Until the dawn of another new morning

[daughterofthemark]

[Not long after the Rose Ceremony ends, Arianna goes around from door to door, leaving the by-now-expected notes:]

Everyone's presence is requested in the dining room for food and companionship. We must stand together.

-Arianna

[The promise of food is slightly premature, but she's got Clarith working on it. And Arianna is helping! Not much, though, since she keeps running back out to the dining room to make sure people are... well, not okay per se, but not circling the proverbial drain.

She's also brought in some blankets and pillows from the first floor rest area, for anyone who isn't feeling up to chairs at the moment.]

Comments

[everylittlesecret]

[Nari will be absent for a good chunk of the party. She's going straight to the first aid room to grab supplies to go to rest area and tend to Junpei. If Kip is there, she'll be sure to relieve him of his duties. It was time to tend to a patient. Anyone else who is hurt or who wants to learn how to set up an IV/etc. can feel free to ask her or just watch.

Much later she'll let herself go to the dining room and just crash in the corner with a cup of tea. Who knows if she'll talk. You can try.]

dining room

[daughterofthemark]

[Can and will. Everyone's getting checked on here.]

Dame Nari?

rest area

[serrata]

[ it takes Yuuri a while to steel herself to check in on Junpei. She's convinced that when she does, she'll find Kip sorrowfully shaking his head, Cece already setting down a glass flower. Or maybe, just maybe -- a blank stare because what's wrong with her? They just voted for his killer, Junpei's already--

She sucks in a breath, tightens her fists so hard her nails dig in and makes herself follow after Nari.

She's pale enough to look almost green and her eyes are over bright. But she's here. ]

... Nari. Is... How is he...?

Rest Area I GUESS

[misanthropicprinciple]

[It's about the time Nari finishes with the IV that Junpei makes a sound.]

Nn...

[His hair falls over a drawn brow as he moves his head slightly, fingers twitching once.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Sup Nari, do you want a Church to crash beside you, only with vodka instead of tea? Cuz he will. He doesn't say anything, just wordlessly gives the bottle a little shake, a question of want to spike your tea?]

First Aid Room!?

[goteachother]

[The sounds of what happened to Roland are horrifying in and of themselves. She's glad she didn't have to see that, didn't see what happened to sound so wet.

But once they're released from the prison courtroom... she's still bleeding. People keep saying she needs to do something about that and she might just be with it enough to do so. If Nari has time, anyway.]

Rest area

[theoverseen]

[Kip's got his arms wrapped around his knees and his cheek resting on his knee. He lifts his head when she comes in, and manages something kind of like a smile.]

Hey, Nar-bear. He's shifted a few times, but Sleeping Beauty's still out like a light.

...How'd it go?

Dining Room

[desperateprayer]

[ Clarith finally sits next to Nari. And pushes a wine bottle at her. She promised--Yatski Lopera. One very sweet wine. ]

...I'm sorry. About... Roland.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn was late this week as well, keeping to room seven for a while after Arianna's message. When he was absolutely sure he'd returned to some semblance of too-calm baseline, he could be found in the dining hall at a table off to the side--both keeping to himself and entirely too quiet.]

[daughterofthemark]

[Hopefully he wasn't thinking this would keep Arianna from checking up on him, because here she is.]

Are you...?

["All right" seems absurd. The phrase she's looking for is probably closer to "going to be functional in the morning."]

[daughterofthemark]

[As stated previously, Arianna is around, checking on everyone pretty frequently. She's determined to be the last one to leave, so nobody gets left alone.]

[serrata]

[ As she has been all through the trial, Yuuri is quiet when she leaves the courtroom. All she wants to do is rush up to the rest room but she's terrified of what might be there. She doesn't trust their luck enough to believe wholeheartedly that they haven't lost four Champions today.

She drags herself to the garden first to do her customary building of a memorial. It hurts far more than she would've imagined -- Takumi was a friend, someone she desperately hoped would make it home. And Mary was a bright, hopeful girl. None of this is fair. Both of them get their memorials alongside the previous victims with the same arrangements of flowers.

