You laugh until you cry; you cry until you laugh

[sailorgenerous]

Who: Virgo musicians - Ghost Quest people and their friends
What: When eight musicians go missing, what happens to those left behind? What happens when those eight come back far worse for the wear?
When: Feb 1st-3rd and after
Where: Virgo HQ
Warnings: Talk of torture, violence, brainwashing, etc. It's ugly in here, folks.

The past three days have not been kind. The hauntings were odd, yes, but when your friends went missing without warning or a trace - well.

How have you been coping? Have you been coping?

And then they came back just as suddenly, and...it looks like your worries were not unfounded.

This isn't good, is it.

Comments

[exhumerus]

Sans take that opportunity to just sink down onto the table and to keep yucking it up, though more softly now, resting on his crossed arms. It takes him another ten seconds or so to calm down fully. Phew. That all sort of happened at once, didn't it?

"Nah," he says, sparing her the angst. "That would have been some pretty prime irony, though."

His grin is still there, but it's more tired than anything else, sweat beading on his forehead. Less a smile, and more a bearing of teeth. He feels like this is some kind of cosmic message, all of a sudden.

[sailorgenerous]

Thank God.

Rarity sinks back gratefully into her seat at the answer. Good.

Well, no, not good - Sans is now half-lying on the table and is still very obviously not okay, but it is better than it could have been. "I'm glad you find it funny," she says, still frazzled and very much not meaning it.

After a few more moments of gathering herself, she stands up, pats his shoulder gingerly - "Stay here." - and leaves, heading for the communal kitchen. She can't think of much to do for him, but a cup of tea can't hurt, can it?

[exhumerus]

Sans isn't really sure what kind of social transaction is happening here. So she slapped him and hauled him up by the shirt and told him he was scum...but somehow him laughing in her face means they're cool now? Okay, whatever. He'll take it.

"Yes, ma'am," he drawls, apparently not nearly as concerned as she is, anymore. He totally dozes off on the table while she's getting tea. He does that sometimes.

[sailorgenerous]

She isn't gone for long - long enough to make tea in a mug (because she won't hold most people, let alone Sans, to her standards) and gather sugar and honey and lemon - but somehow he's already asleep when she gets back. Between Greg and Marty, she's handled enough men sleeping in odd places to know how to handle this one. She puts the mug and plate down out of his reach and shakes his shoulder gently. "Wake up."

[exhumerus]

Aw, and he was having such a good time. He cracks open his eyes, looking at her with a blank sort of complacency. This is happening, and that is totally cool. He doesn't even care anymore.

Wow, he almost let himself crumble under the pressure, there! What a relief that he could just remember the meaninglessness of life all over again.

"Ah, tea," he says, looking at the mug.

[sailorgenerous]

"I thought it might help," Rarity explains, moving the mug and plate closer to Sans, "though I don't know how you take it." She settles back in her seat and picks up her tea. It's lukewarm at best by now, but it's better than nothing.

[exhumerus]

"With a couple of lumps, apparently," he says, with a wink that is on the dry side. He gently raps his knuckles against his own cheek. Hell if he isn't still taking the mug, though.

[sailorgenerous]

She smiles, though it is a bit wan, and chuckles weakly. "I feel as though I should apologize." She pauses. "Although you did deserve it." She says it without ire. It's been a very trying day so far, and an odd conversation over tea is something of a relief.

[exhumerus]

"Interesting reasoning for smackin' someone around," he says, drinking from his mug and not really caring what it tastes like. It's a trend he's been observing lately, which offends him on some primal level he doesn't quite understand. People can decide that others deserve stuff for all sorts of reasons. It's the same logic that ends up with people like Haru getting used and abused.

Discussing philosophy is best left to special occasions, though.

[sailorgenerous]

"Is it." Rarity observes Sans over the top of her teacup, words cool and even. "Because you did just malign a dear friend who needs your help far more than he needs your sarcasm, did you not?" As far as she's concerned, it's fairly straightforward: you do not kick your friends while they're down. (You don't do that to anybody, actually - it's the reason she gave Sans a cup of tea instead of another bruise to match the first.)

Slapping him may not have been the best choice, but she isn't quite ready to admit that yet.

[exhumerus]

"Greg might not need my sarcasm, but clearly you do," he says, just as level, just as concerned with his drink. "Sometimes there's just no better response to insulting assumptions, but maybe you just don't know how to take a joke."

