Requiem of the Resolute

[Bishop Morse]

Cǎopíng Mortuary 
May 26, 2517 - Beaumonde
10:52 A.M Local Time 
1:44 A.M - A.S.T


The day was bright, and quiet. A slight breeze blew through, but the sun only hit down slightly, yet felt good on the skin. Trees filled the area, and grass flowed flat across a wide spread. Birds could be heard in the trees, and a few some insects moved through the air. A small, brown, fury rodent scampered across the grass and stopped in front of a small, cylindrical stone. It chewed on a berry it had grabbed, and continued off down the way, passing by many more of the small cement columns, which were lined in a perfect array. The rodent stopped again, and looked up at the top of a cement stone. A figure of a middle age woman’s upper portion was there, smiling, and laughing. A bird came down from above, and landed upon it. It hopped on top of the stone, and moved through the hologram, and its head moved and it looked down at the rodent. It chirped twice and took flight once more.

The trees were all around giving shade, and were the refuge of a number of such creatures. The only portion that was different then the others, was a cement road, which moved like veins through the grass. Some portions had vehicles, and others were completely barren. Similar to this, the land was open for the most part, but there was a cluster of people under an area just beneath a set of trees. The sun peaked through down onto them at some places. They were grouped around an elaborate rectangular box, and wore fine garments.

Just barely in view, but far enough as to not be heard, a black vehicle descended down upon the cement. It had six fins, four at the rear, and two at the front. It was sleek, and had four doors. It came down with a slight woosh, and remained hovering just above the cement ground. The sound of its engines winding down were audible, and a door opened up on the left side. Out stepped a man with blonde hair, and a long coat. He looked around from side to side. ”Nice place” He said, straightening his coat. 

[Ray Hudson]

Stepping out of the right hand side of the vehicle, the second man took a moment to absorb his pleasant surroundings. He was dressed better than normal with his black jacket fitted and filth free while a comfortable white shirt remained underneath. The black dress shoes were tight and uncomfortable but he lied to himself that he would get used to it.

"Yup." He replied to the blonde man's statement. "Shame that it's reserved for dead people though, they should just knock down all the tombstones and build on top of it. Really this is just a waste of really nice real estate. I mean if your gonna bury people you might as well do it in a place that no one want's." He suggested to the blonde man. Ray had never liked the idea of grave yards.

Ray stood up on his tiptoes for a moment to test just how tight his shoes were and they stung his feet. Ray winced a bit in pain and went back to standing flat on the ground, this being the fourth time that he had done this since he had tied his laces and went on his way. He looked out at all of the trees and graves. The lights from the many holograms atop the gravestones flickered in the distance while birds chirped in the trees above them.

[Bishop Morse]

Morse’s eyebrows came together after hearing the consideration of knocking down all the gravestones. ”My granddaddy, Homer’s buried in a place like this.” He said in a sort of counter prospective of what was presented. He looked up and around though. ”Not as many tree’s there though.”Morse wasn’t surprised to see the amount of trees that were around, but he wasn’t used to it, as he was more accustomed to having no trees except near the ends of the property. He shifted the long coat over his suit. He wore all black, with thin gray pin stripes, but had no color or tie. Instead just two necklaces sat around his neck. One was silver and was hanging lower then the other, though neither stretched more then an inch from his throat.

He closed the door to the black vehicle, and pressed his finger on a reader node on his side. The vehicle gave a clicking sound, and then was silent. Though there was little reason to suspect vandals or thieves at a cemetery this time of day, it was still better to keep cautious. Stepping up onto the grass, he felt a bit of looseness on something hanging on his belt. He grabbed a new addition to his common equipment, and adjusted it so it wouldn’t bother him as much. Once it was fastened, he looked up. Morse’s eyes scanned the grass ahead of them, and he found a gathering of people a fair distance away. They were wearing a variety of colors, and garbs. That was likely what they were looking for, though they were a bit late.

A bit of a grin formed on his face. ”Never be the first to a party.” He said aloud towards Ray, his eyebrows high as he said it. He was quoting someone they used to know a long time ago, but he thought it fit. He started to walk down towards the gathering, not intending to too far behind in time, or at least not make much of a scene.

[Ray Hudson]

Several memories went through Ray's head after hearing the quote. As they made their way to the group Ray caught glimpses of the faces in the holograms. People he never knew and would never know buried underneath him. All of the holograms were a looping recordings of the deceased. Some simply displayed the person smiling while others displayed them doing their favorite thing. Ray walked by a tombstone were it was a loop of an ancient looking chef cooking, while another showed a young woman playing the guitar. As he walked by the graves Ray wondered what kind of people they were and how everyday life may have been for them. He hadn't visited many graveyards, and most of his experience with them was living near one when he was growing up.

