EVENT LOG: BURY A FRIEND

[inthenightmods]

EVENT LOG:
BURY A FRIEND

characters: everyone.
location: around town.
date/time: october 9-17.
content: the hallucinations begin...
warnings: psychological horror. please cw tags appropriately.

it's probably something that shouldn't be said out loud

October 9 feels like a normal day at first, save for the red lighthouse beam cutting through the darkness overhead. You know by now—or you've heard—that the lighthouse is only active during ferry arrivals and events... And there's definitely no ferry docked at the, er. Beach. The town is quiet, the forest spirits behave business-as-usual, Rastus doesn't know what's up. Whatever's going on, you'll have to figure it out for yourself.

And you will, though the hallucinations are subtle at first: objects moving when they shouldn't, people's proportions looking just a bit off, voices in an empty room, and so on. Is it just your mind playing tricks in the darkness? Might be! Will did warn you all about the effects of living without a sun and a proper day/night cycle.

As the days go on, the hallucinations are harder to ignore, no matter how much you may wish to wave them off as flukes. What's wrong with everyone's faces? When did all the howling start? Who do you hold onto when the world drops out from under you? And those hands...

While you might know it can't be real, it certainly feels real. But at least it can't last forever!

...Right?

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Comments

[broplaints]

[Even here, locked securely behind the barriers formed by doors and walls, the illusions could still teach them. Would still come unbidden at the worst of times. Would haunt them and torture them, poking at their sanity until even that was difficult to hold onto.

But all else fades away as those hands reach for him, as they cradled his face and look into his eyes. Even now, despite the insanity that was taking place all around them, nothing ever felt quite as safe as being in Ignis' presence.]

Getting by. [Slender fingers lift, wrap around each wrist as his head tilts into the touch.] What about you? Anything requiring royal attention?

[reigniter]

[It can follow them inside, yes, but it feels somehow safer. They won't be lashing out on other people and Ignis won't be tempted to destroy the bridge just to take imaginary Ardyn down.

He sighs a breath of relief and his lips twitch at the question. Okay, Noct's mind is still there. It's all Ignis can ask for in this mess.]

I think you already took care of it, [Ignis nods, keeping his eyes trained on Noct's face then pressing a short kiss to his forehead.]

Let's go to the living room. [And they should keep talking, to muffle out any weird sounds in the otherwise silent house.]

[broplaints]

That's what I'm here for. [To have Ignis' back. To keep him safe. To protect him. Always. The words of their promise formed a constant echo within his mind, working to keep him sane, to give him an anchor to hold onto.

Keeping their hands connected, he twisted towards the living room, knowing the way even without the dim lantern light.] Don't go off on your own again, okay? At least not until this is over.

[reigniter]

[Ignis gives Noct's hand a firm squeeze in response. Yes, he knows that he's always there for him, he always has been. It's a connection that cannot be broken, not so easily and with something like hallucinations.

Ignis places his lantern on the coffee table and takes a seat on the couch after waiting for Noct to do the same and join him.] I was heading back to the cottage. It... it started so suddenly. It felt very real.

[Too real, in fact. Real enough that he almost blasted that bridge into smithereens. It's not over yet, he knows, there's weird skittering he hears on the second floor of the cottage. But at least it's not Ardyn.]

[broplaints]

[Voices still play within the back of his mind, cries of anguish and pain, wondering why their king has forsaken them. So loud and difficult to drown out, to ignore when he's alone, with nothing to focus upon other than his own thoughts.

But here, with Ignis, he had a purpose. A focus. Something to expend that energy on.

Ordinarily he might place himself on Ignis' lap - but this situation calls for something else. Something less flirty and intimate. So he sits at his side, still close enough to touch, to keep their hands connected.]

You thought you were doing what you had to. To protect me. But the safest place for me is by your side.

[reigniter]

[That's all he needs right now anyway. Ignis doesn't think he'd be in the proper mindset for anything more than just this. It is a reassuring thought, though, that Noctis is next to him. Unharmed. Out of reach from anyone that can injure him. This place has done nothing to calm his nerves ever since they arrived; so having Noctis just sit by his side and grip his hand is enough to calm him down.]

I hope so... this place is making me question everything.

[Especially just how reliable can he be to Noctis in situations like these. When the enemy is invisible; when the enemy is their own senses deceiving them. All he can do is try to promise to Noct and himself that he will always do his best to protect him. At any time.]

Thank you for believing in me.

[broplaints]

[For (almost) the entirety of his life, Ignis had been a constant, calming pretense. A steadfast, immovable force that would constantly be at his side. As surely as the sun would rise and set, Ignis would always return to him. Like a moth draw to a flame, tides giving into the will of the moon. They were two equal parts of the same whole, a matched set that left one incomplete without the other.

Noctis' belief in Ignis was absolute. There were no terms and conditions that came along with it. Freely and wholly given, handed over to this man who had done everything to deserve such blind faith.]

Always.