Afterparty

[latinumsbetter]

[The earth once more closes up and all of that disappears, Quark remains on the ground for a long moment, holding Cerejeira. Finally, he raises his voice, still keeping her tucked against him. His tone is all business, brooking no argument.]

Bar'll open in ten minutes. Go get washed up, and then be there.

[He turns his head to look at Astarion, eyes narrowing.]

You. After those ten minutes, you're going to explain to everyone what you did. And then you're going to get out of my bar. Got it?

[and, not waiting for a reply, he's turning his attention to Cerejeira and Leb. He frowns, for a moment, because he knows he can't carry either of them, and normally he might have asked Fe Lu Om Ranma or Vanity but, well.]

...someone who can carry people help me with Leb and Jeira.

[So......the bar downstairs is once again open. Quark is not behind the bar. Instead, he's pushed some tables together and put some bottles of wine on the table. He's replicated some bar snacks and they're there too. There's something replicated for Riful also, in a separate bowl, which he'll give to her personally.

Fritz sitting near the entrance to the back counter where he's working and Critwo is in a nest of blankets in a corner just behind the counter. There’s been several of the extra togas gathered and folded to be used as blankets.

Leb is still asleep on one of the couches with one of the spare togas tucked around her as a blanket. Cerejeira is seated next to her, also with a spare toga tucked around her.

Once everyone is down there, Quark pushes to his feet and clears his throat.

Once the situation has been made clear, then the rest of the evening can proceed as usual for their afterparties.

Those four drinks that Quark usually makes (Athena, Alex, Misane, Aglaea) are once again sitting at the far edge of the counter. There are no new additions.]

Comments

[murchada]

What?

[latinumsbetter]

[looks at her--leans over a bit to pointedly look at Leb still snoozing on the couch--and leans back to look at her again]

Who do you think you're fooling, exactly?

[murchada]

I'm not-- ugh.

[what if Leb wakes up and overhears, GOD]

I'll. Consider it.

[latinumsbetter]

Good.

[there's a small thread of satisfaction to his tone at that, and he turns his attention back to the model]

The habitat ring is here--[he points it out]--and they aren't holosuites, but I could make an argument for putting a few up there for you and Aoi if you want.

[murchada]

...It sounds nice.

[she's not sure if she should. can? whatever tech is in the Paper Moon might not work well with whatever the space station has going on.

but right now it's kind of nice to just, think about it. dream a little.]

It'd be good for Aoi. Getting out there.

[latinumsbetter]

Yeah. She needs someplace else to go. And she's gettin' good at managing the bar counter.

[murchada]

She likes it there. I kinda think she was made for it...

[latinumsbetter]

Well, she's a people person. Like me. [listen, if there's a touch of pride there, we don't need to look at it]

[murchada]

[oh. that's cute.

we are absolutely looking at it.]

You really care about her, huh?

1/3

[latinumsbetter]

[Quark blinks, once--before he's sputtering, the curves of his ears starting to turn a deeper orange]

I--well--she's a good investment! I've been training her myself!

[it's what comes out first, the kneejerk reaction]

[latinumsbetter]

[...but that's not the truth, is it. And what's the point of that now? Especially with Jeira, who knows as well as he does--]

3/3

[latinumsbetter]

[his forearms fall to his thighs and Quark slumps forward a little bit]

...yeah. She's a good kid.

1/2

[murchada]

Yeah.

I... want her to make it out of here.

2/2

[murchada]

...Not at my expense, to be clear. I meant what I said, earlier. I want to see the end of all of this with her.

With everyone.

[even if she doesn't feel like she deserves it.]

[latinumsbetter]

...yeah. I know you wouldn't do something like that.

[he's one of the few he does trust with that at this point]

We'll have to do what we can to get her out of here.

[murchada]

Yeah, it's not really in my nature, I guess. It's funny... I thought I had the lowest opinion of myself around here, and yet...

[latinumsbetter]

...difference is that you know what it's like to have someone pull this kinda thing on you. So you know what it's like on the other end.

