Event Twenty-Five.

[awashmods]

I'd like to creep into the wood And see the bonnets blue, And hear the bluebells ringing loud, I wish I could -- don't you?

t's another day, another month, and another time for people to show up in the well. You'd better go rescue them! Never mind the fact that you woke up with a flower in your hands. It's probably fine. Don't mind it at all. It's not like it's hard to ignore a little flower. (At least, not until the effects start to kick in. Better go rescue the people in the well before they do.) Oh, right. Even the people in the well have flowers, so... things are going to be a little ridiculous very quickly, when all of those side effects kick in. Have fun! Welcome to Awash's Twenty-fifth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to make your own logs and posts for this event! If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Comments

[nascere]

Was he... right?

[ noctis ventures cautiously, because he doesn't know this man even if they're related by blood, even if noctis favors his sword out of all in the royal arms. ]

He said -- well, the throne belonged to him. [ and then it occurs to him: ] And another thing. How did you know who I am?

[meridio]

[ somnus pauses. ]

If he was, what would knowing serve you?

[ as a collective, the rulers of yore eschew days long past. their directive lies in the future—one that shouldn't be spoiled by the easy answer. if noctis desires an answer to the past, however, he must make his appeal. ]

[nascere]

[ what would it serve him, indeed. would noctis knowing it change anything? how could it, when it's all been written out before he even came along?

but something chafes, something compassionate despite his boiling hatred for ardyn and the things he had taken away from him, from so many people in lucis. facing his forebear like this, he straightens up and looks into the face of the man who had begun their dynasty. the first king, of whom so much is written of.

his brother, none. ]

He's murdered so many people. He killed -- [ luna. luna, who only wanted to do what's right, luna, whom he loves, whom he'd failed to save. noctis pushes, because he needs to know, because he's of his blood and he's going to die, and there's so little left to lose. ] -- the last oracle. If you know who I am, then you'll know who she is. You removed him from history, was that what the gods wanted?

[meridio]

[ ardyn had saved many people, too, while hanging others out to dry. and for that, somnus had offered no compassion from his end.

somnus knows what ardyn did to the last oracle, who so deeply resembled the first and gave her life for the future of humanity. yet what of it? noctis said it himself: ardyn has taken many more lives than that of just one blessed woman. the monster will be given his due punishment once fate catches up to them, finally laying all of them to rest.

and how close that fate had seemed, until now.

the chosen king stands tall. somnus, unflinching, returns the gesture. ]

Everything was as the gods bade. The daemons could not be allowed to remain. Adagium was the most egregious of these monsters, though there was nothing I could do but to seal him away.

[ his adam's apple bobs faintly. the label he gave ardyn millennia ago feels wrong and like ash on his tongue. ]

[nascere]

[ noctis wants to save her, because the time of senseless death should be over, and yet. yet, there seems to be no end to the violence that perpetuates itself time and time again. noctis doesn't see things the way the founder king does; he wants to bring the light back, he wants to live. he wants to take back the throne and give his people a home to return to again, instead of ash and rubble and death.

and yet, the gods. noctis is quiet for a moment, listening -- somnus might be a king, but he is also a brother; he might not know this ancestor of his very well, but surely there must be something in there that aches. kings make difficult decisions for the good of all, and noctis can't fault him for that. perhaps if he were in his shoes... well. ]

Ardyn said he really hated the gods. Were they the reason he's like this? Who was he?

[meridio]

He was their chosen one, adored by the people as their savior. But his calling was not to save as he had believed.

[ it was to take in the ugly parts of people into himself, twisting him into a being engulfed by rage—the kind next to which somnus' own envious anger had paled—and destined to be vanquished after long years of suffering in the darkness. the thought of this aches. as king, somnus wishes for the liberation of humanity from the plague that's haunted them since time immemorial; as a brother, he wants nothing more than his elder brother to find peace.

but he must be a king before he is a brother. his sorrows are not meant to be placed upon his descendants' shoulders. ]

One tainted by the Scourge could not sit the throne. The Crystal knew this and rejected him.

[nascere]

[ and yet, the consequences of their actions echoes throughout the generations. ardyn, chosen by their people and their savior, and then -- and then what, tainted by the scourge? noctis blinks at that, digesting whatever little somnus offers him. the man is dispassionate in his assessment of ardyn and the crystal, and noctis attempts to piece it all together.

ardyn was supposed to be the original founder king, then -- so what he had venomously spat out before wasn't wholly wrong, which makes dread curl in the pit of his stomach. ardyn had obviously done something with the scourge, and if he was their savior, then noctis has a fuzzy idea of what it might be. ]

So what was his calling?

[meridio]

That knowledge is not mine to impart.

[ he is no oracle. his role is to wait for the coming of the true king, not to speak for the gods and their design. ardyn's calling still stands—as does that of the chosen one before him. ]

But you see the monster he's become. His existence must be erased for the good of the world.

