hey mom, dead mom, i need a little help here

[nothingcanstop]

[ ...All of that happened, huh. That's the sentiment each and every week, and it's no different this time. Except, this time they've lost more people than before. Five.

The gathering invitation is slipped under everyone's doors, but it specifies something a little different. ]



[ That's a good two hours or so of difference. Enough time to wander around, for sure.

But, in the garden, at the appointed time, there's a variable arrangement of fresh-cooked food. A good amount of beef stew, some Chinese hot pot, and...watermelon? Just, an absurd amount of watermelon, cut up and set on plates. All the food's set on tables that seem to have been moved from the library, and the ground is littered with blankets, for those who don't want to sit on the grass.

And yes, she did not lie. There is, indeed, a variable fuckton of alcohol. (And coffee, for our underaged.)

This has become routine. But, we're still here. We're still alive. ]

Comments

[valentinus]

[ He looked kind of thoughtful...well, actually not seriously thoughtful. That was reserved for self-reflection time. This was definitely more suited to winding down. ]

Hmm...I'd say a good amount of materia and some potions, since I'm not feeling like being cheap today.

[bolderfell]

[Huh. His eyebrows rise at that, for a moment, and then Therion acquiesces with a nod.]

Well, if it's worth that much to you. [He exhales quietly.] I'm... thinking about Anna.

[His voice stays low, and he keeps his eyes trained on the fork he's playing with between his hands.]

[valentinus]

...Did you know her well?

[ Or was it she had said during the trial? Both were possibilities, though in that same thought he supposed nothing couldn't say that those were two unrelated things either. ]

[bolderfell]

Who can say, after all that?

[Everything Anna kept to herself, all that pressure building inside her--he had no idea it would come to that. To what she said. What she did.]

Maybe I knew her better than I assumed.

[valentinus]

[ That's an interesting statement. Not one he anticipated from anyone here.

But, knowing some of the story Anna told...well. He had considered a possibility that she'd act, just not all of what she showed in the trial. Not that it made it any better in the end. ]

What makes you say that?

[bolderfell]

...That wasn't the first time she reminded me of someone I knew.

[From his tone, the comparison must not be a flattering one.]

I didn't want to see it in her, though, so I left it alone. More fool me.

[valentinus]

...Even if you hadn't left it alone, do you think would it have changed anything?

[bolderfell]

Probably not. It was the kind of thing she saw as getting in her way. But maybe I could've been better prepared.

[valentinus]

Maybe.

[ Beat. ]

...Though, it seems difficult to be really prepared for what people can do under pressure.

[bolderfell]

That's true. Hard to prepare for what people will ever do, really. There's a lot we keep wrapped up, even from the ones we feel closest to.

[valentinus]

There is. Even if it's part of being an individual, we've our own reasons for it.