video; (forward-dated to June 19th, late afternoon)

[lightstrike]

To those who've met her, Serah Farron's not in the city anymore. [Light's keeping her face as straight as possible. Why emote in front of all these strangers?] It's been over a week since her disappearance. She may have been sent back home.

[Which is... honestly better for her, as far as Lightning is concerned. She's her big sister, and she'd have liked to spend more time with Serah, but she has a duty. They both do, but better for Serah to do hers, because it's far more important.]

To the newcomers: take this as a sign that we'll go home someday. No one knows when, but someday it will happen.

[And that's enough of an announcement for today. Just talking about it hurts her.]

Comments

video;

[lightstrike]

[She's glad he's not pursuing the matter any longer.]

A drink would be better. [Especially when she has no interest in fighting right now.]

video;

[noparachute]

The bar in district 3 works? [Alcohol may not affect him anymore, but it didn't mean that he completely avoided it. He was fine drinking when the time called for it.]

video;

[lightstrike]

That's fine for me.

video; -> action?

[noparachute]

I'll be there.

action!

[lightstrike]

[It takes Lightning only a few minutes to finish off whatever other messages she has before she's up and moving with purpose to the bar. Her, going to a bar in... well. A long time. Probably since her 18th birthday, when her regiment threw her a surprise birthday, and she'd vetoed every other birthday party that involved copious amounts of alcohol.

But this isn't a party, is it. There's a less than joyous reason for it.

Lightning wanders into the bar, looking around. Is Steve already here, or should she just take a seat and wait for him?]

action!

[noparachute]

[Once they hung up, Steve had already made his way to the bar. He didn't have much else going on and he wanted to be there early, so Lightning could see him as she entered the place. He remembered the time he went into a (destroyed) bar to mourn someone, it was for his best friend.

But he had Peggy there and her presence helped out.

Steve was sitting at a stool and he gave a brief wave when he spotted her.]

action!

[lightstrike]

[She nodded at him and made her way to that spot the moment she caught his wave.]

Steve. [Sliding into the seat next to Steve, she asked for the bartender for whatever they had on tap, she didn't care. Lightning didn't know alcohol.

Didn't even know if she could even get drunk, with Etro's changes. But she wasn't in the mood to see if she could. She didn't have enough interest in that.]

[noparachute]

[He ordered a whiskey, something that he often got when he was with the Howling Commandos. They always liked their alcohol and Steve joined them because they were his teammates, brothers-in-arms in the war.]

Not much into alcohol? [Some idle conversation to start off with.]

[lightstrike]

No. [She idly circled the tip of a finger around the rim of the glass.] I haven't been around it long enough to acquire a taste for any particular one.

[Hadn't been around other things either, for that matter. Looking back, her life had been one battle after another every since their mother died, leaving her to take care of her sister.]

[noparachute]

Not much of a drinker myself. [If she didn't want to order anything, Steve was completely fine with that.]

This is just something familiar. My squad back in the war liked their alcohol, usually got this when I was with them.

[lightstrike]

[Why was she not surprised to hear that?]

Soldiers in any world like their alcohol, I suppose, as long as it doesn't interfere with duty.

[noparachute]

Found that drinking with them keeps morale up, form closer bonds. When we needed to trust each other on the battlefield, it just felt important.

[Of course he ended up paying for the drinks most of the time, but that never bothered him.] Course, we wouldn't want any soldier to be drunk while out in battle.

[lightstrike]

Not for us. We weren't at war, just guarding a city. There was no need to boost morale or bond by drinking when it was a job we did every day.

[Not that she would have gone, she knew. She'd been given a choice of either working or going out for fun several times before, and she'd always chosen her work.]

[noparachute]

War drives people closer. [At least in his experience, although when he met up with Bucky again their dynamic changed. But Steve thought that it was okay.]

To be honest, probably wouldn't have been friends with them if it wasn't for it. [Not that Steve thought they were bad people, far from it. He just didn't think he would have been given much of a glance, especially if he was still small.]

[lightstrike]

Do you all hang the start of your friendships on a drink?

[She's not judging, simply finding it downright strange.]

[noparachute]

Hang them on wars and alien invasions, actually. [Except for Bucky, although they still met while Steve was getting beaten up in an alleyway.] Forced kidnappings if you count this place.