After some deliberation, she plants Roland's, too. But it's on the same plot as Lee's with the same single flower. An anemone. Forsaken.

When she's done, she stops by the after party but only briefly to force some food down and steel herself for what's next. If you want to speak to her though, she's open to talking.

After she's eaten, Yuuri disappears. But it shouldn't be too hard to find her if you need to. You all already know where our Champion Challenger is and that's where Yuuri's decided she needs to be. ]

[scourgingstars]

[Yuuri wasn't the only one concerned about Junpei. 'Worry' was probably pushing it with how Ardyn felt at the moment, but he was getting enough of a grip on what little emotions he still had that 'concern' was registering.]

[A light hand briefly rested on Yuuri's shoulder before he pulled over a chair and sat down next to her.]

[daughterofthemark]

Rii-san.

[Arianna wants to speak to her, but what can she say?]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Ow...

[Maybe our Champion Challenger took on one too many challenges this week. Maybe he should have put back some of these challenges. He's not even quite conscious enough for feelings, and yet, he has regrets.]

[buddyoldpal]

[ Nishitani has nowhere else to be. His roommate is dead, so he's sure as hell not in any hurry to return to his room. Nonetheless, he shows up to the dining room with a muted look in his eyes. He stays quiet, standing off to the side before deciding to have a smoke, off to the side.

Nishitani's hands shake as he pulls out a cigarette. He shouldn't smoke indoors. Hell, he can't even light it. But it's a vice, and it's what he has right now. He pops one out and sticks it in his mouth. He can't even give the guy a proper send-off. Damn. ]

This is such shit.

[ UH, WELL... Good luck getting Nishitani to give a shit right now? ]

[goteachother]

[Eventually there's a blonde that slips into his lap, Kip's fluffy, comfy pink robe wrapped around her, Takumi's red silk ribbon tied around her head a la Rosie the Riveter. She doesn't say a word, just settles against him, plucks that cigarette from between his lips and takes a long drag, frowning slightly at the chemical taste but not really caring enough to complain.

Then she passes it back to him, tucking her head under his chin and just... holding on.]

[theoverseen]

[Like he said earlier, he's staying with Junpei. Kip is sitting with his back to the padded wall and his arms wrapped around his knees, watching the unconscious boy with a withdrawn, sad expression. His hair, which was purple earlier during the investigation, is black now.

Once he's relieved of his duties, he'll be a sad roomba for a while, until he finally comes with a blanket over his shoulders like an old, weary king, to sit in the dining room with everyone else.

Anyone skipping out on the afterparty at first, however, may find him up in the bar first, sitting at the same table that he had been lying on on Wednesday when he'd been startled to the floor. He's not crying, but looking... distant isn't much better.]

[scourgingstars]

[hello, king of the blankets. here's king of being dead inside.]

I should thank you for looking after him.

[...and the usual peace offering of 90% sugar/cream, 10% coffee.]

[desperateprayer]

[ Clarith is... Not okay. This is all wearing on her. She's shaky as she makes food, and brings it out silently. But she has to remain strong. Everyone needs it right now. A lot. She'll mostly be found in the kitchen. Those who find her there might find her waiting for things to cook while crying.

When she's finally done cooking, she'll be sitting in a corner of the dining room, sipping at a drink she went up to get from the karaoke bar. So if you want to run into her in the hallways, you can. She's nursing it, so not getting drunk, but she's... Not okay. At all. ]

kitchen

[daughterofthemark]

[Arianna is keeping busy too, of course, trying to look out for everyone. It means she can't spend as much time as she'd like with the people she'd like to spend it with, but it's necessary.

But not so necessary that she can't stop to give Clarith a hug when she sees her crying.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Whoa, what's this now. Sometime well after the party's under way, guests in the dining room might hear a familiar voice, now with all the familiar emotions attached.]

Don't--I'm serious, I can walk! Put--put me down, I'm fine!

[Seven people are dead. But Junpei Tenmyouji is very much alive.]

