I don't wanna live my life again.

[toomanybaseballs]

[This has got to be the worst day Leon's ever had. Besides dying the first time.]

[A little while after the trial is over, Leon going around sliding notes under everyone's door:]

Dear everyone,

Sorry my roommate went and killed 5 people like that. I really should have known he would try that (he is in the mafia, right?) but then again if his kids were still alive he wouldn't have been affected by that awful motive.

You know what, let's just try to survive without killing everyone. Ok? Too much to ask?

Max is making waffles in the kitchen if anyone's hungry.

- Leon.

P.S. Oda wrote a bunch of letters after the last trial and he asked me to give them to you. It's probably a good idea to at least look at it once before you tear it to shreds.

[The individual letters from Oda are attached to the invite. If your name is Will, you're also getting letters addressed to Dazai and Ango.]

[True to the letter, Max is making waffles in the kitchen. Apparently, waffles are the best way to cope after the mess of a trial we just had. Meanwhile, Leon has grabbed a pen and paper from the storage closet and... Seems to be writing something down. He doesn't look too hot himself...]

[Links to the letters: Akande, Fukawa, Will, Mozu, Rick, Varric, Pryyha, Noctis, CT, Soma. Leon already gave Max her letter.]

Comments

[helladoptera]

[ Max is indeed in the kitchen, making waffles!! A lot of waffles. Probably more waffles than are strictly necessary. Oh dear, this is a Coping thing, huh? Feel free to come say hi or... try to stop her? If she can be stopped.

Later on, though, Max will stop either on her own or at the behest of someone else, and can be found sitting at a table and picking at one of the waffles. For someone who just made a metric Ton of them, she doesn't seem very hungry. ]

table

[toomanybaseballs]

[Leon's not too hungry either, but he may as well keep Max company.]

... Hey. [Not the best conversation starter but yeah.]

[helladoptera]

... hey.

[ Knockin' it out of the park so far, both of them. ]

kitchen

[tokencanadian]

[Look, someone has to eventually come in here and see how many waffles Max is making. That someone might as well be Pyrrha.]

...Max?

[They haven't had a chance to talk since the trial so. Hey.]

[helladoptera]

[ Max looks up from popping out another waffle. ]

Hey, Pyrrha. How're you doing?

[neverheardofhim]

[At his best, Varric might have encouraged Max to stop and talk about her problems. Right now, though, his only advice would likely consist of punching things and grumbling about others. Productive problem solving was beyond his capacity.

Enabling, on the other hand? Not so much.]

Alright. What can I help you with?

[tuskenlancer]

[ CT's just looking for some food...and maybe a distraction from her empty room. It's not as though she particularly misses Kiss-Shot, and she definitely doesn't miss Apollo. Still, knowing that both of your roommates had been recently murdered doesn't exactly make for a relaxing atmosphere.

When she sees Max's pile of waffles, though, she stops, looking at her and the waffles warily. ]

Uh...are you...okay?

[goldrighthand]

[I hope that I put up a fight that was worthy of someone called 'your friend'..

The note is crushed and thrown in to the trash. Even if he hadn't fought Oda, much less been the one to execute him, his absolute surrender at the end is unforgivable. The worst sort of crime you could commit, in Akande's eyes, and it makes all of this a bitter pill. He'd hoped to lure one of the others in to killing, to have one less body to worry about - instead, it was snatched up by someone who couldn't even bear to see it through to the end.

Oda had not been worth the 'gift'.

Akande won't be in the kitchen. He won't be in his cell, either. He'll be in the exercise yard, but not working out for once. Stargazing, by the look of things, lying on his back and frowning as he tries to process this single feel his disappointment.]

the yard

[tokencanadian]

[walks in

sees Akande there.



starts walking right back out.]

[goldrighthand]

[ALAS, POOR CR.

He doesn't react to either her entrance or her exit. His City Exercise Yard Now.]

[rickdiculous]

Uh. Hey.

[casually kind of. getting down on the ground next to him. stargazing.]

You doin' alright?

[goldrighthand]

[two bros being dudes what's more het than this]

I'll be fine. It isn't the first time I've been disappointed.

[andneversaydie]

[...Mozu is alone in her cell. Because all of her roommates are dead.

...

You can push stuff under the door, and maybe she'll answer. Maybe. But it's locked pretty tight.]

Cell

[toomanybaseballs]

[Leon pauses as he's slipping notes under people's doors...]

[Crap, he's not the only one who has to sleep alone tonight. That probably sounds wrong, but he had grown to like Oda's presence in their shared cell... And poor Mozu's a simple farm girl! She doesn't deserve this!]

[That's why Leon knocks on her door and tries to get her attention.]

Hey... Mozu? You okay in there?

[andneversaydie]

[...

It's a few minutes before she actually comes to the door and kind of cracks it open.]

...not really.

[neverheardofhim]

[Varric took awhile to appear at the meeting. There was... a lot to parse out, and while he knew the others would need him, he was worthless in his current state.

Instead, he retreated to Cell 4. The door was left open a crack, enough for anyone to hear the sound of ripping paper and the occasional pounding fist on a desk. If anyone happened to enter, they'd witness shreds of paper being knocked to the floor, Varric's crisp handwriting scrawled across all of them.

Eventually, though, he would approach Will, Noctis and Fukawa with their notes from Mako. His gaze didn't quite meet theirs as he approached, and when he spoke, his voice was soft]

You should read this.

