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Who: Alisaie Leveilleur (

adelphoi) & you nerds
What: October general shenans
When: All month
Where: Everywhere potentially but probably just at her house mostly
Warning(s): Sick.. stuff?? idk probably nothing but will update if necessary.

PART 1;

a; aftermath

[ alisaie is not present in the marketplace when the attack occurs, but the resounding boom cannot be missed, even from her home flat. it's a hectic hour or so while she rushes to figure out what has happened, and when riza returns home sick she feels a heavy misgiving sink deep into her stomach. disease is not an enemy she can fight with her rapier, it's something insidious, something sneaky and unpredictable - gods help them find a remedy soon.

immediately, she's dashing right to work. with riza ill they'll need supplies - healthy foods, spare blankets, medicinal herbs, ice, a great deal of ice. once she's set with her list she's off to the institute and markets to gather what useful things she can, stuffing them into a canvas shoulder bag, but you can certainly bet that she'll stop to assist in any way she can, whether it's righting an overturned cart or leading those who were injured in the panic to the sanctuary.

of course, it's not long before she's feeling rather warm and dizzy herself and, of course, chalking it up to the rush and mayhem. maybe she'll just.. sit down a moment. ]

b; sickbed;

[ alisaie is an awful patient.

keeping her in bed is no easy task, and there's an itch under her skin that urges her to move, to work - there's so much she could be doing, ways she could be helping. this disease is a godsdamned prison.

she's responsible enough to at least not mingle with the public, lest she spread this horrible mystery illness further, but she cannot remain strictly indoors in bed for so long, not without losing her mind. so when she can, when the weather is tepid, alisaie sits on the second floor deck of her flat, wrapped up in a blanket, usually with a book (or stack of books), enjoying the fresh air on her too-hot face. ]

c; reaching out

[ what else can you do when you're more or less bedbound? catch up on the internet, of course. mostly, alisaie keeps an eye on the network for any updates, and takes the time to reach out to those she knows, to doublecheck that they're safe. if you've met her even once or twice, chances are she will toss a line out and test the waters. incoming message from RedMage: ]

This is Alisaie; how are you faring?

PART 2;

a; wandering

[ it's late evening the first time she sees him.

though first she hears him, the familiar voice of her grandfather calling her out of her dreams, warm and welcoming. she wakes in her bed, slick with fever sweat and surrounded by silence - mayhaps she had misheard it? it must have been a dream, her head is spinning. but then it comes again, distinct and clear; it has been years since she last heard his voice but it is not a sound that she would ever forget. ]

Grandfather..?

[ dizzy and disoriented, she climbs out of bed and stumbles toward the open window, squinting into the slanting light of sunset just in time to see the shape of him, louisoix leveilleur's all too familiar form disappearing around the corner. immediately her heart kicks up into her throat and alisaie gasps and turns, stumbling back through her bedroom and out of the house, down the stairs and onto the street barefoot, in her nightdress, to follow a ghost. ]

No, please wait.. don't leave me again..

[ how long she wanders in this delirium she cannot say, but her feet are sore and scratched and muddy, her hair down and wild from sleep and the tugging winds. she may run right into you, or trip over a flagstone, but short of forceful intervention nothing will keep her from her goal. ]

b; friendly fire

[ for those of you unlucky enough to visit her (or stop by her home for some other purpose) while the symptoms continue to worsen, you will find that her delirium has not abated. between bouts of lucidity and sleep she tries still to wander, to follow the voices and phantoms of her family and friends to whatever oblivion they might call her to, but it is not only friends she sees. sometimes it is enemies or horrible, twisted monsters. it's hardly a problem if she wanders outside, weaponless, but any creak of sound within her home would easily alert her.

blinking blearily, alisaie tumbles out of bed at the noise, her heart thudding and her mind cloudy, and she does not think twice before taking up her rapier and focus which lie across a chair in her room and stumbling into the dimly lit common area. her voice is rough from coughing. ]

Who.. who goes there?

