phantasmalrift | And I said let there be light

And I said let there be light

Who: ~~Nap Grandpa~~ Izunia and you!
Where and When: February station catchall! See individual prompts, but also catch him when and where ever. One closed prompt(o).
What: Naps, and sketching, and watching the sunset... And occasionally fucking around with magic because what else is he going to do?
Warnings: None yet beyond extremely eccentric old man doing things.

CLOSED, 22nd evening: Room #3's door

[Knocka knocka, Prompto, you've got someone buzzing your door.

... At 8pm, but honestly for a couple of Lucian night owls that's like. A perfectly reasonable hour. Like it's midafternoon for them.]

Prompto? I brought you something, if you have a minute.

[Come on kid OPEN YE DOOR.]

Roof, 24th evening; Chasing the sunset

[A wise person might have realized by now that the station must be on the east coast of whatever chunk of land it's on, because the sun rises up over the open ocean and sets back behind the cliffs and some distant mountains.

A wiser person yet might have recognized the clouds on the horizon that morning as a sign of some sort of incoming rainstorm.

Izunia is not, for all his age and experience, that person. The drizzle isn't enough to stop him from going outside for his usual sunset watch, but when it suddenly opens up -

Well, then he's left running for cover and then finally standing just inside the door, looking rather like a soaked cat and cursing under his breath.]

Magic lab, 24th night; Let the rain come down

[But perhaps being soaked is a good thing, because it leads to a spark of inspiration -

To Charm's dismay, as almost the entire Magic Lab is now, in fact, also soaked by a sudden burst of summoned water. Elemancy is a particular kind of magic that does in fact do the friendly fire thing...

And here's Izunia in the back, not even having bothered to change out of his wet clothes given what he's working with, sipping a Dr. Jalapeno and looking extremely satisfied with himself.]

Kitchen/dining area, 23rd-26th; For the love of art

[Snacks, check. Soda and/or some other kind of drink, check.

Paper? Pencils? Pens? All check, arranged in a nice little row along the table where Izunia can grab them easily. He's settled into one of the dining room tables that looks like a diner booth and

Actually from the volume of papers around him, he's been sketching for quite a while now, mostly portraits, sometimes scenes. Charcoal, usually, but there's a careful pile of ink drawings as well, set aside so they can dry without getting smeared.

There's something almost frantic in the way he does it, and notably, none of the people he's drawing are from the station.]

Anywhere that looks even mildly comfortable, any time this week

[Oh look, it's... Izunia. Asleep.

At an inappropriate time in a possibly inappropriate place. Even in places that don't have comfortable sleeping places to offer, because guess who now has a bright pink folding chair to deploy from his Armiger at will for naps.

Honestly, does he... ever sleep in his own room?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...?

[With a befuddled expression, he takes the folder, glances up at Izunia (his expression looks so odd on that face), and back down to the black leather in his hand.]

Oh. Uhh, what is it?

[Even as he asks, Prompto gently lets the camera hang by its strap so he can open the folder and see what's inside.]

I imagine it speaks for itself.

[It's... sketches, but rather more nicely finished ones. On the left side of the fold is one of Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto himself in full Crownsguard attire - Ignis and Gladio back to back with Prompto in the foreground. It's hard to tell if Ignis has his vision or not - his glasses are clear, but his head is enough in profile that the heavy scarring of his eye would be completely hidden.

On the opposite fold are Noctis and Lunafreya, facing each other, hands meeting between them. Noctis wears the full regalia of a king - black with the short cape and shoulder clasps - and Lunafreya wears a black and white dress fit for a queen. ~~yes it's just her Kingsglaive outfit shh.~~ It is the most romantic composition ever, of all time, they are staring into each other's eyes, etc, etc.]

Oh.

[With that soft sound, Prompto walks back into the blessed solidity of his door and then sinks to the floor, holding the drawing in hands that are now as much trembling jelly as his knees. He tries to keep looking at the drawings, but they're all blurry now, suddenly, like his contact lenses fell out and oh, nope, he's just crying. In front of the Founder King. Again.

He keeps quiet about it as much as he can and draws the back of his hand across his eyes, biting his lip to keep from sniffling too much.]

It's... these... you, you drew these? Snff.

[He holds the folder away just in case he gets tears or snot or embarrassment on this unexpected--this undeserved--gift.]

[HAHA OOPS AT LEAST IT'S GOOD CRYING THIS TIME? RIGHT? please be good crying rather than the other kind of crying.]

I like to think I've developed a decent hand for sketching, yes.

[Just gonna hover awkwardly at your door because technically not invited in but...]

Yeah. They're--they're really good.

[Like the pale edge of the sun peeking around the corner on a bleak, wintry day, Prompto offers a water, wobbly, genuine smile.]

