On the 15nth - Stones of Farspeech

[want_to_belong]

[Around noonish, a simple message would come over the stones. There was no method for a group-chat or anything, so he just sent a general message.]

Hey, Gladio. Iggy. Where are you guys?

[And that was it. It would be silent for a while. He attempted to send a few individual messages, but as he got no response he became increasingly worried. Gladio might ignore something for a bit - after all, that was part of why Iris started to called Noct instead of Gladio. But Iggy wouldn't ignore him.

Trying not to sound alarmed because they were probably fine somewhere and just caught up in something, he spoke over the stones again after about an hour.]

Has anyone seen Gladio or Iggy?

Comments

[want_to_belong]

Saw? They've been gardening for a few days. Umm... It should've been done yesterday? I thought they'd be back by now.

[scourgingstars]

[A sigh.]

I'll go find them. Get over here and look after Hresvelgr until I get back.

[want_to_belong]

[Trusting Ardyn to go find them. That wasn't a pleasant thought, but he wasn't sure what else he could do now.]

You should bring her over here. She can hang out with all the others.

[scourgingstars]

...Fine. I’ll be over with her shortly.

[want_to_belong]

All right.

[It'd be a bit later. He waited outside anxiously, and didn't expect a long meeting, but he'd be glad to see Fressy again, at least.]

[scourgingstars]

[Sure enough, Ardyn showed up with a near-adult black chocobo in tow, who clicked her beak and craned her neck to nuzzle at Prompto’s hair.]

I’ll do us both the courtesy of making this short. Keep an eye on her until I get back, and if you’ve not heard from me in...call it three days, feel free to assume the worst and wait for one or all of us to cheat death as per usual for this place.

[want_to_belong]

There's a pretty girl.

[He readily reached out to stroke her feathers, doing his best to keep his voice steady because he wasn't worried, nope, not at all.]

They should be okay. They were together. [He grimaced for a second. If anything was going to happen to any of them, they most would've probably guessed it'd be him.] ...Be careful.

[scourgingstars]

The whole reason I’m going and not you is that I’m much harder to kill. Well, that and the fact that I don’t sleep. In short, do spare me your concern.

[want_to_belong]

I'm not easy to kill!

[Come on, he was tough.]

I was just worried about what to do with all the chicks and everything. I was watching them while the guys were out.

[scourgingstars]

Compared to someone who can regenerate, you certainly are. Calm down and just keep them from running off, I’ll return provided nothing manages to actually kill me.

[want_to_belong]

[He wanted to argue more about how he was a lot tougher than he looked and it had nothing to do with Ardyn being stronger, but they didn't have time for that.]

She'll be fine. I don't know if she's met the new chicks yet, so I can introduce them.

[scourgingstars]

I know better than to think a chocobo wouldn't be in fair hands around here.

[He turned to the bird in question, petting her and speaking in an arcane undertone as she stretched her neck to bonk against her owner's forehead.]

...I'll find him. And the idiot behemoth's sure not to be far off when I do.

[want_to_belong]

[Was that something akin to a compliment? It nearly took him off guard.]

Yeah. [He answered, almost breathless. He was doing his best not to give away how worried he was, and he was doing a poor job of that.] And give them an earful for not responding when you do.

[He opened up the door to lead her inside. She could stay in their makeshift indoor stable with the others for a bit while they sorted things out.]