melodiesofeternity | Raise a Glass [OPEN]

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Raise a Glass [OPEN]

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!]

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"Haven't seen you drink since ... ever." Gladio claps a hand on one of Ignis' shoulders and leans a bit into his friend.

"What's got you so worked up that you need to join us barbarians in our ritualistic consumption of alcohol after a difficult time?" He sips on his current drink, whiskey on the rocks, and levels Iggy with a look that says he's got nowhere better to be and that he's not leaving until Iggy gets a least a little off his chest.

"Talk t'me, Iggy."

"They didn't but he thought they'd told me what to do, or someone was or something." Prompto sighed, babbling slightly.

"He demanded to know what happened after and I didn't-couldn't say." He sighed, swallowing thickly.

"I didn't want to tell him. I can't explain torture and what he did and just, it's painful. I didn't want to talk. He was interrogating me. It's fine. It's okay. I mean, I don't want to cause trouble. He's just worried for Noct."

As if Prompto wasn't and he swallowed his drink down faster.

"Dunno about savouring, but I wanna get drunk." Prompto offered and he sighed heavily. The arm was not unwelcome and he leaned against Gladio a little bit, if he would be allowed that kindness.

"Yeah. I gotta tell you jus' not while I'm drunk. Too much to talk...say..whatever." He murmured. After a moment though, he tried to think of something.

"I have a chocobo. It's mine." He offered with a small smile that meant little because he was so down.

"...Your dad saw one of my memories, it's a bad one from when I was captured by the Chancellor."

[I. A Shield Walks Into A Bar]

It's been a strange few days. He'd heard talk of everyone getting together at a bar and after what just happened at the house, nevermind waking up on an airship and coming to this strange planet and finding out his dead father was both alive and here - yea ... he needs a drink.

Sitting at the bar, in a corner where his back can face the wall and he can see the door, Gladio orders a drink and waits.

Guess he's starting a new adventure.

[II. Scars and Conversation]

By now, he is many drinks in and though he's not drunk yet, Gladio has a pleasant buzz going on. The bar has filled up nicely and he's been mingling while he imbibes, catching up with old friends and making new ones.

Taking a moment to escape the busier center area, he moves to a mostly-empty far wall and takes a breath. He can still see Noct - mostly - and has faith that at least tonight, they can all let loose a bit and unwind.

Gladio's hand cradles his ... whatever number (he's lost count at this point) glass and the other hand comes up to trace his facial scars - he wonders if he'll earn new ones in this place too. So long as Noct is safe, so long as all his friends are safe, he'll gladly gain a thousand new ones.

[III. Drunk and Disastrous]

Though he's a bit broody when buzzed, Gladio is an absolute delight when drunk.

Wearing a goofy grin, he flops down at the nearest table and begins telling wild stories of his adventures on Eos to anyone who will listen. Complete with wild gestures and incredible sound effects.

Of course, every story is interspersed with wild flirting. There are so many attractive people in this place - and he's never been too picky about gender. His words may be a little slurred, but rest assured his stories aren't embellished too much and his sweet talk is sincere.

Ignis catches Noct for his upper arm to steady him, despite not being the steady himself. "Yes, that place. I wonder if they aren't sold out." The night seems very lively after all, a lot of people are out. Also, curry and noodles are too messy for drunk people. It is lucky Ignis is currently fascinated with bacon bagels instead of wanting to hold chopsticks.

Despite the brightness of city lights, the fresh night air feels good. Clearing up Ignis' mind a little.

"Refreshing, after hours in the overly crowded bar," Ignis says with a sigh.

He's not that hard to catch, thankfully. Also seems ti just... gravitate toward the older man. "I hope not. Then we'd be dough'n for." Oh dear, he's getting punchy. And punny without any sort of provocation. RIP him in the morning.

Though the cooler air does help a little, he's probably going to lean a little on Ignis the entire way. "Yeah. ...Has it been that long?" Because, again, he left his slate at home.

They probably should, but what are stringing words together? Because Prompto is warm and he's getting sleepy but he does loosen his grip when Prompto moves to try and grab his bun.

