Raise a Glass [OPEN]

[lordshield]

Who: The XV Cast and You!
When: June 6th
Where: Curti Center, Jiminy's Juicery (bar)
What: After saving innocents from the Dream Width, some people just need a drink.
Warnings/Notes: Alcohol consumption, possible violence, whatever people do in bars.

Their first foray into the search and rescue business in the Dream Width had been intense, to say the least. Stressful, heartbreaking, exhausting, and enlightening were other words some might use to describe the experience. After a night of rest and a day to somewhat sort things and people out, the next evening brings about a mighty need to head to the local tavern. Some drink to forget, some drink to remember, some drink to relax. There are even representatives of the Bard's Guild providing live music. You can try to make a request, but chances are they don't know your foreign songs.

Maybe you were invited by one of the excitable young men from Lucis, or maybe you came on your own. There's enough room in the bar for quite a few people, so long as they're of age. Sit right at the bar, or pull up chairs around a table, the choice is yours.

[OoC: Make your own toplevel or tag around. Please put content warnings as necessary. Have fun!]

Comments

[spaceforged]

Shiro's eyebrow climbs up at the list of stinging insects. Brutal bees? What do they do ram into people? Not a fun mental image. "It's a green bug that stands up on its back legs and has front limbs like scythes. Small pincers. Long neck." Creepy as hell.

"It had scythes like that coming up out of its back. It was heavily armored and muscled, but we did manage to kill it. Turns out it was a village guardian." In fairness it had tried to kill them first. Shiro finds his water glass and keeps it close. His head still hasn't cleared. "So, we had to fight what it was supposed to be holding off."

[lordshield]

He nodded his acknowledgement of her offer, though he doubted he'd take her up on it. Nothing personal, he just didn't often accept drinks from those that weren't close friends.

"We were," he affirmed, taking another sip of his own drink. "Did you see many other memories?" Not that he wanted her to recount them, just wondering how other people interacted with the nebulas interested him.

[lordshield]

"Exactly." But that was all he was going to say about it without further prompting.

"Oh? I'm not certain I follow." Words he wasn't familiar with, though he had a guess... he just wanted it confirmed. Better to admit confusion than to make a fool of himself, and Castor generally seemed to understand that her vernacular wasn't universal.

[lordshield]

Hardly fast. The other few and I arrived here nearly two months ago. [And he'd been informed on the first day. His sorrow had time to come and pass, but for Ravus... the wound was likely fresh.]

Fate hasn't been kind to many of our kin. [A vague statement, but it was better that way. Ravus's mother and sister, Clarus and his wife, Regis, Aulea, and Noctis some day...]

Would you like a drink?

[spaceforged]

"I think I can make it understandable for you. We can give it a shot and if it doesn't work, approach it later." She had matched Red. It makes sense when he looks at how she handled herself against Ifrit.

...

And it might stop her from brooding. "But it's up to you. I won't push."

[sonoftenebrae]

Perhaps that is their reasoning. They might think a person would feel reassured by a stranger, rather than a machine.

[Ravus, for his part, would get over the shock of awakening alone in exchange for keeping his memories private.]

I'll suggest my thought to those pilots. Perhaps we can see the future arrivals spared the intrusion we suffered.

A.

[sonoftenebrae]

[After the day Ravus has had, he is not planning on staying sober for very long. That being as it is, he sighs when he enters the bar and spots Cor. Ravus recognizes the marshal by reputation. He should probably get this awkward confrontation over now, before he starts drowning his sorrows.

He strides across the bar to Cor's corner.]

Cor the Immortal. I heard you had awoken here.

[He studies the marshal's face, gauging his reaction to Ravus' presence. He had been in Insomnia during its fall, and the man could well attack Ravus on sight for his part in the Imperial invasion.]

[sonoftenebrae]

[He lets a moment of silence pass between them, and another, before he swipes at his eyes and pushes himself up from his chair. All that he needed say has been said.

...perhaps not all. He pauses, taking a deep breath.]

I misjudged you, Noctis. If aught can be done to make amends, or to fulfill my family's pledge to yours, I shall see it done.

[It is a promise made by a drunk, grieving man, but he means it. His duty is all he has left to cling to, and the Noctis he has spoken to, here and in the false Altissia of the Dream Width, has the makings of the king his family has sworn to serve.]

[suigojin]

He's totally not cheating. Cheating's not really his style and certainly not something to attempt when Ignis is watching to begin with.

"Good hand-eye coordination," is the answer he gives, grinning, and that's not really what Ignis was looking for, though he can stretch it to mean 'skill' if he chooses. In all honesty, he'd probably do better in an archery game than one with throwing weapons.

