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[wotanon]

Who: LiliS + friends
Where: LiliS
When: 428, anytime after brunch

[ WELL, they won a TERRIBLE GAME where even winning feels awful! Also they're down a unitmate again. ]

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[at_heart]

[ Endgame was fine, thanks. He did eventually pick himself up enough to — comfort a few people, help get Pentium wrangled, get snacks for sIV and anyone else who wanted quick salt or sugar, and...

...and he's just tired, that's all. The way you get when you just spent four days in a game that only lasted a few hours, staving off the bitter cold and playing amateur surgeon with your unitmate.

He's not really hungry, but he should be, and they agreed they were gonna do tea and... little cakes or something, after games, so. You can find Lupine in the kitchen, just kind of watching the kettle boil, or something slightly past it. ]

[syckophant]

800 points.

So I missed a game, but you won. What was it?

[Lupine looks. Not GREAT, but at least whole, but Eichi knows that doesn't mean anything after a game. Especially if you win.]

[at_heart]

[ The sound of Eichi's voice actually startles him a little. Must've been kind of zoned out. —Oh, the water's done. Gonna... make himself that cup of tea, then. ]

Heh. I — yeah, we did. [ Mug in his hands. The heat is — good, reaffirming. Finally shifting to face Eichi, though he keeps his weight leaned against the kitchen counter and his eyes on the mug. ] She called herself 'god'? Said... [ It feels like days ago. He knows it wasn't. ] Something about wanting to see how we'd survive the cold.

[ At the very least, it should definitely have already occurred to Lupine to wonder whether Tenn's already told you all of this, or why he wouldn't have, but nope. That thought is pretty far from his head right now. ]

[syckophant]

[He immediately wrinkles his nose.]

Ah, that bitch.

She is a sadistic idiot whose only joy in life is making people suffer and pretending to be a deity.

[There are not many people Eichi outright despises, but she one of them!]

Anyway... this looks like it was your first really hard game, Hunger Games being more your forte. How are you doing?

1/

[at_heart]

[ Listening to that. Absorbing it. ]

She used to be one of us.

[ Maybe he wouldn't be able to muster a whole lot of outrage right now no matter how he felt, but he's not Tsukky: he wasn't indignant when she described herself that way, or shocked. On some level it just clicked for him. Pain and hardship shape people differently. Sometimes what you take away from it is that nobody should ever have to suffer the way you did, and sometimes... ] [ Lupine shuts his eyes, blows on his tea. ]

[at_heart]

[ ...Realizes there was a question in there, one he forgot to answer. ]

—That obvious, huh?

[ A soft noise, like a huff. ]

They fix you up real good when you win. Like it never happened. [ Beat. Breathing in the steam. ] It's better that way, right? Better that we didn't have to — buy parts afterwards. I know sIV can reattach them, but...

[ Doesn't really know what he's trying to say. Has a slow sip of his tea. ]

[syckophant]

Yes she did, and she was just as bad then. Not everyone who is here is good or deserving of grace.

[Betrayal with G☆d around sure was a thing.

Eichi sighs, shrugging.]

It's part of why we try to win, even at the expense of our health. Or maybe... maybe that's just my reason. Because sometimes losing is punished with death or injury, and sometimes it's punished with effects that can last numerous days after the game and cannot be healed or even helped by healers.

I'm glad you won.

I'm sorry that it was terrible even so.

Is there anything I can do for you?

[at_heart]

[ Some of the tension is seeping out of him as Eichi speaks. They're good reminders. But damn, he can't... ] [ Another sip of tea, then he just says, ]

The last day, we hit a frozen lake. No way around it, but we could see the finish line on the other side. We left the car, tried to cross...

[ His voice sounds a little funny, maybe just to his own ears. Lupine lets himself trail off and has a little more tea. Feels the heat go through him. 'Even at the expense of our health' sounds like Eichi already knows, and finally it occurs to him that Tenn might have already told him all of this. The idea feels oddly faraway and unreal, just like it did to watch Tenn climb the ladder to the sunroom.

(They're both alive, they're both in one piece. It wasn't permanent.) ]

—The ice broke and he fell through. [ Beat. ] It was so cold. I knew I couldn't get to him. I knew it was just going to kill me to try.

