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

[regalblaze]

I: Drinks and Games

"This is a bad idea."

Says Ignis, not stepping away from the small table with shots. He crosses his arms and gives the other person a look, then looks over at the dart board. Problem? None. Except that playing darts was turned into a drinking game- hit even number and you don't get to drink. Hit uneven number and you take a shot. Hit bull's eye and your opponent takes two shots.

"I understand the need for drinking but we will be floored in fifteen minutes."

II: Drinks and Chat

For the first time in Ignis' life, coffee and tea did nothing to alleviate the stress. It only made him even more restless, mind going in circles, replaying everything he saw in the Memory Nebulas. The composed, analytical side of him was suggesting all the rational things- calm down, take it in and give yourself time to process it.

The (mentally) injured side of him, however, was louder than the rational and suggested that drinking away problems should make him feel better. The Rational side argued back and said it won't make the problem go away.

Ignis ignored it.

For the first time in 20 years or so, Ignis Scientia ignored his rational side and sat down with bourbon in his hand. The chatter around him only supported his decision to drink even more.

"...I shouldn't drink," he mutters and downs the scorching liquid, getting Ebony to look over worriedly at him.

III: Drinks and Drunkard

"And then- it was over. Nothing."

The bartender looked Ignis over carefully. He didn't appear to be drunk- his clothes weren't messy, his hair still looked presentable. Only his cheeks were a bit pink but that could be written off to the warmth of the bar.

"Have you ever roasted a snake on an open fire?" The Bartender raised his eyebrows. Ignis continued. "The smell of snake meat is disgusting. But with proper seasonings, it makes a magnificent feast." He leans over to the Bartender who is, for some reason, entertaining Ignis and listening to his hunting stories. "One should never waste the food."

Ebony was in a bit of a panic because as the night went on, the stories Ignis told got more and more gruesome. Worried about him, the Moogle looks for the help in the nearest person that is not drunk- or is not as drunk as Ignis.

"Please, can you help me?! My charge is-"

"You go straight for the neck!" Ignis slammed his hand on the bar, making the empty shot glasses clatter and fall over.

"-he's a bit out of it! Can you help me get him back home?!"

Drinks and the drunkard

[spaceforged]

Unfortunately, the person leaning on the bar being addressed is also drunk. He's not so drunk he can't be coherent. But there's enough in him that wise decisions are not his forte. Yet, like Ignis, for all appearances he looks like he's not drunk. Wolf in sheep skin or something like that. He can't form the joke. Shiro reaches out on a whim and sets the shot glasses back up.

"Might have made better for the telling to make the gesture instead of slapping the table." He cuts his metal hand in the air in a steady and sharp motion.

[regalblaze]

The drinks are giving Ignis' mind jumpstarts and his thoughts are just going in circles, making sentences by association. If anyone asked, he wouldn't know how to explain how he got to the topic of snakes, snakes for food and neck cracking.

He watches Shiro cut through the air with rapt attention though. Pauses. Then huffs:"Sadly, my hand is little impressive." He raises it and repeats the motion, although unsteady.

"Not very intimidating."

[spaceforged]

He nods, thinking the problem over. As best as he can. It takes him a minute to reply as his own stately looking moogle drifts on by with a, "We were like a pack of-" He tunes it out.

"What's your usual weapon of choice?" He connects the two thoughts together. Slapping the bar is disruptive but, if they could figure something else out. The telling could be better and safer. Maybe.

His ability to think far ahead is shot to hell.

[regalblaze]

Ebony is still in a mild panic, watching Ignis' eye light up at the question.

"Dagger. Knife. Polearm." He pauses with a frown. "Anything with a sharp tip." He wants another drink but the bartender doesn't look like he wants to serve him another one.

"Neck is a fragile thing, you know," he leans over conspiratorially. "With proper aim and just a bit of strength, one can kill a person with a pen. Did you know that?"

