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

[lordshield]

Her proclamation elicited a chuckle from him. "You sound like me in my youth, to an extent. Throw caution to the wind and look for the next great adventure." When had he changed? Oh yes, when they'd lost the war, and when he'd settled down to have a family.

And of course it was about time for a verbal misstep. "I meant no offense, my lady. I don't imagine I could understand what you and yours have been through." But it did present an opportunity... "If you'd indulge me," he began, sliding gil over the bar to pay for Castor's next drink and motion that he wanted one as well, "what steps do you believe could be taken by the aristocracy to alleviate the problems and improve the lives of those such as your family?" His question was sincere, and he tried to make that clear with his tone and turning to face her completely and keep his body language open. Though... it wasn't as though he could use anything she imparted to him. He was dead and their society crumbled. Still, he wanted insight into her life.

[warpstriking]

"Le's just say me and gods don't exactly have the best first meetings." Which is why he hesitated on picking up summoner. Despite basically doing that back home, thanks to...

Nope. Not gonna finish that thought. Just gonna rest his head on the table. Mostly because he's now officially distracted by the question, and- "Who the hell's the Keeper?" He asks, completely sincerely. Too out of it to realize it's probably one of her world's gods. "But... yeah. He is." He points him out in the crowd. Same black hair, but wavy (like his is without copious amounts of hair gel), and green eyes.

[littlemhigan]

"I can appreciate that," Castor mutters a little darkly, "Had to put down my fair share've 'em...or however close to 'em primals get at any rate..."

Castor settles herself and resists the urge to rub Noct's back as a means of comfort and instead follows the direction of Noctis' pointing. "The Keeper is a name for Althyk, the god of Time back 'ome. Eldest 'o the Twelve, patron of historians an' diviners alike...Huh. I can see the resembalnce."

[littlemhigan]

"Aye? What stopped ye?"

She nods her thanks for the drink and is halfway through sipping it when Clarus asks his question. She looks at him from the side of her eye, and her gaze is...it is not mistrustful, per say, but it is wary.

"Part with some coin, fer one. I ain't a businesswoman by any stretch, but it seems te me that if ye spend some coin keepin people happy, they'll return it to ye in dignified labor or goods. Elsewise ye see the best and brightest burn themselves out fer scraps, and the rest simply wither away of hunger, or illness or whatever else."

[warpstriking]

"'s a bad thing to kill one of 'em back home..." He mutters, looking up almost as if he sensed that urge to touch him. No touchie the back. "The Niffs killed the Glacian 'n the region's been in a per...manent state of winter since." He meant perpetual but the word's escaping him right this moment. As the explanation though, it dawns on him.

"Huh. We don't have a god of time on Eos." Not that he knows of, anyway. "Time traveling Messengers, on the other hand..." A chuckle escapes him. Ah, he misses Umbra. "War, Fire, Ice, Earth, Water, and Lightning, on the other hand..."

[littlemhigan]

"Can't kill 'em fast enough. They don't....die really, but...urf...m' too drunk t'explain primals right now."

Though she wonders at his telling of the Glacian, and her mind travels to Coerthas, and to Shiva and to Ysale and...

"We got twelve of 'em. Gods. Two each for an element, astral or umbral, and they all have dominion over somethin' else. Don't think any of 'em move through time though... Well. Alexander did that. Maybe? He was a primal though, not a god."

[sonoftenebrae]

I was leaving Altissia when I awoke here.

[He sighs.]

So you have no word of how Tenebrae fares.

[He has always known the risk of defying the Empire- retaliation against his homeland. Cor knows that pain, and Ravus does not press any further.][He takes a long sip of wine.]

[warpstriking]

"Remind me to ask you when we're both sober, then." Noctis smiles faintly,sitting up a little bit more- or, more accurately, leaning on his elbows with his hands clasped in front of him on the table.

She's not too far off, either.

"Beats me. Never heard of 'em." He says, pausing and squinting at a certain moogle lying on their back, on a table. Blink... blink... That certainly is Ivory flopping a little like his catch a few days ago before he put the fish in a bucket. "Gonna have to carry 'er home," he says with a sigh. 'Somehow' is implied.

