weekend mingle featuring 5 pm brunch because time is meaningless now

[pr159]

[ There probably isn't a single person among them who isn't exhausted after that trial, so it's no surprise that, like last week, there's no party when it's over. Maybe some stay out and mill about the city, while others finally take the chance to get some well-deserved sleep.

Personally, Rideaux is absolutely going to bed now, because it's fucking 10 am or something, and that was a lot.

But when he wakes up again in what is nominally the afternoon, once he's taken a shower and no longer looks like a haggard mess, he's actually going to hole up in the kitchen at the clergy housing and make some pancakes. Just pancakes and nothing else, because this mix is "just add water!" and that's the extent of his cooking skills the most effort he's going to put into anything. Some of them may be slightly burned and oddly shaped, but they're free, so shut it.

There's also some coffee and some (cheap, not his good stuff) whiskey, so if you want to make a half-assed Irish coffee, he's not stopping you.

Is this supposed to be a distraction? Is this actually all just to celebrate the fact that Cumore briefly thought he was going to die and that was delicious to watch? Maybe, but no one has to know that. ]

Comments

[pr159]

[ It had occurred to Rideaux at some point before he went to sleep that this is the first time since the second week that he won't be hearing from either Dist or Ango after the trial. Talking to Dist had usually been more of an annoyance than anything, in contrast to Ango, but it was still something he'd kind of grown accustomed to, and the realization of how quiet it's going to be now is a little... well, it isn't sad or anything, but it's kind of like when you reach for your GHS to idly check the news and then remember you left it at home.

Then again, the schedule was fucked up badly enough this week that maybe it won't be that noticeable after all.

You can catch Rideaux in the kitchen or dining room as he's getting stuff set up for this weird late afternoon brunch where the concept of time has broken apart and spread its dust across the ether, or once it's done and he's sitting at a table with a cup of coffee, scrolling through old photos on his GHS. His hair is up in a ponytail again, but a much neater one than he was sporting at the trial last night.

At some point later in the weekend, you can probably find him at the bridge, looking a little more pensive than usual. Or at the jazz bar, because, well, why wouldn't you find him there. ]

kitchen;

[reanbeans]

[ It's rare for Rean to not be up earlier in the day but uh...going a day or two without sleep will make the impossible become possible. ]

Making some early dinner?

[pr159]

[ To be fair, they were all up earlier in the day, and that was exactly the problem. ]

Call it what you want, time feels like a joke at this point anyway.

[ Which is only partly their fault. ]

[reanbeans]

[ 2am was kind of really early for a trial. RIP their sleep schedules...!! ]

Uh, yeah...kind of.

Do you want any help with that, though?

[pr159]

[ The real victim of the week. Sorry, Dist. ]

If you want to, go for it. This is more your thing than mine anyway.

[reanbeans]

[ Sad trombone.mp3 ]

Haha, that's true. I really appreciate you going through the trouble, Rideaux.

[ He'll immediately start lending a hand so at least some of the pancakes come out looking okay. ]

[pr159]

Well, no one else seemed to be doing it.

[ It's possible that that may be a bit of a veiled swipe, but who can say, really.

Either way, he'll take the gratitude with a smile despite the fact that he really did this for no one's benefit but his own. ]

[reanbeans]

[ He'll smile a little himself, despite it all. ]

Not really, no. It's nice to see others step up at least; it can help take the weight off considering what's happened.

[ There we go, more pancakes. ]

jazz bar - sunday

[psychophant]

[The jazz bar is Rideaux's area, we are all fully aware of this and Iago has purposefully avoided it since the fourth trial. Well, outside of that party, but otherwise it's Rideaux's and Iago has the sense to stay away.

So either this trial's completely broken him of any and all common sense or he's got something mind when he goes looking in the jazz bar today. You in here, Rideaux?]

[pr159]

[ nope ]






[ Just kidding of course he's here. He's actually by the piano this time, looking back at some of the sheet music he'd found here on the first day they'd gotten to explore the bar.