[ catchall for october! alisaie will spent much of it being sick, apparently, so feel free to crash her place and visit.. make sure she stays in bed. get her texts or send her one, or meet up in the market!! if none of these prompts work for you i'm more than happy to work something out and write up a starter. ♥ plotting comment is here, or i can be reached on plurk for planning. i'm game! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ prompto might not fancy himself a gifted storyteller, but he's doing well enough to keep her entertained, to write the story of his life in the way that only he could. and as he goes on a part of her feels as if she's.. trespassing somehow, becoming privy to things she has not earned the right to know, the narrative of other peoples' lives.

but she's intrigued nonetheless. learning all of this helps to give her perspective, to better shape the image of prompto that she holds in her mind and in her heart, to describe the edges that had been hazy. ]

That must have been.. difficult.

[ she can't help but think of how she would feel, were she to hear that sharlayan had been attacked while she was away. alisaie has seen firsthand the ravages of war, the skeletons it leaves behind, and her grasp on prompto's hand tightens in sympathy. ]

Did you return?

[ It's fortunate there was a natural break in the story there, because it's not easy to tell, even after all this time. Even if the people they'd been when that news broke were far distant, even if Eos no longer existed. It had been nothing short of devastating, and his hand gently squeezes hers back. For all he'd never been close to his parents, he'd...never found out what happened to them after that day. It had been a brutal attack, and there was no telling...

But it's nearly ancient history now. ]

...Yeah. [ He nuzzles softly against her cheek, sighing. ] Or...we tried to, anyway. They killed King Regis and took the Crystal. We had to...see it for ourselves.

[ To quash that bit of denial they'd all clung to, but Noctis most of all. ]

When we got back to the outskirts of the city, though, the Empire'd already blockaded it all off. We only really got a glimpse of what our home used to be.

That's when we all kind of realized...this trip wasn't going to be what we planned it to be. At all.

[ prompto is, of course, easy to read at the best and worst of times, so his quiet distress comes through easily enough. it's no surprise. losing your home is traumatic, and prompto is a softhearted boy, there's no doubt that even now, after all of this time, it's still not an easy subject to broach.

but he's getting through it, and just to offer that much more support alisaie slips her free arm around his shoulders to keep him close, lifting her chin enough to tuck his head comfortably against her shoulder. ]

I can only imagine.

[ her voice is soft, sober. she's certainly done enough traveling under duress to understand how the tides can turn so quickly, how complicated things can become. war is a horrible thing to navigate. ]

What did they want with the Crystal?

[ He rests his cheek against her shoulder, her touch, as always, so stabilizing. Where he might get caught up in the shadows of his past, she's there to keep him facing the light. While she's sick, too...and for the nth time, he wonders what he did to deserve her.

Whatever it is, he'll never stop being grateful. ]

It's like a battery. [ She might not know what batteries all. This is a bad metaphor. Moving on. ] Like a super powerful energy source. The King had been using it to keep a barrier up around the whole city. But it's only half of a pair. The Crystal's only as powerful as it is when it's used by someone of the royal line, wearing the Ring of the Lucii. Luckily, Luna was keeping that safe, but even if the Emperor had both...I doubt he could've really done anything with them. But that didn't stop him from trying.

[ And...well.

They'd been to Gralea to see how well that worked out for Niflheim. ]

After we found out what happened...[ Well, what else were they going to do? ] We started figuring out how to fight back.

[ he settles, and alisaie threads her fingers gently through his hair, drawing the pads of her fingers in slow circles against his scalp, shutting her eyes to listen to him speak.

it's all finally beginning to come into focus. she had known that he had been traveling with his friends, adventuring to a certain degree but she had never known the why. slowly the puzzle pieces are coming together and she's more clearly able to see the picture of his life. ]

Naturally.

[ it only makes sense. with no home to return to and a vengeance to exact, what else could they do but fight back? nevermind the fact that the crown prince himself traveled with them, surely eager to restore his homeland. ]

Did you succeed?

