If I'm honest, none of what I've shared with you impacted me quite so much at home. I am so accustomed to my thoughts, words, and feelings being disregarded by others that I do the same in turn.
Things have improved as of late, but that version of me has spent so long ignoring herself that it is...uncomfortable when others finally began to see her. She sees these gestures of care and concern as a sign of her own failings.
It's difficult to absorb these new memories of mine, because the Era you know here and the Era of my home are so different.
Here, under Hades' gentle guidance, I have had the opportunity to discover who Era is, and nurture that person trapped beneath the mask of a hero. I may not always like it, but I can no longer deny myself my personhood.
At home, I continue to deny it. I still hide my true feelings and will them to go away until they do. I keep myself numb to so many things in order to continue pressing onward. I know I'll keep doing this because it's what's required of me.
There I go rambling on again.
Sometimes I wish I could reverse the Echo and share memories with you or Ardbert or whoever else I wished to. It would be so much easier than trying to put into words why I've struggled so since my awakening.
It is being wrapped up snugly in a warm blanket, the most comforting of cocoons to keep you safe from the terrors of the world, and then suddenly the blanket is ripped away, leaving you tumbling through a sea of fear and confusion.
So I shall apologize preemptively if I've odd moods or reactions while I readjust to these emotions of mine.
i get u. ive been trying to parse how im supposed to be back home versus how im allowed to act here & im still learning. on eos its all destiny and chosen hero bs, gotta be the king & always strong, dont have time 2 grieve or be selfish or anything. feels like ur not allowed to be a person or have feelings bc all the weight on ur back will break if you show anyone that youre weak
here is like...... whatever idk, theres no consequences w/ being allowed to feel stuff. so u can get married and share ur memories and get sad about stuff & be a normal human being
errr a normal person
is it that it didnt impact u or ur better at burying it back home bc u made urself think that sharing it wasnt possible? bc i think thats just how brains get wired when stuff like thats hidden for too long. im not a therapist or anything but i heard suppression get thrown around a lot when ppl thought i wasn't listening lol
anyway i think weird moods are normal after this sort of thing, i was a huge mess when i woke up so ive got no room 2 judge. at least u didnt immediately try 2 kill someone, thats a step up right??
Here there is so much time and so little to do to fill it. There is too much time to dwell on things. Being a person is kind of shite, I think. It's too hard and a bit boring, though I'm all right with the lack of death and murder.
That is... I believe I'm not impacted because I bury things so deep. It isn't that I thought sharing wasn't possible, but that I had no reason to think it mattered. Then things became more and more...
There was more slaughter. More war. More death. And if I stopped to think about any of it I would falter, and to falter was to risk the lives of those I love.
So suppression is an accurate term for it. My Darkside is as potent as it is because of all the emotions I've suppressed over the years. It feeds off of them. Occasionally there is too much even for Esteem.
...Fortunately I didn't try to kill him, though I thought he might've been my enemy wearing his skin so it was awkward for a few moments.
I ended up getting mad at him and storming out, then got lost trying to remember where we lived and started crying lol I'm relieved it was late enough nobody saw. It was embarrassing and gross. (¯ . ¯٥)
The last time this happened to me it hadn't felt quite so horrible... Did it take you very long to 'recover'?
it can be kind of shit but it just means u need more practice imo? at least i prefer it to the alternative. like i dont think i could handle being an ordinary no-magic person, i like a lot of the perks & hate feeling weak. but i could ttly live without the whole fate/duty/doom etc. back home i cant have one w/o the other but here i can be whatever i want 2 be. i can actually ignore these gods unlike the astrals always sending me migraines like they own my head (¬_¬;)凸
maybe u should work on finding an outlet. like im the biggest hypocrite to say this but its bad 2 keep it all 2 urself, esp if it can mess with ur abilities or esteem & stuff. something to think about anyway...
omg that sounds super awkward ( ˙▿˙ ) im glad u got it sorted. my sympathies 2 ardbert. some ppl say crying it out is healthy?? at least theres that
i mean depends on what counts as 'recover'. it doesnt rly go away 100%. i try to keep things on the down-low but i still have bad days u know? like ill wake up after a rough night & i know i cant see ardyn that day bc he might notice. it took a full month b4 i could even look at him. pyra and dad help me to calm down a lot when i get lost in my own head. but sometimes i see the wrong shade of blue and its like im
[....]
god idk. brains are bad sometimes
i do better with other ppl, and it got easier bc hes not that asshole. so maybe u will have an easier time if the enemy ur worried about isn't here?
You don't need magic to be strong, even if your physical form is weak, though the sentiment is one I can understand. For our roles we are given boons to aid us, yet they are not truly given — they come at a cost.
I am glad that here you've a chance to live life as whoever you wish to be, Noct. No arsehole Astrals to muck everything up, and you've a loophole where you keep your strength at minimal cost. (*°▽°*)
I just want to go. To explore. To venture the world. It makes me feel ill to think of how trapped I am here and so I have to ignore it.
Every iteration of myself that I know of has been a traveler. Even Kiyomi. She was kept locked indoors for most of her childhood, but once she was free she never really stopped traveling. It is a soul-deep wanderlust that cannot be sated by Havenwell.
I don't know what outlets for it I could have beyond what I already do. I train, I garden, I care for the birds, I sew and cook and keep house, and I've Ardbert. But none of it is truly fulfilling.
