aterat | [Open] Headache And A Half

Entry tags:

[Open] Headache And A Half

Who; Nida, Open
What; A New Voice In His Head and Chocobo Wrangling
Where; Scientia Household, Markets, Near Chocobo Ranch
When; September
Warnings; Discussion and depictions of talking to voices in your head.

I. The Statue | Scientia Home

It arrives at the door of the house, and just looking at the small statue, Nida knows it's for him. No doubt another one of those little finds that Raimon is good at, something on a list of them that Nida had prepared but never gotten around to coming back for. But he knows it's for him, because he recognizes it from home. Not this little piece, smaller than either of their pets specifically, was exactly like the ones he'd seen at home in pictures, but it was still something of home.

"Now if only I could figure out why you're here," Nida says as he picks the thing up and heads to the kitchen for his morning coffee. He puts the statue on the table to consider where it was almost immediately met by Julia leaping up and nuzzling against it.

"No accounting for your taste, Jules," he tells the feline before sipping at his coffee. What could this be? What could it mean? Why did every bit of his magical senses gifted by Siren scream that it was important?

"Why do you seem so familiar?" he asks after a sip of coffee. Then he reaches out for the thing once more and...

The mug breaks on the floor when he falls. Not that Nida, currently passed out on the floor, really notices.

II. The Arguments | Markets

Nida was learning a lot recently. Like how even a simple walk through the markets on his patrol shift was going to be a headache if he didn't know how to make peace in his own mind.

Oh! Grapes! We should have grapes. You like Grapes!

YOU like Grapes. He doesn't like grapes. There should be no grapes. Raisins instead I think.

Raisins are just boring grapes with wrinkles. Oh, that's why you like them. They're wrinkly. Like you.

And you clearly prefer grapes because they are bloated and much better crushed and fermented like-

"Will you shut up? I'm getting apples and that's final," Nida hissed under his breath, hoping no one else heard him. Which, given his luck, seemed pretty unlikely.

III. The Chase | Near Chocobo Ranch

"Kweh."

"I don't think I can argue with that," Nida said in response to the vocalization of the red chocobo underneath him. The chocobo shied one way and then the other, as if distressed, and Nida of course reached forward to pat her neck gently.

"I know," he says, his voice soft. "I know it's scary. You can smell them too. But I promise, we're here to help the other chocobos. And I won't let any wolves get you. I just need you to do me a favor and help get the other chocobos safe, okay?"

If it gets dangerous, I can shield you!

"That's not a helpful observation, Carbuncle, because she doesn't even know you're here," Nida noted as he nudged the chocobo into motion toward a blur of yellow in the distance. "Maybe save your protectiveness for someone who can understand the words when I relay a message."

And from the looks of it, there might be someone up ahead, astride that other chocobo. Nida raises a hand in greeting to the distant form.

"Well met! You helping out here too?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I don't-"

Nida shakes his head and then groans. Apparently doing that was wrong. But right now? Right now he's just a bit worn out and dizzy.

"STatue."

"Don't?"

Ignis is confused, but he's working on giving Nida time to recollect what happened. Maybe the man hit his head pretty hard. And that has him worried. However, the next word doesn't provide any more clarity.

"Statue? What statue?"

"It looks like something from home," Nida says as he rubs at his forehead. His fingers almost tingle, but he tries to push that away. "I feel it so tight in my head."

"Something from home?" There was now a note of concern as he heard that and watched Nida closely, attempting to gain clarity.

"In your head? Could it be Siren?"

Don't compare me to him.

Nida winces at Siren's voice in his head.

"She's pretty insistent that it isn't her doing this. And the thing looks like these statues that stood in Galbadia City."

"Does she happen to know who or what this is?" And try as he might, Ignis had no idea what the statues in Galbadia City looked like so he had nothing for comparison. But he was still going to sit here and wait hand and foot on his husband and do his best to help here.

"She seems... to be aware to some degree. But she's fuming?"

