[PQ] what the world needs

I used to hold your haunted neck; I know I'll miss you if I close my eyes

Alright, alright. It's official. Dantalion is going to move to the Hollowed Grounds - and gods, it's something he very nearly reconsidered entirely at the turn of the season, because he had not expected snow to arrive on the heels of Leafchange. Still, it's cold but it's no Halo, and though he's grumpy and sluggish (and did we mention grumpy), it took long enough to make the decision that he's not going back on it now.

And besides, he's got bigger plans than just living here - and he's found a lovely little place to play with, besides. The Dusklight didn't have an owner or a proprietor yesterday, and today it has Danta. Tomorrow? Who knows! (Danta. He knows, and it's why he's called for help).

Having sent along directions to Sunjata and Flora, both the Doubletake and the Flood will find the establishment eerily empty when they arrive, but for the rakish blond at the bar. He's ready to welcome them with cocktails or shots, whatever their preference, and then they can get to work.

---

Welcome to the PQ to set up Danta's base of operations for leadership! No post order, please post your character arriving!

Dantalion

flora

Well, well, well. This all seems very familiar. Perhaps that's why Flora had been invited in the first place; tit for tat, tavern for brothel, guild for government.

Having not at all enjoyed the skyship ride over, at least being bundled up meant she could dig into the assortment of coats and things her mother had sent her from Halo. If she was going to have to hide all the curves she'd worked so hard for, best she do it with the latest Halovian fashions.

Blinking a few times to let her eyes adjust from the blinding white world outside to the dusky garnet hues of the brothel, the Doubletake glanced around casually before homing in on Danta and slinking over to the bar. "My my." She purrs, leaning against the counter. "This is all...very red."

i scream for whatever it's worth
"i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

It’s no surprise he arrives last. The trip to the Grounds wasn’t terrible for him as a dragon, but it was still cold and he’d still agreed and so be it if he was waffling over his decision to simply not show up.

Ah, but he’s here, cloaked in sweaters and bundled to high heaven. He might not be Ancient but he had lived the majority of his life not knowing what snow even was. And he still loathed it when it came, if it weren’t for the warm sweaters he constantly had a rotation of.

And thankfully there’s a bar which helps to give him the liquid courage he needs to try and help all while ghosts keep chasing his tail, something the Grounds was wonderful at reminding him of.

His initial thought is overwhelmingly red, but he slips in toward the bar to set his bag down and greets Danta with a lopsided smile. “Please tell me you intend on repainting or else I’m going to need a shot to deal with all this red.” Before his attention sweeps down to the woman beside him. “Hello Flora.” A gentle rumble of greeting.

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

I used to hold your haunted neck; I know I'll miss you if I close my eyes

Smiling crookedly to Flora and offering her both a shot and a cocktail since she hasn't selected one or the other, it's as Sunjata finally arrives as well that Danta offers his own remarks on the aesthetics of his new business. "You know, I thought it could actually be redder," he says, smoothly taking a shot and sliding one to the Flood before rising to his feet. "It makes the place feel warm." Like the Climb, he might have added, but anyway. They aren't here to paint.

"I'm planning to take over the Hollowed Grounds," he announces casually, slipping down from his seat and beckoning them around to a set of double doors next to the bar. "From here. Well, from the space back here. But it needs a lot of work. So I thought I'd reach out to an infamous brothel madam, and my favourite back room organiser."

And Danta isn't wrong; through the double doors lay a set of rooms that could be much more than they are. An office, a safehouse, a hideyhole for goods and VIPs alike - who knows? Not him, not yet.

---

First things first! The rooms are cluttered and dusty as hell. Someone needs to sweep and another person needs to clear out old crates, boxes and other debris!

No post order.

Dantalion

flora

Why on earth would Flora choose when both was an option?

Picking up the shot and downing it easily, the Doubletake marked the flavours with interest, for obvious reasons. Glancing over her shoulder as Sunjata, Flora bobbed her eyebrows in greeting. "Hey you." She purrs, resisting the urge to call him Dad based on how well he and Hotaru were getting on.

