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]

[This 'weekend' Ferdinand focuses more on being wait-staff over dabo- he doesn't have it in him to be sultry, but if anyone requests a game he will hop on for them.

He doesn't go off to brood like last week, but he does seem pretty damn distracted all night, his mind long ago and far away. He probably ends up retiring to Velvet's room as soon as his 'shift' is done- he's fucking tired]

[pariunt]

[The only reason Astarion is at the bar at all is because Quark didn’t make going to it a request.

It’s obvious just how angry he is, even now. He’s sat in one of the lounge seats the furthest away from everything else, his hands folded across his chest. Anyone who approaches him will get him looking up at them in acknowledgement, but otherwise he’s silent.

He doesn’t stay for more than an hour or so before he leaves, and can be found stargazing like last week.]

...This won’t end until none of us are left.

[It’s said to himself more than to anyone who has happened to join him.]

stargazing

[markofnobility]

[Ferdie doesn't intend to be outside long. But he knows Velvet will have questions about his side scar so he wants to get some air before that conversation happens.

That's when he sees Astarion and hears his thoughts]

If nothing changes... very likely.

[literarybehemoth]

[Manulov doesn't head to the bar this time. Well, not at first. He kind of... feels like... he should go and take Sidor to the gardens first. He's not necessarily trying to avoid people so much as he just wishes to collect his thoughts and watch his little (but considerably bigger than Earth Bees, like worryingly so) bee get some pollen from the uh. bigger flowers. He's kind of watching, but kind of... just staring up at the sky.]

...ah. I wish I hadn't gone through all my catnip already...

[sigh. he guesses he should probably go to the bar and do the closest thing. order a drink and sit in the corner and just... kind of stare at it. he's not sure he's feeling it this time, actually.]

...it would be an insult to just push it off the table.

[pariunt]

[The look Astarion gives Ferdie is haunted. It's a far cry from the man who sauntered into the first trail arrogant and unconcerned.]

We don't have much time. It might already be too late.

[...]

I spent decades praying for the gods to save me when I was in captivity, but none of them answered my prayers. I believe it's time we stop thinking Athena will return.

[markofnobility]

You may be right.

[he returns that look, but it stiffens into a deep resolve]

Instead, we will be the gods we once needed. No more hesitation.

[sweetsynergy]

[It takes a little while for Vanity to show up at the afterparty. By what is surely pure coincidence, there's an empty spot on one of the sword racks in the armory, and quite a lot of angry, wordless screaming can be heard from the training grounds.]

[By the time Vanity does arrive at the bar, several training dummies have been absolutely slaughtered. It's probably fine.]

[She arrives with her usual steaming cauldron of coffee and multiple types of flavoring and creams, and a selection of mugs from the kitchen. Setting up a small section behind the bar and turning it into a small mini-cafe for anyone that actually wants to stay awake after all that.]

So you caught that as they last bullshit to Zvei, right? Dipshit let that asshole fuck with his head and it absolutely only lasted long enough for him to realize he was getting screwed.

[Monkey's fuckin' paw.]

[Later in the evening, in a moment when her barista skills are no longer needed, she's sitting at one of the tables with her own mug, just. Kind of staring at a blank spot on the opposite wall, slowly sipping.]

[stringup]

[ It takes a while for Velvet to show up in the bar. In fact, she first ducks into her room, then heads down to the fourth floor crafts room.

She is there for quite a while before she finally shows up at the bar with five bolts of cloth in one arm, wearing a pair of white and green jade bracers. There's one blue cloth, two green ones, a white one, and a purple one. Following her are a pair of spectral-seeming hands, carrying spools of thread for her.

She parks herself in a corner of the bar. The spectral hands seem to pull the appropriate sewing needle out of thin air and hand them over to Velvet, who then gets to work, starting with the blue cloth.

If you approach her a little later, when she's working on the second green cloth or the white one, she seems to be deep in thought. ]

...What would be a fitting pattern...?

[ And if you catch her when she's finally left with the purple cloth, she's just...staring at it with an expression that is both frustrated and somewhat conflicted. ]

Gods, it would be so much easier if I could just set this on fire and be done with it.

[murchada]

[she doesn't even know how she ends up back behind the bar again? she's just here. it's not even really keeping her mind off matters, because it's just emptier every time. she's keeping it together better than she has the other times, though.

but she'll disappear later into the fourth floor crafts room. a while, actually. like, way into the night, she'll be there, working with the loom. it's not going incredibly well. she has a book from the library to guide her, but reading and doing are two different things.

still. she keeps at it. whatever she's making right now is colored gold and white, though it's hard to make out what else is going on with it.]

Ugh... Damn it...

cw: vore. vore never changes.

[fillets]

[ Riful doesn't regret her honesty at the trial—not in general, anyway! Even if it causes trouble with others moving forward, she wanted to show it to Zvei, so she did. Still, it really is a strange feeling, to have shown (a game-nerfed fraction of) her Awakened form to these people, implicitly letting them know how little they mean to her, and then to follow after Quark like a child in the hopes of getting a proper meal.

... She does that, though! Like, she stops by her room to change clothes and also throw her sandals into the bonfire first, but she very much is going to do that.

Her mood at the afterparty proper depends on just how well the replicator works, but chances are high that it works well enough for her to be absolutely fucking zonked! Just fully zooted on replica human flesh. For the first time in a month, she's actually satisfied, and she luxuriates in that sensation, basking like a cat in a sunbeam. She smiles prettily, and definitely-not-terrifyingly, at anyone who looks her way. And if they're giving her the hairy eyeball, she eventually says, like it just occurred to her: ]

... Oh, did you have questions?

