[Word had made it around to Ardyn that X’rhun did not exactly survive his own hostage situation. That the man had died, only to return days later, courtesy of the Natha.
It was odd, receiving the news. Knowing that all of his acquaintances (friends, was it?) could be snatched away at any time, given all the turmoil they had experienced in such a short period of time. Strange, something twisting in his chest, shaped like unease and resignation all the same. And irony, biting and cold, knowing that he had broken a promise with himself and healed the man not that long ago, only for him to die shortly after.
Oddly, though, it does not make Ardyn indecisive about what to do. A handful of days pass, and he visits Wyver. He intends to pay X’rhun a visit.]
X’rhun?
[-he calls through the closed door after a knock or two, having given a small amount of thought to the idea that he might be resting… but calling upon him anyway.]
[ X’rhun feels like he’s aged a lifetime in what basically amounts to a week. Not enough that he was slowly, agonizingly ushered towards death’s door by poison, haunted by dreams and unable to tell where they began and reality ended, but once he finally crossed the threshold there was only more pain waiting for him.
Agonizing, unending, unbearable pain as he watched the universe fall apart, stars torn away piece by piece and himself along with them. It is not something he wishes to relive ever again, but sometimes when he closes his eyes, he swears he’s there again, suspended in the dark and begging for it to stop gods please make it stop.
Yet he emerged from his pod as hale and whole as he had been the first time. His wounds were long gone, the poison and the pain but a distant memory. He has no need to be at home and rest, and is rather in need of ways to occupy his thoughts instead.
So when Ardyn comes a-calling, he’ll get no response at the door, if only because X’rhun is not in the house. After a moment or two of waiting, he will instead here the patter of paws from behind as a small blue pup skitters up to sniff at Ardyn’s ankles. ]
Fenrir, what have I told you about running – [ and here comes X’rhun, who stops short when he sees who is there waiting for him. He finishes his sentence rather lamely. ] – off.
Hello Ardyn.
[ He wasn’t sure how he would feel about encountering Ardyn in the wake of everything. He gets the sensation that he somehow squandered something precious, throwing his life away as he did. ]
[The pattering of paws on the ground is what catches his attention first, then something sniffing at his boots. Ardyn turns, looking down at the small little pup — the little thing reminds him of a messenger, the sort that the Astrals would send down to aid the Oracle, or those of his line. He arches a brow at it; in another lifetime, he would have crouched down to offer it a pet or two. Now, he keeps his affection for certain animals under lock and key (most of the time).
Besides, he hears X’rhun, then catches sight of the man soon after. Ardyn’s eyes sweep over him and his current state which, admittedly, seems just as good as new. If not a bit worn around the edges.]
Hello. I’ve come to visit the man who was swept away by death, only to return to the waking world.
[He shouldn’t smile when he says that. He should be more sensitive to the situation, to the trauma that is death. But Ardyn wears that taxing smile of his, though to his credit it isn’t as wide as it could be.]
[ There's a bit of a pause. He knows where this conversation is likely to go, and it's not something he thinks he can talk about in public. So, he slides past Ardyn to unlock the door. ]
He belongs to a friend of mine. She... returned to stasis some time ago.
[ Door open, he motions Ardyn inside. Fenrir immediately bolts past them both and lays claim to the bed, flopping across the sheets. ]
[He allows Fenrir to bolt past him, watching as he claims the bed with the enthusiasm of a young pup. Ardyn merely moves to sit after invited into X'rhun's home, sinking into the cushions.]
I can see that. A shame to hear about your friend, however. How suddenly they fall asleep on us, without even the slightest warning.
[ It’s awfully heavy, that one little word. He can’t help but wonder, after all he’s been through, if those who wake and then return to slumber are afforded a peaceful rest or if they are made to suffer through what he has seen.
But he keeps all that to himself, finding his own place to sit. ]
I’m surprised you learned of what happened. I doubt Prompto would have told you.
Ah, now that is the million gil question, is it not?
[ A joke, or at least an attempt at one. ]
None of it was pleasant, though I suppose I needn’t tell you that. There are a great many ways I thought I might leave this life, but a slow death by poisoning was not on the list.
They were not particularly merciful. I am not surprised to hear that they would poison their captives, as well as physically abuse them.
[Their own group of hostages, tormented by lack of sleep, and terrifying nightmares. Abusive interrogation on top of all of that — any other man would find it repulsive. Ardyn is not a particularly good person, and therefore he thinks and speaks so easily regarding all of the above. He’s indulged in being a torturer himself, as X’rhun knows.]
