Afterparty

[brokenhabit]

[ After the reunions have been had Lebkuchen finds a moment to compose herself, clearing her throat to get everyone's attention. ]

I think we ought to leave this place before our pathetic excuse of a Titan rears his ugly head once more. We can recuperate and mourn our losses... but also celebrate our win, [ She gives Aoi another squeeze to make it clear who she means ] before we move on to whatever happens next.

Give me a little time and I'll prepare something in the eatery for everyone.

[ It feels weird to have one of these not in the bar (even though her ass was almost always somewhere else after these ordeals) but she's certain it would feel even worse to be in the bar with Quark not there (even without her knowing that's where their bodies were found).

And so true to her word the eatery is eventually full of the usual spread of homemade treats Lebkuchen has been know for. Some of them were made the day before she poofed but are still perfectly good, however eventually some fresh ones do appear as well. Some of them have some leaves stuck to them though... probably because the kitchen is full of Lebkuchen's vines hard at work making everything for her. Oh well, it's extra nutrients!

She's also brought up several bottles from the bar because dunno about you but she's going to drink. ]

Comments

[brokenhabit]

[ Once she's supervised her vines long enough, Lebkuchen has found herself a place to sit with an entire bottle of wine to herself. She's using a glass of course, but the temptation to forgo one was tempting. Her golden glow is persisting even now and she stares absently at her red shoes. That book is with her again, next to her wine bottle.

Though she said she wanted to celebrate getting Aoi back, there is still... an emptiness deep in her. It's a lot to process, and knowing Quark is just g--

...

She takes another drink, wishing it were ale instead. Man it really would be right as Quark is gone that she finally decides she needs a bar, huh. ]

[pariunt]

[Astarion sits next to her.

As is usual with these gatherings, he isn't drinking anything himself.]

I'm so grateful you're okay, Lebkuchen.

I don't know what I would have done, were you not.

[brokenhabit]

…I really do apologize.

Was I… gone for long? I must admit I don’t really have a firm grasp of how long I was in that state for.

[pariunt]

Not terribly long. A day.

[When Friday lasts three days, who even knows for certain.]

But it did look quite bad.

[brokenhabit]

Oh, that’s something of a relief. Truthfully it felt like ages to me. Like a dream that lasted forever…

…I’m honestly still not sure what all even happened. I just knew I couldn’t let anything bad happen to Cerejeira, and then the tree… it needed help too, I think.

[pariunt]

You protected her.

[He smiles warmly.]

It's... quite a feeling, isn't it? Knowing you'd do anything for someone.

1/2 rolls the dice on when this thread happens in relation to the jeira one LETS SAY BEFORE

[brokenhabit]

A-Ah…

W-Well, when you put it that way… I suppose it is. Quite a feeling. One I’m all too familiar with too…

[ She thinks back to how she saw that hallucination of Elise right as it all happened, crying out to her in fear, a face full of regret… and how for the first time in her life Elise truly didn’t matter to her.

Her eyes drift over to the book still next to her wine, the artwork clearly depicting herself and Elise before her own image and name were scratched out by whoever (or whatever) made it. ]

2/2

[brokenhabit]

…It’s also a rather frightful one.

[sweetsynergy]

So. Welcome back, I guess.

[Leb, and not Quark. Aoi, but not both of them. The rage at it all isn't burning white-hot and all-consuming anymore, but the ashes still sit deep in the pit of her stomach, when she lets them. It's not fair of her, and even she isn't stupid or petty enough to voice it, but she can't help but feel like there's some grand equation that might have been balanced differently, that if Lebkuchen had stayed gone maybe Quark would be sitting here instead.]

[And even with that low-burning guilt and resentment, she can't bring herself to actually wish Leb away. She just wishes the relief at having her back didn't feel like a betrayal against Quark.]

Do you remember everything? From- ...I don't know, being a bunch of glowing bugs?

[brokenhabit]

Is that how I looked?

But no I… I don’t. I wasn’t aware of anything but my own thoughts. It was like… being asleep but also not at the same time.

[sweetsynergy]

A bunch of fireflies, yeah. Mostly hanging around Reija.

[So she didn't get to hang out with the dead. Okay. Not sure what that would have helped, anyway.]

