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

[feistytrader]

...Seriously? That's some luck.

[...He could have done without letting that slip from his mouth, but it's too late to take it back now.]

Although I guess it explains why you kept it together.

[Not that it's any less difficult the second time around.]

[plentyfriendly]

Yeah, a little.

[Part of it is just the way she is, though.]

[feistytrader]

[...Should he ask? Probably not, but-]

Were you locked up like this, too?

[...]

You don't have to answer. It's not really my business.

[plentyfriendly]

No, it's fine. I've told a few people that I was.

[feistytrader]

...How many people made it out?

[What are their survival chances in here?]

[plentyfriendly]

Out of nine... no, ten people involved? All of them.

[We may already be on a bad ending path.]

[feistytrader]

In other words, we're off to a promising start.

[At least a 28/30 was still an A. ...Or it might be. Hell if he knows, it's not like he's been to school.]

[plentyfriendly]

Yeah, you could say that. It helped that there was an exit condition that didn't involve killing someone.

[Well... sort of.]

[feistytrader]

While our plan here is to chip at the wall with a...

[knife, uh-]

Nevermind.

[Nailed it.]

[plentyfriendly]

Yeah, we're going to need to rethink that plan.

[feistytrader]

Yeah. We'd run out of knives.

[...Silver, that's not the problem here-]

[plentyfriendly]

Exactly.

[Just because it's not the main problem doesn't mean that's not a valid point!]

More seriously, we have no information on what's on the other side of the walls. For all we know it's water.

[feistytrader]

[But couldn't you just swim to the surface or some... oh.]

Or lava.

[That's a problem.]

[plentyfriendly]

If they're really thick walls, sure.

[Structural engineers in Pokéworld must have it rough.]

[feistytrader]

Why else have all the red?

[You know, this is a totally ridiculous theory, but he's decided it. They're surrounded by lava somehow.]

[plentyfriendly]

Some kind of psychological effect is my guess. Red evokes power, wrath...

[This is exactly the kind of weird trivia she'd know.]

[feistytrader]

...The color red can make you angry?

[Hello yes, please explain psychology to him-]

[plentyfriendly]

Yeah. A lot of it is societal [just ask someone from a country where blue is green], but most colors have some associated emotional and symbological connections.