[spaceforged]

"Yes, actually. That doesn't change no matter the species." He leans in to speak a little lower and not scare everyone else around him. Or he tries to. However successful he is, he cares but in a vague detached way. He'll apologize later. "Most races have about the same weaknesses. You can take someone out with two cuts to the legs if you time it right." He'd survived the arena by learning the fastest ways to take out bigger and nastier opponents.

"My best used to be my hand." He taps his metal hand and flexes the fingers. No deadly hum or purple light. Probably for the best. He'd hate to ruin the bartop. "Then we ended up here and it can't activate properly. Lances and Two handed swords now. Not so bad. I still can touch the sky. Pilots need that." If he couldn't touch the sky he'd have an issue with this place. ...he could endure but he'd hate it.

Shiro glances at the bartender. There's no way they're getting more alcohol. He helpfully stacks the shot glasses so the man can take them away with little fuss.

Drinks and games

[suigojin]

"It's only a bad idea if you're bad at darts."

Or bad at holding your liquor. Gi himself is pretty terrible at one and--well, he's decent at the other, but when your Job deals with precisely throwing or shooting things, it's hard to be bad at hitting a dartboard where you want to it it.

"You still want to play?"

[regalblaze]

Okay, this sounds like a challenge. And he's still sober- no shots were taken yet. Ignis has a feeling he will be teased into the next year if he backs down from this because, yes, he's good at darts. Or, well, was good. He's still training to get his precision back. His ninja mark is helping.

And he's decent at holding his liquor. Better than some people he knows.

"Alright. I don't like to back down from challenges."

[suigojin]

Well, that cinches it then. Mirabelle is conspicuously absent, he notices, glancing around the bar. Either she parted ways with him at the door or else she found a friend to hang out with.

"Alright. Are there any special rules--I mean, are we going by a point system or whoever can't hit the dartboard anymore loses?"

[regalblaze]

"I supposed that whoever gets three strikes for hitting outside of the circle loses." That seems fair enough. If the world starts becoming double in front of his eyes then it's probably a good sign to stop

"Drink of choice?" He'd suggest vodka because it's good for shots but he's afraid they'll burn a hole in their stomachs.

[suigojin]

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.

II

[sonoftenebrae]

[Ravus takes the stool beside Ignis and waves for the Bartender to refill the empty glass. He does not have gil in this world, but Estoc has agreed to cover his tab for the night in exchange for his delaying his complaint to the Curti housing office for a week.]

...some days, it is merited.

[He raises his own glass in salute before downing it. There's no amount of alcohol that will erase what they've been through, but they can surely dull it for the night.]

[regalblaze]

[Bribing his own Moogle... that's a first. But probably not so surprising. Ebony just lingers around for a bit then floats over to Estoc, still worried about this entire drinking thing that's going on. Because- Ignis drinking? What is this witchcraft?

Ignis' lips twitch a bit and he raises his own in return, drinking half of it. Being the not very experienced drinker, he can already feel the buzz of alcohol.]

To help forget about the problems for a moment? Definitively.

[sonoftenebrae]

[In Ravus' defense, Estoc suggested the exchange. She seems to think that if Ravus lives with the others and has a week to bond, he'll drop the demand to be moved and Estoc will get her way.]

For what consolation it may offer, your actions saved your king.

[Ravus has some idea of what Noctis' ultimate fate will be, but he does not know if Ignis does. He focuses on the small victory rather than the larger sorrow that hangs over their heads.]

I know not what he did to deserve such devotion, but your service does him great credit.

[regalblaze]

[If that's Estoc's aim, then Ignis is more than willing to lend a hand. He wants to return a favor and help the man out the same way he helped Ignis. It might not be anything special, but, hopefully, it counts?

Ignis stares grimly at the glass and downs the rest of the drink in one go, muttering more for himself than Ravus-]

If only...

[The second part makes him look over for a moment before he gets lost in the thought.]

I've known him for a very long time. He proved me, on many occasions, that he's more than capable of being a great King. [His fingers tighten around the glass to the point his knuckles turn white.

He won't have a chance to be.]

[sonoftenebrae]

[Ravus absorbs that silently. Most of the time, the Lucians seem completely ignorant of the future of the Chosen, but sometimes, he wonders if they know more than they let on.]

