and the hope of morning

[founderinglight]

Who: Izunia and you! And a kitty. (First prompt closed to Ardyn)
What: TWIN FIGHT TWIN FIGHT and general catchall. And a kitty.
When: Twinfight: Morning of Tues the 1st. Everything else, whenever whenever after that.
Where: The beach; around the Station
Warnings: All the hecking warnings on the twinfight.

Closed to Ardyn

[It takes some time to find his brother; as a result, people might see Izunia doing the "think murder and walk" thing for a half an hour or so around the Station before he concludes that Ardyn isn't there and heads elsewhere. Those with a careful eye will notice more than just his stance being different; he's clean-shaven and decked out in full black coat and boots, including a black tricorn hat with an impressive plume and a bird skull of some sort attached to it. If the growing heat of the mid-to-late morning bothers him, it's hard to tell.

Those who are more used to the casually-dressed, laid-back man usually seen around the Station could well be surprised to see this side of him. Today, the Founder King walks.

And so it is eventually out of the Station that he roams, and there spots the figure down on the beach from the cliffside. A thrown dagger hits the sand, leaving behind it the blue trail of a very long warp, and Izunia plucks it from the sand before crossing the last few yards to his brother.]

Ardyn. If you have some time, might I have a word?

[menacing]

May 2-4, aka the Heat Wave, around the Station

[Come the heat wave itself, however, Izunia is dressed at least a little more practically for the weather, though still in teeshirts and black pants. He can be found in all his usual places - the low-numbers kitchen, the deck, and the library - during the day, as well as sitting in the Annex underlevel on a blanket to enjoy the breeze in the cooler underground cavern. He's not completely immune to heat, only mostly.

Those who hang around the outside of the station at night, when things have cooled off a little more, will find him either on the deck still or out on the sand behind the stables, working with some sort of light magic as he turns it into different colors from his usual blue, and, eventually, into the shapes of letters and simple symbols. It seems like he's having quite a bit of fun, at least.]

Also May 2-4, also around the Station but more common room/kitchens/his room

[What's that sound? What's that flash in the corner of your eye?

It's a cat - the size of a full grown feline already, though her proportions mark her as not yet an adult - with a dark blue collar and a ringing bell.

And she is having the zoomies around the residential floor after escaping her dad's room. Nyoom, off she goes!

Or perhaps you're sitting in the kitchens or the common room when she finally wears herself out a bit, and you've been approached for Pettings, Please. Or perhaps you have food. Or perhaps your shoelaces have just become her new toy in place of randomly zooming around.

However it is you encounter this fluffy little monster, you can be sure that Izunia is not too far behind, led by the sound of her bell.]

May 5th, Night

[Once the heat wave breaks, it's finally time to make use of one of the Station's new features. With all the windows open to the breeze and the sound of the storm, Izunia is sprawled out in the hot tub in a pair of black trunks and nothing else. The way his head is tipped back, it's easy to mistake him for asleep, but the sound of someone else arriving makes him glance in the direction of the door. It's still fairly easy to tell him apart from Ardyn, though, if you know what to look for - blue eyes, still clean-shaven, and a black tattoo on his chest, the majority of it blurred by the bubbling water except for the two crows flying highest in the direction of his neck.]

Evening.

Comments

[founderinglight]

Working on it you dumb bastard, we literally just went over this.

[With an annoyed sigh, Izunia flops back onto the sand.]

And maybe consider some anti-anxiety medication, if you're panicking that frequently.

[burninglight]

It's none of your concern.

[founderinglight]

Maybe not, but I'm going to be concerned anyway.

[Deal with it.]

So please at least consider it.

[burninglight]

I don't even eat things that aren't wrapped or I haven't watched being made, what the hell makes you think I'm going to take anything like that.

[founderinglight]

I can't help you with that, Ardyn. I'm just trying because you worry me, and no one should have to deal with panic that frequently no matter what it is they've done.

[burninglight]

I don't need your help.

[founderinglight]

No, you don't want my help. You pretty clearly need someone's, and I'm going to keep offering as long as I'm alive. So deal with it.

