forget about life for a while [closed]

[tidesnpc]

Characters: Anyone on the Convoy
Content: This is the closest thing to an Amicus party the Convoy will have. Anyone who wants to drink to celebrate the holiday is more than welcome, but drowning your sorrows is all right, too.
Setting: The Convoy's mess hall
Time: Amicus, evening and into the night
Warnings: Alcohol use, plus whatever the

Comments

[drinkitlovelife]

Kurumi was already into the alcohol. She'd helped to set it all out on the tables first and promptly begun to drink some whatever-it-was from a dark bottle to the right of her. From the faces she was making, she certainly didn't like the beverage in question, but she wasn't backing down from it, either.

What else was there to do?

[scaredbrilliant]

Justin wanted nothing more, right now, than to stop thinking about the sight from the deck. He wasn't sure why he'd even gone up there to look - except that he couldn't not. He doubted not seeing it would have helped. Not really. He'd still know what happened, and he'd still need to stop thinking about it.

That, at least, was something he had a lot of practice at. There wasn't enough work to bury himself in, but alcohol would do just as well. He sat down heavily in a free chair, threw an automatic "Do you mind?" toward Kurumi, and poured himself a full glass of whatever it was she was having without waiting for a response. Judging by her expression, there was enough alcohol in it to get him drunk.

[drinkitlovelife]

"Hm." Kurumi shrugged and kept drinking, grimace or not.

[scaredbrilliant]

Permission enough, not that he'd really expected otherwise.

Justin finished half of his glass in one go, without even making a face. He was more used to drinking to forget his problems than was good for him.

Talking wasn't exactly on the top of his list of priorities, either. Hopefully once he was drunk it would become easier - possible - to talk about something besides the recent disaster. Hopefully.

Sometime after Kurumi's been drinking

[princelyspirit]

What a day, what a day, what a day. The fight with the satyrs would have been enough for anybody. But then, they got waylaid by that...that psychopath from the ruins of Grita's castle. Then, if that wasn't enough, she got dragged into that crazy argument between Ichigo and Watanuki. It wasn't until that was done that she finally had the time to process what, exactly, happened to the continent.

We failed, she thought bitterly as she walked into the mess hall. For how hard they had fought, they couldn't save everybody. Not only did they fail the hostage and her friends, they had failed everybody who lost their lives and homes from the explosion. A swirl of conflicted emotions swelled within her: anger, despair, frustration. However, within this was a seed of concern. So, she forced herself into the mess hall to see how the rest of the crew was holding up

[drinkitlovelife]

"YOU."

Kurumi pointed at Utena and stormed over to her, stumbling as she did so. She stabbed a finger into Utena's face.

"I've given you en... enough time," Kurumi accused. "Enough is enough. Explain yourself!"

[princelyspirit]

Utena's eyes widened and she jerked away from Kurumi's finger. Just what was she upset about...and was she drunk?! Great, she probably was. As if she wasn't enough of a pain when she was sober...

"Look," she said, "if it's about coming in late, Ichigo and I got held up on the way back. That's all."

[drinkitlovelife]

"It's not that!" Kurumi flailed and knocked over an empty bottle. "I... I've been mad at you for months, stupid."

[princelyspirit]

"About what?" she asked, her tone caught between surprise and exasperation. Just what did she do? As far as she had known, she had always been polite to Kurumi.

[drinkitlovelife]

"Seriously?" Kurumi gaped. "C'mon... I know you're the one! The one from the rumours!"

[princelyspirit]

"What rumors?"

As far as she knew, she didn't really have anything to hide, other than what happened at Ohtori. If there were any rumors about that floating around, she would have heard them ages ago.

[drinkitlovelife]

"The mysterious figure! She saves people when they're in danger, she appears from the shadows... Everybody talks about her. The one who's been horning in on my act!"

Kurumi put her hands on her hips.

"It's you, isn't it? The fake Milky Rose!"

[princelyspirit]

Utena stared at Kurumi, completely dumbfounded, and the gears in her head crunched to a halt. Just what on Reial was she talking about?!

Then she remembered Kurumi's entrance in Antrim. That frilly outfit, that fake voice...it was like something out of a radio show. Was that what she was upset about?

"Look," she said, with a tinge of barely suppressed annoyance, "I didn't even hear about Milky Rose until a few months ago, all right? There's no way that I'd rip you off."

[drinkitlovelife]

"Liar." Kusumi swayed in place. "I saw that white rose ring you used to wear before Lunasa. You're the only one it could be." A hand went to her head -- why was it spinning? "I finally found you, impostor! Why'd you do it?"

[princelyspirit]

Utena froze the moment she mentioned the duelist's ring. While she did wear it until just recently, it had nothing to do with Milky Rose. Did she have any idea what that actually meant?

...no, no she didn't. A rare, cold anger crept over her nerves and Utena stood up from the table. Normally, she would have been able to handle this. However, normally she didn't come straight from a fight with some psychopath bent on revenge. Normally she didn't survive an ambush on a group of satyrs. Normally, she didn't have to deal with the collapse of-

"I don't have time for this," she said, her voice quiet, before she walked away.

[drinkitlovelife]

Huh. Huh?

Kurumi stared for a second or two. She quickly shook her head and started to stomp after Utena.

"Wha-- what is wrong with you? Stop it! If you're really not pretending to be me, then why!?"