"You're not, if you count the other people here." He takes one shot and gestures with the empty glass at the rest of the bar before pouring the second one. "Are you now?" They've each had three shots and he's not feeling like it'll impact his ability to stay in the game.

Though it might be, because when he eventually takes his next turn (after squinting at Ignis for a few seconds), he tries to hit the bullseye in revenge and manages to hit an odd wedge just outside of it. Damn.

[hashtagdaddy]

"You don't have to say anything you don't want to. Now or later." Of course he had questions, who wouldn't? But he knew better than to ask them here and he'd never try to make Prompto talk about something he really didn't want to discuss.

Hearing the slight laugh helped, but Gladio had a feeling his friend would need a lot more comforting in the coming days (or weeks, or months - whatever Prompto needed, and for however long, Gladio would make sure he received.

"You're one of us an' you'll always have a place with us. Where you're from doesn't change anythin'. Okay?" He really wasn't sure what he could say, but everything he said came from the heart and if Prompto looked into Gladio's eyes he'd see nothing but honesty and that kind of love that only comes from a friendship built over several years and a completely derailed roadtrip.

[regisrex]

"And your love. Still." Regis's words were calm, soft, and he was not surprised by the revelation - he had had it earlier, at the bar. The words that Clarus said, they had helped, a little, though the green eyes were definitely still troubled.

Slowly, he reached up to place a hand over Clarus's as it rested on his shoulder.

"Had I thought I had found a way to force you, I would have hated my future self beyond measure. But... no. It's more that..." Decades. They were all decades later than him, and Regis knew that there had to be so much more than the pure facts. But...

"I ... " No, there was no way that would sound right. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath. "I never wanted to let anyone down. Even though I knew what I can do is limited, I wanted... I wanted to make it right."

He wanted to not let people down.

But... with Insomnia fallen, he knew that he had failed in that. Will fail.

[lordshield]

A deep breath in was released slowly, and the hands that were on the prince's shoulders slid up to cup his cheeks tenderly. The tips of his fingers teased at Regis' scalp just behind his ears, gently, soothingly. "There was so much more at play than I could say, dearest. Just know, our sacrifice was for our children. And for the whole world." Not only their lives, but Noctis' life was a sacrifice both men had been forced to come to terms with long ago, though neither truly every accepted it.

"I have never been disappointed in you," he continued softly, leaning in to rest their foreheads together. "You've shown... will show yourself to be a wise and just king. Fate won't kind to your rule, but you will do everything in your power to keep your people safe and happy."

[spaceforged]

"I see." Rulers past. Those who burned at the end of their reign. Shiro sets his glass down a little harder than he means to. He has to steer them away from this path. "Alice wanders in the world beyond the mirror and runs into all sorts of magical beings and creatures. The Jabberwock was mentioned in a book. They learn how to kill it from the reversed poem inside."

Stories won't do it either. He leans on the table, studying his friend carefully. Shiro gently puts his hand on his shoulder. "What did you enjoy about traveling? Are the Chocobo here exactly like the ones you know?" Safe topics. They should forget they're leaders tonight. Isn't that what they set out to do when they came. Forget, forget. Just be Noctis the man. And Shiro, the pilot.

[regisrex]

"I..." Regis leaned into this. The familiar touch, the familiar warmth of Clarus. He took a shaky breath. Then slumped.

"Thank you." So, so quiet. It was all that he could say.

After a few moments, he sighed. "I am missing decades of knowledge to be what they expect of me." Clarus had known Regis at this age. Cor had, too. For everyone else... "What they need me to be." That was not all of the problem. But it was a significant part of it. Regis never was ignorant on purpose.

[lordshield]

Regis was once again pulled in close, Clarus wrapping his arms warmly around his companion and resting his chin on the top of his head.

"No one needs you to be anything but what you are, Reg," he murmured softly. "They may miss their king, but that isn't a role you need to fill. It isn't a role you should be expected to fill."

He sighed, soothing a hand up and down the smaller man's back and closing his eyes. "We came to this world with nothing, expecting nothing. I never thought I would see you or anyone else from home again. But here you are, and I'm grateful for what I have. Missing years or no."

[regisrex]

Regis did not hesitate before he tucked himself in, his own arms coming around the bulk of the Shield's body and fingers fisting lightly into the fabric of his clothes. How often had Clarus held him like this?

How often was he going to hold him like this in the future?

"They do need me, though. Not consciously. Not demandingly. But if I disappoint them, each of them will lose something that can't be recovered. And they already lost their home."

He squeezed his eyes and forced himself to breathe. To think. To stop focusing on himself. Even if it was difficult to forget. Ignis's change of attitude. Noct's grief. Gladio's... reaction.

"'m grateful, too, you know. Whatever this place is, it's giving you more time. It's giving you some of the people you love most." It was giving Noctis time without the weight of the Ring and all it meant. Giving them all...

