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

[scythegun]

[It gets a brief laugh out of him, anyway.]

True enough! I suppose that would be the Captain's job, not that many of us will be likely to listen to him.

[hellahighwater]

Tell me about it. If I could just get one minute with that smug fucker...

[ ...No jokes about his dick today? ]

[scythegun]

[Ooh, you really are upset about all of this, huh.]

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem very likely we'll get that opportunity any time soon. He seems very content laughing at us from afar.

[hellahighwater]

Asshole thinks he's all cozy where no one can find him. Thinks all this is funny, playing with people's lives like they're toys.

[ She really is upset about all this! ]

Like we're just dancing bears for him.

[scythegun]

That really is it, we're nothing more than amusement to him. He didn't even seem to pay much attention to us today until we reached the end.

[Like none of the struggle mattered and only the execution did.]

[hellahighwater]

It didn't even sound like he was watching.

[ All he cares about is their deaths. Not like that's really surprising, but... ]

Not even the bullshit trial matters to him. Why the fuck were we even doing that?

[scythegun]

I don't know. There must be a reason behind it; something to explain why he decided to set things up like this.

[It's not a comforting answer, and it certainly isn't fun to think about.]

Hopefully we'll be able to learn more and perhaps then we'll be able to find a way to stop this.

[hellahighwater]

You think that's likely? Like, seriously, you think that's a likely outcome?

[scythegun]

I think there's a very real possibility that we can find something to use against him. Mr. Jones is not serving the Captain of his own volition, and that is something I believe we can use to our advantage.

[hellahighwater]

[ ...Okay. And, Yeager doesn't feel like a guy who'd just lie to make someone feel better. ]

...He asked me if I was aware of...leverage. What kind of leverage does... [ She frowns. ] And how can we get ahold of it?

[scythegun]

[See, you get him.]

That's what we need to focus on figuring out. Mr. Jones is straightforward about what he can and cannot answer, but I doubt we'll be able to learn much more about what exactly is going on there from him. I think for now, we should focus on trying to turn up anything else we can find. There is that section in the buffet that's locked off; I wonder what's in there.

[hellahighwater]

No one could break in. What, we gotta resort to... [ She frowns. ] If we had some chemicals, we could make a bomb.

[scythegun]

Considering the strange stuff that one vending machine has been giving us, perhaps we can find a combination that would work. I must admit, I know very little about using chemicals to make bombs, however.

[he is a sophisticated man who only uses blastia bombs that he definitely did not leave in heliord, don't worry about that.]

[hellahighwater]

I...used to know some shit. Ugh. Stupid dropout memory. Maybe someone else is a science geek around here, could help jog my memory.

[scythegun]

There's certainly plenty of people here with a wide variety of skills, I'm sure someone could help!

[hellahighwater]

...Okay. Okay. Something to blow that prick's ego sky high.

[scythegun]

Precisely. I'd like to see just how badly we can irritate him.