You needn’t talk to me about the pain. About the interrogations, unless you wish to.
[He pauses.]
I suppose I’m here out of simple curiosity; your experience of death, despite my attempts to pull you away from it not all that long ago.
[ He breathes out a laugh, little more than a huff of air. ]
I should have guessed that’s where a man who cannot die would place his curiosities. I am sorry, for whatever it may be worth, for squandering your kindness as I did.
[ There is a pause, then, as if X’rhun is unsure whether or not he wants to recount his ordeal. But surely, he owes Ardyn that much, after all the other man has shared with him. He sucks in a deep, steadying breath, clasping his hands together in front of him. ]
It was no rest, like you might imagine. The darkness took me and for an all-too-brief moment I knew peace, only to be thrust into… into agony. I know not what the Natha did to bring me back, but every moment felt like a small lifetime of being painfully, slowly, torn asunder. Would that I could have screamed, to beg them to just leave me be, but all I could do was endure.
[ By the time he’s done, he’s squeezed his hands together enough for the grip to go white-knuckled, nails biting into his own skin. ]
[They can tread upon the subject of X’rhun wasting the gift he gave him another time. For Ardyn could argue that it was only expected — that even when he returns life to someone waning, someone being pulled into the cold grasp of death, they shall eventually find themselves back there again. Whether it be days, months, or years, all shall be taken by it.
Nearly all, at least.
Besides, what X’rhun describes instead is far more interesting. That he was welcomed into the void, only to be met with agony. Is that what Ardyn should expect? All that he had strove to achieve, so that it might end in his death… Was it not rest that was awaiting him, but pain?
Ardyn crosses his arms, to hide the way his own hands clench into his sleeves. No, surely that was not the case. It had to have something to do with the Natha, perhaps with the Storm. There was no possible way that after two thousand years (ceaseless toil, pain, regret, sorrow) that he should strive for anything less than a great, yawning void of nothing.
Silence rose up between them, thick as weeds. He finally spoke.]
[ Maybe it’s because he knows that this is mere curiosity for Ardyn, but it’s easier to verbalize everything with that layer of distance. Like it’s some math problem to be solved, a book to be read and not a thing he actually went through. ]
Stars. Hundreds of them, each one being torn apart. One by one, they were obliterated and left to float in nothingness like so much dust, myself along with them.
Just when I thought I could bear it no longer, I awoke in my stasis pod, no worse for the wear. At least physically.
[Stars being torn apart. X'rhun himself feeling the same sensations, the same pain. A visual to add to the unpleasantness of it all.
He hums with consideration, the slightest cinch of a brow seen in his expression.]
And what, do you think, this vision of yours means? Or was it merely observation, watching worlds and universes being torn apart, much like our own homes were?
I know not. As best I can guess, I would say it was a vision of the Storm, though I have no idea why I was forced to see it, and experience it, as I did.
[ All he knows is that he would go back to that godsdamned tower a dozen times before he would want to experience the agony of dying again. ]
What a shame, that your rest had been interrupted so unduly by visions of pain and the Storm itself. This place truly takes all that it can from us, in ways that we do not realize until it's too late.
[But he unfolds his arms, then gestures at X'rhun.]
But all that simply means you shall have to avoid dying again, henceforth.
[ Fenrir opts to stay behind, burying himself in the blankets instead. X’rhun leads Ardyn out the door and away from his home for a bit, until they happen upon a rather open and little-used side street. ]
[He stands where he’s instructed, not moving from his spot, though Ardyn is hiking up a brow while he watches X’rhun. He opens his arms wide in an over the top gesture.]
Should I be concerned for my safety?
[That’s a joke. He’s hardly ever concerned for his safety.]
[ It’s just an impression he gets, you know, with Ardyn being immortal and all.
X’rhun, for his part, just keeps walking. Ten yards away, twenty, twenty-five… and he stops, at last, a full thirty yards down the street from Ardyn. ]
Ready?
[ He sure hopes so because he’s going to do the thing. Much in the same way that he’s able to reach out with his magic to a target and propel himself towards it, he reaches out. There is a thin strand of light that ties his outstretched hand to Ardyn, but it’s only there for a moment before X’rhun pulls. There is a flash of yellow light at Ardyn’s feet, just enough to take him off the ground slightly and send him shooting down the street to X’rhun’s side.
They don’t collide, thankfully, though X’rhun does keep his arm up to steady his friend as his boots settle on the street again. ]
["Ready" only applies in a limited fashion, when magic suddenly hooks into you and sends you reeling forward quite suddenly, at a very high rate of speed.
