openish } but nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight

[choosetruth]

Who: the After the End Times crew and maybe YOU??
Where: ASGARD! Sort of.
When: Throughout the event
Rating: PG-13 for violence and swear words probably
Summary: Shaun makes poor sartorial choices that lead to his demise. Georgia does not handle it well. Thank fuck Mahir and Maggie are here to be the adults they need.
The Story:

[Starters in the comments!]

Comments

day two } closed to george and shaun

[choosetruth]

As far as events go, this one isn't so bad. So far. The space fractures were weird, but the palace is pretty nice, and Georgia still remembers her life and who she is and, to her knowledge, isn't having her mind messed with.

Of course, the same can't entirely be said for Shaun, who has gone local. George isn't totally sure whether he's fucking with her or if his lovely Asgardian makeover is actually messing with his head, but either way, she'd like him to stop.

She is wearing the same outfit she had on yesterday. She will wear it every day if she has to. She does not trust what kind of weird boob armor she'd get if she tried to get something from the closet.

"You look like a dumbass." She pokes her head through a door, taking in the strange architecture. She bets there's an interesting article there, but someone with more of a backing in mythology would have to write it. Still, it's worth exploring. "Have I said that already?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"I look like a badass," he corrects. "I fixed that for you." Not having his usual gear from the closets is a little annoying--he'd never considered having to stockpile clothes, in addition to everything else--but it's not the end of the world. Apparently, the Vikigns or whatever have taken over the Mansion, and as far as Shaun is concerned, when in Asgard, do as the Asgardians do, and that means dressing up like a badass in badass armor.

[choosetruth]

"Viking isn't your color." She rolls her eyes under her sunglasses as she turns back towards him, walking over and tugging at his cape. "This looks like a curtain."

[adaptiveimmunities]

"It looks awesome. I have envied Batman and Superman's capes my entire life." He grins at her. "There are no zombies here to grab me or scratch me or bite me, and even if there were, I still wouldn't be worried about the cape, because my life got a lot more fun when Dr. Abbey told me I didn't have to worry about that anymore."

day three } closed to george, shaun, maggie, mahir

[choosetruth]

It isn't that they didn't hear Darcy and Steve's warning. No one should be engaging with these creatures who don't have special powers. And that's entirely fine, since none of them have any intention of engaging. But they're journalists. They have to at least go out and get some footage, even if Shaun's still behaving (and dressing) like a moron.

But Shaun acting like a moron is nothing new, even if he's kind of cooled it for the most part since George's death. She's not really that worried. Still, she keeps a hand on her gun, ready in case something happens.

"We just have to stay close, and be ready to retreat. No heroics." She shoots Shaun a slight frown. "We're here for the news."

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun draws an X over his chest armor, glancing over at George. "I solemnly swear that I will not be a hero, despite my excellent armor and cape. I am here to hold a camera and a gun and to not be a statistic."

[fishandclips]

Mahir can't help himself. He makes a scoffing noise, shaking his head. His tone is as dry as it gets. "We're going to die. I don't know why we're deluding ourselves that anything short of horrible, embarrassing, painful deaths is in our future. But yes, lets rush headlong into danger in the name of news. Something new and different for us."

Why does he work with these people, he has to ask himself. Even as he follows them to what can only be certain doom.

[choosetruth]

"We won't die." But she does still put a hand on Shaun's shoulder as she passes him. She doesn't love the way he's acting. But he's smart and careful and not about to let himself get hurt for real. She just wishes he'd stop worrying her. "And if we do, we come back in a day, and not even as zombies. No big deal."

day four } open

[choosetruth]

Forty-eight hours. That's how long it's supposed to take for people to come back from their second death. She's spent longer without Shaun before. She's spent longer dead herself. He made it for a year, she can make it two little days.

His body is covered with a sheet on the couch. Georgia is sitting across the room. They stopped him from turning into a zombie, but his body's still a biohazard, and Shaun may have gotten his immunity from George, but they can't know if she's gotten it back. A part of her wants desperately to run across the room and fling herself on him anyway, but her turning into a zombie won't do anything but let him come back alone. She won't let that happen.

So she sits. And she waits. She stares at Shaun's body. She doesn't sleep.

Forty-eight hours.

