Dwargon

[Bloodedge]

"Damn thing's bigger than I am. I can't be expected to drink this!" This was the next statement to leave Kou's mouth, even though the surrounding Dwarves paid it no mind at all. At this point, he was more concerned with keeping his mind off their present seating arrangement. 'Keep it movin', real cool and nonchalant,' he told himself. Still, Miki chose to address the seating as well, doing so in a manner which gave Kou pause. The final words she spoke were of an interesting variety, and he'd experienced such statements in watching and reading his various series before. "Well I..." Whatever he meant to say was lost with swiftness. The Dwarves were back to cheering loudly, and one to Kou's side had even taken up his mug and put it to the lad's face, forcing him to guzzle it without so much as a moment of warning.

[Apollymi]

Miki heard Kou's reaction to the size of their drinking cups and she could only try to suppress a chuckle. She also agreed that they were massive and had no idea how to drink it. But before she could get her question about their seating arrangement properly answered, Kou found himself on the receiving end of his own cup. 'Oh no!' Miki's mind screamed but her own mug was being lifted to her face as well. She obviously had to drink to remove it from her face so she too would be guzzling a mug full of whatever mysterious drink the Dwarves had gifted them. "Oi! They even drink like Heroes. Good on ya'!" this came from a female dwarf, tall with rusty red hair and a gruff expression. Miki kept drinking with her eyes ever widening until of course she pushed her drink away. "I mean that was good and all but you could have warned me. Or like, give me a straw and I'll drink it myself..." the young woman commented her face in a full red flush now due to an acute influx of alcohol in her system.

[Bloodedge]

'This isn't drinking like a hero. I'm only drinking it so I don't drown in it!' This thought crossed Kou's mind as a response to the female Dwarf, though he was incapable of voicing it due to the large amount of alcohol being poured down his throat. Gulp by gulp, he drank the contents of the mug nearly as large as his body was, and he could feel intoxication striking him even as he drank. In a matter of moments, he wasn't at all concerned by the fact that he was in such close proximity to Miki; he was actually wondering if he'd make it out of this party alive.

By the time the mug was finally pulled away from Kou's mouth, Miki was reached out to by the male Dwarf who held said mug. In his hand now was a bamboo chute, which he dropped into her mug. A second one was placed into Kou's mug while the lad coughed and coughed, finding himself in a rather drunken state already. "Ugh... gonna die. Gonna die fast..." Kou mumbled. He didn't know how long these Dwarves intended to have them drink, but he'd been force-fed the whole of his mug, and was now having it refilled before his eyes. "Hey, that's... some really good stuff though. Just lemme... drink at my own pace..."

[Apollymi]

Miki's giant cup was also refilled but with the addition of a couple of bamboo chute like straws being added to both of their giant mugs. Kou's general response to the sudden influx of alcohol in his system had the blonde giggling just a little in response. "Tehehehe~ You probably aren't dying. Though to be honest it was pretty intense," she said leaning her head back against the throne and feeling the blood rushing around her face. "To be fair, it'd probably be the best way to go~" she mused having found it in herself to loosen up quite a bit with the addition of alcohol in her system. "Aye! By blade or brew!" the female dwarf chimed in, which seemed to act as a bit of a toast and made several other dwarves raised their mugs in response. Instead of raising her mug which was still rather large, Miki raised her fist but she decided to drink again through the straw at her own pace. After her next large sip she looked to Kou and gave a mischievous smile. "I feel like we should... be wary... of that toast. But I also feel... like... if we don't drink our fill... the Fairy Queen will be disappointed," she said softly, with several long pauses as she was most certainly intoxicated.

[Bloodedge]

"Nope... gonna die forever," Kou responded with a hiccup. The mug in front of him was filled, and he had to wrap his arms around it in a firm embrace just to get a proper hold on it. In doing so, he looked to the side where Miki could be found. He stared once again in a strange way, though the intoxication softened his expression to an extent. As the toast was made, Kou paid no heed to Miki's warning. Instead, he tilted his mug toward his head and slipped the bamboo straw into his mouth. "Mm, yeah. By blade and brew, die and stuff..." he murmured before having a swig or two. "Gonna die now. Mount's all yours, and... take care of my sword for me..."

[Apollymi]

"Nooo... dun die!~" the young woman said seemingly aghast at the idea. Alas the lad was now full on drinking his brew, even agreeing to the chant of by blade or brew. It was kind of stunning really, the looks he cast Miki with his softened expression were met in her brain by curiosity. Her own face reddened by alcohol and the knowledge that he was looking at her. 'Why does that keep happening? I know he doesn't think I'm ugly...' she thought her face shifting slightly into a pout as she too wiggled a bit closer to sip out of her large mug. "No, don't want to take care of your sword and it's our mount. I don't want to be alone here too..." she mumbled, gaining intensity with her words. Her current state of drunkenness left her a bit too honest, and her words blurred the lines of her prior life experiences with those of her character. "You have to name our mount, and live, and stay with me..." she seemed to be rambling a bit, but there was quite a bit of truth hidden in her words. She spent her subsequent moments finishing another mug and feeling the depth of warmth in her body which she hadn't felt in quite some time.

