kingkingcxiii | Hugtopia Mailbox/Inbox

Hello,

I stumbled across a number of photographs you may enjoy. I will attach them here.

[ There are a more than a handful of pictures of Noct and Kiyomi as young children with their respective chocobos. The initial photo is clearly of Noct trying to explain to her how it works—evidently with success given that she has her face covered by her hands in the next.

As the photos progress she becomes less wary and shy of it, until the final one where she has removed the scarf obscuring her head and pulls a silly face at the camera alongside Noct.

A short video clip is included among the photos, of Kiyomi trying to take a photograph—

"No, that's video!"
"What's 'video'?"

By the look on Noct's face he's gotten used to bestowing upon her what is obviously the most basic bits of knowledge any kid should have (even if he finds it exasperating). ]

Those are all the ones I could find with Noct in them. Should I happen across any more I will be sure to send them to you as well, if you would like.

[It takes Regis a little while to respond for two reasons. One, he's honestly a little surprised--but also happy--to hear from her so suddenly. The second, and more important reason, is that he is enjoying looking at the pictures so much.

Hello my dear!

I'm glad to hear from you and to see what wonderful gifts you bring! It looks like the two of you are having a great time. I spent some time small myself during the last few weeks, but I don't think I had nearly as much fun as you two did.

I would love to see whatever other pictures you find whether they have Noctis in them or not.

Edited (typo!) 2021-09-04 22:20 (UTC)

[ She doesn't respond right away either, as she had long since gone on a walk. It's only once she's settled in for the evening she that she has the time to answer, and it takes her some extra time to find a few more pictures to send along with it. ]

Hi,

How old did you age down to? I am sorry to have missed it.

In the pictures I sent I was seven, and already trying to summon a Carbuncle. Ardbert has taken it as proof that I was born a nerd. We learned more about who I was before I was me.

[ She attaches a few more pictures, though this time they're of her and Ardbert. He's a little older than her, but not by much, and in every image of the two of them together it's blatantly obvious they like each other. Hades was kind enough to ensure there was ample photographic evidence of their blushing cheeks and tentative hand-holding.

He also captured a short video of Kiyomi approaching Ardbert with a lovely chocobo feather behind her back. When she hands it over to the boy he's surprised, and pulls out the pretty amaro feather he had been holding behind his back to gift her. They exchange gifts, red-cheeked and flustered, but delighted.

At the very end of this batch of media there is a photo of Era and Ardbert together again, his arm around her shoulder as she holds the camera up to take the selfie. They're both smiling, and both looking to be in their sixties—though the aging of Era's face is a bit less pronounced than Ardbert's. ]

Ardbert ensured there was utterly obscene amount of photographic and video evidence. If you happen to want for more photographs I can have him send some to you.

[Regis takes his time going through the new pictures she sends along. It's amusing how shy she and Ardbert are around each other in these pictures, but it's also obvious how meant for each other they were. It reminds him a bit of how he and Aulea were always meant to be together. Of course, the shy one was him between the two. No one would have ever used the word "shy" to describe his wife at any age.]

You both look so happy together. It does my heart good to see you smiling and at ease with each other. I was around seven myself, but it may be for the best that we did not run into each other. I was a rather solemn child before meeting my Aulea and I had only just met her around that time.

[He can't help but be amused that Ardbert took so many pictures, but it is in his nature and all the photos will remind Era of happy times when she needs that reminder.]

If you want him to send them, I will be happy to see them. How are you two doing now that you are your normal ages again? Is Emet-Selch well?

I recall being very afraid. I hadn't been outside proper in five years or so. Something about Ardbert set me at ease. And when I met Estinien I was excited to meet a real dragoon. I wanted to be one when I grew up, because I knew they were the greatest warriors in all of Ishgard.

I was taught music (I liked it) and etiquette (I hated it). I learnt archery when I was five, and was given my first sword when I was seven. The knight who ignored his orders and spared my life was named Berngar. He was like an uncle, teaching me about the world and how to survive. He said I was still too small to learn polearms and I was very upset.

It's strange, because I have no memory of these things myself, but I have the memory of having these memories.

[ She thinks he would like hearing more about what she was like as a child—the happier things, or things that are happy without the context behind them. ]

We are doing quite well. On the ninth day of the upcoming month it will be one year since Ardbert and I were married by the law. I will be teaching him the tradition my grandfather's ancestors have regarding wedding rings. I think he will like it.

Hades is still adjusting to the amount of freedom he now has, but has made great progress. Thank you for asking after him.

Have you been well?

