like a bitter stranger

[samuraiwomen]

Who: Everyone
What: Our monthly family meeting.
When: March 5th, 2000.
Where: Yogen dorms common room.
Warnings: Discussions of murder, suicide, child death...more?



[ A message goes up on the forums late Friday evening.

S.chidouin: Group meeting in the dorms Saturday. 12:00. No punching. No stabbing. I'll bring stickers.

If your character would not find a post from Sara worth listening too, Bonnie is wandering around, vaguely noting how important this meeting is, and how very much you should attend. No further details are forthcoming.

The meeting itself is a quiet affair. The fireplace is not lit, there are no snacks. Sara waits in the corner for everyone to arrive and get settled and then she clears her throat to speak. ]

As most of you know... [ It's hard to start, but her voice gets firmer as she goes on. ] We spent the last two months investigating Maya Arisu's murder. That case is solved. A few weeks ago, Bonnie-chan and I found the culprit.

Rantaro Amami killed Maya Arisu, Hiro Arisu, the vice principal and is presumably responsible for the scene with Keigo Arata. He is also dead. I just figured...everyone should know. To many people got hurt the last few months. I'm sorry.

[ She fiddles with her hair. That's all...she really has to say. There's not much more then that as the gist of it. ]

Comments

[shimashima]

[ They're acknowledging his presence, unexpectedly... It turns Alice's posture tense, and where Midori feigns politeness, smiling, Alice himself can't hide his glowering. Inadvisable things to retort are tempting, something like "I wouldn't want to drink your tea, even if it were the last cup of tea in the world." (Then again, in hindsight, wasn't everything served in prison technically Asunaro-made?!)

This is neither the time nor the place; the mere sight of Midori makes his blood boil, but he tries to breathe evenly without being too obvious about his efforts. Maple at Midori's beck and call is troubling, too. ]

...I'm fine. I don't need tea. I...

[ He looks at Ranger instead, and then at the teacup in the doll's hands. ]

Where would we go to speak?

[rearranger]

[ Where? Here isn't an option, but to go somewhere too private would make a person too anxious. Ranger closes his eyes as he considers for a few seconds, then opens them. Neither of the two with him like each other, but Midori will shuffle along as ordered because it'll give him something to focus on. ]

The hallway will be fine.

[ Far enough that no one will eavesdrop and far enough to avoid the noise, but close enough for noise to be heard of things turn sour. He keeps the teacup in one hand, apparently not planning on giving it back despite not wanting to drink it, cards in the other, and starts off in the direction of the exit.]

[shimashima]

[ The hallway, then. It's unlikely that they'll stay out there all that long, leaving Midori unattended as tensions escalate, but Alice follows Ranger with a nod. He tells himself not to glance back over his shoulder. Midori, no matter what state his memory may be in, finds it amusing to draw certain reactions out of people, doesn't he? He won't have that satisfaction this time.

Just past the exit, Alice stops. His gaze flicks to Ranger, traveling over the doll's features — pointless, so he eyes those expression cards. (When did he cease thinking of Ranger as that damn doll...?) Now that they're here, only the two of them, he isn't sure what he hoped to accomplish.

If Ranger were jeering at them, his old self, and if loathing him for his past actions and everything that he represents were clear-cut, they could consider any truce over. They would separate themselves into black-and-white categories: enemies and allies. Asunaro and that lot's victims.

Yet Ranger's actions here blur the picture — there's no reason for him to go to so much effort coexisting with humans purely to get things done. ]

...The first time we spoke in this place, you were opposed to infighting. Now...

[ What is it, really? ]

[rearranger]

[ Ranger had said that, and he'd meant it. Midori had already sunk his fangs into him once as a result of their problems, drawing out blood and infecting him with the poison that those of ASUNARO carry. It's a consequence of him going to what's familiar rather than what would be more objective, because who was to say that going to someone like Komaeda or Amami wouldn't have simply given them the same idea?

But even so, he regrets it. He shouldn't have gone to anyone at all. Ranger pauses briefly as he considers, stuffing his free hand into his pocket. He'd like to say that it only applies when they're speaking of him, but that's not quite right. ]

Sure. Time spent tearing each other apart is time that can't be spent on anything else. It gives him leverage... Honestly, it'd be a lot easier if he weren't hanging around.

[ Rather, it makes him more appealing as an ally when he has no need to judge and argue about petty affairs. He lets out a little sigh. This is why he hates these meetings. They're too public, and there's too much that others can learn from how people carry themselves here. ]

But it's not like I can just ignore what's being said just 'cause he's a nosy bastard.

[shimashima]

[ Midori must have decided to attend the meeting for his own entertainment, Alice thinks, which keeps him from getting up to whatever else he does when no one can watch him, at least. The uncomfortable reality is that he looks quite harmless in the crowd, sitting around with his cup of tea. Only a handful of them know the truth, and they can't act on it unprovoked. They're the ones who would seem like villains then — no one questioned the incident at the cafe, that day.

Perhaps it's best not to react to him at all, knowing that they can't afford to give him anything to use against them. Ranger has pointed it out himself, so why...? Weren't they all stoking arguments, in the end? ]

Because Rantarou Amami defended you, and now you're returning the favor? Is that it?

[ What else could it be, if Ranger has changed here? If he's close to Komaeda, and Komaeda cares for Rantarou Amami, then all of it may be connected. Otherwise, why should any of it matter to him personally?

Alice's eyes lower to Ranger's hand where it disappears in the doll's pocket, concealed from view. ]