week 6

[airlockedmods]

[Even with three deaths two weeks in a row, life in the Fantasy Sweet returns to some semblance of normalcy come Sunday morning. The messes are cleaned up, the bodies are safe in the morgue (or in Kip's case, still in a liquor bottle in the garden) and with this new week comes a fresh crop of returning memories.

There is no new floor this week.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 5, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[scourgingstars]

Now that actually does sound like a challenge.

[He answered with a smirk--not quite Ardyn Izunia's condescension, but it wasn't Ardyn Lucis Caelum's reckless confidence. It was something more subdued, quiet amusement with an edge of something forlorn.]

You want to know the answer that badly?

[motherfucking_ghost]

Since when do I not want to know everything about you? 's a karaoke bar, and we're the only ones here right now. I'll even pour you one if it'll make you feel at home, even if you can't taste it or anything. Intergalactic boyband, man, just think about it.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn shook his head slightly; none of that would be necessary. Perhaps it was right that it should be heard from him of all people, one last time.]

[Ardyn closed his eyes, took a slow breath, and started singing in that low voice that could be either gentle compassion or snarling anger. Unlike with Clarith, it was...quieter, now. The melody came slower, the words more subdued. When he'd taught it to her it was as a message of hope after deep despair, of the dawn that broke through the night.]

[But now it was something else, wasn't it? As it was truly intended, the song was a prayer for the Chosen King. For the one who had fallen and the one who had ascended in his place. To whatever remained of the savior, and to the sacrifice of Noctis Lucis Caelum who had finished what his ancestor had begun thousands of years ago.]

[It was the final prayer of one who even the gods had long since cast out, who had been lost to darkness for thousands of years. The hope that the dawn would come--and that those in thrall to darkness would disappear like a mere nightmare.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Whatever Church was expecting, that...that wasn't it.

Of course it's in Latin, something he can't exactly speak fluently or anything, but he can pick out a few words here and there. That's not the point, though. (Well, it might be--he's not exactly going to ask for a translation right now.) The point is it's slow, quiet, but with a restrained operatic quality he had no idea could come out of Ardyn.

And there's feeling behind it. A deep and heavy weight, maybe dragging him down, maybe letting it go, and the words are certainly practiced to hand it to him a cappella. It's not just something Ardyn picked up along the way. It's...

He starts to realize that this is the song Ardyn had been speaking of. Not just one he probably taught to Clarith, but the prophecy ending eternal night. His people sang it. About him, before anyone had any idea. God, it must be etched practically into his soul.

His hand tightens on Ardyn's, too mesmerized to even think of letting go, letting his voice roll and reverberate in him. Normally, under most circumstances, he wouldn't think he'd be the type to get worked up over music unless it's to get excited about a good jam. Not that he'd want to listen to moving pieces around the guys and get mocked into eternity for feeling them right in his bones. Still, the near physical impact, the tremendous weight of the meaning, however lost on Church and not at all lost on Ardyn, finds his cheeks more damp than they were just a moment ago, he swears.

The last note fades, and the quiet takes back hold, and he's pretty sure that nothing in the universe will ever quite be the same again. The emptiness is almost as heavy as the song, almost. When he feels the almost numb buzz start to fade from the goosebumps on his skin, his free hand quickly reaches up to wipe at his eyes.

It's just dust. Honest. And one more thing to get Church to shut the hell up.]

[scourgingstars]

...It's not so hard to get you to stop talking after all.

[Ardyn gave the usual hollow laugh, eyes still clear and focused as he opened them again.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Shut up. [Though it came out with a little hiccup in it, still half-hiding his face with his hand. His sniff might give it even more away, though.]

Okay. New plan. Solo act. You could pull it off. Maybe an acoustic for the sake of melody, but that's about it. Don't wanna crowd the stage.

[He still sounds just a little shaky, but good enough to finally drop his hand and give him a little smile.]

[scourgingstars]

Now you're the one telling me to shut up? You're terribly impertinent, for the Shield of the King.

[The enigmatic-half smile had finally returned to Ardyn's face, paired with a faintly mocking tone.]

I could always get Luscinia's help. She might enjoy it.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I like to think the rudeness and lack of personal space are just parts of what make me such a good one. You know you love it.

