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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's Shiro's own fault he decided to....go with whatever that hairstyle is supposed to be. He doesn't know. Everything is spinning now that he stopped and he can almost swear he sees little yellow lights and a couple stars. Heh. Staaars.

"Huh. Weeeiiird." But then he adds, "I'dve said ish more like a cotton ball, but it feathers out a bit." Which is just weird and- oh, that's a hand on his shoulder. He sits up a little bit but the moment he does he starts to sway a little and things begin to tilt as well. Not to mention become a teensie bit blurry. Like when he'd try to get Ignis to stop working for a little bit and snag his glasses before plopping down into his lap and putting them on his own face. Frowning and pushing the slightly too-big frames up by the bridge. Heh. Specs. that just makes him think back to how Felix keeps stealing them and he laughs as it goes back full circle.

"Tell the room t' stop spinning?" He says jokingly but immediately after he just. Turns and drapes himself on the taller man. Because he's firm and not moving nearly as much. Yaaay... it's not spinning as much.

More about the hair. He isn't a self conscious sort of guy, but come on? He sighs, "Are you done?" He keeps an eye on him as Noctis sits up and shifts a little bit to steady him when he starts to sway. Shit ,he better help him up with both hands or he'll fall over. "Noct-"

Before he can finish Noctis drapes on him. He blinks and reaches up to steady him. There had been no warning or suggestion of this turn of events. So far Noctis is Wheel of Drunk, guess what happens next. At least it's progress, he guesses? "Think you can stand with me?" Or will he have to carry him. That will be bad for dignity but that doesn't seem to matter much right now.

It will tomorrow but that's for future Shiro and Noctis to deal with. Along with everything else.

"'Bout yours? Yeah." Because look, Shiro. Buddy. "'Cuz my best buddy's hair looks like a chocobo butt, too." Which he's said while sober, lest Shiro argue. "Igs styles his either like a godsdamned cockatrice or a very unfortunate-shaped leaf. And Gladio's a mullet. A buzz-cut mullet. You ain't got shit on the weirdness level."

He'll be so embarrassed if anyone tells him about this in the morning, but that's something for future Noct to deal with. Right now he gives absolutely zero fucks about it. He's just gonna laugh about it.

"Mmm..." He thinks about it for a second, staring at Shiro with glazed-over eyes. Thinking's kinda hard because his mind to mouth filter is so far gone it's ridiculous. "Yeah. I think so. I mean, it can't be harder than fightin' these big pink blobs with like a zillion laser eyes that hit ya with Confuse. An' I can' warp either so ya don't have to worry about me getting stucki 'n the ceilin' or anythin'."

He says this as if it's almost happened before.

There is so much to unpack there he doesn't even try. There's too much there. Dear god. "I remember your warping. It was really something else." He says and braces his friend. "We're going to stand in 3, 2, 1." He moves to pull himself and therefore Noctis up on 1.

Hairstyle stuff however..."My hair used to be all black. The white is...not my fault." The less said about that the better. He keeps his hands on him as he steps towards the nearest chair. "We'll take it one step at a time. Anyway, none of my friends have weird hair. We're all mostly kind of normal. Keith has a mullet but it works for him."

He'll likely apologize in the morning. After the punishment for being nearly-blackout drunk. Because he never did warn anyone he can be a chatty drunk. He usually doesn't remember anything the next day.

"Should've seen the fight 'fore where the loop be-" he starts, before suddenly stopping. "Oh..." He stands up with Shiro at 'one' before leaning just a little more into him. Something in his drunken antics sobering up if only slightly as that grin fades into an almost kicked-cat look. "M'sorry," he mutters. "I didn't-"

Nope. Not going there. He may be drunk off his ass, but some part of that training he had in reading others kicks in and he stops himself. "Works for 'em, too. Doesn't mean it ain't funny."

He laughs at that, skipping right past that sorry like it hadn't been uttered. Noctis of all people should be relaxing tonight. "That's true. But I don't admit my best friend's hair style is funny in his hearing range. He has a mean glare and he's known me long enough he'll have something to get back at me with." Or Keith would give him a betrayed look while wondering out loud why it matters.

"Most jokes slip past him anyway. He just hasn't experienced them." He leads them over to two chairs and pulls them out with a foot, guiding his friend into one. ...if allowed to. "You should ask Hunk about the time we all had to hold up lens inside the Tel'aduv."

"Considerin' you haven't introduced me yet, I take it he isn't here." He points out surprisingly well for a guy who was just rolling around on the floor not fifteen seconds ago giggling giddy like a schoolgirl. "S' a shame tho. Should fix that if he ever shows up."

Because, Shiro. Buddy. He isn't the 114th in a line of shitposting memelords with a huge, metaphorical boner for the future for nothing. He grins slightly from one corner of his mouth, but it doesn't quite reach his glazed eyes. He sits down though without much prompting and lets go. Briefly. Before placing his head on the table in front of him and turning slightly to look up at him- all three of him. "Telu...dav...?"

