#c. ardyn

[oraclecrown]

@adagaium / sc. ↳ song.  mercy  /  brett young 

“  If you made up your mind, then make it.    --- Make this fast    If you ever loved me, have mercy. “ 

[amicililium]

@blightcrown

&& God he cannot fathom the depth of bitter loathing, for a while.  It spreads through each inch of him, acrid and vile.  He doesn’t tell the others he’s looking for Ardyn, never mentions it to them when they meet up -- that is, after they all start to drift.  The last sunset is distant memory, years gone now.  There is an endless sea of stars overhead at all hours, though he thinks perhaps he’s looked at them in appreciation all of once in the past six years. 

-- Learning the truth, the truth about what Ardyn SUFFERED?   It made the whole disaster no easier.  All it did was leave him CONFLICTED. 

He has never despised anyone so thoroughly as ARDYN.  Never wanted to save someone so badly, either.   Conflicted, because he knows it didn’t have to come to this.  It’s too late now by far, isn’t it?   -- What’s even the point of LOOKING anymore?  ( In his heart, he knows just where Ardyn likely is.  If he wants to FIND the Ancient, he will have to venture closer to the heart of the scourge.  HOME.  He will have to brave danger and heartache alike and face that mountain of RUBBLE.  He pictures the derelict streets in his head and that alone is enough to HURT.  God forbid he actually see it -- ) 

He is BLISSFUL that he does not, in fact, have to go into the corpse of the city to find him.  Beyond the remains of the wall, he catches sight of Ardyn on one of the over looking cliffs.  Head tipped back and eyes trained onto that inky, jeweled sky.    Gladio is not so BLIND as to imagine there is any way that Ardyn is unaware of him when he sweeps up the cliff behind him. 

He has imagined it, a dozen -- no, a hundred different ways.  Standing in front of him he has no idea what to say.  ( “ Go fuck yourself, your majesty. “  Bitter acid, venom on his tongue.  Ardyn sought to CHASE him away, to prove some kind of TWISTED idea that this proved that Gladio never cared about him TRULY.  Gladio wanted to punch him in his too - pretty face, instead he’d spat the best ONE LINER he could manage and turned on his heel to run back to Ignis.  Ignis, who needed him.  Injured and potentially DYING.  God he’d been so FURIOUS. ) 

“ You’re a lot tougher to find when you don’t wanna be found. “  He decides to start here.  “ Not sure if that means you’ve suddenly decided you WANT to be found ... or not. “   ( && Fuck if his mind doesn’t wander back to Ardyn wrapped up in his sheets and painted in early morning SUN, flutter of morning across features and his guard down.  What wouldn’t he give to have that BACK?  The fact that he thinks it, however briefly, twists like a knife in his gut.  At least that feeling is a familiar one -- and the rage that comes with it. ) 

[oraclecrown]

@adagaium / suffer :) 

she’s so nervous her hands TREMBLE and she reminds herself not to wring them in the chiffon && the silk.    She steels herself, shakes her nerves.   She’s faced down GODS !  She’s done more terrifying and daunting things than trying on a dress !   But it isn’t the dress that’s so paralyzing and she knows it:  it’s the company waiting to see it.  

It’s the final fitting.  She’s ready to be shown off for the magazines, and the chancellor has been invited -- not at Luna’s request, though she would have asked anyway -- no, they invited him because he orchestrated this and Luna ... Luna doesn’t know how to feel about that.  Some part of her wants to CRY and some part of her wants to dance with joy ... when she had confided in Ardyn of her dream to be wed before her her life was cut short, this ... wasn’t what she had in mind. 

“ well -- ?  What do you think ? “  EXCITEMENT && DREAD war within her, equidistant to one another.   But the sake of face wins out a brilliant smile, twirling as she presents herself to the few gathered people.  Her eyes sweep the room and land on Ardyn last.   NERVOUS.   

( do not wring the chiffon ! )  She reminds herself again, keeping her shoulders still as to avoid curling in on herself in her anxiety.  

“ It’s lovely ... isn’t it ? “  

[bridefind]

@adagaium​ / lyric sc.  ↳ i’m gonna win / rob cantor

“ Sometimes it can seem like a merciless dream and I'm falling with nothing to hold.  sometimes I get flustered and beaten and blistered -- Abandoned outside in the cold. “ 

[oraclecrown]

@adagaium / sc. ↳ song.  war  /  icon for hire

“ I've so much more to tell you & we're running out of time.  It's dark and dangerous treading oceans in your mind ... “ 

[roselilted-blog]

@adagaium / sc.  ↳ claire

“ The law of the universe is EQUIVALENT.  This is true for not only this universe, but every and all.  What you’re trying to attempt -- the future you want to SEE ... I wonder if, in the end, it will be worth what it cost you. “ 

[oraclecrown]

❣ ;)

kisses meme || accepting ↳ ❣ for a caught in the rain kiss

it’s like something right out of one of those novels she loves.   

It’s so rare that she gets to enjoy herself without the empire or her duties breathing down her neck.  But when she does, it’s usually because of ARDYN.  Today, they’ve whisked away to Altissia for a STREET FAIR !   She’d been so excited -- she still is !   Despite that the deluge has driven most of the city indoors, Luna refuses to allow a little rain to dull the day.  

She seems to have started something -- in that, when the Oracle refused to leave the streets and instead continued dancing in spite of the rain, others joined.  Not nearly as many as before -- but enough.  Children kicking off their shoes to dance with the ORACLE. 

Peals of silver laughter as she spins around in the street !  Altissia is BEAUTIFUL, and the rain paints the streets in shades of starlight beneath the lamps, rivers of light.  Her hair sticks to her face, BEGGING Ardyn to come out from under the awning and DANCE with her ! 

When the music dies away again, Luna laughs, threading their fingers together -- he kisses her.  Suddenly, abruptly, swallowing her laughter.  ( It’s PUBLIC and she knows there’s sure to be rumors flying come tomorrow, but she doesn’t mind at all. )  She relaxes, eyes closing, and leans into him.  

[eatrude]

@daesmotis 

He’s been staring out the window at the incoming snow drift with a stare the shade of death for half an hour now.  Features sunken and set in stone, it appears, chiseled from marble as still as he is.  Barely even breathing.   He doesn’t jolt or start at Ardyn’s sudden appearance but turns his attention with eyes first and head second and his stare remains the unguarded thing of an animal.  --- A creature, licking at his bleeding wounds.

“ I despise the cold. “  Is all he says, in a voice that rings of bitter story and disgust on the tongue.  “ --- I hate this time of year, all of it’s white and cold ... do you ever have nightmares, Ardyn?  About what was DONE to you ? “  ( I do, he doesn’t say.  Doesn’t say that he woke from them today and swore he heard her voice, childish giggles as she ran from his door and down the hall, calling behind her in cheer -- pagauk mane, jei gali !   That he shook awake and remembered and the frost and cold set into his heart with a vicious bite.  She isn’t here. )