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1character2025-08-22 11:14 pm
lumiosecity) wrote in 1character2025-08-22 11:14 pm
Memento Mori (Remember, You Can’t Die) [Kenny McCormick - South Park]
Title: Memento Mori (Remember, You Can’t Die)
Summary: Sleep well, little child, the Lord holds thee now. A study in self-destruction, preservation, and perpetuity, as told in fifty loosely connected sentences by one Kenneth McCormick.
Character: Kenny McCormick
Fandom: South Park
Theme Set: Epsilon
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Repeated major character death, canon-typical violence, vomit, discussions of suicidality, and mild language.
#01 - Hood
Sure, it’s just a jacket, but it’s also a safety net—the one thing that can block out the world just enough to dull his senses and make the day-to-day tedium bearable—so he cinches it a little tighter, just in case.
#02 - Buzz
The buzz of the clippers is soothing, the strands of hair falling into the bathroom sink even more so; this, at least, he can change, even if he doubts that anyone will notice.
#03 - Wish
Sometimes, he wonders what would have happened if he’d never made that wish— is this what it means to have everything go back to the way it was before?
#04 - Seasons
Autumn is his favorite season— a time of year where everyone embraces the weird and scary, and he feels just a little less alone.
#05 - Threat
He’s always the first to jump into harm’s way; better him than anyone else, even if it raises questions he doesn’t know how to answer.
#06 - Portrait
The figure in the mirror is a stranger wearing his face, cloaked in shadows with a hard set to his jaw that appears both wholly unfamiliar and not— it’s what he needs to be, if he wants to do some good with the cards he’s been dealt, a symbol and a spectre rather than a boy.
#07 - Loud
Sometimes, he feels like screaming at the top of his lungs, just to see if anyone is listening.
#08 - Energy
He’s always exhausted these days, as if existing just saps the life right out of him, as if he’s not meant to be alive at all.
#09 - Purge
Maybe, if he tries hard enough, if he’s pious and perfect and renounces all his vices, he’ll finally be able to rest this time.
#10 - Mouse
It’s ridiculous to pity the mouse, yeah, but why not find solidarity with your fellow small, trapped animals?
#11 - Attic
Sitting with his knees to his chest in the Brovlovskis’ attic, he does his best to explain; Kyle just looks at him with concern before telling him he shouldn’t joke about these kinds of things.
#12 - Second-Rate
Bleeding out in an alley isn’t the best way to go, that’s for damn sure— what the hell was he thinking when he decided that he wanted to spend his nights pretending to be Batman?
#13 - Dash
Life is a mad dash to the finish line, they say, so why does he never seem to get more than a few steps away from the start?
#14 - Attitude
His dad says he has an attitude problem (wouldn’t everyone, in a situation like this?), but his mom says it’s just growing pains— lots of growing pains.
#15 - Wisdom
Mackey calls him an old soul, and as everyone knows, that’s just educator-speak for something is wrong with you that we can’t quite place, but at least it’s said in the same tone as you’re a good kid: kind, not pitying.
#16 - Sight
It’s hard to stop believing when you’ve seen Heaven firsthand, but the apathy on display from higher powers isn’t exactly reassuring— out of sight, out of mind, even to the all-seeing.
#17 - Address
If they ever address the empty spaces in their memory, it’s to assume he ghosted them for something else— what a choice of words.
#18 - Minute
An hour lasts twenty-two minutes, the past two school years have felt like almost thirty; time doesn’t mean the same thing to him as it does to other people, somehow too fast and too slow all at once.
#19 - Cotton
His mother sews a patchwork baby blanket from scraps of cotton flannel, and he’s not brave enough to say anything when he finds it in his bed after trying to do a backflip off the roof.
#20 - Claw
There’s still grave dirt under his nails; he can feel it even though he’s scrubbed them clean over and over again, can still taste the fear of suffocation as he claws his way out of the coffin— how long ago was that, now?
#21 - Limit
There has to be a limit to the suffering; one kid isn’t built to handle this much pain.
#22 - Unique
There’s no one in the world quite like him; he’s tried to find someone, anyone who would understand and keeps falling short.
#23 - Gravity
There’s only so many times a guy can break his neck before deciding that gravity is an even crueler mistress than fate— but then again, fate’s the reason it’s happened more than once.