Not...not quite.

[ He'd mentioned it once before, how they'd failed to stop the Starscourge, but that...evidently wasn't the end of the journey, even after Noctis had disappeared into the Crystal. Even if those were the last memories of his life on Eos, that hadn't been the case for Gladio. And there had been something Ardyn had said to him, the first night they'd landed on the surface. You're not as you should be. Like he remembered a different Prompto. Older, maybe.

But that's still a life he'd never known - and one he wouldn't, now. ]

We were basically fugitives at that point, but Noct had some things he had to do to level up. Find ancient weapons, make pacts with gods...you know, really normal, everyday things. [ His tone, a bit teasing, sobers again. ] We eventually did make it to Altissia so Noct could meet up with Luna and get Leviathan on his side, but...

The Empire was already there. Noct was able to make his pact, but Luna, she...

[ His eyes flutter shut a moment. ]

She didn't survive the battle. [ Because of him. Ardyn. And here he was, walking among the rest of them like he hadn't tried to destroy their entire lives. ] Noct was...a mess. Ignis was injured, and he...lost his eyesight. But we couldn't stop then, even when everything around us was falling apart.

[ oh, prompto...

alisaie is silent for a moment, long enough to let the words sink in, to give prompto a reprieve. death is never easy, and losing someone you are close with is a terrible thing to go through - it's a terrible thing to watch people go through. prompto has only ever spoken fondly of lunafreya, her loss feels like a tragedy and alisaie had not even known her.

turning her head, she presses a kiss into his fluffy hair, still dragging her fingers through it. ]

I'm.. so sorry, my love.

[ because what else is there to say? ]

You need not tell me more, if you don't like.

[ His eyes remain shut a moment longer, both to appreciate his grief, and to savor her kiss to his hair, her fingers running through it. It's been awhile since he's thought about the details of that day so intimately, but it still hurts. Those wounds would probably never heal fully - the suffering he'd seen, as Noctis mourned the loss of his love while they kept moving by necessity. They shouldn't heal, really. He should never forget why it was so important that they keep fighting. ]

No, I...I'm okay.

[ He's the only person here who knows this story in its fullness now. It deserved to be shared, for the sake of the memory of his friends.

But it can't be the easiest thing to listen to, either, so he turns his head to kiss the inside of her wrist before he finally opens his eyes again, ready to go on. ]

...Things were pretty tense after that. [ He'd tried to keep the peace, but...it hadn't gone so well. ] We were headed to Gralea, the capital of the Empire after that, so Noct could get the rest of his arsenal and find Shiva, but...

[ This is where things get complicated, for him. ]

I sorta...dropped out of the picture for awhile. We...didn't meet back up until we all made it to the capital.

[ If he asks, he'll tell her what happened to him. But - gods, it's so much a story in itself. He's not worried about what she'll think of him - still a pleasantly thrilling realization - but...

He'll wait for her to start him down that path. ]

[ he says he's okay, and she believes him, but.. still, maybe they should stop for the night. she wants to learn about him, to know everything about him and all the people and events that shaped him into the wonderful man he is, but not at the cost of his comfort or happiness.

but he goes on nonetheless, and that's fine too, if he feels he is up for it.

.. though what he says next has her hesitating. frowning thoughtfully, she opens her eyes again to look down into his face, her hand stilling in his hair. ]

Do you want to talk about it?

[ she finally asks, low and soft. he might be waiting for her to lead him, but she doesn't know that, and certainly doesn't want to push him for information he isn't willing to give. he's told her so many things in confidence, and of course she knows that he trusts her fully, but trust does not make difficult things easier to talk about. ]

[ It's so sweet, so impossibly thoughtful that she asks that question, though it's hardly surprising, with how carefully she's always handled his fragile heart. So he gives it due consideration, mulling it over in his mind. ]

...I don't know.