[Bloodedge]

Kou felt as if he was swimming within the contents of his own mug. It was a feeling that only became more intense with every gulp, yet he couldn't bring himself to stop amidst the cheering of Dwarves. Even so, he and Miki had fallen into a discussion regarding his alleged impending doom. "I'm not gonna make it. But... it's cool. You'll be alright," he said, somewhat delusional. Speaking of delusional individuals, one of the less combat-savvy Dwarves who'd somehow made it into the army saw the expressions upon these Adventurers' faces, and happened to misinterpret their words to one another during the celebration. It seemed these young Adventurers were an item on the verge of separation, so this very courageous Dwarf decided to take it upon himself and ensure their survival as a pair. How did he do this, one might ask? Well, the only way he could possibly manage was to position himself over the throne they shared, extend a hand to reach the back of each Adventurer's head, and made a very clear effort to push their faces toward one another. "The Heroes have to stay strong! Keep it together for the people!" the Dwarf chanted, inciting similar encouragement from the masses while Kou only just began realizing he was being moved against his will. 'Wait, what? What's even happening here?'

[Apollymi]

The delusional conversation of this pair was overheard by another Dwarf. This person interpreted their conversation as something very different, though maybe somewhat more optimistically than the pair considered themselves. "No I won't. Don't make me go at this whole thing alone... I won't be alright, Kou..." she cemented her drunken thoughts in this moment. And knew that how she felt about this world and the fun she'd been having of late, had come of her friendship with this lad. She likely wouldn't consider this whole experience as fun as it currently was, if anything were to happen to him. As she considered this her eyes closed and a small smile came to her face. The entire world seemed to be spinning and with closed eyes, it simply felt as if she was floating. Floating on air and shifting ever so slightly forward. 'Ano... am I moving... forward?' Miki wondered as a small crack appeared between her closed eyelids and she took in the movement of her head from a proper perspective. And along with this movement and the shifting of the Dwarf above. 'Kou's face is coming so close!!!' her eyes had widened to their maximum and she seemed the utmost surprised. The cries of the crowd that the heroes had to stay strong was completely lost on her. 'Wait! What? How did this even happen?' her thoughts were suddenly sobering but also a little enticing. Her arms felt like jelly, she had no idea how to stop their faces from meeting. What was more... she wasn't really sure she wanted to do this anyways. She had intended to make the lad her romantic companion, back when she'd just thought him an NPC. Was this a really bad thing? As her mind paced these thoughts her face seemed to move in slow motion toward Kou's.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was very conscious of what was happening at this point. He couldn't possibly think of the situation from the perspective of desiring a romance quest-line when considering Miki as an NPC, true though it may have been. At the moment though, he had a different set of thoughts entirely... as well as the thought that he had to resist. The Saber's neck tensed to push against the drunken Dwarf's forceful hand, but every muscle in his body couldn't help the intoxicated lad make any headway in this endeavor. Time itself felt like it was almost at a standstill the way Kou was watching the space between Miki and himself become shorter and shorter by the second. Even with the video game 'Age of Eternity' having romantic options for NPC companions, it wasn't uncommon for players to have such relationships in-game with other players. However, this was no simple matter of two players. They were now two people, seemingly fully-integrated into another world, but very much physically present regardless. What's more, Kou had at least one additional hangup that he couldn't mention. And yet, there was hardly a thing he could do besides acknowledge the fact that he was being moved, and he was physically incapable of stopping it. 'Shit... this is happening, isn't it? Why do Dwarves have to be so intense!?'

[Apollymi]

Miki also had thoughts about the intensity of the dwarves, but beyond this point, she had others. She didn't dislike Kou, she'd grown quite attached to him. She liked him a great deal because her respected her as a person. She couldn't say many people felt that way about her, and he'd even made peace with the fact that her facial expression was also never really pleasant. Given this she could honestly say there was currently no one she knew, that she liked more than this lad. Though she would have much preferred such a situation happen on her own terms, when presented with their faces moving ever towards each others even with time almost standing still, her drunken mindset stated something very simple, 'We could just do it on our terms... I don't mind if you don't...' her eyes were open and she'd technically aim to share this thought with Kou even in her own drunkenness. And whether he agreed with it or not, she'd lean in a bit closer and purse her lips gently so that when they met his, no harm would come to either of them. Her mind said that if this was done now, the dwarves would leave them to their own devices, and the honesty of her drunken mind stated she'd wanted to do this anyways somewhere deep down. If she considered it logically she'd done something much more embarrassing than this when she'd asked the lad to stay with her the previous night, her own hangups currently nonexistent as she aimed to kiss the white-haired lad before her.