IC INBOX - PHANRIFT

[founderinglight]

one for sorrow, two for mirth
three for marriage, four for birth
five for the truth and six for lying
seven for sickness, eight for dying
nine for silver, ten for gold
eleven for a secret that shall never be told
twelve for the moon, thirteen for the sky
fourteen for the accursed unable to die
and fifteen for my heart's last desire
a new day's dawn, reborn in fire



Izunia Lucis Caelum
Keystone Station Room #11
Network @elevencrows

Comments

[burninglight]

[He flinched again at the shouting--surprise rather than fear this time. But...well, Church was right and Ardyn of all people knew him to be smarter than he gave himself credit for.]

I...right. I just-- [He took a slow breath, shaking his head.] It doesn't matter. I'm in no fit state to be much more than confrontational right now.

[motherfucking_ghost]

...Okay. Your reasoning is sound if incredibly flawed, in that if you are the cause of panic, hanging around is generally only going to make the panic keep happening, but whatever. We're all okay here.

Right? We're okay. And we're gonna stay okay. This was all just an unfortunate coincidence of space and time.

[founderinglight]

It's not the first time we've been through this one.

[Still, he offers the both of them a weak smile.]

We're alright.

[burninglight]

[A slight nod, gripping Church’s hand and looking to Izunia a little warily.]

We’re okay.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Okay. Okay, good.

...

So now what?

[founderinglight]

If you're both alright, then I'm going to resume my attempt to blow off some steam and you can go back to... Whatever. You might want to avoid the beach for a while.

[burninglight]

...I'm going to the kitchen. I think I need to not be anywhere near that. Ever.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I...kinda like the idea of blowing off steam. [He's so?? confused?? by this??]

[founderinglight]

Sand explodes very satisfyingly.

[This is the Lucis Caelum "I'm gonna do a violence and it's gonna be fun" face, normally seen on Ardyn in the discussion of arson.]

Talk later?

[burninglight]

...yeah. Alright.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[This is surreal what the fuck. He tugs on Ardyn's hand.] I won't be long. You make us up something good and I'll be here to eat it.

I won't punch his lights out. Probably. Seeing as he'll just warp away. Is that okay?

[founderinglight]

[All things Lucis Caelum are a little surreal. Izunia raises his eyebrows and gives Church an eyeballing for a minute, but then shrugs very slightly to himself and turns back down the hall.

If Church wants to follow, he'll wait out on the deck for a few minutes.]

[burninglight]

...

[Ardyn bit his lower lip nervously; on one hand, he wanted to be across the goddamned universe from his brother when the younger twin was angry, on the other-]

[...well, no, he could trust Church to be rational when the planets aligned just right.]

[Besides that, his own feelings on Nari and that whole incident were a mess he didn't really want to untangle today.]

Y-yeah. I'll be here.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[He leans up for a smooch on the cheek.] Love you. If something happens, Lusci can find me.

[Untangle nothing, he just wants a little catharsis now that the whole thing has been brought up. Church, hands shoved deep in his pockets, sidles up next to Izunia.]

How do you feel about spoilers?

[founderinglight]

[The magic aura, quivering with anger, is back once Izunia is outside and safely away from Ardyn. He's summoned one of his balls of light and is currently whizzing it between the chairs with sharp, commanding gestures.]

May as well. This is almost the end anyway.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Xanax's rescue attempt actually works and she shows back up at a really inconvenient time. Kinda like pulling a Queenie, but...fucking stupid. She makes it to the end and then has really bad opinions and the worst emotional reactions, and it's...so fucking infuriating.

[founderinglight]

Of course. Can't let the finale pass without a callback.

[The whizzing orb of light changes directions with an almost audible snap as Izunia flings it out beyond the edge of the deck to explode safely.]

...Queenie was at least trying to do something selfless.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Oh, she comes up with all kinds of excuses about acting the way she did to make people hate her to make it easier to execute her, but I don't really...believe her. I'm done pretending like she's not a seriously unhealthy individual who can't admit her own fucking mistakes. I liked her! I really did! You saw, when shit was good we were like a mansion on fire.

But no, every time we argued, it was always my fault, and I was never allowed to be myself or be hurt by her, cuz she was always justified. Y'know, we made up between seasons? And she acted like it was so magnanimous of--

[He lifts his head, then kicks the railing in annoyance.] Oh, god fucking damn it, I missed Yom Kippur! It's fucking October, isn't it? Fuckin. Can't keep a magical-ass calendar worth a damn, much less a religious one, damn.

[founderinglight]

I remember when Noctis was born. I remember exactly how Regis felt, holding that child in his arms, and -

[Lucis Caelums do nothing by halves. Izunia calls to hand a sword - one-handed and relatively light, but he swings it as though it were a greatsword, both hands, to hurl it over the railing and into the abyss. The explosion of sand where it impacts leaves a crater before the sword vanishes again in a fizzle of blue.]

That bitch.

[He'll ask about your calendar later, maybe.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Guess what! Guess the fuck what else! EP, the one behind everything? Big tree lady, that part's not important, but she posed as people we trusted, or people we hated, and she was Cece. Intern Ceec! Y'know, that Nari was all cuddly cozy with until Pyrrha happened and everything. And just! Fucking thinks that's fine and dandy and starts treating her like it's all okay, like she hadn't put us all through seven kinds of hell!

[Don't mind if the hands he's gesticulating with are currently on fire.]

Like, I don't even care that she did a lackluster job of trying to frame me or anything. The fact that she did it to someone she supposedly cared about, and did it with his dad's face! That's not fucking right, man!

[founderinglight]

It's twisted and sick. And she fucking - it's sick, because she could have stabbed him in the back and been done with it, but she waited for him to turn around, she wanted him to see -

[Don't worry, he doesn't mind your fire, because there is suddenly his entire Armiger springing to life around him in blue crystals before whizzing out over the beach, as far and hard and fast as it will go.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[He's just gonna move a little farther away mkay.]

The fucking ice, the fucking flowers, the fucking everything.

Wonder Woman deserves better than that lying fucked up bitch.

[founderinglight]

[That's fair and valid. Izunia, for his part, is now breathing heavily and leaning against the railing.

He does call one sword back to his hand, though, and keeps a grip on it. Church, if he looks carefully, will probably recognize it, even though Izunia's has a blue sheen to the metal that Noctis' does not, nevermind the plastic replica of it that ran around the spaceport.

Regis' sword.]

She tears down everyone around her in the process of tearing down herself, and she has no damn desire to get better. That's what disgusts me as much as any amount of self-righteousness. She refuses to even try.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Fire still licks the ends of his fingers, but the crackle of electricity starts to hang in the air.]

...I mean at least he's not actually, y'know, dead.

[founderinglight]

Oh, trust me, if he were this would be nothing.

[You think he's angry now, hoboy, don't mess with Noctis.]

But it is all the worse because I know Noctis, and I know that he's doubtlessly let it go, in his own way, even if he hasn't entirely forgiven her. And that sits as ill with me as everything about me does with you.