Love of mine, someday you will die, but I'll be close behind

[feistytrader]

Please join us in the greenhouse should you feel able or need company. There will be food and comfort. None of us should be alone right now.

-Hanyuu, Jasper, and Silver

[That's the note that gets slid under everyone's doors after such a somber and saddening trial; it's not like it's going to be a big ordeal anymore given how few of them there are, but that doesn't mean that they should spend it alone.

The location of their setup is the greenhouse! ...The greenhouse has had a new addition; there is a massive blanket fort set up using an absurd amount of rope, blankets, and duct tape. The blankets span across three trees to make a considerable amount of space roughly shaped like a triangle for them to hang out under. Under the fort is a small pile of scissors taken from the sewing and art rooms. Next to them are a couple of flower crowns. They're relatively simple and don't involve many different flowers, but they're good examples of what the pile of scissors are there for.

There's also food, of course; a blanket is laid out on the floor with a large set of plates, a massive amount of eggs and rice, some of Elda's spicy fries, and... Sandwiches. Jasper's made everyone sandwiches, and the sandwiches are absolutely absurd in size due to how many cold cuts she's stacked into them. But don't worry! They aren't all meat. There's a lot of mustard, too. Luckily, they're still of a reasonably edible size.]

Comments

CHEM LAB

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda was walking back from the bar, actually, when she heard someone fucking around in the chem lab. She has a wine bottle under her arm as she walks past.

She did see the boy earlier of course. Even got Orihime's letter from him and that fucked her up a bit. She's still got that on her. But now, well, following the sound (and smell) she...

Gets into the lab to ask - ]

You will not nod off in here, right?

[feistytrader]

[...It's Elda, and he can't imagine that she likes this room very much with all the chemical smells. At the same time-]

I won't, but I wouldn't mind some company.

[matchbreaker]

For a time, anyway. I do have an errand to run and a bed to return to.

[ She says this casually, getting in a seat and setting the bottle of wine up onto the counter as she gets on a stool and watches him work.

... Her nose is twitching. She does hate the smell. ]

[feistytrader]

[...He's pretty quiet while he works on them; it's not something he's very good at doing, although he's memorized all the steps, and he'd very much like to not lose his fingers to frostbite. He's also made quite a few already. It's starting to become more than he could have any use for himself.

After a while though, he pauses and turns to Elda again.]

How many do you want?

[matchbreaker]

... How do they work? You just throw them?

[ Elda says this, looking up from the piece of paper she'd pulled out and had started to write on to fill the time. ]

[feistytrader]

More or less. There's some stuff in the first part that doesn't mix well with the stuff in the glass jar. When you throw them, they mix together and cause everything to freeze. You should probably be careful not to shake them too much, either.

[Lest the chemicals mix.]

I don't really get the science behind them, and I couldn't really explain it well even if I did, so don't ask me about that stuff. Just know that it's toss and cold. And really cold, too.

[matchbreaker]

So... keep them still, but throw them, and w can freeze things.

[ Hmmm.... ]

Six. Three I shall keep in my room, and three in Hanyuu's.

[feistytrader]

And make sure not to toss them at close range, or you might get hurt.

[He'll make six for her, then.]

I trust that you're smart enough not to just toss them whenever. These are only for if we get attacked by Kageshirou and need to buy some time.

[Or for chucking them at the Wordsmith's head if they ever meet him, but that's not the point.]

[matchbreaker]

Offering them to me in the first place means you trust me not to kill you or the others with them. Don't worry, I will be careful.

[ she laughs it off, but... Well.

Yeah. ]

[feistytrader]

I don't think you're going to kill someone, no. More than that, I don't think you're cruel enough to kill someone with these.

[matchbreaker]

[ blink. ]

... Ah, well.

I... suppose not.

[feistytrader]

[...]

Do you want me to keep an eye on Hanyuu for you?

[He trusts Elda. Hanyuu, on the other hand...]

[matchbreaker]

[ What...? ]

What?

[feistytrader]

...I trust that you won't do something, and that you won't die.

I don't trust Watanuki or Hanyuu to do the same.

[matchbreaker]

. . . Why?

[ She- ]

Hanyuu is far better than me.

[ It came out before she stopped herself ]

[feistytrader]

You understand that your life has value, both to yourself and others.

[...His face isn't doing too much tonight.]

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . Ah- Ah. ]

. . . She said she loves me, you know. That same night.

[feistytrader]

But that doesn't stop her from thinking that it's okay if she dies if others get to live.

...Don't get me wrong. I thought the same way. I spent way too long wishing that it was me instead of Gold. In a way, I still do. But you guys care about me. You'd be upset if I died. I don't want to do that to any of you. I want us all to get out of here.

And to do that, we need to look out for everyone, right? All of us.

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda... bites her nail ]

... She said she couldn't, she couldn't leave someone she loved alone. But...

[ She shouldn't be burdening a child with this, but who else can she tell? Elda.... ]

.... I know, I am certain. I am certain she is guilty it was two instead of one. She is just the sort to think that, and I-

[ . . . ]

I don't know how to handle that.

[feistytrader]

I don't either. It pisses me off.

[Hanyuu's a good person, he never thought anything about Hanyuu would make him angry like this, and then-]

But I want to do something to help before I lose more of my friends.

[matchbreaker]

I want to believe that now, she would not die. She could not do that to me.

[ but...

Well, tonight will be a test for that, won't it? ]

... I'd actually thought to apologize to her. How foolish is that?

[feistytrader]

Don't. Don't even forgive her for it.

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . She did not expect to hear that- ]

What?

[feistytrader]

At least not until we're out. Make sure she gets out alive first.

[matchbreaker]

I--- [ . . . This is a weird moment and- ] I do not know if I am capable of such a thing.

[ With a woman she loves. Shares a bed with. Is always besides.

... But it must sound absurd form Elda Marker, the hateful grandmother. ]

... But she will get out alive.

[ Or Elda won't. ]