[video]

[sword_redemption]

[The camera shows Wing's quarters, a breeze lightly rustling a curtain behind the two mechs. Drift's standing, almost pacing, as though he's been talked into this and is still not very comfortable.]

[He hesitates, trying to gather the right words. It's so much easier when he's writing it for someone else.]

A lot--more mechs than we even know--died here, or went missing. Everyone deserves to be remembered, whether we have their bodies or not. They were all like us, and we, any of us, could disappear or....worse, ourselves.

[Ghosts, zombies, the unknown fate of the badlands: so many options, all of them terrible. Wing doesn’t like any of those notions, but this idea is heartening. He rises from his seat near the window.]

If there’s one thing recent events have taught us, it’s that memories have a power of their own. We need a way, not just to mourn, but to remember those no longer with us, both past and future. To honor them. And maybe keep hope alive for the lost.

We were thinking of a place, not like a cemetery, but some place that recalls them as they were. This is for all of us, not just Cybertronians, so we were kind of wondering. How do you celebrate the memories of those you've lost in your worlds?

Comments

[eternallove]

[Well this is one of the few things that would get Flonne to not be smiling and overly cheerful when talking.]

We sometimes would plant like a favorite flower or tree for them or make something to put on display to honor them, but I don't know if that would really work here like it did in Celestia. We also would tell our favorite memories of them so they would be known even by those who didn't know them.

[winged_knight]

[Wing feels you Flonne, it's not cheerful for him either.]

A flower or a tree, hm? A living thing to remember those past. I like the sentiment. That would be more difficult here though, yes. But. Not impossible. [He likes the idea enough that it bears some thought. If they managed it in the Atrium...] Favorite memories, like stories?

[He's fond of that idea too; remember the good they brought into life.]

I don't think we met before, have we young lady?

[eternallove]

Mhhm, we would gather around and tell stories about them or just listen if we didn't know them as well. Like about how they helped out someone during their training or when they did something funny. So it was like we knew them just as well as those who had grown up or lived with them Mister. Even humans have a lot of ways they honor their dead, but I don't really know them that well.

[And she has no real idea what demons do to honor really so she won't try to mention them.]

No we haven't Mister. I'm Flonne, it's nice to meet you.

[video]

[adamndoctor]

A memorial site. [pause] That would be nice.

[another pause] One old tradition carried on through the years among us humans is to bring flowers or small tokens to their grave or burial site. Not always on the day of their death, but any holiday or any reason of the mourner's choosing. People may have their own unique traditions. It varies.

So, I suppose, planting flowers or simply marking off a land dedicated to those who have passed sounds fitting. Just have to find a place with good, clean soil, or at least flowers that can be planted and grown here.

[video]

[sword_redemption]

What about those we don't have graves for. Like...First Aid or Vandal.

[video]

[adamndoctor]

You can still put up memorial sites. A tombstone, a plaque, whatever works. You don't necessarily need any remains.

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Should Perceptor admit to all the quiet moments he would stand, staring out a viewscreen or a porthole, nursing a single ration as if it were the finest high grade, slowly worrying his thumb over a smooth crystal the same shade as the stone in the hilt of Drift's Greatsword after Drift had left the Wreckers? Probably not. He's asking for memorial rituals and concepts, not for one mech's pathetic little obsession.]

Crystal gardens. Crystals can be grown without soil, and tinted for specific mechs and lifeforms.

[sword_redemption]

Crystals.

[He likes that. A lot. As much as he likes trees and flowers especially cherry blossoms apparently, they...kind of die.]

We just want to make someplace pretty. But, you know, happy.

[To commemorate the dead. Yeah sure no probs, right?]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Well, now... Perceptor might just have to create some cherry blossom shaped and colored crystal clusters, then.]

Someplace fitting to remember those who are no longer among us.

[Perceptor nods. He'd like to do something for Kup, come to think of it.]

[winged_knight]

[There's been a lot of similar suggestions but this one really stands out. Wing can't resist, he's delighted and looks it.]

Oooh! I think someone did something like this here. With trees, crystal ones. Each of the First Forged had one for Christmas. [Now if only he could remember who it was...] I like that idea, tinting them different colors...

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[namesnotprowl]

A memorial. Might be nice for folks.

[Nearly everyone he'd lost was back home or in Axiom, except for one or two. Even so, Barricade's never been sure how to honor any of them besides Frenzy. He's realizing he won't be able to keep up that memorial here. The required structure is missing. Not that he'll admit to it.]

There wasn't a time or place for anything physical back home. Not really. Mostly we just kept their memories, or kept any traditions they might've had with you. Humans do a lot of flower-planting and candle-lighting. Leaving pictures of those they've lost. It might be easier to cultivate crystals here, though, since we're low on cameras and artists.

[And candles. And gardening space...]

video;

[sword_redemption]

You think so?

