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♥ Who: Gladio and OTA.
♥ Where: Everywhere.
♥ When: January 3rd.
♥ What: Gladio finding his feet and meeting the locals.
♥ Rating: PG-13

Another Strange Place:
[Gladio had been walking toward a small group of children, smiling as disarmingly as a man as large and seemingly intimidating as he could. The adults were nowhere to be seen, aside from some of the elderly. He'd hoped to gain some information. Anything, to help...

But between one step and the next... everything went dark. Not not a bad kind of dark. It felt... strange...

... When Gladio opened his eyes to see sky above him, white clouds, blue, clear sky... He turned his head slightly to see... nothing he expected. Instead of rustic houses, dirt paths, wooden fences and children at play, he saw white. White pillars and columns shaped like trees. Red and white ornaments. Strange looking birds. And he was laying down in the centre of it all.

He rose slowly, turned and dropped his legs over the edge of slab of carved stone he lay upon. When Gladio looked down he still wore the same clothes he'd been wearing (black leather pants, dark brown tunic, black cloak), so at least that hadn't changed. There was a sigh as he lifted a hand to scrub across his face.]

Damn train's done it again...

[Was this a side mission? Why had he been pulled away? And where was everyone else? When Gladio looked at his wrist he frowned, his SCA was gone. That didn't bode well. He was just contemplating calling out when a strange robot approached him... and that's where Gladio found out that he wasn't in Irivar anymore.

He was lead from the stone slab into another area to find more robots... he was handed a tablet, some local currency... and sent him on his way.

Gladio stepped out of the, what was it? He looked back and up. Temple... definitely a temple. He stepped out... and immediately sat himself down on the steps in the snow to try and work his head around what the hell he'd gotten himself into this time.]

A Teeny Tiny Fortune:
[Having noticed the strange booth, Gladio approached curiously. These robots were a strange thing, but so was the box that he was handed. He shook it as directed, a small, amused smile on his lips.

Then he was given a piece of paper.]

"The smallest things can bring the biggest rewards." Huh... good things in small packages, right? Thanks.

[Still looking very amused, Gladio shoved the paper in his pocket and turned to go.]

Stuck On You:
[Apparently he needed to look for a place to live. This was a big step up from a small room with a smaller bed shared between four people.

Gladio had taken his cloak off and had it wrapped over one hand. The laces of his leather tunic had been loosened and he was considering just taking that off as well, but figured near stripping in the middle of the street could be frowned upon.

He was so distracted by his surroundings that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. Gladio bumped into someone. Automatically he reached out to stop whoever he ran into from hitting the ground... except that never happened. Wait, why couldn't he let go?]

Sorry! You okay?

Taking Stock:
[He'd found his way to the centre of the city it seemed. He'd found a fountain, an interesting structure that Gladio stood for a while, just looking at. He moved around it slowly, looking at all angles, before he sat himself down on the edge.

He stretched his legs out in front of himself and sighed.

So far this place didn't seem to have anything in common with where he had been before... He was starting to get a sinking feeling.

It was cold, there was snow everywhere, but nothing that was going to bother him so much that he was rushing to get indoors. He'd spent so much time inside over the last few months, even the snow was welcome.]

Home Away From Home:
[Houses... Small houses bunched together... And he was supposed to find one.]

Right... so how the hell does this work?

[Gladio walked up the street, then down it again, before he stopped in front of a house that appeared to be vacant. The tablet thing claimed it was unoccupied, so he walked on in.

After having a look around, he laughed to himself and did what was necessary to become the new owner... and then dropped himself down on sofa. Well and truly done.]

Wildcard:
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Yeah? I'll have to tack em down when I get the chance.

[He watched the bow with interest and wondered if he should do the same, but thought better of it. This Ardyn might not be the one he wanted, but he was still an unknown. At most he inclined his head in a little nod]

Just watch your step next time. Snow looks soft, but it ain't.

It's fine, I'm a little more durable than I--?!

[Taking a step was clearly a mistake, as his foot caught on thin air again almost immediately.]

[Being closer, Gladio was quicker this time and threw out an arm, catching Arydn around the chest to stop him falling, then around the middle to help him straighten up with his other hand.]

Wanna try that again?

[Ardyn, about as cold to the touch as the average corpse, briefly froze up at the unexpected contact before managing to find his footing again.]

Forgive me, I...don't quite know what's going on with me today.

No problem.

[When he was back on his feet, Gladio let go and stepped back. He'd felt the guy tense, the last thing he wanted to do was cause trouble.]

Is there uh.. somewhere I can take you to?

[Somewhere he'd be safe from the killer snow.]

N-no, really-- [He raised both hands defensively, scars through both palms left uncovered.]

I wouldn't want you to have to trouble yourself with my presence. I'm sure it must be...a complicated thing.

[Gladio shrugged, noted the scars but said nothing. Wasn't his place after all.]

Your choice. But I'm offering.

[He wouldn't push though. If this guy wanted to slither his way to safety that was his choice.]

...I'm sorry, I am a little confused at the moment. If you're a friend of Noctis', shouldn't you be furious with me?

