don't wait for a knight in shinin' armor, your savior's reflected in the mirror

[perpend]

[That sure was a fucking thing. That execution was a fucking thing. Those secrets are a fucking thing.

Cabanela retreats to his room, but not for all that long. Everyone will get a note eventually, written in very neat handwriting

I do not plan on bowing down to threats and intimidation. If you did not act, it means you were, like me, aware of the risk, but decided against it. Your reasons are entirely your own.

Join me in the dining room if you agree enough is enough, and that you won't acquiesce to threats. I don't plan to let this stop me, and neither should you.

-C

In the dining room itself, Cabanela has set up coffee and tea for those who want it-- there's no food, because to be honest, he doesn't know how to cook. Two more candles have been lit-- he wasn't really sure what to do about the whole... parasite thing... so Fern's candle will have to make due.]

Comments

[heritrix]

Maizono-san,

You can really get through a year dry? You're twice as impressive as I thought...

Wine and most alcoholic beverages are an acquired taste, so I'm unsurprised it didn't agree with you. You'll probably find port wine more to your liking.

- Rin Tohsaka

[matchbreaker]

[ Holy hell, how is a man who seems so astute in everything so... simple? How? Why? ]

It's a biblical thing! There's four horsemen who ride at the end of the world, representing war, famine, conquest [ or pestilence but apparently that's a more recent thing ], and death.

[ Might as well just explain the reference. ]

[matchbreaker]

[ Are we still hugging? Because if so she's sort of grabbing some of Sayaka's shirt and not really realizing she did so. ]

... Yes. Deeply so. She's to young to be so uppity, she projected about everything. But she's also too young to have suffered what she had. It's... impossible to think of her some other way.

[matchbreaker]

Oh don't make it so difficult for me.

[ Haha... ha. Laughs and shakes her head, tailing off into a sigh. ] ... That's right though, certainly. He's the one who made a mess of things.

[heritrix]

[Rin glances sharply at Alex, but she doesn't actually look shocked. That was the other possibility she thought of (she caught on to how that thing could be controlling Fern's body faster than anyone), but she didn't want to consider it.]

How many of them?

[She speaks calmly; get the facts, keep Alex comfortable.]

[matchbreaker]

Ghosts?

[ . . . Haha. ]

I'm not sure if ghosts care one way or the other about dying, they're already dead.

[matchbreaker]

Oh that is impossible too.

[ She laughs at this, tapping the wall as she does, first to Hibiki's, actually ]

Everyone would be cold not to think of her as pitiable. Or the Priest. [ Kirei's ] That will inform everyone's opinion of him from here. Oh sure, some will be less overt, and we need to work together to some extent, so not everyone is going to shun the more insane here. [ Archer's, Rideaux's ] But in the back of your mind, can you tell me you won't think about how your life's something I feed on?

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . Of course some girl contextualizes it in a way she's forced to understand. Elda's hands open and close out of fists. She grits her teeth, but then releases her tension, and... ]

... Honestly, it disgusted me - the idea of infantilizing all of you so-called "kids." The first list she gave me included Blue of all people. She was twenty, barely any younger than Fern herself.

[ Exhale. ]

Still, it isn't my place to say if you got something out of it. At this point, I've some regrets about if we could have talked more.

[hentopan]

[ ...................... ]

Tch, tell that to my sister.

[matchbreaker]

I just said, didn't I? I'm no god!

[ She laughs a little bit, but it's short lived too. Her own secret's bringing back so many dark memories. ]

The God of my youth rejected my people anyway.

[introspects]

Um...not quite.

[ i mean, yes but also, no. ]

When a soul dies, they're reincarnated as a human. But spirits live longer than humans do by hundreds, thousands of years. I think that's what makes the circle of reincarnation...spirits having mortality of their own.

dining room

[introspects]

[ orihime's only in the dining room briefly, but alex looks so sad.... despite herself, orihime goes over, a weak smile on her lips. ]

What kind of cereal are you eating, Alex-san?

[hentopan]

I would too. I fucking reject everyone, I want nothing to do with worshippers or any of that trash.

[ Might explain why he's the type to showboat everything else but not this. ]

[sleepytimegal]

...Heh. Never had a lot of...girl friends back home, that's...that's nice.

[ A beat. A drink. ]

You too. I dunno how... This place would be a lot rougher without you.

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . Wait, what ]

So what do spirits do? Just become a new spirit?

[introspects]

Hm~ The ones I know are shinigami! They protect their world and the human world from corrupted spirits, and help souls from the human world pass on to theirs.

[matchbreaker]

So you're telling me that humans die and come back as more humans, but then gods of death still are born and die on their own system?

[sleepytimegal]

All of them.

[ She's speaking evenly. ]

Ninety-seven.

[matchbreaker]

[ "I would too" is so far the wrong answer that before she stops herself she's already moved her long lady fingernails in a flash, intending for his eyes. She stops herself sort, but she's still caught there in mid-swing, eyes predatory and fangs barred. ]

Good. For you. Glad to hear it.

[sleepytimegal]

[ Still shuffling. Still...she slows down, and stops. ]

I think we've all got some kind of regrets. Whether we loved someone or just barely knew 'em or hated 'em, there's... It happens. Especially when you're locked up so close with people, as it...turns out.

...If you'd want to talk about them...

[matchbreaker]

[ . . Right, the grieving girl. She really should have seen his conversation coming in retrospect. She's going to reach out to the deck, as if asking if she can take a card. She'll let what she picks answer for her. ]

1/4

[heritrix]

[Rin stares at Alex. There's no way she heard that right.]

2/4

[heritrix]

[Any second now, Alex will realize she made a mistake and give her the right number.]

3/4

[heritrix]

[...Come on, seriously?]

[sleepytimegal]

[ Raises her eyes, hint of a smile. ]

Cheerios. What else?