Noctis Lucis Caelum (veggiehater) wrote in valloic, @ 2020-11-27 22:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: noctis lucis caelum (2), ₴ inactive: nyx ulric |
He figured then the plans got made for fishing that was about as good a moment as any. And would give Noctis a bit of time to let the whole showing up in Vallo in general thing settle before getting a whole other thing dropped on him.
It'd been ages since he'd fished himself, but it wasn't a hard thing to get back into. Throw your line in the water and wait, hard to forget the basics when the basics were just that. Pretty basic.
It was an easy sort of way to pass some time too he'd realized as an hour or so passed quick enough, chatting here and there about random things between reeling in their catches. He'd grabbed some drinks from the house and put them in a cooler with ice (another for the fish) along with some snacks. He set his rod into the slats of the little dock they'd found and grabbed one of the drinks and twisted the bottle cap off, tossing it into the cooler.
"So I've got something kind of crazy to tell you," he started, shrugged and took a quick drink. "If you think you're up for a bit of crazy?"
There were few things in Noctis’s life that gave him the kind of peace that fishing did. The world could be complete chaos but if he found himself a pond, he could burn hours in a comforting haze, occasionally broken by the excitement of a nibble. At first, having Nyx there for it was even better. A familiar face he’d thought he’d never get to see again and idle chit chat.
He was used to having three people standing behind him, impatiently egging him to quit fishing after a few hours though.
The thought started to burn the edges of his fishing peace until he was grateful that Nyx gave him something else to focus on. He mirrored Nyx, wedging his pole into the dock and sat down, stretching out his legs towards the water. “Okay, this is my ready for crazy position.” He looked up at Nyx with a soft smirk. “What do ya got?”
Nyx gave Noctis a laugh as he sat down next to him. "Well as long as you're ready," he said lightly.
"It's uh - kind of a long story on how," which was putting it lightly really, "but I found something out pretty recently that affects you and me." Though he supposed with the stint in Texas and now in Vallo that recently wasn't as recent as it once was. But recently he supposed in that he hadn't known the last time he'd seen Noctis at this age. That nothing had been kept from Noctis. At least by him.
"Turns out we're related - brothers," he said, fairly plainly because well, no point beating around the bush really. "Guess your dad and my mom really hit it off 30 odd years ago," that last bit with an awkward sort of joking tone to it.
"How's the ready for crazy position holding up?"
Noct had been expecting something bad or at the very least bittersweet - parting words from Luna or his father being at the top of the list - so the revelation was a surprise. His eyes grew big and he stared at Nyx for a moment, piecing together things from his childhood. Things his father had said in private that might have clued him in if Noct weren’t so damn oblivious half the time.
“...Huh.” It wasn’t his most eloquent moment, but Noct recovered quickly. A bright and rare grin lit up his face. “Wow. I mean, wow.” He had a momentary thought that maybe Nyx was from another reality and this wasn’t true in his own, but no. This felt right. He reached over to clamp a hand on Nyx’s shoulder for a second.
“I guess I got the looks in the family. Sorry, bro,” he teased with a perfectly straight face.
While he hadn't grown up with Noctis like he had his sister, Nyx still liked to think he'd gotten somewhat of a handle on the kid (and yes, he felt like that was accurate now given that this
Noctis was over a decade younger than him and more the one he vividly remembered before everything went to hell and then some), from the training sessions and other times they'd been thrust together. A good person, a little lonely, a little awkward sometimes and usually lacking the eloquence some would assume of him around certain company. The huh hitting about all of that at once.
Nyx grinned when Noctis did though, because for all he might have some issues with the long line of mostly assholish Lucian Kings and where he himself fit in all of that, Noctis was always the bonus in it. Had been from the get go.
He laughed a little at the dig and shrugged. "I don't know, like to think I do alright for myself," he replied lightly. He'd spent a lot of time since being raised from the dead to that final fight against fate and prophecy to showing up in Texas and now here looking up pictures of the King, looking for himself in a face that had been so familiar for so long without even knowing why. From his own assessment he figured Noctis took after his mother a lot more than the King. "Bro," he added though he was really probably about ten years too old to pull that one off.
"We're good though?" he still clarified. "I honestly have no idea if he knew," though there were a few moments through the years that looking back on now Nyx had to think Regis had figured it out. "I know my mom never said anything, and I didn't know myself to keep it from you."
Noctis snorted and pulled his knees up to rest his forearms on them. “Of course we’re good. We’re great.” It was nice to know he still had living family after all. Even if it did pull emotions to the surface that he’d rather keep submerged. His voice came out a little choked as he turned his gaze back out over the water.
“I was just trying to remember if he ever said anything to give it away. But you know how he was...about keeping things close to his chest.” There’d been no time to truly grieve his father at home and he really didn’t want to do it now, when he’d finally gotten some good news. But it was hard not to think of him, standing on the steps and smiling at Noct, the last time they’d seen each other.
He mustered up a tight smile of his own. “I might be wrong but...I think if he’d known you were his son, you’d know it. If nothing else, you’d know he cared.”
You'd know he cared. It was what kept Nyx walking down the line of thinking that Regis had known more often than not. Nyx got it. He would have been some bastard son, not even from Insomnia. It would have been beyond a scandal and thrown all of their lives into upheaval. He understood why even if the King had known, nothing had been said. He didn't hold resentment to their father on that. And hell, maybe he just saw now what he wanted to see in the aftermath. But Nyx couldn't help but think on those little moments. When his name was said in a tone very much unlike a King speaking to a subordinate, the few times their paths crossed and he felt seen.
So yeah, maybe he did know. That Regis had cared.
Nyx bumped his shoulder against Noctis' lightly. "I'm glad I know now though." A short pause as he gave Noctis a warm smile. "As far as surprise siblings go I think I lucked out pretty good."
“Oh man. You should’ve warned me you’re secretly a sap.” Noct bumped Nyx’s shoulder right back. He felt a little lighter, the further the moment got away from talking about his dad. A brother! And a good man for it too. Someone he’d looked up to as a teenager. Noctis smiled. “I’m glad too. Uh, to know about you being my brother, not that you’re a sap,” he clarified unnecessarily.
Wrinkling his nose, Noctis reached for his fishing pole. “Just don’t think this means I’m going to let you get all the big fish.”