[OPEN] My hands are tied because I won't say good-bye, I tried

[photoshooter]

Who: Prompto Argentum photoshooter and open!
What: Prompto deals with Noct's absence, for a given value of "deal." It happens to be a very, very small value.
When: 7/12-7/16
Where: Keystone Shore and Keystone Station
Warnings: Final Fantasy XV spoilers and sadness.

i. 7/12, early morning until someone gets him out, Keystone Shore

[There's an amateurishly but lovingly constructed shack down on Glitterstone Beach, the kind of clubhouse boys build that, if they were ten years younger, might say, "No girls allowed!" on it. A secret place, a sacred place, full of skinned knees and gravel and dirty jokes.

Today, even with the hot, sticky weather, the shack is frozen solid. Water starts to drip from the sun-heated roof and freezes again into icicles above the entrance. The windows used to just be square-shaped holes in the wall; they have panes, now, but they're panes of ice, too opaque to see through.

All that's visible inside is a dark shape huddled in the far corner. And all that's audible is--well, nothing. Because Cloudy the hush shepherd is trotting in fretful, silent circles around the shack, occasionally pawing at the sparkling earth.

The door is open. But it's too cold for even Cloudy, with his thick, plush fur, to enter.]

ii. 7/15, afternoon, chicken room on the farm level of Keystone Station

[Prompto's a little more accessible today, at least.

He can be found in his usual haunt, the chicken room, where of course all his lovely egg-laying daughters are happy to see him and his vegetable treats. Sunny the chocobo is there as well, and isn't she starting to get a little gangly and awkward?

But the real stars today are the itty bitty quail chicks, barely the size of his thumb, that are climbing all over his hands and lap.]

Hey. Heeey. Play nice, there's enough food for everyone.

[It's not odd to catch Prompto talking to animals. But the quails... listen?]

iii. 7/16, day, tech lab in Keystone Station

[Over the past few weeks, Prompto's slowly started returning to the lab to hang out with Top and work on refurbishing old world tech. Usually, he sticks to mornings, after his run but before noon.

Today, he's trying his best to block out the knowledge that Noct is really, really gone, and apparently that block extends to "what time is it" and "how long have I been working here" and "when was the last time I ate?"

He's deeply focused, pop punk loud in his ears thanks to the music player he picked up in Incendia, as he tries to get a Resona Aere motorbike to start again without the magitech currents running through the city's streets.]

Comments

ii

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai didn't bring her bear, thankfully; he doesn't do well with chickens. She pauses and kneels very slowly, careful not to get in the way of any birds.]

Small...

[photoshooter]

Aren't they? They're so tiny.

[He offers her a smile that's pretty tiny itself, then gently shoos the chicks towards her.]

Hey. Go say hi to Auntie Maimai.

[The quail cheep a little, and then a couple of the braver ones head tentatively over.]

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai doesn't move for a bit, smiling a tiny amount, and lets them gather around her outstretched hand.]

They're new?

[photoshooter]

Uh-huh. They must've just hatched. Maybe while we were checking out the city.

[The smile fades, and he goes back to tearing up bits of vegetable matter for the birds' snackies.]

[nojohnyouare]

[Very carefully, she strokes the birds and watches them mill around.]

...Difficult. That Fissure.

iii

[burninglight]

[Ardyn stifled a yawn as he wandered his way into the tech lab, pulling some unholy blended amalgamation of sugar and caffeine out of the Armiger...]

[-and very suddenly freezing in place upon realizing Prompto was there, a few seconds slow to realize backpedaling on out was probably the best idea. Luscinia seemed to have other plans, fluttering over to the bike from where she'd been perched on Ardyn's shoulder.]

[photoshooter]

Oh, hel...lo.

[Prompto falters mid-greeting Luscinia when he catches inevitable sight of Ardyn. For a second, he's very, very still, but then his shoulders slump on a sigh.]

Hey.

[Instead of moving to leave, Prompto lets his chin drop in acknowledgement and keeps looking at his work.]

[burninglight]

...H-...hi.

[Ardyn paused midway through taking a step backwards, Luscinia ruffling her feathers and looking over Prompto as if trying to figure out if he was a fellow bird.]

[When Prompto didn't panic or look for the nearest exit, Ardyn decided to try his luck just a little.]

I'm...sorry for how that expedition went. I didn't mean to startle you.

[photoshooter]

[When Ardyn keeps talking, Prompto takes one earbud out and looks up again, faintly surprised. Conversation is happening. An apology is happening?]

...Uhh, no, that's okay. I was jumpy. Jumpier than usual. [He'd shrug, but Luscinia is there, and she looks soft. He offers her a finger to see if she'll let him pet.] And you guys, um. Had a lot going on?

[Yyyyyikes, is what he has to say about that.]

ii

[fifthreplacement]

[Sync is exploring all over the place since he arrived, and has just discovered the chicken farm. Seeing smaller animals is strange when you're used to Arietta's giant beasts, but see the guy there with even smaller ones is bizarre.

