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]

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.

[burninglight]

They do tend to be the angry ones. [He said that with a definite note of pride, pulling a curative from the Armiger and cracking it to heal his own collection of forming bruises. They'd sure as hell be no less angry if they saw him injured, and there wasn't any reason for that.]

[founderinglight]

So I've noticed. Yuuri treated me like using the kitchen on your side was a sort of criminal offense the other day, it's not my fault that half the people here can't boil water without starting a grease fire and don't know how to air the place out.

[He watches Ardyn pull the curative and sighs.]

I guess I should probably make use of one before my ribs truly start to ache...

[burninglight]

What can I say? We've been through hell together and they're very protective, that's why they're my Glaives.

[A shrug.]

Or you could just let everyone think I beat the hell out of you. I doubt anyone would be shocked.

[founderinglight]

No, I think you bruised my ribs, now that the adrenaline is wearing down breathing is beginning to ache a bit.

[He pulls a can of some random soda from his Armiger to transmute.]

Also, I need to talk to Strange this afternoon about antidepressants, and I would prefer to not have the medics fuss at me more than they already do.

[burninglight]

Oh, don't complain. I didn't even hit you that hard.

[founderinglight]

[Izunia just makes a brief rude gesture before transmuting the soda can - the resulting potion is a little more traditionally vial-shaped than Ardyn's, but it busts open easily enough. Izunia takes a deep breath before cracking it on his leg, eyes going far off for a moment as he runs the fingers of the other hand through his hair.

It's not quite panic attack level, but it's clear that his appreciation of the sensation is... more than a bit lacking.]

[burninglight]

...Izunia? What is it?

[founderinglight]

...I already said, didn't I? I have an anxious reaction to healing magic. It's all tied up in my head with... that.

I can control it with curatives somewhat, because it's not another person, but actual healing magic... I don't think I could handle it.

[burninglight]

...

[Well...that at least made sense. They both hand a hangup or two, where that was concerned.]

I don't use it anymore. I still have it--at least I presume I do--but I haven't utilized it since we had our powers returned to us. I don't think I could unless there were no other option.

[founderinglight]

I should hope not, given how yours works. You've given yourself enough scars for other people.

[burninglight]

The others would probably kill me if I tried and it wasn't the most dire situation imaginable. I'd not hear the end of it from Leonard, at the absolute least.

[founderinglight]

Good.

[It's a good thing. That there are other people in the world that are concerned for Ardyn's well-being, and that he actually listens to them now.]

[burninglight]

...I didn’t want you to know. It wasn’t yours to bear, I can remember that much. I didn’t even want any of them to know, but Leonard and Junpei figured it out and cornered me.

[founderinglight]

There was no reason for you to bear it alone, either. When I was finally able to sit down and process it at all, after, and figured out what was going on - how long you must have been hiding it - it hurt so much. That you didn't trust me with that.

...I'm making them both cakes.

[burninglight]

I thought myself Chosen. What was I to do but bear it alone, rather than shoulder you or any other with the same burden when it would do naught to help? What I was doing...it was for the sake of a world with less suffering. If you and Gil truly knew the price of it—that’s something I would not have been able to bear.

[founderinglight]

I'd pay good money to see you try to sell Ignis on that one. It'll fly about as well.

[That is, about as well as the Citadel.]

It doesn't matthow you try to justify it, Ardyn. It still hurts. I'm still angry. If you care about making it better, then stop doing the same thing and trying to hide things from your family - whoever it is you decide to include in that.