trustfell | how am i going to be an optimist about this?

[Almost as soon as the trial lets out, Tarrlok kind of... tears off to the kitchen, because he's mildly concerned that he's going to experience an adrenaline crash before he even starts cooking, and so he begins! He starts on some tea, marinating some beef for kebabs... but he feels like he's forgetting something...

...

OH SHIT. HE FORGOT TO PUT NOTES OUT OKAY FUCK HANG ON LET HIM REHASH SOMETHING HE THOUGHT WAS FUNNY AND SHOVE IT UNDER PEOPLE'S DOORS BEFORE ANYTHING BURNS]

FOOD IN EAT PLACE

[okay whew he makes it back to the kitchen. And so does Yuri at some point, actually! So... Tarrlok will be getting kebabs ready for everyone, since he was hungry for them, Yuri confirmed, and Cabanela said he'd have whatever he'd have. Speaking of, Cabanela shows up to make some chicken soup! And Yuri makes curry, teriyaki chicken, and steamed vegetables. So there's a little something for everyone. The food that gets put out isn't super fancy, but it's nice, and there's tea just like Elda wanted.

So have at, then!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's ...

[ ... ]

Both of you, you and that stupid grief-soaked girl. You're assuming too much out of Sayaka. How can a girl who is so starved for love even know what it is? Back then... what could she know of it? She knew that mothers were kind in stories. She knew they were warm. But I'm sure she felt she had to be a certain way. I'm sure... that burdened her, to some extent.

Always apologizing.

She can learn what it is by experiencing it, I imagine. That is how someone learns about pretty much anything in life.

It may have been complicated, but the only way for Sayaka to learn what love is is to experience it for herself. And honestly, I can think of many, many worse women for her to love as a mother.

[Some of them are even in this game!]

[ this current sketch barely makes the circle of the head before the pen stabs through the paper and then into the table, standing right up as if she stabbed it in there. It falls quickly as she doesn't have complete super strength or anything, but it's at that she just...

Cries.

She puts a hand over her fair, inhaling deep to prevent from sobbing and, ]

I promised her a warm city, started to plan her finances, her living conditions. I'd tried to get closer to that brat she was dating. I... of course there are. I -- I do not fault myself. I can find no fault. In myself.

[ ... That doesn't even begin to be true, but. ]

[He knows the sound of suspiciously specific denials. He is a master of them.]

And she will get all of that, someday. Perhaps not in your world, if all of our worlds really ended, but somewhere. Death isn't permanent here, she will be rescued.

[He carefully places his hand on the paper, not taking anything away or covering her own hand, but it's right there. Both to hold the paper down and to offer it to her if she needs it.]

[ ... ]

Is that actually meant to be a comfort?

[ She... she snorts on some throaty level, and she inhales again, still crying.

Another world, huh? ]

I think 'reassurance' would be a more accurate term.

[They could make their home on any world, to be honest. Home is the people, not the place.]

... They're dead.

[ Let's just state the obvious here. ]

That didn't stop you from insisting that you could bring them all back.

[So yeah, death seems like less of a problem at the moment. Or he is assuming that Elda has some kind of plan, given her promise.]