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]

[Bruce glances over to Stan when the man approaches him, and he does try to smile, but its obvious how flat it is right now.]

...it's the least I could do, after... [Trailing off here. After what happened, he wants to say, but he supposes he doesn't have to. What happened... he knows how much of a mess it was, how badly it affected everyone. But yet--

It's a hard pill to swallow, honestly.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce comes by, eventually, with a cup of tea that he'll put in front of Cherryblod.

...although he doesn't really linger; once he places down the tea and Cherryblod sees it Bruce starts to move on. It's hard to say how much Cherryblod wants to see him right now, after what happened - not when it was Bruce who had kept pushing against Mettaton. Despite his reactions, and Sigrun's reactions.]

[amygdalae]

[Don't worry Gabriel, eventually Bruce will be here with some food and tea, if Gabriel is up for that.]

--here. At least have a bit of something.

[He won't push, though, if Gabriel really isn't in the mood for it.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce, of course, notices the lack of Black's presence in the gathering, and though he doesn't want to be rude and intrude eventually he takes a plate of food and some tea out and goes around to find him.]

--hello. [He starts, once he's spotted Black at the library. Even though his voice is soft its loud enough with how quiet the library is.]

[isafraid]

....God, you're right. [Aiden actually has a pretty good point there....]

Please, don't just kill me right now. Can't say I'd like everyone else to have to deal with that.

[amygdalae]

Thanks for helping out, Mister Speedwagon.

[Bruce approaches him with that thanks as the gathering slowly starts to peter out. He's got some remaining food and tea with him, if Speedwagon is up for a bite.]

[cherryblooded]

Wait.

[Cherryblod knows why Bruce might be avoiding him - that trial was awful for everyone involved, and it's true that Bruce was one of the key players in it, but...]

I don't blame you.

[cherryblooded]

...How is her necklace coming?

[That's something he can talk about. It doesn't even have to do with Mettaton, not directly, so maybe it'll be less painful to think about.]

[cherryblooded]

That's what I thought.

[He'd known he could lose Mettaton at any time.

Hadn't known it'd be like this, but he'd known there was the risk in general. And he'd gotten closer and closer to him anyway, or so he thought.]

...I don't know yet if it was worth it.

[cherryblooded]

I'll be alright.

[He probably will not, but he manages a weak smile.]

[cherryblooded]

I've lost friends, but Mettaton was more than that. And I've never - it's never happened this way.

[Unexpected betrayal, he means. You expect it in the mob.]

[cherryblooded]

...Doesn't really matter to me. He's my dear son, no matter if he cared or not.

[It matters more than Cherryblod admits, but probably not as much as it should. Still, he can manage a weak smile.]

I said something like that before, that my children are precious to me even if I'm not in their good graces. Think I did, at least.

[amygdalae]

[Bruce is inclined to just not heed Cherryblod, initially, but after everything that should probably not be what to do and so he does stop, however reluctant he is to do so, and listen to him.]

You don't need to sugarcoat it, you know. [Just... quietly here, and saying in a way as if he expected this, as if the inevitability was always there.] I'm entirely used to be being hated.

[And he does deserve it, he knows, for what he did to Sigrun and Cherryblod both. Even though he knows how much Mettaton meant to them, he still did it anyway.]

[cherryblooded]

I'm not sugarcoating anything. I pushed almost as much as you did. Didn't want to believe it, but I needed him to be honest - and he was, eventually.

[And he hates it so much.]

[amygdalae]

...I don't think he would have admitted anything at all if it wasn't for you and Captain Eide.

[Mettaton could fake it for the rest of them, but for the two of them? It's... another thing entirely.]

As much as it hurts, what you two had... it clearly changed him, in the end.

[cherryblooded]

...I wonder. I wonder if that just hurt him more.

[That's the last thing he wanted to do to him, even if he clearly had no way of knowing that he was a mole.]

[amygdalae]

Who knows? Maybe it did, or maybe it didn't. Perhaps he had regrets, and maybe he was in too deep already to really be able to change anything.

[They will never know now.]

[cherryblooded]

[...He sighs, and casts his eyes downwards.]

If I'd known, I could have tried to help him.

[amygdalae]

He probably knew that... and maybe he did try to tell you. I can't claim to have ever known him as well as you have.

[Bruce knows he's probably not making any of this better.]

[cherryblooded]

[No, he's not, and Cherryblod swallows around the lump in his throat.]

I'll... I'll try to remember. Maybe something he said...

[His thoughts are fragmented right now.

[amygdalae]

[Bruce has never really been the best in situations like these.]

...take all the time you need.

[He'll just... he doesn't know. He should probably step away now before he makes it worse, but he can't just leave Cherryblod like this either...]

[cherryblooded]

Thank you.

[For what it's worth, Cherryblod doesn't know what he needs right now either, so that makes two of them.]

[amygdalae]

[...

Okay you know what? Cherryblod likes hugs, right? And Bruce knows that hugs are comforting, and Cherryblod is clearly in a lot of distress right now, so--

Bruce just steps closer and after some hesitation, pulls in Cherryblod for what is probably The Most Awkward Hug Ever. Like on the zero to Voldermort hug scale it'd probably be damn near a Voldemort hug.]

[cherryblooded]

[It's awkward, but it's appreciated, and Cherryblod trembles a little but does not cry.]

Sorry... I'm sorry.

[garudynamic]

[Yosuke remembers that night, so many weeks ago, when he found Black in the storage room. By now he knows better then to bring food, or try to talk his friend into coming to the gathering. But it'll be awhile before he ushers Cherryblod to bed before he passes out on the table in grief, so he can afford to come visit]

Find anything good?