[His marrow still feels like it's vibrating from the song, and he makes a mental note to talk to Clarith about it later, but the informal talk makes things so much easier to digest. When overwhelmed, aim for frivolity and humor.]

Teach all of them. You'll have a whole choir of completely in-tune pigeons at your beck and call. Plus, man, think of their feathers in spotlight? Give 'em the ol' razzle-dazzle.

[scourgingstars]

I'm sure some would think I've a lack of respect for personal space myself. [He tugged at his red-orange scarf with his free hand, draping it over Church's shoulders instead.]

Regardless...I think I'd rather leave that particular little melody with you and Clarith. It's not mine anymore.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Wow. Wow that scarf he'd made fun of (along with everything else) he'd tried to get his lubey hands on. He blinks surprise, because this sure is an interesting new mood Ardyn is in, lotta ups and downs, why it's practically human, or a very good facsimile thereof. He flips one end of it over his shoulder like a stupid movie actress. Please be glad he doesn't say 'master has given Dobby a scarf', because it's really tempting.] You'll find that's one of the few things I won't complain about. [What a winning smile. What a shit.

His smile turns a little more wistful about the song, though. No...no, maybe it's not Ardyn's anymore. Nor Noctis'. Maybe it doesn't belong to anyone, but now he and Clarith have it, and that's important. It's so desperately important now that it's left for them to keep and protect and do with as they will.] Always time to learn a few new melodies anyway.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn didn't know who or what he was right now; he also wasn't sure what he felt in abundance or lacked at the moment. For the moment, king and chancellor had both given way to something worn down enough to entertain things like this, casual conversation and halfhearted attempts at entertaining that buried, broken crystallized shard of something that was once human.]

[So he just...sort of went along with the situation instead of resisting it, instead of slapping aside the hand that had reached for his own.]

Time is certainly something I might yet have in abundance.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Or, if we fuck up enough that we can't find a way out of this game, it'll be at least a few more weeks yet, which is still plenty of time to learn some songs. I don't exactly have any moving hymns to teach you off the top of my head, cuz that's not my religion, so you're mostly just stuck with whatever I can find on the karaoke machine that I know. Or, y'know, that anyone else knows.

[He's still idly rubbing the fabric between his fingers, considering.] I know it doesn't really matter now, but this morning, I didn't say. After everything with Tex, everyone got reassignments. Split up. I didn't really care, because...I just couldn't at the time. The base I got transferred to, it was empty and run down. And I was the only one there. I don't know if it was some...mandatory thing, like there's a base, it's useless now but we need someone to technically occupy it thing or what, but I was the only one there. No one else in the whole army got assigned there, so... It's been over a year. And you know I'm a, a fucking extrovert or whatever, I like people, I like being around people, even if it's just to scream obscenities at their stupid helmeted faces. And I know that's nothing compared to you, but that's why I had to come over. Just needed to know I wasn't alone.

[scourgingstars]

...It didn't bother me. If it did, I'd have shoved you off of me and told you as much in no uncertain terms. A year is a long time, for someone with any value or understanding of the concept.

['You think ten years is a long time?!' His own voice came to mind; snarling, bitter mockery. Time had long since stopped mattering for the man who waited millennia just for revenge.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

I know. It just occurred to me that I hadn't actually...explained. Like our normal Sunday routine. [He starts laughing before he even fully finishes 'routine', because god damn, to think 'wake up and tell each other what kind of stupid and/or fucked up memories they remembered during the night has become normal.] Man, they say if you do something for 20-some days, it becomes habit. Usually they're talking about flossing or cleaning your living space, not, y'know, murder and memories and mayhem.

[scourgingstars]

I would imagine that once something's happened enough times, you come to expect it whether it should be a habit or not. Even something as outlandish and ridiculous as this.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Fridays, man. I'm gonna have an aversion to Fridays from now on. Also, you'd think I'd avoid the rest areas now, and yet?

[scourgingstars]

You're not one possessed of an abundance of sense. The fact that you're alone with someone like me right now is evidence enough of that.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I already live in the same room as you alone and haven't wound up dead. I wasn't gonna stop you from leaving if you were, y'know, really...trying to avoid me. Lucy-goosey's more than welcome to stay.