shadowstepper - Tumblr blog

[shadowstepper]

[shadowstepper]

[shadowstepper]

Hiatus notice

Hey so I'll keep this brief and to the point.

Work is being a colossal mood-killer right now. I want to write and I want to be here and talk with my friends, but I am so infuriated right now that I know I will snap if one more thing goes wrong or annoys me just enough to make it happen.

I would rather avoid getting unnecessarily angry at people who did nothing wrong in this regard, so I'm just gonna go for the time being. I honestly don't know when I'll be back as any solution to these problems is on an unspecified date in the future. Could be tomorrow, could be in the new year basically.

So I'm pissed, and it won't be going away anytime soon.

If you absolutely must reach me, those with my discord know how to. In the meantime, don't poke the bear.

[shadowstepper]

Hiatus notice

Hey so I'll keep this brief and to the point.

Work is being a colossal mood-killer right now. I want to write and I want to be here and talk with my friends, but I am so infuriated right now that I know I will snap if one more thing goes wrong or annoys me just enough to make it happen.

I would rather avoid getting unnecessarily angry at people who did nothing wrong in this regard, so I'm just gonna go for the time being. I honestly don't know when I'll be back as any solution to these problems is on an unspecified date in the future. Could be tomorrow, could be in the new year basically.

So I'm pissed, and it won't be going away anytime soon.

If you absolutely must reach me, those with my discord know how to. In the meantime, don't poke the bear.

[shadowstepper]

Alright so heads up, I've recently switched servers from Chrome to Opera GX. I'm happy with the change so far, but I've encountered a problem.

Xkit Rewritten isn't strictly available for Opera.

I can get the Chrome version but it's not working right. Not like it did on Chrome. I'm debating on if it's worth it just to use Chrome for Tumblr here and nothing else.

If anyone here is on Opera and has figured out a solution, kindly let me know. I can't edit my own posts and it's really an issue for RP stuff.

[shadowstepper]

"You're welcome. You can turn your anger towards the Astrals in return." Just saying their name brought a sneer to his face. How he loathed those self-righteous, hypocritical cowards.

"They are the ones who decided your father and I had to die simply to correct their own inaction. They chose to be lazy and self-serving, rather than do anything to help. It wouldn't have even been hard for them, I was in the same place for 2,000 years. They could have killed me at any time and allowed your father to not be a worthless sacrifice. Instead they did nothing, and made us clean up their messes."

Which even then, they still failed to do. If their false fate was a coin toss, then Ardyn had chosen the edge of the coin. He had found a third option. Granted it was pointed out to him but you try sorting through all that emotional grief in that moment.

Novus wanted to cry and scream both at once. Yet yelling wouldn't change anything in the past no matter how much he wanted to yell into the void. Something needed to be done. "I wanna ask Mom and Dad about it." He'd do that when he arrived home anyway but right now he needed guidance. "Dad...Dad wouldn't go around killing stuff unless he had to but-"

The boy trailed off letting his voice grow quiet. Part of him was grateful to Ardyn for doing so despite what they were supposed to do but the other half of him had questions. Did Novus owe Ardyn anything for letting him live? For being brought into the world? "I...Thanks for letting them get married or else I wouldn't be here."

@shadowstepper

[shadowstepper]

"You'll have to lose that naivéty sooner or later Novus. Might as well be now, when you still have time to learn from it." Instead of languishing in delusions for 2,000 years like he did.

"Your father is known as the True King of prophecy. One who is fated to sacrifice himself to destroy the darkness. That darkness being me no less." Sometimes he wonders what the so-called gods would have done had he died long ago or never carried the Starscourge still. Who would have been the lamb then.

"My role was to spread that darkness and drown the world in it, and your father's was to kill us both in an utterly meaningless gesture. But because I chose not to be their pawn, your father lived long enough to marry your mother and sire you. "

Nobody had ever told him that at all! "Dad was..." He could hardly get the words out. Why would the Astrals want his Dad dead? What did he ever do to them? Wasn't he under their favor for having married Lunafreya?

