And it's the stars, the stars that lie to you.

[neverheardofhim]

[This week, Varric opted to take a page from Vanille’s book. Gathering everyone together after the roller-coaster that the first trial had been proved to be somewhat cathartic for himself. He hoped that it would prove to do the same for the others.]

[He wasn’t alone, of course, having found himself blessed with the most ragtag team of chefs and party-planners. He might have had words for and thoughts on Elda and Kimbley, Mikazuki was welcome company, and he wasn’t about to turn away potential allies, even in a fight as simple as cooking dinner.]

[Once everyone’s set to a task, baking a cake, brewing tea, or stirring stew (the only task Varric could think to assign Elda to), Varric excused himself to his room. His first task was writing up cards, each personally titled and signed by Varric.]

Food in the Library. 5 p.m. Don’t spend the night alone.

[Each note was slid under a door and accompanied by a single rap on the wood.]

[With his tasks completed, Varric returned to the kitchen to put out any potential fires and, with luck, set the food out. A table in the library would be adorned with plenty of tea, cake, pancakes courtesy of Viktor, and stew thanks mostly to Varric (sorry, Elda).]

Comments

[neverheardofhim]

[Chiyuuki might not have been interested in food, but good luck convincing Varric of that. Pouring the stew was a welcome distraction from his own troubled mind, as was approaching the woman and holding it out to her.]

You can't say no. It's a gift. From me to you.

[stepout]

[ ...Well, she can't just refuse a gift, now can she? She'll take it with a split-second (small) smile, tightness slipping away. ]

If you insist. [ Just because she took it doesn't necessarily mean she has to eat it! ...But she probably will, she's just stirring it right now idly. ] ...I noticed some people didn't come. Did you check on them?

[neverheardofhim]

[A smile is a start, and something of a comfort. So far, they'd done a decent job of sticking together. What Alani had done was wrong, but it was obvious that she hadn't done it out of malice. And the fact that people cared enough for both her and Christo meant that there was some amount of unity in their motley crew.]

[They couldn't afford to lose that going forward. With that in mind, Varric would take any amount of amicability he could get.]

I have. They're... not doing well, but they'll survive.

[stepout]

...That's good to hear. [ They'd been hit pretty hard by all of this; it's good that someone's checking up on them...

There's probably more than one person doing that, with all the nice people they have. ] What about you?

[ She's not too worried about some... of their group, but given that he set all of this up and he's been looking out for everyone... It warrants asking, to make sure someone's looking out for him, too. Like her and Lusamine had talked about: watch someone else's back as well as you watch your own. ]

[neverheardofhim]

I'm... better than last week, if that helps. [Maybe not emotionally -- he was still pretty damn beat up. But he was functioning better, getting things done. Maybe it helped that some of their companions were struggling though. It was hard to focus on his own misery when people like Vanille or Orihime needed him.]

And you?

[stepout]

[ It helps, and she considers the question before she nods a little. ]

...Yeah, I am. [ It... it's not like it doesn't bother her on some level—it was much easier to not be bothered by it last week—but there's a familiarity to it she keeps wanting to hold on to to make it easier to handle.

Judgements and all. Murder's still more extreme, and she can't reconcile with it, but—not the point, not the point. Easy, easy. ] I'm not really feeling like staying the whole time, so I might skip out in a bit. That okay with you?

[neverheardofhim]

[Varric didn't look particularly convinced, but stayed quiet all the same. He had no reason to think otherwise, either. And unlike some of the other people here, he didn't know Chiyuki well enough to make an attempt at either prying or comforting.]

Not a problem. I just... want to be sure everyone is staying healthy. Don't know what the Wordsmith would have us do if one of us keeled over in starvation.

[stepout]

[ She's not half the convincing actress she wants to be in these situations; she just gets by on neutral looks and being quiet, unnoticeable. ]

I don't know either. It's not like he could put us to trial for it, right? [ ...Right? ]

[neverheardofhim]

I'm pretty sure he can do damn well whatever he pleases. [He hated admitting it aloud, but it was starting to feel that way. He'd grabbed them, held them against their will, and was slowly convincing them to murder one another.]

[It made him sick.]

Better make a point of not starving, I guess.