And we're all adrift together through the cold mist, 'til we're lifeless together

[dokkalfheimr]

[The preparations hit differently this time.

Last weekend was at least an attempt at being festive, even with the light supplies they have; at being joyous, at giving people at least one nice thing to look back upon before things inevitably took a turn for the worse. And now two people are dead, and instead of trying to figure out structure placement and how best to keep everyone entertained and occupied and well-fed, the preparations now are given to much more practical purposes.

Large amounts of bottled water from the machine. Bagels and bread and muffins, light starchy things to avoid forcing anyone to keep meat or seafood down after seeing a corpse. Fruit for the sake of providing energy. Avoiding including bananas for any reason. Quietly pulling aside one of the first people she sees with any experience in the matter and asking them to help her make tea.

Once she's got one of the tables at the party zone set up and the tea is on its way to being prepared, she'll set around letting people know; the invitations are simple, written in Freyja's broad, elegant handwriting:

I think another gathering tonight would be beneficial. Not to celebrate, but to remember; perhaps more importantly, to ensure that no one is alone if they don't want to be.

Tonight is hard. There is nothing further to do but get through it.]

Comments

[thisaroma]

[ Assuming no one tries to punch Alice in the face on the way out of the trial, Decus is going to go back to room 7 for a while to look through the stuff Shard left behind, leaving the door propped slightly open in case anyone had a specific claim to something that he wasn't aware of. He's up in the sheet fort on the top bunk looking for that big jewel he was warned about... and there's a sigh of mostly relief when he finds it and concludes that it is not, in fact, a Centurion's core.

He'll make a brief appearance at the party zone since Lady Freyja's going to the trouble, and will maybe try to smooth things over a bit on Alice's behalf if anything comes up... but then he'll just grab a muffin and a bottle of water to bring to her and call it a night. ]

party zone

[dokkalfheimr]

[...She honestly wondered if he'd be okay after the...everything with Alice at the trial, good lord boy are you all right- ]

Decus...? How do you find yourself faring tonight?

[thisaroma]

[ He was probably just kind of distractedly plucking some grapes off the stem when she came over, but he shakes himself out of it and smiles once she makes her presence known. ]

Ah, Lady Freyja! Thanks for setting something like this up for everyone again.

I'm fine. I mean, tired, but that's probably true for everyone.

[ ...Though probably more for him since he got like, one hour of sleep this morning, but whatever! ]

[dokkalfheimr]

I would imagine so. Either way, this seemed the sort of thing that people might need after a display such as that.

[It was kind of a shitshow, even if you don't feel bad about it???]

[thisaroma]

Yeah, probably so. That execution was a little more intense than I was expecting.

[ It was presumably a whole lot worse for people who haven't already watched dozens of people get mauled by monsters; for him personally, it was definitely "yikes" but not something that's going to keep him up at night (or would, in a theoretical world where he actually slept normally).

He sighs. ]

It's too bad it worked out that way... being an accident, I mean. At least someone who made a deliberate choice could have gone through with it without any regrets.

[dokkalfheimr]

True enough. Although I imagine that would have made it harder on the group, in ways - it's easier to reestablish trust in one another after a tragic accident, after all.

[...]

It's going to be horrid after the first intentional killing takes place. I imagine everyone here knows that.

[thisaroma]

Yeah... the more reason there is to suspect each other, the more on edge everyone's going to be.

[ And the easier it'll be to make people snap and make that cycle even worse. ]

I guess you and I are both pretty lucky in that way, huh? Having someone from home that we know and trust... though then we've also got to worry about losing them.

[dokkalfheimr]

Yes, of course. Though I imagine Plumeria would be disconcerted if I were to worry about her - as my retainer, the implication would be that I do not trust her or believe her capable of defending herself, much less both of us.

That doesn't mean there isn't cause for concern, but it's a particular thing, with her.

[thisaroma]

Ah... yeah, I guess that makes sense with how well-defined your roles are and everything. Having the person she's supposed to protect worry about her would probably make it sound like she wasn't doing her job well.

[ He, on the other hand, isn't officially anyone's defender and knows nothing of pride anyway, and he'd be thrilled if Alice expressed concern for him... ]

[dokkalfheimr]

Exactly.

[So, yeah.]

Alice fortunately seems the sort who can take care of herself; along with your protection, I imagine she will make it through.

[thisaroma]

[ Nods! ]

She's definitely a strong and amazing person! As much as I want to be a knight in shining armor for her, I know she probably doesn't really need it most of the time.

[ ...And even though their situations are vastly different, having just talked about Plumeria, he guesses he can see how maybe it's even a little insulting to someone who cares so much about having power.

But... ]

But I'll still never stop giving my all to make sure she gets through this safely, either! So... yeah. I'm sure you're right. And anyway, we've got you looking out for us too!

room 7

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ Alice was only barely aware that Decus and Shard were technically roommates, not really caring about any of the pairings outside of her own. So it didn't immediately register what he was doing when she noticed that his door was propped open. In fact, if it wasn't for the probably cologne smell wafting around, she probably wouldn't have realized what room it was in the first place.

She stares at the door for a little bit, before rolling her eyes and opening it, only to see -

Uh. ]

What are you doing?

[ ... for all she knows, that fort was his to begin with. ]

[thisaroma]

[ Sticking his head out of the fort — though please, it's on the top bunk, you know this dude well enough to know that he is absolutely not a top ]

Oh, Alice! I'm just looking through the stuff Shard got from that machine. He warned me about this jewel he had up here, and he's got some weapons and stuff that I saw him bring up here yesterday, like—

[ Disappearing back into the fort for a second and then reappearing and holding out a mace ]

This! Do you want it?

