World Without
an excerpt

Caesar's as calm as he can get. An unearthly calm, he would have described it, which is why no one's coming up to him. He sees Nico shooting him dirty looks, and the others moving about and helping the Fallen. Fin-ear is asking how the water-maiden is doing; she nods, and looks thankful. Umbrae is helping someone grasp the concept of smoking from the arcanyre. He even offers his own pipe. Boy scout, Caesar thinks. The Initiators can put you away for saying something like that. He remembers the word and what it means, but not where he got it from, only that it's a remnant of the outside. The place Domino says that she'll take him.

Soon as he thinks about her, the girl walks into his view, gown and all. It hangs loose around her shoulders, even with the collar-strings done up to the very top. Otherwise, it's a very good dress, lacy without being risque, colored a thinning white. When Aurora wore it, it made her glow; Domino does nothing but make a mockery of it. He can't help but scowl at the thing.

"You don't like it?" Domino asks him.

Caesar lifts his head up to look at the girl's face. "Ain't that I don't like the dress."

"Then where does your resentment lie?"

He looks away. "You weren't the one who chose the dress."

"No," she answers, out of view. "Yet I choose to keep it on. It's a nice dress."

"Bit small for you, don't you think." He didn't phrase it as a question.

"Nico told me," Domino says.

Caesar looks up again, straight into her eyes this time. Go on, girl.

"About the argument you had, I mean," she continued.

"Did she, now," Caesar says, deadpan.

"I woke up when you were shouting. I didn't mean for it to happen," Domino says, sounding apologetic.

"I told you already, it wasn't you who put it on." He gestures casually to the other side of the door frame. "Sit down."

Domino does so, though it takes a while for her to get comfortable.

"You understand what the fight was about?" Caesar asks.

"She says it was because you can't let go."

"Classic Nico line. But that's not the reason."

"What was it, then?"

"You realize, Domino, that the dress you're wearing belongs to someone who ain't with us no more?"

She shakes her head, mouths a 'no'.

"Well. I'm in the habit of thinking that folks like them, like Nico's sister, deserve to rest. And that means what they own, what they drank with, what they wrote or slept on, and yes, what they wear; they all need to be put aside someplace. In a box, a pretty one maybe. Then you leave that box well alone."

"To be forgotten?" she asks.

"Out of respect," he snaps back. "I remember her fine. And in my eyes, Nico did her sister's memory a mighty disservice, taking that dress out. For all the times I've tried to explain it to her, she can't quite grasp the concept of letting her things be."

He looks over to her. Domino's head is bowed in thought.

"You want to know what I think?" she asks.

"You don't agree with me, do you."

"I think you remember her fine. I believe that part. But you don't want to." There's a steely look in her eyes. A worrysome look.

"What makes you think that, kid?"

"You'd rather not have her ghost around."

"Flowery way of putting it." Caesar angles his face up, and looks at her down the bridge of his nose. "Your point?"

"You don't want to be reminded." She pushes herself up, bending over slightly to pat down the dress and iron out the wrinkles. She takes very good care of it. She respects it. "It hurts. No one blames you for that, Caesar. And you pretend that no one knows you're hurting." She straightens up, lifting her arms over her head, and then crossing them behind her head. "That's what I think."

"Hm. You think it's that simple?"

"A simple explanation for a simple man."

"'Fraid you need to get your facts straight before you start telling people their life stories." Who does this kid think she is? Caesar can't help but wonder. She's missed the mark. Narrowly. He gets up himself, and dusts the seat of his pants.

She continues on. "In any case, I've decided. I don't want to get on your bad side-"

"Bit late for that, kid."

"If you would let me finish..."

The thought of cutting her off here and denying her the pleasure of finality crosses Caesar's mind briefly, but he decides against it. He gives a small nod, and she continues.

"I don't want to get on your bad side again, Caesar sir."

"Hmmph. I'm a sir now?"

"It's the polite thing to call a man."

"Also illegal. Just ask Umbrae. Initiators will herd you to the indoctrination chair for something like that. Keep that outside-speak to yourself."

He sees Domino press her lips together, a taut frown on her face. The same kind of expression he's seen on Nico or Aurora, when they were losing their patience.

"I apologize," Caesar tells her. "I won't interrupt you again. Go on."

Domino nods, solemn. "I don't want you to think of this dress as hers, not anymore. Nico gave it to me, and she says I get to keep it... so now it's mine." Caesar can feel his left eyelid twitching, and already he's brimming over with unspoken retorts, one after another. Domino notices, and she tries to hide her smile from him.

He keeps his word though, and Domino continues uninterrupted. "Don't think of it as me wearing her dress... think of the dress as being free again. Being reborn, filled out with new lungs, a new heart. A better fate than living in a box, waiting to be eaten by moths."

Domino finishes her speech by turning on her heel and spinning, letting the dress open up around her ankles, like an upside-down lily in bloom. Instead of hanging free around her shoulders as an ill-fitting garment, it wraps around her form in a spiral. She's pretty in her own right, and for a moment, the dress is hers. Then she comes full circle, and the dress falls back into normalcy, a ghost's sheet without Aurora to fill it out. It's still a powerful full-stop to her speech, Caesar has to admit.

"Well?" she asks.

Caesar lets a pause hang in the air, briefly. He's made up his mind, but he likes to add to the suspense. Then he spots Nico out of the corner of his eye, standing nearby, grinning like an idiot. He turns to look at her.

"How long have you been listening?" Caesar asks.

"Long enough," Nico replies, "to know that you've already agreed."