cultmirror | oo1 ✦ let’s begin.

Ignis!

[ there’s a beaming, cheery warmth that meets his voice. sincere gladness that would be impossible to fake. there’s a slight shiver of relief, too—for she is not alone. ]

It’s true. I’ll keep that favor, for now. I’d like to trade it in when it suits me best, you see.

Are you alright?

Certainly, I would expect nothing less. A favor is no good if wasted.

[There is relief on his end as well. Despite his sarcastic response, part of him had been afraid she might not remember him, and wouldn't that add just one more strange--and painful--twist to this whole thing?]

I woke up near a storefront which was convenient as far as shelter goes. It's been pretty picked over from what I can tell. Those who came before us aren't making this easy.

[Frustration and a bit of pain follows his words, though the frustration, at least, is directionless. The pain from his injuries that wasn't present but should have been in the dream is now back, and it's one more thing he's having to deal with in this strange new place.]

Are you doing well?

How are you getting around? Do you need help?

[ she’d go to him, if he needed her. it’s as good an excuse as any not to be alone.

plus, she’s cold. maybe together they can find shelter or warm clothes. anything. ]

I’m fine~ Just lost. I don’t recognize this place anymore than I did before.

I've not gotten around much aside from checking out what's left of the store. I've heard too many things I can't identify out there.

[It brings to mind all the horrible creatures they had to dodge in that hellscape, and it's not something he's been prepared to deal with alone even though he knows he will eventually have to.

Curiosity suddenly colors Ignis' side of the connection as her questions cause a thought to cross his mind.]

Lortel, do you think you might be able to find your way to me using whatever this connection is? It would be most useful to have someone to help me search this place.

[He's been trying himself, but the process has been agonizingly slow.]

Hmmm~ I could certainly try. You’ll owe me twice, you know. Are you so sure you want to be in my debt?

[ there’s a feeling of movement, a promise of agreement, across the murmur. she’s already emerging from her own hiding spot, glancing around the ruined streets before shutting her eyes and tugging on the connection between them like a lead. Trying not to overthink it, she starts to walk, drawing up her hood. ]

You know the value of a debt. There are much worse people I could owe favors to.

[There's amusement that travels along their connections as he speaks, a warmth beckoning her forward. If Ignis wanted to, he could argue that he's giving her something to do. A direction. Changing her status from "lost" to "found," but he doesn't. He's played the game of making deals all his life, and he knows when to negotiate and when to accept.]

I think there might be a zoo nearby. Would you believe I heard some large feline roaring the other night? Do be careful as you get closer.

[ There’s a shivering gasp of something dark and desperate, the stinging heat of a needle pressed too fast into skin.

Worse people?

Is he sure of that?

Lortel tilts her head back and beams, and through the murmur will come again her playful warmth. ]

You’re mine, then. I won’t forget it, Ignis.

[ tugging on her hood, she walks, letting herself be drawn to a feeling. despite the wasteland around her and the threat of incomprehensible beasts, she is utterly calm. ]

Ignis, can you still use that magic you showed me?

[A soothing, confident certainty wraps around her, like Ignis is unconsciously reacting to something he's not sure is there but still demands a reply.

Yes, he is sure. She is no Emperor Aldercapt, slaughtering a king and his people under the guise of peace; she is no Verstael Besithia, combining humans with nightmares and then laughing at the results, and she is no Chancellor Izunia, playing a game only he knows the rules of and delighting at each pained cry that comes as a result of the rules being broken.

There are those he fears, but she? He does not.]

If I find something to teach me braille, I shall make a list to make sure you don't forget.

[There is less certainty in the answer he gives to her next question. A slithering chill that is there and then gone. Is it just the weather or something else?]

It's there. I can feel it, but I can't make it do anything. It's like it's waiting for something, but I don't know what.

[ Lortel takes a soft breath, marveling at the feeling. The only other person to ever make her feel this way was…

She breathes out, heart pounding, and smiles.

