arimoi | prompto talks to a fluffbirb [closed]

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prompto talks to a fluffbirb [closed]

[ The darkest hour comes before the dawn. At least, that's what Stella believes - and that's why she awakens to watch sunrises. That is, if she had managed to sleep. But after watching everything over the past two days, she barely slept last night. She'd noticed, however, her charge had been growing... hair.

A lot of hair. Almost a mane, over his shoulders and head. It didn't seem too much of a worry, however... should it be? He's felt different for the past few days. As long as it's not much, it's fine.

But she's sitting, looking out to the rising sun. ]

It still feels the same, even across the Stars.

[ She's waiting by Noctis, for Prompto. Because... she needs to talk to him, alone. And isn't this the best way? Wait for him to wake up and gently goad him until they can discuss serious matters. ]

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Mm...?

[He's still mostly asleep, but he rubs his knuckles against his eyes and sits half-up groggily, because Stella makes him feel excited and calm all at once and because he can't resist anyone paying him attention, ever.]

What does? Waking up...?

[He yawns openly. Manners deteriorate on the road.]

The sun itself looks the same, even if the Stars were different last night.

[ You're lucky she isn't crowing like a rooster, okay. But she seems oddly charmed by him, a soft smile on her bird lips. ]

...I woke you, then? My apologies, Prompto. Being with Noctis makes it a little hard to gauge how people awaken. [ yes she's throwing shade at her sleeping charge. ]

[Oooh, is it knock on Noct time? Prompto's favorite. He smiles sleepily and starts messing with his bedhead, trying to finger-comb it into place without a mirror.]

Really? That's surprising... 'cause I didn't think he knew the meaning of the word awake.

[ Yup, it's knock Noct time. Stella likes this time as well. But she looks back at him, and comes a little closer before laying just in front of him. Chirping a little after her words, almost like a laugh. ]

Even if many have tried to teach him the meaning - he could truly sleep though anything. [ A small pause. ] If we'd been abducted in his sleep, I doubt he would have woke.

[ ...But is the Dream World like sleeping? Something she was never sure of. ]

Hahaha. I almost completely totaled the Regalia once and Noct just snoozed right through it.

[Ignis was so mad... until he saw the puppy in the road. No one can be mad at a hurt puppy, not even when the King's car's on the line.]

Though... I guess, maybe that's not something you guys were there for.

[He doesn't really understand what's going on, but the more he hears, and the more he and Noct keep crossing over basic concepts at totally confused odds--the more he knows something's off, anyway. Birds don't control Eos's seasons.]

...I wanted to talk to you about that, actually. Without Noctis.

[ Her look is suddenly serious... and in a moment, there's not a Togekiss there. But a lady. A clothed lady, mind you - one of the advantages of being one like her. Aaaand she will pause to let Prompto react. Knowing Noctis probably won't wake up if it's loud. ]

--UhhHHHEEAeiaah!

[Unsurprisingly, Prompto leaps to his feet and scrambles backwards, but--hey, it wasn't actually that loud. He stares, wide-eyed, then points.]

Um??

[ She remains sitting, eyes closed. ]

This is my true form. [ But she chuckles a little. ] Am I truly that scary? I'd say I was more frightening as a Togekiss.

Uh, I, wha... no! Scary, no. You just--startled me, is all.

[He stands there gawking a moment longer, then drops his arm, shakes his head, and plops to earth again, cross-legged. He places his hands on his knees and sighs loudly.]

You start to think you're getting used to everything the world throws at you, and your buddy's bird thing turns into a pretty girl... a really, really pretty girl........

[He looks up at her, then down, then frowns and glances up again. The hair... the shape of her face...]

L...ady Lunafreya...?

...Luna... she is my sister. Even if she no longer recalls, in the true reality. [ Where Prompto is from. She's been discarded there, faded with so much. But she keeps a smile and is still chuckling a little. Show a smile though the sadness - though she knows it'll fade as she says more. Don't show how jealous she is. That would make this very awkward, wouldn't it. ]

But. It would be more accurate to say that I can shift into a bird-esque creature. [ She nods to herself. Even if she spends most of her time in that form, she was born this way. ]

Oh.