So he walks over (carefully, he doesn't want to hurt anything and suddenly be swarmed) and crouches a short distance away, head tilted at the little creatures]

I had no idea that animals could be so small...even for young ones, they're tiny.

[photoshooter]

Aren't they?

[Eos probably isn't any better than Arietta, as far as that goes.]

Charm said they won't get any bigger than fist-sized, even when they're all grown up. How crazy is that?

[fifthreplacement]

That's small. I don't think anything that small exists on Auldrant. Most animals are massive there.

[He's almost tempted to reach out, but Sync restrains himself]

What are they called?

[photoshooter]

Quail. Quails? I...'m not sure how to pluralize it. We don't have these where I'm from, either.

[He sets the chick currently in his hands down and points to the young chocobo now approaching Sync with curiosity.]

Sunshine, she'll be taller than me when she grows up. But these over here, the chickens? They're not gonna get any bigger than this.

[Prompto perks up a little, too, dropping his hands into his lap as he gives Sync his actual attention.]

How big do things get where you're from? I mean, you said massive, but how massive is massive?

ft solitude

[founderinglight]

[Izunia knows what it means when the Armiger is gone, and especially when Prompto seemingly vanishes from the Station.

He gives it a day. A day of being patient and watching Prompto's usual haunts, to no avail.

So, on the second day, it's time for action.

Cloudy gets a brief ear scratch and then shooed outside before Izunia - wearing his full royal attire over top of yet another layer, coat hem already frosting about his knees - goes to knock on the door of the shed. More than a bit of fire elemancy trails his hand, and his shoes and pockets are both stuffed with fragments of fire crystals from Incendia.

He's as prepared as anyone is going to be.]

Prompto?

[photoshooter]

[Eventually, like he's got to dig it out from under a layer of ice itself, Prompto's voice shivers up through the frost.]

Please go away.

[It's barely a croak, the kind of voice that comes after way too much crying. With the cold shaking through him, too, it's a wonder he can make himself heard at all.]

I can't--I can't. I-I'll come back later, just, please...

[founderinglight]

...Take as long as you need. I just brought you a hot meal.

[Because there is not any other source of warmth down here.]

[photoshooter]

[There's a hiccuping noise that could've been a laugh.]

Freeze before I can touch it, Zu.

birds birds birds

[bloodyashes]

[So Asch is mostly here to eyeball the chickens - in part because someone depleted the stock of eggs a few days ago - but he can't.

Really help but notice the way Prompto is in a pile of absolutely tiny cheeping babies over there.

(And the gangly 'bo. Some things are, he supposes, just constants.)]

Can you actually talk to them?

[photoshooter]

Looks like it. [After a pause, he glances up.] I mean, anyone can talk to animals, you just talk. But I think they're starting to listen.

[He pets a soft little baby with his fingertip, then nudges her gently in Asch's direction.]

Why don't you go say hi?

[The chick considers it, then wobbles over a few tiny steps before stopping and peeping for attention.]

[bloodyashes]

[Well he's not even an animal person all that much but who can resist bending down and greeting a tiny bird.]

I had a... stowaway come back from the city with me.

[He pets the chick with a tiny, gentle hand.]

Anything you can help with?

[photoshooter]

[Blink.]

Uh, maybe. What kind of stowaway? One of those pigeons?

tech time

[zweihandler]

[ So Erina's not like, a nerd or anything like that. She leaves the really nerdy shit to Kivi, usually. But she can do a decent amount of maintenance on her Key like any good Synchronic so once she's moderately settled into the Station, she takes herself down to the tech lab to see if there's anything she and Zwei can actually make use of.

She's not really sure what she expects to see down in the lab, but a big ol' motorbike isn't one of them. She stares for a moment, before gently easing Zwei's sheath off her shoulder and into her hand so she can hold it up for him to see when she calls out. ]

Hey! [ she's cupping her mouth and yelling just loud enough to hopefully be heard over the music, and gives the sheath a little swing ] Are we gonna get in the way if I start poking around?

[photoshooter]

[He hears enough to get him to take his earbuds out, at least, and then he shakes head and gives her a thumbs up.]

Should be fine!

[It occurs to him there's something grammatically weird about the question--the shift from we to I--but he doesn't know what to make of it, so he sets it aside.]

Are you looking for anything in particular?

[zweihandler]

Yyyyyyes and no? [ She hefts Zwei up onto her back again as she says this. ] I'm mostly just looking to see if anything from my world's already turned up before I did, like, tech wise. Otherwise I'm gonna see if there's anything else I can use for tuning up Zwei when she needs it.

[ And off for a poke around she goes. The closest table is piled pretty liberally with parts and doohickeys, so it seems like a good enough place to start looking. ]

[photoshooter]

Tuning up... what?

[Curious now, Prompto leaves his work to come over and see what she's searching for.]

Your sword?

[Swords need tuning up?]