i'll wait, so show me why you're strong

[ravagers]

[ Generally, people need time to cope and gather themselves after a... thing... like that. Unfortunately, that's not how Vanille sees it. Her thing is avoid, and once she gets out of that hellhole that's the courtroom, she makes her way to the supplies closet, then to the library. She spends some time setting up things, pushing things aside to make room. Once she's finished, and she's met up with the Party Brigade, she makes enough invitations for everyone. She slips them under everyone's doors, or hands them out if she sees someone walking around.



Inside the library, there are candles set up to provide some soft, comforting lighting. There are pots of tea, courtesy of Mercy, pancakes made by Viktor, and books (picked out by Estelle, of course) laid out on the surrounding tables. The others have provided their own touches, and Vanille's even managed to make something: sugar cookies, which are actually very good. They're flavored lightly with all sorts of flavors--not all in the same cookie, okay--and each plate is marked with whatever flavor she's put in them.

After a successful trial, it's healthy to indulge, right? Let's mingle. ]

Comments

[uncouthhatcher]

[Yeaaah, that got... pretty bad.]

Well, maybe it'll be a one-time thing and we won't have to anymore. Get the killin' out of our systems this week and we'll be fine... however long we gotta stay here, which I'm seriously hopin' ain't long. Why couldn't the reward for solvin' the case be that we got let go?

[officerhops]

[Judy shrugs a little, plucking a piece of cucumber from her nearby cup. Gold is welcome to some, assuming he's not the kind of kid who hates vegetables.]

It would be too easy. There's no way the Wordsmith would kidnap 30 people and let them all go, even after all of this. I just...wish I could figure out what his motive is.

[She pulls her legs a little closer to the table's edge.]

It feels so needless, even for a mentally unstable serial kidnapper.

[uncouthhatcher]

[He's not, but... eating straight up vegetables is kind of. Weird? Also, that's her food--

eh, no, he'll take a carrot if she's got any left.]

Maybe he needs us for something. [...] Dunno what, but I went against a guy like that before. Treated people like tools for him to use.

[Gold's pretty cold when he's talking about this, because people (and Pokémon) as tools? Does not settle well with him, fuck that.]

Wouldn't be surprised if it was something like that. Don't really care for talkin' with him though, he pisses me off.

[officerhops]

[There are plenty! Eat up, those are good for your eyes.]

I've already tried a few times, myself. It's...hard. He has a way with talking around you and not really answering what you're asking unless there's only one possible answer.

[She huffs, her nose twitching.]

If he needed us for something, though, he wouldn't be telling us to kill each other.

[uncouthhatcher]

[He's gonna have to find some way to get Silver to eat a lot of carrots to fix whatever the fuck's wrong with his vision.]

Maybe he wants to prove a point or something. We could be his... thesis or whatever the hell teachers have.

[officerhops]

Well that would be absolutely terrible. And kinda morbid...

[She sighs, one of her feet tapping against the table edge.]

Speculating reasons why will probably just make us angry about things we can't do anything about, anyway. Bottom line is that he's crazy, and needs to be stopped before anything else happens.

[uncouthhatcher]

So, you got any ideas? 'Cause I'm thinkin' he's the shy type.

[Like, short of... making a grappling hook and throwing it onto that judge's podium, how are they going to find where he might be.]

[officerhops]

[That is the question of the century, isn't it.]

More like he doesn't want anyone to see his face and use that evidence to get him locked up in prison for life.

[uncouthhatcher]

You think this place has a prison outside of its walls? I've been wonderin' what it looks like outside, like if we're out in the wilderness or if we're just in some kinda building everyone else knows about but we're bein' watched, like reality TV.

[... Which would be pretty fucked up.]

[officerhops]

[.....that is some imagination you have there, Gold.]

I can't really imagine it being anything like that. But wherever this is, I feel like it must be secluded somewhere.

[uncouthhatcher]

[He watches a lot of TV.]

Because otherwise people'd be tryin' to sneak in and explore it, thinkin' its an abandoned area, right? That's what I'd do.

[it's illegal but this is fine]