Ray noticed how well trimmed the grass was while only fresh flowers lay before tombstones. The graveyard was very well taken care of and everything seemed peaceful.

[Bishop Morse]

In Morse’s mind, it was a bit strange to have the holograms on the stones. To him it was odd to have the same recordings play over and over and over again. It seemed like an artificial variation of purgatory. He had never given much thought to what he would have on his, but he wasn’t likely to have an image of him doing anything much. He didn’t want one of him playing the piano because it would give the wrong impression. That was what was strangest to him. Whether the image that it was showing of these people was really what they would want people to see. Did this man actually want to be seen working on an engine? he wondered. Though it may be their life’s work, or something they did often, was it really the thing they wanted to be viewed as doing to those that stayed behind? 

He presumed he just wanted something simple. Maybe him standing there, showing what was in his jacket, and perhaps taking a drink, while leaning on something. But then he already had one of those. The video that was taken for his file of registration in the Independents Military, which wasn’t much different then his processing video for his file after the war was over. If they put one of those up, they would be fairly accurate, just would lie about his age a little bit. However the image that the living would have of him when he was dead wouldn’t matter to him much when he had passed on.

Before he knew it they were coming up on the gathering of people. They were focused around a casket, which was finely crafted and ornate. There were about two dozen people there clustered around it, and the hole in the ground. Beyond there were many stones that were not yet in use, so it was clear they were in the area for “late arrivals”. A man of the cloth was just beside the casket, and beside him there was a portable, electric piano. He wasn’t surprised, it seemed like his former in-laws to make this as lavishly expensive as possible. A pianist played a song, reading from sheet music, as the priest gave a sermon of the body. All the while the people around them mourned the passing of their family or friend, but he and Ray stayed more towards the back.

[Ray Hudson]

Sunlight gleamed on the casket with all of it's beauty presented to those who stood before it. The craftsmanship was truly remarkable as the design was flawless and the price was high. It was a work of art and Ray found it disappointing that it was going to be shoved underground, never to be looked at after this day. When he was younger, Ray had researched how much a persons death cost their loved ones financially, rather than emotionally for he saw money as the bigger factor, and it came out to a excessively high number. The funeral, burial, cremation, casket or ash jug, grave sites and taxes. It all added up into this ridiculous number that would cut a crude gash in most peoples bank accounts. 

Ray gazed at the casket with admiration and wondered just how much it was worth and then wondered how much Heather's death cost in general. Her death was an accident so a lawsuit may be involved, but her family was wealthy and didn't really need the money but people with money typically want more. He knew he always wanted more. These thoughts zipped through Ray's mind with great speed and he just couldn't stop thinking about how much money must have been involved.

The priest kept going with the sermon while Ray imagined himself digging up the grave in the middle of the night, throwing Heather back in her hole and driving away with the casket. Dust it off, polish it up a bit and you could probably sell it to someone somewhere. Ray looked around the graveyard and thought of all of the caskets in the dirt. All of the money just buried underground. He believed money used on the dead was like setting it on fire on a hot summers day.

A restroom was nowhere to be seen. Ray looked all around him and was disappointed while his right leg shook. He had used the restroom before he had gotten of the Logan but he had been having bladder issues for quite some time now. The doctor had given him some pills for it but he had forgotten to take one when he woke up. The idea of regular pill taking was new to him and he forgot frequently. As long as he kept his mind off of it he would be fine but after he stopped thinking about the fortune wasted on this place he couldn't stop thinking about using the restroom. Ray didn't like the concept of getting older and the many issues that came with it, such as bladder problems, regular pill taking and failing eyesight, but he knew that he still had a decade or two before he would get to the real issues.

[Bishop Morse]

Time was dragging on fairly slowly, at least for Morse it was. He had no problem with being there, he liked being at functions like this. But at the same time his eyes moved over the people that were there. Most of them he didn’t know, but it was evident to him that they knew who he was. Some of them had looks of disapproval, while others just would look his way with the image of disdain. He couldn’t help but his snide smile form across his face. He wasn’t concerned so much about what these people thought of him because it was likely wrong. Years of hate spiel and bad things told to people he didn’t know, without the slightest bit of input from his side, made this inevitable. This tended to happen with a number of people he didn’t know, or more specifically, people that didn’t actually know him. He rolled his eyes thinking on it. He knew who his friends were, and he had quite a lot of them. So he didn’t care about what these people thought of him.

