Signal Interference

[monochromatically]

Who; Mono and whoever happens to be around
What; Log
Where; Harbor district sewer entrance to start
When; Mid September
Warnings; I will update if specific warnings are necessary. To start I would say: Mentions of solitary confinement/isolation, and abandonment
Note;Mono is now canon-updated to the end of game, and he is not going to be particularly rational atm, so it'll probably take a while for him to calm down and get both himself and his abilities under control depending on the way your character approaches. For more information, see his canon update here.


A young boy stumbled out of the sewers in the harbor district, looking disorientated and somewhat skeptical of the world around him. He shouldn’t be there, really. Not in the ‘children should not be in dangerous places in the dead of night’ kind of way, so much as the… he shouldn’t be in this world, kind of way.

This couldn’t be real, after all. He’d spent months in that room. Months feeling eyes on him despite the presence of the walls he’d built up around him with his powers. Months alone to ponder and let the hurt and anger gnaw at him after his friend… After Six dropped him. After she abandoned him to make her escape from the tower alone, letting go of his hand in the last moment. Just as he had thought that they were going to be free and could resume their joint escape from the city in search of a better place.

This had to be a wishful delusion of a place far better than the Pale City. A place he would much rather be, with people who cared about him (or could they betray him as easily as she had?).

But it wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real. The more the thoughts spun in his head, the more anxious and angry he got at whatever had changed the appearance of the space around him to look like something he couldn’t have. “It’s not real.” He mumbled, the light static that flickered in his sclera more pronounced as he frowned at the sight of the harbor district around him. “It’s not fair. It’s not. Stop trying to trick me.” He balled up his hands into fists. Seeing a place like this, it was too upsetting. He didn’t want to see something he couldn’t have. Mono needed to change it back, to stop being taunted by it. “CHANGE BACK!” He yelled in a desperate and unsteady tone. Energy rolling off of him in waves that seemed to thicken the air unchecked as the already small, rundown harbor buildings around him shuddered almost as though they might really change back.

If he had been more clear minded, he might have remembered that if he’d been in his world… he wouldn’t know or remember this place at all. That fact didn’t even begin to edge its way into the child’s mind as a few windows nearby exploded in shards of glass from the strain. The illusion wasn’t changing, the surrounding images weren’t changing like they should be… It was more like when he’d been outside the tower still and trying to get the hang of his abilities to get to the tower faster before everything had gone south.

Why…? This couldn’t be that place. This couldn’t be real, right? So why…? Was that thing behind this? Was it taunting him out of boredom? Could it even do that?

Comments

[skyward_eyes]

He's summoned. Word of mouth can travel quickly between guards, especially when some were mounted on chocobos. And so the word gets back and he's summoned to find the boy that had been missing from his place in their lives for too long. The one Nida had feared had gone home, and so a part of his life had been lost. It takes a while for him to get there though. Takes a while for him to arrive, which is while a new set of windows explode nearby.

The Protect spell keeps them from falling on him in a truly bad way, the glittering shards slipping around the limits of the magic as Nida approaches, confident but slow. From what he'd heard, Mono was far from okay at the moment.

"You know," he said, trying to keep his voice conversational, "when I get mad I try to break things I can easily replace. Saves some money that way. Trees are usually good for it, near the forest."

sewer entrance

[soulsword]

There were very few people here that Illyana actually cared for. In most cases if they came or if they went was of no consequence to her. Mono however was one of the few that she would count as someone she cared for. There was a lot in him that reminded her of herself, for better or worse. When she'd noticed he was gone it hit her with a wave of sadness that took her time to process. Of course processing for Illyana simply meant avoiding others and avoiding discussions about anything that might be wrong.

It was a healthy way to handle things.

No it wasn't.

But it was her way. One could only expect so much from someone that grew up in a pocket hell dimension. At least she hadn't just run away completely. She'd still stayed around, occasionally looking for him both on foot and with various spells. One particular spell she'd set up around a talisman using something he'd owned while here. That particular thing she tucked in her pocket, hoping that maybe one day it would glow. Lo and behold it did! Immediately upon the first pulse she scrambled to follow it's trail to the sewer entrance where she saw him stumbling out.

"Mono?" she called out as she teleported the final distance to him. She reached a cautious hand out towards him to place it on his shoulder. "What happened to you?"

Harbour

[faithfulsupport]

It wasn't often that Ignis came down here since there wasn't much that he needed. But he'd tried to stretch his chocobo's legs out and Nida was still at work. The house seemed rather empty now and Ignis would steal moments in Mono's unoccupied room while Nida was out. He had no wish to upset or burden his already grieving husband at how much he too missed the boy and so hid his own grief at the boy's departure.

Sighing, he dismounted the chocobo and stared out at the water after tethering the bird to a safe post. He didn't want to go far since he wasn't really up for fighting off thieves or anyone that might want to steal or harm his chocobo, but he would if he needed to of course.

Half of him thought he then heard Mono's voice stating something about something not being fair and so Ignis turned his head to the sight of nothing and no one. He sighed and figured maybe he needed to work less hours and he was hearing things. But still, he walked down the steps at the entrance of the sewers and thought he heard Mono's voice again, this time a command to change back?

"Mono?" Ignis called, before crouching and noticing the energy engulf the buildings. He himself had to duck into one of the sewers to avoid the onslaught.

[silent_beauty]

It had been the echo of shattering glass that had called the young princess to deviate from her usual path and turn towards the edge of the harbor district. She knew that this district could be dangerous but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong and that this was the path she needed to take.

Her hair was tied back with a dusty pink ribbon, wisps of short and curled brown hair had broken free of the ribbon and framed her forehead and cheeks like a painting. She was wearing a light cream blouse and a short wool skirt that the orphanage had given her as soon as the weather began to chill. Her socks were pulled up to make up for the area of her leg that had remained uncovered while her usual boots covered her feet and warmed her ankles. The large notepad she usually carried was replaced with a smaller notepad that fits into one of her two skirt pockets while the second pocket holds the accompanying pencil.

She walked slowly, carefully darting between shadows the way that Mono had taught her. It was only when she spotted the familiar figure of her knight and friend that she exited her thinly veiled hiding place and stepped forward. That was until she saw him. The look on his face was unfamiliar to her and the boy she'd once considered a trusted ally froze her midstep. Cold fear slid down her body, settling uncomfortably within her stomach.

Mono?

The little princess forced herself to take a small step forward, now standing in the middle of the street, a single street light pointing down at her trembling form.