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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"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."

Hamuko met his glare with her own calm expression, carefully folding the hefty blanket in her arms a few times to make it easier to manage as she spoke in a level tone.

"What happened after I died?"

Civil, straightforward, asking for an explanation.

Maruki takes a deep breath.

Imagines himself back in the nurses's office. One clipboard in hand the other finding himself comfortable on the sofa. He even backs up a little- eyes darting away as he adjusts his glasses and considers what to do.

"I would like to say a few words before I jump into this discussion." And no, he doesn't care if Drake gave him permission or not, he's saying his few words.

He looks back and forth between Hamuko and Drake before shaking his head. "Right so, Hamuko-san, thank you for fighting till the end even if things shouldn't have ended that way. We are all standing here safe and sound because of your help. I hope you will get some well-deserved rest after this. If you need anything else aside from the blankets and the snacks, please let me know."

"Second- as per the plan... after your unfortunate passing, I released Fatalis's cognitive mother so that the others could catch their bearings and we could lower his defense." He set aside the mound of blankets by walking past them both- stretching his hands as if to ease off his anxiety.

"He wasn't...happy with it, I suppose. I can see why, it was a bit horrifying in principle, I would have actually liked if I spoke to him personally but that aside...he naturally went after me next. I defended myself to the best of my ability which, while I was scared to death wasn't exactly as shocking or surprising. It felt more attuned to what I was used to."

He placed one hand in his pocket. "Then I stayed on the battlefield and helped others."

Ren takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. His hands clench into fists. When he's done, he's pretty sure he can speak without yelling and disturbing the people around them. He cares about his team, unlike some assholes in this room.

"You barged into the middle of a situation that was already chaotic as fuck," he says. His tone is intense and angry, and the words come quickly, but at least he stays fucking quiet. "You confused people who'd never seen you fight and didn't know what the hell was going on, in a fight where every split second of distraction could be deadly. It wasn't clear whether the fucking tentacles were allies, or a new attack from Fatalis. We all trained as a group specifically so that when everything went to shit in the battle, we'd still work well together and not get in each other's way. But you weren't involved, people didn't know how to fight with you, everyone was scrambling to deal with your self-righteous delusions when we were already hanging by a fucking thread.

"Like I said. Typical Maruki behavior. You get an idea in your head that you can help, and you make it everyone else's fucking problem. We're lucky no one got hurt because of your reckless bullshit."

"Hmm," Hamuko hummed aloud, making sure to hold her place in the conversation and keep them from arguing and interrupting her.

She looked between them both, studying them with her gaze as she mulled over each of their perspectives. Hamuko took a lengthy moment to really picture the chaos of the scene that must've followed in her mind... trying to grasp what could best be learned for everyone.

"...Maruki-san," she started, finally turning her gaze back to the older man, "In battle, it's extremely important for you to follow the orders and directions of your leader - they are trying to balance and maintain everyone's safety as best as possible, and in a battle as deadly as what we faced, there was not a lot of margin of error. I don't blame you for wanting to keep supporting people, especially after some of us fell - I can't say I wouldn't have done the same."

Without missing a beat, she turned her gaze back to Drake. "Drake. You did admirably keeping everyone going forward even after we suffered losses. All of us were ready to lay down our lives for this fight, but only a few of us actually fell. Trust me when I say... as a Leader, you can't control everything that happens - for example, I never told any of you what I could do to Seal that power. Mostly because I had no idea if I could call on that power again."

She paused, to gesture to the teammates still reeling, still recovering, but alive. Despite everything, they were alive. She looked between the both of them.

"We made it. There are always 'what if's that one can get stuck ruminating on... but we did it. We defeated an unbeatable foe and took away his power - and we all did it together. Past pains and distrusts or not. We can learn from how we had to improvise, from what risks we don't want to have to take a second time."

Edited 2025-03-08 23:15 (UTC)

Honestly if those words were coming from anyone else he would have mostly stayed quiet and only considered those words under his own lens but...what she said did make sense. Damn it, Shibusawa always teased about him being too reckless for his own good but...he would like to think that this was more of a calculated decision.

Some words irked him the wrong way.

Words like they are trying to balance and maintain everyone's safety as best as possible because he could frankly bet on his own thesis that Drake was far from fair on those regards. He didn't care about his safety. He defended himself alone on that battle- that was proof enough. Even if Hamuko meant well, she didn't know the sheer bitterness this place held for him.

He would probably apologize to any and all members of the team but not before Drake.

He's stressed but somehow Maruki can't bring himself to care about it.

"...I was injured enough that I didn't even feel my own body at one point. Azathoth's regeneration is difficult to cope with and we weren't lucky that my persona obeyed my orders. I know enough on how to control it during battles."

"I don't say this to garner any sympathy- others have done a far better job at fighting against Fatalis. I am not a fighter but...over those wounds and seeing people struggle with the last bits of their stamina-"

"-it just felt wrong for me to leave when I could spare some of my own powers."

