finer food, but no music

[promittere]

[Well that was...unpleasant, to say the least. Two more deaths, but this time there's the matter of whatever's happening to Seteth as well.

Ignis is trying not to think about it, which means he's thinking about it a lot, which means he spends a few moments pacing and trying to figure out what to do. He thinks back to the party - for as much as you could call it that - that Olivert hosted, and, well... He's not sure how much morale can be boosted, but it's worth a shot, isn't it?

The decorations of the opera house are much simpler this time around, but the food is noticeably better, between the actual operational kitchen and the fact Ignis is much more skilled than Olivert. The food is well made and it even looks delicious from where it's set up, and there's a sign outside the opera house that reads:]

A not as grand feast, for all of us to enjoy.
Attendance is not mandatory, but it might be better than staying alone.

Catered by Ignis Scientia.

[At least there are less rose petals this time.]

Comments

[promittere]

[Ignis is there, of course, looking just a little exhausted. His hair falls in his face, and he seems to be keeping himself busy, making sure the food is...well. As delicious as he knows it should be. He's fussy, okay?

It's also easier to fuss than to sit and think about how fucked up everything is, but, you know. Details.]

Help yourselves - I made plenty.

[He might have...gone a little overboard.]

[indulgently]

[Okay, it's not his aesthetic but-- that is some fine cooking, and he knows the best when he sees it.]

You've really outdone yourself. The food is marvelous.

[Seriously though--]

Thank you for all that you've done. You've more than earned a bit of rest.

[galrarm]

[ Fussy, meet fussy. Honestly, Shiro isn't surprised Ignis is handling things this week. ]

Thanks. You worked really hard on all of this--I'm pretty sure we all appreciate it.

[soumettre]

...Do you cook to handle stress?

[ He means it kindly. It’s understandable! ]

[moonfang]

Way better than last week. You worked real hard on this, didn't ya?

[puperoni]

Wow, you're a really good cook... [ Just staring at this spread, where does he even start? ]

[wishuponazoi]

[Sirius chows down on whatever meat is available.] Thank you. This is most appreciated.

[inordertobelieve]

[ Mikami is not going to the party. He is returning straight to the Clergy Housing, looking more distraught than anybody has ever seen him here. Unless someone stops him on the way or knocks on his door later, he'll be spending the whole evening in isolation. ]

[drydrown]

[so do you ever do something knowing that exactly no one is going to be happy with what you're about to do, including and especially yourself, because that is a whole-ass mood here.

...unfortunately for everybody, mikami is also looking like a whole-ass mood and cumore is debating whether he wants to even try seeing if there's another one of those weird parties again when mikami kind of...is all of that, and he pauses for a moment to debate with himself before deciding to just...

look, he'll be knocking on mikami's damn door before too long. not announcing himself or anything, just knocking and letting that speak for itself.]

clergy housing;

[reanbeans]

[ Rean had seen Mikami's freakout earlier.

So, he was one of the people he had been searching for, and found the other going into his room, so followed to the closed door, rapping his fist gently against it. ]

Mikami? Do you have a moment?

[puperoni]

[ Pizza is bouncing back to housing with food in hand (whether his spirits are really this high remain to be seen, but it is an improvement over last week for sure), when he spots Mikami along the way. ]

Are you okay? Did you eat something that upset your stomach? The food is pretty good this time, but maybe you ate too much. [ Let's just assume! ]

[notbymyside]

[Yeah, it's time to bug Mikami. Knock knock, let him in.]

It's me.

[indulgently]

[For the most part, Olivert is unnaturally quiet, unlike his usual energetic self that powers through. He's not given up, but he's rather deeply lost in thought. You're welcome to pick his brain while he's defenseless.

However, he is not out of it so much entirely that he won't eventually get a taste of the wonderful food their host worked so hard to create.]

...it really is exquisite. It is a shame that we could not be enjoying this incredible food for any other reason.

[reanbeans]

It really is.

[ Oh hi Olivier, Rean's not in the mood to be eating this but he had some food anyway, trying to ensure it wouldn't be wasted. ]

...Can you tell me what you thought of the trial?

[baitless]

[...so, Seteth didn't learn anything of importance. Of course he wouldn't. He remembers the execution, and now... he's waking up in his bed, his shirt and tunic folded neatly on his dresser, because, well...

…

Sigh, he'll just put on the priest robes, since they're looser, and head off to the church first. He said he'd be there, and it's the closest he can get to conducting a proper funeral, even if he doesn't have Lysithea's body. Or know if the Goddess is even listening here. Then again, that was complicated to begin with...

…

And what the hell. Might as well make the prayer plural.]

Oh Goddess, hear my prayer. Please receive these beloved people. When the cold rain washes the bodies, when the bird and wolf announce the dawn... Receive them into your blue blood. Receive them into a twinkling star.

[...yeah, alright. Time to head to the opera house and pick up some actual food and let everyone know he's alive. He's hungry, anyway, so he'll load his plate up with food and sit down somewhere.

...he's kind of sitting on the edge of his seat and his back looks kind of weird through the robe. Kind of like what you'd expect from a hedgehog trying to wear clothes over the spikes, maybe, except instead of all over, it's mostly localized to his spine and shoulder blades. Ah. How... inconvenient...]

[moonfang]

[Zangetsu takes a seat next to him with a plate full of Ignis' delicious food. But he gets right down to business;]

So, what's the damage?

opera house

[pr159]

[ Huh. He wasn't actually expecting to see Seteth around again today. ]

You got back on your feet pretty quickly.