The murmur reacts to her, no matter how little she wants it to. Blacks and blues and greens blur into muted reds and golds, soft, warm, reassured. There’s a longing, though not for him; just a powerful, purposeless, lonely longing.

No one ever takes her side. ]

You’re sweet, [ she sighs, little louder than a whisper. her expression has eased into something more natural, and the murmur harmonizes, briefly, with her peace. ]

I can’t use my magic anymore. My ice magic, I mean. It’s gone. I can’t even feel my mana. I really have been changed, [ she comments, soft and bare of inflection. ]

I need to learn what I can do. How did you … tap into it? An alien power you’d never had before.

[ she’s walking, still, her steps purposeful. she can feel him through the murmur. he’s far, but she’s getting closer. ]

[There is something powerful in feeling how the peace settles over her. Ignis has felt so helpless since arriving here, but to be able to bring her peace like this makes up for it somehow. Finally, he's been able to help someone even blinded as he is. Finally.

He understands loneliness and longing; he understands people looking at someone and assuming they know them. They judge and never take the time to understand. Ignis has felt it himself. People have looked at him as a young nobody given a position he didn't deserve just because his uncle served the king. They called him cold and aloof, but know nothing of the young man who lost his parents in the Founder's Day Massacre when he was only a few months old. He has no memory of them, only the pictures his uncle has shown him. His uncle, who took him in and raised him as best as he could even though he'd never planned on having a family because of how busy serving the crown made him.

People judge and so he tries not to.

This all comes across in a jumble as it's something Ignis had no intention of sharing, but he is caught so off guard by how joyous helping her has made him feel that he can't stop it. There's a flash of that young man she may remember seeing so briefly in the dreamscape being ignored and shunned by those who should be his peers. There's a picture of a young blonde couple holding an infant that disappears into flames, and a memory of an older, tired blonde man who is determined to help his nephew finish his school work though he has to be up far too early the next day.

When he realizes what he's shared, Ignis stammers an apology.]

I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that.

[What else can he say? Right, her questions. Ignis scrambles to move the topic away from those memories to something less embarrassing to him.]

I can't feel my connection to the Power of the Kings anymore either. It's like it was never there to begin with which shouldn't happen unless the one I was bound to died.

[And, Ignis knew that hadn't happened. He'd seen to it that Noctis had survived. His king had even been in the dreamscape alive and well, though Ignis has found no trace of him here.]

There are a few things we can try once you get here. To be honest, I believe I just willed it into acting before. I'm not so sure that will work here.

[ she’s taken aback by him, as if struck. her eyes are a little wide, and her skin is a little pale.

all that? truly? for how little she did?

no one has ever wanted to—

her recoil is instinctual. she’s too used to being alone.

Lortel takes a shaking breath in and slowly lets it go, pausing for a moment so she can bow her head and close her eyes. it helps, to take a minute to sort out her thoughts.

…

he’s a good person, isn’t he?

she doesn’t so much as comment on it, shaking her head at his apology. a soft refusal, a don’t worry about it.

and they move on. ]

You just… willed it, and it came to be? [ her smile is mostly in her eyes, a hesitant brush of vivid color splashed against the endless black backdrop he sees always.

then she focuses her will directly inward, reaching for something she isn’t sure is there. it’s to her great surprise that when she calls, she is obeyed.

Lortel vanishes. briefly, she steps out of space and time. in an instant she’s twenty feet ahead of where she was before, and she stands there for a moment, staring down at her clawed hands.

only once it’s done does she realize she’s been feeding him her perspective of what happened the whole time—that he would have seen that, not with his eyes but through the murmur. suggestions of shapes, colors, and sounds—it’s not an open window, but it is a cracked open door, letting a slim sliver of light beam in and, in turn, allowing her to see out. ]

How intriguing. [ her hands are shaking. but only for a moment, before she curls her fingers and wills her body into tranquil stillness.

keep smiling. ]

[Ignis isn't surprised by the recoil; he expected it the moment he realized what had happened. They've connected well in this place, but in no way were either of them ready for that kind of sharing and especially not so much at once. They have so much else to worry about and process. This is not the time nor the place.