...Quark would be glad you're okay.

[yourheroine]

[Aoi isn't quite sure what to say. Leb was the one who told her that sometimes just being there was enough, however, so she simply allows the other girl the space for a few minutes while she works the bar. Which mainly consists of polishing the same glass since Leb is drinking wine.]

...there were a lot of plants when Aoi saw the arena. So Leb came back and stopped Seymour?

[brokenhabit]

...Yes.

[ She's trying to smile but her eyes are looking anywhere else but at Aoi. ]

When Jeira told me he was the reason you and Mr. Quark weren't there, that more people I cared for had been taken from me, I...

...All I could see was red.

[yourheroine]

Boop boop...

[She thinks for a moment as to what to say.]

Quark told Aoi that you have to give people what for sometimes. Seymour was hurting too, but...he didn't think second chances were real. That's just not true, right? Aoi and Leb ended up here...

So if he wasn't going to realize that, maybe Leb needed to give Seymour what for.

[brokenhabit]

Oh, I gave him what for all right. I ought to have given him an earful as well hearing all that.

[ She sighs ]

You're right. It's not true. Second chances are real.

But sometimes there's no helping someone so blind.

[yourheroine]

[Aoi looks a little starry-eyed at Leb. She's so cool, huh?]

Aoi tried talking to him. But maybe now the only thing we can do is prove him wrong about Typhon's ending.

And I have to thank Quark when we see him again.

[murchada]

So, um...

[How does she even broach this topic? Is it insensitive to bring up, or is it worse to ignore it?

Oh, fuck it.]

...Do you want to talk about the glow, or would you rather not think about it?

[brokenhabit]

[ She thinks on that for a moment, swirling the wine in her glass and eyeing it with indifference. It was inevitable that someone would ask, especially since it's not going away and a lot of people also knew the significance of both the gold and the shoes. Without the incorporeal nature of her ghostly form making the details hard to parse outside of the colour, it's even more apparent now that these are the exact same shoes she freaked out about before. Ozzy's "gift". Glorified shackles.

She taps them together idly before taking a sip - then finally addresses it. ]

No, I ought to talk about it, I think.

I had... a lot of time to think while in that state.

[murchada]

[She's happy Lebkuchen is back, of course. Thrilled. But those shoes... It all just feels so unfair.]

Okay.

So, is it... like you're in that Golden Maiden form all the time, now, or...?

[brokenhabit]

Mm... sort of?

It's more... I'm both forms at once. There's no difference between the two anymore. I'm just... this.

[murchada]

And... what does that mean, exactly? How... do you feel?

[brokenhabit]

It feels... hm. It's hard to describe but...

When I was in that weakened state with my thoughts I realized... I was splintered before. Split between what I was now and what I so desperately wanted to return to. It was affecting my powers, and in tandem with my inexperience it was all taking a toll on me physically.

And so it occurred to me... I would never get a handle on my powers unless I learned to accept this side of myself. Accept what He... did to me. If I continued to be split like this then so would my powers. And then I wouldn't get anywhere.

I can't beat Him unless I live with what He's done to me. Until I embrace what He made me and learn not to fear it. I needed to... [ she looks down at her feet, tapping the shoes together again ] face that it'll never all magically go away.

...It's the only way to reclaim anything for myself. To grow stronger and weaponize my chains.

Or that's what I came to realize anyway.

[letsplayamod]

[It takes the Winions a little while to approach Leb. The little nap clustered around Eru revitalized them and they have a lot of work to do! But they seem to be almost avoiding Leb at first, giving her a wide berth of space while they putter and teleport around the eatery.

When they finally do come to her, they're huddled together and looking up from her shoes to her divine glow to her face with looks of...not fear but with the kind of awe you'd expect from little guys who've witnessed a goddess's retribution in action.]

Leb so cool.

Dread Lebkuchen now? Mistress of Lilies?

Do we get treats still?

1/2

[brokenhabit]

[ When the winions approach her in awe, calling her "cool" and addressin her as "Dread Lebkuchen," she stares in surprise, blinking a few times. ]

2/2

[brokenhabit]

[ But then it's all smiles. ]

Of course. [ She reaches out and pets one of them. ] Cuties like you always get treats.