[attr="class","matias"]"we do."

but he holds nothing against her, perhaps a tell of his disposition. he brings the glass to his lips, downs about a third, then sets it back down on the table with a thunk.

he glances up at her question.

"just sightseeing. i heard it's a great place to visit."

whatever amount of alcohol he's consumed on the boat lingers, affecting the way his words seem to be slipping out without much resistance.

but he laughs, shaking his head.

"i fought in the war, captain. what do you think?"

[attr="class","noodles"]skyler dross

The tequila from earlier is still painting her cheeks with a rosy tint when she brings the mug to her lips. The swill in this place isn't nearly as good as the drinks from earlier, but Skyler manages to swallow it with a straight face.

Or she would've, hadn't Matias' words cause the liquid to become stuck in her throat due to a sudden influx of laughter. Cheeks growing redder, Captain Dross hacks and coughs between short barks of laughter, bright silver eyes cutting to him. "Sightseeing?" She cleans her mouth with the back of her hand, grinning wildly. "Guess the aliens did help with tourism."

Talk of war casts a brief shadow over the captain's expression, though she quickly blinks it away. "How long?" Is all she ends up asking, hiding her grimace behind swig of beer.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","matias"]too long.

but the thought's drowned by all the alcohol in his system. he takes another swig for good measure.

"i joined the league when i was sixteen, i think? maybe a bit earlier. just wanted to get away from fernie, honestly."

though he laughs and jests, there is a hint of honesty behind his words — honesty mixed with deep-seated bitterness. he takes another swig, further drowning.

"so basically my whole life."

[attr="class","noodles"]skyler dross

"Shit." There isn't a strong enough curse, no matter how passionately spat out, that can encompass Skyler's feelings on the matter. She'd known war for a relatively short period of time, considering, and it'd left deep groves in her psyche. She'd only recently started to take back what the war had stolen from her.

... But years of it? 

She doesn't offer Matias empty platitudes, figuring he wouldn't appreciate them. She knows she wouldn't. Instead she gestures for more beer to be poured into their mugs, drowning the looming ghosts in her mind with the taste of cheap booze.

"Was Fernie that terrible?"

Eyes crinkle behind the curve of her mug, expectant.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","matias"]"yes."

he laughs again, cutting across whatever darkness looms in the back of his mind. his grip on the glass falters for a moment, beer spilling, which only seems to make him laugh more, but he's quick to regain control.

"still is, last i saw him."

his mind drifts back, remembering. it settles on a thought that's been bothering him.

"did you fight?" he slides the glass towards him but doesn't lift it just yet. "in the war here."

[attr="class","noodles"]skyler dross

Captain Dross welcomes the inebriation with the same kind of heedless abandon of those who have nothing to lose, or of those who have lost too much. Except that compared to people like Matias, whose life has for too long followed the beating of war drums, Skyler still has a frightfully long list of things to lose.

Maybe that's what haunts her.

The beer is lifted to her lips to forestall her answer; and when it falls back to the table, much of its content is gone. "I was the one who spotted one of first wormholes and lead the League to it." There's no need to mention the meeting which she'd been privy to, and what happened in it. Needless to say, since then Skyler's faith in the League had... decreased considerably.

"I kicked some alien butt. Annoying bastards." Her smile, when she turns it to Matias, has far too many teeth for it to be anything close to nice. "Murdered some of them too."

And with them, some part of herself.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","matias"]it doesn't surprise him. the way she regards his experience, his talk of the war, gives away enough to those perceptive. he offers nothing more than a nod, meeting her smile with one of his own.

"good."

finally, he lifts the glass, beer quickly flowing down his throat in a hefty swig.

"then i'm sure you know the fight isn't over."

[attr="class","noodles"]skyler dross

Her reaction is immediate and visceral, Matias' words piercing through the alcoholic haze like a lighthouse during a storm. The muscles of her back strain under the abrupt tension, spine going rigid and face expressionless. What little is there of ambient lighting is reflected the silvery blade of her gaze as it cuts to Matias, intense.

"Unless you've seen blue aliens walking around, I don't know what you mean."

A white-knuckled hand takes the beer to her lips, and it's all Captain Dross can do to keep the liquid down. 

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","matias"]is this denial?

"i know you're not ignorant enough to not know, captain."

or fear?

he leans closer, voice dropping soft as if to exaggerate a point.

"rocket?"

[attr="class","noodles"]skyler dross

It feels like it was just yesterday that she'd been scraping blood off her face and wandering through the streets of a drowned coastal town in search of survivors. Turns out, drowned people aren't the prettiest thing to look at. Then again, death seldom is.

Those same sightless eyes peer up at her now as she turns her own to Matias, the bright silver muted into steely grey. "I've heard things." It'd been all over the news some weeks ago. First Kanto, now Hoenn. What, had the aliens not been enough?

They'd never take her sea from her.

"I will always protect Hoenn. It's my home." The words taste of empty battlefields and unkept promises. "But I'm no soldier."

Not anymore. Not yet.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","matias"]her words are expected, familiar, and it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth; more bitter than the cheap liquor that swirls in the glass as it's raised for a swig. the sting doesn't help.

"i'm afraid you'll have to be."

he leans back, shrugging.

"but i understand. compared to aliens, rocket must seem like an afterthought."

[attr="class","noodles"]skyler dross

The night is still young, yet it weights on Skyler's shoulders. She doesn't taste the beer that flows down her throat, the same way she opts not to respond to one of Matias' statements. The man's confidence in the fact that she would take part in a future conflict feels bitter on her tongue.

Because the captain will do whatever she has to in order to protect those closest to her, and her own freedom. Skyler has never been a faithful believer in the greater good.

"Well, no Rocket has tried to take a bite out me yet." Wry grin in place, Captain Dross keeps her truths close to her chest. A mug is raised up in the air for a toast, the first of many before she slaps some money onto the counter and disappears into the night with a drunken wave.

MATIAS SILPH

[attr="class","matias"]"lucky you."

he laughs, then raises the mug to meet hers, toasting.

"but when they do, i'll be right there with you."

fighting.

[attr="class","noodles"]skyler dross