Hikari no Matsuri - Shiawasena Basho: Lobby
The main foyer is relatively nondescript and simple, with a
sparsely-adorned room that has several doors leading to different parts of
the bathing areas. A few large potted plants sit in corners and there is a
counter behind which the proprietor resides, and a set of double-doors leads
south back into the festival grounds. Three curtain-framed doorways lead
further into the bath house, each one denoting their intended gender.
Notably, the ceiling is very high up, the rafters of which must be at least
a good thirty feet or so above the floor.



In the waning hours of the final day of the Festival of Lights, traffic to and
from various locations within the festival grounds is becoming gradually
lessened. There is a significant ruckus going on among the remaining festival
attendees over what transpired during the final performance of the week, and
it's the topic on everyone's minds at the moment.

To that end, for their parts, Mollianne, the stranger from before, and the
beastman girl are idly chatting amongst each other within the lobby of the Bath
House, all three of them with towels still hung around their necks and wearing
deep blue yukatas as idle-wear while on the premises.

None of them seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere or do anything, and seem to be
simply taking a load off, and some apparently need it more than others, if
Mollianne's worn-out expression is anything to go by.

For his part, the stranger is again wearing the makeshift blindfold from before,
though it doesn't seem to be bothering his ability to interact with anyone much.


There is a noise at the foyer's doors, somewhat similar to the sound of a
child's laughter. This is followed closely by a dull *SPLAT* of something
against the door. Muffled words can be heard before the door starts to be pushed
open.

The beastman girl looks up at the splat sound effect, pulling the towel over her
head like a headdress and idly drying her hair a little bit further. "What?"

As the doors open just wide enough, a person in a hooded teal cloak slips
through quickly and pushes the door shut. Just in time too, based on the
following *SPLAT* of what is clearly a snowball clips the opening and lightly
dusts the figure's cloak. They laugh quietly as they finish shutting the door
and move to remove the cloak, revealing the brown-haired disaster of Sunflash
grinning to himself as he hangs it up nearby.

The rogue and Mollianne both look up to join the beastman girl's gaze when an
actual person follows through after the -splat-, and Mollianne offers a bright,
if very tired, smile while Ambience offers a small grin. "Figured you'd show up
sooner or later. Molly told me you were here, somewhere."

The beastman girl looks between all three of them, making a face. "Everyone
already knows everybody here? I thought we were just going to a festival, this
is too weird!" She doesn't sound THAT put out, but maybe just a little.


Kaze whispers in Lyll's ear "What's wrong with knowing people?".


You'd think his jaws getting sore, as big as his grin was in return. Sunflash
manages a small bow towards the trio. "I'd have shown up sooner, but I somehow
managed to get a target on my back as a good person to throw snowballs at. Did
you know there's still an /army/ of kids with good aim out there?" He settles
for a quick wink at Lyll's direction, and moves to close the distance to the
group for ease of conversation.

The beastman girl jumps a little at the suddenness of a voice in her ear,
and looks up at Kaze with an annoyed expression, nearly dropping her towel in
the process. "That's rude, don't do that!"


The rogue smirks as he looks toward the door, then back at Sunflash. "I'm sure
there are. If we weren't short on time for the night, I'm sure this little one
here would have been one of them." The beastman girl gives the rogue a side-eye
and puffs out her cheeks, feigning annoyance.

Kaze attempts a look of utter innocence. It's not very effective.


Mollianne actually takes a moment to sit down in a nearby chair in the lobby,
fidgeting slightly as she gets comfortable. "It is all in good fun." Man, she
sounds TIRED, even her voice is a little wispy and breathless. "But I am glad
you could humor them, at least. They need it as much as anyone else does."

Ambience glances at Sunflash. "Have you been here the whole week?"

Kaze nods.


"Quite likely a ferocious snowball arm, from the looks of it!" He inclines his
head in sympathetic agreement towards Mollianne before responding to Ambience.
"Indeed. I uh...well, long story short; from the last we saw each other until
about three or four days ago, I've not a very functional memory." He grimaces.
"Been doing odd-jobs out in Viorar the whole time, and heard about the Festival
this year. Decided I needed a break, and, well."

