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Today fucking sucked. It really, really sucked.
And this was supposed to be a fun, stress-free occasion. Nothing life-threatening or world-endangering, just something pleasant for once.
But since when has that ever been in the cards for their group, or for any other?
They should count themselves lucky that with their last collective ounce of spell energy, they were able to make it back to the Xhorhaus.
They should also count themselves lucky that on the sly, a teleportation circle was installed there by Hot Boi before he had up and gone off the grid, just to avoid the inconvenience of showing up at the Lucid Bastion every single time.
By the time everyone is able to catch their breath, the fatigue gets to all of the spellcasters among them. Jester and Caduceus are completely tapped, not even able to spare a single healing word. Caleb and Fjord aren’t faring much better either, and considering there’s not even enough to summon the tower tonight, making their way (making their way) back to the Xhorhaus is a decent alternative.
If only it had been kept in better shape. The entire house is filthy, as their “housekeeper” clearly booked it once it had become apparent that her employers, namely the Nein, wouldn’t be coming back home.
Huh. Come to think of it, they hadn’t been back in the house ever since they went off to the Stone family menagerie. Gods, that was… a long time ago.
Welp. No use complaining about it now. Time to at least make it feel a bit more homey for at least one more night.
Beau breathes a heavy sigh of relief. After gods know how many hours, the Xhorhaus is finally clean again.
Granted, she, Veth, and Yasha were the ones getting most of the housework done due to all of the casters out like a light and in their respective beds. But even so, the housework is done!
She looks over to her fellow ladies who are also badly spent just starfished on the floor of the training room. She can’t help but smile as they lie there, the halfling sprawled on top of her wife; the day had been especially rough for them, too.
But the smile quickly fades because what was meant to be a little get-together for Beau’s birthday turned out to be a drastically doomed idea.
How were they supposed to know that right in the middle of things, just as she was about to blow out the candles and get to opening the fuckton of presents everyone had gotten for her, there would be some fucking elementals there to ruin their shit?!
The poor cake was the first to go. Yasha had spent hours perfecting it, making sure it was just right, just as she remembered it based on Clara’s recipe. And now she may never be able to replicate the effort again on her own.
If she were to have that cake again, she’d have to ask her mom, and she’s currently back home minding the house with TJ. After the snafu that was that one camping trip, she didn’t want to expose her little brother to further danger.
It was one of the few good calls she’d make today, as while the Mighty Nein had managed to subdue and destroy the elementals, they were a lot stronger than expected. And just when they thought they were safe… there was a second wave.
It pushed all of the Nein present to their absolute limit. Beau can’t really recall a time where everyone was thoroughly spent on every resource they had. Closest she could recall was a time she’d rather not remember. And neither did Yasha.
Kinda hard to look back fondly at the time your wife nearly killed you with a sword to the sternum, you know?
But yeah, everyone was thoroughly spent. No spells left, no reserve strength to pull from, all of their magical gear completely out of juice, no rage or wings for Yasha to tap into. Even Beau felt completely spent, not a drop of ki left in her.
For all intents and purposes, it’s the weakest she’s felt in a very long time.
And she hates feeling weak. She’s angry about it.
But if she were to try putting that anger into punching something, it would just come across as feeble.
It doesn’t stop her from stepping outside the Xhorhaus to get some fresh air and want to punch a wall or whatever. Maybe get shitfaced for a while and forget about how yet again, her birthday became something to hate.
So that’s what she does as she stumbles out and into the streets of the Firmaments, trying desperately not to make herself look like easy pickings for some street urchin asshole. It’s dangerous for her to be a human out on the streets of Rosohna, even if she is a “hero of the Dynasty”. That, and Dairon still has her symbol from the Bright Queen.
And with everyone else completely wiped out, she’s on her own. The vast majority of her injuries from before were healed, but she still wouldn’t last long in a drawn-out fight.
