I want to ride my chocobo all day!

It was kind of funny, really, if you thought about it...but not too much. Down that road were very dark things, even darker than the whole world had become. But it felt as though any time there was even the slightest spark of something resembling hope, just as that light started to brighten and glow and offer some semblance of comfort, something would sweep in and extinguish that flame and make things somehow ever worse. At least they'd managed to secure the Hammerhead; after the daemon attack, they'd fortified it, built up the walls and the gates and scoured all the reststops and encampments for extra lighting to rig up and absolutely flood the place. Never again. The Hammerhead would not fall. Cindy Aurum wouldn't allow it.

The communicator had not been so lucky. Once he finally had the chance to recover it, Prompto was left wondering what had even been done to it. Even with his deep, familiar knowledge with the device, it would probably take weeks to put it back together, and then there was the matter of finding another energy source for it. But, maybe, just maybe, it might not matter. If they could get into Insomnia again, find the hubs, figure out how to get the portals back, then they wouldn't even need to communicator...

So they slipped eastward. And while the Empire had crumbled from within at the source up in Niflheim, it appeared as though the faction in Insomnia didn't get the memo. The last remnants of the Empire was still holding out, with Insomnia, ironically, as its new stronghold. Dreadnaughts still clogged the sky; there was no way to even get near the gate to the bridge without being stopped by MTs, there could potential be an approach by water, but even the cover of the constant darkness would by spoiled by the constant sweeping lights along the shore. Not to mention that Insomnia had their own daemons now. If they were going to try to get it, it would require a bit more planning than just a dash across the bridge to sort through the rubble...

So they hadn't made any progress, and were, instead, slightly more worse. Without the sun, days were starting to blur together, but Prompto was trying his best to keep track of the passage of time, even though each day, each week, each month just seemed to feel heavier and heavier. Noctis' birthday had passed, and that hit particularly hard. And now, somehow, almost astonishingly, it was Prompto's.

Not that time seemed to matter anymore. There certainly wasn't anything to celebrate. But while everything had been turned completely upside down, that just made Prompto want to cling to little things that much more.

Which meant it was time for another Sad Birthday Cupcake.

Probably the Saddest Birthday Cupcake Yet.

He could already hear Ignis complaining about wasting resources to make it, but Prompto didn't care at this point. Sad Birthday Cupcakes were a tradition, godsdammit, and he wasn't going to let the Apocalypse and the complete destruction of everything he knew and loved get in the way of that. Especially since it seemed to be one of the few things he could still....well, enjoy wasn't the word. You didn't really enjoy Sad Birthday Cupcakes.

But you could cling to them.

And he was clinging to the soft glow of the single candle on the cupcake for a good, long time before he sighed, blew it out, let the darkness settle in around him again, and then, exhausted but practically automatic at this point, reached for the gun at his hip to load it and get it ready before the inevitable horde of daemons came scurrying out to wish him their own version of a happy birthday.


[[ *whistles innocently while leaning heavily on the fast-forward button as we start in on some good old 'passage of time placeholder' posts* NFB and NFI, obvs. ]]

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. )

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 ]]

It had been a very long day.

They'd left Insomnia that morning, after an awkward blessing and some awkward and intense departing words from the King. "I ask not that you guide my wayward son," Regis had told them, as they stood on the steps of the Citadel on their way out, "merely that you remain at his side." Easy enough, right? That was, after all, the plan.

It had not, however, been the plan that the Regalia, the king's own royal vehicle that they were borrowing for this trip, would break down before they even got halfway to their destination of Galdin Quay, the quaint seaside port that would whisk them all away to the Altissia, capitol of Accordio, where the wedding would take place. Thankfully, the Hammerhead garage was not too far down the road...

At least, it wasn't supposed to have been that far down the road, but when you had to make the travel by pushing a big, heavy classic car down the scorching desert roads winding through the sun-blasted plains of Leide...it seemed like it had taken a lifetime. Even with muscle like Gladio's behind it, pushing the car into the Hammerhead had been slow going, already eating up a good chunk of their day.

The repairs wouldn't be quick, either, and, according to Ignis, they were also not cheap. The costs had quickly eaten into most of their funds, leaving very little allowance left over for any room, board, food and supplies they might need, which seems a bit more pressing now that they weren't making a straight shot to Altissia anymore. Luckily, Cindy, the quirky, plucky, and rather...noticeably dressed granddaughter of the Hammerhead's own and, apparently, according to Fandom, one of Prompto's potential future baby-mamas, which did not make the meeting awkward at all, no, not even a little, had some errands for them to run to kill some time and maybe put a little extra gil back into their pockets.

