barbecue.

[lostcompany]

[Night, and a campfire outside of town, in the lightly forested scrubland of the Neloi Flats. A good rendezvous point for a ragtag bunch of abductees; a point of interest for any stragglers, where fellow otherworlders can be found.

Just follow the smell of cooking meat. There's...there's a lot of it.

And while you're all feeding yourselves, there's a lot to talk about. For instance: who the fuck were the people that brought everyone here? What did they want? Who's interested in finding a way back home, and what's the best way to tackle that question? Where will everyone stay? How will everyone get along in this place?

All that and more, at the campfire.]



[[ooc: Meant to be a rapid-fire IC conversation kind of post, with rampant threadjacking, but do as ye will! Proper toplevels are welcome, as are new characters.]]

Comments

[lostcompany]

[Splutter-laugh.]

Was that better, worse, or the same thing as being dinner?

[photoshooter]

Well, I think the fact that she tried to kill us after dragging me down a cliff in her gross, snakey coils kind of makes it the worst of both worlds!

[lostcompany]

Ew. [grin, though.] You win, I never really get into fights with demons. Used to just throw Reds at 'em so they'd leave me alone, never learned how to fight.

[photoshooter]

Reds?

[He sounds interested. Other ways to fight daemons that don't involve getting up close and personal with their icky, serpentine limblessness?]

[lostcompany]

[Shrugs.] Demon food. We had kind of a deal going with the demons, they don't eat us and stay out of the underground, we give 'em an easier meal. Man, I remember finally getting to go outside after they started handing them out.

[...Which is a memory tangled up with some others that are suddenly kind of heavy, in the context of being here, on the surface, with people and a lot of food, so he cuts the train of thought off there. Hmmmmrm.]

[photoshooter]

Oh. We probably couldn't make a deal like that with our daemons. They kind of... don't really communicate with people. Usually. And when they do, it's creepy.

[HE'S NOT YOUR BABY, SNAKE LADY!!!]

But they only come out at night, at least, so we can go out and do things during the day. Even though the days are getting shorter...

[lostcompany]

Yeah, ours are chatty. But...huh. You know, I don't know what our demons would do during the day. Chiro seems fine, but. Tokyo's actually underground, we're shut in with them.

[photoshooter]

Why're you underground with them? That seems way dangerous.

[lostcompany]

'Cause...we are. It was way before I was born, the city got covered up to protect it from a bomb but it left us stuck with a demon problem.

[photoshooter]

Oh. That makes sense.

[...]

Well, sorta. Some daemons, I'd rather take my chances with a bomb. Yikes.

[lostcompany]

This way means I'm alive, so I'm not complaining too much.

[He shrugs again and flops back onto the ground.]

None of it really matters now. It'd be nice to crack the mystery and have an actual way out of Tokyo, but I'm not all hyped to go back. ...S'long as Chiro's here.

[photoshooter]

...You don't have friends you want to get back to?

[He asks it carefully. For Prompto, anyway.]

[lostcompany]

[An "uhhh" trails off into a dry, voiceless sigh as he considers that, and pulls a few faces in the process.]

Mmmmnot really. There's my Bro, but I don't think me being gone changes much for him. Probably makes his job easier, to be totally honest.

[photoshooter]

Oh. Well.

[Prompto knows how that goes. There was only one thing that changed that for him, but it changed it completely.]

Weeellll, why don't you come along with us instead? I mean, it's not like our journey's any safer--haha, probably completely the opposite--but it's still fun. Even when we almost get ourselves killed!

[lostcompany]

[Hallelujah blinks blankly for a moment.]

...Us like, [swirls a finger around to indicate the campfire,] or us like, [points at Prompto, jerks a thumb over his shoulder to roughly indicate "back home"] ?

[photoshooter]

[Prompto laughs and then points between himself and Noctis.]

Like me and Noct! He's my best friend. Known him since we were dumb kids in high school.

[And... earlier, but that's a story for another time.]

We're on a journey to save the world. ...Uh, I think. [He pauses, frowning.] Things have been kind of weird since we got here and we haven't totally figured out why? But I know Noct wouldn't mind letting you tag along with us.

[Best friends volunteer each other to take in sad kids! Fact!]

[lostcompany]

[Hal looks stunned, frankly, by the offer, silent for a little too long while he rolls this one around in his head and confirms that it did in fact just happen and figures out what to do about it.]

You're...uh, wait. [Buh buh buh. In his dreams he says yes and everything is great, but.] I am really not the guy you want for help saving the world. Or even, like, a small town. That's just, way over my level.

[photoshooter]

Hahaha! Dude, I would've said the same thing if someone'd told me I'd be going on a road trip... to destiny.

[He holds up a fist as he says it for that extra dramatic oomph, then chuckles and shakes his head.]

Truth is, I'm in way over my head. But probably so are Noct, Iggy, and Gladio, too, they just cover it up better. They're all operating in a totally different world than I can.

[He laces his fingers together loosely in his lap.]

But they put up with me just fine, so you'd be welcome aboard, too, all right? They're good guys. Just, seriously--the best.

[n_octis]

[ excuse u he's handling everything fine he is not over his head

either his real self or him

So have a small rock tossed at you. ]

[photoshooter]

Ow! Noct!

[THROWS A RANDOM TWIG RIGHT BACK]

[n_octis]

...He's can join us.

[ He says, though, after rubbing at where the twig hit. A bit jokingly. ]

[photoshooter]

[Prompto turns right back to Hal, grinning ebulliently.]

See? There you are! What Noct says goes. [He nudges Hal with his elbow.] He's the king, you know.

[lostcompany]

[what!

what?!?]

He, I, what? Oh. [He sits up and kind of folds in, pressing his arms to his sides like he's unconsciously trying to occupy less space. Oh, shit, they're serious.] Ahaha, um, okay. Mister king sir.

[Half-serious, half-joking. He still has Concerns about his suitability for this saving the world thing, but...he doesn't have other plans.

And it's just. Nice. Wow.]