Noctis Lucis Caelum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sleepsalot) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
jikan_network2022-04-25 12:43 am
sleepsalot) wrote in jikan_network2022-04-25 12:43 am
Entry tags:
video | un: kingfisher
[ Only the top of his perfectly styled bedhead is visible on the screen as he stares at nothing in particular, trying to take in everything around him.
He doesn't like that the ugly little phone he's holding is called a magi-tech.
Noctis isn't sure where to start, isn't 100% sure that the explanation he received upon his arrival wasn't the result of Ardyn continuing to fuck with him despite being on the cusp of reaching the Crystal. The man is, after all, capable of so much. He left his friends behind, overwhelmed by daemons, and stepped foot on the elevator... over and over and over again, Ardyn's voice ringing in his ears, taunting him. That's why he went through the door, that's why he's where he is now.
Admittedly, he didn't fully pay attention at his orientation. He's tired, and he's used to other people (see: Ignis) paying attention for him when it mattered, but he's still almost 75% sure that this is Ardyn's doing. Somehow.
He clears his throat, not bothering to adjust the camera. ]
I'm--
[ He pauses for a second, rethinks asking for more info on his current whereabouts. He's a little wary and he doesn't want to say too much, so he ends up sighing, scrapping whatever he was going to say, and mutters to himself instead. ]
Man, I could really go for some of Iggy's cooking right now. Or a soft bed.
He doesn't like that the ugly little phone he's holding is called a magi-tech.
Noctis isn't sure where to start, isn't 100% sure that the explanation he received upon his arrival wasn't the result of Ardyn continuing to fuck with him despite being on the cusp of reaching the Crystal. The man is, after all, capable of so much. He left his friends behind, overwhelmed by daemons, and stepped foot on the elevator... over and over and over again, Ardyn's voice ringing in his ears, taunting him. That's why he went through the door, that's why he's where he is now.
Admittedly, he didn't fully pay attention at his orientation. He's tired, and he's used to other people (see: Ignis) paying attention for him when it mattered, but he's still almost 75% sure that this is Ardyn's doing. Somehow.
He clears his throat, not bothering to adjust the camera. ]
I'm--
[ He pauses for a second, rethinks asking for more info on his current whereabouts. He's a little wary and he doesn't want to say too much, so he ends up sighing, scrapping whatever he was going to say, and mutters to himself instead. ]
Man, I could really go for some of Iggy's cooking right now. Or a soft bed.
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Is there anything it can't do? [he grins] Mine can store stuff, at least. I had a habit of saving all of my e-mails. It could do a few other things, but - all work-related.
[definitely not as cool as Noctis' phone]
It seems like you've already got the hang of it.
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[ He's going to miss the pinball machines in the Crow's Nest, too. With the outdated tech in this place, he's fairly certain they don't have video games. ]
You ever played King's Knight? Do you have video games where you're from?
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[ Noctis has at least one of those things here - the best friend - he just wishes he had all of the amenities and technology he enjoyed at home here, too. ]
If I find a way to charge my phone, you're welcome to try out King's Knight. [ A pause ] Though I have to figure out life here first.
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Even if I could do that, most of the guys I went on missions with were the real serious type. It would have just been me playing.
[no matter how hard he tries, he can't picture Tseng or Sephiroth playing a video game. Or Angeal, for that matter]
At least figuring stuff out here isn't so bad, especially if you like exploring new places.
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[ Except for when it rained. Camping sucks when it rains. And maybe when they were out after dark and had to deal with daemons. That sucked, too. There were more than just a few times that one of Noctis's friends saved his ass in a battle.
Finding himself enjoying the conversation (Zack is pleasant, they're not talking about dicks, and he's not fucking weird like a few of the other people Noctis has spoken with so far), he picks up on something the other man mentioned more than once - missions. ]
What sort of missions were you going on?
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[he loved exploring the places he was sent to if he had the time. Though as for the weather . . . boy, the rain is not a favorite of his.
Poor Noctis is going to have the weirdest view of their world when he finds out two of the weirdos and Zack are from the same place]
Well, I was a soldier, so a lot of them had to do with tracking down enemies and trying to bring them in. [or y'know, take them out, but he isn't going to say that] But I got sent a few places to deal with monsters, too.
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[ And some pretty terrible sights, but he chooses to leave that bit of information out. Nobody needs to know about the hell that Ardyn put them through. ]
We weren't really tracking down enemies, but we went on hunts for the people of Lucis when there were problematic monsters or daemons threatening the people of the area. Not quite the same, but put us in some sticky situations.
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Can't say I know what a daemon is, but your Crown City kind of sounds like Midgar, what with there not being a whole lot of nature. You gotta head out into the country for that kind of thing. Costa Del Sol was on the coast, though - it's pretty nice there.
[this is a pleasant conversation, no need to bring up the bad things if they can help it]
Close enough! A lot of those missions were optional, but I liked keeping busy in between the big ones. Lucis is pretty lucky to have guys like you helping out.
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[ But enough of that talk. ]
Tell me about your Midgar.
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[they had other things, though. Zack would say Copies were pretty damn terrible, but he also had a bias.
