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]

[ Yuri couldn't be bothered to move himself elsewhere as well, so that factored into it too. ]

Man, guess I'll have to try some if she ever makes any for more people. Been awhile since I've had cake too.

[ ... Also, he kind of really would like to because he is a person who likes sweets a lot. Do not judge. ]

...Wait, did she make birthday cake for you because it's your birthday?

[heritrix]

[Rin shakes her head.]

It wouldn't be Aligula if we celebrated things in order, would it? [She shrugs.] My birthday was actually a few days before I woke up here. I made an offhand comment to her a few weeks ago that I skipped celebrating it because I was busy, but I guess she remembered.

She'll probably get the rest of you later. When it first came up, I thought it was going to turn into a massive, joint birthday party for everyone.

[hesperos]

[ ... Oh. In that case-- ]

Well, I guess this is where I say 'belated happy birthday' then, huh?

[ Though being dragged into a murdergame has got to be like the worst birthday present ever. ]

... A massive, joint birthday party sure does sound like her kind of style too. If she does pull off something like that I won't be surprised to walk into a room with big signs and party hats everywhere, since she pretty much goes the extra mile with these sorts of things.

[heritrix]

If she does, I'll have to pay you back by wishing you a happy birthday as well. When's yours, actually?

[hesperos]

[ Huh. Well.

...Good thing he's from not the old times of Vesperian weird months and years. ]

Second of April. So I guess make of that what you will or whatever.

Never thought I'd hear anyone tell me a 'happy birthday' while I've been in here, though.

[heritrix]

It's not really appropriate, but nothing we do here is.

[hesperos]

Pretty much. Might as well keep up that tradition.

[ Of doing things inappropriately, that is. ]

[heritrix]

...do you know when Estelle's birthday was?

[hesperos]

...Yeah. It's February 28th.

[ ... ]

What month and day was yours, anyway?

[heritrix]

[Oh, same month as hers. Maybe if they had that contest she and Aligula had talked about, the February birthdays would have won.

She'll have to remember Estelle's, in the future. It doesn't count for much like this... No, it doesn't count at all, but that's what makes it good to recall.]

February 3rd. [Heh.] She was born in the same month as me, so I'll probably remember that.