"Why?" That's the only word he could barely get out as he leaned back against the chair he was sitting in feeling disbelief. "He's never done anything to them though. Why would-"

Astrals weren't beginning to make sense now, they were causing more confusion if anything.

"What about you? Dad said that you went on the trip too." Sort of. Noctis didn't really delve into the details with that. "I know the Astrals don't like you either but maybe some of your bad luck rubbed off on Dad or something." That had to be a valid reason. Bad luck causes more bad luck to spread. Was that what happened? "That's gotta be it. Just bad luck."

@shadowstepper

[shadowstepper]

"Ah yes, your father's illustrious trip." Ardyn chuckles at the memory, that the whole thing was both a grand joke and absolutely meaningless. "Did you know your father was supposed to die on that trip Novus? The gods were the ones who wanted it to happen no less."

Granted it was a lot more complicated than he makes it sound, but he's also not lying. Perks of being a politician.

Novus grew quiet while listening to Ardyn's reasoning. "But...Mom said they do everything for us and...I don't think they ever really did anything for Dad unless you're talking about the power of the Old Kings." Or was that something else entirely? He'd gotten through bits and pieces of Insomnian History, mostly who the old Kings were, and as for the Astrals? Lunafreya told the boy pretty much everything he knew. Yet, curiosity was beginning to stir inside Novus.

Questions, mostly. Ones he figured wouldn't be answered by his parents until he was older. Why not ask Ardyn for clarification? "What catastrophe and what divine plan?" Whatever it was, the boy hadn't heard of any of it. Everything around Insomnia nowadays was peaceful for as long as he could remember.

Unless...

"Was this something that happened back in the old days? Back when Dad took his camping trip? What happened? Can you tell me?" Novus was always eager to hear stories of Noctis's adventures. One or a few more couldn't possibly hurt, could it?

@shadowstepper

[shadowstepper]

If we are mutuals, you are welcome to: 

tag me in starters 

answer my open starters

spam my inbox with memes

ask me to spam you with memes

scream at me in ims at all ungodly hours

randomly drop a plot idea on me whenever you want 

never be scared that you’re bothering me in any way bc, if i followed you, i love your blog and I am always down for interacting with you!  <3  <3  <3

[shadowstepper]

"Well their gross incompetence and self-righteous arrogance has led to more than one catastrophe being swept under the rug as part of their 'divine plan.'" And if the giant middle finger he'd given to them all by outplaying them wasn't the perfect way to express his distaste with them, then he didn't know what was.

"The so-called gods are unworthy of praise, let alone acknowledgement. If they wouldn't throw a planet-destroying tantrum over it, I'd suggest ignoring them altogether. They are not your friends, and they will throw you aside just like they did for your father."

"I just told you." Figuring that Ardyn was serious due to his response, the boy sighed as if he were answering a question he'd overheard a billion times in his young life already. "The Astrals." At least Novus knew he got that correct. "But-" The Prince suddenly paused, most of things coming together slowly almost as if an answer was presenting itself. "Wait...you can't be in the sun cause of the star scourge and that all happened cause of them?" Right? "Is that why you can't wear whatever you want cause of Shiva or Ramuh?"

[shadowstepper]

Setting aside the reminder that his attire wasn't exactly subtle, seriously how do people keep forgetting the giant wing, Ardyn elected to focus on educating his nephew instead.

"Think harder Novus. Who does your mother, the Oracle, speak to that only she can speak to?" If he didn't get it after this then Ardyn was just doing to smack him with a book. If this is royal education, then it's no wonder they had so many failures.

"How was I supposed to know that you're wearing a billion sleeves? It's not like you take stuff off and I was paying attention."

As for the answer to Ardyn's question, the boy could come up with quite a few different things off the top of his head. "That's easy!" he answered.

