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.]]

Comments

[willowandoak]

"Okay. Something that makes good leftovers," says Ren, who hasn't yet had that realization. He squeezes Goro as tight as he can for a second, then reluctantly lets go. "Don't work too hard."

[lakebrat]

"Your idea of working too hard and mine are... strangely similar, to be honest with you." Thirty Palaces in a week, after all, or whatever it is Ren has planned. He gets to his feet, with a faint smile; his fingers play in Ren's hair, as he goes.

"Text me if you need anything, okay?" In other words, even if he just needs to scream.

[willowandoak]

Ren leans into the touch and squashes the urge to say, No, don't go. Goro is still here, and Ren already misses him. Pathetic.

"Okay. You too."

[lakebrat]

But he can hear it. He leans in again, for a last quick kiss. "Better mind out. They're coming around." You can do it, he doesn't add—but it's there in the warmth of his voice, in the steady touch of his hand as it reluctantly leaves Ren's hair.

Then he steels himself, and goes. They really are coming around.

[willowandoak]

It takes longer than you might expect for Ren to show up at Leblanc. He steps inside and plops down in his seat at the counter, slumping over and dropping his head into his folded arms without a word.

It's over. Finally. He can let go, if he can just remember how.

[lakebrat]

Goro is there, waiting. In his pyjamas, actually. With his green apron over the top.

He comes around the counter, placing his arms around Ren and kising the back of his neck.

[willowandoak]

He makes a small noise. After a second, he turns his head to the side so he can talk. His eyes are distant.

"Hamuko feels personally responsible for Fatalis because. I don't know why. And she wants everyone to go out for sushi in a few days to celebrate. I had to get blood for vampire Ren real fast so he didn't lose his shit and attack everyone. The Hasegawa and Akane thing was a lot, and if Hasegawa gets hurt too many more times he won't be able to recover, or something? Cyborg shit. Joker has a broken leg that's resistant to healing, like Dove's arm that time. And Maruki showed up."

And then he's delivered his report.

[lakebrat]

Mrr. He tightens his grip, partly in an effort to be reassuring, and partly in suppressed rage. Reassuring rage.

"Maruki at least behaved himself this time, I hope."

[willowandoak]

"He didn't put everyone's lives in danger, so it was an improvement." He scowls at the far wall. "If anyone got hurt because of that bullshit, I would've fucking stabbed him."

He's not just saying it.

[lakebrat]

"I'm sure he would have done some weird tentacle stuff to get in your way." Like, sincerely. What was with that.

"How about soup?" Soup and tentacles. Yeah.

[willowandoak]

On the same wavelength, as they often are with each other, Ren mutters, "Does it have tentacles in it?"

[lakebrat]

"No tentacles." Nipping Ren's neck with his teeth, he peels himself away and heads to the stove, padding in his slippers as he takes a couple of bowls to the soup pot.

"The shops were all out of octopus," he adds, with impeccable timing.

[willowandoak]

Ren actually snorts. It's a quiet, exhausted sound, but it escapes nonetheless.

"What about evil Personas? ...Imagine if you could cook Personas."

Caradoc is amused by his line of thinking. Satan is perhaps less so.

[lakebrat]

Goro sets the two steaming soup bowls down on the counter. It's clear chicken soup, which he doesn't usually make. It smells heavenly, and looks time-consuming. "I'm sure they'd be stringy. Either that, or mostly some kind of goo. Like that stuff Shadows turn into."

Lancelot, for his part, isn't amused by much of anything. Sometimes Goro wonders what it says about him, that his secret soul is so apparently humourless.

[willowandoak]

"I've eaten worse than a little goo."

He then falls upon the soup, devouring it faster than something so delicious deserves.

[lakebrat]

"I'm sure you have." And, instead of drinking his own soup, which he desperately needs, Goro watches Ren, with a small smile.

[willowandoak]

It takes him a minute to notice, but eventually he looks up with a frown. Broth drips down his chin until he wipes it away with the back of his hand.

"Eat."

[lakebrat]

"You don't need to tell me." Though he obviously did. Goro takes up his own bowl, taking a long draught, feeling it nourish him to the tips of his fingers.

"Want some more?" he adds, once his head has stopped spinning. He must have been hungrier than he thought.

[willowandoak]

"Yes, I fucking do," says Ren, as Goro starts to drink. Then he goes back to finishing his own bowl.

In response to the question of whether he wants more, his stomach growls loudly.

[lakebrat]

He laughs into his bowl, finishing it up. When he lowers it, he adds, "Or there's curry, if you'd rather."

It's all ready to go. Just needs to be dished up.

[willowandoak]

A sharp spear of longing pierces him at the thought of Goro's curry, which is as clear a sign as anything that he needs to fucking sleep. "Curry," he says tiredly, and drops his head back down onto the counter.

He's still hungry, though. Curry, and then sleep.

[lakebrat]

The bed's ready, too, all turned down and warmed. But Goro watches Ren drop his head back on the counter with a twinge of his heart. "Coming right up," he murmurs.

When he comes back, he places a sizeable dish of Leblanc curry in front of Ren, and a rather smaller one in front of himself. Not that he intends to hang about.

[willowandoak]

"Mmf." He blinks. It takes him a few seconds to lift his head, but once he sees the curry, he falls on it just like he did the soup.

Halfway through, though, he stops and looks at Goro. "...Thanks."

[lakebrat]

A shadow of a smile touches his lips, and his fork pauses near his plate. "You're welcome. Back to me being the leader now."

He's teasing, just a little. He doesn't like the look on Ren's face.

[willowandoak]

"You must've been a real asshole in a past life." Unlike Ren, who's an asshole in this life and knows exactly why he was punished like this. He touches Goro's hand briefly, then goes back to his curry, at the same eating contest-level speed. It's not just that he's hungry, although he is. The sooner he's done, the sooner he can go upstairs.