His eyes panned over the people, and settled on a dark skinned man near the front. He was standing and he looked over at him. He had a bit of a smile on his face when he looked over at Morse. In response, Morse nodded. He didn’t need any worse of an image presented right at that very moment, so he decided not to take a drink from the ‘homebrew’ in his jacket. He just waited for things to progress. 

Slowly things did continue on. They appeared to have missed a considerable amount of the ceremony. Only one person had said anything, so they’d probably missed a great number of people lying about what they knew about the deceased. The priest said some final words, and then the casket was lowered down into the perfect hole. Once placed in, a red blanket was brought over it. It was going to be completely buried when everyone had gone. And as the casket was brought down lower into the ground, people began to move about and talk to one another, and some moved off towards where the vehicles were. 

[Ray Hudson]

The breeze felt good, Ray enjoyed a bit of chilliness. He looked around as the people moved about and he saw a group of woman standing in a circle talking to each other. They were Heather's friends, and their husbands were elsewhere, perhaps waiting in their cars or conversing with others. One of the more attractive friends was wearing a very revealing dress and Ray's eyes were brought down to her bust. He didn't like Heather or any of her friends so he felt no need to respect them. Ray noticed that her breasts were fakes since they had gone up several cup sizes since he last saw them. The woman looked away from her group and noticed Ray staring at her chest with a blank look on his face as if nothing was on his mind. She looked at Ray with disdain and disgust, which didn't surprise him. The two of them had only spoken once before. Ray ended up telling her that her breath reeked of prescription medication and semen so the fact that she disliked him wasn't breaking news.

"So what now?" Ray asked, finally looking away from the woman's chest.

[Bishop Morse]

Morse looked around as the people began to slowly move about. ”Now, we wait.” He said recognizing that was all they really could do. He didn’t see really a single person outside of the Williams’ that he knew. Because didn’t see anyone he knew he started to look about at other things that might catch his interest. The empty portions of the cemetery managed to do just that. Beyond there were some small birds hopping through the grass, and pecking at it. A pun fell into his mind and that snide smile of his seemed to grow a bit. But wondered how long it took to fill up a various segment of one hundred plots. Of course people died day in and day out, but they didn’t all go to the same place. And this specific location wasn’t the cheapest of all of them all, but there were plenty of people till up places. He started to do some quick math in his head, but he would lose track quickly. So he just forgot about it, and his focus came back.

At this time some clusters of people were starting to move off the grass and back towards where they had parked. Though not everyone was gone, and many were still just chatting with people. Most of them weren’t talking about the deceased, more so about business or other things happening later. No better place to talk business then at a funeral Morse thought. He found it to be a fitting place, at least for the sort of work that he was engaged in. Then in a very fitting moment, he looked across and saw both of the Williams walking over to them. He knew that Dan liked him a lot, but Brittany, formerly Brittany Sluthburg, was far beyond that. ”I foresee fun” He said as he saw them coming up. He had a habit of announcing a prediction of the future if he saw one, and he was usually fairly confident about them. And given their history with them, it probably would be correct.

[Bishop Morse]

Dan and Brittany Williams


Dan and Brittany stood next to each other during the entire ceremony. Dan kept a stern expression his face for most of it, though he did feel the magnitude of the loss. Brittany on the other hand, had moved through a series of things. At times she would start dabbing her eyes to catch tears, at other times should would just not do anything except hold a blank face towards whoever was speaking. She’d lost her daughter, so there were a number things that would shoot through her head. Dan on the other hand had only married Brittany several years ago. He had inherited the family of her previous husband, who had died. In so doing he adopted the families troubles. He’d always known that Heather was a very troubled person. He had been surprised that Brittany had never seen it, but it was more then likely because she and Heather had been so similar. Such a thing was why he presumed she never really talked to her much about trying to change her lifestyle. But with some people, they had their way of living, and nothing was to change it. Dan even knew about the troubles that she had in raising her child, which was strange as his granddaughter, Jacky, had wound up very well. So he didn’t quite understand it.

During the ceremony he had looked over and seen walking down a pair of men. He recognized the blonde haired man who was on the left. He wore a long coat, but he could see a suit under it. He looked back towards the priest who was speaking. When they came closer, Dan looked back over and smiled as he saw Bishop. He was there with a man he’d seen with Bishop a number of times, Ray, but he hadn’t ever really known him. He looked at Brittany to see if she’d noticed. The sudden scowl on her face gave him his answer. The ceremony continued a while longer, till they finally lowered the casket into the ground, and they covered it in a red carpet.

