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

[pokexplorer]

I-

[It doesn't take much for him to realize that he's not being helpful here, and he feels completely terrible for it. Why can't he be better at this sort of thing...

Similarly, he looks downward, his gloved fingers digging into his legs.]

I am sorry, Cherryblod. I should have known that. I... I am so sorry.

[cherryblooded]

It's alright, I'm not mad.

...Do you have family, at home?

[Or did he, where home used to be. Same question, really.]

[captainobnoxious]

[It sinks deeper in her than she'd like and she throws the hearts back into their container before she hurts one of them, going full-tilt on Black.]

Sorry I kept pushing you to go for it. I... can't regret it though, you know? It was a lot of fun. I really, really liked him.

[Though that doesn't sound quite right, and Misa's words about love rears its head, though she's shaking the thought out of her own.]

... I was lucky that I got to tell him all the things I did, ask him the questions I wanted to, before he died. I just want to make sure you get that chance too. So don't be too afraid, alright? It hurts more than any wound a troll could put on me and I can't even put a bandage on it, but it could've been worse.

[cherryblooded]

I'll be here for a bit longer.

[He just got a text back.]

But I'll go to bed soon.

[uro_cyon]

[ He chuckles.] You got it.

Did you know Mettaton well?

[goodforsomething]

Pretty good. I'm tryin' to get the big pieces together first, get somethin' to work from.

[Stan is well aware he's talking around the actual issue, but that's fine]

I don't know that it'll look the same, but it'll hold.

[cherryblooded]

[Who actually talks about their issues?]

That's the best we can do right now. ...I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

[goodforsomething]

Yeah. Didn't seem right to just...leave it there, y'know? I'll stick it on the memorial later.

[cherryblooded]

Mm. [Silence for a second.] Do you know what animal Black's going to make her?

[goodforsomething]

No idea. Some kinda watery thing, I'd guess. Swan or something.

...actually, they're mean bastards. Maybe not one of those.

[cherryblooded]

I've known some very nice swans. And a lot of swans who would mess you up if you looked at them funny, so it's hard to say.

[goodforsomething]

The ones I've seen weren't...y'know. People.

[Kinda like how he's eaten shrimp before but is probably not a murderer based solely on that? This is weird.]

Just nasty overgrown geese.

[cherryblooded]

[Indeed. It's pretty weird.]

Don't say that to any people swans you happen to ever meet. It's racist.

[goodforsomething]

[Stan considers this.]

Yeah, sounds racist.

[cherryblooded]

What do you think would suit her better? If not swans.

[goodforsomething]

I dunno. Maybe one of those herons. They're pretty birds.

[cherryblooded]

That could be nice. She was beautiful, after all.

[And now he's thinking of what Mettaton said, which means he's thinking of Mettaton again.

Sorry, Aqua.]

[garudynamic]

I kinda assumed they were just to be pretty... though they probably at least mean something to 'H'. They don't move though, I tried that at the meeting. Too bad, that'd be kinda cool.

[isafraid]

[Whew. That's a bit of a load off of Speedwagon's shoulders. He chuckles back.]

...Not as well as some. [He shakes his head, pausing to glance back down the hall. No Cherryblod, No Sigrun. Alright.] Guess I thought I knew him well enough though... then it turned out we were all being fooled by him. Made the trial stretch on longer then ever.

[It was a little annoying, you must admit.]

[penduli]

[ —ah. Black looks up from his book, eyes straying momentarily to the food, before he lays what he's reading flat on his lap and folds his hands over it. ]

Hi. [ His voice is equally soft, though he clears his throat to make it just... a touch bit louder. ] I guess that's for me, huh? That's very thoughtful of you, Mr. Banner.

[ ...the gratitude doesn't quite pull through, but he has a smile that isn't tight. Just tired. After all the mad he's been, he's tired. ]

[penduli]

[ It's fine that he didn't; Bruce's plate he brought for Black is beside him, as is the tea—the former more or less untouched. The fact he's glancing up from his book after a moment is just the same as the first week he'd done it isn't lost on him, though it's not just... stare at Yosuke, this time. This time he shrugs and motions to his growing pile—they're not particularly thick novels, but the size is still impressive.

Fast readers, man. ]

There's nothing really bad here. [ Sure, some of them aren't exactly his... thing... but bad? Not particularly. ] I'd invite you to come read with me, but you're not really into that.

[ And that's not a bad thing, judging by the quick grin he has, but that's what it is. Quickly there, quickly gone, and replaced with the blank tiredness from before as he turns his attention back to his book. ]

...you can sit down though, I don't mind. [ Not if it's Yosuke. ]

[garudynamic]

[And he'll take that invitation, thumbing through the pile]

I dunno... I'm running outta stuff to do every day when I'm not poking the corners.

[Well that's one way to describe his usually fruitless investigations in every cranny of the vault]

Maybe I SHOULD start reading more.

[uro_cyon]

It was a circus after a certain point. [ Which aggravated him a lot truth be told, but he wasn't about to paint a target on his back by calling Mettaton out on his dramatics.]

I don't think anyone truly knows anyone here.

[goodforsomething]

Still. You didn't have to.

[He didn't come help this time. Probably should've. That whole thing was just pretty draining.]

[goodforsomething]

Yeah.

[Stan isn't thinking much of that, if only because he thinks there's a lot of logical flaws in the idea of making someone beautiful after caving their skull in.]

Maybe I'll start doin' color pictures of them all. I know we got the ones from downstairs, but... [fuck the kingmaker and his grayscale aesthetic tbh]