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket's spent some of this event sulking that he gets event dizziness off something he barely knows anything about (so Asgard and the Nine Realms are like a thing and all, but what does that have to do with him exactly?), and the rest sucking down ale and sometimes providing some firepower as the fights get obnoxious.

Mostly the ale thing though. There's way too many overzealous idiots trying to fight for ~Asgard~ then he wants to avoid hitting with ~friendly~ fire today.

The end result is that he has a hangover that could kill a man when he hears about Shaun and through some sense of selflessness that he didn't think he possessed, he tracks the Masons (the living and the dead one) to their room.]

...The hell happened? I get blackout drunk one night and this- [He's talking as he enters the room, but one look at the sheet-covered body and Georgia sitting nearby and all the piss and vinegar brought on by his hangover is forgotten.] Oh shit.

cw suicidal ideation

[choosetruth]

[She doesn't look up immediately. Her reflexes are slowed, dulled. If Rocket were a zombie or an Asgardian threat, Georgia would probably be dead right now. That doesn't exactly sound bad, except that as she keeps reminding herself, Shaun is going to come back and she'll be here when he does. That means no dying, even if living without him even temporarily makes her feel like there's a hole in her gut.

She looks up wordlessly, then looks back at Shaun. She can't come up with the words to say what happened, and it doesn't matter anyway. Shaun is dead, and Georgia wishes she was too. What's there to say?]

[beatupgrass]

Aw hell. [he huffs a breath and walks over to her, eyes still on the sheet. The stench of death and blood is still hanging in the air like a miasma that chokes the senses.] You're just gonna sit here 'til he comes back?

[There isn't any judgment. No "you need to rest or eat." Rocket isn't exactly an expert on healthy anything, much less coping mechanisms. Someone else will chastise her for that part, but he's not gonna force someone to do what he wouldn't do if it were him.]

[burntvideocassette]

With the exception of a run-in with Tim, Jay's been keeping his head down during this event. He can't fight worth anything, and given that he's spent the past three, four years either running or hiding, that seems like the smartest course of action here.

He heard about what happened to Shaun. If his new boss, if the guy with training and backup and body armor couldn't make it out alive, what chance does Jay have?

He's not sure if this is the right thing to do. But it's something.

He peers into the Masons' room. There's a white sheet on the couch, and Jay realizes with a sickening lurch of his gut that what's left of Shaun is probably under there. This is the closest Jay's been to a body in person. All the deaths back home were just caught on tape.

He grips the camera, forces himself to lower it from his face.

"Hey." He's looking anywhere but the couch. "Heard what happened."

[choosetruth]

Jay's probably filming, the analytical voice that even now won't shut up points out. Jay's catching her on film while she looks like this, completely lacking her usual composure. She has a very specific way she likes to be when she's on camera, and this isn't it. She's not crying, at least, and she's showered because she might be suffering past the point where she really cares what happens to anyone else but she still doesn't really want to set off an outbreak because she was careless. But even her sunglasses can't keep her distress fully hidden. And now there's filmed evidence of her without her usual cool.

And yet, she really can't bring herself to give a fuck. Shaun's dead. Nothing else matters. Even that reasonable voice reminding her that Shaun won't remain dead forever can't get her to care.

She doesn't answer vocally. Just shrugs a shoulder. He knows what happened. That means she doesn't have to say it. Just as well. She's not sure she could.

[shorthair]

Clementine did not hear what happened, but she's used to checking in on the both of them whenever an Event happens. She tries to send a message through, but there's no response. It's worrying as fuck, which is how she ends up making it to the room. Otherwise, she's tried to keep out of the way and stay safe and not wear the clothing from the closets since it seems to make people flip out.

She carries a shotgun as she enters the room. It's dangerous as hell to be out there, and there's no telling if they're even-

Clementine takes one step inside. Before she's even seen the white sheet, she knows Shaun's dead from the look on Georgia's face alone. The realization crashes in, and she only just manages to shut the door tight behind her. She grimaces and then her gaze falls on the white sheet and the body underneath. Her eyes close as she hisses out a low breath, a low angry sound. Her fingertips grip tighter to the shotgun in her hand.

"Fuck."

[choosetruth]

Georgia looks over at her. Slowly, too slowly. But it is so, so hard to care about what happens to her right now. Clementine isn't a threat, at least. That should be a relief, but Georgia just feels numb.

