that's not what we usually mean by 'dance with death'

[cherryblooded]

[That certainly did happen. Cherryblod's not the type of person who will judge one person's value as being more than another's, so he can't say whether it was better or worse than the first week. It came as less of a shock, maybe, but even so...

It's not the kind of thing people usually want to go through alone.

So, after he spends some time in the kitchen preparing (with assistance from Bruce), he'll slip some personalized notes under everyone's doors.]

[Name],
If you'd prefer to spend this time alone, that's fine.
If you'd prefer not to, I've made some food and set it out in the dining hall.
Even if you're just hungry and would rather not talk, feel free to come take some.
But if you'd like the company, we're here for you.
-Cherryblod

[Those arriving in the dining hall will find an assortment of food - a fair number of sandwiches and other, actual meal-like options since most people missed a meal or two, but also a goodly number of desserts. There's tea, as well as coffee for those who favor it.]

Comments

[captainobnoxious]

[There is the smallest part of Sigrun that'd like to simply stay in her room, and granted she'll probably end up there again, but for now it's just as Yosuke thinks in that she's going to attempt some kind of funeral for the two girls.

... She hadn't known Pearl too well and really had only fought Caren every step of the way, so after obtaining what she needs (Yosuke's piece of Pearl and some of Caren's weird clothes) she's sitting puzzled outside the dining hall, not entirely sure what to do with it at first. The clothes she can burn. The rock.....

Well, she's taking one of the kitchen knives to delicately inscribe a rune into it, curling the tacky scarf into a "nest" of a kind and laying the gemstone piece within the folds. Kind of like a memorial for tonight. No fires today!

When Sigrun's done with that, she's just going back to Room 5 to lay on her bed and stare at all the pretty paint work Mettaton's done. Probably berate herself a little for acting as rash as she did when she was younger.]

[ratingspoint]

[It's a good night for funerals, it seems.

Mettaton runs into Sigrun in the halls; it isn't as though rooms 5 and 7 are far enough apart to avoid that sort of thing. He doesn't seem angry with her for earlier; just kind of...there, really.]

...Hi there, darling. Holding up all right?

[captainobnoxious]

[... She almost wishes he was mad, being there is such a weird thing.]

Yeah, I am. As usual. [Which is difficult sometimes, but that's her upbringing.] Though between you and me, as a captain's confidant, I'm actually feeling kind of sucky for not getting to really know either of them better. It's a captain's job to work with the people they protect no matter how distant, unruly, so and and so forth they are.

[But that can't... really be helped now, she guesses, and waves it off.]

And... Sorry about the spectacle earlier. I don't know what set you off, but sorry.

[ratingspoint]

No, it's okay! You don't need to apologize to me, sweetheart, I'm not mad or anything.

[And there's where the energy comes creeping back in a bit; god, we're a pair of disasters that are used to very aggressively Being Okay in front of everyone, aren't we.]

You sound like someone I know, though, talking like that. Even if I'm pretty sure she was aiming the sentiment at me - we didn't get along very well. She's captain of the Royal Guard back home.

[...]

It's not your fault, you know. It isn't as though we've really had time to encourage that sort of camaraderie, anyway, and we've all spent the week pitted against each other besides.

[captainobnoxious]

[What a pair of Grade A Messes.]

Wow, I wonder why someone didn't get along with you. [The sarcasm is at full blast, but she's chuckling lightly at the end, a sigh tacked on.]

I still could've tried, though. I didn't even get to apologize for hitting her -- as much as she deserved it, mind, it feels kind of petty now. So what if she's got as much hot air as a... a...

[... Wow, she's stumped. What has hot air.]

Anyway. Yeah. As a thing with hot air. [...] Are you sure you're not mad or anything? You seemed pretty pissed earlier.

Room 5

[goodforsomething]

Hey, you.

[Stan proffers a bottle of whiskey, having finally found Sigrun.]

Told ya I could talk it outta the jerk upstairs.

[captainobnoxious]

[-- That is just the pickup she needs, holy shit, Sigrun has never sat up so fast.]

Stan, old timer! You are a man of beauty!

[Come in, come in, she's waving him in absolutely.]

How'd you do it? I mean, I never asked him myself, but what in the gods' name did you do to get him to give it up?

[goodforsomething]

Just kept at 'im. They don't call me "Charismatic" for nothin'!

[He sets down his glass and then carefully lowers himself down to the ground next to her to fill a second.]

...I ain't allowed to flirt with him anymore, but it was worth it.

[captainobnoxious]

[What a joy this is, don't mind if she just takes that straight down.

Oooooh boy.]

Worth it indeed. Ah, this really hits the spot! Especially after-- all that. [She waves her hand.] I'll toast to them and their hopeful good afterlife.

[Because gods know they'll need it. Absolutely dead, huh, that's what the Kingmaker told her -- and as far as she knows it is the truth. So are they just... ghosts or something? Mages handle ghosts. Not her.]

outside

[prismbloom]

Sigrun?

[ Her voice is soft, a murmur more than anything. She watches her work, then motions to the rune. ]

What is that?

