[backdated March 4] Sup Ya'll? (Closed to Vox Machina & Co)

[st_illsinging]

The day after talking to Pike, Scanlan decided it was probably time to actually talk to everyone else. He had mixed feelings considering he knew a whole bunch more than literally everyone else. And also some of them were going to be pissed at him. Again.

Several days of rest had done the Gnome good and he moved to sit down in the lobby. A public place was probably good in case there was a huge fight, right? Settling down on one of the couches, Scanlan spoke into his earring.

Hey, so, you all probably heard I'm here already, but here's my official hello and I'm in the lobby if you want to say hi.

Then he picked up his lute and started playing a little, but he was mostly tuning and fixing - it was as if being in a big battle against a god could damage your instruments or something.

Comments

[st_illsinging]

Hearing that outright was really so weird for Scanlan, even though Pike had mentioned this beforehand.

"Yeah. A little while ago. A few things happened since then. Killed a green dragon, died, went to Ank'Harel for a year... you know, the typical things people do."

[st_abby]

"Vex told me we got Raishan," Vax explained. "And how you died -" Scanlan had an ear for these things, so he probably noticed that it wasn't the finality of a finished sentence.

"...What happened with you, man? Vex said we were able to bring you back, but when you woke up, you told all of us off, like we didn't know you or care about you, and then you took Kaylie and left us all just like that. Something to do with your mother and drugs? I know my sister wouldn't lie to me, but I couldn't make any sense out of it at all."

[st_illsinging]

He sighed a little, though no sound came from it. "It's a bit more complicated than that..." He plucked idly at his lute for a moment, a few pleasant hums of music that didn't lead to a song. "I'm not sure what Vex told you, exactly, but they didn't exactly leave me to wake up with my dignity... which, sure. Normally I don't care about that kind of thing, but with Kaylie there, it was different.... It's hard to explain, but out of all the people in this world, Kaylie was the one person I wanted to keep a promise to and I didn't and I didn't handle it well and I said some things. A lot of things. But I needed to get away and it seemed easier than to just... leave." Them hating him was easier somehow than them missing him, or so he had thought anyways.

[st_abby]

"Pudding and a nightgown, was it?" It's weird to him that he can even remember it from Vex's retelling, but it was such a colorful mental image that it seemed to have stuck. Vex had mentioned in passing that Pike and Percy had got drunk and pranked him. Yet of all people who ought to be able to appreciate a joke... It should have been a welcoming home, not disrespect. "You have literally shit in more inappropriate places than anyone I've ever known," Vax reminded.

But he heard Scanlan saying that wasn't the real problem. "I've often thought," Vax added after a beat, searching for Scanlan's eyes with his own," that you had life figured out better than any of us. And whenever I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, when I was so depressed I wasn't sure how to go on... I'd look at you, for a smile or a laugh, and I'd think, 'that's a reason to keep going. To try and find some of whatever Scanlan's got.' ...And that's just me. I can't imagine what it was like for Pike and Grog to watch you go off like that, but I know it would have broken all of our fucking hearts."

[st_illsinging]

Scanlan was almost getting used to hearing all this stuff on repeat now. He supposed it was proof that people were the same no matter what. He moved the lute to the side of him and sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, Vax. Life got really... I don't know, messed up for a while and I guess I just needed to find perspective. But I have to tell you - spending that time with Kaylie. I wouldn't change that for the world."

[st_abby]

"If that was all it was, wanting to spend time with your daughter, I would've wished you well." But for him to storm off, and refuse to keep in touch with them, from the sound of it...

"Wait a minute. When you came through, were you even fighting with us?"

[st_illsinging]

Scanlan nodded. "I was. I came back." Sort of, anyways. He hadn't exactly planned on doing that, but then there he was. "I came back to let you guys know I found another Orb and then next thing you know we're fighting a god. Good times." He deadpanned at the last part. It was going to shit in reality.

[st_abby]

"We went from dragons to a god?" He stared at Scanlan in some disbelief. There was so much more than Scanlan's running off to hear about. And he'd known that there would be, but... "There's volumes of stuff in the middle, isn't there?"

