my favorite memetian

[miasmajesty]

 

 

The Last Words Meme

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. 


(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.)



HOW IT WORKS:
Getting your numbers from RNG (or pick your own), the first character to post rolls for their cause of death and how long they have left to live. They then post to the meme with their name, canon and the results of their roll. (For example: "Jane Doe | That One Series | 1 2" would mean Jane Doe from That One Series died of accidental causes and has a few hours left to live.) 

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.

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

As usual, all meme's are open to interpretation. If you want to play an AU immortal, yay. If you want to be sucked into another dimension or shoved into a tiny glass box, also fine. YOUR PLAY, NOT MINE.



CAUSE OF DEATH

1 - Accidental. Nobody meant for this to happen, but it doesn't matter now. Due to negligance, 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?

Comments

[switchback]

[ He flails a little, muttering in protest, but doesn't have the energy for an escape. After a moment his head drops against Tavros' chest and he lets out a long sigh, asleep by the end of it. ]

[uncertainty]

[ He moves them over to the couch and arranges them both comfortably. ]

[switchback]

[ He goes back to sleeping days at a time, waking in short bursts of a few hours or more and then passing back out. Sometimes he seems almost normal when he's awake, but he's much like a sick cat. Sleep is his last defense against his body simply dying. Not even the medication can get between him and that mess now.

Most of the time when he's awake, though, it's to look up for Tavros and grasp at him if he's there, eyes unfocused and murmuring only semi-coherently about who only knows what. I love you and I'm scared come up sometimes. Then he runs out of energy for talking and trembles until he's asleep again. ]

[uncertainty]

[ Much as Dave hates it, Tavros psychically links with him every so often to take the edge off and put him at ease. I'm scared always spurs him to be reassuring, gentle, filling his head with good memories of all their years together.

He doesn't leave Dave's side much. His belly starts to swell, he suspects he's iller than he thoughts and makes no effort to get treatment. ]

[switchback]

[ If he notices, he doesn't complain, for once. Any relief is good relief. He can never quite gather up the words to tell Tavros it's okay. Into the end of the third month and halfway through the first week of the fourth, he doesn't do much but burrow against Tavros and dream away the pain.

And then one day he wakes up feeling remarkably lucid at around one in the morning for the first time in weeks and slowly bends his arm to prop himself up. He's nothing but skin and bones, there's hardly any weight to hold up, and even if there was, he feels... light, and hollow. Like there's nothing on the inside, least of all rotting bones. ]

Tavros?

[uncertainty]

[ The troll rouses easily, blinking blearily into the darkness until his eyes focus on Dave. They tell him it'll be over soon, he expects to wake up to find Dave gone.

He doesn't expect to hear his voice again. ]

... Dave?

[switchback]

[ A faint smile, relieved. In his dreams Tavros was far, far away, someplace he was only working his way toward very slowly. Maybe he made it there, finally. ]

You're here.

[uncertainty]

Of course, I am.

[ he sits up. ] I've been here, the whole time.

[switchback]

Oh.

[ he crumbles back down slowly, laying on his side and staring up with his eyes cloudy and wide. ]

I had so much I wanted to tell you.

[uncertainty]

[ Sliding over closer, stroking his cheek. ]

You can tell me, now.

[switchback]

[ Shaking his head faintly. His breathing slows, shoehorning awkward halts into his sentences. ]

Every time I find the words it's, too late. And then I just, spend the whole time, wishing, I could go back and do it over again.

[uncertainty]

Shh.

[ he knows what he's seeing. he smooths hair. ] I wouldn't, change a thing.

[switchback]

I'll, do it right, next time. Promise.

[ Whenever he gets to wherever he's going. Maybe then.

A slow blink. His eyes stay open and wide and a little wet, staring at Tavros like he can't believe what he's seeing (which is actually nothing, but he doesn't realize he's hallucinating, which is certainly for the best). ]

I, know, it's, fucking selfish to, ask you not to go anywhere, but, could you... [ Stay. Stay. ]

[uncertainty]

I'll stay.

