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]

[During the gathering itself Bruce will do his best to go around, offering food and talking with people and checking up on them - although if they don't desire his company and/or want to be alone he will understand. This whole thing, after all, has been especially hard for everyone.

...as it dies down, however, Bruce takes his leave to head to the chapel, where he'll be fixing up the two new portraits of Misa and Aqua, as well as making a spot for Mettaton eventually if they go there again. Aqua in particular he pays more attention to, and when he's done he sits at the front pew right in front of her picture and... more or less just stares at her picture, a somber look on his face as his hands toy with the charm that she had made for him not so long ago.]

Chapel

[goodforsomething]

Hey.

[Stan doesn't mean to corner Bruce in the chapel, except that's sort of exactly what he meant to do.]

Thanks for settin' all that up down there.

[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.]

[goodforsomething]

Still. You didn't have to.

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

[amygdalae]

I think I had to.

[The best way he can make his apology for what he had to do, honestly. He knows that certain people probably won't be fond of him now after what had transpired.]

[goodforsomething]

...what, are you feelin' bad about what happened in there?

[Not the whole thing with Mettaton - that makes sense to feel bad about. Stan wasn't super close to him, but even he was a bit stung. Feeling responsible, however, is a whole other thing.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce is quiet for a moment, looking at Aqua's portrait again as he toys with the charm in his hands. He hadn't really ever looked at it much, feeling like he really didn't deserve her kindness and her gifts and... everything, really. She was far too good of a person.

(Just like Betty.)]

...it was painful to see them. [A beat, and then Bruce elaborates further.] Captain Eide and Cherryblod. They were so desperate to believe otherwise, but I kept pushing anyway. Even though I knew it probably wouldn't end well.

[Even now he remembers Sigrun screaming at him, the pain and disbelief in her voice. It reminds him of... many other things.]

[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.

[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.]

[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.]

[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.

[goodforsomething]

We talked some about business. He said I was the kinda person he'd hire.

[They also talked a lot about murder for entertainment, but it's not like everyone doesn't know about that now. No need to harp on it.]

I didn't get him in a lotta ways. But he was alright.

[amygdalae]

...yeah, he was pretty alright.

[Says with a wry smile. Mettaton was a pretty alright person, all things considered. If only he hadn't done this...

Well, too late to reflect on that now.

He turns his gaze to Aqua's portrait again, then to King's, expression quickly turning sad again.]

It's just so strange now, thinking about it. [Back all those weeks ago when Mettaton spoke with him... he gave some words that helped Bruce kept on going. And now things ended up like this--its just hard.]

chapel

[uro_cyon]

You do this every time, don't you? [ It's pretty much a rhetorical question, but he can't help it-- not when he's staring at a rather pertinent reminder of how little of them are left.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce glances over to Aiden at the sound of the other's voice, only pausing for a moment before he gives a nod.]

In the last few weeks, yes. [...he just thought it'd be something he could do.]

[uro_cyon]

[ ... ]

This place needs someone like you.

[amygdalae]

[A surprised blink from Bruce.]

Somebody like me?

[What did Aiden mean by that?]

[uro_cyon]

Someone who cares this much.

[amygdalae]

[Ah. ...right.

Bruce casts a wry smile and glances back down, staring at the charm in his hand.]

I'm surprised you don't think it to be foolish.

[uro_cyon]

In a way, I guess it is. But people need some type of hope to cling to.

[amygdalae]

I'm just doing what I can to help.

[He doesn't mean to be something more than he is or anything like that. Just as long as he can help the others here who are still alive.]

[uro_cyon]

[ He nods.] Why did you think I would find it foolish?

[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.]

[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.]

[amygdalae]

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

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