I have died every day waiting for you

[lovelikeyou]

[That was, in Rose's opinion, even worse than last week. Any loss of life is an awful waste, but for it all to come of some horrible accident...

This week, she doesn't retreat back to her room. She knows now that the people here, or at least enough of them, like to gather after these experiences. Many of the Crystal Gems were the same way; she remembers their post-battle huddles well. It's not a party, really, but...it's good to be together. To have friends around. Maybe, to remember those who were lost.

So this time, she'll go to the cafeteria herself and request some food for everyone. It's just basic snacks, the kind of human food she knows well enough to ask for. There's some hot chocolate provided, too. She definitely knows people enjoy that. It doesn't take too long, since she isn't making most of it, and then she goes to invite everybody she can find.

She doesn't slip any notes underneath doors, for the people she doesn't happen across. Some Crystal Gems didn't join the groups, or maybe did after one battle but not another. Sometimes they wanted to be alone. She never really understood that...but it wasn't her place to tell them otherwise. Weren't they all about freedom?

Everybody probably knows something like this is going to happen again, anyway. It's their choice to come.]

Comments

Piers' Room

[obstagoodboy]

[Well it's still unlocked from when he left to hit up the chapel?]

[ladygeryon]

[Huh. Nira's going to poke her head in there to check it out.]

[blackmass]

[Kirei wasn't particularly interested in the whole concept of togetherness or remembrance or whatever other sentimental nonsense was involved in such gatherings. But it had been a bit of an early morning for him, and it wasn't like he was going to get coffee anywhere else.]

[Don't mind him, sitting over here like this was a completely average morning.]

[emberserker]

And what were you laughing at?

[Anna glares at him, but it's no more resentment than usual. That might just be her face at this point.]

[reallyhatesharks]

So tell me about why you call vampires "Dead Apostles," father.

[She's just gonna sit down with her drink and look at Kirei expectantly. Let's talk about vampires.]

[drladysounds]

[Hmmm..this guy is a priest, isn't he? Maaaaaybe he's the kind of person she needs to talk with]

Excuse me? Father? Are you willing to give advice in this place?

[fivestagegod]

[What a goddamn day.

It's been a huge clusterfuck of WELL, THAT HAPPENED and as before, he's not too inclined to socialize immediately; instead, he's... Well, okay, he's taken the frankenpuppet back to the woodshop because he got another marionette from the machine, goddamn and as such he can be found adding to the horrid little abomination for some time before he makes his way back to the cafeteria to see if anyone's in there.

Whether they are or not doesn't really matter to him; he's pretty sure he's not the most popular person and that's fine by him, and as such he can be found at one of the tables drinking...you know what, he'll do the whole hot chocolate thing today, why not, and messing around with some more squares of colored paper, just folding away to give his hands something to do and otherwise remaining to himself unless approached.]

cw: more drunk Nira

[ladygeryon]

[Nira flops down across from him, Aria nowhere to be seen by her side as she stares at the origami he's making for a long time before speaking up.]

Wasn't even mad for her in specific, y'know....mad 'bout the fuckin bullshit coincidence. he jusssst so happened to be bleeding jusssssst as she walked by and now he's gone. the end! noooooo moral!

woodshop

[mouflon]

[ u h ]

What... is that.

[ Unfortunately, Rin doesn't particularly want to spend time at the afterparty right now, either! Which means Birkin's frankenpuppet time is, unfortunately, being interrupted. ]

cafeteria

[pimpplan]

I don't think I'd have pegged you for the type to be doing origami, actually.

[ Zelos sits on a nearby table, muffin in hand and a bottle of water, watching Birkin work with mildest of interest. ]

[lovelikeyou]

[Well, Rose is over here in a different crafting corner, working on her little sewing project. After a minute or two, she'll notice that William is doing much the same and gather up her things to go over there.]

Do you mind if I sit here, too?

cw: alcohol

[ladygeryon]

[After checking out Piers' room, Nira's going to the dining room and ordering herself some heavily alcoholic wine. It doesn't even take two cups before she's drunk, leaning heavily on the table and mumbling. None of her Pokemon are currently out, even Aria.]

He was a good kid...damn motives, damn Professor...fucking stupid coincidences...no more going out at night...but if someone else does...

[gangrene]

... How are you that drunk that quickly?

[emberserker]

Should you really be getting that drunk?

