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I know that everyone is busy taking enthusiastic whiffs of the new candles and dozing off in the hot springs, but what I would love most of all right now is to hear about what's been done to return the bar to some kind of functional order. To something beyond a pile of rubble and fond memories of time spent there.

Some of us find the place to be just as comforting as a dip in the hot water, so anyone who has actual interest in doing something about this frankly upsetting absence of a beloved city icon is welcome to join me to- generate ideas.

[ Other people have to like to drink, right??? ]

I have zero construction experience, but I'm willing to try anything if it will help.

[ Luckily, Delight is the only god she can actually stand, so that's... something. ]

In the meantime, does anyone have a nice, dry red? I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.

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I still can't believe it's fucking gone. They're lucky I have a bottle of whiskey. [ Or she would go on a fucking rampage. Or start trying to figure out how to brew her own.

Actually. ]

You know anything about making alcohol?

For now.

[ Alcohol doesn't last forever, alas. ]

Not a thing. We may be better off convincing one of the other gods that we need it in order to empower them. Sorrow, maybe.

[ don't u dare talk like that, cecily. it'll last forever. oh god no it won't but still. ]

Leave me out of convincing that bastard of anything. I'd rather drown myself in the river. Let's just convince Delight to get the fuck over whatever her issue is and bring it back, instead.

You realize if you drown in the river, people will be sorrowful, don't you? Also, I'd appeal to her, but I don't think either of us are quite delightful enough to make her change her mind. Does she have any favorite captives, do you know?

I'd just come back, remember? Save the tears and sorrow for those that have actually left us. The city is stuck with me, or me it. [ Don't mourn her death and/or possible suicide, please. It's not necessary when they just come back. ]

I almost got the bar shut down, so I don't think she'd listen to me, anyway. But Chris, I bet, is a favorite of hers. Mister Beanie and that fucking coffee cart.

You still die. Having gone through it, I can say with some level of confidence that it isn't much fun for anyone involved.

[ Sharon, no joking about your death, okay!! ]

"Mister Beanie?" Tell me you've just nicknamed him that and that he isn't actually called - well, that.

Maybe I just don't give a shit about dying. I've done it before, remember? It's not that big of a deal. [ She's lying, to be honest. It's still scary and waking up after dying is liking breathing in fire and heartache but death isn't death here and she will not fear it. Not anymore. In fact, it could even be used to their advantage in the right circumstances.

But then she laughs. ] No, no, god, no. I just came up with that. I don't know if Chris would appreciate me calling him that, actually.

Sharon.

[ She knows. Anyone who had been through what they've been through couldn't possibly think that it wasn't a big deal. ]

I'm not sure I even know a Chris. You'll have to introduce me so that I can use this new name.

[ Sharon pointedly ignores how Cecily says her name and focuses, instead, on Chris. ]

You'd recognize him if you saw him. He, Emily, and his friends run the coffee cart. He could usually be seen in the bar, thick black glasses, messy blonde hair, kind of totally looks like he'd play D&D. He convinced Delight to keep the bar open when I went on a tirade about alcohol and the damages she's doing to us by serving it.

[ In her defense, you know how she gets when she's pissed. She just wants to hurt them in ways they've hurt her, no matter how tiny that hurt is to them. ]

[ ....... ]

What is D&D?

[ that is what she's taking from that long description ]

...Dungeons & Dragons. It's like... [ Your life ] this roleplaying game where people create characters, like a bard, or dwarf, or cleric or something, and then they all sit around a table and pretend that their characters are going on quests. It involves dice and shit.

I've never played it, though.

[ ..... ]

They sit around a table and pretend to be - bards? Dwarves? [ That makes her laugh, and she shakes her head slowly. ] So, if we bards, dwarves, and cleric-folk were to play, what would we be? What are your exciting, future equivalents?

People play this game because there isn't an exciting, future equivalent, Cecily. It's like... a game for people who won't ever get to experience a real adventure.

But if I had to pick some equivalents? Uh, I guess someone could be a priest or a nun, but they're only capable of praying to a deity that doesn't listen or care. You could have the construction worker who has a high strength stat but low intelligence. A teacher who doesn't get paid enough to do their job correctly.

And all the adventures would be just rolling dice to see if you can keep your house this month and afford food at the same time. Exciting, right?

You can't tell me that there's no adventure in these other worlds. [ Cecily clicks her tongue, looking amused. ] You've got all these technologies that I've never seen before. That's something.

[ Besides, she knows enough about Sharon's own life to know that there is both action and peril within it. ]

Mm, very exciting. [ The Inquisitor replies, rolling her eyes. ] I don't think that I could handle it all, playing that version of things.

[ To Cecily, from what Sharon's told her, her world does sound adventurous and dangerous, but mostly it's just life. ]

My world is... for most people, it's boring. I got the unlucky adventure stick by being born into crazy land but if you're not rich and you aren't born the right color, or in the right area, or country, or time, life is a series of the same thing day in and day out. Sure, we've got technologies that help us do crazy things, like land on the moon, and see planets and stars lightyears away from us. Parents can see their babies before their born with a special machine that can even help doctors see if the child will be born with an illness.

It's... It's got a lot of good things in it but those are all good things I'll only ever experience in books. All adventure in my world, really, is just in books these days.

[ Their world sounds like adventure enough, with its technological developments, without dragons and magic. Cecily's expression softens as she listens, knowing better than to declare one better than the other, and... really, not having a clear winner in that sort of debate, anyway. ]

There's nothing like a good book, in any world. [ She says lightly, after a pause. ] There may be 'adventures' like that in Thedas, but the one that changed my life came at the cost of - far too many lives, all more valuable than mine. And that was only the beginning.

[ Wishing for a change is well and good until it comes with a price. ]

I'm... [ Adventure always seems to come with a price—one that's always just far too much to give willingly, so it takes it. ] I'm sorry, Cecily.

But those lives lost, they weren't more valuable than yours. The only value life has is time and we don't exactly get to choose when we give ours up. You lived and that's... it sucks to live through tragedy. I think they call it something like... survivor's guilt, where you wish you'd been taken too.

I'm glad you weren't. I'm glad you lived. I'm sorry those other people lost their lives and that you had to go through some... [ terrible, frightening, all wrong sorts of things all in the name of something that was greater than all of them ] ...But you're my friend here and you might not be if you died that day.

My first friend ever, really. [ no her eyes aren't teary shut up ]

[ Cecily knows she will never get Sharon to admit that the others' lives were more valuable, even if she explains who they were, that the Divine herself had been present (and lost her life saving Cecily's). Instead, the Inquisitor simply looks a little morose, nodding meekly. ]

... Thank you. [ She replies quietly. ] I really don't deserve your saying those things, let alone your friendship.

[ In her eyes, Sharon is a much, much stronger person, and a better one. ]

Oh, shut up. [ Sharon sniffles out, wiping any hint of dampness from her eyes. She doesn't have feelings, you have feelings. ]

You deserve so much more than you think you do. [ And not this place, never this place. ]

Ah - stop. [ Cecily says weakly, flapping a hand at Sharon. ] You'll have me turn red.

[ Guess who has two thumbs and can't take a compliment?? ]

Let's just stop patting each other's backs and... say we've both done well, shall we?

Edited (wrong thread setting, cries) 2017-04-28 15:31 (UTC)

Ahh, I guess I can let us tie.

"You guess." [ She repeats, rolling her eyes. ] Thank you, Your Graciousness.

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