tonight there will be no quarrelin' / ev'rything is gonna be alright (WINTER BREAK)

[facultwist]

Rest now, Rosenblum Hall. Rest.

When you come to, and the truth is revealed, you are all in Rosenblum Hall as the ambulance arrives. Alive, and with the knowledge of what happened, but also the knowledge of the truth you replaced it with. By killing the mystery, you have saved your friends. And Olivia.

It's still chilly outside, but as you are brought out (while the gas leak is fixed and the food in the kitchen removed), the cold air makes it clear: you're free. This is your golden end.

The rest of your winter break is open to you now. The weather is clean and clear, Isabella will happily let you in anywhere on campus you want to go (and may even take you to town on a Wal-Mart run if you ask nicely once the roads are open), and the future?

The future is yours to shape. Make it a good one. Just remember:

Rosenblum Hall is here for you. Rosenblum Hall will always be here for you.

Comments

[trustheart]

Chris is alive. She remembers what it was like to die, but she's alive anyway. And for the first time in forever, she feels glad to be so.

Having two sets of memories is definitely bizarre, though. She wonders, for a moment, if this was what it would have been like if she had gotten to integrate with her other dimensional self. She had gotten a chance to ask Olivia about her; the other Olivia. The one responsible for all of this. The other Chris had suffered a great deal, it seemed. In many ways, worse than her—though it wasn't a contest, by any means. But she had also apparently shined brilliantly, alongside many friends, with a fire inside her unlike any other and a song in her heart.

Chris would do her best to honor her, by living her life to her fullest.

And so, she spent the remainder of Winter Break doing just that. She spent time with Jewel, who was honestly jealous of anyone who tried to get close to her. She especially didn't seem to like Vanity, but she was hardly alone in that respect. But even Rinne seemed to earn the fox's annoyance and bitterness, and Chris honestly didn't know what to do about it. How exactly did one discipline a fox, anyway?

Throughout the final week, she was practicing her skill at archery at the school's range. Being dead and whatnot in the other timeline had made her slip out of practice, and she needed to get back into shape if she was going to remain on the team. Chris winced as she missed another target. "Ugh. Sloppy," she said, as she readied to take another shot.

On the second to last day of break, she set things up in the lounge so that the group could have a karaoke night. "Come on, everyone likes to sing, right?" she said, somewhat ironically. Far from the girl who used to complain about being on the school choir.

On the last day...Chris is honestly looking rather sad. She's waiting in the entrance hall, sniffling a bit and wiping her eyes, but as she could just leave, it seems she's just waiting for something. It...it couldn't just be everyone else to pass by, could it?

archery

[sweetsynergy]

[Vanity stands, watching. From a safe distance, until Chris is out of arrows to fire. She approaches carefully, like any step might set off a landmine.]

Changed your mind about the team?

[sweetsynergy]

[Where the hell does someone go from here? Vanity would have assumed rock bottom was getting executed for attempted mass murder and spending eternity with the ghosts of her victims and their friends. But no, turns out rock bottom feels like all that, followed by getting back up and having to actually go on with life.]

[With a return to class looming on the horizon, a couple weeks away.]

[Once the new truth settles in, laying across her memories like a fever dream- god, all her bruises fucking hurt- it takes a while for her to emerge from Room A3.]

[The last day of her self-imposed isolation, at some point Hawke will be able to find Vanity sitting on the edge of her bed, absentmindedly scratching Varric behind the ears and staring pensively down at her phone, flicking through something. Eventually she glances up briefly before looking back to her screen.]

I've been meaning to ask something.

[She has been distracted wallowing in shame and recovering physically.]

[Later on, she's finally out and about. She's actually approaching people- carefully keeping her hands empty and in obvious view. There's a few people she's had it out with already. Some people multiple times, but. New life, new memories, time to really begin the very unpleasant, dentist-visit work of clearing the air.]

Hey. Figured it's time to have it out.

[And with the rest of the campus actually accessible but snowy- she can be found in an unused basketball court in the athletic center, calmly but intently putting a bright pink golf ball through a small series of homespun obstacles.]

