lay it down slow | kalina nikolova: daughter, sister, friend.

we lay to rest our fallen comrade, kalina nikolova. most would know her only as the hera cabin leader- some would know her as much more.
the beloved daughter of mariana, step-daughter of deyan. the annoying younger sister of yana and often times strict older sister of petar. she was a friend, an acquaintance, and perhaps much more than that. a confidant, and most recently, a hero. she died protecting camp from some unknown danger. we owe her for that, and for everything she did before her untimely death. kalina was not the first to fall, and nor will she be the last, but today we mourn her loss.
rest now, kalina."

"now seems as good a time as ever to announce to you all that i will be taking over kalina's position as hera cabin leader, per chiron's request. you are free to come find me in the cabin leader's room, should you ever need to talk."

here is the thread in which you can pay your respects to kalina nikolova, my longest serving character.

being dead was weird.

kalina had always thought it would feel wrong, not odd. she'd also always thought that she'd immediately be dragged away to hades or something, yet, here she was. the sensation was nothing she'd ever felt before-- like she was floating, but simultaneously she was standing with her feet firmly on the ground.
maybe she should have been long gone, to the building she'd heard of in los angeles. she had her drachmas, the ones she'd had in her pocket when everything went down... really, kali could have been long gone and be in the underworld lines, waiting to be judged and sent to wherever the hell she was going to be sent to. fields of punishment, asphodel, elysium... who knew where they'd eventually send her? maybe stealing her sister's sandwich that time would land her right into the fields of punishment, where she'd never get to have another sandwich again but be dying for corned beef. or maybe, despite everything, she had earned somewhere much happier. maybe she'd get to eat as much corned beef as she liked. for now, though, she didn't know-- nor was the curiosity enough for her to leave, not just yet. first she had to say her goodbyes, to people who wouldn't know that she was saying them. and of course-- one of the things which had been on her bucket list; attend her own funeral. how many people got to do that in their lifetime?... ok, none, cause technically she wasn't doing it during her lifetime, but still.
things weren't too weird, really. in fact, she was pretty sure she'd experienced things ten times more weird when she was alive-- it was just odd, when people couldn't see her. in just a day, kalina had waved and gone to speak to so many people, only realizing after a few short moments that they couldn't see her, or hear her. it was sort of lonely, and well... not being acknowledged was sort of annoying. but she'd gotten used to it, a bit. just a bit.
being dead, though, had as many perks as it had it's downsides. most of them, she hadn't thought of-- it was hard to think about how she wouldn't see her friends or family again, at least not for a long time. instead she thought about the good parts, and one of them was that finally, after so long-- she wasn't tired anymore. she wasn't even sad anymore, at least not over what she'd been sad over all those months. being dead put things into perspective for her, and kali had realized pretty quick that things which mattered before... didn't matter anymore.
except for the bucket list. ok... well, technically she'd died leaving a few things undone. and if you wanted to be all nit picky, completing something on the list while she was dead was sort of counterproductive. did she care about those little technicalities? nope. not even a little bit.
after leaving the big house, where her mother and father were sitting along with yana and petar, kalina made her way slowly up to the burial grounds, her mind straying only once in a while to their grief-stricken faces. maybe she should have been sad too, for their loss-- for how sad they all were-- but kalina couldn't bring herself to be. she was happier now than she'd been for a long time... they'd get along. they'd be fine, eventually. she focused on the grass beneath her feet (or at leas the sort of there sensation of grass beneath her feet), and slowly made her way up, a few people passing her on the way.
when she arrived, kalina really had to fight not to laugh (laughing at your own funeral was probably bad). she didn't even know half the people standing around her coffin, waiting for it to be lowered-- nor did she recognize them as any of her cabinmates. she didn't even recognize the lady standing at the front, saying her rites-- which was probably awful, since she already knew from earlier in the day that that would be her replacement.
it was really funny though, walking through the crowd of people and not even being seen. she almost expected someone to turn around and say "THERE'S KALINA, SHE'S NOT DEAD!" but nope, that wasn't happening anytime soon. or ever.
kalina chose to stand beside a fellow brunette, a couple meters away from the grave. as she approached, she pasted a smile on her face, sticking her hands in her pockets. "hey, sorry I'm late. had some stuff to do, y'know? never thought i'd be late for my own funeral, yet here i am."
the way the girl didn't even blink made her chuckle, and she looked the graves way, eyes soon finding the girl who would soon be the hera cabin leader. wow. kalina didn't like her already, truth be told. she especially didn't like the way she made her out to be some sort of a hero-- "an unknown danger"? really? gods, that was pathetic. it was a monster, pure and simple, and as the girl spoke kalina rolled her eyes, nudging the girl beside her (and getting no reaction, of course, since she couldn't feel her).
"she's awful, isn't she? it's sort of sad how much she's sucking up to a dead girl." slowly, kalina approached the girl and stood beside her. if it weren't for her being all incorporeal, she very possibly would have considered pushing her into the grave she stood at. "i really, really don't like you. just FYI. suck up to me all you want, but that's not about to change. also, you should get your facts straight. i was no hero-- a wimp, maybe, but the only thing those two words have in common is they both have four letters." she chuckled darkly, patting the girl on the back and gesturing down to the open grave. "be glad that i can't go all Swayze on your ass. cause i would. but that doesn't mean i won't come back and haunt you if you mess with my cabin. also..." kali wrinkled her nose, glancing towards the ancient cd player which was playing soft, sad music. "did you choose this music? ugh. couldn't someone have pulled a practical joke and said I loved rock and roll? that sounds like something raz would have done-- this music is so crap. and depressing, ugh."
kalina would have stood there all day, making comments about the stand-in cabin leader, had she not caught sight of movement from the corner of her eye. turning around, she peered towards the figure moving away, and her unbeating heart almost stopped... she'd actually come? of all people... raz?
moving through the crowd, kali followed the other girl as she started to walk away from the funeral. kali wasn't going to follow her all the way to the cabin-- that would have been pointless. but catching up with her, noting the tears and the words she uttered, kalina just wanted to wrap her arms around the other girl (and be pushed away, cause that's what would have happened). one hand resting softly against raz's shoulder, kali smiled weakly, her carefree attitude gone for a few moments. "crying, raz? you should be ashamed of yourself." she chuckled, bumping her shoulder against the other girls and walking alongside her for a few short moments, almost wishing that she could pull a swayze. that everything she was doing could be felt, and everything she was saying could be heard. "i'm okay, y'know. i'm better than okay. so if you're sad, over anything... you shouldn't be. one of my only regrets is that i didn't get to repay you for all that vodka." and there it was. in the day she'd been dead, it really hadn't sunk in to kali that she was gone. tears stung her eyes, which she found so weird and impossible because she was dead and how was she crying? but there they were, and using the hand which wasn't on her half-sisters shoulder she brushed them away, fighting to keep her smile in place. "i want to be sorry, raz. i-i know you didn't want a sister... but i can't be sorry about who my dad was. and truthfully, i'm not sorry that i had you as a sister. i'm sorry i had to go so soon and leave you behind, cause i just... i really wanted to get to know you. and for you to get to know me-- maybe we could have been friends. i'm just-- i'm sorry." she couldn't bring herself to say much else, and kalina stopped in her tracks, allowing the other girl to walk ahead of her. she watched until raz was a good few meters ahead, and slowly turned around, heading back to the funeral... with one of her goodbyes said.

