hadriel_logs | Event Log: The Beach Episode

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Event Log: The Beach Episode

Who: Everyone!
What: The event log for the transition to our new planet!
Where: The city, which has now been fragmented onto four separate islands.
When: May 27th-June 10th
Warnings: Surf's up! If by 'surf', you mean separation from your friends, weird sea creatures, and cold rainfall.

The sun and the sand and a drink in your hand- well, it all sounded pretty nice when you voted for the island planet, but ultimately what you're getting is a bit less glamorous.

The transition takes place instantaneously, with very little noteworthy shakeup, though those of you who are particularly in-tune with the supernatural may feel a bit dizzied or nauseated by the sudden movement. And that's exactly what it is: for those of you who are outside, the change is fairly noticeable, as in the span of a single blink, what used to be miles of desert is now rocky ocean. The city is simply in one place one moment, and then somewhere entirely new a second later.

And that somewhere new is exciting! The islands have plenty of landscape to explore and weather conditions to adjust to, fish to catch, and- wait, how do you get to the other islands? What if your friends or your home or the bar is on these other islands? Enjoy having to figure out who is where and how you're going to get by with only a small fraction of the city to work off of- hopefully those boats will come sooner rather than later...

► This log covers May 27th-June 10th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you drown or get eaten by an alien shark, let us know here.

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[He doesn't need her to say anything else. 'I know' translates easily enough to 'I love you, too' and it isn't pressed as they walk, or as he keeps a gentle hold of her hand until she pulls it free to climb higher up the rocks. The difference in height doesn't last long as he follows her up, finding a steady place to balance beside her.

Though her tone doesn't hold the potential for argument, he still glances sidelong at her before he replies.]

Of course. [And so had Noctis.] Very seriously.

( For all the things she can do, swimming has never been one of them. The sensation causes tingling discomfort in her limbs that Kate doesn't know how to explain. Only that it's there. But even so, she doesn't think she's wrong in calling such an idea dangerous.

Lips purse together at his response. Of course. As if it would be anything else. His devotion to Noctis has never been a question - she lets him go when he needs to go, hides things she thinks need hiding so he can help his friend, his prince. Whatever the best description is.

But until now, that had never involved the very real possibility of him being injured or worse.

The even tone of her voice doesn't last long. )

That's insane.

I'm sure it seems that way to you.

[He tries very hard to keep any irritation out of his voice. This is not something that he wants to get into another argument over, but she must know already that the issue of Noctis and how far Ignis will go to protect him is a somewhat tender one.

His reply comes a little stiffly, as much due to the fact that he rarely talks about this aspect of his life as it is to the fact that he is so rarely challenged on it.]

I would give anything, up to and including my life, to ensure Noctis' safety. He doesn't like the idea, and I don't expect that you will, but it isn't a matter that is up for debate.

[And when Noct might be in danger, he doesn't think clearly. That is a little more difficult to admit.]

( She fixes her eyes on him, tears them away from the sea, the response immediate: )

That's not the point.

( She doesn't like the idea, it's true. How could she possibly? But she understands it down to her bones, to the very fibres of her being. She doesn't have to know Noctis to know how much he means to Ignis, or that Ignis would gladly give his life to save him, and there's a promise lingering in the deepest recesses of her heart which says she'll let him go to do what needs to be done. The same promise that kept her mouth shut when Fear pulled her sight from her, because Ignis had other things to concentrate on.

But it isn't the prospect of him giving up his life that has her pushing the topic. )

You can't keep him safe if you die on the way.

( She's statue still, not even blinking as she speaks, voice even and words slow. That's the point. It was a reckless idea. )

You didn't even know where he was. It wouldn't've helped.

Is it not? You're a fine one to speak so ill of recklessness, Kate.

[He answers evenly. The only thing that keeps him from snapping it out is that she's stood right there, and they've already had this argument once before. But is he wrong? Has she not demonstrated similar levels of disregard for her own life, to now be standing there remonstrating with him for doing the same thing?

