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echoes-of-the-clockwork · 3 years

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Book One: Gold (Prompto x Reader) Chapter XXXII

A/n: More lime incoming! There is implied sex, but nothing to consider it a lemon/smut. It gets "dirty". That's it. Sorry if it comes across as weird. I'm still new to writing scenes like this. Also, I apologize if there's some inaccuracies in the end-game. It's been a while since I've played FFXV through entirely. Love you all!!! ••••••••••••••••••••

Prompto broke out into a sprint. He ran towards (Y/n) and encircled his arms around, lifting her body off the ground and spinning them both around in a circle. Her arms automatically wound around his neck when her feet left the ground. She was shocked at his reaction for a few seconds before becoming jubilated. When her feet were back on the ground, she slid her hands down his arms and blinked in surprise after feeling his muscles. "Geez, Prom. Have you been working out recently?" She then reaches up to touch his facial hair. "And when did you grow a beard?"

Prompto smiled, enjoying her gentle touch. He missed it and her serene voice. "You like it?"

"Oh, definitely. I think it suits you. It makes you look older, too."

His smile faltered. "(Y/n), do you realize it's been ten years?"

Her golden eyes widen in bewilderment. "Ten years? That can't be right. It's only been a few months."

"You've been asleep for the past ten years. But you..." His eyes raked over her appearance. "You haven't even aged a day."

"Wait, then that means you're older than me?!"

He laughed at her outburst. "Yep, by six years."

"That's not fair..."

He moves his hands from her back to her hips, pulling her closer to him. Leaning forward, he placed his forehead against hers. "I'm glad you're back, (Y/n)."

Noctis, Gladio, and Ignis approach the reunited couple with their own smiles. The brute chuckled when seeing the girl was still twenty-four years old. "Damn, wish I could've stayed young. You look good, short stuff."

"Indeed," Ignis said.

"I'll say," Noctis chortled. He approached the guardian, his smile slowly vanishing. He stopped in front of her with a guilt-stricken expression. "I'm sorry, (Y/n). It's my fault you and Prompto weren't able to spend the last ten years together."

She smiled brightly at him. "It's not your fault, Noctis. No one knew what was going to happen."

The man's smile returned. "Thanks, (Y/n)."

"Now then, I think all of us have some catching up to do." She grabbed Prompto's hand and tugged him towards her. "Especially you and me."

"Let us depart for the Leville," Ignis said.

Once reaching the hotel, they sat down in the seats located in the lobby. Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis shared details of what all they'd been doing these past ten years. Noctis and (Y/n) listened carefully, enjoying their lively conversation and learning what their friends had done in their absences. They chatted for hours on end until it was time for them to get some rest. After getting some sleep, they'd return to Hammerhead and begin final preparations before returning to Insomnia.

(Y/n) didn't even get a moment to herself when she stood up due to Prompto sweeping her off her feet and carrying her upstairs. She saw the other three men smirking as she was hauled off to one of the vacant rooms. She clung to her boyfriend, but had to let go when he needed to open the door. He reluctantly put her down and opened the door, holding it open for her. She glanced around the room, recognizing the painting hanging on the wall. "Wait, isn't this the room where-?"

Her question was interrupted when Prompto suddenly pushed her back against the now locked door. No sound came from her, too flabbergasted to speak. She stared up at him as his taller form loomed over her. "Prom?" Without saying a word, Prompto slipped his hands under her backside. He lifted her up, her back still pressed against the door. She placed her hands on his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist to keep from falling. A small huff of laughter slipped past her lips. "Someone's eager."

"I finally get you back after ten long years. Who wouldn't be eager in my position?" Prompto remarked. "These past ten years have been hard without you or Noct. I felt like there were pieces of me missing..."

(Y/n) moved her hands from his shoulders to his cheeks, cradling them gently in her palms and stroking his freckle-kissed skin. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I still can't believe it's been ten years. You really have matured in body and soul." A smirk made its way onto her face. "I gotta say, you look even more handsome than you did before."

Prompto could feel heat coursing through his veins. Without skipping a beat, he carried her to the bed and pinned her to the sheets. He sat between her legs, eyes becoming bright with lust. His hands that were still nestled against her rump squeezed the soft, plush skin. (Y/n) jumped slightly when feeling his hands clutch her hindquarters. "H-Hey now..."

"Sorry, did I go too far?" He asked nervously, afraid he did something he wasn't supposed to.

"Nothing like that. Just surprised me, is all."

"So, does that mean I can keep going?"

"Please do," she replied with a sigh of content. "Now that you're touching me, I don't want you to stop." Laying her arms on the bed, she allowed herself to enjoy his intimate touch. She bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning when his hands traced her sides and came to a stop near her bosom. His hands suddenly brushed against the sides of her breasts, causing her breath to hitch in her throat. Then, he busied himself with trying to take off her clothes. Within seconds, she was in only her bra and underwear.

Seeing he was staring at the valley between her breasts, (Y/n) decided to take this chance to flip their positions. Straddling Prompto's hips, she grinned down at him. "You've got another thing coming if you think I'm gonna be the only one undressed." She easily took off his shirt and tossed it aside. Her eyes landed on his bare torso, which stopped her from removing his pants. Placing her hands on his abdomen, she traced her fingers over his defined muscles. "Dear Astrals, Prom. What has your workout routine been these past ten years? This is the most muscle I've ever seen on you."

"Hey, I worked hard for this body. Daemon hunting happens to be quite a good workout routine, even though it's kinda dangerous," Prompto said. "Maybe we should do some-" His sentence was abruptly interrupted by a pleasurable moan when she gently raked her fingers across his abs and stopped just above his groin. He grabbed her hands before they could graze against his length, which was still confined in his pants. "Y-You're entering some dangerous territory, (Y/n)."

"Oh, I know." Moving her hands to his belt, she painstakingly removes it with a smirk. "We're two idiots in love and I think it's about time we took our relationship to the next level. It has been ten years, after all."

"Are you sure this is what you want, (Y/n)?"

She nodded, her coy smirk morphing into a gentle smile. "It is, Prom. I want all of you, body and soul."

Hearing that was all the motivation Prompto needed. He helped her with his pants and now they were both in their undergarments. The (h/c)-haired girl remained on top, her hands resting against his lower abdomen. She slipped a couple of fingers under the waistband and curled them upward. Her simple touches were enough to get him heated up, which she could simply tell from when she felt something poke her inner thigh. Her eyes focused on his face as she pulled down his underwear slightly. The smirk that was once gone returned after seeing his red cheeks and hearing a few moans from him.

Freezing her actions, Prompto exhaled a shaky breath. "I-It's not nice to tease people, (Y/n)..."

"I'm simply taking my time. I didn't expect you to be putty in my hands this quick," she said.

Prompto couldn't stand it any longer. He flipped their positions, eliciting a shriek from the guardian. He could feel his length straining against the fabric of his underwear. He wouldn't last much longer if he hadn't done something. Prying her legs further apart, he grabbed her legs and pulled her against him. His hardened member presses against her wet, heated core. She gasped at the contact, gripping the sheets. He giddily grinned at her reaction. "Looks like the roles are reversed now."

She giggled lightly. "It sure does look that way." Unfurling her fingers from the sheets, she reaches up to place her hands on his shoulders. "Maybe I should-"

Prompto immediately grabbed her hands and pinned them beside her head. His nose brushed against hers as he loomed over her. "Oh, I don't think so. I'm in charge now and it's gonna stay that way." He places his lips over hers and kissed her passionately. It only took a few seconds for the kiss to turn deep, resulting in a lengthy make-out session.

Once the kiss ended, (Y/n) wrapped her legs around Prompto's waist and dragged him even closer. Now there wasn't any space left between their bodies. "I know you're the one in charge, but can you hurry this up? I'm dying here," she groaned.

He laughed. "Better not keep a lady waiting."

She smiled up at him. "I'm all yours, Prompto."

<--------------<<<<<

Five hours later, Prompto and (Y/n) woke up from their slumber at the sound of Ignis' voice. The advisor knocked on their door and called out their names to inform them they'd be departing for Hammerhead in the next hour.

The guardian rolled out of Prompto's embrace and threw her legs over the edge of the bed. She looked around for her undergarments, which had been haphazardly thrown across the room by the blonde. She found them a few feet away from her clothes. Standing up, she stumbled slightly when feeling a dull, throbbing pain between her legs. Her strange waddling didn't go unnoticed by her lover. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, climbing out of bed and grabbing his underwear.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she reassured him as she put her bra and panties back on. "Just sore. Let's just hope I can walk straight before we leave..."

The couple put their clothes back on and left the room twenty minutes later. They regrouped with Noctis, Gladio, and Ignis in the lobby before leaving Lestallum with Talcott.

The drive back to Hammerhead was peaceful even with the sound of daemons echoing around them. When they stepped out of the truck, Ignis and Gladio went to procure supplies for their upcoming dangerous mission. Noctis, Prompto, and (Y/n) waited for them to return. They chatted until the two older men sauntered out of Takka's with plenty of supplies. With their stock now full, Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis went to change into their Kingsglaive uniforms. Now with everyone ready, they walked towards the gate.

Waving farewell to Cindy, Takka, and Talcott, the four leave Hammerhead and walk done the darkened road towards Insomnia. They wander down the road for a while before Noctis decided to ask for one last camping trip with everyone. The five decide to make camp on the same hill overlooking Insomnia where they once bore witness to the imperial invasion. Ignis cooks their dinner, just as he did in the old days.

After everyone finished eating, a melancholic silence befell the group. (Y/n), feeling as if the men needed to speak, stood up. Before she could walk away, Noctis stopped her. "Wait, (Y/n). I want all of you to hear this." He glances around at the faces of his friends. "I, um..." His voice failed him. He wasn't sure what exactly to say.

"Out with it," Gladio said.

"I just..." Noctis leans forward and looks down. They're all silent for another moment. The king's left hand clenches as he sighs and fidgets with his hands. "Dammit. The hell is this so hard?"

Noctis laces his fingers together. "So, I..." He leans back and lets his left hand rest on his leg. He then looks at his friends. "I've made my peace. Still... Knowing this is it, and seeing you here, now." His voice cracks and a tear streaks down his face as he continues. "It's...more than I can take." Noctis looks down once again and clenches his hands together.

All of them are silent. Gladio wipes away a tear with the back of his hand. Prompto, with a sorrowful expression, was the first to speak up. "Yeah. You're damn right it is."

"You spit it out," Gladio mumbled.

After another brief silence, Iggy sighs as a tear streaks down his cheek from under his visor. "It's good to hear."

(Y/n) opted to remain silent, having nothing to add. They all look down in silence for a long moment.

At last, Noctis stands and looks at each of his friends in turn. "Well...what can I say?"

Prompto looks down and rubs away tears.

Noctis looks at them all with tear-filled eyes. "You guys...are the best."

When the men retired to the tent to get some rest, (Y/n) remained sitting by the fire. She stared into the flames before making up her mind. Walking a short ways away from camp, she casted her desolate gaze to the sky. Although the sky was dark, she could still see the glistening Celestial Crescent. She opened her mouth and called out to the god. "Brahma..."

Yes, Child of Pneuma?

"I know I am in no position for asking a being such as yourself for anything, but..."

Speak for I shall listen.

The guardian spoke to the Astral for a few minutes before having to end their discussion. She sighed, looking towards the destroyed city she calls home. Her mind was off in its own world until hearing the sound of Prompto's voice. "Heyaz."

Looking away from the ruins of Insomnia, (Y/n) offered a smile as he walked towards her. "Hey, Prom. I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"Believe it or not, it's been difficult sleeping these past ten years. I was so used to you being there that it's tough for me to sleep without you. Even after ten years, I never really was able to solve the problem. But now that you're back, I don't think I'll have that issue any longer," he said.

"You missed me that much, huh?" She laughed.

"Six, you have no idea..."

She grabbed his hands, entwining their fingers. "You'll need all the sleep you can get. We wouldn't want you collapsing on us." Tugging on their conjoined hands, she took a couple steps towards the tent. "C'mon, sweetheart. Let's get some sleep."

The couple crawled into the tent with the others and tried to get as much sleep as possible. It was only six hours later did they wake up to find Noctis had changed into the Kingly Raiment. Gladio and Ignis stood by the outskirts of the camp, waiting to leave and face their final battle together. Prompto went to join the older men while (Y/n) remained behind. Noctis glanced at her and said, "Make sure to watch out for him for me, (Y/n)."

She nodded. "I will."

He smiled sorrowfully. "Thank you." He then walked away, joining the others.

The guardian stared at the back of the king, remembering the promise Brahma made with her a few hours ago. "An exchange, huh?" She whispered to herself.

"C'mon, short stuff," Gladio called out to her. "You're one of us now and there's no way in hell we're leaving you behind."

She smirked. "On my way."

The group leaves the campsite and heads for Insomnia. They crossed through the checkpoint and sauntered their way across the lengthy bridge. Daemons were already proving to be an issue, but the five were able to fight through a few before reaching the city.

With his greatsword slung over his shoulder, Gladio looked around the city as the Citadel loomed in the distance. "Home, sweet home."

"Yeah, at long last," Prompto said, coming to a stop between Noctis and Ignis.

"What we've been waiting for..." The strategist stated.

"Sure is."

Gladio walked alongside the marksman and advisor. "Next stop: the Citadel."

"Yeah," Noctis muttered as his three friends walked ahead.

(Y/n) was lagging a few steps behind the king and watched him as he puts on the Ring of the Lucii. She decided to walk past him, smiling in reassurance. "Miracles happen every day."

Noctis heard her as she walked ahead to join the others. He stared at her back, wondering what she meant by those words. He wanted to question her, but didn't get the chance as they were soon attacked by a group of eternal troopers. "This is it-give it your all, guys!" Noctis shouted as he summoned his sword and performed a warp-strike.

Gladio grinned, setting his sights on a single enemy. "Yeah."

"You got it!" Prompto chanted, firing his pistol.

"With pleasure," Ignis said with a hint of a smirk, throwing one of his daggers and impaling a trooper.

"I could use a good warmup." (Y/n), having been slumbering for the past ten years, decided to transform. She shook her body, her tails flaring outward. It felt good to be in her spiritual form again, even though it had only felt like months to her. She leapt at one of the eternal troopers lingering in the distance, killing the machine with ease. Turning her large form around, she saw the men had dealt with the other mechanical troopers.

"We haven't fought together like this in ages. Never thought I'd miss seeing short stuff turn enemies into chew toys," Gladio chuckled.

"Really takes you back, doesn't it?" Noctis asked.

"We may have struggled before, but now nothing can stand in our way!" Prompto cheered as he ran up to his guardian. He wound his arms around her neck, burying his face into her soft fur. "Ahhh, how I've missed this... The two of us would've been the talk of Lucis if we were hunting partners."