Thankfully, she doesn’t run into any trouble as she makes her way to a familiar locale in the Gallimaufry: the Dim’s Inn. As she steps inside, she gets the typical odd looks from the non-human patrons. But Beau soon catches the attention of a familiar well-groomed male drow.
“Hey Gabe, long time no see.”
Gaben, the owner of the establishment, looks in Beau’s direction and smiles. “Hoy! If you ain’t a sight for these sore eyes. How's it been, troublemaker?”
Beau sighs with a lighthearted chuckle thrown in. “Well, trouble certainly found me and my friends.” She then takes a seat at the bar. “They’re back home resting. I needed some fresh air and found myself here.”
Gaben gives her a knowing look and nods. “I see. Well, I don’t blame you. The type of folk you keep company with are bound to need some R&R now and then. So, need anything special?”
“Just your finest mead, please. Been a shitty day. And it was supposed to be my birthday today, too.”
The owner just gives her a sympathetic look. “Ah, well… there’s always next year, you know?” And with that, he walks off to get her drink.
Beau sighs as she plops her head onto her arms, slouched and defeated. Once again, she got the Mighty Nein hurt for her sake. She hates it. And she had just wanted things going right for a change.
It’s only been a short while since they had last split up, and all she wanted was something low-key, something nice. And yet, it just never seems to go her way.
“Here you go.”
Gaben comes back with her mead.
“Thanks,” is her reply as she hands him a gold coin. But her attempt to be a good patron is gently rejected by the drow.
“No need. It’s on the house tonight, Ms. Lionett.” She notices him looking at the ring on her finger and quickly amends, “Sorry, Mrs. Lionett. Happy birthday.”
Beau smirks, both at Gaben’s quick save and his generosity. A shitty day being capped off by a mug of mead. Best she can do even if today is far from “happy”, though at least her found family is alive. Count your blessings.
She takes the mead and downs it quickly. It’s actually really damn good. Gaben gave her the good stuff. Maybe not exactly an “unhappy” birthday after all?
Gaben is still there, giving her a knowing, understanding look. Then his attention is drawn to the entrance to the inn as he is greeting another new patron to his establishment.
The mead was good, but it still doesn’t quench her anger, her need to punch something. Or someone.
She’s not that stupid, though. She’d rather just punch a wall.
She excuses herself from the bar, saying farewell to Gaben as she heads back out into the street.
What the fuck is she supposed to do now?
She walks a good few blocks before the silence is too much to bear.
She growls and punches the wall of a nearby building.
She’s rewarded with pain along her unwrapped, ungloved knuckles.
It hurts like a motherfucker, but it still feels good.
At least she’s not resorting to far more unhealthy coping mechanisms. She just wanted to punch something that couldn’t punch her back.
Better to punch a building than a person.
She is more than eager to get this entire shitty day out of the way, to just forget that she even had a birthday to begin with. So Beau makes her way back to the Xhorhaus.
But just as she arrives at the front door, she hears a commotion from within, the voices muffled behind the vermaloc wood and thus unintelligible.
Her entire body freezes. Did some fucks sneak into the house while she was gone? Were they planning to rob her family blind while they were exhausted and defenseless?
She won’t let that stand.
If she kicks the door open, she might get the drop on them, but if these guys are prone to panic, they might badly wound Yasha and Veth who may still be out cold.
It may be better for her to quietly sneak through, but the door chimes are on the inside. And Beau had made sure to be extra quiet about it by placing them just out of reach of the door when she entered it… which in hindsight would have made the intruders’ own entry just as quiet. She curses herself for that oversight.
So she has to go with a third option: making her way up the wall and onto the second-floor balcony… or perhaps all the way to the roof and down the tree. But she’s not sure if she’ll be able to properly slow her way down and not risk getting injured.
She’s just about to say “the hell with it” when she hears a sound that is not a voice coming from within. It’s a sound that she is very familiar with.
The sound of a teleportation spell going off. Whether it’s been used as a means of ingress or egress is anyone’s guess.
Only one way to find out.
So Beau gently opens the door, taking extra care not to cause noise as she gingerly closes the front door behind her. As she turns around to face the empty halls before her, she definitely notices an abnormality.
