It's 5 o'clock somewhere

[deal_me_in]

WHO: Everyone and Anyone
WHERE: The Deep End
WHAT: It's always a party at the bar
WHEN: All month
WARNINGS: I take no responsibility for whatever happens in any ensuing threads


Cayde had done his best to cover up the gaping hole in the adjacent corridor. Unfortunately that consists of a large tarp that's been strung up along what was left of the top of the wall like a makeshift curtain. It barely kept the chill out, but at least most of the cold stayed in the hallway.

Inside the bar...okay, it's not that much warmer. Hard to be when you've got one whole wall of glass with water on the other side of it. But the lamps are lit and the karaoke machine playlist has been programmed to play some mood-appropriate background music when not in actual use, which is most of the time, really.

As usual the bar's open for self-service if Cayde's not in and no one else wants to play the part of bartender. There is however someone more often than not watching the bar. Whether it violates health codes of any kinds or not, a hen struts along the bar counter or around the rest of the place at times. She doesn't seem to spook very easily. If she's on a barstool preening her beautiful red-brown feathers then don't you dare move her.

Comments

[fatedsacrifice]

"As fast as we know how I guess." Noctis replied. "I don't even know how time works here. The last time I remember being kidnapped..time didn't change back home."

It didn't happen under Materia's banner, nor with the Hiso aliens, or dealing with Y'jhimei and Garuda and all of that.

[doubled_speed]

Time didn't change back home? Wait, this was something that had happened to Noctis before?

"What happened to you the last time?"

[fatedsacrifice]

He looked up at Tommy and smiled. "The last time I was in another world, I was taken to a strange place. There were two sides to a conflict and their world..well it seemed like it was dying and then there was this giant dragon destroying it. So in that case I was summoned to a goddess I never heard of and met a lot of people on both sides."

[doubled_speed]

"Wait, you got to fight a dragon?" Tommy asked with a grin. Because that is cool.

[fatedsacrifice]

He smiled at hearing Tommy's enthusiasm and nodded. "Ya, really mean nasty thing. It was huge too so it took a lot to fight the damn thing."

[doubled_speed]

"Holy shit that's so cool!" Tommy said, grinning at the guy. "Dragons are super rare where I'm from. Never even seen one!"

[fatedsacrifice]

There was a smile.

"They're rare where you're from?" Now Noctis knew about people being from different worlds, but this was a thing he hadn't considered. "We had dragons back home too, they were pretty big and really mean. Not sure they'd be called cool when they're trying to kill you."

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah, super rare. Like, I'm aware they exist, but I've never even seen one. And I've seen a lot of shit."

They were often great, powerful, and hidden. Tommy couldn't blame them

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis laughed a little. "You make it sound enthusiastic to meet up with one of them."

Sometimes that was the banter that the guys tried to do. Maybe it was their way of dealing with it.

[doubled_speed]

Why not? Tommy doesn't know that it isn't?

"I mean, they're rare and powerful. How is that not cool?"

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis canted his head to the side and sighed.

"Ya I guess I can see that. They're rare and ancient and our lives are pretty much a blink of their eye probably."

[doubled_speed]

"Yep. Then again, my life span is probably a blink of Billy's eye too."

Issues when your brother is a god.

[fatedsacrifice]

That had Noctis take a double take. Sure he himself was deceased on Eos, but Tommy's statement had him pondering.

"What do you mean?"

[doubled_speed]

Oh boy, that's a whole set of baggage that isn't even his. He offers a smile.

"My brother's a god-to-be."

[fatedsacrifice]

"A god to be?" Noctis asked in a clearly confused tone, thinking of the Six back home.

"How does that even work?"

[doubled_speed]

"Fuck if I understand it," Tommy answered with a shrug. His brother was fucking complex.

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis looked at Tommy almost sympathetically.

"That bad?"

[doubled_speed]

"That complex," Tommy agrees. He doesn't even want to try and explain it. "Ask him sometime."

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis wasn't sure he should do such a thing. "And what am I in for if I ever do that?" Forewarned was forearmed and he wanted to know what he'd be getting into if possible.

[doubled_speed]

"Stuff that doesn't make sense, if he even chooses to talk about it," Tommy admits with a shrug. "Time is... apparently echoy? It's weird. I wasn't there for that shit."

[fatedsacrifice]

Wasn't there. That sounded something like the situation between him and Gladio. Each was from a different time. Well what Tommy was saying made sense then.

"Kinda like people can come in from different points in time."

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah. When we first got here, at the start, I was only a few days after him. Now it's really worse."

So different.

[fatedsacrifice]

The king sighed. He himself didn't have siblings, but his guys were the closest thing. Well, except one of them who didn't like him when they were kids.

And there was the tiniest smile as he recalled reading in a book a very long time ago that 'that was how the best romances started out.' He never believed it and wouldn't have, had fate not changed things.

"So how was this place when you first got here then?"

[doubled_speed]

Well cliches in stories had to exist for some reason, right? Clearly it was just to torment Noctis with romance.

"Oh, I meant more the differences between Billy and I. But this place? Ruins. Completely. No good place to sleep, little power, no water. Fuck, I used to have to water the greenhouse with these big leaves I sewed into buckets."

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis isn't sure what to make of what Tommy's saying because it sucks compared to what they have now.

"Sounds like a huge pain in the ass. Glad to see some things have improved around here."

There was still a lot to be done or fixed, but in a small way it reminded him of home.