The Book Thief

When Five Becomes Four [Mirth and Book Thief]

Noah Logan was dead, but to those who did not know him it was just another day in Eaton.

Nathaniel felt so much older in his fathers' dark suit and he stared numbly as more and more people began to arrive. They were all dressed in black for Noah's funeral and he watched as they made their way towards the little chapel. Noah's coffin was propped up on a bier, ready for viewing, but Nathan lingered outside. He didn't want to see Noah, not like this. He had always expected their reunion to be a lively affair, something more cheerful than this. He and Matt would tease each other, Noah and Audrey would chat about the silliest of things, and Arty, she'd give them one of her biggest grins and suggest they have a game of soccer or badminton, there was no sport that girl wasn't good at.

However, none of that was happening, and this was far from the reunion of their dreams. Here he was, home for the first time in two years, and not to visit his friends, but to attend one of their funerals. And to make matters worse, Noah had taken his own life.

Nathan didn't believe it at first, not until he got a call from his parents. After that, everything just started to fall apart. None of it made sense, Noah had been one of the most cheerful and kindest people had ever known, so what went wrong? The answer seemed so out of reach. Nathan found himself staring at the wet grass, shoulders hunched and fists clenched so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He could hear cars parking by the curb and people talking as they made their way towards the tiny chapel.

He didn't want to move, but he figured that eventually someone would end up ushering him inside. Nathaniel sucked in a breath of air, his expression stony and eyes void. The young man had already cried himself to sleep back in his dorm room. The flight home and the trip back to Eaton had been spent in cold silence, whatever emotions Nathan had been feeling, he had attempted to drown.

"Nate? I can't believe it's you," it was one of Noah's friends from art class. "It's pretty hard to believe."

What was there to say? Of course, it was damned hard to believe. This was Noah Logan, Mr. nice guy and friend to all animals and children. This was the guy who grinned from ear to ear and laughed when he failed a test, the guy who took Matt in when he had nowhere to go, and the guy who helped old people cross the street. The boy was head-over-heels in love with life, yet he had killed himself by overdosing on Tylenol. None of this made sense and life wasn't fair, not by a long shot.

Nate ended up snapping when he hadn't meant to, "you're damn right it is," Nate didn't even look back, he simply turned around and began stomping off in the chapel's direction, leaving the other boy stunned and speechless.

Noah's mother and father were sitting in the front row, surrounded by concerned relatives and visitors. Ross was seated not too far from them entertaining a couple of visitors as well. Nate didn't want to intrude, so he sat at the very back and focused his eyes on the floor. He didn't want to look at the casket, and he didn't want to acknowledge the fact that one of his best friends was dead.

He sat in silence until a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts, "you didn't tell me you were coming back to Eaton," Nate stared numbly at the girl who had sat down beside him, it was Audrey. He'd drifted away from all of them. Sure, they would send each other texts from time to time, but his so called best friends felt like nothing more than strangers now.

Nate balled his hands into fists, grasping for words. "Audrey, it's been awhile."

"Really, Natey?" The girl laughed a little when Nathan flinched at the sound of his old nickname. "You disappear for two years and that's all you have to say?" She looked tired as well, but she mustered up a grin. "I didn't think I'd see you," her voice dropped to a whisper and lost its cheerful tone. Audrey wondered if the others would show up too, she hoped that they would. Noah was the one who brought them together and it would only be right for them to say goodbye to him as a group, he would have wanted it that way.

Nathan looked away and Audrey gave him a weary grin. Seeing her smile at Noah's funeral irritated him and his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Wipe that grin off your face," it came out a lot harsher than he had intended. "It looks stupid." Here he was, an adult acting like an absolute child. A pang of guilt washed over him, but the boy ignored it and went back to staring at his feet.

"Sorry," Audrey shrunk back into her chair like a puppy that had been scolded for nothing. How much had changed in the past two years?

When Five Becomes Four [Mirth and Book Thief]

Alright, I'll get up a post before I have to leave. Gosh, you're right, this'll hit the kids like a sack of bricks. They haven't seen each other for sometime and the first time they meet again is at the funeral of the guy who brought them together.

When Five Becomes Four [Mirth and Book Thief]

Sure, Eaton sounds good and I checked out Fighting, it's really catchy as well. Haha, thank you for introducing me to this band, I love how both songs sounded upbeat but were pretty sad. Do you want us to start at the funeral or sometime before that, and is there anything else we want to flesh out before we start? Also, would you like me to work on the first post ^^ or do you have something planned out?

And this song fits them as well. Gosh, this should be their soundtrack, haha.

When Five Becomes Four [Mirth and Book Thief]

Characters

Noah Logan

Noah Logan| 18 | 5'10



The one who brought them all together, Noah was the heart of their little group. No ones knows why he killed himself because for as long as they could remember Noah had always been the endearing and silly young man who tried his darnedest to get people to laugh. His friends return to their hometown to attend his funeral and his brother is still trying to come to grips with reality and figure out why Noah took his own life.

Ross Logan

Ross Logan | 23 | 6’ 3”



Noah’s overprotective older brother, Ross is an intern at the police department. He’s been looking into Noah’s suicide almost obsessively since it happened and has started hanging around with Noah’s old friends. He’s bent on figuring out why.