[scourgingstars]

Junpei-

[And that moderate surprise was the most emotion anything had gotten out of Ardyn since that morning, aside from snapping at Roland.]

Stop shouting, you'll reopen something.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Of course Church has to join the gang of people that goes to check on Junpei. What kind of Avenger would he be if he didn't?

After, he disappears into the first floor rest area to set up one of his makeshift punching bags. To punch. There's no finesse to it, just getting it out, hard and fast. And when that doesn't feel like enough, he starts kicking one of the walls. He tries to keep very quiet during the whole thing.

But he has to make an appearance, so after toweling off, he pops into room seven--Ardyn's gone by then--to grab that vodka sitting among his stuff. He'd meant to bring it, last time, but then...Ardyn happened, and it was left forgotten. Fuck it if it's a bad idea, he's bringing vodka, it's pistachio flavored, and he's pouring himself some to drink. And will offer it up to anyone else that wants it. He looks tired and slightly dead inside, but he's here, and he'll do his rounds.]

[scourgingstars]

...I have to admit I already miss this having any effect.

[he said, briefly snatching up the vodka and pouring a drink.]

But on the other hand, I will take Starscourge over that hangover any day.

[brokencode]

[Angel's first stop of the evening was her room. There was no foolish hope that Mary would be waiting there -- she hadn't seen her body, but she knew by now that this place played no games. Junpei was a fluke, a miracle bound to happen only once in this place.

She made a note to herself to go through Mary's stuff at some point -- to find something to remember her by. It wasn't something she could bear now, though. Instead, the collar was found and reattached to her neck. She couldn't take any risks, not now.

With affairs in order, Angel returned to the dining room. A little bit of food was scraped onto a tiny plate, and then promptly ignored as she sat down. It was hard to forget the blood, the screams, the ragged breathing. Her stomach churned, and after a brief moment, the food was shoved away.]

Her room

[plugout]

[ Obviously, he doesn't want to let her out of his sight since he's so worried... So the first place he checks is her room.

His blood runs cold when he sees that collar. ]

Angel?

[shikosuki]

[ For once Choromatsu goes straight to his room after the trial. He ignores anyone that might try to talk to him and makes a beeline right there. He has to do something important.

He already knows where they are, where Takumi stowed them away. He'd spent a lot of time by himself in this room since Tuesday and had grown restless and bored enough to snoop through Takumi's things. A letter addressed to him piqued his interest pretty fast, until he started reading it anyway. As Takumi said to in the letter he stopped, put it back, and tried to put its existence out of mind.

So he goes to his room (only his now). He finds it again with ease. He sits down and he reads it through to the end.

He thought he was all cried out. That there weren't any more in him, but apparently that was wrong. He has to hastily rubs his eyes before too many get on the paper and ruin it. ]

Stupid... [ Greedy and selfish? Weren't both of them that way? ] I'm the one that wanted our beds together in the first place... [ "I don't want to risk you deciding I was too invested and not want to share space with me anymore" he'd never... ] Stupid Bakakumi...

[ It doesn't really roll off the tongue as well as a -matsu name does but he doesn't care.

He finds the other letters but... he doesn't have the energy to take care of them right now. He can't deal with that responsibility yet or watch others go through the same string of emotions he just did. So he puts them aside for now.

He stays alone wallowing in his emotions until the note comes. He can already guess what it is without reading it. But he doesn't know if he wants to go. "Stand together"? What kind of malarkey was that at this stage? They'd tried and yet seven of them were dead now anyway. Almost eight. That's so close to half of them and it makes him sick. It's going to keep happening, no matter what they do, won't it? Why should he even stay connected with them all any more?

Additionally... he knows everyone is sad about Roland. But he can't feel anything but anger. And he doesn't want anyone to try and tell him he's wrong for that either. That he shouldn't feel that way because of this and that reason. He doesn't care. He's tried so hard both these last two times to find a way to blame P.A.L. for what happened - yes, even with Lee, despite being angry at her too - and rationally he knows P.A.L.'s to blame this time too but... he can't. Not this time. Something had just snapped like a twig inside.

