elemancy | week 4; stop razzing him, asshole

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week 4; stop razzing him, asshole

[okay, so there's a chance that noct may have had a drink or two before heading back to the hotel—he's a big boy, he can handle it.

but he's also.

definitely avoiding going back to his room until he's a little more sober since he's got the aftermath of that humiliating display with ash to deal with.

ugh.

so rather than upstairs, it's the kitchen he goes to, with a cup noodles in hand. he may as well heat some water and have a snack before dealing with this. though... he's not exactly expecting company. though if it's gotta be anyone? percy's probably okay, even if noct's still a little flustered by being teased even in just expressions over what happened earlier.

why this.]

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[Percy is definitely there. Percy is also definitely eating a bowl of cereal, the same kind Noctis threw at him during the trial. He looks up upon seeing his friend and he smiles lightly, partially amused but also partially somber. They still sentenced the wrong killer to die. They still failed. But, on the other hand, cereal helps a bit.]

You love those things, don't you?

[it's probably bad that he's not as somber as he probably should be—but the baffling situation with ash and the alcohol took a bit of the edge of for a little bit.

but noct is noct, so it's not like he won't be dwelling on literally everything later.]

Easy to make... better than trying to do much else right now. [not that cereal isn't also good but.

cup noodles are better.]

Considering there's not much we can do right now? Maybe you're right. [He shoves his spoon in his mouth, tapping the metal against his teeth for a moment.]

What would you even do once you ran out of noodles? [A beat.] And why did you throw cereal at me this morning?

Eat something else, I guess. Not like I can't live without them.

[he's not gladio! they're just good comfort food for his lazy soul. but to answer the more important question here:]

Had nothing else to throw. Guess I didn't want to hit you too hard, either.

And I appreciate that. Better than blocks of wood or something. [Ah, there it is. He lifts both eyebrows and removes the spoon, giving Noctis a curious look.] Is Ash always like that?

[SIGH.

well, he knew it was coming, but it doesn't make him look any less exasperated.]

No. Not with me, anyway. [he doesn't know ash's life maybe he randomly kisses other people out of anger too?] He's got some real crappy coping mechanisms.

[but. ugh. just being reminded and forced to talk about it makes that embarrassment rise up. and it shows, he is not well-equipped for this bizarre situation.]

[...Noctis????]

I meant "being a pain in the ass to all humans", but okay, we can talk about that, too. [Shoveling more cereal in his mouth, doot doot doot...] How's he usually like with you?

[listen!! what else was he supposed to think when that comes up after.

you know.

everything.

it's fine, noctis is just completely embarrassed with this.]

...More like what you were saying. [at least now he's sitting down to lament over this.] The whole reason he was pissed was because I said I wasn't going to kill him for being himself.

[you know. normal protag things like "yeah you're a shitty asshole but you gotta do shitty asshole things in this situation for me to really do anything" because.

noct's not about to kill someone from another world, even if they did thing in that world that are deplorable. that's not his battle to fight, after all.]

[He's doing his best not to smile so much but. It's still funny. He remains leaning against the counter, watching Noctis carefully.]

So...because you don't think he's a bad person he got upset? [He raises an eyebrow again.] What kind of logic is that?

Wouldn't go that far. Not like he's a good person, either.

[noct can call a spade a spade. he gives ash some benefit of the doubt because he really doesn't seem to be as bad as he acts; he comes off more like a petulant baby anyway.]

Just not interested in killing him over his past, over stuff that doesn't matter for getting out of here. Not like he's the only one who's done crappy things. noct shrugs.] Told him if he pulls that here, it's another story.

[start killing the good, innocent people and incriminating himself, noct will still vote for him in a trial; he cares enough about fairness.]

He's... kind of an idiot like that.

And that still made him mad. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to understand robots. [He shakes his head.]

A lot of us have pulled some pretty bad stuff at home out of necessity. If we were really going off of that, none of us would even be here.

[He makes a thoughtful face though.] ...if it helps, the first time Annabeth kissed me she was kind of mad at me, too. [It's hard to tell if he's joking or not, but he can't leave it alone.]