[burninglight]

...

[Ardyn shook his head slightly, folding his arms and gripping his sleeves as if to withdraw just a little further.]

Don't worry about me. I've been through worse.

[founderinglight]

[There's a pause...

And then Izunia leans over to smack Ardyn in the back of the head - open-palmed and not with his full muscle, but enough for a wake-up call.]

So help me, stop minimizing your problems, I am going to hit you every single god damn time if I must. Never again, you hear me? I'll never again accept that when there's something so obviously wrong.

[burninglight]

[Ardyn flinched, lashing out automatically with a slap of his own in the general direction of Izunia's head.]

Stop hitting me--!

[founderinglight]

[He'll let that hit, in exchange for reaching up to grab Ardyn's arm after it lands, grip solid on his twin's forearm. The look in his eyes is serious, though not quite to the point where one can feel the weight of the crown that once rested above them.]

Then stop being an idiot. It may not be obvious to anyone else, but even with two thousand years in the way I can tell when you're minimizing things because you don't want anyone else involved in your problems. I don't care if it's to protect me or because you don't think your problems are worth the effort, but I will not put up with it any longer.

If you don't want me involved, then fine, but say that instead of pretending the problem isn't there or doesn't matter. It is there, it matters to me, I would not be saying anything if those things were not true.

[And once he's sure that message has gotten across, he releases Ardyn's arm without any further fuss.]

[burninglight]

[Ardyn froze immediately under the hand wrapped around his forearm, with a stare so distant to match that it must have seemed for a moment as if he wasn't listening at all. Once Izunia let go he pulled his arm closer to his chest, and after a short silence:]

...I don't want you involved. It's not yours to have any hand in dealing with.

[founderinglight]

I don't care. If nothing else, I am not going to sit back and let you wind up hurting your new family the same way you hurt me because you're incapable of learning from that mistake.

[A deep breath.]

I won't, Ardyn. Stupid anaia. I'm not going to let you sabotage yourself.

[burninglight]

Don't. Don't lecture me on what you think I have or haven't learned from. You have no idea how I've seen my idiotic self-sacrifice destroy the people I love.

[founderinglight]

I will stop lecturing you when you stop doing it. It doesn't have to involve death or plague for it to be stupid.

[burninglight]

I already said I didn't want you involved. Why can't you just stay out of it?

[founderinglight]

Because I care about you too much to sit back and watch you fuck up! What's so hard to understand about that?!

[burninglight]

I've already done enough fucking up and I don't want your help!

[founderinglight]

You most certainly have and you're not going to make me stop caring, so there.

[burninglight]

Care if you will, but you're not shoving your way back into my life until I'm ready to accept it. I have every right to make that decision for myself, if nothing else.

[founderinglight]

[Inhale. Exhale.]

I just keep thinking that 'when I'm ready to accept it' means 'never.' And while you have every right for that to be true, I don't think I can accept it easily.

[A week ago, he wouldn't have been able to accept it at all.]

[burninglight]

...I don't know if there will be a time when I can. But if there is, pushing like this is only going to make that chance end up disappearing.

[founderinglight]

I know. I know. But then my brain does a stupid helpless spiral of 'if he's going to hate me anyway, I might as well use that to motivate him to be better,' and it's.

It's stupid. And it's hard. Even when I can see it and tell it it's stupid, that doesn't mean I know what to do.

[burninglight]

I just...need some time and space to figure out how to handle this, brother. I need you to understand that one fistfight and resulting conversation won't repair this overnight, if indeed it can be repaired at all. And I need you to accept that my family isn't exactly going to accept you as one of us right away, either.

[founderinglight]

Oh, I don't expect it to. I'll probably think of something else to be mad about later, myself, I'm still sort of processing things.

[He reaches up as though to rub at his jaw where it's starting to bruise, but manages to resist the urge to touch it.]

As for your family, I'm well enough aware that I'm going to have to deal with them on an individual level. I'm getting on well enough with most of them, at least; it's mostly Yuuri and Heart that can't stand to be in a room with me.