After(life) Party--

[soylentprotag]

[Lenka isn't talking much, though he spends most of the time after the execution either expressionless or frowning, moving among the ones still left at the campfire to check on people and try to make sure none of them are trying to either follow Boa or possibly throw literal or metaphorical stones at each other. Probably everyone's too exhausted for any of that at this point.

At some point he disappears for a little bit and comes back with an entire table and supplies -- not from the kitchen, but from the stash he'd accumulated in Cabin 2. It's not much, but it feels better than eating anything from the kitchen right now. Nobody wants that.

There's just some crackers and fruit snacks and some cheese with them. A few baggies to take them to go since most people aren't hungry right this moment. Once that's set out, he'll idle at one end of the table, staring out into the lake.]

Comments

not here

[le_mat]

[Ren doesn't show up. He's where ever Ichigo puts him for awhile, then slinks away somewhere in the lodge later]

[soylentprotag]

[He definitely heard that howling from the bathrooms while he was assembling the table. He'll be checking in with him later on. For now, he'll stay at the campfire.]

[trashmouthtozier]

[Richie is ... collecting the bloody rocks and throwing them, one by one, into the lake.

slowly.

silently.

that's a little disturbing. feel free to try and stop him, please.]

[itsagazebo]

[What. The fuck?!]

Richie?

[No response?]

Richie!

[He walks over and GRABS Richie's arm]

The fuck are you doing?!

[soylentprotag]

Richie. Please stop.

[Lenka's voice is even, careful as the firm but gentle grip he uses to take Richie's arm and stop him from stooping for a stone again. There's a Boa-shaped stain here on the ground along with the stones and the gore and his face twists a little when he sees it up close. He swallows down any other feelings and pulls his Arc.

Digs it deeply into the ground, slicing into the wet sand beneath -- and takes it all, the stain, the sand, the ground, the rocks. A couple slip off, clattering back down, but he lets go of Richie to bring the rest to the lake and lower it in. Even if he kind of wants to fling it away, after seeing Richie pick the rocks up one by one.

He'll be back to clean up in a moment, please don't start rock throwing again.]

[itsagazebo]

[After looking (unsuccessfully for Mitsuru), Eddie is just completely fucking done with nearly everyone in this shithole.

He... doesn't want to be in the cabin, though. He doesn't want to sleep there ever again, in fact.

So he's sitting a little ways away from everyone else, staring at the fire with a blanket by his side. Unless anyone has any better ideas he's just going to fucking sleep there]

[soylentprotag]

[Lenka hadn't wholesale moved himself to the campfire at any point (because corpses and bits of evidence tended to show up in it, and the thought of that isn't terribly great on top of... needing to protect his own cabin), but he's spent a night or two there when he couldn't bring himself to be anywhere else. The second week, after the execution. A couple of other times.

He settles by Eddie at one point, and wordlessly lays down a bag of snacks on his blanket. He hasn't had the chance to look for Mitsuru yet, because Mitsuru runs too fast and far and well with his magic. But he has to come back to the cabin eventually. He's pragmatic enough for that.

For now, he stays here, with the others.]

I'm sorry this happened. To your cabin, and Boa, and everything.

Cabin 4

[homeecspacecop]

[Eventually, Chuuta stands up. He doesn't look at anyone, or talk to anyone, or respond in any way unless someone grabs him and forces a conversation out of him. He just heads up the slope and goes into Cabin 4 and sits on a bed.]

[soylentprotag]

[Lenka comes knocking eventually -- of course he does, he didn't see Chuuta down at the fire which was sort of expected, but it had taken some searching (the kitchen, Cabin 3) before he'd thought to look in Cabin 4. It's still a mostly unused space, only familiar as a meeting place and when they hit it up for investigations.

He does spot Chuuta there, finally, and leans next to the door for a moment after coming in. He's watching him to see how he is.]

Chuuta...

[linearcrash]

[ Later on, Nine is noping from Talcott. So he'll come here. He pauses when he sees Chuuta and then just walks over to sit next to him. Hopefully Chuuta is prepared to be leaned on by him. ]

[trashmouthtozier]

[Richie didn't see Chuuta go into Cabin 4. he just knows he's tired, and he doesn't really want to sleep on the beach like Eddie's suggesting. it's too open. too vulnerable. he wouldn't really rest, and he doesn't want to end up as haggard and wan as Mitsuruf was at the trial this morning.

he opens the door, his face already blank and devoid of its usual mischievous spark. only when he sees Chuuta does some semblance of life come into his expression: and it's pain]

Oh. ... Chuuta.

