When the night is come [Open]

[founderinglight]

Who: Izunia and you! And possibly also Ardyn aor Verity, depending on prompt.
When: Late July, various.
Where: See prompts!
What: Catchall, featuring tattoos, escape artist cats, and uh. Everything else.
Warnings: This Post Contains Airlocked, so standard murdergame warnings apply.

Lounge (outside greenhouse and hottub), any afternoon from 7/20-8/8 featuring burninglight

[A miracle is taking place behind the set-up paper screens that have suddenly appeared in the glass-walled lounge.

That miracle is "the Lucis Caelum twins, largely getting along."

There's also a tattoo gun involved.

Anyone who peeks around the screens Izunia set up for privacy at some point will find the younger twin stretched out on a tattoo chair, while Ardyn works on his arms or back. There's a light grey outline of the parts of the tattoo that haven't yet been finished - a greatsword that might look familiar down the left arm, a weird mechanical looking sword on the right, and six loops of chain hung between them, the lowest reaching almost all the way down Izunia's back to the waist. A handful of weapons hang in the loops, and there's a few notable gaps... Discounting the gaps of the broken links, there's precisely a hundred and fifteen links in all.

While Ardyn works, Izunia seems, mostly, to zone out, either with music playing for the both of them or something on a tablet in front of him, headphones in. For a guy getting stabbed repeatedly, he largely seems pretty relaxed, fiddling with his set of floating crystals idly.

Occasionally, however, one might happen by and hear the twins bickering, as they do...]

Rise, anywhere

[What's this?

Well, long-term residents of the Station will probably recognize the giant, fluffy silver tabby who butts against their ankles. Verity's on the prowl, looking for attention and/or snacks.

But... Where's Izunia? He doesn't normally let her out like this...

And that's assuming that she hasn't just suddenly appeared in your room. You closed that door for sure, right?]

July 30th, late evening, closed to Junpei

[Investigation episodes are always rough. And Ardyn did warn him that this one, in particular, had the black blood that comes with the Scourge.

Izunia's prepared for that.

He's not prepared to see Junpei, apparently dead, lying in a pool of it, and in the safety of his room, he very nearly throws the tablet across the room.

Actually, he does throw it - just into the Armiger in a moment of not completely losing his head, rather than letting it impact anything.

Time to hyperventilate.]

Anything else

[Nap grandpa is somewhat more absent for the next two weeks than usual, even given that he's spending half or more his afternoons spread out getting inked. If you're in his most prominent haunts, however - Fight Club, the kitchen on the doubles floor of the Rise, or the observation deck at dawn or dusk (especially dawn, lately, oddly enough for a Lucis Caelum) - he's hard to miss.

Also, if you're one of the handful of people he keeps a special eye out for - chiefly Prompto, Maddie, and Elize - you might find him turning up at your door after a tattooing session with a hot meal or two.]

Comments

[ax_iom]

[Unfortunately, he... made an explosion. So Lily's instantly on her feet, cradling Verity in one arm and her staff out in the other.]

What was that- Are you all right?! Are we under attack?

[IF IZUNIA IS CHUCKING BOMBS THAT SEEMS A REASONABLE THING TO ASSUME]

[founderinglight]

I'm fine, I'm fine, settle down, I just... Nasty temper, sometimes.

[PLEASE SETTLE DOWN, LILY, IT'S FINE...]

[ax_iom]

Are you sure? Take some deep breaths...

["settle down" YOU THREW EXPLOSIVES]

[founderinglight]

I'm fine, really. I didn't know it would do that, that's never happened before.

[ax_iom]

It sounds like emotional reactions...

[She sets Verity down on the floor, dismissing her staff, and holds her hands out to Izunia.]

Take my hands?

[founderinglight]

I really am fine.

[But for her sake, he'll come over and play along.]

[ax_iom]

If your powers are acting up on emotion, that's not fine. I know from experience. ... You know from my experience.

[REMEMBER WHEN SHE TRIED TO KILL YOU WITH FIRE

she takes his hands, and starts breathing steadily, in and out.]

Focus on slow breathing. In, hold, and out.

[founderinglight]

I know breathing exercises, Lily, I have panic attacks.

[Just throwing it out there, he's got Big Trauma.]

I'm calm. I'm not going to throw any more of those until I have the chance to figure out exactly how they work, safely outside.

[ax_iom]

You do? Panic attacks?

