2018-12-30: Happiness in Hilton

• Log: Happiness in Hilton
• Cast: Seraph Lanval, Talise Gianfair, Ashton Anchors, Sephilia Lampbright, Ree, Layna Manydays, Prissa, Lydia Seren
• Where: Hilton
• Date:2018-12-30
• Summary: A random gathering of Drifters celebrates victory over the Metal Demons.

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=================================<* Hilton *>=================================

Hilton is the third-largest city of Lacour, and the only port city along the Silver Coast. The harbour provides regular transport of goods to other ports throughout the continent, and was the primary supply line for the military kingdom of Arctica until the latter ceased communication. Since the arrival of the Sorcery Globe, ferries to the other continents have been ceased, with vessels having been converted to fishing and cargo purposes for the time being.

The city itself is laid out along the rise of a tall hill overlooking the harbour, with the mayor's mansion occupying the uppermost plateau. There are relatively few private homes in the city, with most permanent residents working at the harbour, warehouse, or freighting goods to and from the rest of the continent.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        The word's since come in across a whole number of channels - Mother has fallen, and the Metal Demons have been routed. In that span of time that passes between the pivotal beginning of December, and the oncoming new year, the heroes of Filgaia are given a true hero's welcome when many of them arrive back upon the Ignas continent. Why, the very mayor of Hilton has opened his mansion in which to honor these victorious warriors with a decadent smorgasboard of food, drink, song, dance, and praise!
        Some of the finest cooks of the Lacour region - and a small handful of others who could arrive on short notice - have laid out lines upon lines of colorfully arranged foodstuffs. The staff are overly accomodating to the needs and desires of those who have returned from the fighting. The greatest worries are in the past. ...Okay, there's one remaining worry.
        Where did all the wine go? The mayor had long debated uncorking some of the most expensive vintage of his private collection, and now it has disappeared into thin air. It's strange, and vexing! But oh well, if that's the worst that happens, it's already proven not to be the end of the world.
        That Lanval is currently sprawled out on his back, giggling and carrying on, underneath one of the tables where said mayor and their aides could have sworn was where said wine was seen last is probably a total coincidence. Yep.
        ...
        But yes. There is a feast. There might even be enough feast that it cannot be considered a singular quantity. This might even warrant being referred to as a plural.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"You know what?" Talise says. "It was a long damn journey to get here and in the end, I never even saw Mother. And there was even a Garble Spider and a squirrel who tried to punch me in the face. And in the end, we ended up having to go the bottom of the Photosphere to help. But you know what?"

Talise sinks back in her chair, picking up a gigantic turkey leg and biting into it. She tears off a hunk of meat, chews broadly a few times and then gulps it down. Then she raises a huge tankard of mead, knocking it back and draining it. Froth spills down her cheeks in a double wave. Apparently Lanval wasn't the only one who got into the liquor.

"It was all worth it, 'cause food," Talise declares with a big, toothy grin.

"You know what?" she says towards Lanval with a wave of one hand. "I've got half a mind to start writin' a song about this whole thing? Think I oughta write a song? I think so."
Seraph Lanval
(Temp desc) Water-elemental Seraph. 5'9" fat fellow. Long, unkempt silver hair that ends in blue tips. Beard that seems like it parts into individual tangles that resemble streams of water over his bulbous gut. Somewhat typical Seraph clothing (blue coloration), but no shoes. Eyes almost always seem closed, but when open, they are a vibrant aquamarine. Looks flushed at almost all hours of the day, cat-like smile. Wields an old drinking gourd tied by a simple rope.
 
He has an overly cheerful and jolly demeanor, but yet, the vast majority of Seraphs want absolutely nothing to do with him as though out of disgust.
 
Strongly smells of alcohol.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

There's a lot of things on Ashton's plate. In the wake of the great battles of the Photosphere, he's been left with more questions than answers - though to be fair, few of his questions before involved Mother and her cohort so this isn't a surprise.
 
Still. A hero's feast is not something to turn down. Particularly for an itinerant wandering swordsman. Besides. Lacour is more or less on the way to where he's headed, and there's no reason not to stop.
 
Well, there's some bad memories surrounding the tournament last year but those are irrelevant at the moment.
 