The fox's ears twitched when hearing approaching enemies. She growled, alerting the men. They had their weapons ready as more eternal troopers and an iseultalon daemon emerged from the side street ahead.

Noctis, with determination, raised his sword and prepared to attack. "Let's make this quick."

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glon-morski · 4 years

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On Noctis’ Injury And Its Effects On His Magic

A̷ ̷f̷i̷l̷l̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷i̷s̷ ̷k̷i̷n̷k̷m̷e̷m̷e̷,̷ ̷I̷ ̷g̷u̷e̷s̷s̷.̷.̷.̷?̷

Anyone who has played FFXV knows that as a child, Noctis suffered from an injury that rendered him unable to walk for a while – the reason for his visit to Tenebrae as a kid, and thus his first meeting with Luna shortly before Tenebrae fell. The Brotherhood anime and Kingsglaive movie expand on it a little bit, giving more information on the extent of the injury, as well as what caused it: a daemon called the Marilith. As a reminder, I mean this thing:

The injury was severe enough that Noctis remained in a coma for an unspecified amount of time (though most likely at least a couple weeks, if not a couple months) and even once he woke and recovered a bit, he was unable to walk, his legs being paralyzed (or he was literally paraplegic, meaning paralyzed from the waist down; that’s a valid possibility as well, and an even more likely one all things considered). Furthermore, it is a widely assumed headcanon (and rather heavily implied, though never actually stated in the game) that he was infected by the Starscourge through this injury. For these reasons, he was taken to Tenebrae so the Oracle may heal him, though this led to Niflheim attacking and conquering Tenebrae as a result.

Well, fine, he was healed. That’s that then. Except it’s not, according to Noctis’ character sheet in the game’s archives.

“An injury incurred as a young boy deprived him access to the full potential of his innate power”, huh?

Unless there was another ‘childhood injury’ that we don’t know about, which is unlikely, this references the Marilith. And that injury, though healed by the Oracle, apparently left marks deep enough that it affected Noctis’ ability to use his magic. But that begs the question: how exactly was he affected? No part of the game or the anime or ANYTHING gives us any real indication on that. So all we can do is speculate. That said, here are some thoughts I had on the matter.

1 – Warping

Noctis can warp. That’s obvious to anyone who played the first five seconds of the game’s gameplay or watched the first minute of the brotherhood anime. It’s one of the basic abilities he should have as a royal, of course he learned how to warp.

Here’s the thing, though: just because he can doesn’t mean it was (or still is) easy. In fact, Noctis had experienced uncommon difficulty in mastering this skill, as stated in the book/script ‘Prologue: Parting Ways’. Ignis outright says there that Noctis actually only mastered warping recently and goes as far as to speculate that his difficulty in learning might be connected to his childhood injury, which is as much of an indication that it’s the case as we can get since the characters visibly aren’t supposed to know for sure. Furthermore, if we consider Gameplay-Story-Integration – something FFXV does in spades, far more than I think I’ve ever seen any other game do – at the very beginning of the game, warping (and warp strikes in particular) is very costly in MP. In fact, unless you’re on a New Game+ (which doesn’t count), overusing warp strikes is the best way to end up in Stasis in only a few attacks, along with aerial combat which, surprise surprise, also makes Noctis warp and phase a lot to not fall down prematurely.

The effect lessens as Noct gains levels and thus more MP, but even late game you can sometimes end up in Stasis against stronger, aerial opponents if you’re not careful. That said, while the gameplay mechanic of gaining more MP as you level up is nothing new, here it could be explained in-story as well: as Noctis grows stronger because he’s fighting nearly every day and is thus forced to practice both his combat skills and his warping, he perfects the skill he had so he doesn’t need to use as much magic for it. He may have ‘mastered’ it before leaving Insomnia in the sense that he never fails to warp when he wants to, but for most of his journey he’s perfecting it so he can do it with more ease and using less of his reserves of Magic, and thus not fall into Stasis so easily.

Speaking of which…

2 – Stasis

Stasis is something akin to a ‘status ailment’, yet different. It’s what the state of having 0 MP is called. When in Stasis, Noctis can’t attack because he can’t summon his weapons and can’t avoid attacks well because he can’t phase, much less warp. He can’t use the magic flasks, either. The only thing he can do is run around but that, interestingly, only makes the Stasis last longer. In order to recover MP and thus get OUT of Stasis, he needs to stop moving entirely (and preferably hunker down behind a rock or something of that nature). Stasis only ends when he recovers all of his MP.

There’s a few things interesting about Stasis. The first, as I already mentioned above, is how to get out of it. You need to stop and cease moving entirely – which, if you’re in the middle of combat, is of course nothing short of idiotic. But then, since you can’t do anything anyway, Stasis is something you usually need to get out of ASAP if you’ve already failed to not fall into it in the first place. Finding a hiding spot and hunkering down helps as Noctis’ magic recovers faster that way. While there’s no indication how Stasis may feel to Noctis, however, there’s a widely-accepted headcanon that it is not pleasant. The fact that you have to stop and that crouching makes Noct recover faster lead to believing he might feel dizzy and maybe even nauseous or otherwise sick, that he as a character feels the need to sit or lie down when he ends up in Stasis. Which would make sense considering that, as far as we know, his Magic is and always has been a part of him, so having it deplete to zero is likely to not feel nice. It might be similar to when you’re anemic for the exact same reason: you need a certain amount blood and hemoglobin for your body to function properly. It’s not too much of a stretch to assume that it’s the same for Noctis and his magic power.

Noctis, however, is not the only character who may have to deal with Stasis if he’s not careful about his magic use. The others are the members of the Kingsglaive, as shown in the Comrades DLC. However, even at the very beginning of DLC, you have to try really hard to get the Kingsglaive character into Stasis. Like, fighting an aerial enemy and constantly warp striking it even though you have shuriken you can throw from a distance kind of try. In fact, in all the time I played Comrades, I only managed to get into Stasis ONCE and my reaction to it was ‘wait what? Stasis? HOW?!’ that’s how surprised I was that it actually happened, even though I theoretically knew it could. Furthermore, at no point in the Kingsglaive movie was Stasis ever so much as mentioned as far as I recall. So in this case, it is safe to assume that it’s either a case of Gameplay-Story-Segregation, or in case it’s not, that most Glaives only know vaguely that Stasis can happen, but rarely-to-never actually experience it. By comparison, early-game Noctis falls into Stasis nearly all the time (or he did the first time I played the game and before I learned to watch my MP and periodically point-warp, a tactic I largely dropped late-game and barely use in Comrades).

There’s one thing, though: magic is not a native ability of the Glaives. They get the ability to use magic by borrowing said magic from the king. Their bodies are not as adapted to it as Regis’ and Noctis’ would be by virtue of magic being an energy they don’t usually have access to. This is further reinforced by the fact that they have varying affinity for magic. So since the energy wasn’t theirs and their bodies were not meant to be able to use it, but do so anyway due to their connection to the king, it would make sense if there was a limit of how much magic they could borrow before something blocked them – either because the ‘sharing’ works by them having a certain stock which runs dry or because their bodies refuse to accept more magic from the king past a certain threshold, thus inducing Stasis. The same cannot be said for Noctis. He’s of royal blood. He was born with his ability to use magic. It’s part of him. It’s his magic, not someone else’s that he’s borrowing.

Furthermore, there is King Regis, who we know is weakening due to sustaining the Wall. He’s been weakened to the point that already at the time of Brotherhood, he lost access to his Arminger – not the entire arsenal, he can still summon regular weapons, but the Royal Arms no longer appear to him because he’s too weak. Yet even this weakened monarch withered by years of using the Ring of the Lucii is never so much as implied to experience Stasis, or to ever have experienced it. Even now, when he can hardly use magic in general, there’s nothing that may imply he’s close to or dealing with Stasis. His magic is there, he just cannot use it. But if Noctis’ father never experienced Stasis in all his life, then it would mean it’s weird that Noctis does, especially as easily as he does in early-game.

Unless, of course, his childhood injury and the Starscourge play a role in it. Hence why I believe they do.

3 – Elemental Magic

Another direct ability connected to his magic that Noctis has is his Elemancy and general spell-casting. And here’s where things get really interesting in my opinion. I’ll be breaking this into two separate parts, one about the obvious Elemancy from the game (i.e. making the magic flasks) and one less obvious aspect. Let’s start with the less obvious one.

3.1 – Elemental Deposits

In order to use elemental magic in the form of flasks, Noctis has to first store the energy from elemental deposits. These are strewn about all over Eos, most notably with one of each element (fire, ice, lightning) around every haven blessed by an Oracle. However, they’re also found in different locations to varying amounts. Mt. Ravatogh is littered with fire deposits and maybe a lighting here and there, but you won’t find any ice, which makes sense considering it’s a volcano. The cave behind the waterfall, aptly named Glacial Grotto, is littered with ice deposits and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything else (though there is exactly one fire and one lightning deposit). This implies that elemental magic is part of the very earth itself, which is important when you consider another thing:

Noctis is the only character who requires these depositis. Everyone else can cast spells ‘just like that’ as far as we know. The Kingsglaive? Both in the movie and in the Comrades expansion, they just do it. There’s not even so much as a mention of the deposits. Ignis, who’s implied to be the most magically adept of Noctis’ companions? His entire fighting style when you play him relies on elemental magic, and when you don’t play as him, he has elemental techniques to use via the tech bar like Sage Fire. He can do both whether or not Noct has stored any elemental energy himself, so it’s not connected to that.

Where, then, do these characters draw the magic from?

At first, one may think that they draw from the royal family. It’s how the Kingslaive’s abilities are explained in-game, after all. They can use magic because of their connection to the king, because the king gives them access to his own magic. The same goes for the Crownsguard, though to a lesser degree, as they don’t seem able to do much more than just conjure and dismiss weapons from the arsenal. Cor doesn’t warp once the few times he’s a guest member in your party and, unless I’m misremembering, none of the Crowsguard were able to warp in the Kingsglaive movie, either. Same for the Crownsguard enemies in Episode Ardyn. Outside the royal family, only the Glaives could do that.

So they draw their magic from their sovereign – King Regis in most cases, Noctis in the case of Ignis, Gladio and Prompto. Except we just talked about how Ignis’ fighting style, particularly when he’s the player character, relies heavily on elemental magic and he can use it whether or not Noctis has any elemental magic from deposits stored. This leads me to believe that using elemental spells is actually a two-fold job. Because the magic of the royal family is bound to the Crystal. But the elemental deposits can be found literally anywhere (even in cities in odd containers) and the kinds of deposits you find in certain terrain depends on that terrain, meaning the elemental energy is something that can be found in the earth… and by extension likely the sea and the air, too, it would only make sense.

So the royal family doesn’t actually have direct use of elemental magic, but their Crystal magic gives them a way to manipulate these elemental energies to form spells. This is further reinforced by the fact that when Noctis absorbs elemental energy, it is portrayed as colorful, smoke-like wisps or something. There’s no small flame or ice particles or sparks of electricity in the energy he absorbs (though they are there on the deposit before he starts siphoning it). That only comes when actual spells are cast. Which would mean it’s possible that whoever gets access to the Crystal’s magic via connection to the royal family gains an ability to manipulate those energies as well, and is thus capable of using elemental magic. Which would also explain why some people have more of an affinity for it than others because let’s be honest, that sounds like complicated, hard work.

As I said before, though: Noctis is the only character to actually use the energy deposits. So where do other characters grasp the elemental energy to manipulate it with the Crystal’s magic to create spells? The answer is simple: everything around them. The earth. The water. The very air. They can draw that energy from those places and manipulate it to form spells. And Noctis should be able to do the same. Yet he seems to require the deposits instead.

Could it be due to the fact that, for some reason, he lacks some aspect of his Crystal magic, be it fine-tuned control or something as simple as the instinct for it, that would allow him to weave these energies from the very air around him? Could it be that in order to grasp those energies and manipulate them, he requires a higher concentration of that energy? It seems to be the case. And by that logic, unless we assume he simply doesn’t have the affinity for magic, the only other possible explanation is his childhood injury.

But wait. One thing doesn’t add up. Noctis can use elemental spells in his parries, after all. Against certain enemies, when you block at the right moment and then press the attack button when prompted, an animation will start where Noctis counters, usually with magic. For instance, he can jump onto the flat side of a Red Giant’s sword, run up to it, up its chest, jump away and throw a fire spell at it. A similar counter is possible with one of the Niflheim machine enemies of the X generation (X-Angel or something along those lines, I think). And those counters, much like Ignis’ fighting style, can be executed whether or not Noctis happens to have elemental energies for Elemancy stored.

And that’s true. But there’s a few details to consider here. First, these counters are available against specific, late-game enemies. Besides which, no matter what the enemy’s weakness or resistances might be, Noctis will only ever use a fire spell in those parries, and not an overly powerful one, either. So going by Gameplay-Story-Integration again, this can be explained thus: by virtue of fighting and using magic far more often than he ever had to in Insomnia, Noctis eventually learned to draw the elemental energy from the air as well, but still not in what can be considered an effective manner. Especially since I’d consider fire to be the easiest spell to cast of the three (even if blizzard, by virtue of being connected to water, may be the one for which the energy is easiest to draw from the air in particular). Because lightning would be difficult to conjure from the air in general and blizzard, while probably having an amplitude of water energy that can be used, needs far more manipulation because you need to freeze it and stuff. By contrast, with fire, you just have to manipulate it enough that there’s a first spark and the rest is a chain reaction because the flames use the air (or rather the oxygen in the air) as fuel to burn. Furthermore, compared to blizzard and lightning spells, fire spells have far less of an area of effect. They’re more concentrated and thus safer to use for a counter without endangering one’s comrades, but that’s another matter entirely.

There’s another aspect of the deposits, too, namely that they’re the one thing in the game that Noctis’ companions never point out. If you pass a shop, they’ll talk about shopping or getting curatives. If you pass a haven, Gladio will often ask if you want to make camp. If you’re near a fishing spot, either Noctis or one of the others may comment on the opportunity to fish. But elemental deposits are never commented on by anyone. Almost as if they’re not seen. (Much like mineral deposits and places where you can pick up food, but admittedly, those really can be overseen. The same can’t really be said for elemental deposits, considering their glow and stuff.)