And that is what led them here, to the Merrioth Haven just west of the Hammerhead in the Three Valleys, setting up camp around the soft glow of one of the many spot throughout Eos magically enhanced to protect against the marauding daemons that would come out with the encroaching night, already beat and bruised from a day of pushing cars and hunting down reapertails--varmints, as Cindy liked to call them--and helping to find some lost hunter named Dave....who also wanted them to help take down a more dangerous beast that had been giving them some trouble. All of that had eaten most of the day, though, and it was dangerous to travel at night, so there they were, setting up camp to rest up for the big hunt, eat some amazingly delicious camp pizza from Ignis, and, hopefully, take down the beast and get back on the road nice and early in the morning.

But not...too early, Prompto hoped. And, as he let dinner settle and listened to Gladio and Noctis training behind him, Ignis cleaning up his camp kitchen, he looked out over the sunset, lifted his camera to get a good shot of it, and, smiling softly to himself, went to send it and a couple of texts over to Liz:

Just look at this view!

With that message she'd get a bunch of heart emoji and the dusky orange sky, the rough terrain of Leide giving way to mountains in the distance, where the shining, glowing twist of the Disc of Cauthess could be faintly seen far, far, far in the distance, and, much closer, to their left, the jagged tooth of Longwythe Peak.

Plans are a little delayed. We ran into some car trouble, but it should be fixed and back on the road to Altissia tomorrow! So it's camping out here in the Leidan wilds until then! My first night out of the city, but Igs insists the Havens are safe from the daemons. Definitely going to send you a shot of the night sky, even if it's only half as beautiful as people say it is. Hope everything's going well back at Fandom. Miss you! Love you! 😘😘😘

With that, he sighed, sitting back in his chair and looking out over the horizon, his first actual Eos sunset out in the wild, outside of the city, as things settled down for the evening and he felt Gladio's hand fall on his shoulder.

"Better wrap it up for the night," he said, "another long day ahead of us in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Prompto brushed it off, but with a grin, as Noctis pulled up a chair and flopped into it next to him. "We'll get there. What's the rush, big guy?"

"I just don't want to hear you whining about being tired when I kick you two out of the tent tomorrow to go take on that beast."

"Don't worry," Noctis offered, "we'll have plenty of other things to complain about, too."

That earned him a roll of Gladio's eyes and a chuckle from Prompto, before he sighed again and just thought that this was kind of nice, actually, like it was just the four of them against the world.


[[ and so it begins, the point of no return for the boyos, as we finally enter Final Fantasy XV proper! NFB for distance, but open for interaction if anyone, particularly texted girlfriends, would like to get in touch....while they still can (bum bum BUM!). May be slow, though, as I will actually be stomping around a convention center as one of these dudes all day today ]]

There were definitely a lot things about tonight that had Prompto feeling nervous and anxious, but one thing he wasn't not worried about was that dinner at the Caelum Via would not be impressive enough. As one of the premier lux locations in the whole city, it towered over most of the already substantial metropolis, with a clear view of the looming Citadel nearby.

After a walk through the aquarium with its feature around painting of the goddess Etro, they were escorted to the dining hall just below the Via's legendary rooftop recreation area. Soft music was playing, matching the soft din of conversation and the sounds of utensils over plates. The place wasn't very busy at all; after all, there was no Valentine's Day in Eos, so, for most people, this was just another Monday, and there weren't a whole lot of people looking to live it up on a random Monday at the Caelum Via. This meant they could get a particularly good table by the windows, looking out over the glittering lights of the city of Insomnia as it stretched nearly to the horizon, and they were high enough up that you could almost see faint stars in the sky overhead, through the subtle filter of the protective dome stretched over the city, which, occasionally, would ripple with a magical shimmer.

He'd kept it simple with a black suit, but was already starting to wonder if he'd gone too simple. He would have felt out of place in anything fancier, sure, but he felt pretty out-of-place as it was already. This was definitely the kind of place he would have never dreamed of being able to get into before, but, uh, hey, being a part of the future Crownsguard had it its perks, huh? If it weren't for that fact, he'd half-expect someone to approach them and ask why they were doing there and try to kick them out or something. But now? Who knew? There might even be something in one of the papers tomorrow, a small little corner of the gossip pages, speculating on one of Prince Noctis' retiune having a night out on the town with a mysterious woman, speculating on who she might be...

But that was him getting ahead of himself; he should probably just focus on having dinner first, and then...and then afterwards, they'd take a nice cab ride out to his place, and...well...sure, they lived together, but this would be different, this was here, in Insomnnia, his home....

Okay, okay, okay. Now he really was getting ahead of himself, and they'd reached the table anyway, and so Prompto moved to awkwardly pull out a chair for Liz and gave her a smile that he hoped wouldn't show how nervous he was feeling as he gestured toward it with a, "My lady."

Because of course he would.

[[ for the date, of course! And NFB for distance, natch! ]]

It didn't take long for the guys to parse together why Prompto seemed particularly distracted and glued to his phone (much more than usual, anyway!) These past few days, and it didn't take long for them to realize why this sudden message from Yang about her tournament was going to be a problem. So they got together and tried to figure out if there was anything that could potentially distract Prompto more than his ex's fighting tournament.

