Post-Trial I Afterparty

[cellpreservation]

[They're down two of their number, and who knows how many more will follow, but for tonight at least... They have a chance to rest.

The school has already been cleaned, leaving no signs of the deaths that occurred on this very day, but that's just as well. After looking around to make sure of that much, Yuta marches into the kitchen and, after a bit of looking around, ends up gathering some snacks: boxed crackers and apple slices that aren't perfectly even in cut but look, he's not the chef of his group, he did his best. These he sets out on some plates in the cafeteria before finding his usual seat to lounge in, eating some apple slices off of a smaller plate he grabbed just for himself.

And then, he waits - to see who trickles in, and who doesn't.

Where is your character in the aftermath?]

Comments

[cellpreservation]

[Anyway yeah Yuta's in the cafeteria with apple slices, reading some kind of note, although he'll slide it out of view if he notices anyone approaching.]

[panglici]

[Going back to a too-quiet dorm room right now just isn't happening. Carrie basically collapses into a seat right nearby. Close enough to reach out and steal an apple slice - but she thinks better of it, for some reason, and then abruptly presses the heels of her hands to her eyes, grimacing.

She refuses to cry. There's a lump in her throat that's hard to talk around, and her eyes do hurt, but she refuses to cry.]

How could she be so stupid?

[temmapathy]

[Emma comes in to grab some apple slices, shoving one into her mouth and chewing rapidly before signing:]

Thanks.

[violence_ensues]

[Adorabat chomps down on some of the apple slices, talking with her mouth full.]

Mmmm, thish is tashhy!

[holyironmade]

[...note is hype but oh well let's not bother him]

Thank you for this. I had not realized it would be necessary.

[spychic]

[Anya hesitantly walks in. She's probably not going to sleep tonight, and she's not sure if she'll be able to eat...but she takes an apple slice and hesitantly takes a bite. Better one thing than nothing at all.

She isn't able to say anything yet. She sits in her own seat in the cafeteria.

She's overwhelmed, and scared, and...

Mama and Papa wouldn't flinch. They would've saved them. Anya needs to be stronger. Needs to be more like them. Needs to be...better. She'll worry about that later.]

[cellpreservation]

[He doesn't normally sit with the others, so he'll go ahead and call out, voice a little soft on accounts of there not really being much chatter to speak over:]

Hey, Anya.

[temmapathy]

[After a while, Emma walks over to put an arm around Anya. Not signing anything, just being there.]

[normalnotroyal]

[Okay. Tend to the most upset first and then circle back around to the ones that are old enough to be okay. Well. As okay as any of them can truly be. Either way, she can do this.]

Anya? Would you like to do something to take your mind off today?

[canreallymove]

Hey, uh...I can get you somethin' to drink if you need.

[It's clear that he's numb. There's no two ways about it, honestly.]

[romancing]

[ Koishi spontaneously appears here when Yuta isn't looking, and by then she's eating some crackers and talking to Toritorika. ]

I don't like this, Toritorika.

"I don't like this one bit."

You understand, right? I wish neesan was here, she would know what to do.

"Neesan would know. Wish she was here."

[ Her back and forth with the bird is pretty muted and repetitive, but she seems content to chatter with her regardless. ]

[cellpreservation]

[Wait wheremst the fuck did she come from?!]

[temmapathy]

[Emma approaches Koishi question she realized she should have asked a bit ago:]

Hey, is that a boy turtle or a girl turtle?

music room

[bellabellabella]

[Edward does what he can to settle down the ones who seem like they were most traumatized by this whole thing and then makes a beeline straight to the piano in the music room, with the plan to spend the rest of the day playing said piano. It seems that he can only half hear what he's playing as his fingers dart across the keys in a manner that's incredibly complex and lovely.

So that's the sort of place this is, in truth. It was what they had been told, and yet....

He feels numb. His mistake. This is the sort of place where a child will be fed to a monstrous clown after having been pushed to kill another, that's just the kind of place this is.]

[normalnotroyal]

[Truthfully, Rosalinda came in this direction for similar reasons. She hesitates in the doorway for a moment before speaking up:]

That's lovely. Do you play piano much, back home?