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ TRUE ]

I'm insulted you felt the need to ask.

[ She presses into the room, taking the mace from him and propping it against the frame of the bunk, going up to her tip toes to try and look in the fort. ]

You're talking about that "Chaos Emerald" or something, right? Did you find it yet?

[ Look, their record with all powerful jewels has not exactly been the best, but that doesn't mean she's not going to be extremely interested in it. ]

[thisaroma]

[ There's also a wizard hat and an air tank in here?? The mace was probably the best thing. ]

Right. Yeah, it's over here.

[ He's probably got it wrapped in a blanket or something to Extra keep from touching it directly even though he was already wearing gloves, but he'll shift it a little for her to see it. ]

The way he was describing it at first I almost thought it might have been a Centurion's core, but it isn't, obviously.

[ He pauses for a few seconds, then tentatively voices a suggestion that's kind of been on his mind ever since the confession (even though it really hadn't been at all appropriate at that point). ]

...You know, if you wanted to, you could probably move in here now? I mean, things seem to be kind of up-and-down with Reika, and this way you'd definitely never have to worry about the possibility of anyone in your room trying to cause you harm. A-and I could still keep watch outside at night if you didn't want me in here while you were sleeping!

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ Her eyes seem to get bigger as she gets a better look at it, shifting the blanket slightly so it's more in view. Whatever's been popping out of the vending machine tends to not have the same power that it's supposed to, but... she's still curious to know how many more machines something like this would be able to power back home.

He doesn't seem to be getting affected by it, at least. It's not a core, that much is pretty clear, but it'd be a real pain in the ass if she had to deal with him losing it again.

Alice looks up at him when he mentions moving in, frowning slightly. The idea of having to share such small quarters with him is enough to drive him up the wall, but... having the room mostly to herself would be nice.................. ]

Maybe. If you get the nasty smell out of the room and figure out how to swap access to each others rooms so I don't have to depend on you letting me in all the time, then I'll consider it.

[ She kind of doubts it'll work, but who knows. She's been surprised before. ]

[thisaroma]

[ Even though he did think he'd framed that suggestion pretty reasonably, he'd honestly still been prepared for a flat rejection, and he absolutely lights up at that "maybe". ]

Really?! I'll definitely ask about the room access thing, then! Do you think that's more of a Davy Jones question or a Captain question?

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ Gross. Maybe giving him that hope was a bad idea, actually. ]

How should I know? The Captain, maybe? I don't really think Davy controls that much, anyway, from what he's said.

[thisaroma]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking...

[ too bad the Captain SUCKS MORE ]

Okay, well, I'll give it a try tonight while he's maybe in a slightly better mood!

[ Murder days seem like probably the best days to ask him for a favor. ]

Aah... I was going to offer to bring those gingerbread houses there [ points to two very cute ones over on the desk ] over to your room if you wanted them, but maybe we won't even have to move them!

[conceivesfrenzy]

Mm, leave them for now. I have one or two in my room that I haven't gotten around to touching yet.

[ Oh, yeah. That. She still needs to decide whether she's actually going to or not... and besides, she's still infinitely more interested in the Chaos Emerald, anyway. Decus seems to be more or less normal (whatever that means) with it right next to him, and she wouldn't feel any kind of effect anyway, so... she just kind of pulls it out from the blanket and inspects it closer. ]

I wonder what it's supposed to do? Did Shard say anything useful about it?

Room 7

[ignobel]

[Allenby goes strolling on by a little later on, coming out of her room in just a bathrobe because apparently it's just one of those days where you execute a mechanical dude after a long-ass trial and then you immediately go work off the problem or something.

She's got a towel still around her neck and is ruffling at her hair now that it's safe to be damp, evidently.

The open door catches her eye and she peeks in -- it's hard not to know whose room this is given how close quarters they've all been by now. She takes a few moments to sort of look through the fray of things..... Awkward.]

That's a big rock.

[Trying not to startle him but damn. That's a huge rock.]

[thisaroma]

[ Glancing down to the door... ]

Oh, hey. Yeah, it is... He said it could be pretty dangerous too, so I guess I'm just going to hang onto it and make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

[ ...Which would admittedly include his own, given his past history with mind-manipulating shiny stones, but. He's being careful this time! ]

[ignobel]

Ohh, Shard say that? Huh. So... You're just going to cart that big rock around or lock it in somewhere or something?

[She looks kind of dubious of all of the above, but perhaps most dubious is the tone in her realization that:

1. Purple dude is not planning to give this to cackling pastel girl as an attempted engagement gift
2. Probably
3. Very probably
4. Actually the jury might be out......

Totally going to step in to get a closer look, though, what do you mean you're supposed to step back when stuff is dangerous. 'Tis but a rock.]

Didn't know you were good with stuff like this...

[thisaroma]

[ YEAH 'CAUSE HE ISN'T ]

I don't know if I'm good with it, exactly, but my boss back home was collecting things sort of like this, and I helped get him a few of them... so I'm probably not the worst, at least?

[ignobel]

[Can't believe Decus won't give his sweet(???)heart(??) an engagement gift. Terrible. Unfortunate.]

... Your espionage division was collectin' dangerous jewelry from guys like Shard? Maybe I underestimated you. [just comes right out and says that] But hey, I guess if a hole ever gets blown in the ship, we'll know where it came from?

I mean, do you know what it does?

[She sounds more curious than disbelieving -- but she's not trying to touch the thing, at least.]