Nah. They'd hired a couple people to help out before. I know at least one is willing to stay on. [He bumps his shoulder into Ignis as they walk.] Wanna run a bar with me?
[He smiles softly.] I'd like that. [He doesn't want to admit that he'd attempted one of the recipes in Iggy's book and...botched it. Utterly. It was beyond recognition, to an embarrassing degree.]
Of course I'll help you right back. I-
[He stops suddenly. The words settled on his tongue so easily, and why not? He'd been weighed with guilt for not saying anything before Ignis disappeared. He's been given a second chance! They're almost to the city center, there's no immediate danger. He turns to face the other.]
[ Ignis goes to make a comment about what he could do to help, but stops in his own tracks too when Prompto does.
Those three words hit his ears and he wonders if he'd heard him correctly at first.
I love you.
He's known, of course, through Prompto's own actions, but to hear it himself is a whole another level. His breath catches in his throat for a moment, his heart skipping a beat. Quietly, he tugs Prom closer to him. ]
[He would have loved to stay like that, but he can think of nothing worse than having a worm slam into the scene and cause trouble on Iggy's first day back. But there will be plenty of time for talking and holding each other once they're somewhere safe.
Much as he wants to hurry to that somewhere, though, he keeps the pace steady, steering Ignis around the debris left behind by hungry worms.]
I wish we had more time and privacy for a better reunion. You picked an exiting time to come back!
[He avoids the areas where the crowd is thickest and finds them somewhere close to the center, near the fountain, where they can sit without bumping into someone else.]
My... [He frowns, brows drawn. Was it that late in the month already? He does a mental tally, and then just pulls out his device and checks the date.] Oh. We already missed it.
[It always felt strange to talk about it. Some other life separate from home. Somewhere with other Nocts and Lunas who came and went, but never stayed. He was never sure how to explain it. Then Gladio arrived from somewhere similar, and he realized maybe it wasn't so hard after all.]
If you want to, Prompto. You know I'm here to listen.
[ Tony gave him a huge breakdown of the voidtrain and Gladio revealed parts of it, but not the whole package. So he's curious about the fleet, but he's never pushed Prom to talk about it. ]
[Tony was the first time he'd sat down and gone into any detail about the Fleet. But Tony had come from somewhere somewhat similar, and it had be almost purely logistics - until he freaked out about the implant).
He gets more comfortable.]
There were...At the time, I think there were sixteen ships on the Fleet. I was on the First Breath. There were versions of you, Noct, and Luna as well. [That was something he'd not admitted before. Seems silly now, but...]
The Fleet would move from planet to planet. Most of the time, the visits were peaceful. Fun, even. The people were...people, y'know. Cities, towns, nature...You could almost pretend it was normal.
But this one, it was like something out of a horror movie. Everything was red and dry and, I don't know...sick. I didn't want to go to the surface, not even for the photos. But Noct and Luna went down to explore. When the attack came...[He draws a shaky breath.] They were still down there. We were able to keep the First Breath in the sky, but several others were shot down. Communications went down. By the time we realized what we were up against...I was afraid we'd be too late.
[ Ignis listens quietly to Prompto talk, rubbing lightly at his side with his hand. When Prompto's voice gets a little shaky, he squeezes Prom against him. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
this_loser) wrote2019-07-26 04:31 am
In-Person
... By yourself?
In-Person
In-Person
I'd assume you want me in the kitchen.
[ Then in a teasing tone. ]
You just want me to make my soup again for you, don't you?
In-Person
[Okay, he's not that bad, but he's not exactly creative, or patient, when it comes to cooking.]
Welllll, I wasn't going to say anything, buuuut....
[He teases back, but quickly switches gears.]
But, like, no obligation or anything. You can say no. I won't be offended or anything.
In-Person
[ Well, as one could be while blind. ]
I'll need time to get used to the kitchen; you recall how long it took me to get used to the one at the house, correct?
Of course I'll help you, Prom.
In-Person
Of course I'll help you right back. I-
[He stops suddenly. The words settled on his tongue so easily, and why not? He'd been weighed with guilt for not saying anything before Ignis disappeared. He's been given a second chance! They're almost to the city center, there's no immediate danger. He turns to face the other.]
I love you.
In-Person
Those three words hit his ears and he wonders if he'd heard him correctly at first.
I love you.
He's known, of course, through Prompto's own actions, but to hear it himself is a whole another level. His breath catches in his throat for a moment, his heart skipping a beat. Quietly, he tugs Prom closer to him. ]
I love you too, Prompto.
In-Person
He knows this. Of course he does. Ignis has told him before. But it's been months, and he thought he'd never hear it again.
He pulls back with a small sniffle and a laugh.]
We should get going before a worm ruins the moment.
In-Person
[ He pulls back as well, slipping his hand into Prompto's and interlocking their fingers, squeezing gently. ]
We'll pick this up later.
[ As much as he'd wanted to stay put in the embrace they were sharing, Prom's right, they need to keep going and get safe. ]
In-Person
Much as he wants to hurry to that somewhere, though, he keeps the pace steady, steering Ignis around the debris left behind by hungry worms.]
I wish we had more time and privacy for a better reunion. You picked an exiting time to come back!
In-Person
You recall how I arrived here last time, correct?
[ He'd appeared out of thin air in Affurgato's, startling Noctis. ]
In-Person
[And it'd been right after all the ghost weirdness, which had been right around this same time last year.
Ignis may pick up on the murmur of voices now, and movement, as they draw near the city center.]
In-Person
[ He does pick up the voices as they draw closer. ]
Would you like to do something for your birthday once this clears up? [ At least, he hopes it clears up. ]
In-Person
[He avoids the areas where the crowd is thickest and finds them somewhere close to the center, near the fountain, where they can sit without bumping into someone else.]
My... [He frowns, brows drawn. Was it that late in the month already? He does a mental tally, and then just pulls out his device and checks the date.] Oh. We already missed it.
In-Person
Ignis drapes his arm around Prompto's waist as they sit down, cuddling him close. ]
No matter, we can do something about that later.
In-Person
It's okay. It's not the first birthday I've missed because of a crisis.
In-Person
The fleet?
In-Person
[It always felt strange to talk about it. Some other life separate from home. Somewhere with other Nocts and Lunas who came and went, but never stayed. He was never sure how to explain it. Then Gladio arrived from somewhere similar, and he realized maybe it wasn't so hard after all.]
You, um. Do you want to hear about it?
In-Person
[ Tony gave him a huge breakdown of the voidtrain and Gladio revealed parts of it, but not the whole package. So he's curious about the fleet, but he's never pushed Prom to talk about it. ]
In-Person
He gets more comfortable.]
There were...At the time, I think there were sixteen ships on the Fleet. I was on the First Breath. There were versions of you, Noct, and Luna as well. [That was something he'd not admitted before. Seems silly now, but...]
The Fleet would move from planet to planet. Most of the time, the visits were peaceful. Fun, even. The people were...people, y'know. Cities, towns, nature...You could almost pretend it was normal.
But this one, it was like something out of a horror movie. Everything was red and dry and, I don't know...sick. I didn't want to go to the surface, not even for the photos. But Noct and Luna went down to explore. When the attack came...[He draws a shaky breath.] They were still down there. We were able to keep the First Breath in the sky, but several others were shot down. Communications went down. By the time we realized what we were up against...I was afraid we'd be too late.
In-Person
You weren't too late?