[st_illsinging]

You die

"You could say that." Scanlan tried not to dwell on that damn armour. "I became a mob boss in Ank'Harel. We make great fake antiques."

[st_abby]

Vax couldn't help himself - his face screwed up with a laugh. "You had me going with the whole 'fighting a god' line. But that's even better!"

[st_illsinging]

He grinned at the laugh and something formed on his face. A familiar resilience. "You're right. You're right. That parts too much, huh? I should work on something else. Maybe instead I say I started a Gnome boy band?"

[st_abby]

"Gods, Scanlan," Vax continued on smiling, half-blinded by those big pearly whites - by the fact it was him, here, it's really Scanlan. "I've missed you, you asshole! I just... I want us to get to the part where we can have drinks and swap stories until we're out of one or the other."

[st_illsinging]

"Alright, I'm game if you are. I'm told the drinks here are pretty different than the ones back home." Scanlan was still getting used to all the weird things about this place. Everything looked strange and some things didn't make any sense at all. Still, he was good at adapting, so he would.

[st_abby]

"Okay, great - there's just that one little thing about how your other nearest and dearest here still kind of hate your guts because you hurt them all deeply and I'm really hoping you made nice with everybody once before so you've got the practice."

Vax reached to fit a hand over Scanlan's shoulder. "I hope you and Kaylie got something special out of your running away. Truly. But this time, give us all the chance to get to know you better, the way you wanted, instead of being a complete asshole. Cards on the table for this one, yeah?"

[st_illsinging]

"I'll try and be less of an asshole this time, I promise." He couldn't even cure himself of this particularly problem, but he had gotten better over the year away. A little better, anyways.

"The longest ones to stay mad were Grog and Pike last time." Grog wasn't here. "So... hopefully Pike can forgive me sooner than later."

[st_abby]

"Don't rush into it, or she'll be all the more defensive. Give her time," Vax suggested, easing his hand away. "And be sincere." ...Okay, he was repeating that in different words. But it was important enough to be worth saying so a few different ways over again. "I don't think she'll accept anything less from you now. And for as much as you seem to have hurt her, she deserves that at least."

[st_illsinging]

Scanlan nodded. He knew that. He knew she deserved more. In fact, she really didn't deserve him which is why he had apologized that one time and backed off.

"Do you love Steph?" It came out as his thoughts went back to Vax and his future.

[st_abby]

The question surprised Vax a little, and it showed on his expression. Maybe because they hadn't had much of an opportunity to talk about Steph (or Kiki) before now, so it seemed sudden.

"...I do," he answered softly.

[st_illsinging]

He paused, looking Vax up and down for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Then good. I like her too." He didn't really know her, but the declaration had been made. Vax deserved to be happy before he was sent to die.

[st_abby]

Vax stared a bit. "Aren't you going to give me the whole... 'How could you, what about Keyleth, you're a terrible person for forgetting about her?'"

[st_illsinging]

Scanlan considered the question. "No. Because I don't think you have forgotten about her." Scanlan had loved a few people in his time, perhaps not as much as he loved Pike, but he knew that some people left a lingering impression more than others.

"Keyleth would want you to have somebody while you're stuck here too. She'd understand." At least, Scanaln thought so.

[st_abby]

Vax went quiet for a beat, and the words clutched at his heart, somehow, putting a wet sheen to his eyes. Leave it to a bard.

"...Thanks, for that. She's not Keyleth. But Stephanie, she's... She's something special, in her own right."

[st_illsinging]

From what Scanlan saw of her, he could tell she had a lot of spirit and that was always something that made him like a person. Life was too short for boring, meek people. He liked the mouth on her, too. Sass was an important thing to master.

"I can see that." He paused. "And she doesn't want to punch me in the face yet so that's another plus for her in my books."

[st_abby]

"She doesn't know you yet," Vax quipped, a small smile tugging the edges of his lips. "And she only has reasons to like you, so far. You should introduce yourself sometime."

[st_illsinging]

He grinned back. "That's fair... and I will. I thought I'd give her a few days to adjust to being a free woman again."