Afterparty 5.0

[forcegalactic]

[There's not much that can be believed about that trial. Or that execution. Still, like before, two hours after everyone leaves, they'll find a note slipped underneath their doors.]

We have to stick together. The dining room is there for anyone that needs a quiet space, and I cooked dinner.

Hibiki made some coffee and dessert for all of us.

-Mordecai Benmont Jiminy and Hibiki Ganaha

[Today's selection includes potato pancakes and a light coffee cake. Hibiki has lit two more candles in the dining hall. It doesn't take long before Mordecai lights a third.]

Comments

[heymcfly]

[ Marty drags himself out of his room to the party, because something inside him tells him it's a good idea to get out. He can hear his mom (which one though?) in his head, telling him to get out of bed and out with his friends. It wasn't healthy to be alone so much, you know.

He makes a stop at the memorial, shaking his head. There's nothing he has that either Rakka or Morty would like, at least, not that he knows. So instead of leaving something memorable, he'll just stand there and cry like a baby.

The food would smell good on a normal day, but this execution sucked ass. Marty watched Dio's severed head whip out arteries that writhed around like snakes, y'know. Marty already threw up once, and he's not gonna again. He's just going to look at the food and wrinkle his nose, shaking his head a few times before taking a seat at a table and planting his ass there. ]

[announcemyvictory]

I knew the man was dangerous, but this is a disaster.

[heymcfly]

What? You mean Dio? [ Marty wrinkles, shaking his head. ]

He couldn't be a vampire, could he? I mean...y'know. Before he died.

[announcemyvictory]

I have no idea what a vampire is supposed to be like, but that isn't what I was thinking at all.

[heymcfly]

Oh, Jesus. Vampires are supposed to be these...bloodsucking guys. Like they can't hang around in the daylight or else they'll burn up or get blisters or something. And they don't like garlic. And they sleep in coffins.

They aren't what he was. Least not what I've heard.

[announcemyvictory]

Well, he had a coffin and he drank blood, but the rest... euuugh, that's ridiculous. At least we have one less thing to worry about. Those children didn't deserve any of that.

[heymcfly]

Guy was a freak. Good riddance. [ He looks over to the little memorial, the candles that flicker. He's trying really, really hard not to cry, and not having much luck with it. ]

How old were they again? Why would you do that?

[announcemyvictory]

He must have had a reason, but I'm sure it wasn't a very good one. Spite against the Conductor seems to be the most of it.

[blazeit]

[ Bakugou's not exactly surprised that Marty seems very shaken by all of this; his impression of Marty is that he seems incredibly far removed from... anything that could've prepared him for what just went down in the last day or so. ]

You really should eat something, y'know. Now more than ever, we gotta keep our energy up.

[heymcfly]

[ Marty grimaces at the thought of eating. He shakes his head once or twice, wrinkling his nose. ] Man, I don't know if I can ever eat again. Not after seeing that.

[ heads aren't supposed to do that... ]

[blazeit]

Yeah, but you still should. Three round meals a day is important, and you're basically a twig as it is.

[ Bakugou cares strangely a lot about things like this, he also disapproves of smoking and probably walks past the bar thinking "my body is a fucking temple I will not pollute it with garbage". ]

[heymcfly]

[ Somewhere in his memory, Marty can remember his not-an-alcoholic-mom saying something similar to that. Three meals a day, brush your teeth. It was all stupid when you were seventeen and ready to do whatever the hell you wanted when you wanted, but it offered routine.

He looks off to the food, grabbing a nearby plate. ] You sound like my Ma. [ He mutters that, but looks to Bakugou with a small smile. ]

[blazeit]

[ For a moment, his face basically goes like ]

... ... I. Sure hope I don't remind you of your mom in literally any other way.

[heymcfly]

[ HE DOESN'T EVEN GET IT UNTIL HE SAYS THAT ]

What? I mean, ah.

