[Vulnerability was not, in fact, easy. It was perhaps more difficult with Noctis than it was any other. Being uncertain around Camilla, Zelda, or Bucky--that was easy. They didn't know him as advisor to the king, as the calculating tactician. But without that, he really wasn't sure what they saw him as.]
[This was different. He couldn't falter in front of Noctis, who looked to him for support and had done so for nearly all their lives. Not at such a critical moment when fear ran high and hope ran low. What was he going to do, admit that he had no idea if anything they were doing would even work, acknowledge that this was a fight they really might not win? Point out that they were horrifyingly outgunned by someone so terrifyingly rational in his perspective that it almost made him miss Ardyn's grandstanding madness?]
no subject
[Vulnerability was not, in fact, easy. It was perhaps more difficult with Noctis than it was any other. Being uncertain around Camilla, Zelda, or Bucky--that was easy. They didn't know him as advisor to the king, as the calculating tactician. But without that, he really wasn't sure what they saw him as.]
[This was different. He couldn't falter in front of Noctis, who looked to him for support and had done so for nearly all their lives. Not at such a critical moment when fear ran high and hope ran low. What was he going to do, admit that he had no idea if anything they were doing would even work, acknowledge that this was a fight they really might not win? Point out that they were horrifyingly outgunned by someone so terrifyingly rational in his perspective that it almost made him miss Ardyn's grandstanding madness?]
There's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine.