stardiving | IC Inbox (Victory Road)

[From toe to tip, that's a Warrior of Light! At least he sounds like Ardbert. So that either helps or just makes things more confusing.

He looks confused though as Estinien hands him the pokeballs, but that expression quickly changes to a happy surprise.]

Wha- wait, truely?

['Damn cat' only answers for one of the pokeballs he's given though so he's quick to release all three, eager to see who Estinien had been caring for. Mythril, Harbin, and Lamitt, huh? Despite how fondly Ardbert was looking at his old team though they seemed confused and wary of this new man.]

I never thought I'd see you lot again. Do you remember me? It's me, Ardbert!

[When an attempt to pet Mythril ended in a hiss and scratch though, he paused his attempts at a joyful reunion. Right they probably wouldn't recognize him like this. The purrserker he remembered already wasn't the smartest most of the times so... he'd probably need to take it slow with them till he gained their trust again.]

Ah. It's ok... I know, I must look different from the trainer you remember me as. [Looking back to Estinien.] What of the rest of my team? Were you taking care of all of them?

Not so different.

[Shaggier, true, but...

He shakes his head in answer to the question.]

Only these three. Emet-Selch has the rest. I knew not where he was, nor was I inclined to hunt him down afore I left Goldenrod.

Right, well...

[He starts, returning Harbin and Mythril to their balls. Lamitt seemed the least wary of him so she seemed the best to keep out.]

Questionable as he may be sometime, I'm sure they won't suffer being with him for a while longer. I'll find him in due time. Thank you, for taking care of these three at least. But I said we had some catching up to do, did I not?

[He takes his pack off his shoulders to dig through, disturbing the nestled Rufflet into finally moving off him and into a nearby tree. Ardbert's not sure if they'd actually set up camp right here but he may as well get comfy. Both did just travel for 6 hours.]

Let's settle here for now and I'll get into it.

[He nods. The light will start to fade soon, there's no need to travel by starlight. They can afford a rest.

He casts out his other three pokeballs--now that they're under the trees, Ratatoskr can be out without having to crash through them, not that it had been a concern for Iceheart and Heustienne, both foxes being relatively small.

He sets to work putting up the tent, while Ratatoskr digs a fire pit with her claws.]

[The ease in which Ardbert falls back to routine, helping Estinien set up camp, is almost funny. Most of it of course is due to years of camping after living that sweet sweet adventurer life, but the other was just having become so used to Estinien's company from the last time he was here.

It was a comfort really, being back here again in this strange world and it was something he wasn't expecting to feel after remembering it all again. Not because it was bad, no. But it had all seemed so pointless before, whether he was trapped here or left a soul to wander back home. Turns out most of that feeling had been thanks to his own piss poor mood.

Set up of camp went fast though, Ardbert taking out his sleeping and the change of clothes for later (the only thing that didn't change from his last time showing up) and it wasn't long before he was set up to settle in beside the fire. The only food he could offer being some trail bars that had been packed in the bag. Mr Twinkle Tush had curled up on Ardbert's lap while his rufflet kept itself busy trying to harass Estinien's Pokemon for either attention of play. Lamimi meanwhile had surprisingly stayed near Ardbert. She hadn't quite gotten over her cautiously shy behavior, but she was curious and wanted to follow him at least.]

Hm. Where to start then...

[It does feel as if scarce any time had passed at all, though Estinien keeps catching glimpses of Ardbert out of the corner of his eye and has to forcefully stop himself from double-taking.

He'd brought ingredients to make a trail stew and once the fire is established busies himself with doing that. Heustienne allowed herself to be drawn into a game of chase with Ardbert's Rufflet.

He's being reminded very forcefully of the night spent in the Churning Mists, before they'd been thrown into the teeth of the War, and it might be making him slightly more melancholy than usual.]

The beginning is usually the best place.

[Estinien is the true MVP, bringing stuff to make an actual meal for Ardbert's first night back in Johto. To his reply though, he gives an amused chuckle. Oblivious to his companion's melancholic struggle. Of course, how much simpler could it be then to start from the beginning?]

Just as blunt as ever I see. Alright then, the beginning.

[He nods, bringing a hand up to his chin to scratch at the scruff as he thought. There was that time they had a more indepth talk before and he was pretty sure he told Estinien he was dead.]

Do you recall when I told you I was no more than a shade, back home?

[He's had a lot of time alone with his thoughts, and with little to do to occupy him than thinking too hard.

As he tends the fire and the food, he listens to what Ardbert is starting to say. He nods as he recalls the conversation--that he was dead, and a ghost. He remembers the high points of that conversation at least.]

Aye, I do.

[So you showing up here looking so different is certainly a surprise.]

[Ardbert would get that, hell that was most of his issues both before showing up here the first time and during. Not that he's no longer messed up, but things are looking up for his...afterlife??]

Well...that really hasn't changed. When your hero showed up on The First he was the only one in a hundred years to be able to see me, hells to even hear me.

[He pauses for a moment, remembering the feelings of that moment all over again. How could something so recent feel like it had been so long ago?]

I was drawn to him for a reason I had yet not known, following him and his comrades as they traveled my dying world and- would you know it, the bastard actually did it. He achieved what I had long since given up on.

