Week 4 Post-Trial

[xxxx_me]

[So that all happened.

Where is everyone and how are we feeling?]

Comments

[xxxx_me]

[Allen is once again in his room with the door open after the trial, working busily away at his notebook.

But... rather than writing, it looks like he's drawing instead? Little doodles in the bottom corners of pages that he hadn't quite filled with writing instead.

...

The drawings are probably people, but unfortunately, they aren't very good.]

[strictura]

[ Here to check up on Allen as usual... he gives the door frame a light knock to announce his presence again, but he just goes ahead and comes inside this time, taking a seat somewhere nearby. ]

What are you working on?

[xxxx_me]

[Looking up. I also have neglected to mention it before but the scenery outside his window is some sort of plaza area surrounded by iron bars with a floor that's paved with cracked stones. There's also a lot of what look like graves scattered about it.

So that's fine.]

I thought I'd try drawing this time.

[strictura]

[ Eh, there's usually something like that next to the colorful waterfront outside of Nagisa's window, actually. It is fine. ]

That might be nice for a change. Are you drawing things from your memories too?

[xxxx_me]

I'm trying to draw the others from the facility, but...

[The shape is... vaguely human at least? But the clothes are scribbly with multiple attempts to correct the original poor linework.</i]

[golden_king]

[ A hop and a skip after the trial finds him here. ]

Hey, you're drawing instead instead of writing? Why?

[xxxx_me]

Oh. Umm...

[Thinking on it for a second.]

Seven was trying to mimic Neku, right? But I didn't like remembering him for saying bad words, so... I thought I'd try drawing instead, since he liked that.

[But uh.

He is not an artist.]

[golden_king]

Mm, that did seem like a funny thing for Seven to mimic Neku by. He should have mimicked Neku pretending to be grouchy for a bit but then showing how determined he was to help out.

[ There's more to meeting the eye, after all. ]

...That stuff aside, how's the drawing going, then? You said you'd try it; are you making good progress?

[ He'll come closer so he could get a better look at Allen's disaster doodles. I mean what. ]

[xxxx_me]

...He really did try to help us. Even though...

[In the end, it killed him.

The drawing is far from impressive, or perhaps it's impressive how bad it is? His lines are fuzzy due to his lack of skill, and there's many lines that seem to have just been added in an attempt to correct other lines that were off more so than the rest. Details were also attempted, but nothing really fits inside the main outline, making even more of a mess.

It's vaguely human-shaped, but that's being generous.]

[seventhlittlemonster]

[In front of the Graveyard, he was... meditating? Communicating? ...Praying?

Whatever he was doing, he wasn't responding to any noise no matter where it came from. Not even any ghost that wanted to scare him.]

[imozon]

[Dark Dream doesn't get very far, ending up in the dining hall.

Or... I guess she got further after all, because she has Franziska's riding crop with her as she picks at some food. It's probably more representative of her mental state than anything that happened today.]

[golden_king]

[ It's been a long night, but anyway, he'll peer into the dining hall. ]

Trying to desperately eat something before bedtime?

[strictura]

[ Some time after everything is over, Nagisa will try to arrange a brief sector leader check-in with Mizuki and Nigel to see how they're doing (and how they want to deal with the PR disaster that was the Red Team).

At dinnertime he'll be in the dining hall, once again with a book open on the table in front of him as he sips a glass of milk. At some point he finds himself staring absently at the plate of cookies over on the serving table, though he didn't pick one up himself today, and has no intention of doing so.

Late in the evening, he'll be back in room 6, making a first attempt at learning to play the guitar Mizuki gave him. It's very slow going, as he's studying each finger placement diagram carefully and meticulously double checking his own placement before touching the strings, but every so often you might eventually hear a chord as you pass by. ]

dining hall;

[golden_king]

Not in the mood for dessert?

[ Gil will take a cookie himself, apparently. ]

[strictura]

What?

[ He blinks, but after a second it registers why he's getting that question, and he shakes his head. ]

Ah... No, not really.

[golden_king]

Were you trying to eat one of them anyway? Or is this the sort of thing where you stare out because you've got a lot on your mind?

[ Munch munch munch. Cookies aren't so bad to have after all of that. Though he could go for some cake too... ]

[strictura]

No, it's just... a friend back home made cookies for me once, and I realized last week that I didn't remember what they were like anymore. Obviously that's hardly a vital memory to lose or anything, so I'm sure I got off very easy compared to some of the others here.

[ A slight shrug. ]

They just make me think of that now -- what I'm losing here.

[ Also his own critique of Niko's lack of empathy toward the end of the trial is now making him feel a little weird about that friend for unrelated reasons, so. ]

[battlestations]

[Nigel's mood could best be described as 'sulky' - he'd have been found with the makeshift bar set up again but it's up to Nagisa if he wants to drag him to a more proper location or just set the meeting there. Either way, he's just grumbling now that he has a better grasp of the situation.]

Stupid old wannabe babysitter, trying to stop a mage without his team, no respect...

[strictura]

[ Soda bar it is. ]

After that display on Tuesday, I don't think we can really be surprised that judgment wasn't his strong point, but...

[ He sighs as he takes a seat. ]

He did seem to have good intentions, in the end.

[ Which is unfortunately more than they can say for Niko. ]

[ballooncaged]

[Mizuki has an enormous bottle of electrolyte water, because it's what Niko may or may not have wanted. Like, maybe she'd be pissed off at the continued jock schtick. Maybe she'd be into soda. Maybe she would actually think it's cute. Who fucking knows.]

It's infuriating. Everything that's happened this week makes me think we can't hesitate any longer. But Neku's method was definitely wrong in more than one way. Just like Zero's.

[battlestations]

At least the Zero pair gave us some hints to work with. If that Jabberwock monster is her strongest weapon, it may still have weaknesses.

[he is definitely feeling the 'fuck it' frustration, things were so much simpler back home where you saw a monster and you fought it and then it was over - and he would desperately like the solution to ultimately be in that vein. Still, the butter boys also set the example for arrogance in one's abilities from home.]

...But she controls the world we're in, so that is a very big 'if.'

[nothingposh]

[Gavroche is the last place anyone probably wants to be, which is in the Unicorn, under the deck. He's looking at fish, but there's something complicated in his face that has nothing to do with the fish.]

Eponine, 'ponine forgive me
That I forgot what once we were
There's a grief that can't be spoken
And everything is just a blur

[There's just a violin behind the words and nothing else. Gavroche stops to look at the Literal Goldfish.]

Phantom faces in my mem'ry
Phantom shadows left behind
Empty chairs surround the table
All our grief so now combined

[ballooncaged]

[Mizuki is only even hearing this stuff because upon exiting the trial room she decided to go down all the floors one by one for exercise. The violin is actually so faint at a distance that Mizuki wonders if less music means Gavroche or Gavroche accessories are weakened in some way. But by the time she gets anywhere close, it's sunk in that Gavroche and his music are just sad. Well, relatable. She talks to him through a cute little window.]

Do you think someday we'll lose what happened here, too?

[nothingposh]

Don't rightly know, being honest. [His brow furrows, like he's trying to come up with something.] Shouldn't be how the story goes, but none of this is right in the first place.

[ballooncaged]

[Scowling, though not at him.] I don't think what makes a good or bad story has anything to do with what happens here. It's the same thing over and over and there's no hero to try one last time and save the day. The Cat will keep using the Queen's condition to suck us all dry.

[Glancing, thinking harder.] Did you ever...? I don't know. Lose your memories, teleport, whatever. Before all this.