It's a strange feeling, isn't it? I remember going to the cafe and being embarrassingly excited about petting a cat and having chocolate chip cookies. I also discussed magic with another mage. I should probably apologize to him for my bluntness.

[He's sure Devon didn't mind the conversation since his fellow mage loves talking about magic, but also as a child he hadn't been very diplomatic about his opinions and knowing that bothers Regis as he is now.]

It has been a while since we have been able to talk and things were rather tense then. I let things you couldn't control get to me, and I apologize for that. I still worry for you and yours so I am relieved to hear things are going well. I can only imagine how much of a challenge being freed has been for Emet-Selch. The first who was here told me just how much of his life and actions were tied to his state.

Do you need any help with this ring tradition? I have to admit I am quite curious about how similar it may be to our own ring traditions.

From what I have learned, children are nothing if not blunt. I doubt there's need to apologize for behaving like a child while a child.

[ She was certainly blunt—embarrassingly so—but knows her family would scoff and wave away any apologies she tries to make. ]

Likewise, you've no need to apologize to me. The fault was not yours, but mine.

I found letters inside my stuffed bunny, along with my grandparents' wedding rings.

[ She attaches a quick photograph of the rings held in her palm. One ring is almost comically large compared to the size of her hand, while the other looks like one that is only slightly too large for her. ]

The symbols of the husband's ring are round, representing the yurt (a tent-like home), while the wife's are shaped like diamonds to represent the columns that support the yurt. The shapes are entwined to represent the couple's souls being entwined for eternity. The four surrounding dots are meant to represent all corners of the world.

The husband wears his ring on his right ring finger instead of his left to honour his wife's respect. The wife wears hers on the left hand ring finger to represent that he is in her heart.

If Ardbert agrees to it, I will resize his wedding band to fit his right hand.

I think you are being too hard on yourself. Fault lies with us both, but lets not let that come between us now, especially when there are such happy things to focus on!

This tradition you mention is wonderful! It's so much greater than the one we have, though I do see a little of our tradition in your own. We both wear our rings on our left hands for the same reason the wife does in your tradition. I like the explanation of the difference, though. Respect is so important and often forgotten in relationships.

I have no doubt that Ardbert will be honored to have you ask him.

I believe the left hand being nearest to the heart is why Eorzean couples do the same, though I don't know much about weddings beyond a few of Ishgard's traditions.

He will be happy to take part in some of my biological family's traditions. He liked hearing what I learned of them from the memories I saw, and the letters left for me.

I am sure he did. He loves you and so he loves learning more about you. How do you feel about learning all of this?

Conflicted, I suppose. The memories don't feel like my own, but more akin to Echoes. It feels wrong to claim them, yet it also feels wrong not to.

Actually
There is one memory that felt like my own.
When the doorways appeared I witnessed it and knew it was mine.

[Regis nods as he reads. She mentioned before the memories hadn't felt like hers. His, at least, he knew were his even if he didn't like to think about it.]

Dare I ask what that memory was?

It would upset you.

[Regis winces as he hears that, but how many times has he said that families are families no matter if it is good or bad? He came far too close to breaking that word before and he doesn't want to do that again.]

If you wish me to know of it, I will hear it anyway. Will it help you to speak of it? If not now, then perhaps later?

[ She considers it for a good, long while. ]

My father helped hide me away in a thorny bush. I was to stay there until he came back for me.

I waited. Even after it all went quiet I kept waiting, but he never came back. I went searching for him instead. I found his head first, then the rest of him.

He wouldn't wake up no matter how hard I cried for him to.

I thought if I could put his head back on he would wake up again, but it was too heavy.

I was hungry and tired. It was cold. He was cold.

I thought it was my fault for not waiting for him. Bàba was still and cold and silent because I didn't listen.

Oh Era, my darling...

[She's right about it upsetting him. How could it not? Even knowing parts of it from here and there doesn't soften the blow that having the whole thing out and the parts all in their proper places delivers.

He knew it was bad, but...]

It was not your fault. Not at all, but there is no way for a child to have known that. Not one so young.

[Oh, how he wishes he could hug her through these messages. Would Ardbert be upset if he just suddenly showed up at the door?]

At two years old the concept of death was not so easily understood. If I could just return his head to his shoulders... surely that would wake him up? But I was too small, and his horns too large and heavy.

In the end I survived, which was Nobuyuki's most fervent wish.

I was born too early, you know. My mother was a shinobi who never wanted me, but she loved my father. He saved her life, so she spared mine.

He was barely Noct's age and suddenly had this sickly little wisp of a newborn. Had he and my grandmother not been such skilled herbalists I surely would have died. The village didn't expect me to see my first birthday, but I did.

