I dreamed of a world so far from here that's not on the map

[matchbreaker]

To my Fellows,

What is "good" and what is "evil" is something that can be debated for longer than most of you will ever live, as is the nature of men. These debates are without meaning in my eyes. Despite that man's belief, men are not born to be good or evil, and what flaws they have in personality or character are things that can be overcome through their choices. Both for better and, as we've seen, for worse.

Life is not without suffering, but I should hope that every one of you is loved by someone. Loves someone. Many of you probably know that some of those loved ones are entering into an experience similar to our own. The terror of that is an undeniable sword which hangs above our heads.

Do not isolate yourselves, and hold onto what belief will best inspire you. And if you wish to join us for another one of these gatherings, meet us in the dining hall at 8PM.

Sincerely yours,
Elda Marker

PS: Those who can taste will once more provide food.

[ Well that sure is a lot of words which is being put under your doors, put on the fridge, and generally distributed around. It... uh, sure is a letter? It's in the same impossibly perfect cursive as last week, and is written with an almost angry bravado. Because even if she was vindicated at the end there, she was vindicated by a (by his own admission) evil priest. So. That feels bad.

Anyway, with some effort, the dining hall (which now has a lot of candles at Cabanela's little shrine, even with adding the two more here) is filled with food: Susan's got the booze as usual but also a big pot of mac and cheese. Adelina's done her noble best with some finger sandwiches. Yuri's brought some sweets that Estelle might've made. As for Elda, well, she still basically can't cook, so what she provides instead is:

A few board games including a Settlers of Catan, Sorry, and Candyland knock off. I guess we're playing games. Or at least she's suggesting it, who knew? ]

Comments

[hesperos]

[ He takes another sip of his drink. At least he's had a positive effect on people, despite his earlier momentary idiocy. ]

Yeah, friends do that sort of thing pretty often. You're doing good at that too, by the way. Even if you're probably not going to hear me practically crying about everything that went wrong in the last...few hours? Or night. Whatever.

[ He almost mentions Flynn or Judith, even if the latter isn't going to be present in any murdergames...but, it makes him not want to talk about it because of generally everything. He'll just groan and lean back so he's half lying on the bed while his feet are still on the floor.

He thinks of something (not) very nice to say. ]

At least Kirei died like that. Damn bastard deserved every moment of it.

[evilfrenzy]

[Rideaux lets out a light sigh.]

I must admit that seeing you cry would be...difficult to deal with, so that is fine. [The awkwardness would be up to maximum, he is not equipped for that shit.] Still, glad you think so. I don't extend a hand often, but...I am not going to sit here and lie to you by saying you haven't left an impact. Even if you are prone to acts of rash stupidity.

[He probably wasn't going to get through this conversation without calling Yuri out on that. It was rash and stupid, but rage will do that to you. He'd like to say he's above it, but he really isn't.

As Yuri lies back, Rideaux finally takes a sip of his drink, pondering the execution.]

Yes. It was particularly gruesome, wasn't it? An eye for an eye, I would say. What he did to Estelle's remains was rather unnecessary.

[Maybe...not for the same reasons that Yuri would think, but...]

[hesperos]

[ Even Yuri can't imagine himself crying. It's such a disturbing image he wishes it away, like jeez, and ah, there it is. Well, that is two for two with him being called out for doing something stupid. ]

... Good. Can't imagine you being anything else than honest with me anyway.

[ Even if he's lying down, he is going to be sipping the drink because he can't be assed to sit back up now. Amazingly, he doesn't spill any of it all over himself. He closes his eyes.

Yuri's glad he could say something like what he did, though. ]

I kind of figured that it was really just to be a horrible piece of crap, than anything else. It'd have implicated him less to have carried her around ... and then do all of that.

...Hell, while we're talking about this, what do you think about the idea that there's even an extra candle up for him now? You think there should be one at all in the first place?

[evilfrenzy]

[The question takes Rideaux off guard, since he's never really been asked about that memorial before. It forces him to put some actual thoughts together.]

If you would like me to be completely honest, the candles have always seemed pointless to me. Kimblee may have been insistent on remembering every member of the dead, but I disagree. If I truly wanted to jog my memory about someone who pissed me off, I would just look at the profiles. Why do anything to memorialize them?

