mercurio | 〈 recolle ic contact 〉

Beats me!

[he sounds a bit frustrated. of all the memories to have, he has one that someone else he knows also remembered, but that doesn't mean that they know any better what it means.]

[sure, perhaps it's stupid to have expected ardyn to have known the answers to his questions, but ardyn's a stupidly smart man. it's only a bit disappointing that he does, in fact, leave prompto a bit empty-handed for answers.]

...if we're both in the same memory, does this -- mean, that we knew each other before now? ...I'm still trying to figure out if these memories are a parallel universe? A past life? I don't get it.

[he's growing frustrated in his confusion, as is notable in his hardened tone towards the end of his questions.]

[If he had any answers, he'd give them to you, Prompto. Ardyn hates not knowing the most -- it's what compels him to want to keep unravelling the mysteries behind all of these memories, despite something telling him that he may not like what he finds.

Because those emotions he felt, that bitterness and that weight in the pit of his chest. How he had secretly wanted all of them to hurt. What was the truth behind all of that? What had made him that sort of person? Nothing about Prompto's personality should've made him feel that way.

His tone doesn't change, despite Prompto sounding vaguely frustrated. He feels no right to be even remotely frustrated back.]

There are theories floating around for both, and not enough proof to definitively point to one over the other. I've been referring to them as our past selves, because...

[He pauses. There's no empirical way to explain it, really.]

Because they feel too real. Even if these emotions don't belong to us, they might as well now.

[A somewhat humorless scoff.]

Either way, I think it does mean that we knew each other somehow before now.

I thought reincarnation meant we didn't get to look the way we did, or would now. I looked exactly the same as I do now.

[he regrets being upset over not having memories before like the others. this is giving him a headache.]

[which is why he sighs, and there's the sound of him definitely flopping down on the mattress of his bed? a couch? in any case, he sounds a little more gentle now, despite how odd the memory keeps at him.]

...suppose we should pool together whatever memories or abilities or whatever we get, right? If only to make sense where it is we come from.

I don't know. I'm not an authority on reincarnation, and to be honest, I don't think anyone really is. Who's to say how it really works, when we've had no proof of it existing in the past?

[The sound of Prompto flopping down on the couch just seems to make Ardyn's shoulders relax a little, if only because the boy's nature to unwind so openly seems to rub off on him, too.]

I think that would be wise. Assuming you're fine with doing so?

[He doesn't want Prompto to feel obligated to share, but at the same time... Ardyn wants to know. He needs every little detail, wrought from every experienced memory, to try to make sense of what it was he was feeling, and why.

He wants to know that, in the end, maybe he didn't end up hurting Prompto. He'd be able to live with himself, then.]

[and as much as ardyn wants to know, the sentiment is exactly the same with the younger man. he's bouncing his feet on the floor, achieving a state of being okay with what he's witness; enough to let himself relax a bit.]

[it's easier when you're not going at something scary on your own.]

[and at least here, ardyn and he had a past connection with their memories.]

More than fine! It's dangerous to go at something alone, and so long as we can make sense of our memories the better. I wanna get to the bottom of this.

As do I.

[A soft exhale on Ardyn's side, barely audible, because he speaks immediately after.]

We're in this together, then. What I learn, so will you. Let's hope whatever we find isn't too earth-shattering, hm?

[he repeats that small prayer.]

Hopefully.

[that being said, again, he feels relieved that he isn't trudging through these memories all on his own, though.]

I do gotta say... Your sense of fashion, back in the memory, as well...

Let me stop you there.

[Because! Guess what, he's already gotten that regain a while ago. Plus he wants to inject some levity into this conversation so badly.]

You're going to say it was terrible, aren't you? Well, let me surprise you by saying I've already remembered exactly what it was I wore. And you have to admit that I at least had a very unique sense of style.

[whatever it is ardyn was aiming for? it's working. prompto snickers, and does no attempt to try and hide it.]

Unique is one way to put it. I get the feeling that you're a bit embarrassed by it, at least. The coat's kinda cool though, gotta say.

[Good. Something in his tone, a weight that was transient at best, seems to disappear completely.]

Embarrassed? It's hard to say.

[It's-- well. He'd not even wear it now, or at least he thinks he wouldn't. But he has to admit, there's a strange fondness he feels towards whatever it was he used to wear, back then.]

It feels... familiar. Like it was something I wore for a long while. There must've been some sentiment attached to it.

And I did like the coat, as well. It was the most dramatic.

You do like your dramatics. I'll give you that.

[he doesn't mean anything mean by that, honestly. he simply tilts his head, glances about, and sits up again.]

[there's something between the lines that he doesn't quite know how to ask--or even say. so he'll do what he does best: be honest about it.]

There's... something bothering me about that memory. I can't put it into words right now. I guess I gotta think about it for a bit longer. [a hum] Maybe it's nothing.

[Ardyn seems to have paused yet again, though it may just be because he's thinking. It's hard to say if it's anything born of actual hesitation.]

Something that was said? Or something that doesn't quite make sense?

[He has to ask. Even if Prompto just said he can't form words to describe it just yet.]

I don't think it's a feeling of irony, like y'said. There's just something about it that feels... wrong, or weird at least. I don't get how come I was feeling weirded out by you, I guess.

[if he tries putting how he feels now to the feeling he got from the memory]

Like we didn't know each other much. Maybe.

[There's that pang of guilt threads through him again, when he thought he had a handle on it just moments before. There's a frown on his face, and he's glad that Prompto can't see it.]

...If I was a stranger, and yet I felt comfortable with speaking in such an open way, you might've felt awkward. Maybe you were unsure what to think of me.

[Before he can stop it, the words slip out:]

I'm sorry.

--what are you apologising for?

[what's this]

...For my other self, potentially making things awkward. Maybe his social skills were not quite as refined as they are now.

[Skirts around the issue, no big deal. He hadn't meant to have sounded so heavy in that wayward apology.]

In any case, nothing to be done about it now. I'll let you know if I remember anything else.

[sounds pretty final]

[prompto has a bit of a weird feeling about this]

...yeah. Yeah, it's cool, don't worry about it. I'll let you know, too.

I guess I'll see you around?

[There is nothing strange about this at all.

Completely, utterly normal conversation.]

Of course. I'll talk to you again soon.

〈 recolle ic contact 〉

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