Exploration Event: Neverwere

[lifeaftr_mods]

EXPLORATION EVENT: NEVERWERE

Who: Everyone!
What: Your wildest dreams come true!
When: May 15th to May 18th
Where: Ziziphus, those still on Ensō...and Mu
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Then Know That My Life Was Just a Killer Dream
You can find most of the information you need in the OOC info post! In the meantime, feel free to use this log as a catch-all for your dream worlds, as well as detailing your efforts to free one another. Whether they're on Ziziphus or Ensō at the time of the dreams' capture, your character is free to access as many dreams as you like, as the interlocking mental landscape allows for that sort of crossing over apropos of nothing. And time, of course, is very fluid in dreams - many days, months, and years can transpire in a matter of mere minutes.

Will you fight your way free from Ziziphus's vines or Mu's thrall, or are you content to die in your sleep?

Remember to let us know if your character dies during this event!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] May 15th: The vines make their move, ensnaring characters in ideal fantasy worlds
[ ♆ ] May 17th: The Storyteller will make contact with those they can, as well as issue information and a potential solution
[ ♆ ] May 18th: Those that have not freed themselves from the vines or from Mu will suffer a death

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[scourgingstars]

Wh...what?

[Ardyn took half a step back; the natural reaction, when he was sure Gladio was about to pull a sword on him.]

[Why? Sure, he had a temper, but why did it suddenly seem so normal that anger should be turned on Ardyn of all people?]

N-no, I...you're not acting like yourself. [Wasn't he?] I just thought you might want some time to rest.

[piercetheheart]

Think maybe you're the one that's not yourself.

[Why did it feel so natural to be so angry at him? Surely the... the what? not King, certainly not king. Ardyn was not his king and never would be. He was something else, something monstrous, something...]

Accursed...? [He had to say it aloud, soft and uncertain to see if it felt as right as it did in his mind.]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn turned white at a single word, any remaining sense of composure shattering like glass. That word, the name he'd been given by someone he hated, someone that he couldn't even remember right now.]

Don't-

[His voice was quiet, Ardyn staring at Gladio like he'd just pulled a loaded gun on his king.]

...ever call me that.

[piercetheheart]

[For a moment Gladio blinks in surprise, uncertain how, exactly, one word could cause such a visceral reaction. He didn't mean to hurt him, did he?

No, he hadn't. Gladio might have been mad but he wasn't a cruel man. Was he? Something told him that the rules here were different. That somehow it didn't matter when it came to Ardyn, all bets were off somehow.]

What are you?

[scourgingstars]

I don't...know. I can't remember.

[Ardyn staggered back a little further, hands raised to his head.]

Something I don't want to be.

let you decide if he can have it or not~

[piercetheheart]

Can't? [Doubtful, almost accusatory. No he just didn't want to remember.]

You don't get off that easy. [He couldn't commit the atrocities Gladio somehow knew Ardyn had without... paying a price. A price... The ultimate price...

Noctis

And this time Gladio holds up a hand, fully expecting Hyperion to materialize, to come to him here, despite not being a member of the glaive, not being this man's Shield. It doesn't matter, it's such an ingrained response to perceived threats that he barely realizes he's doing it.]

[scourgingstars]

What are you-?

[The sword didn't appear, but intent was enough to snap Ardyn out of his thoughts, staring at Gladio like he was expecting to see a blade swung at him regardless.]

...don't. You...can't. I can't die by your hand.

[piercetheheart]

[Gladio scowled, fingers curling into a tight fist over empty air. Fuck.]

Death's what you deserve. [None of this was real and somewhere he understood that this time the illusions were not Ardyn's doing but it was hard to set that aside.]

[scourgingstars]

You think I don't know that?!

[Ardyn snapped that in something sounding like frantic desperation, recoiling as if he wanted to just retreat upon himself and disappear.]

But you can't. You know that. Even here--even here it doesn't matter.

[piercetheheart]

[He's taken aback by that, startled and surprised. Ardyn didn't care. He didn't give a fuck about the people he'd murder, others he'd mutilated, millions of lives destroyed and he didn't give a shit about anything but himself.

So why...? What made him sound like that? Act like there's any regret in him for the things he's done. Was it the dream?

It's enough to make him hesitate a little. ]

Don't act like you're fucking sorry. [It was an insult to the memory of all those that have died by his hand.

He's right about one thing, though, and Gladio knows it. He can't kill him and if it did work. He can't be the one to do it either.]

Might not matter but it'd sure as hell make me feel better.

[scourgingstars]

And don't act as if you know anything, don't...

[Ardyn trailed off, raking a hand through wine-red hair gradually brightening back to violet.]