[ It's the most honest answer he can give right now, and a moment later, he pulls back just enough so he can meet her eyes again. They're both so tired...and talking about such distressing things isn't going to help that, even if it's keeping the both of them distracted from other matters. Did he want to talk about it? Part of him shies away from it, because he'd dealt with what he needed to from that icy hellscape, and the rest should be left to his past. But another part of him wants to tell her the fullness of it, to share every last detail, to open up that darkest chapter of his life to her completely. That he could tell her and know it wouldn't change how she sees him makes the offer so tantalizing. ]

I learned a lot about myself while I was separated from everyone else. A lot about where I came from. [ Idly, one of his hands trails to the locket around her neck, grasping it loosely between his fingers, lost in thought, lost in memory. ] We were fighting, on the train - the Nifs came, like they always did. Ardyn, he...tricked Noct. I didn't even know what was happening, until...

Until Noct pushed me off the train.

[ He doesn't even realize he's called up Ardyn's name without explaining who he is. He's too swept up in the blur of emotion that is this particular memory, of Noctis threatening to kill him, telling him it was all his fault. It had all seemed like a bad dream, and Prompto had been prepared to write it off as much in the heat of the battle that had beset them. At least, until Noctis had so deliberately pushed him from that train.

He knows that scene for what it truly was now, a deceit, but he still remembers how it felt to have his best friend rush at him with that intense, feverish hate in his eyes. ]

[ more than anything she appreciates the honesty. months ago, when they first met, more than likely he would have written it off, hidden everything behind a laugh, said he was fine and that it was no problem, no big deal. but now he's telling it true, not afraid to show her that he's uncertain, and she can't help but reward it with a soft, encouraging smile. far more important to her than knowing every detail about him is knowing that he's comfortable enough with her to not be afraid to speak his heart.

so when he goes on to continue explaining she's pleasantly surprised, and proud as well, proud of him for facing these difficult memories, for letting them out. when he reaches for the locket she lifts her free hand as well, gently curling her fingers over his. alisaie certainly knows a thing or two about being on your own to learn who you are. prompto might not have chosen his lone voyage as she had, but still, it's.. important, sometimes, to be on your own. and prompto - gods, she loves how gregarious he is, how much he loves people, but he's also always seemed the sort to lean on others a little too much sometimes - or, more specifically, to shape his own self-image around what others think of him. to change himself to keep others happy. painful though his time alone might have been, she can't help but think it's for the best.

she thinks to say as much, but then there's that name - ardyn. it's hardly been a week, she remembers ardyn's visit clearly. alisaie stiffens noticeably, unable to keep the muted surprise from her face. maybe now is not the time to tell him, he should finish his story, that's what matters now, even if she can't help the cold feeling that settles in her stomach. ]

Gods - were you hurt?

[ being pushed from a train sounds.. kind of terrifying and dangerous. ]

[ That he's said even as much as he has is a testament to how far he's come, how far they've come together. Honesty with each other is what forged the bond to be as strong as it is, and that doesn't just mean telling her his story. It means being truthful about whether or not he feels up to talking about it at all.

But he is ready, even for as difficult as it is. Prompto notes the shift in her expression, but it's easy enough to ascribe it to hearing he was pushed off a moving train at all. He doesn't think any more about it, quick to reassure her. ]

I had worse. [ His mouth quirks subtly. That, or enough potions on hand to get him back on his feet. Also, a parka, apparently. What had been damaged far greater was his fragile sense of self. ]

I was...pretty much stranded in the middle of nowhere, though, so...what else? I started walking. You know how I mentioned I hate snow?

[ He exhales gently, fingers stilling beneath hers on the locket. ]

Niflheim is pretty snowy, miserable place. But you know what they say...home sweet home, I guess.

[ that he doesn't question her reaction is.. for the best, for now. she certainly won't keep it from him, but in this moment it is less important than allowing him to talk about this. telling him that ardyn was at her bedside wouldn't really.. achieve desired results.

so she continues to listen instead, and by the end her expression is tightening a little. it's not hard, per se, but it's certainly firm, though her voice remains gentle. ]

You know that isn't true, of course.