[Nodding slowly, Prompto tries to absorb that. And maybe half of it sticks. Stella was born a lady, okay, that makes sense, people turn into other things sometimes and usually that's a horrific fate worse than death--thanks, Starscourge--but it doesn't look like it's harmed Stella any, and she's still very nice. And pretty.]

Iiii didn't know Lady Lunafreya had a sister! Oh, wait--d-does that mean I should be calling you Lady, too? Um, Lady Stella.

[He bobs his head in a quick, awkward bow.]

[ ...Lady Stella. She likes that, a lot. She almost nods, before... ]

No. Stella is fine - Noctis does not know. To him, I am simply his guard.

[ She gulps a little, as she moves a little closer to Noctis. Who is still 200% asleep. ]

...I cannot tell him. The truth would hurt him too much - he would have too many questions.

[That. That Prompto gets, intimately. His clumsy, confused expression resolves into solemn understanding. He leans forward, hands clasped in his lap.]

Tell me everything.

[If she can't tell Noct, Prompto's here to listen.]

[ ...This is what she wanted. Then why does she feel so pained? ]

As you have figured out, Noctis is not the same you knew. You-- from what I've seen... are the proper Prompto. You have his soul - and speak of what should be.

[ She's looking suddenly tired, even with the sun over them. One of her hands has moved to Noctis, to rub off some of the makeup - to show some of his scarring. ]

Noctis is... he has no soul. [ For all she knows. ] He was created, like much of the world we come from - to seal away a great evil. A being which devours and destroys has rested on our planet. To stop it, we were sealed in a small country - the Astral gathering to find a solution, using copies of heroes forgotten. [ Well, not all of them are at that level of godliness. But it's easier to use terms he'd be used to. That, or Shaymin is secretly really powerful, and Stella does not want to think about that. ] He's... only known that life, catered to by them.

[ Yes, she's looking so tired, looking back to Prompto with a deep sorrow in her eyes. This is wrong. Everybody she knows in the world... she has to live with this injustice. If Noctis learned he was a fake, then he might break the story, is the thoughts. But Stella simply wants to tell him. Tell them all. ]

...If you need me to explain more, then...

Ask. Please. [ She thinks some of it might have flown over his head. Even now, she doesn't understand it all, and this has been her duty for at least the past three years. She has a soul, true. But she's keeping a steady look at Prompto, holding Noctis' hand. ]

[The thing about Prompto is that things have been flying over his head for more than five years. He can deal with it. He knows how to move in a world he doesn't understand and latch on to what he does. What few things he can control. What little he can do to help. Ever since he decided the Lucian Prince was going to be his friend, Prompto's been sky-diving without a parachute in the wake of his world, buffeted by the currents of gods and kings.

So, great evil on their star, sealed away in a small country--fine, that all sounds like stuff that would be beyond him anyway. He doesn't need the details. What matters to him is so much closer to home.]

I--I don't get it. How can you say Noct doesn't have a soul? He's... he's right there.

[He's alive, and he's human, and he hurts. Prompto sees that scarring and it twists like a knife in his heart, because it shouldn't be that way, the world's too awful to Noct already.

Nobody has a greater, more wounded soul than Noct.]

He's real.

Though he is here... he's empty. He dreams not, he only has the desire to take his role as the Hero of Truth or Ideals.

[ And it hurts. It hurts so much to say and to look at - even with his new mane, even though he looks so pure with his scars... ]

Puppets playing to uncaring gods, gifted with no desires of his own. [ It's why she ran - it's not just Noctis who's like this - even her family are hollow. Being one of the few like her is a true torture - she knows it's wrong, but she wants to give them souls.

But she's wrong. Even earlier, it was clear Noctis was caring for more then just his goal... wasn't he? ]

...Just because someone was created with a purpose in mind... doesn't mean that's what they really want.

[His right hand is a white-knuckled, trembling fist within his glove. He covers it with his left, holds on tightly, and declares:]

Soul or no soul, Noct's still Noct. I--whatever I can do to help him, that's what I want.

