is this darkness of the dawn and your friends are gone

[bogwife]

[Everything keeps happening so much and the only real constants are death and parties.

Zerinda takes the initiative to plan things this time, with Della helping her deliver the invitations either being slipped under doors again.]



[It gives everyone an hour or two to settle down from the investigation and trial. By 6 on the dot the tables in the lounge are packed with miscellaneous vending machine snacks, a large pot of a thick and warm white stew, a plate stacked with biscuits and cupcakes. So many cupcakes. Mira has been coping well with her stress.

There's also several bottles of wine, hot coffee and hot chocolate waiting for anyone thirsty.

Welcome to the party, ya'll.]

Comments

[philoxenia]

[ After they leave the trial room, Mira makes a beeline to the kitchen. Indeed, she is making cupcakes. So, so many cupcakes. She seems pretty focused--doesn't even notice the flour on her face--but she won't say no to company.

A little later on, while the gathering's underway, she'll be around! Just like Della before here, she makes sure people have whatever they need. Even if it's just a shoulder to lean on or an ear to talk into, she's here to provide. And even later on, she's flipping through her ever-present notepad, looking thoughtful, more than anything. ]

Later on

[bolderfell]

Working on something?

[Hello, he is here to appear silently over her shoulder and be nosy.]

[philoxenia]

Hmmm, maybe.

[ Nosy thief!! She doesn't mind, though; the page she's landed on seems to be a letter addressed to someone named Aiden. ]

... Mostly just thinking, really.

later on

[nothingcanstop]

[ Scoots a chair over. ]

What's got you so focused? More drawing?

[fivestagegod]

[Birkin will actually show up on time to this whole gathering thing, despite how he usually shows up late or not at all; he is noticeably not eating, but it does turn out that he agrees with the whole "we need to talk" portion of that.]

Look. As much as I hate acknowledging anything that happened a little while ago, Kirei had a point - we're all a goddamn pile of secrets and I had thought we were all aware that that wasn't going to be sustainable anymore. However, apparently we don't actually all have that figured out.

Does anyone else have something they want to share with the class, if only so it can't be used against us anymore? Because now would be a great time to get that shit out into the open.

[philoxenia]

[ ... the empathy thing, she already fessed up to during Alice's trial, but. ]

.... I apparently tried to kill the gods in a past life and therefore am somewhat responsible for the state of my world.

[ Normal Girl Things! ]

[hardnosed]

[ but okay for real: ]

Anything else that could matter is from my future. And that's only if he was telling the truth last week.

[ But she sounds much less skeptical than she usually would, under the circumstances. ]

Did Rose tell any of you about corruption.

[nothingcanstop]

I'm an open boo-- oh. Huh, well, he did see fit to make that my "secret," so...

[ Della heaves a sigh and shrugs. ]

My sons are demi-gods. [ ...DELLA???? ] I swear, this isn't as big a thing as it is in fiction, they're just kinda durable.

[mouflon]

[ ughhhhh ]

The trouble is figuring out whether something is going to be a problem before it becomes one. No offense, but I'm not really interested in throwing all my dirty laundry on the table for the rest of you to pick through.

[ What she actually means by dirty laundry is trauma but ha ha, ]

[bogwife]

[Her magic is already out and her title hasn't exactly made things subtle from day one but...]

I'm a necromancer. [She takes a long sip of wine.] It's not as bad as it sounds, in certain parts of Thedas it's a very respected form of magic. Just not the parts I'm from. The fact I have magic and wasn't immediately shoved into a Circle Tower as a little girl is the much bigger issue.

[ladygeryon]

Suppose I might as well make it formal, even if some of you already know. I'm not just a worshipper of Terrakion-I've met and sparred with him in person, and I'm dedicated to serving him. He's the one my powers come from. Normally I'd have an empathic connection to him as well, but that's still blocked here.

[bolderfell]

You've all had my big secret from the start. I'm a thief. Some people back home think that's worth killing over. Not much to mention beyond that.

[nothingcanstop]

[ Okay, so Della does arrive on time, of course she does. She ferries some things, you know, to the whole gathering.