"Safe. This place, at least this far, seems safe."

For many people, Insomnia had felt safe, always. But Regis and Clarus knew different. They knew the price of it, or at least Regis thought he did. But this, here. It felt different entirely, and it was only in Clarus's reassurance that Regis finally saw it.

More food for thought. But at least a realization that calmed him a little, so he finally relaxed, slightly, in Clarus's arms.

[regisrex]

"I'm glad." Softly. Soothingly. His fingers carding into the dark strands in a slow and rhythmic way.

He wants to ask, so much, what's wrong. But he knows that if he does it right now, the fragile peace that Noctis has will break and...

Noctis probably needs it very much.

Instead, after a while, he murmurs, "so. Did you pick a favorite drink, or did you stick to one thing through the evening?"

Not letting go until Noct does.

[warpstriking]

The way Regis' hands are running through his hair is going to make him doze off if this keeps up. And Noctis's glad that he doesn't ask. That can be something for the morning, after the hangover. For now, he needed a night off.

And they are going to be there for a very long time if neither one is going to let go, just saying.

"No... but no matter where it is, beer still tastes like cactuar piss." Don't ask him how he knows that.

[warpstriking]

"Interesting. Kind of like a couple tales back home." He pauses. "Not that I can actually remember the deets, maybe when'm sober." Because he's not so far gone yet that he doesn't realize if he's rolling around on the floor? Yeah, he might be a teeny bit drunk.

"Honestly? Meeting the people. Everything was different from what it was in Insomnia. Only the common tongue, no Lucian." He said, in Lucian, which sounds a lot like Japanese. He blinks when he realizes this. "Oh. Sorry."

He has no idea if Shiro understood that or not, but he'll just... continue on to the second question. "Well, for starters... they're a bit bigger back home. Giant puffballs the size of chickens. Chocobos are becoming rare back home. With all the monsters... their numbers have been dwindling for a while. Only ever saw the common yellows helping out a rancher named Wiz... save two black chocobos." But despite the somberness, he chuckles. "One of 'em stole Iggy's glasses right from his face before we were s'possed to make breakfast. He had to distract the birb while I snuck in to snag it from the nest." Good times. Goooood tiiiiimes. "The other we saved as an egg from some sahagin that we think at her mother. There weren't even feathers left."

LATE

[carnageandclass]

From her spot at the bar, Camilla can't help but notice Castor not...in the best shape.

"Castor, will you be alright?"

And do you need water?

Who is carrying your drunken butt home, sir?

[carnageandclass]

"You might not be dead but I do not think sleeping here is good for you."

Camilla is a little worried so she's staying close because she doesn't know how much you had but she isn't trusting your judgement.

[hashtagdaddy]

Gladio grinned roguishly and settled into his seat, more than ready to start the challenge. "Maybe tonight's the night then, Dad."

Five shots were how Gladio started most of his nights out with the Glaive, so he figured this would be a piece of cake. When the glasses arrived, he lined them up in two neat rows and raised the first one.

"A toast, to forgettin' the bad shit and enjoyin' what we've got here." Sure, it's a little sentimental but Gladio can't believe he's able to enjoy a drink with his dad again. And he really didn't want their fight at the house to ruin anything.

Their shot glasses clinked and he downed the first shot, placing the glass upside down on the table when done before lifting up the second glass. The alcohol burned pleasantly on its way down and without missing a beat Gladio looked at Clarus with a raised eyebrow. "Your turn, old man."

[regisrex]

Night off he can usually do. (The one place it didn't quite work? Well. It's so many ways complicated, with Clarus.)

Instead of questions, Noctis gets to realize that his father is suddenly shaking in silent laughter.

"I guess our tastes do run along similar lines..."

Things that Regis has yet to discover the deep and abiding truth in.

[regalblaze]

And what Shiro described is both similar and not similar to the things that are on Eos. "Sounds disgusting. Something I wouldn't mind shoving my dagger in," Ignis says without thinking twice.

Ignis tilts his head, trying to process the situation that was just presented to him. "It was guarding something bad? Well- it all sounds like a real mess up to me. But- not judging you. Those things on Eos attack first and never ask questions so- kill or be killed." And he definitively doesn't want to die or let bees injure his king or his friends in any way.

[warpstriking]

He hates complicated. Why does it have to be a third language for them? It's dumb.

Noct slides just a little bit away (in order to look him in the eyes in a sec), also laughing but a little less silently. Arms still draped over his young dad's shoulders as he grins a little.

"You've no idea, Dad." He states with a very odd bit of clarity for how much alcohol he's had. His forehead falls back on Regis' shoulder. "Twen'y years an' I still barely deal with-" he shudders, "-beeeeaaans..."