For the most part, the Symbological Swordsman is quiet. He's not quite as deep into his cups as the others (which is not to say he hasn't had a few) and at the moment is feeding Creepy a chunk of well-cooked lamb. Weepy, on his other side, has dozed off after going face-first into the beer while Ashton was looking the other way.
 
"For what it's worth," he offers to Talise, "Mother was rather... well, it's rude to call the dead ugly but it's accurate."

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy is sampling any meat pies or pastries present. She is dressed up nicely for the occasion, in a long flared dress that is cut to distract from her less generous assets. "I never saw Mother either," she agrees. "But I helped a lotta people not die. Being a healer's pretty serious!"

Chauncey, also dressed up for the occasion, is sat on Sephy's lap, not given his own seat or plate of food for once.

<Pose Tracker> Ree has posed.

Ree had one rule: Payment in Advance. Make that two rules: never turn down free food (once you make sure it's not drugged or poisoned). Word about the Mayor's generosity spread quickly through conventional channels and the underground alike: it's no surprise, then, that Ree and some of her associates show up to the smorgasbord. They even enter through the front door for once!

She is dressed for a fete in a white gown that contrasts sharply with her long black hair and topaz eyes. She seems ill at ease in a dress, perhaps because most of the time she's attired for adventuring. Ree helps herself to a plate and surveys the other people in the room. The most unusual was a young man with dragons growing out of his shoulders. Now that was weird! A tall Beastwoman mentions something about writing a song: she must be a troubador. For some reason there's a fat, silver-haired man literally drunk under the table. Not such a bad idea, she reckons. She grabs a beer to go with her dinner and digs in. She ignores the voice in the back of her head that says she's not a hero, she doesn't deserve the feast. Free food was free food!

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna, of course, was not one to turn down the prospect of a feast after a long and difficult battle. They'd put a stop to a great threat - the least Filgaia could do was put together a feast for them! And so, she's come here to take advantage of the mayor's generosity - her crew is here, too, and she'd even offered the services of her crew's chef to help prepare everything.

Maybe she should've warned them about Lanval first, though. ...Oh well. That's just one of the risks you faced.

She has made an effort to appear at least a little dressed up, even if it's at Dahlia's request. And so, Layna can be found leaning back in her chair in a fancy black suit, looking altogether out of place as she tosses an apple up and down idly.

"Aye, lass, I'd drink to that! Make it the best damn song around." Layna replies with a grin toward Talise. Dahlia, sitting next to her, just sighs a long-suffering sigh. She's chosen a simple yet elegant blue and silver dress for this occasion - it works, at least.

"Sounds about right, lad." Layna comments to Ashton, before offering Sephilia a grin.

"We all played our part, lass, and you played yours expertly!" She says, then sends Talise a grin. "At least thanks to us, the folks who did see 'er didn't have to worry about gettin' ambushed in the middle of the fight."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

 
To many people the struggle against Mother, the victory of the Photosphere, the dark revelations and the subsidiary struggles that surrounded that main thrust: these were the cumulation of battles and conflicts that have raged for centuries. Bittersweet victories.

To Prissa, daughter of Leor, latterly of ???, it was pretty much none of those things.

Prissa still has her battle gear on because it is now HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT. The black leather jerkin is being worn unfastened, the face-mask she'd put together hanging down to sit on her chest. Beneath this is her usual trews and singlet and boots. She has claimed a table space next to her, and resting on a blue cloth are several swords. They are somewhat battered, but there's a reason for them -

They were used in battle!