The breeze off the sea whips around them, tugging strands of hair free from only semi-careful styling to fall over his forehead.]

The level of danger to myself barely even occurred to me. [He had known where Noctis was, thanks to the GPS, and the direction was all he would have needed.

He'd do it here, and he'll do it again, before he gives up far more for his friend's sake.]

( She bristles, but says nothing to that, though it'd be so easy for her to point out that her recklessness manifests when people are in immediate danger. Not hypothetical.

(She'd also be wrong, but no one ever said Kate was good at self-reflection.)

She doesn't move, even as the wind picks up, except for a brief flicker in her expression, something breaking through the stony, emotionless facade placed up. )

Course it didn't.

( In all the time she's known him, she's seen nothing to indicate that he would consider the danger to himself in most scenarios. When that quality is levelled towards invading Null or other monsters, when she's nearby to help out, it isn't so bad. It's one she's glad to have on her side then.

When it's pressed against the forces of nature simply because he's separated from Noctis, it wraps thick around her throat, clinging terribly to her, making it hard to breathe. )

[It's an easier conversation to have in person. Less of a fight, more of a clash in reasoning and judgment. That she doesn't argue his first statement speaks for itself. That would have been a different debate, and one easily won by a few choice anecdotes. Kate will never be a poster child for reasonable decisions in the face of danger.

Standing next to her, he feels the silence pressed between them in a way that doesn't often occur. His fingers find hers, lightly brushing the backs of them, testing for a response before he thinks to take her hand.

He's fine, Kate is fine, and Noctis is fine. But he knows that isn't what's troubling her now.]

( There is nothing unreasonable about jumping on a dragon's back what do you mean?

Her arms unwind from around herself as his fingers brush against her arm and seek out her hand, grasping his hand almost immediately and firmly enough that it's almost as though she's trying to keep him from floating away in the increasing gale.

The silence is thick, but it's more comfortable than trying to say anything. )

[No, nothing unreasonable at all.

Ah, but there's a soft relief, like an elastic band snapping when she takes his hand so tightly. The silence is full of everything they don't say, but right now, how much of it really needs to be said?

He pulls her lightly to his side, then turns to wrap his free arm around her. Kate is a force to be reckoned with and needs no protection, but Ignis feels the need to guard something in her that is perhaps a little more vulnerable to bruising.

'I don't-- want to see you hurt.'
'I know. I don't want you to have to see that, either.'

Lightly, he tucks his chin against the top of her head and closes his eyes for a moment. It's a strange thing, to feel something pulling him off the paths he would have so easily run headlong down only six months before. How is it that so short a time can make a person so important?]

We can discuss it, but let's not fight.

[It's difficult to discuss, but fighting over it will get them nowhere.]

( Fighting, in some ways, is easy. It requires less thought to give into anger, far less vulnerability to push people away than to let them in.

It's also exhausting. The constant effort to continue layering walls, to rebuild them when something cracks them. The alarm that sounds every time a piece of information slips out or the veneer slips to let out a smile or a laugh. Habit, more than anything, stiffens muscles under his touch when he pulls her close, when his arm wraps around her like it's trying to keep a million things away.

She's still, all held breath and eyes sliding shut when the warmth of his body, the steady thud of his pulse, presses against her cheek. Quiet and unmoving, like water in a jar, all held in place and together by one simple thing. )

... Alright.

( Fighting is easier, but fighting exhausts everyone eventually. )

[He doesn't take offence to the way she tenses under his arm. It's how Kate is, and if she didn't want to be there she most assuredly would not be. Sometimes, it's just a matter of time and waiting for her to convince herself that it's alright to relax into the position she's found herself in.

Ignis doesn't want to fight with her. He doesn't want to fight with her over this, in particular, when it can be such a tender subject for them both for different reasons. In the end, they fight because they care about one another, and are sometimes simply terrible at showing it sometimes.]