Poor Ardbert had to chase after a wife he was upset with, only to find her getting blood and snot all over herself. I'm sure one day I'll look back at it and laugh a little, but today it still makes me feel sad and embarrassed. (。╯︵╰。)
'Recover' as in feeling functional, I suppose. The smallest things cause drastic shifts in my emotions I can scarcely keep up with it. I am so easily distracted. Memories keep flitting to the fore of my mind, prompted by the most innocuous little reminders.
Far too many things came to surface when I typed that. (メ` ロ ´)
I'm glad you've people to help you. Do you have anything you can keep with you to help ground you in times when you're alone? Hades made me a ring I can spin, and I can squeeze my tail around my leg. Physical stimulation to anchor my mind.
For me it's certain sounds. Crystal cracking or shattering. It sounds like my soul when it was breaking.
PTSD is shite.
Fortunately Elidibus did a piss poor job pretending to be Ardbert. He wore him so horribly I knew right away.
I just need to look at Ardbert's face or hear him speak and I know if he's really himself, but if I become lost in my head or confused he gives me a fist bump to pull me back.
ya i get that. even i get the kinda wanderlust once in a while & i spent most of my life moving from one big fancy prison to another lol. i guess it doesnt bother me much bc it feels a lot like home. insomnia was like this, big city with walls & magic protecting it, ppl caring about daily habits and culture more than what a disaster the rest of the world was becoming. here i dont have the royal stuff to keep me busy and i miss exploring but the lack of pressure's nice
i think if we keep doing what we're doing the world's gonna open up, based on what weve seen so far. its just a lot slower than we want it to be (꒪⌓꒪)
ummm distractions... oh we fixed the coding for kings knight so u can try that? i find it rly helps when i get the urge to explore new places & kill some stuff since every level is different. its not as good as the real thing but i take what i can get. also if u ever want to throw down and train im always game. i got some project ideas for forging if u want to work on some stuff?
wtf the snot i get by why were you bleeding??
i remember u mentioned that spinner yeah. pyra gave me a bracelet that i can fiddle w/ sometimes. idk if it's the most effective but it keeps my hands busy?
it sure is shit!! i have a hard time sitting still on a good day, nevermind when im thinking about all this dumb shit. or if some1 pulls my arm a certain way, or i get jumped... ugh if i made a list of what bothers me these days itd just look pathetic. cant i just go 2 sleep until i forget it all (`Д´) o wait sleeping sucks too! it all sucks!!
i feel like ardbert is 1 of those ppl what would b hard to imitate. like he comes across as super sincere. how do u fake that?? im glad he does that 4 u tho. it helps a lot to have even just 1 person who gets it right
All of my memory at home was spent wandering the continent, never confined by borders. It is difficult. I'm happy it's something you're more accustomed to — it must make this place infinitely more tolerable.
I'd saved Ardbert's world in less time than I've spent upon this one. It's too slow. What are they even doing??
King's Knight... That is a virtual reality thing? Mayhap I'll try it with Ardbert.
I am always eager for training! And... Forging?
Oh
Yes, that was a Deerington thing. I'd had my own magic forge. I called it the Scionworks, because I am a Scion of the Seventh Dawn, and because I am close friends with those of the Ironworks.
Most everything in Deerington was out to brutally maim or murder you and there were hardly any weapons at all! I got so mad I started forging blades and enchanting them lol. My healing magic didn't work properly either — it just transferred the injury from one person to another. It was such bullshite, but I once let some assailants hurt me and then dumped those injuries right back onto them. 😂 That was very satisfying!
Oh um the bleeding was because I couldn't hold back a scream. I didn't know where I was and had to keep quiet so.
I find the spinner ring is good when I'm anxious, but physical stimulus helps most when I'm overwhelmed — a small sting of pain to pull me right out of my thoughts.
Make a list, Noct. Even if it's just for you. Then you can look through and find ways to make it shorter. Train your brain to associate a good memory to what once triggered the bad. It's very hard, but worth it.
Does it help if you're not sleeping alone?
At home I'd known it wasn't Ardbert but couldn't help but hope... When 'Ardbert' finally approached my friends and I in private I held out my fist for a fist bump as a test.
He just looked baffled, smiled, and asked if my arm hurt.
I said I thought he was supposed to be good at this. He spent enough millennia borrowing bodies and pretending... but he was absolute shite at pretending to be Ardbert. ┐(´ー` )┌
Then he stopped pretending and it made me feel sick. Ardbert's face was never meant to look so twisted.
Can you imagine his sweet face giving you a look of disgust and condescension? Then later twisting to absolute loathing as he promises to destroy your soul so utterly and completely that it can never be reborn again.
lol maybe theyre wondering the same thing about us. "cant they touch each other more?? the gods need power blah blah blah", like sorry we're not glued @ the hip 24/7
ya its the vr game. remember u had that issue with how the death system worked? i got them to tweak it so theres different options. it shouldnt do the sensory deprivation thing anymore, so let me know if thats better if u try it
deerington is like the world u were at before? like prompto? it sounds rough, glad we didnt end up there instead of here. id rather be bored than maimed/murdered thx
ya i dont think thats very comforting geez. dont hurt urself...
ill think about the list thing. maybe if i can find a decent place 2 hide it, or at least convince carbuncle not 2 meddle. it likes to think it knows what i need better than me so who knows if itd stay private or if one day some1 finds it on the kitchen table ಠ_ಠ
it helps sometimes. i worry that im gonna end up kicking pyra out of bed by mistake or something. some dreams u cant escape from even if some1 else is there. cant deny that its better, so long as she doesnt mind the theoretical panic attack looming lol
why did he want 2 kill u? and why use ardbert's face? that sounds like a super melodramatic way 2 say it too, like is it a villain preresquitive to say shit like that
If they wanted people to touch more frequently they should have taken the men and women from the pleasure barges and pillow houses. This place would be so good for them.