Artemis Lao and Matthias Trousdale

1. Artemis Lao | 18 | 5’ 8”



The Amazon from Class 4E was named Artemis Lao. She was stronger, faster, and fiercer than anyone in her school, let alone her grade, and there were rumors about her being a guy, or, more creatively, an alien. She was taller than all of the boys in her grade by the time she was nine, and stayed that way until well into high school. Arty never met a sport she didn’t like. Track and field, soccer, full-contact football, you name it, she wanted to play it. Her favorite game in gym class was dodgeball, and she earned her nickname: “The Bruiser”. Nobody wanted to be on the other team when Arty was playing.

What nobody really understood was that she wasn’t actually trying to hurt them—she was just ridiculously strong. Even her teachers noticed it. Arty was a human dynamo with the arm of a major league pitcher and the mouth of the swarthiest sailor. She was competitive but friendly, tough but kind. She always seemed older, more mature, than other children her age. Her enthusiasm for sports, however, was boundless.

Born the oldest child in a family of eight, Arty was always surrounded by younger siblings, and she grew very protective of others. When anyone hurt her little brothers or sisters, they could bet the suddenly-not-so-jolly giantess would teach them a painful lesson. This protective streak also extended to other kids, including one blonde boy dribbling snot: Noah Logan, age eight. Arty was a year older at nine and was already knocking heads when anyone messed with her family, and when she saw Noah being picked on, she charged straight into the fray with all the grace of an angry bull. Later, lip bloody and knees scraped, Arty dusted herself off and helped the little boy to his feet. “They won’t bug you again, see?” She said with a gap-toothed grin.

After that, Arty was Noah’s guardian. Whenever Ross, Noah’s big brother, wasn’t around to watch out for him, Arty was. Of the four friends, she has known Noah the longest, and she thinks of him as another younger brother. During what she considers the happiest days of her life, she was with everyone: Audrey, Nathan, Matt, and Noah, and she spent what could only be described as four idyllic years with them.

When she turned sixteen, she decided to study abroad in South Korea; she later visited Japan and China. She’s become interested in martial arts and was in the middle of learning a Japanese style when the news came. Crushed, Arty flew back to their hometown immediately, without stopping to clear out the apartment she’d rented for college.

---

2. Matthias Trousdale | 19 | 5’ 11”



Once called a slacker, hobo, and general layabout, Matt spent almost his entire life not knowing where his next meal was going to come from. His mother died when he was a baby, and at some point his father disappeared, leaving Matt, a toddler, with his ailing grandmother. All the money in the household went toward her care as soon as Matt was old enough to understand how sick she really was. He skipped meals, forwent toys and games, and worked various odd jobs, anything for money. Despite his best efforts, she died when he was in the 8th grade.

Debt swallowed up the house and any money his grandmother had managed to save, leaving Matt to a glutted social service system that had nowhere to place him. Scared for his future, he lashed out at others, started fights, and soon skipped school altogether; he became increasingly antisocial and apathetic, feeling like the world was trying to destroy him. He had never had many friends to begin with, maybe one or two in elementary school, but now he had none.

Of the four friends, Matt is easily the one most changed by Noah Logan. When he was entering the 9th grade an angry, technically homeless delinquent, Noah approached him. To this day, Matt remains tight-lipped about what was said, but the same night he was allowed to stay at the Logans’ home. Since then he has been as much their son as Ross or Noah; Matt got a job and is working to repay the family for their incredible kindness.

He rents an apartment in a nearby city and works as a roadie for local bands, carrying instruments and equipment and generally setting up. While he looks sloppy and unkempt, he’s actually meticulous in his personal life and always tries to keep on top of things. Matt doesn’t acknowledge this, but he loves Noah very much, even more than his other adoptive brother, Ross.

Noah’s sudden death has done horrible things to Matt. He went missing the week after, and Ross, wracked with his own grief, spent three anxiety-ridden days searching for him until he finally found him, squatting under a bridge, half-dead from exposure. Apparently, the news had shocked him so much he had wandered out of his apartment in a daze and hadn’t gone back. He is living with the Logans again and he barely speaks.

+ Played by Mirth

Nathaniel Collins and Audrey Kaye

1. Nathaniel Collins | 18 | 6'1



Lucky, rich, blessed, he's been called a combination of the three and much more, but Nathan can't seem to believe it.

He's a sarcastic and cynical young man who isn't afraid to snap or speak his mind. However, beneath the ice-cold glares and constant scowls is a very lonely person who doesn't know who he is or what he wants to become. Nathan's parents were almost always away on business trips, and while they tried to compensate for their absence by giving him everything he could ask for, what he really wanted was their presence and people he could call friends.

As a child Nathaniel had been a wide-eyed idealist, curious of the world outside. He was an inquisitive kid who'd spend hours and hours buried in his books, and while he loved his parents dearly, he never really got to know them. His best friend was his science teacher, a man named Robert Smith. He taught Nathan a lot of things and is the reason the boy has a love for knowledge and academics.

