Afterparty 1

[winedingroad]

[Their first week in this strange land is over, and they're down three people.

Perhaps some would rather go off alone after this new experience in a foreign land, but for those who would rather stick a bit closer to each other (for whatever reason), they might find refuge in a truly strange place:

The karaoke bar, used for crime earlier in the day is now being commandeered for their use. More crimes might have been committed, if anyone cares to notice the smoking robots piled off to the side. Diluc has taken over the drinks bar, and will serve drinks through the night as people request. Food will have to be snack foods or vending machine faire, unless some person took pity on them all (or great joy in more crimes) and brought some from somewhere else.]

Comments

[your_best_friend]

[* Do you like talking to flowers?]

...So. All that happened. ...I gotta say, I was really off my game back there. I blame you humans having different biologies than monsters.

[thefifthchild]

Are you finally dropping the innocent act?

[He crosses his arms at the flower. If looks could kill we'd have another trial...

It's only mostly about the act. Okay, no, it's mostly about the stealing his thunder thing he's SALTY.]

[conways_retribution]

<sub>[Jake, for all his shouting against Kansai thanks to Damian, was pretty behind in his performance during the karaoke takeover. Sure, he might have laser sword-ed a few robots but it probably wasn't as much as the others, he's not too superpowered.

But, what do you want, he has to live with a kid dying, and he realized he needed a shower at the hospital before anything else. Maybe you'll catch him in the halls.

If you don't, he'll definitely be back at the karaoke bar, about ready to pound down a few drinks. This phone is definitely great for looking up cocktails he's never had before (i.e. all of them, he's only drank plain beer in his life).]</sub>

KARAOKE BAR

[your_best_friend]

Howdy.

[* If it isn't Jake's favorite flower. He's on the ground, so he can't really get a good look of the drinks.]

...

I know for you humans, it must be hard to go through something like that.

cw: underage drinking

[mrfuckwit]

<sub>[ Either Akira was served alcohol or he managed to get some of his own. He's helping himself to a drink. The last time booze touched his lips was at the Sabbath Party which seemed so long ago. Akira wondered if the demons he was familiar with in his world would be able to reach this realm. With the negative atmosphere and awful choices, he would have to be on alert in case any of them tried to possess any of the X-Class here.

His shoulders curl forward as he looms over his drink which.. he didn't know what he was doing with alcohol other than drinking it. He's not sure he likes the taste of whatever it is he decided to drink.

Marcille was gone.. so was that actual child he spoke to even if it was brief. Loremaster was another he only exchanged a few words with, but a part of him did have faith in her that she would be able to maybe figure out an alternative route home. She was like.. science-y and shit. It was just a shame. He couldn't even cast a vote cause he was filled with some conflicting emotions. ]</sub>

This is all so fucked up.

_{[ Spoken to no one. Feel free to chime in. ]}

Re: cw: underage drinking

[conways_retribution]

...It really is. _{[He just sort of stared at the array of booze behind the counter. and might have snuck the booze to Akira and convinced Ginshi it was sparkling apple cider shh]} I know that little girl was named "Liar". I know she had the potential to kill and may very well have been plotting against us. And yet... it doesn't hurt much less.

[thefifthchild]

[Damian stirs his straw through a glass of apple juice.]

It's disgusting. They're all disgusting.

[queendoms]

[ Futo's normally a big socializer, but the crowd here is a little...hmm. She's at the karaoke bar, anyway, poking away at her phone as much as she's capable of doing. Less to get information from the internet and more from--you know, how poking it actually makes it work. She's learning...slowly... ]

[your_best_friend]

...Hm?

[* The noise comes from the nearby flower.]

You need any help?

[intimations]

[Hmm crowd indeed. And yet here is one sketchy dude walking over and sitting on a stool next to her anyway, apparently nursing a drink he got a short while before. While he won't get up in her personal space to check out what she's doing on her phone, he will eye it some before looking back at her face.]

Enjoying yourself? It seems like a waste to spend all your time huddled up with that device considering all the fine company we've got tonight though.

[woodeneye]

Seems like everyone else here knows how these thingamajiggers work, don't it?

[ Just gonna slide in next to Futo. He hasn't really spoken to her yet, but given her confusion over the technology and the fact that she talks even more old-timey than he does, even Ragetti can deduce he's dealing with a potential kindred spirit. ]

What've ye got it to do so far?