Prissa herself is eating an entire lamb shank and so does not answer the calls for a song. She does look up, clearly intrigued at the prospect.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        "ha ha haaaaa.... ha ha ha...!" Lanval continues drunken laughter in an indignified place, looking as he does. His very existence is something of an inside joke - those who can see him can probably share a good laugh about how an obvious ringer for the very definition of 'riff raff' is currently deep in the heart of luxury and splendor, looking and lying about as he does.
        Even so, he still partakes in - and helps produce - the intoxicatingly celebratory atmosphere in which the lot of them celebrate their ultimate victories.
        "Shong, shong, shong... ha ha ha...!" He doesn't reflect, in the moment, upon some of the inherent sadness of him saying this after all that's transpired. It is the sort of moment you immortalize in song! The portly phantom rocks back and forth to re-orient how he lies on the ground but does not quite have it in him to rise, so he ends up face down with more muffled laughter.
        A hand rustles around the ground and finds a small piece of mutton under the table. What do you do with food you find on the floor? Apparently if you are Seraph Lanval, who appears to lack any sort of shame or an understanding of why one doesn't eat food off the floor, you just go on ahead and shove it in your (manifestation of a) mouth anyway, tiny morsel of food that it is.
        "Mmmm... 'm shure that'sh why we got sho many here, Shephy~" Lanval says, voice still muffled, as he rolls and turns face-up again to watch the crowd continue to gather and collect food, somehow, with eyes closed.
        Everyone sure did their part, didn't they.
        There are sure also some little morsels of lamb meat getting all over the place, too, Lanval notices. More for him, because apparently the entire floor counts as his plate for some undignified reason he doesn't second guess.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"You did!" Talise assures Sephilia with a broad grin. "I heard all the Tainted survived. That's great. They've got a chance to have a better life now. If anyone can help 'em have a better future, it's Riesenlied!"

It's been awhile since Talise has really had the opportunity to let go of her worries and be happy, and the end of Mother is as good a time as any. When Ashton speaks up, she crooks a smile towards him, flashing just a hint of sharp incisors. "Yeah, I bet she was! Besides, even if she was gorgeous, Mother was bad news for the Blue Star--" She pauses. "Bad news for Filgaia, I mean. So now she's out of the way, and Filgaia's a little safer, right?"

She knocks back another swig of beer before smiling towards Layna. "Hey, plus we got some people to safety, right? That's gotta count for something, even if that crazy garble spider got away."

Catching the attentive look from Prissa, Talise winks at her once, then reaches down. She comes up with a long-necked lute, giving it a quick strum. "Maybe Althena'll be mad at me for havin' this, but the truth is, she's always been a goddess of songs, y'know? And all the Althena stuff I ever learned was in song form. So hopefully she'll go easy on me here!"

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Ashton leans over slightly, looking under the table. He doesn't speak to Lanval, more... around him. "Should we help him up? He seems...." A frown crosses his face. And Ashton leans back up. Maybe better not to.
 
He quickly transitions to a grin for Talise. "Filgaia's a little safer, yes, and we're all thankful for that I'm sure. And it is indeed a blessing that the Tainted got free." He pauses, remembering the Gutter and the confrontation with poor Yarobeleedt. "Perhaps not all, but we saved all we could. And there's no shame in that."
 
So he raises his glass. "A safer world and new futures, eh?"

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"A future where exploring is something anyone can do!" Sephy toasts, with a very watered down cider.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia busts in at about this point. She approaches Prissa from some distance away and aims to give her a hug with one arm.

Lydia is pretty much herself today, no strange and new eccentricies just the old ones. She seems to be in a good mood and is smiling a lot with her many sharp teeth. She waves her free hand towards Lanval because, well, it's Lanval. Who doesn't love Lanval? Everybody loves Lanval and Lydia is no different on that front.

"A little safer." Lydia quips. "Such modesty!"

She laughs heartily before looking towards Talise. Althena is ... the goddess of songs? Y i k e s. "Hey Tal." She says.

<Pose Tracker> Ree has posed.

Ree mills about with the rest of the crowd, quietly eavesdropping. You never knew when you'd overhear something useful -- and some people would pay for information, just as they would for black market goods. She hears a lot of terms she's not familiar with -- Tainted, Riesenlied, Mother, Blue Star, Althena -- and continues to listen. She's very, very good at not drawing attention to herself. Unless she wants to. Maybe she can figure these things out from the context. But what the heck was a garble spider? Some kind of monster?

The Beastwoman bard pulls out a lute and prepares to play and sing. Ah, that would be a fine accompaniment to dinner! Ree was prosperous enough to pay for magic lessons but hardly wealthy. The bribes she had to pay to November City officials ate up most of her profits. That, and bail for her henchmen who were stupid enough to get caught. A bit of refinement was just the ticket for tonight's celebration.