[ He rests a big calloused hand over Dave's, stroking his face gently. ] I'll be, right here.

[switchback]

I'll, make it up to you, later... I'm working on a,noth,er, movie. Gonna be big.

[ He's limp. And a little cold. ]

You'll like it.

[uncertainty]

I know.

[ Everything inside feels as if it's twisted, like there's a breath he just can't take. His eyes start to water. ] Tell me, all about it.

[switchback]

It's, it's your favorite. I, was, writing it, just for you.

[ There's a long pause, eyes wide and no breath and then a quiet, quiet gasp. He can feel himself slipping and that can't happen until he tells him what he's writing. ]

It's, about—

[ It's not happening. There's no breath left. His hand barely twitches when he wills it to grab onto the one over his. ]

Tav.

[ And then he goes still, glassy-eyed and glazing over, blank. He passes from one second to the next into a short-lived coma. It's a few minutes of painless suffocation with hardly a sign that it's even happening. Of all the ways he could go (his other lung failing, another heart attack, stroke, a violent seizure, blood poisoning), it's by far the most merciful. ]

[uncertainty]

Dave?

[ It hurts. ]

Wha... what's, it about, Dave? You didn't, finish. [ His voice cracks. He shakes his shoulder gently, but of course there's no response. He knew before he moved, when that connection severed. ] You didn't finish, Dave. You, have to tell me...

[ He lays his head down against his matesprit's chest, fighting for composure. ] Bro! [ Is all he manages before the flood comes. ]

[turntables]

[ He knew it was coming a long way off. It was pretty obvious that he was coming to the end, but for Bro it wasn't a matter of time. He just sort of Knew. Maybe it's a parent thing, maybe it's a brother thing, maybe he's just weird, but either way he had tried to do all he could to brace himself for it.

But that doesn't stop a hard pang from hitting him when he hears voices out in the living room and then just one, and just that single word, the tone of his voice and nothing else, is all he needs to know. His heart gets all tangled up so tight that it hurts and he says in an uncommonly sober voice to his other kid on the phone that he'll call him back later.

He's not really sure how he still manages to be that same calm as he walks out into the living room and sees Dave dead and Tavros breaking down. He doesn't say or do anything at first. Once everyone gets wind of it, the media especially, the kid won't have a single quiet moment to say goodbye. This is going to have to be it. ]

[uncertainty]

[ He doesn't know what to do with himself. He hears Bro come in and doesn't move, just lets himself break because he should have said more, done more, should have been better prepared but he wasn't.

Eventually, though. He backs away. He was here in the end, he got those last few moments... Bro didn't. ]

[turntables]

[ He may be calm and generally collected, but it'd be a stretch to call him "composed." He worries the corner of his lower lip with his teeth for a long moment, staring down at Dave, who is staring sightlessly back up at him.

All he can really think to do is crouch down and brush his fingers over his eyelids to close them and fix a few strands of hair that had been mussed out of place at some point. And then he doesn't know. He just doesn't know. ]

Sorry, kid.

[ He could be talking to either one. ]

[uncertainty]

I don't think he, felt anything, in the end.

[ His breath hitches awkwardly, the pauses more pronounced.

He's already decided he'll gather up his things and go after the funeral... maybe sooner. He can't sleep in this bed anymore. ]

[turntables]

[ He's already pretty cold, like he's been dead longer than he really has been. He sits there with his hand on Dave's face and then has to take it away because it's just cold. ]

Thought I heard him talking earlier. Once I figured out it wasn't Dirk seein' as I was on the phone with him at the time.

[ He would have liked to hear what he was saying now. A little. Probably it was meant for Tavros' ears only so it's just as well, but... still. ]

[uncertainty]

He...

[ He shakes his head. ] He was saying something, about a movie, but, he... [ Didn't finish. ]

[turntables]

Could probably ask his manager.

[ Not very comforting, but it's all he can really think of. Which reminds him of the fact that Dave never did come out about his illness to basically anybody. It's going to be a fucking madhouse. ]

You need any more quiet time to make your peace an' whatever, now would be it.