For not the first time since the sun's disappearance, Ravus understood Scientia's love for that overpriced caffeine brand of his. An Ebony sounded delightful at the moment. Sleep sounded even better, but this meeting was not one he would have preferred to miss for a change. Not with Lunafreya leading it with the energy of four Argentums. Evidently, she had slept a lot better than him. Her excitement even seemed to be contagious to some degree, as Argentum and Amicitia were both asking questions with rapt interest as she told the tale of what she'd experienced after being… abducted from the city. Cor himself appeared to be sitting up straighter.
The Crestholm Colony was something none of them had ever expected. Of course, there were some survivors out and about in the world – such as Sikozu's group – but a full colony seemed impossible without the help of the meteor. That was so key for how Lestallum ran – endless heat and power. It was fascinating to hear about how Crestholm had tackled those obstacles without Lestallum's vital advantage.
Ravus could already see the wheels turning in Cor's head. Yes, the oldest leader was no doubt comparing the methods of the two cities, thinking over which group had the superior method in each case. Ravus had no doubt he'd be discussing all of this with Cor at further length later.
…Ravus wouldn't, however, have minded sleeping through Loqi's asinine blathering about chocobos and elite escorts.
No matter how many questions he was peppered with, he kept trying to steer the conversation back to the trade routes. Of course, Ravus understood why. With the world so much colder overall due to the dampening of the sun's warm rays and Loqi's people having no assured steady way of coping with the dark, they did need the help of meteor. They were living on borrowed time, salvaging what they could from Insomnia. They may have had far less mouths to feed since they hadn't had the Oracle in their mist to heal the infected, but eventually they would run out of supplies to bring back from the Lucian capital.
But chocobos and a small elite escort to deliver the supplies? It was an apt idea in theory, but implementing it would be a nightmare. To send so few escorts would mean the elite escorts would have to be… well, elite. And well versed in stealth. Not to mention the chocobos themselves would have to be trained to be as silent as possible. None of the chocobos around currently had that qualification. The species as a whole was on the brink of extinction as much as any other animal.
Loqi pinched the bridge of his nose, looking rather close to attempting to throttle them all. "I am well aware it isn't a feasible idea at this exact moment in time. But it is the most likely I can think of for the future. Working out the logistics is the first step, which is why I am so keen on discussing them now. It's not as though waiting is going to make things easier – my people will just grow closer to freezing or losing all forms of power and being forced to evacuate."
"Your people, huh?" Aranea asked with a bit of a smirk
Loqi puffed out something that was a cross between a sigh and a growl. Clearly, he was already growing very tired of Aranea prodding him about that and everyone else thinking it.
"Yes, my people," Loqi repeated, jabbing two fingers into the wooden tabletop. "I may not be a favored Lucian citizen, but I built Crestholm, and I will not sit idly by while she dies."
Aranea held her hands up in a peace gesture, but it didn't appear she was entirely apologetic given the way she was casually lounging back in her chair with her feet on the table.
She was testing him, Ravus noted. Observing his reactions to her vocal poking.
Loqi steepled his fingers. "I realize this would require certain assistance from Crestholm. The chocobos, for example. I imagine endurance training would be difficult to accomplish while avoiding daemons. There are many long tunnels in Crestholm wherein we could have them run without that fear since we needn't worry about volume there."
Very well, Ravus sighed inwardly. He'd give the dwarf's idea some thought. "If you indeed have the room you claim, then the chocobo breeding and training will be the easy part of this arrangement."
"Yeah, that's not the big issue," Gladio agreed with him, which was a rarity. "Lestallum has been scrounging for any fighters for ages, and you're talking about getting ones that fit some pretty specific criteria."
Scientia would have fit that criteria, Ravus mused to himself. Unfortunately, he was off either dead or playing dead.
"Eheh... Yeah." Argentum scratched the back of his neck. "Stealthy isn't really a thing for most of us around here… The Glaives are more zap zap boom and everyone else is pew pew pew aaaagggh rage yell!" Argentum made finger guns.
Loqi stared at him as though his very presence was paining him.
Ravus could have sworn he saw Cor flick his eyes up into a roll.
"A few of the Glaives may sport the type of fighting styles you are looking for, but their tasks are already numerous," Cor said.
Loqi took a breath so slow Ravus assumed it was a last-ditch effort to retain his patience.
"So, your city doesn't happen to have many stealth fighters either?" Amicitia asked, drumming his fingers on the table.
Loqi grimaced. "My city hardly has fighters of any sort. We haven't survived as you do by fending off numerous attacks – we've survived by avoiding them."
Aranea scowled. "Who the hell is getting all your supplies from the city, then?"
"Myself and some others that specialize in only stealth, not in fighting," Loqi said. "The buildings are useful for cover." He fell silent for a moment, brow furrowed in thought. "I myself may be an option, but obviously cannot do it alone."
More silence.
"Well, anyone have any grand ideas?" Aranea asked in a far too chipper way.
Loqi's gaze flicked back to Prompto. "Well, your brother appears to be capable of wielding a bow. Any chance the bathtub dweller is available?"
Loqi might as well have had Ardyn's time halting powers for the effect that had on everyone else at that table. Ravus was rigid himself, but he wasn't sure if the rest of the table was even breathing.
Well, they were never going to be able to play that reaction off. There was no way Loqi wasn't going to suspect something now.
Damn. Ravus had thought giving Loqi the room with the young Hester would give them someone to keep an unsuspecting eye on him. Evan usually spent his days with Iris. Ravus hadn't thought they'd interact much, and he certainly hadn't expected Loqi to be given a glimpse into Evan's fighting capabilities so soon.
