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

[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.]

[curdle]

No--

[ She pictures it even though she doesn't want to. The body bursting forth from her wrappings, floating through that endless night sky... ]

It's not right. [ Now she really feels sick. ] Even with no place for burial, they might have given us time.

[ratherdoweddings]

...That just makes what we can do more important. When people die in space and there's no recovering bodies, we can remember them and do our best with what we've got.

[curdle]

[ --and there's no recovering bodies--

That's not what Yurika is talking about. She mustn't think of it. ]

I'd not spoken to [ everyone should just assume her pronunciation of Japanese names is hesitant as fuck, for the record ] Chitanda. But at the least, in death, I thought I might do what I could for her. If remembering is all...

... 'tis a terrible thing to not speak of the dead.

[ratherdoweddings]

That's true. She was so nice to everyone, and she had a life to go back to.

[curdle]

All of them did. Even...

[ Toby. ]

We must remember them, then.

[ratherdoweddings]

Jane-chan and I have a paper roll, here! [She gestures to a spot on the table where a roll of art paper lies with a few doodles.] We've been trying to draw things that make us think of them, or just things that would fit on a memorial.

[curdle]

[ Things that would fit on a memorial... ]

Rosemary.

[ what ]

[ratherdoweddings]

...The plant?

[curdle]

It stands for remembrance. 'Tis for that we leave a sprig in the grave, if we can. Nothing grows here, but...

[ratherdoweddings]

...maybe there's a spice rack in the kitchen?

[curdle]

Well -- I thought I might draw it easily enough. Though I hath little experience.

[ratherdoweddings]

I'm sure you can! Here, we've got pencil crayons.

[curdle]

Thank you, Yurika.

[ She starts examining the goods to find that particular shade of green. Not leaving anything out of place, of course -- just picking through. ]

I pray this is the last you ever must make.

[ratherdoweddings]

I hope so. We can get out of here without killing everyone else, I'm sure of it.

[curdle]

... Aye.

[ She finally selects two crayoms and starts drawing. First a few light brown lines, as though she's drawing the stems in a bundle. ]

And, um... you loved her as well as anyone else. [ Probably better, with their bubbly personalities. But she and Jane are still putting the work forth for her... ] I am sorry of thy loss.

[refusedtoleave]

[Natsuhi is just sitting there with her own tea. Occasionally looking around the room, but mostly she's just looking at the cup.

She lifts her head at that to frown.]

Is someone else missing?

[curdle]

... Chitanda. The art room is clear of her body. They must have done it while we were assembled.

[refusedtoleave]

They won't even let us mourn properly. They better have treated her with more care than the others.

[curdle]

When Goodman Bolton made announcement, he seemed...

[ Well, how can they know what he truly felt? ]

I pray 'tis so.

[refusedtoleave]

We can't trust what they say... At best we can hope they cremated her or have a morgue.

[curdle]

I must ask it of them. Even if they lie.

[refusedtoleave]

They might not even answer... But it could be the only information we'll get on the matter.

[curdle]

We cannot go on not knowing. I'll at least try.