First Snap - [Video - Night time]

[chocobosnap]

[He managed waking up fine, weird pod and all, and even stranger some information about his new place. He doesn't particularly care, he'd been in an 'anywhere but here' kind of situation. His wish is granted, but as he leaves the bay, there's a monster in front of him.]

Whoa! I come to a new place and there's monsters roaming around!

[The screen goes back, stuffed into a pocket most likely and the sound of gunshots, and a bit of a scuffle.

He appears on screen with a huge grin.]

Haha! Victory!

[He hums a fairly familiar tune, at that.]

Comments

[alternas]

( pulling up his nose, noctis loosens his arms, grabbing the blond by his shoulders, and gently squeezing them, with a tightening intensity as he speaks— )

You're Prompto. Prompto Argentum. We've been friends since high school, even though we really met in elementary. Remember? You remember, don't you? That's who you are. Who cares... where you came from?

[chocobosnap]

[He looks at Noctis, his eyes still damp and watery and he nods slowly.]

I haven't forgotten. I haven't.

[He uses his gloves to wipe the tears from his cheeks.]

You sounded like a real king there, Noct. [A bit of a smile, he's trying to get ahold of himself.

He pauses and puts his hand over his bracelet.]

Do you...want to see it?

[alternas]

( a real king? could he really be...
there's a quick swipe of his wrist guard across his face to do the same, sniffing again as he replaced the hand back on prompto's shoulder. without saying anything, he looked down at the wrist that he indicated.

if it was something his friend was willing to share with him, then he wouldn't look away. maybe better than anyone, he knew that you couldn't shy away from your destiny, you had to face it head on...

noctis would help prompto get through his. assure him as many times as he needed, and silent still, he gave a small nod. )

[chocobosnap]

[He's looking for that nod and he gets it, and he should have shown Noct, but he never knew before, what it meant.

He reaches down, the bracelet he got from Noctis when he got accepted into the Crownsguard to replace his sweat band, it's finally unclipped and he pulls the leather away.

His skin is unmarred, lucky considering the damage he'd done to himself, and in all its glory is the magitek barcode. 'NH-01987' in one direction and '0006-0204' upside down to it. Surprisingly, neither was his designation when he was that child in Niflheim being experimented on and them trying to take away his humanity.

A barcode. Like he's a product on a shelf.]

[alternas]

( mts... they could be frightening, grotesque... but the boy sitting here in front of him was so far from any of those things. they'd laughed together for years, fought together side by side.

and so, when he looked down... there was nothing scary about this number. nothing off-putting about it at all. this was just one more thing that would make prompto... prompto. )

Well, I think Gladio's still got you beat in the ink department. Not that a full back piece is easy to compete with, right? ( there's a chuckle, forced at first, but gaining momentum as he followed up prompto's last attempt at a smile. )

[chocobosnap]

[He doesn't realize he's holding his breath until Noct speaks and the response is so innocuous, and normal and dorky like his life isn't falling apart in front of his eyes.

Prompto can't help but laugh, looking caught off guard and then he raises that hand and swats at his best friend's chest lightly.]

That...you are such a dork.

[alternas]

No more than you. ( it's his best material at the moment okay?? he moves to defend himself from the half-hearted wrath of prompto, releasing him finally. and with that, the ball in the pit of his stomach started to unravel little by little.

and with that, he picks himself back up again, sniffing roughly one last time, and reaching down to offer his friend a hand, too. )

Just... remember you don't have to face this alone. Any of it. Because... we're not going to get separated again. I'll always come back for you.

[chocobosnap]

[Another little giggle escapes, because he knows he's as big a dork as Noct is, and he takes that hand, getting up. He has a long way to go, there's a lot of hurt and darkness still lingering, pulling at him.

But Noctis got him to laugh, for a moment.]

Never again. Ever at your side, Noct. [He promises, his fist coming up to his chest in a salute, even though he doesn't bow, but he offers him a fistbump when he's done.]

I don't want to go back. [He breathes.]

[alternas]

( it was the sound of that laughter... that was something noctis never wanted to lose. he had meant what he said, every word of it, especially the part where none of it mattered.

there's a tinge of something— pride? at the salute. yea... he was proud to have prompto in his crownsguard. his glaive... and as his friend. )

Whenever we go from here, we go together.

[chocobosnap]

[Prompto is more than pleased to salute Noct, when he's earned it, and he's properly earned it in this moment, he's a very good king, and he has strength when Prompto doesn't. He's not used to being so down, so wrecked, but he's been at Ardyn's mercy and the Chancellor knows exactly which buttons to push, and how awful to make him feel, and even to make it all worse.]

Together sounds good. [Please don't send him back to the Keep, he can't take it. He knows he can't. He's strong, he knows that, but there's a limit to how much a person can handle.]

[He offers an uneasy smile.]

Sorry I got captured. It...I screwed up.

[alternas]

( there's a punch in the shoulder for prompto at that. of course noct knew very well that none of them had meant to get separated from one another. from the very beginning they were on this journey together, and now coming to genessia... that remained the same.

the prince standing here though... can't help but feel responsible for prompto's capture in the first place. if he hadn't pushed him from the train, then...

but they'd had enough tears. and guilt. and bad feelings, for today at least. and so, the best way to counter that is with bad jokes, and sarcasam.
and a gentle punch to the shoulder. )

Things were way too quiet without you, you know.

[chocobosnap]

[There's a lot of blame that everyone seems to want to take but really all the blame belongs to Ardyn.

There was too much lingering, too much sadness, and Noctis gets a small laugh at that.]

What, you missed my dumb jokes?

[He smiles and gives the punch back, he's glad to have him there, really glad because he's scared to face everything alone, as lame as that seems to be.]