personavelvetroomdr | The Silence After the Storm

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The Silence After the Storm

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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"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."

"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."

"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.

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."

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!"

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."

"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."

"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.

"...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."

"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.

"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!"

"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."

"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!"

"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?

"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!"

"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.

Edited 2025-03-07 23:01 (UTC)

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.

He holds up the blankets so that they might conceal his face. Maybe he will just talk to Hamuko later, maybe he should-

But it's too late. Ren has looked up from the couch and seen him. Rage floods his body.

"You."

In the same breath that Ren had scowled 'you', Hamuko had noticed the mound of blankets and recognized that lab coat and called out in a tired but friendly tone, "Maruki-san. You brought blankets?"

This is great.

Fantastic.

Should've ditched the lab coat and dyed your hair or something. Anything to just avoid having to deal with the person he probably thoroughly might end up despising more so then the guy who blew off his arm depending on how this conversation would go with Arisato.

"Hamuko-san why would you-?!" he cuts himself off then relents, heaving a sigh. "...I figured having a weighted blanket would help with the anxiety or any possible dissociation one might have after a near- well, death experience."

"Oh, really? Thanks for thinking of my team, Maruki!" Ren's fury carries him up off the couch and closer to the motherfucker who jeopardized the entire operation. "Stop hiding behind the fucking blankets and look at me."

"Hold on..." Hamuko interjected, standing up after Ren and stepping around him to help take some of the blankets. "There are people still sensitive right now," she warned in an attempt to deescalate.

Annd here we go, Maruki already takes a step back, wanting to flee right out through any of the five doors but he's better than that. People are suffering here and blankets are cozy as always. If he were one of those who ended up dying he would be grateful if someone showed up with that.

So he stands his ground, setting his expression to something more even.

So much for thinking for your team, he thinks to himself but doesn't let any of it surface. He lets Hamuko take some of his blankets as he heaves a sigh of relief. "Thank you...I think I overestimated how much I could carry at once," he tried to keep the conversation steady.

"And I wasn't hiding behind them," he denies.

He hisses in fury, shooting Hamuko a betrayed glance, but he lowers his voice and swallows down the yell that was about to emerge. "Real convenient," he growls, glaring at Maruki with, if anything, even more animosity. "Hiding behind the fucking blankets, you liar, hiding behind everyone who got hurt, so you don't have to face up to how you put everyone on that battlefield in danger. Typical behavior, actually. I don't know why I'm surprised. Go ahead, then, fuck off."

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

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