They're not exactly friends - him mouthing off to her doesn't affect his relationship with Greg by one iota as far as he's concerned.

[sailorgenerous]

"Oh, was that a joke? My mistake - I thought jokes were supposed to be funny." Rarity doesn't need any of Sans' sarcasm; she clearly has plenty of her own.

She reins it in, delivering her next words levelly. "Honestly, I don't understand how you can be cruel when there's already so much of that going around." What does Greg see in Sans, anyway?

[exhumerus]

"You ever hear the phrase...you can laugh or you can cry?"

He puts his drink down and leans back against his chair. He's got a headache in the works from all of this. At this rate, his bone is never going to heal.

"For someone whose only known the guy for a couple weeks, you sure like making judgement calls. Here's a tip: this entire corp has a painted face. If you're going to understand anything, you should probably start accumulating more than ten seconds worth of data before doing something unwise."

[sailorgenerous]

"Well that's a very black and white way of looking at it." She'd rather laugh, true, but not at someone else's expense.

Rarity finishes her cup of tea and sets it down. She's going to need another one at this rate, but if she gets up again, she's not sure Sans will still be here when she gets back. Her voice is quiet when she replies. "I'm not clueless, believe it or not. I'm also not the one talking about sensitive material in public." She's spoken with more than one person about it, and even if she hadn't, it would be very difficult to miss the fact that things around here are very wrong.

[exhumerus]

"Exactly. Just acceptin' the facts, isn't it?" He taps the table with his finger. "I meant more along the lines that plenty of other people would hit you right back...if not worse."

He shrugs, offering a pretty insincere grin.

"Unless you make a habit of only picking fights with people weaker than you...in which case, good job. You picked a winning strategy. Nothing like roughing a person up a bit to show 'em whose boss."

The edge of distaste in those words heavily implies he's being sarcastic.

[sailorgenerous]

"Thank you for your concern, but I do know how to pick my fights." It's light with an undercurrent of steel - she's seen how bad things are getting, and she's been told who's causing it. She can hold her own against Sans; she's not about to go up against someone who can destroy her with a wave of their hand.

She raises an eyebrow, letting Sans talk, and stands up when he's done. "When you're done acting blameless, do let me know. In the mean time, I'm going to get another cup of tea. Would you like one?" She barely waits for his answer before heading back to the kitchen.

[exhumerus]

"Nah."

Sans raises his eyebrows as she stalks off for tea. By any sane reasoning he should just get up and leave right now, for all the constructive sense this is making. But, he doesn't.

"Geez," he says to no one. He'll be sitting in the same place when she gets back. He's kind of determined to be the last to leave, at this point.

[sailorgenerous]

Admittedly, Rarity takes a little longer to make her tea than is strictly necessary, but any delay in going back to that conversation is a welcome one. She waits for it to be the perfect temperature before heading back to the table and daintily taking her seat.

And taking a sip of her tea.

And waiting.

Your move, Sans.

[exhumerus]

This must be what hell is like.

Sans refrains from saying anything either, until at least a good twenty seconds has passed. There is nothing sarcastic about his tone when he finally speaks.

"You realize nothing I said at the start was sincere, right?"

[sailorgenerous]

She's waited him out once before, at Luce's brunch party, and she fully intends to do it again here.

Or Sans could break the silence. That works too.

"I didn't realize it at the time," she replies calmly. She probably wouldn't have slapped him if she had, in all honesty.

[exhumerus]

His eyebrows raise.

"...You remember what I was saying about absorbing more than fifteen seconds of data before acting?"

Please let this torment end.

[sailorgenerous]

Look at how impressed she is not.

"And do you remember what I said about cruelty?" Obviously not, but it bears repeating.

[exhumerus]

"No," he replies, just as smoothly, "maybe you should explain it to me again."

[sailorgenerous]

The temptation to throw her tea in his face is rising, but she tamps it back down. It would be a waste of perfectly good tea, after all, and she'd only just made this cup. "Do you plan on listening this time around? Because that would be a nice change of pace."

[exhumerus]

He crosses his arms, hooking his fingers around the bone just above his fracture to keep it steady. The pain there has started to level out again, which he is thankful for.

"Shoot," he says.