INTRO LOG

[thanksfortesting]

" - So thank you for your participation in our program!" finishes the holographic projection's chipper voice. The androgynous figure of a Fortune employee in uniform bows. "The rest of the participants will be gathering in the central lounge shortly. Please enjoy your stay at Ioneil Station!"

And with that, you're left on your own as the hologram cuts out, nothing but a body suit and a number of informational pamphlets to your name. One of them includes your housing room number and the name of your roommate - and since evidently you can't stay here, you'd better go out and meet them.

The elevator you enter automatically takes you down to the lounge in question - a wide-open room with minimal decoration and plenty of posh, comfortable furniture. And there's a dozen or so other people coming - enough for things to be interesting, at least.

Your rooms are down a low hallway - space is cramped, so you'd better get used to close quarters... Unless you're ready for close quarters of an altogether different kind, after all.

Comments

[smallsacrifices]

"If we knew that, there would be a lot more getting done around here, let me assure you," the voice that comes from a chair on Ravus' left should sound familiar, a reminder of a place and a time neither of them wish to remember, but can never forget.

Well...that is true only if they both have lived through it. Altissia was a long time ago for Ignis, but the Ravus he levels a calm and even gaze at is different from the one he saw not that long ago at Noctis' coronation. The beard is gone for one, not that that is a great loss, but the truly telling thing is the tiredness on the high commander's face. A tiredness so different than that he carried after the ten years of darkness.

Is this going to be better or worse than finding Noctis so very, very young here?

"I believe Ardyn's about to lead an expedition, if you wish to join. I, for one, am not so certain I wish to be in any group he's leading."

[giltfoil]

"Scientia?" Ravus does a visible double-take. "Your eyes... I did not think the price of the Lucii so easily healed." Was he wrong to assume that what they took, they kept? Surely not.

He snorts automatically. "If you are not certain, you regard him more favorably than I."

[smallsacrifices]

"So I have been told," Ignis' response is dry, and oddly enough, slightly annoyed. This is twice now the state of his vision has been questioned and he doesn't much appreciated it coming from either party, "Let me assure you, Noctis saw me healed as fully as possible before he went into the Crystal."

Ravus' next comment is enough to make Ignis' lips quirk upward in amusement, though, "Whatever he is doing, I know he is up to no good. My only uncertainty is if I wish to see my prediction come true or not."

[giltfoil]

"He reached the Crystal so soon? I had not heard." Ravus has spent the last week or so (eight days, three hours) in Fenestala, seeing to what must be done before the end. Perhaps he could have missed news of the royal party's departure from Altissia, but could they have reached Gralea already? There is something here that does not add up.

"Given time, I am sure you will. He always has something."

[smallsacrifices]

There definitely something not adding up and that realization makes Ignis' lips turn down into a sharp frown. Ravus was the one who brought Noctis and the others to Gralea, to the Crystal, to him. Why would he be asking such a question unless...

His discussion with Ardyn floats back into his mind and he all but growls his frustration. Is it possible that this Ravus is from a different universe as well? Perhaps even the same one as Ardyn himself?

"We were reunited at the Crystal. He didn't have that far to go, though it seems as if you may remember the events of that day differently than I do. Ardyn and I have also found that we remember certain events differently."