'It definitely makes it feel something." The Doubletake mutters, before nearly choking on the first sip of her cocktail. Of all the things she'd expected from the ancient, leadership had absolutely not been on her bingo card. "Ohhhh." She hums, warbling between wanting to sound entirely knowing and completely surprised and sounding strangled instead.

"Didn't you used to rule here?" Flora asked Jata, eyebrows narrowed slightly as she tried to recall, before picking up a broom and beginning to sweep away the dust settled over..well, basically everything.

---

Flora dusts/sweeps!

i scream for whatever it's worth
"i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

Well with that answer, Sunjata’s hand slides over easily to pluck the shot glass from the table that Danta slides toward him. It goes down easily, an exhale of a sharp sigh leaving him with the burn, wondering what exactly the liquor was. He doesn’t ask, though, instead letting his gaze snap to Danta at the realization. “Ha, I wish you luck.” He makes a mock little toast with the empty shot glass before pushing off of the bar to stand up straighter, pushing up the sleeves of his sweater.

“I did. Not for very long, though.” A casual shrug. He’d done it as a favor. In fact, the only place he had enjoyed ruling was Torchline. But he no longer holds any stakes there, instead focusing his attentions on remaining out of the fuckin’ way. So far, it had worked.

He immediately sets to work after by propping the door open and using his strength to grab empty crates and boxes, then stacks them before taking the tower of them out the door.

---

Sunjata starts hauling out the boxes and crates!

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

I used to hold your haunted neck; I know I'll miss you if I close my eyes

"I don't need luck," Danta purrs at Sunjata, offering a fanged grin to Flora as well at the uncertainty that feels all too obvious from her tone. It's been a hot minute since he's seen either of them, after all, and he and the Hollowed Grounds have gotten surprisingly well acquainted throughout Leafchange. Acquainted enough, anyway, for Danta to deem it very easy to take over.

But anyway - there's dusting to be done and debris to haul away. Appreciating Sunjata for doing most of the heavy lifting, and Flora for clearing the cobwebs and cleaning the floors, Danta sidles back and forth through the doors as they work, armed each time with a thick, rolled up rug. Once they're finished, he takes some time to roll them out and layer them up (they come in a plethora of rich colours and patterns, too, before either of them complains about red) until the rooms feel a little warmer, at least.

But not warm enough.

Wiping his hands off on his pants, Danta is quick with the next set of instructions.

---

With the rooms clean and the foundation laid, it's time to make it less like a freezer in here.

1 person needs to sweep out and light the fireplace in the backroom office
1 person needs to light the lanterns on the walls and gather extra firewood from the Dusklight's stores
Danta will be sneaking away and gathering furniture to move while this happens!

No post order.

Dantalion

flora

With a broom already in hand, Flora opts to continue her sweeping. Not that the interior of the Dusklight is anything at all like the VlamVloed, but still her thoughts are pulled toward a certain ascended who'd once manned the bar.

"Hey, did you ever know someone named Neron?" She asked Sunjata as casually as she could, before moving to the fireplace and sweeping away the soot and old coal and replacing it with fresh wood. 'He died in the war, but...He lived here before that.' Flora adds, before searching around for some matches and kindling to get the fire going.

Kneeling down in front of the wood (wink), Flora blows on it in order to coax more heat and life (wink wink).

---

Flora lights the fire!

i scream for whatever it's worth
"i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

Well he certainly doesn’t expect Flora to be the one to drag all those old memories back. He’d hoped neither of them would have known about any more ghosts that sat in his past. But, he supposes, it’s a fair enough question — one that has him reaching for the lanterns while Flora starts the fire, lighting them with relative ease. “I knew Neron very well, actually. He ran the expansion of the VlamVloed for me in Halo. The Kraai. And then before the war he was in charge of the VlamVloed here.”

He pauses briefly to go and grab the firewood from the stores, finding the space next to the fireplace that Flora remains at, to start stacking the firewood. “I shared my shifts with him fairly often.” Realistically, whenever Neron asked, Sunjata was willing to give him a chance to store his abilities. “Did you know him?” He asks, keen to know how Flora may have crossed paths with the hybrid.