[ his hands close gently around the flower in his palm, obscuring it from sight. ]

[nascere]

[ noctis frowns, dissatisfied with the state of things. while he might have, once upon a time, been willing to simply submit himself to the will of the gods, all that he hears stirs him a sort of compassion, of an oddly-seated anger that simmers deep inside at the unfairness of it all.

ardyn, chosen to suffer, infected with daemons and turning out twisted and destructive, a corrosion upon the world -- there is no question that noctis will kill him, but the cruelty of it that spans so many centuries leaves a bad taste in his mouth. ]

So is this what I've been chosen for? Killing him?

[meridio]

[ somnus has always known the world to be unfair. this is because it has never been about them, but the roles they play to shape the future. to that end, it falls on the chosen king to shoulder the last of that cruelty and succeed where somnus failed: to free ardyn.

they've played their respective part. now noctis must play his. ]

You look just as I once did. Who better to give him what he's due than you?

[ his left hand clenches into a tight fist. ]

[nascere]

I don't -- I'm not you.

[ noctis snaps, more sharply than he intends -- belatedly he thinks that probably isn't what somnus meant, probably, or maybe he does, but everything in him chafes at the tone, rankles in ways he can't put his finger on, yet. fate. destiny, all of them, playthings in the gods' game of chance.

he takes a breath, fighting to keep himself calm. ish. ]

Is that what the prophecy means by bringing back the light? Killing Ardyn?

[meridio]

[ he didn't mean any of that.

in fact, he hasn't meant most of what he's said to noctis. raising his fist to his core, somnus says nothing. he understands now. if he must speak, he should do it in few words. ]

I must go.

[ somnus doesn't require noctis' approval to come and go as he pleases. even before he's finished speaking, he moves to stride past the latter. ]

[nascere]

No, wait --

[ noctis isn't going to let him go that easily, because he's catching the founder king by the arm, of all things. ]

You can't just say all that and walk away.

[meridio]

[ what a strange feeling, to be caught so. stopping, somnus turns to face noctis. the words come tumbling out before he can manage them. ]

I've walked away many times in the past. By whose authority do you stop me?

[nascere]

I'm the last, right? Founder King?

[ chosen, what a word. noctis knows how it ends, he knows the gods will ask for his life in repayment, because that was what ignis saw, because that's the price they've all kept from him, all of them from the founder king onwards, when noctis is so desperate to live, to restore lucis and the home of so many of his people. to make things right. he can't help a flare of anger at their circumstances, the royal lineage little more than sacrificial lambs in the grand scheme of things. ]

The line ends with me, so what else do you have left to lose by stopping?

[meridio]

[ how much does noctis know? somnus wonders, even as he maintains a countenance of indifference. finally, he uncurls his fist to reveal the crumpled anemone. the chosen king is right, of course. he has as much to give as he has to lose, and he has nothing for the latter. ]

Freedom, perhaps.

[nascere]

Freedom?

[ noctis blinks, surprised by that answer. he's staring down at the anemone in his hand, baffled. ] What do you mean?

[meridio]

The Oracle favored flowers, but I am no oracle.

[ his hand closes around the anemone again. ]

I neither tend to gardens nor speak the words of another.

[nascere]

[ noctis' eyes linger on where his hand closes over the flower. he looks up at somnus after a moment, before he takes a breath. ]

I think it's some sort of curse event. This happens pretty regularly. [ he pauses. all things considered, somnus is still an ancestor, and noctis is obligated to not leave him to his own devices here, especially with ardyn out and about. ] Which colour are you in?

[meridio]

[ there's the slightest cant of his head as he considers this. he's heard of worse curses than spitting falsehoods: after all, the flower responsible for his predicament won't live forever.

and color? somnus doesn't have the answer to that yet, but the piece of paper he glimpsed down in the well could. ]

The letter points me to a district by the name of Bluo.

[nascere]

[ ...bluo, of course it had to be -- they're related as hell, after all. unfortunately, noctis isn't fluent in the language of flowers, even if he senses something's off, just a little. ]

Right. I live in that district, too. [ he gestures vaguely in that direction, trying not to think about how surreal this whole thing is. ] I'll take you there.

[meridio]

[ noctis' comment is troubling, one that stays with somnus as he follows the former. wary of the flower's hold, he considers not saying anything for the first few meters they walk. ]

How long have you lived here?

[nascere]

[ that's the tip of the 'disturbing' iceberg, buddy. he was a mermaid once. or maybe twice. and then there was that whole thing with hearts and ice shards. ]

More than a year. [ he answers after a moment. ] But time moves very differently here compared to back home.

[meridio]

[ bad.

time must move in either direction if he can stand here beside a young noctis. more than a year, yet he's heard no mention of chroma in his recent memories of eos. it sounds like they won't remember this world once they return to their own . . . or is there a more sinister reason behind the discrepancy?

but that answers his question, and so he volunteers no more. now, more than any other time, he would prefer the silence. ]

[nascere]

[ super bad. somnus is really quiet, and noctis finds himself unsettled by that silence, because he has no idea what he's thinking. is he plotting to do something? set fire to things? look for his brother? what? ]

You okay?