Akira had tactically chosen the shady corner of the Inn. She wasn't drinking or anything, just wanted to avoid being alone in her room, so she chose to be lonely in a crowd. Though she wasn't exactly alone, Tsuru sat across, facing her. The two were each lost in their own thoughts, a pleasant silence brewed between them, while the buzz in the bar lived on. Idly she scanned the faces of the customers, her gaze slipped over features... Eyes, nose... ears... lips. They conditionally searched for familiarity, so that Akira could safely avoid the friendly encounters. Of course, the chances of running into someone she recognized were very high, post the attack by Grimoire Heart, yet she sat there hoping it wouldn't happen...

It happened.

The moment she noticed Asura, Aki leaned backward, so her face was better shrouded in the shadows. Her hand reached across the table to pat Tsuru's. She hissed softly. 'Asura, 4'o clock.' Her fingers latched onto her partner's tightly before he could turn and ruin her plan to stay hidden. 'No! Please, I don't have it in me to make small talk right now.' she grumbled. 'She hasn't seen us yet...' That already made things tenuous, how long did Akira have before Asura probably noticed Tsuru's flashy orange mane... The mage sighed softly.

Then another friendly face made her way into the bar, the Titan who had fought alongside them, against the demon guy. 'Oh wow... Why do I feel like some sort of a Rune Knight reunion is going to be inevitable? Titan girl 3 'o clock, seems to have found Asura already...' she muttered, giving the locations of her allies like they were the enemy and she and Tsuru were on some mission. Akira began slowly rocking her chair so that she could hide more of herself in the shadows. The girl wanted to avoid having to drag the wooden chair, it would scrape against the floor and create enough noise to gather attention. She was sure Tsuru was going to throw an argument in her face, tell her how ignoring the others was rude, the girl was already preparing her rebuttal.

Little did she know, that her attempt to hide was going to backfire... Rather seriously. The back legs of the chair slid from underneath her, and she tumbled into the corner. Akira's head hit the wooden wall with a thud as she fell with a crash. Crap. Damnit. she thought as a lot of heads turned to rest their eyeballs on her. Had it been later into the night, at least people could've assumed she was drunk...  Akira only did what came most naturally to her in a situation like this... It was something which may have appeared to be rather uncharacteristic, for anyone who knew her and was familiar with her usual prickly demeanor. ...She broke into a fit of giggles, laughing at herself with abandon. The deed was done, it was time for the reunion, Akira had just unwittingly made her entry.

It took him a long while, but he somehow managed to convince Akira to come down to the bar with him. After what had happened with the kingdom, they barely had time to talk about it. The two had been busy helping the folks repair the damage. But frankly, at least from his side, Haru had been actively avoiding the subject, keeping himself too busy to think. He didn’t know what to think and he couldn’t take not having an opinion after all that had happened. At first, he was obviously angry because of the destruction caused by Grimoire Heart. But then, more than half the population supported the man who did all this, despite the chaos he brought with him. The naïve healer couldn’t cope with the intricate politics and the twisted justice behind the coup.

So, finally, he gave up trying to understand it and chose to do what he always did. To continue helping the people through things no matter whom the king was. Half the people didn’t like the previous king; half don’t like the new one. He had a feeling this would be the case no matter who came to power.

Curious as to what his partner thought of all this, he dragged her out of the room and brought her down to the bar. Of course, Haru didn’t drink and Batra wouldn’t serve her any because she was underage. So, it was the usual fruit punch for Haru and whatever non-alcoholic drink that Akira preferred for her. Taking the drinks, the two made their way to the table at the corner. He knew she wasn’t too comfortable around people and he had already brought her out of her comfort zone; putting her in the middle of the crowd would be torture for the poor soul.

Haru was busy enjoying his sweet fruit punch that he forgot to even start the conversation he intended on having, and neither did he notice Asura until Akira pointed it out. He almost raised his hands instantly to call out to the blonde girl and say hi, but was quickly shut down by his partner. The healer frowned and grumbled disapprovingly. Asura helped him find Akira when she went missing before the war. He couldn't believe she wanted to avoid talking to her. But, he gave her the first one.

When she wanted to avoid Fia too, he had had it. She was the titan girl who came to their rescue during the war. Of course, Haru was still under the impression that it was Akira’s light magic that knocked out their assailant and had no clue it was the work of a far more powerful mage behind the scene. While his partner kept denying that it was her, he kept telling everyone proudly that the great deed was hers. When Akira attempted so hard to not be spotted and tried stopping him too, he shook his head vigorously and hissed. “No! That girl saved me from the fall. I’m not ignoring her,” he said, before standing up quickly to wave at the two ladies.