[At that, he laughs softly, though it's not meant to be at Ardbert. Isn't that just the way of it? The Warrior showing up in a place wracked by war or conflict, and simply...putting an end to it through sheer bloody-mindedness.]

...that seems to be the way of it, wherever he and the Scions go.

[Estinien seems satisfied with how the stew has cooked through, and he pulls out a pair of bowls to serve it out.]

[That's ok, it is pretty funny how things worked out. Really, he's doing better since you saw him last. Estinien's laugh gets a low chuckle in reply as he shakes his head.]

It beggars belief. Truly. Not that I'm complaining.

[No he's watching Estinien and that stew. It's been awhile since he's eaten anything. He may share a body with the Warrior of Light, but it's different.]

To explain well... [He gestures to his body.] this. There was a reason I was drawn to him after all. I don't know how much Emet has told you about the sundering, but the long and short is we're from the same soul. I offered to help him out when he was in a pinch, I've been here ever since. Lest you worry, he is still himself.

[He hands a bowl and spoon over and cradles his own for a moment to let it cool.]

Hm...he told me of it, not long after we first arrived. When it was yet just we two from our star. Or stars, I suppose.

[After he'd gotten his shit kicked in by Steven, which given how friendly they are now, you could be pardoned thinking ever happened.

He remembers being unsettled by the way Emet had described those from the other shards as weak, owing to their smaller fragment of soul compared to those from the Source, who had been through the rejoinings.]

I suppose that explains why you've always looked so similar. Especially to when I first met the man, though admittedly I did not make the best first impression.

[He eagerly takes the bowl and spoon from Estinien and for a brief dumb moment even tries to take a bite before it's properly cooled. He luckily didn't burn his tongue... much.]

Haah....hot.

[Given no choice but to put his spoon down and wait for now, he looks over to Estinien as if he didn't just do that.]

Truth be told I was against the very idea at first. I have eyes, I could see it along with the draw to him I felt, but... tell me about him, I'm sure your first impression was better than mine.

As stew ought to be.

[He says with a small smirk. You enthusiastic idiot.

Then he snorts and shakes his head.]

Well, mayhap at first. Before I tried to kill him.

[He's really not mincing any words there. He quietly stirs his stew for a while, only pausing to glance down once Iceheart rests her snout on his leg.]

I had stolen one of Nidhogg's eyes and left the city, and my mentor contacted the Lancer's Guild to send someone to help locate me in the Coerthan wilds. It so happened to be our mutual friend. The Eye also resonated with him--which was an unprecedented occurrence, and I thought it to be a sign that we were fated to fight together against Nidhogg. As he grew into strength as a chosen Azure Dragoon, I fell into doubt and was easy prey for the wyrm's whispers. To my shame, I confronted him and my mentor and tried to kill them both.

Hmph.

[You'd be enthusiastic too if you got a body again! He simply nodded, stirring his stew as he waited for both his food to cool to acceptable temperatures and Estinien's story. Boy what a story it turned out to be! This time it was his turn to shake his head with an amused chuckle.]

It sounds like the Azure Dragoon was on the run like a common thief. Least you didn't try to kill him right off the bat, hm? What I don't get though- that's one of those eyes my lot picked up right? So you stole one and just got to keep it.

[Estinien, who knew you were such a scoundrel!]

[He sips his stew without burning his face off.]

Mm. Though it had chosen me, I didn't actually carry the damned thing into battle normally. I had taken it because I felt the dragon stirring to wakefulness, and meant to draw his ire away from the city. It worked well enough as a distraction, for a time.

None knew that I had taken it. Alberic and Aymeric both went to great lengths to conceal that.

[He looks down to the stew warily as if it could burn him again if he tried it too soon, but given that Estinien was eating he tries again. He blows on a spoonful first.

Success.]

Hmm. Guess I know less about you dragoons then I thought. Makes sense, I suppose. What with given how preoccupied I was on the source. So hows that all work then, the eye, feeling dragons and the like.

[They're dragon killers in a war with dragons, yet their treasure was from the eyes of one and it apparently chose dragoons? But well there was one other thing he could take away from that too.]

You have good friends though, back home. At least from the sounds of it.

[Estinien taps his leg with his fingers thoughtfully as he considers how exactly to respond to that.]

When we begin training as dragoons, it wakes our inner dragons. For some of us, especially those whose bloodlines can be traced back to the founding of Ishgard, that is very literal. The strongest dragoon of each generation since the war's beginning was chosen by the Eye of Nidhogg wrest from him a thousand years past, becoming the Azure Dragoon. It further enhanced our power and allowed us insight to his mind and actions, but that connection was forged both ways, and Nidhogg could influence the wielder of his eye as well.

[He sets his bowl down for a moment to poke at the fire instead, shifting embers around with a long stick.]

Alberic was the Azure afore I earned the title, and renounced it as well as the power when he felt the wyrm's influence begin to overpower his own will. I was not as wise, but thrice as stubborn, I suppose.

IC Inbox (Victory Road)

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can u believe I wrote his ponyta's name wrong this whole time

oopsie doodle

happens to the best of us

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