daemonized | RECOLLE IC CONTACT.

Perfect timing, Rosalind. No longer are the items rattling around, except when I want them to.

[So yes, he's figured it out. He was going to tell her, too, but it seems she's beat him to the punch.]

Well done. What was the solution, then?

The solution was to stop overthinking it. To simply /expect/ the item to be there when I reached for it, instead of hoping it would. Confidence, apparently, in my own skill. Who would've ever thought I'd be lacking it?

In any case, I can thank Dante for the advice.

He and I had quite an interesting conversation on powers, actually.

But more importantly: now that you can get things in and out, have you experimented with what you can put in there?

[Wait.]

Don't make that into something filthy.

[lmfao ROSALIND

Okay, that causes Ardyn to laugh quite openly on his side.]

Rosalind, how scandalous! Who knew how deep your mind was in the gutter? I'm shocked.

Just answer the damned question.

[Come on, it was funny.]

Oh, fine. I've tried a few mundane items around the house. Small things, more pens, sheafs of paper, a coffee mug. So far it all works the same way.

Nothing hurts? The pens don't jab you, nothing like that?

Not at all. I never felt anything close to pain, Rosalind, even when I was still struggling with these powers. Only annoyance that they were /there/, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Well, then.

It's time to experiment with what we can do, isn't it? Are you home?

[Uh oh. Here we go again. Ardyn should not at all be the least bit surprised.]

Yes. But what kind of experiments did you have in mind, exactly?

Terrible ones. I'm planning on removing a hand and seeing if not only you can heal it, but also dematerialize it.

[See? She can make jokes too.]

Size, Ardyn. Size and emotional attachment. Do you want anything while I'm on my way over?

And why is everyone slowly turning into a mad scientist these days? I must've missed the memo.

[But the joke does not go under appreciated, make no mistake of that.]

Size and emotional attachment. Very well. Speaking of size, a venti cafe mocha will do.

Yes, all right.

[It's about half an hour later that she comes by, carefully carrying up his mocha and some tea for herself, along with a large bag hooked over one shoulder. She's also, unusually, wearing a necklace. It's a sapphire, carefully cut and inlaid into a gold case, hanging on a gold chain. It's obviously expensive and clearly well-loved, if how brightly it shines is any indication.]

Open up, please, it's me.

Edited 2017-07-24 04:19 (UTC)

[And so he does, opening the door and letting her in. As usual, they make their route to the living room, taking his mocha sometime in the interim.]

Thank you for being so generous, Rosalind.

[That necklace also hasn't gone unnoticed, though Ardyn will just assume it has something to do with the experiments she wishes to perform. A strategic sip of his drink goes here, looking at her over the brim of his cup.]

Experiments, then. Where shall we start?

With this.

[Setting her drink down, Rosalind's fingers hesitates for just a moment before she reaches behind her, unclasping the necklace. Gathering it in the palm of her hand, she holds it out towards him-- though her fingers are half-curled, suggesting she isn't quite ready for him to take it just yet.]

You took Prompto's cap, and spent, what, nearly a week feeling guilty over it? I wonder if that affected your ability to bring it back. You said you needed confidence to draw the items out, but what if the pressure was truly on?

So try it with this. Something-- something similarly emotionally significant. Something I love dearly, and one of the few items I've brought with me from home. Something that has extreme emotional value to me, that I'd be very upset if you lost . . . let's see if you can make it appear and disappear with no trouble at all.

[(Here's the truth: that necklace is from home, but it doesn't hold half the emotional significance Rosalind says it does. She's fond of it, but she's fond of it because it's pretty and she'd gotten it for graduating university. If it's lost for good, she won't be all that upset. But that doesn't make for a very good experiment, and so here they are).]

[jesus christ

He pauses in something that can't be mistaken as anything other than hesitation. Ardyn in general is a relatively confident man, not so easily perturbed by much, but when it comes to experimenting with what he believes to be an item of high sentimental and emotional value, how can he not appear a little dubious about it?

Another sip of his mocha. He pointedly does not take the necklace.

And then:]

Maybe we shouldn't.

[MAYBE HE DOESN'T NEED THE GUILT FROM POTENTIALLY LOSING IT THE VOID]

Best you do it now with a necklace, before you whisk away something utterly vital and need to get it back. Heaven forbid you accidentally remove something like an Epipen and panic.

[She has a point, but Ardyn still seems very hesitant to go about doing this.]

And if I can't bring your necklace back? What then?

Then I'll be out a necklace.

[She is fond of him, though, and so adds:]

My mother isn't dead, Ardyn; this isn't some keepsake through which I remember her. I'll learn to live with the loss.

[He pauses again, and a good several seconds pass before he takes the necklace from her. He holds it rather carefully in his hands, regardless of the fact that he's about to make it disappear into nothingness. He'll set his drink down nearby.]

Are you sure you want to attempt this? We can always find something still valuable, but slightly less so.

[At the very least, this proves he's sweet. And that he feels the pressure of the experiment, so it's working out.]

I know what I chose, Ardyn.

vague hand gestures....who even knows anymore

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