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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, we can't.

[Just thinking about the two of them dying eats at him so much more than he can admit. He's supposed to find another way, another solution, but yet in the time when an answer was most critical he failed. And that failure cost far too much.]

Isn't that usually the fun part?

Promise.

[He sounds confident when he says it, so...]

Yeah. We can't be expected to just sit here like sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

[ ...an attempt was made. Comic sans gold star for you, Mouri. ]

I wouldn't mind talking about it later. But not now.

[Stan shrugs.]

You're thinkin' too much about it.

I dunno. Sometimes you just gotta be alone for a while, after things like that...

I'm glad to hear it.

[ Aqua seems much more relaxed--not as down on herself. ]

As well as I can be, considering the circumstances. The others have all helped.

[ ... ]

How are you?

A trial, a lot of people griping about how unfair it is that we have to make a choice as if they really would throw away their own lives to try and find a better way, and an execution that terrible.

I'd be more surprised if someone wasn't rattled.

[ Tea. It's a running theme for them, isn't it? ]

Thank you. What flavor?

[ A free country that runs on MURDER. ]

Thank you.

[ ... ]

It seems strange, doesn't it? That we're expected to go on normally after all of that.

[ She hesitates just for a moment... then hands it to Sigrun. This is a serious deal. ]

That's exactly it. We all have our traditions, don't we? There's nothing wrong with that. As long as you all can rely on one another.

[She's very careful with it, at odds with her otherwise brash personality, and when she's done she'll hand it back just as gently, cupping under Aqua's hand and closing it with her other.]

I will personally cut the hands off of any person who tries to make off with this.

[... both while aqua's alive and if she ever dies]

The more I hear of it, the more intrigued I am. I appreciate the descriptions you've given!

[He takes a moment to have more of his tea before it starts going cold.]

Oh, good. Well, then- is there anything else that's been on your mind lately?

[THAT ISN'T DEATH OF COURSE...]

[wow. got some steam to blow off black??]

Yeah, exactly. It's not fair, but I honestly don't see an issue with the first half of it since we are our own little group right now. We deliver our own trials and punishments back home too. But the execution could be done a little more humanely.

[...]

Are you okay?

[ "I'M NOT BITTER," HE SAYS BITTERLY, WITH A BITTER EXPRESSION. ]

I'm fine. Why do you ask?

Not sure I've ever seen you like that, that's all. You're usually as docile as a sheep.

[... lamb...]

Vegetable shortening is a far cry from what you'll obtain from animals, I'm sure.

[ She's got a bowl of it, though, and tries a bit of it. ]

It tastes very good. It's not what you're used to, but I like it.

[ Ah... ]

...it just struck me, I guess. I want to live, Miss Sigrun. I don't understand why anyone would really want to choose otherwise, especially when... especially when the Kingmaker might be lying about all of this, and our worlds are safe, and our loved ones are fine, too. Why throw your life away just because a choice you have to make in order to survive is against your moral code?

[ She wasn't expecting that, honestly, but it at least pulls a bigger smile from her. Not much, but enough. Aqua places her free hand over Sigrun's squeezing lightly. ]

Thank you. I'm just happy I was the one to receive it, and not someone else.

[ The thought of someone else having this? It's almost too much to bear. ]

He does-- did seem the type to prefer his own company.

[ She'll probably never get used to talking in the past tense. ]

Thank you, Mouri. You've helped more than I can ever describe. Is there any way I can repay you?

It would be a good way to record what it's like here, too.

[ You know. As a warning, or something. ]

[ She nods, taking another deep breath and squaring her shoulders. ]

... Thank you, Taichi. For coming to see me.

Some people just hope for the better of others. I don't know how everyone else lives, but they might have lived the kind of life that afforded that kind of luxury and carefree attitude, while people like you and I know more realistically that there's nothing we can do.

[He's getting a more gentle head ruffle this time.]

But don't blame them, okay? That's the sort of innocence you're supposed to have when you're not in the situations I am. They probably won't budge on their moral codes anytime soon anyway, so you've just gotta deal with it and remind them the rational reasons of why we can't choose one person over everyone else.

[Hey, it's important to her and to the people she feels close to. Sigrun gets that.

Her face lights up despite the moment of seriousness before and she squeezes back.]

If I've ever learned anything, it's that the gods intend for certain things to stay close to oneself, and for you that's this trinket here. Whether it's people, places, things... All of them have a purpose in your life, so it's only natural that your thing here would return to you rather than anyone else.

[The Norwegians are really into their ancient gods, okay. Glory to us all.]

And if it did, there'd be a reason for that as well. But I'm glad it ended up in your hands too -- can you imagine what that robot would've done with it?

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