That was one of the memories I saw. My grandfather, Ganbold, sitting at the edge of a spring surrounded by blooming plum trees. She found stray petals in the mud and gave them to him. He scooped her into a hug and gave her a name from his culture.

My grandmother arrived shortly after, angry he stole me away on my birthday. He scooped her up into his arms, too, and carried both of his girls back home.

In a different memory I was much younger. A handful of months old, perhaps. I was teething on my grandfather's tail and he was delighted. My father came through the door and I saw him and smiled my first smile. I think you would have liked to see that memory. Auri babies are very cute, with their nubby little horns and tails.

Noctis was born early as well...

[There is a short pause before he continues because this similarity between her and Noctis reminds him of how what should have been a joyous event had turned into a sorrowful one. Perhaps it is fortunate for them both that she shares the cute memories she does next. After all, who could not be happy hearing about such precious memories?]

It makes me so happy to hear you have some joyful moments to think back on. I can't help but smile at the thought of you teething on your grandfather's tail. I never got to deal with Noctis teething, but perhaps that was for the best. I have no tail for him to chew on! I suspect if he had chewed on my fingers, they would never have been the same. Fingers are not so rugged as a tail is.

[Had he ever really thanked the nannies for seeing Noctis through that troubled time? If not, he really should.]

I didn't know Noct knew how to be early for anything.

[ She can't help but poke fun at Noctis' expense, hoping to lighten the mood somewhat. ]

I have one of his scales, if you would like to see it. I believe it's from his tail, as the shape is the same as my tail scales. My hair is like my father's and his mother's. Bàba and my grandfather ('Ga-böö', I called him, instead of Övöö) had much darker skin than I do, but they both had freckles like me.

How old was Noctis in your last memory from home?

[Regis smiles at Era's joke. Love of sleep is something everyone in the family seems to share.]

I would love to see it! Scales are such a wonderful way to keep a part of your loved ones with you. It must be comforting to be able to see yourself in them.

Noctis was a little over three when I was brought back here. Still young, but very much starting to become himself.

[ Her reply takes a bit longer than the norm, mostly because she had to fetch her grandfather's scale from where she keeps it safe.

She attaches a picture of her holding a dark, ebony scale on her palm that is nearly the size of her hand. She wasn't wrong when she said the patterning was identical to her own tail, and the similarity is especially easy to see in the second picture she sends, which is her holding his scale against her tail for comparison. ]

My grandfather was a Xaela, not a Raen, so his scales were very dark.

Ah so he hated vegetables already? :)

Astrals, it is beautiful! I can only imagine what a sight he must have been. It is quite similar to yours too. I see you weren't exaggerating that.

[It is much larger than Regis was expecting. He isn't sure why. Perhaps, because Era herself is so tiny.]

Oh yes. Already, I have had several chefs worry for their positions because they tried to sneak some vegetables into his food. I know it is a useless endeavor, but I do appreciate their attempts.

He was so tall too! Over seven fulms. Nobu was nearly as tall. My grandmother was tall for an auri woman as well. My biological family were all tall, yet I am small even for an auri woman.

The woman who birthed me had hair like silk soaked by jet black ink. Nobuyuki pressed a flower into a letter that was the colour of her eyes. They were a bright violet, with limbal rings the colour of rich plum skins. Her skin was like a pale lilac shadow, and the shape of her horns was like mine.

Her name was Sayuri. He loved her dearly. My grandparents didn't like her, but he understood her duty would always come first, you know?

I haven't told anyone else about her yet.

[ She has complicated feelings about her biological mother, but in the end Era knows she doesn't begrudge her what she did. She is the Crystal Bearer; the Warrior of Light. Duty and its constraints is something she understands all too well. ]

The poor chefs! 😂 I would like him to eat more vegetables for the healthy vitamins and minerals, but so long as he manages a balanced diet without them I am happy.

When you describe Sayuri like that she reminds me of my Aulea. She was small, but as bright as fierce as they come. If she had not passed so soon, Noctis would have been luckier than you, I suspect. Her duty was always to me and her son first, even when she knew that my duty had to be the Crystal and Lucis first. Perhaps, that is why she made her duty that.

[There is no way for him to know that for sure, but he can't help but know deep in his heart that it is the truth.]

Thank you for sharing her story with me. My family didn't like Aulea either, as you know, but that doesn't mean her story or Sayuri's should not be known and told to their children. I know I regret not telling Noctis more of Aulea back home. He should have known her better.

Hugtopia Mailbox/Inbox

last week-ish!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

2/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)