i swore an oath.

☆☆☆  Of course the voice cuts through him. It’s that precise way that only Ignis speaks his name that has Noct feel startled and thrown off; honestly, though, he’s not quite grasping why Ignis is in this place.

“Huh…?” he frowns, and his eyes narrow in the dark to try to make out the details. Of course it’s hard to see in here, and the music is way too loud to have a normal conversation. “Iggy?”

He takes a step back and almost hits his head against the wall as he scowls at the people moving too close to him. It smells worse than some of Gladio’s tents and the floor seems to want to hold him in place, stopping him from making a quick exit. Not that he really wants to – Ignis is here, and Ignis might have answers to his questions. Guess that advice turned out okay after all.

“Why are you…?” he starts, but he’s yelling over the thrum of the bass and getting knocked around by people left and right. His frown deepens and he wraps his fingers around Ignis’ wrist, pulling him away. 

“Ugh, I can’t see anything,” he complains loudly as he pushes through the bodies, most of them unconcerned. He feels some sort of beer or alcohol slosh onto his feet and he grimaces, knowing full well his whole foot is going to be soaked. “It’s too dark.”

||  █ ▌— he hears noct say his name, but if he says anything after, it’s certainly drowned out. the music here is much too loud for a normal conversation, after all ( part of its appeal, if you ask ignis, but he certainly is regretting this location choice now ) and the words are lost amid the music. he lets noct grab him by the wrist, a demonstrated level of trust reserved only for his king, and is easily led away from the noise.

it’s difficult to hear much of anything, but he does pick up on noct’s words, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly behind his glasses as he tries to keep his lips from curling upward in amusement. 

likely noct has not thought too hard about what he just said, but ignis is good-humored enough, at this stage of processing his recent loss of sight, to try and make noct feel bad.

          SUNSET CIRCUIT HAD BEEN PACKED, whether it be with snow itself or the abundance of people wishing to partake in the winter festivities. snowmen line the outer circle with snow angels in turn patterned upon the ground, all the while the sounds of pelted frost could be heard to the side of him. though he had not truly come to partake in some idle games, perhaps it was a blessing of some form that his stroll had brought him here, taking note of a man who crossed beyond the safety threshold into the battleground, completely unintentional from what kaeya can observe. while he could barely see his actual eyes, the nasty scars that were visible could hint enough that he might not be fully aware of the dangers. not that this was truly any of his business whether or not he had vision, even if the poor man might find himself unwarrantedly pelted by eager participants. silently he watches for a few moments longer, icy blues taking note of another winding up a ball of snow in their palm, at the unfortunate target.

          ❝ A snowball is being aimed your way in the direction you’re walking. Take three steps to your left and duck halfway down, there’s a barricade there— ❞ well, it wouldn’t hurt to give a few bits of advice, right?

                                             「  @fierydaggers 」

||  █ ▌— the cold was pleasant, here, ignis decided. it wasn’t like in gralea, or indeed the empire greater, where the cold sat in one’s bones and pulled. it wasn’t like the cold that seeped from the glacian’s corpse. no, it was almost a gentle sort of cold, that carried with it an atmosphere of excitement with it. people were enjoying themselves out in the snow. ignis had attempted to navigate the area without much success. though not completely helpless, there were limitations to what he could do on his own.

and so when some perfectly sound advice comes from not far away, he heeds it, of course. three steps to his left and then behind the barricade--it’s only a snowball fight but there’s something familiar in ducking behind cover like this. he wishes he could participate in earnest.

☆☆☆ Golden is a strange place. Well, all of Spirale is strange, he guesses – one ward is not more weird than any of the others. But he’s found himself in Golden now and he’s trying to find answers to the where and the why.

He’d tried the library and found hardly any answers. Someone had told him about a couple bars he could go to that might have a regular or two that could explain some things. The woman he’d spoken to had laughed at him and said that he’d probably be ‘popular’ there, which made hardly any sense. Whatever, he was used to going around and looking for hunts, so looking for information on this city and understanding why he was brought here was not all that different.