I remember it now, yes. I'll be sure to check it out as soon as I can. It may take me time to work up the courage, as my first experience with VR was in Deerington. What happened to you in the games there translated to your body in reality as well. Such a wonderful surprise. (°◡°)
Prompto was elsewhere before Havenwell? I believe there a few others here who have experienced that, too... I would prefer being maimed than being bored, but being bored is preferable to being murdered.
It's fine to hurt yourself a little bit so long as you can heal yourself after. ヾ(´ ∀ ` )
If you come up with your own coded language it can help keep secret things secret. I've done that for some time now. And for your Carbuncle... Perhaps if you let it know you're working on healing it may leave you to it? All the reading I've done has said that these things take time, and cannot be rushed. What progress you make may be ruined if it chooses to meddle.
I find weight to soothe me when I've a nightmare. A heavy blanket over top of me, or Peki. It helps me to settle down again more quickly — especially Peki. Having something to hold has helped me as well.
Sleeping with someone else always comes with the guarantee of eventual discomfort, so it is a matter of if the 'risk' is worth the 'reward'. Ardbert loves to sleep with me because the peace it brings him is more than my stealing of all the blankets can take away. I enjoy sleeping with him because the security he brings more than makes up for his awful snoring.
Risk of being harmed in the midst of a panic attack, or disorientation from a dream, are something to be brought up as possibilities with your partners. Then they decide for themselves if it would be worth it, and you've done your due diligence in warning them so needn't feel guilty.
Because I am Hydaelyn's Champion. Because he believed I killed the last of his kin. Because I was the one obstacle standing in the way of restoring his home to what it once was. Because to him I was the villain.
He wanted to be the hero his people begged for, and so he took the body of a hero. My hero.
lol fair. maybe it isnt their choice. gods arent as great as legends make them out to be. learned that firsthand back home, so may as well b true here too
shit, yikes. take ur time either way, its not going anywhere. theyre probably making a profit for running it off just me tbh, i play all the time
yeah uhhhh a few people were in the same place? idk if it had a name, it was just a fleet of ships traveling through space. it sounds wild. thats how he knows honerva and the affurgato twins, they were in the same place i think
i am gonna very firmly disagree with u on that one, its not fine. take ur own advice and find a healthy outlet!!
coded language... geez. so not my specialty. maybe if i write in old lucian lol, then the only ones who might know are dad and ardyn and they already know im a mess in the head anyway. they cant see carbuncle, and i dont think it likes to get close to ardyn anyway
i go no-blankets a lot. i think im the opposite, blanket smothers net me lousy dreams a lot of the time. usually had to stretch out in my own corner in the tent when we camped. i dont rly get violent when i wake up or anything, but... yeah, ill talk 2 her just in case. its only fair.
sounds like an excuse to me, on his part. when that asshole made prompto look like himself to make me attack him, it was just to be cruel, to hurt us both. he took him to gralea like a hostage, but we were already going there so it was just pointless and shitty
stuff like that's below the belt. theres no good reason
Considering my reputation is as the God Slayer, I lean toward them not having a choice in the matter, though one can never tell with gods.
I should hope you are given a generous discount, considering all the work you've put into it!
I wonder how many here have come from other-other worlds? Perhaps I shall inquire on the network one day. I still need to post about the Dragonsong War, if I remember correctly.
Sometimes when I am overwhelmed the familiar sting of pain is what calms me down most efficiently. It was what I was accustomed to, moreso than a comforting touch, but I've gotten better with time. (*^ω^)人(^ω^*) Though if you catch me picking at my scales I would request you point it out so I stop — I can heal other wounds, but cannot repair damage to my scales.
You could use a mix of old Lucian, emojis, and text shorthand. The combination should cause most people some difficulty.
If I use no blankets I need to dress very warmly for bed, else I'll freeze. Though I can only stand heavy blankets, as thin ones have a penchant for twisting and strangling. They are loathsome things. I do envy those who needn't use any blankets at all.
Elidibus hadn't known what Ardbert meant to me when he first stole his body. Ardbert's body was the most convenient to possess, as there was no living soul within to suppress the will of, and the history associated with him was key to Elidibus' plan... So it was only incidentally a dick move.
it is kind of ironic that they pick ppl like that. ur a godslayer, ive fought multiple astrals, besithia used his empires army w/ ardyns help to kill or corrupt others. thats just the ones we know about. not great self preservation lol
thats probably a good question yeah. u might find more than expected. im still surprised every time it comes up. somnus was like that too when he was here- he knew ppl from other places.
ill keep an eye out for the scales thing... but maybe try 2 come up with something better for the rest too. no 1 wants to see u hurt urself even if u find it helpful. its not good!
lol the emoji thing is a good idea. dont think dad or ardyn have a clue w/ those yet. thx. i think they can navigate my shorthand by now, mostly. u should have seen the 1st text ardyn send 2 me tho lmaoooo it was so formal. "to his highness noctis lucis caelum" like excuse me what r u doin
i still need blankets when its cold, im not a furnace. or i did anyway. actually maybe not this winter, pyras warm like 24/7. either way i take the open air when i can, insomnia wasnt as hot as leide but it was still cozy most of the time so i got used 2 it.
incidental dick move is still a dick move. i guess that makes sense tho, even the smartest villain types cant know everything about everyone. they just get lucky sometimes. why cant we be lucky like that lol like what if
oh
actually i should probably not say that considering the somnus-face thing
I've taken to squeezing my leg with my tail. It causes discomfort but no true pain or injury. Sometimes it's impractical, or I find myself picking at my scales out of habit. When I was young I would try and pick off my scales so I could fit in. I've gotten much better at refraining from it. Ardbert has been helping. The ring Hades made that spins helps to.