Edited 2025-03-08 23:49 (UTC)

"Yet I somehow doubt I am counted anywhere near the everyone's safety demographic. Which I am sure is not shocking for anyone to hear."

Hamuko's words almost work. Almost. But then Maruki opens his fucking mouth again, and the absolute bullshit, the mischaracterization of Ren and his entire team, sends him right back to where he was.

"People didn't fucking know how to keep you safe! You were fine when you were where you were meant to be, we were ready to help you and cover you if you needed to retreat. You just fucking decided for yourself that we wouldn't. I know you think you've never acted like an asshole in your life, and we're all mad at you because we're just so mean. But the fact is, if you can pull your head out of your ass for a second and stop sniffing the victim complex juices that are leaking out, you'll realize you put us in an insane position, and now you're crying because we didn't respond as if we deal with surprise tentacle monsters every day."

After a beat, Hamuko passed the hefty blanket she'd folded up to Ren - something to pull his attention. If she let them both carry on, they'd get into a heated argument and do no one any good.

"If you're entering a life-or-death situation, you need to trust the other people fighting at your side - regardless of what problems you've had with each other before. I do understand trust is not a very easy thing to give someone else... but whatever happened before that battle isn't what happened during it.

"Maruki might have poorly communicated and confused other fighters, but he tried to pull his weight and save others. Drake may have struggled prioritizing and last minute strategizing with the changed element, but no one else died after I did.

"All we can do now is to take what happened into consideration for next time, regardless of what roles we decide to play or how severe 'next time' happens to be. What do you guys want the next battle to look like, what do you want to bring to the table next time, or even if you think this was your last one. We have nowhere to go but forward."

For a moment, Maruki just... pauses.

Drake’s words aren’t what hurt—no, Maruki isn’t particularly fragile to being called out. What throws him off, what actually gives him pause, is the way Drake is speaking to him at all.

Like he was actually part of this fight.

Like he was part of the team.

That doesn’t make sense.

Maruki swallows, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His fingers flex against his arm, gripping it unconsciously. “...You’re saying I should’ve trusted you,” he murmurs, tone oddly steady, contemplative. “That I should’ve relied on the others. That I—” He exhales, half a bitter chuckle, shaking his head slightly. His voice lowers, quieter, less directed at Drake and more at himself.

“...That you even wanted me...to?”

It’s not sarcastic. It’s not accusatory. It’s genuine. Surprised.

Because when he was out there—fighting Fatalis, pushing himself past every limit he thought he had—he had done so fully believing he was on his own. That his survival, his presence there, was nothing but an afterthought to them at best, a nuisance at worst.

Drake hates him. That much, Maruki has never questioned. And yet, here he is, spitting venom at him not because-?

Maruki’s lips press together. His eyes flick down, a furrow in his brow, thoughts tangling in ways he hadn’t expected. He doesn’t try to defend himself, doesn’t try to argue back. Instead, he just mutters, more to himself than anyone, “...Huh.”

He watches her as she speaks, expression shifting—his stance, once tense and withdrawn, slowly eases, uncertainty creeping into his features.

"…I don’t blame anyone for how things played out,” he admits finally, his voice quieter now. “And I—” A pause. He glances at Drake, then exhales. “Maybe I did end up making things harder. Maybe I should’ve communicated more, I wasn't...”

He lets out a tired chuckle, shaking his head.

A beat. His fingers flex, then release.

He's not apologizing to him about it. That is for sure. He has no reason to believe in Drake's intentions but...one thing that does set them apart is the fact that as a team things might have been different. He glances back at Drake, but this time, the bitterness in his tone is weaker—less sharp, less defensive. More like someone who has simply been caught off-guard. “All those strategy meetings when you discussed retreat...I was included? Not when I was help- meddling with all of you- I made that choice knowing what it would have costed, before that."

Because all he wants to be certain about is that people like Drake would just want him dead.

Which is wrong to assume out of anyone. It goes against everything he's ever stood for for wanting to give others a chance. For all those in pain who lash out in non-descriptive ways.

"My mind is hazy on all the details..."

He goes back into his pocket and pulls out an apple juice. ~~Damn jitters.~~ He curses himself as he rips out the straw and pokes it into the box but he is not letting Drake weigh down on him again.

Edited 2025-03-09 11:46 (UTC)

...What.

"Yeah...? Why the hell wouldn't you be?"

Maybe because Ren hasn't made a secret of how much he hates Maruki, and he never thought to clarify that Maruki was included. But it didn't occur to him then, and it doesn't occur to him now, that all of that might be an issue. He's still pissed off, but less like he's ten seconds from breathing fire in Maruki's face and more simply... flummoxed.

Good, good, Hamuko's smile softened a bit as she glanced between the two of them.

