Funeral Service for Adaman and Hodaka Morishima

[giddyundertaker]

[ An hour or two after the first trial's end, Hild and the Undertaker set out to invite as many people as possible to the Restaurant for the funerals of our dearly departed friends.

Why the restaurant of all places? Because there aren't enough chairs and tables elsewhere.

Indeed, some of the tables have been moved against the wall to make room for the seats. The chairs have been set up in four rows of six, like an improvised theater or a church. To the side, a small buffet has been set up courtesy of Obi, Mafuyu, and Hild. As for the main event? Two tables have been set up and decorated in black fabric and white flowers. In lieu of a live viewing, two drawings referenced from the profiles have been set up in the center of funeral wreaths... They're not the best, due to the artist's handicaps, but it does look like Adaman and Hodaka at least.]

Comments

[howveryglib]

[Gaius helps to set up the memorial, and he does stick around for some eulogies, but it's... not particularly long before he leaves to go outside. As "outside" as he can go, anyway. He can certainly do speeches, but he's not good at emotions especially when he's pretty deep in his own feelings, so he'd rather be out in the... "fresh" air.

Of course, the only place where that feels like... a thing is the garden, which feels kind of. hm. Well. Given that the stakes have been made obvious, it's hard to tell if they will discourage other attempts and the garden will be the only place someone dies or if the whole place will end up metaphorically stained with blood. He hopes it's the former. He wants to lead the other captives to the former.

But as he takes a seat and pours himself some Malort 'neath dark waters and looks up at the ceiling, he kind of gets the feeling it'll be the latter.]

[onemillion]

[Rossiu would rather avoid the garden, but he has a letter to deliver and... well, Gaius isn't anywhere else. So here he is, letter in hand, trying very hard not to look in the direction of the pond.]

Gaius. I apologize for the interruption.

[But clearly he's not sorry enough to not interrupt. Hi, good evening, how's it going other than "poorly".]

[howveryglib]

You are not interrupting much.

[He takes a sip of the booze. It tastes like ass.

…

He’s probably had worse.]

What is it?

[onemillion]

Here. Adaman left notes behind and this one is for you.

[Don't worry, he hasn't read it.]

[howveryglib]

Adaman left me something?

[He sounds kind of incredulous, because like… man. He did kind of reconsider his stance on the kid but only after he was dead, so.

He will go ahead and take it, at least, and read through it.]

…

Hm. I suppose I… truly did misjudge him.

[onemillion]

[...]

How so? If you don't mind me asking.

[I mean he. He has a guess. What with Gaius's profile saying he dislikes religion. But like. Maybe it's not that??]

[howveryglib]

…

I take a dim view of religion for a variety of reasons, the foremost being that so-called gods cause no shortage of problems. Even without considering the harm caused by eikons, however, what need does man have of them? If they are not being summoned, they seem to be nothing more than a crutch for weak rulers to lean on as they distract their subjects from their inadequacies.

…I suppose he did technically fail in his attempt to preserve order here. But I do respect the initiative he took in the attempt.

[onemillion]

[People can just. Summon gods where you're from?? Absolutely wild.]

Gods simply aren't real where I come from, and I have a... complicated history with religion as a whole. But... he was always so adamant in his belief that I wanted it to be real. If his Almighty Sinnoh is real, then I hope that they are the benevolent god Adaman believed them to be.

[howveryglib]

I have a hard time imagining any god as benevolent, but we are all from different realms. Perhaps it is possible that Sinnoh is, in fact, what their people want them to be… I suppose if they do exist, I hope they are benevolent, for the sake of the people of Adaman’s homeland.

[fuckingguy]

Gaius.

[ He's just announcing his presence! Largely because the alternative is to break his arrival in by saying: ]

... So, I am thinking I should maybe delay the next house meeting.

[howveryglib]

…

[you know. He welcomes something dumb like this. it’s better than the alternative.]

That would be for the best. I will need to see if I have to mediate between Jonathan and… the rest of us save perhaps Dawon.

[fuckingguy]

[ A silent nod! ]

Real wild card, that guy. [ ... ] I am referring to Seo Dawon, of course, as Jonathan is actually very predictable when you get down to it... he is just also very loud. And wet.

[ From all the weeping. ]

[howveryglib]

Agreed on both counts.

[…]

Do you wish for me to speak with Jonathan about this… “vampire” situation? I must confess that I am unsure what it entails given that I do not believe we have them where I am from, but I would prefer for there to be one less issue keeping him on edge at all hours.

[fuckingguy]

If he is not willing to listen to reason, a mediator might be for the best. As for the situation... eh. [ He waves one beringed hand dismissively. ] Basically, it means that I am an ancient, infinitely powerful beast of the night who drains human victims of their blood in order to perpetuate my own eternal life, very scary, yadda yadda yaddee.

[howveryglib]

…

[uh.]

Is it fatal amounts of blood on a regular basis? Given that it has not been a problem yet I would presume it is manageable enough, but I would prefer to work out some sort of arrangement to keep things from getting out of hand.

[fuckingguy]

... It is not necessarily fatal.

Hmm. Gaius, you are a pragmatic man, are you not? I have been getting that impression.

[howveryglib]

I will not deny that I am. Ultimately, I want to do what is best for all of us.

[allatonce]

[Joy sits down next to him with a tired sigh.]

Tell me about the weird nonphysical people where you're from so I can pretend today didn't happen.

[howveryglib]

[oh man he probably shouldn’t have brought up the ascians. thinking about Lahabrea is just making things a little worse…]

…Ah. Well, I cannot say I know much more about them than that they have inscrutable motives and possess people. They certainly enjoy causing what I presume to be massive explosions for their god.

[allatonce]

Huh. Kind of sounds like ghosts. Except for the massive explosions part, I guess, but you never know.

[She makes a grabby hand for the bottle of Malört.]

Are gods real where you're from?

[howveryglib]

…it doesn’t taste particularly good.

[He doubts it matters, but he feels like he should warn about the Malort, at least…]

In any case, it depends on how you define “real.” There are certainly beings that are called forth and worshipped as gods, though truly they are naught but parasites that enslave minds and drain the land of aether.

[allatonce]

Oh, I know.

[It tastes like if absinthe was a sewer and that's exactly what she wants right now. She does take a sip while he's talking though. Then she hands the bottle back.]

Can't believe people are going around making god tulpas where you're from.

[howveryglib]

Whatever those are… yes, they are doing it. I seem to be getting the impression this is particularly uncommon, at least.

[allatonce]

Tulpa's when you, like... believe something so hard you make it real. So I guess if that was a thing, a god would be the best candidate. So many people believing in the same thing and all.

[She can't really say how common or uncommon it is. The multiverse is really big.]

[howveryglib]

Ah, I see. I suppose that would indeed be what they are, then, although they do require resources outside of simple belief to maintain their power. There is a region in Othard known as The Burn that was completely drained of all aether through repeated summonings, and it is now a barren wasteland devoid of all but the most tenacious life.