[Initially, he wasn't going to say anything. Though the gift wasn't signed, it's not like Cain has interacted personally with that many others — and even fewer are aware of his home planet-slash-star lacking oceans. It would be easy to just let it go.
But in a sense, it feels like that would be letting Noctis get away with something. So at an early hour a few days after Christmas, he'll get a notification on his device. Not a letter. There aren't any gifts waiting at his tent.
It's a video recorded outside. The sky is lavender with the beginning of Epsilon-355's pink-clouded sunrise. Golden sand is visible for miles out, indicating that this view is higher up off the ground than base camp, which becomes more clear as Cain shifts the camera to point it at his face, revealing where he's seated on the hull of his ship. He's smoking, exhaling a plume before he starts to talk.]
You didn't think you'd get away with it, did you? [His tongue clicks against teeth.] It's so obvious that it was you.
I already told Jonas this, but back home, we don't celebrate this holiday until the first week of January. In the colonies, it's more about... I don't know, the spirit of it? Not gifts, just food and singing, fortune-telling, shit like that.
So you guys totally jumped the gun. I gave Jonas my last bottle of vodka and some cigs — you probably don't want either one of those things since you're such a nerd, so you'll just have to settle for this.
Privet. That means 'hello'. Menya zovut... 'My name is'. So, menya zovut Cain. We usually don't call each other by our full names, though, and use a nickname instead. Mine's too short for that, but 'Noct' makes sense for you. Or I could say Nosha, Noshenka, Nova... whatever.
[Is he actually going to use those? The jury's still out. Cain takes a drag off his cigarette, as if to buy time, exhaling a pale stream of smoke.]
Ty krutoy. Figure that one out later. And let me know when your leg's good so we can fight.
[ He doesn't expect a response after a few days pass, assuming that the gift has been received and ignored, taken in some kind of negative way after the awkwardness that misfired text message had dusted up, or not understood to be from him. The more time passes the more credence he gives to each theory, so when he receives the message – a few hours after it was sent, since he wakes up late as always – he almost doesn't want to listen. Thankfully, that urge is rapidly repressed.
There's a lot to respond to. The casual insults, the assertion that he was trying to "get away" with something, the distracting nicknames. He manages to put it all aside for his initial response, still in bed and only partially awake. ]
[Noctis doesn't have to wait long for a response this time.]
might be confusing our writing's different i mean, what's it called, the letters? [he means the alphabet] i have to change the keyboard on this thing when i use it so it's not gonna sound like it looks to you
[This time it takes more time to reply, but only because he has to do some work. It almost reminds him of being back in grade school — except a little more fun, maybe, because he knows this. It's not a requirement; he's doing it because he wants to.]
[ The Cyrillic, characters he's never seen before in his life, burns across his screen and he absorbs the new information with a sense of curiosity that drives him to full wakefulness. Sitting up, his finger presses against the screen to copy the text. ]
привет, меня зовут Noct.
It fits you somehow. Maybe bc the characters are all blocky and rigid lol
この野郎 (kono yarou, or you can write it by sound and it's このやろう, too long to explain rn)
That's the one I taught you, but I can teach you another one
[ Cain's messages have forced out reluctant smiles before, but this is the first time he doesn't try to dim it. The quiet expression is for him and him alone, and hiding it before merely signalled an effort to keep lying to himself. Staring at this? The lie feels pointless. ]
Ouch. Is that how you celebrate Christmas?
It doesn't exist on Eos ftr so you don't get to lecture me for getting it wrong. Blame the records on Earth history
н = N? Looks like the letters are one to one except я. That means ya?
[It might seem like the conversation should come to a natural end there, except a few minutes later, Cain follows up with an attachment: a photo that must has been taken recently by the light outside, showing the dashboard of his ship, and Noctis's gift upon it. The sun makes the faux-ocean look bright at the angle it's taken against the hull's windshield, from the cockpit.]
[ Noctis does believe it's over, and unlike some of their other abrupt conversation ends he's at peace with it. He's not really sure how much more he could want as he tries to study a few of those Cyrillic characters... at least until he gets it.
The picture is saved without thought, an action he purposefully decides not to analyze. ]
Yeah, sometimes
When it's a bright day and the sun hits it it's like that. But the light reflects so it sparkles too, almost enough to hurt your eyes
When it's windy and the waves get choppier it turns this dark grey instead
I could prob find you pictures but it's not the same. If you want my advice I'd tell you you need to see it for yourself some day
I'm a stubborn asshole and I'm annoying but I'm not a liar. Not about stuff like that. When the water moves it catches the sun, like when you move a light near a mirror
I don't need to tell you anything else tbh. You're gonna see it, guaranteed, bc yeah I do think we'll get there. But if you want me to spoil it I can tell you more
That's hard to imagine. It didn't really snow much back home, and when it did it'd get blocked the city's shield. So ig we have to hope for a snow planet too huh
[ It's not that it's surprising. He would expect Cain to; he's proven himself to be detail-oriented, the kind honed by a powerful survival instinct. It's more that he didn't anticipate he'd bring it up, like it's a fact to be logged away but not discussed. ]
Daemons, sure. More importantly it's always been there to keep out the country we're at war with. Royal family's magic keeps it in place, and it's been there since before I was born. You get used to it ig
You don't trust us to know how to use heaters now? Lol
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morning of dec 27
But in a sense, it feels like that would be letting Noctis get away with something. So at an early hour a few days after Christmas, he'll get a notification on his device. Not a letter. There aren't any gifts waiting at his tent.
It's a video recorded outside. The sky is lavender with the beginning of Epsilon-355's pink-clouded sunrise. Golden sand is visible for miles out, indicating that this view is higher up off the ground than base camp, which becomes more clear as Cain shifts the camera to point it at his face, revealing where he's seated on the hull of his ship. He's smoking, exhaling a plume before he starts to talk.]