And the answer to that was chocobos.

It satisfied Ignis, too, since it meant they could run practical protocols on attempting to travel outside the city 'undercover' and without drawing attention to themselves.

So far, they'd done a fair job, too, but it wasn't that hard, when, out of uniform, they really did just come off as a bunch of nerdy city boys getting out to the countryside for a few days.

Plus....CHOCOBOS! Between racing on the track, riding around the area, and even getting shots of the Disc of Cauthess, Prompto had been successfully distracted from his phone. For a while, anyway. It was no surprise that he woke up before Noctis, although Ignis and Gladio were already up, the former working on breakfast outside the caravan where they stayed, the latter doing some morning exercises (much to the appreciation of some early morning workers). So Prompto just had to wait for the right moment to slip right past them, drifting over by the chocobo pens, and, when he figured he'd slipped away enough to avoid being noticed, went to reach for his phone to finally catch up with what he had missed.

Only to find nothing there in his pocket.

"Oh, no!" he realized with dread clenching his stomach. "My phone!"

It...it must have fallen when they were out riding!

"Son of a---!"

It was going to be such a pain trying to find it out here!!

[[ because my boyo is still very squishy and must be protected, at least until Saturday mwa ha ha. NFB for distance, but definitely open for communique, even if you'll have to go through another chocobro to reach Prompto atm! ]]

Okay, so Prompto knew that sometimes, Fandom things could leak and he could expect a few odd days even though he wasn't actually living on the island anymore, but he had to admit, waking up that morning as a girl again definitely was a bit of a surprise...but sort of a welcome one? Having something like this happen was a great way to get his mind off of worrying about Nina and being equal parts hurt and angry and concerned, in rotating order, that she still hadn't gotten back to him. He'd stopped trying, though; he didn't want to set her phone off at a crucial moment or anything like that, or maybe she'd lost her phone, or something else, but there was no point in giving her away because of a poorly timed chocobo ringtone, or something like that.

But this...this was definitely a good distraction, especially since now he could prove to Noctis once and for all that he really did make a cute girl, and that proof was going to come from a long series of adorable selfies and shots (maybe borrowing a few of Nina's Insomnia clothes in the meantime, so it really was a good thing they'd gone shopping that day!) and sending them off to Noct with a bunch of flirtatious messages just to mess with him.

And if he just so happened to accidentally hit a 'send to all' button instead of just sending it to Noctis, well....

Okay, he couldn't even use the excuse that his hands were more delicate and thinner than he was used to, because his hands were pretty thin and delicate no matter which version of himself he was, so it was pretty much just a big OOPS, one he might not have even realized he'd done until it was too late...

[[ have I mentioned I love this day? Definitely open if anyone wants to get in touch in all this glorious randomness! ]]

Nina coming to visit for the weekend because tomorrow was Noctis' graduation ceremony was exciting enough as it was, and although Prompto had way more butterflies in his stomach over being there in, like, an official capacity as, like, not Noctis' friend, but one of his bodyguards, there was still a little bit of them fluttering about because he'd spent most of his free time in the last couple weeks working on a project with Iris, and he knew he shouldn't be nervous about what Nina might think about it, but he still was, and he had some doubts, and then he reassured those doubts, only to have them come right back up again...

She just needed to get here, already. He'd taken to sort of pacing the house, occasionally ducking into the room to fuss over this little detail or that small thing, even though everything had pretty much been fussed to death and back. But he was kind of proud of the job he and Iris had done, and, if he knew Nina (and he liked to think he did...at least, he felt he knew her better than she allowed most people to know her), even the fact that he did it would mean a lot to her. And it was...you know...important. Even though he'd spent his whole life in this place, the Argentum house had never really felt much like a home, it was just sort of a place his parents had to put him in. A roof over his head. Food in the fridge. Games and stuff to help kill some of the long hours between school and the rare occasion where his parents were actually there.

But it wasn't just him anymore. And even though Nina still had two more years at Fandom and all her affiliations with Greenhill, this was her home now, too, and so he really wanted to make sure she could feel that way, because he knew all too well what it was like to feel like you were just a guest even in your own home. Which was why the Argentum house no longer had a guest room, which was never really used much anyway. It was now decidedly Nina's room.

It wasn't much; he had pictured something a bit more brighter and, admittedly, obnoxious, but Iris had held him back a little to suggest some things a little more sated, with the reminder that Nina was fifteen, not ten, but boy did she get it, big brothers were always acting like their little sisters were way younger than they were, but at least Prompto listened to advice! When all was said and done, though, he was pretty pleased with the results, and, hey, it was Nina's room now. If she didn't like it, she could change it herself.

But he did really hope she liked it.

Ugh. What was taking her so long?? Geez. Sure, it wasn't even near her designated ETA or anything yet, but it sure felt like he'd been waiting all morning!

[[ mostly for the little sis, but also open for texts, calls, random visits to Insomnia and what have you! ]]