[shinra_dog]

"Bad influence?" Reno was incredulous. Was this the same Prompto he knew? He knew Noctis was royalty and all, but Prompto just seemed so harmless... Or maybe that was the problem, that Prompto didn't seem serious enough. If Reno had to guess, though (and he kept it to himself), Gladio probably kept most people away from Noctis.

Reno smiled, proud of Prompto for sticking to it. He knew he had a good feeling about the kid. "Gotta give 'im credit for perseverance." It was a good trait to have.

He shook his head. "No problem. It's been nice, y'know -- on my home world, I had a close team I worked with. Haven't had that in awhile." The way Ignis, Prompto, Noctis -- and now Gladio -- were like a family made him miss the Turks. But it still made him smile to see it other places and feel even a little involved.

"Ah..." Reno let his head fall back as he thought about the question. "Well I came from a place called Gaia, but this is actually my third world now? So... yeah."

Cloudy stop cutting onions

[boomchucka]

Selphie wasn't used to getting advice from people considerably older than herself and the suggestion caught her off guard a bit as her eyes widened a bit. She'd always been with her friends when things were going badly and they'd always been able to sort things out with each other. Granted, she had one of them here to lean on if she needed to but it just wasn't the same without the entire group together. As she stared at her glass thoughtfully, before nodding lightly.

It was a good idea and one that she planned to use as soon as she found a notebook and a decent pen or two. It wouldn't be easy to write down every little thing that had happened but it had to be done sometime. With another sip of her drink, Selphie turned to look at Clarus and let her head tilt to the right curiously.

"I'll try that," she said as she looked at Clarus curiously.

[shinra_dog]

"King." Reno whistled. Fuck. That young and a king. That didn't happen for a good reason.

"And what? What?" Reno stared at Prompto and shook his head. "Nothing? Bullshit. C'mon, Prompto. That ain't what I saw back there."

[littlemhigan]

"Mmm. Will."

She watches Benny flutter back, somehow carrying a whole pitcher of water and two clean cups. "Thanks darlin'..." She takes the things from Benny, but notices Noctis staring at....Oh.

Oh dear. "Poor lil' shite."

[warpstriking]

"Thanks. Not sure how much I'll remember 'bout tonight." He mixed and drank way too much. The mixing courtesy of a certain drunk at the bar. He barely registers that Benny returned with water and two cups. Just keeping an eye on the drunken moogle to make sure she doesn't flop off the-

-thud-

...Table.

"Rest in pieces, Ivory." She did it to herself just like he did. They'll be sorry for it in the morning.

[chocobosnap]

He nodded. That was about how they'd all felt about it when it happened, but unfortunately it meant the loss of his father, which Prompto knew upset Noct, so he didn't bring it up too much.

"Yeah." He breathed. "Well at the time I was kinda..." He waved his hand. "Messed up. I wanted to be- well my reaction wasn't good anyway."

Things hadn't gotten better after he left that room and he responded by taking a drink.

"But I'm okay now."

[chocobosnap]

"Yeah? Lucky." He grinned a little. He didn't pick up on that sadness, but he was familiar with it. There was too much to be sad about, these days.

"Build a car? Never thought of something like that." He would probably enjoy that, to a certain extent. He'd always had an affinity for Empire gear, things he knew but didn't know how he knew them.

"Noct would enjoy it, I think. Or he'll supervise or something." He grinned.

But I love onions!

[lordshield]

Meanwhile Clarus was quite accustomed to offering advice, and finding ways in which to give it that didn't either sound like a command, as he held quite a bit of authority back home, or bruise fragile egos of seasoned or green warriors dealing with issues they never expected to face. Very few people spoke of the mental toll war and battle took. Both of those aside, even day-to-day life could find a way to trip people up. This wasn't a competition, everyone's struggle was valid.

"Good." His fingers traced the grain of the wood on the bar a moment more before he brought his gaze back to her face. "You look perplexed," he noted with an slightly amused smile.

[lordshield]

"Obligations. Duty, honor, love, the usual stereotypical things," he waved it off. From his perspective, his life was nothing special. Just a man born into a high station who followed that station without question and never made much of himself aside from what was laid out before him at birth.

