Open RP. Ryuuji finds out his brothers have been popcorned.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

Mokuba. Popcorn.

Seto. Popcorn.

A crumpled letter. A locket.

And Ryuuji, sitting in front of the door to the Popcorn Room, knees drawn up against his chest, head resting on them, horribly still and quiet, ignoring all passerbys and only moving if someone stops in front of the door as if they want to enter.

Seto and Mokie'll have to return eventually. Maybe they'll do it faster if he's there, waiting.

Or maybe it'll hurt less if he just waits there for them, because this is as close as he can get. Or maybe he'll get turned too.

((Warning: Char is being insanely emo. Char is prone to snarking/sulking when emo. Mun will understand completely if nobody wants to interact with char at current moment.))

Comments

[ian-ma1co1m.livejournal.com]

"A young lady I liked very much. I had hopes it would grow into...more than liking." His face constricted. "She had only just recently come to Hogwarts from her death, and now this."

"I am sorry for your loss - your brothers. My parents died in a plane crash some years ago. As I recall I hardly knew which to grieve for first, losing them together like that."

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

Ryuuji had known Ophelia. Had received flowers from her, and saved her from Stephen's attentions. He didn't put together Ophelia with the woman that Ian was talking of now, too lost in his own pain and grief to make that connection.

Instead, he nodded somberly, a slightly downwards dip of his head and the failure to lift it again. Blank green eyes stared at the floor for a few seconds, then closed, and remained close as he spoke, "I don't think that I'm at the grief stage yet." Lips twisting into a bitter smile that couldn't be seen, Ryuuji commented in a strangely detatched tone, "Probably still in shock."

The floor was cold, but then, it was stone. Stone floors were not conducive to sitting around for hours, but that didn't matter. Ryuuji wasn't about to move or even just magic up a rug under himself. All his energy was untapped, locked away from his reach.

[ian-ma1co1m.livejournal.com]

Ian nodded. "I'm in the Denial stage myself, with a healthy side order of Anger. I've been spending all my time investigating the process of popcorning and unpopping with a view to bringing her back, though I know others have tried with no success and I'm no more likely to accomplish anything this way than they - rather less, probably. But it keeps me from having to accept the idea that she's lost to me."

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

Stages.

Ryuuji was -- in some part of his mind -- aware of the fact that the grieving process came in stages. That this would pass. Eventually.

And something else would take its place.

Denial? Anger?

...Was he aware of the fact that he had lost Mokuba and Seto? He poked at his own mind detatchedly, like a doctor would examine a bruise, then recoiled as a sudden wave of terrifyingly intense emotion struck him. Head bowed over his knees, he shuddered briefly, and made the decision to leave that alone until he was better equipped to deal with it. If that could ever happen.

"I was investigating the popcorning process myself." Pause. "For months. No results that let me be hopeful about what'll happen even if they do return."

Because the odds were that they'd have forgotten Ryuuji was their brother, forgotten everything that made them the Etoile brothers instead of the Kaiba brothers and Ryuuji Otogi.

[ian-ma1co1m.livejournal.com]

"I wish I had something more encouraging to offer, but it's the same predicament, I'm afraid." He patted the young man's shoulder. "I'll leave you to your vigil and get back to my research. But should you care to talk - or not talk - I'm Ian Malcolm, in Ravenclaw."

He started to walk away, then paused. Over his shoulder he added, "My friend in there is Ophelia. Your brothers?"

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"Seto and Mokuba Kaiba." Not Etoile, though that had been their mother's name and that was the name that connected them. Ryuuji liked to think of them as the Etoile brothers. But they weren't bearing those names on the plaque, so Ryuuji couldn't use those names to refer to them either.

The touch to his shoulder was noted, and the name was stored somewhere in the depths of his mind. Ryuuji could get back to it later, when he had more of a sense for things. Maybe owl the man and thank him for his sympathy.

To Ian, still not raising his head, he added --because he knew her and had liked what he knew of her -- "I knew Ophelia somewhat. My condolences."

[ian-ma1co1m.livejournal.com]

"I'll remember."

He nodded slowly. "You met her. Then you know why I'm having such a hard time with - this. The reality of her -" He swallowed. "I don't believe I met your brothers. But I will remember them."

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

Something about the way that Ian said 'reality' was stored away in Ryuuji's mind for later. Because Ophelia had drowned but was alive here, and had been immortalized within the pages of Shakespeare's plays. Or so the boy assumed the order of events went.

But that was all under the surface, Ryuuji only aware in the here and now that someone who had never met his brothers had promised to remember them. That didn't make sense.

But he was grateful for it anyway.

"Thank you." Pause. "I will talk with you later."

And that was a promise.