Thank you. [Quiet, the words are almost snatched away by the wind when they're murmured softly next to her temple. Fighting might be easier, but not fighting is surely better.]

( She feels the words rather than hear them, not saying anything as the wind picks up around them. No fighting, but there's still so much to talk about and she has no idea how to broach the topic other than bluntly.

So her hand reaches back, pressing gently against his shoulderblade before she pulls away, looking over the shoreline for somewhere less exposed to the wind. )

C'mon.

( There's a rocky edge a few yards down which looks like it avoids the worst of the wind, and it might just be easier to talk there. )

Mm, alright. [Ignis takes the suggestion with little further prompting required, lightly keeping a hand on Kate despite neither of them being the type to really need help should they slip.

It isn't a topic easily broached, but if anyone were to begin to try to untangle the knots and ties that bind Ignis so peculiarly to his closest friend, it would be Kate. The person who has managed to get closer to him than almost anyone else.

He doesn't realise how strong the wind had grown until they're out of it, and he exhales sharply when it's no longer pressing against them. Much better.]

( It isn't much quieter, not with the winds battering anything within earshot, creating an all too familiar din, but they're not directly facing it, and that's an improvement.

Still, Kate's arms wrap around herself as she leans back against the rock, her gaze fixed on his face, brown eyes dark and inscrutable. It had seemed so simple before, that Noctis was just his friend, his prince. She can understand that. Understand the need to protect him which comes with a lifelong friendship. But it doesn't feel that simple any more, when logical worries and reasons to hold back get thrown out of the window and disregarded. )

I... think I'm missing something here.

( She's done foolish things in the name of protecting someone, followed Marc into a job that tore at every part of the conscience, jumped in front of a dragon in the name of not seeing Faith's fire extinguished. But it feels like she's missing some part of the puzzle that explains just why he went from A to "let's swim in unknown, choppy waters". )

[She's missing... more than something. With Ignis' level of fixated devotion one might think he would have talked about Noctis more; said so many things that would have betrayed his attachment to the other man. And yet... this has come as a surprise. Ignis shifts a little uneasily under her scrutiny and looks away, levelling his eyes on the ocean.]

Perhaps.

[Perhaps... But he feels she deserves some kind of explanation. He isn't used to having to explain this. In their circle of friends, Ignis' particular ways had never been questioned.]

Noct is my closest friend. For a while, he was my only friend. [And he was, for some time, the prince's only friend in turn. Royal lineage and a well-advanced education did not lend themselves well to interaction with other young people their age.] When we met... we were very young. I was six, and he was three.

[In that bright, stone-walled room where King Regis had first summoned him, a nervous six year old dazzled in the face of his country's leader... He had ushered a small boy out from behind his cloak and introduced him in a gentle voice. They clasped hands, Noctis holding on so tightly, and smiling so brightly that the memory of it is still crystal clear in Ignis' mind.]

King Regis asked for me. I think my uncle knew why, when he took me there, but he only told me that I wasn't in trouble... 'this time'. [She knows already how often he took the blame for their joint misadventures. Ignis falls silent for a few moments, as if processing a fleeting memory, then he clears his throat and clasps his hands behind his back.]

One cannot lead by standing still. A king pushes onward always, accepting the consequences and never looking back. [He speaks quietly here, evidently reciting something from memory, and yet the words have so clearly shaped his own speech patterns that they don't sound strange in his voice.] He asked me to stand by Noctis, always, as his friend and his brother. To lend him a hand when the pressures on him became too great. And I-- [Ignis lets out a sharp, quick breath.] I have put everything into living up to the responsibility that was placed on me. I have stepped in wherever I have been needed. I would do anything to ensure that he never comes to any harm. Even at the cost of my own life.

[So, more than just a friend. Ignis sighs, though - a cooling-off period has at least made him aware of one thing.]

... And I may have lost my head, a little.