[pimpplan]

[ Zelos frowns when he sees Nira, walking over to swipe two water bottles from the table and sliding one in front of her. ]

Hey, I respect you getting trashed right now, but make sure you're drinking something else with it. Otherwise you're going to regret it tomorrow.

[archboxer]

[To think that someone could live off blood... what a fate. Horrible. What was even more horrible was not being able to control it. Not being able to control your baser desires and just tear into someone with fang and claw--horrible and undeserved.

She'll sit by herself in a corner with some tea (and probably glare at Seteth when she sees him). Then just head off to the gym before going back to her room to not-sleep.]

[blackmass]

[Rhea was not the only one with a mind for whatever form of exercise; Kirei found his way to the gym not terribly long after.]

[So whatcha doin in here, archbishop-chan?]

[lovelikeyou]

[Rose, for her part, is sitting in at a table with a mug of hot chocolate after she's done wandering around looking for folks to invite to this. It doesn't feel the same as taking food a real human might eat, and she likes the sweetness and the added heat as the drink soaks through her form.

She's not just sitting here, anyway; she's finishing up the sewing project she was working on earlier in the week. It doubtless looks a lot more wonky than the one pictured; she just started, so she's not that good even when you set aside the difficulties she's had with these tiny needles. But it was fun to try something new. Right now, she just wants something to keep a little busy with while remaining available if anyone wants to talk. That's what she always did before - polishing her sword, or looking over maps or something like that.

(It's never really mattered if she wanted to talk.)]

cw: drunkeness

[ladygeryon]

[Nira comes wobbling over to Rose's side, flopping down at the table and staring at the stuffed animal very intensely for a long time before speaking up.]

sheeeee...gave me one, y'know. A kangaroo for my...my little girl.

[nothingcanstop]

[ HOW ABOUT THAT!

In a stark contrast to last week, Della doesn't go to the gathering right away. Instead, she can be found in the workshop. Or like...right outside it? She's got her goggles on in front of her eyes, and she's standing away from any doors. But she has some wood -- some large would -- and...an IKEA nightstand, actually, and...a sewing machine? Just a lot of things she's cobbled together from around the area, or things from the vending machine. A fake Oscar, an action figure, the shitty game device, the nisse, that kind of stuff.

She also has a mace. And that honking big rock. And a whole lot of pent-up aggression.

For...some time, a fair bit of time, Della's going to take the rock, the mace, even just some slabs of wood, to everything she's got there. Yelling, slamming her metal foot into the nightstand, just doing, you know. Whatever she has to.

There's a few tears in there, perhaps. Just a few.

It's mostly rage.

It's not until later, much later, that Della actually goes to the gathering get some food and hot chocolate. She's got the hot chocolate and...some of that premixed Appletini she mentioned, that probably doesn't go together all that well, but screw it. She's tired, but she's not crying, so. That's something. ]

workshop

[philoxenia]

.... Della?

[ She's here at the tail end, when she's already let quite a bit of that aggression out. And in her hands... an expensive orange scarf. ]

[philoxenia]

[ ... well that sucked!

The first thing she does is go to Alice's room, where she picks up the items there... and she spends a while just letting herself cry. Little wonder she turns up to the gathering later than she normally would, but she has that letter in hand. She places it on a table for people to read, if they wish. She considers the snacks, and eats something just because she knows she should.

After that, though, she goes to the art room, but she sort of just... sits there. If anyone comes in, she's not tackling the portraits just yet, even though she's got the supplies ready and nearby; she's... writing, instead, on the notepad she's been carrying since day one. ]

[archboxer]

[There's.. someone outside the art room who doesn't quite go in, not yet. In fact they walk right by before they come back. It's Rhea, presumably seeing if the chapel has been cleaned up.

She looks... a mess, honestly, considering she just came from the gym in her fancy gown but y'know.]

...Mira, are you doing alright?

[Time to do mom duties before sinking back into anger about something only she really cares about.]

[bogwife]

[Zerinda arrives at the gathering earlier than she did last week and with none of the fussing and extra wine to share. She sets herself up on the far side of the dining area with a cup of hot chocolate, wrapped in her green cloak and rolling the cup between her hands instead of drinking it with her legs restlessly bouncing against the underside of the table.

It doesn't take long before she abandons her drink and leaves, making a beeline for the second floor sewing room. She's only spends a few minutes in there, finding exactly what she needs right where she left them, then going back downstairs into the women's restroom where she stays sequestered for quite some time.

