aterat | Even though times are hard and seem to go on

Julia, from her place curled up on top of the fridge shivered her feathers and mewled down at Ignis, as if to protest the manner in which her companion was being treated. Not that the peacock cat much cared to step in more than that. All voice, no action, that was her preference. But she did keep watching, attentive, perhaps eyeing the table as if she might select a snack.

And then she closed her eyes when she heard a door open in the distance. No need to start a fuss with more people around to see and interrupt. And speaking of people, here was Nida coming in, stretching luxuriously as he put his weapons by the door and shrugged off his uniform coat.

"Ignis said he'd get snacks set up in the kitchen so we can recharge after work," he was telling Mono, ready to steer the kid into the conversation of a lifetime.

Mono glanced up as he pulled off his own coat to hang up, then carefully set his favourite postman hat on a hook next to it. “That sounds good. I’m gonna check on Whispy and then I’ll meet you guys in the kitchen.” He agreed, wanting to make sure the moth wasn’t feeling nibbley herself lest she go after things that one would rather moths not eat. Especially a moth of unnatural size.

But he always looked forward to the end of the day when everyone’s schedules lined up for food and relaxing after work. It was nice to hear about everyone’s day and to just enjoy the slow, relaxed pace for a few hours. It was so very unlike what he was used to, and in the best way… So the boy cherished that time and soaked it in, knowing it might not last and he should enjoy it for as long as he could.

He was, thus far, unaware that there may be ulterior motives over the offered after work snacks or that a particularly unexpected conversation was waiting for him. So when he does make his way to the kitchen, it’s with a light step and a mind on tasty snacks.

Julia was always Ignis' silent navigator. She always knew when Nida was coming home or approaching and so even though he was getting the silent judgement treatment, the moment she looked at the door, Ignis knew his husband was home.

She didn't fail him now either and his mate's voice was heard, and it sounded as if Mono was with him. Ignis had gotten snacks and drinks prepared because that was important as was this upcoming conversation. It might be even nerve wracking in parts as the royal advisor tucked his nightmares away and tried his best to not bother Nida with them whenever they appeared.

There was a smile for Nida and it didn't seem that it took Mono long to reappear either as the snacks and drinks were being set upon the table. So he briefly looked up from his current task and smiled at the two.

"I'm pleased to find that both of you made it home safely."

Nida would be disappointed if he knew that his husband was trying to hide things from him. They handled things together. But that was another conversation for when he got caught. For now Nida entered the kitchen and was pleased to see Julia leap lightly from the fridge and to his shoulder.

"No nuzzles," he chuckles, a gloved hand coming up to keep her from rubbing against his cheek. "No free euphoria, baby girl. I'll make your sashimi after we have our own snacks, princess. Which look beautiful, love. Thanks for getting us set up."

Mono smiled that slightly tilted, clumsy smile of his at the sight of his family gathered as he moved to the table where the snacks awaited. “Uh-huh, we did! It’s a really nice day out.” The kind of day running letters and small packages was really quite nice, or at least the kind of day he enjoyed. Getting home safe here was far easier than his world, and he had a home and a family to want to get back to.

Pulling out a chair and sitting down, he watched as Julia welcomed Nida home. The comment gets a little nod, thinking Nida just meant the snacks as he looked over. “Yeah, the snacks look really good, thanks!” The perfect way to refuel after work, he thought.

Ignis nodded with a smile as he heard that Julia was going to get sashimi after this chat. He had no way of knowing what way this was all going to go, but he hoped it would go alright as he had no expectations of it going well.

"It was a sort of last minute throw together."

But then he focused on Mono and Ignis had another smile ready. "I'm pleased to hear you had a good day. But yes please eat and drink."

Because talks of a serious sort kind of went just a little smoother with one's belly full, or so he'd had the experience of such.

"We'll have to send a thank you basket of snacks to your boss," Nida suggests. Ignis and Mono both seemed fond of the speedy guy, so Nida was in support of it too.

Julia, realizing there was no snack immediately forthcoming, yowled in protest, fluffed her tail, and jumped back toward the top of the fridge. Because where else should a queen reign from? With her gone Nida himself could sit and get some snacks.

"You joining us for snacks too, beloved?"

Well, Mono doesn’t need to be told twice. To dig into the snacks in front of them. “Thanks, they look really good!” He added in a polite but eager tone.

Taking a few things to munch on, he watched as Julia protested that no snacks were coming her way just yet. The suggestion gets a small look in Nida’s direction properly though, and he hummed. “I think he’d like that a lot. He always tries to make sure there’s stuff there.” So it seemed like it would be a help, especially since the boy knew Tommy needed to eat more than regular people.