( There are ways she understands the need to keep Noctis safe, the little offhand comments made when she and Marc were children about how Marc needed Kate's help to be a more social creature, how she was fearless and he was timid. Comments about you are the older one, Kat, even if it was only by a couple of months, that burrowed their way into her heart until they were held as absolute truth. She was the older one. The strong one. Marc was the kid with his head in books who just wanted to go to university from the second he understood what one was.

She thought that was all there was to it, if you replace the names and fudge the ages a little. But it isn't quite that simple. Every quiet word an added burden on the shoulders of a child, where it's no longer suggestions and makeshift family ideas, but an actual job. That he worked for Noctis isn't new, but the scope of how far back that work goes is.

Did he even have a chance to have other dreams? Other options? Whatever words spilled out of their parents' mouths, they came with added echoes - These are Kat's medals. She's already a great athlete. and C'mon, Kat, let's see if you can beat me now! - endless encouragement for things outside of being a good, protective sister.

It was never their parents' fault that her world boiled down to Marc eventually. That the fearless kid who talked to anyone disappeared and let the girl who shrugged off all attempts at friendship surface. How could it be? )

... Ah. ( A lacking answer to all that's been said, for sure, but words don't come easily at the best of times. The weight of everything he's just said weighs down anything else she might want to say, snatches it away like the wind snatches away breath outside of their hastily found protection. Her hand reaches for his without thinking, only to find air while they're threaded behind his back. Long neglected memories surface — the clammy atmosphere of a police station and the pitying eyes of an officer sat opposite her, trying to reassure her that they wouldn't be mean to Marc during questioning, that he'd be treated just as she was - with the advocate beside her as someone to lean on.

"I don't care. I promised I'd keep him safe."

The silence rings in her ears as her hand touches cool, clammy air, and the soft thud of her heart passes before Kate shifts closer, wrapping her arms around him. )

...You... ( It's hard to get out the words when they're the exact ones which would have made her younger self bristle and growl. Even now, the idea brings a stiffness to her spine. ) - can't protect anyone from everything. Not possible to.

( It would be nice to, ideal even, for people like them. But it isn't possible. Even in The Agency, Kate had to accept that. There were times Marc would be injured when she was there, times he'd be stuck in their hospital wing recuperating from a particularly bad mission, and she'd hate every moment. ) I tried. Failed at it.

( She sucks in a breath and pushes down the memories of Marc's blood spilling from his throat and the way the world seemed to slow to a stop, the hours of missing memories after the fact, her arms squeezing just that little bit tighter around Ignis as she does. )

Look. ...You're important to me. ( Understatement, but even those words feel strange on her tongue. It's a long, hard road to finding that sort of openness she had as a child when so much of her life was dedicated to erasing it. ) Not going to tell you to stop trying to keep him safe. Just... I spent a lot of time doin' that. Made me too tired to be there when he really needed me, and I failed.

[Ignis has told her he's going to go blind. What he hasn't told her is that the reason behind it will be something that he does to try and protect Noctis. Now feels a poor time to bring that up, and besides, the thought of it flees from his mind entirely when she puts her arms around him.

There's no resistance to it. There has only been one time when he pushed her away and he doesn't want to have to make a repeat of it. So, he brings his arms up around her in turn and draws her in close to him, almost able to feel the thud of her heart against his chest.

He realises he can't tell her he won't stop trying, even if she isn't going to ask. He can't, because it goes against every instinct honed in him for the last sixteen years of his life. He can't, when he knows without even giving it a second thought that he'd give up so much to keep Noctis safe. That he will give up so much to keep him safe.]

I'll be careful. [That much, he can say. It's still not quite a promise, but it's a something as he runs one hand over her hair and realises that as much as he doesn't want to allow anything to happen to Noctis--...]

... I don't want... I don't want to hurt you, while I'm trying to save him.

( She might ask a lot sometimes, might be a burden on his free time and frustrating in a million ways, but she can't ask that any more than he could promise it anyway. She can't ask it because she'd answer go to hell to the very suggestion, and they're cut from similar cloth in so, so many ways. Ways which have made much of this easier as much as they make moments like this nearly impossible to navigate.

