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[daemonized]

@ardyn.sky | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[daemonized]

[X’rhun, as always, doesn’t let him sidestep for very long. Instead reaches right into the heart of the matter and holds on tight, hoping to wring out a sincere answer from the man.]

What does it matter? The boy wanted a truce — as if such a thing can be so easily achieved — and so I tested just how far his goodwill would stretch when given the whole of the truth.

[He words lose a little bit of their humorous edge, which makes them all the more sharper than before.]

Noctis doesn’t need to grow complacent here, and we certainly don’t know how long any of us are to remain in this world. Why should I give him reason to quell his rage when I might stoke that fire instead?

[verflair]

[ It is probably unwise, the way he refuses to be frightened by Ardyn, the way the edge that creeps into his tone does not make him flinch or back away. ]

And if we should be here a year? Two? Ten? Do you plan to antagonize him every step of the way? And to what end? For all you know, once we’re free of this place, you could very well end up right where you left, ten years into his future with all your cruelty having changed nothing.

[daemonized]

[My, he is feisty today. Ardyn rises to his feet, looking at his friend the whole time, stepping close. He doesn't intend to intimidate X'rhun (though he's the only one that is exempt from this habit of his), but rather does not wish to remain seated while the other stands and lectures at him.]

And for all we know, maybe a ten-year truce here will stick, and make him too soft for bringing light back to a ruinous Eos. Do not speak to me as if you know what might happen, X'rhun. Like you're some sort of prophet. You are just as lost as the rest of us.

Tell me, what would you have me do?

[Let's hear it, this'll be good.]

[verflair]

[ X’rhun’s eyes track Ardyn as he moves to his feet, towering over him by at least half a fulm. He notes that Ardyn doesn’t try to intimidate him – he just looms by virtue of being taller – and X’rhun is not so certain what that means. ]

Mayhap I am. There is no way to know. We may never leave this place, or if we do, we may never make it home.

[ He’s not so sure if this is a test or not – if Ardyn means to push to see if X’rhun truly believes him to be something other than what he says he is, or if that conversation over cooling morning coffee is long forgotten by now. ]

Were it me, you know well what I would do. I would back off, let him live and grow without the cruelty of fate denying him that chance. Does he truly need cruelty to be “ready”, as you claim, or would not time suffice?

[daemonized]

[Perhaps it’s a bit of both. Wanting to see if X’rhun is still keen on towing that belief, that Ardyn might be better than what fate dictates him to be. So seems to be the case, which is a shame — the prophecy back home, those invisible chains still clasped around his wrists, are made heavier now in their new transition to this world. The revelation that their own homes are not destroyed having forged them of stronger steel.]

You pretend to know the boy, and you do not. He is given to inaction, to languor, and insipid ennui. He does not act towards uncertain means unless he is pushed; otherwise, he would’ve saved me such effort to keep him motivated back on our star.

[Titan. Lunafreya’s death. The capture of Prompto. Zegnautus Keep. Even his acceptance by the Crystal was one Noctis fought against, futilely.]

What will he do with only time? Time is something one rests their laurels upon, to grow lazy and indolent, and content in their situation. No, he needs conflict to grow. He needs to remember that there is an entire world suffocating in darkness awaiting him. Not the friends he makes here, coddling away his hurts. Not the jobs he undertakes, stuffed to the brim with goals that are fitting for a boy, not a King. Nor the borrowed designs of others, courtesy of Morningstar. None of that matters.

Should he plant roots here? May they wither and die. I will uproot them for him.

[verflair]

[ True, he doesn’t know Noctis. He knows of him, from the stories and photos Prompto would share, and now Prompto, too, is a stranger. Still, X’rhun is an idealist, and would very much like to believe that when shown the right path, no matter how difficult or deadly, that one would move forward simply for the good of others.

What a quandary he’s been placed in, hating the fate that’s been laid upon Ardyn and Noctis both, and hoping that Noctis might still rise to the occasion without prodding. ]

He may be acting a child right now, but so are you. Call it part of your grand machinations all you want, but you are taking your anger – anger that has naught to do with him – out on him and his friends just because they’re the easiest targets. You cannot tell me that jabbing at him over the network simply to drive the blade in deeper brings you any satisfaction at all.

I may not know what is to become of us if or when we should leave this place, but I do know that this will not bring your magic or the Starscourge back, and neither will it send you home.

[daemonized]

[It being so soon after the young man had left a scar across his chest, maybe Ardyn's mood does not allow him to be anything short of stubborn. Adrenaline and the dreaded bite of bitterness has gone back to its dormant state, sleeping beneath the surface, but when they had flared -- as bright as those fireworks lighting up a polluted night sky -- they left claw marks across his insides which still influence his demeanor. Making him more malleable to suggestion... or digging his heels in at every suggestion, instead.]