[he was so sure, down by the fire, that he didn't have any tears left in him. but seeing him here, alone, the way HE wanted to be, and knowing exactly what he did, and how horrible he was ... and how horrible Chuuta must feel ... he just breaks down sobbing in the doorway]

[the words are barely recognizable]

I'm so sorry.

[kitchen_witch]

[No baked goods this week, she's just milling around, like a wind up toy left to it's own devices, splatters of blood stain her uniform, and on her pallid skin, matching those red, red lips of hers, the vacant smile painted on them]

[trashmouthtozier]

Lilith?

[Richie walks up to her, frowning]

Are you happy right now?

[soylentprotag]

[At some point Lenka comes by her to set down a trunk -- a familiar one, it's hers, with all her changes of clothes. He's going to indicate the shack.]

You should... probably change out of those.

[linearcrash]

[ Nine has only moved to be on his knees, but his gaze isn't really focused. He's not home at the moment please leave a message. ]

[seekingsunrise]

[There's blood splattered over that cute Chocobo hat and still on his hands, staining him all the way up to the elbows when he comes over to sit beside him. And of course, he offers his hand out to Nine to hold.]

[lovecolored]

[ sits down next to him

puts her hand on his shoulder

She doesn't say anything but she's Here ]

[bladeisme]

[Wordlessly, Ichigo comes over and sits next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

After a long moment of silence, he finally speaks up.]

...You can hit me, you know.

[The same words Nine said to him, when Kon died.]

[particlebarrier]

[Still spattered in Boa's blood, Lance can be found by the firepit smiling vacantly into the flames. He seems... lost somehow, as he chucks stray leaves from the ground into the fire. Curiously he's doing so with his left hand, despite being right handed.]

[soylentprotag]

[Lenka's going to bring his trunk over too, it was fairly easy to grab both his and Lillith's in one trip. He'll put it next to him and sit a little ways away, looking resolutely away from the blood.]

I brought you and Lillith a change of clothes. It's better than changing at the cabin.

[trashmouthtozier]

[Richie knows they're all in there, somewhere. that they're still them. and he needs friends right now. whether he killed or not, Lance ... was a friend. before he went into the shack, Lance got him. and he looks normal, mostly. he's not as hard to handle as Lilith, or ... the others.

he sits down next to him, not minding the blood. It had shown him worse. he's personally seen worse, now. he watched]

What are you thinking about?

[it's an extremely relevant question, all of a sudden]

kitchen

[diesifkilled]

[Shirou isn't around for the party. He's in the kitchen, cooking the pain away.]

[bladeisme]

[Ichigo's going to do his rounds - and he steps into the kitchen, of course.

Shirou...

...

The pain he must be going through right now...]

...Hey.

[A quiet voice, but loud enough for Shirou to notice.]

What are you making?

[bladeisme]

[After making sure Ren's safe, Ichigo is here at the gathering - Watching over everyone, a grim determination and concern clear as day on his face, despite everything that just happened - ignoring his own feelings of powerlessness and despair, because -

I'll save them. I promise. No matter how bad it gets, I will. I will -

When he comes back, he's in a outfit that almost looks like traditional mourning wear, if not for the pieces of armor on it. He carefully moves Boa's body where it lay, closing his eyes (or, ruined eye and good one) and picking it up in his arms and laying him in the shack, since Stan went right into the Lodge after all of this.

Not that he blamed him. Not that he blamed anyone except this situation they're all trapped in, forcing everyone to such despair even as all they wanted was nothing but peace...

Quietly, after that - and washing his hands in the lake - he comes over to check everyone individually, either placing a hand on their shoulders or tapping them gently.]

Hey.

Do you want to talk, or should I leave you alone?

[itsagazebo]

[Eddie doesn't even look up, he looks ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE]

What's there to talk about?