[ oh god please ]

No no! No, Jesus, no. You, you just remind me of her by sayin' that I need to eat. Not anything else! I swear...

[forcegalactic]

[Marty's crying isn't all that surprising. The boy has a good heart, and he lost more friends today. Seeing him there in front of the memorial has Mordecai think just how much is resting on the line. Not just his own life, but the lives of Marty and every the two of them have gotten closer to. Someone died because of a stupid decision once again.

Mordecai retreats to the kitchen to make ginger tea, the best thing for nausea. Marty is back at the tables when he returns, so he sits right by him.]

Marty? How're you feelin' now?

[heymcfly]

[ Marty honestly doesn't even notice Mordecai until the chair next to him moves. He greets the barkeep with a little smile, though it's easy to see that his heart isn't into it. Too much shit has gone on in the past few weeks. There are people he's grown to like, and they're starting to drop like flies.

He shakes his head at the question. Any other day, Marty would be embarrassed out of his mind because, y'know. He barfed his intestines out and this poor guy had to drag him along like a puppet afterwards. ] Better. I guess.

Just...wasn't expecting to see that, yaknow?

[forcegalactic]

[He pushes the tea a little closer.] Wasn't expectin' it, either. Never thought Dio woulda had that kinda power, but that's a runnin' theme here, ain't it? Folks keep surprisin' each other with their secrets.

[Ghouls, warrior nuns, headless vampires...and last week he surprised himself with the Force Galactic.]

Don't feel bad about how you reacted. I reckon you don't see things like that usually on Earth, do you?

[heymcfly]

Hopefully that's the last big secret for now. [ Marty would say more, but he notices the tea inching his way. ] That...for me? [ He smiles weakly, shaking his head. ] N-nah. You drink it. Still not feelin'...I mean, I'm okay on drinks. Really.

Shit, I don't know. Maybe if I was a doctor or somethin'. [ He shakes his head. ] Do you...see that on Mars a lot?

[forcegalactic]

Yeah. It's good if you're feelin' sick. [He smiles.] You learn a lot of home medicine when you're at home a lot.

[The perfect househusband he is.]

Well, not the headless vampire with blood tentacles, but you see a lotta dead bodies on Mars. It's all the outlaws and mad scientists that are attracted to outer settlements like that.

[Wild West in Space.]

...And it's common in most places in the universe. Moon's got the Bloodsports, Earth has mad scientists runnin' around, lots of aliens ready to kill. You learn to stop gettin' surprised when bandits shoot another rancher, 'specially if you ain't close to the dead.

[heymcfly]

[ That smile is contagious. Marty returns it weakly, before taking a little sip of the tea. Compared to the shit his mom makes, it's not all that bad at all! He takes another. ] You didn't learn that from work at all? I mean, uh. The saloon?

[ His smile kind of dies when he learns more about the future. Dead bodies and shit on other planets, and mad scientists and stuff. How the barkeep can talk about this stuff with a straight face is way beyond Marty. Maybe this was the kind of stuff people talked about in the Wild West days...only not on Mars and the Moon. ] Jesus, man. How do you even get used to that shit? You talk about it like you're talkin' about the weather.

[perpend]

[He'll approach Marty after a long moment.]

I know it's hard, but you need to keep going.

[heymcfly]

[ He's quiet for a moment or two. ]

What's the point? We're all probably gonna be dead by the end of this month anyway!

I can't keep doing this.

[perpend]

You can't let the Conductor win.

[It's said with as much determination as he can muster.]

Keep eating. Refuse to give in. You don't need to do too much to be defiant.

[heymcfly]

Letting him win...[ He hadn't thought about it like that. With that new mindset, Marty's going to grab a pancake and bring it back, munching on it lightly. He still doesn't feel good, but fuck this place.

After a bite or two, he realizes how goddamn good this thing is. ] Can't say I thought about it that way.

[perpend]

[Cabanela smiles.]

That's the spirit.

This is a game of wits; he wants all of us to give up hope-- you can't let that happen.