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[fessus]

username: henruit

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[fessus]

[ Tethers? Just the thought has him tensing up unpleasantly, stomach dropping in a wave of unwelcome reminders. ]

Idk you'd be asking the wrong person. Tbh? I didn't even stay behind my door for more than a few minutes.

I'm not looking to learn about a system I'm not planning to participate in lol

But maybe that's making all this heavier than we wanted.

[coherer]

Who's the right person?

Sure, it's heavy, everything in this place is. I just haven't had anyone to compare w/ but it's fine. As for the soulmate thing I'm not against it per se I just don't feel like it's necessary? We're already here together.

[fessus]

[ Deep breath, Noctis. ]

I just mean I'm not an authority or w/e. If you're asking, I've got 4.

So compare away

[ The soulmate discussion is one casually but carefully left unresponded to. ]

[coherer]

I've only got 3........

(what does he do with this information? jonas purses his lips.

make...

make a...

make a joke out of it? he jabs "send.")

I wonder if it means I've almost totally transcended physical objects... like I'm more enlightened than you.👼

1/2

[fessus]

[ .......,, ]

2/2

[fessus]

Maybe you're just dumber and shallower??

[coherer]

That couldn't possibly be true. I like my explanation way better.

Bye I'm 2 busy ascending to talk to someone w/ 4 tethers lollllllllll

[fessus]

Here I was trying to help you out and I regret it like 30 seconds later lmao

Seriously what are yours like? Not details or anything but none of them are alive or anything right?

[coherer]

🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

No, it's nothing like that, that'd be so creepy lol. Actually, I can just tell you what they are bc there's it's not that deep. Just don't ask questions ig

One's a handheld radio, one's a miniature car, and one's my phone from before.

[fessus]

You don't make it easy by telling me before I get to agree js

But I'm not that big of a dick, I'm not gonna get into it if you don't want me to. Mine are objects too I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one.

Is the car smth that got shrunk or was it always little in your world? Jw you don't have to answer

[coherer]

(it's a relief. noctis is giving more respect for his privacy than he's received in years.)

Lol ik ik dw. I haven't been told about anyone else's, and I won't use yours as an example or anything. That's nobody's business except your own.

The car was big once. I legit didn't even recognize it at first and thought it was a super weird out-of-place toy or smth. It's bizarre, I really have no idea what to think about it.

[fessus]

??? so it's replicas of stuff we know, not the actual items. That's what I'm getting from that, anyway. Not sure what to do with the info but it's good to work with.

You cool if I ask you some other questions? Not about the tethers, just you lol bad taste in games aside

[coherer]

Huh

ig that is good info all things considered. I didn't even think about that, gg man (look at me supporting your game addiction and not crying about things other ppl like).

Ask away.

[fessus]

Yeah yeah try to guilt me and I'll just dunk on you harder.

Anyway you said you're 18. So..... are you in school? What do you do?

[coherer]

Yeah I'm in hs, my last few months of it. You guys have hs right?

I couldn't wait to be done with all that lol now my diploma is seeming p unimportant atm. I don't "do" anything though ig. You're definitely out of school now right? Do you guys go to college in your world?

[fessus]

Unfortunately lol

Guess I can't complain since it's all behind me, no more exams to deal with. College is an option yeah but I went another way. Didn't really seem like smth I needed tbh

Why, were you planning to go?

[coherer]

Not really. I don't think it'd be for me.

Mind if I ask which way you did happen to go? The ninja route? Swinging a sword around and teleporting places for a salary?

[fessus]

[ Okay, Noctis, you've had literal weeks to think of a cover. ]

Me?

I'm a photographer [ Hard wince... Prompto's image had appeared so starkly in his mind and now that's an answer he can't take back. But Prompto also fights, doesn't he? The young man is always at his side, camera in one hand and firearm in the other – the wrong person's truth is more believable than the right person's lie. ]

And I'm a guard. It could pay better [ so I HEAR ] but there's a lot of bonuses like housing so I can't complain much. Looking for ideas?

[coherer]

A photographer and guard. Wow, diversify much?? Do you take pics of the ppl you guard? hahaha

No that's cool, they both sound p neat. I'm not looking for ideas either, I just wanted to know more about you. That was the goal of this convo right? Meeting in a more normal way.

You had your own house?

[fessus]

Sometimes lol but they're pretty discreet so I'm not out here advertising it. Don't come for me asking for free shots either, pretty sure I don't need exposure for my work here.

I had a condo, twice as good. I'm guessing you live at home?

[coherer]

You can't even take free pics of me???? Why am I even friends w/ you.🙄🙄

You'd guess right, but dad and I just moved from home too. Everything was new and I don't think I was as prepared for that as I thought I'd be lol. A condo sounds sick though, like having a space all to yourself.

[fessus]

[ He skims the message that Jonas might mean as inconsequential but that sits oddly with Noctis, immediately struck by how it sounds in his head. Friends? Prompto's made it so the term is a little less foreign to his ears but exposure isn't necessarily comfortability.

It felt unspoken that he and Jonas were still maintaining a distance with one another, one he's even enforced in this very conversation with his unwillingness to discuss his home country in any meaningful detail. But here he is, applying a title that all but one of his old classmates would never be bold enough to touch. Is it payback, because Noctis helped him? Is it a response to there being few people in their tight age range with similar frames of reference? Does Jonas actually enjoy his company?

Why would he? What do you offer him? Your awkward questions, your terrible lies? He's lonely and he's reaching. It's pathetic, really, that you're thinking so hard about this when he's already moved on to something else. Are you trying to replace everyone back home so fast? ]

Ikr it's crazy, you must really be suffering over there.

You moved into a new house or smth? I get family can be a weird subject, lmk if you wanna talk about smth else

[coherer]

(questions bordering on uncomfortable are posed, almost expected by jonas who has guarded against them before. his answers to them haven't changed, but since approaching edwards island, they have more complexity to them.

his sadness is almost synonymous with his bitterness. it shows.)

Only if you promise not to apologize at me or come up with witty commentary about it lol.

It's not revolutionary, but you'd be stunned by how warranted my saying all this is.

[fessus]

[ So the answer is delicate. A story of loss or some other sadness, with the way Jonas is prepping him not to apologize for what he's about to reveal. He feels simultaneously that he can't quite handle hearing about any more and also that he wants to hear this more than almost anything else. ]

Dw, I'm good for keeping my word.

I promise you're not gonna get either one from me

[coherer]

(well, we'll see, won't we? comes the immediate and insistent thought.

it doesn't belong to his shadow.)

My dad remarried and we left our old place for his new wife's and daughter's place.

And before you ask what that would've made them to me in our weird new happy family dynamic, the answer could only be "stepmother" and "stepsister." That's a freebie.