[pr159]

[ Outside of ensuring that he didn't end up under suspicion himself, Rideaux really hadn't cared about any part of this case. ...At least up until the end, when something Loremaster had said — the part about managing to do what no one else did and taking over hell to make her goal a reality — combined with the fact that she was losing all of that now through no mistake of her own, but just because she'd gotten caught up in someone else's bullshit... it hit him in a strange way that he really didn't like.

He's seemed a little preoccupied since that, and while he's hardly been friendly with anyone here in the first place, he's avoiding contact now even more than usual.

He only ends up back at the karaoke bar because he was intending to steal a bottle of something for himself and get out of there, but finally having a proper bartender in the place does get him to sit down at the bar for a few mixed drinks for at least a short while. If he ignores the karaoke part, a dark dive bar with neon signs is the closest he's going to get to anything feeling like home.

Whenever that gets old, though, he will eventually just grab a bottle of whiskey and fuck off with it.

Sometime later in the night, he'll just be leaning against the wall in an alley somewhere with that (still mostly full) bottle on the ground next to him, smoking a cigarette — which he hasn't done in a long time, but whatever — and idly scrolling through the pictures on his phone to pass the time before he goes back to his room at the hospital. ]

[osssuary]

[Few of them are at their best, many perhaps at their worst or what passes for it -- but for some of them this may or may not be another Tuesday. Not a lot of them know each other well enough to tell -- and perhaps it won't matter even under the veil of alcohol.

Kimimaro has managed to eschew most alcohol-related company altogether: the karaoke bar takeover itself wasn't entirely useless, but the goal was one he didn't understand and the methods employed were so far from what he or anyone else in his circle would have chosen it was a little laughable. Interesting, in its own way, but honestly.

So it's once Rideaux moves out of the bar itself that he eventually has company -- the voice comes from a little above him in the darkness of the alleyway, though it's still possible to spot Kimimaro if you squint. His colors stand out if you know where to look.]

I've seen a number of peculiar drinking habits, but this is an unusual sort of indulgence given our current situation.

[His head is cocked a little like a bird's, so it might be a real not-quite-question.]

[superstructure]

[ ...

With a sigh, Julius ends up on the other side of the alley, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in relative silence. ]

cw: underage drinking because apparently this is just a theme tonight

[voidseeing]

[It's a while before Gai shows up at the bar, still looking slightly pale but considerably better than he was earlier at the end of the trial. His mood doesn't seem to be much improved, though, and once he's managed to get his hands on a beer (behind Diluc's back, most likely), he'll just be taking a seat off to the side and nursing it quietly rather than attempting to seek out any sort of conversation. It doesn't seem like his intention here is to get drunk, or at least not yet given how slowly he's sipping at it, but... well. Once he hits the bottom, he probably won't say no to anyone offering him a second.

At some point he'll pull the flute he'd made use of earlier out of his pocket and just sort of twirl it idly in his hands, staring down at it as if lost in thought.

As the night wears on, however, he'll eventually take out his phone, and before long a song can be heard issuing from it, loud enough to be audible from several feet away. Not the most cheerful of songs, but it's familiar, and right now that's what he really needs, because the other option is being alone with his thoughts and he's pretty sure he'd rather not deal with that right now.]

[superstructure]

[ Julius has been happy to sit in relative silence nearby,  nursing his own drink of whatever, when the song starts playing. He looks over, head tilting slightly. ]

Your ringtone?

[ Though it doesn't seem like he's going to answer it, so...? ]

[winedingroad]

[Diluc spent most of the trial more aggravated at being forced to participate in such a farce than particularly emotional that it was going on in the first place. Relying on the masses for selecting who is guilty and who can stay, it's a recipe for injustice.

...It was more than a little cathartic to have smashed up the robots that are now in the corner. They selected the right person, but it took much too long for his taste.

With each drink he pours Diluc lets himself internally relax. One drink, two, mixed and sent out for an adult; apple cider or fruit juice mixed with seltzer slipped to any kid intent to try and get something from him. With every lull in conversation or hosting, Diluc checks to make sure the robots haven't spontaneously fixed themselves or sent out an alarm. No need for anybody to figure out the karaoke bar has been requisitioned for the night.]

[intimations]

[Belial comes in a little later compared to some of the other "patrons", but he sidles over to the bar counter easily and settles on a stool, leaning forward on his arms. As Diluc prepares drinks for some of the others, Belial will wait quietly and spend the time people watching over his shoulder. There's an easy smile waiting for the other man whenever he gets close though.]