ooc; ghost!kali is going to be making a few appearances for the next few days, until she moves on, but just remember your character won't hear or see her. she's just here to be happy for once in her life and make comments about her funeral and stuff lmao. although if you have a hades character, feel free to have them see her/hear her and give out about how a girl just died and she's making shitty comments and annoying the funeral, and kali can be like YO THAT'S ME and they can have a lovely chat

Strictly speaking, Tiberius had not been to many funerals in his life. For one, most of his family was either really healthy, and had no plans of dying anytime soon, or his father had cut off any ties of communication when his son was very little, so there was probably a room full of numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins that Ty didn’t even know about who could be dead or dying. His friends back at home, or what little friends he had, hadn’t bothered to contact the demigod since he left for camp, and if that wasn’t a sign to ‘we’re through’ than Tibs didn’t know what was. They were long forgotten anyways, replaced with people like Dylan and Belle, who had gained his friendship after a long while of deducting what they were like as a person and where their morals stood. It was hard to get a friendship with Tiberius, and he’d more than once been called exclusive by a great number of people. But there were people like Quinn who he had to be wary of, who would cut off your hair and frighten you. At least, Tiberius thought, he wouldn’t have to deal with her today. He didn’t think that heartless people such as Quinn Taylors had the capability to go to a former cabin leaders funeral. Then again, maybe she’d come to haunt Ty, because she always seemed to do that nowadays. She haunted his dreams, the shadowy corners in his room, everywhere he looked Quinn was somehow always there.