Right at the end of the main hall, the door leading to the dining room is ajar. And from her current position, she can see a purple glow coming from within.
Beau quietly sneaks her way to the door. She can then hear the voices a lot more clearly.
And just as she’s about to poke her head in, she immediately figures out who’s talking.
“So she just stepped out?”
A feminine voice, mid to late thirties, perhaps early forties. And a very familiar cadence to her voice.
“Unfortunately. Knowing her, she needed some fresh air. I do feel bad for her, all she wanted was a good birthday for once.”
A male voice, definitely a Kryn accent. It’s a voice she would never want to forget for as scarce as she’s heard it.
What puzzles her, though, is the second voice. Why is she here, of all places?
And as if that wasn’t enough, a third voice speaks up. A child’s voice.
“I don’t want Sister to be sad. She deserves a happy birthday, like everyone else.”
That does it for her. She steps out of the shadows and makes sure not to spook them as they notice her.
“What are you all doing here?”
Right there, alone in the dining room, are Clara and TJ. The otherwise dark room is illuminated by four gently glowing purple lights similar to Caleb’s own. And who else would use those lights but…
“Hot Boi?”
Essek Thelyss, as she lives and breathes. He gives her a faint smile. “Beauregard. There you are. I was hoping you would get back sooner or later.”
She just can’t help herself. She closes the distance and gives the former Shadowhand a big hug. “Still didn’t answer my question, man. What are you all doing here? I understand that you’d want to be subtle and come visit, but… my mom and brother as well?”
“It was my request, Beau,” her mother says. “I… I was notified by your friend here. Seems you had a rather rough time today?”
Beau deflates as she plants her ass in a chair. “Yeah… I would’ve told you sooner, but… none of us could even use Sending to reach you.”
“Then you should be grateful that I chose to check in this evening,” Essek remarks with that traditional Hot Boi smirk. The smirk then melts away into a proper look of affection, which is still a rare sight on the man. “Caleb had mentioned that today was your birthday and… well, knowing your history, I figured that I could at least salvage the occasion by sneaking these two over here.”
Beau looks at Clara, who shrugs. TJ is just smiling at seeing his big sister before the day is done.
She then catches a distinct smell in the air.
It’s a smell that she’s very familiar with.
After all, she was denied partaking in it earlier today.
“You didn’t…”
“We sure did,” Clara responds as she bends down and places something on the table. A plate. And on the plate is…
She can’t believe her eyes. But she can believe her nose.
It’s the cake that Yasha had spent a long time making that ended up lost in the fight.
And now her mother had made her a new one. A lot smaller than Yasha’s, but then again her wife did try to go for a “bigger is better” approach. This one is more compact, but it looks and smells just as tasty.
Beau looks at her mother and TJ, and then to Essek, and back to her mother.
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Then let us say it!” TJ cries out, but not as loud as usual; everyone else was sleeping.
The three visiting guests share a nod and then, as one, they look to Beau and say to her in unison.
“Happy birthday, Beauregard.”
The cake is divine. The love put into it is divine.
Just being able to be among family, found and blood, is divine.
It may have started out as the worst day ever.
But as is tradition with the Mighty Nein and those tied to them, it eventually got better.
And after the cake is served and hugs and other gestures of affection are exchanged, Essek takes his cue to leave, needing to be out and about again.
“Don’t be a stranger,” Beau makes sure to tell him before he goes, confident that she’ll see him again. “And thanks for the save today.”
Essek replies in kind, “You’re welcome, Beauregard. Enjoy your evening. And yes, I’ll… not be a stranger.”
With a few hand motions, he bamfs away to parts unknown.
After that is done, Beau brings Clara and TJ to the room she now shares with Yasha, as her old spot in Jester’s room is occupied by Fjord now. That is, whenever they’re not just sharing a bed themselves.
The three Lionetts spend the night in a group hug together, the wildflower mural keeping them company as they drift off to sleep.