WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? OUR TALES RIVAL JUST TURNED INTO A ZOMBIE!

[bloodisthicker]

[...so, uh, that was a thing that happened. Tarrlok was completely ready to do the politician thing and come up with a speech or something for most of whatever the hell that excuse for a trial was, but everything got all confusing, baffling, and horrifying and completely inexplicably, he can't find the words.

Maybe he just... needs a day. Tomorrow will probably be fine. For now, though, Misa volunteered to make brownies, and he was going to make a Northern Water Tribe comfort food specialty.

...even if they only had shortening and not actual animal fat and it'd been a while since he'd made it, but it tasted... alright? Definitely not as good as the stuff back home, but it was hard to get that good, anyway.

...there's also the matter of setting things up in a location other than the dining hall, because even though that's cleaned up, it still feels pretty tasteless to hold a wake literal feet from the place you found someone's bloody corpse.

So, a little later on in the day, a lovingly personalized note will be slid under everyone's doors:



And if the Survivors choose to head to the library, they'll find a... well, okay, it's a bunch of boxes from the storage room of comparable size stacked up on each other to kind of resemble a table. The dining hall ones don't even seem like they'd fit in the library, so Team Afterparty clearly had to improvise. One side is filled with plates, bowls, and spoons, and the other is filled with brownies, cookies, and a big bowl of berry aqutak. There are also chairs dotted throughout the room in a sort of vague circle --- close enough together that if people want to talk, they can, but far enough apart that it'd be easy to drag it off for some privacy.]

Comments

[happysweets]

You mean, like, a concert or something? We don't have much in the way of a stage down here, but, that doesn't seem like a bad idea! Maybe we can try and figure something out like a talent show? That might be fun for everyone, right?

[ This whole thing is definitely making her feel a lot better..! And something like that would, without a doubt, make people get involved one way or another... ]

I'll talk to him about it later!

[lackinginfaith]

Between worlds, you mean.

[prismbloom]

Actions do speak louder than words, especially in this sort of situation. I'm not happy that it's so, but at this point there's nothing to do but go forward and take action.

Even if it means doing something terrible.

[ Honestly, they're a pretty damn weird group. Case in point: how many people cared about Zagi.

But anyway. ]

... It's left us all rattled. I didn't expect the Kingmaker to have that sort of power. [ Aqua turns a couple shades paler. ]

[captainobnoxious]

[Honestly, not a clue if Sigrun knows what a "talent show" includes other than Feats Of Strength. That said:]

I think a talent show would be perfect, especially so everyone can show off what they're best at! [Or whatever.] I'm looking forward to seeing what you two cook up. I'll even join in with a few stories of my own.

[notjustawriter]

Yeah, that.

For every world where you got 'em running around, there's probably plenty where they don't exist at all.

Makes it difficult talkin' about anything potentially a problem here.

[happysweets]

Good. I feel the same way! I'd rather not have anyone worrying about me if they don't have to. I'm still worried about everyone here, but, I know everyone'll be just fine in time...

[prismbloom]

[ She finally pulls away--a touch reluctantly, to be honest. ]

I have no doubt we will--especially with such delicious cookies.

[notjustawriter]

[He nods, running a hand through his hair.]

He'll... he'll probably hope he can get us complacent, try and get people to fall into despair.

[sleepingkogoro]

I can talk to Lynne-san about that. She had been planning to do something about the weapons, so I'm sure she'd agree immediately to think something else.

I'll talk to her as soon as possible. We'll plan something.

[Yeah, Mouri sounds quite sure of that, and unlike the other times he has sounded confident about something, at least this time it is about something with more chances of succeeding]

[lackinginfaith]

Or where they just work differently, I'll assume.

[ratingspoint]

That's good, though! You can't expect to learn everything in a day, after all.

[Normalcy is...good, really. It tended to help Shyren after that whole business with her sister, it tends to keep Alphys at least pretending to be functional. It's pretty excellent, all things considered.]

Are there any songs you know from back home - anything you particularly like?

[amygdalae]

Make us give up, probably.

[All of them are shaken. It's al too easy to see.]

But we can't let the Kingmaker push us around like this all the time. It has to stop somewhere.

[goodforsomething]

[Stan's at the party, and frankly he doesn't really look all that upset compared to some others. A little grim, sure - the murder started a lot quicker than he was hoping. But he didn't know either of them hardly at all, and he's not honestly too worried about a literal killer vampire dying.

But he can see that the others are pretty shaken. So while Misa and Tarrlok took care of food, he'll be brewing some coffee in the kitchen.]

[notjustawriter]

That, too.

It's why I want t'focus on the reanimated corpse bit, and not brain eatin' or anything like that.

[ratingspoint]

[...You know what, fortunately Mettaton's in the right mood to laugh it off, good lord.]

I only have so much to work with here, unfortunately - I don't have my soundstages or any way to produce music worth anything. Unless you want the entire thing done by the power of one of those pathetic ukeleles, anyway!

I'm sure I can make just about anything work, but that's a bit difficult for even me.

[lackinginfaith]

I've never seen anything like that before today. Does your world have them?

[notjustawriter]

No, we can't.

This sort of thing pisses me off, taking advantage of people's fears to try to get them to act in a desperate way, and then killin' 'em for freakin' out.

There's nothing right about murder, but making people think they have no other option is just as disgusting.

[notjustawriter]

Yeah.

I've only seen 'em once, and they were more like... cursed guardians than what you'd see in a horror movie. They started moving after an object they were guarding was removed.

I saw them in Africa, after my great uncle and I were able to track down a stolen family heirloom.

[captainobnoxious]

[That's good. Sigrun'll grin at him then, patting his arm.]

Glad to hear it, detective. I'm counting on you two to work something out. And thanks for coming over to check on me, even if you kept implying I was a murderer for part of the trial, I'm just holding an early vigil for those two idiots since I'm pretty sure no one's going to like anyone being alone in the hallways tonight.

[lackinginfaith]

Your world has a lot of strange things, doesn't it? For what it's worth, I'm sorry about everything at the trial today.

[goodforsomething]

[It takes a little while, but Stan eventually notices Black as he's passing by the storage room for whatever reason. He hesitates for a second, then asks in a (sort of unusually) quiet tone:]

Hey, kid. You want some coffee?

[bloodisthicker]

Well, I'm glad to hear it's a hit with someone, at the very least. I figured it'd probably go over alright with people who don't know what the real thing's supposed to taste like, and it's still pretty decent comfort food.

It's just not what I grew up with, that's all.

[notjustawriter]

Yeah. It sure seems that way.

[....]

Don't worry about earlier today; people did what they thought they had to, it didn't offend me.

[lackinginfaith]

We were all under suspicion at some point.

[ignorantly]

[ Shirazu's in the library while she tries to light the thing, but soon after it starts burning he gets up and steps outside, leaning against the wall while he watches the flames. ]

...Hey.