I was the same when I first learned about 'texting'. A few people made fun of me. I became slightly less formal in my responses but I kept my posts more traditionally formal. Anyone who commented on my outdated writing style could sod right off lol
I grew up in a desert region so I am very accustomed to arid heat. Then I was stuck in Coerthas for a good long while. The last Calamity buggered up the climate enough that the region is in permanent winter. Ishgard is up at the peak of Abalathia's Spine, and I swear it's cold enough there to freeze the tits off the Fury Herself.
In Eorzea 'somnus' is the name of a highly illegal opioid. (.❛ ᴗ ❛.)
thats good. i guess the tail squeezing isnt so bad. if u can, like if theres some1 around u trust when u feel like that, try with them first. like holding their hand or something. i did that w/ iggy once in a while- when i was little after the attack i dug my nails into my leg sometimes bc i couldnt feel it much, but when i got caught ppl set me straight b4 it could end up a habit. plus they ramped up my physio so much i didnt WANT to feel it anymore lol
ya i dont care abt other ppls text style rly... with ardyn it was extra weird bc we'd only met like 2 times b4 and suddenly hes dumping a formal apology in my inbox! i still just knew him as izunia so it was too awkward to take srsly
omg u have a region like that too?? theres a big chunk of land outside of niflheim thats perma-winter bc they killed shiva and her bodys just radiating cold 24/7. the whole zones covered in ice and snow. i was so cold the whole time, i couldnt believe any1 could live in that. give me heat anyday, cold is the worst & it goes right 2 the bone
r u telling me that if ppl want to get high on ur world they smoke somnus bc that is the funniest thing u have ever said
Sometimes I can't handle touch with another person. Fortunately Ardbert understands and doesn't take offense. Peki can help now, too. I'll keep him in mind if I'm aware of it.
Physio sounds atrocious but I'm glad you recovered your mobility. With how well you hold yourself I never would have guessed the severity of your injuries.
I think to be fair Ardyn is weird anyway. Speaking of, did I ever tell you how we met?
The whole of Eorzea had a climate shift after Bahamut brought about Calamity. Coerthas isn't the worst off, but it had been a region of farmland prior to its unfortunate perma-winter. I hate the cold so much. There is no blood flow through my scales so once they turn cold they leech my warmth away. It takes so long to get warm. Hades told me when I inevitably go to Garlemald it will be even worse, and I'll have to be careful where I teleport bc if I go from the bitter cold to a place very warm the air in my horns could suddenly expand and explode them. 😱😱😱
It's odd that Shiva's body is still emitting cold after so long. I would hazard a guess that she isn't truly dead. Perhaps just wandering around as a spirit elsewhere for a while.
If they want to numb themselves to the world they put somnus in a pipe and smoke it.
But for an enjoyable high there is moko weed, and for hallucinatory effects there is milkweed. Dreamtoad ooze can be used to enhance its effects. The Sylphs are rather fond of milkweed. I've had to sober some up with a bucket of water more than once.
that makes sense... well just be careful i guess. otherwise its just trading 1 pain for another
omg it sucked so so so much every day, i hated it. hrs of repetitive exercise when i just wanted to lie in bed. one day i heard about the nif magitek and asked my dad if we could just get me robot legs instead. obv it paid off in the end tho, if u thought that.
i dont think u did. howd you meet him?
holy shit. i know the cold can cause mega issues for most ppl but exploding is way too much! make sure 2 cover up... can u grow them back??
o yeah sorry for being unclear. shivas 100% alive, the nifs killed her body b4 i was even born but she was acting as lunas messenger ever since i met her like 12 yrs ago. far as i can tell the astrals have a physical body but a spirit manifest or w/e and killing 1 doesnt permanently kill the other. she showed her real self when we found her body & gave me her blessing. i had no idea it was her the whole time. i wondered if luna knew but uh
anyway
that all sounds amazing. ive never done drugs but if the somnus stuff ever showed up here id almost feel obligated to try it for the explanation alone. "noctis what r u doin" "smoking grandpa" ( ´∀`) six thats so stupid i kinda want it
Had I not been so trained for combat I doubt I would have noted anything at all. You and your physiotherapists did wonderful work and should be very proud.
I'd never had any aptitude for aethersense that I knew of, but Deerington was largely absent of magic. When I woke up there it was like a song I had long grown deaf to had suddenly stopped playing. When I woke up here, I could it started again — albeit much more quietly. Hades was very loud! And I could feel the Darkness roiling off him like a beacon, so it took me an age to learn my way back to the townhouse since I would just follow the Darkness there.
So!
Imagine my surprise when I head toward some Darkness and Hades wasn't the source of it. I was immediately concerned and asked the strange man if he was all right. ┐(︶▽︶)┌
Auri horns can grow back but it takes a very long time. We use our horns for balance and spatial awareness, not just hearing. If I were to severely damage or lose even a single horn I would be very messed up for a long time.