[GUESS... WHO STILL HASN'T FIGURED OUT HER OWN TRAUMA AND LEVELS THEREOF]

... Okay. But I'll help. I'm used to handling weird magical effects.

What brought that on, anyway?

[founderinglight]

Mostly related to waking up in the dark, yes. Some of the creatures we had in the night on Eos made Zel's true form seem cute and friendly.

[He can tell her about the Scourge later. For now, he just gently squeezes her hands.]

I was angry, am still angry... When I'm angry like that, I need to do something, and since I can't do anything about the people responsible for your world being what it is from here, that something is throwing things.

[ax_iom]

It's all right.

[It's not. And she knows it. But Izunia's upset, and that means she needs to try to make him feel better. Anyone else's happiness comes before her own, after all.]

I made it through. I survived. And I made it through without losing anything.

[Other than her happiness, her home, her best friend, her mental health, etc]

[founderinglight]

[Yeah well right back at you, Lily.]

You lost a childhood.

[He squeezes her hands again.]

Just surviving isn't the only thing there is to life.

[ax_iom]

Others lost more.

[She looks away.]

... Flora came to me when I was six, and told me I had the power to save people. And, at six... Who doesn't want to be a hero?

[founderinglight]

That doesn't mean you lost nothing. If you cut your hand when the man next to you breaks his arm, it doesn't mean your hand isn't cut.

[All of these children, who can't see their own worth...

He could be two thousand years of anger, himself.]

It doesn't make that right.

[ax_iom]

[She just... looks at him, blankly. She's not sure what to say. What she can say. The idea of her problems mattering, at all... It's still hard for her. She doesn't understand it. She was a hero. Then she was a villain. As a hero, she wasn't allowed to feel certain things, or to express any care for herself. As a villain, no one cared how she felt, and any care for herself was evil. No matter what... The simple fact that she had power meant her feelings have never mattered.

No one ever cared about Lily. All they wanted was a perfect idol of a hero, then a perfect scapegoat of a villain.

She stares at him like he's suddenly speaking a foreign language.]

[founderinglight]

[He just... smiles, softly.]

You're as bad as my brother. 'What happens to me doesn't matter if everyone else is happy,' right?

[One more squeeze of her hands before he lets go.]

There are people in this world, who think that your happiness is a part of their happiness. People who can't be truly happy if they see you suffering.

That's one of the things love is.

[ax_iom]

... Love, huh?

[for a magical girl who fights for love and peace SHE SURE SOUNDS INDIFFERENT THERE]

That's why I don't let them see me suffering. It's my own problem, so I should just... deal with it myself.

[founderinglight]

People can tell. No matter how well you think you're hiding it... There will always be someone who sees through it.

If you're lucky, they'll say something, before everything you keep inside hurts you beyond repair.

[ax_iom]

Beyond repair, huh.

[finally, she lets some of her mask slip. Just a little bit.

Suddenly, the area around her is somehow... heavier. Like someone turned up the gravity.]

Sorry. I passed that point a long time ago.

[founderinglight]

...I thought that once too. Before coming here.

As long as you're willing to try, hope isn't lost yet.

[ax_iom]

Then hope is lost.

[She's looking down at the ground.

Cyriac's voice echoes in her head. That she would never make anyone happy. The world desired her to be evil, and the evil to be defeated.]

Trying is pointless.

[founderinglight]

I don't know, you might be a little young for that yet.

[Says the guy a hundred times her age.]

...It's a battle, sometimes. One that I know I couldn't win without people at my side. But you can beat the thing that lives in your mind, too. I know you can.

[ax_iom]

... Can I? I don't think I can.

Aren't you curious? You wanted to know about familiars, right?

[The gravity increases.]

[founderinglight]

[Aside from the way it makes his hair weigh down, Izunia seems unbothered.]

And if you stand there and let the enemy do whatever they want, aren't you already defeated?

[His face and tone both go gentle.]

Whatever sins you might bear, whatever mistakes you might have made, cannot compare to mine. I cannot pick up the sword and fight it for you, Lily. All I can do is offer to fight by your side.

[ax_iom]

Is it a contest?

[She stares at him.]

... Defeated sounds fine to me. I'm tired of always winning. Always having to win, or else everything ends and people die. I can't ever lose. Even without my powers, I killed my own familiar, my only friend, with an ax. Because I can never be defeated.

[The pressure has been too much for her. Some part of her has cracked under it.]