This is fine. It's fine. We're fine.

[sharpasanarrow]

[Well that was.

Something.

Underneath everyone’s door they’ll find a slip of paper, in shaky calligraphy, that reads:

INVITATION

Meet in the Dining Room.

Do not bring alcohol of any sort.

Upon arrival into the Dining Room it’s clear that this is very much...not a party.

The center of the room is cleared of all tables, and instead has all the chairs arranged in a circle, facing inwards. On the tables pushed to the side are jugs of water, cups, plates of saltines, and several hastily-made pamplets that read on the front ”How to cope with Child homicide” that contains an advisory list:

1. Try not to think about it.
2. Do not get hysterical.
3. Crying is permitted, but keep it within a reasonable volume. (For the consideration of fellow mourners)
4. Maintain civility
5. Do not plunder the belongings of the deceased.
6. No drinking or gambling your sorrows away. Set an example.

Standing in front of one of the chairs already is Mr.Arrow. He clears his throat as people start to slowly come in.]

I gathered you all here because I believed it would be conductive to group morale if we all worked through our feelings regarding recent events. Talk about your feelings with one another, but not with me.

[He steps back a little, out of the circle of chairs, in what seems to be an invitation for people to sit down and discuss with one another.]

Comments

[stanbyme]

I'll drink to that goal.

[He lifts his soda can, then lowers it back to his lap without taking a sip. His thumb brushes her fingers, a way of squeezing her hand without turning his to take it.

Then he heaves a sigh that feels like it adds twenty pounds to his shoulders.]

...I gotta talk to Mabel about the crap our warden was saying about our family.

[hasit]

Do you think it's true? That your brother...he was here, too?

[She knows by now, through Beast's conversation with his young lady, that it's not outside the realm of possibility.]

I'd be worried for my own family, but...

[Well. Jyn is here. She guesses she shouldn't count out the possibility.]

[stanbyme]

I don't know. But something tells me, I can't just... ignore it.

...He said they got Dipper, too.

[Sixth for the sister whose brother was stupid enough to fall into a pool and drown instead of dying like a proper victim.]

I thought I'd always be able to know if something happened to Ford. The thought he might've been trapped someplace like this and died, and I didn't know it...

[hasit]

I couldn't ignore it, either, if it was me.

[She should check, she knows, on Poe. On Finn, and Rey. The only semblance of a family she has left—and my, isn't it lonely at the top? But part of her is gripped by the conviction that she'll only see all of them going on without her, like she wasn't even gone. Like they didn't even notice her missing. And that's enough to keep her from looking.

His musing reminds her all too well of the fact that, in her and Luke's case, she could tell when something was wrong. She knew it, the moment he became one with the Force. She felt it in the very core of her being.

But the Force isn't here.]

You can't beat yourself up for that. Nobody could anticipate something like this happening.

[stanbyme]

[If Randall wasn't lying about Dipper, then... What is he going to tell Mabel?

He spent thirty years absolutely certain that Ford was alive. And he was right, in the end, Ford had come out of the portal changed and scarred but still alive. Would he have felt something if Ford had died? Did Mabel feel something when Dipper...]

If I could just see him, talk to him...

[hasit]

...You can. Or, at least, you ought to be able to.

[She nods toward the Beast, who's entered recently toting a bottle of wine and the mirror.]

Ask him. I know it worked for him. I....I'd have said something sooner, but we thought it best to wait. Make sure it wasn't dangerous. A trap.

[stanbyme]

[He follows her gaze, and remembers what Randall said at the trial. Almost as if he's on autopilot, he sets his can of pop down and gets up, only looking back to meet her eyes as he takes back his hand.

He offers her the tiniest of smiles.]

I gotta know. If...I can, I have to find out.

If you, uh. Wanna talk later, I don't think I'm gonna be getting much sleep tonight.

[hasit]

[She nods, inclining her head toward the Beast as if encouraging Stan to go on, already, and puts her hand back in her lap.]

Go ahead. We'll talk later.

[She's going to just go ahead and not think about the implications that might be there in a different situation, because wow, now is not the time.]