The bodies in my floor all trusted someone. Now I walk on them to tea.

[kingshaming]

[After the trial, Xander does what he does best. What always blanks his mind when training is not an option:

He organizes.

The hot food for lunch is out still, and while he feels far from hungry, he knows they all SHOULD eat. Everyone wanders off to take care of their own grief, and he lets them for now- and instead busies himself at the espresso bar. There's something specific he wants to do.

Later, under each door, and with the same thing written on the white board he had dragged out for meetings:]

There is hot food and tea in the cafeteria, and while I have no stomach for food it is there for those that can.

While it is tempting to be alone right now, if you wish company I shall be there until evening. Now may be a good time to compare new information while it is fresh.

If not, please stay well.

Xander

[And as promised there is fresh tea. Green tea in fact, though it lacks the milk Chitanda made- but basic tea he can manage at least]

Comments

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika is there right away. She sits down and looks at the food, then around at everyone else.]

I'm glad that we saved who we could, but we can't let this happen again.

[kingshaming]

We were... unprepared.

[refusedtoleave]

Can you really say we saved anyone when we've lost three in two days?

[kingshaming]

[Exactly like he said in his note: Xander is at a table, sipping his tea. And reading one of the books the Griffin suggested to him.

It's clear he's not really seeing the words, but it's good to have something to stare at]

[yukionna]

...thanks.

[ Rukia pretty unceremoniously plops herself down in the seat across from him, her sketchbook tucked under her arm. ]

I don't think Chitanda would have wanted to see any of us feeling terrible and alone, right now.

[ It's her usual type of ridiculously blunt statement, but at least she's not feeling sick anymore. IMPROVEMENTS. ]

[decarded]

[Today's events didn't have much effect on Angelica, but she likes Xander well enough, and he's clearly shaken up by both the murder and the events of the trial. So, here she is with a cup of tea, taking a seat beside him.

...She doesn't say anything, because she doesn't know how to comfort people, but she's at least here.]

[tasteslikesurvival]

[A while later after her subtext talk Ricky, Kurumi finally shows up and picks a cup of tea.]

Yo.

[...Are you still pissed? Because she's not.]

[curdle]

[ She doesn't want to butt into anything, but his mind seems distracted regardless, so she comes up and stands across from him on the other side of the table. Everyone ignores the grand time paradox that is seating at this table because shut up, that's why. She's got a cup in her hands. ]

Thank you, for telling me of this. And for the drink.

[refusedtoleave]

[It might not be much but he did ask them all there. So that technically makes him their host. She bows her head to him accordingly when she gets there.]

Thank you for this.

[misplacedxsheath]

[If gruesome events put Margulis off his lunch, he'd never eat. Plus, throwing fireballs really burns a lot of calories. He's...actually gotten himself quite a bit of food, although it shouldn't be surprising to those similar to his size.]

How many people were paying attention to the Overseers after McBurn's attempt at a nap?

[kingshaming]

They were whispering to each other. Bolton even-

[Xander places his hand over his chest, mimicking Bolton covering, likely, a microphone- not that Xander knew what it was]

And joking.

[almightyconflagration]

Oh I saw them after I woke up. That was rather... interesting.

[And why his comments on being their entertainment, because those pathetic excuses for electric shocks weren't it.]

[curdle]

My gaze was distracted.

[ By the fireball hitting the dude right next to her. She's too tired to sound sarcastic. ]

Pray tell, what did they do?

[yukionna]

[ Rukia is here too, having taken a good half-hour in her room to compose herself before returning to the group. It was a horrifying, cruel death, but death nonetheless. Nothing she hadn't seen before. Or, that's what she keeps repeating in her head--it's helping, at least. ]

...I can't say that's ever anything I expected to see, even with what I do for a living.

[ Space is scary and she's going back to the ground as soon as possible. ]

[ratherdoweddings]

It's terrible when it happens, Rukia-chan. I don't know anyone who would have someone thrown out an airlock, even if we've had to deal with some awful people back home.

[bylight]

[Lightning will be sitting by herself, as far away from everyone as she can. The note and crane were deposited in her room, where she was tempted to stay... but Chitanda wouldn't have wanted that.

This would make her happy. Serah, too. Weren't you supposed to be around people when something tragic has happened?

She really doesn't want to be here. All that possible softness during the week is gone now. What's left is the soldier that was here the first day.]

[kingshaming]

[Once more people have arrived, and he doesn't have to worry about anyone arriving to an empty cafeteria, Xander makes his way over. He doesn't touch her, but he does place his hand on the table near-by, to get her attention]

Lightning, may I speak to you alone for a moment?