Which… actually would make sense if you think about it. Episode Gladio and Prompto were both in locations that should have been rich in deposits – Gladio’s by virtue of being a generally magical location and Prompto’s because it’s still relatively near to Shiva’s resting place, which should make him stumble upon ice deposits all over, especially considering that there were several of them in abandoned containers on the railway where the train Noctis, Gladio and Ignis were using was forced to stop (you know, that spot right to Shiva’s corpse’s head?). Yet in neither location is even one deposit to be found. Not even in a ‘yeah, there is one here, but obviously you can’t make use of it’ kind of way. Similarly, there were a couple deposits in containers in Altissia, but when you play Episode Ignis, there is not a single one. Finally, there were even deposit containers in the ruined Insomnia. I find it hard to believe those would have been brought there by Niflheim, so they had to have been there before Insomia’s fall and might even have been lying around for years. And yet you also don’t see a single one when you play Episode Ardyn. Ardyn who, being a Lucis Caelum, has access to the Crystal’s magic as well as far as we know. Admittedly, he never uses the elemental aspect, though. Actually, all he does use is warping and the Royal Arms during his final fight with Noct. Nothing else. Almost as if… as if he’s lost access to it. Maybe because of all the Starscourge he’s absorbed.

Much like Noctis, who had been infected with it to a lesser degree as a child and who thus has issues with using it as well.

But back to the deposits. One more interesting thing to note in the case of Insomnia is that these deposits lie literally in random spots among the rubble. With the addition of the Glaive Encampment and stuff in the Royal Edition, you would think there wouldn’t be deposits at least around the encampment, right? The Glaives might not need them, but still, why would they just leave them lying around in random spots like this? Especially if it was known Noctis makes use of them. Then it would have been even more logical to gather them in a safe place for him, if only to make sure they’re preserved for him to use whenever he comes back. So why wouldn’t they do that? Why just leave them? Why won’t Noctis’ comrades ever comment on them, even when you have nothing stored and they would usually remind you to maybe stock up like they do with everything else?

Simple: no one but Noctis can actually see/sense them.

As I said before, one of the possibilities of how elemental magic is weaved into spells from the Crystal’s magic and natural elemental energy is that it’s done instinctively. It’s not that the characters can SENSE the elemental energies and decide to use them. They just go ‘I need this spell’ and instinctively reach for the energies they need for it. As the energies they need are literally everywhere around them, there’s no NEED for them to be able to sense them.

But Noctis is different in that the energies flowing all around him are not enough for him to actually grasp and weave into spells. He needs spots where those energies are concentrated. Spots which he needs to FIND. And so he may have developed a sort of sixth sense, a way to sense elemental energies when they’re concentrated enough (and possibly the Crystal magic, too, because the two likely aren’t that different; the Crystal magic could even be a sort of fourth element). A way that no one else has, because no one else NEEDS to find these places. Hence why they’re only actually there in the main game, which is from Noctis’ PoV. No other character could make use of them and because they don’t even need them, no other character can even sense/see them.

3.2 – Magic Flasks

As extensively discussed above, Noctis cannot easily cast spells, not the way the Glaives or Ignis do (and his father as well before he’s been weakened by the Ring of the Lucii, at least according to ‘A King’s Tale’). He can’t draw the energy from just anywhere, it needs to be concentrated enough. Furthermore, considering you can’t draw from elemental deposits even when you happen to be right next to one in a fight (and you can do a lot of things in the middle of combat via even the main menu in FFXV) and that it’s an ability that you can ‘level up’ via Ascension, it would be safe to assume even that is not easy for him. It takes time and he needs to concentrate. Because of this, it’s very possible that the difficulty of just drawing the energy makes the simultaneous manipulation of it into a spell nearly impossible for him (the exception being the aforementioned, tiny fire spell in counters). As a result, instead of drawing energy, manipulating it and then releasing the crafted spell simultaneously like the Glaives (as well as his father) do, Noctis needs to separate the steps.

Step one has been discussed extensively above. He draws the energy from places particularly rich in elemental energy – the deposits.

Step two, an intermediate step necessary due to the apparent difficulty in drawing elemental energies, is storage. As Noctis cannot manipulate the energy at the same time as he draws it, he needs to do something with it so he can do so later. The only logical thing to do is to store it, which he does likely in his own body (as he can do it since the beginning of the game and there’s no item or anything that’s in any way required for it).

Step three: he forges the spells. Now this one is interesting, because it doesn’t seem like Noctis has much issue with this particular step. Once he has the elemental energy necessary, spell-crafting seems to be simple, at least if one looks at it once again through Gameplay-Story-Integration glasses. As stated earlier, you can’t draw elemental energy from deposits while in combat. You can, however, craft spells mid-combat via the use of the main menu. So, going by the same rules as we did for the drawing of energy, this means that crafting spells is quick, easy and doesn’t require much concentration on Noctis’ part.

Why then does he always store them in flasks? If crafting the spells is so easy, why not cast them directly from his own energy storage?

Well, another widely accepted headcanon (to my knowledge) is that Noctis can’t control the spells that well. Not in terms of crafting them, but in terms of their power and where they land. Thus, he uses the flasks to both have better control in terms of aim, as well as actual power. This idea is supported by two things.

The first is how crafting spells works. You can decide how much of each elemental energy you want to infuse into a flask and you see what the end result will be before you actually craft the spell. This is, of course, an obvious game mechanic to avoid frustration for the players so they don’t craft blindly. But it would also make sense if this was another bit of Gameplay-Story-Integration, because Noctis himself likely doesn’t craft the spells blindly hoping he’ll get the right one, either. He can either ‘sense’ what spell will come out, or he’s practices crafting spells long enough to just know from experience.

The second thing is the difference in spells between Noctis and the Glaives. Whether you look at the Comrades DLC or the Kingsglaive movie, the magic of the Glaives is far more controlled than Noctis’. It’s more focused while being just as destructive and there doesn’t seem to be nearly as much risk of getting your comrades caught up in the cross-fire, and considering I only ever played Comrades offline (meaning with AI), trust me that the difference wasn’t between actual people knowing to get out of the way. Especially since it’s not like Comrades actually has a chatting system or anything, so it’s not like you can warn anyone ‘magic incoming!’ or anything. And yet unlike the main game, your party members are never actually caught in the crossfire.

Of course, there’s one big difference between throwing a flask (which is basically a magic bomb) and casting a spell yourself, and that’s the amount of control you have over the spell at any given moment. You need to control it to cast it, control where it lands by aiming and likely control it at the very moment of casting, so when the magic is released and possibly what it considers a target, as well. Flasks remove one-and-a-half of those. Noctis still needs to control the spells when he crafts them so they don’t blow up in his face or something before he stuffs them into flasks. But he doesn’t need to keep controlling it when he aims and he literally can’t control it at the moment of casting, because that happens on its own when the flask breaks. So while the Glaives can be assumed to control even the release of the spell (exactly when it goes off, how far it reaches etc.) this is out of Noctis’ hands. Once a flask breaks, that’s it, the energy inside literally explodes outward in a big, destructive mess. And that’s exactly how Noctis’ flasks work: a big explosion of magic that decimates everything in its path.

But then we return to the question: why bother? Why not just cast from his ‘internal storage’ where he keeps the elemental energy before he puts them in flasks?

I believe that is due to the fact that casting normally would be too difficult and demand too much concentration, much like drawing the energy from elemental deposits in the first place. As I said before, putting the magic into flasks removes two steps of casting where tight control of the magic is needed: to aim and to release (and potentially to designate the targets versus the people who are not to be harmed). And that is the EASY step, as Noctis can even do it mid-combat. It’s the aiming and release that likely pose issues, which would make sense. When it’s merely in ‘wisp-form’, the energy may be more or less difficult to manipulate, but is likely easy to contain. Once it’s crafted into the spell and becomes magic, however, the actual power/strength of it likely amplifies, since you’re combining various energies together. It’s like a chemical reaction. As soon as you start mixing stuff, a kind of reaction happens and energy is released. This is likely the same. And containing that energy, that pure power that’s created when a spell is crafted, may be beyond Noctis’ grasp on his magic. Which would mean that he does not have that tight or fine-tuned a control over it. He can manipulate it to craft spells, but anything other than that is either difficult and demands a lot of concentration, or is outright beyond his capabilities.

(Again, there’s this one little spell he does in counter-attacks, but that might be about all he can safely manage.)

4 – Healing Magic

There’s one more aspect of Noctis’ magic in terms of spell-casting: healing, otherwise known as the Cure-line of spells (Cure, Cura and Curaga, as well as potentially Raise and Arise, though the latter two don’t seem to be a thing in FFXV in general). It’s the one type of magic that’s nearly entirely unavailable to Noctis.

He can’t cast healing spells. The Glaives can and do.

On the other hand, Glaives don’t use potions. I don’t think a potion, or any other kind of curative, has even been mentionned in the Kingsglaive movie (though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it so I may be wrong), and they definitely aren’t in Comrades. Curatives are something only Noctis and his companions have access to, and the description of each points out that they only work ‘by way of Noctis’ power’. So he’s the one that makes them.

The idea here is similar and yet different to magic flasks. For magic flasks, Noctis needs to gather elemental energy first. He doesn’t seem to have any need for it to create curatives. On the other hand, he can’t just stuff healing magic into a flask. He requires a medium of sorts, apparently preferably in liquid form considering he always uses various types of energy drinks. Interestingly, the potency of the curative doesn’t seem to be how much magic Noctis’ stuffs into it, otherwise they could probably buy Hi-Elixirs for the price of a mere potion, but rather what kind of medium (so energy drink) he uses. Almost like the magic he infuses it with directly interacts with the chemical contents of the medium to determine the curative’s potency. Which is, at the very least, plausible.

Here we have another wonderful bit of Gameplay-Story-Integration in that you can buy curatives of any sort nearly anywhere, up to and including Gralea. Which makes sense if Noctis himself is the one who creates them. Surely even the empire would have energy drinks for their human citizens, right? And furthermore, with the exception of one (1) cutscene in Episode Prompto where Aranea uses a curative (which, considering she’s met Noctis and the others in Tenebrae before, she might have gotten from them; even if they didn’t have enough stock themselves, Noctis could have turned all energy drinks she had into curatives to further enable her relief efforts; and let’s be honest, it’s totally something Noctis would do) no one else but Noctis and his crew ever uses curatives, or even seems to know they exist. I mean, all those hunters you rescue in random side-quests? You’d think they’d have their own potions and antidotes and stuff on them if it was something that could be bought anywhere. Except all they can buy is an energy drink. Only Noctis can actually make it into a curative.

As for actually casting a healing spell in any form, Noctis cannot do that at all. The only thing he can do is mix a curative or some food into his elemental spells to create healcast spells. (Which, by the way, is another example of magic actually interacting with matter on a chemical level or something of that nature – though it’s likely more abstract than that - to determine an additional effect. If you use other items, you get stopcast, venomcast, failcast etc.)

5 – Sharing Magic With Others

The final point in which Noctis’ injury may have affected how well he can use his magic is actually sharing it with others, the same way Regis does with the Crownsguard and the Kingsglaive. However, at first glance, in this one point, it doesn’t seem like Noctis has any difficulty compared to his father. He shares his magic with Ignis, Gladio and Prompto easily enough and they can do everything a Crownsguard is supposed to.

As stated before, the Crownsguard doesn’t seem to have that much access to elemental magic, at least going by what little we see of them in the movie and the fact that in-game, Cor isn’t very magically inclined in terms of elemancy, either. However, they can materialize weapons from the arsenal. But they can’t warp. Cor never does and neither do the Crownguard operatives in Episode Ardyn.

The Glaives (and the Royal Guard they’re derived from) can use elemental magic and they can warp (though some are better than it than others). They can also manifest their weapons, as prove in both Episode Ardyn and Comrades.

I don’t remember if it was said in the Kingsglaive movie itself or if I read about it elsewhere, but I’m pretty certain it was stated somewhere that these differences were due to how powerful the ‘sharing link’ between King and subject is. The Crownsguard, being a ‘defense and reaction only’ kind of force and derived of what used to be the Lucian army to boot, only have the most basics of links to allow them access to the arminger arsenal. The Kingsglaive, on the other hand, was meant to basically be the new Lucian army (and yet, ironically, they’re based on the former Royal Guard). They were meant not to be a defense force, but an attack force. And since most of the magic the king can make available is more attack-oriented anyway, he bestowed those powers to them.

There’s also the fact that this more powerful link is more draining, too, which was likely another reason the Crownsguard only got the bare minimum of magic access.

Thing is, Ignis, Gladio and Prompto are all part of the Crownsguard, so they should also only have this ‘basics only’ connection. And yet Ignis can use elemental magic like no other Crownsguard member. Which leads me to believe that Noctis, being young and not yet burdened by the Ring, gave the strongest connection he could to his friends, allowing them access to every aspect of his magic.

But wait. If that’s the case, why don’t the other three warp? Ever?

Well, in Prompto’s case, that’s simple. He’s only been trained for a couple of months and while he was accepted into the Crownsguard, it’s downright said at the beginning of the game that his training was more meant for self-defense than to actually protect Noctis. Ignis and Gladio, however, don’t have that excuse. Gladio in particular has been trained in combat all his life. You’d expect him of all people to know how to warp, right?

Here’s the thing though: if you look at the Brotherhood anime, then outside of the few scenes actually set after the beginning of the game, neither Ignis nor Gladio are shown to be able to use magic. Even in the scene in episode 3 (I think?) where Gladio and Noctis trained with wooden weapons, they didn’t call for them or dismiss them with magic. In Noctis’ case, he might not have wanted to or he might still have been struggling to, since he was still a teenager then. In Gladio’s case, it’s safe to assume he hasn’t had access to it at that point. Especially since neither Ignis nor Gladio wear a Crownsguard uniform in the anime.

So that would mean their link to Noctis, and thus his magic, is relatively recent. Two, three years at most. And warping isn’t something that’s easily learned. Noctis might have additional trouble with it because of his injury, but even among the Glaives there are those who warp better (Nyx) than others (Libertus, who complains it makes him nauseous and that he needs to practice more). And these are highly skilled combatants with lots of experience and decent-to-exceptional magical affinity who have likely been training for years before being sent into the field (a lot can be said about Regis, but definitely not that he would send poorly-trained soldiers into a war). So learning to warp, whether you have aptitude for magic or not, takes time. Thus it is very likely that Ignis and Gladio could learn to warp if given the time and opportunity to do so. It’s just that once they leave Insomnia, they never do.

There’s one more thing, too: Ignis has a tendency to throw his daggers in combat and Gladio often throws his sword at Noctis during training. Both ultimately end up summoning the blades back to them in the end, but there’s always a second or so of delay before they do, as if they were originally trying to do something else. Like warping after the weapon. It’s thus very possible that shortly before leaving Insomnia, they have both begun warp training, it’s just that they haven’t had the time to finish it and actually learn to warp. And then once they leave Insomnia and then Insomnia falls, they don’t get much opportunity to train. Even during the ten years Noctis is in the Crystal, or rather especially during that time. Because daemons are springing up all over, the nights are getting longer and it’s basically the apocalypse. You don’t really get the chance to learn a new skill when something like that happens, you focus on the skills you already have to better them in a way that can make it possible for you to survive. So in the end, they never really learned. And after the Dawn, they didn’t really have the opportunity to anymore.

