Afterparty

[latinumsbetter]

[After Zvei walks down into the earth and it closes over his head, and Typhon gives his goodbye...the Phantasmal Bar finally flickers out of existence. Quark breathes out a slow breath.]

Alright. The bar downstairs is going to be open. Stop in. [That is not a request.]

Riful, let's see what we can do about that thing you need.

[He'll give Leb a squeeze--before she detaches from him. He makes eye contact at least once with all of his employees, and then he turns and walks out of the Arena. So...post trial, the bar downstairs is once again open. The employees are around at different times, and Quark is once again behind the bar. There’s been several of the extra togas gathered and folded to be used as blankets. There's food and drinks and places to sit and think or talk or whatever one would like to do.

There are two more drinks that are made and sit just behind the counter to accompany with the other two that are usually remade and replaced every day.

The door is open.]

Comments

[markofnobility]

[ he turns to face her, watching her hands work with such deftness. His eyes are a bit red, but not wet. All his crying was done in his own room, when he saw Misane's little statue.]

I do not mind it. If anything there is much I owe you about my life... It just never felt proper to say. Ask anything.

Though if I fall asleep I hope you'll forgive me.

[stringup]

If you fall asleep, I think that would be a small improvement for you. [ Insomnia sucks, man.

She still leans over to press a kiss to his forehead. ]

Let me get changed for bed first, then... we'll talk, until either of us fall asleep.

[markofnobility]

[ he closes his eyes and smiles at the kiss]

As the lady wishes.

[stringup]

[ There's a small smile from Velvet, before she gets up to take a robe from the wardrobe and ducks into the washroom to get changed.

Once she comes back out, she sits on the bed so she can remove her prosthetics as she usually does, the hiss of air filling the room before she properly hauls herself into the bed to lie down next to Ferdinand. ]

...I suppose we should start with the scar on your side?

[markofnobility]

[ he nods]

As good a start as any. I said when we met Athena that I fell in battle, and that is true. I was defending a strategic point- a bridge that is the only army safe route between two territories- against a retaliatory invasion.

One of the leaders of the forces was a brilliant mercenary named Byleth Eisner. They taught at the academy I attended before the war... I even fought alongside them a few times back then. But war makes enemies of us all. There were stories that they had been gifted a powerful relic by the church, a sword that could unfurl into a whip with immense range.

Well, I can say I recognized that possibly against Aglaea from experience.

[ he lifts his shirt to show the healed wound. Thanks to his shield it's not as pink as it was weeks ago, but still clearly fresh. A massive chunk of disfigured skin and muscle. Only ambrosia could have kept him fully functional.]

It tore though my armor like butter, and struck Liora on the pullback. She reared and we both spilled.

[stringup]

[ Every single time she hears about these relics, Velvet finds herself thinking of Artifacts and how some Exalted past or present could have made something roughly equivalent, which she has to shake off before she dwells too hard on it. That's the sort of thing her mother would've done if she had known that level of artifice, she thinks, and the very notion makes her want to be contrary out of reflexive spite.

Once Ferdinand shows the wound, she ends up reaching over to touch it with a gentle hand. She doesn't seem particularly frightened or even necessarily overly worried, instead scrutinizing the wound with the somewhat unfortunate practice someone who's used to having to examine a variety platter of injuries. ]

...And you got crushed underneath.

[markofnobility]

[ the touch makes his muscles twitch and shudder much like the very horse he speaks of. Clearly it still has sensation.

He has to look away, face pinkening- seeing her crafter's hand on his torn flesh is doing something to him. If he keeps watching he's going to embarrass himself]

Yes. The wound alone would have killed me- or at least crippled if a healer had been right there. But the fall on top of it...

[stringup]

[ With that, she pulls her hand, seemingly satisfied to know that at least it's still functioning. It is more than can be said for some of the injuries she's seen, even if those were exceptional circumstances. ]

...I would not call it an idiotic death. [ Though it certainly isn't a good way to die, either. ]

[markofnobility]

[ he rolls his shirt back down, brow furrowed in confusion for a moment before he remembers that part of their rooftop confessional]

Ah. Well. Maybe not the falling in battle more so than why I was there at all. I think... if I ever find myself facing down such a thing again... I will make sure it is for something I believe in rather than some misplaced obligation. That... will be the kind of loyalty I can be proud to represent.

[stringup]

[ Velvet reaches over to take one of Ferdinand's hands, if he'll let her. ]

...Perhaps this is trite of me to say, but...I'm relieved that's the sort of loyalty you've chosen.

[markofnobility]

[ he not only allows it, but squeezes back almost desperately]

I do not think it trite at all. It warms me to know you think so kindly of my choices.

Even so... after watching Seymour and Zvei today... I fear I may have been terribly cruel to you in turn

[stringup]

[ The way he squeezes her hand makes her stroke a thumb over his knuckles, as if to comfort him. ]

Why do you say so?