Acting as a child? [Oh, he should laugh at that. He runs on grudges that have piled up and gone suffocatingly heavy after thousands of years, but there is nothing childish about his anger. It is full, encompassing; it fills the hollow pieces of him and moves him forward, day to day, as if Ardyn were nothing more than a shell for it.] Anger that has naught to do with him?

Careful, X'rhun, before you step too far and downplay just how much I've been through. I thought you knew better than that.

[verflair]

‘Twas not Noctis that uprooted you for a second time and brought you here. Not he who told you your world was gone only for you to find out otherwise.

[ A remark that with surely garner little sympathy from Ardyn, he knows, especially given the fresh wound scored across his chest. X’rhun has to wonder if this conversation is helping in any way, or if Ardyn, dragon that he is, means to hang onto his hurts and the frustration of being brought here until the bitter end. Whether what the Natha told them was true or not, the idea that their worlds might be gone had certainly put Ardyn in a different mindset – one that he has quickly slipped out of here.

It is certainly not a good thing for any of them.

The miqo’te heaves a sigh, the motion of his chest in time with the flexing of his feline ears, back and then forward again. ]

I know well that I cannot stop you from doing anything, but I would ask at the very least that you do not take your frustrations about the current situation out on him. Cruelty for cruelty’s sake would surely no more help him than inaction.

[daemonized]

[Leave it to X’rhun to pinpoint exactly what has Ardyn so agitated beneath the surface, that has him instigating others over the network and in-person alike. It’s almost frustrating, in its own way, how easily he cuts past all else Ardyn had just said, as if homing in on the core of the issue with a steeled stubbornness that he cannot sidestep.]

And where would you have me redirect my frustrations towards, X’rhun? Dearest friend, [a cloying tone, utterly dripping in it — he grows a mite irritated] tell me why one person is any better than another. You’d have a stranger instead replace Noctis as the target of my ire?

[verflair]

[ Ah, yes. He can tell he’s touched a nerve. Frankly, it’s remarkable that he’s gone this long without doing so. It is likely a testament to how much Ardyn lets him get away with, though X’rhun has no idea just how far that tolerance will go ere it snaps completely. ]

I have told you already. [ He spreads his hands. ] I’m right here.

[daemonized]

[X’rhun is ever the self-sacrificing sort. Throwing himself under the guillotine’s blade that is Ardyn’s anger, his frustration, the restlessness in him that’s woken itself up after being ferried from world to world to world.

He shouldn’t be surprised. In fact, the thought almost makes amusement break through the hot press of agitation living just above it. Almost.]

Ah, of course. Always so eager to offer yourself up to the altar of my anger. [Ardyn steps closer, closing the insignificant space already between them; teasing, overly dramatic, dangerous. Leaning in as if he were sharing some dark secret, his breath fans against X’rhun’s ear.]

You’ve been an outlet for my frustrations before, but what makes you think you can handle it now? Slow, languid touches might actually pull you apart nerve by nerve, now that we’ve the empathy bond to contend with. It may even bend the steel of your intrepid heart.

[verflair]

[ This is a familiar dance by now, the way Ardyn steps closer to whisper darkly in his ear. He is not entirely certain if the words that pass his lips are meant to be threatening or suggestive or both – likely both, given Ardyn’s current mood.

X’rhun has of course considered the state of their little arrangement in this new situation, has considered it especially since he received but a taste of Ardyn’s emotions, offered briefly through the press of a finger. To say nothing of how desire might set the situation spiraling, dealing with Ardyn on his own will be… a lot. But X’rhun knows that, and has resolved to endure all the same. ]

That is the thing about steel, my friend. To temper it, one must first throw it into the fire.

[daemonized]

[His breath is warm, pulsing against the other as he exhales with barely-there laughter, letting it linger for a moment too long before he straightens again.]

Then immolate yourself, X’rhun. Throw yourself into that fire and see if you can sate me. If you can dull the edges of my anger; put them to sleep until they rise again and again.

[He remembers the letter he received from the other, nigh committed to memory back in that other world. The choice of wording is purposeful:]

Your heart against what remains of mine.

[verflair]

[It took less time than he thought it would for them to begin playing cat and mouse again. X’rhun’s ear twitches as Ardyn’s laugh ghosts over it, a warm breath of air, the quick and subtle warning ere the dragon breathes its fire.

He doesn’t have to wonder at Ardyn’s choice of words. Knowing the man, the callback is intentional. Heart and steel. ]

It would not be the first calamity I have weathered, and if the vengeful fires of Bahamut did not do me in, I believe I am up to the task.