Oh, that makes far more sense. I wonder if she could hop back into her body if she felt like it? Those immensely skilled with the Echo can do something similar, though as spirits would only be able to interact with the world if we were to possess a body.
No, you definitely do not. Somnus, the drug, is highly addictive and very dangerous. People who use it are courting with death. If its effects were more like moko grass I would likely encourage you to try it at least once — that is very calming and relaxing. I would also recommend against milkweed as the hallucinations are often far from pleasant for anyone who has known great hardship in their life.
im just glad its mostly over lol. i have 2 do daily stretches & whatnot but its nothing in comparison
omg... i can ttly imagine that being so awkward. esp if you asked him about what the dark was all about. i cant really sense magic like that so i had no idea the whole time i knew him until he told me here.
ya that doesnt sound great, tho it is good that they grow back eventually. plus having a part of urself explode right by ur head...!! yikes
idk if she could get back in. it looked... pretty dead. like she wasnt rotting or anything but it looked like a giant ice sculpture. when the other astrals had their bodies destroyed they disappeared into nothing and gave me their mark. i think once they die they can only live as the spirit form or w/e. she didnt seem bothered by it tho, she just acted normal
awww my dreams of being a family delinquent dashed in one go. drug use is only fun if u can mock an ancestor in the process, ive decided. even for a joke i should probably avoid that sort of thing lol. u rly dont want someone who can warp and phase thru stuff 2 get high. bad things happen when i get confused, dont want 2 give dad a heart attack
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only if u want to & are cool w/ it. i dont mind either way
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Thank you, Noct. For listening.
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If I'm honest, none of what I've shared with you impacted me quite so much at home. I am so accustomed to my thoughts, words, and feelings being disregarded by others that I do the same in turn.
Things have improved as of late, but that version of me has spent so long ignoring herself that it is...uncomfortable when others finally began to see her. She sees these gestures of care and concern as a sign of her own failings.
It's difficult to absorb these new memories of mine, because the Era you know here and the Era of my home are so different.
Here, under Hades' gentle guidance, I have had the opportunity to discover who Era is, and nurture that person trapped beneath the mask of a hero. I may not always like it, but I can no longer deny myself my personhood.
At home, I continue to deny it. I still hide my true feelings and will them to go away until they do. I keep myself numb to so many things in order to continue pressing onward. I know I'll keep doing this because it's what's required of me.
There I go rambling on again.
Sometimes I wish I could reverse the Echo and share memories with you or Ardbert or whoever else I wished to. It would be so much easier than trying to put into words why I've struggled so since my awakening.
It is being wrapped up snugly in a warm blanket, the most comforting of cocoons to keep you safe from the terrors of the world, and then suddenly the blanket is ripped away, leaving you tumbling through a sea of fear and confusion.
So I shall apologize preemptively if I've odd moods or reactions while I readjust to these emotions of mine.
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here is like...... whatever idk, theres no consequences w/ being allowed to feel stuff. so u can get married and share ur memories and get sad about stuff & be a normal human being
errr a normal person
is it that it didnt impact u or ur better at burying it back home bc u made urself think that sharing it wasnt possible? bc i think thats just how brains get wired when stuff like thats hidden for too long. im not a therapist or anything but i heard suppression get thrown around a lot when ppl thought i wasn't listening lol
anyway i think weird moods are normal after this sort of thing, i was a huge mess when i woke up so ive got no room 2 judge. at least u didnt immediately try 2 kill someone, thats a step up right??
unless u did in which case, awkward
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That is... I believe I'm not impacted because I bury things so deep. It isn't that I thought sharing wasn't possible, but that I had no reason to think it mattered. Then things became more and more...
There was more slaughter. More war. More death. And if I stopped to think about any of it I would falter, and to falter was to risk the lives of those I love.
So suppression is an accurate term for it. My Darkside is as potent as it is because of all the emotions I've suppressed over the years. It feeds off of them. Occasionally there is too much even for Esteem.
...Fortunately I didn't try to kill him, though I thought he might've been my enemy wearing his skin so it was awkward for a few moments.
I ended up getting mad at him and storming out, then got lost trying to remember where we lived and started crying lol I'm relieved it was late enough nobody saw. It was embarrassing and gross. (¯ . ¯٥)
The last time this happened to me it hadn't felt quite so horrible... Did it take you very long to 'recover'?
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maybe u should work on finding an outlet. like im the biggest hypocrite to say this but its bad 2 keep it all 2 urself, esp if it can mess with ur abilities or esteem & stuff. something to think about anyway...
omg that sounds super awkward ( ˙▿˙ ) im glad u got it sorted. my sympathies 2 ardbert. some ppl say crying it out is healthy?? at least theres that
i mean depends on what counts as 'recover'. it doesnt rly go away 100%. i try to keep things on the down-low but i still have bad days u know? like ill wake up after a rough night & i know i cant see ardyn that day bc he might notice. it took a full month b4 i could even look at him. pyra and dad help me to calm down a lot when i get lost in my own head. but sometimes i see the wrong shade of blue and its like im
[....]
god idk. brains are bad sometimes
i do better with other ppl, and it got easier bc hes not that asshole. so maybe u will have an easier time if the enemy ur worried about isn't here?
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I am glad that here you've a chance to live life as whoever you wish to be, Noct. No arsehole Astrals to muck everything up, and you've a loophole where you keep your strength at minimal cost. (*°▽°*)
I just want to go. To explore. To venture the world. It makes me feel ill to think of how trapped I am here and so I have to ignore it.