And now there are toasts, which Ree and her companions join in. A safer Filgaia benefits them, too.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna is certainly amused by Lanval's antics, and also perhaps relieved that it isn't any of her alcohol Lanval's swigging down without restraint down there. He's also right that Sephilia saved a good deal of people, which she agrees with by sending her a nod and a smile.

"Even the fairest countenance can hide the foulest heart. ...I couldn't tell you who said it first, but I recall reading that somewhere." Dahlia comments as Mother's looks are brought up. Layna chuckles and shrugs in response before nodding toward Talise.

"Aye, that's the important thing, right there." She agrees, then looks toward Ashton and waves dismissively.

"Nahhh, Lanval's fine down there. Trust me." She says...and then he suggests a toast.

"Aye, lad, I'll drink to that!" Layna says with a grin, raising her drink. Dahlia nods, raising hers as well.

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy waves to Lydia. There's happy music, she's feeling appropriately buzzed from the cider, the food is good, she's with her friends, and all is well with one Sephilia Lampbright.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        Lanval continues laughing as he meets a wave with a wave of his own. Since he has bothered to raise an arm, his hand starts slapping at the side of the table he is presently lying under, in search of maybe some other food stuffs. It would be easier if he'd stand up, wouldn't it, but no, having too much of a good time. Too overtaken by leisure and joy!
        Until a serious consideration is made.
        "...Toasht?" Eyes open up half-lidded, his dumb cat-like smile looking a bit dumber all the while. "Toasht...! I love thoshe..."
        Oh, now he gets up. Kind of. Even for being an entity who doesn't conform to much of the physical laws of the universe, the very idea he can stand up and stay upright tends to stretch suspension of disbelief in times like these. Today is no different, staggering upwards and across a bunch of servants and feasters passing through who don't seem to react to him being there.
        He pirouettes and twirls two-and-a-half rotations before falling to his seat somewhere he'd recognize as being the room's center. His face flushed, he holds his gourd in the air.
        "A tooooooasht~!" He calls. The reason he lets that word hang is because he can't pick one reason for toasting, so he just goes with all of them, as he continues to laugh uproariously like he's in his native element. (He is, in fact!)

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

 
As she is embraced, Prissa startles for a moment, and then relaxes, before giving her (Lydia that is) a sudden and tight embrace. After this she takes the lamb leg out of her mouth and tells her, while waggling the bone, "Save these for me, I do not know how long until we get such a dinner again."

As she turns forwards, Prissa asks Ashton, "Really? ALL of them? I am surprised. Such performance is astounding. Most, I would be pleased; ALL, I am astonished." Back to Talise, she says: "Yeah?"

"I don't get it," she continues. "But this is a problem for another world. Perhaps we will never return!" This prospect does not seem to dismay Prissa excessively as she picks up a baked potato with her hand and eats the entire thing like an apple.

"Oh, toast," Prissa says: "Lydia, you have a glass? WHO HAS THE DRINK! A glass for my friend the shaman heroine!"

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise lets out a slow breath before raising her tankard to clink against Ashton's, smiling crookedly. "Yeah. And hey, if we dwell on everything we couldn't do, we lose sight of what we did do, right? So here's to making Filgaia a better place to life?"

The tall swordswoman takes another swig from her tankard before setting it down with a thump - and then Lydia busts in, and Talise waves the neck of her lute at her cheerily. "Hey, it's Lydia. Nice to see you came through it all okay. You been hanging in there? I heard you got a Priestess Promotion."

Somehow Talise manages to capitalize that. Verbally. How? It's a Bard Power.

But the prospect Prissa raises leave Talise's smile fading slightly. She looks up towards the sky, eyes seeking out the distant shape of the silver moon. "Maybe. But I think I'll have to get back there sooner than later. I've got some unfinished business back home."

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

The toast is made and Ashton downs what's left of his mug. Creepy, on his shoulder, happily lets out a screech in agreement.
 
After, the mug is lifted towards Lydia as she approaches the cluster and their merriment. "Come on! Always room for more, isn't there?"
 
"And as for that," Ashton notes as his gaze shifts to Dahlia, "That sounds almost Armengard-ish." He, of course, winks with the comment and breaks to a laugh. "Not that it's untrue, mind! Though I certainly wouldn't mind a pretty face from time to time."
 