"Ten gil Gladio ends up draggin' our asses." He says, after thinking it over for a good ten seconds. He doesn't look that far gone yet, at least. But then, Noct isn't the best of judges right now so he's just gonna nuzzle into Prompto's neck all affectionately and just sit there.

He kinda can't get up even if he wanted to with him in his lap like this, so.

Noctis blinked, not really expecting to have a complete stranger approach him. Let alone strike up a conversation. It wasn't like he really had much of a "come talk to me" vibe going on. In fact, he's trying very hard to just try and figure out what the hell half of these brands were.

"Huh?" He turned slightly, no sign of recognition in his eyes at the girl's voice or face. He waved it off. "Dunno. Don't recognize any of 'em."

"Okay, I'll bet on Cor." Prompto answered gently, with a smile. If Noct won, well he had a tendency to pool his gil with theirs anyway.

He sighed with a contented grin and yeah, words should happen, but not right now.

Prompto would move if asked, just like he'd climbed into his lap on gentle request. So, effectively, they were just going to cuddle until someone came and dragged them away.

This was a bad idea, but he couldn't remember why, so he decided to go with it, reveling in the affection.

If anybody needs this, it's her father. Iris knows this, and yet she's been idly keeping tabs on him throughout the night to make sure he didn't go from delightfully to disastrously drunk too quickly. She knows he has a high tolerance, but she also knows that that can go out the window quicker than a bar stool during a 'heated discussion' in a place like this.

So when she sees him harassing some poor bard trying to make a little gil, somewhere between humming a few bars and taking his guitar from him, Iris finally steps in. She hooks her arms around one of Clarus's, smiling hesitantly up at him.

"Come on, dad," She encourages him with a little tug. "Let him play what he wants."

Seeing Prompto so down in the dumps is just weird, and while she's managed to miss the conversation that took place between him and Clarus, she doesn't miss the fact that there's something Wrong here.

With a gentle bounce in her step, Iris hops up on the bench next to his. She doesn't say anything at first, leaning forward over the bar to look at him. She can make some educated guesses, but instead of poking that giant behemoth, she decides to do what any friend would in this situation.

"I'll have my usual, please. Oh, and get one for my friend too."

Order a drink! Well, kind of. The bartender turns, looking her up and down as he cleans his glass, then responds flatly.

"You mean water, miss?"

Wow. "Yes, water. Two." She says with an indignant sigh. Don't give her that look sir she knows she shouldn't be here. Do you want to explain that to her drunken dad ~~again~~? At least she's tipping for the free drinks, cut her some slack, sheesh.

Edited 2018-06-13 05:48 (UTC)

[It was probably a good thing that he didn't, considering how they both were likely emotionally raw after what transpired in the dream. He was still swirling the golden liquid in his third glass when he hears that sharp pronoun being tossed in his direction and tenses. Great, just great.

Ivory seems about to protest when Noct holds up his hand to stop her.]

Ivory. [A note of warning. Even drunk and swaying a little, he was not about to start something here.] Get us some water?

[Because giving the buzzed moogle a task was a better option than allowing her to start a bar fight she'd lose even to someone who doesn't have an asterisk yet. He's that strong on his own. The moogle huffs, but does flutter away to the bar. Already complaining about ungrateful otherworlders. Excellent. She'll be rambling the poor bartender's ear off for a while now.]

Ravus. And yeah, I was.

[He finally gets to greet the other and confirm his suspicions, before gesturing to the empty chair across from him. Ravus wasn't quite to the point where it looked like he was going to topple over at so much as an errant breeze, but Noctis figures it's best to offer anyway.]

Somewhere along the way, the party had begun to thin. Someone shouted in her ear (she couldn't tell who) that they were taking Prompto home, and she had since lost track of both her father and her brother in the late night shuffle to last call. Someone (again, she couldn't tell who) asked her to keep an eye on Noctis for a little bit, and Iris had assumed that this would be an easy enough task. Of course! Leave it to her! What could possibly go wrong?

Well.

