childrenofbajablast | Test Drive Meme #1

Entry tags:

!mod post,
!tdm

Test Drive Meme #1

Arrival

Broken Palace by Jonathan Eng

0:07 / 1:13

▶︎

Click here to listen.

During 2014 Jonathan Eng composed the soundtrack for interactive narrative experience The Sailor’s Dream, consisting of a mix of instrumental tracks and a seven-part musical story told in folk song-form.

code

Like all who come through summoning circle, your arrival is heralded by a dream. Waking up is a dizzying, disorienting thing... and possibly made worse by the fact that you aren't alone.

Right after you appear, so does someone else. If you're lucky*, they'll simply blink into existence by your side. If you're not, there's a chance they spawned below or above you. That's one way to make a memorable first impression. Best untangle yourselves and get things figured out.

If you're extremely unlucky*, instead of another person being brought through the summoning circle, it's a monster. The creature bobs, laughs maniacally, and immediately begins to spit flames your way.

Some welcome this is. If you aren't the fighting type, hopefully someone nearby is. Eventually, one of the local Town guards will slay the monster before it - and you - cause too much trouble or fire damage.

Town Tricks

After your unexpected introduction to either your fellow offworlder or monster, you'll be given a proper one from Charlie in Town. He sends you on your way shortly after to get settled in properly and deal with then next offworlder that walks in. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a revolving door right now so he doesn't have time for a more in-depth explanation or to answer too many questions.

Nor does he remember to warn you about The Fae.

Although native to Talahee Forest, which is currently off-limits to offworlders, the surge of magic from the summoning circle has piqued their interest. While the faefolk vary wildly in appearance, the ones scouting are pixies.

These tiny tricksters may be too shy to reveal themselves outright... but that won't stop them from playing pranks on all these fun, new victims. Some examples of what can happen are:

At night

Thankfully, these Fae mean you no harm. In fact, if you react with hostility they will give you a wide berth and simply find someone more fun to play with.

Rocky Talky

One of the things that was given to you in your welcome pack from Charlie was a summoning-stone. Although it looks like, well, an ordinary stone- It's actually magic! You can look through it and see someone else's face too if you're both viewing your stones at the same time. It can also record your speech and deliver that to someone else in a snap.

One of the other features is that you can scrawl on it. It will turn your writing into legible text that you can send others to read on their stones. Of course, you need to attune yourself to your stone first. To that end, it prompts a small questionnaire:

Name:
Age:
Race:
Favorite soup? Why?:
Is soup something you eat or drink?

The last couple of questions might seem... strange but, surely, it must have a reason for asking. Once you answer the questions and unlock your device, you might pocket it and forget. Unfortunately, your scrawled answers were sent to the entire summoning-stone network throughout Town. Everyone can see what you put and they might even have some thoughts about it.

Registration Questionnaire

Notes

⁂ Hello and welcome to Children of Bahamut! If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback feel free to comment here!

⁂ For the Arrival prompt, feel free to roll a d20 to see how lucky or unlucky you are.

⁂ The Town Tricks example list for pranks isn't exhaustive. If you have other silly prank ideas in mind, feel free to roll with that and have fun with it! The Fae certainly are.

⁂ There is a correct choice of favorite soup and the moderators will remember your choice/opinions. (We're joking. Mostly.)

⁂ Full Navigation ⁂

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Noctis goes from bewildered and flustered to outright offended. That smirk earns Gladio a playful smack to one thick bicep, blue eyes narrowed to scowl up at him. The moment those arms are around him, though, Noctis doesn't stand a chance. Between Ignis and his father he's cried about all he can today.

Not that that changes how comforting Gladio's embrace is. Noctis melts against him, one hand coming up to curl into the fabric of his tank top, the other looped lazily around Gladio's waist. He gives up on the glare almost immediately, just burying his face against his shield's chest and clinging to him for a long moment before he even remembers he's supposed to be sassing him.

"Doesn't count as late if I didn't know I was supposed to be somewhere."

"With us. You're supposed to be with us." Gladio's arms tighten fractionally around Noct, unable to stop from thinking, for a moment, about the prophecy meant to take him away from them permanently. Then he does his best to banish it. He's never really held it against King Regis or the rest of the old guard, hiding the prophecy from the younger generation, but right now he understands their decisions more than ever.

