Looks like this will be a weekly thing

[forcegalactic]

[This whole week has been awful. This whole experience has been awful. Mordecai wants to go straight to his room and deal with his frustrations, but that's not what a mayor does. A mayor takes charge, a mayor fixes what's wrong, a mayor makes things better. Even if he can't do everything on his own, he's has to do something.

Two hours after the end of the trial, the living will find another note slipped underneath their doors.]

There's cookies in the kitchen. The dining room is ready for anyone who needs a quiet place to talk it out. I'll be in the bar if you need a drink, alcoholic or something more appropriate for the underage crowd.

-Mordecai Benmont Jiminy

[There's a pile of warm chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. Two more candles are lit at the memorial - one for the victim, one for the culprit - and Mordecai has left a pile of blankets from the storage room on one of the dining room tables.]

Comments

[sunsong]

...Thanks. I - thanks. [ It does hurt, but it's not like her throat hurts worse than her heart. Sol reaches out for the plate and cup of tea, leaving the door open for Mordecai to come in as he pleases.

While her room is pretty cluttered in the sense that she doesn't seem to feel a need to tidy things - her bed isn't even made - it's not like she's throwing things everywhere for the hell of it - at least, not usually. The desk chair is on its side as though she kicked it over, which she...you know, did.

There are even some decorations. Some toys are on the desk, from the machine, as well as a jar of star sand...that sort of thing. Pinned above the desk is more weirdly a sheet of paper with several cross outs that seem to be done at different times; the end result that is the only thing not scribbled out currently reads 6,084,240. ]

...Sorry I didn't come down to the thing this time, I just - I couldn't.

[forcegalactic]

[Mordecai would disapprove of the mess if it were in his room, which it is not. She's done a good job decorating the room, and it feels a bit homey in that sense.

Well. That chair needs to get back up whether Sol intends to sit on it or not. Her room has become 5% neater.]

Ain't your fault. Those kinda things are for the folks that don't wanna be alone after somethin' like this. [They need some sense of community, despite how futile it may be in the end.] I've been up in the bar almost all day, myself.

[sunsong]

I've been to the other ones. I just...it's different this time.

[ She can't even fake being okay. She doesn't seem to mind him cleaning up the chair - Luna...

...well, Luna was the reason her room wasn't a mess before now. ]

No one needs to see me cryin' my eyes out.

[forcegalactic]

No, I understand. [Luna was her sister. Her solace while trapped inside that awful prison. Someone that young wouldn't be completely fine losing a member of their family.] Even on Mars, where dyin' ain't that uncommon, we're still allowed to cry over those we lost. We humans have feelin's, and that's what separates us from most other species.

[Martians are weird with their Spock-like logical thinking. Mordecai is pretty sure they rarely feel anything.]

You can cry as much as you need. You did not deserve any of that.

[sunsong]

...I might've. I'm...Luna and I, we've done things that can't be forgiven, ever. We'd never ask to be forgiven for those things. And we expected death would come for us, someday, but even so...

[ ... ]

...Even so, it hurts. [ It should have been together. She always thought it would be together. ]

[forcegalactic]

Sol, what did you do besides have powers and get thrown into prison? It ain't like you were runnin' around murderin' folks for fun like most outlaws!

[Luna and Sol did not strike him the type to join a gang because they were bored. Perhaps to stay alive, but they were good kids. They had to be.]

...We lose people sometimes. Parents, friends, neighbors...

[But they don't have to. Not with Luna, who shouldn't have died. He remembered bringing Felton back from the dead, and if he could have access to his powers now, he would do the same for her. Maybe. He shouldn't give Sol false hope too early.] Now ain't the best time to bring it up, but when you're feelin' better, I wanna talk to you about something.

Tonight, you gotta rest. You need someone to stay with, go do that.

[sunsong]

[ ...

...

...

She's quiet for longer than she should be, maybe, contemplating the floor before she looks up. ]

...We were the Hamelin twins. It wasn't like "outlaws"...more like...the tools of a certain government. But even if we were to small to get it then, and even if it was at the behest of adults who just wanted to use us...we still...used our powers in ways we never should've. I don't want to make excuses for us - the reasons we acted, the people who made us act...no matter what, it was still us. It's still our sins.

[ They deserved to be where they ended up. She's never really stopped believing that. ]

...I...I don't know when I'll feel better. But whenever you want to talk...I'll talk. I still have to...I still want to help everyone. At least this many - I have to save at least this many, I...Luna and I, all we wanted was to get everyone out.

[forcegalactic]

[Tools, then. Children forced to do something by a terrible group. Bandits who encourage their kids to help them out aren't unheard of on Mars, and usually those kids turn end up not regretting what they did and following their parents' footsteps.

This is different.]

But you ain't doin' that now, are you? What's important is that you're not aimin' to cause no trouble no more. If they were still usin' you, I'd be worried what you'd to do all of us, but it ain't the case.

Where I'm from, small kids like you don't get thrown into jail for bein' used by adults. You get the law to intervene, or unusually brave neighbors. Feel sorry for all you want, but that don't mean you're horrible people.

...What's the worst thing you've done since you got out?

[sunsong]

Got out? Of - what we did back then? [ Since then - ] We got into Area D pretty soon after that...ended. Took up with Goz right after. We promised him...we'd never take a life again. He promised us he'd protect us to the last if we'd save the South.

[ He'd asked them to help, after they'd helped him. He'd saved them, that first time, and then told them to run when he started to lose his humanity. Instead, Luna had played her flute and Sol had sung, and they'd brought him back to himself.

He'd asked them to keep doing that. To save and heal instead of hurt. It was the first time anyone had asked them to do something good instead of something evil. ]

...The worst thing I've done since then is vote for Reaver's death. And Undyne's, and Asuka's, and...Chie's. Four times I've broken that promise. Four times I failed to help four people.

[forcegalactic]

[He shakes his head. Two kids, taken from one bad situation to another. If she's been manipulated all their life to kill, Sol is going to end up with severe problems. Must like those poor kids on the Moon...

Dangit, this is just like the Bloodsports, is it? Trap them and keep them there until only one is left victorious and alive. She and the other teens need to get out of here as soon as they can.]

You were keepin' yourself and everyone else safe. Sometimes we hafta make hard choices like that. Heck, it ain't even your fault. The Conductor's tellin' you to either die or let him kill one person.

Besides, life ain't black-and-white. You're keeping more people alive this way.