...it's all just a miserable lie, isn't it? All of this is just...one long taunting delusion.

[piercetheheart]

I know all I need to know! [And this time he actually takes a step forward, fully prepared to punch Ardyn square in the nose, even if he can't call his sword. But then he stops himself, whirls to stomp a few paces back, more space between them, less temptation to hurt him.]

Why the hell would you even want to be here? Your version of Insomnia involved an awful lot more fire and death.

[scourgingstars]

Because I just wanted to help people, you useless fucking behemoth!

[piercetheheart]

How the fuck is turning all of fucking humanity into monsters helping anyone!?

[scourgingstars]

You think I was always like that?! I wasn't born some inhuman thing, I didn't want any of this!

[piercetheheart]

[He heaves a few angry breaths, knuckles white with how hard he's clenching his fists, restraining himself from lunging at the other man no matter how useless.]

Then why fucking do it? If you didn't want it, why the fuck are you torturing everyone?!

[Because whatever he might have been, and Gladio doesn't like to think too hard about what he might have been in another time, that he wasn't always this monster. It's so much easier to hate him when there's nothing redeeming about him. But past regardless, no one's been forcing him to manipulate and mutilate and destroy everything good in the world.]

[scourgingstars]

Because I...can't do anything else. It's all I am now, decay and destruction and malice. Hurting others because I was hurt first and thinking that justified.

[piercetheheart]

You can plot and plan and manipulate entire fucking kingdoms but you can't figure out how to just stop and think "damn, maybe the end of the world isn't the greatest fucking idea"?!

[That sounds so stupid.]

Fuck you might even be smarter than Ignis and mass destruction is the best option you can come up with to fucking deal with shit?!

[What the fuck is your problem, Ardyn? But then... isn't he standing here doing the same thing, barely restraining himself from punching Ardyn's lights out because he didn't know how else to deal with all the grief and pain he's been dealing with for so many years now?

At least he wasn't nearly as smart as either of them which made it a little easier to accept. Even so he forces himself to unclench his fists.]

[scourgingstars]

You don't understand it. No one does. [Ardyn shook his head, staggering and backing off further until he was pressed to a wall.]

I...am the Starscourge, Gladiolus. The malice and hate of an entire planet, Ifrit's wrath itself..it's all in here.

[He brought a hand back to his head, as if warding away an oncoming migraine.]

Fueled by the spite of a forgotten king, yes, but I can't...control it. I didn't want it to go this far. I'm not myself anymore.

[piercetheheart]

Forgotten king? [He sounds disbelieving, looking around the hangar they're still standing in. For all the information Ignis and Talcott have found Gladio knows none of it, not for lack of interest or concern but simply from lack of contact. He had no idea what Ardyn's past was and he didn't really care. Nothing would bring back all those they've lost, he's lost but the only hope he's had for years now has been Ardyn's eventual death.]

You're not... [He doesn't fully understand it but he also doesn't want to admit that to Ardyn of all people.]

You expect me to really believe you were some benevolent ruler all sunshine and rainbows?

[scourgingstars]

...I should have been. [Ardyn looked away, folding his arms and struggling to focus. he was steady enough, for now...perhaps not his original self entirely, but human in enough sense to keep his sanity for a little longer.]

My real name, my proper name--it truly is 'Ardyn Lucis Caelum.' The man you call the Founder King...he was my brother.

[piercetheheart]

All this suffering? So much death all because you got in a fucking tiff over the crown with your brother?

[For as angry as he's been up till this point he mostly just sounds outright disgusted now. So much hate and strife, war and loss because Ardyn was pissy about losing the fucking title?]

And what would've stopped you from running all of Lucis into the ground millenia ago if your brother hadn't taken the throne? You've sure done a fantastic job of it now.

[scourgingstars]

Are you stupid, do you not get it?!I'm broken. I'm not human, I'm just a sentiment twisted by a divine force of malice. It's not about Somnus or the crown anymore, not even the Crystal at this point. It hasn't been in centuries.

I had to wait to bring the night so the True King could banish it. So I could die. All I am is just another piece on the prophecy's chessboard.

[piercetheheart]

Convenient way to make none of it your fault, huh? [Not that he was certain it really mattered to Ardyn. And this was a man that had manipulated entire empires for centuries. Gladio wasn't stupid enough to think he could outsmart him. Probably everything he was saying was meant to make him question Noctis and their mission and the future laid out before him.]

I don't believe for a second that you never made a conscious decision in all of this. Blame the gods so you don't have to own up to your part. Bullshit

[scourgingstars]

I'm not saying that, I-...can you just shut up for five minutes so I can think clearly?!