Here, at least, Noct can be free of it. Completely. Gladio doesn't want him to have to deal with even a shadow of it. So why let it cloud his mind, either? Especially if it risks Noct picking up on something.

(Again, he's sure it's going to have to be addressed eventually. But if it doesn't have to be today, it's not going to be. Which, again, he suspects was what King Regis thought.)

"You doing okay?" he murmurs, even as Noct seems to be burrow into his chest face-first.

The way Gladio says that, combined with what Prompto said earlier... They're both from his future, clearly. And something terrible must happen for the both of them to be so glad to see him again. Even Gladio just hugging him close and keeping him there is enough to tell him that. They get separated somehow.

It's more than he can bear to think about right now, not when he has them all here with him. Not when he's already lost so much in the past 24 hours.

The inquiry after his own well-being gets a bitter little snort as though it's the stupidest question someone could have ever asked. Gladio might even be able to feel the way he rolls his eyes. Noctis presses his face against Gladio again though, hesitates for a moment.

How long will you remain the protected?

"You gonna be mad if I say: not really?" Because after everything else he's not sure he has it in him to admit that much out loud, not to Gladio of all people, but he knows he doesn't have it in him to lie.

"No, I'm not." Gladio huffs out a quiet breath that stirs some of that messy hair. "Hard as it might be to believe, I mellow out a bit with age. And getting dumped in some whole new world out of nowhere, where everyone comes from different points in time and the dead more or less come back to life? It's a lot. Expecting you to not be affected by that? There's demanding you live up to being a king, and then there's asking for things nobody could ever deliver on."

Noctis responds to the shifting of his hair by making a small annoyed little sound in his throat and tilting his head so more of his hair is pinned down against Gladio's chest. "You? Mellow?" muttered against his shield and it all has some of the tension easing out of him. It's so... normal. Even if Gladio's somehow older, even if they remember different things, even if they're the two most likely to fight... Gladio is always so good at giving him one thing that doesn't feel like it's spiraling out of control.

He lifts one hand to poke at Gladio's side, a weak tease but an effort, at least, not to wallow. It all reminds him of those first days after Ignis had gotten his meds and Gladio had been... not gentle exactly, but gave him a bit more grace. Gladio would never take it easy on him, not really, but there were small things in the way his shield checked in on him more, a softness in those umber eyes when he told Noctis he'd done well.

Which is precisely what he suspects he'd see now if he could bring himself to face Gladio. For now, though, he is content to curl against the larger man's chest and let Gladio just... keep him safe from all the chaos for a little bit.

"Barely even know what to do with all that. Getting told my dad's dead one day and then just... finding him napping next door what? a day and a half later." He lifts his head away from Gladio's chest, not enough to look at him just enough to give himself the space to drop his head right back onto his chest. Gladio's close enough to a wall, right? It counts. Kind of.

"A bit, I said," Gladio counters, with a touch of a smile that can be heard in his voice even if Noct doesn't lift his head. "Don't think I won't still push you to do your best, and to do what you need to do even when you think you can't. But...I think I know better now when even a king might need to break down a little. And that maybe it's okay if he does, as long as he's got somebody like me there to make sure he's able to pick himself back up again."

He lifts a hand to rest it on Noct's head. It's not quite the same as he does for Prompto(Noct sure as hell doesn't need to be prevented from vibrating out of his own skin), but it is for largely the same purpose - just helping to ground him. And maybe it even serves as another layer between Noct and the rest of the world. "It's a lot. More than anyone usually ever has to deal with, except in weird places like this. On the one hand, obviously it's a good thing the king is here, but on the other hand...it's gotta be the worst emotional whiplash anyone's ever had."

What he doesn't add - though he knows Noct will have to tackle it eventually - is that they also don't know how long it will last. Regis is dead, in their own world, in their own times. And presumably, eventually, they'll be going back there. Whatever reprieve this place is giving Noct from his grief, it's temporary. But...Noct's dealing with way too much as it is right now. Gladio's not going to make him try to get a handle on how finite this all is likely to be on top of everything else. Another day, when Noct has less on his plate, he can prepare himself. Today, Gladio's cutting him some slack.

