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[abrightboy]

This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[falkeditupagain]

"I mean, why else would you make a person perform their own top surgery?" It's a bad joke, he knows, and it doesn't lighten his mood any at all.

"But yeah, she wanted me to die so they didn't leave me by myself, come with them." He almost did, but had changed his mind.

[abrightboy]

"I'm sorry. At least... they wanted to do right by you," Malcolm tells him. "They didn't want you to be alone."

[falkeditupagain]

"At least you get that." He doesn't really want to talk about it, but there some comflict there, about what Vincent had said to him and what he's supposed to be thinking about now.

"My parents loved me. I...don't blame them for what they did, cause if they'd been themselves it wouldn't be an issue, except they weren't. So it looks and sounds terrible. I- I don't like to think that's all anyone would think about them. People are more than the worst things they've ever done, especially when they're confused and scared themselves."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm smiles warmly at him. "Yeah. Exactly. That's exactly right. People use 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' to dismiss all good intentions that go wrong," he says. "But sometimes there just aren't easy answers and people are just doing their best."

[falkeditupagain]

They didn't intend on dying that day any more than Hanna had. It was a series of unfortunate events that lead to the shitty forward march into his adult life.

Hanna looks down at his mug again, uncomfortable but trying not to be, "I mean, people still do shit, but there's always tomorrow." Unless you're him and the rules don't apply. It's so much easier to be kind to everyone else.

He's quiet a moment, tapping the toe of his beat up shoe on the ground before he looks up again, "Hey, do you know if you leave something on the wall above a door to an empty cabin, if that goes away if someone occupies it? It's just the door that changes, right?"

[abrightboy]

"As far as I know, but some doors are different shapes and sizes. Why do you ask?" Malcolm asks curiously.

[falkeditupagain]

Hanna shrugs, "like, this room is great and all, but I thought it'd be nice to just string some cranes up outside some of the doors of people who left, prematurely. It's a bit more visible, you know?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm's eyebrows rise slightly.

"Do cranes symbolize something?"

[falkeditupagain]

"I mean, yeah. A lot of things. Hope being one of them, good fortune... you fold a thousand you're supposed to get a wish." And he'd managed that on the boat so far, the lot of them had been arranged for Sheehan and Arthur's wedding gift.

"But I can't exactly fold a thousand for everyone who disappears. That would be kind of crazy..." and unrealistic, but he knows he'd probably try if someone asked him to. "My buddy back home, we fold them together too. He was murdered like...ten years ago? Someone reanimated him, and the only thing aside from dying that he's remembered in that time was a paper crane. It's like...something to hold on to when you've got fuck all, I guess."

[abrightboy]

"Well, what if... we created a sort of.... more ad hoc memorial area? Or... memorial wall. Maybe in one of the common rooms? Something less formal than what's in here, where people can... paint murals or hang pictures or pin up strings of cranes.... do you think people would like that?" Malcolm asks.

[falkeditupagain]

He isn't exactly sure. His own art is pretty juvenile, not exactly an artiste, but the paper craft is easier, he can follow instructions and improvise here and there.

"I mean...we could ask around and see if anyone was interested. Just...maybe not on floor 6, my neighbors are fucking crazy sometimes." Though problematic floor 6 might be a little less rowdy with all the loss it's going through.

[abrightboy]

"Well, you can put it out there some time. Workshop it. I can't be the one that puts it out there because... well. I don't have the social currency. But you do. People like you," Malcolm tells him.

[falkeditupagain]

It is weird to think that he has any social currency at all, but strange as that is, he supposes that is true.

"I dunno, talking about making a space to remember people who leave before they're done is easy 'endearing you to the public' bait. What is someone going to complain about if you do? Especially if it is an open on going art installation? That's pretty fucking hands off."

[abrightboy]

"It won't go that way if I suggest it. It just won't," Malcolm tells him. "I'm sure you've ever seen a post I've made or responded to on the network."

[falkeditupagain]

"I think that's just cause people who respond to you like being contrarians cause they think you're one. The network is full of trolls anyways, if I was going to ask people if they were interested I'd do it in person first." Maybe post that he had an idea he wanted to talk about, ask the kitchen if they wouldn't mind him borrowing some shit for coffee, provide snacks.

"Everything is better with snacks, even if it's an in person forum meeting. People will probably still find something to be shitty about, but it's harder to be fucking rude in person if they don't actually mean it or care enough to show up on time."

[abrightboy]

"They don't have any problem being rude to me in person," Malcolm assures him. "I told you you're the man for the job."

[falkeditupagain]

"If you say so Malcolm. I'll have you know I've got about as much Social currency as you do back home, but that's cause everyone there thinks I'm fucking crazy." Maybe that's his problem, he's spent too much time on board and swung and missed a few too many times with people who aren't as forgiving as he his.

[abrightboy]

"Well, at home I'm really, really good at something. One thing. And there's no market for the skill here. So. Yeah. That's usually my in," Malcolm tells him.

[falkeditupagain]

Hanna shrugs, "Well, obviously you need to pick up some new hobbies. Don't let being good at one thing stop you from getting good at other things."

[abrightboy]

“Will has been teaching me fishing,” Malcolm tells him.

[falkeditupagain]

"I haven't been in ages unless you count the time Jacob let me take the rod for a bit on the beach back in...November I think? We caught a good one." He glances into his empty coffee cup and nods to Malcolm, "I think you need a more social hobby though, so when we start up yoga and origami, I expect you sitting there learning along with everyone else, alright?"

[abrightboy]

“I thought… that was the… Thing. You’d do yoga with us and I’d do origami with… us,” Malcolm says.

[falkeditupagain]

"I will stand and watch you do Yoga. And you can do Origami with us. Win win!" He winks at Malcolm, starting to head for the door. He is not getting talked into actually doing Yoga, "That sounds like a great plan, thank you!"