No party like an pope party??

[archboxer]

[That... that was a thing for everyone. There should be no celebration for Lif but, well, even if Rhea has a very cynical view of such things it's probably for the best that everyone stays together. Her first stop is the cafeteria, after all nothing better to keep people in one spot than free food. There she bumps into Mira, leaving the snacks to her Rhea ends up writing notes to everyone to come to the cafeteria in a few hours.

Some she hands personally and if she can't find someone she slid it under their door. Rin's she slides into her room regardless.

Fortunately, you won't hear a sermon.]

Comments

[hardnosed]

[ She missed the scene earlier today, and only hung around the edges of the commotion long enough to establish what had happened. Now that she's actually here, there's no visual dissonance, she supposes. All the things missing — the scattered books, the bloodspatter, Aela herself — are things she really only heard about.

Jasper, like Nova, is inclined towards action and out of her depth here. She didn't have the necessary experience to understand what happened in this room. That could have been fatal. Next time (there will be a next time), she'll have to do better.

Anyway, instead of just saying "yeah", she grunts an affirmative in response! But then, at least, she continues. ]

I understand taking the body. That's probably something he can use. But what's the point of the rest of it?

[ Putting the books away would be easy enough, but cleaning up all the blood in a matter of hours? Woof. ]

[reallyhatesharks]

Psychological torture, I'd assume. [Nova stands.] If you make things look like nothing happened, then it's harder to feel like it did happen. It means people start questioning themselves.

[It makes them more likely to slip up, maybe.]

[hardnosed]

[ She actually thinks about that. She thinks about how little newly-made Gems actually know about Earth's failure, of how little awareness of it is actually allowed. Even though she knows her existence is an unsightly reminder, most of the time, it's simply not talked about. And as for Pink Diamond... ]

Maybe. This is supposed to be an experiment — and we still don't know what he's studying. [ ... ] Have you checked their rooms?

[reallyhatesharks]

Not yet. It seemed disrespectful to start there, somehow.

[Truth be told, she wasn't going to check their rooms but now that Jasper's mentioned it, it probably can't be helped. Knowing what happens after they die could be useful in the long run.]

Were they like this too?

[hardnosed]

I haven't checked either. Figured someone softer would beat me there.

[ Someone more invested in either Lif or Aela. After some of the reactions today, there's got to be at least one, and they'll probably get all touchy if they come to grieve, or whatever, and she's handling the deceased's things. ]

But there's only one way to find out.

[reallyhatesharks]

You didn't check either? Well. No time like the present.

[Glancing at where the body was briefly, Nova heads out of the library. Let's go loot some rooms, I guess????]

[hardnosed]

[ Off they go! She's definitely not following a human anywhere, they just happen to have the same destination, it's fine. Also Jasper's legs are so goddamn long she's immediately caught up anyway, so. ]

You're the scientist. What's your best guess?

[reallyhatesharks]

Best guess about this situation or what their rooms will look like?

[She has more thoughts about one than the other, but she doesn't really want to blab at length about the situation if that's not the question.]

[hardnosed]

[ Of course she meant the last option, but now that the question's been posed it's probably more interesting to hear what Nova thinks on the former. This is not a big facility, after all. They're going to see the truth of the matter in a minute tops. ]

It's your call.

[reallyhatesharks]

I've heard of experiments like this before. Some people think that being ethical won't teach us anything about the "true" nature of humanity. If the Professor is one of those people, which signs point to, then we won't manage to get out of here until he gets bored or the experiment is over.

[Well. Or one of them kills everyone? Also highly possible, but she's preferring to think in positives.]

Which means I think our efforts are best served looking for ways to bring the dead back to life, rather than trying to prevent it from happening in the first place.

[hardnosed]

What?

[ She was going to go on some dumb tear about how the nature of humanity couldn't be less relevant when it comes to her and Rose, or at least ask about the other experiments, but the audacity of what Nova follows it up with takes her by true surprise. ]

You're organic. When your physical forms die, you die.