However, looking at everything else, it’s safe to assume Noctis allows them free, full access to his magic. His ability to do so is not hindered by his childhood injury.

In conclusion:

Noctis’ injury, sustained by the Marilith and likely made worse by a Starscourge infection, affected his magic on nearly every level. It made warping (and possibly conjuring weapons and other items) more difficult for him to learn. It immensely impacted his ability to cast spells, both of the elemental and the healing variety. It made him susceptible to falling into Stasis. Almost every aspect of his magic that we know of has been affected in some way. The only part of it that still seems perfectly fine (or at least there’s no reason to believe it’s been affected in any way) is his ability to create a ‘sharing link’ to give someone else access to magical abilities.

#FFXV #Glon's meta wordvomit #meta analysis #Magic #Noctis' backstory #Marilith #injury effects on usage of magic #FFXV kikmeme fill of sorts

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ooc-but-stylish · 3 years

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freezedive:

I think I said it in one of your other beautiful posts, but I thought I’d mention it again. All of the ridiculous cutscenes did give us a golden nugget of information on Luna that most of us who are brutally critical of her (like you and me), suspected all along: Luna openly admits to Gentiana that she doesn’t think she has anything to offer Noctis outside of being an oracle. And Gentiana makes it worse by speaking in fancy words by saying some bullshit about her being the oracle is her being human or something and that she is fulfilling her true calling and that is what Noctis needs? Idk but it reeked of emotional manipulation.

I hold little to no regard for Ravus because there’s evidence Luna was being brutally beaten right under his own nose while he was busy being the Emperor’s lapdog thinking it could maybe give him the power to save his sister? The man should have opened his eyes and defended her against the men that kept them jailed

I happened on this reply to roxainn’s post while trying to recapitulate all my other FFXV critical posts and reblogs on the way to making new ones.

Crawling back to find anything about this point, I find that it was posted 3 years ago. But at least I reblogged the reply to it.... and missed that it was literally @ ME. Goddamn did I slack.

But here’s my reply, 3 years late, which should elaborate on where I stand on this.

Yes, the flashback that gets triggered by a random creepy little girl in Tenebrae is about Luna and Gentiana. Somehow the little girl knew about that conversation even though she wasn’t there to witness it first-hand? Or maybe Noctis was imagining what the conversation would be like between Gentiana and Luna off of the vague suggestion from the girl, and it’s just him telling on himself that his imagination of Luna says all that? Otherwise the not-altogether-tinfoil-hat theory says it’s Gentiana in the form of a little girl, telling Noctis something that IMO should piss him off but just makes him sad and guilty because Luna loved him so much, don’t you see. She loved him so much that after wrapping her entire life around him, she’d just want to keep that going for the rest of their lives!

Gentiana opens the conversation with, “At first, the father had mourned the fate of his chosen son. Yet in Tenebrae, the two found solace. It was not the Oracle who assuaged their fears. But the girl…she holds…the true power.”

Then Luna replies, “I have little to offer a king, other than the voice afforded the Oracle. Nevertheless…” She turns to look at the wedding dress. “And—I’m afraid he might find this foolish… But…to be together with Noctis again, even if only for a short while… It…would mean the world to me. I do not seek to guide him, merely to stand beside him.”

The exchange is all types of fucky.

First off, she was twelve. What comfort could she have offered Regis and Noctis? What comfort was she capable of when Sylva was right there, an adult with experience of an Oracle and a personality thanks to a presumable full life not hampered by grooming of the gods?

Second, every other scene of Luna as a child is of her telling Noctis his duty, and that it was her duty to see it through. Did that assuage his fears-- the fears he didn’t have at the time since he never knew the entire meaning of his fate and was being told a saccharine, embellished version of it by Luna right there? Did that comfort Regis, knowing a little girl would also die to protect his son if the gods wanted it, but that she wouldn’t have the will to avert their fates whatsoever?

Third, even she thinks Noctis would think her desire to be with him is foolish. So... was she expecting that Noctis himself didn’t have feelings for her or want to spend time with her of his own volition for reasons outside of her job? She was looking forward to a marriage with no emotional security, where her desires are one-sided and unreciprocated, and the man she cares for think she’s worthless outside of her powers? She would’ve been willing to put herself through that, given a choice?

We know what we know and think what we think, but the fact that this was placed right in the vanilla game and no one thought that was wrong, and instead they doubled down on it in patches, is pathetic on their part.

Moreover, what does The Girl have, that was separate from The Princess and The Oracle? Every facet of her being wrapped around Noctis since age 4. She was nothing but her duty by the time Noctis met her; they had no scenes where they acted as children would. Even supplemental/promotional art for other XV media and related locales cement that. Little Luna serves Little Noctis pastries, she’s not seen eating with him. Luna teaches Noctis how to play piano, she’s not playing with him. Dawn of the Future came out with its own art, and Noctis is afforded the liberty to sit in a chair, and his son(?) sits on his lap, while Luna and her spitting image child(?) are both on their knees, looking up at the dudes.

In most of their art together, Luna and Noctis are either not meeting each other's gazes, she's bending or kneeling to him, or he's supposed to be holding her close but he hover-hands her, or there’s that one time where they took a selfie and the picture was of their Pocket Edition versions. They’re still not looking at each other in that one. And it’s not canon.

Anyway yeah, any conversation Gentiana has with Luna about Noctis is emotional manipulation on Gentiana’s part, but the writers manage just enough to make everyone involved seem creepy and reprehensible in their own way.

In DOTF, Luna has a death soliloquy that confirms she sunk into the water at the end of the game’s Chapter 9, but the soliloquy is about how she was prepared to die even at the age of 12, and she put on a smile and resolved to be strong for Noctis’s sake, so that he wouldn’t remember her having a look of despair. There’s a line there about how she would cry herself to sleep but Gentiana would wipe her tears. Gentiana does nothing else except allow her to cry and wipe her tears afterward, and makes no effort to save her from her fate or at least take her out of terrible situations so that she would cry fewer tears. But there is cut dialogue from the game, and used in the novel, where Gentiana revealed herself as Shiva when Luna was <16 (probably still 12 at the time), when she thought she was being held back from forming the covenants, so there’s that. And Luna still somehow ignored that this meant Shiva allowed Sylva to die, and thanked this useless goddess for her nonexistent generosity.

For whatever reason they had to add a passage where Luna superimposes the image of an eight-year-old Noctis onto the adult version-- quote, "the image of him as a child, burned into my eyelids, overlaps with his now-grown face"-- even though Noctis has canonically sent her photos of him as a teenager (15-16, around the time he met Prompto in high school, see: Brotherhood). Granted, that's a translation from Luna's voice actress reading an excerpt as if it were first person POV. The English version says she sees the child image first, then the adult version is superimposed. Then not much after that there's a passage where Noctis smiles as his child self and it was "that smile she loved that had been in her heart all these years, giving her strength, always and forever".

So she was groomed and turned into a shell since age 4, believes she has no value outside of her job and turned her grooming on a similarly vulnerable child, and her strongest image of him, the one she fell in love with and kept in her heart, is of the helpless boy that promised her the world without knowing the cost. The smile of the carefree boy that didn't know his journey would end with his soul annihilated. It couldn’t have been that hard to have her see an image of him as the 30 year old True King of Light that he would become. At least she'd sound a little less like a weirdo who continually places herself (and is placed by the narrative) as below him, unworthy of him, etc. but also has strong feelings and memories toward a goddamn child.

Re: Ravus: you already got a reply to that, but for real? Ravus was also shafted by the plot and beaten down by terrible, amateur writing. The narrative shits on him as if it’s written by a high schooler or otherwise emotionally arrested adult trying to push a Mary Sue Protagonist. The modus operandi for those stories is that everyone who disagrees with the protagonist in any way has to suffer tremendous humiliation including but not limited to death, because the Protagonist Is Just So Good And Perfect And Always Right.

Nothing Ravus does justifies his treatment in-game or in-fandom like he’s a one-note out-and-out villain who wanted nothing but to kill Noctis and disrespect his sister, to the point where his corpse is defiled multiple times in Chapter 13 and he’s twisted into a perversion of himself that begs to die.

Chapter 13 has Noctis land next to Ravus’s corpse and all his letters to Luna, and Noctis has piss all to say about it, either out loud or to anyone. He looks at the Sword of the Father, glances at Ravus, and without a word takes the Royal Arm and lets the Magitek arm-- still dripping, still gross-- fall onto Ravus’s body and doesn’t even move it.

He had no way of knowing beforehand that Ignis and Gladio knew of Ravus being killed. WE didn't even know they saw security footage until Ch13V2 was added in. Noctis happening on his late fiancée's dead bro sounds, I don’t fucking know, like something you’d want to tell everyone else about later. Along with the letters he wrote evidencing that he intended to return the Sword of the Father to Noctis!

An aside: The Letters from Ravus are just weird to behold; it isn't 100% clear whether Luna ever received all of those letters. She had to have received the first one, at least. But the idea that Ardyn intercepted even one other letter so that Luna never heard from her brother between Tenebrae and Altissia is farfetched. He shouldn’t be able to intercept those messages as if they were delivered conventionally. Luna has a pair of magic space-bending Shiba Inu that send letters instantly across continents. If she’s sparing their use to send Noctis one-liners and stickers but can’t afford that for Ravus to send her discrete updates on Noctis’s status, she’s a piece of shit.

They do meet in Tenebrae as Ravus wanted her to, and they have the conversation where he gets on her case about her “throwing [her] life away” for Noctis. So chances are higher that Ardyn only got a hold of all three letters after Luna received them and no sooner, but then he shouldn’t be tossing letters from Ravus at the dude’s body when it makes more sense for him to toss down letters to Ravus, since the writers wanted to make a point of Ardyn having a vicious streak. It makes way more sense for Ardyn to deprive Ravus of Luna’s writing, then insult him with them post-mortem, unless Ravus’s notes were really all he could acquire, meaning Luna never once wrote back to her brother.

The Doylist explanation is that the writing team sucks and couldn't be assed to think of anything for Luna to say because they didn't think of her at all. The Watsonian explanation is that Luna’s a piece of shit and that tracks with her in Kingsglaive watching her brother burn alive in response to the Ring, but ignoring him and running to Regis’s aid instead, but then the rest of the plot presents her as morally pure through her white clothing and “unconditional, self-abnegating love” for Noctis.

Back to the topic: I don’t know, maybe I’m being old fashioned, but Noctis should’ve given more of a shit that his dropping the Magitek Arm on Ravus’s body was probably what turned him into a mutated abomination begging to die, and he thought so little of Ravus that the dude isn’t even in the glimpse of "people who helped me get this far" in the Beyond. Ravus doesn’t even get a spot to wish Noctis and Luna well on their afterlife wedding, not that it makes any sense for any of them to have words to say since Noctis is already dead, no one was there with them, and none of the bros expressed any sign that they knew that Noctis was bound to get married after his sacrifice (he sure doesn’t mention it in the final campfire scene and that’d be a better place than any). But anyway, Regis is in the Beyond at Noctis’s side even though he never told Noctis a damn thing and still never spoke to him from within the Ring, but Ravus? Nah, he’s the real asshole somehow and doesn’t deserve any recognition whatsoever.

The only other characters I know of that have a remotely similar dynamic to Noctis, Luna, and Ravus (lovers, but the girl has a straight-edge protective brother working for the bad guys) is Nero, Kyrie, and Credo (see: Devil May Cry), but as much as I think the writing in that series is hokey as fuck, at least the writer(s) for DMCs 4 and 5 had enough sense to make the love story simple and based it from a line from Amagasaki City-- “I love you, so I love the city that you love.”-- and opted against portraying Credo as an outright villain because if Nero killed him, Kyrie would resent him for it even though she knew Credo was working for the same Order that threatened her life.

Shouldn’t Noctis care about the shit Luna cares about even if he has no personal investment in it or it’s inconvenient to him? Shouldn’t he care about Tenebrae and its prosperity? or about Ravus? Nah, it’s okay, Noctis doesn’t have to respect Luna’s love for her brother or her kingdom because for all intents and purposes, she doesn’t care for Ravus or for Tenebrae as much as she loves Noctis. Her love for Noctis and her looking forward to the wedding is what matters here.

The yaaaas queen vicious clapback from Kingsglaive!Luna about how Ravus is the Empire’s dog is especially rich coming from her when she’s fellating the gods all through the game even though Eos’s equivalent of The Holy Bible says the Hexatheon’s Revelations destroy cities and that undoubtedly means people are killed by the gods, and their summoner is complicit, because there’s no such thing as a perfect evacuation. See: "Revelations left great devastation in their wake, with entire cities being laid to ruin," noted in the Cosmogony long before the True King even exists.

Luna herself didn’t see a problem with this and helped in the effort, with no regard to the collateral damage she would cause with the summoning: bonus points for the part where Leviathan is hostile to humanity and threatens to eat every living being if Noctis fails! She had even less regard to the damage Niflheim would cause in their attempt to kill the gods even though she was first-hand witness to them sacking Insomnia. Waking and defeating Titan deprived Lestallum of the meteor they derived power from. Waking Leviathan destroyed Altissia. Luna’s refusal to leave Insomnia when told to by Regis led to her being used as bait and taking the whole of the Kingsglaive out of Insomnia in time for their Face Heel Turn and Insomnia being destroyed. Everything else leads to the eventual World of Ruin where people also die.

All because she killed herself prematurely from the covenants and didn’t hold back the longer nights as she promised to the public’s face and on her honor as Oracle she would do. Her dying words in Chapter 9 were her being completely satisfied with her fate because “[her] prayers were answered, [her] calling fulfilled”, even though the calling requires that she dies and she should’ve known better than anyone that her death, even if it was for Noctis’s ascension, would endanger the rest of the world for 10 years and helped the Starscourge spread. But instead of fighting for her own life to stem the plague for as long as possible, she let herself die under the belief that "Noct can handle this" to give him the chance to be the revered King of Light. She also didn’t make a single appearance on the world of the living in her spirit form during those ten years until Noctis needed help with a piddly imitation of the Magic Wall, only then does she come down in her ghost form with seemingly all of her power intact, and summons five of The Six as if Noctis can’t easily do it himself.

But Ravus is the lapdog? Luna’s the one with her “ends justify the means” behavior and what looks like general neglect for actual human beings.

