Devil's Nest, Thursday, November 11, 2021

[texted3times]

Shirtless Thursday was back, and so Eric ws there in leather pants and very little else, sipping a stupidly expensive vodka and giving Tiny's sign, which offered a veterans' discount, a baleful look.

"You know half the adults here are some kind of military, right? We're going to make no money tonight."

But at least it would be pretty to look at.

The Devil's Nest was open! And slightly drafty.

[OOC: OCD free.]

Comments

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio had definitely fallen out of the habit of visiting one of his favorite establishments that fully supposed exactly his kind of dress code, but, well, they had to clear the apartment out anyway to give Prompto a little space for his "cat playdate", so this timing? Was kind of perfect, and it did not take him long to mysteriously manage to lose his shirt.

"Hey, Tiny!" he called out as he leaned on the bar. "Still got some of those Cup Noodle^TM sodas in stock?"

Please say yes! Make this day even better!

[1000yearstoolate]

"That sounds terrible," Seivarden said, not at all surprised. "Have you no taste?"

It was said with an amused laugh though.

[sword_chocobro]

"Depends on who you ask," Gladio countered with a smirk and an unabashed, unashamed lift of his chin. "Have you tried any of them?" he then challenged. "Tiny can mix up a pretty mean cocktail with them, you know. I'll buy you one if you're willing to try it."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden made a gesture with her hand. "I'm not that desperate for free drinks. I'll just watch you drink yours."

And watch his nice arms but that was beside the point.

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio just shook his head. "You don't know what you're missing," he assured Seivarden, "but your loss. That just means more for me!"

Especially since the only other person he knew that would drink them was currently busy with cats.

"Glad you were able to come out and join us tonight," he added. "We should do this more often."

[1000yearstoolate]

"We should," Seivarden said. "Even without the excuse of Prompto having a cat playdate. I hope they're having fun."

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio shrugged a little. "Kind of a toss-up," he predicted. "Put that guy in front of a cute animal, he's pretty much set. Couldn't be happier. Put him in front of a cute girl, though?" The skeptical, somewhat worried look on his face said what he was not as willing to put into words. "So who knows? Kind of like an unstoppable force meeting an immoveable object situation on our hands."

[texted3times]

"He does," Eric said dryly, though not before paying Gladio's abs their due in an appreciative leer.

[sword_chocobro]

Well, Gladio didn't work out for most of the day every day just to have his abs not be leered at appreciatively!

...actually, he did, but the appreciation was a nice bonus for something he was going to do anyway.

"That's what I like to hear!" he met Eric's response with an eager grin. "How ya been, Eric? Been a hot minute."

[texted3times]

"Nothing to complain about," Eric said. "Lucifer and I have reached détente on the bar."

Which was it looked...basically the same as it had before the summer, not that that helped Gladio.

[sword_chocobro]

"Yeah?" Gladio asked, taking a moment to glance around and get a good look at where they seemed to have settled. "So place is going to stay the same for a little bit? I was almost looking forward to seeing what was going to change up each time I came in."

[texted3times]

"Lucifer is making noises about building another club on the mainland," Eric said with a little shrug. "If he does, maybe I'll set this piano on fire as a going away present."

Was that really a present, Eric?

[sword_chocobro]

"You could bring marshmallows; make it a party."

Gladio. Don't encourage this.

But come on. Someone want to try explaining to him that flaming pianos didn't make an evening more interesting? Look, that sort of thing, he had to actively discourage back home, but here?

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis was more than willing to come join his roommates, so temporarily displaced from their apartment at the moment out of consideration for 'doing a bro a solid,' after his class finished for the evening, the community center still miraculously still standing and somehow not stuck helping with the cleaning until the break of the next day.

And thinking that it was rather unfortunate that he was not only not quite as willing as his compatriot to shirk his shirt for the sake of a discount, but that one was not technically a veteran when they were still currently serving in a war that had been ongoing for longer than anyone still fighting in it had even been alive...

[texted3times]

"Ignis," Eric said, nodding. "Hello."

[chef_chocobro]

"Eric," Ignis nodded back, feeling for a brief moment that he should apologize for his companion, but...Gladio was, surprisingly, a grown-ass man who could be held accountable for his own...terrible life decisions. "How have you been?"

[texted3times]

"Enjoying my Cup Noodle-free lifestyle," Eric said with a rueful grin at Gladio's drink. "You?"

[chef_chocobro]

"Rather wishing," Ignis's own look was a bit more long suffering, "I could say the same. But I can recognize a losing battle when I see one."

[texted3times]

"Well, it's not hurting anyone other than the soul-deep pain of realizing the shit exists to begin with," Eric said, smirking.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden had been fussing over Issa before leaving her in Prompto's care, but she knew she would be well looked after, and 'cat playdate' was a good excuse for a night at Devil's Nest with her roommates.

Leather pants was a bit quaint of course, and she wasn't about to take her shirt off, but at least there were a few pretty people to look at. Including her roommate, but at least she was used to Gladio without a shirt by now, not like it would ever be a bad thing.

She ordered a Margarita, eyeing Gladio when he asked for Cup Noodle sodas.

[texted3times]

Eric smiled. "Here for the atmosphere?" he teased.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Of course," Seivarden said, smiling back. "That and my roommate is having a playdate. Cat playdate."

[texted3times]

"Animal transformation?" Eric asked.

[1000yearstoolate]

"No, his date has a cat, I have a cat that he fusses over, it's the perfect excuse."

It was also adorable and it made Seivarden smile.

[texted3times]

Eric didn't really do adorable much but he could appreciate the need in others. "So they're going to pretend it's about cats when it's not," he said. "Are they from the 1800s, by chance?"