[She does not notice anyone approaching, which is probably why she actually has a quiet smile on her face.]

[...or y'all can wildcard some kind of prompt here, I'm not your boss.]

A3

[shellhawked]

[There's a dusting of fresh snow in Hawke's hair and a Wal-Mart bag in her hand when she opens the door. Her teeth are still chattering from the brisk cold outside but it's doubtful she'll learn to wear something heavier than a leather jacket on a trip to town.]

Give me a second, I need to process what I'm seeing right now. Are you having the best day in your little life, Varric? [The dog pants happily in response, tongue lulling out of his mouth.

Hawke settles down on Vanity's bed next to her, stretching out to rest on her elbows instead of sitting like a normal person. The bag is rummaged through and, after a moment, she plops a bag of jolly ranchers between them.]

Talk to me. [It's taken a few days but she can finally look at Vanity without feeling a lump in her throat or tears prickling in her eyes...most of the time.]

i'm sorry but i'm also not

[thanoptical]

[Sorry, Vanity. There's someone charging up to you. It's not Satsuki. It's a dog. Yeah, Granola is running up and staring. Not growling, not barking. Just staring. Wiggling his butt a little.]

Um--hi. Vanity...

[There's two dogs staring at you.]

[goldendoll]

... I'm really far down the list of people you need to clear the air with, you know. Are you almost done?

[ hatsune doesn't do more than give a quick glance up from tuning her guitar. sure, there was their confrontation during vanity's trial, but she's already more than seen vanity's awkward attempts at moving forward. the worst issue between the two of them now is... what, that vanity's bitchy to kohaku?

although... she remembers the news alerts she'd seen about aegiscorp after vanity obviously set about trying to burn the company down.

a pause, as she considers something, then looks up again. no sunglasses, as has been typical since the "truth" of what happened was rebuilt. ]

... There might be one thing you can do for me, though. If you want to keep up your whole anti-corporate thing for a bit.

athletic center

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie hasn't stepped foot in this part of campus since before the crash. But if she can tell people where she was last summer - if she can accept that ghosts are real and the wilderness is not - then she can do this. Like excising the scar tissue so the wound can heal, or something.

She doesn't go over to the soccer pitch. Instead, she takes a seat a few feet away from Vanity's makeshift golf course, curling her knees up to her chest and watching peacefully. ]

You're not a bad shot.

athletic center

[rosewitch]

. . . What are you doing?

[It comes out of nowhere, Anthy's voice drifting curiously from the doorway she's leaned against. It would help if her footsteps made any fucking sound at all, but ghost or living girl, she's quiet on approach.]

[Quiet enough to see that smile. Noted. Vanity von Aegis experiences joy.]

[kickdownthatwall]

[Alena is... still alive. She's still workin out. When would she not be workin out? And yet... she should be happy. Everyone's alive. She can make friends with the people she felt like she was just starting to get to know. They saved a three hundred years old ghost couple. She emailed her dad so he's not going to get an ulcer worrying about her. He will never know she has been through some shit, and that is probably for the best.

And yet there's something still bothering her about all of this. The way this ended. Everything's fine for them, and she knows that some things cannot be changed, but... she finds herself looking pensively out the conservatory window every so often anyway as she thinks about another Alena.

...but you know. Outside of that. She is going to try and enjoy life to the fullest. And she does have something she's kind of been wanting to do for a while now, ever since it came up, so she'll just kind of ask around...]

You know... I have been thinking. I want to go and see actual day of the groundhog. I think it would be interesting to observe bizarre American tradition.

[trustheart]

[ Chris is in the middle of drinking a soda...which she nearly snorts up her nose upon hearing Alena's comment. ]

Hrnk! Alena...! You know that's just a fancy superstition they turned into a holiday, right?

Conservatory

[sweetsynergy]

Hey. Checking to make sure the storm's staying down?

[That's sure why Vanity has caught herself staring out the windows a few times. She keeps her distance a bit from Alena, leaning to look out the glass herself.]

