ain't no party like a murdergame afterparty, cw: some mentions of alcohol

[originallutece]

[--cuz a murdergame afterparty is horrifying and sad and possibly a little threatening if Mahiro insists on bringing his gun with him, please don't do that buddy.

Honestly, guys, we're running out of cooks at this rate. But it's nice to gather after horrifying events, and so while Rosalind's cooking skills are absolutely terrible, her alcohol-pouring skills are a little better. Come have a glass of wine or three and ruminate on the fact that there's only fourteen of us left.]

Comments

[presomnia]

Uh-huh. And I don't sleep very much so if you change your mind about being by yourself in the middle of the night, that's where you can go.

[divertimento]

I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks, Tiki.

[presomnia]

Uh-huh!

[She lets Elliot go, jumps up in place, and lets herself fall on her butt on his bed so she bounces a couple of times before she actually gets back down on the floor.]

...Wouldn't it be easier just to carry the mattress?

[like. elli darling. you're such a weenie]

[divertimento]

...Maybe.

But I've already come this far, now I kinda feel like I gotta see it through...

[it's too late to abort mission!!]

[pseudoregelia]

That's the impression I got, too.

[And, well. It's practically her job to push teenage boys into actually doing things.]

...I just wish everyone could have gotten a happy end.

[irrationalities]

That'd be too convenient. Happy endings where everything's wrapped up nicely only exists in stories.

[And for all the impossible things he's seen here, that point holds true for him. Hoping for miracles that would work everything out is irrational, after all.]

[pseudoregelia]

But if we can't hope for happy endings, we can't strive to try to make them happen, either.

[irrationalities]

No one's saying you shouldn't try to go for whatever you want. But expecting everything to turn out nicely just isn't realistic.

[pseudoregelia]

Is that why you act the way you do?

Never getting your hopes up too high?

[irrationalities]

If you wanna put it that way.

I'm just not arrogant enough to think I can save everyone.

[maddogs]

Hope's kinda an awful thing sometimes, but it might be worth it in this case.

[pseudoregelia]

Have you ever tried before?

To save everyone, without leaving a single person behind.

[godinsolitude]

Of course. Any special requests? I'd say you've earned it, after all of that.

[As long as he wasn't expected to get up early, he'd whip up whatever she wanted.]

[godinsolitude]

I don't know who 'he' is, but I'm fairly sure he'd agree with me, if he knows you any. You probably make your friends back home very happy.

[He reaches up, patting Elliot on the shoulder lightly. at least it's not a headpat?.]

There's power in kindness. Not everyone has the strength and courage to be kind to people like you do-- it's something to be cherished. Maybe it's a little wishy washing sounding, but it's true.

[A pause, before he ventures, a little more hesitantly-- because he's terrible at this people thing, but the memory of a group of people back home gives him the words he needs.]

And if it's difficult to see it that way... try to think of how your friends see you. Trust their feelings for you, and trust that they'd want you to come back safe to them, no matter what.

[divertimento]

A friend of mine from back home. ...My best friend, even. [And that's not a lie. Regardless of what other feelings he may have, at the end of the day, he still cherishes Rean as a close friend.

But oh, hey. Shoulder pat. ...It's still close enough to a headpat to give Elliot some slight pause, but he tries to work past it.] Really, the only way you could sound more like him is if you could give speeches like this with a little more of a straight face, ha ha.

Anyway, it's... it's like I said. I'll try my best, but even thinking of it that way... it's not exactly easy to override everything you've always been telling you the exact opposite, you know?

But I'll do my best. For them. ...And for you.

[He offers Ayumu a tiny little smile - as genuine of one as he can manage.]

[godinsolitude]

I might be entirely serious, but even I know it's sappy sounding.

[He lets out a short laugh at that. This friend of Elliot's sounded like a regular cheeseball, to Ayumu.]

As long as you're trying, that's good enough I think. It's hard, thinking differently when you've thought the same way for what seems like forever. But the people around you can remind you of what you are capable of when you start to doubt.

[Goodness knows Hiyono would be the better choice to give Elliot this talk, given it was her specialty-- but he was Trying, ok.] Just do your best and you'll be fine.

[divertimento]

Ehehe. Doin' a little better than him, then.

[He sounds like a cheeseball? That's because he is!]

...Yeah. I mean, by now, you think I'd know that. [He sounds a bit guilty, now.] After all, you guys keep trying to remind me. Kinda makes it feel a bit worse when I keep slipping, you know? But... well. I'm not gonna get anywhere by holding myself to impossible standards.

[pseudoregelia]

[Hmm...]

How about some sort of beef dish? It's awfully expensive at home...

[Might as well take advantage of the murdercastle's fine stores.]

[irrationalities]

[He thinks of the empty towns he's walked through after they've been devastated by bizarre fruits that metamorphosed lives into metal.]

No. Even if I cared to, it wouldn't have been feasible anyways.

[pseudoregelia]

Oh? Then, have you tried saving people at all before?

[irrationalities]

Just once. There was a girl sitting around all dumbstruck while some stuff was crashing down.

[Shrugs.]

I was just nearby.

[pseudoregelia]

What happened?

[irrationalities]

Nothing. She survived, but I didn't keep tabs on her after that.

Everyone else in the city nearby was dead though.

[And so it goes.]

[pseudoregelia]

[Record scratch.]

--Everyone...?

[irrationalities]

[Hoo boy, he might as well explain, at least partially.]

Yeah. There's something in my world called Black Iron Syndrome. Basically, pretty much every living thing in the vicinity of some fucked up magic gets turned to metal, rendering them effectively dead. The government's pretty intent on covering these incidents up, but I'd wager the casualties are probably at around tens of thousands at the least.

[It's all said so matter-of-factly that you'd think he's talking about the weather report, honestly. But in other words:]

There's a limit to how much one person can do.