Afterparty 5.0

[forcegalactic]

[There's not much that can be believed about that trial. Or that execution. Still, like before, two hours after everyone leaves, they'll find a note slipped underneath their doors.]

We have to stick together. The dining room is there for anyone that needs a quiet space, and I cooked dinner.

Hibiki made some coffee and dessert for all of us.

-Mordecai Benmont Jiminy and Hibiki Ganaha

[Today's selection includes potato pancakes and a light coffee cake. Hibiki has lit two more candles in the dining hall. It doesn't take long before Mordecai lights a third.]

Comments

[forcegalactic]

You're a good artist. Didn't realize that was you who drew those pictures.

[He doesn't sound surprised at all, but it's nice to know who was the mystery artist.]

...Thanks.

[ninehundredlives]

...you're welcome. [She guesses? After a moment, she adds:] I was going to do other ones too.

[Not because she especially liked everyone dead. But there'll be a big fuss if she doesn't, and she doesn't want to deal with that.

...maybe she'll just delay a long time on Asuka and Dio.]

[forcegalactic]

Looks just like 'em.

[It's her way of memorializing the dead, not his. Besides, they both agree on remembering the victims above the killers.]

You got some nice variety of hobbies for a nurse. Piano and art's somethin' that takes a lotta time to be good at.

[ninehundredlives]

[...yeah let's just say it might be a while before any of the killers' portraits are "finished".]

I've got nothing but time.

[forcegalactic]

[He watches the candles a little while longer. The gathering of flames is getting larger each week. More people gone, with only one small bit of light left of them.]

How long was it since you last worked as a nurse?

[She mentioned that it had been a while, and that medical skills are something that's hard to forget.]

[ninehundredlives]

Ten years.

[This is going somewhere she normally doesn't like to go, but...she feels like she knows people here, now, and none of them really know her. The strange part is that she wishes they did. At least a bit.]

[forcegalactic]

[There's so little he knows about the others. Everyone keeps surprising him, and he expects Susan, too.]

...What've you been doin' since then?

[ninehundredlives]

[Dryly:]

Not a lot.

[forcegalactic]

So, like, did you retire or did you decide it wasn't for you?

[ninehundredlives]

I...

I had...other...things to do. [She finishes utterly lamely.]

[forcegalactic]

[The typical way people attempt to deflect gossip, he can see that. Susan must have been involved in something worth keeping a secret.]

Now I know people quit their jobs all the time for a variety of reasons. Kids, movin', they hate their boss, got caught up in some kinda scandal; all sorts of reasons.

...Long as you ain't involved in some criminal activity, I won't hold it against you, promise.

[ninehundredlives]

It isn't something I want getting around.

[You are the biggest gossip, Mordecai. It even says as much on your profile.]

[forcegalactic]

[Boooooo

Why did the Conductor have to mention something like that?]

Alright, fine. Guess it's somethin' that you wanna keep secret. Ain't that much a deal if you were up to trouble, heck, we even I used to be the opposite of a well-behaved son, and I'm doin' alright now.

[Maybe she got caught up in a robbery.]

But you're doin' somethin' else now tht you ain't a nurse no more, right?

[ninehundredlives]

...I didn't do anything illegal. [She guesses there's no reason he should believe her, but she's a little offended by the assumption anyway.]

I'm...just between jobs right now.

[forcegalactic]

[Look, he's not twelve. He knows what "in between jobs" is code for.]

Sorry about that situation. Work's sometimes hard to come by no matter what millennium it is, right? [And the economy on Earth has often always sucked. Can't blame her.] You have my best wishes in findin' a job again, Susan.

[ninehundredlives]

[Well she didn't do anything ten years ago.]

...thanks.

I've been working through some things, but I think I actually might, when I go back. Maybe not in nursing. I'm a bit sick of...well.

[If she never sees another dead body again that'll be alright. She was never a medical examiner or anything, but you certainly do run into those things if you work in a hospital at all.]

[forcegalactic]

[That is the saddest way to describe what happened ten years ago.]

Naw, I get it. I'm used to seein' dead folks, but touchin' 'em ain't never crossed my mind.

[It's one thing to see someone get shot. It's another having to touch the wound.]

You can always try freelance piano lessons, iffin you're willin' to start out with local kids.

[ninehundredlives]

[We don't talk about ten years ago.]

...maybe. There's no kids living in my building - just a woman with a baby upstairs. But there must be some around someplace.

[forcegalactic]

Huh. Babysittin's another way of goin', and I think bein' a nurse makes you better qualified to handle kids.

...Don't take my word on it, I got no kids of my own.

[ninehundredlives]

I don't...really like to be around babies.

But kids are alright.

[forcegalactic]

[Eh. Babies are alright when they're quiet.]

What about the neighborhood? Surely there's at least one family with kids in every city.

[ninehundredlives]

Oh, I'm sure they're around. It's impossible for there not to be. I just don't know any personally.

It's probably better that way. My neighbors all think I'm odd.

[forcegalactic]

Whadya mean? Sure, you're mighty gloomy, but it ain't like you any crazier that most folks that live anywhere. You don't hide out in your apartment with a rifle, ready to shoot anyone that looks funny, don't you?

[ninehundredlives]

Of course not. I don't even own a gun. Haven't they got any crazy cat ladies on Mars?

[forcegalactic]

We got cats. There's crazy folks all over Mars, but I don't think I know one with lots of cats.