#24 - Yesterday
“Yeah, sorry for just disappearing on y’all yesterday— I puked up my guts in the bushes behind Skeeter’s and wanted to go back to bed.”
#25 - Jungle
He doesn’t talk to Kelly anymore, but he’ll never forget that she was the first person to give a damn.
#26 - Garden
Flowers in his windowsill, growing in weak sunlight and a repurposed yogurt container— he can appreciate the irony of an unmarked packet of forget-me-not seeds.
#27 - Question
Fashioning himself as a mystery was a deliberate choice in the midst of an existence that is more questions than it is answers— but if the town accepts Mysterion as their symbol, who is he to argue?
#28 - Text
From Stan, unread: dude r u even alive where were u today????
#29 - Plastic
It’s almost funny, how he’s not bothering to mask it anymore and they still don’t believe him; the pretense was flimsy enough when he was actually putting in effort!
#30 - Block
Most of the time, the gaps are in other people’s memory— sometimes, though, they’re in his own, and his stomach twists to think about what could possibly be so terrible that even he couldn’t endure the thought of it.
#31 - Escort
“You again, platypus?” Damien groans, grabbing his arm to haul him back to the right side of the gates of Hell, still complaining all the while.
#32 - Insult
Trash talk is unbecoming of a hero, but he’s not a particularly heroic sort, anyway, and it riles them up, makes them uneasy, off-kilter, and that’s normally a boon— until he doesn’t see that one of them has a knife.
#33 - Blood
That’s— it’s so much blood, too much blood, how could one small, frail body even hold that much in its veins—
#34 - Gold
The gates of Heaven are blinding in their brilliance, and he always feels just the faintest twinge of imposter syndrome crossing the threshold, not that he’ll stay long.
#35 - Spot
Evidence remains even after he returns; he’s had to spot clean viscera out of his only good pair of jeans more than once.
#36 - Melt
Some days, it’s embarrassingly mundane, like when he chokes on a popsicle— bloodless, but the sugar water melts in his hands cherry-red, a damn good approximation.
#37 - Guilt
“I did this to you,” his mom says one day, eyes glassy, voice wavering until it splinters, and he has no idea how to assuage her grief, so he just presses himself into her arms— it’s okay, I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.
#38 - Duel
It’s not as cool of a way to go out as it looks, especially not when your best friend is wielding the other gun.
#39 - Stranger
The boy in the mirror looks more and more like a stranger every day; it’s high time that he cut his hair again.
#40 - Wait
A lot of things could count as the worst part of this whole mess, but what bores him to tears is when a wrench gets thrown in the system and he’s stuck waiting in an endless nothing for days on end.
#41 - Glow
Afterlifes are always a roulette; this time, he only gets a few seconds enveloped in soft light before being brutally yanked back to life.
#42 - Action
Like so many other stunts, bleeding out in the snow is only cool in the movies— and he’s no action hero, no matter how much he likes to play pretend.
#43 - Chain
Whatever force tethers him to this mortal coil, it’s less like a chain, and more like a yo-yo; a notably belligerent yo-yo that may or may not have come straight out of the Necronomicon.
#44 - Bitter
He’d like to be the kind of person who isn’t bitter about his circumstances, the kind of person who can face the horrors with a smile, but… fuck, he’s tired.
#45 - Lock
He knows where all the weapons in the house are kept under lock and key, just in case.
#46 - Order
The inky darkness is the most peaceful form of afterlife, he thinks— with a life wrapped up in so much chaos, it’s nice to have at least a few stolen moments where everything is quiet and neatly in place.
#47 - Friends
He thinks he’s okay with his friends not believing, really; watching grief weigh on them would be worse.
#48 - Prison
Not to be dramatic about it or anything, but he’s starting to think that his mind is the worst kind of cage— immortality would drive anyone nuts.
#49 - Journal
He keeps a list of every death; maybe it’s not the best to dwell on it, but on the worst days, a concrete record, hidden in a battered composition notebook wedged between his bed and the wall, is the only thing that reminds him that this is all real and not some terrible nightmare.
#50 - Zero
The scales return to zero; it’s another beautiful new day that he has to wake up and face, whether he wants to or not.