[...]

I am sure the others feel obligated to include the executed, simply because their little moral codes prevent them from excluding anyone. But to me, it is almost as if by attempting to memorialize these people, they're willingly forgetting how much annoyance many of them caused us.

[He just does not understand this point of view at all.]

[hesperos]

[ Yuri feels a surprising amount of relief to hear that from Rideaux, and he even turns on his side, to look at him before realizing it would be a pain in the ass to drink like this...so he just shifts to lying on his back again. At least someone else thinks the same thing. ]

Yeah, I agree. I'm not gonna forget who here was a pain in the ass easily, or at all.

[ He sort of understood. Kind of. But, he had thought about the whole 'equal in death' thing for hours now and his brain couldn't get past that. Especially since Yuri was thinking of just Estelle and Kirei in that context. ]

Maybe I just don't really get it either, but it's whatever. I didn't know if it was worth asking anyone else since people generally seemed to have accepted that it was a thing that should be happening.

[evilfrenzy]

[Rideaux in turn glances at Yuri after all the movement. He watches for a little bit, but eventually moves his focus right back to his drink.]

It is probably not worth asking, no. They've been doing it for weeks; I doubt they will change things up now.

[He shrugs after that, taking a long sip of his drink. Hm. Having drinks after a trial, reflecting...]

...Just like this little tradition we seem to have taken up.

[hesperos]

[ There's a bit of a pause, as he begins to take another sip, and Yuri's thoughts immediately go back to the last time they were drinking after trial. He remembers them taking a photo on that thing of Rideaux's and how ridiculous it was--he makes a noise that might be a snort and almost spills his drink all over himself.

... He decides it's probably a good idea to sit up again now. ]

Yeah, though I like our tradition more.

[ Of course he would--not that he has a beef with people having candles for those he thinks actually deserves it...but whatever, a lot of hard thinking was done tonight already. ]

But I guess that shouldn't be surprising, huh?

[evilfrenzy]

[Yuri.......

Well that's going to get Rideaux to turn to face Yuri again, raising an eyebrow. Thankfully he didn't actually see Yuri almost do a repeat of last week. He wouldn't be letting Yuri live it down otherwise.]

It does distract from the situation, if only for a little while. And it is something that we can fall back on if we find ourselves in this situation the following week. So I am in agreement, obviously.

[He didn't want to say it's something to look forward to exactly, because he doesn't look forward to more trials. But it's just come to be something that they expect.]

[hesperos]

[ He learned his lesson from last week, apparently. It'd have been one hell of a time to embarrass him; anyway, when Rideaux faces him, he brings the cup to sip at the drink again, looking right back. He just slowly raises an eyebrow in return, because he can't resist the urge to mess around a little. ]

...Yeah, that's right.

[ Pretty much, honestly.

There's a moment of silence following, and he looks down at his glass--it's almost done at this point too. Funny, how the weight of the recent events is still present, and yet it doesn't feel insurmountable anymore. ]

I'm really glad you came on by. Probably obvious and I didn't even need to say, but I thought should anyway.

[evilfrenzy]

[It's at least promising to see Yuri being up for something lighthearted, in spite of everything.

...

Huh, weird time for Rideaux to suddenly want to look the other way and focus on finishing off this drink. But it's possible to catch the slightest hint of him not knowing what to do with his expression before he does.]

Well, the fact that you did is appreciated. [...] But more than that, glad to have apparently helped.

[hesperos]

[ Yuri will definitely be taking a quick peek at Rideaux, before looking back down at his drink again. He'll smile a little to himself, finally finishing his drink. He doesn't have anything to say for now, but maybe that's not so bad. ]

...Yeah. Thanks for the drink too.

[ He'll lean back against the bed again. ]

You can stay as long as you want or leave whenever. I don't mind.

[evilfrenzy]

[He gives a small and light laugh at the way Yuri phrased that, now letting the ice clink against his glass as he shakes it. He really has nowhere to be apart from sleep at some point, so...]

I will stay however long you want me to.

[hesperos]

...Good.

