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

[warpstriking]

This is totally fine. One hundred percent. Clearly. But she's warmer than the table and he likes warm.

Forget feeling bad. He'll feel terrible in more ways than one in the morning, but he doesn't now. Instead he tries to be slightly more reassuring in how he nestles up to her, more like a cat whose human has given it a concern. Still affectionate, though. Which is probably a little more awkward.

The questions make him deflate a little though, and groan. Iriiis, tonight was supposed to be about forgetting what was bugging everyone. Not talk about them. And yet-

"My dad's my age. Got to see my gran'ma for the first time but couldn' even touch her. Ravus' memory was a trip an' a half." He won't talk about that one. That's between the two men, but whoo boy, the floodgates opened. "Oh yeah, an' the volunteer pilots couldn' dodge a memory nebula to save their lives an' we had to save ourselves 'fore we could get to you guys."

Please don't make him explain what happens when a ship hits a nebula. It's not pleasant-

"So, yeah. M'fine." Comparatively. He just looks a lot like a kicked cat. "Jus'... worried 'bout things I can't fix."

[moogleshield]

It's hard not to sit up straight as he nuzzles into her, the feeling shooting through her like lightning in a storm. He's so close, she can feel him breathing, and it makes her head spin because this is nowhere on her list of Things Iris Amicitia Expects to Happen. The fact that it feels so nice makes her stomach turn. Be a good friend, Iris. Be there how he needs you to be, even if he makes doing what's in his best interest impossibly difficult.

But then he groans and relents, still speaking close enough that she can feel the warmth behind every murmured word. That should probably set her off right there... but it doesn't. If anything, it forces her to focus more, and to actually hear what he says, and for a moment she's stunned. He's never really confided in her like this.

"Noct..."

This isn't about her. It can't be about her right now, when her worries here are inconsequential and baseless in comparison. He's clearly hurting, and that supersedes any kind of racing thoughts Iris is having right now. Fretting about herself and how she feels in any of this... it's gauche, and isn't what he needs right now.

"Then why worry about them?" There's a quiet sort of resignation in her voice as she carefully settles against him. Exhales, and tries to push whatever jumbled up thoughts in her head out with a single breath and letting her arms loosely fall around him in a cradling embrace.

It's okay. This is okay.

"There's a lot here that doesn't make sense," Glossing over the Regis business, but; "And things aren't perfect. Far from it. But focusing on the things you can't do anything about, it's only going to make you feel worse. I'd say, figure out what you can fix, and focus on that for now."

You don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders here, Noctis. Please stop trying, it breaks her heart.

[warpstriking]

He'd apologize for putting her through this if he was lucid enough to realize that he may have crossed a boundary that shouldn't have been crossed. But, childhood friend. A childhood friend that is very warm. His filter is gone.

He'll be so sorry about this in the morning, but right now the words were just... escaping his lips without even thinking about them. Yet he hears his name so he pauses, looks up to her with a sad look.

"I always do." It's... a brutal kind of honesty. Because he does worry, a lot. It's just usually he's able to hide it behind a mask of dry humor or false apathy because it's draining. But that settling against him feels nice so it's a semi-decent distraction. Especially after she hugs him. That takes a minute to process.

As do the words, which he is not sober enough to fully appreciate. So he'll just hug back and try to remember them for when he's sober. Though he does mutter into her shoulder. "May need t' remind me in the mornin'."

Because, yeah. He realizes he isn't fully there right now.