what you're given, what you live in

[fatedfinality]

Darling, it finds a way to live in you

Who: Ardyn & You
What: A catch-all log for Ardyn and the various shit he's bound to get up to outside of events (so: quests, misc. interactions, etc.)
Where: All around Town
When: The last months of 2024

Warnings: Blanket warnings for suicidal ideation, self-harm tendencies, alcoholism, and others that will be specific to the threads and noted in the subject line!

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Comments

[heliographic]

Well, Prompto most certainly has gotten himself into A Situation. As he tends to do- except this one happens to be a little more serious than most. He's alone, deep in some dark mines. A dark, spooky cave is the absolute last sort of place where the boy wants to be, but the siren song of finding materials for some fellow tinkerers (cute lookin cool guys, even!) proved much too strong to resist. Without being able to tinker himself, and robbed of his beloved tech, Prompto figured he could live vicariously through the kobolds. Oh, and get some cool gear in exchange.

So, that left him in the mines, armed with a lantern, a pick, a bow and his corrosive breath, all alone. Things went smoothly, for the first chunk of the journey. The eager blond already found all manner of scrap metal, and even hit a vein of some sort embedded in a tunnel wall. All really exciting stuff.

Prompto is apt to jump at shadows. A shifting sound, or change in lighting? He's off to the races, frightened like a skittish chocobo. At least nine out of ten times, it was foolish, fearing nothing. This time, the tenth one, is a lot less harmless. He hears a shifting of rocks, and jumps, frightened...Then a form actually appears at the edge of flickering lantern light. Prompto swears at first it is just a stalactite...At least until it drops from the ceiling in a swarm of tentacles to lunge straight at the blond. He screams, leaping back as he unleashes a gout of bright green breath right at the single, horrific eye in the center of the fleshy, long horror of a creature. Prompto knows a formidable hunt when he sees one- this is not a beast to be trifled with. All he can do is try to dodge and wear it down...But after long enough, his foe manages to slip a bunch of tentacles around his ankles, dragging him with a thud onto the stone floor. Another few pin his wrists down, leaving Prompto to spew acid breath in random directions in hopes of hitting the horrific thing.

Bad. This is bad news.

"Crap! Help! Someone heeeeelp!!!!!

[fatedfinality]

Well, that's a grotesque beast. And he would know, wouldn't he? No time for jokes though- He needs to move quickly here if he's going to actually assist.

"Yoo hoo!" he calls, drawing the creature's attention. "Help has arrived." Briefly distracted, the monster looks the redhead's way only to be hit in the face with a blast of frost breath from Ardyn. Without wasting a second, he's brandishing a dagger from beneath his coat and slicing off a tentacle or two.

It hisses in pain and thrashes at them both now though. He's unable to stop it from knocking that blade out of his hand and he swears for it. "That's fine," he says, "I do prefer when my enemy puts up at least a little fight." Yet, he hopes he was able to at least get Prompto unpinned so he can fend for himself again. Especially since his wrist is suddenly wrapped by a tentacle and he's yanked forward with a surprised squawk of a noise.

[heliographic]

Of all the people that could come to his rescue, this, Ardyn, is the absolute last on Prompto's list. Still, help is help- and it would appear that, for whatever reason, the old man intends to lend a hand. There is a pause in the blond's shouted cries for him to absolutely groan at the entrance his old foe makes. "You've GOTTA be kidding me right now."

Still, help is help. Better making it out than becoming food for whatever the heck this horrific thing is. Even if his savior is the actual worst. Ardyn creates an opening, and Prompto, with his impressive reaction time, takes it. The beast, so focused on the newcomer, relaxes his grip on the boy just enough that he can hop backwards and draw his bow. He draws an arrow back and releases it with deadly precision, giving a whoop as it nails the creature right in its massive, single eye. A little off from dead center, but a decent hit nonetheless. "Hoo man, adding those wheels to the bow really does make drawing it easier!"

Indeed, Prompto's bow seems to have an unusual modification made to the ends: Two metal wheels. His inventive mind (nearly going mad at the lack of tech, but still wanting to create and engineer) managed to think up a system of pulleys and cables that ultimately resemble a compound-style bow.

The monster reels backwards with a terrible screech, tentacles thrashing and waving in all directions. "You got a breath weapon! Keep up the pressure!" Prompto shouts, falling back in to the familiar rhythm he recognizes from when he would go daemon hunting. It's been a long while since Prompto's fought alongside anyone else, with how solitary he was during the Night- but he hasn't forgotten how to work as a team.

[fatedfinality]

The Ardyn of just a few months ago would be doing it solely for the entertainment factor. Once torturer, now rescuer? What a laugh. As if he'd be doing it for any altruistic reason. But that was the Ardyn of the past- Or, at least, the Ardyn of Eos. The one of this world isn't quite so motivated by causing psychological chaos. Not always! Just now and again. Thankfully, this isn't one such situation. He's helping because - perhaps shocking to even him - he wants to.

He'll come up with any multitude of reasons why that's not the case. Of course, he will. He was just bored, he'll say. Or perhaps that Prompto screaming like that would only attract more monsters so it'd be better to handle it than put them all at risk. Anything but the truth, which would be somehow less believable than anything and he knows it.

