Welp We're Here and That's What Matters

[ahelpingpaw]

[Perhaps it's tradition by now, he doesn't know. Still, he does send a note to everyone some time after the trial. Simple and to the point:]

Because everything on this ship is awful, I think a drink is needed. Come get some at the bar, it'll do you some good as long as you don't drink too much

Filbo (pawprint)

[Indeed, if you come to the bar you'll find there's one of everything. Filbo seems to have asked literally every drink he knows or has at least heard about, and lined them up from the most mellow to the strongest. There's one of each, so it's limited, take yours before it's gone! Or...ask Jimmy Buffett for more, he's right there.

Should he be encouraging drinking? He's not completely certain, but he had to do something! And this is as good as anything -- not festive because this is no time to be festive, but also social enough to encourage coming.

This will do.]

Comments

[silentscout]

Are those the people you care about?

[He points to the phone sitting up there on the piano.]

[jibunwo]

...Yes. But some of them are already...

[A pause, his hand hitting a slightly wrong note.]

...It doesn't matter. Not here, at least.

[silentscout]

[Boy, he sure can fill in the blank there. It's a blank that exists in Lalli's life too.

Lalli pulls out his phone and opens his own motive image and sets it down next to Lelouch's phone. Then he starts pointing to people and saying their names, starting with the blonde on the far right.]

Emil.

[Then the big guy in the back.]

Mikkel.

[Then the redhead with the braid.]

Reynir.

[Kissa and Lalli himself would be next, but he skips over them since he's sure Lelouch knows both of them. Instead, he goes to the redhead in the back.]

Sigrun.

[And then, after a moment of hesitation, to the last person on the left.]

...Tuuri.

[jibunwo]

[Lelouch listened as she named them off, glancing up as he did. Then he paused, hands going still on the keys before reaching out to pick up his own phone. In order he pointed out the young girl in the wheelchair and the woman behind her-]

Nunnally. And our mother, Marianne.

[-the woman in pink and the knight at her side]

Euphemia and Suzaku.

[-the redhead in a school uniform]

Shirley.

[The woman with green hair, whose name was pronounced C-2 but I'm forced to spell it 'correctly']

C.C.

[and the other teenage girl in red.]

Kallen.

[silentscout]

[Somewhere, Rolo is crying.

Lalli listens carefully, committing those names to memory. He's normally not so great at remembering names, but it feels important to try this time.]

You have a little sister.

[They're all such pretty people too. What an aesthetically pleasing noodle canon.]

[jibunwo]

[joke's on him, lelouch ain't even finished season one yet]

I do. Nunnally is...why I understood Plumeria. She and I would both do anything for the person most important to us.

[silentscout]

Mmm.

[Lalli understands that want to save his people too. He just hasn't found a way to act on it.]

Tuuri and Onni are the most important ones for me. They're my cousins, and we're the last of our family.

...it's probably best that I was the one who came here. Tuuri wouldn't have made it very long here, she's too soft in the heart. And Onni would have killed someone for a motive.

[jibunwo]

My sister doesn't belong in a situation like this. She's a gentle and compassionate person, who just wants the world to be a kind place. If we were here together, I would probably have killed every single one of you in the first week.

[...don't just say shit like that]

[silentscout]

[Lelouch please!]

You wouldn't have made it through everyone before getting caught. But I understand what you mean.

[jibunwo]

Maybe not. But for her sake, I'd have to try.

[silentscout]

It is definitely better she's not here. I like you better alive and not trying to kill me.

[jibunwo]

...I don't want to kill anyone here. I wish I could say that I won't. But I can't promise that, least of all now.

[silentscout]

'I don't want to' is enough.

[There's too many circumstances where things could go so wrong, and Lalli doesn't want to force a promise someone might be unable to keep.]

[jibunwo]

[A quiet, tired laugh left him, Lelouch looking back to the keys but not resuming playing anything yet.]

Thanks. I...appreciate that you understand.

[silentscout]

Mhmm.

[He picks his phone back up and pockets it.]

I understand. Just like how I have to go home to my family, you have to go home to yours too.

[jibunwo]

I have a lot of things I need to do. If the Black Knights are even still alive, we'll have a lot to clean up where I've been gone so long.

[silentscout]

Stay alive so you can do it. You can't lead them if you're dead.

[Don't fall for the motives, Lelouch.]