[ for even as far as he has come, she can't help but give him gentle reminders now and then. home is not the place you were born. home is not really a place at all, so much as it is a feeling, a warmth, a belonging. her fingers drop down from his own to curl loosely around his wrist instead, her thumb slipping up beneath his wristband to move gently against the tattoo she knows is there. another reminder - that she knows, and she does not care. that this mark on his skin matters far less than the person that he is. ]

It was never your home.

[ She's right - he knows it isn't true, but he still needs those gentle reminders, because even for as far as he's come, he's still not where he should be. Not even close. He exhales far heavier then, the tension bleeding out of him as her thumb runs over his wrist. Right. Right. Home is still a nebulous concept for him, because his perception of it has changed so much recently. First, it had been Insomnia, then traveling on the road with his friends, then Thesa, then Olympia.

And now, it's here. Not this room, not Wyver, not even El Nysa, but this space he occupies next to her. ]

No...it wasn't. But I didn't figure that out until I actually went there.

[ It seemed to be fate, once again. Fate - and Ardyn's intervention, that had set him down this path. He supposed Ardyn had done it to break him, but for all the shortcomings he saw in himself, the fact remained that he hadn't given up.

He owed a lot of that to Aranea, too, but she'd ultimately made the choice to move on his own, and he had. ]

The Nifs picked me up out there, and Ardyn... [ He catches himself saying the name this time, but he doesn't stop to explain. He will, eventually - he'll need to - but not just yet. ] He took me back...back to where they...made me.

[ To meet his maker, as it were. ]

[ his answer is acceptable. even if he is not where he should be, he is still further than he was, further even than he had been when they'd met, those moons ago. it feels like a lifetime ago, as if she's known him forever though it's been only five months. nearly six now.

gods.. half a year, already?

the point remains that though six months may seem like a long time, it really isn't, for the changes he's made. he's come so far in a short amount of time, and she has every confidence in him that he will continue to go farther, to impress her even more, and with hope, to impress himself as well. he will get there, in time. ]

Niflheim.. yes?

[ he'd mentioned the full name before, in that cold cave when he'd trusted her enough to show her who he was. ardyn had said the name, too. alisaie's brows knit, her eyes flickering up to his face to gauge his expression. ]

[ Slowly, he nods. ]

But he didn't just stop there. He took me back to the very lab where it...where it happened. [ Even with as far as he's come, even with how much he trusts her and believe this won't change how she sees him, his stomach twists up uncomfortably as he goes on. He can't help it. It's still...difficult.

But he's owning it, and part of owning it means telling her. Because he wants her to know him inside and out, to be so intimately acquainted with every corner of his life that when he starts to lose himself, she can call him back all the easier. ]

Turns out it was still operational, still being run by...him. [ His mouth draws taut, brows pinched as his eyes drop away from hers. ] The man who created me. Who created everyone like me. From his own DNA.

[ A man so mad with power that he'd corrupted his own soul with daemons. How could a person do that to themselves?

But then again, he'd done it to so many others. He would have done it to Prompto, too. Still tried to, in the end. ]

I-I...

[ He swallows thickly, unable to meet her eyes at all now. ]

I...killed him.

[ the more she listens, the more that little knot of anger in her gut begins to grow. life can be unfair. alisaie knows that, accepts that. bad things happen to good people, there can be no preventing it, and bad things have happened to him as have happened to too many good men. but that doesn't mean she has to like it, and she certainly cannot help the protective flare in her heart that has her tightening her grip on him that much more. what in the gods' names had ardyn been doing? tormenting him simply for the sake of it? it's horrible. it's sadistic.

alisaie's jaw tightens, her eyes closing for a moment so she can settle herself down, quiet the rage in her heart, but when she opens her eyes again to find him looking shamefully away she finds her heart breaking.

she's quiet for a few long moments after his admission, to gather her thoughts as well as give the confession the gravity it deserves. it must not have been easy to say, knowing his soft heart, and how it must have weighed on him. slowly, she smooths her hand over his hair again, then presses a soft, warm kiss to his brow and drops her hand to lift his chin again, trying to meet his eyes. ]

It was justice, dearheart.

