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

[literarybehemoth]

It's caused by the same thing as diseases. I suspect it was a prank of some kind.

[fucking hag.]

In any case, it was Seymour. I ought to track him down and thank him now that I feel less like I want to die.

[sweetsynergy]

Figured it wasn't Saotome, given the lack of screaming.

[Well.]

...the lack of a very specific kind of screaming.

[ha ha]

[we stay silly]

I, uh. Had my hands full. So, you know. Good. That Seymour was there.

[That might be an apology of sorts, for not making sure.]

vague reference to emeto

[literarybehemoth]

Oh, do not fret about it. You were fighting valiantly, while I was fighting to keep my stomach contents inside. I would have managed.

[...would he have...]

Re: vague reference to emeto

[sweetsynergy]

...If you say so, Professor.

[sure jan]

Just. Glad you're still with us, I guess.

[literarybehemoth]

Indeed.

...I will admit, it did go a bit better than it could have, all things considered. Those of us who had not already made their peace with things are all still here.

[...if only the ones who had could be, as well. He doesn't say it, but...]

[sweetsynergy]

Could've been worse. Could've been a lot canning better, too.

[She takes an angry drink of her coffee.]

We ALMOST had that fucker.

[literarybehemoth]

What we learned during the seance is perhaps somewhat encouraging, I think. The dead are... somewhere, rather than no longer extant, and it seems like Athena may be on the way back...? Regardless of any feelings we may have about her beforehand, I do think our chances would be better with her than without her.

So we are not out of the fight, even though we did not finish this one. I think we have a chance.

[sweetsynergy]

You think they're actually- I don't know, recoverable? Is that the right word?

[It seems logical, but also like it shouldn't be.]

[literarybehemoth]

Well, we are gods. There are, of course, some cosmologies where gods can die, but I suspect we are more recoverable than your average mortal.

[sweetsynergy]

...I kind of hate that that makes sense.

[This place has really moved some goalposts for her.]

[there's probably a timeline where she dealt with it a lot worse, or something]

But I suppose if it weren't true we wouldn't be dealing with Typhon to begin with.

[literarybehemoth]

I suppose it is comforting on some level, even if it does upend my whole worldview...

...Well, we are obviously more fragile than Typhon. But we are also as children in terms of our existence as divinities, and we have been gaining experience.

[sweetsynergy]

Some of us have, anyway.

[Still just a little bitter.]

I wrote out a bunch of drink recipes and coffee brewing tips last week, like Luna suggested. Creating and copyrighting something, you know? Don't think it helped much.

[literarybehemoth]

Perhaps you need to be more... esoteric with it. Think outside the box.

[sweetsynergy]

Maybe? You have any ideas on that front?

[literarybehemoth]

Hmm... that, admittedly, is where I am having difficulty. I am not exactly an expert in copyright law or any of those... capitalistic sorts of things.