Prompto Argentum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hashtag_chocobro) wrote2022-06-15 05:32 am
hashtag_chocobro) wrote2022-06-15 05:32 am
Entry tags:
The Estate of the First Secretary; Altissia, Accordo; Eos. Thursday, 06/23 ET [06/15 FT].
After a week and some odd days, Altissia was starting to rebuild itself and heal from the damage of the Imperial attack and wrath of the Hydraean, and Ignis and Noctis with it, too, albeit at a slightly slower rate. That left Gladio and Prompto to assist with the Altissian government to reestablish some sense of order. Entire sections of the city had been completely destroyed, of course, but it was mostly the districts surrounding the Altar of the Tidemother, and Altissia was a big city. Dwarfed by comparison to Insomnia, of course, but the majority of the city had, thankfully, been left untouched. And with an eerie silence from the Empire in the aftermath of the Hydraean's awakening, things were starting to return to normalcy.
As normal as they could be, anyway.
And a desperate need for normalcy was what motivated Prompto that morning. It wasn't just any morning, though. It was June 23rd, Liz's birthday. A month ago (a month ago to the date, actually, he realized, when he went back and saw when the last hopeful text from Galdin Quay had been sent, the day before everything went to shit), he had been all filled with half-formed plans about ways to celebrate, a little vacay in the Quay or Altissia itself, maybe a party, but a small one, obviously, because Liz didn't like big parties, but something with all their friends, maybe she could even get to meet Lady Lunafreya, because she and Noct would be married by then, and maybe even Liz and Lunafreya would be fast friends, and just look at them, the future king and his queen and his best friend and his…well, fiance, maybe, by the point. Maybe that was when Prompto would have proposed, on her birthday, he thought maybe Liz would like something like that…
…it was kind of staggering, how much could change in so short a time. But Prompto couldn't just let this day pass without acknowledgement, without some kind of ceremony or celebration on his part, even if he couldn't actually share that celebration with her. So he had a new plan, and that plan required Ignis' help, which would also be good, because he could tell Ignis was going a little stir-crazy with wanting to help, but being unable to because of his….his….
…well…
So he got from Iggy a list of ingredients needed, and then set out through the city to find what he needed, which, thankfully, wasn't anything too complex. They'd suffered a full-scale attack, after all, some resources were slim, but anything he couldn't get from vendors, he could get from Weskham's solid stock at Maagho or from the Secretary's estate as well. She'd even let them borrow her kitchen for it, too. It paid to have connections….and to have helped save an entire city from a battle of gods and an attack by the Empire.
"Okay, Igs," Prompto nodded at the ingredients spread before him over the counter with a soft, determined smile. "Instructions. Let's bake a cake."
Could Prompto have just looked up a recipe himself? Could he have fumbled through something like a cake even without a recipe? Of course he could. But that wasn't the point. And even if Ignis wasn't doing the cooking himself, the change in him once he started leading Prompto through the steps was immediately noticeable. Like, for the first time since the incident at the Altar, he could fully feel like himself again.
Little did they know that, later that night, far into the evening when everyone else had fallen asleep, Ignis would return to this kitchen and painstakingly attempt to recreate it by his own hand.
But for now, at that moment, Prompto focused so that what emerged from the oven was the best chocolate cake he'd ever made, and, once it was cooled, frosted it and decorated it with little fondant flowers that Ignis showed him how to make and fresh strawberries that felt like kind of a miracle in these conditions, and, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth from the effort, carefully wrote in swirling letters 'Happy Birthday, Liz!' in the space where it would still fit, and then stepped back to look at it, with a bittersweet flood of emotions that left him both proud and practically on the edge of tears.
But none of that.They were celebrating today, godsdammit, and Prompto was going to take a good long time taking all sorts of shots of the cake, playing around with the lighting and the best angles until he finally felt he'd taken the perfect picture and, even though he knew it probably wouldn't go through, maybe….just maybe….a birthday could be special enough that the multiverse could give them a break and actually send it through.
So he sent Liz a picture of her very special cake, and tried to come up with words that could be just as special:
Hey. 🥰
Happy Birthday! We made this for you! It probably won't keep until we get back, so we'll make sure when we eat it all, it'll be in your honor!
I miss you. I love you. So…. so much. We're probably heading straight into the Empire next. It's going to be tough, but we have the Ring of the Lucii and the Hydraean behind us now, too, so we're going in there, we're going to kick ass, and we're going to get back what's ours.
I'll be back soon.
I hope your day is absolutely amazing. ❤️❤️🎉
Then he pressed send, watched as the little dots greeted him once again, but only for a second, before tucking his phone away, trying not to think about it. He then reached for the cake, flashing a grin over his shoulder at Ignis before it faltered, slightly, in seeing those dark glasses that had replaced his old ones and remembered that he wouldn't have even seen it.