Sunflash gestures towards Molliane with another sad smile. "I didn't really
recognize Mollianne until one of her more personal songs, but we finally put two
and two together. I got asked to hang around." He chuckled. "Not that I needed
convincing."

"An odd reunion, I suppose, but not a thankless one." The rogue looks at
Mollianne, who is simply minding her own at the moment and might even be having
trouble keeping her eyes open, but appears to at least be trying to stay alert
for the sake of the company. "And yeah, that's what she's good at. But, uh.."

The rogue looks down at the beastman girl, and swiftly reaches down to pick her
up by the waist, which provokes a squeal of fake distress! They wrestle for a
moment before the rogue gets her into a more comfortable position in both arms,
looking back toward Sunflash. "If it wasn't for this one, I wouldn't be here at
all. So she deserves a bit debt of gratitude for that, too. In more ways than
one."

The beastman girl nods, allowing herself into the conversation because she's
been indicated, now. "Angel-nii died. But then he came back." She says this is
an extremely innocent, matter-of-fact way, and looks at the rogue pointedly.
"Right?"

The rogue looks a little uncertain of how, exactly, to respond to that.

In spite of this, Mollianne giggles softly from behind them, clearly amused.

Bending a little, Sunflash offers a very serious-faced handshake to the girl.
"Well, thank you for keeping this one in line. I'm sure he was quite a handful."
He straightens and actually chuckles at her claim before noticing Ambiance's
reaction. "Well, I know I've *felt* like I died, although I think I experienced
it differently." He's clearly not asking all the questions on his mind, but more
enjoying presences than anything else.

The beastman girl actively shakes Sunflash's hand when offered! "I'm Lyll! I
think I remember seeing you at the singing, too!"

Ambience looks like he isn't sure how to really explain what actually happened,
and is suddenly, at that moment, a little self-conscious about the blindfold.
"Yeah, I'm.. I'm gonna guess that it's been a little uneven over the last few
years, not that..." He stops, glancing back at Mollianne. The siren just offers
him a tired smile and waves a little, allowing him the time he needs to
socialize.

Ambience smiles a little in return, and looks again at Sunflash. "Where's Haut?"

The question was a little sudden, but it had been on Ambience's mind for a
little bit, now, at this point.

Sunflash grins at Lyll. "I would hope so, I was doing my best not to hide for
once!" His face takes on a thoughtful look at Ambience's question. "Its...I'm
not sure. Remember how I said my memory's been non-functional?" He sighs and
takes a seat with a chair pulled over magically. Hand on his forehead as he
continues with his eyes screwed shut. "I have a recollection of escaping via
some sort of teleport with Haut and...Jillian? I think that's what he called."

As he continues, very faint blue sparks appear to flicker into existence and
move around Sunflash's head, as if tracing veins. "It gets...confusing. I think
I...passed out? But I can see...just the two of them. Conversing. Left me in a
bed somewhere." He shakes his head and opens his eyes right as the sparks
vanish.

Ambience thinks for a second, nodding. "So then at least you all made it off the
Fortress safely. I'm glad." Ambience shifts Lyll's weight slightly, but she
doesn't seem inclined to want to be put down, so he doesn't. "But I'm also not
surprised. He wasn't exactly fun to be around."

Kaze says 'You get knocked around the noggin or is this more a curse sort of
deal?'

Mollianne looks up at this turn of conversation, and while she didn't know
Haut's name, she wasn't stupid and could put the pieces together as easily as
anyone else. "Was Haut at jerk with the spear?"

Sunflash looks up at Kaze with a brief look of confusion before shrugging.
"Probably a bit a both, with my luck." He nods at Mollianne.

"At least it sounds like you're able to get around without too much trouble."
Ambience took a step back so he could see Mollianne without needing to look over
his shoulder, and sighs. "Yeah, he's that jerk."

Mollianne frowns softly, pulling her avian legs up against herself. "Probably
better he does not come back at all, then." She sounds very bitter.

