drove to Chicago, all things know, all things know

[cherryblooded]

[This is getting so routine.

Cherryblod had thought about napping the rest of the day, like he'd said, but there are people to take care of, people who'd been closer to Aiden and Shirazu than he had been. So after about an hour in his room to decompress, he'd headed to the kitchen and started cooking. At some point Stan and Bruce had both joined him.

Almost everyone seems to want to take care of those who are remaining. Almost everyone.

The food this time is mostly soup and sandwiches - nothing fancy, nobody's in the mood to appreciate it - but it's there set up in the dining room by the time everyone (alive) receives notes under their doors. ...He slips an extra one for Sigrun under Mettaton's door, just in case.]

[name],
If you want to spend this time by yourself, that's fine.
If you'd rather have some company, there's food in the dining room, and you're all welcome there.
If you want to take some food and go, that's fine, too.
Take care of yourself.
-Cherryblod, Stan, Bruce

Comments

[amygdalae]

[Well its still better to be safe than to be sorry.

Still, Bruce does agree - at least with the latter part, and he lets out a slow exhale before he nods.]

All of us are more than aware what's at stake. [With that said, though...] But I suppose he was just... desperate. We've all been in here for so many weeks at this point.

[Anybody would be on edge.]

[goodforsomething]

Yeeeeeeah. God knows I get the whole sibling thing.

[Stan sighs. That's been a very recurring motive - frankly it's disquieting. Mere months ago, he'd have told you that he'd do anything to get Ford back and safe, and now he's passed that opportunity up time and time again. Maybe he didn't understand himself as well as he thought. Maybe he has still got some scruples left.

He obviously had the wrong expectations of Ford, so why not?]

I just figured my brother could take care of himself.

[amygdalae]

[Another small nod from Bruce. It's not as if he hadn't thought of it himself - saving the ones back from his world. But there was just no way he could justify it to himself, much less to anybody else. He's already caused so much pain to others - causing even more for the sake of somebody else wasn't going to make it any better.]

I'm sure they're all fine. [All of them, if those photos are even real anyway. Bruce is still leaning towards 'no', personally. Just because of his own hunches.] We can trust in them to take care of themselves and each other in there.

[goodforsomething]

If they're really in there, they're no worse off than us. I mean, this place is awful, but I wouldn't want Ford to kill a bunch of his friends just to maybe get me a ride out.

[Stan snorts.] Not that he'd do that, but you get what I mean.

[amygdalae]

Yeah. [He returns, voice quiet, nodding one more time.] I wouldn't want that either.

[Not that he thinks Tony nor Betty would do that. Betty he knows for sure, but Tony... despite everything, he knows that Tony wouldn't put anybody's lives above his own. Not like this.

And in the very small likelihood that the pictures were real, then Bruce knows he should be the same as well.]

[goodforsomething]

Especially if they've been there as long as us.

[Stan's quiet for a moment before adding:]

I'd be lyin' if I said I hadn't thought about tryin'. Back when he offered to save our worlds, or somethin' like that. [There were a lot of reasons he didn't. Chief among them was that he honestly didn't trust the Kingmaker to come through anyway - he didn't want to be the chump who committed mass murder for a reward that never came. So even if there was a moral element to it too, an unwillingness to take that final step to being a killer, it's not like he's a saint here.] It was easier to think about before we all knew each other so well. Now...even if I saved everyone back home, I couldn't live with myself.

[amygdalae]

[Bruce is quiet too as he listens to Stan, his own expression a mix of emotions. It's easy enough to say that murder is wrong, that killing is vile and terrible but sometimes its just--different. Sometimes people do it for what they believe is right and good and even though it is wrong its also so hard to blame them for anything. Sometimes bad people sometimes make good choices and good people make bad choices. Nobody's perfect.]

I did think about it too. [He says as well, but as soon as he does Bruce quickly shakes his head.] But I couldn't--just dwelling on it made it worse. I could never bring myself to justify lives for something like that.

[He's already killed and hurt so many people by accident alone; how could he bring himself to do it deliberately?]

[goodforsomething]

Heh, yeah. [You're a better person than him, Bruce.]

I've done some shit in my day, but not like that. Ain't like any of us are to blame for this.

[The Kingmaker is a valid target.]

[amygdalae]

[He's really not better. He just has enough 'red in his ledger', to quote a certain somebody.

Still, a nod.] The Kingmaker... he needs to answer for what he's done. What he's forced people here to do.

[All these lives lost - they're on the Kingmaker's head. They might have done it but ultimately its more or less because the Kingmaker forced their hand.]

[goodforsomething]

[Well, as far as Stan knows he may as well be a fucking saint.]

He's the one who should've been executed all those times. Even by his own damn rules - where's his responsibility?

[amygdalae]

[A soft hum of agreement from Bruce.]

Just because he's in charge doesn't mean he's got nothing to speak for. [If anything, he has the most to answer for. For setting this up, for forcing this upon them... for even letting this happen at all. There's a lot the Kingmaker has to talk about, that's for sure.]

[goodforsomething]

Means he's got the most to speak for, the hypocrite. Especially if he did get here by winning another game like this.

[amygdalae]

...yeah.

[So many lives, lost because of this one person... Bruce wishes he could understand, honestly, but he knows that's impossible. After everything its hard to take anything about the Kingmaker at face value right now.]