we're all living under loaded gun

[amygdalae]

[Every week was bad, but this one? This one most likely has hit them all the hardest.

All well, almost all of them. Bruce certainly can't speak for everyone here... not that there's a lot of them left now.

Anyway.

Working with Speedwagon in the kitchen the two of them whip up a decent, simple fare of food just so that their stomachs won't go empty - Bruce knows that a lot of them won't have much of an appetite at all after what happened, and he can't blame them. He doesn't have much of one himself even after the food is done.

Once everything is set up in the dining hall a couple of hours later after everything that happened downstairs Bruce goes around to slip a notice to every body's room. (Everyone that is still alive, that is.)]

I know what happened was hard to take in. I feel the same as well.
If you wish to be alone I understand, but if you need company, or somebody to talk to... there is food in the dining hall made by Speedwagon and I.

I sincerely hope to see you there.

- B. Banner

[For Sigrun and Cherryblod respectively, he'll have the note along with a plate of some food from the gathering by their door.

As mentioned earlier, there's a small fare of simple, light food and snacks for everyone to eat if they have the stomach for it. For better or for worse there's alcohol too, although Bruce certainly isn't going anywhere near it. But if anybody needs that drink after what happened, he can't blame them for the need for it, either.]

Comments

[amygdalae]

Most people usually don't want to try and remember people who have taken the lives of others.

[Calling them 'murderers' is a bit... it doesn't really sit right with him, either.]

[cherryblooded]

Maybe you should call them when you get home.

[Just, you know, so they know Colress hasn't died in a murder vault or anything.]

[uro_cyon]

Ignoring it doesn't really do any good, especially here. Besides, a lot of people are attached to them, regardless of what they did. [ He lets out a small sigh, as last trial really was something.]

[cherryblooded]

Hate to impose, but... maybe. I'll try, anyway.

[He might not succeed. He might not do anything but hide in his room. Who knows, really?]

[amygdalae]

Everyone here only has one another. The attachment isn't a big surprise.

[Even Bruce himself isn't immune to it.]

[uro_cyon]

That's why this [ He gestures to the portraits] isn't a bad thing.

Hope is a good and sad thing.

[goodforsomething]

Wouldn'tve ended well if we all died for his sake either.

I ain't sayin' they would've let it get that far... [Though he doesn't sound entirely convinced. He wonders. About Sigrun, at least - she let it go a long while.] I ain't even sure that's what he wanted. You did what you had to do. For everybody.

[goodforsomething]

[Stan pretends not to notice.]

Yeah, it's somethin' to do. Never thought I'd miss gettin' outside and hustlin' tourists so much.

[cherryblooded]

Sounds like fun. Compared to a lot of things.

[amygdalae]

[It's alright, Cherryblod. As long as you don't entirely shut yourself out (look who's talking, hahahaha), they'll be alright. He understands the need for space and won't push it.]

All of us will be around, no matter what.

[amygdalae]

[It's hard to blame Sigrun, especially now when Bruce is fully aware of how much Mettaton meant to her. He was the reason why she could just... keep going, really. And now he pulled something like this--its hard to imagine. Bruce can, if only because he knows what it's like to be betrayed by somebody you had trusted so much.

It's not a good feeling.]

We were never meant to solve this case. [He just says it, the same as he had said near the end of the trial - they'd die, or die trying to solve what Mettaton had done.] ...and Mettaton never needed to reveal anything to us, either.

[After all it wasn't as if they could have proven anything--it was only after Mettaton revealed himself then did everything fall into place.]

[amygdalae]

...it can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

[He glances back to the portraits.] I hope it is good in this case, though.

[goodforsomething]

Yeah, he was a better liar than that. If he wanted, he could've pulled it off.

[No one would have thought to check his boots. There's probably no way he predicted he'd get sniffed, but even so nobody could have disproved that story about the ink. If he'd played it off right, he would've had a chance.

...personally, Stan thinks that if Mettaton didn't want to win anyway, he should've just refused to follow his orders and taken the punishment. Dead's dead, no matter how you get there. But now doesn't seem like the night to be saying so.]

[goodforsomething]

Used to feel pointless, a lotta the time. I was only there to save Ford, and I didn't get anywhere on that for decades.

But I guess I settled in.

[amygdalae]

He could have. But he didn't.

[Maybe because of Sigrun and Cherryblod? Or something else? They'll never really know now, won't they. Just as with everyone else who's lost their lives here in this place.

There's so little of them now compared to when they began.]

...I liked him too. We tended to talk a lot late at night. [A pause, and then a small laugh that doesn't really sound happy.] He told me I reminded him a lot of his creator.

[uro_cyon]

[He's quiet for a bit.]

Do you think we can win this game? [ Because that's what it was, when it came down to it, a game.]

[amygdalae]

We have to.

[It's not even a question of are they able to at this point. They need to win this, because if they don't then it'll spell the end for them all... and that's the last thing they need here.]

[uro_cyon]

Your optimism matches my cynicism. [Because he's seen too much to look at the world in any other way.]

But he's bound to screw up at some point. People like him always do.

[amygdalae]

I wouldn't call myself an optimist.

[He's really, really not. He's just trying his best for everyone else here.]

But you're right. He'll screw up somewhere eventually.

[cherryblooded]

You adjust. Used to think I'd never get used to peace and quiet.

[After the mob thing.]

[isafraid]

I'll say so! Not so many ways to ease stress around here, despite all the luxuries.

[His gaze drifts back to the chapel, brow furrowing like you wouldn't believe.]

Can't imagine what would drive him to put in a chapel of all things.

[penduli]

I think she will be. [ She'll have to be—he's sure that's what she's thinking. Be strong for everyone.

...he just hopes she knows she can still rely on them as much as they can rely on her. Black frowns for a moment, then sighs. ] It's... hard losing someone that important to you, but Miss Sigrun isn't the type to do something stupid, so we don't have to worry about that. She thinks more with her head than she does her heart.

[ Even if... sometimes, the heart overrules. You can't account for it all the time. ]

She wouldn't do anything that'd put us at risk. [ ...she even gave on the Mettaton front, as much as that must've sucked. ]

[uro_cyon]

We just have to live long enough to see it.

[isafraid]

Pull up a chair, if you'd like. There's plenty. [Plenty of empty seats to go around now.]

...It's always nice to have a couple of people around to help shoulder the burden. Granted, now it's getting less easy by the week.

[amygdalae]

[Bruce listens to Black's response and after a moment, gives a nod of agreement.]

I know she won't. [Despite everything, after what had happened... Bruce can't blame her for being how she was. Everyone had taken it hard in their own ways, but Sigrun probably took it the hardest of them all.] ...and as foolish as it sounds, I think its good that sometimes she still thinks with her heart.

[It makes her more human. Ensures that she remembers her feelings despite the fact that she has to carry the burden of being the leader. She's a good leader, yes, but she wouldn't be great unless she had those feelings too.]

I mean, what happened wasn't the best example... but at least it helps reminds us that we're still human.

[That they had feelings, and that they wouldn't be anything like the Kingmaker.]