I, uh. I can piss off if you need. Or just, you know, want me gone.

Conservatory

[hootheart]

[Tiera's definitely been thinking about her other self, and the other Jann, the one who lost his Tiera. When she sees Alena looking out the window, she quietly approaches, looking out the window alongside the other girl. She doesn't say anything, not yet, but she's there to listen.]

[al_fresco]

[ It's a few days after the storm that the car pulls up to Rosenblum Hall. ]

Yes, Hero, the storm cleared up. ... Yes, Hero, we'll be fine. ... They're letting us stay in one of the dorms! ... No, not the one with the gas leak. ... Yes, I have told our daughter to stay out of the underground pool where the gas leak was. ... No, Sunny's coming next week, remember?

[ The woman talking on her cell who exits the car is... well, she's in her thirties, but it's not like she's mistakable, is it? Especially not with the slight limp. The thirteen-year-old who leaves the car right after sort of hides behind her, but the family resemblance isn't like. Subtle. She knocks on the door. ]

So I hear there was some sort of problem in your underground pool! Someone should probably fix that.

1/2

[sweetsynergy]

[Well. Somehow this is the actual most surreal thing to happen in the past two months and/or one and a half weeks. Vanity once again finds herself frozen for a second.]

[shit shit fucking say something before it gets weird]

2/2

[sweetsynergy]

For some reason I expected you to be shorter.

[Nailed it.]

[thanoptical]

[Satsuki blinks. There's a few things in her mind going on.]

Wait--you're alive! And here... jeeze, you really are about my mom's age...

[Satsuki shut up. She glances around.]

...is Hero a nickname?

[shellhawked]

Holy shit, we really did Jumanji it.

[WE DID IT, GANG...]

Uh- hey.

[rednails]

[Oh my god she really is her mom's age. Mariko's eyes scan over her rapidly.]

... It's a little late for that.

[How is she supposed to talk to Mari? Is she thirteen or thirty?]

[thanoptical]

[Satsuki blinks as she's taken out into the cold air. A giant dog--Turnip?--is following at her heels as the EMTs check everyone out. No, her mind says. That's not Turnip anymore. He looks different, too. More like a Rottweiler with a mix of some other breeds; a little German Shepherd here, a little lab... somehow he's all muscle regardless. No, it's not Turnip. It's Granola and he basically lays on Satsuki's feet to warm her up as the EMTs swirl around them.

For once, Satsuki isn't offering any medical advice. She eventually finds a bench and buries her face in Granola's side. She will be strong and move forward but like Anthy said... she can take time to mourn. If she doesn't it'll fester inside. She's not alone--but part of her is sad for the Komachi that was saved.

I wanted to know you better.

The letters to Komachi, Shiina, Saotome, and Atou... she never got the chance to read them. But maybe it's better that way. She looks up eventually.]

...I think Rachel might kill me. [Satsuki thought she and Rachel were friends but she thinks bringing in a giant dog might... be dangerous.]

How am I going to bribe her...

[Later, she's in the field staring up at the sky. It's very anime protagonist.]

Komachi-san... I'm sorry. I think maybe we could have been good friends. Maybe we were but you had to say goodbye to me. That's okay. I just... I hope that you out there is going to be alright, too.

[The fact that she's talking to the sky in a snowy field with a Rottweiler-esque dog doesn't seem to matter to Satsuki. She's not even worried about how it'd look. What does it matter? Anyone who would call her a weirdo and ostracize her for that wasn't at school right now. She wouldn't be alone unless she wanted to be.

Her hand rubs Granola's ear as she sighs. Her cold breath circles then vanishes. Things were going to be a lot more complicated.

A few days after the storm stopped and Mari's come back she starts coming up to people.]

Um. Once the roads clear up, I might be heading back to Japan for the west of the break and some after.

[She's sad but there's hope, too, in her voice.] I'll be back, though. I promise.

locked to Hawke; it's about her dad.