The girl who died — Kalina Nikolova — was not a person Tibs knew well. He only caught glimpses of her at cabin leader meetings and around camp but that was it. Although they never spoke an actual word to each other, Ty held a lot of respect towards Kalina, the way she held herself despite everything she went through, the way she commanded her entire cabin that was full to the brim with children that weren’t even her half siblings. Tibs remembered how she looked in the sun, all dark fire and bronze. He doubted that was how she looked today. Even if the mortician cleaned her up and put make up on her, she’d still look dead. Without that glint to her eyes she wasn’t really Kalina. When he strolled over to her grave, Ty felt nothing. It was like he was dead and not the girl, because he should have felt something for a fallen warrior as brave as she, but there was nothing. Not sorrow not happiness not fear. Kaliina looked so pale, like watery milk, and her eyes were closed to the cloudy day around her. It was better that way, Tiberius thought, he wouldn’t want a funeral on a day where the sun didn’t shine.

If the two had been closer friends, maybe Tibs would have brush a loose strand of hair behind her stiff ear, or maybe parted with a light kiss on the forehead. Instead, the boy just stood there, ramrod straight, and gazed down at her. Tiberius was only here to pay his respects for a fellow comrade, warrior, and cabin leader. She really could be sleeping. When he was a tiny child and didn’t understand the concept of death, Ty thought that corpses were just sleeping people, and that someday they would wake up and reunite with their families. Of course, now that fantasy was shattered, and he knew the godsawful truth. The dead weren’t sleeping, the dead would never reanimate. The dead stayed dead, and that was what Kalina was. Dead.

He stepped away from the coffin to allow others to gaze into her stiff, pale face. Ty should say something, although no words came to mind. If it was Charlotte, laying in a small wooden coffin, covered with flowers and velvet, the amount of words Tiberius could say would never be enough. However, with Kalina, his mind drew a blank, and he supposed that was normal because they’d never had a connection. Instead, he’d written her a letter to ease her passing. Tibs placed it right beside the coffin, and stood there with the light breeze ruffling his black suit, pallid and still as a statue with no emotion shining through his face.

Dear Kalina Nikolova, The note read.
You probably do not remember me. I don’t place any judgement on you if you don’t. I’m a kind of person that is tended to be forgotten. I’m Tiberius Winters, of cabin ten. More commonly I am known as the cabin leader of Aphrodite. We never really held a conversation other than the odd and occasional ‘I’ll run this booth’ or ‘Personally, my belief is that your idea won’t work.’ But I am writing this letter because I wish to express my sorrow that you are gone. I’m not a very sentimental man, Kalina. Surely you’ve seen me with people? How I don’t dare to slouch or smile or give anything away that I’m having a good time. But believe me when I tell you that it pains me a great deal to write this letter.

There is no demigod, no child, no human, that should have to die like you did. So young and so brutally. Well, I assume brutally. Nobody in this camp has a peaceful death, you didn’t and I won’t. I hope your pain was quick though, a face such as yours should not ever have to endure white hot agony and torture. I realize that this letter, however you may get it or even if you don’t, probably only worsens your sorrow. After all, you are dead. I expect you to be sad, and if you aren’t, that’s fine too. I hope this letter will not only help me to move on from a death that hardly had anything to do with me, but also help to give you strength in the next life.

I think that the cabin leader meetings are going to be awfully empty without your guidance and direction, Kalina. Many of us won’t be able to cope, although I hope I will not offend you when I say that I will do my duty regardless of the fact that you are dead. A lot of people are also going to miss you, like your siblings — both demigod and mortal — and a lot of people are not going to know what to do. But just know that there’s me, and even if we weren’t friends in this life, perhaps we can be friends in the next.
With regret,
Tiberius Winters of Cabin 10.