[almightyconflagration]

[McBurn shows up because hey it's time for the decent food and nothing can faze him even if he wasn't aware of what happened when people went into space like that. Truly, it's not that horrific to him since he uses fire and has seen the results of burning to death which is also pretty hideous.

In fact, it's evident that the whole spectacle didn't affect him in the least bit. Not like anyone should be surprised after some of his reactions in the trial.

However, he is playing around with a ball of fire in his left hand as he eats. Seriously, he's getting way ansty and even his usual lack of interest is starting to not cut it. Those shocks helped to a degree, but not enough. He seems more distracted than anything else.]

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika frowns, but looks over.]

Now we're even more lost than we were before.

[fatherofsin]

[ Seth will come. But he'll sit on his own, and eat quietly. He's had an eerily unreadable expression since the vote. It's like all pretense had fallen away to reveal some kind of empty void beneath his expressions. Or perhaps he's preparing to explode and take everyone with him. It's... Really hard to say. ]

[decarded]

[Frankly, Angelica doesn't care about what happened at the trial. Like a vampire, though, she's been invited in, so here she is with a cup of tea.

...She doesn't have anything to say, but. She's observant enough to see that he's rattled, one way or another, so she takes a seat beside him.]

[tasteslikesurvival]

[Kurumi is rather late but those observant probably noticed that she had led Ricky back to her room. (Those who saw Ricky later would notice that, no, she's not beaten up.) Still... She grabs a cup of tea and just slumps into a chair.

God. She thought she was used to death. Chitanda's death had bothered and except for that outburst at Ricky she had managed to push her feelings down. That's just what you had to do in these situations. Sadness, anger, guilt. All those toxic feelings needed to be just pushed away until you could get alone.

The Griffin and Toby, though? She had seen people, some of them good friends, torn apart alive. That... that was disgusting. What happened to those two was far worse. Not that her face betrays any of this. She's much calmer now, just sipping at her tea and absolutely not touching any of the food.]

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika deflates at her seat.]

That was horrible.

[curdle]

[ She will make Monday a fast day, and use it to think upon her sins, but for now she should eat -- she knows that. But she cannot force herself to do it. The memory of those bloating, meaty corpses haunts her and turns her stomach, so all she can manage is the tea. She isn't even really drinking it, just warming her hands and occasionally breathing in the strange smell.

Almost as upsetting as the dead she did see, however, is the one she cannot. She checked the art room once she came back upstairs (up-teleporter); Chitanda is gone. Thomasin looks down into her cup and speaks to no one in particular. ]

How could they vanish her?

[ratherdoweddings]

They must have had someone clean up while we were gone. Either they have a morgue here, or... [She can't finish, and pales.]

[cyan_maid]

[Jane will come, though not immediately. She'd run right to her room once she'd gotten back, and when she gets Xander's note, she decides to make herself a little presentable first - she's been crying hard, and a hot shower at least flushes the rest of her body so it doesn't look too noticeable. Her hair is still wet and her eyes are still reddish, but she's here, and she ends up nursing a cup of the tea, her expression tired, her head full of thoughts.

Someone talk to this poor kid.]

[ratherdoweddings]

Jane-chan?

[Yurika looks over, picking at her food.]

That was terrible, wasn't it?

[refusedtoleave]

[Tea seems like a good idea. Especially after she's tried and failed to look for Kurumi and Fredrica.

Today has been a long day. One she'd rather forget, but won't be able to. So when she gets the note she ends up meandering over to the cafeteria and sitting at a table.]

[overears]

[She's not one for food, and she doesn't mourn- but Sadie would never miss a party. As sad an excuse as this was for one. She hangs back, silently watching the others, fussing with the buns of hair she's worn over her ears.

This is so boring.]

[voltrounds]

[Ricky is fashionably late. She doesn't seem very talkative, just sitting alone with a cup of tea she's mostly ignoring, but at least she doesn't appear to have been murdered by Kurumi or anything.]

[decarded]

[Just as Frederica had asked, Angelica hadn't interfered with whatever had passed between her and Kurumi. Still, when she notices Frederica sitting alone, she approaches. She doesn't say anything, either, just sits down with her own cup of tea.]

[stitch_in_time]

[The Doctor puts in an appearance, but not for long. He keeps to the edges of everything, nursing one of the teas, and looking pensive brooding. Aside from the party, he can be found in the less occupied parts of the cafeteria, staring out the windows into space, or in the Art Room, looking over the cleanup job and the spot where they'd found Chitanda just that morning.]

[bylight]

[Lightning never made it into the room to see Chitanda's body. She doesn't know if she could have handled it. She's still not sure she wants to ever go back into the art room...

Yet here she is. As is the Doctor. Even if he's not paying attention, she gives him a nod before looking at the table. Chitanda. Why were you up so late?]