seeingeyesteward | VR Inbox

Olivine was awesome. Travelling with Noctis was awesome. Life, in general, was pretty awesome today.

Except for Ignis being weird and stiff with Ash. That wasn't so great. He wondered if he'd done something to piss him off, or if there was something about him or his Pokemon that Ignis just didn't like. He hoped it wasn't that. He seemed nice enough just...slightly off when they chatted or hung out, just the pair of them.

Still. Maybe a gift would help smooth things over a bit? or at least, help ease Ignis with him. Given how important he was to Noctis, Ash really wanted to get along well with him. So hid the egg behind his back and approached Ignis with Haze Conflict at his side. "Hey, Ignis? I got something for ya."

There was honestly nothing wrong with Ash. Ignis had nothing specific against him. Their personalities were simply opposite. And Ignis hadn't made a new friend in some time.

He did try.He was polite at least but there was little he could peg as in common with Ash. So while Noctis and Ash spent time with one another he focused on learning this world, as he wasn't sure how long they would be here

Oleander twitched his ears, hearing Ash at the same time as Ignis as he approached. Ignis turns, now used to the slightly offset vision he had with the Meowstic on his shoulder.

"What is it, Ash?" Still a polite tone, with maybe a slightly warmer edge to it than normal. After the conversation he'd had with Noct at the arcade he was... trying.

"I got something for ya." He brought the egg forward, giving Ignis a sheepish smile. He couldn't help it. "Look, I know you said 'no catching anything new', but Noctis did give me Haze Conflict a coupla days ago, and I wanted to repay him for that. The breeder had another Pokemon for sale as well and it sounded like a Pokemon you'd like to have. So, I picked this up for ya. It'll be a few days before it hatches, but I figured you'd want it in your care rather than me throwing it at you as it's cracking open."

Ah, so Ash was also the type to find loopholes in his words. Ignis lets out a controlled sigh through his nose but he wasn't going to argue the point.

"I see.. So you planned ahead better than Noct did."

Ignis reaches out to gently take the egg. Oleander reached down to touch the egg with his paw, purring. A new friend inside.

"I'm not sure what it could be.. perhaps you should keep it secret so I can be surprised."

He turns it, holding it as one would hold a baby so he can offer his free hand to shake Ash's hand.

"Thank you. I will need to keep an eye out for something to give you in return."

Ah, Ignis. You had no idea how surprisingly sneaky Ash could be in reaching his goals.

Still, he blinked at Ignis' hand in confusion, unsure what he's meant to do with the gesture. "Ur, you don't need to do that. It's a present! And I didn't want you to feel left out. I don't like, have anything else on me for it though."

Aiming to move swiftly past that slightly awkward moment, he carried on. "Oh, if you want it to be a surprise then that's fine! I left Noctis' as a surprise too. I just really hope you like them and that they're not any trouble." He lowered his voice to a whisper. He did want to share what he had gotten Noctis, and he had mentioned to the prince what Pokemon he'd gotten for Ignis. So, it was completely fair to tell Ignis what Noctis was gonna hatch! "His Pokemon is a Honedge. They're like, a ghost sword. The breeder told me, that people say they can detect whoever's got the traits of a king."

He might tease his friend from time to time about being royalty but he had zero doubt that a Honedge would decide Noctis would be a great king.

"It is simply a polite thing to do."

Ignis lowered his hand when it wasn't taken. He wasn't offended or surprised that it wasn't Ash's type of gesture. The man did seem rougher around the edges than most. A little like Prompto in that respect. Ignis could see enough of the connection to understand wholly why Noctis took to this young man so quickly.

Though he wasn't quite sure why the sudden--Oh, that would explain the need to whisper.

"I see. Well, then the sword will be quite pleased with its new trainer then. Noctis is the Chosen King. It will most likely sense it t hen..?"

"Apparently. Wait, 'Chosen' King? I thought he was the crown prince?" In his world it was as simple as 'first born child is the heir to the throne'. There was no choosing who your monarch was.

"He is. But he is also the king chose by prophecy to bring the end of the Star Scourage." Which.. well, Ignis wasn't really looking to expand further on that since Ash didn't seem the type to really need bad news.

"He is important, to say the least."

"Oh....yeah that's...kind of a big deal. He never mentioned that to me." Probably because Ash teased him a bit about being a prince, let alone the star of a prophecy. "Wait, Star Scourage...is that the Darkness? I was, joking around with him once and mentioned darkness, and he told me that your world is...being covered in it. And it had something to do with his Dad passing away."

He'd been very careful after that to not mention darkness in that sense again to him. Noctis had seemed so down and upset by it, he didn't want to bring up those memories. And if he might try and keep the fire going at night until it seemed like Noctis was asleep...well, no-one had called him out on it yet.

"Yes, it is."

Ignis was a little hesitant now, because oft he mention of Regis. He hadn't realized that Noctis was sharing more personal feelings on this matter to Ash but.. well, they were good friends at this point weren't they?