"So some assumptions happened - based on bad experiences you two have had with each other or versions of you, I'm guessing. Taking for granted that someone will know what you mean to do or assuming contempt from others."

It isn't the worst that could've happened on the battlefield, but boy, what hurt that friction causes afterwards...

"Boys are always so bad at this," she teased, adding a little breath of a joke for an attempt at levity. "I think that means that next time, Maruki, you should speak up and ask to be sure. Drake was taking you into consideration both during training and during the fight. Even if there was animosity outside of this ordeal, he considered you part of the team."

Maruki for a moment really was taken aback by Drake's words. In fact, he even blinked back at him in surprise- like he seriously wasn't expecting him to say those words to his face.

...Is he even being honest?

Does it even matter.

The danger has passed, right? The doctor is known to always shift to a more positive approach on the side of things and then- for the miscommunication to be splintered off this severely from the middle. For a moment he closes his eyes and brings the juice box to himself, sucking from the straw just to feel something other than this torrent of heaviness.

"Oof- seems like I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

He chuckled easily, playing along with Hamuko's joke.

After that however....his chuckle really did die down.

"..." He looked away, a clear sign he was only staying quiet to maintain the peace.

...Okay, well, whatever Maruki's thinking is his fucking problem. In the silence, Ren takes a deep breath, looks down at the blanket in his arms, and becomes fully aware for the first time of the position they've put Hamuko in.

"Sorry, Hamuko. Didn't mean to..." He gestures vaguely with one hand. The blanket almost falls out of his arms, and he quickly reestablishes his grip, before putting it down on the couch. "I think I'm gonna head out."

Can't make the recently-dead girl mediate if he's not there to get in a fight.

"Hey, Ren..." Hamuko interjected softly, just barely brushing his arm before he turned to leave to get his attention. And she smiled at him, sincerely, gratefully.

"Thank you again for being there for me. Thank you again for your leadership during all of this. I'm proud of us - take care of yourself too, okay?"

"...Thanks," he says, almost uneasy now at the amount of encouragement she's giving him. No one but Goro talks to him like that, and Goro is a weirdo, with compromised judgment. But he doesn't... entirely hate it. "I will."

It's not exactly a lie. He just doesn't know how to take care of himself after something like this, and he's not trying that hard to figure it out, beyond 'fuck, I want to sleep'.

Thank you for your leadership during all this.

Maruki's finger digs into the juice box without him even realizing it. Just when did he start getting this bitter about someone else? It shouldn't matter after all. He was one person against a dozen or so Akechis, Akiras or Rens who may have been wronged by his hand or otherwise.

"I just...have one little piece to say," he starts as his gaze flickers from Hamuko, masking away his bitterness and frustration of the matter. "I acknowledge that me and Drake will never see eye to eye and...sometimes the only way you can combat the stress of dealing with an unpleasant presence is for the two parties to go their seperate ways." He's never working under or anywhere close to him ever again. In fact, he's never fighting in any large sorted battles like this.

He would have much preferred anyone's leadership over Drake's. Though maybe that may have ended up with him dying or...

Azathoth...he could still feel him gnawing at his nerves. Real. Warm with anger.

"My words probably don't mean anything but do seek some comfort from your support system. People have faith in you. Don't waste it."

"And...I will go ahead and apologize to anyone if I got in their way. That's all."

Edited (//final!!) 2025-03-11 01:05 (UTC)

"I'll hit you up in a few days!" She added, giving Drake the easy social grace to just-- walk out, step away from what was upsetting. Get a breather. She's here to take over!

As Drake left, Hamuko went back to the sofa to scoop up one of the blankets, a little amused at the heft. She'd never seen one of these - for anxiety, Maruki had said? She wrapped it around her shoulders and it felt snug, almost... like a hug. A pleasant weight and warmth.

"Can I keep one? I kinda love how it feels."

Maruki's gaze darkens as he looks on ahead- eyes narrowing at Drake as he sips on his trusty apple juice. It's really the only thing keeping him sane at this point.

If people need help in the future he's going to take... a far different approach. And probably start wearing actual guards so that he doesn't get stabbed at the wrong turn.

His attention only drifts back to normalcy when he hears the gentle whisper of the blankets. Blinking back at Hamuko, he carefully pulls the drink away from his lips and offers a wrinkly smile. "Feel free to. I don't think it can compensate for everything you accomplished today."

He goes to the couch and falls back, exhausted for a moment before hissing at his wounds when he moves the wrong way. He brings one hand up to tend to his hair. "I was so sure I was going to get stabbed by him."

"For a moment there, I thought so too," Hamuko agreed as she settled into the couch. She let out a long, slow breath... the blanket was shockingly comforting. "But, so long as I'm here, I won't let a fight break out. We're all tired after giving our all - some of us might be a little frayed at the edges still."

And since she wasn't (or at least wasn't in a way that made her cranky), she'd take the responsibility of looking out for people until they got their emotional footing back.

"Battles are always exhausting."

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