Nathan spent most of his elementary years being home schooled but come middle school he begged and begged until his parents allowed him to go to a normal school with other kids. It was there where he met Noah, the boy's cheerfulness was a tad annoying at first but Nathan liked the company and soon he found himself being introduced to three others. The four of them became his best friends, though he probably didn't show it. Due to spending most of his life away from other children, he was a bit awkward and found it hard to related to them. Nate sometimes had arrogant and snarky moments, but as time marched past he warmed up to the other four.

Sometime during high school he got a scholarship into a well known science school. He didn't want to leave his friends behind, but he didn't want to ignore the opportunity either. His parents sent him packing and he left for a school that was halfway across the country. Nathan was distraught, he finally belonged somewhere but that ended when he was sent to Northwood, there he found himself lonelier than ever and a part of him resented his parents for it. He grew distant from most people and poured all his energy into academics.

Nathan's performance was amazing and his parents were proud, but he still felt lost. Around two years later he received news about Noah's death. At first he couldn't believe it, but his parents confirmed it and he took the first flight back home.

---

2. Audrey Kaye | 17 | 5'4



Silly and a little airheaded, Audrey always tries to face things with a smile.

The girl is friendly and caring, however, she can be a little reserved and shy when meeting people for the first time. Don't fret, after she warms up to a person she'll crawl out of her shell and they'll see her for what she truly is, an idiot who is head-over-heels in love with life. Audrey is an optimist who tries her darnedest to make others happy. She's always full of jokes and cheer and you'll rarely see her without a smile on her face.

As a child Audrey was the kid who seemed to always be on a sugar high, she'd scamper off to play tag and clamber onto chairs and tables. She was a little ball of energy but as she grew older she learned to channel her energy into things like music and art. She isn't very good at academics but the girl knows her way around a piano and a paintbrush. She met Noah back in second grade, they had been paired up in art class and the two had been friends ever since.

Unlike the others, she hadn't moved away at all. She just couldn't leave her parents or her older sister and younger brother behind. She and Noah had remained good friends, so when she heard that the boy had taken his own life, something inside her just snapped. They had just talked a few days ago, so why didn't she notice that something was horribly wrong? She couldn't help but blame herself and something in Audrey changed. The girl still gives people her brightest smiles and still jokes around as usual, but it's mostly so the others won't have to worry about her. She doesn't want anyone else to feel sad or go through whatever it was Noah went through, so she offers a shoulder to lean on and acts as if nothing is wrong, but she's crumbling on the inside too.

+ Played by The Book Thief

---

Things that still need to be established:

+ The reason for Noah Logan's suicide

How to keep a roleplay from dying?

I didn't mean kicking them out if they were busy with real life, sorry if it sounded that way. However, I do believe a person should mention it on the OOC if they will be gone for sometime. That way, the GM can usher their character along or place them somewhere where they won't hinder the story. If they're going to be busy and say so, then they shouldn't be booted out of the RP, but players who are constantly inconsistent for no reason at all, those who miss several posting cycles with no warning, and those who simply vanish off the face of RPG, they're the ones who need to go.

How to keep a roleplay from dying?

Limits aren't exactly bad. In some cases, they keep a RP going. Personally, I agree with Ariamis. A GM should state their rules and expectations regarding posting, then enforce those rules. I've been in two RPs that have lasted for quite sometime, one has been alive for more than a year and the other almost a year, and both have strict posting rules. Those who were inactive, or those who slowed the RP down were kicked out. Lack of posting can lead to a lack of motivation and sometimes when things go quiet people lose inspiration. I've seen several RPs go to their grave because of a lack of posting. Things went quiet and people assumed it was dead and left. If the IC is going to be quiet or slow for sometime, it would help to keep the OOC active and show the players that the RP is still alive and kicking.

Personally, I'm all for limits, but perhaps that's because I don't want to wait an entire month for a single reply. However, it depends since other RPs do fine with a more relaxed pace. Still, I agree with Ariamis, post down your rules and expectations, that way you'll find a group of people who meet your RPing needs. Some people prefer faster RPs and some people are more patient than others, so it's a matter of finding players who are looking for the same things that you're looking for.

And Evan is definitely right, being friends with your fellow RPers helps a ton. It's easier to RP with them and iron out the kinks when you feel comfortable with them. Get to know them, have a laugh with them, and remember communicate with them. If there's something you don't like or something that needs to be discussed then talk about it on the OOC. Also, if someone drops off the face of the planet don't be afraid to give them a little kick through PM. Communication does a RP wonders.

Welcome to Gravetown!

Sorry, haha, evil wasn't the right word. I mean, for an ultra powerful lich, she's adorable.

Welcome to Gravetown!

Let us summon them *proceeds to draw a summoning circle*

It's nice to meet you, Rain, and this is rather out of the blue, but Kitty is adorably evil and I look forward to interacting with her.

Welcome to Gravetown!

Haha, well it's good to know you're doing fine. It's been somewhat quiet though, don't you think?

Have you heard from the other two who have yet to post? I hope they haven't left or anything.

Welcome to Gravetown!

How are you guys doing on this fine day? Also, I found a song that fits Gravetown rather well.