Watching Ignis curiously, he wondered if he’d be joining them. “Yeah, you made all these good snacks. You should have some with us, right?”

Ignis shifted a few more things around and nodded at Nida. "Yes, I'm preparing a cup of coffee darling, I won't be long."

Green eyes then turned to Julia and he smiled up at her before turning his gaze to Mono. "I promise I'll be just a moment more."

And it literally did take about a minute as he came to stand near the table. In his mind's eye he pictured them all at the Citadel. Wouldn't that be the sight.

But then he turned to Nida. "I do believe your girl is pouting, if a cat could be said to pout."

"She really is pouting," Nida agrees with a laugh as he settles in. "The thing is, it's a peacock cat thing. She wants to be the queen of all who see her. So she gets frustrated easily. A little drama queen like her mother. But alas, nothing to be done for it."

There was more important things to be done here after all than that. Because there was a conversation that needed to happen.

An important one.

"Mono... Do you mind if we talk to you? There's something Ignis and I want to ask about."

Mono watched and waited for Ignis to join them, though not without taking a few things to nibble on while they did. “Huh?” The question, though, gets a curious pause. Weren’t they already talking? They’d all been saying words and stuff, so that counted.

“What do you guys wanna ask about?” Because grownups asking that, he’d realized, usually meant they had something specific in mind more than just talking about anything.

Julia was a queen, the queen of the house really. His own cat was a male and so that left her to reign over the house which was totally fine.

His heart felt a little heavy as the topic changed to the original source of this whole sit down. It wasn't a ruse, but his own way of trying to figure out how to more or less ease Mono into talking about that night, the night Ignis had met Mono's other form or whatever it could be termed.

So he sat with his coffee and sat back a little in his chair. "We were wondering, if you recall this other form of yours."

The one that had Ignis shaking and physically ill from the ordeal afterwards. He'd uncharacteristically taken a few days off since he was in no form to even think about mounting a chocobo to go to work.

But he never mentioned it or brought it up.

Edited 2024-07-01 05:52 (UTC)

Julia was queen of the house and of Nida's heart. A connection to people he loved and would never remember. It always gave Nida joy to see her, though in this moment she's more of a fondly appreciated pest than anything else.

"Ignis has... mentioned this other form, and what may be in store for you because of it. And we're concerned about that. As people who love you would be, of course."

However, one referred to it… His other form, his older self, the man in the hat; it wasn’t hard for Mono to recognize what they were asking about. That didn’t necessarily mean it was easy to respond though, especially because them asking meant they knew now, and he had a feeling he knew why. After his slip up a few months back, he had secretly hoped that he’d somehow gotten lucky for no one important to run into him when they switched. No one had brought it up, no one had tried to ask… He’d doubled his efforts to avoid any of those mirrors, hardly lingered around normal ones either just because of the anxiety it caused… So he’d thought he was in the clear on that situation. But now he realized it wasn’t so…

And even if he tried to explain what he was before the mirror incident, when he returned from the impromptu trip back to the Pale City that landed him in the signal tower… being told something was different from seeing or experiencing it first hand…

And it was hard to not be a little scared that it meant their opinion of him would change now that they had. That slight spark of fear made his power flare up a bit, the static in his sclera flickering to betray that feeling.

His eyes dart between both carefully as Nida spoke up, so he hadn’t seen him… But Ignis definitely did. “You saw… Him- me…?” His usually quiet voice was somehow even quieter, just shy of a whisper. Which definitely indicated that, yes, he knew what they were talking about if his reaction hadn’t.

Ignis remained quiet, sipping his coffee in the same manner. He'd looked from Nida to Mono when the word love was mentioned, but he continued to remain quiet. He noticed the flare, but stayed where he was.

Whatever was going to happen, Ignis and Nida were here to help and figure things out. The royal advisor sighed patiently and nodded at the boy's question. Noting the softer tone he tried a smile.

"Yes I did. However, you don't recall the encounter yourself?" This question was important.

Nice noticed the reaction from Mono too. Paying attention to people matters to him. So he moves now, reaching out to put a gentle hand on Mono’s shoulder in what he hopes is a comforting way. Now it was time for his partner to talk, so Nida was taking the relaxing approach now.

Mono fidgeted somewhat, eyes darting between Ignis at his question and a slight start at the hand on his shoulder. He’s done a lot better with those things, living with Nida and Ignis. Casual comforting gestures like a hand on his shoulder and even the occasional hug. The subject matter of the conversation leaves him somewhat stiff, though, old habits creeping in for the moment.

