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

[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.

[lakebrat]

"Maybe. Or maybe I got that out of the way back before all this started."

He turns his hand to brush against Ren's touch, then returns to shovelling curry into his own mouth, with slightly smaller scoops.

[willowandoak]

With triumph, he sticks the last spoonful of curry in his mouth. As he pushes the plate away, he makes an inquisitive little noise.

[lakebrat]

That noise makes him want to drag Ren straight upstairs and force him into Goro's onesie. "You won't agree. It's just the same old stuff."

Just him and his mother, and let the rest of the world go hang. That sort of thing. Goro's not too worried about it.

[willowandoak]

"Oh," he says darkly. "That shit." But he's too tired to start arguing about it. He'd rather go to bed. "Hurry up and eat."

[lakebrat]

He doesn't need a second telling. The last of his curry vanishes into his maw, quick as you like. Then he stands up and stretches, watching Ren with veiled affection.

"Screw the dishes. They can wait until the morning." He hides a yawn. "Sorry, Boss."

[willowandoak]

Seeing an opportunity, Ren gets to his feet and wraps his arms around Goro's middle while he's stretching. Without a word, he presses his face against Goro's neck, nestling close and feeling his warmth.

[lakebrat]

Heh. He giggles, momentarily delighted, before he wraps his arms around Ren in turn, keeping him close.

"Thought you were tired," he tells Ren's ear, in an undertone.