IC CONTACT FOR HUGS

[iustaegis]

IC CONTACT

[ Text ♢ Video ♢ Voice ♢ Action ]

[ Pyra ♢ Mythra ♢ Pneuma

[ new post here.]

Comments

[carbungle]

I don't even know what a monkfish is now.

[Judging by the name, if it's anything like monks in video games, it would be a challenge to catch.]

[iustaegis]

[ Her smile is wry. ] When's your birthday again?

[ She's gonna ask Rawna for a monkfish. ]

[carbungle]

Don't ask me, Carbuncle's the one who gave it away. Not my fault if you two forgot already.

[And Pyra never gave a birthday for either of them. Do crystal-people not have one?]

[iustaegis]

Ehhh.... [ Now that he brings it up. ] I happen to remember that it was your birthday recently in your world, too.

So. Do you want to be scarred for life sooner or later?

[ What she's not telling him is: monkfish might look nasty, but apparently they're a delicacy, one that Pyra does know how to prepare and cook. ]

[carbungle]

You're not really filling me with anticipation here.

["Scarred for life"... and he's already seen some weird fish. How worried should he be?

He holds his hand out, though, gesturing with his palm up.]

Gimme your hand for a sec.

[iustaegis]

[ She glances down at his palm, then at him, then places hers in his. ]

Oh?

[carbungle]

[It's not a prolonged hold; he turns her hand over so it's her palm facing upwards, and with the other, he traces out in a reversed way that she can see: 8, 3, 0.]

Should I just make one up for you?

[iustaegis]

[ Oh.... oh. August 30th. Right.

But also: an offer to choose a birthday for her. She’s never given it much thought before, yet her gaze softens at the offer. ]

A birthday?

[ His guess as to the day she was created is as good as hers! ]

....To celebrate it?

[carbungle]

Obviously. What else are birthdays for?

[Bold words for someone who dances around sharing his own, but this isn't about him.]

First we gotta hash out a timeline... what's the first season you ever remember seeing?

[iustaegis]

[ She opens her mouth to answer, then closes it. This a clever way to get her to talk about herself.

But what the hell. He knows she exists.

Mythra appears to mull over his question. Seasons are strange within Alrest. The continents move about an axis, and the Titans themselves generally maintain their biomes. However, this doesn’t negate the greater tilt of the earth as it follows an ellipsis around the sun, the shifts between the seasons on a more subtle front.

When she had been taken from the Architect, she hadn’t yet awakened even though she was physically upon the earth. Months had passed while as a core crystal inside the Praetorium, held within the Quaester’s chambers...

But then she remembers first taking this form, the flowering blossoms, of pinks and roses and blushes and peaches. ]

...Spring. [ She answers quietly, then looks at him. ]

It was spring.

[ She shifts where she sits, combing a hand through a lock of her hair. ] Lots of flowering trees, the works.

[carbungle]

[She might actually be giving him too much credit, but he'll take it. He tilts his head thoughtfully, frowning at the answer.]

Spring, huh...

[In that case, they'd have missed it. Joint party in August then, maybe? It would suck to wait a whole extra year to celebrate, after all.]

Okay, that narrows it down to three. By the Eosean calendar, that's March, April, and May. [Hmm, hmm, hmm.] May has the most letters from your names, and it's a transitional month at the end of it, too- when the weather starts shifting from spring to summer. The dual nature could be kind of an inside joke, right?

1/2

[iustaegis]

[ She's listening to him intently, mouth slightly ajar. Choosing a birthday? Who knew that was a thing one could do?

It makes somewhat logical sense, anyway... ]

[iustaegis]

[ After all that's concluded, she looks at him in both awe and disbelief-- ]

You really came up with all of that on the spot, huh?

[ --and flattered, smiling a second afterward. ]

[carbungle]

Don't get too excited. I'm stuck on the actual day now.

[There's 31 of them! How does he choose??]

[iustaegis]

How about.... the fourth?

[ No reason. Just because she said so. ]

[carbungle]

It's your birthday, you can pick any day you want. Something that works for both of you, maybe?

[iustaegis]

[ Consulting Pyra....! ]

Uh. The twentieth?

[ They're helpless! Just pick for her! ]

[carbungle]

[Yikes, they're both terrible at this.]

Uh... the twenty-second? Since... two of you. It's a multi-pun.

[2 seasons, 2 and 2 together... not especially clever, but they're both on the spot, here.]

[iustaegis]

Hah, it’s symbolic. [ She smiles, satisfied. ]

Looks like we finally have a birthday.

[carbungle]

A birthday that we missed, besides... but better than nothing, at least.

[Should've picked something in fall! But oh well, he can make up for it.]

[iustaegis]

[ One she’ll have to wait for... next year. She can wait. She’s done nothing but wait for the end for centuries. This is a new thing to wait for instead.

Mythra looks down at a patch of grass, then up. ]

Ah.

I wanted to say... Er. Good job coming here.

Into my crystal, that is.

[ She raises her hand up to tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear. ]

I know it wasn’t easy... but you did it. [ She has to give credit when credit is due. And this is a little like overcoming some of his own fears... even if she didn’t want him to have to think of that fear in the first place. ]

[carbungle]

...Ah... yeah.

[Noctis shifts, lifting a hand to scuff it through his hair; he's uncomfortable, but trying at least not to dwell on it. It had been difficult, but...]

It's, um. It's really different. In a place like this, it doesn't even feel like the inside of a crystal. This is a lot better than I expected.

[He's relieved, of course. Even for the sake of meeting Mythra, he'd dreaded a repeat of that sensation, and while he'd followed through anyway, it's no small amount of gratefulness that it wasn't necessary in the end.]

[iustaegis]

[ What is the inside of Eos’ crystal like, she wonders...

Around them, the atmosphere has scarcely changed. The sky remains blue, the grass remain lush. There’s a breeze. It’s calming, but it is empty. They are the only ones within this domain.

She speaks up again. ]

...You tend to do that, you know. [ There’s a hint of praise in her voice. ]

Overcoming yourself.

[ She raises a hand up, forming a fist. She’s trying to tell him he’s done something impressive, and she recognizes that it was impressive because it was tough. ] Always defying expectations.

[carbungle]

[It sucks, -1000 points, would not recommend.

He glances over at her lifted fist, blinking for a moment before cracking a small smile and bumping his own against it. So, someone was paying attention. She really has been watching the whole time, huh...]

Some people would just call that bull-headed.

[iustaegis]

[ Her lips curve upward. Bull-headed, courageous... he's proven to be both. In this case, he was brave for her.

It's too much, in some ways. He doesn't have to. But he wants to try, and she wants to honor him by encouraging him. Cheekily, ] I'm not... not calling you bull-headed.

[ Jokes aside... ]

I understand, though. The need to push through some things.