hashtag_chocobro: (reluctant smile listening)
Prompto Argentum ([personal profile] hashtag_chocobro) wrote2022-05-26 04:06 am

Around Leide and Into Duscae (Eos); Thursday [05/16 FT].

Time was of the essence, so there was no wiggle room in the schedule for sleeping in that morning. Prompto did try, almost desperately, to see if he could get a call or a text or anything out to Liz, to Summer….even to Yang...which in retrospect would have been foolish, anyway, since he wouldn't have been able to talk if he'd gotten through, but he thought if maybe….if he just knew that it would….

But, of course, it didn't. He almost wanted to throw his phone against a wall in frustration, but there were other things to focus on now instead. Infiltrating an Imperial base, so that they couldn't establish a blockade to cut them off from everywhere else outside of Leide. Dismantling their Magitek soldiers, and the Nif in control of it all. It was rough going, but, in the end they managed to take it down and keep the road open…



….for now, at least.

To take advantage of the open road, they wasted no time in setting forth for Lestallum, especially after Noct's phone, almost like it was teasing Prompto, rubbing it into his face, started to ring. It was Iris, Gladio's little sister, checking in to let them know that she and the group of escaped refugees from Insomnia had made it and were setting themselves up there. And so that was where they headed.

And when Prompto, finally, had a chance to bring up his concerns to the one other person in the car, he felt, with ties to Fandom that came even close to matching his own.

"Uh, Ignis?" he asked, with a faint glance toward the back seat, where Gladio was already wrapped up in a book and Noctis' head rested against the window as the rain pattered against the glass, sneaking in a short nap. "You got a second?"

"As long as it's nothing too demanding," Ignis noted, "as this weather does not make for very smooth driving."

Prompto laughed lightly. "You could probably drive these roads with your eyes closed, man," he noted. "But, um, when….when you get a chance, I need….I need to ask you a favor."

"Ask," said Ignis, adjusting his glasses as if worried Prompto's comment would prove prophetic, "and ye shall receive. Within reason, of course."

"Of course," Prompto breathed out another laugh. "It's just….I think something might be wrong. With my phone. I keep trying to call or text Liz, but….nothing's going through. I even tried Summer. And…And Yang."

He figured that last one would catch Ignis' attention, and he was not wrong.

"Nothing's going through," he asked, "you say?"

"Nothing. Nadda. Zilch. It just tells me I don't have service to any of their numbers."

"Odd," Ignis frowned deeply. "We've never had issues connecting to Fandom before. I wonder….if it's some sort of…Empire interference. Although it seems a strange thing for them to have accounted for, surely they know nothing about our recent forays in dimension hopping. Certainly not enough to want to block communications, if a technology like that even exists…."

"Do you think….do you think that might be what's happening?"

"I think," said Ignis, reluctantly, with hesitation, "that it's possible."

Prompto fell back against his seat, disheartened, and Ignis regretted that he could not be more encouraging.

"I'll try Summer myself when we get to Lestallum," he offered. "And, failing that, perhaps Shane, or even Tisarwat. I'm sure Gladio has a few more he can try, as well."

"There's Annie," Gladio's voice came from the back seat, "or Jon."

To Prompto's surprise, Gladio's heavy hand landed on his shoulder comfortingly. "We've got options," he assured him.

"And," Ignis noted,after another moment, more hesitation, "if all else fails, I've also got this." He lifted his wrist, but only briefly, not wanting to keep his hands off the wheel for too long. "It's a communication device from Shane. It's different technology than our phones, so perhaps, whatever it is that's blocking outgoing calls to Earth won't be affected by it."

".....whoa," Prompto's eyes were wide on the device, his heart beating a little faster as a new opportunity opened up. "You have something like that? This whole time, I just thought you just had some new fancy watch, or one of those FitBits!"

There was the slightest bit of a shift of discomfort from Ignis. "It's intended for emergencies," he said, as if to justify his possession of such a thing. "So that we can easily contact each other if the other is in dire need. I think it's safe to say that if our phones aren't working, then that certainly fits the bill. If all other attempts fail, we can at least try to contact Shane directly, and work from there."

"And," Prompto was almost afraid to ask, "if that doesn't work?"

Ignis accelerated slightly into the rising curve of the bridge that would take them to Lestallum, arching over the Duscaen plains and the ropes of rock displaced from the Meteor. "Let us just take things," he said, "one at a time for now."

That…definitely wasn't helping, and, briefly, for a flash of something that might make him feel better, Prompto got a glimpse of the legendary Disc of Cauthess, the big impact where a Meteor was said to have crashed into Eos, and all the glowing energy that came from it and the god that was said to be holding it up, and he decided….he needed a picture, so they all pulled over for a moment for a photo op, and, while they were there, he had Ignis and Gladio try their phones.

"Nothin'," said Gladio.

"It does appear," Ignis confirmed, "as though we are, currently, cut off from incoming and likely outgoing intergalactic calls at the moment."

"So we'll try the thing, right?" asked Prompto, half tempted to just seize Ignis' wrist and try it himself. "You'll call Goose?"

"First things first," Ignis said, after sucking in a tentative breath. "Let us get to Lestallum and meet with Iris first. I'm sure there will be time, later, when we can all focus, to give the communicator a try."

Which meant time for him, he hoped, to figure out exactly how to explain this all to Shane without inspiring him to want to do something foolish like trying to help or, even worse...worrying about him.



Reluctantly, Prompto agreed. Ignis was right; he usually was. Iris and the others were waiting, and what was a few more hours, anyway, when it had already been days? He just hoped Liz wasn't worrying too much or that she was starting to get mad at him, thinking he'd forgotten or that he was neglecting her, or abandoning her…

…or this was all about to end up like it had with Yang. Where they were desperately trying to reach other, but to no avail…

The shot he got of them all with the glowing Disc of Cauthess behind them was absolutely amazing. Breathtaking, really.

But it sure as hell didn't make Prompto feel even remotely better.

[[oh-so-establishy, nfb, all that good stuff, and actually not taken mostly from FF XV except in summary. I should have made more Regalia icons for this plot, O H W E L L ]]