Perhaps Ashton's had a bit more than he originally thought. Or what Weepy had is affecting him? Just how digestion works between the three heads has never been spoken of.
 
Prissa's words cut through that, however, and he frowns again. "Sadly, not all-all. But I know how many hard-fought to rescue as many as could be, and many who would have been lost were not." He waggles his (currently) empty mug at her. "It was.... was..."
 
Something pokes into his brain at this point - and he looks from Prissa to Talise as the two converse. "I'm sorry, who's the goddess of songs?"

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

 
"Don't ask me, I worship the blade," Prissa says immediately, pointing with the bone towards Talise.

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"We'll get back to Lunar," Sephy says with the firm conviction of a true believer. "It's home! Dad and Mom are waiting for me!"

<Pose Tracker> Ree has posed.

More toasts, including one from the overweight, intoxicated bearded man who has somehow made it to his feet and staggered over to a seat in the middle of the room. Everyone seems relaxed and joyous. Ree picks up additional information -- evidently the green-haired, horned, cyborg Beastwoman is a shaman named Lydia. Ree doesn't know mch about religion -- only that the gods, of whatever faith system, are unjust -- but she's seen some of their powers in action.

She circulates around the room introducing herself and distributing her business card, which simply reads

Ree. November City.

Geohound. Dealer in rare antiquities.

She knows better than to hint where the 'antiquities' come from, whether stolen, raided, salvaged from Digs, or scavenged from the dead. She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes...

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise blinks once, then clicks her tongue and points a finger at Prissa. "We oughta talk, then. I love the blade. The blade's half my life."

She takes a quick swig of ale. "The other half's alcohol and the third half's singing and the fourth half's Althena."

Talise has a 141 2/3 chance of winning at Sacrifice. The numbers don't lie.

When Ashton asks a question, the swordbard cants her head to one side, rocking her chair back to prop her heels on the table edge. "Oh. Althena's the goddess of Lunar - up there." Casually, she jerks her thumb towards the silver moon overhead. "Though she kind of went bananas recently and decided singing is illegal, but oh well."

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"That's where we're from! The moon! It's exciting!" Sephy provides helpful commentary.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

At Prissa's request Layna deftly produces a glass and a bottle from somewhere, pouring one out and setting it aside in case Lydia wants it. If she doesn't, Layna will gladly take it back.

"Aye, agreed." Layna says with a nod toward Talise. "Life's too short to worry about that!"

Dahlia, meanwhile, chuckles at Ashton's comment.

"Indeed..." She agrees, though it's heard to tell which part she's agreeing to.

"Lunar, huh..." Layna considers. "...Aye, I've got a thing or two to take care o', there, but as of late I find myself liking Filgaia more an' more. But maybe that's just what comes from riskin' life and limb for it so damn much."

Layna shrugs, and takes another swig of her drink.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia says, "Course," to Prissa. "You gonna never go hungry again." Pause. "Er, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself there, but we're going to--oof..."

She's being hugged. Dahhh. Lydia's cheeks silver faintly, but only faintly. Hugs all around is pretty understandable here.

"The shaman heroine? Gossshh..." Lydia says, NOW silvering pretty considerably, and raising her glass to Sephilia as if she's toasting her. Lydia doesn't get toasted much.

"I mean I'm mostly joking around with that," Lydia tells Talise. "But yeah, sure, Super Priestess Lydia Seren of Rigdobrite." She pauses for a moment. "Man, it's nice to actually feel them again. I wonder ... what's going to happen now..."