He lost a brother today... after reading that letter, he can't see it any other way.

Eventually though he does head to the dining room, if just to make an appearance so people don't worry about him. He's keeping to himself though, curled up in a chair in the corner, hugging close the cat pillow that Takumi liked so much, and like usual he doesn't eat. He just quietly stares off. ]

[brokencode]

[After grabbing her blanket in order to sit in solidarity with Kip, Angel now made her way to Choromatsu. She sat down beside him, a plate of food rested between him. After a moment of just sitting, though, she shifted so that she could wrap one end of the blanket around his shoulders.

There. Sharesies.]

I... am so sorry, Choromatsu. And I wish that words like those actually made a difference.

[myocordial]

[This week, Heart shows up for the gathering on time. It's not as if he has anywhere else to be, not really. So he's in the dining room with everyone else there, and... Well, this had all been rough. But much more so for a lot of the others than for him.

There's not a lot he can do that others don't already have covered, but Heart does spend some time making tea for others. Offering a cup to whoever is seated. It's not much, but at least it's something.

He does... briefly excuse himself, though. When he's confident no one else is there, he spends some time in the garden. As he stands there, he takes a deep breath... then transforms into his other form. Body language is, as always, hard to read like this. But it almost seems as if he relaxes ever so slightly. At the very least, it definitely seems like it when he transforms back to his human form...]

Garden

[goteachother]

[Heart isn't the only one that's been looking for an opening to come out to the garden. Queenie's not sure she could come out here with Yuuri here and not fall apart. Again.... more?

She needs to apologize to Finn, she should've been there, she should've looked after Takumi better, kept him close, kept him safe.

She didn't see Heart leave the dining room but when she sees him she just comes up beside him, slips an arm around him and leans into him. It doesn't mater that he's seven feet tall or not human shaped at the moment. He's still Heart, he's still her friend, he's still hurting just like the rest of them.]

I'm sorry... [For all of this, she's sorry Heart has to go through this, she's sorry she didn't help save Takumi, she's sorry about so many things and she doesn't really know who she's apologizing to this time.]

[theundertaker]

[For once since this killing game began, Cece isn't late to the afterparty because of clean-up duty. No, anyone who comes to the second floor rest area immediately after the trial to get Junpei and Kip might miss Cece fast asleep and bundled up in a pink and white fuzzy blanket in a pile of pillows in the corner.

She looks so peaceful, it'd be a shame to wake her up. Too bad someone still needs to clean up Roland.]

[buddyoldpal]

Hey, girlie. Wake up.

[ What's Nishitani doing up here? Wandering I guess. Certainly not being sad. ]

Ya got work ta do.

[goteachother]

[By the time Queenie makes it back to the dining room her blood splattered saloon dress is gone. She might make Nari burn it later because she's not sure a thousand scouring charms will be enough to make it feel clean again. The cuts and scrapes on her legs are mostly tended to and she's wrapped up in Kip's robe. This pink fluffy monstrosity is like wearing a blanket, wrapped up in a hug and it still smells like him so it's the most comforting thing she has.

The octopussy Wampus kitty plush she got from Junpei is tucked under one arm and she now has Takumi's scarlet hair ribbon wound around her head, tied off at the front in what would be a nod to Rosie the Riveter if she were from 20 years later. As it is she just doesn't care if it looks stupid.

Mostly she is just sitting in the dining room looking like she'd rather have that empty, distance she somehow achieved earlier.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[He has strict orders to rest for the next few days. He has a space marine, an apocalypse survivor, the King of Lucis, and, uh, Kip keeping an eye on him. He has a clawed-up chest and a bruised head and enough painkillers to make those things tolerable, thanks to Nari, and should really spend the evening lying down, much less sitting here among the other survivors, letting them all know he's all right.

But Junpei also has a friend. And his friend needs help.

In one of the very rare moments Yuuri is distracted, he manages to haul his stinging carcass over to Queenie by leaning on one chair after another until he can sit beside her.]

Queenie.

[He reaches for her arm, brief and gentle.]

Queenie, I'm... I'm sorry.