But, at first, she ends up at Kirei's room. And. Jesus Duck Christ what the hell do we have here. It's all a little. Numbming?

So, in the prep time, she's just...hanging out there, a little, door open a bit.

But this is fine! We're at a gathering now!! This is great!!

Della's doing a little less hovering because it seems she's trying to keep off her leg. In fact, you might find it disconnected as she's...kind of tinkering with it? A screwdriver, some spare screws, muttering to herself a bit. ]

What is it, you miss low gravity? Is that it? Seriously. I can't take you anywhere.

[ ...Or, to the leg, probably. ]

[fivestagegod]

[...That sure is Della, messing with her leg, um.]

You going to need help with that...?

[bogwife]

[Before and during a good chunk of the gathering, Zerinda is again going to he holed up in the kitchen just like last time. Her pets are with her again, albeit Julius is behaving much better than last week...possibly due to having been shoved into a little vest for the occasion and who is laying down in a corner to pout about it.

She has a better apron now, one salvaged from a vending machine lab coat, and it's coming in handy while she absentmindedly wipes her hands on it between chopping turnips, sausage and barley. Anyone who comes into the kitchen gets a smile over her shoulder.]

Would you kindly get me the cream if you have a moment?

[At the gathering itself, once she's out of food to fuss over, she's around. Mostly fussing over other people, seeing if they need or want anything else, with Julius and Princess following at her heels. When she finally settles down later on she just sort of...flops onto a couch and decides no, she's not moving from here for a good while.]

Kitchen

[bolderfell]

[The cream gets quietly placed next to her before Therion pulls up a stool.]

Already past six, you know.

[Got anything for him to peel, Z?]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Did anyone ask for your Assistant(1) to show up? No?

Well, she notably does not stay long. Making her first outing since wednesday by staying against the walls of the lounge, keeping a distant eye on this as she slowly inches towards the snack tables.

She just wants to grab a cupcake, that's all. Surely.]

[philoxenia]

[ Oh, hey. ]

I thought you weren't a fan of sweets.

[ busted. ]

[bogwife]

Ser Cassandra~.

[Hey, girl, hey.]

You should have some stew with your sweets.

[mouflon]

[ Rin ultimately doesn't stay at the afterparty for very long. She shoves a couple of cupcakes in her mouth, looking distracted the entire time, and then she leaves again.

After that, she spends most of her night in the lounge — or, more specifically, scouring the now-empty rooms for... bullets. She still has Vincent's rifle, after all, and it's only so useful after shooting so many bullets into the walls. She doesn't turn up much of anything, though, and in the end she just winds up sitting in her room, kind of just... trying to clean the three different guns that have wound up in her possession with what limited tools she has.

The door has been left open, which is as close to an invitation to talk as any. ]

room

[philoxenia]

[ Guess who has bullets and would much rather not! Mira, and she's bring them to you, Rin. She at least knocks on the door--manners, or something like that--before coming in. ]

Here. [ She kneels and places the box between them. ] You could use these more than I.

Lounge-ish

[bolderfell]

Rin? What're you doing.

[Looting the possessions of the dead is more a thing people would expect of him.]

room

[nothingcanstop]

[ Della knocks once on the door before strolling in. Sort of. There's a slowness in her step. ]

Hey. Penny for your thoughts?

Investigation

[bolderfell]

[Therion spends most of the evening at the gathering, eating and talking and quietly winding down from the trial. Or from the week. So much happened, though, he can't completely sit still, so he's in and out of the lounge.

While he's not about to put himself at risk of drowning, curiosity has him swing by the Area C entrance to Area D. Does it sound like repairs are already underway? Is the door to the area locked again, for their own safety?

Speaking of locked doors and sounds, he returns to the vending machine room after dark to put his ear to the hidden door once more.]

What are you hiding...

[And before midnight, as he promised Kirei, he's stuffed his ears up with cotton from the sewing room and holed himself up in the library, biding his time with whittling until the clock turns over.]

Investigation

[bathymetric]

[ It sounds like there are repairs going on out there, yes!

As for the hidden door, it remains just lightly buzzing. ]