Fur-al High

[Srgntcuddles]

Reno walked in silence behind the other with his head down. The only reason he wanted to go to this funeral was out of respect. He didn't want to go, it was going to make him sad. Keeping his hands in his pockets he walked along, trying to keep his mind free of Schadenfreude. He still felt sick, more than before as he got closer and closer. He was getting butterflies, that's what he figured it was. Reno was also nervous as well as sad, several emotions were flowing through his body at the time.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shiori realized what she had been saying about the little party the night before and quickly apologized to Veronica, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound insensitive. But it was just what the other heads of the city wanted to do. The reason I drank so much was because I knew your parents, and they were great people. I drank to their souls and drank to your future, and the next thing I knew, I found a lot of things to drink to." Shinzuu sighed and shook his head, "Mom, do yourself a favor and just shut up right now before you embarrass me and yourself any further." The rest of the walk was made in silence until they got there. When they entered, Shiori put in everyone's names, "Uh, Reno-kun, how do you spell your name?" Meanwhile, Shinzuu walked on with Veronica to go inside the walkway labeled "Smith." There, at the end of the many rows of chairs and a couple early guests, lay Veronica's parents, in their open caskets.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica didn't say anything in response to Shiori's apology, she didn't even bother to look at her. She straightened up as she walked but her hands stayed balled up into fists for the rest of the walk. "I could have signed my own name..." She mumbled as she continued to go inside the walkway labeled with her last name. Once they were inside the walkway and she saw the caskets on the opposite site of the room, her hands slowly relaxed so they weren't balled up anymore. A war started to wage in her mind as she was frozen to the spot where she was standing. "'I can't do this.' 'You have to.' 'Those are my parents in there...' 'You have to say goodbye.' 'I can't see them like that.' 'You need to grieve.' 'I. Can't. Do this.' 'There are other people here with you...' 'I'm the only one affected.' 'You can't run. They'll stop you.' 'They can't make me stay.' 'They will. Shinzuu will. He's experienced this. He knows how it feels.' 'He doesn't know anything about how I feel!' 'He knows you should grieve. He understands.' 'No one understands...' 'He loves you.' 'He shouldn't.' 'Move forward.' 'I can't.' 'You can.' 'I can't.' 'Go.'" The war in her head had only taken a moment since the voices went back and forth quickly. She slowly took a step forward and another and another, walking up the path between the seats without any clue of where her feet were actually taking her, whether it was toward her parents or toward a seat. Her face was blank, devoid of emotion.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

After what seemed to be about 30 minutes, her father came outside with a few papers in his hand. He adjusted his thick rimmed black glasses and looked his daughter over. When she noticed him doing so, she put the dress back in the bag as if she was uninterested and looked up to him. "Well, the school seems nice enough. Though, I hate to tell you, they have uniforms and the uniforms have skirts with them. So.." He stopped a moment, his face seeming somewhat confused as to what to say, "...Be prepared..?" he shrugged and stood there reading the papers. "Ugh, we're going to have to get your transcripts, I don't know how we're going to do that." He pinched the bridge of his snout, closing his eyes. He always did this when he was stressed, had to concentrate, or sometimes both.

Marlowe seemed unamused. "Did you at least see what the uniforms looked like? Is there any way around the skirt?" she asked, somewhat demanding. Being in America for so long, she didn't like the idea of wearing a uniform, and she hated the idea of a skirt. She looked back into the bag, At least this dress goes to the ground, she thought to herself. "Can we get stockings or something.. I really don't want to have to wear a skirt."

Her father looked up at her from pinching his snout, irritated. Despite his irritation, he managed to speak in a calm tone. "Look, Marlow, the last thing I'm worried about right now is what you're wearing to school. Right now we have to get you in it first." He let out an exasperated sigh, the hand with the papers dropped to his hip and he tapped his foot, shifting uncomfortably as he pinched his snout again. "C'mon. We have this done. We gotta kill some time now." He looked down at his watch, it was 12:13pm. Marlowe scooped up her bag and followed her dad as he lead the way down the sidewalk.