Dan then had to shake a number of hands as people gave their condolences. But that wasn’t as much for him, as it was for his wife. She was the one that was truly broken up over it, though Dan was very respectful of it. But Dan had been responsible for a number of invitations and orchestrating the funeral and burial, and yet he was only supposed to have people that knew the deceased come. So he wasn’t particularly among friends. However he did tend to enjoy talking to Bishop, so he slowly began to move over there.

”Where are you going.” Brittany asked with a certain controlling tone.

”I’m going to talk to some of the guests.” Dan said very reasonably. His tone was very proper, but it would be as he was raised among the elite.

Brittany looked in the direction he had been walking. She saw the only two people that could possibly be there that she didn’t want to see. ”Oh, you wanna go talk to the Āng zāng de bèndàn Bishop Morse, and his stupid little friend. She spat. She absolutely hated them, and couldn’t stand that Dan liked being around them.

”Brittany, please, their only here to pay their respects.” Dan explained trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

”Or dance on her grave.” Brittany scoffed. Then she suddenly put on a fake smile. ”I’ll go with you.” She said taking the lead. 

Dan was rather skeptical of what she was doing, and he knew this wasn’t likely to be very civil. At any rate he would have to try to stand between them all. Quickly they crossed by all the people then be standing right in front of them. Before Dan could say anything, Brittany began to speak.

”Well, what a surprise it is to see both of you.” Brittany said with a fake pleasantness. ”Considering that you hated her Morse,” She said, as she spat his name with disdain, then she looked at the other man. ”And Ray, you weren’t invited.” She through it out, but she didn’t want them to feel like they belonged there at all. Dan just stayed silent, as he found it was just best to let them go through it. They’d done this before in front of him, and they all seemed to love arguing but him, so he’d wait.

[Ray Hudson]

As Dan and Brittany Williams approached them Ray was thinking of what to say. He tried to predict what Brittany would say to them and Ray tried to come up with as many obnoxious remarks as he could before she made it to them. He had considered touching on the fact that her daughter was now dead but he felt that something like that would be to obvious. After a bit more thought he wondered if he should just insult her for being old but he had already done that on a few occasions.

When the pair had reached Morse and Ray, Brittany was the first to speak and her words held much hatred. She mentioned that Ray had not been invited, something that he had realized but ignored on his way to the burial. Ray had thought that he was prepared for someone mentioning that he was an intruder but he was incorrect in his assumption. He responded quickly however and was forced to reuse an old insult for Brittany. 

"Aww, come on now Miss Slutbag. Oh I'm sorry It's Williams now isn't it." Ray corrected himself as he glanced at Dan, while completely ignoring the fact that he had gotten her old last name wrong. When Ray first met Brittany and Heather their last names had been Sluthburg and they had despised Ray since the day they met him. Being very juvenile at times, Ray had decided to do the childish thing and twist their name into something filthy. Whenever Ray talked about Heather or Brittany he always referred to them as Slutbags, but the name held no meaning now that Brittany was married Dan and Heather was dead. Regardless, Ray still chose to refer to Britanny as such, since this would probably be the last time the two of them ever speak. "I had just presumed that at this point of our relationship invitations weren't needed."

[Bishop Morse]

Dan and Brittany Williams


Brittany’s forced smile was visibly more strained. She absolutely hated him, and she had trouble restraining herself at many times in the past. Here she just felt like taking him to the floor and pounding the hell out of them, but that would likely leave a bad impression with the other guests. And she had more that she could do in that time. All the while Dan did not say a word as he knew stepping in would only make things worse, or direct him into the firing line of both parties, which wasn’t something he wanted.

”Invitations are customary Ray.” Brittany said through her teeth as she kept her smile. But then she stopped to speak plain. ”But I’m not surprised that those that volunteer to be Rim trash aren’t concerned with it.” She looked over at Morse a moment, who wasn’t speaking, but had the same shit eating grin that he always had. ”Though your services aren’t really requires, as we paid for a carved gravestone. We don’t need you to shoot Heathers name into a piece of wood.” She said referring to their line of work. She was actually surprised that they hadn’t come with liquor and weapons drawn firing in the air as she perceived all drifters to be.