Summary: Sleep well, little child, the Lord holds thee now. A study in self-destruction, preservation, and perpetuity, as told in fifty loosely connected sentences by one Kenneth McCormick.
Character: Kenny McCormick
Fandom: South Park
Theme Set: Epsilon
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Repeated major character death, canon-typical violence, vomit, discussions of suicidality, and mild language.
#01 - Hood
Sure, it’s just a jacket, but it’s also a safety net—the one thing that can block out the world just enough to dull his senses and make the day-to-day tedium bearable—so he cinches it a little tighter, just in case.
#02 - Buzz
The buzz of the clippers is soothing, the strands of hair falling into the bathroom sink even more so; this, at least, he can change, even if he doubts that anyone will notice.
#03 - Wish
Sometimes, he wonders what would have happened if he’d never made that wish— is this what it means to have everything go back to the way it was before?
#04 - Seasons
Autumn is his favorite season— a time of year where everyone embraces the weird and scary, and he feels just a little less alone.
#05 - Threat
He’s always the first to jump into harm’s way; better him than anyone else, even if it raises questions he doesn’t know how to answer.
#06 - Portrait
The figure in the mirror is a stranger wearing his face, cloaked in shadows with a hard set to his jaw that appears both wholly unfamiliar and not— it’s what he needs to be, if he wants to do some good with the cards he’s been dealt, a symbol and a spectre rather than a boy.
#07 - Loud
Sometimes, he feels like screaming at the top of his lungs, just to see if anyone is listening.
#08 - Energy
He’s always exhausted these days, as if existing just saps the life right out of him, as if he’s not meant to be alive at all.
#09 - Purge
Maybe, if he tries hard enough, if he’s pious and perfect and renounces all his vices, he’ll finally be able to rest this time.
#10 - Mouse
It’s ridiculous to pity the mouse, yeah, but why not find solidarity with your fellow small, trapped animals?
#11 - Attic
Sitting with his knees to his chest in the Brovlovskis’ attic, he does his best to explain; Kyle just looks at him with concern before telling him he shouldn’t joke about these kinds of things.
#12 - Second-Rate
Bleeding out in an alley isn’t the best way to go, that’s for damn sure— what the hell was he thinking when he decided that he wanted to spend his nights pretending to be Batman?
#13 - Dash
Life is a mad dash to the finish line, they say, so why does he never seem to get more than a few steps away from the start?
#14 - Attitude
His dad says he has an attitude problem (wouldn’t everyone, in a situation like this?), but his mom says it’s just growing pains— lots of growing pains.
#15 - Wisdom
Mackey calls him an old soul, and as everyone knows, that’s just educator-speak for something is wrong with you that we can’t quite place, but at least it’s said in the same tone as you’re a good kid: kind, not pitying.
#16 - Sight
It’s hard to stop believing when you’ve seen Heaven firsthand, but the apathy on display from higher powers isn’t exactly reassuring— out of sight, out of mind, even to the all-seeing.
#17 - Address
If they ever address the empty spaces in their memory, it’s to assume he ghosted them for something else— what a choice of words.
#18 - Minute
An hour lasts twenty-two minutes, the past two school years have felt like almost thirty; time doesn’t mean the same thing to him as it does to other people, somehow too fast and too slow all at once.
#19 - Cotton
His mother sews a patchwork baby blanket from scraps of cotton flannel, and he’s not brave enough to say anything when he finds it in his bed after trying to do a backflip off the roof.
#20 - Claw
There’s still grave dirt under his nails; he can feel it even though he’s scrubbed them clean over and over again, can still taste the fear of suffocation as he claws his way out of the coffin— how long ago was that, now?
#21 - Limit
There has to be a limit to the suffering; one kid isn’t built to handle this much pain.
#22 - Unique
There’s no one in the world quite like him; he’s tried to find someone, anyone who would understand and keeps falling short.
#23 - Gravity
There’s only so many times a guy can break his neck before deciding that gravity is an even crueler mistress than fate— but then again, fate’s the reason it’s happened more than once.
#24 - Yesterday
“Yeah, sorry for just disappearing on y’all yesterday— I puked up my guts in the bushes behind Skeeter’s and wanted to go back to bed.”