The bar is more like a nightclub. He isn’t one to frequent these sorts of places, so already he is out of his element. Still, this was his only lead and he isn’t going to give up just yet. Breathing in a deep sigh he enters, immediately hit with the smell of alcohol in the darkness. He frowns, and narrows his eyes as he walks towards the crowd of men and women dancing, his feet slightly sticking to the beer stains that littered the floor.

Unfortunately, the bar where he thought he could get information is through the crowd, and in order not to barrel through he tries his hardest to make his movements… organic. He slips between people and sort of dances, poorly, and finds himself sandwiched between a wall and a man dancing behind him.

He starts to nudge his way out, trying again to fake out dancing as he does. He’s stuck, though, and he can start to feel himself getting irritated at the whole situation. Hands come to his waist and Noct freezes immediately. That’s enough.

“Hey, buddy, get your hands off me!”

                                                                                    @fierydaggers​

||  █ ▌— the club is dark, ignis can tell that much. his sight is more or less limited to light and dark, and even then there are times when he’s not sure just what time it’s supposed to be. that’s all right, though. what matters isn’t what he can or can’t see, but rather: the club is dark. it’s a seedy place, he definitely knows that much. the stickiness of spilled drinks on the floor is a testement to that, as is the truly awful music blaring through the place.

he hasn’t been to a place like this since... well. don’t think about insomnia right now. it’s easy not to, here. spirale is enormous, and fascinating, and bears enough similarities to ignis’ home city that he can navigate easily enough, but not so many that he risks getting nostalgic and missing home.

and anyway, there’s not much on his mind outside the present moment. terrible music, worse drinks, and the way dancing still comes naturally to him even without his sight. there is no clumsiness in him for the moment as he moves through the crowd without much trouble. it helps that everyone is in the dark, low lights and too many people crowded into this place surely making it difficult for even the other patrons to see clearly.

he places his hands on the hips of another man, who he thought had been enjoying dancing as much as he had... but what he’d mistaken for awkwardness had apparently been a lack of interest in this situation entirely. ignis’ hands immediately withdraw and he takes as much of a step back as he can on the crowded dance floor... until the familiarity of that voice hits him like a blow to the head.

@fierydaggers​ | SC

“I guess we’ve got some shirts in green… but you do know this isn’t a regular clothing store, right?”

@fierydaggers​ // event.

Ravus’ lips are pulled into a tight line, his fists clenched. Something is wrong in this city, he knows that, but what it is exactly he cannot be sure of. Everyone is acting a little off, and he’s not made enough friends or even allies to determine what precisely is awry.

Ah. But there is someone he can reach out to, and so he does. Knowing Ignis cannot read text messages (unless there is a text-to-voice on his phone, but even then, he prefers a phone call) he dials the advisor’s number and waits until he picks up.

“Scientia. Where are you? I have questions.”

||  █ ▌— ignis has... no idea where he is. this city is utterly unfamiliar. not innsomnia, not anywhere he’s ever been before. he’s wondering just how he got here when the phone in his pocket begins to ring.

he stares at it for a moment. the name ravus nox fleuret blinks up at him from the display, and he hesitates for just that one moment before picking up. ❝ ... hello? ❞ he begins, uncertain. he isn’t normally at a loss for words--his job, after all, is to advise Noctis... and that includes on diplomatic matters--but he doesn’t normally have a sudden call from a foreign dignitary in an unfamiliar place.

@fierydaggers // event starter.

Ardyn’s eyes are on the people who walk down the busy street, his lips pressed in a tight line as he wanders. It’s different, strange, and overwhelming; he feels lost, but if he knows one thing it’s this:

He was put here to help people. So he will.

His gaze stops and fixes upon a younger man who is jostled, the cane that he was holding now on the ground. Wanting to help, Ardyn hurries over and picks it up for him and presses it to his hand.

“Are you quite all right? You looked as if you were going to get hurt.”

||  █ ▌— the familiar voice causes ignis to pause, even as his hand clasps around the handle of his cane once more. it’s... off. the tone is all wrong, softer somehow and without the usual mocking bite that ignis had come to expect from ardyn izunia. still, he’s defensive. he always is, when it comes to ardyn.

