#pheraed

He finds Hector again. It's easy to do so, what with how familiar the two of them are with each other, he knows his movements all too well. In his hands he presents the entire platter as a drunken offering to their friendship.

"This," he declares loudly, boldly, and with a great big smile on his face. "Is for you. We can split it, if you would like that. Come, let's go for a walk."

Hector can but blink, presented a most unexpected gift. An entire tray? When the suckers were borderline 'limited edition' for the eve on account of Fodlan's obsession with that weird spaghetti ritual? Sure, it sounded nice, but...

Wait...

... Had Eliwood stolen him an entire tray?

Hector's Eliwood?? That guy?

? ? ? huh?

Something wasn't adding up here, no matter how generous he knew his friend to be.

"Uhh... Yeah. We can split it. We should split it. I know I'm a big guy, big appetite and all but even I've got my limits, heh."

Before the night was out, Hector would have gotten his fill of the things and then some. Not that he was complaining, mind you. But that sure was. a. lot. of meatballs.

(The temptation to leave them behind to (maybe) come back to existed, at present.)

"A walk sounds good." Rising to his feet, Hector made to nudge his friend in the shoulder before giving pause just a moment before impact - and then miraculously thinking better of it.

If Eliwood had been in his right mind, he would have started with introductions. 'Hello, I am Eliwood of Pherae, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance' would have been appropriate. Instead after Sir Naesala's constant supply of champagne he has forgotten all social niceties.

His eyes widen as he sees the bird on this man's shoulder, and it all solidifies what he's been thinking. "My friend, Sir Naesala -- I don't know if you know him -- he told me that you have magical forests in Yngvi. Is that true? Is it also true you can speak to birds?"

He pauses, fumbles a bit with his brooch and hands him a pearl. "Apologies, I... have gotten ahead of myself. Here, for your bird familiar."

It's bothersome enough that he is being approached by a stranger who has clearly had one too many drinks tonight, Andrei thinks. At least, that had been the extent of his thoughts until the man opens his mouth, the wildest misinformation falling from his lips all sourced to a certain raven.

"W-what?!"

What on earth has Naesala been telling these random people? Who even is this?? What magical forest??? The closest forest to his homeland was miles away in Verdane. And the raven shouldn't even know that, given Andrei had said nothing about his homeland in all their conversations thus far.

(Should this change, now that they'd...)

Andrei cuts off that thought as soon as it forms. Not only is that something he is not yet ready to consider, it is also very much not the most pressing issue right now.

"I do not know how much all of that has been filtered through your wine-muddled brain, but I can assure you that very little of it is true," he says, crossing his arms, "For starters, it is Naesala who knows how to speak to birds, not me."

He gives the pearl in the man's hands a wary look. Far be it from him to actively seek out any transaction with a drunkard... but at least, for as inebriated as he appears to be, the man doesn't seem to be actively causing issues like so many others he'd seen tonight.

Cranberry seals the deal by squealing eagerly at the lustrous trinket being offered, and so Andrei sighs, somewhat reluctantly unpinning one of his own teardrop crystals and offering it for the trade.

"I was trying to share these with someone, you know."

Eliwood holds a little bowl in his hands. An opened fruit with juicy seeds is on display, and his smile widens just a little more. "Maybe even with you. But I think you might spill these all over the place, and then the professors would be cross."

Still, he extends it to him. "I'll have you know I chose the most delicious looking pomegranate. I'll allow you some if you exchange broaches with me. I know no one better than my oldest and closest friend who I would want to be here with."

He points to his own string of pearls. "What do you say?"

Hector eyes the bowl Eliwood is holding with no small suspicion. There's definitely a jibe coming. There's gotta be- Ah. There it is. Right on time.

He wordlessly takes the proffered bowl, if more for a closer look than anything else. Brows rise, and then furrow.

"How do you even eat these things? It looks like food for birds."

