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This is Rosita. I'll hit you back when I can.

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He had done the same thing with Faith, when she came, but he'd rather burn her and her stupid letters.

He knows Astarion had done the same with his own letter from - well.

"He's right," Jacob adds. "But that's fucking harder to think than it is to say."

Jacob has a laundry list of people who deserve a second chance more than him.

"Trying, aren't I?" Some days more than others, but that's the way of everything in life. Nothing is a straight line.

She shakes her head, tightens her hold ever so slightly on Astarion, looks across at Jacob.

"I know this probably doesn't seem like much, but it's a pretty big fucking deal. No one talks about the old life anymore. No one thinks about it if we can help it, so. This means a lot."

Astarion looks down at the flickering candle flames, the paper and silk flowers, the offerings. It doesn't seem like much. If he'd wandered across such an arrangement tomorrow and had no personal contention to it, he'd have just picked over the table for anything of value and thought nothing more about it.

But it means something to her. And she means something to him.

"...You chose this," he says quietly. "You chose the place, and the time, and the people, in circumstances where we are forever being thrown right and left at the whims of powers we can't see, for reasons we can't know. That...that does mean something."

"Ain't good to dwell on what we were before, how shit was," he says. "But it ain't good to forget, either. This - what you did here - is perfect."

She is not someone who seeks validation from just anywhere, but from people she cares about it's as important as shelter, as warmth in general; when she hears exactly her own reasoning from Astarion, umprompted, and Jacob's agreement...

She doesn't beam at them, but her smile settles deeper and truer. It's a bittersweet ache, and one she treasures.

"Normally we'd eat and drink and dance through the night, celebrating the family we still have." That won't happen here, for multiple reasons. "Could I - could we. It doesn't need to be any of that, but whatever it is. Could we stay together tonight?"

It feels precarious, somehow, to just ask - but she's come to trust them, so ask she does.

"Yes," Astarion says simply. "Of course."

It would feel strange to leave her alone. It would feel worse to walk away and spend the night by himself. She makes the very suggestion he was hoping to hear.

He nods his own agreement; there isn't anywhere else he'd rather be. There's safety here, a sort of safety he doesn't feel anywhere else. He's not leaving either one of them.

"We can still drink if you want," he points out. "Lounge is a bust, but I've got a couple of bottles hidden away."

"I'm dry," she has to admit. It's been easier in the wake of calming down her drinking by force, but she's eager to pick it back up.

She glances at Astarion, pressing her lips together.

"Is there anything... special? We can do for you?"

Astarion blinks at her, barely understanding the question, then smiles and shakes his head. He's not even sure what that would look like.

"No. But thank you."

Who is Sebastian? Jacob finds himself wondering, but if Astarion doesn't volunteer, then Jacob doesn't press. It's not that kind of night.

"We'll figure something out," he tells them both, but the wheels are turning. "Meanwhile, we have to crash somewhere. Have a good time."

Rosita has her questions too, but she's moved enough by the fact he showed up at all, that he participated even as much as he did. She said it was his choice and he made it, so she'll respect it.

She has questions for Jacob too, but there's time now. They have time. She looks again across the ofrenda, brushes the fabric petals of the garland with her fingertips, and nods.

She smiles. "I know where all the empty cabins are."

Edited Date: 2024-11-11 12:54 am (UTC)

"And one even hopes some of them haven't been destroyed," Astarion says. "Shall we retire, then?"

Jacob nods, staring a bit at the candles.

"Text me which one y'all go to. I'll meet you there with what I have."

"4-1," she answers immediately, but she watches him a moment more, dropping her arm from around Astarion and stepping closer to Jacob.

"You good?"

Astarion doesn't add anything, but his gaze briefly flicks to Jacob's. Not quite concerned, but - curious.

He looks up, realizing that he had gotten lost in the flicker of the candle.

"Yeah," he assures her and Astarion both. "I'm fine. It'll take five minutes to get there and to y'all. Go ahead."

"Alright."

She licks her lips, but turns to go with another nod.

Astarion keeps close to her, more than usual, their arms bumping lightly as they walk together. Nothing protective about it, it just...feels like the correct thing to do, for whatever reason.

Jacob stays for a minute longer, watching the flickering lights of the candles. Then he hurries down to his room to pack a bag as quickly as he can and feed Mae.

He knocks at the door on the 4th floor.

"It's me."

Rosita still carries her pack with her, more convinced than ever that it's the right move. The contents change, but knowing she needs it with her at all times has not.

She pulls more candles out, sets them around the room, lighting them with her cantrip. She doesn't speak either but by the time there's knocking on the door, she's humming softly enough it's barely audible.

She drags a chair over when she opens the door to shove under the knob once Jacob is inside.

"Not too shabby. I don't know if skipping the empty room makes them good pirates or shitty ones."

"Efficient, for better or worse," Astarion suggests. He's sitting down on the edge of the bed, having been watching Rosita light candles. "I'd suggest we consider stashing a few things in rooms like this, but who knows what'll become of them when they're occupied?"

"They'll probably fucking disappear."

He takes out two bottles - one rum, one wine - and sets them on a desk so he can fiddle with his music. His phone is next and he leans against the wall after unlocking it.

"Alright, guess I'm in charge of music." He turns on some comfortable country, starting with Garth Brooks, and keeps it low.

"Gonna give you some music education," he tells Astarion with a laugh. "Maybe Ro can teach us a line dance."

"I have a few stashes here and there," she adds. "Nothing I can't replace if someone else finds them, but they're there."

She's comfortable enough, calm enough, that the thought of Jacob being in charge of music doesn't raise alarms even in the paranoid part of her brain, and she grins when she hears the first guitar strums.

"Oh wow. I haven't heard this in forever, after a lifetime of thinking I'd never get away from the man." She crosses back over to the other two. "I already taught Astarion to twerk," she smirks, then glances at the elf in question: "Line dancing is nothing like that. Different kind of club." And yes, she absolutely can.

"I am not going to demonstrate," he says crisply to Jacob. "But, I don't mind dancing in a way that's slightly more dignified."

Astarion gets that out before Jacob can request it. Just in time. He gives him a smirk, though. Just so he knows.

"I'll ask for it later," he says lightly, seemingly unburdened now by the weight that had been hanging on him at the ofrenda.

"Come on. I can two step," he tells Rosaita and slides in close to take her hand. "That might be dignified enough for him to learn."