AFTER-ICE-CREAM-PARTY

[pecker]

[Boy everyone is so bloodthirsty tonight. And now a kid is dead and another is gonna execute. Do y'all need some baskin robbins, because it seems like you do!!! So before everyone can leave, Niwatori raises her voice louder than it's gone before now to draw a little attention, and then deflates immediately when she actually gets it.]

Excuse me, please! U-um... this case was really hard, and I think we could all use some time to cool our heads before we finally go back. So... ice cream? Who's with me?

[she'll lead the pack there and anyone else can go home or to visit Clarisse on the set of Orange is the new Black.

Niwa's not that good of a host though, she just gets her own ice cream and lets everyone serve themselves. Who is she to limit your freedom. (Someone who doesn't want to be partly responsible for a Millium Monstrosity, that's who.)]

Comments

on the next episode of orange is the new black

[snideper]

[By the time Clarisse ends up in the jail cell, all the energy has been lost from her.

She sits on the floor, her back against the wall, facing the side wall instead of the entrance. Her breaths come so slow and shallow that her chest hardly even rises and falls; if not for how occasionally her unfocused eyes blink, or how tight her arms are folded in front of her if you look close, she could already be dead.

She doesn't acknowledge anyone as they enter. She may not acknowledge them at all.

Her hair has been plaited into a sloppy braid, strands uneven and tangled in places, over one shoulder. The hair pin some of you might have noticed during the pocket check keeps the braid in place—but only barely.]

[odasaku]

[ oda's not sure why he visits her in the first place. it's not like they were close...but maybe it's not about that at all.

the point is that, in the evening, oda decides to go to the jail cell, his footsteps quiet and light despite his size. ]

Clarisse. Can we talk?

[snideper]

Not like I can stop you.

[She doesn't look at him, doesn't move at all. Her voice still comes quiet, empty-sounding.]

[odasaku]

You could just say no.

[ and yes, oda would have stopped. but she hasn't said no, so he'll continue. ]

Any assassin would've gone after anyone without an ability. Why Bakugou?

[doublelammy]

[Millium does not go to get ice cream with the others, at least, not immediately. Instead, she goes to the cell.

The feeling is different, this time, seeing Clarisse behind those bars. Knowing what she'll be doing come morning. It's different, because there isn't one at all.

She wraps a hand around one of the bars of the cell, keeping a steady gaze on Clarisse as she speaks softly.]

I just want to know. Why him?

[That's all she's here for. She'll go once she gets an answer, but she's not leaving without one.]

[snideper]

[Sucks for Millium, because Clarisse doesn't so much as turn to look at her; doesn't blink, doesn't even breathe any differently.

Something inside her has just...shut off. She may as well not have noticed Millium at all.]

[doublelammy]

Hey. I asked you a question.

[You know, as you say to people who are dying.]

Ignoring me isn't gonna change anything.

[marmoron]

[Never been fond of Clarisse or anything, but there's a few things he's curious about still, so he's here to visit. Does he expect to get any answers? No.]

You put up a tough fight.

[snideper]

[No response. Normally she preens under praise, but...the compliment isn't worth much, now. Certainly not from Keith.]

[marmoron]

[Yeah, Keith figured as much.]

Weird to see you all quiet. You shouldn't go down like that, too.

[He pauses there, checking the corners of the basement briefly before removing his helmet.]

[protectandselfserve]

[you know... it's not like he genuinely liked clarisse, but she made things interesting. and you know... there are other reasons he's here, but.

eh.]

Well, it's going to be a lot less exciting here once you're gone... but I suppose there's nothing that can be done now, is there?

[snideper]

[Nnnno response. She is too close to dying to engage in small talk, much less small talk about her own oncoming death??]

[protectandselfserve]

...

...

...You want me to see if I can sneak in some ice cream?

[robitussin]

[A good while after the trial ends, she enters the jail. She seems uncertain coming in here; she didn't do this for Nine, and she was certainly more fond of him than she is of Clarisse, though it's not saying much.

All the same, there's something she's been wondering about. She just isn't sure where to start, so it's with something blunt rather than niceties.]

So. Why'd you do it?

[snideper]

[She makes a soft noise that could almost be an amused one, if she'd made it any other time; Millium's the only person who'd been so blunt so far, but Clarisse wouldn't offer her anything.]

Why's it matter to you?

[robitussin]

...Because I cared about him, and I want to know if I was right about your envelope.

[It's a quiet admission, but a sincere one that she wouldn't give to someone who wasn't in Clarisse's position.]

[carbide]

[Olympia is here! To mock her? To tell her she's a bad person? To stare at her? That last one seems more likely, but it's still wrong.]

You are human, but your existence is similar to mine.

[snideper]

[...No response. Clarisse—Something in her posture shifts, but she remains silent.]

[carbide]

[Yeah, don't think she didn't notice that.]

I have only encountered one other human who was so devoted to another person. He became my enemy as well.

Perhaps that is inevitable.

[burgerprince]

[It takes a while for Jughead to bring himself to see Clarisse but he does eventually get there. Whilst he did bring his notebook, he leaves it in his pocket for now, and just stands, awkwardly, by the bars. After a moment, he speaks up, trying to maintain a flat tone.]

Hey.

[snideper]

[It takes long enough for Jughead to show up that Clarisse, by now, has assumed he won't—and why would he? Then, why would any of them, and enough people have been in and out that she has realized, with some shame, that she prefers presence, anyone's at all, to the empty, lonely silence.

So—she doesn't respond at all for long enough that it might seem like she's just ignoring him, and when she does, she doesn't move, and her voice still comes empty and weak, no fire or deadpan snark.]

What.

[fucking nailed it you awful bitch]

[streetwolf]

[Wayne's about as happy as he was at the end of the trial. Which is not happy at all.

But he's here even if he's not got a lot to say. He's had plenty of time to think but there's still not a lot. So he just plonks himself on the ground not even attempting to be quiet.]

Hey...I'm still pissed at you for being right you know?

[If only he was good with words.]

[snideper]

Heh.

[Her expression doesn't change, and she doesn't move even as he sits, but that puff of air comes closest to a laugh as she can manage. It's better that he's so straightforward.]

You'll get over it.

[yonosoymaria]

I saw myself in you. That's why.

[It's an answer to a question she didn't ask, offered up after about half a minute of hesitant little false starts. He crosses over to sit outside the bars, then.]

Your reasons were different, of course, but I didn't know how different until - but it's selfish. I was being selfish, and I am now....

[Aaaaand another awkward pause. Is he really looking for absolution, here? Absolutely, because good life choices are for people who aren't some kind of generations-removed Belmont descendant with a death wish.]

[snideper]

[She hasn't asked it, but it's easier that she doesn't have to. She's wondered—but she's wondered, too, alone in here, if she would have been able to bring herself to ask. If he'd show up at all.

Somehow, his presence surprises her, too.

She doesn't say anything for a long couple of moments, long enough that maybe she hasn't heard him—but she closes her eyes, sighs.]

So why are you here?

[But her voice has a strain to it, still, weak and quiet and empty; she's tired, but not with him. She can't muster up enough bite for it to sound like a dismissal or an attempt to cut to the chase.]