You said you weren't him, and don't know me. You've got his face and that pisses me off, but not enough to kill you.

[Yet. He was giving this Ardyn the benefit of the doubt for now. Gladio would keep an eye on him, or at least be careful around him, but if the guy really had no idea who he was... would it really be fair to punish him for something he'd not done?]

That's...all there is to it? But I-...haven't I done horrendous things to all of you in my future? Don't you hate me for that?

[probably not, but that didn't stop him expecting it]

[Gladio didn't really know what to say to that. Did this guy have a death wish? Did he want him to beat him to a pulp?

His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer, testing out the theory.]

Yeah, that's right. You're a real bastard where I come from... By rights, I should rip you limb from limb and beat you with em.

[For someone tall enough to be on Gladio's eye level, Ardyn certainly could shrink back like he was half that.]

I-I would much rather you didn't, I just...I don't understand why you don't hate me on sight.

[Gladio's expression cleared as he laughed, and took a step back to his original spot.]

Because I've met you before, and you weren't him either... I'm getting used to people not being who they're supposed to be.

There's an Arydn Izunia out there who I'm gonna kill, it's just not you.

I'm not...I don't want to become that person. [Ardyn rubbed at his right arm nervously, clearly trying to relax.]

I came here from a point in time well before any of you were even born, when I was still possessed of the reasoning and sanity I would apparently have soon lost. The thing I learned I would turn into is...abhorrent at the absolute least. I detest everything I'm told I've not yet done, and I would sooner remain a Lucis Caelum than become any such monster.

Remain a...

[New information is VERY new. And explained why Arydn had introduced himself the way he did. But Gladio's eyes had already widened, unable to mask his surprise.]

... You're... what? His ancestor or something? No way.

Oh-

[Whoops.]

I'm sorry, it's...very complicated and hard to believe. Ancestor is a more accurate word for it--my younger brother Somnus was the one you call the Founder. I do take it you're familiar.

Damn right it's hard to believe...

[If that was true, if Ardyn was Noct's ancestor, then the things he did... made him a bigger son-of-a-bitch than Gladio had ever dreamed of.

He was almost too distracted by his own thoughts he near missed what Ardyn said, but gave a distracted nod.]

Yeah, I'm familiar.

It's a...very long story. I would understand if you don't believe me, but he was in this city himself some time ago--there are plenty here, Noctis included, that can assure you I'm telling the truth.

[Gladio found himself rubbing at the bridge of his nose. An old, familiar headache was coming back.]

I've no reason to doubt it. I'm sure I'll get the other sides of everyone's stories, but I'll accept yours.

[Because what else could he do?]

My little brother was...perhaps not the wholly benevolent ruler I presume the kingdom thinks him to have been. He did what he believed was right, often to the detriment of the few for the sake of the many.

As for why I'm still alive, that would be a whole other long complication.

[Gladio wanted to be irritated by that, but he was also realising that part of his headache was stemming from the past his world view was, once again, shifting to adjust this new information.

He also planned on hunting this asshole down and skinning him alive if this all turned out to be lies.]

So basically, everything I was taught when I was a kid, pretty much bullshit?

...Yes and no? Forgive me, I've told this story a few times and it gets no less long and complex. [Ardyn was too uneasy and on edge to seem like he was lying, wringing his hands and glancing nervously to the side.]

As simply as possible, it goes like this: two sons born of House Caelum to rule a kingdom not yet fully formed and already in peril. Both sought to save the world from its plague the only ways they knew how--the younger through practical means, and the elder using a healing magic given to him by the gods.

...I did everything I could to heal those I found; yet that magic's nature was not to eradicate the scourge, but to bear it upon myself. I began to fall ill myself, and as time wore on eventually my brother called me back to the capital under the pretense that the gods had declared I would be king chosen by the Crystal.

[It was a massively simplified version of events, but reiterating the worst day of his life for clarity's sake to those who didn't know got very tiring.]

Obviously, that was not the case. We ended up conflicting violently, with A--the Oracle of the time caught in the crossfire. I became a creature consumed by that which I had taken upon myself, and my brother elected to kill me like he would any other daemon.

...I awoke in Angelgard, and was there for two millennia between then and the time when a researcher from Niflheim chose to let me out.

[Gladio honestly wasn't sure what he was doing to set this guy on edge so much, he wasn't trying to be an ass, but he was sure feeling like he was one...

So he took a slight step back, giving Ardyn a little more space, and then listened to the story he had to tell.

By the end of it his headache was worse.]

So... who are you? The Ardyn from back then... or the one who woke up in Angelgard?

A little of both, I suppose. [He was just kind of like that when this particular topic came up. Nervous, unsteady, a far cry from anyone that might have been looked to a kingdom's people as their leader.] I am not who I once was, and too much has changed to be that person ever again. But neither am I...what you know me as.

...Just Ardyn. Nothing more or less than that.

Alright.

[Gladio nodded, accepting that answer.]

Then you've nothing to fear from me. Unless you become that guy. But you now? You're safe.

[He couldn't punish someone for something they hadn't yet done, especially if doing so wouldn't even change a damn thing. If he killed this guy, it did nothing for events back home. So what was the point?]