Maybe it was his sudden movement that caused the table to jerk or maybe it was Akira’s rocking of the chair; one of the two or a combination of both, caused his partner to fall off, following which she burst into a laugh. Haru stood there with his hand held high and looked at his laughing partner on the floor with a confused expression on his face. The entire bar was now looking at the two and all he could do was smile stupidly. He turned to where Asura and Fiammetta were and waved with a meek ‘Hello’ before helping Akira up.

Afterwards, he would walk up to the two ladies and offer a proper greeting. “Hey Asura!” he said, smiling at the blonde, and then turned towards Fia. “And hello titan girl… Sorry, I didn’t get your name last time we met. I’m Hatsuharu Akimoto,” he said, extending his hand for a shake. “Why don’t you two join us at the table? There’s plenty of space,” he added.

As Tsuru helped her up she took deep breaths between her incessant giggling, as it waned. She stood up an panted for a second, all the sudden laughter had left her quite breathless, her hand massaged her side as she felt the sharp tug of a stitch in her muscles. She'd missed Tsuru's declaration to not follow her suggestion, but it was probably too late for it now. Her merry expression faded almost entirely as he began wading through the crowd, she followed. Mostly because she didn't want to receive an earful about it later, she'd heard enough from Tsuru when he employed all of his tactics to bring her down to the bar in the first place.

She couldn't exactly sport a merry face, she tried, smiling... attempting to steal her expression from all the giggling she'd broken out into just moments ago, as they reached the blonde and the brunette... But to not much avail. At least the healer kind of cleared the path for her. Aki shuffled along, narrowly avoiding the bustle of the other bar dwellers, that closed in behind the duo.

Tsuru had already asked for Fia's name, Akira just nodded, didn't feel the need to offer her hand up to be crushed by the strength the convertible giantess probably possessed. 'Hi... Asura... Fia.' she piped up, greeting both of them softly and efficiently. She lingered at the back though, peeking from behind him whenever she was addressed. Much like a shy toddler hiding behind her parents. Closer to her table, closer to her safer corner, to make it easier for her to retreat when the opportunity arose. They didn't have to spend massive time with the others right, it could just be a simple hello, few pleasant exchanges and then back to their own business? It was odd how the pessimistic girl could be so optimistic about such a thing turning out in her favor, sometimes... Of course, they didn't.

Tsuru invited them all over to their corner. Invaders! All of them would now invade her little nook. She couldn't say no, of course, so she quietly turned on her heel and walked back. She was the first to scoot into the absolute corner, back where she'd fallen. Her chair was still on the floor, swiftly she set it upright and sat back in it almost with a stubborn mine! attitude. She folded her hands and tried to look merry about everything. Everybody wanted to know how everybody kind of knew everybody else.

The titan woman Akira greeted, had a thick, hungry accent, it ate up a lot of the ends of the words that she uttered. Giggles? GIGGLES?! did she just refer to Akira as that. It almost made her... giggle. She tempered it to a soft chuckle punctuated with a snort, just because the irony was so stark. Akira almost never laughed the way she just had, then she realized that the only other person who'd see it that way, was Tsuru, because unfortunately, the only encounter she'd had with Asura, was when she was giggly and weird too... Post her interaction with that Ko-Wa woman, from the little that she could recall and the information Tsuru had supplemented later.

She eyed the drink in Fia and Asura's hands curiously, looking down at her own cranberry juice, which Batra had condescendingly poured in a wine glass. Maybe she could get them to slip her a drink when Tsuru and Batra weren't looking... For that, she may have to find a way to... interact. 'Er... We're on a Rune Knight squad together.' she muttered, cocking her head towards the blonde girl. Not sure if she was loud enough for the atmosphere they were in. She tried to appear brighter, now that a possibility of getting a drink had snuck its way into her mind.

She wasn't too great and pretending to be something she wasn't, maybe they'll just try to get her to ease up on their own. 'Though we were stupid enough to run off on our own to fight that demon guy, thank gods you saved us from the tower...' she added, almost apologetically for just doing her own thing, but raising her chin at Fia, gratefully. 'It's crazy we all tried pretty hard... And yet...' Aki shrugged, everyone knew what followed the attack despite their efforts. At least there was hope this new king actually had some plan...