[ So. He hadn't tried. ]

[heavenlyvisitor]

[ When Tenn gets home, he goes immediately for the sunroom and makes a sloppy nest out of All Of The blankets and pillows and hides in it. ]

[syckophant]

[Eichi will notice Tenn's silence and absence, and go to find him.]

... Tenn...? Rough game, was it?

[heavenlyvisitor]

[ ...nods, reaching a hand out of his pile to grasp onto whatver he grabs first on eichi, giving a tug to demand him in. ]

[syckophant]

[Time to lay on his boy. Eichi allows himself to be tugged, ending up on top of Tenn.]

Want to tell me about it, love?

[heavenlyvisitor]

[ he immediately clings to him - it's not a quick and desperate cling, but more in the line of the way someone would hug a pillow or stuffed animal for comfort after waking up from a bad dream. ]

It was cold. I drowned.

[ ...There was a lot more than "I Drowned", but that's what's at his forefront. ]

[syckophant]

[Well, all the more reason to bundle Tenn up! He's more than happy to be a big feathery blanket, and he returns the embrace, wrapping his wings around them.]

I see... I take it you don't want to talk about it. But there isn't much to talk about, is there? Sounds like it was awful for you. Drowning... is a really awful way to go.

[He'll press a kiss to each of Tenn's eyes.]

[overworker]

[The soft knock-knocking of a visitor.]

[syckophant]

[Answering!]

Hello...? I don't believe we know each other. Are you here for Lupine, then?

[overworker]

Ah-- I don't think we have? Or... well...

[With the graying, she can't say she's the best judge of that.]

Yes. But I also wanted to leave these for the rest of you as well.

[There's a box with small curry buns sectioned on one side and cream puffs on the other.]

[syckophant]

Hah. Perhaps in passing. I am Tenshouin Eichi, either way. Would you like to come in? I could make you some tea.

[He will at least take the offered box so that she no longer needs to carry it.]

[overworker]

Mm. [She nods, smiling softly.] Thank you. I would-- as long as it's not any trouble.

[syckophant]

Not to worry, I wouldn't offer if it was any trouble. [Maybe that is rude, but it is only the truth! He isn't one to go out of his way to host.]

You have a kind of tea you prefer?

[at_heart]

[ timey-wimey-etc-etc ] [ He's in the kitchen, all slippers and an apron over his clothes, and he's — very genuinely startled to see her when he turns around. He heard the knock, heard Eichi get the door, then tuned out. Looks like he have been about to start making lunch, but nothing's actually cooking yet. ]

—Oh. Hey, Rene.

[ A belated once over, checking her color. He thinks it looks better than yesterday. Good. ]

[overworker]

...hey Lulu.

[She studies him-- somewhat satisfied that for the most part he seems to be in decent shape now.]

I hope I'm not intruding. I saw what happened earlier... and I wasn't sure how you were all feeling-- so I brought a few things.

[at_heart]

[ And so they eye each other, probably not quite as subtly as either of them were hoping, but she asks it outright too, and... and he just — looks surprised again. Finally taking in the box, he moves to take it from her. ]

—Yeah. We won, so.

[ His gaze drops to the box, and he musters up a smile for her. ]

What'd you bring?

[overworker]

[Winning doesn't always mean much, and her expression says she knows as much. And she can guess from the way he talks that it was more than that. Certainly no walk in the park.]

Curry buns and cream puffs. The curry buns are a favorite recipe one of our previous members taught me. Silk used to make them for me when I needed a pick me up. I think there's just something... warm and comforting about them. I thought maybe if I could share that feeling just a little, then-- well, maybe it would help chase away the cold. So to speak.

[Though she clearly made both herself, she only gives the desserts she's come to be quite good at a throw-away mention.]

The latter are just sort of a specialty of mine.

[at_heart]

[ ...Oh. Oh! This is... ] [ Lupine blinks a few times, then moves the box to a little dinette table in the kitchen. Opening it... ]

They smell great. [ Tiniest beat. ] —Thank you.

[ Feeling a little overwhelmed?? This looks like so much trouble. ] [ ......he kind of loves sweets, which is why he's in Tsukky's Sweets Club, but he wants the warmth more than the sugar right now, so he takes out a curry bun carefully. Nom. ]