IC CONTACT FOR HUGS

[iustaegis]

IC CONTACT

[ Text ♢ Video ♢ Voice ♢ Action ]

[ Pyra ♢ Mythra ♢ Pneuma

[ new post here.]

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[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.

[carbungle]

I had a feeling you might.

[She has a different kind of vibe, and confidence is often coupled with determination, but it's not like Pyra's never shown her own kind of stubbornness either.]

You've both gone through a lot too, I'm sure.

1/2

[iustaegis]

[ Ah. ]

[iustaegis]

We.... feel alive now. That's what matters.

[carbungle]

[Vague and evasive, but he'd expected that. If he wanted a better answer he'd have been more specific. He does wonder if he'll be starting at ground level with her the way he'd done with Pyra, though- having to coax answers out of her slowly over the course of several months, or through gentle bamboozles the way he'd found out about Mythra in the first place. Maybe some things he'll never hear about.

That's fine. Everyone has secrets they'll never share; even with all he's given her - them - in the end it won't be everything. People are tangled nets like that.]

I'm glad you do. Both of you. And I'm glad I finally got to meet you, too.

[iustaegis]

[ In reality, although she makes it seems as that-- that she feels alive now is all that matters-- she cannot deny the past effects her. If it didn't, she wouldn't have such a difficult time speaking of it. He knows that sign. He also knows about this place, a place like a dream, a memory so far gone she can hardly remember it. He knows the name of it: a paradise. He knows she is old. He knows her name.

Throwing too much at him at once is a lot! She just revealed herself! ]

You--... [ A stutter. ] you can come back again, you know. Anytime you would like.

[carbungle]

[That answers at least one of his unspoken questions... that the way to meet her is here, and here alone, probably. That's why Pyra had him come here, rather than have Mythra come out. It's not that he'll object to the idea, since the experience wasn't unpleasant and first impressions of her are good, so he could see himself enjoying her company more over time. There's just something really unfair about it, and he can't shake that feeling.]

How come... you're stuck in here?

[He's probably not allowed to know; this feels like Big Secret territory. But he doesn't like the idea of ignoring it, either.]

[iustaegis]

[ Mythra falls silent. The question comes at last. What does she say to it? She could answer him. She could not answer him.

...

Her lips part as she draws a breath. To not tell him feels as if she's lying to him. Despite all that he's done, she cannot shake the thought that once she does tell him all, he'll want nothing to do with her. Is that irrational? Is it not? She tells herself she can trust him, yet fear rarely ever is rational.

This is the barrier through she must push through, on her end. He's come this far. She ought to meet him half-way, at least.

Her hand tighten in her lap. ] Sealed. Self-imposed, if you're wondering.

[carbungle]

[Having not expected a real answer, he's equal parts touched and saddened by her words. It's true that he would have wondered, had she not told him. Sealed... stuck in a crystal for an unknown amount of time. It sounds familiar while at the same time much worse than what he knows; he imagines it would be so much harder, to be an unknown witness to the world around him. To be unable to help anyone he cared about and see them struggle. He'll sleep through the world of darkness back on Eos, but he won't witness ten years of his brothers fighting, longing, suffering. How long has she been watching the world like this?]

Pyra said... people wanted her, for her power. Is it something like that?

[iustaegis]

[ She lets out that breath. That's not the whole truth. ] A part of it. There was fighting, over us. There will be more.

[ Her gaze flicks down to her hands, realizing the tension in them. Relaxing them upon the grass instead, she looks up to Noctis. ] The seal is Pyra. She is a construct I made. Whatever she can do, is a trickle of what leaks through that seal.

[carbungle]

["She is a construct I made."

...It's... funny. When he'd found out Pyra's body was a construct, when he found out that someone else dwelled within her, he'd never actually considered that she... might not be the one who came first.

He sits in stunned silence for a long moment, allowing that new reality to sink in, and as the seconds pass he exhales a held breath and tries to figure out a way to phrase one of several new questions that spring to mind.]

Are you... are you both... [--real? No, that's not right. He grimaces and tries again.] Is she a separate person from you, or- a part of your personality?

[This is so outside of his normal wheelhouse, and he's trying not to let himself sink before he knows how deep the water is. For so long he'd spent time with Pyra, shared himself with her, danced and trained and fought alongside her. Kissed her, welcomed her into his bed. And it was real, all of it. Wasn't it? But who was it?

"Aren't I your girlfriend too?" she'd said. Too, as if they're separate- but also as if what Pyra does and feels, so too does Mythra. It's as equal as it is contradictory. He doesn't understand.

Exactly who did he fall for?]