The Silence After the Storm

[vrdr_mods]

The Ken Amada who made certain threats, whom Igor didn't bring to the Velvet Room and didn't welcome, has been permanently contained within his other-world self. Many of the Velvet Room residents mobilized in the effort to neutralize the threat he posed, and now, in the moments after the devastating battle that sealed Ken away, perhaps you have business to conclude.

Maybe you're a fighter, left in the rubble the battle made of its surroundings—or maybe you were a noncombatant this time, left behind to wonder what's happening or prepare for the aftermath. Maybe you linger around the battle site, or maybe you have other things to do.

Or maybe you didn't survive. Maybe you're one of the glowing forms slowly coalescing in front of Igor's desk in the Velvet Room over the course of the subsequent half hour. Igor presides over them gravely, with no sign of his usual smile. Near his desk sits a box of snacks, familiar to anyone who's used the operation's training room.

[[ooc: This post is a general catch-all for the aftermath of the battle! It's backdated to February 26, the day Ken got got.]]

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[wipingallout]

The immense sigh of relief that escaped her had way too much weight to it. With a tired laugh, she just laid flat back on the ground, rubbing her eyes clear of tears.

"Good, good... I hope I didn't leave things scrambling too badly to recover after losing me. I guess it must've been enough if we pulled it off."

[willowandoak]

Ren looks over her head at Igor. "Hey, motherfucker," he says, in a very different tone of voice, only to cut off in surprise when he sees a box of tissues already resting on the desk. Igor chuckles at his expression, quietly and sadly.

He leans up to grab the box and place it next to her. "Here. It was a little rough afterwards, but we figured it out." He had planned for the possibility of deaths, after all. He'd just really hoped...

[wipingallout]

"Be nice to Igor..." Hamuko gratefully smiled and took a tissue, wiping her eyes. "He's been my friend for a while now. I trust him."

Maybe Igor didn't earn that trust from everyone else here, but he had it with Hamuko. He was weird and creepy looking, definitely not human, but she can't hate the strange Velvet Room host that was always in her corner and who gave her the ability to save the world.

"I feel hungry and like I'm gonna throw up..."

[willowandoak]

...Ren decides that it's not the time to argue about Igor.

"Been there," he says instead. Though for him, it was usually just a new stage of hunger. The sensible thing to do would be to suggest a nice soup or something, which is why Ren says, "I can bring you food and a bucket, if you want."

[wipingallout]

That makes her laugh a little, too. Traumatic though death was, with victory assured, it at least felt possible to let hope seep back in.

"Sounds nice. I'll probably migrate to the couch when my legs feel less like jelly."

[willowandoak]

A little tendril of relief unfurls in Ren's gut. He's not used to wanting to feel useful, and he's not sure he likes it, as a general principle. But he can make an exception for the people he led to their deaths.

"Cool." He pushes himself to his feet. "What do you want?"

[wipingallout]

"Some tea I think, and a sandwich. Just enough to tide me over - I plan on hanging out until everyone's back up and feeling better," she hummed.

She was a leader in her own right, and while she was one of the people who died, she knew she couldn't just walk home while people were still recovering and needing a shoulder to lean on.

[willowandoak]

"Tea and a sandwich, got it. Back soon."

He comes back about five minutes later, thanks to the travel times in the Velvet Room dimension, with a plastic bag that looks to be full of a lot more than just a bottle of tea and a sandwich. He spots her on the couch and makes his way over, plopping down next to her with a sigh. "Here you go."

He deposits the bag between them. Inside it are several different kinds of sandwich from a convenience store, as well as several different kinds of bottled tea—he only realized after he left that he didn't know what in particular she liked. He also threw a few kinds of chips and sweets in the bag, because why the fuck not? They were right there, and everything's free.

[wipingallout]

"Oooh, enough for others, too," Hamuko hummed appreciatively. She'd curled up on the sofa as she waited for more people to wake.

After a little bit of rummaging in the bag, she picked out an egg sando for herself, unwrapping it and taking a bite. Thankfully, there was no urge for it to come back up, but she chased it with tea just in case.

"... everyone did a great job."

[willowandoak]

"Yeah." He leans back in the sofa and stares at the ceiling. "I thought we were fucked when he came back like that. But everyone stepped up."

[wipingallout]

"Bosses and phases, right?" Hamuko joked lightly, though it didn't really make her laugh, either. She took a moment to just sip at her tea, letting it settle her roiling stomach so the next bite of sandwich felt more comforting.

"The coordination was well done, especially with how incredibly fast-paced and hectic it all got. You were great - that was my first time being under someone else's orders," she smiled softly.

[willowandoak]

His lips part, but for a moment he can't think of anything to say. People died, he said to Crow earlier, when Crow tried to tell him something similar, but Hamuko doesn't need him to tell her that. And yet here she is, still saying he did a good job.

"Thanks," he says finally. His stomach feels weird. He doesn't know what to make of it, so he decides to ignore it. "It was my first time leading a team. Really taught me to appreciate my usual team leader—I'm gonna be real, I don't know how the fuck you all do it."

[wipingallout]

Hamuko laughed at that - a real laugh, bright and bubbly. "And you had to coordinate dozens of people! In a CRAZY fight! And you still kept track? Crazy impressive!"