To Ardyn's credit, he's a man who knows how to warp, so moving from Point A to Point B in a short period of time isn't what truly catches him off guard. It's the momentum forward that's jarring, the way that his body doesn't disappear and reappears where he wishes it to go. It's because he has no control over it, and this magic is not something he's used to seeing. Much less seeing it used on him.
The way he tenses is almost hilarious, but also quite telltale of a man who knows how to fight. Muscles coiling just underneath the surface, fingers twitching to summon a weapon out of habit and instinct. But because it's X'rhun, no such thing happens, only that he staggers forward a little when he suddenly stops in front him, pushed into his extended hand to steady himself.]
A little... warning would not have gone amiss.
[By the Six... there is a moment where Ardyn is trying to compose himself again, running a hand through his hair in his attempt to pull himself back together in what was a startling experience.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a few days after the hostage and rescue situation;
It was odd, receiving the news. Knowing that all of his acquaintances (friends, was it?) could be snatched away at any time, given all the turmoil they had experienced in such a short period of time. Strange, something twisting in his chest, shaped like unease and resignation all the same. And irony, biting and cold, knowing that he had broken a promise with himself and healed the man not that long ago, only for him to die shortly after.
Oddly, though, it does not make Ardyn indecisive about what to do. A handful of days pass, and he visits Wyver. He intends to pay X’rhun a visit.]
X’rhun?
[-he calls through the closed door after a knock or two, having given a small amount of thought to the idea that he might be resting… but calling upon him anyway.]
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Agonizing, unending, unbearable pain as he watched the universe fall apart, stars torn away piece by piece and himself along with them. It is not something he wishes to relive ever again, but sometimes when he closes his eyes, he swears he’s there again, suspended in the dark and begging for it to stop gods please make it stop.
Yet he emerged from his pod as hale and whole as he had been the first time. His wounds were long gone, the poison and the pain but a distant memory. He has no need to be at home and rest, and is rather in need of ways to occupy his thoughts instead.
So when Ardyn comes a-calling, he’ll get no response at the door, if only because X’rhun is not in the house. After a moment or two of waiting, he will instead here the patter of paws from behind as a small blue pup skitters up to sniff at Ardyn’s ankles. ]
Fenrir, what have I told you about running – [ and here comes X’rhun, who stops short when he sees who is there waiting for him. He finishes his sentence rather lamely. ] – off.
Hello Ardyn.
[ He wasn’t sure how he would feel about encountering Ardyn in the wake of everything. He gets the sensation that he somehow squandered something precious, throwing his life away as he did. ]
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Besides, he hears X’rhun, then catches sight of the man soon after. Ardyn’s eyes sweep over him and his current state which, admittedly, seems just as good as new. If not a bit worn around the edges.]
Hello. I’ve come to visit the man who was swept away by death, only to return to the waking world.
[He shouldn’t smile when he says that. He should be more sensitive to the situation, to the trauma that is death. But Ardyn wears that taxing smile of his, though to his credit it isn’t as wide as it could be.]
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Would you care to come in for a bit?
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[He gestures down at his feet, at the little creature.]
And who's this?
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He belongs to a friend of mine. She... returned to stasis some time ago.
[ Door open, he motions Ardyn inside. Fenrir immediately bolts past them both and lays claim to the bed, flopping across the sheets. ]
... He's rather precocious.
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I can see that. A shame to hear about your friend, however. How suddenly they fall asleep on us, without even the slightest warning.
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[ It’s awfully heavy, that one little word. He can’t help but wonder, after all he’s been through, if those who wake and then return to slumber are afforded a peaceful rest or if they are made to suffer through what he has seen.
But he keeps all that to himself, finding his own place to sit. ]
I’m surprised you learned of what happened. I doubt Prompto would have told you.
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[Bad tidings were always of more interest to people than good ones. Even if people would claim otherwise.]
So. Do you wish to talk about it?
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[ A joke, or at least an attempt at one. ]
None of it was pleasant, though I suppose I needn’t tell you that. There are a great many ways I thought I might leave this life, but a slow death by poisoning was not on the list.
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[Their own group of hostages, tormented by lack of sleep, and terrifying nightmares. Abusive interrogation on top of all of that — any other man would find it repulsive. Ardyn is not a particularly good person, and therefore he thinks and speaks so easily regarding all of the above. He’s indulged in being a torturer himself, as X’rhun knows.]
You needn’t talk to me about the pain. About the interrogations, unless you wish to.