"You can handle this, though. All of it. Even if it takes time to digest it all." He won't let Noct start telling himself it's too much. After all, Gladio knows for a fact it isn't.

Noct knows there's a lot he can handle, somewhere in his heart he knows that, but that he needs to has always been the thing that grinds against him. He wants to help others. He wants to do good things for them. But he has been through too much already to be quite as prepared as others to sacrifice himself for it. Something that will, someday, become a tragic sticking point in a very long lecture from Bahamut.

"Whiplash.... yeah." He smiles ever so faintly, actually looking up at his shield finally. There's an edge of appreciation in his eyes, in the rueful twist of his lips.

"And maybe stop... this." He gestures vaguely between them even as he does his best to drag himself back a step. Time to process and to stop breaking down on everyone. He still feels bad for losing his shit on Iggy in the first place.

"Stop it for what?" Gladio raises his eyebrows. "I wasn't saying you could handle it, so you shouldn't need my support. The whole point of me not being mad at you for needing it is that I get it. That just about anyone would need support here. The one time I'm telling you that you don't have to just tough this out, and you're trying to anyway?" He ruffles Noct's hair. "Don't get me wrong, I'm proud you're trying. But...I'll tell you when you need to push yourself. You know I will. And now's not one of those times. If you don't wanna stop...this just yet," he says, mimicking Noct's intonation so Noct knows exactly what he means by 'this', "then you don't have to."

Right now...there's so damn much to shield Noct from. It almost doesn't feel right to have Noct not let him.

Noctis sighs heavily, bringing a hand up to scrub over his face and through his hair. Then he deflates and lets himself just slump back into Gladio's arms.

"I've already cried on Ignis and snapped at him and just... dumped shit he probably didn't know on him. And sulked on Prom. And cried on Dad." He just... feels like he's broken down on literally everyone today. Then he groans and mashes his face into Gladio's chest. "And I think I broke that weirdo from the Quay's nose. I dunno he said he was a Nif and I-" He lost his cool. Again. Cue another miserable groan.

"Oh, no, Ardyn earned that," Gladio says immediately. "More than earned it. You've had enough life-shattering news dropped on you in one day, so we're not gonna get into it right now, but trust me that what you did to him was kinder than anything he deserves."

His arms go around Noct again, and a hand actually cradles the back of his head. "But listen. I know how tough you are. I've seen you be tougher than you've ever even had to be yet at this age, actually. If today's your emotional health cheat day, you're allowed. And we'll straighten things out with Iggy, although probably he's not gonna hold anything against you anyway. You know he understands. And King Regis...he knows better than just about anyone what you've gone through. You're acting like it's a bad thing that you went to your support network for support. And it's not like you had an argument with your dad because you blew off a meeting. This is exactly the kind of thing you need a support network for."

He strokes Noct's hair. "If you want unreasonable, unfair expectations placed on you, leave them to me. I'm here now. You trying to put me out of a job?" He tries to make it light, but a touch of guilt and the heaviness of the circumstances only half-carries it.

Noctis lets Gladio pull him in close again, lets those strong arms wrap around him and distance him from all the things he's had to deal with today. Maybe it's weak, letting himself ignore the obvious question there about that chancellor dude. Maybe he shouldn't be letting Gladio protect him now just as his father had before. There's so much he feels like he doesn't understand and so much he knows he needs to.

But Gladio points out how reasonable what he's done is, actually, and as much as part of him still hates it... he accepts the reasoning for now. At least long enough to let himself savor the warmth and safety of Gladio's embrace, the soothing comfort of strong fingers in his hair. He doesn't stay that way for long, though, reaching up one hand to poke Gladio in the side. Noct may not look up at him but that's because he's too warm and comfortable to will himself into extracting himself from the embrace again, not because there's any less weight to his words.

"Your expectations haven't been unreasonable in years. Shut up." Nor have they been unfair, at least... no more than have been required for the utterly unfair circumstances Noctis has to face.