Sunday

[le_mat]

[Ren isn't completely in hiding today, but he does seem to be avoiding people. Maybe for the best- he'd rather people seek him out if they want him, instead of approaching someone and having to see them do their damnedest to escape.

Still, he has things he needs to pass along, so eventually, he digs out his (Tal's) notebook and starts to write. Once he's done he passes the note off to someone that's stayed close (Ichigo maybe, or Mitsuru-senpai) and asks to have it spread around on his behalf.]

First off, this is Ren. I know a lot of you don't want to speak to me right now and that's fine. But I need to get a few things I've learned and theorized out, before whatever we're told Monday happens. Just in case.

Second, Lenka, Mitsuru (smol), you've already heard most of this so feel free to skim

[And yes, he does leave an indicator by Mitsuru's name. Probably literally chibi.]

After the meeting on Sunday, Lenka and I went to check out the altar. Some of the dead have said before that there's more to see about it, so we went to investigate. They were right: the altar is just a small part of a much bigger stone under the lodge. Sol lashed out at us, so I wasn't able to see how big or how far it went down, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn if it was all under the camp.

Some of you might remember that Lance learned while he was online for that short while that they pulled a stone out of the lake. I wouldn't be surprised if that's Sol, the stone god, or a part of them at least. But what they pulled out of the lake wasn't nearly that big.

That's because I think it's growing, literally. The message I got from Talcott in the Metaverse was: Bodies for food, souls for growth, 100 souls caught between. The note Richie found said the bodies of the campers that become full rocks are reabsorbed. I think our predecessors eventually literally merge with the stone- they are under our feet as we speak, and if we don't stop this we're next.

But more importantly is the 'souls for growth' Our bodies fuel the literal rock, but I think our souls are more important to it's growth. The Palace the others and I saw was based on the lake. But the lake like it would have been millions of years ago, before the coral fossilized and became rock. Before, I assume, the cat's ancestor fought Sol. Maybe being outside where they're supposed to be is why Sol absorbs living things now, but either way- rocks and animals don't have Palaces. They require a Heart- a Soul. A mind that can have desires beyond eating and sleeping that can be twisted or hurt. Not all Palaces are made by evil thoughts, just hearts out of step. Trauma, guilt, pain- all those can make Palaces too. We probably all have one, by now, honestly. How the lake guardian described Sol I don't think they could have a Palace back then. Even more so, the person we saw in the last stone disk, Akechi, had the same power I do. If he had his phone he could have entered Sol's Palace and attacked it. He would have either destroyed Sol or been killed in the attempt, but instead, he went with a plan to kill Red. I think he even used his powers to turn the other campers against each other- something I can't do but he could.

I think this means back then, Sol might not have had a Palace to manipulate. Which means it's sense of self grew. And it's a kid. And a traumatized one at that.

My theory is that we, the campers, are forming a soul for Sol. And it's a child based on what it's been eating: traumatized children. That might be why the ritual demands not only kids, but that we are abused- why Red isn't allowed to kill us kindly. Why we're forced to turn on each other each campfire. We have to go to Sol scared and full of hate. So that Sol will be that way as it grows. Why? I don't know. Maybe to make it easier to control- we all saw the videos of that Mayuri guy and the others. They want to use these 'abnormalities' to gain power of some sort. We even saw what Ichigo called a gigai. A body that can house a soul. They are doing SOMETHING, and each one of us that dies is just getting them closer to it.

Last note: those gigai, Mayuri. That means Shinigami are involved at least in his case. That might mean that, if we can save the souls of our friends before Sol absorbs them we might be able to bring them back. Gigai apparently house souls- even if their bodies are too ruined by the rocks there might still be options left to us.

It's not a lot, but I hope... this gives you all something to try and fight for.

-Amamiya Ren.

-P.S.: Please talk to Red and Stan. I know after the last campfire, a lot of you hate Red. But she is doing all she can to help us, but he's trapped in this too. And so is Stan. But if you come to them with ideas they are willing to help us figure things out. We just have to be clever about it.

... plus, they're probably kinda lonely.

[He will even read this outloud to any zombies he can grab]

1/3 (Sorry for dumb)

[linearcrash]

[ Whoever passes the note to Nine will get him just squinting at it for a moment. Scratching his head and then he finally pulls something out of his pocket. ]