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

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

[...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.]

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No wonder you're so enamored with him.

[That's sweet.]

[Cherryblod's in the kitchen too, to make tea for anyone who wants any.]

...I think they're clean by now.

[He'll watch it burn for a little bit before he reaches out again, whapping her arm lightly with something bendy and plastic and noxiously orange and watching it wrap around her wrist.

Looks like someone else got those slap-bracelets out of the machine, and apparently this is just how we declare friendship around here. Attaching random bits of fuck-only-knows-what to people.]

Are you going to be all right?

[Mouri approaches the fire hazard. This is really unsafe, what were you thinking, Sigrun, come on.

But he is no mood to play Safety Inspector here. All he does is stand nearby, unsure of how to approach her]

Hm. I heard you two got along quite well.

[Sure, that could be a good place to start. Mouri is kind of ready to go away if Sigrun requests to be left alone, though]

Well, it's part of the reason. He's a really great guy. The kind of person who can't bear to sit by on the sidelines while bad things happen...he's got a wonderful heart, and a great mind to match. And everyone loves him, too...

He really cares about the world. It's inspiring, to hear him talk. ...He's going to change it one day. I'd bet my life on it.

Please don't actually bet your life on it.

[Not... right after that trial, please.]

[He doesn't respond at first, then offers a small self depreciating laugh, setting the little blades off onto a towel to dry]

Yeah. Guess I'm just not ready to go back to the others just yet.

That's fair.

Do you mind if I keep you company, or should I leave?

No, I'm not used to that. Dead bodies and blood, I can deal with that. Executions are out of my zone of comfort.

[A short pause]

It is also even more terrifying to know there's a chance somebody I esteem here in the Vault could be in that same position, if they make the mistake of murdering anybody. It is bad enough to pin them as culprits, I know that by experience myself. To know they would die right in front of me is depressing.

[Taichi is kinda just poking at the akutaq. Not that he's afraid to eat it just...looks so weird. It was distracting him from the nagging sensation he had going on in the back of his head.]

Mmmm? Ah sure, why not?

Especially when you feel like you hold some responsibility for their deaths. Even though there's nothing else you could really do...

Alright. Rose-hip tea fine, or do you prefer a different flavor?

[Oh my god, Mettaton. Thanks. She appreciates it, patting the spot beside her. Sit down, friend.]

Yeah. It's not the first time I've seen people die, whether they were strangers or friends. It's a reality that we face, that we accept every time we go out, and I've seen more gruesome deaths and injuries than what we saw today.

[So it's that part she's fine with, playing with the lighter absently.]

It's not that though. I want to know what the hell he did to Zagi's body and if he plans to do that with the rest of us when we eventually die, too. The dead should stay dead, [something she stresses heavily,] so seeing my brother up and about makes me want to wring that maker guy's neck.

[being emotionally competent is not fun???]

[he unplugs the sink, letting the slightly pink water drain out]

I don't mind. Don't stay on my account though.

[And now more water, fresh soap. There were still a few dishes to do after all. Stuff from Tarrlok and Misa cooking. A few glasses and such from the night before that were likely meant to be washed before breakfast. The like. Might as well be productive.]

[...well, at least he isn't alone in repetitively doing something in the kitchen, even if Tarrlok is mostly busy with experimental cooking. ...he really can't help but notice that, actually... and he can't help but comment.]

...you know, I'm really not sure what good those will even be at this point.

Not at all.

[He does have this tea to make for everyone, though he would've left if Yosuke asked him to.

At least it smells nice.]

Exactly.

You seem to be faring better than most. After living five hundred years does this all not faze you? Is that it?

[Genuine curiosity, that is what is in Mouri's voice under the dullness that is overtaking it right now]

Yeah. He reminded me a lot of the people I knew back home, so I counted him among my brothers in arms.

[Her mistake, really, but what can you do.]

Someone who loved fighting, who wouldn't accept death except by his own terms, a real nutjob. He said we were really glad to have met up in here and I couldn't have agreed more, and I'm actually happy he died the way he did. It's true to them both and was a fair fight.

[It's just the disrespect of the dead afterwards that gets her goat.]

[He makes a small, almost amused sound of agreement]

Even if someone attacks me, if I defend myself I might just go on trial too.

[Cherryblod considers his reply for a moment.]

There was a civil war, where I live, about a century and a half ago. I fought in it.

I saw a lot of people I'd grown to care about die then. Some in worse ways than that.

You know what Misa-Misa means...

[ She curls up a bit more under the blanket... ]

...I miss him a lot, Cherry. I want to know what he would say...if he thinks we did the right thing...

Is that the term used for...whatever Zagi happened to be back there? I'm afraid not. Only Ghost-type Pokemon would be the closest thing, and obviously Zagi was not one of those.

[But Colress will listen in to see if anyone else has information. Any sort of explanation or hypothesis for that would be nice.]

You'll see him soon.

[Hesitantly, he puts a hand on her shoulder, through the blanket.]

Don't lose hope.

[It's not like he minds being on the floor; god knows sometimes he'll just kind of lie there for reasons only known to himself and people back home that he hasn't talked to in a good long time, so.]

...Monsters don't leave bodies behind.

[It takes him a moment to say it, and really, it's just sort of something to say, but he's going somewhere with this eventually. Maybe.]

We don't bleed, and once we're gone that's it - there's nothing physical like that left behind. It was...strange, actually seeing someone still there at all after they died.

...It's probably weird to say that it was good to see that. Upsetting, sure. But we could actually work out what had happened to him - and, you know, knew anything had happened to him at all. It took all the guessing out of it. We usually don't get closure on death unless we see it for ourselves.

[It does. And having Cherryblod there is comforting, even if Yosuke makes no move to start conversation. It's rare for him- he' usually terrified of silence. Hearing himself think is always almost too much. But right now he can't bare the idea of going out to the library and hearing empty platitudes. Or anything much at all]

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