Every iteration of myself that I know of has been a traveler. Even Kiyomi. She was kept locked indoors for most of her childhood, but once she was free she never really stopped traveling. It is a soul-deep wanderlust that cannot be sated by Havenwell.
I don't know what outlets for it I could have beyond what I already do. I train, I garden, I care for the birds, I sew and cook and keep house, and I've Ardbert. But none of it is truly fulfilling.
Poor Ardbert had to chase after a wife he was upset with, only to find her getting blood and snot all over herself. I'm sure one day I'll look back at it and laugh a little, but today it still makes me feel sad and embarrassed. (。╯︵╰。)
'Recover' as in feeling functional, I suppose. The smallest things cause drastic shifts in my emotions I can scarcely keep up with it. I am so easily distracted. Memories keep flitting to the fore of my mind, prompted by the most innocuous little reminders.
Far too many things came to surface when I typed that. (メ` ロ ´)
I'm glad you've people to help you. Do you have anything you can keep with you to help ground you in times when you're alone? Hades made me a ring I can spin, and I can squeeze my tail around my leg. Physical stimulation to anchor my mind.
For me it's certain sounds. Crystal cracking or shattering. It sounds like my soul when it was breaking.
PTSD is shite.
Fortunately Elidibus did a piss poor job pretending to be Ardbert. He wore him so horribly I knew right away.
I just need to look at Ardbert's face or hear him speak and I know if he's really himself, but if I become lost in my head or confused he gives me a fist bump to pull me back.
( °▽°)═ɜ ɛ═(°▽° )
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i think if we keep doing what we're doing the world's gonna open up, based on what weve seen so far. its just a lot slower than we want it to be (꒪⌓꒪)
ummm distractions... oh we fixed the coding for kings knight so u can try that? i find it rly helps when i get the urge to explore new places & kill some stuff since every level is different. its not as good as the real thing but i take what i can get. also if u ever want to throw down and train im always game. i got some project ideas for forging if u want to work on some stuff?
wtf the snot i get by why were you bleeding??
i remember u mentioned that spinner yeah. pyra gave me a bracelet that i can fiddle w/ sometimes. idk if it's the most effective but it keeps my hands busy?
it sure is shit!! i have a hard time sitting still on a good day, nevermind when im thinking about all this dumb shit. or if some1 pulls my arm a certain way, or i get jumped... ugh if i made a list of what bothers me these days itd just look pathetic. cant i just go 2 sleep until i forget it all (`Д´) o wait sleeping sucks too! it all sucks!!
i feel like ardbert is 1 of those ppl what would b hard to imitate. like he comes across as super sincere. how do u fake that?? im glad he does that 4 u tho. it helps a lot to have even just 1 person who gets it right
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I'd saved Ardbert's world in less time than I've spent upon this one. It's too slow. What are they even doing??
King's Knight... That is a virtual reality thing? Mayhap I'll try it with Ardbert.
I am always eager for training! And... Forging?
Oh
Yes, that was a Deerington thing. I'd had my own magic forge. I called it the Scionworks, because I am a Scion of the Seventh Dawn, and because I am close friends with those of the Ironworks.
Most everything in Deerington was out to brutally maim or murder you and there were hardly any weapons at all! I got so mad I started forging blades and enchanting them lol. My healing magic didn't work properly either — it just transferred the injury from one person to another. It was such bullshite, but I once let some assailants hurt me and then dumped those injuries right back onto them. 😂 That was very satisfying!
Oh um the bleeding was because I couldn't hold back a scream. I didn't know where I was and had to keep quiet so.
I find the spinner ring is good when I'm anxious, but physical stimulus helps most when I'm overwhelmed — a small sting of pain to pull me right out of my thoughts.
Make a list, Noct. Even if it's just for you. Then you can look through and find ways to make it shorter. Train your brain to associate a good memory to what once triggered the bad. It's very hard, but worth it.
Does it help if you're not sleeping alone?
At home I'd known it wasn't Ardbert but couldn't help but hope... When 'Ardbert' finally approached my friends and I in private I held out my fist for a fist bump as a test.
He just looked baffled, smiled, and asked if my arm hurt.
I said I thought he was supposed to be good at this. He spent enough millennia borrowing bodies and pretending... but he was absolute shite at pretending to be Ardbert. ┐(´ー` )┌
Then he stopped pretending and it made me feel sick. Ardbert's face was never meant to look so twisted.
Can you imagine his sweet face giving you a look of disgust and condescension? Then later twisting to absolute loathing as he promises to destroy your soul so utterly and completely that it can never be reborn again.
▓▒░(°◡°)░▒▓
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ya its the vr game. remember u had that issue with how the death system worked? i got them to tweak it so theres different options. it shouldnt do the sensory deprivation thing anymore, so let me know if thats better if u try it
deerington is like the world u were at before? like prompto? it sounds rough, glad we didnt end up there instead of here. id rather be bored than maimed/murdered thx
ya i dont think thats very comforting geez. dont hurt urself...
ill think about the list thing. maybe if i can find a decent place 2 hide it, or at least convince carbuncle not 2 meddle. it likes to think it knows what i need better than me so who knows if itd stay private or if one day some1 finds it on the kitchen table ಠ_ಠ
it helps sometimes. i worry that im gonna end up kicking pyra out of bed by mistake or something. some dreams u cant escape from even if some1 else is there. cant deny that its better, so long as she doesnt mind the theoretical panic attack looming lol
why did he want 2 kill u? and why use ardbert's face? that sounds like a super melodramatic way 2 say it too, like is it a villain preresquitive to say shit like that
[LOOKIN A YOU, FEDORA MAN]
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I remember it now, yes. I'll be sure to check it out as soon as I can. It may take me time to work up the courage, as my first experience with VR was in Deerington. What happened to you in the games there translated to your body in reality as well. Such a wonderful surprise. (°◡°)
Prompto was elsewhere before Havenwell? I believe there a few others here who have experienced that, too... I would prefer being maimed than being bored, but being bored is preferable to being murdered.