The Six would not entrust their powers to one they deem unworthy.

[In their greed, they selected only the best to serve as their sacrifices. Lunafreya...and Noctis. He drains his glass as well.]

It is not easy, loving someone whom Fate has chosen as a pawn.

II. Drinks and chat

[hashtagdaddy]

"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."

[regalblaze]

Gladio showing up out of nowhere was a surprise. A pleasant one, despite the teasing thrown Ignis' way because- he's not wrong. Ignis, indeed, doesn't drink. Well- much. Only for social occasions, but that had dwindled down ever since they left Crown City- for obvious reasons.

"What's there to say?"

...okay, maybe he shouldn't phrase it like that. Gladio didn't deserve it, it wasn't his fault. He's silent for a moment, staring at the glass.

"What is the last thing you remember, Gladio? Before you ended up in the Dream Width?"

[hashtagdaddy]

Iggy's sharp words take him by surprise, and it shows. Instead of letting irritation get the better of him, he waits.

Clearly there is something seriously upsetting Ignis and he'll be damned if he adds to that right now. He takes another sip, swirling the glass and watching the liquid slosh around, concerned and caring eyes lifting to the Advisor when his accented voice rings out again.

His last memory before being here? "We were in Caem, taking one last night to camp out together just the four of us before leavin' for Altissia. We'd been stayin' in that house, but even Noct didn't mind using our last night on land to sleep under the stars."

[regalblaze]

Caem... that is even earlier than- Gladio knows nothing of what transpired in Altissia. Of what's going to transpire in the future. Those were... beautiful days in this endless nightmare that seemed to have enveloped them so tightly, not letting them to even breathe.

"My last memory of everything was- Altissia. The angered Goddess struck down Noctis. And Lady Lunafreya dying." Ignis is staring at some spot at the wall, not daring to meet Gladio's eyes. Not yet.

And drinking- it didn't block out a single image that flashed through Ignis' mind at the memory. Words got stuck in his throat for a moment before he willed himself to speak up again, eyes on the glass.

"The Prophecy that we heard so much about, back at the Citadel. Of the one True King coming to save us all and bring back the light. Remember?" He waits for Gladio to answer before continuing, "...I saw it. All of it. And... and the price for it."

[hashtagdaddy]

Gladio remembers Ravus talking briefly of Lunafreya dying, but hearing it from Ignis still causes a stab of pain to run through him. And what does he mean that Noct was struck down? Ravus hadn't mentioned anything about that - Astrals if Iggy's getting choked up ... that bodes ill.

He nods at the mention of the prophecy - something they always tried to figure out without much success.

"You saw it? Iggy, I can see your burden from here. Tell me - what did you see? What is the price you're talking about?"

II

[shinra_dog]

Reno wasn't sure if this was the place or time, but he did owe Ignis some explanation eventually. He'd walked up just in time to hear Ignis' words.

"To be fair, you could make the case we shouldn't be here, either," Reno pointed out as he sat across the table from Ignis. "But since the universe already stomped all over that..."

He raised his glass to finish his idea.

"You doin' okay?"

[regalblaze]

He indeed did owe Ignis some answers but, right now, Ignis was too tired to think about it and actually make some logical connections. And the drinks he had weren't helping his situation either.

Ignis raised his glass in return and took a good sip of his own drink, letting the liquid burn his throat in both pleasant and awful way.

"I have to say I had better days. And yourself?"

[shinra_dog]

Drinks were better than logic anyway. Besides, this whole night was about forgetting the bad shit, at least for a little while. They could revisit things when it was a little more distant, a little less raw and painful.

"That's an understatement." On the bright side, at least Ignis hadn't seen him naked. That was one consolation.

"At least I can honestly say it could be worse. So there's that."

[regalblaze]

Currently- yes. Tomorrow- he's going to regret every single drink he took tonight. If he survives tonight and something doesn't hit him on the way back home.

Seeing people naked would be less traumatizing.

"True, it could've been. It could've been completely real."