[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.

[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.

[winged_knight]

Wow, that sounds really wonderful. Not just a way to remember them but to also bond with those surviving them. I like sharing stories. [Wing realizes that his own kind might do the same, but they'd not lost anyone since secluding themselves in Crystal City and before that... No one wanted to share memories of the war and it was sometimes too painful to remember what they'd all left behind.] Did you have any particular place that you'd do this usually?

[He smiles warmly.] Well met Flonne. Please, call me Wing.

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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...]

[eternallove]

Sharing stories is really wonderful and I bet you have many that others would like to be shared as well Mister Wing. [And despite this she can't remain completely sadden any longer as she thinks on the more positive parts of this serious conversation.] We have a small garden area where we plant flowers and such, Master Lamington even has an entire field of flowers that he looks over as well.

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[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]

[sword_redemption]

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

[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?]

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[namesnotprowl]

I do. Folks could use a place t'go to remember their friends.

[Instead of taking off alone into the Wastelands like Barricade had that one time. That was a terrible idea in hindsight.]

Yeah. Gotta have somewhere to remember the good stuff, even if there's bad there too.

[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.]

[sword_redemption]

Yes.

[He's quiet for a long moment.] There was. Before you showed up. An incident. With, uh, Gasket's arm.

video;

[sword_redemption]

Yes. But...honestly. The cemetery. The bodies in the ground. I...don't want that.

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

An.... incident?

[Perceptor studies Drift carefully.Drift has seemed quite... affected by this Gasket.]

[sword_redemption]

Uh. Everyone was getting gifts and things like that. I got...I got Gasket's arm.

[Yeah, hahaha funny?]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Oh yes. Hilarious.]

From whom?

[Perceptor is clearly displeased with whoever would presume to do such a thing. He can also somewhat understand Drift's fixation, now.]

[sword_redemption]

I don't know. I don't know if we ever figured out who. It just showed up on my berth, wrapped in a box.

[With a ribbon and everything.]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Percptor's optics narrow as he considers this. Surely the Firstforged have to know something?]

[But, perhaps not.]

Do you think... do you think it may have been Gasket, himself? Seeking some sort of... resolution?

[Or offering it, to Drift.]

video;

[namesnotprowl]

No. Talkin t' gravemarkers is... a little strange. Bit morbid. It'd be better to have somewhere that. Isn't that. Isn't just their deaths.

[sword_redemption]

I think...I think it was a sign I haven't done enough. Tried hard enough.

Like a reminder I can't escape my past.

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[The phrase that Perceptor blurts would be physically impossible for anything that didn't have triple-jointed limbs and a rather significant command of physics-altering properties. It's also rather vulgar, and perhaps, just a little rude.]

[Drift has probably heard Perceptor curse similarly in the past... maybe. Once or twice. Perhaps.]

Forgive me, Drift, but I do not believe that. I can certainly understand why you would see it as having such an implication, as it is your nature to be forever critical of yourself and your past actions. It's one of many of your endearing traits, even if it is absurdly frustrating for those of us who care for you to see you torment yourself in such a manner.

[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...

[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.