#[altenaaaa]

[fangedjustice]

"You too, huh?" Altena makes her way to Lloyd's side to watch the end of the battle. "Maybe I shouldn't have made that bet with Linus that the Lions will beat the Deer."

It isn't lost on her that she allied herself with the same team as his older brother while he is fighting alongside her younger brother. She isn't really sure what it means but it's interesting.

"Do you want to watch the rest of the battle with me? Cheer him on together?"

Lloyd glances away from the battlefield when he hears Altena's voice, his expression smoothing out into something more fond after being stuck in a concentrated sort of frown before. "Altena," he greets, shifting a little to give her more room, "Sorry to see you didn't make it to the last round, but it's nice to have some good company."

He can't say he's surprised that the two are still finding ways to make wagers with one another, but he supposes it's pretty harmless if it's all in good fun.

"So, you decided to join the Lions this year, hm?" It was too bad they'd not been near each other on the field, he would have enjoyed fighting beside her again. "Did the house leader convince you, or were you motivated to face off against someone in particular?" If he recalled, her brother was a student in the Deer, and she's expressed hesitancy to fight against family -- even in a controlled mock fight such as this.

Lloyd uncrossed his arms, giving Altena a small, lopsided smile. "Well, what else are we to do on the sidelines but cheer those still fighting on? Come, I think I know a good spot."

[fangedjustice]

After everything Lloyd has done for her, Altena feels as though she can't just approach him empty handed. He's been far kinder to her than she ever would have expected. Almost acting like a... No, she shakes her head, sending that thought off. That's too much.

Still, he's done good by her and, without him, she's not entirely sure if she'd have had the confidence to open up to his brother.

She finds him outside of the knights barracks and cringes a little when she realizes he lives right next to her parents. A bottle of whiskey is thrust into his hands and she mutters a quiet "happy birthday".

Lloyd, rather truthfully, often forgot his birthday. Not for lack of proper celebrations in the past, as that had been almost impossible to avoid even in the time of the Black Fang.

They had been comrades in a shared fight for justice, but they had also been a hodgepodge family. Contrary to what some might have thought about mercenary groups, they could be incredibly close knit. Even if he'd kept some distance, Lloyd could go on and on about the life events that had been experienced within the Fang before Nergal had encroached -- birthdays, marriages, a new child or a death.

Here, Lloyd didn't expect it to be acknowledged by anyone outside of his brother. Something he was fine with. He had outgrown birthday celebrations quite a long time ago, and it was any other day with work to be accomplished to him.

But when Altena approaches him -- with some awkwardness, it seems -- and thrusts a bottle of whiskey into his hands with a quick and quiet "happy birthday", Lloyd is actually a bit surprised. He blinks down at the bottle for a moment, before his gaze shifts to the young woman he'd become more than a little fond of in their brief time working together. Whether she was aware of it of not, she was a good influence for Linus, and Lloyd had found her irreplaceable to have back in Elibe. Or whatever that experience had been.

"Thank you, Altena," he finally spoke up, fond smile edging onto his face. "When you have time, perhaps you could share a glass with me, hm? I hear company makes it taste even better."