"Altean ships are run on crystals and the energy of their captain, but only a rare number of Alteans can use a Teludav. It allows them to wormhole through space. It's opening a hole between parts of space at a greater distance than a warp." Shiro leans on the table and his eyes light up. It's nice to talk about little things from home.

"You didn't get to see the Castle of Lions in my memory...but I think if Allura ever makes it here, the ship will follow." He traces his fingers over the top of the table. "The teludav focuses Altean energy into fuel and bounces it along lens inside the main chamber. Without the lens, no wormholes. And if Keith were here you'd have seen him by now. And not just because I'd have introduced you to each other."

"...Huh." Yep. Just huh. Sorry leader buddy, he's kinda wasted. Yet he's glad you seem to be a bit happier than a little while ago.

He's trashed but that doesn't mean he isn't keeping an eye out on his friends.

"'m guessin' somefink went wrong?" Because of what he said earlier about having to hold up lenses inside it. Also he might be talking into his arm at the moment. Only slightly aware that he might be a lot louder than usual. "Takin' your word on it."

Because yeeeaaaah, him, good decision making and sound judgement broke up an hour ago.

"The lens were old so under sudden continuous use they broke. ...We didn't have spares...the ship hadn't been used in ten thousand years and most makers of the lens stopped producing them." For a hell of a lot of reasons. He blinks when his drink that had been at the bar is set by him. Well, guess he made friends among the staff for helping them out?

Blinking he takes a swallow of his whiskey. It burns on the way down as he settles into his seat. He sets the drink back down. He has to stay sober for now. The moment he gets blasted he will be pretty useless. "Hunk sort of baked lens that had trace elements of what focuses the energy? I still am not sure how that happened. Didn't think about it at the time. We were in a hurry."

"Makes sense," Well, as much as anything makes sense right about now. He'll probably not even remember this conversation in the morning but he doesn't care right now. He's kinda fascinated by both the table and the discussion.

"So he jus' so happened to bake the thing you needed. In a weaker form." What the hell is that guy, some sort of super hero level baker? How did one simply do that kinda thing? "Shit, I know Iggy can werk miracles with midgardsormr shanks and jabberwock meat but that's insane."

Insanely awesome!!!

He starts to say something and stops. Jabberwock. He blinks. Had he heard that right? It feels like he just did a twenty mile an hour sudden brake check. “Jabberwock. As in Alice in wonderland, jabberwock??” He picks up his drink and sips it. It’s that or stare in confusion and surprise and his brain to threaten to explode.

He misses Keith. He could have gone to him and mouthed ‘Jabberwock’ and gotten an equally freaked out look in return. Misery and confused bafflement love company.

"What's Alice in Wonderland?" He asks sincerely. Like he has no idea what that is. He sits up a bit more, as if that'd help him figure out what this new thing is. It doesn't, but at least now his voice is a teensy bit less muffled.

"It's abou' a hund'ed foot tall reptile that stands on two legs tha' kinda looks dragony? But no wings. Also has some nasty lookin' teeth. Kinda like a sahagin's but bigger." He says it so deadpan for a drunk. "No' t' mention th' only one I saw was at th' bottom of a daemon-infested ruin of an ancient civilization in my world. Just passed a block puzzle from hell."

... Good luck figuring out if he's kidding or not, Shiro.

"Astrals, that thing's stomp hurt."

Another sip. This is karma for talking about the giant bug in the moon. He hadn’t even given the details on that one. “The one talked about in Alice had wings.” That’s safe. He wracks his brain for the rest. “It’s about a girl that wonders about the world on the other side of the mirror. She steps through and has an adventure. It’s really...strange. I only remember parts of it.”

It felt like a drug trip and if he remembers right there is something to that. He leaves it alone. “Block puzzle? Can you tell me more about that?” He can’t say he’s joking. Not when he’s seen a lot of really weird shit in space.

Oh, Shiro. If only you knew...

Noctis listens with as much rapt interest one could give while intoxicated. "Really? Huh..." That is interesting, though. "Maybe ours did. It was kinda stuck in the depths, so..." No place to spread out its wings. It's kinda sad, really. Except he remembers how much it hurt and he's kinda glad it wasn't freely roaming the surface? Especially with all the shit already going on up there.

"Namuch to say 'bout it. We got to what looked like the bottom of the ruins, noticed a bunch a' square 'tiles' on the ground and decided to poke one. It descended an' we found out it wasn't just one, but a series of cubes. With no exit until ya either found the hidden chamber with and elevator to the Jabberwock's lair, or a large room filled with daemons." Guess how he found that one out. "Oh yeah, and every cube move or two there'd be daemons that suddenly appeared. That was fun after the second day."

He stares at him. "...how many days were you stuck down there?" He ventures as he sets his drink down. For now. He keeps it close. He has a feeling he's going to want to drink more. The daemons had been awful looking as it was. He can still recall how his arm how glowed with blue silver light.

