trustfelled | i'll be dreaming of the day we meet again

i'll be dreaming of the day we meet again

[ After she gets Fern patched up, Aligula starts on what might be her Best Party Ever.

...until her next one, anyway. It's no surprise where she's hosting today: it's the dormitory area. Throughout the hours of setting it up, it gets more and more colorful—the doors of the dead (both newly deceased and old) get childish paper cut-out flowers (think the daisy looking ones), while the living get stars. They're all in different colors, with no real discernible pattern! Long strands of ribbon decorate the walls along with more colorful party hat-looking cut-outs, in and out of the little cul-de-sac areas. In the center of the area are blankets laid out with plates of pancakes and trays of tea, stacked on tables made out of books. (There are also parfaits in wine glasses, because of course there are.)

More importantly, there are pillows across the floor of the entire hallway and especially stacked around the center, and in every little room area there's a nice note posted to one of the walls, in Aligula's ever familiar curly handwriting:

Apparently, today's after-party is the slumber party type to even help people who might not want to wander the hallways tonight. ...and look, Luca, she even took your advice. ]

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Oh... [ ... ] Well, Mozu's there with him now, so I'm sure she could ask him for us.

[ How she's gonna get the answer to them is like, anyone's guess, but... that's okay. ]

Are you gonna read your letter? [ ...WE DIDN'T AVOID THIS TOPIC FOR VERY LONG, CILAN. ]

[dang it aligula, we were counting on you to be a distraction!!]

I haven't decided yet. [Does he want to give Ferid the pleasure of having read his dumb letter, or should we immediately throw it in the incinerator--] Have you looked at it?

[ sorry!!! ]

Nope! I didn't look at anyone's. [ ...... ] Okay, I totally snooped at Isaac's, but he's dead? So I'm pretty sure that's okay. It's not like he's gonna ever read it.

[And for that, you get a slightly disapproving look, but...]

That's distasteful... but I suppose I should just be glad you didn't read mine.

[If Isaac hadn't snapped Naoto's neck maybe we would care more about a dead man's privacy, but nope, sorry man.]

I care about people's privacy! ...As long as they're living. Dead people don't have a right to that anymore.

[ y e a h.

also she totally got curious because of Luca's insistence at the trial AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT—!!! ]

Do you wanna know what it said?

[Oh come now, surely we're not that desperate to--]

... Only if it's not too personal of a letter to be sharing with us here.

[Never mind apparently we are that desperate to delay reading our own letter from Ferid. Once again, sorry Isaac.]

Oh no, it's totally super personal! [ ...which is exactly why she's taking it out to read, yes. ]

A-hem. Treasured Isaac,

[ this already starts off GREAT, RIGHT. ]

I won't ask your forgiveness, no more than I would anyone else's, because I'm aware I don't deserve it. I don't particularly care, either. That's simply how it is. What a dumb-dumb! Okay, next part~!

That being said: I am grateful that you and Inigo still allowed me to stay with you, and even to offer yourselves as a source to feed from should my own ever dry for some reason. I would have relished it, really; I love the both of you, in my own way. Love isn't something we vampires feel, but I do know that I would if I were human—I hope you don't get too embarrassed by this~.

[ ...she even sing-song'd the tilde, she is dedicated to her craft. But she's folding it up after that, putting it back in her onesie's pocket. ]

That's all that's totally interesting though. Scandalous, isn't it?

[Cilan actually has to hold back the urge to laugh when Aligula first starts reading it, but once she reaches the second part of what she reads...]

... Mm, indeed. It's quite an embarrassing taste, that Ferid would write something like that... though perhaps not unexpected either, given what he's like.

I wonder... It's more like—he found them genuinely interesting, more than that he loved them. [ ...but if he were human—!!!

heehee. ] It's the same way with the Adjudicator. He doesn't like people, apparently, not the way that you and I would totally like someone? But he finds some of them interesting.

[ ... ]

Ferid's always been super flowery with his words though, hasn't he? It was a lot of fun to talk with him. [ ...sniff. no, she's good!! ] It's why you're a lot of fun to talk to too, even if your way of speaking's like, even weirder than his.