Her head bows and finds his chest, eyes sliding closed as she breathes his soft, warm scent in. When did she get here, where she sinks into his touch for safety, to rid herself of the tension of everything this city throws at them? When did it become so comfortable that she doesn't fear the intensity of it all? )

Don't worry about me. ( The words are automatic from her lips, the sentiment as honest as it is a reflex. All that matters is that he doesn't waste his chances to save Noctis on things like this. She'll go on.

She always has. )

[Kate is frustrating. She's contrary and infuriating, argumentative and sometimes so blind to the thoughts of others that it's close to baffling, but she wouldn't be nearly as fascinating a person to him if the ways their personalities meshed didn't occasionally cause conflict.

She leans into him and he tucks his chin against the top of her head. It's the kind of silence he could sink into and never come out of again. Comfortable and warm, and so very safe it could easily be dangerous.]

I don't know why you keep asking that of me. [He murmurs softly, the words coming out almost on a sigh. The honesty behind her words is real, but she's said it before.

'I have capacity enough to worry about the both of you.']

You know it's a request that I'm always going to refuse.

( Reflex, just as it was to jump in front of him when the Null were attacking, thinking no more of it than she does how to run. She doesn't need to be worried about and says as much in the flippant comments about how it takes more than that to kill her. That isn't anyone's job, and it hasn't been for a very long time. Kate appreciates a hand at her back in battle, but in this--

It makes something in her stomach twitch unpleasantly, brings up that spine-tingling sense of dread. Makes her wonder once again, just why she chases this thing between them, why she wants to hold onto it when it's definitely going to disappear into nothingness sooner or later.

Why does she keep asking that? A million reasons, all of which are better left to a shrug than actual words, her head turning towards the air, towards the scent of sea spray that permeates every other part of where they are. )

Habit.

( And nothing more. )

[Ah, but he doesn't worry about her being able to take care of herself physically. How well she can defend herself has never been an area of Ignis' concern, he's seen her fight, he knows she could handle herself better than he could in a pinch (as long as she didn't get hurt trying to keep him safe).]

Ah. [He mutters. It's not a fight he's ever going to win, he thinks, but that doesn't mean he's going to stop pointing out that he's going to worry for her whether she wants it or not. If she's going to worry about him... then turnabout is fair play.]

You're a very difficult woman. [Ignis sighs fondly, pressing a kiss to her hairline.] Shall we head back?

( Then... what else is there? (A lot, but Kate's never truly given herself the time for that realisation, always thinking that if she just keeps busy, she's happy enough.)

She huffs out a noise that isn't quite a laugh, pulling back to glance up at him. )

Since when?

( But, more importantly, she's got a hold of one of his hands, gently pulling him back towards the city. )

[Since when. He doesn't answer that, only shoots her a small, wry smile. How about since always, but it's just one of the many things that he loves about her. She's difficult, contrary and challenging, but she wouldn't be the same person if she wasn't.

His fingers lace through hers while they walk. It's far more pleasant here than the desert, where walking under the heat of the sun for more than a few minutes felt as if it was frying your brain inside your skull.]

When are you going to be finished for the day?

( She's messing with you, Ignis. That much Kate knows well. She's rarely easy, wasn't even easy when she was a child and far more open and uncomplicated.

She shrugs in response to his question. Harder to tell now, with Hadriel split in 4, Kate's been trying to work out the changes they'll need. New bases (hasn't she been saying that for ages), ways to transport items across islands reliably (that's one of the easier ones), and ensuring communication and structure in each branch. )

Tonight. ...Call you when I'm done?

[Ignis nods, a small sound of confirmation leaving him, but nothing further. He knows she'll call, though he'll be finished before she is.

The walk back is taken up with small talk and gentle teasing, and he kisses her lightly before he leaves her at the door.]

... I'm glad we talked.

[And he is, though it's given him a great deal to think about.]

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Event Log: The Beach Episode

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suffers gently

weh

huffs

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