i feel the love, and i feel it burn, down this river every turn

[oyashiromama]

[The trial, as usual, was taxing. It's for different reasons every week, but what it all comes down to is there are fewer of them than there were, and that keeps on happening. The note comes, as it always does, earlier than last week, but still with some delay. There's a note slipped under everyone's door. ...One under Gold's door because of course Silver will be staying there, she knows.]

Please come to the dining room, if you would like not to be alone. There will be food, and there will be some cards and board games if you need a distraction.

- Hanyuu & Elda

[True to that, there are a variety of foods. It's nothing too fancy. Rice, grilled fish, eggs in various styles. ...No creampuffs this time, it seems Hanyuu thought that would be a little in poor taste. Also a bunch of fries? ...Really spicy fries, like incredibly so.

On a far table, board games brought from the games room have been left out, along with many decks of cards.]

Comments

[elepe]

[...she was actually just putting her Pokemon away so she could head to the pool, it's a good thing he caught her--Lusamine goes to the door not expecting much when she opens it a crack--]

--Gangrel? [...The last person she expected to see.] What brings you here?

[elepe]

[...Well, Clefable and Mismagius are on those plates the second Elda sets them down--Lilligant at least tries to give her equivalent of a thank you before taking some and testing.]

Oh, are you experimenting with food? Well, I suppose that's no problem...

[And try they do! ...All of the Pokemon react a little bit like they got hit in the tongue with the red pepper and salt fries, but they seem to enjoy the paprika and pepper ones. With Lusamine, it's the opposite--paprika and pepper are a bit odd even for her, but the the first set are what she continues eating.]

...Not bad, for a first time around.

[matchbreaker]

Mmmmhmm. If every time we're going to have one of these things or those meetings you lot are going to eat everything, I figured I might as well learn something. So on Monday I forced a bunch of people to give me lessons. This one I learned from Silver, but the spice mixing is original.

[ And then Estelle. And then... Killia. For better or worse. Still, she looks sheepish that these - all of them - seem to find something that they like! ]

profiles

[oyashiromama]

[Hanyuu keeps an eye out for Orihime. The moment she catches a hint of that orange hair, she follows her, right to the foyer, and then...

She hesitates for a brief moment, and then she walks to her, footsteps loud.]

Orihime.

[She'll hug her. Just as Orihime did last week, she'll just walk right up to her and give her a hug.]

[plegia]

[THERE'S GOING TO BE SO MUCH HANDWAVED CARD GAME PLAYING HERE, HELLA]

...Nice of you to offer some kind of apology after [handwave] all of that.

[plegia]

Figured it would be better to thank you for that in person.

[But maybe a letter would have been easier...]

...I'm not mad, by the way. You changed your tune quickly enough, after all.

[She trusted him. That's what he's trying to say. Lusamine trusted him even after everything was pointing directly at him. Yes, she was suspicious at first, but who wouldn't be?]

[iaspis]

[Jasper spends part of the evening in her room, seemingly content to be by herself. She's lost a lot of people she cares about in a short period of time, and it's beginning to weigh heavily on her shoulders.

Eventually, though, she'll show up at the afterparty. She doesn't seem like she's interested in eating for much of her stay in the party-- not that she needs to anyway, of course. Eventually she helps herself to a plateful of the fries, though even though she's never had something so spicy before, she doesn't quite... react, really.

She looks like she feels incredibly numb.]

[tsugomori]

[ Mikazuki nodded, and he bites his lip a little, actually a tad bit afraid Gangrel would get angry at him for asking. But... he supposes he only needed help with it once now that he has his Internal Affairs wear. So, maybe it won't be too hard, if it was just for one time... ]

T...thank you again, Gangrel. I will never forget what you've done for me...ah...

[ He sniffs. Time to bite the bullet.

It's been awhile since he's been anxious and embarrassed about anything, but ... honestly right now, things are hard to deal with. ]

I'm sorry to ask this of you, but... Killia had been the one to help me out of this outfit since I couldn't undress or redress myself for the three layers of this clothing. He usually helped me until I just had the white kimono since I could take care of that myself, and-- I...I need a little help getting off the first three layers since I can't reach the buttons...

[matchbreaker]

[ HELLA HELLA. It's as she's dealing a new hand, her eyes closed, that she responds, mostly to give him and out from the sentimentality, if he wants it- ]

Honestly though, who could have seen that he could transform coming? Let alone that it would transform his clothes.