[ Yuri murmurs this as he shifts more so his feet are now resting on the bed and he's back to lying on his side again in the exact same position as before. He's not this antsy all the time, really. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[This feels so strange to Rideaux. Hanging out with someone in their room as what he guesses is a comforting presence... He's never presented himself as an approachable person before, so he is not used to this at all. But something tells him that Yuri probably doesn't care that much.

He sets his empty glass down on the floor by the bed and then actually leans back so he's resting on his back beside Yuri. He's content to let the silence linger for a bit, just watching Yuri and letting his thoughts wander.]

...do you think you will be able to get yourself to sleep tonight?

[He wouldn't be surprised if Yuri was too restless after everything.]

[hesperos]

I don't know.

[ Yuri's considered it, but even though he does feel tired, he can tell it'll be a long while before he nods off completely. It was less adrenaline and more because he has a few thoughts in his head that still haven't left him alone. All centered around what's happened today--and what may happen.

For a moment he thinks about his next words, eyes closing for a bit. ]

It might be kinda...hard.

[ It's an admission he doesn't like making, but once again if he's going to be straight up with someone apparently he's decided it'd be Rideaux. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[For what it's worth, Rideaux isn't judging Yuri any for it. He's been through his own fair share of sleepless nights.]

I'll fetch something to help, once the alcohol has worked its way through you a bit.

[He's being a responsible doctor here, even though everyone is well-aware of the dangers of mixing medicine and alcohol by now.]

I'm afraid that is the best I can do to assist in that regard, unless there is anything else that you would like me to do.

[hesperos]

[ Yuri can't recall the last time he's taken any sort of medicine for something that wasn't the result of a battle, but he's certainly not going to reject it. Rideaux definitely knows his stuff.

Still, something else? Was there anything else? Maybe there was, maybe there wasn't.

It's hard to tell for now or maybe he was trying not to allow himself to think further on this when he did feel comfortable enough just talking for awhile. ]

... Nah. I guess just sticking around until whenever is good enough. You've already done so much for me, anything more would be kinda too much.

[evilfrenzy]

[Rideaux closes his eyes and smiles to himself for a moment, which is totally catchable before it returns to a smirk and his tone becomes lighthearted.]

That was not an offer to become a servant or anything. I am happy to simply distract your thoughts with conversation.

[hesperos]

[ That gets his eyes to snap right open and he blinks, before he actually just sort of snorts, moving to try to nudge him lightly and playfully since he's right there anyway. ]

Wow, I see how it is. You think I'm the kinda guy to get those funny ideas?

[ There's a bit of jocular tone coming back in here. ]

Anyway, I'm glad to hear it. You've been pretty good at being distracting. With the whole talking thing and all.

[evilfrenzy]

[The smirk only grows wider when Yuri nudges him, and he only laughs in response at first.]

How am I to know what other sort of things you would have in mind for me to do? [...] Also, I'll take that as a compliment. What can I say? I do enjoy hearing myself talk.

[...he'll open one eye at that, as if to wink.]

[hesperos]

Somehow I'm not surprised that you do.

[ ...Well, apparently since they're doing this now-- ]

And since you've phrased it like that, I guess it could be fair, as I might've thought to taken the chance to come up something a little extra for you to do.

[ Not really, obviously, but since they're messing around here he can't help it. ]

[evilfrenzy]

It should be rather obvious by now, I would think.

[They've been hanging out quite a bit in the weeks they've been here, after all.]

Oh? Changed your mind already? I'm listening.

[hesperos]

Oh yeah, totally.

I was thinking of asking for you to do a very involved tapdance.

[ ... Though after that nonserious answer, an actual idea does come to his head. But he decides he probably won't be mentioning it anyway. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[...

He's giving Yuri a Look.]

You're not going to get something even remotely involved. I've never tapdanced in my life.

[hesperos]

You sure?

[ Okay Yuri, that's enough messing around here. ]

Nah, I was just joking. By the way, I think I probably can end up having whatever medicine you're thinking about bringing in now. It feels that way, anyway.

[ ... He is not a doctor or anything but he feels like probably enough time has passed for the alcohol in his system? He doesn't know. ]