personavelvetroomdr | 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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He shrugs out of his overshirt with a grateful grunt and starts the process of disarming, setting his weapons down one by one in a neat pile next to his boots. "We'll have to ask Nox, I guess," he says. "Once he's more used to stuff. If he can sense anything."

Watching the pile of knives, guns, and gun-like objects form is distracting; it always is. Goro fiddles with the top button of his pyjamas, watching. And I wonder how sustainable that situation even is, he thinks. What happens if it blows up in the future, after we've separated, when nobody is on hand to stop it?

Well, then they'd all die, wouldn't they? No true victory. A bit like how there's always another, tougher Palace.

"What a nightmare that would be," he says, instead. "Nothing but a voice in someone's head."

"Yeah... I hope he loses his fucking mind." The thought makes him perk up a little, actually.

With all his pointy things and explodey things removed, he's free to turn and flop down onto his back on the bed. "C'mere."

He's still in his pyjamas. Evil Ken's predicament slips from his mind, as... no, he's too tired to fuck. Definitely.

He flops down next to Ren instead, basking in the warmth around them like a lizard. "Mmm. I can't believe it took me so long to get this thing. Could have used it at home."

And Ren. Pressing up next to Ren is pretty lizardlike as well.

He breathes a voiceless laugh. "Don't bother. I couldn't even get it up."

He pulls Goro close, feeling his muscles slowly start to unlock under the heat of the blanket. "You did so good," he murmurs against Goro's hair. "You were beautiful."

Beautiful. Listen to that. It's like the warmth around them gathers all at once behind his heart.

"Damn right," he murmurs back. "Me and the team, watching all your backs and keeping you all alive. I was a lot more than beautiful."

Beautiful, though. His eyes are a little too wide in the soft light.

Edited 2025-03-09 03:07 (UTC)

"Yeah, true." His hands tighten on Goro's pajama shirt. "You were stunning. Brilliant. Talented. What else... fierce, gorgeous..."

Heheheheh. Almost glowing, he lifts himself up for a moment to kiss Ren.

"And what about you?" he asks, snuggling back into place. "You were the centre of that room. You drew them all together. Born to be a leader."

...But he sags down against the bed a bit, when Goro says that.

"I dunno. Hamuko said I didn't adjust well enough to the Maruki thing."

That's not at all what she said and it's especially not what she meant, but it was at least part of Ren's takeaway.

Shit. Goro leans back up on one arm, so he can see Ren's face. "That sounds a bit harsh, for Hamuko."

Of course, she had just died. That would upset anyone.

"It was part of a whole... I was telling Maruki how he'd put everyone at risk. He was, you know, acting like he knows everything and everyone is against him for no reason. Going on about he had to do that because we were all just gonna fucking let him die. She was trying to calm us down."

"You tore him a new one, didn't you."

He doesn't sound disapproving. That had been a moment.

Obviously. Who does Goro think he's talking to?

"I couldn't yell. 'cause people were still having a hard time. So I did it quiet."

He combs his hands gently into Ren's hair, around his neck. "What exactly did Maruki say?"

He presses his head against Goro's hand like a cat, like he always does.

"He was actually shocked when I said we would've covered his retreat. Dumbass face and everything. He was like, 'Wait, I was part of that plan, too?' Fucking idiot. Before that he was like, 'Yeah, they wouldn't have thought about my safety. Is anyone surprised?' " He stops for a second to seethe silently. "I mean it. He literally said all that."

His hand tightens a little too much in Ren's hair. "If he didn't want to be hurt, perhaps he shouldn't have leapt in. I was about to heal him, when he did all that crap with the tentacles."

Ren isn't ever going to complain about Goro pulling his hair, though he would usually like for Maruki not to be involved.

"I said that," he mutters. "Hamuko was like, 'It's done now! All we can do is learn for next time!' And I was just thinking, yeah, I've learned Maruki is even less trustworthy than I thought. I've learned if anyone ever comes to me with another warning like Phoenix did, I'm staying the hell away from whoever I've been warned about. No more fucking... maybe I can compromise, maybe it'll be safe. Nope. They're fucking gone."

Edited 2025-03-10 09:53 (UTC)

He tugs Ren's hair a little more, for good measure. Just a bit. "It wasn't a bad decision just because it worked out unpredictably, you know. There are always things you can't account for."

He makes an unconvinced noise, letting his eyes fall half-shut. The hand against his head grounds him, the burning pain of hair pulled too tight and the possessiveness of the gesture, only tolerable because it's Goro making it. For the first time in hours, he doesn't feel drifting and rudderless.

Edited 2025-03-12 00:10 (UTC)

Feeling Ren's weight against him, he scratches a little too, with a firm, gentle rhythm like a cat kneading, holding him close. "With so many people, I'm amazed only one caused a problem. That itself speaks well of your leadership."

Poor Hamuko, though, reviving right into the middle of that.

"Give it a little time before you say that. Who knows what people will have to say once they've slept."

But he does... not quite smile, but nearly. When Goro says it.

The Silence After the Storm

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