Anyway, Ravus stabs Caligo in the back and kills him, and that move only makes sense in light of the idea that Caligo was manhandling Luna as seen in the Dawn trailer. Ravus was 16 when Tenebrae was overrun, and there’s no reason to believe he was magically immune to institutional abuse, so there’s a high chance that he was abused by the Empire too, held resentment of that, and waited for the time he’d be able to retaliate with no repercussions. Gentiana as a goddess is 1000000% more on the hook about letting Luna be beaten than Ravus is, since he saw his mother die in front of him while Regis ran away. Regis had the power of the Ring and could have used elemancy to put out that fire, or void magic to banish Glauca and his MT army, didn’t do that, but he totally spares enough magic during the treaty signing to toss around Thunder spells straight from his hand, cast barriers, and summon some Royal Arms straight at Iedolas, and that’s bad enough. Gentiana who’s been the Fleuret family attendant since Luna was born and also is Shiva who can freeze people with her fingertip had even less excuse to let that fire rage, to let Sylva die protecting her son, and to stand by and allow her ward(s) to get thrown around by some random Imperial soldier.

#freezedive #ffxv critical #ffxv criticism #lunafreya critical #gentiana critical #regis critical #lunafreya nox fleuret #ravus nox fleuret #regis lucis caelum #ravus deserved better #long read

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nanakibh · 3 years

Photo

So, about Final Fantasy Agito XIII...

Following KH:MoM, I figure... Hey, more people deserve to know about this. It’s gonna be a while until the next game, so you have time to play Final Fantasy Type-0 and discover all the ways in which khux is based on the Agito series.

These are the most solid visual connections I’ve found, so you know I’m not just making stuff up. lol

First is the window in the Rubrum chancellor’s office in Akademeia. Akademeia is a town on an island shaped like a phoenix, but the name primarily refers to a school where Agito cadets train. Daybreak Town is essentially the Akademeia of keyblade wielders. Agito cadets and keyblade wielders train for the same purpose - to become the one who will save the world *jazz hands* from its destiny of continual war and destruction!

The bottom image is from the back of Class Zero’s classroom. It’s a place you’ll visit very often in the game.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again... After considering every piece of media this series has to offer, here’s who I think the Foretellers are based on:

We’ve got...

A living contradiction. Member of the Akademeia band. Resident blade enthusiast. Canonically the strongest cadet due to his mastery of the katana. Might be an idiot. Might be a genius. He acts really cheerful and easygoing, but nobody knows what he’s really like. Even if you asked him, he couldn’t tell you... “Each person sees reality differently,” after all... Believes that as long as they can imagine it, they can manifest a “bright future.” (Or maybe he’s just saying that to keep them all from falling into despair...) Probably a psychopath. Has the same VA as Demyx.

The token “evil” friend. Two-faced master of disguise who spends an eternity watching the world end over and over in search of the one who can change the world’s destiny. Goes from timid to cocky in .05 seconds. Definitely just wants to hug his friends and cry.

Small, precious girl who grows white “reunion” flowers in the garden behind the classroom. Don’t test her. She’s more dangerous than she looks. She’s the only one who really trusts Jack, but the feeling’s mutual. He believes that her kindness is what the world needs. She isn’t sure she can call herself “kind”, though...

Short boy who keeps his cool under pressure. Always the first to come up with an answer. Has strong feelings about saving the world.

Guy who spends all his time in the library. Has the tendency to ramble about his knowledge and doesn’t realize when people want him to be quiet. Wants to solve all the mysteries of the world. Becomes intensely frustrated when there’s something he doesn’t understand.

The “class president.” Wants to excel. Tries to act like a role model for everyone else, but she’s always one step away from snapping and going berserker mode.

Big boy with no brains. Acts first, thinks later. Not looking to pick a fight even if his attitude makes it sound like he is. Questioner of authority.

You want war? We’ve got so much war here.

Like Versus XIII and FFXV, Final Fantasy Agito XIII eventually became “Final Fantasy Type-0.” However, there are also canon novels, manga, and a defunct mobile game called “Final Fantasy Agito” which was based on the original Agito XIII concept. It’s about the first war. And yes, it does sound like what the MoM described when he told Luxu about his past with the “first keyblade war.”

I’ve translated the whole main story of that mobile game, which you can read from the index on my blog. There was supposed to be a PS Vita port, but it was cancelled. There are parts of the game we may never be able to see, but what I have is extremely interesting where our Kingdom Hearts interests are concerned. Go forth and enjoy~

#kingdom hearts #khux #melody of memory #verum rex #master of masters #demyx #if i have to keep seeing ppl who don't know about this #then i will keep talking about it

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noctsqueen · 3 years

Note

9-11 for FFXV Ava?

9 - Do you actually like your f/o’s combat/play style?

Hell yeah! Noct’s warp striking is Very Fun, and since I primarily play with polearms I get a ton out of his airstep ability! Switching weapons on the fly is also Very Good.

A DFFNT Noct review too: My love of spears becomes my undoing because i HAVE to set his HP move to shooting star. I miss constantly. If not for this flaw that is entirely my fault I would enjoy DFFNT Noct a lot more

No tekken review bc i only bought and played tekken noct once.

10 - What would your s/i’s combat/play style be?

[cracks knuckles]

In general gameplay Ava’s role is to inflict Break upon enemies & increasing drop rates. She fights with a polearm and shuriken, the former being better for crit and break rates while the latter improves her recovery. Three of her tech skills increase drop/break rates, and one of her higher-cost moves has her fight by Noct for a bit!

Player-controlled Ava’s mechanics are more evasive: Two of her tech bar skills become jumps, and she also has a knife. The player can switch between her lance, shuriken, and the knife. Upon episode completion, she has two modes the player can toggle: Playing it Safe and Flirting with Danger. The former makes her less of a glass cannon, the player can stay close to the enemy, but deals less damage. The latter increases drop rates and her damage by a lot but if you don’t avoid damage she’ll fall into danger pretty quickly.

Also there’s an episode exclusive gameplay mode where you can play as her daemon form! You can’t play it in main game due to Spoilers and Lore but it basically boils down to Offensive (Knight), Defensive (Queen) and Support? (Adherent)

11 - What would your s/i’s idle animation be?

FFXV has a TON of idle animations (to give a general scope there’s the ones in the general overworld, each of the camp scenes, the car scenes, eating at a restaurant scenes, timeskip idle animations) so here’s some general overworld ones.

Some of Ava’s idle animations are pulling up her thigh highs, sorting triple triad cards, messing around on her phone and rolling a coin across her knuckles! Fun fact: If you go the avanoct route in the game noct will have an idle animation in the car where he sleeps on ava’s shoulder!

#selfship #ava icaria #There is even More ava gameplay lore if anyone is interested #Playing with Danger is good for no damage runs #there is also an Avanoct Boss Battle in comrades. i went overboard w the mechanics in that #avanoct #goodmorningawfulbye #Answer

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secret-engima · 4 years

Note

I'm feeling like shooting you another angst sounding title again, so here we go 'We are the Chosen One (Chosen to Die)'. Cuz I remember you writing something similar to this word before, or is it sparklecryptid? Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Okay so like- I don’t know FF Type-0 the game at all (yet, slowly watching cutscenes as I go) but THAT is the vibe I’m getting here so-

MAJOR HORRIBLE ANGST WARNING.

FFXV AU where ALL the Chocobros are involved in the prophecy. All of them have a role to play, and the roles all end in death.

Partly canon compliant on like- the road trip and stuff, but the prophecy is different and there are added bits and trials geared toward the brothers rather than Noctis.

Then comes the Long Night and all four disappear for ten years, only to return and make for Insomnia as fast as they can.

Only the Prophecy is theirs as much as Noctis’s and they each have a role to play to see the Dawn rise for the sake of their loved ones.

One by one, the brothers fall. Gladiolus dies a Shield, holding the last line of defense for the others against the daemon horde, having never said goodbye to his baby sister. Ignis dies the Hand, making a brilliant strategy to get Prompto and Noctis out and through that requires he, the blind one, the liability, stay behind, having never tried out that last recipe he thought of while wandering the ruins of Insomnia with his brothers.

Prompto dies the Heart, taking Ardyn’s sword through the chest to protect his King-Brother, weakening the Accursed with a shot to the head before he falls, his camera broken and scattered in pieces on the ground around him.

Noctis slays the Accursed, screaming all the while, and when he walks up the stairs to the throne, he has never felt more alone. He does not hesitate to finish the prophecy because there is nothing left to wait for, and no one to go home to.

Four brothers embrace in the soft, endless blue as magic washes the world clean. Shield, Hand, Heart, and Crown, four pieces of the prophecy, four parts of a whole.

The Oracle joins the circle, and leads them away to bright Sylleblossom fields where their parents and lost loved ones greet them with open arms.

#SE asks #anon asks #Secret Engima Rambles #title prompt

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fyrapartnersearch · 4 years

Text

Howdy there! How are you?

Self

My name is James Home. I’m a 23 year old trans male from Olympia WA. In time zones that’s PST (Pacific standard time) am a visual artist, graphic designer, and storyteller. My Briggs acronym ENFJ. In saying so I’m a huge talker and communicator, physically and literally! Personal interests of mine include BOTW, FFXV, and Hanibal atm. I have a lovely and incredible wife named Isabella. We both additionally like DND (were even painting our minis), collecting Halloween decorations, and watching Avatar the last air bender with our roommate. Though I do have a history in plenty of other fandoms as well and always on the lookout for recommendations.

Preference

So for myself I love to take care of my Rp partners in all accommodations possible.

Meaning if your heart has been craving fluff, rough smut, or a plain ol hug. IM GAME! If none, no biggie let’s make a plot spot!

Roles I usually fall under are but not limited too….

-DOM , Vers, Power bottom

-caretaker, guardian, teacher

-father, handler, knight

-beefcakes, robots, selfless leaders

And so much more!

The roles I lean towards are

-caretaker, strong and silent-ish type, and flamboyant entertainers.

-male roles, trans male roles, open to trying a female role?, non binary, pangender role.

- I do enjoy topping, some aspects of BDSM, and some hard kinks.

-fallen leader, relearning about a loving world, hopeful in a dark world.

-not taking their role as important as they should have or are, “I’ve been doing this for years. But this is new”, and “I brought you your favorite drink wanna cuddle, I’ll provide the sugar?” Types

And so much more!

As far as story things themes are

-highly complex kingdoms

-High pace fantasy

-society by the ocean

-abandon green houses

-heavily dense forests

-fae and fiend worlds

-AUs of pre-existing universes from shows

-magic incorporated

-supernatural

Worlds we design collectively.

My HARD NOs are…

NO MINORS ROLEPLAYING WITH ME, 19 AND UNDER DO NOT APPLY

-abuse in active Rp (can be used from background and really has to depend on circumstance)

-harm of any children

-harm of expected mother

-any form of r*pe play

-blood play, degrading play, hard impact play

-crying kinks, humiliation kink, and electric play

-no smoking kinks either or character usage of substances.

Writing

I’m not too big on proper grammar or sentence structure as long as there was an idea getting across. I’m ok with role playing as many people as you’d like to actively work on, so doubles, and even triples are okay. Plus working two different stories is fun! I do prefer paragraphing and we all know the feeling of one word responses. This is a hobby and creative outlet from myself so that’s why I have no big stressors about punctuation or spelling.

Storytelling

Here are some story concepts I’ve come up with. Yet if you’d like to imply your own let’s talk about it!

Counterpart pathways

A magical filled fantasy realm where all is possible including the bad. One summer day a incubus/demon hybrid named Jona, father of three, learns someone has kidnapped all three of his boys! He's on the hunt for clues and finding them at all costs. Gathering the best crew possible of Moof the best wolf bounty hunter in all the realm, Bell the boys spider caretaker shapeshifter, and Glover the bull/bison hybrid the green alchemist, set off to find the children. Along the way by gathering clues they encounter obstacles and trials of skill and pursuit! Will they ever find the three octopus babies ? Will Jona have closure and put on a shirt? Will Bell ever stop stealing everything shiny? Will Moof grow more confident in his teammates? Will Glover not stop shaking and being such a wuss? Who will help this odd 4 on their epic abnormal quest?!

Puddles

A time traveler that gets stuck in between dimensions due to their powers temporarily weakened from the extensive work they've been doing end up meeting a stranger who takes them in. Not used to the timeline they shows up in, they have to knowledge of normal behavior. They must figure out a way to recharge their abilities but has not of the slightly clue as to what it causing them to have lost them in the first place. Is the person that's helping them good or evil? Who's side are they on? How will they figure them out? Why do they find the stranger oddly familiar?

When men become mortal

An alien/robot/human species that survives by using different masks/chips for various occasions. It's like buying different clothes but they adapt or transform the hoist for a month or less of another body/form/identity. The main character experiences a technical difficulty where their head socket cannot adapt to a new face for long and has to get it repaired. Though along the way he seems to find that not wearing a false identity they actually enjoy seeing the outside world with no expectation of appearance. The other is a identity artist, the one whom develops different faces and identity. He spends hours tweaking details of bodies and faces. He always has the nicest things because of his work and from important commissions and work for certain clients.They meet at a gallery that the artist is hoisting at a museum. The individuals there are decorated like some of the model pieces and others artist curators-part sellers. The faceless one decides to go to the museum to see what's or who's being showcased and since he has a little bit of extra money he saved up for the occasion. Everyone finds him interesting since he doesn't have an appearance, they think he's a model. Thus they send him to meet with the artist for the show. The artist doesn't know him at all. They find eachother very different but most parts similar. From their meeting the artist gets inspired by his original face. Coming to realize that even himself that he has given into the world he never wanted to.The two of them hit it off. Both dwelling into the matters of the "perfect" vessel. Asking the serious questions such as what makes a body, a face, a soul attractive? They go on for hours and it starts to inspire the artists work into his new resorted craftsmanship. The faceless impressed by the purposed questions and also work. The two of them grow closer resulted from talking so much about bodies and meaning. All the while testing out the new creations, body parts, and vessels capabilities. Not all though is good while the two develop this hoist. There's a villain at hand who one of the artist's main clients that goes unsuspected. They want to use the designs to create a vessel for the bad and wealth. Only to include to kill off all humans.The two of them hit it off. Both dwelling into the matters of the "perfect" vessel. Asking the serious questions such as what makes a body, a face, a soul attractive? They go on for hours and it starts to inspire the artists work into his new resorted craftsmanship. The faceless impressed by the purposed questions and also work. The two of them grow closer resulted from talking so much about bodies and meaning. All the while testing out the new creations, body parts, and vessels capabilities. Not all though is good while the two develop this hoist. There's a villain at hand who one of the artist's main clients that goes unsuspected. They want to use the designs to create a vessel for the bad and wealth. Only to include to kill off all humans. Thus forces the artist to reveal his true identity. A human being. Not a hologram. Plus he's not just an artist but a ex-con scientist from the labs that have bloomed into a internalized war. Faceless becomes confused and also hurt that the artist to mention this. Only for the two of them being followed. The artist informs the robot that the hybrids (the children of the robot-species, generations of offspring) are the real threat to society. The one who hoists and is in charge of the power sorce is human and machine. The first of its kind, and also the previous mentor of the artist/ex-scientist. Who will get to the power source first. Our main dynamic couple or the robotic uprising that believe all humans should cease to exist once and for all?