[He pauses.]
I suppose I’m here out of simple curiosity; your experience of death, despite my attempts to pull you away from it not all that long ago.
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I should have guessed that’s where a man who cannot die would place his curiosities. I am sorry, for whatever it may be worth, for squandering your kindness as I did.
[ There is a pause, then, as if X’rhun is unsure whether or not he wants to recount his ordeal. But surely, he owes Ardyn that much, after all the other man has shared with him. He sucks in a deep, steadying breath, clasping his hands together in front of him. ]
It was no rest, like you might imagine. The darkness took me and for an all-too-brief moment I knew peace, only to be thrust into… into agony. I know not what the Natha did to bring me back, but every moment felt like a small lifetime of being painfully, slowly, torn asunder. Would that I could have screamed, to beg them to just leave me be, but all I could do was endure.
[ By the time he’s done, he’s squeezed his hands together enough for the grip to go white-knuckled, nails biting into his own skin. ]
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Nearly all, at least.
Besides, what X’rhun describes instead is far more interesting. That he was welcomed into the void, only to be met with agony. Is that what Ardyn should expect? All that he had strove to achieve, so that it might end in his death… Was it not rest that was awaiting him, but pain?
Ardyn crosses his arms, to hide the way his own hands clench into his sleeves. No, surely that was not the case. It had to have something to do with the Natha, perhaps with the Storm. There was no possible way that after two thousand years (ceaseless toil, pain, regret, sorrow) that he should strive for anything less than a great, yawning void of nothing.
Silence rose up between them, thick as weeds. He finally spoke.]
…And what else? What did you see?
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Stars. Hundreds of them, each one being torn apart. One by one, they were obliterated and left to float in nothingness like so much dust, myself along with them.
Just when I thought I could bear it no longer, I awoke in my stasis pod, no worse for the wear. At least physically.
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He hums with consideration, the slightest cinch of a brow seen in his expression.]
And what, do you think, this vision of yours means? Or was it merely observation, watching worlds and universes being torn apart, much like our own homes were?
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[ All he knows is that he would go back to that godsdamned tower a dozen times before he would want to experience the agony of dying again. ]
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[But he unfolds his arms, then gestures at X'rhun.]
But all that simply means you shall have to avoid dying again, henceforth.
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[ And neither does he wish to think about it much longer. This seems like a good a place as any to shift the subject. ]
… Actually, I have a little trick I’ve been working on to that end, if you would care you indulge me a moment.
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Indulge you? Well, since you asked so nicely.
[Show him this trick!]
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[ A pause, as he casts around his small house. ]
We should probably step outside.
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Then outside we go.
[He’ll stand and gesture at the door, only to follow X’rhun out when he’s ready, wondering what this could be.]
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Stand here, if you will. I need some distance.
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Should I be concerned for my safety?
[That’s a joke. He’s hardly ever concerned for his safety.]
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[ It’s just an impression he gets, you know, with Ardyn being immortal and all.
X’rhun, for his part, just keeps walking. Ten yards away, twenty, twenty-five… and he stops, at last, a full thirty yards down the street from Ardyn. ]
Ready?
[ He sure hopes so because he’s going to do the thing. Much in the same way that he’s able to reach out with his magic to a target and propel himself towards it, he reaches out. There is a thin strand of light that ties his outstretched hand to Ardyn, but it’s only there for a moment before X’rhun pulls. There is a flash of yellow light at Ardyn’s feet, just enough to take him off the ground slightly and send him shooting down the street to X’rhun’s side.
They don’t collide, thankfully, though X’rhun does keep his arm up to steady his friend as his boots settle on the street again. ]
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To Ardyn's credit, he's a man who knows how to warp, so moving from Point A to Point B in a short period of time isn't what truly catches him off guard. It's the momentum forward that's jarring, the way that his body doesn't disappear and reappears where he wishes it to go. It's because he has no control over it, and this magic is not something he's used to seeing. Much less seeing it used on him.
The way he tenses is almost hilarious, but also quite telltale of a man who knows how to fight. Muscles coiling just underneath the surface, fingers twitching to summon a weapon out of habit and instinct. But because it's X'rhun, no such thing happens, only that he staggers forward a little when he suddenly stops in front him, pushed into his extended hand to steady himself.]
A little... warning would not have gone amiss.
[By the Six... there is a moment where Ardyn is trying to compose himself again, running a hand through his hair in his attempt to pull himself back together in what was a startling experience.]
I could have stabbed you. What was that?
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