He briefly glances up when the door opens, maintaining a neutral expression despite the intense feeling of ugh that always hits him whenever he sees Iago's face, then refocuses his attention on the pages in his hand. ]

Don't see you in here often.

[psychophant]

[He wasn't expecting to find Rideaux at the piano, but after a moment he approaches. He's not going to get too close, but that's more out of habit than any actual fear of Rideaux stabbing him right now.]

I don't make a habit of stopping by. [Well, he used to, but he's not going to mention that to Rideaux.] I was looking for you.

[He hesitates for a moment, like he's not entirely sure what to do now that he's actually here, but well. Whatever, here we go.

Iago presses a hand to his chest and ducks his head a bit - it's a bow, though not exactly a proper one by any stretch of the imagination.]

You have my apologies for what I said during the fourth trial and my attempts to pin the blame on you.

[It's straightforward, and maybe not entirely sincere, but the fact that he's bothering at all probably says something.

He straightens up after that and settles a bit.]

I owe you that much for your assistance in this last trial. The information you provided was necessary. [As always.] And... I wanted to thank you for what you didn't say as well.

[This trial was an absolute fucking disaster in every single possible way and yet somehow Rideaux didn't make it worse?? He easily could have and they've made no secret of how much they hate each other, and then Cumore was being accused and Rideaux could have seized on that too, but he didn't. Now that he's really had time to process all of that, Iago's sort of stunned that Rideaux didn't attempt to make any of that worse. So you know what, he's willing to take the hit to his ego to at least express his gratitude for that much.]

[pr159]

[ Rideaux raises his eyebrows when he receives that bow, proper or not, and at least for the moment that Iago's head is down, the corners of his lips quirk into a bit of a smirk. It's about fucking time, honestly.

But by the time Iago straightens up, Rideaux is back to a neutral expression again. ]

Well, I appreciate your [ finally ] saying so.

[ Though to be fair, he kind of had gone after Cumore once it seemed feasible to do so, he'd just done it carefully to make it look like he was doing so objectively and based on legitimate reasoning rather than out of spite. And he'd definitely still voted for him, even though he'd been fairly certain it was actually Ango by the last minute. While getting justice for Dist would have been nice, getting Cumore executed after all of his bullshit in the last trial and since would have been much more satisfying.

But if Iago doesn't know any of that, he certainly doesn't need to. ]

I didn't hate Dist, you know. I always would have preferred he live to the end of this.

[ Which is true, though he's making it sound like he was reining himself in out of respect for him, which is... less true, if not entirely so. But he doesn't see that it really matters. Anyway, he'd gotten to witness plenty of Iago's suffering without having to lift a finger, so he didn't miss out on too much by staying quiet. ]

[psychophant]

[look he was a little out of commission through most of the accusations against cumore, he cannot remember who said what at this point, but he doesn't remember rideaux being obnoxious about it and that's clearly all we can ask for.]

I understand. Even if it was solely because he was useful, he would have appreciated it.

[He doesn't want to think about just how many times he reassured Dist that of course he was useful.]

[pr159]

That was a factor, certainly. Even if his skills hadn't been of particular use to this situation, though, I appreciated his intellect and ingenuity for what they were. I'm involved in some technological development in my own world, actually, though we obviously specialize in different areas, so when we weren't grating on each other's nerves, it was nice to trade ideas with someone who was on a similar wavelength.

[ His main problem with him was the company he held, and everything that went along with that. ]

[psychophant]

I imagine robots aren't quite your area of expertise, then.

[dist's child will never be finished, rip........]

I can certainly see why you two got along, then. I learned what I could from him, though I'm coming from a world so far behind that I may never catch up.

[Not like that's going to stop him, but that's not particularly useful here and now.]

[pr159]

I might be able to manage a minor repair to a broken one or something, but no.

[ ..."Got along" is kind of an exaggeration, but that's not a thing to nitpick here. ]

And no, you probably won't catch up, but you'll at least be much closer than you were before. As much as I dislike you, I'll give you credit for being open to new ideas and eager to learn about things.