His eyes dart back down as he tries to figure out how to explain. Because… well, it’s kind of complicated, and he’s not even sure he properly understands it himself sometimes. But, starting slow, he tried. “No, since it was probably a me from before, I um… end up in the tower again and it all repeats. It’s kinda confusing, I guess. We can both exist at the same time, till I stop myself and save Six.” Then get dropped into the tower’s lower levels.

“It’s happened…” His nose scrunches, uncertainty clear on his face. “A lot of times now. It’s why sometimes I remember stuff different, I think.” His memories are often a jumbled thing. Sometimes he remembers pulling a lever and turning on an incinerator in the hospital’s basement. Other times he just remembers leaving the hospital basement. Not once does he remember Six pulling him up and escaping the tower. That’s probably one of the few things that never changes, unfortunately. “Kinda like everything’s broken. But that’s why I don’t remember. ‘Cause you met me, but it’s not the me that I am yet. But that’s what I’ll be when I go back someday, and the part of me that doesn’t wanna be going back to the start and tries again.” A part of Mono, the innocence or the good in him, always separates and ends up back where he started. The cycle just never seems to end.

Ignis was grateful that Nida was here, and touch was still something he too worked on at times. Nida of course was one that always broke the ice and was more emotional than he was, which was a wonderful counterbalance to Ignis' stiff upper lip and reserved demeanour.

But hearing the boy start to speak made the adviser turn to listen and focus on what was being relayed to him. The bit he was hearing only gave way to more questions of course and Ignis' heart reached out to him as he recalled a conversation or two as to how important this Six person was.

However confusing this is, Ignis is still here trying to grasp it and piece it apart in order to make it work and be understood in his mind. "So this is all some sort of circle or cycle." he repeated quietly, his mind thinking as he briefly glanced at the boy. "Then perchance could there be some way to break it?"

As he asked that, his eyes went to Nida's. This would definitely be a team effort.

"So it's not only a fate to fight, which is right up Ignis's alley, but it's also time loops. Which I fucking hate. Fuck time loops, stable or otherwise. Yeah, Mono, I don't think you could have a better duo at your back to try and fight what your world intends for you."

It's literally right up their alley. Perhaps some other divinity stepped in to bring them all together.

Mono finds himself a little confused by that. They both… have experience with this kinda stuff? They know what he’s talking about, at least a little? He’s not sure where to start with that, and he is a little afraid of getting his hopes up… But Ignis and Nida never lied to him, had they?

The boy started with the question, his face scrunching a bit while he tried to think if there was. His voice is still rather quiet, because talking about what happens isn’t easy for him, even with the time and distance from that place. “Maybe…? I don’t… um…” He tugged the thread lightly, taking a breath and trying to settle the slight fizzle of the energy that leaked around him. “Stuff gets fuzzy when it starts over, till I end up back at the bottom of the tower. But… Maybe if Six doesn’t drop me after I save her? When we’re almost out, stuff’s all falling apart because the thing in the tower tries to stop us from leaving.”

Tries to stop him more, he thinks. Its eyes are always on him as they run. “And then when I try to jump to across to the exit she catches me but um… I think she still is mad at me. I think… ‘cause instead of pulling me up, she lets go and then I fall really far.” And then that’s that. “So if maybe she didn’t drop me… Or maybe if she doesn’t got a reason to be mad at me or need to be saved at all? Since I got so scared when the man showed up, I couldn’t stop him from catching her… That’s why I go save her.”

And maybe that was why? Maybe she couldn’t forgive him for that? Or maybe it was something else. He doesn’t know, he just knows that even after he saved her, she decided to let him go.

Ignis sighed at the time loop thing. Well at least this was something that they were familiar with. So he took his green eyes from his husband and focused on Mono who seemed a little lost and understandably so.

He did note the energy but wasn't worried that it would harm anyone so he patiently waited for Mono to be able to piece his thoughts together and get out whatever was going on in his mind.

Inwardly he's alarmed at what he's hearing about this Six dropping him and him falling far. But he knows that's the protector in him, a role he had taken on at a very young age. In his mind's eye he could still see the young shy boy appearing before him as the king requested that the boy be taken care of.

"What precisely is this thing in the tower that you refer to? Is that the man I met?" The future Mono?

But then the boy's words had him shaking his head at what he's hearing next. "You're risking yourself to save her after she let you go?"

He's confused.

Ah. Predestination time loop. Yep. That one's definitely in Nida's realm of experience. Fuck those.

"It's laudable, to try and save someone. To work to be brave after you've had nothing but reasons to be scared. And that it was possibly held against you is upsetting," Nida admits after a moment of thought. But what can they do? They are limited within Mono's circular experience.

"You're a little hero and we're going to figure out how to stop this cycle."

Even though times are hard and seem to go on

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