[violence_ensues]

[After a few minutes, Adorabat comes flying in with a black marker. She opens it and writes something on the wall.

LUZ NOCEDA

She then sets a book down under the name.]

[temmapathy]

[Emma walks over to look at it, before turning to sign.]

Is that her book...?

[hashtagwoof]

[ Hunter will be arriving a bit late. It seems he attempted to go to bed and forget about it but was too traumatized to do so.

So, instead, he ends up in the cafeteria with some of the others looking thoroughly shaken from it all... ]

Huh... Someone got out some snacks.

[ PLEASE, ANYONE DISTRACT HIM FOR A SECOND. He doesn't even care if someone gets out the dog toys or something. He has never thought he'd be longing to catch glimpse of a postman or a cat or-

What the hell. He's sitting on the floor and scratching his head with his foot. He's literally too stressed to attempt being human right this second. ]

[cellpreservation]

[...

Tosses him an apple slice. Just to see what happens.]

[keyringwitness]

[While Yasu does manage to hold herself together until they're released, and even drifts into the cafeteria with some sense of purpose... as soon as she sits down on a comfy-ish chair off to the side, she collapses, sobbing into her own shoulder and clutching a porcelain doll so tight that it's a wonder that it doesn't crack.

The unintelligible crying dies down after a few minutes, but Yasu still refuses to get up and talk with anyone. Tears silently stream down her face as she just sits there and wallows in her own misery.]

[violence_ensues]

[Bat... hug...?]

[holyironmade]

... with a knife?

[Jeanne went back to change into her full outfit because boy are her feet sore after that entire trial. She doesn't understand why someone just got killed with a kitchen knife and now one of the same ones is being used to slice apples. Well, Yuta is one of the less easily hurt ones, she supposes. She's sitting. Just having water.]

...I had wanted to return to my room and pray. It is getting late. But it seems that we still have more to do tonight. Is there... Is there anything I could do to better comfort you?

[panglici]

I - I don't -

[Carrie's already been crying, off and on. That innocent question is enough to start it again, and she's helpless. It's mortifying, and for some reason she gets the feeling Valmont might try to kick her ass for doing this, but she falls before Jeanne like a marionette whose strings have been cut. Like a truly small and helpless little girl, she finds herself clinging to Jeanne's skirts, weeping against her knees.

It isn't accompanied by the wailing one might expect. Carrie cries quietly. Even sobbing that makes it hard for her to breathe is barely audible; these are the tears of a child who has learned somewhere that to be heard crying is to be discovered, and that being discovered is not usually going to end well.

Make the world make sense, Jeanne. Make everything as simple as day replacing night. She can't ask for either of those things, so she cries instead.]

[lets_dewey_it]

<sub>[At first, Dewey doesn't really flock with the others to the cafeteria. Instead, he's in the Music Room just down the hall. The door was open, letting everyone hear him playing the piano, a very specific tune being played with two hands (or more like a hand and a finger). Nothing fancy...

But, eventually, he made his way to the cafeteria. Of course there wasn't as many snacks as there were when the "afterparty" started, but... He wasn't that hungry. He'd just take a single slice of white bread, his appetite was that lost.]</sub>

[spychic]

[Anya walks into the Music Room. That song...

It's calming. It was calming down there, it's calming up here.

She doesn't say a word. She just sits nearby and listens.

It makes her think of Mama and Papa. Dewey's family, too...she can only hope they're all okay.]

[copycut]

[ Kuro doesn't look all that affected, but here she is anyway. In the cafeteria, she hovers over a plate of apple slices—but, it would seem, not to eat them herself. She has a block of cream cheese pilfered from the kitchen, and she has taken it upon herself to (fairly sloppily) garnish Yuuta's apple slices. ]

We could at least use a little more variety, here...

[ She grumbles under her breath, but she keeps working. ]

[cellpreservation]

Well sorry I don't usually cook for myself.

[Geeze!]