[ At least he's straightforward about that much... ]

I know I mentioned this before, but my world was divided in two up until a year ago. My side of it was advanced in technology and the other side relied on spirit artes. There are people who spent their whole lives in Rieze Maxia who moved to Elympios after the schism was dispersed, and... while I wish they'd go back where they came from, I'll admit they've assimilated surprisingly well in a short time.

[ This is as close to support as your ass will ever get from him. Cherish it. ]

[psychophant]

[Holy shit a compliment from Rideaux...]

I see. It certainly is frustrating to be coming form somewhere so removed from what we're dealing with regularly here, but I enjoy the challenge of learning.

[At least Seteth feels him on being so far behind...]

I look forward to seeing what more I can learn here. I don't plan on being useless now.

[No one can take over for Dist, but we've got a bunch of very angry people so maybe spite will be enough to fuel some sort of discovery so we don't all die horribly!!]

bridge

[raventhaw]

[ raven finds herself going towards the bridge to take some time to think, but rideaux is here. ... that's fine with her if it's fine with him. she has a feeling it might be.

she takes in a deep breath before she approaches him. it looks like she has something to say as she walks towards him. ]

May I have a moment?

[pr159]

[ She's not wrong, but that's nothing new.

He turns toward her, away from whatever abstract point he was focused on before. ]

I can spare one or two.

[raventhaw]

[ a nod, then: ]

I'm not about to get sentimental here, but for what it's worth, I believe you're one of the most tactical people here. Do you have any ideas on how we're going to face The Lady?

[pr159]

I appreciate the compliment, but at this point... not many, when it's still not clear exactly what her plan is. Ango at least showed that we could plausibly win in a coordinated fight against her, but since that body is supposedly only a temporary vessel, we don't know if it would really end anything. And even if it did, simply taking her out without resolving anything would likely just end with all of us being stuck here.

[ There's a bit of a pause there, as if he's thinking that option over, but. Moving on. ]

I think it would probably serve us well to revisit all the things we've come across here that seemed odd but not worth mentioning, as well as any places we haven't been able to get into.

[ He is certainly guilty of the "not mentioning" part, though he's also been intentionally keeping most things to himself in case any of it could give someone else an advantage or take one away from him. ]

I'm especially curious about the hotel after what Zangetsu said he found, since you don't go to the trouble of setting up that kind of security unless there's something really worth securing.

[ Of course it seems like it will be very difficult to get in there, but risk and reward usually are positively correlated. ]

Aside from that, I'm waiting to see what if any effect the stopped clock ends up having, besides confusing all of us. And there's still that computer we need to look at, isn't there?

[raventhaw]

[ (i'm gonna say that her convo with erik took place before this one for the sake of timelines) ]

You can hardly be blamed for that. We don't have enough information on her final plans to devise a solid one of our own.

[ she listens to him speak. honestly...she's on the same page as him. she hasn't really hidden any pertinent information from the group but there may be a thing or two she should be telling them about. ]

I told Erik I was going to go with him to get the computer. I want to see what's on it. Does that mean you plan on going to the hotel?

[pr159]

I'd like to see that as well.

[ So hit him up once you have it. ]

They said the hotel was safe to explore on the other side, so as curious as I am about it, I think we can hold off on that at least until we hear from them again... hopefully. We can work on backup plans for getting in there in the meantime, but even if time is running short, there's still no sense in possibly getting ourselves killed now if they can either investigate it themselves or do something to allow us in safely.

[raventhaw]

Noted.

[ she definitely will. ]

A good point. I don't doubt that those in Twilight are looking for another way to help us. With Dist there, it's a little safer to trust that they'll figure something out. But a backup plan is absolutely needed in case that doesn't happen.

[pr159]

Agreed. I'll see what I can figure out about those traps, in any case.

[ Not entirely sure where to start with it, but. Maybe they'll get lucky and the computer will have a clue or something. ]

Have you spoken with the Lady recently, by the way? You were on relatively good terms with her before, as I recall. I'm curious how much she knows about what we've been looking into.