[ she says quietly, but forwardly, all sincerity. things might have been different on eos, she can't know, but hydaelyn has been war-torn for as long as she has known. people die. and if it makes him feel better to know.. ]

I have killed men as well. War is ugly, but you need not carry that weight with you. Doubtless you saved many more from a grim fate.

[ As always, it's so easy to move with her touch, to let her guide him, so when she lifts his chin, he meets her eyes, his own red and watery. It isn't that he regrets it - she's right. Bethisia needed to be stopped, and he would have died anyway from the effects of the daemonification on his body. He could even call it self defense, but in the heat of that moment, he'd just wanted it all to stop.

Patricide, as Ardyn had so helpfully called it. ]

I...I hope so.

[ It's the best he can hope for, really.

Prompto nuzzles closer to her then, so their foreheads and noses touch, so she's everything he can see, smell, feel. ]

But I didn't know it then. If Aranea hadn't shown up when she did, I would have been a goner for sure.

[ He exhales gently, brow creasing again. ]

After that, I...had a lot of thinking to do. Shocking, I know. I was so worried that my friends would never accept me for who - for what I was, that Noct hated me, and that's why he pushed me from the train. But Aranea talked some sense into me, and I...had to figure out what I really wanted. Who I wanted to be.

[ And that, more than what came before it, was how he'd found his true identity. ]

[ prompto tucks closer, so near that she can feel the warm gusting of his breath, and there's nothing she wants more in this moment than to kiss him, to soothe him, but the lingering, relentless taste of blood in her mouth is reminder enough that she must not.

soon, she hopes..

instead of kisses, she winds her arms around his shoulders and bumps her nose affectionately to his, the fingers of one hand threading through his hair, scratching at his scalp how she knows he likes. softly: ]

I am very glad that you did.

[ it would have been so easy for him to give up, she knows. facing who you are, and the demons of your past - gods, it's difficult, painful, can feel impossible. stronger men and women than she have buckled before the truths of their own hearts, and prompto could have just as easily done the same. for all she stresses that how he was born does not matter (and it doesn't) that does not negate the fact that it was truly horrific. she has seen the results of research like this before, known men too obsessed with what could be done that they could not bother to wonder if they should.

still, it brought prompto into the world, and for that at least she is grateful. ]

[ Her arms find their way around his shoulders and her touch soothes, relaxes. His eyes shut a moment just to savor the feeling of her fingers in his hair, but a second later, he starts speaking again. ]

That makes two of us.

[ No, he still hasn't convinced himself of everything he decided to be, of everything his friends thought him to be, of everything she sees in him. But he's working on it, everyday, and...

He'll get there. Someday. ]

After that, I met up with Aranea again. We trounced some monsters and put a stop to the last experiments of my old man's. And after that...I was off to join back up with my friends.

[ He wishes that could be the end, because it's a much happier, if open-ended tale, but it's not...quite. ]

...Ardyn caught me again on my way back. Except this time, he...used me as bait to lure Noct and the others to Gralea. [ Insult to injury, to say the least. Those days he'd waited for them were some of the longest of his life, and he doesn't dare to spend much time lingering on them. ] And...it worked. They did, but...

[ His eyes flicker open again at last. ]

That's when Noct disappeared into the Crystal, where Ardyn trapped him. And that's...the last thing I remember from home. Gladio told me a bit about what happened after, about...the daemons that ran wild over Eos without a single second of sunshine to break things up. We all kept fighting, even without Noct around, but that's all I really know.