"No, they have been," Gladio counters. "Just...you haven't lived through that time yet. I come down hard as hell on you because I can't keep my cool, so I take it out on you when you're going through hell. I...never had the chance to apologize to you for that yet, in the time I'm from. But I've been feeling like shit about it ever since the last time I saw you."

He gives Noct's hair another stroke. "So...this is me trying to learn from my mistakes. And I guess make up for something that hasn't even happened to you yet."

Noct sighs heavily, content to stay where he is though, content to let Gladio stroke his hair and keep him close.

"The more people talk about this future I haven't lived yet the more I'm.... kinda glad I'm here, wherever that is." He untucks his harms from where he's had them curled against Gladio to wrap his arms around his shield in turn. "The Empire really screws us over that bad, huh?"

It's not that hard to imagine how awful things are liable to be. Not when he thinks about the long-term repercussions of what's happened in the last 48 hours. There isn't a place left on Eos that isn't under the Empire's control. It's terrifying to consider what they're capable of enforcing now.

"Honestly, it's not even just them. In a way, they're just an extension of a bigger problem humanity's always had, with the Astrals and prophecy and a whole bunch of other nonsense. But...like you said, we're here now. We don't have to worry about that so much."

He moves his hand down from Noct's hair to rub his back. "If it makes you feel any better, the Empire destroys itself with all the bullshit it's been pulling. Its falling doesn't really fix any of our problems, but it is cathartic. Especially because all the assholes at the top got more or less exactly what was coming to them."

Or are going to eventually, in Ardyn's case. But Gladio...doesn't want to aim Noct at Ardyn's throat right now by telling him he's the chancellor. Not that Ardyn doesn't deserve to take a Noct to the throat, but Noct doesn't need any more major life-shaking revelations right this second. What he needs is recovery time. Every trainer knows that after you damage your muscles working them out, you have to rest them before the next session. This is Noct's rest period.

Recovery time. What a novel concept, and one that will be sorely missed when they get back. But for now he lets himself cherish it, safe and warm in his friend's embrace.

It doesn't make him feel better. Not now. Probably yesterday it would have but the rage he's been clinging too had begun to fizzle out by the time he started to break down on Cor. Now? After crying on Ignis and his dad too? It just... makes him more miserable. That so many have to suffer and die because of the greed and destructive impulses of so few.

He just stays there, squeezing Gladio tight for a long moment before finally remembering something he should've said to the man much sooner after they found out about everything. "Hey Gladdy?" Soft, slightly muffled by his shirt. "I'm sorry... 'bout your dad too."

One would think that an expression of sympathy, of kindness, would make Gladio softer. Instead, by contrast, he stiffens. It's honestly a lot easier for Gladio to repress things than to have to acknowledge them; Noct hasn't said anything wrong, certainly, but he's turned the focus on Gladio and how he's doing when Gladio generally deals with such things privately, when he deals with them at all. Which isn't often.

Besides, dead or alive...it's always easier to simply not think about his father.

"It was a lot longer ago for me than for you," he murmurs. "It's fine. Besides, it's nothing an Amicitia isn't prepared for. I know the only regret he had was that he couldn't at least guarantee your dad's safety with his sacrifice. Dying in the line of duty's not exactly the optimal outcome, but if we at least accomplish what a Shield is supposed to do, then we can feel like our death meant something."

Which...brushes up against something Gladio has always tried to avoid thinking about himself. The fact that, on some level, Regis' death meant that Clarus failed in his duty as a Shield. Of course it's a wildly unreasonable ask for one man to protect the king against an entire citywide invasion, but at the end of the day, the odds aren't really something the Amicitias care about. Their duty is to protect their king, and there's simply no way to look at both king and Shield dying and say the Shield succeeded in their duties. But at the same time...Clarus had always been the exemplary Shield. The mark for Gladio to measure himself by. The idea of the standard Gladio has always been held to, compared negatively to fairly often, being a failing standard...Gladio doesn't know how to wrap his head around that. He never has.

He'd wanted to elaborate a bit to Noct to make him feel like Gladio wasn't just shrugging off his sentiment, but...now he kind of wishes he had, just so he hadn't opened this internal can of worms. A grumpy Noct is a lot easier to deal with than an existential crisis.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Meme #1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject