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https://ift.tt/2OahZWycharlottedabookworm:
hamelin-born:
charlottedabookworm:
hamelin-born replied to your text post:
Nyx’s Mom was very, very wild. And she and Ramuh might have been very, very drunk. They made a solumn vow to NEVER speak of it again.
Nyx DOESN’T want to know.
Also, he might also be in the same boat as Ardynson!Nyx re: hiding out from the Astrals, because noone’s quite certain as to whether or not he’d be taken for an ‘abomination’ by the rest.
(I have the headcanon that this is how the Lucis Caelum and Nox Fleuret bloodlines started - Bahamut got very, VERY drunk with his favorite priestess and one thing led to another; Shiva was lonely after Ifrit Fell and - well.)
@hamelin-born
Nyx just, does not want to know how he came to be – his mother is his mother and his father is his father and as far as he’s concerned he sprang from the earth as a fully formed baby and will never believe otherwise.
Anyone who tries to talk to him about it or who mentions his mother being pregnant with him is quickly drowned out by Nyx’s “Nonononononononononononononono…” and silenced by a stare that is both panicked and dead – people are in awe of this stare.
(Alya and Ramuh very much get that. They were way to drunk and remember nothing of that evening and they do not want to. They would never have even thought of it again if not for Nyx, and then they make a mutual agreement to just, pretend that it didn’t happen and not talk about it.
Nyx just appeared one day. Maybe he sprung forth like Athena or was left on the doorstep or something, the story changes a lot over the years. But Nyx just appeared one day. There was no pregnancy and no birth and certainly no… sex.
That is their story and they’re sticking too it)
But yeah, Nyx hides who he is as best as he can – all of Galahd knows because one, he feels like Ramuh, two, children don’t have the best control over their powers and it was pretty obvious tbh, and three, well they’re his people – from Lucis and the Astrals because there are stories about his kind.
Half-breeds, they call them. Godtouched, Astral-Childe, Abomination.
Humans aren’t fond of his kind – too much power contained in fragile mortal flesh, people who are just a bit off, who need years of experience just to be able to pass for human (and Nyx is so lucky in that. He grew up in Galahd, surrounded by his father’s people, and they taught him to be human. Any lingering oddities, when Nyx just can’t keep the mask all the way up anymore and gets tired of pretending – because he isn’t human, doesn’t want to be human, and it is so tiring to pretend all the time – get written off as him being Galahdian), weapons of mass destruction. His kind are weapons and monsters and outcasts, never trusted or loved except by a few.
And most Astrals are worse. Because these children, these God-Blessed, have the powers of their parents – even if to a lesser extent – and a connection to the world, but they are mortal. And mortals can change things.
They aren’t bound by prophecy or by the world, and they are free to make their own choices and fates. They’re Wild Cards, and the Astrals – especially Bahamut – don’t like that.
Nyx wasn’t meant to be born and he knows that, just as surely as he knows that his parents love him.
(Which, honestly, does nothing for his recklessness and suicidal tendencies)
(Also, I love that idea, that the Lucis Caelum and Nox Fleuret lines were spawned in a similar way and that most people have forgotten that. But that is why the Astrals are so cautious of them, because even generations later – when the blood is so diluted it may as well not be there – these lines still carry traces of that power, far more than any ordinary human. Bahamut and Shiva wouldn’t kill their children, but their lines stand as a warning to the other Astrals – ‘we made this mistake’ they say ‘and this is how we’ve limited it’ points at the general tragedy and prophecy that follows and binds both of those lines.
Ramuh is just like, fuck that. My kid is going to live his own life and be Happy and fuck all of you if you try to interfere)
@charlottedabookworm
This is really just - lovely. Lyrical and poetic, and I think I’m just going to type up my accumulated thoughts about this most recent verse here instead of spreading them out of the rest of the posts you’ve put up so far.
I like - I like the idea of Nyx being just. Half-human. It’s reminiscent of something I read once a Dragonlance book, where one character, who was a half-breed, was seriously questioned as to why his nickname was ‘half-elven’ and not ‘half-man’. (Paraphrased: the answer was, to humans, being half-man was to be seen as less then whole, whereas half-elven was seen as - something added extra on.) Nyx is half-human, half-Astral, and the combination is volatile and - very, very much Other occasionally. (Sometimes, Libertus looks into Nyx’s eyes and swears that his friend is literally a walking, talking thunderstorm.)
And yes. Yes, Nyx was so, so incredibly lucky. Lucky to be born, lucky to be born in the heart of his father’s power, where Ramuh could shield him from detection by the rest of the Six, lucky to be raised among people who knew what he was and didn’t care. Lucky that his father is Ramuh, who does not see his son, his son as an abomination, who loves him with the same fierce fervor that he loves all of his children - and who does not think to shackle him to a fate, a destiny.
Nyx is the Unbinder of Fate, the Breaker of Prophecies - or at least, that’s what he could grow to become. And because of that, Shiva and Bahamut would stop at nothing to destroy him, should his presence ever become known. Because Nyx - Nyx can change things. (And oh, but there are some people who are so very, very frightened of change.)
Sometimes, Nyx has to sit down for a moment when the realizations that 1) He has an aunt who is a fish 2) He has an Uncle who is a dragon 3) He has an aunt who is a walking snowman dressed like a fetish dream (put some clothes on, aunt Shiva!) crash down on him. (Uncle Titan is cool. Nyx doesn’t have anything to say about him, and he’d rather pretend that Uncle Ifrit (the petulant brat!) doesn’t exist)
And - ‘the weather of the islands depended on his moods’? …okay, now I have the mental image of Libertus just. Looking at a foggy sky and sighing, because Nyx is in a mood again, and Libertus and Pelna had better go and drag him out of his teenage angst before it starts raining. (Libertus has always cherished the times when rainbows fill the sky, because that’s when his friend is happiest.)
Also, drunk!glaives totally make fun of Nyx’s ears. They’re so pointy! (Nyx pouts).
And yes, I love Ramuh saying ‘FUCK THAT’ to the thought of trying to bind his son, trying to limit him, trying to chain him to a role and a responsibility. All Ramuh wants is for his people, for his son, to be happy - he’s a good dad. He’s enjoying being a dad.
…and just. Well. If the word got out somehow that there was an Unbinder of Fate running around Eos (I’m seeing Carbunkle doing it, for some reason, because the fuzzball means well but I don’t think he can keep his mouth shut, and perhaps he notices the influence of a Godborn on the dreamscape) - well. They don’t know who it is, and Ramuh has the best poker face of his entire existence when word begins to spread.
Very few people know what it means when Bahamut and Shiva throw temper tantrums (because Nyx may be half-Astral, but he is of age and he is mortal; by their own oaths and actions they cannot blatantly interfere with humans!). And fewer still understand their rants about Unbinders and Fatebreakers, understand what they mean. (There is a Godborn. A godborn, walking on the skin of Eos. A Third Bloodline, the Founding of something new.)
Can you imagine how desperate Regis et al would be to find a Fatebreaker? Because this - this is a way to negate the prophecy, this could be a way for Noctis to live.
And Ardyn. Ardyn knows exactly what a Fatebreaker is. And he is - curiously neutral on the subject. Ardyn has - somewhat accepted his role in the prophecy, mainly because it caries the certainty of his death. He’s not sure whether he dares hope that a godborn might shatter this destiny or curse that his death is now uncertain. He’s mainly - curious. Because, in an odd fashion, Ardyn is the closest thing to an equal, a peer, a counterpart that Nyx has - they’re both human-shaped but unmistakably Other, they’re both close descendants of an Astral bloodline (no, Ardyn isn’t Bahamut’s son, but unlike the Ruling Line of Lucis, he remembers where his bloodline came from and grew up venerating his Divine Ancestor - he’s also considerably closer to Bahamut in terms of descent then the Ruling Line is), they both know what it’s like to live in the middle of the humans and just. Not quite fit.
@hamelin-born
Drunk!Glaives love to point and laugh at Nyx’s pointy ears, Nyx always pouts in the background and wishes that he could get drunk and avoid all of this. And look, when he was a kid the sky was basically his mood ring - it was hilarious and useful but also really irritating. Nyx’s first crush resulted in a heat wave that nobody enjoyed. Rainbows are so rare but also so cherished during Nyx’s childhood because they only came out when Nyx was completely happy.
There are times, fewer as he grows old and learns more of humans but still, that there is very little of Nyx that can be called human. Most of the time, it isn’t obvious because Nyx is still half-human, was raised as a human and around humans and has a human body, but yeah. There are days when Lib looks into Nyx’s eyes and he can’t see a trace of humanity - all he can see is a thunderstorm.
(Nyx isn’t human, but he isn’t Astral either, not really. He is always caught between the two, half of both and so very much Other, never quite fitting in with either. But, no matter his blood or his being, Nyx will always be a storm)
But yeah, Nyx is lucky and he knows it, is the thing. Everything about his life has been so lucky and a part of him hates it even as he’s thankful for it, but it totally makes him so much more reckless - the words he was lucky to be born echo in his mind, and no one has ever said them to him but it’s the truth and it’s something that he can never forget.
Titan is Nyx’s favourite uncle - like, he’s never met him but the dude is so cool and his dad says that he’s pretty chill and lbr, his only competition is Bahamut and Ifrit so it was pretty obvious who Nyx was gonna pick - and Leviathan is Nyx’s favourite aunt. She might be a fish but she was terrifying and Nyx is part storm so he can appreciate the god of the seas. And Ramuh is an awesome dad and he’s loving it - his people have always been cool and he loves them and want them to be happy but Nyx is his son and he loves being a dad.
Carbunkle doesn’t really mean to let it slip, but he’s just so excited at the subtle change and it’s been years since the last one and he can’t lie to save his life and he only told one person he swears but within hours it’s spread to all of the gods and then it trickles down to the humans.
“A godborn,” people across Eos say, “an astral-childe walks the skin of Eos, a child of power born under the sun’s light, god-kin confined to a mortal shell.” the priests mutter. “Breaker of Prophecies, Unbinder of Fates,” is found when people search.
“abomination,” Bahamut and Shiva say, “this child should not exist.” But they cannot touch Nyx, not themselves, for the child is mortal and time works differently for gods, the child was likely of age by human standards and that takes them out of their each. They have no claim, so all they can do is rant and rage to those who would listen - the number of which lessens every day.
(Ramuh’s poker face is epic and nobody ever suspects that he has any idea who the Astral-Childe is, let alone that it is his son)
Once they learn what it means, Regis et al search desperately for this childe who could save Noctis, for this god-born mortal who has the power to alter fates already determined. They have hope, for the first time there is a chance that Noctis can live, and they grasp desperately at it with both hands.
And Ardyn?
As you’ve said, Ardyn would be of two minds. Because he wants his death, he needs it - because despite the greater concentration fo Astral-blood in his veins Ardyn is still more mortal than not, even corrupted by the scourge, and mortals are meant to die - but he also doesn’t want to go along with Bahamut plans, and an Unbinder could end his curse for him anyway.
But he is so curious, because this is a person who might understand. Ardyn isn’t god-kin himself, but he can name the ancestor who was - the blood is strong, only a few generations separated instead of millennia, and he isn’t human, not really. Even before the scourge, Ardyn was other. He’s other and he has spent two thousand years surrounded by humans and none of them understand. Not like Nyx would - Nyx who is far less human, whose instincts are far stronger.
Ardyn and Nyx are peers almost - are connected, however distantly, by the fact that they aren’t human - and Ardyn can’t help but hope that they might meet.
It becomes a race of sorts, to see who can find Nyx first. Meanwhile, Nyx is just chilling in Insomnia and has absolutely no plans on speaking up, not when he can hear the way that Bahamut is messily plotting his death/imprisonment
@charlottedabookworm
These days, sudden changes in the weather make the galahdian glaives frown at the sky in concern - because it might be a natural phenomena, but if it isn’t - well. Nyx has control of his abilities now, more or less, and the implication that he’s feeling something strong enough that his stranglehold on said powers has slipped is - not good. It doesn’t happen very often. But when it does - it’s almost an early-warning alert system that something is coming.
Nyx feels - uncomfortable in his body, sometimes. He knows he is part human and part other, but sometimes that otherness in his rises an surges like a cresting wave, and he feels - he feels. Nyx feels as if he could split his skin and slip free, free to dance on the tops of storm-tossed clouds, to flitter between lightning bolts and let his laugh roll like thunder.
(Come be we, and be free…)
He won’t. He can’t. He’s bound to mortality, to a single identity, not the fierce conglomeration of wind and sky. But sometimes, he dreams of it.
Huh. Has Ramuh introduced his son to Leviathan as his son? Because honestly, the Tidemother is - simply so alien to most forms of human comprehension that she probably flat-out wouldn’t care. Or - hum. Well. As I mentioned in your recent Bahamutson!Ardyn post - I couldn’t get the idea of Leviathanson!Ardyn out of my head.
Because they fit. Leviathan is - fierce and possessive, brutal and sly, clever and unforgiving by any measure of the word. She would be a superb parent to Ardyn - and now I’m seeing her in a relationship with Ardyn’s mother-the-queen, so she’s technical Ardyn’s father? Maybe? (Astrals laugh at the human depictions of gender.)
And a Leviathan who has had her son taken from her - would probably protect Nyx for spite alone. She hates Bahamut for what he did to her son; she will take any opportunity to throw a spoke in the works. And keeping quiet about her storm-brother’s son, protecting another who might break the chains of prophecy wound so, so tightly around her child - yes. Yes, she will do this, and gladly.
Nyx is keeping his goddamn mouth shut as everyone freaks out about the news of a godborn. They weren’t sure that they even existed, thought that the references to them in the Cosmogeny might have been extended metaphor - so yes. So yes, this has wide-sweeping religious and political implications. Religious, because the idea that the gods can have sex, can reproduce - well, that’s mindbending for the clergy; on the military-political side of things, such a child could be one hell of a propaganda piece and military asset.
Look, Nyx feels bad for the Lucis Caelums (if he had that delusional babbler for an ancestor, he’d be pretty sorry for himself as well) and the prince is cool, but this is - uh. Just a bit too much? Nyx is not coming forward anytime soon. Nuh-uh. Nope. No way.
…which makes me ponder how his true parentage could be revealed in a suitably hilarious/melodramatic fashion.
I’m honestly tempted to have Carbuncle pay Noctis a visit (he likes interacting with the little prince! And also, photobombing that one blond kid’s photos is a gleeful pleasure, he likes it!) taking one look at Nyx, and springing into full visibility as he tackles/glomps the godborn, wiggling and squealing gleefully. A godchild! An Astral-born! His nephew! Yes!
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