.]

not here (I'm sorry)

[thedevilwhorose]

[lol]

private;

[hairington]

[ it does not escape steve how ridiculous his own response to this is. how he went out to let people know what happened to nero, and now that everyone is asking - how'd it happen? or what did you see? or, not even asking, but saying sorry like it changes anything at all...

it all sucks. all of it sucks. every time steve feels like maybe things will start to feel better or easier it doesn't.

and it's not fair to dean, either, who steve hadn't even met before the whole russian basement disaster and who now was responding to steve without any of the apologies or the questions or anything, and it's...some kind of relief.

dean's already seen all of steve's shit, and the feeling that he doesn't have to lie, or put up a front, or pretend about any of this, is a relief. ]

no



I mean
I'm okay as in like, not hurt bad or anything
but this all fucking sucks
I guess I'm holding up enough

private;

[righteously]

Sometimes 'enough' is all you can do, and that's okay.

You should swing by the Roadhouse. I wanna show you something.

( A distraction, because when it comes to grief... that's one of the few reliable tools Dean's got at his disposal. It works sometimes, until it doesn't anymore. )

[beautifullies]

[ Claire has no idea what to say, too shocked and stunned. Eventually, she does find words, but she's still left thinking about the first and only conversation she had with Nero. ]

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑘, 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒.

[ She doesn't know what's needed or wanted; she wants to know how as a medical professional, but she refrains from asking, at least for now. ]

[kobes]

[Koby hasn't been here long enough to meet many people, but the message is to everyone and -- he hadn't know that. He hadn't known people could die.

So:]

You saw it? Are you all right?

[hairington]

[ it's one of the reasons he makes the announcement - because whether or not you knew nero, whether or not you cared about him, he is (was) a summoned. one of them.

they can die, apparently, and when steve gets through this initial shock that will be a much bigger deal. right now, though, he's kind of on autopilot. ]

yeah I was there
we were on a chaperone mission into the woods
ran into the wrong god thing

I mean I'm here so
fine?

[hairington]

not really sure if drinking fake beer's gonna help anything
but sure- an hour?

[ whether or not dean replies that it's okay, and whether or not steve actually thinks it'll help, he does go. it feels a little like he's sleep walking, like he's expended every other emotion out of him and he's just kind of wistlessly walking around, but he is here. he makes it.

he doesn't knock when he walks through the front door, eyes scanning the dive bar that is the roadhouse like he hasn't been here before (he has). ] Hello?

[righteously]

Fake beer helps everything, but it's not for that.

( Well, not just for that, anyway.

At any rate, there's no immediate answer when Steve walks in. The bar's quiet, uncharacteristically empty, and Dean is nowhere to be found — at first. Until the door labelled Doctor Badass Is Out swings open, and he pokes his head out to whistle sharply. )

This way. C'mon, down here. Shut the door behind you.

( And he darts back through the doorway again.

Uncommon knowledge to anyone outside of the Winchester or Witcher families, that doorway leads not to a room, but to a reinforced set of concrete steps that descend underground to the far larger, more expansive structure beneath. Steve is welcomed into the list of the elite few who get to see the Men of Letters bunker. Hopefully the Vibe down there is different enough that it doesn't inspire any creepy torture bunker flashbacks; this one's better furnished, better lit, and it's playing Fleetwood Mac from— somewhere. )

[hairington]

[ retraumatize he says. steve almost laughs. is that what this is? the feeling that he can't quite get out of that moment? that his chest, his lungs, his body, hasn't quite worked right since?

it doesn't matter - he has to let people know. he swallows, thankful that none of this has to be in person. ]

we were on a chaperone mission
out into the forests
she called it the guardian of last rites

[hairington]

he got attacked by a god
the guardian of last rites or some shit
he tried to fight back and it didn't work

[ sad to think that some part of steve does think this is empathy, that it's a friend trying to help a friend. but steve doesn't need to know the truth here, either. ]

[hairington]

[ if steve were any more aware or understanding of his own emotions, he'd probably have an answer for her. as it stands, there's a lot of empty staring and a lot of unbearable weight and a lot of steve not being sure what he's supposed to do.

this post is something, at least. and for all that it makes him feel worse, at least he's doing something. ]

thanks
I will
but be careful when you're out and about, too, okay?
I feel like it's been worse lately

[ which, he means, judging from the content of this post: it has been worse. ]

[vecna]

[It's maybe 5 percent more empathy than Henry could ever have managed since he arrived in this world, which counts for something (especially when he started at zero). But still not a terrible lot; he won't be able to provide the same kind of comfort his other friends will, nor would Henry seek a way to.]

A god? What did he do to anger it?

[magicalarchaeologist]

Did it say why it was attacking him?

[ This seems relevant considering everyone in Solvunn is at the whim of the gods. If they're starting to kill the Summoned, it might be a bigger concern. ]