❝ i’m fine, ❞ he says, and doesn’t try to keep the hostility out of his words as steps back, then back further. ❝ you needn’t worry about me, chancellor. ❞

Ravus watches Ignis with mild interest, his head tilting to the side. When they’d last met, emotions had been high – Ravus’ sister had been murdered and yet Ignis’ prince had not. The injustice of it made him feel sick, angry; he’d fought Ignis, even though it was not his fault that Luna had been killed.

And Ravus knew, had seen the moment that Ignis put on the ring – that both of them would end up severely punished for their hubris. He doesn’t have to wonder if Ignis’ actions had come from a place of wanting to do good; he knows they did. They had to. Though he hasn’t had much time to think about the aftermath of Altissia he still knows that the royal advisor isn’t a bad man.

He makes a soft sound at Ignis’ words and watches him. He seems to have adjusted well enough to becoming blind, and he has to wonder if that’s because the other has been in Spirale for long. “Do I?” he asks, and raises his mechanical hand to his chin. “I suppose I would, the loss of my sister is still fresh in my mind. But I don’t want to fight you again, if that was something you were concerned about.”

||  █ ▌— ignis had fought ravus nox fleuret more times than perhaps he’d have preferred to. not his choice. not really ravus’ choice either, with the prince driven to violence by grief and then by daemonification... it saddens ignis a little to think about it, and so he pushes that aside for the moment. there are, as always, more pressing concerns, even if in this moment there is only the more pressing need to understand how ravus is here, alive, now.

it’s something of a relief. ignis knows that the tenebraen prince has little left to him but oh, still, there can be a way forward. ignis has to believe that even when everything has been lost, there is still cause to step forward.

( of course that’s about noct. aren’t most things, when it comes to ignis? his prince will be gone one day, he knows it, it’s unavoidable. )

@fierydaggers​ || starter call.

“These are beautiful,” Angeal notes as he looks up at the cherry blossoms. It’s peaceful here, and he knows that there’s places nearby that people like to train. He’ll have to find them later.

He turns back to Ignis and clasps his hands behind his back. “This is one of your favorite places in the city?”

||  █ ▌— ignis is enjoying a moment of calm consideration, sightless eyes turned upward toward the sky. light and dark are all he’s capable of sensing right now, but still, that is more than enough. he knows it’s daylight, and that daylight will last precisely as long as expected.

  ❝ yeah… guess they’re pretty cute. in a funky kinda way. think the overlords of this whole place will let me have one? ❞  if matt couldn’t steal one, he could ask, right? his chances weren’t at an exact zero, but how would he even go about it? he decides to set aside the idea to return to at a later point.

  ❝ i’d have an answer if they stayed still long enough— ❞  but it seemed like his company had better luck, so matt walks a little closer, peering over his shoulder with a small hum. ❝ if you meant to look up cat videos, then it works. ❞  he says with a light chuckle, shrugging his shoulders.  ❝ don’t worry. won’t tell anyone you’re ramblin’ to yourself. i’m, uh… guessin’ they’re someone you know? ❞

||  █ ▌— ignis certainly finds the idea amusing. taking one of these strange creatures as a pet. he’s never been a pet person himself (far too busy, always), but he understands the appeal, of course. ❝ absolutely not. they don’t let us have much of anything, do they? ❞

          A somewhat jubilant expression crosses Noct’s features following Ignis’s response. Of course, it’s no sooner replaced by furrowed brows and a look of hostility. The giants finally begin to close in on them, and Noctis’s subsequent words are spoken rather quickly. “There are three—no, five of them! Two of them are red!” His voice stops for a moment, and his features soften meanwhile. “Oh, and before I forget!” With a bottled potion in hand now, his feet then move in the direction of Ignis. “Here! Made sure to stock on a bit just in case!” The bottle is gently given to the other before he shifts his attention back on the group of giants. As they continue his approach, he forgoes attacking straight on and instead opts to use the distance that they currently held with the enemy to their advantage. 

