The flower of evil pitifully scatters with brilliant color...

[desperateprayer]

[ After everyone leaves the Rose Ceremony, Clarith gets to work. With Nari's help, there's a few snacks set up, and then she delivers a message beneath everyone's doors. ]

Please meet up at the first floor rest area. I don't think people should be alone right now.

- Clarith

[ Takumi's includes a bit extra: "Especially you." Sure enough, there's a few snacks set up in the rest area, but otherwise just. Blankets and pillows set up so that people can pile in as they please. She's waiting, seeming a fair bit tired in more than one way, but... She doesn't want to leave people alone. ]

Comments

[myocordial]

I have a bottle in my room.

[Sup, Nishitani, have a Heart joining you. He's not sad, at least, like some. He's just... tense and still a little pissed, though he's starting to settle down.]

Though I feel it would be considered in... poor taste right now.

[buddyoldpal]

[ That's the way to be, Heart. ]

I'd still take ya up on that. Maybe tomorrow, who knows.

[myocordial]

I should warn you that it is popcorn flavored.

[Yeah, he wasn't... kidding about the poor taste part.]

[buddyoldpal]

Ah.

[ They'll never eat popcorn again...... ]

Eh, whatever, can't kill me any more than that ghost pepper shit I still had from last time. Ain't no reason ta let it ruin a good drink.

[myocordial]

Then consider the bottle yours, after this. I had no interest in keeping it myself anyway.

[buddyoldpal]

Yeah, I don't need it fer the taste anyway.

[ Maybe if he mixes it with something it won't be awful? ]

Maybe with some whiskey it'll taste less like shit.

[myocordial]

I'm sure there's some way of improving it. Humans are supposed to be very resourceful.

[He leans back slightly. Looking over at the group.]

...I think so, at least.

[buddyoldpal]

I'd say us bein' stuck here this long and not goin' at each other's throats prove we're pretty fuckin' resourceful. We done turned somethin' awful into somethin' pretty alright 'cept fer moments like these.

[myocordial]

It is... impressive.

[Heart always sounds pretty genuine when he speaks, but somehow more so right then.]

And these moments, well. There's no changing the nature of some people. It's likely this was just inevitable.

[buddyoldpal]

Damn right. Some folks ain't meant ta think fer people other than themselves. 's just how it is.

[ Even yakuza can like people, monsters or not. He can almost see where Heart is coming from, being non-human. ]

Kinda too bad they make the nice folks vote ta kill 'em, honestly. That's gotta be the most fucked up bit of all this shit.

[myocordial]

...Indeed. No one should be forced to participate in something like that. I hope that, at the very least, it doesn't weigh too heavily on people this time.

All that Lee Wisniewski received was the fate she deserved, after all. I hesitate to call anything about this justice, but I think it's as close as we'll get to it here.

[buddyoldpal]

Yeah, ain't many left who think killin', even bad folks, is bad. Ain't a popular opinion in my line of work, but there's always one or two fuckers who get all up in arms when bad fucks get put ta sleep.

What's that word Roland-san likes? Karma, right? Sure seems like she had that shit comin', that's fer sure.

[myocordial]

Hm. I don't particularly like killing and I prefer to avoid it, but... Sometimes, it's necessary.

[Even then he's not fond of it, but it is how it is.]

Yes, she did. She was a wretched person who reaped what she sowed, simple as that. It's one loss I will not be mourning. Honestly... if ever someone displayed the worst traits of humanity...

[buddyoldpal]

Yep. Ain't that the fuckin' truth.

[ I mean, he's a criminal and a murderer, this is his jam. ]

Hope nobody else here falls fer that stupid fuckin' bait. Ya gotta be real fuckin' shallow to kill a buncha people ya know fer spare change.

[myocordial]

Yes, that was demonstrated very well. [Is he ever gonna stop taking digs at Lee? Not anytime soon.] I can't see anyone else here choosing to do so, anyway.

Not to mention that for some it doesn't have any value to begin with.

[He still can't believe they offered money to the girl living in a zombie apocalypse.]

[buddyoldpal]

Fingers crossed, pal.

[ He trusts you... most of you... some of you. It's nothing personal. ]

Yeah, no kiddin'. I coulda probably made whatever money they were thinkin' of offerin' me in under a day, money flows like fuckin' water back home.

[myocordial]

It's very arrogant, isn't it? Using money of all things... It implies a very low opinion of us.

Though I doubt they'll try to use it a second time.

[buddyoldpal]

Yeah, PAL treats us like a buncha meatbags, I ain't surprised.

[ "Don't bore me" what does that even mean, how does a computer get bored, anyway. ]

He's gonna hafta get smarter, that's for sure.

[myocordial]

I'm sure he will. And that's concerning. I don't know every single person here as well as I would like. I certainly have a higher opinion of them than I usually have of humans, but...

There's no telling what might cause someone to crack.

[And PAL will likely start pushing hard if things don't go as he wants.]

[buddyoldpal]

Guessin' ya weren't a fan of humans before, eh?

Yeah, yer right. Everybody's got that one thing they'd do anythin' for. PAL might be pullin' levers at random but one of 'em could be just the thing that does it fer anybody.

[myocordial]

The answer to that is complicated, but... let's just say I haven't had the best impressions of them.

[Not that he holds it against all humans, but. Again. Complicated.]

Hm. People are unpredictable in the best circumstances. In here... [He crosses his arms.] The best we can all do is stay on guard. Simply thinking "there's no way I would ever do this" might not be enough.

[buddyoldpal]

Well, we can be pretty fuckin' shitty as a whole so I don't really blame ya.

[ Some of them are criminals! Or murderers! Or Nishitani! ]

That's what I'm thinkin' too. Ain't nothin' personal, but we gotta stay on our toes round each other, otherwise ya end up dead as shit.