How We Remember

A lot of people don't agree with me, but as much as we hate to kill off characters--especially good characters--I always appreciate the drama that the process brings to the game & to our storytelling. It depends on how it's handled of course, but here follows a great example. The character of Bishop was minor, yet he played a pivotal role in the lives of other characters, especially for Chyna (who he loved in vain) & for Brena (who he didn't quite know how to love). His death left a hole, for sure. The player behind the "Brena" character (a great guy from Israel) did a really excellent job of burying Bishop and summarizing their situation. I hope you think so, too.



The Funeral
Post #7723, June 2006

*The sun was rising over the sea miles away. Closer, the river valley could be seen and yet closer, a body lying on a hilltop in the growing sunlight with one figure standing over it.*

*She stood there in white, staring down on the body, at his lips, his face, into his eyes. She looked for the last time. Leaning over, she kissed his cold lips and closed his eyes. His pain was over, his path finished. He had gone to a better place.*

*Ishmael stood on the opposite ridge looking out at the beauty of the morning. He smiled to himself. She had come. The harsh cold world hadn't won completely yet--she still had some warmth in her heart. He walked towards her. No others came with him. As Bishop had been alone in life, so he was in death. Ishmael only had let the ones who knew him come, and at the camp there were not many.*

Brena: There should be more. Prince should be here. And Chyna, and Jade, others...)

*She looked out towards the sea, toward a distant cliff, and she smiled sadly to herself. In her heart, she knew they could see each other. Hearing the rush of the waves and the calling of seabirds, she knew that Chyna was here. At least her spirit was.*

*When she had seen Bishop for the first time, that horrible day on Merchant Street, he had not looked like much. But then she had seen him when he had came to bet on her at the fight club, had then invited the winner to dinner. So much had happened, so much...*

*Tom-f arrived. Standing to Brena's left, he looked down at the face of one of the most successful merchants he knew. This man who laid here before him was the best at getting information, was the only one who could get some of the rarer stuff, and was a good friend. Even in death, Bishop had done him one last favor...produced one last miracle.*

*On Brena's other side stood Ishmael, looking down on Chyna's friend. A fellow merchant who had lost his way because of love--love for one dead, and love for one that Ishmael felt didn't know what love was anymore. The world had been too hard for her.*

Brena: *softly* He volunteered to go with us, to get the cure. He left all he knew that day in hopes of meeting others. But he didn't. All he did that day was leave one love to die, and then love another that he couldn't love. Not many knew him, the strong good-looking man he was, because he acted as another to survive. We all did what we had to, Bishop. Yet you lost everything trying--you sacrificed more than any of us. You deserved more than I could give, yet you did all you could for others. For Chyna, you sacrificed everything to give her that cure. You loved her, you always loved her...

*Tom-F looked up at Brena and signaled Ishmael. Before Brena could say anything more, they stepped toward the body, picking it up, moving it into the grave that had already been dug. Together the two men started shoveling dirt onto the body. When they finished, Ishmael brought forward a rock he had been carving all night. Upon the rock, carved in deep letters, were the words: "In life love separated them. In death, united." They rested it at the top of the grave. Brena placed a bouquet of spring flowers.*

Tom-F: Lets go.

Ishmael: *with a long look at the grave* Good-bye. 

Brena: *softly* I'll...stay here a bit.

*Ishmael and Tom-F hesitated then walked toward the camp, where some figures were approaching them. Together they turn towards the road.*

*Brena stared down at the grave. When the others were out of sight, she dropped to her knees, her eyes filling with tears. Pounding on the grave with her fist she cried.*

Brena: How could you-- How? You left me! Why, Bishop? Why couldn't we just love each other? Why was that so hard?"

*But there are no answers. The woman in white cries softly, crying for the man she loved but lost.*

*As the morning sun rises, its light catches a white chess piece laying in the grass.*

~~~~~~

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"