It's fine to hurt yourself a little bit so long as you can heal yourself after. ヾ(´ ∀ ` )
If you come up with your own coded language it can help keep secret things secret. I've done that for some time now. And for your Carbuncle... Perhaps if you let it know you're working on healing it may leave you to it? All the reading I've done has said that these things take time, and cannot be rushed. What progress you make may be ruined if it chooses to meddle.
I find weight to soothe me when I've a nightmare. A heavy blanket over top of me, or Peki. It helps me to settle down again more quickly — especially Peki. Having something to hold has helped me as well.
Sleeping with someone else always comes with the guarantee of eventual discomfort, so it is a matter of if the 'risk' is worth the 'reward'. Ardbert loves to sleep with me because the peace it brings him is more than my stealing of all the blankets can take away. I enjoy sleeping with him because the security he brings more than makes up for his awful snoring.
Risk of being harmed in the midst of a panic attack, or disorientation from a dream, are something to be brought up as possibilities with your partners. Then they decide for themselves if it would be worth it, and you've done your due diligence in warning them so needn't feel guilty.
Because I am Hydaelyn's Champion. Because he believed I killed the last of his kin. Because I was the one obstacle standing in the way of restoring his home to what it once was. Because to him I was the villain.
He wanted to be the hero his people begged for, and so he took the body of a hero. My hero.
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shit, yikes. take ur time either way, its not going anywhere. theyre probably making a profit for running it off just me tbh, i play all the time
yeah uhhhh a few people were in the same place? idk if it had a name, it was just a fleet of ships traveling through space. it sounds wild. thats how he knows honerva and the affurgato twins, they were in the same place i think
i am gonna very firmly disagree with u on that one, its not fine. take ur own advice and find a healthy outlet!!
coded language... geez. so not my specialty. maybe if i write in old lucian lol, then the only ones who might know are dad and ardyn and they already know im a mess in the head anyway. they cant see carbuncle, and i dont think it likes to get close to ardyn anyway
i go no-blankets a lot. i think im the opposite, blanket smothers net me lousy dreams a lot of the time. usually had to stretch out in my own corner in the tent when we camped. i dont rly get violent when i wake up or anything, but... yeah, ill talk 2 her just in case. its only fair.
sounds like an excuse to me, on his part. when that asshole made prompto look like himself to make me attack him, it was just to be cruel, to hurt us both. he took him to gralea like a hostage, but we were already going there so it was just pointless and shitty
stuff like that's below the belt. theres no good reason
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I should hope you are given a generous discount, considering all the work you've put into it!
I wonder how many here have come from other-other worlds? Perhaps I shall inquire on the network one day. I still need to post about the Dragonsong War, if I remember correctly.
Sometimes when I am overwhelmed the familiar sting of pain is what calms me down most efficiently. It was what I was accustomed to, moreso than a comforting touch, but I've gotten better with time. (*^ω^)人(^ω^*) Though if you catch me picking at my scales I would request you point it out so I stop — I can heal other wounds, but cannot repair damage to my scales.
You could use a mix of old Lucian, emojis, and text shorthand. The combination should cause most people some difficulty.
If I use no blankets I need to dress very warmly for bed, else I'll freeze. Though I can only stand heavy blankets, as thin ones have a penchant for twisting and strangling. They are loathsome things. I do envy those who needn't use any blankets at all.
Elidibus hadn't known what Ardbert meant to me when he first stole his body. Ardbert's body was the most convenient to possess, as there was no living soul within to suppress the will of, and the history associated with him was key to Elidibus' plan... So it was only incidentally a dick move.
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thats probably a good question yeah. u might find more than expected. im still surprised every time it comes up. somnus was like that too when he was here- he knew ppl from other places.
ill keep an eye out for the scales thing... but maybe try 2 come up with something better for the rest too. no 1 wants to see u hurt urself even if u find it helpful. its not good!
lol the emoji thing is a good idea. dont think dad or ardyn have a clue w/ those yet. thx. i think they can navigate my shorthand by now, mostly. u should have seen the 1st text ardyn send 2 me tho lmaoooo it was so formal. "to his highness noctis lucis caelum" like excuse me what r u doin
i still need blankets when its cold, im not a furnace. or i did anyway. actually maybe not this winter, pyras warm like 24/7. either way i take the open air when i can, insomnia wasnt as hot as leide but it was still cozy most of the time so i got used 2 it.
incidental dick move is still a dick move. i guess that makes sense tho, even the smartest villain types cant know everything about everyone. they just get lucky sometimes. why cant we be lucky like that lol like what if
oh
actually i should probably not say that considering the somnus-face thing
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I've taken to squeezing my leg with my tail. It causes discomfort but no true pain or injury. Sometimes it's impractical, or I find myself picking at my scales out of habit. When I was young I would try and pick off my scales so I could fit in. I've gotten much better at refraining from it. Ardbert has been helping. The ring Hades made that spins helps to.