[elepe]

[She gets a bit of a unified 'thank you' attempt from all of the Pokemon at once, while they focus on the second set. Lusamine smiles.]

I'm glad to see it. Why, that saying may have some truth to it after all...

[It gets a bit of a laugh.]

It's very hard to do these wrong, however. They're excellent for testing out. Sandwiches are good as well, if you ever decide to go further.

[plegia]

[He could complain about Mikazuki's choice of words (he's not being nice, so there's nothing for Mikazuki to remember) but he decides against complaining for once.

Of course, he's not entirely sure what to do with the rest of that.]

Why do you wear something so complicated if you can't even get out of it?

[But he sighs heavily and rolls his eyes.]

I suppose I can help, just this once.

[this is going to be a production with his nails, but you know what, he's willing to try to help. but only just this once!!!]

FRIES DUH

[matchbreaker]

Oh, do you like them?! Those are mine, you know!

[ It's... silly, in a way, how excited Elda looks given the circumstances and all. But she's still got her hands together, leaning in towards Jasper. She knows that it's not the perfect response, but in the absence of certainty it'll do. ]

foyer

[ravagers]

[ Oh, Hanyuu... Vanille wanders over, and then, quietly, ]

Hi.

[plegia]

I certainly wasn't expecting it. I didn't know him nearly as well as I thought I did.

[What a mistake that was.]

I started suspecting him the moment I was reminded of the creampuffs, but I hadn't thought his clothes could change color.

[He thought it was a frame job. It's good that it wasn't. That makes all of this easier, somehow.]

[iaspis]

[...Elda, oh my gosh. That... actually helps a little? Jasper laughs a little at Elda's excitement.]

They're delicious.

[But she's also an Earth Quartz, which means she'll probably never eat something she doesn't think is delicious. Including utterly inedible things like clocks.]

[matchbreaker]

I've tried those a little. Though you never put meat on yours, right?

[ She'd noticed that much! ]

Estelle taught me to how to make this rice omelette thing. And then... Killia tried to show me something. But he was a lousy teacher, truth told.

[ Still, that sentiment was warm. Elda sits there, rocking in her chair. She's... not at all sure what to make of everything. That's probably why she's taking so much pride in this small victory that Lusamine and her own are eating these. ]

Room 28

[ravagers]

[ She doesn't see him around but... she feels like she needs to talk to him. So... He'll get a note slipped under his door. ]

I've got something to tell you. But I won't unless you open the door, Mad King.

--Vanille

afterparty

[plegia]

[Gangrel's only showing up for food but... well, Jasper did stand up for him when he really needed the assistance, so instead he flops into a nearby chair. Mikazuki will be okay for a little while.]

Well. That was awful.

[TO PUT IT VERY LIGHTLY.]

[matchbreaker]

You did? [ She opens her eyes, arching a brow ] You could have accused him then and there, that would have at least swayed some of us.

[ Perhaps even herself. ]

foyer

[iaspis]

[There are a lot of things Jasper is clueless about, but she looks at the shrine for a long moment, not saying anything.]

Is this a tribute?

[matchbreaker]

Are they? Excellent!

[ She's going to do her arrogant Old Lady Laugh as she slides into a seat across from Jasper, hr eyes all but sparkling ]

Truth told, the recipe was Silver's, but the spice mix was my own.

[plegia]

I know. But I couldn't bring myself to do it.

[And that's... not really something he knows how to address.]

I was so sure it wasn't him. I would rather have everyone pointing fingers at me than take a chance that it could be him. That's... Ridiculous.

[He shakes his head, as if to get rid of that thought entirely.]

[elepe]

...You said it yourself, didn't you? You're alive out of spite, and until your revenge against...Ylisse is complete.

[She's pretty sure she butchered the pronunciation on that one, but she looks away despite it.]

...Part of me thought that you had lied about that. You wouldn't be the first to do so, and...I suppose I thought this was going to repeat.

[Silver and Gold still sting from last week, after all, and...who knows about some of these people. She's practically waiting for the second Kimbley to strike.]

[plegia]

[Well, that's interesting. He opens the door only a few moments later.]

Something that important you need to say it to my face?

[iaspis]

[She nods, though she doesn't say anything right away.]

Our numbers are now half what they were at the start.