"Dad when he first wakes up, Uncle Ignis before he's had his Ebony, Council members sometimes if Dad isn't there. There's probably a bunch more too. I just can't think of 'em all right now...Which one are you talking about?" Surely, he could be given a hint other than his mother could speak to whoever it was, couldn't he? It'd certainly be easier to figure out.

@shadowstepper

[shadowstepper]

"How come you picked black as the scourge color? Why not something else like blue or green?"

@novuscaelum

"Blame the Starscourge nephew. It made its own colour choices." And to be a poisonous cancer that would have consumed the world twice. One of these days he really should look into how and why it ever came to Eos in the first place.

[shadowstepper]

Well, with three projects off the list I'd say it's time for a well deserved breather. About time I got back to this.

Start the clocks people. Let's see how long I last this time.

[shadowstepper]

Sorry I've been so absent on my rp blogs of late. My motivation comes in fits and bursts and I'm basically never able to capitalize on it.

I'm free to chat most of the time but my social battery is low these days.

[shadowstepper]

"Novus I am wearing multiple long sleeves and yet I'm still smoking even in the modest daylight of the palace." The kid probably couldn't see it, but he might be able to smell it. Ardyn did always smell like smoke whenever he was in the sun.

"And pay attention to what I said, not what you heard. Who does your mother speak to that only she alone can speak to." And since the gods had never done him any favours and he had won over them in the end, he was going to lord their flaws over them for eternity.

"I know. I know about the whole sun thing." the boy answered with a sigh as if he'd been told this at least a hundred times before. Still, the boy watched the substance for his own sake. "And the people my mom and dad talk to aren't whatever you said. They're people doing jobs and stuff." Ardyn understood that didn't he? That others needed jobs to sustain themselves to live and whatnot? Surely there were people during his time that needed to make a living.

Sinking a little in his seat, Novus sighed again as if he were in thought. "If the fabric needs to fireproof, and there's probably no such thing except for...that-" he mused aloud. "What about just wearing long-sleeved stuff that covered up everything? That's a thing unless the fabric of whatever is touching you has to be fireproof too then I guess you're gonna be stuck wearing just that for a billion years. Why bother trying to help then?"

[shadowstepper]

"It's not a matter of heat at all Novus. It is the Starscourge within me." The chancellor held his hand up, the miasma he creates swirling around his fingers briefly in example. "It is what causes me to burn in the sunlight, and thus my body must be best protected."

While he did outheal the damage the sun did to him, that didn't make it a particularly pleasant experience. It had robbed Aera and him of one too many beach dates alas.

"There is no cure for it, no matter what your father or the incompetent imbeciles your mother speaks to say. Ergo, I need specialized attire to protect myself from the sun."

Ugh! Why? Why did his great uncle have to be so... So frustrating at times! He here was trying his best to help a relative and there was still an excuse of sorts, at least that's what the Prince personally thought.

"Then what about telling the tailor you need special fabric? Dad had to do that once and they found it. Just tell them what you need and they can take care of it...I think." Fire proof clothing did seem to be a bit difficult to come across though.

Sitting down in a nearby chair, mostly to steady himself in case another excuse or what have you was launched at him, the boy stared crossing his arms. "Then what about stuff from Gahlad? They live in heat, right? Wouldn't something from there work?"

@shadowstepper

[shadowstepper]

"Not that simple nephew. Mine is very specially made. Anything less and I will catch fire." Which while it worked for intimidation, didn't really make up for the healing he had to do after. Always fun to use on Noctis though.

"Oh. I could ask Dad's tailor to make you some more stuff...and to get Dad to pay for it somehow if you don't have any money." Novus offered. 'It just can't be billions and billions of gil is all cause we gotta have money for other stuff. Want me to go an' ask him for you? I don't think he's busy. Maybe. But it might take a bit to get an answer if you don't mind waiting for one. Is that okay?"

@shadowstepper