Wordcount: 186
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: Hope always wins.

NOTE: This is a very rough draft with no editing at all (per National Novel Wiriting Month rules) and is presented for amusement value only. Think of it as a periscope into my writing process rather than a coherent story!

There will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, contradictions/retcons, uneven characterization and pacing. These snippits are also posted out of order, so please refer to the Outline to figure out where it’s supposed to fit.

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Across Wide Water, Without Sound

People go missing, now and then. They don’t talk about it, but Blue notices. He would think that there would be more of an alarm, but other than a slightly murmur of shared news, there’s no mourning, no alarm at all.

He finally asks Sara, since he figures she’s the most likely to tell him the truth.

“We don’t talk about it,” she says and Blue gives a frustrated snort. “Well, we don’t.”

“But why?”

“When someone leaves for war, what do you say?” she asked, suddenly serious. “Do you wish them luck? Tell them you’ll see them again? Or do you make sure the last thing they hear isn’t goodbye?”

“Um,” said Blue, taken aback by the change in her mood. Sara was normally not the serious type.

“We don’t say goodbye, we don’t ever say goodbye.”

“But–”

Sara cut him off with a look.

“Fine,” said Blue and left it at that. And when the next person didn’t come back he ignored the whispers that went around and joined in with the gangs who simply pretended that ‘missing’ meant ‘fine’ and not ‘dead’.