[ OPEN ] willkommen, bienvenue, welcome

[feintofhart]

Who: The Adults Of Aldrip
Where: A handy dandy bar!
What: Claude has collaborated with one of the local bar-owners to host a Chosen-only night for the adults of Aldrip to have a nice night away from the prying eyes of locals.
Warnings: Alcohol, drug-use, grown men making embarrassments of themselves, potential hand-holding.



Welcome one and all to a place where the Chosen are able to unbutton that top button, sit back, and relax, free of the badgering eyes of locals, and able to mingle amongst like minds! Your local Apothecarist, Claude von Riegan, came up with this idea with one of the local bar-owners as a good way to drum up business amidst the Chosen for a place for the Chosen and the Chosen alone to be able to shed some of that weight they've been carrying. Claude himself has made no secret of the fact that he's the one who put this shindig together, openly advertising it as something of his own creation, a community building effort for everyone to bond with one another in a context in which they're not forced to do so by threat of death or imprisonment.

For this evening, liquor has been put out for the Chosen to serve themselves, and runs freely enough that everyone will be able to drink their fill, though there's a table at the back of the room laden with all sorts of bar snacks to help fill people's bellies and soak up some of that liquor; flatbreads and fried delights, a generous selection of meats and cheeses, and confections enough to satisfy even the most demanding sweet tooth.

Along the south end of the bar there are a collection of booths, far enough away from the booming sound system to be able to chat quietly amongst themselves, if you're the more retiring sort and would just like to have a nice talk over a pint or two. In this area, you may also find a few hookahs at your disposal, filled with tobacco or hashish, courtesy of Claude himself -- though he hasn't shied away from cheekily including business cards at each table, advertising his place of business should you wish to purchase teas, salves, potions, and yes, all manner of smokable delights.

In the centre of the establishment, chairs and tables have been cleared away to make room for dancing, if you so please, with the sound system at the Chosen's disposal if they want to pump up the beats or put on a slow song to rock to and fro with a honey or two (or three?).

Lastly, there's a brand new karaoke machine that's been installed along the far east corner of the room, in case anyone would like to thoroughly embarrass themselves. What do you mean, you're a good singer? Then get out of here! You should know by now that that's not what the spirit of karaoke is about!

If there's anything else you would like added, dear player -- just write it in, and it's yours! Whatever can feasibly fit into a bar, you can assume it's present for all and sundry to enjoy.

Comments

[feintofhart]

You're not engaged, certainly. I don't know if you even could get married here. I don't know if they have the set-up for it.

[ That's not what Cait was talking about, and he knows it, if that cheeky smirk of his is any indication. ]

But you two are very close. Attached to the hip, it seems. [ He takes a sip of water, watching as Cait gets more and more flustered. ] You guys aren't together at all? Really?

[bulleting]

I-- [Caitlyn looks down at her hands, trying to gather herself. It's hard to lie about this, when someone has clearly made their own observations. And it's not like they hide their infatuation with each other. As Claude said-- they're practically attached at the hip.]

It's... complicated. We know each other, from home. And home is.. a mess right now. Even if anything happens here, I don't know that it can last returning.

[She says that like they don't already live together and fuck on the regular but details. It's just all fun!! It doesn't mean anything if you don't put labels on it right?]

[feintofhart]

From what I've heard from most people around here... everyone's homes are a mess. Not to belittle whatever it is that you two have going, but I've been led to believe that love can spring from the most unlikely of places and thrive as long as everyone agrees to at least try to make it work.

[ As light as Claude's words may sound, he's not talking out of his ass here. He may personally believe that his parents made some... missteps, politically speaking. But speaking of love and love alone? They met each other across a battlefield, from two warring nations, and fell madly in love despite it. That love has not wavered since, no matter what they had to face. He admires it, even if he can't share in it. ]

Are you guys on opposite sides of -- whatever it is that's happening there?

[bulleting]

Something like that. [How to explain the dynamics of their home to an outsider?]

We're from the same place, technically, but it's more like... two sides of the same coin. I'm from the Uppercity, where the governing Council resides. It's richer. More prosperous. Vi is from the Undercity. The mines are down below, so most that live there work there, but it also became synonymous with illicit activities-- gangs, drugs, brothels. Needless to say, the two sides don't exactly see eye to eye.

[And the Undercity-- Zaun, had every right to be furious with Piltover. They were subjugated, poisoned, and left to survive on their own. With all the power that Piltover had, no one gave a shit what was happening to their own citizens down below.]

We're on the verge of a civil war, I'm afraid. Vi and I-- we tried to fix things, but we failed to get the Council to listen to us. And now they're most likely dead. [Unless by some miracle they had a way to protect themselves against the Hextech weapon Jinx made, but she doubts it. They controlled Hextech until Jinx stole it from them, why would they even consider their own weapon being used against them?]

[feintofhart]

But even if you are on the verge of a civil war, you and Vi are still working together, on the same side -- on the side of trying to fix things. Sometimes it does end in war, despite everyone's best efforts. My own nation has been embroiled in a bitter civil war for some time now.

[ It's not the same. It's not commoner versus noble. It's noble versus noble, with all of the poor commoners tossed into it without a voice of their own, forced to bear arms and fight with their countrymen, just pawns in the nobility's war games, shouting about righteousness and ending in bloodshed. ]

I don't begrudge the difficulty of your situation. But... [ He laces his fingers together. ] Let's say it comes to war. Would you two truly fight on opposite sides? Or try to find a third way out of things?

[ He has a hard time seeing the two of them on opposite sides of the battlefield. If anything, from what he's managed to glean from stories of their homeland, Caitlyn will fight for the people.