"I'm.. from further along in our world. Noctis is a decade younger than me here, though we are only a couple years apart in reality. From the point of time I'm from we have not seen dawn in .. ten years or so."

"Jesus Christ. God, I'm so sorry." And he had thought his world was dark compared to Johto. Yeah he hadn't seen the sun properly through the fog that enveloped London, but there was a clear difference between night and day. Constant night...what a terrible thing.

"Wait, you're only a few years apart in age, cos you're from a different point of time? Noctis told me you were like, the right hand man of the King and I thought it was for his Dad." Ignis being a steward and being close to Noctis had immediately made sense, and the age difference had made Ash think that Ignis had served Noctis' Dad before his passing.

"So....who is sort of, ruling things then? I know Noctis is like, next in line and super important, but, he's always said he was a prince, not the king to me."

"Yes. I'm actually only two years older. I began serving Noctis when I was six years old." A slight smile passes his face. "Though I completed some things for his Majesty Regis I spent the majority of my time with Noctis."

Whatever small smile Ignis might have had vanished at Ash's next question. There was a clear discomfort in speaking on the matter and he turns to busy himself with putting the egg safely into Dahlia's care when she came to see what the fuss was about. Even Oleander looked uncomfortable, ears lowering further.

"No one, at the moment. It is currently anarchy. The Empire fell and the only person to be within the walls of Insomnia is Ardyn Izunia who is the cause of all of that has happened. I, along with the king's shield Gladiolus Amicitia and our friend Prompto Argentum work together with a group of hunters from varying parts of the world to keep daemons at bay."

What the fuck is it with other worlds have giving kids jobs? How the hell does a six year old even serve a four year old as a steward? Seriously, what the fuck. But before he could really ask those questions, Ignis told him the state of his kingdom and. Yeah.

"God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean - I thought there might have been some stand-in or something, until Noctis had his coronation. I didn't mean to like, bring up more bad stuff for you. If I do that again then you can just tell me you don't want to talk about it or to shut up, that's totally fine ya know." He's not very good at handling other worldly business. He kept trying to equate it to his own world but it was becoming apparent that it never worked that way. Diarmuid touched his shoulder and sent a gentle, encouraging thought to him. He nodded and regathered his thoughts, moving to sit with Ignis. Diarmuid joined them, crossing his legs as he sat with them.

"Well, I'm really glad that you're here then. To have sunshine and all that. I'd never actually seen the sun full on until I came here. Or the stars either."

"I have little issue with discussing more depressing topics. To not speak of them is to ignore their reality." Though he didn't jump at the option to talk of exactly how awful the day of Noct's coronation would actually be. It wasn't one he wanted to share too openly because it was one he had only recently reconciled with himself and one that Ash didn't really need to know about his new friend.

"It sounds as if our worlds are a little similar, in that we have a lacking in sunlight."

Ignis lifts his arm, turning it to show Ash.

"I have color in my skin again. I don't need my eyes to work to feel it." Though Oleander was a help. "And to see Noctis finding reasons to smile every day... Even at his happiest moments there were many days he struggled."

He nodded at 'lacking sunlight'. Although his wasn't caused by a curse or demons or anything like that. It was just...how people had made it. And people weren't changing it either. Or it might be too late to change it. His dad definitely thought it was the latter, but Ash wanted to hope otherwise.

"Huh...I never- well I mean. I know he can be down but, I guess I just, have no idea what things were like before he or you came here. What I do know it that he's really glad you're here too."

"There were many reasons beyond the expectations placed on him for him to feel a sense of grief."

Ignis pauses. It was clear he was thinking on something. How much should he even tell Ash? Would there be a point to placing a pressure on this relationship that Noctis had with him by darkening it with inevitability?

"I'm glad to hear that. I've feared sometimes that my presence is a burden on him."

He lifts his hand, as if to curb words that he expected to come next.

"And not a burden in the sense of being visually impaired but emotionally. I come from a decade on and clearly have little good news to bring. Also, Prompto closed himself off when I arrived and it darkened the little time Noctis had left with him."

Ash had been about to quickly protest when Ignis lfited his hand and fully explained. he hummed thoughtfully, thinking on his next words carefully.

"...I remember Noctis told me once, that Prompto had this Pokemon. Some kind of bird, called a Satu? It could see the future, and it always looked sad when it looked at them. So, yeah. I'm guessing it was right then, that not-great things were gonna happen. But the thing is, things never stay as they are. It sounds like things have gotten pretty grim but, it can't just stay that way. Something'll change and it could get worse but given how bad it sounds right now, it seems more likely to me that things will get better."

Alas, Ash didn't know how important prophecies and such were in their world. He was just doing his best to try and give Ignis a bit of hope. It sounded like he really needed it.

"And aside from all that, you're still Noct's friend. Trust me. I called him after we chatted and I realised you knew him. He told me all about you and said that you're a great cook, which is true, and that you try and make sure things don't get too wild and that people are taking care of themselves. Which is also true."

