well this is a depressing excuse for a party

[onthebusagain]

[Mid-day on Sunday, Heather goes around and slips notes under dressing room doors.

If you don't want to be alone today, there will be snacks and people in the Ballroom today

--Heather

She's even dotted every i with a little heart! How cute.

The dining hall is a way better location for a party (or whatever this is) with its close proximity to the kitchen, and more intimate space- but Heather doesn't want to be anywhere near that place. Not for a while, at least. True to her word, Heather's brought snacks- finger sandwiches, a few bags of chips, and a big pitcher of lemonade. There isn't much else set up, but the piano is still there, should anyone want to play.]

Comments

[dontfeedplants]

Maybe there's a force field around the opera house?

[Why is this an actual discussion he is having right now.]

[solomonjihad]

...

I...I'm kind of hungry. Do you want to get something to eat?

[Impostor Stabby-chan doesn't feed her.]

[solomonjihad]

[She quietly walks to Raoul. She knows, at least, what happened, and she's shaken by it. But only vaguely, does she know what she did; only what she's been told. She has no idea what she did or said to him, or anyone; would he even talk to her?]

...Viscount...

[rockthistown]

So all we'd have to do is find it and get rid of it?

[rockthistown]

Sure! It's mostly just refreshments right here. [She offers out her bowl of chips.]

[allicareabout]

...Well, you're not wrong about that, anyway.

[These things are disgusting, dios mio. He looks sort of disgusted at this whole thing, but he'll start dutifully picking through them, anyway. Sorting, mostly, by what's passing for colors. He'll get to the wanton destruction in a moment.

He's kind of looking forward to the wanton destruction, to be blunt.

...Anyway.]

So you seem to be in reasonable enough spirits after that farce of a trial.

[catliketread]

...Well, it wouldn't do if everyone was upset. A distraction will work well for everyone, I think.

[Including himself.]

It helps to keep busy, anyway.

[catliketread]

Much less in a situation like that...

[Though really, who could have ever expected that??]

[catliketread]

Whatever you wish to make! Do you have a favorite color or design? You could look through the clothes here and see if anything strikes your fancy! Perhaps you could create a canopy over your bed!

[rockthistown]

Yeah... I hope that never happens again, either.

[catliketread]

I don't believe any of us want to go through something like that again. So hopefully...

[Hopefully no one will kill again. The Pirate King shakes his head.]

...Anyway! Do you have a favorite color or pattern? Let's look through these for something you like!

[rockthistown]

I like blue. But what's important is making sure that everything goes together! If you just ask everyone what they like, it'll look like one of Astarte's outfits, no offence to her and all offence to her fashion sense. Everyone contributing is important, but they need to all flow!

[catliketread]

How would you suggest we do it, then?

[...don't look at him, he's a pirate, not an interior decorator.]

[rockthistown]

We need to start from a concept! A vision of what we want this to be!

[allicareabout]

In theory, sure.

[...]

It's always worked for me, anyway. So I can appreciate what you're trying to do.

[...That is probably the closest he's getting to actually not being emotionally constipated today, so take it while you can.]

[catliketread]

[The Pirate King nods and for a moment he looks like he's not really sure what to do with... any of this, really.]

I have always placed a lot of emphasis on supporting my crew even in their darkest hours... but those times were nothing like this.

[It's not exactly an admission that he's got no idea what he's doing and he's just sort of falling back on what he's used to and praying it works half as well as it usually does, but maybe the thought is clear enough.]

[catliketread]

We've got plenty of paper and pens, why don't you start designing your dream vision?

[solomonjihad]

...

[She takes a few handfuls of chips.]

Hime...thank you.

[solomonjihad]

...Alive...for now.

[Sorry she's being a debbie down rn]

[allicareabout]

[...Quite clear, yes.]

I've seen some pretty rough things, don't get me wrong. Dames shooting their husbands, guys getting too rough with their girls, deals go wrong, people come to collect on debts and decide they're not messing around - it happens. That's Chicago.

I've only heard about something like this once, though. Not close up, nothing I was involved in. But you'd think this sort of thing would be a once in a lifetime occurrence either way.

[catliketread]

It shouldn't be something that happens to anyone... But complaining about it won't do any good.

[Which is a damn shame, because imagine how few problems there'd be if we could just complain them away!!]

[allicareabout]

Who's complaining? It is what it is.

[And clearly, his opinion on that hasn't changed, even after the whole thing that happened with D-ne and Valjean and the execution. Sky is blue, grass is green, this situation is kind of meh and Billy doesn't give a shit.]

Everyone here knows the stakes. You don't want to take consequences, don't try to plug anyone. That's it.

[catliketread]

I hadn't thought anyone would... It seemed like such a silly motivation to kill. I hadn't taken it seriously at all.

[Some people had. One of them killed because of it. The Pirate King deflates a little at that.]

And I doubt this is the end of it, either. Everyone knows what the stakes are and if there's another motive...

[Well. We might be investigating another body soon.]

[allicareabout]

[...God, you're sensitive, aren't you. Just...let him go back to fucking around with the clothes for a second.]

It's not like I've got anything that I can be bribed with, if it's any consolation to you. I've got everything I could possibly want back home, and it's not like I want too much to begin with.

[I mean, he likes money, but doesn't everyone? Capitalism!]

No wife, no kids, nothing that can be held over my head. So at the very least if a body shows up, you can be pretty sure I didn't do it.

[catliketread]

I didn't think you would crack under that kind of pressure.

[...says the guy who tried very damn hard to believe D-ne didn't do it but that's not the point.]

I cannot see myself murdering anyone here for any reason. I couldn't live with that.

[Both killing someone he actually knows and having the deaths of everyone else hanging over his head. He shudders a bit at the thought.]