The bayard's shapes in there had been the same ones Zarkon used. He assumes that's because of how he'd seen Zarkon use it and not the bayard itself making commentary. Shiro shoves those thoughts aside. "Maybe the original Jabberwock down there had wings but, over time...?" That's a bit sad but at the same time.

Yeah. Thinking along these lines reminds him there is a time limit on his friend's life that's horribly short. He puts it aside as gently as he can manage. "Anyway, it sounds like an ancient prison or trap for the daemons."

He holds up two fingers, then a third when he realizes that he's missing a thing. Completely unphased by the stare. "Two days, three nights." Just thinking about it makes him feel tired again so he rests his forehead back on the cool surface of the table. "Never been so happy to see the tent."

Because, camping. They were too exhausted to even make it to an inn. The haven was right there. "No idea. There was only the one," he replies. He'd be more than happy to spitball ideas about the bayard shapes if he weren't so drunk. "Only reason we went there is because the daemons stole one of my family's glaives from his tomb. The Jabberwock ate it."

Yeah; try not to think too hard about that one, Shiro.

Silence. The Jabberwock ate a glaive. He'd seen them before too. The glittering crystalline weapons circling Noctis and unleashed to fight on their own. The sheer power of it hadn't taken away from how beautiful their deadly dance was... He stares down at his glass in thought. Grief whispering up through the cracks of his iron defenses.

'One way or another, they who wield the light of the Lucii have to face the fact that they will burn. One way or another. Even me.'

Shiro's hand clenches on his glass. It has to be done. Someone has to stand against the darkness and push it back. Noctis is that person and yet. That man on the walkway...it all feels like a manipulation and the King is a sacrifice when a better way could be found. Can...it be found? He realizes he'd been silent for a minute or more. Shiro lifts his head and takes a sip to hide his brooding thoughts.

"Those crystal weapons that appeared for you, right? Those are the glaives?"

It's easy to fall into the silence. For anyone else, it would probably just seem like he's asleep. In fact, it would be normal for him to just... drift off. He's known to do it.

But then the thoughts he'd been trying to drink to forget come back. That vision from Ignis' memories, how all twelve of his ancestors would... and then his father...

It's a good thing that his head is resting on the table and his arms block out the sight, he figures.

"...Yeah. In this case." Because it wasn't capitalized- I mean, what? "The 'glaives of rulers past'..." He says, waving it off. "In this case, it was the Sword of the Tall."

"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.

"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."

He blinks. “Why are you sorry? I understood you. You’re not that drunk, Noctis.” It has taken a moment but the tones and wording had made sense. He puts that aside. Chocobos being bigger makes sense. Noctis has said they don’t have horses. He doesn’t ask about what caused the surge in monsters. He has a feeling he already knows. The man with red hair dressed in some gaudy other age’s style flashes before his mind’s eye.

Yes. Him. Shiro laughs quietly, “Bigger. Arus is already big enough and runs like the wind. I’m still having trouble keeping in the saddle.” But he’s learning. One day riding a white smelly bird won’t be weird. He smiles at the memory of wind in his hair and the feathers brushing against him.

“I like meeting people too. There’s a lot to learn and the people...they’re all incredible. So many view points and so many ways to live...”

Noctis blinks. "Really? 'Cuz I just accidentally switched to Lucian." He pauses, but shrugs it off. Eh, if Shiro understood it? All the more power to him. He's just gonna keep his head against the table.

"Adult size is similar. Hatchling isn't." He corrects the other, before that smirk is just barely visible. "Gonna have to work on that." Because one day, they're gonna have to race. It's just what he does with his friends. Chocobo racing.

"Exactly," Noctis agrees readily. "So many sights to see, too. Prompto always dragged us to get the best shots." He chuckles. "Even if I nearly got stomped on by a catoblepas the one time."

Oh there’s another weird ass creature that likely will make him crave more whiskey. Shiro does the sensible and slightly tipsy thing and focuses on sane part of the conversation. “Lucian? It sounded like...” He tips his head slightly to the side. “Japanese with a slight dialect shift. Here, listen.”

He takes a sip of his drink and says in Japanese, “I like the sights too. I have seen many wonderous things on our journey. Some events I have only heard of or were theorized by scientists for decades. Terrible. Beautiful. It doesn’t matter. No human has seen as much of the universe as we have.”

Excuse you, they're typically gentle giants! ...When you don't have a handful of their favorite snack in your pocket. Which he did at the time. Don't ask why. Though that gets Noct to lift up his head, and stare. Slightly. Wh-?

"Sweet Shiva," he quietly exclaims, before smirking a little and falling right back into Lucian. "Much as we talk about the stars, we Eosians don't really get much of a chance to think 'bout what lies beyond the outer atmosphere back home. But the large differences in terrain and cultures were always interesting." He paused. "Well, except maybe the marshes. Could do without the Marlboro."

Raise a Glass [OPEN]

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