Lyll appears to be merely listening to the conversation; after all, it's how
people learn things!

Leaning back with a grim chuckle, Sunflash nods. "If anything, my...natural
abilities haven't been affected, from what I can tell. Not yet, anyway." A
sympathetic smile is flashed towards Molliane. "Maybe, but I'm willing to bet it
won't matter either way. From what I recall at the end, he just wanted to get
away from everything." He shrugs. "He won't come looking, I'll wager."


Ambience looked like he wanted to make a counter-point to that latter comment,
but does not physically say anything on the measure. Instead, he changes his
intended topic. "Are you traveling, then? I'm not going to lie, I never learned
that much about you other than your.. unique way of managing spell-craft."
Ambience glances around himself, as if he were looking for something that wasn't
there, then gives up. "A lot of it was very last-minute."

Kaze quietly scrutinizes Sunflash, looking for magical tells.

Mollianne lets her eyes fall between Ambience and Sunflash as they talk, resting
her chin on her knees. if she wasn't a siren, the particular way she was
sitting in the chair would probably not be very appropriate, but she doesn't
notice because she's never had to worry about it.

Lyll looks at Sunflash. "Was that 'Haut' a bad guy that you had to beat?"

The pulsar of Mana that was Sunflash simply shrugged. "I've fallen back into the
old wandering trouble-finder the last few years. There's not much that's tried
to attract my full attention since the Fortress, and I don't really have much
roots to anyplace besides Viorar..." He lets it trail off as he shakes his head
at Lyll. "I'm probably not the best person to ask, but he gave me the impression
of someone who didn't know how to trust."

With a glance at Mollianne's pose, Sunflash turns his gaze towards Ambience
again. "Are you looking for traveling company, or did I misunderstand the
question?"

Ambience scratches the back of his head, an uncertain gesture. "I'm not sure
yet. I've been staying with Lyll and her family in the woods in northern Fa'Diel
for a little under a year, now. I've been.. honestly, kind of afraid to go
anywhere, and even coming here wasn't my idea, as I mentioned."

"I'm not sure how much the world's changed while I was gone, or what's actually
happened to me. So I've been playing it safe for the time being." Ambience
looks between Lyll and Sunflash. "I don't know if 'bad guy' is the right word,
but Haut was definitely not easy to get along with, probably for those reasons,
yes."

Mollianne looks up at Sunflash as he describes what he's been doing. "You
frequented Viorar? It is a wonder we never bumped into each other, since I live
there too."

"Okay, so he's a jerk, but not a bad guy. I think I get it." Lyll looks like
maybe she doesn't actually get it, but seems like it's not a big deal, either.


"Its funny, I don't actually have a home, so I tend to just...bounce in and out
of town. With my memory frazzled, while I had /heard/ of the Gentleman's Club
with a siren, I had no way to put two and two together, and I just...didn't
trust myself to even try to be social. As curious as I may have been." Small
grin is applied before Sunflash looks closely between both Molliane and Ambience
for a solid moment. "...You two haven't decided what to do next, have you?"


Ambience and Mollianne look at each other briefly. "We haven't gotten that far,
yet. All of this is still kind of sudden." Ambience looks at Sunflash, still
holding Lyll in his arms. "For starters, I'll at least need to go back to Lyll's
family and retrieve.." Ambience trails off, suddenly very aware of everyone in
the room. ".. things that I left behind, that are important. I didn't bring them
with me."

Lyll looks very concerned at what Ambience might say next, but she doesn't say
what she's thinking. Not yet, anyway.

Kaze stretches luxuriously. Makes you want to, doesn't it?

Mollianne, lowers her eyes, but can't help but smile a little bit. "What
happened today is good enough for me, for right now." She looks up at Sunflash.
"I had a feeling that something good was going to happen when I saw you at the
tavern, Sunflash. I'm glad I held out for that hope you brought me."

"It sounds like we all have things that need to happen elsewhere before we can
decide on a bigger picture. And I am understanding of that." Mollianne closes
her eyes, nodding to no one in particular.

