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

[snideper]

[Normally she glows under praise, but...it doesn't make a difference now. Certainly not from Olympia. At least she finally says something, quiet and empty.]

Not like it matters now.

[carbide]

I suppose not.

[Olympia turns to leave, but doesn't. Whatever urge made her come in here and say all this, it hasn't been satisfied.]

Your Lady Eremiya was fortunate to have you.

[snideper]

...

[Clarisse closes her eyes, draws her shoulders up. She imagines Lady Eremiya petting her head, expression going soft; You did so well, you've always done so well, we'll fix you, I'll take care of you, you'll keep doing better, what a good girl you are, how lucky I have been to have you.

But that isn't what happened. She carried her healing staff away and didn't so much as look Clarisse in the eye, and Clarisse bled out on the stone floor.]

You're full of it.

[She tries to sound angry, as though Olympia's overstepped herself to even invoke Eremiya's name, to praise her now after all else they've talked about. All she manages, though, is something strained.]

[carbide]

[It's strange, hearing Clarisse not angry at her.

Definitely affected. Upset. About being caught? About being unable to return? It can't just be about thinking Olympia is lying to her, surely.

Why would she even doubt this? It's a statement of obvious fact. She can't imagine Kujura ever reacting like this, or the members of that guild.]

Why would I lie now?

[snideper]

I don't know. I'm not going to pretend to know what's going on in your head. Don't pretend like you could possibly know what goes on in Lady Eremiya's.

[But still, she only sounds defeated.]

[carbide]

I make no such claim. Whether she realized her fortune, I cannot say.

[snideper]

Cut the crap. You just came here to mock me, didn't you? Why else would you be here? If you've got a point, get to it, because I'm not interested in this fake flattery.

[carbide]

I no longer have anything to gain from mocking you, nor from making any point to you. I simply felt it important to speak to you.

This situation is unusual for me in many ways, and I am unsure what will prove to have been the correct decision.