I don't believe in fretting and greiving, why mess around with strife?

[greenmamabear]

[In some ways, this trial was simpler. The killer was lacking in remorse, the victim innocent. The lines were clearer. Was that better, or worse?

Either way, Fern and Alex make up something of a green team, preparing a meal in the kitchen. Nothing particularly complicated. Coffee and water for whoever want it is at one end of the dining table. Along the rest of it is a variety of foods. A plate of cheese and crackers, a bowl of salad and carrots for the healthy people, some handy finger sandwiches, and... a big pot of mac and cheese. What they lack in presentation they make up in sheer volume of food. That's a big tub of mac and cheese.

They struggle with the invitations for a bit before eventually coming up with possibly the most awkward phrasing possible. These notes are quietly shoved under doors with little fanfare more than a quick knock.


We got food in eat place. Food is good to eat. Enjoy food with us?

- Fern and Alex

[The dining area is lined up with some appropriate decorations, quick paper streamers and even some doodles that have been taped to the walls.

Its possible too simple. But maybe people need something simple to gorge on after a complicated day.]

Comments

[heritrix]

You read "think about the future" from streamers? [This isn't said with hostility, more like girl, is that a train of thought or a rocket ship?] I supposes there's the smiley faces too, but if that helps you, I'd be curious to see what inspiration you'd take from a motivational poster.

[firstaid]

We shouldn't dwell on this, but we should learn from it, is what I'm saying.

[She doesn't like dwelling on things like this anyway and instead attempts to find any way to not think about this.]

[heritrix]

That's my philosophy as well.

[And what she was going on about last week, but she's not really an "I told you so" kind of person. It's fine so long as people understand it now.]

[firstaid]

[Well, there's no need to bring up last week. It's over and they have new enemies and situations to face.]

So what do you think we should do now?

[heritrix]

Learn as much as we can about our situation, so we can determine a way out. Rule #4's placement before Rule #7 is interesting to me.

[Everyone else figured this out days ago but Rin was stuck in her room and behind on the times, oops.]

And if days like these keep happening, we should find a way to respond to them better to make the experience more uplifting.

[firstaid]

[She would argue that they aren't trying to make today uplifting, but she's more interested in that first statement because she has something to say on that.]

I found a button in the library by investigating. I'm unsure what it goes to since when I pressed it, nothing happened, but I imagine there must be more of them somewhere and we need to press them in succession, or we need to find the mechanism to power what the button affects.

[heritrix]

Why do you think that? Did someone else find a button too?

[firstaid]

[Estelle slowly shakes her head at that question.]

Not that I know of. However, I highly doubt a button would be placed like that and not have a meaning or a mechanism.

[heritrix]

Usually it would relate to something in the room. Maybe there's a secret passage nearby we're unaware of.

[firstaid]

There could be. [She ponders this for a moment.]

There wasn't any dust on the higher shelves, so do you think that indicates that some sort of draft may be in the room?

[heritrix]

[That's interesting.]

Did you feel the air move? Or see a nearby vent?

[firstaid]

No, I didn't see anything like that or feel any air. Still, there was a lack of dust but unless it's cleaned by someone I don't know why there isn't.

[heritrix]

That someone is cleaning it up would be my first guess. The second floor appeared out of nothing to start with, but we know someone moves about when no one's watching. This is the second time in a row things have been spotless once we left the courtroom.

[...she checked Chitoge's room.]

[firstaid]

Yes, that could very well be it. I hadn't thought of that.

[So many things it could be. Guess that means they'll just have to investigate some more...!]

[heritrix]

[All the investigations...!]

But that's strange in and of itself, too. Who could clean such a large building like this so thoroughly every night? Even a cleaning crew would skip the top shelves once in a while.

[Mm, though the library is new, too. Maybe it's brand new and didn't have time to collect dust in the first place? But then who could build such an expansive library and the rest of the second floor almost overnight...]

[firstaid]

I honestly don't know. Perhaps we'll get more answers the more we investigate.

[Which is what they need right now. She'll hold on to investigations as her one hope.]

[heritrix]

[After a moment, Rin nods.]

That's all there is to it, in the end. It's the only thing that's yielded results so far.

[Meager as they may seem.]