It had been less than a day. How had that managed to happen?
"Uhhh, probably not a great idea?" Prompto said weakly. "He's kind of got… special needs."
Loqi arched an eyebrow. "I'd been under the impression that is upbringing was not ideal, not that he had a mental illness."
Who had told him this much already?
"Saying his upbringing was not ideal is implying he had an upbringing," the Marshal said calmly. "He's not mentally ill, but his maturity is still that of a child."
"Well, children are being forced to grow up rather quickly these days," Loqi said flatly.
"You know, I think he's had enough Imperials soldiers helping him grow up," Argentum snapped.
Ravus blinked. He'd never heard that tone out of the boy before.
"Prompto," Cor said, his voice bordering parental scolding. "The last thing we need is the return of old prejudices."
Gladio was giving the boy a weird look too. "And since when do you even have prejudices anyway?"
Argentum slumped a little. "I'm not judging everyone from Nifleheim – I'm judging him because he's a douche that attacked us."
Aranea snorted.
Ravus gave him a look. "Argentum, Highwind and I both attacked you in the past."
Argentum slumped back in his chair even further, mumbling something incoherent.
Surprisingly, Loqi's expression softened. "I understand you being protective in regard to your brother. My apologies if I seemed flippant of his issues. What program was he part of, anyway? I'm finding this all very… off. Perhaps my clearance level wasn't the highest ever made, but I don't recall the Empire ever having programs that involved children."
More silence.
Loqi's scowl returned. "…In fact, that goes rather against the Empire's beliefs of superiority to other peoples. I find it difficult to believe that a project that harmed Imperial children would ever be approved."
Further silence.
They really should have prepared an explanation for this. They probably would have had Loqi's appearance and discovery of Evan not been so abrupt. Everyone else had bought their Imperial experiment excuse without question.
Loqi's jawline tensed in clear irritation. "You know, I'm starting to get the impression that there's something about this boy that you aren't keen on everyone knowing."
"Marshal…" Lunafreya spoke softly, hands laced together. "I believe him trustworthy."
The Marshal looked to Prompto as if asking permission.
Prompto huffed a sigh. "Fine. But only because we all suck at this and he's already suspicious as hell." He yanked his glove off and dropped it in his lap before smacking his arm down atop the table with his barcode showing. "So, fun fact about the MTs – we're all clones of our psycho bio dad, Besithia."
For the first time, Loqi was genuinely put off guard as he blinked at the code. "But… the MTs were machines."
"Ha," Aranea barked out. "Not so much. That maniac cloned himself, infected the clones with the Scourge, and then harvested the results."
It was hard to tell with peoples' natural – unhealthily – pale complexions these days, but Ravus was almost certain the Imperial paled even further.
"I rescued Prompto from a lab when he was an infant," Cor continued. "Evan was found during a scavenging mission to an old Imperial base only a few years ago."
Aranea made a face. "Found isn't really the right word, to be honest. Ardyn intentionally broke him out of one of those test tubes they're grown in and made certain we'd find him."
"The primary reasons we've been reluctant to place him in life or death situations with anyone," Cor concluded.
Loqi seemed to mull over that for a few moments. "Test tubes… Were there more of them?"
"Uh, yeah dude, it was a lab… There were a lot of– wait, do you mean more mes and Evans?" Prompto squawked.
"Yes," Loqi said instantly. "Were there anymore at the base?"
Ravus didn't care for that tone, and he was certain no one else did either.
"We didn't exactly have time to look and count," Aranea said dryly. "Especially considering Ardyn had us fighting each other with all his illusion crap. Who knows what of what we saw in there was actually real at all."
"Illusions?" Loqi repeated. "He can do that as well?"
"Uh, yeah, watch who you talk to. If they sound uncharacteristically like a dramatic douche, it's probably Ardyn," Aranea said.
"And also take care with your weapon…" Lunafreya added.
"…Noted." Loqi nodded. "But back to my question – do you believe there to be a good chance that Evan was not the only one there?"
"Depends. Why the hell are you asking?" Gladio crossed his arms.
"Holy shit, are you serious right now?" Aranea didn't wait for him to give an answer. "We tell you your people used these kids as cannon fodder, and you're first thought is to ask if there's more you can do that with?"
"Do not put words in my mouth," Loqi hissed. "None have the luxury of doing only what's comfortable and pure in this world. If we don't exploit every resource, we will fail those looking to us for safety, and we might all very well perish. And do not act so righteous. You insinuate that Besithia was a monster for using human beings, yet might very well have left some of those humans to die." He was glaring them all down now – apart from Lunafreya. Challenging them. "I do not speak of cannon fodder – I speak of letting them live in the first place and providing them with a purpose."
"Out of the question," Cor said. "You have no idea whether or not they will be assets or hazards. They are born of daemonic experiments. I won't risk that danger."
Loqi's eyebrows shot up as he leaned back, looking incredulous. "Well, Immortal, I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news for you. You may have grown used to everyone being under your command… but I don't answer to you."
Aranea barked out a laugh. "You know, you're just doing swell at this whole winning us over thing."
"I don't need you to like me," Loqi said factually. "I don't even need you to trust me." He pushed back his chair, standing smoothly. "I'm well used to being disliked and distrusted. It makes no difference. We need each other. Neither of our cities have a choice. We have to work together." He pushed his chair back in, making eye contact with each of them as he backed towards the door. "Good day."