Four in the morning. The sun was still far beyond the horizon, the previously cursed stars hanging above. Anakeion's suggestion had hit a note. Perhaps, right now, it was better not to be alone. And if anything, perhaps some shitty, cheap comfort breakfast food would hit the spot. It was what had a human guise Viatrix standing at the host station.
"What's the biggest table you got?"
The host seemed only vaguely surprised by the group in front of them. Larger than normal? Likely. Typical of the time of day, looking at a few frazzled-looking adults?
Also likely.
"... Follow me."
As they settled at their table, one of the waiters quickly deposited a few menus and walked away, Viatrix leaned in, glancing at those who had gathered at the table. What was she supposed to say? Had they just watched a guy die? Had they watched a disaster of an ambush? What was there to say?
She glanced at her bonded next to her, cleared her throat, and asked, "Not gonna ask if everyone's okay, necessarily, but is anyone still hurt?"
Ignacio was looking too hard at his hands.
"I think my hands are better now?"
His fingers felt so long he could stroke the table with them.
===========
I think I quoted everyone who seemed interested! an aftermath RP for reflection and also just eating their feelings--
Seiana_ZI
Ignacio & Viatrix
daekie
Amaris
Amasis
Richard
stari_maga
Livie
Kolina
Chailee
a-disgruntled-dragon
Anna
Whimsical Blue
Orah (if you decide to have her come here, no pressure!)
tefla
Illyria (if you decide to have her come here, no pressure!)
Noir Songbird
Keiran (if you decide to have him come here, no pressure!
Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:56 pm
A dusky hand appeared from across the table and gently touched the back of Ignacio's hand.
"Your hands are okay." Orah said in a low, soothing tone, dark eyes understanding. "You're okay. We'll all have some food, and everyone will be okay."
She recognized the look in his eyes. She'd seen it before, worn it before. Her thumb rubbed his skin, offering warmth and a tactile sensation to combat the disassociation. It was, perhaps, not her place to touch him or offer anything, as that Saturn Knight had made abundantly clear with Lysithea, but she couldn't... not make the offer. He'd been kind to her in the past. They'd fought on the same side.
The whole messy event tonight seemed to be hitting most everyone hard, and she sympathized, even if the feeling did not root as deeply in her as in the others. She'd never known Faustite all that well, beyond the singular non-violent conversation they'd had. All the other times she'd run into him, he'd tried to kill her. She did not wish him dead, or a youma, but they'd all tried their best. There was no more they could do now, with him disappeared. Nothing but sit and eat some diner food, and try to decompress.
It was, maybe-fortunately, not the first time Amaris had showed up at this particular Waffle House at odd hours of the morning; sometimes she had to keep walking because lying down meant she was immediately confronted by all the horrors, which was a thing that was never good for anyone, but. Well. Destiny City was not exactly the safest place to walk around solo as a civilian at 1 to 5 AM. At best she'd probably get drained and not notice; at worst, she'd get starseeded, and who wanted that?? Not her. Safer to duck into the nearest restaurant, with employees who were not paid enough to tell her if she looked like s**t or not, or alternatively were but were too polite to call her out on it.
Ignacio... she wasn't going to say he looked like s**t? She wasn't going to say anything at all, actually, because she did not know him well enough to call him out in public, nuh-uh. But he looked off, was the thing, doing a fairly convincing job of not being a million miles away but not quite nailing the landing.
She'd been cursed at with being perceptive, which was a skill Amaris generally tried to never use, ever, because jeez louise it made things awkward; she wasn't exactly just gonna start saying stuff, absolutely not, but oh, boy, did she notice it. Hell on Earth. What was she supposed to do, ask the guy about his trauma in public, just put it right out there?? Time to decompress, but anyways, what's your trigger list?? Thankfully not-Ida -- man, they really needed to do introductions, because Amaris could hey, you if she needed to but she didn't want to -- was stepping in and doing something, or at least providing some modicum of comfort.
"I'm good," Amaris said to Viatrix, reaching one hand out to nab a menu and pulling it back to her corner of the booth a little like a hermit crab retreating inside its shell, "got there late, so, y'know." Hashbrown bowl? Maybe a hashbrown bowl. Did she want waffles? Maybe. A party their size, she had some time to think before the waiter came back around to get orders. "All clear on my front."