Ambience looks toward Mollianne but doesn't say anything. He doesn't really
need to. His face makes it pretty obvious.


Sunflash manages to keep a blank face with only a raised eyebrow. "Ah. I...hrm.
I guess if anything could look after itself, it would be /that/, wouldn't it?"
Lyll's look is noted somewhere before he beams a grin at Mollianne. "Just doing
what I can. You're the one that's soldiered on with absolutely no idea what's
happened, and that's to be commended more than my showing up some shows."

Sunflash makes a motion in Ambi/Lyll's direction. "I'd like to offer to take
Lyll on a somewhat guided tour of the Festival before it closes. Maybe bully our
way into meeting Hikari and getting an autograph from the Festival's namesake."
Wide wink applied towards Lyll.

You say ' And in the meantime, you two can take a few quiet moments to at least
catch up and clear the air. It's not like I'll be hard to find, after all.'

Lyll's eyes light up like one of the lights of the festival itself. "Really!?"

Kaze says 'You want to try to track down your memories, sometime, let me know. I
think I'ma go soak. '

Kaze snaps his bikini bottoms and winks at the room.

Kaze leaves north.

Ambience smirks, and offers the now-squirming Lyll to Sunflash, at his own
personal request. "You can't take it back now that you've brought it up, just
understand that now, okay?" He chuckles softly.

Mollianne can't help but issue a yawn, which is extremely wide and with no
coverage whatoever, fully exposing her two small canines. "I had some of Ambi's
blood earlier but it does not feel like it helped at all. I think I probably
need sleep more than anything else, I cannot remember the last time I felt this
exhausted."

Mollianne shakes her head loosely, and offers a smile that looks just as tired
as she just described herself.

"It isn't exactly early in the day, either. We could probably find a hotel and
stay for the night, then figure out what to do in the morning." Ambience
glanced at Sunflash, as he had part of a say-so in that too, given that he would
have to bring Lyll back at some point.

Notably, the comment Mollianne makes about taking Ambience's blood is passed off
as a commonplace thing that had no real issue associated with it at all.


With a laugh and crook of hand, Lyll would feel herself effortlessly lifted down
and beside the wizard, who grinned down at her before returning the smirk to
Ambience and Molliane. "Then enjoy resting together for a time. You of all
people should have no trouble finding me!" With an uncommon giggle, Sunflash
would summon his cloak from the wall and fasten it on before ushering Lyll too
and through the doors.


Ambience watches the two of them go, his expression flickering slightly out of
possible concern for Lyll, but given that she'd already spend half their trip
here with Ambience searching for her, he didn't feel inclined to worry too much.
It wasn't like he'd asked Haut to watch her, after all.

Before Ambience can say anything, Mollianne sits up a little in the chair.
"Tonight is the last night for the festival. We should probably go see the
others and give them our goodbyes, then we can find a place to sleep for the
night. It would be rude to just disappear without saying anything, especially
after tonight."

Ambience looks a little concerned, turning to face Mollianne fully. "You don't
look like you're in much of a condition for that."

Mollianne gives him a small-fanged grin. "Are you going to stop me?"

Ambience grunts and shakes his head, eyes rolling beneath his blindfold. "I
think you and Lyll are going to get on real well."

Mollianne giggles. "Come here a second."

Ambience raises an eyebrow, but does so, despite wondering what kind of joke is
about to be laid on him.

When he draws near enough, Mollianne springs herself out of the chair and
latches onto him, wrapping her arms tightly around Ambience. "I missed you..."

Ambience smiles, embracing Mollianne in return. "I know. I'm sorry. It'll be
okay from here on out. I promise." But at the same time, Ambience wasn't
actually 100% sure he could keep that promise. It didn't matter too much,
though, at least not right now. They'd have to wait and see what the road ahead
looked like. For all of them.

Abaril concluded his watch of the assembled adventurers, if "watch" is indeed
the term for what the small ball of pale mist in the corner of the ceiling could
do. The blood-drinking siren intrigued him, but he knew he was unlikely to see
this lot again soon.