You didn't think you'd get away with it, did you? [His tongue clicks against teeth.] It's so obvious that it was you.
I already told Jonas this, but back home, we don't celebrate this holiday until the first week of January. In the colonies, it's more about... I don't know, the spirit of it? Not gifts, just food and singing, fortune-telling, shit like that.
So you guys totally jumped the gun. I gave Jonas my last bottle of vodka and some cigs — you probably don't want either one of those things since you're such a nerd, so you'll just have to settle for this.
Privet. That means 'hello'. Menya zovut... 'My name is'. So, menya zovut Cain. We usually don't call each other by our full names, though, and use a nickname instead. Mine's too short for that, but 'Noct' makes sense for you. Or I could say Nosha, Noshenka, Nova... whatever.
[Is he actually going to use those? The jury's still out. Cain takes a drag off his cigarette, as if to buy time, exhaling a pale stream of smoke.]
Ty krutoy. Figure that one out later. And let me know when your leg's good so we can fight.
Poka. 'Bye'.
[And without ceremony, the recording ends.]
my heart
There's a lot to respond to. The casual insults, the assertion that he was trying to "get away" with something, the distracting nicknames. He manages to put it all aside for his initial response, still in bed and only partially awake. ]
Write them out? So ik how to spell them
no subject
might be confusing
our writing's different
i mean, what's it called, the letters? [he means the alphabet]
i have to change the keyboard on this thing when i use it
so it's not gonna sound like it looks to you
no subject
[ He casually drops the correct word without addressing the question, not wanting Cain to feel like it's a correction. ]
Can you write it in both? What it sounds like in this alphabet and what it really is
[ ... ]
Thx
no subject
привет (privet)
hello
меня зовут (menya zovut)
my name is
Пока (poka)
bye
show me yours? alphabet
no subject
привет, меня зовут Noct.
It fits you somehow. Maybe bc the characters are all blocky and rigid lol
この野郎 (kono yarou, or you can write it by sound and it's このやろう, too long to explain rn)
That's the one I taught you, but I can teach you another one
ケイン. That's your name.
no subject
well yours is all jagged and awkward
[This is school kid level insult now.]
to: ноцтис (noctis)
you're a big この野郎
from: ケイン
no subject
Ouch. Is that how you celebrate Christmas?
It doesn't exist on Eos ftr so you don't get to lecture me for getting it wrong. Blame the records on Earth history
н = N? Looks like the letters are one to one except я. That means ya?
no subject
you really did the homework? wow
i'm not from earth, remember
basically
which means "i" or "me" as the subject of whatever you're saying
no subject
I could always come take back the present if it's not traditional for you guys yk
Replace it with one of those letters
no subject
can't take it back
you can still write the letter, though
kinda cheating that you didn't do it in the first place
no subject
Maybe not one with a bunch of insults, yw, but it's not like I left you nothing
[ ... ]
Thanks, Cain
no subject
the ocean is really that blue?
no subject
The picture is saved without thought, an action he purposefully decides not to analyze. ]
Yeah, sometimes
When it's a bright day and the sun hits it it's like that. But the light reflects so it sparkles too, almost enough to hurt your eyes
When it's windy and the waves get choppier it turns this dark grey instead
I could prob find you pictures but it's not the same. If you want my advice I'd tell you you need to see it for yourself some day
no subject
so there are waves during a storm
makes sense, sand is kinda like that too
and with snow, yeah... sky gets so dark it's like night all the sudden
[He's not thinking much when he describes the environment he's more accustomed to than anything else.]
you think we'll ever get there?
to some other alien planet with the ocean
or even earth
no subject
I'm a stubborn asshole and I'm annoying but I'm not a liar. Not about stuff like that. When the water moves it catches the sun, like when you move a light near a mirror
I don't need to tell you anything else tbh. You're gonna see it, guaranteed, bc yeah I do think we'll get there. But if you want me to spoil it I can tell you more
[ ... ]
Does it snow a lot on Mars?
no subject
[Noctis has a lot of confidence that he doesn't necessarily feel, but for once... he'll let it go and just pretend he agrees.]
constantly
most of the year
when it's warm, it's still a little cold
no subject
That's hard to imagine. It didn't really snow much back home, and when it did it'd get blocked the city's shield. So ig we have to hope for a snow planet too huh
Trade off
no subject
does that have to do with the... demons?
whatever you called them
the things that come at night
a snow planet, huh
[It would probably just make him... homesick. He doesn't even know if he'd enjoy it.]
feel like i'll probably have to keep you and jonas alive
so you don't freeze to death
no subject
[ It's not that it's surprising. He would expect Cain to; he's proven himself to be detail-oriented, the kind honed by a powerful survival instinct. It's more that he didn't anticipate he'd bring it up, like it's a fact to be logged away but not discussed. ]
Daemons, sure. More importantly it's always been there to keep out the country we're at war with. Royal family's magic keeps it in place, and it's been there since before I was born. You get used to it ig
You don't trust us to know how to use heaters now? Lol
no subject
that's everywhere in eos?
i mean, sure you can use heaters
but since you two like to wander around outside and try to get hurt
have to account for stupidity
no subject
[ ... ]
Tell me smth else I don't know about Mars? Did you like being there?
Yk before we get into a fight bc you basically just called me reckless lol
no subject
you said the word, not me
what i like? not much
mars is just the backwoods by most standards, not exactly a travel destination
what's to say?
no subject
And beats me, it's your home. It doesn't have to be fancy for me to wanna know about it. What was it like growing up there?
no subject
boring
had to make your own entertainment, which is what i did
you're getting nosy again
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