[that's more or less noct's point—but noct is also conveniently leaving out just how many people ash is responsible for killing.

ash may be a(n apparently) murderous asshat, but noctis doesn't want him to get killed based on that sort of thing. no need to draw any more suspicion on him right now.

so he nods along until percy makes that remark, which does earn a bit of a look.]

So you're telling me I've got an angry robot with a crush for a roommate. [???????????]

[A shrug.]

When I got Annabeth back the most recent time, we talked. I asked her if she'd always had a crush on me. She said, “I hated you at first. You annoyed me. Then I tolerated you for a few years. And then..."

People like that? Anything's possible. [He was joking but now he's wondering???] I mean I guess you could ask him.

I... kinda think I'm better off not knowing that. Last thing I need is him trying more of that either way.

[whether he does or doesn't, because noct could imagine he would do something like that again in front of everyone just to make whatever stupid point he was trying to the first time.]

[There's something that he has to wonder and though he gets Noctis's point, he finds himself finishing his cereal and folding his arms over his chest.]

Do you think he did it on purpose to distract all of us from what we were trying to do? [A more calculated move rather than just doing it to mess with Noctis, he means.]

[to that, he shakes his head.]

No. Doesn't seem like him. [from what he knows about ash, that honestly doesn't make much sense.] It was probably more like "I want to kill you but I can't," and he didn't know what else to do.

[he's had time to mull it over.] Even he's not going to do something like kill me right in front of everyone during a trial.

[Somehow this keeps getting worse and worse.]

...man, if you think you might be in danger of that or anything you can always come crash with me and Harry. We're used to people rotating in and out of our room by now. But if you think you've got a handle on him I'll leave you to your robot manhandling.

I'll let you know. Not too worried about it for now—he probably knows he'd be painting a target on his back.

[angry gay computer murders millions, noct just goes "nah it's fine."]

He seems like the type to know more than he lets on, so...I'll stand by what I said, but trust your judgment.

[Noctis why are you so chill. However, Percy gives him a curious look then.] ...can I ask you something? Like not-Ash related.

[blame it on the alcohol.

probably.

either way, he seems about ready to eat his noodles when percy asks that question.]

...Sure? [he's not sure what percy would even want to ask right now, but he shrugs his shoulders a bit. go for it, bro.]

[Noct, this is why you should share your booze next time? Gods. But he nods and thinks of the best way to ask.]

Remember when we met last week? Something came up that I've been wondering about for a while, but so much has happened this week I didn't get a chance to ask you. You already knew about the role that could end the game before I brought it up. How did you hear about that?

[ah.

well, it's a pretty fair question to ask, and not exactly one noct is expecting while slurping up some instant noodles. so... well, naturally, it takes him a second to answer.]

Just... getting around. Riku knew about it when I talked to him. [before... you know, all that happened and riku was not dead as fuck.]

[Well that sucks. It's clear from the frown on Percy's face that he's still bothered by Riku's death, too.]

Did Riku say how he found out? [A pause.] Don't you think it's a little suspicious that Riku knew something like that and then was murdered?

[noct's not happy about it either. he and riku had been trying to work together in order to actually get something done.]

Said he asked the Hal. [but noct shrugs at that. it felt like there were some confusing holes in his story, but obviously, he never got a chance to suss them out.]

Might be, but... I dunno who else knew what he knew. Aside from the person who told me he knew that to begin with.

[information sure is getting around, though noct—despite his trust in percy—still seems to be a bit vague on that.

(though who can blame him, when they're all under the same set of risks right now for knowing a lot?)]

[That seems to satisfy him a bit.]

I've come to find that the Sheriff's a little more agreeable if you're nice to him. It worked for Annabeth all the time, too. [He still can't really say her name without a little pause in his speech.]

It's just...you know this game's starting to get dangerous, you know? I want to make sure people are safe and try to stop what I can. [An apologetic smile.] Sorry, man. I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that, I was just wondering.

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