#25 - Jungle
He doesn’t talk to Kelly anymore, but he’ll never forget that she was the first person to give a damn.
#26 - Garden
Flowers in his windowsill, growing in weak sunlight and a repurposed yogurt container— he can appreciate the irony of an unmarked packet of forget-me-not seeds.
#27 - Question
Fashioning himself as a mystery was a deliberate choice in the midst of an existence that is more questions than it is answers— but if the town accepts Mysterion as their symbol, who is he to argue?
#28 - Text
From Stan, unread: dude r u even alive where were u today????
#29 - Plastic
It’s almost funny, how he’s not bothering to mask it anymore and they still don’t believe him; the pretense was flimsy enough when he was actually putting in effort!
#30 - Block
Most of the time, the gaps are in other people’s memory— sometimes, though, they’re in his own, and his stomach twists to think about what could possibly be so terrible that even he couldn’t endure the thought of it.
#31 - Escort
“You again, platypus?” Damien groans, grabbing his arm to haul him back to the right side of the gates of Hell, still complaining all the while.
#32 - Insult
Trash talk is unbecoming of a hero, but he’s not a particularly heroic sort, anyway, and it riles them up, makes them uneasy, off-kilter, and that’s normally a boon— until he doesn’t see that one of them has a knife.
#33 - Blood
That’s— it’s so much blood, too much blood, how could one small, frail body even hold that much in its veins—
#34 - Gold
The gates of Heaven are blinding in their brilliance, and he always feels just the faintest twinge of imposter syndrome crossing the threshold, not that he’ll stay long.
#35 - Spot
Evidence remains even after he returns; he’s had to spot clean viscera out of his only good pair of jeans more than once.
#36 - Melt
Some days, it’s embarrassingly mundane, like when he chokes on a popsicle— bloodless, but the sugar water melts in his hands cherry-red, a damn good approximation.
#37 - Guilt
“I did this to you,” his mom says one day, eyes glassy, voice wavering until it splinters, and he has no idea how to assuage her grief, so he just presses himself into her arms— it’s okay, I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.
#38 - Duel
It’s not as cool of a way to go out as it looks, especially not when your best friend is wielding the other gun.
#39 - Stranger
The boy in the mirror looks more and more like a stranger every day; it’s high time that he cut his hair again.
#40 - Wait
A lot of things could count as the worst part of this whole mess, but what bores him to tears is when a wrench gets thrown in the system and he’s stuck waiting in an endless nothing for days on end.
#41 - Glow
Afterlifes are always a roulette; this time, he only gets a few seconds enveloped in soft light before being brutally yanked back to life.
#42 - Action
Like so many other stunts, bleeding out in the snow is only cool in the movies— and he’s no action hero, no matter how much he likes to play pretend.
#43 - Chain
Whatever force tethers him to this mortal coil, it’s less like a chain, and more like a yo-yo; a notably belligerent yo-yo that may or may not have come straight out of the Necronomicon.
#44 - Bitter
He’d like to be the kind of person who isn’t bitter about his circumstances, the kind of person who can face the horrors with a smile, but… fuck, he’s tired.
#45 - Lock
He knows where all the weapons in the house are kept under lock and key, just in case.
#46 - Order
The inky darkness is the most peaceful form of afterlife, he thinks— with a life wrapped up in so much chaos, it’s nice to have at least a few stolen moments where everything is quiet and neatly in place.
#47 - Friends
He thinks he’s okay with his friends not believing, really; watching grief weigh on them would be worse.
#48 - Prison
Not to be dramatic about it or anything, but he’s starting to think that his mind is the worst kind of cage— immortality would drive anyone nuts.
#49 - Journal
He keeps a list of every death; maybe it’s not the best to dwell on it, but on the worst days, a concrete record, hidden in a battered composition notebook wedged between his bed and the wall, is the only thing that reminds him that this is all real and not some terrible nightmare.
#50 - Zero
The scales return to zero; it’s another beautiful new day that he has to wake up and face, whether he wants to or not.
no subject
no subject
I was actually rather hesitant about adding not that he’ll stay long at first; it only made it through on the second revision. I’m glad it packed a punch!
Thank you so much for taking a moment to delve into the madness that is taking South Park seriously with me. :]