daemonized | EL NYSA IC INBOX.

[ The station is in disarray. The Natha can’t have been gone long, and already it seems to X’rhun that the place is falling apart at the seams. However, such things are far, far beyond him. They’ve no technology even close to this where he comes from, and while he’s familiarized himself with the communication devices and things like Prompto’s camera, the station is a different animal altogether.

All he can do is wait for sharper minds than his to step in to help.

In the meantime, he has taken to checking up on his loved ones still in stasis more often than normal. Thank the Twelve that the stasis room seems to be able to function on its own, but every time he crosses the threshold, there is a lingering dread that he will find darkened, thawing tubes, and the forms therein still and silent for completely different reasons.

Gods willing, that will never come to pass.

Arya is much as X’rhun remembers her, not just from his previous visits, but from their parting in Mor Dhona, when he bade her and the Warrior of Light farewell so that he might continue his pilgrimage. Funny, that his journey should continue on a completely different world, and it seems a terrible shame that she is not awake to see it. She would like Alisaie and Prompto both, and there is a part of him that yet holds out hope of having all of his students together again, to practice their arts in the yard outside of Alisaie and Prompto’s home.

One day, mayhap. He cannot let himself think otherwise.

It is not uncommon for there to be others in the stasis room, and the sounds of footfalls only warrant a cursory glance down the row of frozen and glowing glass. Color him surprised when he catches sight of an all-too familiar face. He figured Ardyn would have little need to come up here, if any at all, and yet there he is. ]

Taking a stroll?

[ X’rhun’s voice seems almost too loud in the quiet of the room, echoing over the soft hum of the stasis chambers. ]

Of course. Is that not what the stasis room is for? To walk along the rows of those taken by sleep, and reminisce?

[It has the intonation of a joke, but it’s true enough. To return to this room is not unlike walking past islets of memory, familiar faces contained in glass as if they were nothing more than statuettes. Many of those from Eos had been asleep for so long that they might as well have been, still and silent, for Ardyn to glance over their faces, keen eyes critical, before moving on.

He has no real affection towards any of the encased, and yet he finds himself coming up here time and time again; the past has its hooks deep into Ardyn, and this is just another way that it manifests, these visits.

Ardyn stops, turning to look at the sleeping individual that X’rhun had been looking upon. His tone is airy and purposefully not weighted by anything sounding like nostalgia.]

There is no one to look over them now, with the station so empty. Do you think it’s a matter for concern?

I had figured such visits were a bit too sentimental for your tastes.

[ The figure behind the glass is a young lady, blonde hair swept across her forehead. Her garb is red, the style not too far from X'rhun's own. Mayhap, if one were to look closely, they might spot a rapier at her hip. ]

I worry about it constantly, to tell you truly. My only hope is that there are those among us who may know how such technology works, that they may stave off the worst.

[ He glances at last from Ardyn to the still form in the stasis pod. ]

My student, Arya. She is the one I told you about.

[He makes no remark on sentimentality. X'rhun has the gist of it, that he is not sentimental in the same way others are; but Ardyn does visit here out of some wayward, poisonous nostalgia.

That being, of course, not something he wishes to linger on, it's easy enough to just focus on the woman inside the pod.]

I see. I can imagine you come up here to check on her quite frequently, then, especially for one burdened with concern.

[He gestures at the whole of the station.]

In many ways, this place is beyond even the technology of Eos, so I am of little help when it comes to these pods. Though I was never much of a scientist or engineer myself.

I do indeed, and I confess I fear that every time I do, I'll find this room silent and dark.

[ He follows Ardyn's gesture with his eyes, and despite the terribly grim nature of his previous statement, manages to find a small smile. He knows, thanks chiefly to Prompto, that Eos had been far beyond Hydaelyn, technologically speaking, but the station seemed even beyond that. He would almost call it Allagan, for all he understood it. ]

Somehow, I cannot picture you in a white coat, running calculations into the wee hours of the morning.

[He hikes up a brow, but looks amused despite himself.]

Likely because that is one of the very few experiences that I neglected in my many years of existence.

[Besides, can you imagine Ardyn wearing white, of all colors?]

Though I did work quite closely with scientists, I know that even all of this would be beyond their ken. [He looks back at Arya.] A shame, though, isn't it? What comfort it would be to be able to awaken those we care for, if we could find a way.

[Or those that others care for, at least. None such thing really applies to Ardyn.]

[ Yes, Ardyn wearing white is probably the most far-fetched thing about that whole mental image. ]

‘Tis a pretty dream, but I know there is no use dwelling on “if”. There is so much about this place and the Storm that is beyond us all that a single misstep may mean disaster.

[ Hope is a double-edged sword like that, and it’s enough that he had hoped the Natha would return his loved ones to him, but with them gone, it seems dangerous to hope at all. The pods still function, and that’s all he can ask for right now. ]

When the Natha woke you from this place, did they ask what they had to do to earn your cooperation?

[The faintest pause, though Ardyn does not allow it to linger overlong.]

Yes, they did.

[That hopeful promise that he's not forgotten, but finds it unlikely that it shall ever happen.]

They've filled many heads with grand promises, haven't they? Did they ask you the same?

They did indeed.

[ He cants his head at his friend, eyes on his expression. ]

What did you tell them?

