Week 5.

[azumods]

WEEK 5 As of morning the next day, it seems the rain has stopped; with Azelf awakened and your newly-hatched companions by your side, it's possible that you're feeling a new sense of resolve regarding what needs to be done - and, perhaps more importantly, your ability to accomplish it. The device Maylene gave you certainly does seem to work; activating it will reveal a dark portal crackling with energy, shades of pink and purple swirling brightly around the outer edges, and those of you that walk through it will find yourselves quite suddenly standing somewhere else - there's grass beneath your feet and an unfamiliar city to the west, and the place you're standing seems raised up in some way; turning around once the portal has closed behind the last of you will reveal a massive bronze statue depicting a Pokémon of some sort, though what it is seems to be a little difficult to tell... The trip to Eterna City may leave you feeling a little dizzy and disoriented, and for a few uncomfortable moments you're likely very, very aware of your organs, but the effects will pass after a few moments and you'll soon feel right as rain. Of course, it'll likely become obvious very quickly that you aren't alone near that statue... Either way, it's a long journey up to Snowpoint City; you might want to take some time to make sure that you're prepared before you set off. It really does seem as though finding Azelf at Lake Valor has done the world some good, though, along with your combined effects on the world already; hopefully the Guardian at Lake Acuity in the north will be just as helpful... CURRENT LOCATION: ETERNA CITY POKEMON AVAILABLE: WITHIN CITIES SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY [OOC: Welcome to week five of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget that a write-up is due this weekend!]

Comments

[discutio]

You think them to be on a slightly more minor scale, you mean. Messengers, rather than Astrals. I could certainly believe that.

[hyruglyphics]

I do not doubt their power, but that all three at once would be necessary to ensure protection to us feels telling to me.

[ This is so not what she needed to talk to Ignis about though, so she steps closer and makes to stand or sit next to him. ]

[discutio]

It's...worrying, yes.

[go right ahead and stand next to him, he certainly won't stop you.]

...is something wrong?

[hyruglyphics]

[ . . . I mean ]

Ignis, I should be asking you that.

[ There, she'll be direct. ]

[discutio]

What do you mean? I'm quite alright.

[And very good at deflection.]

[hyruglyphics]

[ . . .

She reaches out, if he still has the Larvesta in his hands she can't do this, but she intends to take his hands gently in hers. ]

Ignis... I- I hope that is true.

[discutio]

[She was still small enough to fit on his shoulder having just hatched, so sure why not.]

I-...

[He faltered, looking downward rather than making the attempt to face her direction as usual.]

[hyruglyphics]

[ Very, very quietly, because she knows Ignis will hear her and she doesn't want other people to overhear, ]

Two weeks ago, you all but told me Noctis Lucis Caelum was dead.

[discutio]

[He really hadn't been subtle about that, in hindsight. As the weeks wore on he'd been less and less subtle about a lot of things. Maybe that was what amounted to trusting these people, after spending a little more than a month with them.]

He-... [If there was anyone that would understand the full story...wasn't it Zelda? Zelda, with her own predestined fate and chosen one and horrible Calamity?]

...he is. [His hands took on the faintest tremor in Zelda's, voice unwavering even as the words were halted and strained--as if the hundreds of locks on the truth had to be pried open one by one. For the first time, the bits and pieces he'd told to others started to come together into a single picture. ]

I have been at Noctis' side since I was six years old, his appointed advisor and hand of the king. Future king, back then. We always knew him destined for so much, but the full scope of it was more than anyone could truly have understood. To purify our star of the scourge which plagued it...requires the life of the Chosen King. Th-...we didn't know. Not until things were too far along to turn back.

[And oh, he'd asked. Desperately wished for it, damn the world and all else in it.]