"Don't worry," she says. Her voice comes out steady, even if it's lower and rougher than it should be. "He won't get up again. We made sure of it. Not until Wonderland fixes him."

PRE-GOATENING TAG-IN

[postictal]

[It's utterly, dead silent inside. But that's not what arrests his attention. He's just passing by, looking for a place to smoke, when he sees it - the edge of a white sheet, and a familiar silhouette sitting there like a sentinel. Watching.]

[He stops. Scuffs one foot across the ground, scraping at it with his heel, to see if she'll look up and take notice and utter some familiar, snappish remark that obliquely insults his intelligence while she's at it. There's not a lot that would reduce her to that kind of utter silence. He knows it's not.]

[He halts in the doorway.]

George.

[choosetruth]

[She doesn't look up until he speaks. She hates looking at the sheet-covered body, but not half as much as she hates looking away. She sees Tim. She should probably say something. There's a certain Georgia Mason snark she can hide most feelings behind, a sharp tongue and quick mind that lets her handle just about anything with cool, if not exactly with calm. It's not dishonest, of course. She would never allow that even of herself. But it still is crafted. Her favorite traits carefully cultivated into an unflappable public persona.

Consider her flapped. She can't think of a single witty remark. And she doesn't care nearly enough to try. She just looks back at Shaun's body.]

What do you want?

[talesuntold]

Maggie drops into a seat next to Georgia and sets down a plate of food and glass of water. She doesn't expect to have much success, but can't blame a girl for trying.

"Hello, Georgia. I'm going to keep you company awhile." Note that she isn't asking. She knows how Shaun fell apart after Georgia died, and she doesn't want to see it happen in reverse. The promise of getting him back can only do so much.

[choosetruth]

She glances up at Maggie dully, then looks back over at Shaun's body. She doesn't acknowledge the food. She hasn't really been thinking about food for a while, though there are enough Coke cans littering the ground to make it clear she hasn't entirely been denying herself sustenance.

"I'm not very good company."

day four } late. as in "the late shaun mason."

[adaptiveimmunities]

[There's a moment of disorientation when Shaun wakes up, and it takes a few moments for him to figure out what's going on. The last thing he remembers is troll-hunting with George and Mahir. He'd gotten stupidly close (what the hell had he been thinking), and then there's nothing until now, lying in bed with a sheet... over his face.

Oh.

Shit.]

He sits up, throwing the sheet away from him. He's looking for George, but also for evidence that he hadn't gotten anyone else hurt or killed being the complete dumbass that he's only ever pretended to be.]

What did I miss?

[choosetruth]

[Georgia sits up sharply the second she sees movement under the sheet. It's too early. It's only been one day. That means either last death didn't count or this one didn't and she doesn't give a fuck because he's back. She can worry about the details

She wants to throw herself at him. But there'll be time for that in a minute. Instead she throws a blood test at him. He's immune, there's probably no reason to be worried. But people coming back from the dead is still weird enough that she has to do it.]

You fucking asshole. [Her voice catches. It's wavery and soft and so far from her usual tone.] Don't do that again.

[talesuntold]

[Maggie's gaze snaps toward Shaun immediately when she catches a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, extremely grateful to see him sitting up and catching a blood test unit.

That tone in Georgia's voice is almost as disconcerting as the dead coming back any way besides shambling and virus-driven. A relief, obviously, but disconcerting. Maggie keeps her voice the sort of pleasant it only ever is when she's been angry or worried.]

I have to second what she said. Keep yourself in one piece, please.

SOME TIME LATER

[fishandclips]

[Mahir knew there was some risk of walking into something he'd rather not witness, but that didn't stop him from barging into the office as soon as he heard that Shaun was back.]

[choosetruth]

[They aren't making out anymore, at least, though Georgia is still curled up in Shaun's arms, possibly starting to doze off a bit even. Normally she doesn't like being held while she sleeps, even by Shaun. But right now, being able to feel him breathing and hear his heartbeat is the most soothing music she can imagine. And it has been a while since she actually slept.

When she hears the door open, she sits up, though she doesn't let go of Shaun or make any other effort to extract herself. They should, perhaps, move to the bedroom soon. But Mahir deserves his go at Shaun first.]