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

[amygdalae]

[Bruce is... well.

They had to do what they had to do - but at what cost?

It's not that he doesn't understand - in fact, perhaps he understands far too well, which is why everything tears at him even more. They sent a person to their death just like this with their own hands, for the sake of this parody of 'justice'.

As if he already didn't have enough blood on his hands already.

He's settles in a corner of the library after having taken some of the food, quietly eating even though it seems like his gaze is fixated on something beyond what is around here now.

There is no way they can stop here now, now that this cruel game has truly started, but... he has to keep going. For everyone here.]

[cherryblooded]

[Bruce is one person here Cherryblod shouldn't feel compelled to look after. And indeed he isn't, at least not because of his age.

There are other reasons why he approaches Bruce with a full teacup in his hand. Some of them came out at that 'trial'.]

Tea, Bruce?

[amygdalae]

[It takes a moment for Bruce to respond, and when he does its with a blink and a slight jerk as he comes out of his train of thoughts.]

Ah--yes. [He puts down his plate and gratefully accepts the tea. His hand shakes a little, but he manages to steady it quickly enough.] Thank you.

[Don't mind him taking a moment to drink that tea first, Cherryblod.]

[cherryblooded]

[He doesn't mind at all - that's what it's for.]

It's nothing. We could all use a little tea to soothe our nerves right now.

[In his opinion, anyway.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce lets out a quiet, somewhat hollow laugh at that.]

I suppose so.

[He just... puts down the tea for now since he's drunk some of it. Before anything else can happen.]

[cherryblooded]

...There wasn't anything else you could have done.

[It doesn't take an intellectual on Bruce's level to tell that he's taking this badly.]

[amygdalae]

I know that.

[He knows that, just as he knows so many other things - his science, his work, everything he's lived by - which is why it makes everything all the harder. He can't claim to be all-knowing, of course, but... god, this was everything he was trying to prevent. Everything he doesn't want to be.

It's not as if being the Hulk didn't already expose him to all of this.]

[cherryblooded]

Just making sure.

[Some people here aren't so 'lucky' as to already be exposed to death and hard choices. To them, all of this is new, and it's no wonder they're having trouble dealing with it.]

[amygdalae]

[It's not that Bruce is new to it - hell, he's been exposed to it far too many times to count. But that's why it hits him all the harder; Bruce always does his best to find another option, to seek out alternative solutions because that's what he does. That's what he always tries to do, to find new ways that will hurt less people.

But this time? This time he was forced into this. He had to make the hard decision. And the fact that he failed to find another method is what eats at him more than anything else. What good was his genius if he couldn't use it to help these people? Wasn't that everything he strived for?]

...sorry, I didn't mean to concern you. [He sighs and tries to swallow down the mixed emotions that boil inside him now; he can deal with it later, privately.] Thank you for the tea again.

[cherryblooded]

Think nothing of it. We all do what we can, and what I can do right now is make tea.

[Cherryblod's not used to there being other options in the first place - at least not ones that work. That's why he's still able to smile, even if it's not a cheerful smile.]

[amygdalae]

It's... very good tea.

[Bruce manages a smile here, this time, just to reassure Cherryblod.]

[cherryblooded]

Thank you. It's been my hobby for a long time, so I'm glad I'm decent at it.

[amygdalae]

You certainly had a lot more time to work on it compared to me.

[Bruce only really started tea after... yeah. When it was clear that caffeine probably wouldn't end well for him.]

[notjustawriter]

[Gabriel doesn't look like he's doing too well himself, but eventually he'll approach Bruce, still looking shaken, but he doesn't look like he's going to be sick or pass out or anything like that.]

We.... we'll find a way to get out of here.

But we need some time, now. Time to regroup.

[amygdalae]

[Seeing Gabriel like this just means that Bruce forces himself to look more put together. Everyone is shaken, clearly, but as much as Bruce hates to say it, they can't just stay like this. They have to press on.

Two people have died. Let there only be two people who remain dead.]

We can't stop, even if we wanted to. [He says quietly. There are already lives on their shoulders, like it or not.]

[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.

[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.

[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.

[amygdalae]

Rats in a cage.

[He mutters, more to himself than to Gabriel, but the point still stands, nevertheless.]

I just wish I could understand what his agenda is. [His being the Kingmaker's.] Why make us do any of this? Does he intend to keep going at this until there's only one of us left?

[That thought is too terrible to comprehend.]

[notjustawriter]

Yeah. We're like experiments to 'im.

[He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair.]

Why claim you're savin' people, only to make them fight to the death?

[amygdalae]

I wish I could understand that myself.

[Why bring them here when they're all going to die anyway?]

[notjustawriter]

Maybe the guy's just a sadist. That "show" today sure wasn't justice.

[amygdalae]

More like a bad parody of one.

[It's not justice at all. Its just making people send another person to their death and knowing it.]

[notjustawriter]

Yeah.

It's sick. What kind of a person would set up somethin' like this?

I'm still gonna try to get something from the Kingmaker, but he doesn't like people fishin' for information.

[amygdalae]

Nobody in their right mind, that much I can guess.

[This is all so utterly cruel.]

And yes--but if he tries to start anything, don't hesitate to back down. We all want information but its not worth risking our lives for it. [Especially since how they're probably at constant risk...]