          There was no guarantee that this plan he had in mind would work, but if it results in them having to fight less of them, then it’s a risk he’s willing to take ( on his own behalf ). His gaze casts downward onto the Ring of the Lucii that’s placed upon his finger. He had been wearing it this whole time, and yet for the first time in awhile, he can feel power emanating from it. A feeling of anxiety starts to well up in his chest as his fingers lightly brush up against it. “Been awhile since I’ve used this but…” They were in a precarious situation—and as they say desperate times calls for desperate measures. Noctis extends his arm upward; fortunately for him, two Iron Giants are grouped together as they draw in close, so his attention focuses on taking them out first. His hand emits a bright blue light, alike to him charging up for an attack—which is exactly what this was.

          “Alterna!” He then releases the charged up power towards the two Iron Giants. A red light illuminates from behind them just as soon as he does, and thereafter does it warp into a black hole. Seconds later, the two giants begin to slow down, gradually being pulled back into it until they eventually vanish from the battlefield entirely. “It worked! Okay, that just leaves three!”

||  █ ▌— there is no hesitation as ignis takes the potion. he might normally be a little more frugal with such things, at least when it comes to using them on himself as opposed to another, but the situation sort of demands a little more urgency, and it won’t do to be weak, stumbling around. he needs to be at his best if he’s going to manage to be useful at all. his use to noct is not quite as much of a given as it may have been in the past, he feels, and he’s very aware of this sense. he turns toward the giants, ready for them to close the gap a little more. he’s not in a good position to try and ambush the things, but he knows the value of his own knives.

noct has only used the power of the ring a few times in ignis’ presence, and has used it not at all here, as far as ignis was aware. this is certainly the time for it, however, and he takes a step back as he feels the magic flowing from the ring. it’s certainly a useful power and ignis has no doubt that it’s a sight to behold. it’s enough that he almost wishes he could sense more than the difference between day and night, but alas...

“ ━━ Wait.”

                     THE NAME ELUDED HIM, stuck on the tip of his tongue. That the man was part of Prince Noctis’ entourage he knew, though Nyx himself was not in the palace quite often enough to actually know the guy. But something about him was… Off. That they had passed one another and his Glaive attire had gone unnoticed was the biggest clue. In a place so far from home, familiarity would stick out like a sore thumb, no matter if the thumb itself belonged to a stranger.

Turning back to face him, Nyx’s brow furrowed. The outburst had been a little… Shortsighted. Just what exactly was he going to say? ‘Hey man, don’t you recognize me?’ Besides being in poor taste, what business would a member of the royal household have knowing a single Glaive among many– And a commoner at that? They might as well have been worlds apart even back home.

“This is gonna sound weird, but I have to know: Did you come from Eos?”

@fierydaggers​ // sc.

||  █ ▌— ignis pauses as he’s addressed. sort of addressed. at first he isn’t even certain the man is speaking to him when he calls out in the first place, and ignis has half a mind to ignore this and keep walking... but only for a moment. even before the next words come, he’s made up his mind to be polite. it isn’t as though the voice is familiar to him, particularly, but the tone is. ignis has been here long enough to recognise a new arrival, a man utterly out of his element. he was like that himself very recently.

the next words prompt him to raise an eyebrow as he turns toward the other man. behind his sunglasses, his vacant gaze hovers somewhere to the left of where he should be looking, but he has long decided that close enough will have to be enough.

❝ i... i am from eos, yes, ❞ he says, a little uncertainly. it isn’t as though he’s never met anyone from his world here before, but as far as he’s aware, they are all people he knows, to some degree or another.

@fierydaggers​ || starter call.

Ravus’ eyes are narrowed, one blue and one purple scan the outside of the townhouses; not even, he thinks, mildly appropriate for a man of his station. He was – and he puts emphasis on was – the high commander of the Imperial army. He was – and he relents as he admits the past tense – a prince of Tenebrae. Being housed with four other individuals is not ideal.

Not that he’s met his roommates anyway. It appears that he might be the only one who has moved in – for now, at least.

