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

[hashtagdaddy]

[If this were another time and another place, Gladio may have found this whole thing amusing. Not the blood starting to stain Ravus' coat and drip onto the floor - there's nothing adorable about making someone bleed. But watching, feeling Ravus grow more and more frustrated as not a single blow caused anything more than minor discomfort - that is hilarious to him.

With the metal arm limp in his hand, completely torn away from the enraged man still pinned to the wall, Gladio suddenly realizes the fight is pretty much over. Physically, there's nothing left Ravus can do to him and they both know it.]

Weak? Hah, you're the one without an arm. Again. Looks t'me like you're the defective one. [The words rumble out of him as he unceremoniously drops the now-useless arm onto the floor. A mirthless chuckle follows the satisfying 'clank' it makes, Gladio's amber eyes staring directly into Ravus' own heterochromatic gaze.]

They were both better'n that. Better'n us. [Fuck, feelings are coming back. Feelings that aren't rage or blind hatred. And Gladio far too drunk to stop talking now.]

Traded their lives f'r a world that won' understand. An' I failed 'em both. Shloulda been there. Shoulda died instead. [His words get quieter as he speaks, and he leans forward until their bodies press together and they're once again practically nose-to-nose. He's not sure which eye he finds prettier.]

Y'gonna shut up now? Cuz if y'don't I'll shut tha' pretty mouth for you. [Astrals, how the fuck much did he have to drink?!]

[sonoftenebrae]

[The last time Ravus had flown into a rage like this, Ignis had had the good sense to sooth, rather than provoke, until he wore himself out fighting and calmed. Gladiolus, though, keeps poking.

Does he think Ravus doesn't know he's defective now, useless? He was born the son of a matriarchal line, knowing that his sister was doomed to die while he lived because he could never inherit the Oracle's power. That helplessness has hung over him like a shadow since they day the prophecy was confirmed.

He's acutely aware that the battle is over, that in his current state, he never stood a chance. He's going down, but not without one final dig.]

That bastard Arrrdyn had to save you when I bested you. You ran like a dog, tail between your legs. You were never going to be enough to save your king.

[He squirms against Gladio's hold, heart pumping with adrenaline that now has no outlet. Their faces are so close, each panting breath he takes is shared with Gladio.

When he sobers back up, he'll make excuses. The drink, the grief, the pent-up aggression, the utterly foreign sensation of being physically overpowered.

Y'gonna shut up now? Gladio asks, with his smug, infuriatingly handsome face and his hard body shoving Ravus painfully against the wall. He could shut up, and limp home, and keeping replaying those last days in Altissa over in his mind....

Or fuck that.]

Make me.

[Before they can make any more of a spectacle of themselves, the bar's bouncer grabs both of them by their shirts and hauls them apart. The two are propelled, unceremoniously, out the door and into the sidewalk in front of Jiminy's Juicery.]

[[ooc: We can continue this over here.]]