Thanks for the service. Seems like you've been keeping yourself busy tonight.

[conways_retribution]

I'll take a Headless Horseman. _{[Might as well just ask for a cocktail to add an ounce of excitement for once in his life. Jake practically falls into a bar stool, arms crossed on the countertop and head trying not to join them.]}

[pr159]

[ There's a moment of debate when Rideaux first steps into the karaoke bar tonight and sees the current setup whether he should still just take something and leave like he was planning to do or if it's worth staying for a while. He doesn't have any problems with Diluc, at least, and with that title of his he can trust he's not going to be clueless about serving good alcohol.

So, after kicking some piece of a broken robot into the corner, he sits down at the bar with a sigh. ]

Have to say, I like what you've done with the place.

[osssuary]

[The trial, if it could be called that in any sense of the word in any world -- what sort of thing was it, with its incoherent rulings, bizarre burdens of proof, ridiculous overseers and incomprehensible audience? One that even a shinobi of the Sound wouldn't be particularly given to calling a facsimile of justice, at the least.

So it's not surprising that some among their number would resort to taking it out on the newly vacated karaoke bar. A not entirely unexpected side effect of getting blood all over the place in a civilian setting, but all the same. He's known many who would joyfully do the same. He's still kind of judging a little.

For the most part Kimimaro stays out of the gathering and side eyes the drinking and the drinkers -- if he shows up at the bar at all it's late and haphazard and without any particular greeting. He's probably in the corner prodding at the much-abused robots when he glances over at the bartender.]

Do you plan to hold this place?

[Is a one-night stand with the bar worth it......]

[your_best_friend]

Howdy.

[* Diluc doesn't have to look far to spot the source of the voice.]

Little old me was told that you make drinks. I'll have a "shot" of some. Any will do.

[woodeneye]

[ Ragetti slinks in, eventually, rattled. He's seen executions before, and really, this was a lot less overtly gruesome than the ones he's used to. But he also just saw an angel of the Lord (and he still believes she was one) die before his very eye. So. A drink wouldn't go amiss.

He's still not sure what this establishment is supposed to be used for, other than the "weird future thing with a lot of colors" category into which falls most of the city. But the current setup - this, he recognizes. It's a tavern. He can deal with taverns. His brows unfurrow, just a little, as he approaches. ]

Ye got any rum?

[fixingtodie]

[At some point the staff was confiscated from her and Rachel could only stare as the object was taken from her hands. At first she'd thought only to look after it, as it had been something important to the person who'd cared for it before. But now, after having it carry her through that trial and then having it taken, there is a sense of loss. Like the person it belonged to, it was just... gone.

She joins the others at the karaoke bar-- although she's happy to drink the offered fruit juice. She's not very talkative, but she takes notice of the people around her.]

[your_best_friend]

[* A familiar flower pops up beside Rachel. It doesn't say anything at first.]

...

You're quiet.

[thefifthchild]

I.

[Damian can be spotted decapitating a remaining robot as it tries to make noise, and tearing into it further with his sword as it keeps making noises until it's nothing but a vague sizzling sound from a smoking pile of scrap with a sword sticking out of it.

He snatches the sword up, rests it on his shoulder like you do, and approaches the bar to get himself some apple juice.]

...They're all sick.

II.

[Damian doesn't go to sleep that night, instead preferring to stalk the halls of the hospital. He can be spotted just resting against a wall, his sword still fully in his hands like he's standing guard and under the full impression that he can stop another murder from happening.

OR he can be spotted after escaping the confines of the hospital and climbing his way up to the roof, where Goliath is waiting to comfort him as he feeds him apples. It's strange. It sounds almost like he was arguing with someone.]

...just go away, Pennyworth! [He can't take another one of his sad, self-indulgent comments about doing the right thing, about blaming himself. Unfortunately, it really seems like he's talking to whoever's approaching.]

I.

[conways_retribution]

<sub>[A loud growl could be heard as Jake started wailing on a different robot. The Executioner sword active, he swung his right arm side-to-side and turned the robot's shell into a piece of modern art, and finished it off by swinging downward and slicing the whole thing in two. At least the spirit of the 1% is coming back to him if he's been able to show off Rage Mode.

And in similar vein, he walks up to the bar after putting the sword hilt away.]</sub>

They all revel in it... like some kinda game show. When we're not scorned, we're for their consumption.