And as she’d heard once that it was customary to spell a persons name in bullet holes, it seemed like a decent point. ”But I can at least thank you for not coming armed to throw all the attendees into a fit. No doubt there’s plenty of mugging you can do on some other part of this world.” She shot towards Ray. He was the one that always came to fight, so he’d be the one to get it.

[Ray Hudson]

The genesis of Ray's hatred for Brittany was her superiority complex, for he hated being talked down to. She had presumed that Ray was trash from the moment she saw him and her presumption left an itch in his black heart. Ray couldn't recall who started this hate filled relationship and who insulted whom first. He assumed that it was he who started it all, for he was typically at fault when relationships went awry. Morse had told him what Brittany was like prior to their first encounter and Ray knew he wouldn't like her, so he went into their first meeting with negative impressions.

Brittany thanked him for not coming to the event armed and Ray smiled as she said this. "Oh I'm armed," Ray informed her. He moved the right side of his coat and held it, revealing a Browning Hi-Power pistol in a shoulder holster. Ray had decided not to bring his Anaconda Revolver because he thought that it may have been a bit to noticeable, instead bringing along a smaller alternative. "and this is actually the perfect place for a mugging." Ray claimed. He adjusted his coat and looked around at the guests. "Big collection of rich people, expensive vehicles, fat wallets and fancy jewelery." Ray then looked down at Brittany's hand and took a moment to admire the pricey rock on her finger. "Thats a nice ring." He said with a mischievous smile on his face.

[Bishop Morse]

Dan and Brittany Williams


Brittany’s eyes went wide. She was somewhere close to appalled that someone would be so blunt in their speaking. Of all places to be doing this at a cemetery, at her daughters burial no less, this affront to her was far too much. Her face went red, as she was furious. ” Nǐ kělián de xiǎo yīkuài gǒu shǐ! If you so much as…” She stopped as she was interrupted by Dan, who had now finally decided to step in.

”Perhaps.” He said as he moved between the two groups. ”Perhaps we’ll conclude this, and opt for another time.” He wasn’t going to let anyone get in another word, it was already close to getting out of hand. ”Thank you for coming Bishop. We’ll talk another time.” He said placing his arm around Brittany.

He moved her away from the two and off towards where the vehicles were. She was struggling and muttering words. She wanted to keep going, but Dan wouldn’t let her. The chances of making a very bad impression in front of what were the friends of the family was far too great. So it was best to end it there, and pick it up some other time. It was inevitable that they would cross each other again, but for now it was best they finish it there, and talk later. While Dan would have liked to have talked to Bishop while he was there, it wasn’t the best time. But Bishop tended to stay on Beaumonde for several days at a time when he was there, so he’d probably get another chance in the next few days. So he ushered Brittany off towards the vehicles in preparation to leave, as many others were already doing.

[Bishop Morse]

Morse said nothing as the short verbal battle ensued. He wouldn’t really need to get in the way on this one. Ray was very capable of taking the upper hand in the argument. And Morse’s tendencies to restrain himself during something like that, for the purpose of not making too much of a scene, or not burning bridges. He liked knowing that for the most part he wasn’t a hated person. Where as Ray on the other hand had far less concern about what people thought about him. So he just let it take its course. When Ray was cutting in on it, he just let it happen. He was surprised by the low opinion that she had of both of them, but he knew she was fully aware that she was pro unification, so anyone that fought for the opposing side would seem really bad. 

He didn’t expect Dan to jump in quite so early, but he didn’t expect Brittany to get so furious so quick. Perhaps the death of her daughter was adding fuel to that fire, but that was something he had somewhat expected. But he hadn’t walked over to them, so that was their business. ”Ya’ was all he said to Dan when he offered to talk later. He then watched as they walked off. ”Well that was fun.” He said his usual tone of snide optimism.”Wanna get outa here?” He asked Ray. There wasn’t really anything left for them to do there, and he wouldn’t think it a good idea for them to do really anything more. 

[Ray Hudson]

Ray took Brittany's burst of rage as a sign of victory. She lost her cool first, making him the victor. He didn't care that he had offended her for that was the goal the entire time, to offend her to a point where she can't take it anymore. Ray hadn't expected her to crumble so swiftly but since he just threatened to mug her mere days after the death of her daughter, he found it understandable.

Dan stepped in and stopped the fight before it could progress any further. After Dan and Brittany walked away, Ray took a moment to stretch and relish his victory. Morse commented on how what had just happened was fun. "Yeah it was." Ray concurred. Morse then asked if he wanted to leave."Yeah that sounds good." Ray answered. He turned in the direction were they had landed their vehicle and started making his way towards it.