Like thunder screaming out for a flash of lightning

[flawed_immortality]

[Cor's not great at this whole party thing, especially as this time it's not just a family gathering but intended for the friends they'd made here as well. The video starts with Cor sitting in a cushy white and grey striped armchair, a stone fireplace beside him glowing warmly. It's a classy set up and far above the townhouses they've been in.]

It's New Years, celebrations are in order. His Majesty, Ignis, and I have obtained a larger space and we'd like to offer our home for the festivities. Feel free to stop in, have some snacks, and await midnight with us.

[Locked from Regis]
[He looks a little paranoid at first, double, then triple checking that he's done this right.]

It's also his Majesty's birthday. He's always eager to sweep it under the New Years celebrations but he has no reason to shy away from any such celebrations here. Don't let him.

[Action - Party Start~]
[The new house is really very nice. It's nothing compared to the Citadel but it is very nice. Clean and homey with the accents of warm wood that, if Cor didn't know better, he'd have thought was reclaimed.

There's a fire in the hearth, hor d'ouerve trays laid out on the kitchen counters. The replicator is of course available to anyone who wants something specific, though you might be surprised to find she responds to voice commands and is distressingly cheerful to talk to. The house is open for examination! Go on, explore folks, mingle away.]

[Action - Midnight]
[As chill as the night is Cor makes a point of slipping through the crowd throughout the evening. There's a number of Lucis Caelums and other magic users as well. So when the time comes near he does his best to usher everyone into the backyard, or at least onto the back porch.

He's certainly not the one to lead the countdown, no someone more energetic can do that, but at the final count a series of spells get fired into the night sky. They may not be traditional fireworks but a few Flares, Thundaras, and spells he has no names for will work well enough, don't you think?]

Comments

[scourgingstars]

I feel he's changed immeasurably. Then again, without a doubt we both have.

[carbungle]

It'd probably be hard to stay the same person, after thousands of years. I can't even imagine.

[He's twenty. A timeframe like that to be alive - or at least exist in some way - is unfathomable, and in truth pretty terrifying. As if the thought of dying wasn't scary enough as it is, but if the fate of their line is what Ardyn's been forced to experience, or getting trapped in the ring... yeah, no thank you.]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn answered with a vague hum of acknowledgement, scarred hands fidgeting restlessly before he settled on folding his arms.]

Is it...wrong, that it didn't hurt quite as much once I thought about it? I won't call any of what happened 'fair' and quite honestly I'm going to be upset about the whole matter on all sides for a long while. But once I actually paused to consider that we've both been existing in some fashion this entire time...I don't know, it feels cruel to say something like that made me begin to resent him a little less.

[carbungle]

I don't think it's my call to say whether it's wrong or not.

[He's too far removed from that particular conflict to be anything more than an outside observer, witness only to each person's side and justification. The act itself was wrong, he can say that with confidence, and he's literally on a mission of retribution back home, so he can't fault anyone a bit of payback. But the degree of said revenge isn't up to him to decide, especially considering whose bloodline he primarily belongs to.]

Nobody would blame you for feeling that way, though. Not even Somnus, I bet. Sometimes... I dunno. It's easier to know that somebody else is hurting, too.

[Considering that finding out about Ardyn's past has helped him get through knowing what he becomes... yeah, he gets the feeling.]

[scourgingstars]

...I suppose so. It feels a bit too heartless to think of it that way, yet...maybe some vindictive part of me wants to think of it as even in a manner of speaking. And yet another part is almost envious that he was to stand sentinel over the kingdom and its line for so long while I...decidedly wasn't. Even in such a state...I would have dearly loved to be able to see such time pass by, even as a mere spectator.

[Ardyn sighed heavily, one hand resting on his hip and the other running through his hair in mild annoyance.]

But it doesn't matter, none of that does. It should never have come to this, and...he is yet my brother. I can't merely stand by feeling miserable while he's suffered and continues to do so in his typical absurdly stubborn manner.

[carbungle]

...Yeah. Kinda wish you had ended up in Lucis, instead of Niflheim. I think you'd have fit in just fine.

[What would it have been like, growing up with Ardyn around, just a normal part of the family rather than the Infernian-affected creep who stalked them all across the continent? Selfishly, he thinks it might have been a lot less lonely. Maybe he'd have had someone to properly teach him their family's magic, when his father couldn't spare the time, or teach him about the history of the world they'd all been unaware of for so long. Someone to keep an eye on him, stronger than his nanny or the Crownsguard. Maybe the attack would have gone differently and he wouldn't be such a half-baked version of what a Lucii should be. Would Niflheim have been as dangerous, with the immortal bearer of the Starscourge far away from whatever experiments they were running?

Maybe it would've been safer for everyone, Ardyn included. Better, with family.]

I know it's not the same or anything, but... I can't imagine giving up on Iggy, or Gladio, or Prompto, even if we had a falling out. You're not supposed to give up on people who're important enough to call your brothers, no matter what. So... I don't think you're wrong. For trying.

[scourgingstars]

...It would have been nice, wouldn't it?

[Lately he found himself considering such hypotheticals often; if things were different in such place, at such time, what kind of outcome would result? Ardyn wasn't exactly a mindreader in the traditional sense, but it was a similar sort of thing running through his own head. If he'd been found by Lucis for whatever reason, if he'd been welcomed as kindly as Regis had treated him upon his arrival in this city, what kind of life would he have had? Would it have ached less to be alone in a time period foreign to him, or would he have been able and allowed to live as something passing for human with his own family, however distant?]

[...There were brief moments when he wondered what that would have been like. watching the youngest of the line grow into a young man so unsettlingly like both Ardyn and his brother. If things could have been better for the child before him as well, somehow.]

There's not much else I can do. It's either make an effort and try to help the pair of us, or pretend I don't care and let resentment destroy me and likely harm him even further in the process. I don't want this chance to go to waste--I want to do all I can to improve things, however I'm capable.

[carbungle]

[Maybe that's the world changes they should be gunning for, Noctis is now going to wonder. So they can all still exist, maybe, but as better versions of themselves. Too idealistic, perhaps, but he'd like for a happy ending to be possible, without so much sacrifice.]

So... sounds like we just need to keep convincing Somnus to cooperate with that.

[Which means it'll be the stubbornness of one set of Lucis Caelums versus another. Yeah, this'll be so fun...]

[scourgingstars]

...I'm glad you think so as well. He seems so focused upon the way things should be that I don't know that he dares consider what could instead.

[The future he knew both too much and too little of...it didn't sit right with him by any means. But Somnus was right; it affected them all, and they would all have to agree on what to do if anything.]

[...Ultimately, Ardyn had a feeling it would come down to convincing the Founder himself, somehow.]

[carbungle]

He's probably thought that way for a long time. It must be hard to shake yourself out of believing it. Not like he's the only one with that problem.

[He gives Ardyn a pointed look. What with all of his worries about what he is and what he might do in the future, and how those things ought to dictate what he deserves in the here and now, they're like two peas in a pod.

And he hates peas, so stop that.]