Let it be known that she's not averse to people being close. She goofs off with Gladio all the time, and is the first one to lean in for an impromptu selfie with Prompto. But Noctis is different. It's always kind of a tease, a sort of how-close-can-she-get-without-being-too-close sort of game that probably only ever existed in her own head.

She's also not averse to people letting go, as long as they have someone there to keep an eye out. Life is short, and in the world they call a home, happiness isn't guaranteed. There's a lot of darkness there, even without the encroaching night.

So Iris is glad that he's finally getting a chance to let go, because it's good every once in a while. But as he gets dangerously close to crossing that make-believe line she envisioned, the more... fidgety she gets. She hasn't said anything yet, buuuuut the balance between trying to be a good friend and mentally hyperventilating because someone you really kind of like more than just a little is a lot more friendly than usual...

tl;dr the struggle is real and she doesn't know what to do with any of this right now. NOCT WHY.

Edited 2018-06-13 06:09 (UTC)

Well, congratulations. You've joined the tripped over something club. He chuckles quietly to himself until he thuds into something solid and moving, and stops flat on his stomach. It's likely not going to be a good idea but the floor is cool and-

Oh. he's being addressed. Riiight.

"Tripped." It's a simple enough answer, but he ain't gonna say much more on it. Not in his current state. "Floor's nice."

The way the man spoke raised Clarus's hackles just a bit, and he sat just a tad straighter in his seat as he took the ID card and turned it over in his hand.

"It has her picture. Is this not her?" He asked, showing the card to the man. "Unless someone had a picture of her before she ever arrived on this world I can't imagine the card would be worn with age. Now, if you have information of such a person who could predict which of us would appear in the Dream Width, I'm certain it would be quite valuable to the scholars studying the anomaly. Otherwise, I'd concede this is real."

The card was handed back to Selphie.

"And since we've agreed it is indeed real, you owe this young lady a drink and an apology." His smile was sickly sweet with that hint of an edge just showing through. He was a dangerous man and he knew it, and if the bartender was a smart man he'd pick up on that as well.

It's all fun and games until someone gets a dart to the eye, because neither the healers nor the victim consider 'can we save this eyeball?' to be very fun.

"Tequila or Vodka...Tequila's got my vote, if I have to pick." Or they could always just shoot for the middle and mix them together.

There was a reason that, back home, he never drank in public. Or alone, for that matter. Even if it was rare in the year he was legally allowed to ~~when he didn't drink a year underage because he was the law's son~~. He also hadn't had any alcohol since the fall of their home, so that also hadn't helped his already lower tolerance level. (But then, when one of your comparisons is Gladio... well, it gets a bit skewed.) Still, he didn't seem to be that bad at first. Head resting on the table with a now-empty glass of water and a wrapper of some sort wadded up by his hand.

That was before she sat down next to him, which practically invited the affectionate drunk to start leaning more on her than the table. He'll feel bad about this in the morning, but it's just a lean, right? That shouldn't be too bad, riiight?

"Mmm?" Though there's just one thing. He's still vaguely decent at telling when someone is uncomfortable. Or maybe that's more because he hasn't had anything but water to drink for the last hour and he's starting to sober up just a little bit.

"Everythin' OK, Iris?" You know, aside from waking up in a strange world and seeing your king and childhood friend/crush drunk off his ass and now starting to cling to her. No biggie, right?

"About the same as I'm accustomed to," he admitted, turning the glass over in his hand before setting it back on the counter. "But I led quite a privileged life."

But enough of that. Clarus chuckled to himself before turning his attention back to Castor. "Another round? On me, of course."

"Orange juice?" He asked incredulously. "Your liver is still young and healthy, Regis. Use it."

The waitress came over and Clarus smiled charmingly, if not a bit lopsidedly, at her. "A tequila sunrise for my friend, and another double of bourbon for me, my lady." She giggled and hurried off to get their order.

"I lived a good life, I think," the old knight shrugged. "Saved your ass more than a few times." Then didn't... But he'd tried. Damn, where was a drink when he needed one? The waitress was still across the room giving the bartender their order.

