DUNGEON - BELLMARE ENCLAVE (BELLMARE MOUNTAINS, PT 2)

[phantasmods]

The shadows are starting to grow very long as you crest his particular ridge - it's not night yet, but it will be soon. In the shadows of the afternoon, with a tall mountain already blocking the sun, lies a snow-covered valley that is different from the ones you've come across thus far in your investigation.

This valley is home to a town, and unlike all the settlements you've seen so far - Incendia, the Telovia mining town, and the manor - it's very much active. There are actual people in the streets, visible from above, going through their days on snow-free streets, bundled up against the cold.

Those of you who asked were told of the handful of people who didn't go into the slumber of stasis as the Fissure conditions of the world grew worse and worse, instead isolating themselves and trying to continue living their lives as they could. Now, it seems, you've found exactly such a group.

Welcome to the Bellmare Enclave, and enjoy your stay.

[[OOC: Welcome to part 2 of the dungeon! For the most part, interaction with the town's NPCs can be handwaved as described on the main information post. Worth noting are the following major things: The Bellmare Enclave isn't expecting visitors, though the people are generally friendly to the new arrivals. They don't know about the time dilation effect of their Fissure - to them, it's only been about eighteen years since the Slumber Plan was put in place and they withdrew from the world. And finally, by a similar token, they have no idea how far the Fissures outside of their own have grown - while it's not uncommon for them to find odd objects from time to time, they'll assume that the characters are just arrivals from other places within their own world, rather than outsiders, until told otherwise.]]

Comments

[burninglight]

[Ardyn laughed a little hollowly, shrugging with his hands in his pockets.]

I’m sure I was no terribly obnoxious child, if nothing else.

[hardbargain]

[Oh... that's not a good laugh.]

I don't think the Prince was either. Just a stubborn brat sometimes from what I gathered.

[burninglight]

Stubborn runs in the family. Along with chronic fatigue, coincidental leg injuries, crooked smiles, and a terrible sense of humor.

[he's not wrong.]

I was always...jealous of him, truthfully. [Gold eyes stared distantly at where the images had been, Ardyn's voice thoughtfully quiet.] ...I doubt that I ever had friends like that. Gilgamesh, maybe, but--I don't really know anymore.

[hardbargain]

[All of that scans. He saw the nerdy lopsided grin Regis gave Luna.]

I don't think most people have friends like that. Being in a war changes people though. It's a lot easier to be that kind of "ride or die" when your life is always on the line.

[burninglight]

Mm...don't really think I'd know much of the opposite anymore.

[Ardyn sighed and shook his head.]

Doesn't rally matter now. Staring at the past wondering what might have been is a good way to go insane.

[hardbargain]

[From the pieces he's gotten here and there that almost sounds like a good thing in a weird, twisted way. The kind of people and situations that make those bonds suck but bonds forged in fire are not so easily broken and if anyone needs that kind of support it's probably Ardyn.

Even if looking at him sometimes still makes Nyx wants to punch his teeth in. At least the demeanor is so different those instances are few and far between.]

Doesn't make it any easier to stop doing it.

[burninglight]

No, it doesn’t.

[But...well, it was what it was.]

It’s a habit I try to avoid, all the same.

[hardbargain]

[He just gets a non-committal grunt. It's harder when your culture involves a level of ancestral worship. When you keep the past with you in the ink on your skin and the braids in your hair. A braid he actually skims his fingers over, feeling for the slender black beads to reassure himself they're still there.]

Probably a good idea.

[Not that it's something he'll hold to any time soon.]

[burninglight]

[Ardyn glanced away, nervously gripping his right forearm in the brief silence that followed.]

...Can’t imagine switching places with Noctis, honestly. Seems almost too easy.

[hardbargain]

Lucian kids and their high tech and fancy cars.

[Which is not at all what Ardyn means and he knows it but what the fuck do you say to this sort of mess? It's confusing enough trying to figure out where the fuck he stands with Ardyn as is.]

... fuck that was a nice car though.

[burninglight]

Oh, the Regalia was magnificent. Almost enough to make me jealous, but I liked my own car well enough.

[hardbargain]

The Regalia was nice but the Star.

[Ah Kingsglaive and your blatant branding. Still Audi's are nice fucking cars and of course Nyx is going to appreciate the sports car over the classic.]

Not the point, I know... [He's not sure what to say about the point though.]

[burninglight]

Can’t say I ever saw that one. Wouldn’t put it past Noctis to have had a better one, though. Lucis is a kingdom built heavily upon aesthetics, after all.

[hardbargain]

Not that the ones you lot rolled up in were bad.

[He got to drive one of those too so y'know. The poor Star deserved better than she got.]

[burninglight]

Mm, they were good enough. Always liked my Constellation a fair bit more, but Aldercapt was having none of it. ‘You’re not showing up to the Crown City in a pink convertible’, more like fuck off it was my hometown first and I’ve been around longer than your whole line.

[Eyeroll.]

Politicians.

[hardbargain]

Somehow I didn't take you for a muscle car type.

It definitely would've changed the tone if you'd showed up in a pink vintage convertible.

[burninglight]

Oh, she was delightful. I did most of the maintenance myself, even.

...Frankly, I still think it would have been funny. But no, apparently it’s ‘unprofessional ‘ and ‘we’ve talked about this, Ardyn.’ Bloody Niflheim wouldn’t have known fun if it slapped them.

[hardbargain]

I dunno I think slapping them would've been a hell of a lot of fun.

[Ah there's actually a little bit of a growl in that. Sorry Ardyn. Drau- No Glauca is going to color him pretty violently against Niffs as a whole if the war hadn't done enough of that already.

Still the idea of just walking up to the Emperor during that gala and backhanding him is pretty delightful.]

[burninglight]

...Yeah, actually, that would have been pretty funny.

[No argument to be found here.]

They’re more or less all dead now, if that helps. Definitely Aldercapt and Verstael, at least. Ravus is around here somewhere, but...honestly, he’s more a dumb misguided child than openly hostile.

[hardbargain]

Good.

[The fact that Ravus is here though... that he's not sure how to feel about. The Imperial High Commander should be dead, deserves it really. But he's also Lunafreya's brother.]

So he made it out of the city? That- She'd be happy to hear that.

[burninglight]

Mm—wasn’t much salvaging that arm, I had to design a new one. But he mostly screwed his head on straight after that, even if it took a while.

[hardbargain]

Kinda sad it took that much to get his head out of his ass but at least he did eventually.

[Though the mention of what happened to Ravus' arm has Nyx flexing his left hand, the skin tight and strained under all the new scaring, still ashen despite all the potions. At least he's not that bad off.]

[burninglight]

Oh, there’s still a stick of considerable size up his ass. But he’s not all that bad past that.

[...]

That really was the impressive stunt you pulled back then. Out of all the ways I expected that night to go, that had not once crossed my mind.

[hardbargain]

I was as good as dead anyways. [He huffs a bitter laugh and gestures to the splint on his leg. There's a lot more bandages but no one can see them under the layers at least.]

Pretty sure I'm still on borrowed time.

[burninglight]

You’ll be surprised how much longer borrowed time can get with a stubborn medical team and the right technological knowledge.

Or, in shorter terms, ‘not on my fucking watch you aren’t.’