Viewing Party 2 - R3: THE RE-CRY-ENING

[misanthropicprinciple]

We got castmates. We got clues. We got crap to bitch about. They get a library? And a LAUNDRY MACHINE?

Welcome, murderfam... TO THE R3 LIVEWATCH.

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[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei's set up with his laptop, his growing-out hair held back from his face with clips that might be Yuuri's, and the unwavering look of a man about to run an Olympic marathon.

That is, until he sees Prisoner #11314. Then he looks a little confused. Put out, even.]

...I kinda thought he'd be closer to my age.

[Let the dunking of King Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV begin.]

[scourgingstars]

[And beside him was Ardyn, violet hair in a short ponytail as he twirled a pen in his hand restlessly.]

He was, when we first met.

[misanthropicprinciple]

He looks like a hobo.

[scourgingstars]

It runs in the family.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Is it a requirement? To inherit the Kingdom of Lucis, you must have this much unshaven scruff?

[scourgingstars]

If I said 'yes', you might just believe me for how ridiculous the rest of you seem to find our world.

But no. Most of my successors were a bit more put together than I usually am.

[misanthropicprinciple]

But not this one, huh?

[Junpei rubs his own chin, shifting lower in his seat to get more comfortable.]

...He seems like a pretty normal guy. He's not even tall.

[scourgingstars]

For having spent ten years sleeping in a crystal, he looks reasonably well put together. I expect he's been brought straight from our last encounter, by the look of him. Demeanor's changed, though...I can't tell how far back his memories have set him, but it's sure to be quite the distance.

[Ardyn shrugged, pen still spinning like he was trying very hard to concentrate on something to keep his hands busy or he might throw a punch.]

What, you expected everyone on the planet to be as tall as I am? His Shield is about my height, but the rest of them were closer to Noct's--Noctis's level.

[misanthropicprinciple]

You mean normal people level.

[Junpei, 5'8", sips his coffee and gives the screen his attention again.]

It's not the height, really. He just doesn't seem much like a king at all. Though the jumpsuit's not doing him any regal favors, I guess.

[scourgingstars]

...

[Ardyn gave Junpei a Look, gesturing to himself with the pen as if to ask 'and I do?']

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei glances back at him, then snorts and shakes his head.]

Dad--okay, look, I'll grant you I'm biased and looking for reasons to pick on the guy, especially since you compared me to him. But also, you have no idea what kind of an impression you made the first day we met, do you?

[scourgingstars]

It was a compliment, despite my complicated relationship with His Majesty.

[Ardyn sighed, shaking his head.]

That's hardly a fair comparison. He wasn't given nearly the same level of responsibility as me; the world was in a far different shape for Ardyn Lucis Caelum II than it was for Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV. The person you first met was a singleminded savior, and he's...

...He was allowed to be human before he was the Chosen.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[That's enough to shut Junpei up. After a moment, he sighs and rubs the back of his neck.]

Yeah, all right.

[And maybe that's the difference, he thinks to himself. Ardyn was the Chosen before he was anything else, and because of it, he lost what it was to be human.

Fuck Ardyn's gods. If they were just playing around with people's lives until they got the 'Chosen' thing right, Junpei's going to find a way to end them, no matter how many timelines it takes.]

Looks like that's where he might be right now, anyway. 'Human before he was Chosen.' [Junpei gestures at the screen.] The way he talks, he sounds like any guy I would've hung out with at university. Maybe even more casual. Does that help place him in time any?

[scourgingstars]

['I am a savior first, a king second, and there is no third option for me. There never was.']

[What an utter idiot the savior king had been, Ardyn thought briefly. Singleminded, desperate, and so very, very stupid. Believing in the Draconian's word and blindly going along with it--the very idea would have been laughable if it hadn't led to all of this.]

I'm almost sure...before the world fell to darkness. Before he spent that decade in the Crystal. [He didn't linger on the thought; that way madness lied, quite literally. Ardyn focused instead on Noctis and the question at hand, frowning in concentration.] He's carrying himself more like he did when I first met him--so he'll think he's scarcely twenty. I don't even know if he remembers that Insomnia's fallen.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei's eyes tighten a little. That far back...]

...He at least knows he was traveling. He mentioned something about asking someone to watch the road.

[scourgingstars]

His advisor, that's who always drove the Regali...a...

[Ardyn trailed off as the obvious problem with that clicked.]

...Oh.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Dad?

[That's not a good 'oh.']

[scourgingstars]

That actually....places things in a slightly clearer timeframe. And it is a problem. If he believes his adviser is still in charge of their car, that means he doesn't remember reaching Altissia.

...He doesn't know I killed the Oracle.

[misanthropicprinciple]

...So we're going to get to watch him relive that, is what you're saying. That happened before his ten-year crystal nap.

[scourgingstars]

Just--just let me think, I--

[Ardyn pushed his hair out of his face, quickly sorting through scattered memories as best he could.]

...If he doesn't remember the incident with the Archaean, he may not even know I'm the Chancellor to begin with. From there he'll remember the death of his fiancée, the destruction of Altissia, the fact that his advisor's blinded, then a very long list of things I did to him and his friends personally for the sole purpose of railroading him to the Crystal.

[you're kind of a prick, ardyn.]

There's not a chance he's going to take any of it remotely well.

[misanthropicprinciple]

People tend not to take dead fiancées well, no.

[He runs his finger along the chain beneath his shirt, the one on which two things hang: the crown charm Yuuri got him, and that ring.

After a second, Junpei changes the subject.]

His roommate seems all right. Good head on his shoulders. Looks friendly enough, under the circumstances.

[Noctis isn't going to be all alone, dealing with this.]

[scourgingstars]

No, they do not. Least of all when they're within sight of and then immediately taunted by said murderer.

[If that could sound like 'i am literally the worst', then it did.]

...Could have ended up with far worse, looking at this group. He can-...'take care of himself' is admittedly pushing it slightly, but he won't collapse. If I couldn't break him, nothing will.

TIME ISN'T REAL

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Okay and then Junpei choked on Arianna's popcorn.

COUGH COUGH COUGH HACK WHEEZE]

[scourgingstars]

Junpei-?! What's--are you alright?

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Points wildly at the screen, then points wildly at Arianna. WHAT SHE SAID!]