[Wow, Cilan almost had a feeling again about Ferid there but then you had to comment on that--]

It's not weird. It's perfectly natural for a Pokemon Connoisseur to speak this way.

It's weird to everyone else! But it's fun toooo, I like it. [ generally. ] Anyway, your turn! Read yours, read youuurs!

[ ...oh but— ] You don't have to do it aloud though, unless it's something that's totally embarrassing for Ferid.

[He'd really rather not... but at the same time, there is the prospect of embarrassing Ferid too and if anyone would appreciate that, it's Aligula.

So he finally opens the letter to begin. Ahem--]

"Dearest Cilan--" [Must suppress urge to eyeroll. OFF TO A GREAT START.] "Sometimes I wished I were human so I could have..."

... oh.

[And then he stops reading aloud pretty quick. Apparently what Ferid wrote is kind of... um. Immediately more gut-punching than we expected.]

[ Aligula loves getting people to do what she wants.

She waits, kicking her feet gently, and when he looks like he's just about done she tilts her head. ]

...How're you feeling?

[Well, as Cilan finishes reading the rest of the letter on his own, he seems rather calm, maybe even more at ease than before as by the time he reaches the comment about Ferid wanting a Sylveon named after him, Cilan's smiling.

... Until he reaches the very last line of the letter, in which case his expression falls.]

"It was my choice and I'll undoubtedly have fun with it"...?

[Fun. Have fun with killing Angel, and Yuri, even though they were our friends here--]

Ha, what a tasteless comment to end things on... [But, then he seems to remember that Aligula's still here, in which he folds the letter closed now once he's stopped twisting it in his hands.] I'll have to think about this flavor a little more: it's hard to judge what kind of taste I'd consider this to be just yet.

[Though, despite his weird way of speaking, it's obvious that he's definitely not happy right now.]

[ ...Tasteless sure is right. Ferid's her friend, but he's her massive asshole friend. ]

Take the good with the bad and remember he's just a big meaniehead even if he's totally sweet sometimes, I guess.

[ That's what she's doing. ...outside of killing Angel and using her to paint a picture, he... wasn't actually ever that mean to her? There were little things, but he didn't antagonize her.

They had such a good friendship, wtf. ]

At this point I'm inclined to say that this tastes more bitter than sweet, but...

[Ferid's a jerk and doesn't deserve to be missed, he's "not someone worth wasting time on feeling bitter or sad about". That's what he should be thinking right now, saying too in fact. But instead he opens his mouth to say something else.]

... It's going to be strange, not having him around to talk to.

...Yeah.

[ ...she's not really sure what to do with herself about that. Sure, there's talking to other people, but Ferid was different? ]

He was like, totally the boyfriend I never asked for here. He'd wait for me outside of my room, and we'd walk places together, and he'd eat with me—well, not like, with me? He'd keep me company when I ate though. [ humm. ] He was... really great, you know? I think I'd even call him my best friend.

[ Angel was too, but Ferid's like Best friend. ]

[For that, Cilan finds himself looking down at the folded letter in his hands, and after a moment, he can't help but allow a small smile.]

You know, I actually thought that having him around during the trials made this whole experience less... terrifying, I guess? I mean, it's annoying how much of a mockery they are and not how a proper trial should be conducted, but some of the things he'd say... well, they certainly had an interesting enough flavor that made the trials less irritating for me to taste...

[His dumb comments or occasional flirting with Juri actually made it easier to focus our attention away from spending the whole thing being upset over dead friends or in fear of being next if they voted wrong.]

Ah... does that make sense? Or is that too strange a taste to think about?

No, I think that's totally on the mark! People can say whatever they want, but I think having a little fun helps keep our attention fresh. Especially if it's at someone's expense. It just becomes trouble if it gets too out-of-hand, but on the other hand... even that can help work out who the culprit is?

[ To an extent. ]

Indeed. I hate to say it, but... if we somehow end up in another trial here, I'm going to miss having his remarks keeping it from become too stale or dreary in flavor.

[And maybe miss Ferid himself too but like hell we're going to say that, buddy you lost the privilege of being missed out loud.]

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i'll be dreaming of the day we meet again

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