[He glances up at Stella, as if to check if that's okay, but looks down again, ashamed that there's always so little he can do.]

I-if I can.

...Please. Just be there for him. He... I don't know if he's realized who you are. That you're the real thing.

[ She seems to be smiling to herself, even if it's inappropriate. She'll simply watch, right? Another knows of her burden now. ]

If we do not return soon... he may become disillusioned. He'll need a friend.

[ And she can't be that friend. Not with her anger and fear. ]

If he hasn't figured out I've got no idea what he's talking about most of the time, he will. Noct's not an idiot.

[There can only be ONE idiot in any balanced JRPG party, and that's Prompto.]

I'm gonna have to tell him sooner or later. N-not about the not being real thing, because I still don't think that's true, but. The... different worlds, I guess? Man, it's like we're in a video game...

[ Oh, you have no idea, Prompto. (Neither does Stella.) But Stella pauses, and then frowns again. ]

...He'll believe you. He-- there was another you there. In the same state as him.

[ It'd come up eventually. Prompto isn't a complete moron, he would have had to realize this. She thinks. ]

To play a story already written, played over and over, to trick a being guided by pure instinct. In the role of villain - that is his fate. [ Even if the hero she's seen... really doesn't seem to be hero material. ]

...The other me... is a villain...?

[Oh, no. Prompto's left hand edges up to hold on tightly to the leather band around his wrist, and then he shakes his head quickly and rocks into his seat again. No, no no.]

C-can I stop him? If he's me, then is there some way I can--that I can keep him from hurting anyone?

He will not hurt anybody. He is simply following the orders of his Lord.

[ She's not good at explaining this to one unfamiliar with the formula of that world. ]

...His Lord Noctis, of course. I promise the only cruelty that he would commit would be to accidentally step on anothers' foot.

[ breathes in ]

No, Noctis and his followers are to awaken one of the Dragons, and work to separate Beast and Man, until the Hero brings the other Dragon - seeing Noctis as simply evil. They fight, and the beast we desire to fight rises. If... everything goes well, it is killed, and we are disposed of.

[ This is a suicide mission anyway. She hates it so, but if she fought fate, the beast - the Worldeater - may awaken sooner. ]

What? No! That's not fair! That's the opposite of everything "going well!" How's getting disposed of supposed to be a good thing?!

[WHERE IS HIS EVERYBODY LIVES/NOBODY DIES AU???]

Edited 2017-03-04 16:16 (UTC)

[ She looks as if she's about to shout, but instead her voice drops, chillingly calm as she discusses this - but she's looking back to Noctis, touching up and down his scars. ]

He's not meant to exist. I'm not meant to exist. Maybe it's different for the real ones - maybe it's different for you. [ And for Lunafreya - the one she's sure Prompto has met. ] But as long as we live - this is our purpose. And I will guide Noctis into it. No matter what.

[ And she won't fight it, until she's sure she can. If she even ever can. ]

I... I, I...

[He struggles to form the words, but they escape him unvoiced. Blinking quickly, he looks down at his hands, then hauls himself roughly to his feet to pace before their guttered campfire. His hands are fists at his side, his steps narrow and stiff. There's a lump in his throat.

It's too much. It was already too much, the fate of their star on Noct's shoulders ever since he was a kid, and everything taken away from him: his home. His friend. His dad. It's too much for Iggy's blindness to be on his head, or Gladio's anger.

Now it's too much for Prompto, too--for Stella to say those things to him, now of all times, when the echo of Noct's terrible fury still freezes his blood, the memory of familiar eyes looking at him and seeing only something they hated. It's too much to hear that when there's a code burned into, burning on his wrist, that all his life has told him what he's always known: You don't belong here.

He stops pacing, facing neither of them, head bowed.]

It shouldn't matter, Stella. I-it shouldn't matter whether someone's meant to exist or not.

[His shoulders are bunched up like he's expecting the world to come crashing down on him.]

Not... not when you do. Once you exist... everything else should get to be up to you.

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