Well... I said that I would accept. For what harm was there in indulging myself in wishful thinking?

[He shrugs, and looks at X'rhun. His expression is neutral, that curve of a smile still on his lips. The one that lacks any manner of sincerity.]

The worst that could happen? They cannot cure me, and I continue on living as I have. I saw no reason to deny them at the time.

[ Oh. He had expected another non-answer from Ardyn, as is his wont, but instead he gets a response that is incredibly telling. He had wondered where Ardyn stood on the matter of the darkness in his veins, whether he had fully accepted it as a part of him or wished it gone.

Now he has his answer, and once again, it lends credence to his line of thinking that Ardyn is not completely the monster he makes himself out to be. ]

Would that it could have come to pass. Now it looks as if no one will be getting anything they asked for, unless we can discern what happened here and find our wayward, space-faring friends.

[ “Friends.” ]

[X'rhun already knows so much about himself, he deems it pointless to not share what he wish would've been. Though he'll not be one to linger on the subject, so perhaps Ardyn's openness still only extends so far.]

And yet there is not even a trace of a hint of a clue. None that I have stumbled upon, at least.

[Though it was difficult to even know where to start, if one did wish to investigate.]

And so for the moment, I suppose that's all we can do -- to come up here and check on those who continue to sleep. Or to continually fall asleep.

[ It’s true, they have no idea where the Natha have gone or what may have happened, and still this all so very far above his head. How does one scour the vast openness of space for a person, or even a dozen people?

Gods, how he longs for a problem that he can face down with blade and magic, and not all this far-flung technology he barely understands. ]

“Continually”? How do you mean? Or, rather, who do you mean?

Hm, surely you remember him from Prompto's wedding?

[He gestures vaguely in the direction from which he came.]

Noctis. I believe this will be the third time he's gone into stasis -- not counting, of course, the one time from home.

[He grins wide at that, as if it were its own sort of inside joke.]

[ To be awake and then gone thrice over is almost crueler than having been in stasis the whole time. He wonders how Prompto must be faring in the wake of Noctis’ return to slumber – additionally, it does not escape his notice that Ardyn has kept tabs on the boy, either.

As one does with the person fated to end your very existence, he supposes. ]

Hold on, hold on. You mean to say he was in stasis on your world as well?

Indeed so. A long and lingering slumber, for ten years. Within the Crystal.

[Those ten long years of darkness, when Eos was crumbling to daemons and the Starscourge alike.]

To become stronger, finally, when he awoke.

[ Ah, it’s not hard to do the math on this one. Ardyn has already said that the Noctis of ten years ago was not ready. ]

So that he could face you at last, per the prophecy, yes?

[Observant as always, his friend.]

That's correct. Ten years of growing in power, courtesy of that wretched Crystal. Ten years until he could finally face me within Insomnia. But fate, as cruel as it often is, apparently had other plans for the both of us.

Though it kept the theme of sleeping, it would seem.

[ But of course. Ardyn so nicely laid everything out for him, after all. It’s not half as much a struggle to put the pieces together as it used to be. ]

Indeed. I wonder why he seems to go back and forth so much. Would you take me to him?

[ He assumes Ardyn knows right where to go. The man has his hang-ups, and he’s learning that this boy is definitely one of them. ]

If that's what you'd like, then of course.

[He'd be right; Noctis is indeed one of his many hang-ups, for the young man represents a means to his end. An unreachable one, even so, given the circumstances. But never let it be said that Ardyn wasn't the sort to ruminate on things until they grow rotten in his mind.]

Follow me.

[He'll lead him, then, down the aisles of the sleeping and frozen. Until they come upon a section of those from his home, and Noctis' pod is naturally among them.

He gestures at the sleeping boy's pod with something of a flourish.]

I present to you Noctis Lucis Caelum, crown prince of Lucis. Isn't he a rather unimpressive-looking creature?

[The introduction is of course unnecessary, but Ardyn is always one for a dramatic flair.]

[ That is really not the best thing to be said about anyone, Ardyn. We need to find you a new hobby.

X’rhun only met Noctis but briefly, at Alisaie and Prompto’s wedding. He had been so very glad for Prompto then, that he had a friend from his world there with him, but it seems it was not to last. At the very least, Prompto has Alisaie there will him to help him through his hurt. ]

Don’t be rude, Ardyn. I doubt you would cut a very impressive figure, either, were you frozen and sleeping.

Who's being rude? [Look at him!!! That skinny boy!!!]

I cut a more imposing figure compared to him, no matter if I'm awake or asleep and frozen.

[Which is not untrue, but Ardyn is also a little biased. There are a number of complicated emotions that exist when it comes to Noctis.]

With that hat? Oh, I very much think not.

[ It’s been too grim an afternoon… too grim a few days, even. When in doubt, resort to teasing. ]

I beg your pardon!

[Ardyn will of course roll with it, though days that are dark and grim don't appear to affect him in the same manner as most.]

I could wear ten of these hats, and be more imposing than most I meet.

[Ten of them!]

[ Ardyn pls. It gets a laugh out of him, in any case, the sound bouncing between the rows and rows of cold glass tubes. ]

My friend, there is not a soul in existence who could wear ten hats with any amount of dignity, even you.

action; early june

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