elemancy | week two; maximum suffering

[it's not as if the week is getting off to a great start—that whole "bonfire in the center of town" and the digging up tiara thing? not ideal.

really, it's enough to get under noct's skin, and rather than hang around the town and have to be around any of it... well, it's off to the watering hole to clear his head and go fishing. there are some people he wants to talk to and check up on, but he figures clearing his own head first would be good.

he's not exactly emotionally equipped for any of this, after all.

...but when he spots yuna out on the homefront while on his way, he realizes there's not really much time for clearing his own head. gotta keep his own up somehow and look out for the ones who need it more. she was attached to tiara most—and noct, being the one to make the formal accusation—

well, they should have a chat.]

Hey... Yuna. [excellent at greetings! but really, he's kind of quiet and a bit hesitant in his approach.] You, uh, got a sec?

[he'd understand if she said no, with how the morning went, but it's still worth a shot.]

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[Yuna's just sort of sprawled out in the grass at the moment, lying on her stomach and kicking her feet up in the air, but she looks up when she hears Noctis and starts standing right away, not wanting to be rude. She's...still very obviously out of it, not that she was doing great anyway but the corpse bonfire kiiind of fucked her up, but she still tries to smile. It's—well, it's a good effort, and it might pass on anyone else but it's definitely far less enthusiastic than Yuna's been the rest of the week.]

Hi, Noctis. I'm not busy! [She does sound entirely sincere, though, about wanting to chat.] What's up?

[it's not exactly hard to miss that she's not in the best of spirits—not that he can blame her. he's not either, but...

yuna just seems like the type that would pretend it's okay when it's not.

(and it's really not.)]

Just passin' through. Saw you here... figured I'd, uh... see how you were doing.

[it's a bit of an awkward statement, but the implication is definitely with regards to the weekend's events and... the morning bonfire, of course.]

[This is Yuna pretending it's okay, is the thing, she's just doing an exceptionally poor job of it, while also pretending she isn't well aware she isn't passing all that well for an upbeat, pleasant person. His question is pretty much the one she's expecting, and she tries a little harder to look happy.]

I'm fine! It's really nice up here, and I like being around all the flowers. [yes she knows that's not what he meant] How are you doing?

Pretty crappy.

[he's so honest! and he's probably going to be... more honest. but he means it in the best way possible.]

Kinda... got the feeling I'm not really the only one here like that today. [which is why he just kind of... flops down next to her a bit lazily. it's better than hovering over her, and honestly?

it looks like a good place to take a nap.]

[Yuna gives up on that whole starting to stand thing when Noctis just sort of flops down next to her—she likes lying around in the grass better, anyway, so she flops right back down next to him and props her face up in her hands, elbows in the grass.]

Hero Club tenet. [She says this steadily, not having to fake her sincerity.] If you're troubled, talk to someone. [She looks over to him, a little expectant. She's someone!]

Y'know.

[excuse you, missy!] The tenet applies to you too.

[so she better not hold back, is all he's saying. but if he has to be the one to start this? he'll divulge at leas a little of what's on his mind.] Just, uh... thinkin' about everything that happened this weekend.

[with tiara, naturally.]

I know it does. [But—she doesn't have the words for it; she's been close to death but never seen it and never like this, and for it to be so ugly and unjust on top of it all, never mind that Ao and Tiara were her friends...

She doesn't much want to talk about her own pain when she hardly knows how, and she's happier helping others with theirs. She doesn't have the words to say so.

She decides on:] I bet we all are. It's... [For once, she falters in search of a silver lining.] It's hard. But I'm proud of all of us for moving forward today.

Yeah. It's the best we can do. Don't think either of them would want us sulking around too much over it.

[though he can't speak nearly as much about ao, it's the impression he got from tiara. she seemed reasonable, and though she obviously didn't want to die—she accepted her fate with dignity and did what was right in the end.

she'd admitted her guilt and ensured that an innocent person wouldn't be sentenced to death in her stead. for that alone, noct is pretty sure that she wouldn't want them to dwell on it too much.

(though that's difficult for him too; he may not have spent as much time around her as yuna, but loss is always hard. and loss of a good, undeserving person is even worst.)]

Still... [there is something on his mind about this, something he honestly wants to say to yuna specifically. something that he doesn't find very easy, because he's not an extrovert and expressing himself can be difficult at times. but—] I wanted to say sorry anyway. For having to call Tiara out the way I did.

[he really, really didn't want to.] Wasn't planning to interrogate, but...

[nobody wanted to. he didn't want to, but someone had to find the truth.]

week two; maximum suffering

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