[Srgntcuddles]

A puzzled look came onto Reno's face when Shiori called him Reno-kun. "Reno...Kun? What's that supposed to mean?" "Uhm...My name? It's...R, E, N, O...Then O, with an apostrophe, space M, A, L, L, E, Y..." he said scratching his head. "I didn't think it was that hard to spell." He felt nervous about entering behind Shinzuu and Veronica. He didn't enjoy funerals. "I never get used to these things...So many in so little time...I don't think I can handle anymore..."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shiori frowned as she spelled it out, "You kids these day and your using English over your own hometown language." After writing it down, she walked into the funeral hall and sat down. "Shinny, come over here. I feel out of place without the others here." Shinzu obeyed and went over to sit next to his step mother, which was fine, since he wanted to give Veronica some space. "Are you still drunk or do you enjoy embarrassing me? I told you not to call me that in public." Shiori smirked playfully and gave him a hug, "Would you rather I use the nickname you had in elementary school, Fatass?" Shinzuu let out a low growl and pushed her away a bit and sighed, "Whatever. Just keep it appropriate, ma. It IS a funeral after all."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica's feet carried her to her parents' caskets. She slowly looked back and forth between the bodies in the separate caskets. Part of her wish they were in a combined casket and she could just crawl in with them, but she blocked that part of her off. As she looked at the bodies of her parents, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. After a moment, her eyebrows unfurrowed and her face hardened, her mouth set in a straight line. She turned away from the caskets and sat at the end of the left side front row by the aisle, not wanting to sit near Shinzuu's mother.

[Srgntcuddles]

Reno ended up sitting down next to Shiori, though there was a couple spaces between him and her. He didn't know if she would hold a grudge from earlier that morning. "What should I do? I can't really do anything...She's gone...They're all gone...What did I do to deserve all this? What did Veronica even do..." He looked over at Veronica with a blank yet solemn look on his face. "She's nice...Nice to me...She didn't need to suffer..." His gaze shifted to Shinzuu. "Shinzuu...You were suffering all along, you even decided to be friends with me...Of all people...At least...He has someone to care about...Who he can relate to somewhat..." Reno went back to staring forward at nothing. "Why...Did I fall in love with her...I should have never sat down at that table...I should have just stayed in my corner...No one dies there. Some people just can't find love I guess..."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu sat quietly throughout the wake, and took the wheel in the car when it was time for the procession to the graveyard. Shiori was one of the pallbearers so she drove the casket car. Reno and Veronica sat with Shinzuu in his mother's car, a black Prius. When they all arrived at the site, Shiori and the other town heads carried the casket over, and the priest thanked everyone for coming. "Now will the daughter, Veronica, please come up and say a few words of your own."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Throughout the wake, Veronica sat alone. She had stared at the floor and didn't even look up when people offered their condolences. She also rode in the car in silence. Walking along with the others, she stopped when the rest of them did. She was staring at the caskets when the priest asked her to go up and say a few words. Everyone was looking at her when she removed her gaze from the caskets and looked up. Slowly, she walked up to where the priest was standing and turned to face the rest of the people there. It may have looked as though she was going to go into a long speech about how great her parents were and maybe she would have, but that's not what happened. "My parents," she started as she scanned the crowd. "Were great people in every sense of the word. They gave me everything I needed. Love, support, everything." When her eyes met Shinzuu's, she pried them away and looked down at the ground. "But none of that matters now. They're gone and so is everything else that they've done for me." She let out a sigh. "They're dead..." 'And I should be too...' "They will be missed." Most of the time while she was talking, she didn't seem like she could be the daughter of these two dead people. These people would know she really was but if they were shocked by how she spoke, it wouldn't be surprising. She stepped away from the place for speaking and moved back to where she had been standing, keeping her eyes on the ground until she was back in her spot then looking at the caskets again.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Her father walked to the car, Marlowe following closely behind and hopping in before Mordecai got the chance to tell her to get in. He sat down and started the car, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "Alright, here's the rundown. We're going by the home to get dressed and we're leaving straight from it at 2. We need to get to the funeral home early to meet Adali, I'm sure she'll need help setting up." He started to pull off, looking at his watch. "Basically, just get dressed fast."