It was easier to think about food than to think about the fact she'd seen a guy probably ******** off to die with some dignity, but, like, that was how the cookie crumbled. She'd just been pulled in as potential backup, anyway; she had no history with the guy. Which, as far as she could tell, was not the case for... possibly everyone else at the table? Almost everyone else?? She was guessing.
Man, it was really kind of embarrassing how she didn't know most of these people even in costume, actually. She needed to get out more.
Seiana_ZI
Ignacio & Viatrix
Amasis
Richard
stari_maga
Livie
Kolina
Chailee
a-disgruntled-dragon
Anna
Whimsical Blue
Orah
tefla
Illyria
Noir Songbird
Keiran
Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 6:39 am
Today had been an awful, horrible, no-good, very bad day.
Today had been a long day.
He had woken up a bit earlier than he would’ve preferred, but that just happened sometimes. So he’d gone into work as intended. He was starting aerials classes at Kampana soon and needed to do test runs.
Then he’d gone to work at the club for just a couple hours. It had been a Saturday night, so he’d wanted to make sure he wasn’t monopolizing the slots dancers who weren’t otherwise employed might need. But he was feeling generally stressed, and that work was quite nice for stress relief.
It was a shame the relief had not lasted.
Maybe he was looking too much at Ignacio, but Ignacio was his primary concern at the moment. As such, he was keenly interested in making sure Ignacio was okay. He knew the signs of an impending spiral and the shut down that invariably followed. It had been a while since Ignacio had last cascaded, but the medicine Richard carried with him was a reminder that it was always a possibility.
But he also didn’t want to draw attention to Ignacio, both for Ignacio’s comfort, and for the sake of the others. They were all exhausted and demoralized. No one needed him fussing over his husband. He would fuss later. So when Orah reached out to touch Ignacio’s hands, Richard tried to catch her eye and mouth a discreet ‘thank you’.
And he turned his attention to the menu.
He wanted triple hash-browns, and he wanted them smothered, wanted them covered. But that wasn’t enough grease to shove down his gullet at light-speed. So with that, he ordered an all-star special with over-medium eggs and ham.
Viatrix’s question wasn’t heard at first, so Richard’s reply of, “I’m okay,” was a bit late and distracted.
Honestly, what else could he be? He hadn’t been directly attacked at all. His focus then had been backing up Encke, and Encke’s focus had been backing up Lysithea and her court while also making sure no one murdered the whole reason they were there in the first place, which was just one of the many ways it was possible to destroy whatever tenuous cease-fire momentarily existed between Chaos and Order—
Only for an agent to do just that.
And for the whole situation to spiral.
It hadn’t helped for one of the princesses to launch herself bodily at a general who hadn’t been one of the ones attacking, either—
Anyway.
He looked over to Livie, having also been sneaking the occasional surreptitious glance her way to make sure she was alright. But she seemed to be handling things pretty okay for the moment. He’d talk to her later, in private, just to make sure.
If he could also figure out a way to talk to their parents about what had gone on, Richard figured it was probably a good idea. Luke and Safira might have some advice on what to do, considering they’d helped Richard with Ignacio as needed for the past… what, eleven years? Sure, it’d been years since Ignacio had been that skittish near-mute he’d been when they’d met, but.
Still.
This was a bad one. On the one hand, Richard would have some time before he needed to deal with his own experience of what had happened.
On the other hand, had he watched a man die? A man he had a bad history with, of course, considering the murder-by-starseed-removal attempt, so he wasn’t sure of his own subjective feelings on the matter, yet. But Ignacio had invited Faustite to live with them. And while Richard had initially resisted the idea—namely due to aforementioned murder attempt—he couldn’t just decide who did and didn’t deserve the chance to leave Chaos and get back on their feet.
Even if they had tried to murder him.
Did turning into a youma count as dying? His thoughts flashed to what Ignacio had confided in him of the experience—
Richard needed to do something about the tightly-controlled restless energy thrumming in his entire body and playing chords on his nerves. So he stretched—carefully, so as not to hit anyone—and shook himself. It might look to someone outside of the group like he was trying to wake himself up.