He crosses his arms and leans back, breathing in the smell of city. It’s nothing like his home world, and he supposes he finds comfort in that. Somehow. He has to, considering how every comfort has since been stripped from him since he watched his homeland burn so many years ago.

A door opens, and Ravus opens his eyes. He can’t decide if it’s a gods-send or a curse, but he finds himself mere feet away from Ignis Scientia. The last time he’d seen him, he’d managed to save his precious Noctis where Ravus had failed to save Lunafreya.

“Ignis,” he says, and doesn’t move from his spot. “Did they not give you the dignity of your eyes back? Shame.” 

||  █ ▌— ignis does not, of course, notice ravus right away. why would he? before ravus had opened his mouth, he was just another passerby, another resident of this strange part of town that people come and go from at an almost alarming rate.

he pays little enough attention to people near where he lives. it isn’t by design, he simply doesn’t want to get distracted by new neighbours every time he leaves his house.

the familiarity is, therefore, unexpected. he recognises the voice of ravus nox fleuret in an instant. he would know him anywhere, it seems. he isn’t sure whether he is happy to hear that familiar voice or not, but he can’t help but enjoy the familiarity for what it is.

❝ they did not. unfortunately, i must continue to suffer the indignity of blindness, ❞ he says, his voice flat, perhaps even a little bland. he really doesn’t mind not having his sight. he’s rapidly growing used to it, in that way one can grow accustomed to anything if they don’t have a choice in the matter. he no longer views it as crippling.

his gaze is unfocused, of course, but his head turns toward ravus at last. ❝ i’m surprised you’re here. you sound... better. ❞

fierydaggers / ignis !

          “This place… doesn’t feel real sometimes…” For now they had had a moment’s peace from the fighting, time that they had spent recuperating and discussing recent events. “All this stuff about a floating island appearing above the city… being erased… I don’t know…” The more he thought on it, the more it had sounded as though they were in a video game of sorts. Despite their surroundings and the dangers that lurked around every corner, he takes solace in being near Ignis. Yet just as equally, it made him melancholic—given what they’ve faced back home together. Of course, these were facts he kept to himself. “You know… this isn’t the first time that something like this happened. … Pretty sure I can guess when—” His voice cuts off short upon feeling low, but paced vibrations from beneath their feet; the pattern emits was alike to footsteps, though if he were more specific, it felt like a more than one pair of footsteps. “Great… what now…?!” The vibrations grow stronger with each passing minute, coming at them from all sides it seems until it suddenly all stops, which renders him confused.

          “—!! Look out!” An explosion of a nearby establishment follows immediately after his words, its rubble ( varying in size ) tossed their way. Noctis, however, makes quick work of it all with a great sword he instinctively summons to his hands. Before them now lies several Red and Iron Giants, and after a prompt inspection of the area, they were more of them from the back, too. “No where to run… hope you’re ready for round two!”

||  █ ▌— ignis nods, letting noct speak as he takes a moment to collect himself after this most recent fight. he’s used to seemingly-endless waves of hostiles, but it’s still unpleasant, and no amount of familiarity will change that. he is glad that at least he is not helplessly stripped of all of his abilities. fire engulfs one of his daggers and he sighs, ready for whatever comes next. 

what noct is saying is--true, of course. it feels like this place shouldn’t exist, but he doesn’t know how to interpret it. he looks concerned. noct has been here longer than ignis has, and ignis is willing to defer to his expertise, so to speak.

yes, it doesn’t feel real. but the injuries, mild though they may be, that ignis has sustained in these preceding fights certainly seem real enough that he’s not about to let his uncertain feelings keep him from treating the threats like threats.

he’s about to respond, to press noct for more information about when this sort of thing has happened before when noct shouts. he cannot see where the rubble is coming from, but he can still duck out of the way in time to not get hit ( barely ). he swears under his breath, then adds, louder, ❝ will this never end? ❞

Ardyn doesn’t know Ignis that well. He knows him in the periphery; knows him as Noct’s, belonging to someone who doesn’t belong to himself. That doesn’t mean the Ignis doesn’t have the ability to be interesting on his own, no, it’s just that Ardyn hasn’t peeled back the layers yet.