---

Sunjata lights lanterns and gets the firewood piled up!

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

I used to hold your haunted neck; I know I'll miss you if I close my eyes

Dantalion has never known Neron Launceleyn and he never will, and so with a callousness that the writer of this post absolutely does not feel, the Ancient will go about his business without a care for the dead man. He's here and he's alive now, and he's got a lot of time to make up since... you know. Being a rock.

The main fireplace begins to warm the back office in a way that makes it almost tolerable (likely for Sunjata and Danta both), and with the lanterns lit, it's almost beginning to look homey. Having wrestled some furniture to the double doors, Danta can go no further without a little assistance to wrangle it in.

"There's a desk for the main office space, a couch and a few chairs. And there are shelves to put up, too."

---

Let's furnish the place hey!

2 people to move the desk and couch
1 person to move the chairs and to put up the shelves

Danta will take whatever is left! No post order.

Dantalion

flora

"Yeah, or at least....I mean.." Stumbling over her words a touch, the Doubletake clears her throat while she sheds a layer of clothing now that the fire is happily spreading its heat. "I met him a few times. We had a date planned, but then the war, and..." It was too long ago now and the tryst too brief for grief to properly crack Flora's voice, but she still sighs without making any attempt to keep the sound from reaching the others.

Not having anywhere near the sort of strength that Sunjata did, Flora opted to turn her attention to decorating. Of course she'd end up dropping one of the shelves before demanding one of the men come to assist her in putting it up properly.

"Soooooooooooooooo, ruling the Grounds, huh. How'd that come about?" She asks Danta, wondering if there were any juicy or salacious details that had led to this rather abrupt (in her mind) change of focus.

---

Flora does the shelves and chairs!

i scream for whatever it's worth
"i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// ships are launching from my chest
some have names but most do not //

A date is the last thing he expects as he finishes up the pieces of wood in the pile, looking to the young woman with a nod of understanding. “Sorry for your loss.” It’s a quiet rumble. Even if they weren’t anything really, it still had to hurt, and Sunjata knew first hand just what the repercussions of the war felt like in one’s heart with someone fighting on the other side.

Regardless, Sunjata draws silent again as Flora aims her question at the blonde, and he’s already moving to help grab the other side of the desk to lift it with ease to place it exactly where Danta wants it (hopefully without having to deal with a PIVOT!! line), before returning to grab the couch next.

---

Sunjata helps with the desk and couch!

the flood

// if you find one, please,
let me know what piece i've lost //

I used to hold your haunted neck; I know I'll miss you if I close my eyes

Danta is more likely to insist on trying the desk in multiple places rather than yelling the PIVOT! line, but luckily he seems content with having it just in front of the shelves Flora is putting up. He and Sunjata have similar success with the couch (against the opposite wall) and soon enough with a bit of assistance for the Doubletake, Danta has the beginnings of an office.

"Mm?" He glances towards Flora before flashing her a wicked grin. "Well, I mean..." Looking between them with the ease of the sort of man who wakes up one day and just decides shit, he shrugs. "It's been so easy. And I heard there's a shrine to the dark lady here. So that must mean something."

Glancing around and seeming satisfied, Danta nods to his impromptu helpers. "This is a good start. I've got a few finishing touches to put on it, but that can come later. Let's drink?"

---

Consider the PQ officially complete! Thank you so much for your help! <3

Please feel free to leave a finishing post. No post order, but if the last person could FIN the thread, that would be grand!

Dantalion

flora

"You too." Flora mumbles back, shrugging slightly as she finishes up the last of the chair-arranging before stepping back to admire her work.

"I mean, sure, why why?" The Doubletake wants to know, before being instantly distracted by the offer of alcohol. Sliding up the bar and taking a seat, Flora looks over Danta's selection with clear judgement in her blue eyes, because why not.

"Soooooooooooooo, how are things?" She wonders, flashing Sunjata a mischievous smile that is both meant to communicate you know, since you're fucking my mom, but which was also meant to stir up some drama since Danta had been with Hotaru as well.

I mean, what were brothels for?

i scream for whatever it's worth
"i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!