[raisethemoon]

[ Luna goes to the bar as bid. Honestly, what else would she do at this point? She'll have a few drinks, but she's notably withdrawn. Who wouldn't be?

After her regular moon-raising, she sits out on the cliffs for a while, picking absently at what sparse grass is there.]

...such a horrendous waste...

[yourheroine]

[Aoi has a lot of thoughts, but for now, she's putting them aside to bartend. ]

Can Aoi make you something?

[When things start to wind down, Aoi can be found staring at the stars by the cliffside. That trial was a lot, and she thinks aloud:]

If Aoi lost these memories...what would I be like?

[raisethemoon]

Are you feeling better now? I admit, I had never realized it was quite so bad.

[ Creatures like cows and pigs are sapient in her world, so this isn’t really anything Luna hasn’t already had to adjust to! ]

[latinumsbetter]

[To the surprise of no one, Quark can mostly be found around the bar, being a bartender. He's making drinks, walking around, and checking in.

If you decide not to show entirely, he will come and find you and check in.

Finally, near the end of the evening and well into the start of the wee morning hours, he can be found sitting in a corner of the bar with a model kit set out on the couch next to him. The box is open and some of the pieces are out, though not many...but he has two small figurines in particular cradled in his hand. He stares down at them, lips pursed. Finally, at one point, he murmurs:]

...I'm really in it now, huh.

cw: vore

[pariunt]

[Well, Astarion is clearly miserable and angry, but he manages a (fake) smile at her.]

Well, at least you're cheerful. I assume it worked?

[brokenhabit]

[ After separating from Quark, Lebkuchen goes off on her own to return to the scroll storage room to see for her own eyes if Aglaea's really just... gone.

And of course she is. The entire room is back to how it once was, as if none of it happened--

Well. Except for one thing.

Her bed of flowers are left almost exactly as they were, save for a few missing, plucked blooms and the body being gone, vines included. She stands and stares at the outline of her form in this now pristine, bloodless flower bed, feeling a whirlwind of emotions...

And then she lifts her hand up and once again beckons forward more blooms to fill in the space left behind. When they're done growing she heaves a big sigh... and then her legs give out beneath her and she falls sideways to the ground.

She's fine thankfully, still conscious and unhurt, but she's exhausted. The flowers, the vines, the shifting back and forth between her two forms... she was not in the Golden Maiden form long enough to reclaim enough energy for herself, and she refuses to shift into it now and hurt this flower bed. It's a lot... giving this much of herself.

So she'll just. Lay there for a little while. Staring at the flowers. Until she finds her feet again.

Later she'll make her way to Aglaea's room. She stands in front of the door deep in thought before finally getting the courage to open it and take a look inside. Make sure there's nothing left behind that needs to be dealt with. She thinks that's what Aglaea would want. ]

Crafts room

[stringup]

[ Velvet's here, probably to pick up some thread she either didn't think to get earlier, or ran out on. ]

...Do you need some help?

[tailoredfate]

[There's nothing that needs to be dealt with, per se. But there is something there. Or rather, some things.]

[pariunt]

Yes.

We can be the gods for those who are left. What sort of gods would we be if we can't even protect each other?

[treebornekettlegirl]

[As preferable and compelling as staring blankly at a wall sounds, Ranma's got work to do. She can't stop or break down now. These people need her. Much like last afterparty, Ranma's manning the kitchen, ironic as that verb may be given she hasn't dunk her head in boiling water yet. Ramen is the main course for tonight, really the only dish being made tonight. If nobody's grabbed a bowl, she'll take up the gig of being the waitress delivering it to them with a practiced smile and a chipper 'Eat up!~'.

Once work comes to an end, Ranma doesn't hunker down and retreat to her room. Right now, the last thing she wants to be is a stuffy room, it'll just get claustrophobic. One will find her either at the cliffs meditating by the edge, on top of the living quarters doing some katas like no tomorrow or in the forest, practicing her godly powers by using some pressurized wind to slice up a few tree branches.]

[eeeonetwothree]

[ Omega stops in after the trial, stepping in awkwardly, like he’s not sure he belongs here. It’s only when his presence isn’t protested that he walks in completely, and makes his rounds.

He stops by everyone, more or less, asking them about their status, and apologizing for his behavior this week. Whatever their reply, he survives the night, and ends up in a corner of the bar…

…Where he more or less shuts down and begins not a recharge cycle, but a system defragmentation process, to undergo undoing the damage a whole week of being online uninterrupted has done.

Enjoy a robot in your bar for a whole day, Quark. Anyone, feel free to mess with him, he deserves it. ]

[pariunt]

That didn't escape my notice.

Whatever happened to his soul, I wonder if he still has those memories?

[Fuck Zvei, though. If he woke up in the fugue plane with his memories gone once again, he deserves it.]

[fillets]

Much better, [ Riful sighs, still smiling. She's sitting on a barstool and hugging her knees to her chest, as one does! ] It's really not something you could have understood, though.

[ Astarion, in truth, is the only one here who could. ]

And I decided to keep the truth to myself a long time ago. That was ill-advised, as it turns out.

[pariunt]

[Astarion seeks out Lebkuchen eventually, because of course he does. She is one of the people he relates to the most, no matter how unlikely of a situation that would have been weeks ago.]

We should... do something. To honor her.

Later

[yourheroine]

[Aoi will take some time away from manning the actual bar to bring Vanity some cookies that are still good from yesterday and sit at the table next to her.]

...can Aoi hang out here for a while?