To the others, perhaps the opposite.
“That sure… well, that sure happened.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his other hand. Amaris caught his attention when she reached for a menu and he offered her a wan, but warm, smile as he put his glasses back on.
Might as well introduce himself to whoever. “Name’s Richard Bell, to anyone who doesn’t already know me.” A pause. “Please call me either Richard or Arra—my middle name.” A soft, weary chuckle. “Please don’t call me d**k or Ritchie.”
Seiana_ZI
Ignacio & Viatrix
daekie
Amaris
Amasis
Richard
stari_maga
Livie
Kolina
Chailee
a-disgruntled-dragon
Anna
Whimsical Blue
Orah
tefla
Illyria
Noir Songbird
Keiran (if you decide to have him come here, no pressure!)
Amasis
Everyday Blob
Offline
staripop
Offline
Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 3:30 pm
"I'm okay," Livie said, and weirdly it was pretty much the truth.
She wasn't happy, exactly, with how stuff had turned out. She hadn't wanted to be right that it was all some kinda ambush, some kinda trap, but she'd been running those kinds of scenarios over in her head for a few weeks now. When it had happened, she'd been ready.
The worst part had been watching someone get turned to ash and youma darkness just a few fee from her. She didn't feel at all bad for Faustite considering everything that he'd been trying to pull, but the sounds he'd been making and the picture of him dying were still gonna be burned into her mind forever.
At least she had potatoes. Potatoes didn't fix everything, but they got close enough for tonight.
She could tell something was off with Ignacio. He might have been a good actor, but after you spent a certain amount of time crying on someone and telling them about your questionable life choices, you started to be able to get a read on them. She didn't think she'd ever seen him like this.
Waffle House didn't seem like the place to ask questions, but she saw Richard keeping an eye on him, too. She shot him a smile to let him know that he didn't have two people to worry about.
"I'm Livie Bell," she said. "The cute little sister," she flashed a peace sign with what might have been a little bit too much enthusiasm, "And yeah. That sure was an event that took place."
Amasis
Richard
Seiana_ZI
Ignacio & Viatrix
daekie
Amaris
Amasis
Richard
Kolina
Chailee
a-disgruntled-dragon
Anna
Whimsical Blue
Orah
tefla
Illyria
Noir Songbird
Keiran (if you decide to have him come here, no pressure!)
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2023 5:05 am
Viatrix liked Amaris' response that she was good, at least as much as she could. She also liked Livie's response that she was okay; there seemed to be a lot of honesty in that, and Viatrix could always rely on Livie to tell her the truth. It was Richard's distracted response that had her worried, and her brows knit as she took a closer look at her bonded's husband.
Well, maybe he was okay, but...
Viatrix bounced in her seat as much as her curls as she shifted to sit on both her legs. "I'm okay too," she volunteered, quietly, looking down at her menu. She didn't order from here terribly often and didn't really know what she was looking at. What the hell was all-dressed? And what was smothered? What was the difference between over-medium and over-hard, exactly? She just ate whatever food she was presented with at home--
Clearly, she didn't know enough about breakfast chain restaurants at four o'clock in the morning food!
Everyone will be okay.
It was easy to tell himself that on its face. He could see that everyone sitting around him was generally no worse for wear, not counting whatever they may have been feeling emotionally. And perhaps that had been because emotions had been running too high on the Chaotic side of the strange and awkward ceasefire, considering they broke their apparent planned ambush to attack before the purification had even ended. Faustite left ashen and barely still burning. He had left feeling himself ... become other.
It was hard for him to confront, even as he looked down at Orah's hand holding his. Why was she holding his hand when it was like that?
Well, it wasn't, was it--
But it--
"I appreciate that," Ignacio let out a quiet sigh, looking up at Orah as he took his vision away from what he was seeing. "Glad everyone made it back here." Would have been better with a purified Elex-- "And that everyone's eating."
To the table, he tried a wider look, before offering, clearing his throat and projecting a bit more of the confidence more typical for him, "Ignacio Araya-Bell. Figure most of you know me, but," maybe except for like ... a couple of them as civilians. "Y'all can call me Ig if you want. Been doing this for," well more than a decade, the power flooding his veins when the cat had presented him with a henshin pen was something he had wanted for as long as he could have wished, "a while, so I'm always here for any of you. Not just for this."