But maybe he could at least still tell it was there in the cheerfulness Prompto infused his words with.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go have some cake."
Cake could make anything better, right? Even…..this?
Even Prompto knew better, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to still try.
[[ hmm? Oh? What's that you say? It's not actually June 23rd yet? Hmmmm. CURIOUS. ]]
[[ NFB, NFI, OOC and failed attempts at communication are always love, I vehemently deny that my keyboard will be soaking wet after every post from here on in…. ]]
As normal as they could be, anyway.
And a desperate need for normalcy was what motivated Prompto that morning. It wasn't just any morning, though. It was June 23rd, Liz's birthday. A month ago (a month ago to the date, actually, he realized, when he went back and saw when the last hopeful text from Galdin Quay had been sent, the day before everything went to shit), he had been all filled with half-formed plans about ways to celebrate, a little vacay in the Quay or Altissia itself, maybe a party, but a small one, obviously, because Liz didn't like big parties, but something with all their friends, maybe she could even get to meet Lady Lunafreya, because she and Noct would be married by then, and maybe even Liz and Lunafreya would be fast friends, and just look at them, the future king and his queen and his best friend and his…well, fiance, maybe, by the point. Maybe that was when Prompto would have proposed, on her birthday, he thought maybe Liz would like something like that…
…it was kind of staggering, how much could change in so short a time. But Prompto couldn't just let this day pass without acknowledgement, without some kind of ceremony or celebration on his part, even if he couldn't actually share that celebration with her. So he had a new plan, and that plan required Ignis' help, which would also be good, because he could tell Ignis was going a little stir-crazy with wanting to help, but being unable to because of his….his….
…well…
So he got from Iggy a list of ingredients needed, and then set out through the city to find what he needed, which, thankfully, wasn't anything too complex. They'd suffered a full-scale attack, after all, some resources were slim, but anything he couldn't get from vendors, he could get from Weskham's solid stock at Maagho or from the Secretary's estate as well. She'd even let them borrow her kitchen for it, too. It paid to have connections….and to have helped save an entire city from a battle of gods and an attack by the Empire.
"Okay, Igs," Prompto nodded at the ingredients spread before him over the counter with a soft, determined smile. "Instructions. Let's bake a cake."
Could Prompto have just looked up a recipe himself? Could he have fumbled through something like a cake even without a recipe? Of course he could. But that wasn't the point. And even if Ignis wasn't doing the cooking himself, the change in him once he started leading Prompto through the steps was immediately noticeable. Like, for the first time since the incident at the Altar, he could fully feel like himself again.
Little did they know that, later that night, far into the evening when everyone else had fallen asleep, Ignis would return to this kitchen and painstakingly attempt to recreate it by his own hand.
But for now, at that moment, Prompto focused so that what emerged from the oven was the best chocolate cake he'd ever made, and, once it was cooled, frosted it and decorated it with little fondant flowers that Ignis showed him how to make and fresh strawberries that felt like kind of a miracle in these conditions, and, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth from the effort, carefully wrote in swirling letters 'Happy Birthday, Liz!' in the space where it would still fit, and then stepped back to look at it, with a bittersweet flood of emotions that left him both proud and practically on the edge of tears.
But none of that.They were celebrating today, godsdammit, and Prompto was going to take a good long time taking all sorts of shots of the cake, playing around with the lighting and the best angles until he finally felt he'd taken the perfect picture and, even though he knew it probably wouldn't go through, maybe….just maybe….a birthday could be special enough that the multiverse could give them a break and actually send it through.
So he sent Liz a picture of her very special cake, and tried to come up with words that could be just as special:
Hey. 🥰
Happy Birthday! We made this for you! It probably won't keep until we get back, so we'll make sure when we eat it all, it'll be in your honor!
I miss you. I love you. So…. so much. We're probably heading straight into the Empire next. It's going to be tough, but we have the Ring of the Lucii and the Hydraean behind us now, too, so we're going in there, we're going to kick ass, and we're going to get back what's ours.
I'll be back soon.
I hope your day is absolutely amazing. ❤️❤️🎉
Then he pressed send, watched as the little dots greeted him once again, but only for a second, before tucking his phone away, trying not to think about it. He then reached for the cake, flashing a grin over his shoulder at Ignis before it faltered, slightly, in seeing those dark glasses that had replaced his old ones and remembered that he wouldn't have even seen it.
But maybe he could at least still tell it was there in the cheerfulness Prompto infused his words with.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go have some cake."
Cake could make anything better, right? Even…..this?
Even Prompto knew better, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to still try.
[[ hmm? Oh? What's that you say? It's not actually June 23rd yet? Hmmmm. CURIOUS. ]]
[[ NFB, NFI, OOC and failed attempts at communication are always love, I vehemently deny that my keyboard will be soaking wet after every post from here on in…. ]]