It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

[cordy_estwynde]

WHO: Anyone!
WHAT: Welcome back party
WHEN: Thursday evening
WHERE: Frolicking Stoat

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[cordy_estwynde]

Cordelia leaned against the counter, fingers lightly drumming against the wooden surface. It was getting pretty late, and some of the patrons of the tavern were slowly beginning to dwindle out. She guesstimated that she could shut things down in an hour to an hour and a half.

Though she didn't usually drink on the job, things were getting slow enough now that she felt comfortable about pulling out a bottle of white wine and pouring herself a glass. She took a nice long whiff from the glass. Fragrant. Citrusy. Perfect ending to the night.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret had had a good night. Good in the sense that it was still the same night and nobody had disappeared. Yep. It was good.

And seeing Cordy just made it better. He wandered over to the bar and settled onto a stool, smiling brightly. "Hey, Cordy. How's it going?"

It would probably be depressing to add, 'I thought I might never see you again.' It probably went without saying, really. Although he should probably say something. "It's good to see you again."

[cordy_estwynde]

"Bret!" Cordelia said cheerfully as he sat down, and she offered him her brightest smile. "I'm so glad that you made it back to Jhelbor in one piece." She reached out and placed her hand over his, giving it an affectionate squeeze.

It was always good to see Bret, really. He was, after all, responsible for some of her fondest memories in Rowan. She didn't think that she'd ever forget the day that she'd first heard him perform a song. The night she'd danced with Lottie in the city square.

"I want to hear about everything that happened but first, let me get you a drink. What would you like? Juice? It's on the house."

[weedyshyguy]

"Juice, yeah." Bret nodded gratefully and then went on, "Not much happened, really. People were doing something to the gate. Then they had a party because they did something. Then we came back. Oh, and it hurt a lot, going back and forth."

He stared at the bar for a moment, thinking. "Man, it was really pointless, wasn't it? The Gods must just hate us."

[cordy_estwynde]

Cordelia released Bret and began pouring him a cup of mixed berry juice--delicious, but sweet, so she added a bit of elderflower bubbly to distill the flavor.

"I don't think the gods hate us, Bret," Cordelia spoke, as optimistically as she could. Because, really, it was getting harder and harder to maintain that optimism. Bad things kept happening to the tree babies, there was no getting around that fact.

"Anyway, you're back now. That has to mean something, right?" She handed the drink over to him. "Here, try this. See if you like it."

[weedyshyguy]

"Yeah. I'm glad. I hate when we all get separated." They'd already lost so many people, by choice or otherwise. It was so terrifying how often they were tempting fate without meaning to.

He bit his lip, taking the glass and wondering how to word what he wanted to say. "Cordy, I've...missed you. Not just after disappearing, but, you know. Recently." He scratched his head awkwardly, looking away. "Got a bit caught up, I guess."

[cordy_estwynde]

"It wasn't your fault," Cordelia said gently. In retrospect, the way things had gone with Bret were sort of ridiculous. Things with Cherry hadn't been his fault, not really. He was a little unaware, but not mean.

"I didn't handle things very well, either. And then when Jemaine came, I--"

She trailed off for a moment, swirling the wine around in her glass. "I probably would have withdrawn too. If Cherry had been gone from me for so long and then just showed up like that." She looked up at Bret with a half smile. "It's funny to think about, you know. How different you were when you showed up. And I don't just mean your puppy crushes."

[weedyshyguy]

Bret smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't feel much different..." He bit his lip. "Just...got Jemaine now. I'm happy. No need for crushes." He blushed a little, feeling a little giddy. His hand unconsciously moved to his pocket, double-checking its contents before returning to his glass nonchalantly.

"You and Cherry seem better now. I mean, together. Happier." On the surface, anyway. He hoped he wasn't totally wrong in his appraisal.

