[Noctis ......... just kind of gapes at him. Yeah he's definitely going crazy. Awesome. Perfect. Because he really needs yet one more thing going wrong here.]
Your -- how do -- what -- who?
[It's Ardyn but it's ... not Ardyn? Give him a moment to reboot his errored out brain.]
[Ah yes, that explai-- wait, no, that explains almost nothing. What is Ardyn's identical twin doing as a ghost in the ring? Since when has Ardyn had a twin? Just one of him is bad enough but imagining an entire family of Ardyn's is just terrible. And anyway, how does he know this isn't just some new and even weirder game Ardyn is playing?
The explanation is at least enough to for Noctis to get past the tripping over the fifty or so different questions that had tried to crowd their way out of his mouth before, however. {insert boot up jingle here} He takes a breath and lets it out slowly, trying to calm his racing heart.]
Your... Ardyn's twin. [Yes, he just said that.] Ardyn has a twin. [Ok maybe he's still in the process of rebooting.]
[They're not quite identical - when the figure turns to look at Noctis directly, his eyes aren't that uncanny yellow. Just a normal shade of hazel, as much as is visible given his not-quite-solid state.]
[Noctis blinks several times, still trying to make sense of this. He's at least not hyperventilating from being startled by the almost-Ardyn voice anymore, but he's still pretty tense and not quite sure this is real.]
Why are you in the ring? [He ... is talking to someone in the ring right? This... apparent twin had said he started at the wrong end -- wait. Wait a moment. No fucking way. No fucking way.] Who are you?
[His eyes drop to the ring for a moment, brow knitting as he thinks this over.]
So ... let me get this straight... [It's been a while since he had to study early Lucian history but he'd had to memorize all 113 kings and queens at one point, and even if he blanks on some of them, he still remembers the mnemonic devices. He almost starts to hum some dumb song for it, but ... no... he's pretty sure there was only the one Ardyn... Still, this whole thing is absurd.] You're ... the first king of Lucis? And your Ardyn-the-asshole's twin brother? [A couple things click together; he doesn't have any blood siblings himself, but he knows people who do and knows the petty things they'll do to each other when bickering.] What the hell did you do to piss him off? ... or was he just always like this?
[There's no way Ardyn being as much of a dick as he is and apparently being his great x a bajillion uncle is a coincidence.]
It might be better to start with... How much do you know about daemons and the Starscourge?
[He could look, but now that Noctis knows he's here the sensation of someone just paging through his memories is kind of unpleasant and, really, he doesn't need to.]
[He probably really would take off the ring and throw it across the room if he felt Izunia rifling through his memories!]
Um... [He literally just read about it like two hours ago, and he hasn't really let himself dwell on it, but he kind of has to now, and he shudders, curling inward a bit. And to think of how much Niflheim was experimenting with them, too...] ... daemons are... people infected with the Starscourge and ... changed by it. I dunno how it makes people monsters, though.
Before the line of the Oracle received the power of healing, infection with the Scourge was, for all intents and purposes, a death sentence. People who showed signs of infection would take their own lives, in the hope that it would stop the disease before they became monster of the night and hurt their families and friends. A blood-bourne illness - but it was a long time before we knew that. Too long.
And then, one day - there was a healer, who took the black marks from the people and left them healthy. Touched by the light of the Crystal, in a way that no other has been, before or since -
But that healing came with a price. His was not a true power of healing. He just... moved the infection. Into himself.
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*i'm* dead now
Your -- how do -- what -- who?
[It's Ardyn but it's ... not Ardyn? Give him a moment to reboot his errored out brain.]
bows
It's the end of the game, anyway, might as well]
Identical twins, Noctis.
[Keep it simple while kingoflight.exe restarts.]
no subject
The explanation is at least enough to for Noctis to get past the tripping over the fifty or so different questions that had tried to crowd their way out of his mouth before, however. {insert boot up jingle here} He takes a breath and lets it out slowly, trying to calm his racing heart.]
Your... Ardyn's twin. [Yes, he just said that.] Ardyn has a twin. [Ok maybe he's still in the process of rebooting.]
no subject
[They're not quite identical - when the figure turns to look at Noctis directly, his eyes aren't that uncanny yellow. Just a normal shade of hazel, as much as is visible given his not-quite-solid state.]
no subject
Why are you in the ring? [He ... is talking to someone in the ring right? This... apparent twin had said he started at the wrong end -- wait. Wait a moment. No fucking way. No fucking way.] Who are you?
no subject
[There's only been one king named Ardyn. Funnily enough, there have been several Noctises - but Izunia knows all too well who this one is, and so -
Here, at the end, he may as well reveal everything.]
My proper given name is 'Izunia' - as you might perhaps have guessed, from my brother's theatrical choice in aliases. Is that answer enough?
no subject
So ... let me get this straight... [It's been a while since he had to study early Lucian history but he'd had to memorize all 113 kings and queens at one point, and even if he blanks on some of them, he still remembers the mnemonic devices. He almost starts to hum some dumb song for it, but ... no... he's pretty sure there was only the one Ardyn... Still, this whole thing is absurd.] You're ... the first king of Lucis? And your Ardyn-the-asshole's twin brother? [A couple things click together; he doesn't have any blood siblings himself, but he knows people who do and knows the petty things they'll do to each other when bickering.] What the hell did you do to piss him off? ... or was he just always like this?
[There's no way Ardyn being as much of a dick as he is and apparently being his great x a bajillion uncle is a coincidence.]
no subject
[It's... Almost laughable, really.]
It might be better to start with... How much do you know about daemons and the Starscourge?
[He could look, but now that Noctis knows he's here the sensation of someone just paging through his memories is kind of unpleasant and, really, he doesn't need to.]
no subject
Um... [He literally just read about it like two hours ago, and he hasn't really let himself dwell on it, but he kind of has to now, and he shudders, curling inward a bit. And to think of how much Niflheim was experimenting with them, too...] ... daemons are... people infected with the Starscourge and ... changed by it. I dunno how it makes people monsters, though.
no subject
[Izunia waves a hand dismissively. Good enough.]
Before the line of the Oracle received the power of healing, infection with the Scourge was, for all intents and purposes, a death sentence. People who showed signs of infection would take their own lives, in the hope that it would stop the disease before they became monster of the night and hurt their families and friends. A blood-bourne illness - but it was a long time before we knew that. Too long.
And then, one day - there was a healer, who took the black marks from the people and left them healthy. Touched by the light of the Crystal, in a way that no other has been, before or since -
But that healing came with a price. His was not a true power of healing. He just... moved the infection. Into himself.