[captainobnoxious]

Old thing that we kinda picked up on using within the recent generations. It's a rune that's carved here and there.

[She's quiet for a moment, concentrated, then blows off the bits of dust, holding the peice out for Aqua to see.]

It means "defense of that which one loves," so basically it's a rune that's supposed to protect others. I figure that since both of them were pearl people and both of them wanted to have that person they loved so much back I'd just carve something on here for them.

[prismbloom]

[ She studies the piece, then nods. It's nice--Aqua's not well-versed in runes at all, but she does know that it's a wonderful sentiment. ]

It's beautiful. Which others will this protect? Us? Or those they loved?

[captainobnoxious]

[Back to finishing it, then.]

It's a wish for their loved ones to be protected, but keeping it around could help us too.

[Not that she's sure if the gods can see them here. They'd probably enjoy the glory of the fights, but kin against kin (so to speak) might not be their stein of mead.]

I mean... If the Kingmaker's not lying when he says they're definitely dead, then they're, what? Ghosts? Ghosts can't touch people. You can't even see them unless you're a Mage.

mambo no. 5

[penduli]

[ ...um, right.

There's only one bear he's managed to get acceptably done by the end of the night/his time in the sewing room, and--there's a lot of people who'd want to see it, probably, but Sigrun's the one he's on the best terms with. Marginally best terms. He gets the feeling as the days pass more and more she's trusting him less, and that's fine, that's totally fine (he says, with a face that says that it definitely is not fine).

Black almost knocks on her open door to announce his presence, then hesitates and settles for shifting awkwardly on his feet. ]

Miss Sigrun? Are you awake?

[captainobnoxious]

Yup, couldn't be more awake.

[She'll sit up, crossing her legs.]

How're you feeling?

[penduli]

Fine. [ A very quick answer! ...um.

He unzips his bag and shuffles through it for a bit, pulling out a... okay, it looks vaguely like a bear that he made an attempt to give it a metal-looking arm. (That part has glitter on it because metal shines.) It sort of resembles Zagi, if you look at it the right way.

...the colors match up and so does that hair-part and the faux-metal arm. ]

I finished this one and I thought you'd like to have it? Or at least look at it or something.

[captainobnoxious]

[... It's some kind of bear? She's seen bears before -- wild, infected ones that'd given chase -- but this is... like Zagi, she guesses? The colors make it seem so.]

I can't say I care much about stuffed animals, [though she'll take it form him just to look it over,] so I won't take it from you, but this is pretty nice. Is it supposed to be Zagi?

[isafraid]

[It's a day... night, for wandering around and not really knowing what to do with yourself.

Speedwagon notices Sigrun and briefly considers leaving her alone for the moment. But that wouldn't do, they were stuck together anyway.]

Captain? [He approached with a light tip of the hat.] I hope you're holding up better then some of us.

[captainobnoxious]

[Hey, it's Speedwagon. Sigrun nods her head in greeting, smiling lightly. Whether she's 100% feeling it or not is up to debate.]

I always am, but that's just because of my upbringing. How about you, big guy? The end wasn't so bad this time, but it's still weird to watch, huh.

[isafraid]

Can't say I've ever heard much about your upbringing, or whatever it was you did, but I'll take your word for it right now. [He could always ask, but what if she didn't want to say? And what sort of upbringing could really prepare you for this madness?

To her reply, he attempts to put on a brave face.]

Still a bit of a shock on both sides of it. Didn't know Miss Pearl could... apparently do a thing like that. But frankly, the mermaid bit was the bigger surprise of the evening.

[captainobnoxious]

[She doesn't mind talking about it, but there's more important things to talk about than her fabulous life!]

Mermaids are literally just legend where I'm from, so yeah. The spear thing was way cool though.

[If Sigrun could do that... Ah... So nice...]

But you can be upfront with me, you know. It's freaky that they just come back to life like that, right?

outside the dining hall

[amygdalae]

[Stepping out from the hall for a quick breather, its not hard to see Sigrun there and notice what she's doing.]

Captain Eide?

[captainobnoxious]

[You'll have to forgive her for not saying anything at first, lest she nick her finger, but when she's done with one of the small branches she looks up at Bruce.]

Hey there, doc. How're you holding up this week?

[amygdalae]

[It's perfectly fine; Bruce doesn't mind at all even if she shooed him away for the need for space, but that doesn't seem to be the case.]

Can't say I'm any better than last week. [Although he is better at dealing with it. Kind of. (Not really. But he's good at pretending.)] How about you?

[captainobnoxious]

[Sigrun never needs space. And she'll mostly get it later.]

Just as fine. Death just doesn't affect me much, you know? So it's never that big of a deal in the end. Besides, there's more than enough people here to feel guilt and sadness at what happened for me.

[... and those are the people she's dedicated to, but she's trusting them not to be too bad tonight. Hard enough to figure out how to feel about Mettaton's possible anger at her for earlier.]

I'll take my time off, of course, but I'm mostly wondering if this is a good enough tribute to them right now.