[thanoptical]

[The night the ambulances come is hectic to say the least but once everyone seemed to be circling up Satsuki's phone rang. It was the first time anyone would have heard her phone ring--and the ringtone probably turned a few heads.

Satsuki knew who she had set that tone and quickly picked it up once to she ran a while.

It was her dad. While there were some in their group who knew Japanese it was still better to speak it now. Her dad was going to, anyway.]

Dad--

[The voice barked out a reply quickly.]

What sort of hell hole of a school did I send you to?! What kind of school doesn't check for ergot in this day and age?! And a gas leak?!

[Satsuki only could stare at her phone. That's... the most words he's spoken to her with in so long.]

I'm okay, Dad. I promise.

There wasn't any of this nonsense back in Yuuka's day! If I'd known this would have happened I wouldn't have sent you off to Burnbriar!

[Satsuki's fingers almost let her phone slip into the snow. Her eyes go wide. Did... Olivia do something? She must have, right? She couldn't...]

You--you don't mean that!

[eternalfuture]

Usagi's heart is still a little torn, over her decision to leave. She'll be very glad to see her friends and her family again, and she's going to be especially glad to see her boyfriend again. She took the time to ask Olivia about her other self, the one that was so very special. She can tell that on the inside, they're the same in many ways; she loves people with all her heart. She just doesn't have the same magical McGuffin that her other self did.

Even if she's happy to be seeing her favorite people again, though, she'll miss people here. On the last day, she's going to be sitting in the front hallway, her things packed into boxes and suitcases. She's got a small pile of cards with her; they have her name and her contact information.

If she's a little teary-eyed, who's going to blame her?

dawn of the last day

[sweetsynergy]

Hey.

[Heeeeeeeres VANNY- only, you know, much more chill and hesitant than that narration implies. Her hair dye has been refreshed, and she's now sporting a new white streak amid the bright pink.]

Ready for the big flight home?

[rosewitch]

[Anthy is different after dying.]

[Witnessing it is like blinking tears from your eyes and realizing you're standing at the edge of a cliff: the vista you're looking at is magnificent, but it takes your breath away all the same. There is so much of Anthy that no one has ever seen, three faces of the witch and more, and her presence takes up space in a way she never let it before.]

[Her hair falls loose down her back. Her voice is only quiet when she wants it to be. She's discarded honorifics entirely. Sometimes, she lets her smile be as wide as it wants to be.]

[It's more complicated than that, of course. It's always more complicated than just a happy ending. With a willingness to be open comes an inability to hide things like grief and doubt and regret. They drift across her face and come to settle on her shoulders when she least expects them — mostly in moments when thoughts catch her unawares, and she hangs paralyzed from one second to the next, staring off at nothing, halfway thinking she can see through everything to her other self somewhere else. There is a point where she stops turning away from it — goes into the chapel and sits in the second-to-front pew, rests her head on her crossed arms on the back of the pew in front of her, and stares up at the stained glass, and just . . . talks.]

I still hardly know anything about you. I know the little bit I saw, and I know what I felt. I know it was bad — worse than here, and here was bad. Whatever I know, you know worse. Whatever I did, you did worse. And the decision I made . . . we made . . . I kept thinking, is it wrong to leave you there? Is it worse to leave Utena alone? And I decided . . . well, you know what I decided. If it was the wrong choice, I'm sorry. I don't think you'd believe that, but it's true all the same.

. . . I wish I could meet you, still. I wish I could be sure. You are important to me. I just don't really understand why.

[With the exception of this moment and sleeping, Anthy stays outside until her lips start to turn blue and someone drags her inside. She exercises the horses one by one with all the tender care of someone who never thought she'd be able to touch a living animal again — with the exception of Milton, whom she doesn't approach (how could she dare?) but for whom she does leave a small package at the entrance to the stables full of apples and carrots and other horse-appropriate snacks. It has his name on it. Someone else can give it to him. What matters is that she gets it.]

[Sometimes, she goes for walks in the woods. If you're very lucky, you might catch her having an in-depth conversation with a confused-looking baby deer or waggling her finger sternly at a possum. Oh god, is that the same possum? What's going on with this fucking possum??]

