but even if the stars and moon collide [afterparty]

[allatonce]

[Well, that sucked!

After about an hour, invitations written in colorful ink appear under everyone's doors.]

Understandable if you're not up to it, but we're having a memorial and "don't wanna be alone" hang-out in the restaurant again.

[The restaurant has very much been decorated with the most rainbow fabric she could find in the department store. Jonathan got roped in, mainly so she could make sure he was doing okay, but also because she assumed that he knew how to put a tablecloth on a table. He seemed like the type, anyway.

After consulting with Undertaker, most of the food that's been set out is more traditional Chinese funeral food than Victorian—you can get a whole roast duck in the restaurant—but she tried for a mix of things. There is fruit, the aforementioned roast duck, and several vegetarian dishes along with potatoes for some reason and... cookies? Okay then.

Joy's trying, because that was way less terrible for her than it was for basically anyone else.

Happy Pride Wrath, New Rapture!]

Comments

Restaurant

[pairtner]

Forrest, you look tense.

[Aiba has been bouncing around, talking to people one on one. She's running out of battery and, frankly, emotional endurance for this all. Given that, by the time she sees Forrest, she's coming pretty close to leaving.

That's why she doesn't even bother to make her usual show of a projection. Instead she just jumps onto the table closest to him]

Don't force yourself to stay.

[visiblepattern]

[Oh, hello, Aiba...]

I... I don't know, I feel like I should? I didn't really come last time.

[...for good reason, apparently.]

[pairtner]

It's very kind of you to take the time to come and be with others in a time of grief. However, it should not come to the expense of your own comfort.

Think if you really do want to be here and act accordingly.

[Easy for the AI to say that, really. She's all about taking action according to parameters. Even with emotional conundrums happening, she forces herself to do something]

[visiblepattern]

...I suppose.

[It's not fully accepting, but it's not a "no", either.]

Are you all right with being here, Aiba? I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not...certain how you work in this regard. Do you mourn people?

[It hadn't really occurred to him to ask last week; this week, though, he's at least got the presence of mind to wonder about it.]

[pairtner]

Before coming here I hadn't existed for long enough to see a loved one die. I have seen death many times before, but none of it has been anyone I...cared about.

[Recently a couple of Date's friends died, meaning Aiba had seen them many times before, but Aiba had no good opinion of them. Certainly didn't wish their deaths, but she never mourned them.

Here in this underwater city, though...]

Almost everyone who has died here is different, though. They're people I actually talked with and grew to like. People I wanted to protect.

So...yes. I do.

[Makes her wish she could turn off her emotional workings but nope, she's so well made she feels genuine grief]

[visiblepattern]

I thought you might, after last week, but I wasn't sure.

[Again, he hadn't thought to ask. But it seemed possible at the time.]

I didn't know Obi or Penelope that well. Certainly far less than I did Adaman or Hodaka. It's still difficult, though.

[pairtner]

I didn't know Penelope that well either, but Obi...he was the first one who figured out I wasn't a normal human -- it was due to a mistake on my part, but he figured out and kept that secret. After that I talked to him many times, and I even patrolled with him at night so he would be safe.

[Well, because she can see in the dark, not because she could back him up during a fight]

I had a very good opinion of him.

[visiblepattern]

...It's probably odd to say in a context like this, but I'm glad you've been making friends here. I think it's...important for us to do that, even if it makes it harder.

[pairtner]

Are you saying bonds and camaraderie may be a way to hold strong in the face of our situation?

[will the power of friendship liberate us

the seance in two days says yes

if william birkin managed to succeed in a murdergame without killing so can anyone else]

[visiblepattern]

[somehow william birkin is only the third biggest mistake i've apped to a murdergame]

That's what I'm saying. It's better than bonding because we hate each other, I suppose.

[pairtner]

True enough...

[You know what, she will say something else. Perhaps that she displays her human projection nearby is a sign she feels this is something important:]

I hope your heart won't break under the weight of these bonds. I do agree with you in that perhaps it's important...and I dearly hope it won't turn into regrets in the future.

But despite that, I think it's noble of you to have this mindset.

[And because of that she hopes it will work out well, because it would be pretty depressing to see it go unrewarded]

[visiblepattern]

Thank you. And I don't plan to let anything break, my heart among them.

I have to believe it'll be all right in the end. That we'll come out the other side of this one way or another. It...may not be all of us, but I have to have faith in at least some of us.