Damn that made his head hurt. He closed his eyes, throwing his arm over his face.

"I think she's moping at me. And being unreasonable. And my head feels too sizes too big. Think you might be willing to take her for a bit?"

"Siren is angry?" Ignis asked in some confusion. Sure he'd heard of her being angry, but not usually at Nida himself. This was definitely odd and not adding up at all.

The puzzlement continued as his husband put an arm over his face. But after a moment of surprise, he nodded.

"I shall certainly take her if that will help and allow you to rest."

"Thank you," Nida says with a smile. He lifts his arm so he can pull Ignis close. Harder to draw without eye contact if you don't already have a GF on you.

"I just need her to stop whipping a storm up in my head."

Ignis just smiled and waited for Siren to do her thing as he enjoyed the closeness with his husband. Doing this would help, he hoped.

"Understood."

Except... Except she wasn't going. She wasn't leaving. And Nida growled in frustration at that.

I will not leave you with it.

"I think... I think there is something else in my head. She doesn't want me to go."

Ignis wondered what was going on given that growl. But there soon was an explanation and he was concerned.

"Something else?"

"Something else," he confirms, his head aching. His fingers come up to his temple to rub at it and...

I don't want to make you hurt, but the harpy is mean.

Nida yelps as the other voice manifests in his head.

"Carbuncle."

Ignis was definitely worried at this point, and he lifted his hand to help Nida but then pulled back slightly when his husband yelped in pain. It occurred to him to grab a potion and when he went to move, the name froze him.

That was the name of Noct's guardian.

"Darling, did you just say Carbuncle?" Surely he'd misheard.

"Fucking hell," he groans. He wants to scream over this.

"Carbuncle is the absolute worst GF to have when I've got Siren. They hate each other. That's the headache."

I will not leave you with the mutt.

What a hag. He's got to be happy I'm here

"Carbuncle is another that we have on Eos. It's attached to Noct's family actually." But the news about the two hating each other was distressing.

"What can I do to help?"

Another? Damn. Nida was used to the ones that echoed between their worlds being one of those Astrals Ignis has mentioned before. Because all of them WERE part of his home, except for Titan.

Carbuncle, though? Nope.

Is his family fun?

"Could you tell him about Noctis? He's already interested."

Ignis nodded, hoping his story might help.

"Noct was injured as a child. And his father gave him a little figurine of a Carbuncle to watch over him while he convalesced. Even after that, the young prince at the time would rarely talk about it, but he did describe it once as something of a little fox creatures that he would go on adventures with. But no one could actually see this Carbuncle except Noct."

That's silly. If I was there I'd want to see everyone!

"Did he ever say what sort of adventures?" Nida asks, reaching for Ignis's fingers. Maybe with enough distraction he could pass Siren on without her really noticing.

The royal advisor shook his head after a moment's thought. "No, he never said what types of adventures other than to say that they went exploring the citadel and the grounds of it."

He reached for his husband's fingers and held onto them, hoping to somehow offer a small measure of support.

Boring.

"Maybe the stories aren't entirely for you, Carbuncle," Nida observes with a sigh. Of course Noctis wasn't going to share all of his secrets with Ignis. "Where we're from, Carbuncle is inherently shy in his own way. Defensive. So I guess memories of adventure please him best."

Ignis took all of this information in but the advisor could only shake his head.

"In that case, he'll simply have to have his own adventures."

While Nida talks he tangles his fingers with Ignis's. The point of contact will be perfect for pushing Siren through, once he has her distracted enough.

"He really will," Nida agrees. "Not that patrol rounds are adventurous."

Ignis enjoyed the contact and whether Siren came through or not was of course up to her.

"Will he manifest physically?"

"I honestly don't know. Normally in our world GFs only manifest when summoned."

Could you manifest a GF otherwise? That might be worth experimenting on. And Carbuncle would be easier to do with with since he wasn't an offensive summon like Siren.

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