[In the quad, she picnics with Chu-chu and . . . Chu-chu. She doesn't change Chu-chu (Two)'s name because, as she would explain, it has always been Chu-chu, just as Chu-chu's name has always been Chu-chu. It would simply be unfair. So she calls them both Chu-chu. Somehow, only one of them ever responds. So something about the names is different, but only the three of them can tell. She is slow and gentle in getting to know Chu-chu (Two), talking to him like a person in the same way she always has to her own Chu-chu, asking him thoughtful questions about his likes and dislikes. Isabella is sent scurrying to Wal-Mart to bring back some out-of-season bananas, which the Two-chus share delightedly at their picnic in the snow.]

[And still, she machinates. Squirreled away under a tree hunched over a notebook, scribbling thoughts and plans and maneuvers, whispering to herself. Anyone who looks over her shoulder will see chaos, but chaos with a central point — the name Ohtori is all over it, and the scribbles, though wild, are frighteningly pointed.]

[Later, after bothering Olivia for a bit, Anthy has a hushed, intense phone call. During it, she cries. When it ends, her eyes are puffy, and she looked both bewildered and delighted, regarding her cell phone like it's just spoken with the voice of God.]

machinations in the quad

[goldendoll]

[ just who hatsune was looking for, and the sight of what she's working on makes this impossible to ignore. ]

I wonder, [ she drops into a sitting position opposite anthy on the snowless patch beneath the tree. ] if we can aim the Ohtori's downfall so it hits the Togawa on the way.

[rednails]

[In spite of everything, Mariko survives it all. Memory has always burdened her and now it will haunt her. Rosenblum will always be here for them, as real a ghost as anything.

For the first time in seven weeks, Mariko sleeps in. The night previous, you might catch her in the kitchen, pouring a cup of coffee down the drain.

Sometime after the storm clears, before their phones won't stop buzzing, Mariko can be found on the second floor balcony of the conservatory. She's facing the window, so it's hard to gauge her expression, but her voice certainly sounds serious. In Japanese, she nearly whispers;]

Hello, mother... No-- no, I'm fine... Really, I am. Listen, I just wanted to say... I love you. [After a significantly longer pause.] I told you, I'm fine!

[She's up there for a while, lingering with her phone at her side and watching the snow fall.

Other than that, she's spending a lot of time on the couch in the lounge, enjoying the glow of her precious TV. Mariko's all curled up, hugging a pillow to her chest, wearing a jacket that doesn't belong to her.]

lounge

[shellhawked]

[Casual affection (with a very tiny ulterior motive), thy name is Hawke.

She plops down unceremoniously onto the sofa next to Mariko, one arm automatically draping around the back of the sofa behind her. Her eyes dart to the jacket, one eyebrow raising briefly and a sneaky little half-smile creeping onto her face, before she settles in.]

What're we watching?

cw brief nausea mention, child/sibling death mention

[shellhawked]

[The night of the ambulances Hawke is a terrible patient. She doesn't want to sit still so they can take her vitals or answer their questions about what the date is to check her cognition (not like she has idea idea what answer to give them anyway). She needs to go and check on everyone else. Aside from being lightheaded and overwhelmed, she's fine. Varric pressing his barrel-shaped body between her shins and the steps on the ambulance is the only thing that keeps her still.

Once she's given the clear by her EMT, Hawke is on her feet and hurrying to each Burnbriar student to check on them herself. She throws her arms around the recently undeceased regardless of who it is, hovers worriedly over those who survived to the last chapter of their story and is a general menace to the poor paramedics just trying to do their jobs up. One of them, a stern-looking woman with short red hair and a name tag that reads "S. Urgon", finally takes her aside and several minutes later Hawke's anxious energy has lessened significantly. It's a small miracle that her phone starts blowing up with text notifications that she steps aside to read.]