I was the same when I first learned about 'texting'. A few people made fun of me. I became slightly less formal in my responses but I kept my posts more traditionally formal. Anyone who commented on my outdated writing style could sod right off lol
I grew up in a desert region so I am very accustomed to arid heat. Then I was stuck in Coerthas for a good long while. The last Calamity buggered up the climate enough that the region is in permanent winter. Ishgard is up at the peak of Abalathia's Spine, and I swear it's cold enough there to freeze the tits off the Fury Herself.
In Eorzea 'somnus' is the name of a highly illegal opioid. (.❛ ᴗ ❛.)
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ya i dont care abt other ppls text style rly... with ardyn it was extra weird bc we'd only met like 2 times b4 and suddenly hes dumping a formal apology in my inbox! i still just knew him as izunia so it was too awkward to take srsly
omg u have a region like that too?? theres a big chunk of land outside of niflheim thats perma-winter bc they killed shiva and her bodys just radiating cold 24/7. the whole zones covered in ice and snow. i was so cold the whole time, i couldnt believe any1 could live in that. give me heat anyday, cold is the worst & it goes right 2 the bone
r u telling me that if ppl want to get high on ur world they smoke somnus
bc that is the funniest thing u have ever said
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Physio sounds atrocious but I'm glad you recovered your mobility. With how well you hold yourself I never would have guessed the severity of your injuries.
I think to be fair Ardyn is weird anyway. Speaking of, did I ever tell you how we met?
The whole of Eorzea had a climate shift after Bahamut brought about Calamity. Coerthas isn't the worst off, but it had been a region of farmland prior to its unfortunate perma-winter. I hate the cold so much. There is no blood flow through my scales so once they turn cold they leech my warmth away. It takes so long to get warm. Hades told me when I inevitably go to Garlemald it will be even worse, and I'll have to be careful where I teleport bc if I go from the bitter cold to a place very warm the air in my horns could suddenly expand and explode them. 😱😱😱
It's odd that Shiva's body is still emitting cold after so long. I would hazard a guess that she isn't truly dead. Perhaps just wandering around as a spirit elsewhere for a while.
If they want to numb themselves to the world they put somnus in a pipe and smoke it.
But for an enjoyable high there is moko weed, and for hallucinatory effects there is milkweed. Dreamtoad ooze can be used to enhance its effects. The Sylphs are rather fond of milkweed. I've had to sober some up with a bucket of water more than once.
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omg it sucked so so so much every day, i hated it. hrs of repetitive exercise when i just wanted to lie in bed. one day i heard about the nif magitek and asked my dad if we could just get me robot legs instead. obv it paid off in the end tho, if u thought that.
i dont think u did. howd you meet him?
holy shit. i know the cold can cause mega issues for most ppl but exploding is way too much! make sure 2 cover up... can u grow them back??
o yeah sorry for being unclear. shivas 100% alive, the nifs killed her body b4 i was even born but she was acting as lunas messenger ever since i met her like 12 yrs ago. far as i can tell the astrals have a physical body but a spirit manifest or w/e and killing 1 doesnt permanently kill the other. she showed her real self when we found her body & gave me her blessing. i had no idea it was her the whole time. i wondered if luna knew but uh
anyway
that all sounds amazing. ive never done drugs but if the somnus stuff ever showed up here id almost feel obligated to try it for the explanation alone. "noctis what r u doin" "smoking grandpa" ( ´∀`) six thats so stupid i kinda want it
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I'd never had any aptitude for aethersense that I knew of, but Deerington was largely absent of magic. When I woke up there it was like a song I had long grown deaf to had suddenly stopped playing. When I woke up here, I could it started again — albeit much more quietly. Hades was very loud! And I could feel the Darkness roiling off him like a beacon, so it took me an age to learn my way back to the townhouse since I would just follow the Darkness there.
So!
Imagine my surprise when I head toward some Darkness and Hades wasn't the source of it. I was immediately concerned and asked the strange man if he was all right. ┐(︶▽︶)┌
Auri horns can grow back but it takes a very long time. We use our horns for balance and spatial awareness, not just hearing. If I were to severely damage or lose even a single horn I would be very messed up for a long time.
Oh, that makes far more sense. I wonder if she could hop back into her body if she felt like it? Those immensely skilled with the Echo can do something similar, though as spirits would only be able to interact with the world if we were to possess a body.
No, you definitely do not. Somnus, the drug, is highly addictive and very dangerous. People who use it are courting with death. If its effects were more like moko grass I would likely encourage you to try it at least once — that is very calming and relaxing. I would also recommend against milkweed as the hallucinations are often far from pleasant for anyone who has known great hardship in their life.
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omg... i can ttly imagine that being so awkward. esp if you asked him about what the dark was all about. i cant really sense magic like that so i had no idea the whole time i knew him until he told me here.
ya that doesnt sound great, tho it is good that they grow back eventually. plus having a part of urself explode right by ur head...!! yikes
idk if she could get back in. it looked... pretty dead. like she wasnt rotting or anything but it looked like a giant ice sculpture. when the other astrals had their bodies destroyed they disappeared into nothing and gave me their mark. i think once they die they can only live as the spirit form or w/e. she didnt seem bothered by it tho, she just acted normal
awww my dreams of being a family delinquent dashed in one go. drug use is only fun if u can mock an ancestor in the process, ive decided. even for a joke i should probably avoid that sort of thing lol. u rly dont want someone who can warp and phase thru stuff 2 get high. bad things happen when i get confused, dont want 2 give dad a heart attack