The praise came from a sincere place.

Though now she was giggling a little. "You know, I never signed up to be leader for my team, the S.E.E.S. group. I kinda got appointed - I found out over half a year later that Mitsuru-senpai even picked me because I was a girl, and she wanted me to prove that girls could lead. She didn't even realize she did that except in retrospect. So-- I completely relate to getting kind of thrust into a leadership role out of nowhere. It's intimidating!"

[willowandoak]

He definitely doesn't miss her use of Mitsuru-senpai, but he doesn't feel up to a discussion about Mitsuru Kirijo right now. Not to mention, Hamuko just fucking died.

"Yeah." He nods, then winces as it shakes loose a headache that's been forming. "You get it. All I did was make one post asking what we were gonna do about Amada. And then people started coming to me with stuff, and I was like, fuck, they all expect me to be... organizing this shit or something. So then I was stuck." He sighs. "And that's the story of how I learned not to make impulsive network posts."

[wipingallout]

"The good news is that we won't have to do it again," Hamuko nodded, concurring. Making any kind of decisive action or statement kinda flung one into leadership whether they were ready for it or not.

"...I'm glad you did. Not only did I show up so late to the party here - I wouldn't have been able to lead the way you did. Ken Amada... in my world, he's a fellow member of S.E.E.S., and therefore a very, very close friend. I had the resolve to fight, just... I don't think I could've handled more than that. I'm sorry such a thing had to happen... even if Fatalis isn't from my world, even if his world hadn't sealed Nyx yet, I... have a hard time not feeling responsible."

[willowandoak]

"Yeah, I get that. It's hard when people look the same as the ones you know at home. And they kind of... have the same background, but wrong. Especially when you first get here and you're not used to it yet."

He definitely couldn't have led a fight against an Akechi, danger to every reality or not.

"You can't take responsibility for every world, though, you know? You'll go crazy. Having to save one is bad enough." Goro's exhaustion, and the burden resting on his shoulders, which is Ren's burden too, now that he's agreed to help. He hates it, actually.

[wipingallout]

"...Yeah. You're right... it's a good thing there's more of us here to shoulder the burdens together. Don't worry - if I take a swing at being a leader for something like this, I won't let you down. If we could handle this, then I think we can handle anything."

[willowandoak]

"Yeah. I don't usually say shit like this, but whatever comes next, there's no way it could be worse. Like. Fuck. But we'd better have time to take a breather first."

He doesn't address Igor again, because she's told him to be nice and he won't ever be able to manage that. But he does shoot Igor a meaningful look. Still sad and unsmiling after all the deaths, Igor looks back at him in cryptic silence. Ren rolls his eyes.

[wipingallout]

"Heheh. That'd be nice! Let us all have a little vacation. Honestly, maybe we should have a little group get-together - have some fancy sushi or something to celebrate!"

[willowandoak]

"That sounds... really good, actually." After all the serious training and shit, just to be able to relax with everyone. But: "You might need to organize it, though. Some people on the team don't like me."

[wipingallout]

"Fine by me - you're officially off duty now!! I'll take charge and set something up for us in a week or so, give everyone time to breathe and recover."

Hamuko giggled a little excitedly.

"Oh man. Since it's free, we can go all out too...! Find the fanciest place that makes tons of it!"

[willowandoak]

"Don't really fancy sushi places have, like, eight seats? We'll have to set up a table outside or something."

They could do that, though. Who's going to stop them? The cognitions?

[wipingallout]

"Yeah - or maybe I'll set us up at a place near the docks, so the fish is as fresh as it could ever be, and get multiple sushi chefs working together. Ohh, or we could try one of those places that you go and try anything that the chef decides he wants to make rather than ordering specifics - that always seemed so fancy and so fun!"

[willowandoak]

"We could do both. Like... a bar crawl, but with restaurants."

That would be chaotic as hell, what with how many of them were involved in the Fatalis operation. For Ren, the chaos is part of the appeal.

tw: azathoth crawling under skin?? (1/2)

[takutomaruki]

So.

That was something.

Maruki had quickly excused himself after that whole ordeal, his body still brimming with wounds all over his body that Azathoth (without his consent) was now crawling right under his skin and connecting broken tissue and muscle without fail, leaving him twitching at different areas when he thought he had healed.

Why is he coming back here?

Because people died. One of the vampire variants of Akira-kun died. A little girl...Akane who he deduced had some sort of familial connection with Zenkichi Hasegawa (who was also a good acquaintance) died.

Hamuko died right before his eyes. She leapt at death...right after Maruki thought he had found someone who didn't just look at him like he was going to explode.

He's going to run into Drake, isn't he?

Ah but just because they judge doesn't mean he needs to judge. Hate can make people's hearts burn with vitriol after all. Perhaps he should be grateful he hasn't actually died yet.

He doesn't want to talk to any of them.

He ends up carrying a pile of blankets on him. So much so that they almost conceal his way of vision with a small bag hooked on his wrist- filled with snacks and a few packs of blood he had found in the laboratories of his own palace- for one of the vampires when he runs into him.

Of course he only makes it a few steps further with the familiar tuft of black messy hair that makes him pause, grey eyes meet which makes his blood run cold.