Oh, everyone was giving their names, uh, "Viatrix Bell!" chirped Viatrix, because that felt like the closest to a civilian name she actually had. "Uh, what he said, right?"
She pointed to her menu. "Could someone tell me why I want my potatoes smothered?"
Seiana_ZI
Ignacio & Viatrix
daekie
Amaris
Amasis
Richard
stari_maga
Livie
Kolina
Chailee
a-disgruntled-dragon
Anna
Whimsical Blue
Orah
tefla
Illyria
Noir Songbird
Keiran (if you decide to have him come here, no pressure!)
Illyria would have been content to remain as a cat situated on Orah's lap for this idea of a four in the morning feast at a place called Waffle House but when it came down to it, she had been pretty certain that this establishment would have a strict policy against those that had four legs, unless a service animal, and so it was with a little bit of trepidation that the Mauvian brought out her disguise pen and activated the glamour that would see her through the duration of the gathering. Knowing that she had a three hour window of being able to pass as a human brought the Mauvian just a little bit of relief. However all the habits that she loved to do as a feline definitely would not be acceptable here.
Relaxing as much as she could Illyria listened to the conversation that was going on around her before she picked up her own menu to peruse what was available to order. It seemed that this restaurant believed in serving items from all parts of its menu at any time of the day. Well that was a relief but after looking at everything that was available Illyria sighed and folded up her menu before casting a wary gaze to those around the table that she didn't know that well. There were quite a few. She knew Viatrix and Orah, and had been told about others but this was possibly the first time that she was interacting with them in a more relaxed sitting. It made Illyria a little uneasy and she shifted before folding her hands in her lap. It would not do her any good to worry and so it was with a relaxed sigh that Illyria turned her attention to Viatrix.
"Smothered sounds like they'd put everything on top, smothering the potatoes. But I'm just guessing you know," she picked up her menu once more and, with a more critical eye, skimmed over what was available before settling on her choices. Her voice was soft as she spoke towards the entire group.
"I like the sound of these chocolate-chip waffles. Might be a bad idea at 4am but I'm feeling like I can handle the sugar intake."
Besides, if it turns out that she couldn't take the rush of sugar, there was always methods open to her that would help burn off excess energy. Her gaze turned pensive as some offered up their civilian names before she glanced sharply to Orah. Violet orbs blinked once before she tried considering a quick option for a civilian moniker. One could shorten her name and make it sound like something a human could use and so she figured that would be okay.
"Would rather prefer going by Ria when I'm like this, but the full name is Illyria. I've never thought of needing a surname though."
Whimsical Blue
Orah
Seiana_ZI
Hello Vi, Ignacio
daekie
Illyria's pleased to meet your acquaintance Amaris
Amasis
Illyria says hello to Richard
stari_maga
Illyria waves to Livie
Kolina
Illyria gives warm smile to Chailee
a-disgruntled-dragon
Illyria waves to Anna
Noir Songbird
Hello Kieran? (if you are there)
Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2023 1:59 pm
The others were giving their names and that was as good a time as any to give her own. Its something she'd have done anyway, just so that they knew it and knew who to reach out to if they ever needed her.
"I'm Orah Gowan. I'm a nurse, I work at Destiny City Memorial in the ER." She could hope none of them would ever need that particular knowledge, but the practical part of her knew them getting hurt was an eventuality, not a possibility.
When Ignacio seemed to come back to himself, she offered him a sympathetic smile and withdrew her touch, leaving him to himself. He had other people he likely relied on... and he was a strong person. He'd get through this. She caught the look directed at her from Richard and offered him the same smile, one private between them. It was good to see that they had each other. People were stronger together...
It was a reminder that while it made her feel alone, she wasn't, not really. Illyria was beside her, introducing herself to the others, and she earned a warmer smile from Orah.
"Waffles sound good. I think I'm just going to do some pancakes with strawberries." She said softly, not bothering to look through the menu. She wasn't terribly hungry, and these places all kind of had the same basic things. "Have you had those waffles before?"
