Without my insistence, we would not have even had a funeral for him. I told Paul and Brett that we had to as he was an officer of the clan. They let me do it. I had to call his cousin and tell him the bad news. Both Sebastion from the Void Clan and Dennis said they were going to attend. Dennis said that he was going to bring Mason's family over as well. Because Mason was a wanted felon and escapee, Dennis was the go-between to get in touch with his parents and other family members. It was not too hard to get some space outside the town's limits to form a small chapel. There were lots of paladins of our faith technically next door to us in the apartment building. It would not be hard to throw the funeral for him. It took a week for everything to be ready. Sebastion and Mason's family meeting was a massive shock. Dennis already knew. Mason told him. Dennis simply gave him a handshake. It was Mason's parents that had a breakdown. There was yelling and crying. Sebastion could only do his best to weather the abuse thrown his way. When a lull came over them, Sebastion frowned.
He simply said "Dennis and Mason were wonderful children. It gave me great pride to be able to help with raising them." Walking over to the closed casket, he looked at it for a moment. He sighed and said "That we've come to this is disappointing. That same boy will never call me his friend again. He won't be able to procreate and have offspring with a mate. I miss him already." That was a powerful statement. Mason's family were all stunned into silence and sat in the pews reserved for them. I made it mandatory for all members of the club to attend. It was a short service. The paladins were finally happy to have some territory in the new land. However, Mason was not a believer. There was not much they could do aside from the general rites for death and read the words from their holy book. The Church of the Sky believed in Sky burials. They raised the coffins with clear lids 12 feet up from the ground so the faithful dead may always be a part of the Sky. Mason's lid would be dark oak after Dennis got in touch with them. It was not a problem to make raised platforms for their big cemetery.
06-001 made his appearance after we had laid him to rest on the platform. I really did not want to see him here. I walked ahead and glared at him. "This is not the time for whatever this is. We just had our funeral for Mason. Go away if you have nothing nice to say!" I told him. The AEP unit just smirked. "I do have something nice to say about Mason LaDip, Brianne. He had balls. I'll always give him that." I just shook my head at that. 06-001 had lots of snarky humor. I did tend to like it at times. This was not one of them though. The others were now catching up. "Is something wrong?" Dennis asked, Mason's mother on his arm. I quickly turned to them. "Nothing. Just a fellow from work. Frenemies, you know. Not fully hating each other but would not feel guilty laughing at the misfortune of the other." I lied. 06-001 just shrugged. Dennis seemed to know better. "Well, I think it's about time to go back to the hotel. Thanks for paying for the rooms." he said after a beat. I made sure they would all be able to stay in town for a week for free. The 5 people following Dennis were grumbling but followed.