[cordy_estwynde]

"We are doing well," Cordelia didn't mind admitting with a smile. "Things are going a lot better these days, I think." She reached out to pat Bret's hand again. "And I'm glad things are good for you and Jemaine. I'm glad you're happy, I mean."

She couldn't help a teasing smile though, as she propped her chin in her palm. "Although I wonder how Cherry and Jemaine might feel about switching things up sometime, if you know what I mean." And she gave him a wink at that--all the romance and drama aside, she still did enjoy flirting.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret paused with his glass halfway to his mouth, momentarily confused. Was she suggesting that they-- she and him or him and Cherry or all four of them or --no. Wait. No, she was teasing. He giggled childishly, immediately more at ease. "Jemaine's the jealous type. He might show Cherry an amazing time just to get back at us. And then they'd run away together. Then where would we be?"

He really hoped he was just joking. Jemaine really did get jealous. He just seemed to have strong enough moral compass to not cheat back. Not that Bret would cheat. It was all a joke. Yep.

Unless she wanted a foursome for real. That he could probably get Jemaine to go along with.

[cordy_estwynde]

"Then I suppose you and I would just have to test the waters out," Cordelia bantered, eyelashes fluttering ever-so-slightly. "Haven't you ever been a little bit curious about how that would go?"

And then, just to reassure him that she was teasing, she gently gave his arm a squeeze and drew back, standing straight up.

"Anyway, I guess we won't ever find out. With Jemaine being the jealous type and all."

[weedyshyguy]

Bret was, admittedly, a little saddened by the thought. "Well, if it was all of us at once..." He trailed off, glancing over his shoulder and spotting Jemaine in the thinning crowd.

He returned his gaze to Cordy and leaned in, voice hushed as he said, "Before we got together I felt like we had a sexual checklist. Onesome, twosome, threesome-- man-man-lady and man-lady-lady and stuff. I don't know if we ever shut it off. And neither of us got to foursome, I can tell you that."

He leaned back again. "He might want to do something like that, just because we haven't." He grinned, feeling a bit daring as he said, "So maybe we'll find out, someday."

[cordy_estwynde]

"Bret!" Cordelia laughed out loud. "Don't be a skeeze." Even if skeeziness was slightly adorable on Bret. "Tell you what, I'll mention it to Cherry. We'll see what she says." Cordelia already knew the answer to that--Cherry didn't share. Still, it would be fun to tease her.

"Things with Jemaine are good, then?" she asked--unnecessarily. Bret wasn't cheerful like this for no reason. "Working on any new songs lately?"

[weedyshyguy]

Bret gave an internal giggle of amusement. He figured Cordy was kidding, but on the off-chance that she wasn't, he didn't want to risk laughing at her offer. Jemaine'd be mad if he messed up their chance.

"Yeah, yeah," Bret nodded enthusiastically, "Great." He found himself grinning now, brimming with happiness. "I love him. He loves me."

He really needed to stop bragging about that. "And yeah, we've got a few songs from the year that Jemaine got and I didn't. They're great. I'm glad we're getting to play here again." He would've missed the Stoat just as much as the people he normally saw there. It was so nice to have a steady gig.

[cordy_estwynde]

"I'm glad things are working out so well for everyone." And it was true. Aside from the occasional hiccup here and there, things in Rowan seemed to be going swimmingly. People were happy and in love, the town hadn't been invaded lately, and everything was relatively quiet.

"Does it worry you?" she asked after a moment, "When things are quiet? I mean, aside from your brief exodus from the present day and the weird shifts in time--I mean, things are going well. People are living normal lives. We're not in the desert and we're not fighting a war and--doesn't it just sort of feel like the calm before the storm?" Either that, or she'd just come to expect the disastrous. She didn't like that thought much, truth be told.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret frowned. He didn't like thinking like that, despite the fact that he often did. As happy as he was, he was aware that everything he had was distressingly fragile. There was no guarantee that he'd have anything he had today when he woke up tomorrow