You forgot Lady Lunafreya's dogs, but. Everyone looks happy.

A sight for the heart is as important as one for the eyes.

[Would they really have allowed the dogs at the wedding, though. would they.]

You can keep the folder, I have a handful of them.

[Who's going to stop the Chosen King and the Oracle from having her beloved, semi-divine dogs at their wedding?]

Are they all of...?

[My friends, he wants to ask, even though there's no reason for them to be Izunia's main subject.]

[He actually meant the physical folder but hey whatever.]

...I have more memories crammed into my head than any one person should bear. I'm hoping that drawing some of them out will at least help with keeping the important ones from fading.

[Or, in gentler terms, no, there's a massive mess of disjointed images and people and also a lot of Ardyn.]

Oh.

[Yeah, no. He gets... the picture. Ayyyy.]

...You could try writing it down, too. Like in letters, maybe. Noct always cheered up when he wrote to Lady Lunafreya.

[He's looking at that drawing again, rather than the one of him and the guys. It's sort of sad, really, for them to be separated again--Lunafreya and Noct finally together and happy, somewhere the rest of them can't reach.]

If they were more coherent fragments, that might help. But many of the more recent are little more than flashes and impressions.

[Snapshots, if you will. Ayyyy.]

[At that, he tilts his head slightly.]

You've got us down pretty well. Lot better than that caricaturist in Altissia.

Even given the odd set of circumstances, I think I know you a bit better.

[He didn't like see the inside of the heads of half your group of four or anything, that's not a thing that happened at all?]

Yeah?

[Okay. He's done crying now, he thinks. He wipes his eyes one more time and looks at the left picture, then back up at Izunia.]

When did you meet Gladio, though?

Not ever personally, but I got more than enough fragments off Noctis and Ignis to make an impression.

[Not all of the memories in his skull are his that's kind of part of the problem?]

...You know that's a really weird way to get to know a person, right? Like, I'm pretty sure Iggy and Noct think really different things about me, let alone a cool, complex guy like Gladio.

Nothing about my life is exactly normal. And it's easier to get a clearer picture of someone from multiple angles, is it not?

[Like yeah it's weird but it works for him.]

Yeah, but you're not getting an objective look of your own--I mean, not that anybody's objective, but you're like five steps removed.

[He finally stands again to put the folder down on his desk, then comes back, paging through his camera gallery to show Izunia a set: Gladio doing push-ups with Ignis sitting primly on his back, Gladio thumping Noct's back hard enough to make him stumble, Gladio grinning with his little sister on his arm.]

There. ...One more angle.

[He seems to know how to work the camera, at least, and smiles at the pictures. He scrolls through a few more beyond what Prompto's showing him, too.]

It's a good one.

Thanks.

[He waits there, bouncing slowly on his toes, until finally his own need to see has him leaning closer, too, watching Izunia go through his work.]

Oh, so a lot of these are from right before we left Lucis. The newer stuff's better, like, composition-wise? But there's a lot of old pics I like more. They're more...

[He looks for the words, rocking on his feet still until he stops to scuff his sole along the floor.]

More like home, I guess. ...You might like them, too.

[Perhaps luckily for Prompto, Izunia has not in fact paused on the Obvious Point of Interest and is instead looking at the automatic photo you get of Noctis with his eyes blazing with lightning after making the Covenant with Ramuh.

I am assuming Prompto keep that one because it's a goddamn killer shot.]

I'd gladly look at all of them, if you have the time.

[Uh, yeah, of course he kept that one? He has taste. He also brightens, even if there's still--and likely will be for a long, long time--that weird edge to every interaction with Izunia. Who he looks like. What he is.

But Prompto nods eagerly.]

Sure! Whenever you want. Now, later, I mean... it's not like I've got any obligations here.

[Which is kind of a downer thing to realize, but he shakes it off.]

[Hey no he gets that. Both parts. They'll adjust, in their own ways, to whatever the hell this is.

I mean by now Prompto's probably seen Izunia go bananas for food somehow or eat a hot pepper straight without flinching, so like. Imagine trying to explain those photos when you get home, Prompto.]

I wonder if there's any sort of printer about. The screen is a bit hard to see, and I wouldn't mind a few of these for my wall.

Yeah, that'd--wait. Really?

[When the Founder King of your nation likes your road trip photos. Prompto shuts his face for a moment, eyes very wide.]

...Why?

...Why not?

[They're good photos, ~~Brent~~ Prompto.]

I've got a number of sketches pinned to my wall with some magnets, but a bit of color would hardly go amiss.

Well, I. I mean, if you really want some prints, I wouldn't... Like, who would say no to that? Whichever you want, dude, I'm flattered.

[He really, really is.]

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