She quiets down a bit, wondering if Prissa has met, say, Tethelle.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        There is a call being made for 'who has the drink.' The mayor, off to the side, frantically shouts something to some unseen aide. It doesn't take long for some other bottles of less luxurious drinkstuffs to come by to supplement the mead and beer and other available alcohols. It is such a strange frustration to have! That wine was said to be historically exquisite and now it is completely gone, but it is a time for celebration.
        Lanval, post-toasting, staggers along and finds himself leaning against a table like he might have had a bit too much (this statement is not going to be finished, if one asks for clarification on what it is he's had 'too much' of, the answer is 'yes').
        "Mmmmmmm," he contemplatively grunts as talk comess up about business in Lunar. It's a sobering moment that puts a bigger damper on him than it really should, as Lydia talks about being able to feel the presence of her Guardian again, but then trails off into worry.
        Lanval idly stuffs some sort of salad-like mass of food in his maw anyway, contemplatively. He feels the leaves crunch around in his person. What's going to happen... he kind of already knows how things are looking. Everything is great right now, sure, but there's a little something you can taste when you've engorged yourself for the better part of five hundred years on Lunar.
        ...He doesn't want to trouble them on that one too much, for what they did accomplish. This is the first great big party and celebration he's gotten to be part of in soooo long, he can't bring the mood down! He slumps down from the table and hits the floor again, like a spill of a drink, and comes to rest there.
        He can see Ree's smile not quite going all the way. He has another drink from his gourd as he takes in an unnecessary but relaxing breath, and once more lets himself slip back into the intoxicating atmosphere.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Talise - and Sephilia - happily explain who Althena is and that they're from the moon. As they do, he refills his mug. And remembers a few days ago...
 
A FEW DAYS AGO
 
Fei tries to think about how to best summarize the moon. It takes him a moment but eventually he thinks he's got it.
 
"It's basically a paradise filled with wonderful food and weather but you're not allowed to enjoy it because of the strict prohibition instated by its goddess that is, somehow, against dancing and drinking and also your personality contradictions can get infected with magical poison that turns you into a monster person that needs to be purified."
 
NOW
 
Ashton sips his beer. And the man with two dragons on his shoulders nods and repeats what he said to Fei. "The moon's kind of bullshit."

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"Hey, no! It's my home! My Dad's famous there for exploring!" Sephy says in defense of her home, taking another drink of the cider. Even watered down, Sephy ain't huge--but she *is* watering it down.

<Pose Tracker> Ree has posed.

Ree can't help quirking a brow when the healer-girl claims to be from the Old Moon. She is, to say the least, highly skeptical -- as is the dragon-shoulder dude, apparently. She also doesn't understand why the servers are ignoring the tubby wastrel. He's right there, being annoying, isn't he? Why can't he get their attention?

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna looks toward Ashton, considers his comment for a moment...and then nods. Dahlia simply shrugs in response.

"Aye, that's fair." She agrees with another nod, then looks toward Sephilia. "It's alright, Sephy, he ain't wrong. Lunar's got a lot o' problems that need to be taken care of."

Not that Layna knew where to begin, but...she was a pirate. It was hardly her job to fix all of Lunar's problems.

"You alright down there, buddy?" Layna asks, taking a brief glance under the table as Lanval goes quiet.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

 
"What does this expression mean?" Prissa asks Ashton. "I mean I understand the context, but why manure?" Ashton can probably tell after passing multiple sentences with Prissa that she speaks Foreign, somehow, don't worry about the details.

As mead comes out, Prissa takes some, hands more to Lydia, and raises up her own glass.

"So if we are proposing toasts," she says, "I will say that I - Prissa, the Blade Dreamer, foremost swordwright of this age, yes we will talk more Miss Gianfair - "

"Wish to Propose........."

"That all of you cheer yourself," Prissa continues. "This world is different from the one where I have grown. In a sense I have walked THREE worlds now, not just two, and I can say that you have all taught me that problems and perils may abound, but that people are decent. And if we should come together, we will forge an alloy that can slay even god!"

Prissa swirls her glass. "Let me take that back," she says. "An alloy that can defeat any enemy. So!"

Up comes the glass. "To all of you! puddusc ib."

 *glug*

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"I'm not sure," Talise admits with a thoughtful look towards Lydia, reaching for an eclair. "Maybe we'll all get to sit back and relax for awhile. That'd be nice. It'd be nice to get back to my old life. I was a bard before all this junk started." She pauses. "And a little pirate before that. Hey Layna," she calls, waving her eclair. "Think you could use some muscle?"

Ashton's observation is met with a sigh. "Tell me about it," Talise concedes, resting a hand on her forehead. "Look, we're working on it. It's why I can't stick around here. I've gotta go punch a guy in the face if nothing else."

Ghaleon does, in fact, have an eminently punchable face.

