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

[ltcommandroid]

Oh. Really? I had thought it had something to do with the pressure.

[Which is also something he can register, but has never felt one way or another about in the past. Still, he wraps both hands around the cup, the way he's seen people do.]

Is this correct?

[cethflayn]

I think that is part of it as well.

[She nods when he holds the cup.] Yes, that is it exactly.

[ltcommandroid]

Good.

[.........

There's a bit of a pause while Data seems to wait and see if holding the tea will do anything. It lasts like, just long enough to start getting awkward.]

And how are you feeling?

[cethflayn]

[Awkward? What's that? This is a normal silence between two beings who have gone through Some Shit.]

...In truth? Tired. And worried. And sad. Part of me wonders if I should refrain from showering until we are certain no one has come to harm every day.

[She felt like a suspect and that sucked!]

[ltcommandroid]

I am sure it would take considerably more than that to convince many that you had committed a crime.

[Data never really took that piece of evidence seriously! Combined with other things, sure, he might have, but as things were it seemed extremely circumstantial.]

I do not believe I could allow us to come to that point with so little to go on. [I mean, he kinda hesitated to vote in there even with a full confession and everything]

[cethflayn]

Even so, if we had been wrong just on that small piece of evidence, we all would have died. I could not accept dooming us to such a fate over wet hair.

[So, showers will happen on Thursday night before lights out, that way she'll be clean and not a suspect.]

[ltcommandroid]

[Data nods.]

If it will make you feel better, removing extra variables may be helpful.

[Watch you come under suspicion for Weird Shower Schedules next week.]

[cethflayn]

Extra variables such as showers?

[ltcommandroid]

Such as some people having recently taken them, and others not. It could make it appear as though someone attempted to wash away evidence.

[cethflayn]

[A nod. She doesn't want to be a variable! She just wants to be Flayn!]

What other things could have been extra variables? I am curious.

[ltcommandroid]

Any number of things. One that came up, which we spent little time on, was who could have lifted Carmen's body.

[Like, it would only eliminate a few people, maybe, but every little bit matters.]

[cethflayn]

That is a good point.

[Looks at her noodle mage arms.]

...I could not have lifted her at all. Perhaps dragged her. But then, she would show signs of being dragged, as would the floor.

[ltcommandroid]

Indeed. Any small detail may be key to determining a perpetrator's identity.

[Something seems to occur to him.]

Does your world have a great deal of detective fiction?

[cethflayn]

Detective fiction? Hm...if it did, I have not read it. [Then again, Seteth wouldn't let her even be in the vicinity of a book with hand holding if he could help it.] I do know what a detective is, of course. Someone I went to school with loved to search out mysteries and their answers.

[ltcommandroid]

[jesus christ seteth she's a thousand years old]

I believe they can be instructive, in how to think about mysteries if nothing else. It is a genre I particularly enjoy.

[cethflayn]

[Look take it up with him, if he ever turns up]

Is it? Hm...are there any of them available in the library? I was taken with their collection of other genres, but perhaps it might behoove all of us to read a mystery or two.

[ltcommandroid]

No, all of the fiction there is centered on romance.

[He's definitely looked through it all, at this point.]

Perhaps I can do something about that. [he probably means ask the captain or something normal like that right]

[cethflayn]

[See that's a normal thought, but-]

Oh! Do you think it is possible to write one?

[Seteth writes fables, so obviously it's possible to just write a whole mystery novel!]