[Rather than immediately going to the mess hall after his deliveries, Varric instead moved to the library. For the first time in a long time, Varric actually seemed to be writing at a decent speed, rather than making notes, rehashing history, or crossing out and crumpling pages.

Eventually, the product of his efforts would be revealed. He approached the mess hall finally, quiet as he had been all night, and left a piece of paper against the wall for anyone that might care to read.]

The night was cold and dark as Mako took to the streets. Like a great many detectives before him, he was something of a lone wolf. To anyone that might work the mean streets of the city, he might have looked vulnerable.

They'd quickly be taken by surprise.

Mako worked quickly. There were those that tried to corrupt his city, taking bending by force and turning people against one another. Those before him might have defaulted to mass protest, even terrorism, but not he. He believed that if anyone could save his city from this injustice, it was him.

And as he worked to bring down another monster in a shadowy alley, the city began to believe in him.

[For the rest of the night, Varric was quiet, and kept mostly to himself. He wouldn't deny company, but don't expect him to seek you out tonight.]

library

[tokencanadian]

[Pyrrha, as she does when feeling saddened, wanders. The library is definitely the place she goes when this happens, and seeing Varric already there feels a little... coincidental, for some reason.

She approached softly, spotting the page he seems to be throwing himself into. At this point, it would be be rude to not speak up, wouldn't it?]

Varric....?

[neverheardofhim]

[The dwarf's head lifted, but really, it was the only reaction he could bring himself to muster up. A smile felt wrong, would have come out more as a grimace, and Varric couldn't even be sure of his own voice.

He made eye contact with her for only a second, before dropping his gaze once more. He finished the sentence, stared at it a minute longer, then let out a long sigh. He really could use a drink.]

Hey, Red. Sorry you have to see me like this.

[tuskenlancer]

[ The paper catches her eye as she's wandering towards the mess hall for a late snack, and she crouches down, curious.

CT recognizes the writing style immediately. The story it tells is less familiar. Apparently Mako had shared more with Varric than he had with her. Still, there's enough there to punch her in the gut a little, and if he'd taken the time to write it down...

It doesn't take long for her to find him, and when she does, she doesn't say anything, just sits down silently at his side. She'd snagged a couple of cookies from the kitchen, and sets one in front of him in solidarity. A poor offering, but it's all she has. ]

[neverheardofhim]

[At first, Varric didn't seem to notice the gift. His gaze was turned away, settled on a space where he and Mako had once spoken. He almost smiled, when he thought about how vehemently the man had protested the mere mention of torture.

What if he hadn't listened? What if he'd gone against what Mako had said and went straight for dragging information out of Price. Could he have prevented any of this?

Or would he have found himself on the chopping block like Shirou and Hamilton had?]

Shit. [His mutterings drew him from his thoughts, and as he resurfaced he found himself recognizing the warmth beside him. With nary a glance at the cookie, he turned to CT, shaking his head as he did.]

Sorry. Been a long day. [He didn't need to say that. CT knew.] How are you holding up?

[tokencanadian]

[Pyrrha doesn't come to the meeting first off, she's actually sitting in cell 1 for a little while, because she just so happened to find a note from Apollo in her name. If you happen to look through the door, you'll spot her sitting motionless on one of the beds, focused on the piece of paper held in her tired hands.

But eventually she does head out to the mess hall and pick up her note... and some waffles. But that's when she camps out in the hall, sitting against the wall as she nibbles dis-contently at the only thing she'd eaten today.

you're just Pyrrha, who's going through a tragedy and needs some help like anyone else.

...Yeah, no. She sets everything aside, draws her legs up to her chest and just.
puts her face in her knees for a moment. She needs this.]

[empathiser]

[ Will doesn't go to the kitchen at first - he actually swings by Rideaux's room out of pure curiosity. Initially to see if there was anything there that could relate to the watch he'd found in the investigations. He doesn't leave empty handed, but not for the reasons he went there for. When he leaves, he's got a bottle of whiskey - it's not like Rideaux's going to be drinking it any time soon.

Then he makes his way to the kitchen - initially to get himself a glass for that whiskey, but he ends up stopping to when Varric hands him Mako's note and to grab a couple of waffles.

Finally, he can be found in the library, sat opposite the makeshift memorial wall. There are a lot of names that need adding, but... that can come later. Right now he's just watching the wall, open bottle of whiskey and poured glass at his side. There are some letters there too - the note from Mako, and the three letters from Oda, one for Will, two for other people. None of them are open. ]

the library

[nightcure]

[ He's come in here to look at all the names, too. Noctis's expression is tight, but there's something tired behind it. So, so tired.

It's then that he notices Will and the whiskey, and he sits down next to him. ]

Gonna drink all that yourself?

[empathiser]

Rideaux beat me to it.

[He eyes the bottle, before pouring a little more into his glass and then just holding the bottle out to Noctis. Share and share alike.]

There's enough though.

Library

[neverheardofhim]

[After handing off the note, Varric was content to leave Will be. He was too caught up in his own emotions to deal with helping others. Even if he wanted to, he didn't think he had the capacity to offer advice beyond "fuck this place" and "The blight take Oda."

He might have been content to avoid Will altogether, if not for the fact that they wound up in the same place. At first, the dwarf tried to throw himself into his work, hoping to ignore the investigator. A voice in the back of his head set to gnawing on him, however, and it wasn't long until he set down his pen with a frustrated grunt. He trudged over to where Will sat.]

What did he say?