This is fine. No big deal. That's the thought that loops in her mind on repeat as she takes a breath, feeling him drape himself on her like an affectionate cat looking for attention. A very warm cat, and one that makes her heart nearly jump into her throat as he hums at her.

It's not necessarily discomfort that she feels, even if it takes a lot of effort for her to not move or shift in that instant. No, it's not that—just, it's complicated. Really, really complicated. Deceased fianceé, and lots of repressed feelings that she tucked away after he disappeared kind of complicated. She's the friend, someone who is important, but not that kind of important... and, you know, for the most part Iris is okay with this. A lot has happened, a lot has changed, and it's more important to her to be there for him, rather than continuing to stoke some flame that will never catch.

And this? This is just unfair in that light. It's like having a carrot dangled in front of her. It's so nice, and she'd like to, but she knows she can't have it. She'll never get to have it.

So when he asks her if she's all right, she forces down whatever instinct she might have to pull away, to flounder and flip out and just... lets him settle in.

"Yeah."

Simple answer to a complicated question. Is it true? Not even slightly.

"What about you?" Her gaze flicks over to him. She still sits a little rigidly, but there's a very conscious effort to try to relax. "Are you okay?"

He wouldn't be drinking as much if he wasn't. She can make some educated guesses, but probably better to hear from the source. Maybe he'll actually tell her when he's like this.

Annnd this was why he wasn't drinking. Because words like that? They could send him weeping, if he was much more drink.

"There'll be plenty of opportunities to test that liver, but it's all right. And yes, I know that you did, Clar." Reaching over, he placed a hand on Clarus's arm. "You never did anything less than well, and exceeding expectations is your default setting. I wouldn't have it any other way."

As he was, he could be - for once - the strong one, to reassure and help.

Hopefully.

Prompto tried to perk up when she sat next to him and he offered her a shy little smile.

"Yeah. Thank you Iris." He smiled slightly.

"Uh...how did you get in here?" Not that he was complaining, but as far as he knew, she wasn't old enough.

"Nevermind." He needed to cheer up and he knew it, he was just sinking. It wasn't new, he'd been slipping for awhile.

If Prompto had just said any of this earlier, they wouldn't be in this tense situation. If he hadn't resisted, Clarus wouldn't have had to escalate at all. And if he'd just sat still, they might still be talking with their inside voices. But no, the boy had to be difficult. Emotional trauma or not, when a figure of authority asks an important question, if you have nothing to hide you answer.

The elder Shield seemed to back off a bit in stance, ever so slightly, at the mention of Lady Lunafreya. If that was true, if she were involved, then Clarus had no right to question the situation. Her motives were divine as far as he was concerned, being the Oracle. She'd always had Noctis' best interest at heart.

His brows knit at the new information, and it seemed as though the older Amicitia was going to back off, but... "You would do well to become more skeptical of the world around you, Gladiolus. I'm afraid I trained you to be too complacent with those you consider your allies." He hadn't told Gladio yet, but... "The Empire has people everywhere. Insomnia fell due in no small part to a traitor I considered a brother."

His piece said, Clarus shifted out of his defensive stance. He stared at Prompto without expression for a moment, weighing his words and his reactions.

That's not the Prompto she's used to seeing, and as soon as he starts to crumple back in on himself, Iris leans forward over the bar again, beaming up at him.

"It's a funny story, actually. Do you wanna hear?"

Come on, let her try to cheer you up, or at least come up with a suitable distraction for the time being.

That draws him up short. He leans back on the bar and really strains his booze ridden brain to think about that one. "...It's an illusion. It can seem like a year or more passed but it hasn't. Sometimes it feels like a year has passed but only a few days have happened."

He glances at the bartender and quietly asks for a glass of water. It's something. He has a feeling he's cut off. Probably a good thing anyway. Shiro rests his metal elbow on the bar top. "It depends on what you're doing and how fast you're traveling."

He should ask the question rattling around in his brain. Haven camps? "...can you explain what a haven camp is?"

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Page 8 of 27

Raise a Glass [OPEN]

II. Drinks and chat

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dad no

here comes the water and advil friend

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slings this sloppy drunk princess over her shoulder

I lied I just did a new comment

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bless her

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