As the silence stretches, Ignis almost begins to apologize again, but something deep down stops him. He doesn't know what it is, but instead of speaking, he waits.

She moves on.

The relief that washes over him is a palpable thing. It delivers the words "Thank you" across the connection without him needing to say them.

He moves on, and what happens next is so amazing that Ignis completely forgets the embarrassment he was feeling before.]

It worked.

[The response is a breeze of a whisper. Ignis hadn't though it would, but it did. Not only that, he got to see it work through her eyes. Impressions and flashes have come and gone, but this is so much more.

It's thrilling. The quick movement almost reminds him of warping, but using a completely different mechanization, he's sure.

It worked for her, so why hasn't it worked for him?

What is the difference between the dream world and here?]

Do you think you can do it again?

[It's a reversed echo of their first meeting. Now he's the one trying to understand how her powers are working, while she's the one using the powers.]

[ oh thank god. she might’ve had to change tacks if he’d kept all that nonsense up.

… still.

still …

secretly, quietly, she plucks a shard of the happiness he felt from the murmur and locks it away in her heart, to examine later, when alone, and safe.

perhaps the thought of it will keep her warm.

to his question she is silent for an extended moment, curling and uncurling her fingers. in the end, she smiles crookedly and resumes walking. ]

No. I’m not even sure what I did. Maybe with time, and enough practice.

Edited 2025-07-03 01:57 (UTC)

[Ignis can't help but grin a little at her response. Yes, he hadn't thought he could try again either. It's both exciting and terrifying to have that power come to your call, even if it doesn't work quite like you expected it to.

Terrifying. For a moment, curiosity blooms across the connection. Then, a question.]

Lortel, do you think I'm afraid?

[Of the power. Of what it had done when they were in the dreamscape. Of what it could do here.]

[ a soft and genuine surprise echoes back at him. ]

… are you?

I think I am.

[For someone who hides so much of himself, Ignis doesn't even consider lying to her now. He doesn't want to. She's seen the scars already, after all.

He looks down at his hands and focuses on turning the blackness he sees into an image of a glowing, fiery ring burning upon his finger. As the image passes across the connection, a voice that is not Ignis' but perhaps part of the connect itself whispers...

Yes, that is where the scars came from.

Ignis, not having heard the voice, begins speaking a moment later.]

Before I was brought here, I had one chance to save my king, and I was willing to give my life to touch the forbidden power that would allow me to do that. When that power was granted to me, it burned through my veins and my bones like the brightest, hottest flame I'd ever known. It left me empty and cold until the change happened and a new foreign power took its place.

[Ignis pauses a moment to take a deep breath and push away some of that remembered pain.]

I didn't know what I was when I completed my task and saved my king. Not with my vision gone. Now, another change is here. If I didn't know what I was then, how am I to know what I am now?

Edited (typo!) 2025-07-03 03:26 (UTC)

[ …

…

…

a wall. steel and stone. nothing gets through it. what lays behind, beyond, is unknowable.

it has to be. otherwise, how would she survive?

he gives her the truth, and his only thanks is a smile. ]

I suppose we’ll have to find out, won’t we?

[ … ]

I think you must be rather brave, [ she comments, soft, almost an afterthought. ]

[The smile is more than he deserves, he thinks, for dumping all this on her. But, the question is still there and she has given more than she realizes. Her acceptance is a sign that it's okay to not know as long as he doesn't give up trying to find out.]

If I willed the power to work in the dreamscape, perhaps I'm unconsciously willing it not to here. When I-we find my answers, then maybe that will change.

[There is a bit of bashful shyness that trickles across the connection when she's says she thinks he's brave. A sarcastic quip jumps to Ignis' lips. It's his usually deflection when someone compliments him, but he pushes it away this time and just accepts the praise given.]