[ Looking at him curiously... He can see that he's sitting kind of weird, but he can't really tell why from this angle. ]

What did they do?

[twoasone]

[ Shin thought he saw the man head to the opera house... May as well make an appearance to see the damage. ]

Spikes? [ His hand reaches out to stroke the man's spine, but stops half way. ] Are these... Bony? Or more like quills? I can't tell.

opera house

[galrarm]

[ ... they really work fast, huh. Shiro approaches Seteth and takes a seat, two cups of tea balanced in his hand. He offers one to Seteth. ]

I'd ask how you're doing, but...

For what it's worth, I'm sorry it came to this.

[p_q]

[What's an afterparty.

Somewhere between the church and the opera house, whether Seteth really wants to or not, he'll run into what is evidently one of his favorite people -- Ulquiorra coming the other way, escaping the afterparty and all. He isn't quite soaked through, so he hasn't made a circuit of the city at this point.

For the most part he's been ignoring people in passing, but this profile is an interesting one. His head tilts just before they pass by each other.]

I see you can still hide it to some extent.

I wonder how they expect you to continue to play their game in this fashion.

[notbymyside]

[Ango is skipping the food this time, and instead he can be found in his room, taking notes again like he did last week. He has an actual notebook now too, so he will copy the four other pieces he has written into it before adding the new ones.

All of the entries are very short still. Suzaku's ends with "I'm sorry".

When he's done writing, he can be found at the clock tower, sitting up on the balcony to watch the street below. He actually has brought some papers with him, and is ripping off tiny pieces of them and watching them flutter down to the square below. If anyone wants to stop and look, they might find bits and pieces of what he's written.]

clock tower for something different

[deadlygoals]

[ He has a homing beacon built in just for Ango it seems. He'll sit down beside him on the clock tower, watching as the pieces fall down like snow. ]

Ango.

[ Resting his cheek into his own hand as he looks at him. Can he see what's on the papers? ]

[pr159]

[ Are you sick of Rideaux today? Too bad, he's here anyway.

If it helps, he's a little less gleefully smug now that the trial and execution are over. He's just going to be sitting by himself with some food and a glass of water. (Which, thankfully, he doesn't need so much this time, now that he's not choking to death on barely edible food. Thank you, Ignis.) ]

[puperoni]

[ Pizza is pizza, and even though their banter at trial wasn't the friendliest, he can't help but notice when someone's alone. Time to be awkward. ]

Why aren't you eating with anyone else?

[p_q]

[It's probably going to become some kind of tradition, as much as two weeks can be a tradition and provided he doesn't kick it immediately afterwards, but Ulquiorra hasn't bothered to present himself at the afterparty. He did watch the execution itself intently, perhaps more intently than he did the trial; but the sign put up predictably after simply makes him seek greener and more solitary pastures.

It's not like he'd bother to eat the food anyway, no matter who's cooking it.

So: he can be found -- deadeyeing the afterparty logo before he heads out, prowling about the edges of the city by the fogbank (who needs umbrellas or garbage ponchos in the downpour, not this Hollow; maybe the half-helmet is enough??), or perched up in the clock tower without any particular fanfare.

The latter location peeps might walk into him examining his newly-acquired kitchen knife?? Just FYI. It's a very nice kitchen knife.]

[moonfang]

[speaking of garbage ponchos.....]

Oi, you. Look what I got!

[he holds up a weird pair of... binoculars?]

[twoasone]

[ And so two more paintings were hung in the clergy housing.

As much as he still regrets missing the investigation due to lack of sleep, he can't help but stand back and admire his work... Yes, he is good at pictures, but his true calling is much more useful than just paintings. If only he had adequate access to a proper workshop... ]

. . . [ He sighs, and yet he still has a small smirk on his face. He's still lost in his thoughts, so there's a good chance you'll find him staring at the painting he hung on Suzaku's door...

He turns up at the Opera House fashionably late. Yes, the food is delicious, but he seems a bit distant as he nibbles at his share. ]

clergy housing

[puperoni]

...are you going to keep painting everyone? [ Everyone who dies, he means. ]

[drydrown]

[Who knows what brings him back to the opera house tonight.

He'd returned to clergy housing for approximately ten collective minutes before deciding that he didn't really feel like being on his own; like hell if he knows what else to do with himself, either, but doing nothing on his own sounds weirdly worse than doing nothing in the generalized vicinity of other people.

This kind of turns out to be a mistake? Like, he's certainly here and to some extent he's present, but he's got a weird expression going on that isn't quite blank, just...more like he's giving serious contemplation to the notion of there being two guys on the moon and one of them kills the other with a rock, and he's trying to figure out if that would in fact be fucked up or what. It's a weird night, is what this comes down to; he's not eating anything, though he does have water with him at least, and otherwise he's just kind of. Off in thought, probably. Not like he's shown a whole lot of capacity for deep thought, but who knows, honestly - either way, he'll look up if he's approached and he'll be back to the usual that before long, so at least there's that.]

[reanbeans]

[ Rean had finished his food off if only so it wouldn't be wasted, so by the time he came over to the other, his hands would be free if it weren't for one water.

He knew how vastly different they approached things by now, but Rean couldn't leave anyone he perceived to be having a hard time alone (their captors were an exception.) ]

Cumore? Do you mind if I joined you for a little bit?