Pouring herself another tankard, Talise blinks at PRissa, then smiles crookedly, raising her mug towards the talented swordsmith. "Puddusc ib, Prissa friend," she echoes, not knowing the meaning but catching the sentiment.

Up comes the bottom of that mug. It stays that way for a long time. Some foam streams off of Talise's chin.

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"Puddusc iiiiiiiiib!" Sephy agrees.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Defensively, Ashton holds up his hands in mock surrender rather than confront Sephilia. "I'm sure it's very nice for everyone who's from there but the stories I've heard--" And he fails to mention that it's just what Fei's said "--Make it sound like a -highly- troubled place and I'm glad to not be there. I've no desire to have my personality poison itself to turn me into a monster." He steals a glance over to Creepy, who is now munching on an overlarge melon. "That's one thing I don't need help with."
 
And while he's about to answer Prissa - namely that he has no idea where the expression comes from - the attempt is interrupted. And a toast is made. He raises his mug to that. "Here here!"
 
A thought then occurs, particularly at Talise's words. "I'm reminded - by the sound of things, would any of you know someone named Ruby? Fei suggested I talk with her and that she was also from the moon." Ashton pauses. "It's really strange to say that. I'm at a party asking people from the moon if they know a pink dragon. ....Maybe I did die fighting Mother and this is all a hallucination."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        "###### ###," Lanval murmurs in some arcane unknown tongue as part of the toast as some stand-out aside, and promptly returns to engorging himself as difficult viewpoints and opinions start to surface.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Aye, that would be nice." Layna comments, in response to Talise...and then offers her a grin. "Could always use more muscle, aye."

She looks toward Ashton, then.

"Well, I'm no expert on Malevolence, but it ain't that bad. Sure, it's somethin' ya gotta watch out for, but it ain't gonna grab ya just by being there. There's a lotta underlyin'...junk, involved." Layna comments.

Prissa gets Layna's attention, then, as she gives a speech. Layna raises an eyebrow, but listens intently. She's plenty cheerful, herself, but she can get behind the sentiment. It was a good one, really.

"Three worlds, aye? I only know of two, so if there's a third one out there, you gotta enlighten me." Layna asks, curious. But even so...

"Hear hear!" Layna says with a clap as Prissa concludes. "I don't know what that means, but...puddusc ib!

For all she knows Layna could be saying some horrible, terrible swear, but thankfully she isn't the type of person to care. She is the type of person, however, to kick back the rest of her glass and down the rest of it in a single swig.

<Pose Tracker> Ree has posed.

Her meal finished, Ree makes a beeline for the dessert table, where she promptly helps herself to a heap of bread pudding with caramel sauce. Her companions swarm the table likewise, getting sweets of their own preferences. It was refreshing to be treated like an honored guest instead of a necessary evil, it really was! And if the surrounding gossip was to be believed, the Metal Demons had at last been defeated, after more than a thousand years of fighting.

Ree hadn't been here in Hilton when the Demons attacked theh port, but she'd heard stories. Tales traveled fast on Filgaia: lately at the Memory Cubes there'd been lines to get into the lines. And that wasn't even counting her 'unofficial' sources, which all agreed: victory! Hence tonight's celebration. Victory was sweet, but war was good for business. She was going to see just how true that saying was. Even if the Demons were vanquished, Filgaia was full of other dangers: swarms of monsters, renegade Gears, ruthless outlaws -- and, it was rumored, the Veruni. Ree had never seen of of them, either, but they were supposed to be trying to take over the planet. No doubt there'd be another party if they were neutralized.

Ree steps into the middle of the room and raises her glass to propose her own toast. "To the future!"

The future -- and the present-- were all any of them had. The past couldn't be changed. She relearned that bitter lesson every day.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Ashton shakes it off. The conversation is strange but then? So has the rest of the past few weeks.
 
He doesn't know the woman who's proposing the new toast - she doesn't look familiar. But the battles around the Photosphere were long, chaotic and full of people. More than once, Ashton found himself fighting side by side with people who's names he didn't even know. It doesn't even occur to him to think otherwise about Ree. She's here, so she must have been.
 
And so the Double Dragon Duelist raises his mug as well. "To the future. For each day means a dawn, and we've done our part to make sure it is there." He leans forward, reaching out to tap his glass against Ree's. "Well done all."