[murchada]

...I knew you were right, you know. What you said about Sakura. She didn't have to do what she did.

And maybe you were also right that I couldn't have done anything. But... right now, I'm still thinking about "what ifs" anyway.

[...]

What if I'd noticed something was going on with Omega. What if Astarion hadn't been such a damn coward. What if Ferdinand hadn't been so stupid.

[latinumsbetter]

[Quark's quiet for a moment, fingers lacing together and tightening, and he has to swallow, hard, blinking rapidly]

What if he hadn't been so stupid. [there's a deeply bitter note to his voice, though it wavers at the end. he hasn't read Ferdinand's letter, but he's seen Omega's holograms.

I thought he was past all that.

[murchada]

...I don't think it's that easy, for people to change.

I think they can. But... it's so, so easy, to go back to what's familiar. For him, that's... trying to be a hero. Self sacrifice. Everyone else first.

[latinumsbetter]

We talked about it. About him coming back to the station, of taking Velvet there. We talked about him not being tied down to the people that sent him to die.

I told him I wanted him to come. [and then, finally, his voice cracks. So does his expression, for a moment, before Quark turns his face away, covering his eyes with his hand.

He's silent, for a long moment, breathing slowing down, skipping raggedly for a moment before it evens out.

Whe he does speak again, it's quiet, exhausted, resigned.]

...I thought, at least, if that wasn't enough, then he wouldn't leave Velvet.

[another moment, where he swallows, throat working, trying to keep his voice even]

I really thought it worked this time.

1/2

[murchada]

[Ferdinand von Aegir when she gets you--]

...Yeah.

I know what that's like.

2/3 actually

[murchada]

He'll give you an apology, I'm sure. Hell, he probably already did.

[in that letter of his.]

But that won't make the feeling go away. I'm not... even sure if he'll understand that part. The way that hurt... stays. It's... why it really sucks, sometimes.

Loving people.

3/3

[murchada]

...The anger won't make it hurt less either, you know.

[it's soft. not judgmental. she gets it and she won't tell him how to feel.

but it's true.]

1/3

[latinumsbetter]

[Quark flinches, shoulders hunching up to his ears as his fingers clench tighter on each other, knuckles a pale orange. He's thought the same thing, of course. Ferdinand will try and apologize, like as not. Maybe he did in that letter, but Quark still hasn't read it, so he really doesn't know. Maybe Quark hasn't read it because he doesn't want to forgive--

but...the anger won't make it hurt less.

And he knows that. Of course he does. It never has. No matter how much he snaps and snarls, whether it's at Ranma, or Luna, or Sisko, or Gul frinxing Dukat, it doesn't matter. They're still gone and it still hurts and he's still left holding nothing. Nothing but that anger, that seething bitterness at the universe, at those people who are gone or the ones that took them away. At the ones manipulated and brainwashed into thinking their duty is more important than their lives; the ones that drink that thrice-cursed rootbeer. Cloying and bubbly and disgusting, but if you drink enough of it, you start to like it. You start to think it's good. You start to believe that maybe things can be better, that it's not as bleak as you first thought--

And then you turn out to be right. Again. And you should've listened to yourself because you know better, you've read the Rules and you know them by heart and you've done what you could to live by them but still, for those moments, there was something in you (something that you've been trying to smother for years and years, because it's not what the Rules say, it's not very Ferengi,) that hopes that maybe, just maybe, it'll be different this time.

When that happens (because it will happen again, apparently no matter what you do, even if you think maybe, just this once, you've done enough,) you can lay down and cry about it, or you can hold on to that anger. You can use it to get you moving again, to keep going, doing what you've always done because that's what you've got to do. It's what you've got the lobes for; a good Ferengi doesn't sit around and mope. You look for the next thing, the next chance at profit, and you keep the bar going and you be a good Ferengi.

And if that means holding on to that anger, even if it doesn't make the hurt go away, what does that matter, anyway? You're alive, and as Rule of Acquisition number 125 says: You can't make a deal if you're dead.]