Proud Party|Flux

[Kender Bard]

Flux loved parties and even if this was one in honor of the Proud they threw themselves into it with as much zeal as they would anything else and once things were underway there was much fun to be had in all shapes and form.

The Proud of course kept themselves closely together, taking the 'seats of honor' wherever they felt there was one, and more or less just preening and basking in the light of their success.

Tatty hovered between her fellow Cowards and a few other groups, not entirely sure what she should be doing.

Wisdom glanced around; he'd only arrived in Flux just a few moments ago, more than exhausted, and looking like absolute crud. He felt it too. It'd been a hard journey back, emotionally as well as some mishaps along the way. We're having a celebration, he noted dismally. He wanted to find a hole somewhere to curl up and die in. Instead he tried to find Fiest.

[Darastrix]

Fiest was doing what he did best: flirting and mingling wherever he saw an opening. Before the celebration had gotten fully underway, he'd pointed some of his gentler pathmates and Generous toward the unfortunate priests he'd seen bound in the Proud wing when he'd arrived. He'd stressed the need those few might have for some tender treatment and had made whatever promises he could to the more reluctant priests to sweeten the deal for them (mostly Lustful; the Generous didn't usually need much coaxing when it came to being helpful).

He smiled and waved when he caught sight of Wisdom and made his way through the crowd of revelers, giving a few light pinches as he went. He paused by the new High Priestess for a moment and whispered, "Doing fine, Tatty. Let the paths do what they do for the most part, and just remember that none of us are wild animals. You'll be fine." He gave her a wink and moved the rest of the way to meet with Wisdom.

"I was starting to think you might end up missing this year's Sinfest here as well," he greeted. "But with the way things almost went -- I'll tell you about that later -- it's probably for the best that you stayed away so long. Where's Mom gotten off to? Catching a nap?"

[Kender Bard]

"Fiest," Wisdom murmured. Now that he was here, he wanted to be anywhere else even more strongly. Instead he reached out to grasp the other man's hand in his own, tightly. "Let's go somewhere more private. Please. It's urgent."

[Darastrix]

"Get into the Lustful candy dish again?" Fiest asked as he allowed Wisdom to take his hand. "I thought there was someone else you were planning that little experiment with. Not that I wouldn't be interested, of course."

After narrowly averting disaster with the Proud, Fiest had put himself rather firmly in the mindset that nothing else bad was going to happen. There wasn't room for it; he was still a little leery of Cai and worried that Prophet's vision might still come true somehow. If Wisdom seemed upset to him, he blamed it on the rigors of travel and then pushed the thought aside.

[Kender Bard]

"This isn't a time for jokes," Wisdom murmured quietly as he led Fiest to the nearest quiet room; someone's unlocked personal chambers but that's what you get for not safeguarding your goods. He shut the door behind himself.

"It's about your mother," Wisdom started, and bit his lip. How did one explain this? He was still grieving himself. "Jackie... didn't... she..."

He reached up and rubbed his face, giving him the chance to touch his Water sign and will the impending tears back from the verge of spilling.

"She died," he concluded softly.

[Darastrix]

Fiest's smile seemed to freeze in place like the expression on a mask. He forced it wider and shook his head, his ponytail whipping behind him. "That's not even funny, Wisdom," he sing-songed, then turned and swept his arm over the top of the nearest shelf, knocking everything on it to the floor.

"Not. Fucking. FUNNY!" Fiest's face twisted with emotion and he lunged toward Wisdom, making a throttling motion in the air with his hands. "Do you have any idea what's been going one here?" he hissed. "I screwed up here so badly that if Prophet hadn't been sent a vision from Soahc, you'd probably be coming back to see the Proud push back and get themselves all killed. And now you're telling me the one thing, the ONE thing I did as high priest that I could reasonably say maybe went okay included sending my mother off so I'd never get to see her again?!"

[Kender Bard]

Wisdom stood his ground. He was too... apathetic to even truly cower in the face of Fiest's rage and grief. "I don't think..." He wasn't even sure what to say, though he'd had ample time to think about it. "She really did enjoy the trip, you know. It might have just been her time. And she... well she went out doing what she does and enjoys best. Most priests do prefer it that way, than to go quietly."

[Darastrix]

She could've gone like that here..., Fiest thought as he slumped to the floor. He wasn't angry. Or he just didn't have the energy to stay angry for long.

"She was supposed to come home," he whispered, wrapping his arms around himself. "She's supposed to be here."

Fiest drew his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his arms as he started to shake. It shouldn't be this way. His mother was supposed to come back with Wisdom, and he could tell her what had happened and she would hug him and pet him until he started to feel better about the whole mess. If he hadn't ended up high priest, it wouldn't have happened like this. The thing with the Proud would probably have never happened, and she'd have died there in Flux. ...if she would have died at all.

Oh Soahc....

What if it was his fault? A strangled sob tore from his throat at the thought and Fiest began to cry in earnest.

[Kender Bard]

Wisdom gave him a bleak look and this time didn't check his own tears as they spilled hotly down his cheeks, though he'd long ago cried his anguish out so they were silent tears. He knelt down next to Fiest and, after a moment of thought, tried to put his arms comfortingly around the man, figuring most Lustful wouldn't push away a sympathetic pair of arms.

[Darastrix]

Fiest remained tense and trembling in Wisdom's embrace, though he didn't try to pull away. He stayed as he was for a few moments, curled in on himself and crying into his knees, before raising his head and shifting until he could rest his cheek against Wisdom's chest. His arms, he kept wrapped about his knees, his knuckles white as he gripped handfuls of his robe.

"I have to tell Imo," Fiest whispered. "Everyone." He squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth against another wave of sobs. He'd have to send letters, too -- a letter to every nation's main temple and Force Home, trying to track down his siblings. He'd have to write the news over and over.

Dear Sonia, I know you don't like being around Imo, but Mom died. Come home.

Dear Nyx, Mom died, so if you feel like honoring us with your presence....

Violet.

I need you here.

Shard.

Don't hate me, but--

Master.

It might be my fault.

He let out a hopeless moan.

[Kender Bard]

"You can have some help you know," Wisdom murmured. "You don't have to do it alone. I'll help too. Soahc knows I feel guilty enough." He sniffled loudly. "I was supposed to take care of her..."

[Darastrix]

Fiest didn't say anything regarding Wisdom's thoughts of guilt; he was hardly in the mindset to try to reassure someone else at that point. He wanted to BE comforted, by his family in particular. And since Imobel wasn't much on gentle affection, he'd probably have to wait for Master or Violet to come.

"I don't even know where they are," he said, still whispering. His voice wouldn't crack if he whispered. "Need to send letters everywhere."

[Kender Bard]

"I can help," Wisdom offered promptly. "Whatever you need, Fiest. Just give the word. I'll get others to help too, if necessary."

He wasn't fishing for comfort, himself. He was stating what, to his mind, was fact. And he wanted so much to help take some of Fiest's own guilt away from him, but most Generous priests found tasks of that nature difficult at best.

[Darastrix]

"Let them have their party," Fiest murmured, finally uncurling enough to put his arms around Wisdom. "It can wait. I'm not the high priest now; I won't be missed." Not that anyone would really be missed after the celebration started to spread across the temple.

[Kender Bard]

"Aye, it can wait," Wisdom agreed and hugged Fiest a little tighter. "But I'm not all that much in the mood to join them. To be truthful, a hot bath and something calming from the Addict's bounty sounds terribly tempting."