zombies don't like tea and are not valid

[happydreamed]

Who: Heart Soldier and guests
Where: Heart Soldier dorm
When: Day 486 afternoon, after the game

[we deal with trauma the same way we deal with everything else: by drinking tea until we calm down]

Comments

[sangreine]

[ Knocking politely! And going to make every effort not to be a sad sack! ]

[ Aliza's here all the time so less a visitor than just here again (sorry boys). If she didn't arrive with Venti and/or Lupine then she hovers close if and when they get here -- they have a ritual. ]

[ She has some tea, but isn't eating anything. She also seems weirdly averse to forks?? ]

I guess I'm living on prepackaged food for a while. Or soup.

[happydreamed]

...Of all the issues that come from fighting with forks, that one I did not foresee.

[He was more concerned about them being bad as weapons??]

cw fork murder

[sangreine]

[ Yes they were also terrible weapons ]

I was okay with using them until the very end. [ Killing a rotting, undead version of one of your dearest friends isn't easy with any weapon, but that one made it particularly awful since it was just -- messy. Literally and figuratively ]

[happydreamed]

Understandably. I'll put on some soup for you.

[sangreine]

Ah-- no, but thank you. I'm not hungry yet. Just tea is fine.

That gives me an idea, though. I should have Dia help me make some to take to Causality, he was afflicted with low body temperature. Even I couldn't warm him up. [ She has a ridiculous body temperature and all, practically feverish after a hard fight like in that game. ]

[happydreamed]

Ah - you should. I'm sure he won't ask anyone for help, knowing him.

[sangreine]

He won't tell me no, don't worry. [ She cracked the code on that boy ]

I probably also won't want to play darts for a while, if that was ever something you had in mind. That's what I used in the first round. Their way of leveling the playing field, I guess. [ Like a golf handicap if golf was a deadly sport ]

[happydreamed]

Giving you a real weapon would have been unfair. You'd have cleared out the whole game tower.

[sangreine]

Flatterer. [ But it does get a real smile out of her, so ]

[happydreamed]

[Good, that was his goal.]

Me? Never. I praise you exactly as much as you deserve.

[sangreine]

That quantity is highly subjective.

[happydreamed]

Hmm, you're right. I should praise you more just to make sure.

[leaveofabsence]

[ Hey Alizarin. 'Sup? ]

Has the game spoiled your perception of food?

[sangreine]

[ GOOD NEWS she's way too sad to be nervous about this conversation ]

Hi, Zhongli. Welcome back.

[ As a gift, have a piece of the horror show! ] They made me fight with silverware, and I had to kill a friend with one, so...

1/2

[leaveofabsence]

[ Oh... ]

[leaveofabsence]

Might I interest you in a pair of chopsticks?

[sangreine]

Some other time, you certainly can. I'm too exhausted to be hungry, and there's a bit of phantom pain in my neck. [ Fully healed, but being strangled by a tentacle zombie messed with her head ]

I'll ask Aradia to help me make soup later. I'm trying to learn to cook, after half a dozen people insisted. [ The most wry ]

1/2

[leaveofabsence]

It is a worthwhile skill to have though it does not come as naturally to some as others.

[leaveofabsence]

That aside, it seems you endured much during the game. Are you alright? Or perhaps a more appropriate question is are you as well as you can be?

[sangreine]

Caeli has been trying to teach me for weeks. I don't know why he'd sign up for that kind of suffering.

As far as the game, it was just a lot. Fighting is the one thing I'm great at, and not being able to protect people or keep my promises...

[ Not all right, no. ]

[leaveofabsence]

Caeli's ambition to improve himself can manifest in various ways. Perhaps he sees this as a challenge to tackle together rather than a painful endeavor.

. . .

There are no words that can properly soothe those kinds of wounds. Especially with how fresh they are.

I hope the company can provide you with some solace.

[sangreine]

[ Her sarcasm sailed neatly overhead, but possibly her terrible mood is making it difficult to read her tone. ] Caeli keeps pushing me into new things, but if I minded that much I'd be more forceful about declining. I get a little embarrassed about things I'm bad at, that's all.

In the same way, company is good for me at times like this. When I avoid people it's not because I want to be alone, it's because I think I should be miserable.

[leaveofabsence]

Then I am glad that you have friends to turn to in spite of those urges.

[sangreine]

I won't pretend it's easy, but it's getting easier to manage myself the longer I'm awake. And I think I've hurt the people around me quite enough for one cycle.

[ She's tired, which is unusual for her, so she doesn't notice her casual references to her waking/hibernation cycle until she was done speaking. At which point she winces slightly, unsubtle as ever. That's what she gets for making a habit out of referring to it. ]

[leaveofabsence]

One cycle...?

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the term.