...Noctis sacrificed his life to end the ten-year night upon our world, and it was barely a matter of hours after the sun rose did I awaken here.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Honestly, Ignis had said a lot of this already in the kitchen with her, back then. That he was the adviser, that he knew him forever. They journeyed with two other friends to purify the starcourge. The endless night. Even so... perhaps he merely needed to say it all out loud again, to have it all in one breath? Back then, she had listened to it all, and the topic had shifted. Bits and pieces of her own destiny, her own Calamity.

But that it was so explicit. the man's destiny...

Her hands remain firm on his, holding them gently. And she... ]

How is it... then, that he stands before us now?

[discutio]

I don't know, I--

[Ignis' composure cracked for the first time in...even he didn't really know how long. Since Altissia, ten years ago? Had there ever been a time since then that he dared show anything resembling uncertainty?]

...I don't know. But it's definitely him, there's no question of it. I would know if this was some kind of lie.

[hyruglyphics]

Of that, I have no doubt.

[ Ignis might be pretentious and circuitous sometimes. And he might at other times sound as if he is too close to violence. But he has shown no times in which he doubts, and no times in which he has been necessarily wrong.

... She bows her head and. ]

... If I were still with my powers, I could have felt if he were flesh or spirit. But he seemed flesh to me.

[discutio]

He isn't a spirit. It's...complicated, how that works in our world.

[His left hand seemed to fidget slightly--as if he'd automatically wanted to curl it loosely into a fist before remembering Zelda was holding both of them.]

But I know he isn't one. Beyond any doubt.

[The spirits of Lucian kings were something Ignis knew better than nearly anyone save for Noctis himself.]

I don't understand any of this. But I can't let anything happen to him again, not-... [His voice broke off into a short hesitation.] ...not if I can prevent it this time.

[hyruglyphics]

[ ... She wonders, on some level, about the answer. The truth is, as a scholar, she can't help but form theories. That he was given flash again by the guardians or some other god for... some reason. Perhaps it's even something like the situation Rin implied with her and Shirou and Kayneth, where there's differences. Or ... adrift in time?

But that's all really beside the point. ]

I know you won't. ... And I know that I shall assist, how I can. From how you spoke of the man, I assume he shall be eager to help us.

[discutio]

...he will. Noct's compassionate perhaps to a fault, as you've no doubt guessed. He'll never let this world remain in this state.

And it's my role to make sure he accomplishes what he sets out to do.

[hyruglyphics]

Little has changed, then. That had always been our goal.

[ Or at least her own, I mean she figures some people wanna flounce and it's whatever. ]

[discutio]

Agreed. What I said to Saturn and Maylene is something I've every intention of holding to. I know he'll do the same.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Well.

I mean.

If he's okay or at least presenting as that, the young woman will release his hands, taking a slightly embarrassed step back. ]

I am glad to hear it.

[discutio]

...I'm sorry for worrying you, Zelda.

[hyruglyphics]

[ She shakes her head. ]

You could scarcely have predicted Noctis would stand before you, nor help either your reaction or my concern. Were that my father stood before me... [ Well, it wouldn't. Be. As easy. Or warm. ]

[discutio]

...

[Ignis reached out to rest a hand on her arm, hesitating before speaking up again.]

You're a kind and valuable friend, Zelda. And you fought admirably the other day, as well. I obviously can't say I know your father, but I would think you someone he should be proud of.

[hyruglyphics]

[ She had mentioned her father as someone else who was dead, who could be used as an example for Ignis as a comparison. But to have him say it that directly...

Her breath catches, and she hangs her head slightly, not quite biting her lip, but being genuinely hesitant to form a response for a moment. And finally, for want of something else to say, she nods, ever so slightly. ]

I can only hope so.

[ Because he's dead. So. ]

[discutio]

...Come on. [He tilted his head slightly, in the direction of the city proper. Comforting people was never really his strong suit, but by Shiva was he ever trying.] Why don't we rejoin the others? I'm sure they'll be wondering where we are before long.

[hyruglyphics]

[ She was here for him, she doesn't need to be comforted. These are just...

The memories she lives with. And so she exhales and, ]

... Yes, perhaps so. Let's go.