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[daemonized]

@ardyn.sky | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[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.