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

[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.

[sailorgenerous]

She tries not to sigh too heavily and takes a moment to parse out her words beforehand. "We don't need any more cruelty around here," she says, level as she can manage. "It doesn't matter if you're trying to be funny - you can still hurt someone, and that's the last thing anyone needs right now."

[exhumerus]

Sans grits his teeth. It's true - and normally he doesn't even like nasty humour. Being sarcastic is something that only comes out when he's feeling especially nasty, either out of frustration or spite. Puns are one of the most toothless forms of humour out there which is why he likes them so much. Everyone can laugh at a pun, and there's no bad vibes at all.

He's sick of this, he thinks. This in general, whatever it is.

"I can respect that. And, frankly, I agree with you."

Is this actually happening?

"But do you really want to be that person who beats people up to get their way? Honest question. Considering what just happened to these innocent kids...that's not the kind of noise I'd want to add to, either."

It's amazing what you can do when you actually say what you're thinking.

[sailorgenerous]

That reply is...unexpected, to say the least. Rarity does not like to be caught staring, and yet that simply keeps happening in this conversation.

And then Sans continues, and she feels her cheeks redden with shame. He's right - she just lectured him on hurting people, when she made a terrible decision and hurt him right back. "No," she finally replies, forcing herself to keep eye contact. She can't look away for this. "I don't. After everything that's happened - after all of this-" She shakes her head, takes a deep breath, and tries again. "I made a poor decision. I never should have hit you, and I'm sorry I did." It's more vulnerable than she'd like to be, especially given how many times today he's thrown her words back in her face, but she owes him this.

[exhumerus]

There's a moment of silence after she speaks, and Sans is hard to read. Is he going to say something shitty? He might! There's still time.

But in the end, he just exhales slowly, as if releasing tension. He nods.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." It's still said in the same, level tones, but it does seem sincere. "For what it's worth, Greg is an important pal of mine, and even though he is a total goober, the only reason it concerns me is because sometimes I worry about the guy. One of the kids in my band was missing, too. I can admit it's got me on edge."

[sailorgenerous]

That is a far longer moment than she'd like it to be., and she has to fight not to match his sigh as it ends. Good. She definitely did not want to go for another round of this.

And some one has been missing from ViP too - it puts Sans in about the same state of mind that Rarity has been functioning under for the past few days. "I don't think the past few days have been kind to anyone. I've been doing my best to keep Greg calm, but...it might be better for him to speak with someone he's known for more than a month." It's an invitation of sorts, one she could never have seen herself extending fifteen minutes ago.

After a moment of thought, she reaches across the table and lays her hand gingerly on Sans'. She almost doesn't want to make the offer - she's been spread so thin - but they're all in the same situation, and if she can help, then she needs to. "And if you or your friend need anything, do let me know. I'll...see what I can do."

[exhumerus]

Sans seems uncomfortable, but he doesn't pull his hand away. Whenever he has someone touch his gloves, he can't help but think about how his bones are only covered by a layer of leather, so close to discovery. It frightens him after these disappearances more than it ever had before.

The emotional responsibility implied makes him uncomfortable too, though. That's also a thing.

"The kid'll get looked after. It's just hard to make stick, with whatever's going on in their heads now. She seems to been given the idea that she's our maid somehow. It's...getting kinda bizarre."

But then, he makes an indecisive sound.

"Eh...I've been keeping an eye on Universe best I can, but nobody needs to be taking emotional advice from me. You could say I'm under qualified."

[sailorgenerous]

Rarity doesn't keep her hand on his for long - he doesn't seem too pleased with the situation, and there's no reason to push it. "That's...odd," she replies, wrinkling her brow. After Meril's terror and Marty's physical injury, convincing someone they're a maid is...unexpected at best.

She feels much more at ease with the latter part of the conversation. "Sans, Greg is your friend, and he cares about you. It doesn't matter whether you have advice or not; knowing him, he'll be grateful if you come at all and offer to listen. You don't have to be qualified to be a good friend; you just have to try." She's absolutely certain that she's right, even if she can't quite explain why.

[exhumerus]

"He cares about me too much, if you ask me. He cares about everything too much."

He goes silent for a moment after that, but he looks like he's trying to pick the right words. He curls his fingers around the back of his neck, looking down at the table as he seems to give up.

"Look...I know what you're going to say. That that's a stupid thing to think, or that you can't go through life not caring about anything...but, that's all I've got."

He thinks about what Shen said to him earlier. How he came to ask how to not care about anything. How to not be hurt. How he had to help Haru because he new Sans wouldn't.

"I'm a shit friend because that's just what I am. I've never tried to pretend any different, he just doesn't get it...it'd be dishonest."

To pretend to be the kind of person he's not.

[sailorgenerous]

Rarity wants to interject, but she can see Sans thinking and she stays silent.

She's not sure whether to be glad she did.

She remains silent a few moments more, trying to process what Sans has just told her. He's right - she does not think it's possible to go through life completely apathetic, especially since Sans hasn't.

Even if he doesn't realize it, or doesn't want to.

"But you do care," she tells him gently. "You care enough about what's happening here to stay and take me to task when I chose to be violent." It's still embarrassing, but this is not about her right now. "And you care about Greg, too - enough to worry about whether your friendship is honest and whether he's hurt." She's reaching a bit on that last part, but she's certain enough she's right to continue on. "You don't have to care as much as he does - honestly, I'm not certain anyone can. You just need to care a little. And you do. And that's enough."

[exhumerus]

He doesn't look surprised at what she says, or react beyond continuing to stare at the table ahead of him. He isn't sure she understands, but he didn't think she would. He's even vaguely cognizant of the fact that the reason that no one else understands it is because its a construct of his perpetually ill mind.

That just doesn't seem to make it better, though, when it comes to practicality of it. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, etc.

Part of him just disagrees, that it's okay to just care a little in the face of someone who cares so much more. It isn't fair. He's already gotten far more loyalty out of Greg than he deserves. And in a way far deeper than the memories of this life, he is accustomed to letting people down.

"Well, y'know...everything has its expiration date. I've been me my entire life. I already know how this will go."

[sailorgenerous]

"Do you."

She's listening to him give up - on his friendship with Greg, and on himself. On a normal day, this would be one of the most upsetting things she hears all day; unfortunately, today is anything but normal.

"Because from what I've seen and heard, nobody has been able to predict anything that's been happening lately. How do you know things will turn out the way you think? The only way you'll fail for certain is if you don't try, and I don't think you'd do that to Greg - because you do care about him." It all comes back around.