He listened intently, but still casually. Really, there was little he could do here. Was there even poverty in Vaikuntha? Something to look into.

"I see," was his response for the moment. Now wasn't the time ti justify what they hadn't done or try to brag about what they had. Instead, he offered a bit of explanation. "We had many war refugees in Lucis. In Insomnia. It was an issue we were never quite able to get on top of, it seemed."

[immortalmarshal]

Cor snorts ruefully at the last remark. "Course not. It's a katana - really long, thin, and sharper than a razor. Was a gift from Regis." He gestures to the man in question, who is chatting with someone else.

Said man is, incidentally, younger-looking than Cor.

[immortalmarshal]

Not yet, no.

[Though now, Cor considers trying to make his way over there, as soon as they could find their way back to their home world. They screwed up in helping Tenebrae once; he doesn't feel like letting it happen again.]

...so what are your plans, once you've recovered?

[chefbayardee]

Hunk sees his friend Shiro taking his time with that cinnamon roll. It might even be the closest he's seen to Shiro relaxing, aside from that pollenball fight so long ago. They need more chances to relax.

"No problem, Shiro." It made him sigh just a bit to realize that it took horrible, traumatic dreams for them to get some kind of unburdened moment. Shiro told Hunk to treat this like a vacation and he was, but... Shiro wasn't.

"And whatever we can get for supplies will help. I can pay you back with another cinnamon roll in... a month or two?" Hunk pauses, looks to the sky, and just smirks. "Or you can just ask whenever you're craving a snack. It's not out of my way if I eat them, too."

And then he takes the closest thing one can imagine to an accusatory, sarcastic bite out of his own cinnamon roll. If Shiro's vacation comes from infrequent, homemade desserts, then Hunk is happy to oblige.

Inbox, go to your room!

[boomchucka]

There were a lot of things that Selphie was attempting to discern and a lot of her findings were leading her down to the same conclusion. Everything about the young man was far too casual and lacked the bitter, yet playful tone of a man that she'd met many years ago. The lack of familiarity or reaction to her question about Aqures Ixen were clearer than anything else that the girl had learned about this place.

The young man standing next to her was not the man she met back then. She leaned forward over the counter top and waved to the not-so-happy-to-see-Selphie-again bartender and asked him to name off a few of the different liquors lining the cabinet. She looked over to Noctis with a lopsided grin as the bartender huffed about the brunette being a lightweight and marching off to help another patron.

"Well," she admitted. "I've never heard of any of these before! We could always try a few, I suppose?"

I do too but not when I'm about to cry b-baaaaaw

[boomchucka]

"Maybe a little," Selphie agreed.

She studied Clarus for a few extra moments before shrugging her shoulders. He spoke in a manner that made it clear that he'd dealt with issues like this on more than one occasion and a vibe like he was accustomed to giving out advice like this to someone considerably younger than he. Add in the fact that he came to her aid when he didn't have to and well...

Selphie appreciated it.

"You sound like someone who's been through this more times than you could probably count on both hands and feet and..."

Kind of what Selphie felt a Father would say to his child.

[sonoftenebrae]

[Ravus has no especial drive to return to Eos, personally. Lunafreya is gone, only the scarcest dregs of hope remains.]

...

[He thinks it over. His plans...]

I inherited a duty from my sister. The line of Fleuret will support the King of Lucis.

[The new king, not Regis. Ravus does have limits.]

Beyond that, I do not know. [He needs more that one bottle of wine before he starts tackling what he's going to do with his life.]

[littlemhigan]

"Huh. Good te know I'm right in avoidin' em then. Most of 'em at any rate," she mutters around finishing her drink. "Never could stand fetters like that."

"Can't speak te yer refugees, really. Same problem at heart, but I'm sure they've got a whole slew o'needs that I can't even ponder on. D'ja ever ask 'em?"

[littlemhigan]

Castor visibly winces at the sound, though whether it's in discomfort or empathy is anyone's guess.

"Poor lass... 'ang on..." Castor stumbles back up and plods over to scoop the unconscious moogle up into her arms. "D'ja believe this isn't the worst state I've seen a moogle in?"