Eventually she does rejoin the party wearing fresh clothes, a more relaxed if exhausted expression and missing several inches of hair. It's not enough to be noticeably shorter but it does have less volume now. She's back in her previous seat, cold hot chocolate in front of her. Princess the Nug is at her feet nibbling on a bag of snacks and in her lap she has a mound of bright blue fabric that she's halfheartedly hand sewing.]

[philoxenia]

[ What's up, Zaza. Mira's here, too, with... huh. Those dyes look familiar, right? She's got a few colors, because honestly, if she works up the courage to do this, she's not sure what to go with. ]

Oh-- hi, Zerinda.

[baitless]

[Well, that was a fucking mess. On some level, Seteth does want to retreat to his room and not deal with any of this, but even so...

Well, he’s going to show up to the gathering anyway. He should be there to provide support for those who need it, or at least... be there in case anyone wants to talk about... whatever. He’s drinking some hot chocolate and looks to be deep in thought. In fairness, there is quite a bit to think about...]

[philoxenia]

... Seteth?

[ She's got some hot cocoa, too, so there's that. She'll have to thank Rose later. ]

Do you mind if I join you?

[drladysounds]

Professor, you coot, come out of wherever you are! My skinny fists demand retribution!

[There's Shelley, shouting at the ceiling at the lounge. Look, it's already bad enough they have to watch friends kill each other, it's even worse when it seems the Professor explicitly targeted Alice]

That just was so...so...I don't even know what word to use!

lounge;

[valentinus]

Disgusting?

[ It looks like Shelley wasn't alone anymore in the lounge, at any rate. ]

[snackooed]

[ Local chatterbox Ema Skye is uncharacteristically quiet tonight. There's an almost-full mug of coffee between her fingertips as she sits at the gathering, clad in her black suitjacket, but any of the heat that would come out of it is long-gone; the girl's too wrapped up in her own head to even pause for a sip.

To call today a disaster would probably be an understatement. Of course, she knows sitting around and moping about it isn't going to do any of them any good, but even so...well, the gravity of their situation is only getting harder to come to terms with. She'll get her ass in gear in a moment, but right now, she just needs a good, hard think. ]

[emberserker]

Are you just going to drink that cold?

[emberserker]

[Anna isn't ever having a good day, why start now? But she does come, bringing with her... an entire gingerbread house, fully decorated, and starts breaking off pieces of candy and icing. Okay, this is not the ideal breakfast food, but look.]

At least she admitted it in time.

[fivestagegod]

[Jesus Christ, Anna. Do you mind if he just folds stuff nearby, because that seems like the sort of thing you should not be left alone with, for your future diabetes' sake.]

Did she really? It was more like we had to drag it out of her first.

[hardnosed]

[ Whether she was invited or not, Jasper takes a good long while to put in an appearance. She heads to Alice's room before anything else — not a tall order, as it's right next to hers — and finds nothing that makes her feel any different. Back in her own quarters, she picks up the bow tie from yesterday, gives it a hard stare, and flings it across the room, where it bounces lamely off the window. And with that, it's time for one of her favorite activities: walking around in a foul mood.

She gives the chapel a cursory look-see, which is just as pointless as Alice's room was and does nothing to quiet the inexplicable restless energy currently surging within her. After some more pacing, she ends up at, shock of shocks, the gym, where you can find her beating the absolute hell out of a punching bag. She knows there's a gathering going on, because there must be. Someone's taken it on as a task after they all got back, probably reasoning that it's what she would have wanted. A few hours ago, she was talking about having a "real party", knowing full well that as soon as they saw through her, she was going to die. Jasper uses the word "worthless" so often it means practically nothing, but this, this whole stupid day and all the lies and all the arguments of who's undead and who's hypocritical, qualifies. She's not completely unaware of her surroundings during this, though she's certainly intense about what she's doing and more than willing to completely ignore anyone who shows up — at least until she takes a pause in her endless salvo of punches and kicks to address them. How does it look like she's sweating when she has no pores and her entire stupid body is made of light... ]

What do you want?

[ That said, she does eventually show up at the cafeteria. Once she's there, she doesn't really know what to do there... so she grabs a cup of tea (it's hot chocolate, all hot drinks are going to be tea to her for the foreseeable future) and just sits by herself, warming her huge hands and glowering into its depths. The chairs are so uncomfortable, and she's got nothing to say and no reason to feel anything other than irritation, but she's around. Maybe that counts for something. Probably it doesn't. ]