Gay Cryptids

Themes

Active night life

Next to the ocean, sea, body of water.

Beach city/lost boys/Mad max?/punk/ regal?/neon lights/old mascots/vapor wave af

Carnival / festivals

Dark market authenticity

Biker gang(s)

Aquatic features, art, incorporated in surroundings

Lifestyles like fish importing, dock workers, sushi shops, fancy diners

Common foods are all fish and sea foods

The city was a work in process for a resort city, and a major violent storm came too early taking out some of the fancier parts of the island. Most of the higher end houses and mansions were believed to be damaged in the outer edges of the island. There had been a castle built as a main part of the hotel/resort. Old costumes, sets, mascots were left to rot by the seas breeze. Barnacles, ivy, and vines with exotic flora and fauna growing wildly cover the buildings. Possibly even growing in the mansion and other houses. The main part of the biker gang is in a abandoned church next to the sea caves is where the biker gang mostly resides and work primarily as hit men and women. The island would be decided by the two head family of vampires one powerful family versus the other in over control if the current situation of resort in the actual tourist location.A rambunctious gang of young cryptics disguise themselves as human during the daytime but during the night it's quite the time to be alive and young. Various story arcs of love and lust between the group members figuring out their own sexualities and forming adulthood. Though most of it is all of them just fucking around.A rambunctious gang of young cryptics disguise themselves as human during the daytime but during the night it's quite the time to be alive and young. Various story arcs of love and lust between the group members figuring out their own sexualities and forming adulthood. Though most of it is all of them just fucking around.

Plausible locations

Old mill

Carnival / freakshow

Rides and amusement

Abandoned Church

Greenhouse

Garden

Boat house

Log cabins

CAMP grounds

Old schools

Warehouses

The Docks or Port

Boat houses

Boat docks

Abandoned Hotel

Studios

Bike store

Surf or like diving store

Knickknack shack

Ma and Pa restaurants

Antique stores

Downtown

Library

Hospital or infirmary excotic masion

I have story plots for days SONNNN so these are at skim level for plot.

If you’d like to contact me the best ways are

Discord at

Agodnamedhome#4202

[email protected]

I work from 11:30 to 4 Monday-Friday

But available before, and after for sure.

Thursday’s at 5 are my therapist appointments

Weekends are 100% free atm

Looking for a long term, short term, a friend!

#long term rp #oc rp #mulitfandom rp #email #discord #writting #hobby #rp #roleplay #looking for an online friend #pacfic northwest #orginal content #submission

6 notes · View notes

agodnamedhome · 4 years

Text

Howdy there! How are you?

Self

Preference

So for myself I love to take care of my Rp partners in all accommodations possible.

Meaning if your heart has been craving fluff, rough smut, or a plain ol hug. IM GAME! If none, no biggie let’s make a plot spot!

Roles I usually fall under are but not limited too….

-DOM , Vers, Power bottom

-caretaker, guardian, teacher

-father, handler, knight

-beefcakes, robots, selfless leaders

And so much more!

The roles I lean towards are

-caretaker, strong and silent-ish type, and flamboyant entertainers.

-male roles, trans male roles, open to trying a female role?, non binary, pangender role.

- I do enjoy topping, some aspects of BDSM, and some hard kinks.

-fallen leader, relearning about a loving world, hopeful in a dark world.

And so much more!

As far as story things themes are

-highly complex kingdoms

-High pace fantasy

-society by the ocean

-abandon green houses

-heavily dense forests

-fae and fiend worlds

-AUs of pre-existing universes from shows

-magic incorporated

-supernatural

Worlds we design collectively.

My HARD NOs are…

NO MINORS ROLEPLAYING WITH ME, 19 AND UNDER DO NOT APPLY

-abuse in active Rp (can be used from background and really has to depend on circumstance)

-harm of any children

-harm of expected mother

-any form of r*pe play

-blood play, degrading play, hard impact play

-crying kinks, humiliation kink, and electric play

-no smoking kinks either or character usage of substances.

Writing

Storytelling

Here are some story concepts I’ve come up with. Yet if you’d like to imply your own let’s talk about it!

Counterpart pathways

Puddles

When men become mortal

An alien/robot/human species that survives by using different masks/chips for various occasions.

It's like buying different clothes but they adapt or transform the hoist for a month or less of another body/form/identity.

The main character experiences a technical difficulty where their head socket cannot adapt to a new face for long and has to get it repaired. Though along the way he seems to find that not wearing a false identity they actually enjoy seeing the outside world with no expectation of appearance.

The other is a identity artist, the one whom develops different faces and identity. He spends hours tweaking details of bodies and faces. He always has the nicest things because of his work and from important commissions and work for certain clients.

They meet at a gallery that the artist is hoisting at a museum. The individuals there are decorated like some of the model pieces and others artist curators-part sellers.

The faceless one decides to go to the museum to see what's or who's being showcased and since he has a little bit of extra money he saved up for the occasion. Everyone finds him interesting since he doesn't have an appearance, they think he's a model. Thus they send him to meet with the artist for the show.

The artist doesn't know him at all. They find eachother very different but most parts similar. From their meeting the artist gets inspired by his original face. Coming to realize that even himself that he has given into the world he never wanted to.

The two of them hit it off. Both dwelling into the matters of the "perfect" vessel. Asking the serious questions such as what makes a body, a face, a soul attractive? They go on for hours and it starts to inspire the artists work into his new resorted craftsmanship. The faceless impressed by the purposed questions and also work. The two of them grow closer resulted from talking so much about bodies and meaning. All the while testing out the new creations, body parts, and vessels capabilities.

Not all though is good while the two develop this hoist. There's a villain at hand who one of the artist's main clients that goes unsuspected. They want to use the designs to create a vessel for the bad and wealth. Only to include to kill off all humans.

Thus forces the artist to reveal his true identity. A human being. Not a hologram. Plus he's not just an artist but a ex-con scientist from the labs that have bloomed into a internalized war. Faceless becomes confused and also hurt that the artist to mention this. Only for the two of them being followed.

The artist informs the robot that the hybrids (the children of the robot-species, generations of offspring) are the real threat to society. The one who hoists and is in charge of the power sorce is human and machine. The first of its kind, and also the previous mentor of the artist/ex-scientist.

Who will get to the power source first. Our main dynamic couple or the robotic uprising that believe all humans should cease to exist once and for all?

Gay Cryptids

Themes

Active night life

Next to the ocean, sea, body of water.

Beach city/lost boys/Mad max?/punk/ regal?/neon lights/old mascots/vapor wave af

Carnival / festivals

Dark market authenticity

Biker gang(s)

Aquatic features, art, incorporated in surroundings

Lifestyles like fish importing, dock workers, sushi shops, fancy diners

Common foods are all fish and sea foods

A rambunctious gang of young cryptics disguise themselves as human during the daytime but during the night it's quite the time to be alive and young.

Various story arcs of love and lust between the group members figuring out their own sexualities and forming adulthood. Though most of it is all of them just fucking around.

A rambunctious gang of young cryptics disguise themselves as human during the daytime but during the night it's quite the time to be alive and young.

Various story arcs of love and lust between the group members figuring out their own sexualities and forming adulthood. Though most of it is all of them just fucking around.

Plausible locations

Old mill

Carnival / freakshow

Rides and amusement

Abandoned Church

Greenhouse

Garden

Boat house

Log cabins

CAMP grounds

Old schools

Warehouses

The Docks or Port

Boat houses

Boat docks

Abandoned Hotel

Studios

Bike store

Surf or like diving store

Knickknack shack

Ma and Pa restaurants

Antique stores

Downtown

Library

Hospital or infirmary excotic masion

I have story plots for days SONNNN so these are at skim level for plot.

If you’d like to contact me the best ways are

Discord at

Agodnamedhome#4202

[email protected]

I work from 11:30 to 4 Monday-Friday

But available before, and after for sure.

Thursday’s at 5 are my therapist appointments

Weekends are 100% free atm

Looking for a long term, short term, a friend!

#rp #rp partner search #rp search #oc rp #orginal content #writting #fantasy #smut #fun #art #self promte

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fallintosanity · 4 years

Text

One Ardyn to Rule Them All

I’ve been stuck for a while on writing the part of What Stays and What Fades that comes shortly after the last bit posted to Tumblr, and I realized a couple of days ago that this particular flavor of stuck-ness is familiar: it’s the stuck of trying to write a story in which Ardyn Izunia is involved.

This is something I struggled with quite a lot in The Basis of Reality, and for much the same reason: Ardyn is billed as the villain of FFXV, but he’s not. He’s tied up in the resolution of the canon story in a way that makes him impossible to ignore in any fic that deals remotely with the canon plot and the Cosmogony’s prophecy about Noct’s destiny, but he’s not the antagonist. Instead, he alternates between being a Trickster Mentor and a more-violent-than-usual MacGuffin.

To put it another way: Ardyn isn’t Sauron. He’s the One Ring.

(what the fuck that means under the cut)

To expand on the LOTR analogy, the Starscourge itself is Sauron (personified to a certain extent by Bahamut and the Crystal), while the Niflheim Empire is Saruman and his army. This isn’t to get drawn into any Dawn of the Future “true ending” arguments over whether Bahamut is actively evil, just doing the only thing he can, or simply indifferent either way. That’s not really the point. A character doesn’t have to be objectively “evil” or “bad” to be an antagonist - they only have to be the one providing the primary conflict, the one asking the question the narrative answers.

Let’s talk for a second about antagonists. The antagonist of a story is the thing that drives the plot, whether it’s a bad guy with a goal, a force of nature or society, or an internal opponent. A story is created by asking a question spurred by the antagonist, which is answered in the climax by the hero’s actions. For example: Will Darth Vader successfully wipe out the Rebellion by destroying its last hideout? Will the volcano’s eruption kill the intrepid scientist? Will the scrappy underdog team’s lack of training and confidence defeat their shot to win the championship? Will depression drive a teenager to suicide?

Basically, you can’t have a story without conflict, and the antagonist is what provides the conflict.

So now we’re back to FFXV and Ardyn. For the first twelve chapters of the game, the narrative question is, “Can Noctis reclaim the Crystal and defeat Niflheim to save his kingdom?” It has nothing to do with Ardyn, and indeed, Ardyn does not provide any meaningful conflict to Noctis, our hero. In fact, while he’s smarmy about it, he’s pretty helpful! The closest he gets to providing direct conflict is killing Lunafreya: a cruel thing to do, but at that point all it appears to do is raise the stakes for Noctis - stakes already placed by Niflheim. At least on the surface, Ardyn is simply continuing the Empire’s campaign to wipe out the Lucis Caelums and the Fleurets in its quest for world domination. After that, he’s offscreen for all of Chapter 10 except a brief cameo. Even his mischief on the train in Chapter 11, switching places with Prompto and tricking Noctis into throwing Prompto off the train, simply continues to raise the Empire’s stakes of world domination by killing Noctis and co.

It’s not until Chapter 13 that the narrative question is called into doubt. In fact, I would argue that one of the reasons Chapter 13 is so unsettling on first playthrough is for exactly that reason: the player understands that the original narrative question no longer applies, because the Emperor is dead and the Empire has been destroyed by its own daemons. But it’s not until the very last few minutes of the chapter, when Bahamut reveals Noctis’s true purpose, that the new narrative question arises. Therefore, it’s distressing at a meta level to the player because the player no longer understands what the goal is, mirroring Noctis’s own distress.

In those last few minutes of Chapter 13, Bahamut tells both Noctis and the player that, in effect, none of the conflict up until this point matters. The only real question is, can Noctis save the world by destroying Ardyn before the Starscourge wipes out humanity?

Sound familiar? The primary narrative question in The Lord of the Rings is, can Frodo save the world by destroying the One Ring before Sauron wipes out all the Free Races?

(As I’m writing this I’m realizing that there are a whole lot more parallels between FFXV and LOTR than I noticed before. I might have to do a separate meta on that.)

So we’re finally all the way back to my original point, which is that Ardyn isn’t Sauron, he’s the One Ring. Which means figuring out how to write him into a fic isn’t simply a matter of setting him directly opposed to Noctis & co, because that’s not what Ardyn does. It’s not what he wants, any more than the One Ring wants to stop Frodo from taking it to Mordor. Just as the One Ring frequently helps Frodo (albeit often at a cost) along his journey, so does Ardyn help Noctis. The One Ring also occasionally hinders Frodo in ways intended to support Sauron, just like Ardyn helps the Starscourge along by killing Lunafreya, but for the most part, neither the One Ring nor Ardyn have any reason not to help their respective heroes get them closer to their destructive goals.

The one wildcard in all of this is that while the One Ring is only sort of sentient and cannot significantly act on its own (outside of doing things like managing to slip onto fingers or fall out of pockets), Ardyn is both fully sentient and (mostly) autonomous. In other words, he has a will of his own and can act on it if he so chooses. The problem is that it’s never made clear in canon precisely what Ardyn does want.

We can infer some things based on his actions, but depending on whether you consider the various DLCs, and in particular Episode: Ardyn, to be 100% canon, many of those inferences run directly counter to one another. Ardyn wants the prophecy to succeed so he can finally die after two thousand years of torment. Ardyn wants the prophecy to fail so he can rule a world of daemons. Ardyn wants to be the Chosen King and wipe out his brother’s descendents. Ardyn only ever wanted to help people by healing them. Ardyn is a gleeful participant in setting up the ending of the Cosmogony to achieve any of the above goals. Ardyn doesn’t want to be a part of the Cosmogony at all but is forced to act out his role by the gods. Ardyn is a cunning mastermind puppeteering a grand plan. Ardyn is completely insane and doesn’t care about anything except sowing chaos and ruin.

On top of all that, if you count Ep:Ardyn as canon, we have Bahamut explicitly telling Ardyn he doesn’t get a choice. He’s only allowed to be a good little prophecy puppet, playing his part until he dies, and any attempt to deviate will be quashed with extreme prejudice. This adds yet another layer of potential motivation for Ardyn: regardless of his own personal feelings about the Lucis Caelum line in general and Noctis in particular, Ardyn may have sufficient motivation to flout the Cosmogony simply to defy the god who told him to play along.