That means commoners. Even if it means people she'd once known are on the chopping block, such is war. ]

[bulleting]

Yes, but-- [Caitlyn fights back a sigh. It's just so damn complicated. She wishes she could explain, but that would mean throwing Jinx under the bus. She's trying to be nice and not ruin the little bit of good will they have between them now, but that doesn't make her any less guilty of a lot of shit back home.]

I mentioned Silco before, didn't I? One of the first times we met? [It's been a while, but she's pretty sure she remembers confiding in him a little about that part of the situation.]

Honestly? I'm...not sure. I would like to think we would both try to find that third way. [She doesn't say 'but', but it still lingers there. And the but? Where does Jinx fall into play in it all? That's the part that leaves Caitlyn the most unsure, on how their future will play out. While she might be trying to keep the peace with Jinx here in Aldrip, she can't promise the same when they finally get home. Jinx will have to answer for her crimes, and the question is, will Vi defend her?]

[feintofhart]

I've known you both for a while now. And I think that you would.

[ As much as he knows them, is fond of them, they're not exactly close; they don't really hang out, outside of these shared spaces. But Claude thinks of himself as being as canny as he is nosy, able to get a good estimation of someone after knowing them for that long, and he's realized by now that the two of them care for each other, care for their city, care for the world. Neither wants things to come to blows. ]

It puts you on better footing than if you two were truly on different sides. My country is at war back home too, you know -- I've been stuck fighting against my old friends and classmates, [ he admits with a wry smile, something a little sad in it. ] But none of them were willing to come to the table to talk about it, like the two of you would be.

[ Maybe they would be, if he could get them alone. But he can't. They're just pawns in a bigger battle now, at the behest of their parents, their houses, their territories, their people. ]

I know that Silco made a mess of things. But I also know that Silco's dead now. Surely that helps the situation somewhat.

[bulleting]

Even if we both come to the table to talk, neither of us have any real power or say in what happens next.

[It's why they weren't able to convince the Council to act against Silco. It's why they failed, and now, because they couldn't make anything happen, the Council was dead and gods only knows what was going to happen next.]

That's the thing. Silco may be dead, but he still has followers. He still has people loyal to his cause. He still has Jinx.

[Saying her name is finally admitting the true cause of friction between Vi and Cailtyn. It's one thing to make peace with the fact that Jinx murdered her mother in a place where she couldn't do anything about it. But Jinx wasn't the same as she was back home, either. Being out of Runeterra had honestly been good for her. Vi and Jinx were able to bond and grow close over the last year or so that they had all been here.

But what about when they got home? Will time have even passed there? Will they even remember anything that happened here? If not, then they'd be back to square one, in the moments after Jinx murdered her mother, along with one of her best friends, and every other person in power in their city. It wouldn't be good. Vi would want to help Jinx still, and Caitlyn would be put in the situation of catching Jinx to face justice for her actions. Just another wedge to be driven between them.]

[feintofhart]

...and there's the real problem. Politics is one thing. Family's another.

[ Blood isn't always thicker than water. Claude's own siblings are a bunch of violent maniacs, in Claude's opinion, and if he ever faces them on the battlefield... he'll be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. But that's not Vi, tender-hearted as she is, someone who had presumably at one time had an affectionate relationship with Jinx. Moreover, Jinx isn't like his siblings.

She's not... well. That makes things harder. ]

Nobody ever wants there to be a time in which you have to choose either your values or your family -- or your friends or your family. But that's precisely the position people find themselves in again and again. [ He offers Cait a small smile, a shark-like sliver of a grin. ] My brothers and I don't exactly get along either, but Vi is a kinder woman than I.

Would she choose to fight alongside her? Or to stay out of it altogether?

[bulleting]

No-- She wouldn't. She doesn't agree with the way Jinx goes about things. [But would she stay out of it? Caitlyn can't imagine Vi standing on Piltover's side, not after what Piltover did to her and her family, but she wouldn't side with Jinx and Silco, either.]

Jinx is...different here, at least. They've been able to rekindle some of what they lost back home. But I'm not sure that anything that happens here matters, when we finally go home. [With Ekko showing up again, with no memory of being here before, it's continuing to suggest that nothing matters here-- they probably won't even remember it.]

[feintofhart]

Then... well, to say you have nothing to be concerned about is putting it entirely too lightly. You have plenty to be concerned about. I understand that. But at the end of the day, you two are on more or less the same page, even with outside circumstances making it harder.

[ He rests his chin on the heel of his hand. ]

You'll work through it. I only hope that what we do here does matter. It'd be awfully cheeky of them to put us through all this self-growth rigamarole only for us to wind up in the exact same spot we were last.

[bulleting]

More or less. [She doesn't want to say it, but she fears what the contention over Jinx will do to them. While Caitlyn has chosen to stay civil here, especially given Jinx has improved somewhat, that doesn't mean she can stand aside so idly when they do get home. Jinx has killed so many in Piltover, including members of the Council. That can't be ignored. A blind eye can't be turned. Jinx will have to face justice.

Caitlyn isn't a killer, she was never even the biggest fan of hunting. But if it comes to it? If she has to take out Jinx to keep Piltover safe? Could she live with hurting Vi like that? Could Vi live with doing what needs to be done if her sister truly becomes irredeemable?

Too many questions, not enough answers, not to mention the lingering anxiety about what the future holds that Caitlyn can't ever completely put out of her mind.]

I have to hope it does, otherwise-- what's the point? [To just show off their power and have fun torturing them? That's all it feels like, sometimes.]