"Very well," the man hisses literally. "Might as well freeze the day while we still can." That bite of cold air behind his gritted teeth seep passed his lips wisps of frost. A growl rumbles from low in his chest before he's spitting ice again. It freezes one of those tentacles and just in time for one of Prompto's arrows to snap it clean off. The monster shrieks, but Ardyn feels no sympathy for it. At this rate, it won't be long before the thing is either dead or making a tactical retreat after underestimating its foe; he's fine with either outcome, but does have to stop and clear his frigid throat.

[heliographic]

Ardyn wanting to help just because he wants to will be the last thing Prompto ever jumps to, at least for now. Probably for a while. But the reality is that help is here, and succeeding now, and Prompto is going to push things as far as he damn well can to get out of here and get home. He is not about to let everything come to an end in some dank mine just for some weird sense of pride or stupidity. Pride isn't what keeps a guy alive in the end.

The fact he is a kind soul will definitely bite him in the ass someday. How he wants to believe in those who wish to do good. Even someone seen as an unforgivable monster, or a foe. That people can be good if they want to be. Probably.

He wants to roll his eyes and groan at the pun from Ardyn, even as he seamlessly responds to the blond's call with a well aimed frost attack. Instead, his goofiness decides to rear its head, a habit from when he would fight alongside his found family- his loves- back during what feels like another lifetime. He pumps a fist as the tentacle freezes and shatters. "Whoooo! Ice job!"

Oh, no, he totally just said that out loud. To Ardyn.

There's no time to dwell on that fun tidbit, not with the monster just another good shot away from being driven off, or perhaps killed. Prompto feels a burning start deep in his chest, and knows just what to do next. Focusing in, he unleashes a jet of green, misty breath that sizzles and burns as parts of it drip onto the ground below. Most of it splashes with a direct impact onto the creature, melting through flesh in a gruesome display. The thing shrieks again, flailing, tottering in place before it topples over and writhes about for the very last time. Then, stillness. Quiet.

"...Didn't get any kinda warning about things like that down here," Prompto comments, trying to slow his pounding heart. "I dunno if I wanna start guessing what motive you had for giving me a hand."

[fatedfinality]

That is, of course, completely valid and understandable that he wouldn't presume Ardyn's reason to be anything just. Even Ardyn is still a bit surprised. He has Jhank Troth's influence to thank, sure, but that was just a decision he made... mostly on his own. Strange. He isn't going to dwell on it though. Or rather, he can't afford to.

His brain does the equivalent of a record skip though at his stupid quip not only being acknowledged but returned in kind. He'd figured it would draw an eyeroll, groan, or some further affirmation that he's 'cringe.' (He knows better what that means now and, actually, might lean into it because it'd be funny.)

"And here I thought I was toxic," he says, to that interesting show of seemingly acidic breath. He does nudge the icy, poison-drenched creature with the edge of his foot. A little of the leather sizzles though and he draws it away and stomps it off before more damage can be done. "But I was in the area is all. Heard some poor soul screaming and went to investigate, then happened to find myself in a fight." That's all there is to it, he'll continue to swear by.

[heliographic]

"Wouldn't count you out of that just because you don't spit spicy green stuff, man."

Well, at the very least it seems Ardyn has chosen to behave for now. Prompto's hackles- chocobo feathers?- remain up, but there's proof in the fact his life just got saved that he isn't on the guy's menu for anything horrible or dangerous.

For now. He chews on his lower lip, trying to keep thinking about his and Gladio's talk. He wants to be the boogeyman. So taking that away is power in and of itself, right? There's no trap to set or prophecy in this world. The part that remains difficult to settle for Prompto is just what to do with someone capable of the horrible things he witnessed and experienced firsthand. How to shrug off the fear that comes with his memories. To quiet the deluge of terrified what-ifs buzzing through his head like a swarm of angry insects.

"Was just in the area. Riiiiight. That's the sorta goofy excuse people use for pickup lines in bad cartoons!" Never mind the fact Prompto absolutely used the same tactic himself once with Cindy when he kept showing back up around her at Hammerhead. It definitely didn't work.

"What, not fun enough to watch that freak thing eat me? Pfft."

cw: mentions of vore for the gag

[fatedfinality]

Prompto would know best about how toxic can be literally and metaphorically, wouldn't he? Granted, he only deigns to be when it suits him. And right now? It doesn't. So, the boy is safe.

"Well, you obviously weren't consenting to that vore," Ardyn comments mildly. Don't worry about how he knows what vore is. It's just for the bit. "Besides, I've since learned it takes it quite out of Charlie to revive those who die." From person experience, no less! "Perhaps I'm trying to make it up to him by preventing other people's deaths where possible. No sense in exhausting the deity who is seemingly on our side so far."

Seemingly, if only because Ardyn doesn't trust most deities as far as he can throw them. For all his interest in Charlie, Ardyn won't be surprised if he eventually isn't on their side after all. That's just how these things tend to go when dealing with men and monsters. "If you want to get devoured though by some other creature deeper in the minds, don't let me stop you."