Pay Your Respects

[Jason Campbell]

Jason laughed at his manly pose. “I’m sure you don’t need leather for that,” he replied, the smile still on. When he had been nothing but a student, Guy had something quite intimidating despite his short stature. He was easy to mock behind his back but there was just something that made Jason not want to say a word to his face. Now of course, Jason was no longer a student. The power Guy used to have was there no longer. He had respect for the man but he was talking to him as an equal as opposed to a teacher or a mentor-like figure. He’d still turn to Guy for advice on occasion. But he also enjoyed more casual talks with him.

Together, they managed to put the stones back in place. For the broken pieces, Jason tried to place them near. It was not like he could ‘heal’ tombstones. As for the graffiti on some of them, well they would have to remain there. But it was still slightly better. Wasn’t there someone to watch over the cemetery? He supposed it wasn’t all that important, when the living needed so much more protection. Whatever, Jason would have to leave the stones as they were now. He paid his respect by putting them back in place, it did not push him to the point of cleaning them. They were dead anyway, it was not like they could thank him for it.

He got serious again however as Guy started to talk of his old friends. It was not something they would often share about. You simply couldn’t joke while talking of someone who died trying to save a student. Jason nodded as he talked of this. Yes, it did happen sometimes. Jason did not possess a dangerous power. Well, it was for himself but he could hardly kill someone when it did actually the reverse. He was about to look at the other stone he pointed out when he saw like him. It got vandalized, like the other ones. Jason felt sorry for Guy. It seemed to matter little when it was someone unknown to you, but it hurt more than you could think when the grave belonged to someone dear.

Marla Ibenez. “I do know that name,” he said. Had she still been a teacher during his time? Probably. Names had never been his forte, not when you read so many on files in a day. “How about making Officer Johnson scare them half to death before making them clean? I’d say you can get away with that,” he said, remaining where he was as Guy gestured him not to help. That was the least they deserved, seriously.

[Guy LeGrange]

In truth, Guy was trying not to think of the woman who he knew rested beneath this stone. They'd been relatively close, though perhaps not perfectly so. He'd been around near the end though, one of several who had flocked to her side. To think that her rest had been disturbed by someone, regardless of the reasons for that. who would do something like this? Guy could feel that anger welling up and he tried to channel it into getting it into a good position. It worked. Amazing what anger could accomplish when you actually put it to good use. Puffing, Guy took a step back, looking at it. Graffiti marked it, which made him glower and mentally promise to come back with a scrub brush and some cleansing agents.

"Officer Johnson would likely join in if he was drunk enough," replied Guy. He tapped the gravestone, mumbling an apology to the woman beneath. "And you might have known her, by the way. I think she was teaching around your time. Pretty woman, though not really sexy or anything along those lines. Bit older than I was, so," he scrunched his face, "probably in her... thirties around your time? Had a few students crushing on her, mostly because she was, well, she was fucking awesome," Guy sighed and tapped the stone, before stopping back.

"We're definitely going to have to report this," he said, looking up at Jason. "Though I'm personally hoping that they put them in stocks or something. You think we could get away with that? Get some nice, ripe vegetables. Oh, medical waste. I'm sure you could lift some, right?" He was only half joking, and there was a weariness to his chuckle as he turned back to it. Guy sighed, shaking his head. People sucked sometimes.

[Jason Campbell]

Funny the things you remembered and the ones you forgot. History had never been a class he particularly paid attention to so it probably explained why he could not recall the woman Guy was talking about. Yet, she must have taught him for about five years, unless the cancer made her stop before that. Seeing no point in forcing his memory to remember her when he knew he would have only a vague image at best, he focused on his friend. They must have been close, closer than what Guy first claimed, for him to react like this. Maybe they decided dating was not a good idea but she still meant something to Guy. He frowned as he could see the graffiti on the grave, feeling sorry for his friend. He had been lucky with his parents’ graves. He had wished it would’ve been the same for Guy.

Jason nodded as he realized Guy had a point. Yes, he could easily imagine JJ doing that kind of stupid shit, giving him enough booze and daring him too. He was not that hard to manipulate. All you had to do was show some tits at him or imply he was not man enough and you could end up with something like that. Still, he hoped he was not behind all of this. He focused on the gravestone and the woman whom it belonged to. A smile appeared at the corner of his lips at the way his friend spoke of her. “I think everyone was mostly crushing on that math teacher then. As I recall, she was pretty hot. You know how students can be,” he replied, his smile still up though more amused now. He didn’t have to specify students, everyone was more attracted by body than brain even if they dared not admit it. You came for the pretty face, you stayed for what was inside of it.

He liked to see that side of Guy. He was rarely that vulnerable, even to friends. “I’m sorry,” he told him. This was a general apology, for everything, from the death of his friend to what happened to her grave. And also for the way she died. Cancer was awful. He said nothing at first as Guy changed his idea about what they should do. It touched him personally now, of course he wanted someone to pay for it. It was in human nature. Still, reporting would be easy. Getting the ones who did it might prove more difficult. He knew Guy was trying to joke but even he was losing his sense of humor now. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he simply suggested. Unless of course there were other stones he wanted to check.

[Guy LeGrange]

"Ah, I remember hoer. The one with the massive... personality," said Guy, smiling a little. Yes, there had been all kind of talk about that woman back in her day. That was so many years ago too, though all of this technically was. He tapped the headstone a few more times, almost wishing he could summon the dead back to life, if only to have a drink with them and help them catch up. then again, hadn't that been his original plan all along? Then some punk kids had to ruin it and Jason had to help tend to Guy's open wounds.

What else had Guy been expecting though? One thing he knew with absolute certainty: Jason Campbell was a hell of a good doctor.

