#childrenofhydaelyn

[arthachbroin]

@childrenofhydaelyn

“Brona,” Natan greets, something a little warmer than his usually misanthropic grump in his eyes as he waves her over with a smile. “You’re in one piece after all, are you?” And slightly better off from the look of her, that’s wonderful. “Come here, bring your presents, I’ll spare you any temporary transformations if you come bearing gifts.” He pauses, expression turning pained as she sits next to him, and presses a hand to his face as he sighs. “Cross is it? I’ve every intention to string him up by those ears of his once he and the others finally wake; if he chooses to define that as ‘cross’ then he’s unprepared for what will be waiting for him.” Huffing, he holds out a hand to the box and manages another smile, this one a little faltering and twisted. “Come, let’s see what he’s bribing me with. He and the others are well, then?”

“Thankfully yes, in one piece!” She says with a smile, moving to sit beside him and hug him. “It was a near thing a few times, but that’s really nothing new. I’m alright, and so is everyone else. They’ll be in and out soon enough.” She leans against him tiredly for a long moment, amused and exhausted. “Thank you, I really don’t want to be transformed into anything right now.” She laughs, though, shaking her head. “Well, cross isn’t the word he used. And anyway, he knows you well enough to know better than to think you won’t do exactly that.” She looks away a moment, and then back at Nate; it’s..a relief to be with one of her friends, one of her newer friends but most important for his age, his understanding of what they’ve both seen. “He’s well, I promise. Doing far better than he was last he was here, in fact. The First has been good to him, either the world or the pixies. All the others are well, too. Though I am going to be the first of many to tell you Thancred is a right bloody idiot and deserves every single bit of what you can give him when he gets back.” She sighs, and hands the box over. “Cuttings of about as many plants from Il Mheg and the Crystarium’s hortorium as he could manage to get,” she says. “Just for you. And maybe some other things? I’m not too sure.”

[blackjacketmuses]

@childrenofhydaelyn

Sometimes Ardyn wasn’t sure if he hated feeling old, or...well, he usually hated feeling old, but sometimes there was a sort of tired resignation to it -- you live as long as he has, and it just gets to the point where everything gives up on you and you just have to deal with it. There wasn’t much point in hating it. But still, this brave new world they all found themselves in was...interesting to say the least, and here he was with his bad leg and old bones sitting back and having to watch as Noctis and Lunafreya and the lot of them just skipped merrily off to their myriad adventures (which likely included far too much fishing) while he...didn’t. Not that he thought he’d be welcome, really, but he could at least have tagged along to annoy them mercilessly! (And see the rest of this place properly.)

He didn’t even have much motivation to write anything; any nonfiction would require him to have more knowledge of the place’s fauna than he was capable of seeking out, and making up new fairy tales wholesale required far too much effort. So here he was, laying (rather unwisely, perhaps) on the ground right outside the little settlement here, staring up at the dead dragon (wondering if it was some kind of Astral, mostly) and hoping for a decent nap.

[blackjacketmuses]

@childrenofhydaelyn

“Natan?” Ardyn sticks his head in the door, looking....well, he looks probably worse than before, exhausted and a bit like he got trampled by a few iron giants, but at least his smile for the other man is more genuine than most. “Are you awake?” He asks, and then pauses, a tired sort of amusement in his eyes. ”And are you coherent?”

[blackjacketmuses]

"I hear you're going on a trip to Hingashi? Do you think there would be room for one more on this voyage?" (childrenofhydaelyn, Natan)

Ardyn very nearly lights up upon the question being asked. “I should hope so!” He says. “I would be more than happy to have you along, and I’m sure the children would be glad to have someone to keep me distracted.” He grins. “God knows I’d be giving them hell otherwise.”

And honestly, really, he would like the company. Noctis and Lunafreya have each other, and Ravus is probably going to keep Ignis company, so he’ll be all on his lonesome with Demi and her brother off on their business. So...he’d very much like Nate to come along. “You may have to ask Demi, but I for one would never say no.”

[lighttheabyss]

The noises of distress from the Stones' small infirmary are loud enough to carry down the hall, especially to those with sensitive hearing. Someone is in a mixture of extreme fright and pain - that someone being a man with a visibly-bound leg, tossing in his sleep and clearly being haunted by nightmares. He isn't someone immediately recognizable to most Scions, but as he tosses the archon marks on his neck are revealed, giving some clue as to what he is if not who. (childrenofhydaelyn, Natan)

The voice in distress was unfamiliar to her, but Khaida was forever one of those who couldn’t just...ignore such a thing. She let herself follow the noises, ears back in concern. And her concern grew as she saw the poor man in distress and pain. An archon? One she hadn’t met, but an archon all the same. Carefully, she made her way to his bedside, calling up healing energies from the astrologian soulstone resting carefully in the pouch Thancred had given her.

“Peace. You’re safe here. Whatever troubles you cannot touch you within these walls.”

[soulsincrystal]

"Nharaaaaaa." (childrenofhydaelyn, Natan)

She can’t keep the giggles down, and she leans over and buries her face in his shoulder as she laughs. “I look away for a few weeks and look at you,” she teases. “Gods be good am I glad you skipped out on me, if it got you here and so Uri could fix your silly bum up proper.” He needed to be here more than he’d needed to be in Sharlayan anyway. For such an old man, he needed people his age. 

“I missed you,” she says fondly, ruffling his hair. “Sharlayan is full of loons and idiots these days.” She’d needed some time of her own to...to recover, but she knows she bounces back quickly. And this whole Eureka thing? Gives her something to do that helps.

[soulsincrystal]

@childrenofhydaelyn

“As much as it can be,” Natan says with a tight smile. “It won’t be perfect - it’s been broken too badly for too long - but it will be better, and that’s enough given how terrible it’s been.” He still looks pained around the eyes, tired and haunted in a way that he’s quick to cover up with a hand dragged down his face and a nod. “I.. suppose I might as well,” he says, thinking. “It will be better to know one way or another than to be trapped wondering for that long.” Urianger won’t be pleased at him wandering off, but…

Well.

Let him worry, just this once. It won’t do any harm.

She offers him an arm up and smiles brightly. “Better is better than miserable,” she says, even if that doesn’t make much sense, and laughs. “And Urianger is Nymian, right? I don’t think I could think of anyone better to help treat that leg.” Except maybe Natan himself, but he probably couldn’t deal with his own injuries that well. A scholar is almost as good as a white mage, in her opinion. 

She steadies him a bit, making sure he looks ready to go and that he has his cane, and puts her hand on the arm linked with hers. “I think it’ll be fine,” she says. “Well-- it isn’t fine now, but I think you can make it be. So don’t worry!” She hopes there’s no reason to worry, but...they’ll just have to see.

That said, she focuses, and then Teleports them right out to Idyllshire, making sure to keep hand on Natan’s arm to steady him when they get there.

[soulsincrystal]

@childrenofhydaelyn

Bróna had decided to go visit the Rising Stones -- she hadn’t been there since their brief stop during the whole...archbishop...thing. And given that she’d heard Thancred was back, she wanted to see him again. Make sure he was alright, that sort of thing.

But of course, she walks in and sees someone new -- and though she doesn’t recognize him personally, there’s no way she would be able to mistake him for anything but an Amdapori. She’s met enough of them to know. “Oh,” she manages, hoping not too loud, and then decides to turn on her heel and leave immediately. She’s not going to be able to hide anymore, after all.