This leaves us with a MacGuffin with a will of its own but no clear motivation or end goal, and a villain who, like Sauron, is too remote and uninvolved for the vast majority of the plot to be useful in driving direct conflict in a fic. (This is, incidentally, why Saruman, the Uruk-Hai, and the Ringwraiths exist in LOTR: they provide smaller narrative arcs of conflict along the journey to face Sauron himself. Niflheim and its various commanders - Aranea, Loqi, and Caligo - plus the miscellaneous daemons you face on the road, serve the same function in FFXV.)

None of this really helps get me unstuck, unfortunately, but it does help me understand the core of my problem: I’ve been trying to fit Ardyn into the role of Sauron when that’s not, narratively speaking, what he’s set up for. Which isn’t to say I can’t have him escalate from One Ring to Sauron, but if I’m going to do that, I need to find a motivation for him that pits him directly against Noctis and co. Because while he might be a MacGuffin in canon, that doesn’t mean he has to stay one in fics.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #meta #ardyn izunia #writing #sanity talks a lot

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bgn846 · 4 years

Text

Worthy Chapter 2: Adjusting FFXV A/B/O Promnis

< Previous Chapter 1

Ignis Scientia was true to his word and had arranged for a discrete transport back to Niflheim for Prompto. The only catch was he would have to travel the day after the royal banquet. The blond would have to remain in Noctis’ quarters until that time. With this plan came the realization that Prompto would have to spend the night, twice, in an unfamiliar place.

He was nervous at first when the idea was brought up. Ignis had called Noct right after they had eaten dinner to tell him the news, since he was still in meetings. The prince of Lucis seemed to take it in stride and announced quite casually that they were roomies for a few days.

Prompto was secretly grateful that Noct was nice and a beta. He didn’t know what would have happened if he had to share space with an alpha. He was nineteen and really needed to get over his fear, but it was easier said than done. Alphas scared the shit out of him. Not having had a single good alpha experience until earlier that day with Scientia, Prompto had been avoiding them most of his life.

His mother was a beta, as had been the king. The astrals clearly wanted to turn the tables, and his step-father had produced a litany of alphas in his wake. His first wife must have been pregnant for years, and she was guilty of the worst of the bunch. Five sons, all alphas, and they were all dicks. She died due to complications of the fifth birth. Wife number two came along and popped out three more alphas. She requested a divorce when her youngest was barely weaned. She cited difficulties with the eldest sons as the issue.

Wife number three managed to survive a little longer. She produced four more alphas to the king and unfortunately was caught cheating. The separation was quick, and Prompto sees her around visiting her sons from time to time. The king never wished to bar her from her children.

Wife number four, Prompto’s mother, met the king at a party, and it was love at first sight. They were able to spend several happy years together, and the king accepted her only son without question. Prompto had been fourteen when they married.

The king’s death was due to illness, and it shook his mother terribly when he passed. She remained strong for her son and carried on in the role of queen for the people. The general populous had grown to like her, and his step-brothers knew if they kicked her out bad press would follow.

So here he was, two years later, and still no further up the line to the throne. If anything, after the king’s death, his chances had gotten worse. Thinking about his lack of a future was depressing. If only he’d been born an alpha. Then maybe he could have stood a chance.

Prompto realized he was spacing out again when Noct sighed loudly and cleared his throat.

“You okay over there? I know this is all kinda weird.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. I’m just thinking about stupid stuff.”

“Judging by your facial expression, it didn’t look stupid.”

The blond laughed nervously. He wasn’t used to people actually talking to him. His mother didn’t count. She never pushed for fear of upsetting him. “I’m okay really.”

“Fine, if you say so. How late do you want to stay up? I’ve got lots more games we could play, or if you would rather be left alone, I get that. This must all be very overwhelming,” Noct replied.

Prompto bit his lips trying to think of a response. Yes, he was overwhelmed, but the prince didn’t contribute to that feeling. It was being in a new place with the constant fear of running into people he didn’t know that worried him the most. “I don’t need to be left alone; it helps to be with someone.” He offered softly. “I’m glad you’re not an alpha.”

“Well, you’d be one of the few to admit that. Most people seem to think royalty should be an alpha. I have no idea how you deal with it, since you’re an omega.”

“No one notices me, so not many people talk about it.”

Noct didn’t respond right away, but looked confused for a moment. “Do you not give them a chance to notice you? Do you hide instead?”

Prompto nodded slowly. “It’s easier that way.”

“Huh, interesting.” Noct pondered.

It was obvious that there was more on the prince’s mind, but he chose not to say anything else. Prompto could only assume he’d realized that their lives were completely opposite. Picking up the game controller once more, he smiled, hoping Noct would understand. The rest of the evening progressed until Prompto passed out on the sofa.

Opening the door to the suite, Gladio immediately noticed the distinct smell of omega. Ignis had been correct: the young Niflheimian prince had a unique scent. He’d been briefed earlier that morning by the advisor on how to handle the newcomer. Apparently, he suffered from a severe fear of alphas.

Ignis was extremely busy setting up the banquet for later that evening, so he’d sent Gladio to collect Noct. However, he was given strict instructions not to approach Prompto unless he was comfortable first. As Gladio trudged into the main room, he realized this would be a difficult request. The two princes’ had clearly stayed up far too late and had fallen asleep in the living room.

Noct was sprawled out over a large armchair and snoring lightly. He could literally fall asleep anywhere. Prince Prompto seemed more relaxed and was sleeping on the sofa. The shield seriously debated leaving the suite and calling Noct on his cell phone. There was no way he was going to be able to wake Noct up without disturbing Prince Prompto.

Secretly, he knew his charge wouldn’t rouse from a simple phone call, so he had no choice but to go the old fashioned route. Taking a deep breath and focusing on releasing calming pheromones, he slowly walked over to Noct. Sitting down on the coffee table in front of Noct, he reached out and shook the sleeping prince by his shoulders.

“Noooooo,” Noct groaned. “Five more hours.” He pleaded.

“Don’t you mean five more minutes, princess?” Gladio snickered.

“NO!” he grumbled trying to sleep again.

“Come on. Ignis needs you to get up so you can go rehearse your speech and do other royal bullshit.”

“Why me?” Noct lamented.

“You know I’m more than willing to carry you to your next appointment in yesterday’s clothes, I’m not Ignis,” Gladio offered with a smirk. He was about to add more when a quiet yelp from behind him caught his attention. Their guest had most likely woken up, but he didn’t dare look to confirm it. Judging by the sudden change in the omegas scent, he was scared.

Noct made an attempt to sit up fully. “Gladio, ya know it would be easier to wake up if you weren’t pumping out such a relaxing scent right now.” The dark haired prince yawned loudly and managed to pry his eyes open. “What gives?”

Gladio looked at Noct and rolled his eyes. “Are you going to introduce me to your new friend?” he asked instead of verbally berating the prince for his lack of awareness. He truly was a smart man, but sometimes he missed the painfully obvious.

“Huh? Oh, Prompto, yeah sure.” Noct seemed to finally take in the state of his guest and threw a puzzled look over Glaido’s shoulder. “Hey, are you okay? What’s the matter?”

The strangled noise that came as a reply was heartbreaking. The poor guy was terrified. Gladio still hadn’t turned around fully and was waiting for Noct to sort the young prince out. Opting to keep his body relaxed and his eyes down cast, he waited for Prompto’s scent to change.

“This is just my shield, Gladio. He won’t hurt you. It’s okay.” Noct didn’t wait for a response this time and quickly clambered out of the chair, stumbling over Gladio in the process. “I promise he’s really good at keeping princes alive. You have nothing to worry about.”

Finally, Prompto uttered a response he could actually hear. “O—Okay.”

Gladio took this small utterance as permission to finally face the Prince. “Highness, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Gladiolus Amicitia, shield to prince Noctis.”

“Hi,” was all the blond haired man managed to squeak. His bright blue eyes were huge and threatening to bulge out of his head. Then, as if something suddenly distracted him, he furrowed his brow. “You keep mentioning a shield, but you’re not carrying one.”

Gladio answered before Noct could. “I act as his bodyguard, so it’s more of a metaphorical shield.”

“Why wasn’t Lord Amicitia with you yesterday when you found me?” Prompto blurted.

Noct started turning a few shades of pink and looked away.

“Sometimes he ignores the rules and sneaks out. From the sounds of it, I may need to start training you, too, if this one managed to subdue you.”

Noct smirked and then frowned. “Hey! What are you insinuating?”

A small giggle broke the tension, and Prompto quickly covered his mouth to try and hide his smile.

“He made fun of you, too!” Noct exclaimed.

“True, but I’ve not had training, so I believe the insult is worse for you.”

Looking directly at Prompto, the shield nodded in agreement. “Highness, please feel free to call me Gladio. Lord Amicitia is my father's’ title.”

“He’s the king's bodyguard, right?” Prompto asked quickly.

“Correct. My family has been protecting the Lucis Caelums for generations.”

“That is so amazing that you get a bodyguard,” Prompto mused.

“You don’t have a personal guard back home?” Noct asked incredulously. “I would have thought you being an omega meant you’d get extra protection.” Prompto stayed silent and looked at the floor. “Uh – damn, that sucks.” Noct sighed.

“I’m afraid I have to steal Noct away for a few hours. Will you be alright in the suite by yourself?” Gladio asked.

“I think so. No one else new will come in, correct?”

“That’s correct, Highness. I do have a trusted beta guard on duty nearby, and I will give you his phone number. If anything urgent comes up, call him and he’ll help you until we get back,” Gladio announced.

“What’s their name?” Prompto asked slowly. “They won’t come in here unless I ask, right?”

“His name is Nyx, and no, he won’t come in unless you ask. He’s patrolling this wing, so he won’t be in front of the door. He’s been told to keep an eye on the corridor and make sure no one disturbs you.”

“What should I do if someone knocks on the door?”

“Ignore it. If you sense danger, hide and call Nyx.”

The last statement seemed to calm the fair haired prince. “Ok, I can handle that. Will you all be returning for lunch?”

“No guarantees. Ignis likes to keep a tight schedule. I will check with him and get a message to you one way or another.”

“I have Noctis’ phone number, so he can text me.”

“I told you a bunch of times already, it’s alright to call me Noct.” Prompto bobbed his head in response and smiled.

Gladio stood up and gave a slight bow to Prompto before walking towards the door. “I’ll wait outside for you, Noct.” He continued on his way and went to seek out Nyx with an update. Once he was confident all was well, Gladio directed his sleepy prince towards his next meeting.

“One more meeting to go, highness, and then you are done for the day.” Ignis sighed. “I’ve worked to clear your schedule for the afternoon, so you can rest before the banquet.”

“Good, Prompto and I can play more video games together. He likes all the same ones I do.”

“Do remember you need to rehearse your speech. Don’t waste away the entire afternoon gaming.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s nice to have someone around my age who likes the same stuff. I don’t know how he doesn’t go crazy at home. It sounds like he’s got nobody to hang out with besides his mom.” Noct paused with a frown. “I’m not knocking that. It’s nice she’s there for him, but he’s alone the rest of time. I have you and Gladio, but he’s stuck there in a sea of stupid alphas. No offence, but his step brothers sound like grade A assholes.”

Ignis went quiet suddenly. Noct had enough issues being a beta prince; he could only imagine the hardships Prompto must endure. “Did you happen to figure out his real reason for visiting?”

“No, I tried to pry lightly, but he seemed unwilling to talk about it. I know that sightseeing bullshit was a lie. I can’t figure out what would be worth all the trouble he went through to get here.”

“Perhaps in time he will tell us. Do you think you will try and stay in touch once he returns home?”

Noct shook his head and threw a look at Ignis. “Who do you think I’ve been texting all morning?”

“Though I’m upset at your lack of manners during meetings, I will commend your effort at making a new friend.”

The final meeting of the day was blessedly canceled, and the trio made their way back to Noct’s royal chambers. Ignis spotted Nyx nearby when they approached and gave a discreet nod for his help. The advisor had selected Nyx specifically due to his dynamic and good natured attitude. The man also knew how to keep a secret, and that was essential.

“You did warn him that Gladio and I were both coming, correct?” Ignis asked as he went to unlock the door.

“Yeah, he knows. Want me to go in first?”

Ignis didn’t answer but pushed the door open and allowed Noct to slip past him. “Gladio, do remember to give Prompto his personal space.”

“I have been through diverse dynamics training Iggy. I’m not an animal. I did really well this morning. You would’ve been proud.”

“That fact that I let you come alone should have been indication enough that I trust you explicitly,” Ignis calmly offered. Gladio smiled, and if he puffed up his chest slightly, Ignis chose not to comment.

When they walked into the living room, both princes were talking a mile a minute. Prompto had found a hidden level in a game they’d played the night before. Noct was regaling him with tales of the boring council meeting he’d had to endure.

“Two peas in pod, huh?” Gladio admitted when he noticed the exchange.

Ignis shook his head but still smiled at the sight. “I’ll be in the kitchen preparing lunch if you need me.” Gladio nodded but ended up following him in with an excuse of not being able get a word in edgewise. The two younger men had tuned out the Eos around them.

He was halfway through cutting a sandwich when Gladio piped up again. “Why are you taking extra care with prince Prompto?”

“Hmmm, whatever do you mean?”

“I’ve never seen you so hyper focused on someone else’s well being aside from Noct in a long time.”

“I care about others,” Ignis huffed with a pout.

“Shit.” Gladio grumbled. “Not what I meant. Uh – how do I put this – you have been treating him exactly like Noct.”

That made him pause. Had he really been doing that? “I merely wish to ensure his safety since he’s here unaccompanied. I wouldn’t want to have to face his mother should something happen.”

Gladio titled his head in thought. “I get that, and if he stays in touch with Noct once he’s back home, then you can make sure he’s doing okay.”

Ignis was struck with an odd thought after Gladio stopped talking. Why would he care about this strange omega so much? They’d barely spoken more than few sentences since he’d arrived yesterday. However, he felt drawn to the blond. Not really wanting to blame base dynamic chemistry, Ignis shooed the idea away and finished fixing lunch.

Thankfully, lunch was an easy affair, despite a slightly rocky start. Prince Prompto had been visibly nervous to be at the table with Gladio and himself. For once, Noct’s complete lack of tact actually helped. He’d picked up right away that his new friend was behaving differently in front of his retainers, so the dark-haired prince simply announced that his alpha friends didn’t bite.

Gladio had to work hard to stifle a laugh, which unexpectedly set Prompto off in a giggle. The tension was broken and lunch continued. Noct, of course, chose to ignore Ignis’ piercing gaze from across the table. Years of etiquette training, and he throws it away in the blink of an eye.