Haru was glad that Akira followed him when he went to greet the two ladies. Having seen Asura from behind, he had completely missed the glasses she donned and was surprised how different she looked with that on. The titan girl was now associated to a name in his head and like she mentioned, it was simple and easy to remember. “Fia! Got it,” he repeated after her, and grinning. The handshake was firm, quite as he expected from her. When Asura asked how they were acquainted, Haru let Fia do the explaining. He then stood there with the grin frozen on his face, as Asura and Fia looked at each other when he asked them to join him and Akira. Thankfully, they didn’t take long to decide and saved him from that stupid awkward expression he had. “Wonderful!” he said, grinning even wider and moving to the side, letting them go ahead first.

He watched as Akira quickly went back to her original spot and claimed it before anyone else can. That was typical of her and by then, the healer was used to it. He hoped the other two wouldn’t find it too odd. Letting the ladies take their seats first, he sat down last and decided to take a sip out of his fruit punch. The young man almost choked on his drink when he heard Fia call Akira ‘giggles’. He coughed hard and patted his head, as he laughed uncontrollably. Realizing he was attracting more attention from the rest of the crowd, he simmered down to a chuckle. “Yeah… Keep calling her that. Hopefully that will make her smile more,” he said jokingly.

Seeing how Akira’s response to Fia’s question was so short, Haru felt the need to elaborate. “Yeah… ‘Giggles’ here,” he paused for a laugh before continuing, “went missing after her magic got wonky and Asura helped me find her. After that, we were placed on a squad. Unfortunately, we were all scattered during the war and couldn’t really fight together,” he said, chugging down the last bit of his drink.

He raised his hand and waved at Batra, who immediately sent a young barmaid to their table. As the barmaid approached the table with a tray full of drinks, Haru would announce merrily. “I never got to thank either of you properly,” he said looking at Fia and Asura. “So… Tonight, drinks are on me!” he said. By then the barmaid had reached their table and Haru took another glass of his fruit drink. Raising his glass, he proposed a toast.

“To the good people of Fiore!”

---------------------------------------------------------

There seemed to be a general chatter around Akira's proclivity, or lack thereof, to smiling or giggling. Asura naturally thought it was strange that Tsuru was only, merely hopeful about the nickname getting the lunar mage to be more jovial. As the joke on her died down, she chuckled nervously and responded to Asura, it was probably too soft to be heard over the din in the bar. 'Not much, actually...' she admitted. Saying it out loud, felt like a confession, she'd never seen it as an allegation, she just didn't find reasons often enough.

Tsuru narrated the story of how Asura and the duo met, she chewed on her lip and rocked her chair again, this time she was careful, however. She rolled her eyes because Tsuru didn't highlight the noble intent behind her leaving and getting them worried. He made it sound like she was some petulant child who through a random tantrum and ran away because her magic didn't work. She'd have elaborated, but the drinks took precedence and she didn't care much for what someone wanted to think anyways.

Asura went onto explain the context in which she and the others met in a little more detail and mentioned the blonde elf. Aki clicked her finger as she tried to recall the name since they'd fought alongside the elf briefly as well... 'Liana!' she exclaimed, after offering that name, she piped down again and observed the others. Fia seemed to want to know more about the fight, and Aki opened her mouth to offer details, but it seemed she'd rather know another time. So the dark mage closed her mouth again and looked at Tsuru with a small pout. He had offered to be the one buying the drinks, which meant he had control over the fact that Aki wouldn't get any. Smart. she thought and narrowed her eyes at him.

Soon they were downing drinks, and Aki grew morose, when she picked up her juice and tasted it though, it sure tasted... not the same. Eventually, she realized, someone had been kind enough to top her glass with some alcoholic beverage she shiftily looked towards Tsuru as she began downing the drinks so hopefully she could get them replenished faster. She didn't want to appear greedy or anything, but the other two were all red-faced and tipsy already, Aki couldn't deny she wanted to experience that. Her usually sharp vision got a little blurry, her giggling intensified and the silliest things, till it came to a sharp stop as the conversation took a turn towards a darker shade, the alcohol lifted whatever it was that was inhibiting the resentment Asura and Fiametta felt.

On the flipside, the small amounts that she consumed, gave Akira some odd clarity. Them losing seemed to be a necessary evil. She heard the two women prattle on about how bitterly unfair things were and the tiny sips had accumulated into enough to give her the courage to stand up. Quite literally. She placed her wine glass on the table, curbing the urge to slam the table with it dramatically. 'No no no! You've got it all wrong! The king had to do what he-' she hiccuped. Clearing her throat, with a slightly dazed look she went on. She got up and placed one foot on the chair to gain height over the others, expanding her small presence to be heard. 'No no!' she exclaimed emphatically, perhaps her pessimistic world view fueled this and she was sort of on the new king's side. 'He- he did what he had to do!' she completed. 'Slavery!' she said out loud, the word quite disjointed with the rest. 'Gone!' she added, as a monosyllabical explanation. 'We're just whining, beca-' another hiccup. 'Because we don't like change.' she mentioned. The slight bits of alcohol made her a little giddy.