Well the term was 'mother-henning'. But he knew better than to repeat that back to Ignis!

Lets be honest, Ignis had certainly heard Noctis's periodic griping but it was what Ignis was there to do. The steward had never left a job undone and no job was done poorly. Noctis felt the brunt of that often enough.

"Things will get better for the world, yes." He was specific with his wording. The world would get better. Even each of the would move on to things. Gladio mentioned a woman. Prompto had his interests and always was more resilient than he gave himself credit for. To be perfectly honest...

Ignis was the only one who, for once, lacked any ideas for the future to come after the dawn. Spending an entire life dedicated to a single person made things difficult as it was but for that person to ...

Oleander was the only indication that Ignis's thoughts weren't positive. The Meowstic wraps his little arms around and closes his eyes so he can give Ignis a hug and a moment of non-sight to collect his thoughts.

"I appreciate your complimentary words though I'm certain I can be quite frustrating. As our friend Gladiolus often said.. A bit of a stick in the mud."

While Diarmuid did pick up that Ignis was not really all that lifted by Ash's speech, he didn't alert Ash to that or otherwise mention it.

"Yeah...and I know some people find me annoying and that I talk too much." Ash shrugged easily. "Everyone's got something about them that can be a pain in the arse to deal with. But with your friends, you just deal with that and take it with everything else they offer cos their good qualities outweighs the bad."

"This is quite true. I have formed many friendships based on that alone."

Ignis pets Oleander's back, indicating he would actually like to see at the moment and the Meowstic turned its eyes back to Ash in that non-blinking forever stare he always seemed to have. He took his job as eyes very seriously.

"It all boils down to compromise. It is something I have fallen out of practice with but hope to sharpen the skill again while knowing you."

Ash had no idea the Oleander was acting as Ignis' eyes at that moment. Far as he was aware, Ignis had never 'seen' him in that sense. He simply gave him a big smile anyway, regardless whether he would see him or not.

"Hey, you've been putting up with me so far. Some people would've kicked my arse by now." He didn't miss that he could be a pain in the arse to deal with. And they were different types of people at the end of the day.

"You actually remind me a bit of this girl called Anthy who was here. She was really classy. As in like, she was super polite and always carried herself a certain way, you know? I used to send her pictures of all the grass type Pokemon I found, cos she really liked them."

"I've dealt with worse personalities." Ignis motions as if in the distance, indicating someone out of eyeline. "Noctis, for example. He provided many frustrations you would struggle to imagine considering how far he's grown."

Ignis raises a brow at Ash. To be fair to the young man Ignis absolutely did carry himself in a specific way.

"Yes, well... I learned from a young age that presentation is very important. I dealt with more dignitaries than Noctis did, as I did many things on his behalf."

Because there was no point in teaching Noct how to actually rule considering the inevitability of the future.

"Yeah ur. Presentation wasn't as much an issue for me. But I get it. You were both high society in your world." For Ash and his friends and family, more basic requirements had to be obtained first before you started worrying about glamming yourself up. Any nice clothes he ever had were presents or the ones he'd stolen. Granted that wasn't the case here but it was weird. It felt odd actually buying nice clothes and he kept finding himself checking how much money he was going to have after whenever he did that. Old habits and all that. Hopefully some of those habits didn't seem too weird. Like him hoovering up any food Noctis didn't eat.

"Still it's just. I don't know. In my world the way royalty works is so different from yours."

Ignis hardly counted as a member of high society considering his position but he could certainly look the part for the sake of doing his duty. He wouldn't correct Ash though. From the other side he looked high society and that was fine. Ignis never tried to appear better than anyone.

"How does it work in your world?"

He realized he knew little about Ash's world. Perhaps an understanding of where the young man came from would bridge the gap between them.

"Heh...I mean, years ago the monarch was in charge of my country. But they made bad decisions and people rioted and revolted - and eventually they agreed to make this thing called Parliament, where people vote for a person to represent their area of the country. Like...Johto's not that big, so imagine if everyone voted for someone from the town they live in to represent them in a council that's meant to manage everything. There's different groups that have different ideas, and if a group gets the majority then the person in charge of their group leads the council. That's kinda how Parliament works. And over time they've taken more power from the monarchy so they're more just like...a figurehead than ones with real power. But they get taxes to pay for their castles and all that shit."

He dragged his legs closer to himself, frowning at the looked at the floor.

"Nowadays...it was meant to work out that people had a say in what happened and how the country was run. But...they're - all the politicians - they're all funded by companies now. So the companies are the ones who dictate what laws they're gonna support and what policies they're gonna back. And what do they care about how things work out in the bigger picture? It's all about money for them. And we all know that the system isn't working but...we can't really stop it. The world is fucking trashed."

Diarmuid, sensing that Ash would get carried away and say something he'd rather not, reached out and touched his shoulder gently. Ash glanced up to him and leaned into his Pokemon.

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