Marlowe looked at the bag quietly and nodded. She hated funerals, and knowing her father, he was going to rope her into helping set her friend's funeral up with her mother. "Alright.. But can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go for it."

"Can you please not make me help set it up with you and Adali. It's hard enough already." She fidgeted with her hands as she waited for a response. He put and arm around her as if to reassure her when they got to a red light.

"Marlowe, I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to, but, it would mean a great deal to Adali if you did. We gotta be strong for her, too. Schad was all she had."

[Srgntcuddles]

Reno sat in silence in both the car and crowd. When Veronica spoke he listened like everyone else. "I wonder who all will be there...At Schad's fune-......Schad..." His ears were hung low as he listened, waiting. He knew he was going to another funeral soon, it made him nervous, and sick to his stomach. The level of being nervous made him feel sick. He looked down at his lap, he felt like crying again, hearing others doing the same. It was just the atmosphere of the area.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

After Veronica went back to her seat, the priest then proceeded to say the prayers and speeches that came in a funeral while they lowered the two caskets. Shinzuu tried his best to hold his wits as he watched the caskets get lowered, remembering watching his parents' go down. After the caskets were lowered all the way, the priest said one final prayer before he handed two roses out. One to Shinzuu and one to Veronica. Shinzuu was a bit confused at first, but Shiori whispered into his ear, "The proceedings require two people for the couple, and I kinda slipped in that you should be the second person, so just go with it."  Shinzuu knodded and walked up to the burial with Veronica. He bowed before taking the last step towards the grave, and dropped the rose in. After the proceedings, everyone was dismissed. Shiori got the kids to get into her car, "Come now, your friend's funeral is in 10 minutes. We should be able to make it 3 minutes before it starts. After we're done, I'll take us all out for supper."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica sat through the service in silence, her eyes staying glued to the caskets until they were out of her sight. Her hardened expression remained on her face even when the priest came over and handed her a rose. She walked over up to the hole, not bowing like Shinzuu had before making her final step. Shinzuu dropped his rose in as she stood there staring down into the hole at the caskets below. She felt slightly dizzy and like she might throw up as she looked at the caskets so she held the rose up to her nose, inhaling the scent of it, then dropping it in. When everyone was dismissed, she walked with the others to the car and got in. She didn't say a word in response to what Shiori said and just looked out the window on her side of the car. She didn't want to go to another funeral but she had liked Schad and Reno would need the support, so she went along with it, not like she had a choice in the matter anyway.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

After a quick stop at the house, they were both dressed and ready to go. Mordecai was in his best, and Marlowe was wearing her dress, her black converse all stars under them. She had managed to sneak them past her father. He always hated the shoes because they laces were mix matched. The left was checkerboard, the right was red. She also wore a lace choker with stars hanging from it.

The ride was silent, but when they arrived, the dreary mood was set. She stepped out of the car and followed behind her father until they made it inside. Everything had already been set, and for some reason it looked as if another funeral had just let out. She kept quiet, looking around. Around the funeral home there were portraits of the previous owners, they seemed to fit the profile of the creepy portraits that stared at people in haunted houses. The director lead them around the corner and down a hallway where Adali was. Her eyes were puffy and she looked as if someone had broken her mind in two, as she stared blankly at the casket.

When she looked up, it took her a moment, but she recognized them both and immediately began to cry as she threw her arms around Mordecai. He held her close as she cried and clenched his suit. Usually he was a stickler for how his suit looked, but he allowed her to cling and wrinkle it as she pleased given the circumstances. Marlowe's nose wrinkled up as she smelled alcohol on Adali. It wasn't an uncommon thing for the possum, but she still didn't like the smell. She stood there awkwardly as Adali bawled into her father's arms, yelling about how she should have been there more or how she should have kept better track of her or how she should have just quit drinking before it got bad. Her father's ears layed down against his skull. He was visibly shaken by how bad Adali was, but he would never admit it.