'And and if you want democracy! Let's fight for democraccccy! Scarface and I will fightt with ya!' Aki said, looking at Fia quickly fixing the nickname onto Tsuru just as he had fixed giggles on her. Her gaze then flicked towards Asura, she just wanted to encourage change, it was necessary. 'B-but, Arthu-' she heaved a deep breath to try to curb the strange feeling of nausea. 'Arthur could have a good head on his shoulder, how do we know if this elected man will be any better, all the... slavers could-' she wanted to say more, to draw attention to the fact that the slave owners could just vote for a leader that'd allow it again, but the dizziness and the feeling of wanting to throw up became a bit more agitating, so she just fell back down onto her chair and flopped towards Tsuru, instinctively, he felt safe, like he'd take care of her. Aki was pouting, not sourly, she just, disagreed. Her lids felt heavy as they fell over her eyes... Alcohol felt strange, so far, it made her sleepy, annoyingly idealistic and hopeful.

~Exit~

Things started out very mature and easy. Everyone seemed optimistic about the new emperor and were willing to give him a chance before assuming the worst. The poor healer, unbeknownst that such optimism wasn’t going to last long, was glad that his fellow Rune Knights were so tolerant and unprejudiced. After all, you can’t change the past; only hope for the best future. Haru chuckled more when Asura asked if Akira didn’t laugh much. His partner responded, but in case that wasn’t heard amidst the bar’s noise, Haru would follow up with an exaggerated reaction. “’Not much’ is an understatement,” he would add, shaking his head in disappointment.

It was subtle, but the conversation did not stay that light and jovial for long. Before he knew it, there were more than six glasses on the table and both Asura and Fia had gone very red on their face. The conversation that followed next, was nothing close to what they said before their inebriation. Asura began first, voicing her strong dislike for the methods of Grimoire Heart and Fia quickly followed up. “Umm…” Haru muttered, looking around the bar and hoping no one was paying much attention to them. Unfortunately, almost everyone was. Thankfully, Fia noticed it too and simmered down a bit. But, it would seem the conversation had caught fire throughout the bar and the same argument sparked at every table.

“Uh-Oh!” was all Haru could say before turning to look at the bartender, Batra, who looked petrified. The bar maid, however, was completely oblivious and did her job like a drone. She filled her plate with more glasses of alcohol and continued offering it to every table, including the Rune Knight one. Whether the ladies chose to go another round or not, the rest of the bar did, and it didn’t end well.

All this time, busy with the happenings on the other tables, Haru completely missed what was going on with Akira. It wasn’t until she got off her chair and put a foot on it, that he noticed, she too, was drunk. Puzzled, he looked at her glass, which still looked like juice; but clearly, she had found a way to mix some alcohol in it. The healer shook his head in disbelief and was going to protest. However, before he could utter a word, Akira began expressing her view loudly. The rest of the crowd simmered down to listen to the contrasting opinion and then there were murmurs for the next few seconds. Murmurs that spelled trouble and both Haru and Batra saw it coming. The teen Rune Knight might have fallen unconscious after her short speech; but her words spurred something within the bar.

Knowing it was coming wasn’t good enough to prevent it from happening. Some of them stood up to agree with what Akira said, while the rest followed with objections. In no time, there were now two groups of people, forming on either side, arguing over whether what Grimoire Heart did was right or wrong. Haru held Akira so that she didn’t fall off the chair and made her lean on the wall that was on the other side of her chair. He then stood up and tried to subdue the tension amidst the crowd. “Everyone! Please calm down,” he yelled, but it wasn’t enough to gain anyone’s attention. The drunk men were now done with words and were on the verge of punching their opinions into others. Batra finally acted and stopped the bar maid from serving any more drinks. However, that wasn’t going to stop them from getting rowdy.

Haru turned to Fia and looked at her pleadingly. “We are supposed to stop this from happening. Not start it,” he whispered urgently. “Do something!” he added. “I’ll get Aki out of here before Batra sees her,” he said. He then placed more than enough Jewels for the drinks on the table, helped the unconscious Akira off her chair and snuck her up to her bed while the bartender was busy dealing with the rowdy crowd.

-Exit-