He makes to hand it back, clearly unimpressed with his oldest and closest friend's offering. He pauses. Sets the bowl on the table with a clink, and, looking down, plays with his own brooch a moment.

They've saddled him with bells, of all things.

"Hmmm..."

On the one hand, Eliwood deserves a little retribution for poking fun at Hector's grace (or lack thereof).

On the other hand, it's been like whole five minutes and Hector already tires of jingling everywhere he goes.

"I'll exchange with you," he starts, reaching to unclasp a bell for his dear friend, "but not for. Whatever those are. Pomegranate you called it??"

The bell clinks gently onto the table.

He grins, and in his playful expression alights a challenge Eliwood couldn't possibly miss.

Eliwood holds in his hands a small collection of snacks within a tiny wooden box. There's not a lot he can think of that his friend would want on his day, and even less that he would have access to. Still, he would not consider letting the time go by without spending some of it with Ostia's best.

"Another year older, hm? Well, that makes sense. I can see the beginnings of that blue mustache you once dreamed about sprouting from your lip," he laughs. "Soon you will be that old man you're meant to be."

"Ohey, Eliwood, thanks-!"

The words die on his tongue, replaced by a gaping maw. He stands, aghast at the sheer audacity -- has Eliwood always been so sharp? (The answer is yes but Hector won't hear it. Eliwood, just when did you get so... so... infuriating!!)

"Ha!"

The snacks have already been safely retrieved, but now, Hector hunts for something more: prey.

He grins.

It foretells nothing Good for Eliwood' near future.

"Unfortunately for you, I am not yet too aged to chase you down for your baby-faced impertinence, Pherae! Have at thee!"

The snacks are safely set aside,

Alcohol cw

It isn't fair, she thinks, as she sets the almost empty bottle of liquor down a little too rough on the small table in her dorm room. Her fist follows with a thud and she's glad she skipped a glass in favor of drinking from the bottle directly. It would have fallen with how much strength she put into it.

He'd been on a routine mission. He was a student, for Dainn's sake. It shouldn't have ended like this. He should've come back with the rest of the group, maybe a little hurt, maybe a little bloodied up, but alive.

He'd been her friend. She'd never said that word to him or even admitted it to herself until far too late.

She grabs the bottle by the neck and downs the rest of it. With how quickly her holy blood cleanses the toxins from her system, it isn't even enough to numb the pain of her grief.

Eliwood holds out an ice pack towards his best friend, a little smile on his face. There's still determination there, despite his recent loss. He's surprised to have made it to the end of the tournament even if he was eliminated before he could see the outcome of his match.

"How did yours go, then? I didn't get a chance to see. Surely you got a few good hits in?"

“Haaaa… That they sure did.”

There you are.

“Took your sweet time, huh? Hope you had fun, at least.”

Hector’s experience out there had been much too short-lived, but them’s were the breaks - win some, lose some. He reached for the ice pack, though he received it not without a light (?) bop to Eliwood’s shoulder in return. “I guess that’s plus one to your record, eh?”

The ice is cool. Feels nice. Healing magic is swell and all, but not a resource to be haplessly wasted even here in Fodlan where tomes are mysteriously unnecessary. For whatever they don’t get to, there’s the old tried and true: time, and rest.

“It went a’ight, I guess. Nasty piece of work on the other side with her bow and sword and uh, temper. I gave a different axe a whirl this time, felt good but… not perfect. Still can’t wrap my head round magic, really.”

He’d tried the hexlock shield again this year, too, but… It didn’t really feel like him, in the end. Magic stung, sure, and the shield compensated nicely for some of his resistance against it, but in the end,

Hector would much simply rather not get hit by the stuff at all.

“Anyway, ‘course I got some good hits in! Ha!” There’s a glint in his eyes that warns of an impending noogie if Eliwood isn’t careful not to provoke further, but Hector bides his time for the now. “And you? I heard strange rumours - that you were out there spewing ice??”

Strange, if so, but then again…