[markofnobility]

... when I first made my feelings clearly known I still had this foolish surety that this all would end up well in the end. How could it not? I am Ferdinand von Aegir, after all.

But I know what kind of man I am, and I hope you have an idea of it too. If I had been the one with the doll I would have done the same as Misane. And these carrots Typhon dangles... I can not say one could not tempt me. Not anymore. But I do not want to see you with that same look as Seymour.

Yet somehow, I can not make myself regret what led me to this room. I have become too selfish, I suspect.

[stringup]

[ She has something to say now that Typhon has revealed his hand to them, but that is a separate thing to this at the moment. ]

So you mean to say that loving me and winning over my heart is cruel to me?

[ But her tone isn't accusative or upset. She is simply asking a question. ]

[markofnobility]

[ a cowardly part of him says to backpedal. But he is no coward.]

Never willingly. But in our circumstances... in a way, yes. A sensable man would have waited until Athena returned and we were all safe. When I could give you the assurances you deserve.

1/2, CW: just. so much negativity and fatalism here

[stringup]

That is true. [ She'll concede that much. ] Though I'll also say that if we're being honest, Athena's return was never guaranteed to begin with, as much as she wants it to be.

[ So perhaps that moment would've never come, and even now, they still aren't sure when or even if it will.

For a long moment, she looks at their clasped hands, both of them unwilling to let go. ]

...You know, that day, when I walked out of the camp, I truly had no plans for what was supposed to come after. I wasn't even thinking about how—reprehensible and evil it all was. I just finally woke up, realised I was miserable, and wanted to no longer be. So I left.

But after that, I was still suffocating under the sunlight if I didn't shield myself with the trappings of death, as if the sun Himself was telling me he would keep rejecting me for what I've done. I couldn't go back home, I couldn't take back my name, and I still had nowhere to go. All that changed was that I no longer had to answer to someone above me.

I had no future. When I committed the sin of swearing that oath, I gave up all right to a good life and happy ending forever. Even now, I don't know if that's changed. No matter how much I regret, and regardless of having walked away, trash is still trash.

[stringup]

But you...you look at me like I'm lovely and worth cherishing. No one had ever pleaded for me to stay before you did, or thought of my happiness. When I'm with you, I feel like I can bask in the warmth of the sun again, and live like anyone else. No sensible man would ever do any of these for an enemy of the world.

So...please don't say you've been cruel to me. You have given me more kindness than I should ever ask for.

[markofnobility]

[ every word feels like it's carving things out of him, filling them with something strange and new and terrifying. Yet thrilling as well. He is trembling with it, eyes hot with it.]

Velvet... every word of my adoration for you is true. Deserved or not, I do not give a single damn. And I swear, on my name and my mantle, that I will forge a future for you no matter what it takes. If the sun itself has rejected you then you will have the stars instead. I will make it's so one way or another.

[stringup]

[ Ferdinand's sudden declaration startles Velvet in its intensity, though if she thought about it, she should have expected this from Ferdinand. After all, hasn't he proved time and again he's a truly ridiculous man?

The look in his eyes, the fire in his words... The hollowed out parts of Velvet's soul begin to fill with something both wonderful and terrible, something she had resigned herself to having little of: hope.

For the first time in years, she can feel tears well up in her eyes. ]

You...

[markofnobility]

[He grips her hand between both his own]

I am going to kiss you, okay?

[Because as dramatic as a sudden lunge would be, he knows her better than that]

[stringup]

[ On the one hand, she's grateful for it. On the other hand, she can't help laughing a little, a rare sound from her that is becoming less so as time passes. ]

Fine by me.

[markofnobility]

[He laughs too, breathless already, before leaning in.

This. This is much closer to the kisses he eluded to in the library. Firmer, more frantic and desperate. Head tilting properly to really slot together just right]

[stringup]

[ Velvet only had a vague idea of what a "passionate kiss" was supposed to be like, mostly from a couple of some clandestine books she tried very hard to keep hidden as a teenager, and tales of young trysts that were whispered among friends in the days of her old life. Actually experiencing something like one is a different thing altogether.

And oh, she finds herself matching Ferdinand's desperation, pressing a little closer into his warmth. Her free hand reaches up to thread through his hair, resting at the back of his head, but intending on keeping him there. ]

[markofnobility]

[She has nothing to fear there- unlike last time he makes no move to retreat, just pressing closer. When breathing through his nose isn't enough he just breaks the seal enough for a few quick breaths against her lips before going back in. Like he's starving to death.]

You-

[Whatever though he was starting to form is quickly lost- as if he just has to acknowledge her for a moment]

[stringup]

[ If Velvet still had toes, they would've curled from the intensity of it all. She gasps when he breaks the kiss, with a dazed look like she's wondering why he had stopped even momentarily (girl, you both need to breathe).

The heat of his body against her own cool skin feels like fever. His hunger is met with something equally needy, Velvet nipping at his lips as if to ask for more, despite not knowing what that "more" should look like. ]