Are you alright, Sis??? We just heard about the gas leak!
Mother's on a warpath.
This is the most energetic I've seen her in months. Is it bad I'm kind of glad?
She's about to call you. If you haven't been reading her texts, you might want to really quickly.
I love you, please text me back so I know you're okay.

[Hawke, by the power of EMT-offered Valium alone, manages to text her sister back that yes, she and everyone else are fine and a sparkling heart emoji before her phone rings. The opening notes send a wave of nausea straight to her gut but she can't let it keep ringing. She taps brings it to her ear and before she can get a word out anyone in earshot will be able to hear a woman's voice, distinctly lacking in Hawke's Appalachian twang but still sounding unmistakably like her when frantic, bellowing from the other side without the need for being on speaker.]

Marian! My poor little girl, are you alright?! Say the word and I'll buy you a redeye ticket to get home tonight. I had no idea that Rosenblum Hall was even connected to the old pool, let alone the school could be so irresponsible to not check the pipes in winter! They blocked that off for a reason! Poor Mari could have-

[All Hawke can do is stand stone still while her mother rants, tears freely pouring down her face like the new memories that flood her mind as the sound of her voice. Six months of text messages she'd been too wary to look at, cowardly avoiding what she would say after their argument at Carver's memorial.

Leandra Hawke was sorry. For what she said at the hospital after the accident, for not listening at the memorial when her oldest daughter had been so clearly overwhelmed and stormed out, for not knowing how to comfort her when she needed her mother that it drove Hawke to spend the remainder of the summer on Varric's couch. It wasn't her fault, it never had been. It had been a tragic accident and she was wrong to place blame, even in a moment of reality-shattering grief. Message after message, at least one a week, about how proud she was of the compassionate person she was becoming and how much she loved her.]

Sweetheart, are you there? Marian?

I-I'm here, Mother. I'm- [She almost says 'fine' out of habit but...no. She's not fine. She's tired and her adrenaline is crashing and...she wants her mother. Hawke wipes her eyes and hurries around the side of Rosenblum Hall to speak more privately.

If anyone comes looking for her they'll find her leaning against the outer wall, phone still in hand and using her sleeve as a tissue, she quietly sobs to herself- at least this time she can't stop smiling while she does it.]

-

[For the reminder of winter break there's a lightness to Hawke that hasn't been there since, well, last spring. The difference is subtle, barely noticeable especially for the students who didn't know her before this school year, but it's almost like some of the weight she's burdened herself with has finally been lifted.

She still occasionally hovers over those of them who'd died like a farm dog cautiously watching for coyotes. If called out, she'll laugh it off and offer up an activity to do together. She sleeps in A3 with Varric and Vanity like before. Every night, precisely at 3 am, her eyes crack open and get out of bed to peek into the hallway to make sure all's well before she can settle back to sleep.

On Christmas Eve Hawke can be found in the lounge with her laptop and airpods, Varric sprawled across her entire lap. "It's A Wonderful Life" plays on her screen but it's clearly background noise for the Zoom call of total weirdos she's much more engaged with.]

No, no- hear me out! Varric is half-right, "Jumanji" is a Christmas movie...but I draw the line at "Lethal Weapon". [...] Yeah, I'd count "Chronicles of Narnia" under that rule, Sebastian. [...] Oh my god, stop suggesting "Die Hard" in the chat! I can see you giggling but it stopped being funny after the third time, Bethany.

[The last day of winter break Hawke has one thing on her mind. She's on the hunt for one Vanity vonAegis, her face bright with mischief, and two fencing sabres in her hands. Wherever she finds her roommate, she immediately extends one of them to her handle first.]

Let's go, jerk, we've got plans.

locked to Lottie; christmas day evening

[shellhawked]

["It's a date", they'd agreed. Hawke has a real plan for a real date...with Lottie. It's almost feels embarrassing that the thought makes her feel flushed and giddy. She's been on dates before, a lot of them pretty fun! She's been around the baseball diamond more than a few times, this shouldn't be giving her butterflies...Lottie makes all the difference.