Guy nodded at the apology, then smiled at the offer. "I do want to get the hell out of here," he admitted, looking at the headstone. "I need a drink, a big one, at least Slade Konrad sized," he sighed and patted the stone a few more times before taking a few steps back and away. "There's a few more graves I need to check out first though. I don't think we're going to be able to fix everything," he looked around, letting out a long breath, "seeing as this is going to take more than one and a half men to fix. But I do owe it to them to check first. C'mon, he's not close by." With that, Guy gestured and started walking again, though he was much more sober this time. He only grunted at the next damaged headstone too. This whole thing was just a giant, ugly mess, and Guy hated every second of it.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason smiled at Guy’s reference to his math teacher. Yes, that was pretty much what all male students thought. And certainly a few teachers as well. Jason had no idea where she was now but it was not exactly like he cared much. Everyone had this moment, when they think back at their school days crush and realize they were pretty naive and ridiculous, when they just simply had no taste at all compared to now. That woman was not someone he wished to meet again particularly. At most, it would be awkward to think he once had that kind of thoughts towards her.

At this point, Jason was eager to leave. Cemeteries were depressing enough in their normal state, but when you added vandalism, it just made the whole thing worse. “I’m even offering it to you,” he said when Guy said he needed a drink. They both did. He nodded though as Guy said he had still a few graves to check. He didn’t mind checking on them and could understand his old friend’s concern. With a bit of luck, if he was further from these stones, maybe they would be spared. Jason didn’t bother fixing any other of the stones. Like Guy pointed out, it would require more strength than the two of them could muster. Jason was not exactly what you’d call strong. He could help but that was just too much work for the two of them.

“We’ll report this on our way out,” he said as they passed another damaged one. He didn’t say it out loud but he did wonder how much effort they would put in finding who did this. Probably not a lot. The thought alone was enough to almost wonder why bothering calling in the first place. “Did your friend had family? The one who died of cancer?” he asked. He wasn’t certain the city would agree to pay to pt the stone back in its proper state. Without a family caring enough about her, she might as well end up like this forever now. Though somehow Jason suspected Guy would be willing to pay. And it was the reason why he asked. He wouldn’t mind contributing a little if it ended there.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy chuckled, nodding. He'd certainly accept a drink with Jason. He might actually need the doctor's calming influence, with the dark mood that had descended upon him. Guy did get angry, or at least faked it often enough for it to blend, ever so often, but he very rarely combined anger and frustration with drinking, having always seen it more as a happy activity. Hence why he definitely wanted someone around to make sure that it could curve more easily in that direction. The last thing he needed was to attempt to start a bar fight. He got enough of those as is.

Report it; Guy nodded. They certainly would at that. He kept going, almost anxious to get to his next friend's grave, praying to whomever listened that it would be an easier sight to handle. He did hear Jason's question though, looking up at his friend and nodding. "She had some nieces and nephews I believe; they were actually fairly close. It's all rather complicated and such," Guy waved it off, before returning to look at the various stones. Soon enough, he was stopping before another grave, stopping and sighing with relief. He stretched a hand out to patch a mostly untouched stone. It still looked a little rougher than most.

"Couldn't afford a decent stone," he said, looking over at Jason. "A group of us pitched in what we could and built this. He actually died in a training accident. Damn shame too: good man," Guy patted it a few more times, staring at the stone, remembering far, far too much. He felt twice his age, and he was already far older than he cared to admit.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason knew he didn’t need to offer the drink for the man to agree and join him. Maybe it was why he did so? He felt like they could both use one and let’s face it, there was something depressing at the thought of drinking alone. At least with Guy around, they could talk, even if the topic might not be all that jolly. But having his friend will make it easier to drift away from the mood the cemetery, and the vandalism that took place here, had put in them.

Jason nodded as he talked of his late friend. Nieces and nephews. He said they were close. He hoped they would be enough to fix her grave otherwise he had a feeling it would hurt Guy more than he was ready to admit it. The man could say things didn’t work out between them but Jason wouldn’t be surprised to hear he always had a little something for her despite that.

They finally reached another stone, one Guy stopped at. Untouched, thank God. Jason had a little smile hearing how this guy’s friends helped out to afford this stone. He let out a sigh however as he heard how he died. “We easily forget how dangerous it can be, isn’t it?” he said. Of course, Guy would know it better than he does. He made a living out of training teenagers that probably assumed a dwarf couldn’t teach them anything useful. Jason couldn’t harm his trainers but he remembered how at first he couldn’t control his power and would heal anyone, man or beast, he would touch skin to skin. He had been drained to the point of fainting a few times then.

Jason sighed heavily again, this time to try and chase away the weight the place put on his heart. He placed a hand on Guy’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go. The usual place?” he suggested. He had the feeling they would not be able to smile again if they were to stay here. Cemeteries could have this power on people.

[Guy LeGrange]

"Sometimes I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing," replied Guy, considering the stone. They all had these tremendous abilities, the power to do great and terrible things, and that had all these consequences. So often Guy wanted people to realize that they could do that, to control it so they could live normal lives, or as close to normal lives as they were likely to ever get. It was easy for him to forget he even had mutant abilities from time to time, considering that his power only really did anything around other mutants. He did have to live with the constant reminder of his height difference, but it wasn't like they lived in some fantasy world where such a thing would be absolutely horrific or traumatizing.

Jason's words and his hand jerked Guy out of his thoughts, nearly literally. The trainer blinked a few times, staring at the headstone, reading the words there again. He sighed, digging his hands into his pockets. "Yes, let's get the hell out of here,' he agreed, nodding and turning to leave, "I could use a drink."

{fin?}