[curdle]

[ Thomasin doesn't show up immediately. She needs a good hour or so to cry it out in her room, wash her face, and change clothes. She needs to make herself presentable. But once that's sorted, she comes to the cafeteria, looks at the snacks, and silently enters the kitchen, and that's where you can find her for a good long time! Not having a stovetop (even though Thomasin would absolutely not know how to use a stovetop) is a big detriment to her cooking endeavors here, since much of her know-how revolves around boiling stuff in a bag, but she at least knows how to use the oven now. Home ec may have done her a good turn yet. After a while, she comes back out and drags a chair in with her.

Eventually, the scent of Gingerbread, But More So wafts out into the cafeteria area at large. Thomasin has a pan of something in the oven, and she seems not to notice anyone else in the kitchen; she just sits in her chair in front of the counter, her sleeves hiked up and her elbows resting on the countertop, and cuts apples distractedly as a remedy to being lost in her thoughts. The knife she uses is not unlike the one that killed Luz. Eventually, she offers: ]

It's not ready. If 'tis that what brought thee in.

[ To any newcomers, without turning to face them. She also microwaves some milk in an attempt to start making a posset, sees the bubbling happen, and immediately wrenches the door open in terror! ]

[holyironmade]

I see. Then I may have to go to bed before it is done. Do you think... There will be some left in the morning? I do not want to be gluttonous.

[She pauses. She tried to get it over with quickly in the trial, but she does think Thomasin deserves more.]

If you fear me because of my ways... I understand.

[britbrat]

[ Valmont trickles into the cafeteria with the others, limping a little. Part of him really just wants to book it to his room and sleep indefinitely, but being alone also kind of sounds like a terrible idea right now. And he hasn't really eaten today, so there's that.

He opens his mouth out of habit to call for Yasu, then remembers their conversation, and then notices the absolute state she's in at the moment. Looks away. Sighs. Drags himself up and limps into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, a howl of pain reverberates from said kitchen area. Possibly worth checking on, but then again, it's Valmont. So maybe not. ]

[spychic]

[Anya hears the howl of pain, and gets up, fast-walking into the kitchen.]

Valmont...? Are you okay???

[gotnothing]

[ once ava takes a second to collect herself in her room, she heads to the cafeteria, where she takes a seat and kicks her feet up onto the table, munching on some snacks and looking A Little Grumpy Maybe. ]

Stupid freaking murder game clown horseshit...

[holyironmade]

Indeed, it is foolish.

[What a nerd Jeanne is, refusing to repeat the swears.]

The clown is most fearsome. It seems there are many such enemies prepared for us.

[canismajorcontrolfreak]

[Dylan chose to cling.

For a while, he just stays in the music room with Edward. He's not sure if he wants to move, for the longest time. After everything that happened, he just feels...awful in a way he can barely describe. Like a there's some pain in his gut that flares up when he thinks about her. A hole, a weight, a pressure-nothing feels right, describing it.

...he understands what Sonic meant now, about having regrets.

Eventually, he comes to the cafeteria. He can't ignore his hunger forever, after all.

He doesn't try to interact with anyone. Just going to the kitchen, grabbing his usual burger, then sitting at a table to eat. Slowly.

He's...having a moment.]

[bellabellabella]

[Edward doesn't try to make him talk, just plays music. He'll be here if Dylan wants to, but...

Honestly, what is there to say?]

Gym

[canreallymove]

[After making sure Anya was ok, and after talking to Yasu, among other things that the player has not yet thought to do yet, Sonic seems to disappear from the cafeteria.

Anyone who might be wandering by the gym a little later on might hear squeaking sounds and loud BLAM and SLAM sounds. Inside, they will find one blue hedgehog, a pile of various balls nearby. What is he doing with said balls?

Throwing them. Just...throwing them as hard as he could. Where they hit doesn't matter. In the stands, at the wall, the basketball rim, the doors, whatever. It doesn't matter.

He's throwing angry. He's throwing...not ok.]

NHNNNNGAH!

[He's throwing helplessly until he felt like he had some control. Any control. At least until he didn't feel so raw about what he just experienced.]