Isabella had been accommodating when she'd asked to be let into the performing arts building. Her Doomcoming outfit is right where she'd found it originally and predictably fit just as well. The pauldron is getting left behind though, that's a little much for a first date. She is, however, grabbing a few clusters of plastic flowers- forget-me-nots, pink carnations, red gladiolus...and a little sprig of plastic mistletoe.

At their agreed upon time, Hawke is at the door to B-4 and raps four times with her knuckles. Date outfit? Sharp. Make-up? On point. Intrusive thought that Hatsune is going to open the door instead of Lottie even though she's very much not in this room anymore? Activated.]

Chris's Birthday - December 24th

[trustheart]

[ Chris felt bad. She had seen everyone piling onto a bus driven by Isabella the day before, and considering nobody had told her, it wasn't hard to guess why. Combined with the fact that she knew her own birthday and everyone avoiding her that day as well, it was obvious what was about to happen.

When Isabella asked her, specifically, to come to the Lounge over the intercom, she knew the die was cast. Chris stifled an internal groan. She hated surprise parties...but wasn't sure why. It wasn't like anyone had ever actually thrown one for her.

Maybe it was just the idea of them.

Regardless, she knew everyone likely put a lot of work into it. So, she resolved to herself to pretend to be surprised as she stepped into the lounge, doing her best to appear as though she would be shocked by whatever happened next. ]

[sweetsynergy]

[Vanity doesn't approach until things have died down a bit. She can't pretend her presence here isn't awkward- maybe more for her than Chris at this point, but somehow more awkward than after their breakup.]

Happy legal adulthood, nerd.

[She offers a small gift bag, tissue paper artfully fanning out of the top.]

[goldendoll]

[ even if regaining a phone signal meant she was swamped with messages and notifications on checking it again, that's as sure a proof as any that they're back in the wider world.

after being checked by the EMTs, she sits in the lounge and stares at her phone for a long time, typing, retyping and deleting an email multiple times before sending it. the process repeats two more times after the first email goes out, before she puts her phone into airplane mode, shoves it into a pocket and groans.

once the new truth has sunken in and the dust has settled, hatsune takes a couple of days to just... reacclimate herself to life. she has endlessly more time than she thought she did at the start of this nightmare, for better and worse. she's... choosing to focus on the better.

she finds she has an easier time doing that, now.

all throughout the rest of the break, apart from boring shit like HOMEWORK, she can be found she can be found playing music in the conservatory or in one of spaces of the performing arts complex—maybe even with other people! and if she's alone, sometimes she'll stop every now and then to mark something in a notebook.

on one of the instances where she's playing alone though... she decides to play something she'd kept close to her chest over the break. ]

This is 'Ether.'

[ and she begins to sing. while the killing game hadn't been in service of some alchemical work as she'd thought at one point, here is a song that speaks to the completion of the great work nonetheless. that cold edge to her singing voice is as much there as ever, but there's a bittersweetness to it. a warmth beneath the frost. they all have to keep on living, after all.

or maybe you'll find her practicing archery or soccer kicks on the field. she is... taking to both surprisingly quickly? sorry for being naturally good at learning new skills. like it's her fault.

once the night skies are clear again, though? without fail, you'll find her bundled up on a hill near the tree line with a thermos in hand, some snacks, a blanket laid out (or maybe even some folding chairs!) and her telescope set up, watching the stars sail past overhead with a faint smile. maybe you're invited, maybe not. but she's probably not about to turn away anyone who spots her out there. ]

[ or just wildcard me i don't give a fuck ]

[trustheart]

[ Chris approaches her on the archery range with a folder of papers, looking nervous as all heck. But also looking somewhat resolute? Every conversation she's had one on one with Hatsune has had her be a stammering mess, and she's determined to change that.

She has something important to discuss for once, so maybe this time it'll be easier. ]

You have pretty good form. If you draw your elbow in line with your wrist angle you should be able to get a straight shot.

[ She smiled, staying on the line and out of the line of fire. Archery safety 101. ]

I heard you've been talking to people about a family called the Togawas. I may be able to help you with all that.