But what he has observed of Ignis is fascinating, indeed.

“Why, I’m only noting that if you wanted to be free of all of this,” he says, motioning all around, his arms spread wide in a show of dramatics. Despite Ignis’ inability to see he feels as if he could hear it, somehow. “Don’t you want to return to Insomnia, live out your days in peace beside your precious Noctis? Isn’t that what you want?”

He grins – he hasn’t won. Yet. But it feels like he’s getting closer to it.

“Don’t you just want to let this world burn, if it means seeing your beloved Noctis again?”

||  █ ▌— ignis can’t deny that ardyn has a point. he wants to deny it, of course, but can’t bring himself to fully do so. of course, he doesn’t trust either side in this, trusts this NULL less than the overlords of this place. it feels, it seems, like a lose-lose situation, and he can’t shake the feeling that there is no right or wrong way to go about this.

that’s enough to make him glare at ardyn. he knows the man likely has no real stake in the game, likely just wishes to see what will happen, if he pushes this and prods thus. ignis has no desire to be a test of ‘what might happen if’ and so he shakes his head.

❝ don’t presume to know me, or what i want. ❞

he still doesn’t know noct is in the city. ignis views that as a good thing, of course, but it makes the conversation difficult to navigate. ❝ noct will be fine, ❞ he settles on, because he knows that to be true regardless.

he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care about this place, but to trust ardyn izunia would be to exhibit outright foolishness.

✧.  @fierydaggers​ ( security breach )

          Barely here a season and things have already escalated to dangerous to the point of detrimental. While Lunafreya trusted this place little, she had to admit to growing steadily complacent. After all, it seemed fairly peaceful for a spell, more so than she’s experienced in a long while. Now this has happened leading her to walking around a fog dense Archimedes wary of monsters she’s not strong enough to deal with. The irony of it all tastes like a bitter pill.

“I apologize for not being more helpful.” She admits, leaning back against a wall with a small sigh. It’s been years since she’s felt defenseless combat wise. Well, not much she can do about that, that’s for certain. “Though I believe we’ll be fine as long as we stick together if you’re alright with that.”

||  █ ▌— ignis is not faring too much better, but he refuses to let that show on his face. it wouldn’t do to demonstrate a lack of confidence, especially when that can translate to making mistakes. he has enough power that he can defend himself, and the oracle if it comes down to it, though he doesn’t underestimate the skills she possesses of her own. 

@fierydaggers​ // event!

“Don’t you ever want to break free of it all?” Ardyn asks as he comes up behind Ignis. There’s a familiarity there now – of all of Noct’s little footsoldiers, his cannon fodder as Ardyn had thought of them as, Ignis is by far the one he’s most acquainted with. He’d gotten the chance to really and truly play with Noct’s little toys when he watched Ignis put on the ring in desperation, and when he’d sent Prompto about in that maze in Gralea. Disposable, all of them. Slight inconveniences to getting to Noctis.

Now, ah. Well, he was quite enjoying messing with this one.

“Isn’t this your opportunity, Ignis? To leave this city and return to your world of darkness?”

      ignis lets out an audible sigh at the sound of ardyn’s voice so close behind him. it should be reassuring that ardyn is almost growing predictable. it isn’t. he had seen enough of the man to last a lifetime before even arriving here, and now he finds him around every corner, like some sort of jabbering mockingbird. ignis clamps down on the irritation, though, lest it actually show on his face, and turns to face him with as much dignity as a blind man who can’t actually see his potential assailant can muster.

      it’s the best he can do. and in fact, ardyn isn’t here to--to attack him, it seems. he frowns at that, considering that. he turns ardyn’s words over in his mind. this place is going straight to hell, yes, but is it worth trying to rebel and risk retaliation if these stars regain complete control? it’s--tempting, though, he must admit. what does he care for this world, or any other? his priorities have always been people, not places. the sun could go out here, too, and it’s not as though he’d be able to tell the difference.