When he's asked about Midgar, he can't help but smile, even if there's something a little wistful in his voice]
Well, Midgar's the capital. It's built up off the ground, on top of plates with the reactors that power the whole thing surrounding it - it's a huge circle, broken up into sectors. The better off folk live above the plates, while everyone else lives underneath. It's pretty industrial; you'll find parks sometimes, but like I said, there's not a whole lot of nature around. A lot of buildings, a lot of factories - the company that runs it all is located at the center of it all. They're who I worked for.
Underneath the plate is the slums, but it wasn't as bad as people make it sound, even with the monsters that would get in. It always felt - livelier? Brighter? There's all kinds of markets and bars, the sort of places you wouldn't find up above. Midgar's the kind of city where you could live there for years and you'd still never see everything it has.
[he laughs a little] You might get something different from someone who grew up there, though. I'm from out in the middle of nowhere, I only lived in Midgar - . . . five years? [he pauses, frowning thoughtfully to himself, then nods] About that.
Your turn. Tell me about Crown City.
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[ A city built up off the ground with slums underneath the wealthy? Yeah, Noctis can’t even begin to visualize what this place looked like, even with Zack’s description of it. ]
The Crown City is named Insomnia, it’s where I grew up, where my entire family is from. It’s… your typical big city with skyscrapers, public spaces and shopping centers. It has some more residential areas with apartments and schools, too, and also has some low income areas. I wouldn’t consider those areas to be slums, though.
[ He pauses, pulling his phone from his pocket and tapping at it for a second before holding it close to the camera. ]
A little hard to see but here’s one Prompto took of me and here's another one he took. Might give you a better idea of what it was like.
[ He doesn’t volunteer any information about the huge building he’s standing in front of in the second photo, deciding to keep that to himself unless further pressed. Noctis isn’t always the biggest fan of discussing his family and status. ]
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[he trails off thoughtfully; something to ask later, maybe Aerith or Cloud.
When Noctis offers photos he picks up his device to bring it a little closer to get a better look]
Is it always that sunny? It looks beautiful there. [he's only seen it that bright in places outside of Midgar] Is the second picture a church?
[that's what it looks like to him, anyway]
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[ There's the question he didn't particularly want to address, but everybody in Insomnia knew what that building was, who his family is, so what's the harm in somebody who isn't even from their world knowing. ]
And that building is the Citadel. That's... where the royal family lived. [ He pauses, considering what to say next. ] I had my own apartment outside of the Citadel while I was in school, but my dad still lived there until the city fell.
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[he hums a little in understanding, nodding. So that would make him a prince, then? Huh] You definitely won't find anything like that in Midgar - or anywhere, really. Just mansions. I don't think we have any royal families . . . ?
[he trails off, thoughtful, before he shrugs]
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[ He huffs, a bit of a laugh.
Noctis wonders what it would like living in a society without royalty, where everybody was just... there. Sure, there were probably families in power in different ways, but that's different, right?
He's thankful Zack didn't ask about the city falling, that the comment apparently went unnoticed or, at the very least, was insignificant enough that it didn't require further questions. ]
It's wild learning about different worlds like this, and how we all found ourselves here. By the sound of it, Midgar seems a lot more advanced than Nippon, too.
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[it definitely didn't go unnoticed, but he isn't about to ask about something like that when the conversation is as light as it is. So instead he stores it away, maybe to ask some other time, maybe]
Midgar is definitely a lot more advanced - even Gongaga is, and that's way down south in the middle of nowhere. [a grin] Where I grew up.
It's nice, though - learning about other worlds. It seems like a lot of people have a lot in common, but just as much that's completely different.
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[ And he hopes the same won't be true for the people he meets in Nippon. He's not royalty here, he's simply Noctis Lucis Caelum, a regular dude who enjoys video games (which they don't have here), racing chocobos (which they also don't have here), and fishing (which, thank the Six, they do have).
He's interested in learning about the worlds others' come from, too, getting to know people who don't know anything about him, his family, his obligations, everything that has happened to him and the line of Lucis. ]
I don't really know what I'm going to do here. I guess get used to life as a civilian... How's that been for you?
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[boy does he get it, at least from this perspective. Aerith wanted normalcy, and looking back he can understand why. It seems pretty impossible to him, in the long run, but he isn't about to say anything like that. Maybe something like that is possible, at least here. And hey, if a prince can try, why can't a SOLDIER, right?
His face kind of scrunches up, though more in the way where he's trying not to laugh, because he knows how it's going to sound and he isn't the self-deprecating type]
I'm still getting used to it. But then again, I've never been good at knowing what to do with free time.
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Well, once I get settled in... If you want to go fishing, let me know.
[ He's got his entire tackle box and various reels with him thanks to the magic available to the Lucian kings, so... he's ready once he finds a place to fish. ]
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I'd be game for some fishing. I haven't gone since I was a kid, so promise not to laugh at me too much.
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[ He can't help but smile at that ]
I'll give you a call or something when I find a good spot. [ A pause ] Thanks for the welcome.
[ Maybe it won't be so bad here after all. ]