[ So that, by necessity, is the end of the story. ]

[ his story closes up, and it's not a neat and tidy ending, but then true stories rarely are. the storm had come along and interrupted all of their lives, it hadn't asked permission, hadn't waited for them to tie up loose ends before sweeping away everything they knew and loved.

alisaie lets the silence hold them for awhile before she inhales deeply, exhales in a thoughtful hum. it's still such a strange curiosity, the similarities between their worlds, how everything he says somehow sounds familiar in a roundabout way.

and ardyn. she should.. tell him, the longer she waits the more awkward it will be to explain. so it's best to rip the bandage off, she supposes. ]

He was.. here. Ardyn.

[ she says at last, after a moment's consideration. ]

Well, not here. In Olympia. He brought me soup.

[ and tried to pawn a watermelon off on her once but that's another tale. ]

[ He can't help it. Any consolation he'd been feeling at having shared this story with her, any peace or comfort, are swiftly forced from him the moment she tells him. He sucks in a shuddering, visceral gasp, skin turning ice cold even beneath her warm embrace, and his hands tighten just so slightly on her. Gods. He'd been here? Ardyn, the man responsible for just about everything terrible in Prompto's life - in a way, for his very existence - who even now, in this distant world, seemed to haunt the shadows of his life, a constant reminder of how very much he's lost. Could still lose.

It's like a nightmare he hadn't even dared to give thought to yet. One that mocks him for being naive, that threatens the only source of stability he has right now.

But for as much as fear pours into him, pools through his very blood and bones, in that moment, he's able to hold on to one thing: that she's still here, in his arms, apparently no worse off for having encountered him.

But is that only because Ardyn didn't know?

It makes you no harder to break than before. ]

...H-he did, did he. F-figures. [ A mirthless laugh ghosts shakily out of him. ] And after he gave me a hard time for bringing people soup.

[ Oh, this is bad. This is so very, very bad. ]

[ prompto's reaction is sudden and raw, and it leaves her speechless for a moment. he hadn't shouted or flinched or railed, but his fear is so clear on his face, in the way his grasp tightens and his breath stutters. maybe she should not have told him, should have waited for another time, a better time..

.. though there may be no better time, if she is honest with herself. no, hiding things like this does more harm than good; alisaie hates to hurt him, to ever worry him, but it is better that he knows. a flash of sympathy creases her features, and alisaie looses a hand to glide it over his jaw in an attempt to keep him grounded here, with her. a hundred different responses cross her mind that she discards one after the other after the other, unwilling to offer him empty comfort. ardyn had not threatened her in any way, she certainly doesn't feel as if she's in any danger, but prompto has plenty of reason to fear this man, and from the sound of it none of it is unfounded. so telling him that it's all right cannot help, would ring hollow in both of their ears. ]

I'm here.

[ she says at last, her thumb gliding over the crest of his cheek, soft and slow. ]

He gave me no reason to suspect he would mean me any harm. Try not to dwell on it, love.

[ Her touch keeps him grounded, but a breath still shakes out of him and he presses one of his hands, cold and clammy, over hers as she strokes her thumb across his cheek. She's here. She's here. He clings to that simple fact, because he needs it so badly right now. Ardyn had been with her, but she's still here.

His head tips into her touch, lips moving against her wrist as he finally finds his voice again. ]

I...I'll try not to.

[ "Try" being the key word here. But it's so much much at once, his weary mind can't fully comprehend it. ]

But if he tries to...even look at you the wrong way, please. Call me. We thought he was someone he wasn't for a long time. He plays these...mind games. It's - just...

[ Better to be avoided altogether. ]

[ she can understand it. the fear, the worry that someone close to you is in danger. she'd felt it when her grandfather left, when bahamut ha descended upon the realm. she'd felt it when the castrum was attacked, bombarded while her brother was still inside, and she had been so very sure that she was about to lose him too.

so that worry in prompto's voice, in his eyes - she recognizes it readily, and will not dismiss it. even if she tried to she wouldn't be successful, there can be no soothing that uncertainty away. so instead she simply holds him, and smiles when his kisses move against her wrist. ]

Of course.

[ eyes closed, she nuzzles her nose against his, slow and soft. ]

I will be careful.

( open )

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