marrow and blood encircle me

[heartswapped]

[That didn't work out so well, did it?

Two more people dead. Two more drawings join Scraggly, Fourtinbras, Shirou, and Alexander on the shrine, although it seems like Diego's might have been scribbled a little more haphazardly than the others. Not that it really matters; Cheryl's never been a very good artist, but it's the thought that counts.

Cheryl's holed herself up in the kitchen, having made a fresh pot of coffee and some sandwiches of various fillings (although several of these look like they may or may not be space tuna salad) before getting to work on a batch of cookies. They taste...kind of like snickerdoodles. In space, it's hard to tell.

She even raided what booze they had in the fridge and set it up in the mess hall, if you need that.

Of course, she's not going to complain if anyone else wants a go at the kitchen. But mostly, she just set everything up so others can come, rest themselves after a long day, and share in their collective grief.]

Comments

[toomanybaseballs]

[Leon's a bit young to be drinking, so he's just mooching off the weird space cookies in the mess hall.]

[He can't get the whole ordeal out of his mind. The murder, the execution, all of it. Sure, Diego was a jerk, and he kind of deserved to be executed in his underwear-]

[Aaaaaaugh! What the hell was Leon thinking?! That could have been him getting killed by a robot! That would be the second time he... He's not dead! He's sitting here, eating cookies. How could he really be dead?!?]

[Yeah, no. He's going back to Cell 10. If anyone wants to catch him in the hallway
before he goes to sleep, feel free.]

mess hall

[tokencanadian]

...Are you alright?

[Dumb question, possibly, but Pyrrha's also here, and it kills her seeing Leon like this, so she might as well say something.]

[toomanybaseballs]

... M'fine...

[He mumbles, as he's not fine at all.]

[tokencanadian]

Well... [There's not a lot she can say to that. Hmm.]

Is there anything I can do to help? [She asks, like there really is something that can be done about this nightmare.]

[toomanybaseballs]

... I dunno? What the hell could you do?

[tokencanadian]

I'm not sure. [It's strange saying that for her. Admitted she's lost.] I just felt it was the right thing to say.

[toomanybaseballs]

[Leon hesitates a bit. He isn't sure what to say either. But...]

... Thanks for at least saying something...

[tokencanadian]

I'm sorry. [She had to say it at least once.]

...Did you know either of them well? Abel? Or... Diego?

[Whatever his name was.]

[toomanybaseballs]

[He shakes his head.]

Not really. I'm actually kinda glad Diego's dead, to be honest...

It's the whole... THING, ya know? What if that... Happened to us?

[tokencanadian]

...What do you mean? If we both... Or...?

[Leon, are you coming onto her in a bad way]

[toomanybaseballs]

[Uh, no. If he was flirting, there would be less awkward fumbling around and more pickup lines.]

The killing game?!

[Erm.]

It's just like what Touko was talking about! Right down to the trials!

Hallway

[power_of_dominance]

[Soma didn't want to stick around the "party," so after retrieving some food for himself and Toko, he's headed back to the cells. He spots the redhead, and though they haven't spoken he feels bad for the other guy. This whole mess is really rattling Leon, clearly, and since Soma is Toko's friend and so is Leon....]

You holding up okay?

[toomanybaseballs]

[Huh? Who was... Well, having seen Soma go batty for a moment last week, he tenses up a little. However, this guy looks more concerned than murdery.]

... I'm good.

[power_of_dominance]

[Leon, to be honest? Soma doesn't even know what happened or what he looked like. And no one has asked him about it yet.]

If you're ashamed to be shaken by that... don't be. I think most of us are at least a little rattled.

[toomanybaseballs]

It's not like that, honest!

[He's getting a bit defensive here.]

[power_of_dominance]

[Soma holds up his hands defensively, keeping his tone quiet.]

Okay, okay. I'm just worried about everyone here, that's all. We've gotta stick together somehow.

[toomanybaseballs]

... Right.

[Calming down a bit, but still nervous.]

I'm just worried about this whole mess.

[power_of_dominance]

I can't blame you for that. You and Fukawa are classmates, right? So you went through this mess once before....

[Yeah, he hardly knows you but he's still giving you a sad look, Leon.]

[toomanybaseballs]

... Yeah, we were.

But I don't get it! How can't I remember shit she does?

[power_of_dominance]

I don't know, but screwing with our memories would be a good way to mess with all of us. It means our what we remember isn't reliable, and that throws us off-balance even more.

mess hall

[canted]

[On the one hand: the annoying mundane is quiet. On the other hand: Alec's starting to feel responsible for all these dumb mundanes so he eventually sits down next to Leon and pours himself a drink.]

You want some?

[It's not like silly mundane things like drinking ages matter right now. They've seen a lot of death. Alcohol is a necessary evil at the moment.]

[toomanybaseballs]

[He glances at the drink.]

... I dunno. Maybe?

[Even if he was really 19 like his profile says, that's still one year below the legal drinking age in Japan. Not that underage drinking laws were really enforced anyway.]

[canted]

[He pours another and is about to hand it to Leon when he realizes maybe he should make a cursory attempt to look responsible.]

You're over 16, right? Not that I really care, but that's the drinking age where I'm from.

[toomanybaseballs]

Seriously? It's 20 back where I'm from.

[And yet he takes the drink. And tries it.]

[The next thing he does is scrunch up his face and push the drink away.]

Eugh... Why the hell is this space liquor so bitter?

[canted]

Boys become men at 13 where I'm from. It only makes sense that they can drink at 16. [He laughs slightly when Leon pushes the drink away, though.] Not a fan?