Lazy Man's CMO 2018

[bloodand]

 You know what this is, you know what you're here for, etc, etc. Drop who you're looking for in the topheader.

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[discutio]

[He certainly recognized the voice if not the particular words or tone, pausing in his steps along with the two creatures at either side.]

...Hello, Ardyn.

[Ignis' own voice wasn't friendly as such--but it was calm, hands loose at his sides with no sign of reaching for a weapon himself. He'd taken to leaving his hair down, hanging in his face and the near-opaque sunglasses he always wore.]

Been some time, hasn't it?

[founderinglight]

...Yes, about that. Wrong twin, and I'd offer a better proof if this hallway was a bit taller except that that is actually a pain in the ass I don't want to go through with today.

[Izunia, for now, stays exactly where he is - which, admittedly, is basically frozen with a metal playing card in his hand ready to throw.]

So for now let's go with What are you willing to give for the power to save the life of your king and jump to the part about 'Izunia Lucis Caelum, pleasure to meet you in the flesh, sorry about your eyes and also every thing my brother did while he was be-Scourged and mad.'

[discutio]

[That earned hardly anything more than a raised eyebrow; the panic was very unlike Ardyn, and the statement was confirmation enough. Still--he looked entirely calm, merely tilting his head in brief confusion.]

...I thought your name was Somnus.

[Still with no tone harsher than 'slightly formal conversation', mind you.]

[founderinglight]

...What? No, that's stupid.

[Beat.]

... Probably multiverse nonsense at work, I've heard of no less than four Akira Kurusus and one of them's a young woman, having a different name isn't that odd as such permutations go.

[discutio]

Sounds plausible enough.

[The Absol pulled back a step or two to sit by Ignis' legs, while the Jolteon took up a position directly in front of him. The tactician seemed entirely unfazed by the situation, indicating that he had figuratively seen some shit.]

It was my understanding Ardyn was the elder brother, that'd be a matter of semantics with twins.

[founderinglight]

A matter of semantics that every set of twins I've ever known takes seriously to an entirely stupid degree. It grows no less ridiculous when the difference is five and a half minutes and you're around two thousand years old.

[There's the small sound of the card in his hand vanishing back to his Armiger. He's reasonably confident in not getting stabbed, apparently.]

[discutio]

My point was more that it wouldn't be a matter of record however obfuscated were the difference such a minor one.

[A small shrug.]

Still, multiversal discrepancies sound as plausible as anything else.

[founderinglight]

Close enough is good enough, sometimes, we can always sort out the differences later.

[Like, you know, after Episode Ardyn actually comes out.]

Are your friends friendly?

[discutio]

[meh, s'fine.]

They won't attack unless directed. The one closest to me is Hemera, and the one in front is Aurora.

[Because Hemera was always closest to him, naturally.]

[founderinglight]

[Ignis can't hear how Izunia's expression immediately brightens at 'Aurora' but he'll probably hear how the man comes a bit closer and then crouches down to allow them to Sniff his hand.]

Aurora was my daughter's name.

[Instantly he has a favorite.]

[discutio]

Hm...I thought it a fitting one at the time.

[Aurora was, as it turned out, quite a lot bolder than her black and white companion. She nuzzled right up to Izunia's hand with the slightest buzz of static electricity, while Hemera approached a bit more warily for a sniffle.]

Admittedly, I was running out of names by then.

[founderinglight]

[Izunia chuckles.]

She was the light that pulled me out of my grief for what happened to Ardyn. There could be nothing more fitting.

[Hello slightly electrical friend. Do you like ear scratches? Of course you do, what kind of fool doesn't.]

[discutio]

...could say something similar, I think.

[He knelt down beside Hemera, petting her lightly to reassure her while Aurora happily accepted All The Attention.]

I know a fair bit, from my own research back home. I presume the larger details remain the same regardless of names apparently having changed.

[founderinglight]

[And Izunia knows how to give a critter attention. He smells like cinnamon and cat.]

I imagine so. I can't imagine a bit of variation in that would chance much down at your end, unfortunately.

[discutio]

[this nice jolteon doesn't know what a cat is but you smell kind of like baked goods and she's cool with that.]

No, I should imagine not.

[founderinglight]

[Cologne is good and helpful for distinguishing one from their twin for the blind folk.]

And from the sound of it, you've had a bit of a multiversal adventure yourself since then.

[SCRITCH.]

[discutio]

Oh, was it that obvious?

[IGNIS]

It's been...eventful, shall we say.

[founderinglight]

Ardyn now has ten months and five and a half minutes on me thanks to this bullshit. And whatever yours was, you're not immediately asking me about evil administrators or murder, so it can't be as bad as Airlocked.

[Definitely doing the scritch now. Good sparkfox.]

[discutio]

I can't say that's something I'm worried about. Were Team Galactic or the more concerning members of the pantheon here, I'm quite sure it would be obvious. I can't claim Ardyn's a concern of mine at this point either.

[founderinglight]

Ardyn Tenmyouji [And there's a very high degree of emphasis on the name.] is no threat to anyone anyway. He's no more than a human survivor of far more than anyone should have to survive. ...With an impressive Armiger, still, but that's not really the point.

[discutio]

[Strange, and with a last name in what sounded like Old Insomnian to boot. But...well, could Ignis really say he was the same person now that he'd been at the end of the long night? If Ardyn had been through anything like what happened in Sinnoh, then the apparent sharp change in attitude made sense.]

...Glad to hear it.

[And he found that he meant it, oddly enough.]

[founderinglight]

Mind, that entire side of the family hates my guts except for Arianna, but the fact that there's even a 'that side of the family' to talk about at all gives me great joy.

[Izunia loves his stupid bro and his stupid bro's family.]

As for this place, it's a world with an intensely damaged fabric of reality, but for the most part we're a peaceful group. You shouldn't have to worry about any major threats here, just be prepared for my brother-in-law to try something incredibly stupid at some point.

[From the way he says it... Izunia's used to having to reassure people of this.]

[discutio]

Don't recall saying I was worried.

[Very much the opposite.]

I assure you, there's no reason to be concerned about me.

[founderinglight]

If I may be blunt, you appear to be the first - certainly the first I've spoken to - who was in another place and wasn't in a situation where a small group was coerced into murdering each other for various purposes.

[The reassurance routine is not coming out of nowhere.]

[discutio]

No, that was very much not the case.

We have to save a world by appealing to a pantheon over twice the number of the Hexatheon and confronting someone with control over their creator god and the power to reset the world dozens of times over.

[...as you do.]

I have four others equally as strong as Hemera, if outpacing Aurora a bit, with the ability to incapacitate as well as outright overpower. I'm not concerned of immediate physical threats, and the rest can be dealt with as it comes along.