[He sounds kind of relieved. Wing has a tendency to make Drift think that all his ideas are actually good when they sometimes, like cave exploring, aren't.]

[He nods] That's what we were thinking. Just a place to remember, well, everything we've lost. But the good things, you know?

[video]

[chessur]

I would recommend not telling your memories to the flowers. They would surely gossip them away!

And then you'd never be able to find them again.

[video]

[winged_knight]

[Wait, what is this that he's looking at?]

Gossip...? Flowers can gossip?

[This is a very new piece of news. Discovering that some flowers were edible was interesting enough. But that they could vocalize!?]

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[gtfostalker]

Ahh, like a memorial. All in one location.

[He remembers those!]

We used to put them up in the Zone, but they were all over, not just one spot. Wood with their names carved on it, sometimes flowers or their possessions. But you had to break the guns to keep the bandits from stealing them. You put it up, then go to the nearest safe place and have a drink in their honor.

[Or an entire bottle, one of those.]

Outside of the Zone they were made of stone, sometimes with statues of metal or water around them. But the concept was the same.

video;

[winged_knight]

That is the idea. We have nothing like that here. And a lot of reason to be missing people. Or just missing home.

[He nods, but then his helm tilts at that part near the end.]

Break the guns...? Oh. Hmm. That is a good point. Not that we have a lot of bandits per-say here, but leaving possessions of value might be tricky.

[He's not sure what the "zone" is but before his curiosity totally derails things...]

I don't think we've met yet? I'm Wing.

[video - YOUR FAVORITE]

[rednotbluethx]

Eh, who cares? They're dead. They certainly don't care. Why should we? An' besides, they probably ain't worth rememberin'.

[video - YOU ARE]

[sword_redemption]

....there's no one you miss? No one you've lost?

[comment not here]

[winged_knight]

[Wing has something to say here but it is a low, low blow. He's tempted, if only on Four's behalf and everyone else Frenzy's bullied but Wing knows that if he does, it makes him no better.]

[TL;DR: Somewhere in Vector's tower there's a white jet shoving his fist in his mouth and shutting off his communicator.]

voice;

[thxforthememories]

... I remember them.

[Kagerou that's not helpful in the slightest.]

[But, hey, it's really all he's got. He tried, at least.]

voice;

[sword_redemption]

But...wouldn't it be nice to help others remember? You know your story with them that someone else might not.

[Video]

[notyourblueangel]

Where I came from, there was . . . really no effort made to remember the fallen. We had been at war for too long, and they were considered to have failed.

[His neutral tone makes it hard to grasp if he agrees with that or not, though considering his personality, he doesn't, necessarily. Most of them were anarchic, blood-thirsty cutthroats anyway, though, so.... The few he actually cared anything about, on the other hand...]

What about a wall or some other structure, with people's names listed? Something that can be easily added to as needed?

[Yes, he's thinking about the Vietnam Memorial that he saw on a documentary on TV once. No, he's not going to admit he used to pass the most boring - and claustrophobic - hours on the Victory between missions distracting himself by watching things like The History Channel.]

[Video] WOW how did I miss this!?! I'm so sorry. ;-;

[winged_knight]

None at all? That's so sad. [Unfortunate, really. How do you value life if you don't mourn its loss?] I would think remembering their failure would help teach others not to repeat their mistake.

[That may sound too callous for Wing, but he can relate in a very specific way: having failed in battle, paid the ultimate price, and then given a chance to learn from it.]

Oh! Yes I was thinking a structure of some kind. I do like the idea of people being able to add to it, so it become one large memorial that grows...

[action] epically late but an idea I had that I kept forgetting to follow up on.

[winged_knight]

It's a little later after they'd both fielded multiple ideas on the subject and discussed it a little themselves. All this talk of memorials and those lost to war and other means has drummed up old memories for Wing.

He leans a little on Drift beside him, helm canted towards his love but his optics wandering a distant place. "Do you remember a while back, when I told you there was an event in my past, during the early war, that was a turning point?"

Wing knows this is not exactly sharing 'good' memories, but if he's to offer himself fully, formally, to Drift as he plans in the future, he wants the mech to know and accept all of him. Even the painful parts. The failures, the dark times. It's a strange sort of gift, but not one he's given to anyone else.

((ooc: Also prose because it's easier. We could log this instead, if you want. I just wanted to put this here so I didn't forget again!))

[action]

[sword_redemption]

Drift's trying not to get too used to having Wing beside him, to look over at and take comfort in that, or just know he could brush a hand over, just to make sure he's real. It's just that he never wants to take Wing for granted.

But when Wing leans against him, he definitely indulges himself in the touch, hand sliding down the lines of the jet's chassis and side. As Wing speaks, he goes a bit further, planting a kiss on the helm. "Yes?" He doesn't want to pry, but he's willing to listen. And he doesn't care if it's not the brightest memory in Wing's past. What matters it that he's sharing it. With Drift.