Forgive me if you will, but I want to say thank you. For listening. If you ever want to talk, I will do the same.

[He won't linger on it, but he needed to say it.]

When I find you, [ she tells him. promises. she can’t be far now. ]

… there’s nothing to forgive. We’re all … dealing with things we can’t quite control.

[ … ]

It was sweet. I’m just not used to it.

I wouldn't think you have far to go now. You feel closer. I'm going to move out front. You're looking for a store with one side wall that has partly caved in. The other side wall still stands and has a door with a bell on it.

[Absurdly enough, after all this place has obviously been through, the bell still works.]

To be quite frank, I'm not used to it either. I usually keep my emotions on a tighter leash than this. I have to, but they broke free when I had to make that choice, and they are fighting quite hard to stay that way.

[His voice drops to something softer and warmer.]

I'm glad I didn't scare you away.

… Keeping our emotions on a leash has been rather harder since we got here, huh? [ a faint chuckle, a genuine sound. ]

You couldn’t scare me, Ignis. Not even if you wanted to, I think. [ and there’s a gentle, muted brush of fondness in her words. ]

I’ll be there soon.

[Ignis nods, his agreement with her broadcast clearly through the connection even without words.]

Emotion tends to be the enemy of the logical mind. It clouds what otherwise may be a clear picture, but it seems like you are navigating that cloudiness I've shown you quite well.

[It's a testament to her inner strength, even if she is just walling herself off until she is better able to handle it. Knowing one's limits is important for survival.]

I await my Lady's arrival.

[Since she's very close now--Ignis can feel the change in the strength of the connection it seems with every step she takes--instead of risking their connection sharing something he doesn't want it to again or even just himself slipping up, he starts talking about the things he's found around the store. The seemingly ever-hot flask and the stash of sports card packets that the manager (?) had hoarded in his desk. If nothing else, perhaps it will make the store stand out to her even if she is approaching it from a bad angle.

Soon, the moment he was sensing through their connection becomes movement he is sensing with his ears instead. Without even waiting for Lortel to verify who she is, Ignis turns a smile up at her from where he's sitting on some rubble. His words hold as much warmth and welcome as his smile does.]

You are here and the world is brighter for it.

[It's true he can't see, but he's felt so much lighter since she helped him admit the fear was what was making him feel so messed up that the word "bright" is still accurate.]

Edited (typo!) 2025-07-03 11:55 (UTC)

[ my lady.

she adores him, a little. sweet fondness and shaken disbelief coil uncomfortably together.

and then he starts talking. distracting their scattered, fierce feelings with practical things. a repreive.

she pauses once she’s finally before him. only because he is blind does she smile the way she wants to: small, spellbound, scared, sincere.

without speaking she approaches and sits beside him on his piece of rubble, hooking her arm through his and resting her head on his shoulder. another person. warmth. comfort that won’t reject her. ]

I’m glad I found you. [ she sighs out slow. ] This city is enormous. What I wouldn’t give for a horse. … a normal one, [ she laughs, a little shivery. ]

Edited 2025-07-03 20:09 (UTC)

[When she settles next to him and rests her head on his shoulder, a kind of relief that Ignis isn't used to runs through him. It's like the relief he felt tucking Noctis safely into bed after those attackers nearly blinded Gladio and came so close to hurting--or worse--his prince. The next day could be better or it could be even worse, but for then they were all safe.

For just this moment, they are both safe.

Ignis reaches over with his free hand and gives her hand a gentle squeeze.]

Why horses?

[It might sound like a silly question, but it's actually not. While Eos does have some run of the mill horses, they are not ridden nor do they haul things. Another beast does that.]

Chocobos are a much better option.

[ a laugh bubbles out of her, a sound she didn’t mean to make. she presses her free hand to her mouth, embarrassed. ]

What in the world is a chocobo?

oo1 ✦ let’s begin.

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This turned into a book. I'm so sorry! x.x

LMAOOOOO NO THIS RULES

Yay!

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Murmur --> Action

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1/2

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