[There are some Nightmare Courtier NPCs who I really like and others who are inevitably just like "fufufu look how evil I am" like something out of a cheesy 80s kids show. When you look past that, though, the themes about free will and sense of self/place in the world are really interesting. I had been thinking that a more dragon-inspired encounter might be on the horizon for our lads (not sure if you read all the spoilers related to that too) but it doesn't have to be that! I have to admit that I'm totally blind about FFXV aside from seeing characters from it on memes all the time. Was it as fab as you could have hoped?]
Content to be the anchoring guide, Aurus watched the path so that Charles could keep his eyes up in the branches, setting a steady, unhurried pace for them.
He did have to wonder what that fleeting look he saw on the man's face might portend--Charles couldn't actually be entertaining the idea of coming with him to Tyria for real. It had to be a fantasy...didn't it? (He imagined, suddenly, the very cross expression that he'd probably receive from Hank McCoy if it became clear that he'd not just seduced Charles but someone managed to convince him to take a wild, mystical holiday to a far away world of magic and dragons.)
"She's not like most mothers," he said quite honestly, thinking of what he'd heard that the Tree had told Trahearne against his protests that he was no General: You must be whatever Tyria needs you to be. She had known that he would lead the Pact before he did. "After all, she is still a tree.
"If my life leads me to stay with you, then that is where I belong, even if it is worlds away." It was no promise, but still a far cry from the earlier sense that he would, ultimately and inevitably, leave. He didn't dwell on the point though.
Ahead of them the path was coming to a natural terminus where a steep wall of exposed rock and roots narrowed the way forward through a shadowy arbour. "The entrance to Caledon Forest," Aurus explained, before leading Charles to the right, doubling back the way they came.
The steep, decorated walls of the promenade had been impossible to scale--too high and too smooth--but here there was a spot, just where once side sloped lower to the ground, that a few shoots of leaves grew, with stems easily strong enough to hold a man's weight. This was what Aurus meant about a climb, and clearly it was one that he'd made before--Charles wasn't the only one to have gotten up to mischief in his youth.
It wasn't terribly strenuous, but it might be a bit of a challenge to anyone who hadn't had much practice climbing trees. Aurus could lead by example though, and so he pulled himself up astride the first stem, pausing there to offer Charles a hand should he need it.
no subject
Content to be the anchoring guide, Aurus watched the path so that Charles could keep his eyes up in the branches, setting a steady, unhurried pace for them.
He did have to wonder what that fleeting look he saw on the man's face might portend--Charles couldn't actually be entertaining the idea of coming with him to Tyria for real. It had to be a fantasy...didn't it? (He imagined, suddenly, the very cross expression that he'd probably receive from Hank McCoy if it became clear that he'd not just seduced Charles but someone managed to convince him to take a wild, mystical holiday to a far away world of magic and dragons.)
"She's not like most mothers," he said quite honestly, thinking of what he'd heard that the Tree had told Trahearne against his protests that he was no General: You must be whatever Tyria needs you to be. She had known that he would lead the Pact before he did. "After all, she is still a tree.
"If my life leads me to stay with you, then that is where I belong, even if it is worlds away." It was no promise, but still a far cry from the earlier sense that he would, ultimately and inevitably, leave. He didn't dwell on the point though.
Ahead of them the path was coming to a natural terminus where a steep wall of exposed rock and roots narrowed the way forward through a shadowy arbour. "The entrance to Caledon Forest," Aurus explained, before leading Charles to the right, doubling back the way they came.
The steep, decorated walls of the promenade had been impossible to scale--too high and too smooth--but here there was a spot, just where once side sloped lower to the ground, that a few shoots of leaves grew, with stems easily strong enough to hold a man's weight. This was what Aurus meant about a climb, and clearly it was one that he'd made before--Charles wasn't the only one to have gotten up to mischief in his youth.
It wasn't terribly strenuous, but it might be a bit of a challenge to anyone who hadn't had much practice climbing trees. Aurus could lead by example though, and so he pulled himself up astride the first stem, pausing there to offer Charles a hand should he need it.