Lunch was soon over and more work beckoned, as Ignis had to verify things were getting done properly for the banquet. He quickly said his goodbyes and slipped out to return to work. However, he couldn’t seem to shake the empty feeling he had once he’d left the suite. Was it even possible for an omega to make someone feel this way? He had no time to dwell on the thought, since he had a banquet to coordinate.

“You sure you’ll be okay?” Noct asked for a third time.

“Yes, I’ll be fine.” Prompto sighed. “You said that beta soldier was stationed nearby again, right?”

“Yep, Nyx. He’s really nice, and he will be available if you need him right away.”

Prompto nodded and leaned into the sofa cushion to rest his head. “How long will you have to stay?”

“Ugh, I have to make a speech at around eight, and then Iggy will want me to meet and greet. Blech, I detest talking to total snots.”

“Hopefully you won’t have to talk to my step-brothers too much. Alban is only there to meet chicks.”

Noct laughed at the admission. “I hope he realizes that the women that attend these functions are horrible. All they want is your money and title. Iggy has to beat them off with a stick sometimes if they come after me.”

“That’s really nice that you have Scientia to do that for you.”

“You can call him Ignis. He wouldn’t mind. I’m sure of it, actually, since he’d been nothing but super nice to you.”

“What do you mean?” Prompto asked.

“He’s been treating you better than me! Asking Nyx to do guard duty is huge. The man’s a decorated, high-ranking soldier; he graduated past guarding a door a long time ago. Iggy has also been controlling his scent around you. Gladio, too, but I think Iggy told him to do that,” Noct offered.

“Really?” The blond mumbled. “Those are good things, though, right?”

“Yeah, totally. It just means he likes you is all.”

“I’m only an omega. There’s no reason for him to do any of that. He’s being nice, because you would get mad otherwise.”

Noct narrowed his eyes at Prompto. “Nah, I know Iggy, and he wouldn’t act like without a good reason. I’m pretty sure I’m not the reason.”

“Oh.” Prompto wasn’t sure what to think of that information. What did Noct mean by ‘like’? He knew the prince had to leave soon, but he wished he could go with him and see all the people dressed up. “Will you have your phone?” He asked finally.

“Yeah, I’ll send you pictures when I can. There are always some really funny people wandering around.”

“Is it okay to use the kitchen when I get hungry later?” Prompto asked when Noct stood up to retrieve his shoes.

“Oh, I almost forgot Iggy’s got dinner being delivered for you. It will be the same catering as the banquet, so you get to taste the food. See! Yet another nice thing my advisor has done for you!” Noct exclaimed.

“Will I have to talk to someone for the food?” Prompto asked nervously.

“Nah, the dumbwaiter in the kitchen will buzz, and you can go collect it. It only fits a tray of food, so you’ll be safe.”

The blond relaxed and smiled. It appeared his hosts had thought of everything. “Don’t forget to send me stuff.”

Noct smiled. “I won’t, don’t worry. I wish I could stay here with you and be lazy, but duty calls. Gladio should be here any minute. Call me if something urgent comes up. Otherwise, I think you should be fine.”

Prompto instinctively ducked down behind the couch when Gladio showed up to collect Noctis. The alpha had changed into formal robes and he looked very handsome. Gladio smiled at him and waved goodbye when they left a few minutes later. Suddenly wondering what Ignis was wearing, Prompto hoped Noctis would send him a picture.

>Next Chapter 3

#ffxv #promnis #prompto #ignis #fanfic

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amarabliss · 4 years

Text

Oaths and Hearts...- 4 (Ignis Scientia/Reader)

So this is a crossover between FFXV and Dragon Age Inquisition.

You fell through a rift into the fade fighting the demons you swore to protect your world from. When you popped out you were no longer in the lands of Ferelden instead trapped in Insomnia. The gracious king allowed you to say recognizing power when he saw it. One thing led to another and now you were part of the procession of the prince to his wedding years later. Before the final battle, after years of fighting, losses, and love…your friend…your king…Noctis has asked you to change it all…

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Ignis reached for his jacket quietly slipping it on as he glanced over once more to your sleeping form. He felt himself smile before stepping over leaning down over you gently giving you a kiss on your temple. Your eyes open as you turned your head looking at him, “Sorry…I didn’t want you to wake up without me here. I’m returning to the others to check in. Get some rest, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Sneak back in if you’d like.” You murmured to him reaching up grazing his cheek with your fingers. He leaned into your touch kissing your hand.

“Do not tempt me…” He smiled at you giving you one last kiss before walking away knowing if he didn’t, he’d end up next to you rest of the night.

He stepped out into the hall looking both ways. He was attempting to arrive at the boy’s room quietly to not cause too much of a stir. Of course, he knew it was a far cry that his absence would go unnoticed.

He cleared his throat before entering their room down the hall from yours, “Evening gentleman.”

They all looked up at him. They were playing cards. It was Gladio who broke the awkward silence, “Everything okay? You didn’t answer our messages?”

“Yes, everything is fine.” He told them taking a seat, “I apologize your majesty, I hope Y/N and I didn’t worry you too much.”

“I wasn’t worried.” Noct smiled at him, “I kept telling them that you both were fine.”

“Fine, maybe…” Gladio stared at Ignis across the small table, “But very unlike you.”

“I’m in a beautiful place and was escorting a Lady through it’s streets…” Ignis began to explain.

“It is the perfect setting for a romantic walk.” Prompto piped in with a big smile.

Ignis could feel his ears beginning to burn, “Quite…”

“So…” Gladio leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees as he grinned, “You just walked around the city with Y/N?”

Ignis was not a good liar and Gladio knew it. He took in a deep breath looking at his friend, “No.”

Gladio smirked leaning back in his chair, “…we brought you both back something to eat…it’s in the fridge.”

“Thank you.” Ignis got up nodding to them all as he walked over to the small fridge.

“If you want to warm that up, I can bring the other to Y/N.” Prompto offered.

“No, that won’t be necessary.” Ignis looked back at them all again, “I…Y/N said she was tired. With her recent bout of illness, I recommended sleep.”

“When one is tired it makes sense to sleep, yes.” Noct smirked at him a little.

Ignis scowled turning to the microwave reheating his meal. Once it was finished, he retired to the balcony to escape the insistent teasing of Noct and Prompto. He was only a few bites in when he lost his appetite. He sighed setting the takeaway on the railing.

“Not hungry?” He looked over at Gladio coming to join him.

“I thought I was, but it seems not.” Ignis looked down at the well-prepared food, “It is good though, I don’t think Y/N will enjoy it.”

“Well good thing we didn’t get that for her.” Gladio leaned on the railing, “We got her some soup instead. The…what’s it called one…kinda fruity…”

“Apple barley stew…” Ignis smiled a little remembering the first time you tried it at the Citadel.

“Mmm…” He watched as you shut your eyes spoon still in your mouth, “This…is…good.”

“I am glad you like it.” He smiled setting down his coffee and opened his journal. You’d been in Insomnia for six months and every day you found something new to enjoy. It was positively a delight to watch you, “Now, you were telling me about the court of Orlais…”

“Mmm…please do not sour this delicious dish by bringing up that dreadful place.” You frowned a little as you stirred your stew to cool it off.

He chuckled a little. When King Regis appointed him to find out more about you and the world you hailed from, he thought it would be a dry gig and that you would be uncooperative. Instead you revealed a fascinating world and wonderful company and were happy to do so, “I’m sorry, I only wanted to keep with progression. If you have something more pleasant to discuss while eating…I am open to listen.”

“Let’s see…” You smiled thinking for a moment, “I don’t think I’ve told you about home yet…”

“You’ve mentioned it, the Free Marches, right?” Ignis set his pen to his journal.

“Yes…” You smiled taking another bite, “Most people would think it’s the ass end of the world…A few cities crying out ‘independence’. Away from the games of the rest of the world…home…rolling green hills, thick lush forest and swamps…My home was called Ostwick…”

He listened to you describe the terrain, it’s people, your family’s role. He found himself enraptured on your every word. When you finished you looked down to your hands, “I wish I could have gone back one more time…”

“That’s not where you came from?” He had stopped taking notes a long time ago.

“No…no I was high up in the mountains of the Western Approach…I haven’t been home since I was fourteen.” Your face flushed when you said that. There was a story behind those words.

“I’m sorry…I’ve upset you today.” He shut his journal setting on the table.

“No, it’s not you.” You smiled at him before you sniffed clearing away some oncoming tears, “I loved Ostwick, and I miss it terribly, but the rules of the land didn’t allow me to stay.”

“Rules of the land?” He leaned forward trying to understand.

“Mages…what I am…born with magic, we’re not allowed to be free people.” Your face reddened a little as you looked down in your soup.

“They enslaved you?” Ignis frowned.

“In most ways…My father had to…regretfully, send me to the Ostwick Circle.” You swallowed a little before looking up to him with a small smile, “Um…I’d like to talk about that a different day…if that’s alright?”

“Of course.”

You eventually would tell him all about the horrible conditions of the circle and the uprising that pushed you to becoming Inquisitor. You attempted to mend the relationship of the entire world with mages. You lived an extraordinary life and were given the mantle of responsibility that no one should have to bear alone.

“It’s about time, by the way…” Ignis looked at Gladio when he spoke pulling him from his thoughts.

“Whatever do you mean?” Ignis looked out over the city allowing himself some time to give a more gentlemanly answer.

“You know exactly what I mean. You and Y/N…you’re a good match for each other.” Gladio smiled looking at his friend, “It took you long enough to ask her out…then we got this mission to deliver Noct and everything just rolled out of control. It’s not fair for you two to put everything on hold.”

“Hm…” Ignis took in a deep breath, “We had talked about it before we set out. We thought it would be better if we distance ourselves…it was a good theory until…as you said…everything rolled out of control…”

“And it took all the way to Altissia for you two to find time for one another.” Gladio grinned watching Ignis carefully as silent fell between the pair.

“What?” Ignis finally looked at him when his friend kept staring at him.

Gladio took in a deep breath, “Iggy, I’m the Shield of the King. Noct comes first. So, I need to know…”

“You have nothing to worry about. My duty to Noctis will always come first.” Ignis told him quickly.

“Good.” Gladio sighed making it obvious that he didn’t like asking those questions, “So how many dates did you guys go on before we left?”

“Several actually…over the course of a year.” Ignis smiled briefly, “Though we didn’t really need to go on dates. We got to know each other very well over the years because of King Regis’ interest in her. We had a great friendship.”

“But you wanted more then just friendship?” Gladio watched Ignis run a hand through his hair, “You’re not the first person to fall for someone in the workplace. Why didn’t you ask her sooner?”

“Hm…I thought her interest lay elsewhere.” Ignis sighed a little, “While I was the investigator…Nyx was her protector. I saw the way she was with him…and he was good man. They too would have been a good match.”

“Nyx? Really?” Galdio shook his head, “I don’t see it. He was too full of himself.”

“Yes, he was, but…You didn’t see what I saw…” Ignis trailed off.

“My Lady?” Nyx bowed dramatically when you approached him. Ignis had decided to escort you to the main floor after their meeting.

“Stop…” You flicked him in the forehead before turning to Ignis. “Thank you for lunch today…it was delightful. One day you’re going to have to teach me your culinary ways.”

“It was my pleasure, and I’d be happy to show you around the kitchen.” Ignis smiled giving you small bow, “Same time on Thursday?”

“Yes…I look forward to it.” You smiled at him before turning back to Nyx who was making quite the face as he rubbed his forehead.

“Damn that hurt…” He grumbled.

“Oh stop…” You pushed his hand away pulling his head down to inspect it, “It’s not even welting…”

Ignis watched you both be so comfortable around another. Nyx smiled at you when you leaned up a little giving him a kiss where you flicked him, “Well hot damn…you can flick me any time if you do that!”

“See…you ruin things when you open your mouth!” You pushed his face away with your hand.

Ignis watched you both push each other around like couples would. He envied Nyx and his ability to be so forward and wondered if he’d ever get to that point with someone.

“I am going to ask her to marry me.” Ignis told him quietly.

Gladio’s eyes widened looking to his friend, “You serious?”

“As a heart attack.” Ignis smiled at him, “She makes me happy…so happy and I’m nervous around her, something I rarely feel. Yet, she never rushes me into anything. She is just so…I have no words.”

“When she got that headache…my heart nearly leapt from me in fear. I could nothing for her but worry. But I knew, Gladio… I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.” He grasped the railing tightly shutting his eyes.

“You were pretty insistent…” Gladio nodded, “and it was alarming. I don’t blame you for worrying.”

“Ah!”

“Y/N, are you okay?” Ignis’ eyes flashed to the rearview mirror when hearing Noct question you. He could see only Noct and Galdio looking at you with great concern, “Ignis pull over!”

Ignis wasted no time pulling the Regalia off the road. Thrusting it into park he turned in his seat, “Y/N, what’s wrong?”

You were clutching the sides of your head bent over in your seat letting out painful grunts as your knuckles whitened. All four of them waited as you kept your head down. Ignis ordered Prompto for some water as you lifted your head slowly as your labored breathing began to worry him further. Blood trickled down from your nose as you looked at him through tears.

“Sweet Shiva…” Ignis looked at you feeling his chest tighten, “Y/N…”

“I’m…I’m alright…” You began to nod slowly accepting the water bottle from Prompto, “I’m okay…it just a really bad headache.”

“I’ve never seen a headache like that…” Gladio looked at the others concern evident as they watched you take a sip, “Noct’s was a god…and he didn’t have a nosebleed…”

“Well…I strive to be different.” You leaned back face flushed taking in slow deep breaths.

“You need a doctor.” Ignis told you quickly pulling out his phone to begin searching for one, “We can head back to Lestallum if need be.”

“No…I’ll be alright…” You told him quietly, “We can’t go back…”

“I’m afraid I’m not giving you an option. Your symptoms bare resemblance to serious conditions.” He rattled off misspelling words in his search, “Dammit…”

“…okay…” His eyes lifted up to the mirror seeing you resign to his care. The way you stared at him tears trickling down your face was alarming. He could only recall seeing your cry twice. The first, was when you closed your rift, closing off any chance of going home. The second time, he found you in a hallway by yourself…he never found out what had troubled you that day…but he knew then he just wanted to protect you.

This time wasn’t like either of those…your eyes seemed full of hope…

“I’m happy for you…” Gladio put a hand on his shoulder giving it a good squeeze, “When are you going to pop the question?”

“I was going to wait until after the wedding…but at this rate who knows when that will happen.” Ignis hung his head a little.

“Hey, cheer up. We’re in a beautiful city…and word is Luna will be arriving in two days. Noct got another visit from Ombre tonight.” Ignis looked at Gladio as he spoke, “I have to believe things are happening for the good this time.”

“I hope you’re right.” Ignis looked back at the glittering lights reflecting off the water, “For all our sakes.”

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