[Peep peep peep peep! The whole kitchen is filled with peeping and coos and little chirps as the chocobos play and investigate everything they can. It's way too hard to be unhappy around such balls of feathery fluff.]
No way, Ignis is a fighter?? [That actually takes Prompto by surprise because it's really hard to imagine Ignis, who is always so pristine and in button up and vest and pressed slacks, doing something like getting sweaty in training or fighting someone.
Then that second bombshell. Whoa. Whoa. Even he knows that name. That's a pretty famous name of one of the people protecting all of Insomnia.
[Way too hard. It's all he can do to focus on his friend and his questions instead of, well... suddenly going all soft because of the little peeps are melting his usual bratty nature the power of fluff compels him aaaaa.]
Yeah? [He raises an eyebrow. Is it really so surprising considering he's almost always by Noct's side and was picking him up from school instead of an obvious bodyguard? Well, until they started hanging out more after school, anyway.] We were practically raised together, so he started weapons training a few years before me.
[He chuckles at Prompto's reaction, though is very careful to make it seem like he was laughing more at the feathery fluffballs antics behind him instead.]
The one and only. [A shrug.] Why?
[Maybe if he's so casual about it, Prompto won't point out how big of a deal it is... pffft]
[The little fluffballs are finally getting tuckered out and they're coming in to cuddle up against one another and of course, the two humans taking care of them. As it turns out, they make tiny cooing sounds instead of snoring when they fall asleep.
Prompto is melting at the sight. It's too much. Cuuuute.
But THE MARSHAL... he doesn't even know what to do that! They'll be traveling with someone famous! What do you do around someone famous?! Not hyperventilate. Don't hyperventilate. Focus on the cute chicks.]
Ha, we'll be traveling with the Marshal. ...I'm the only one who doesn't know how to fight! Ha, ha, okay. [Okay even the chicks aren't helping as much as he'd like.] We'll get you to the ranch, little guys.
[Welcome to the club, Prompto. Fluff Heaven. They've almost reached it. Would if you'd stop worrying. Because he catches that look, and the uneven breathing. So he carefully maneuvers himself to reach out and place a hand on his buddy's shoulder.]
Hey. [Calm down.] I doubt there'll be fighting in the first place. Even then, we'll probably be told to keep watch over the little guys and girls.
[Even though he's more than capable now. He highly doubts his Shield or the Marshal will allow it unless absolutely necessary.]
[It's funny and kind of sad, he realizes, that yeah of course he's afraid of the actual danger of going outside the walls of the city, but he's more afraid and embarrassed on the idea of being completely useless if it were to happen. He doesn't know how to fight, not to even throw a punch, and to be like that in front of one of the most known fighters of the kingdom? Yeah. He's panicking, just a little bit. Gladio's a known, to some small degree, and he doesn't feel like a total fool in front of him (...okay he does).
But Cor the Immortal!]
Y-Yeah, you're right. [Excuse him while he hugs a fluff to him, a little embarrassed to even be embarrassed like this in front of Noct, who sounds so relaxed about the whole situation. But he's been outside the city before. Of course he's relaxed.]
... [Sigh.] Look. I'm just as nervous, but I think that's why my old man specifically said daybreak.
[Prompto doesn't need to be excused if he's hugging the one in his lap too, right? That's what he thinks, anyway. Even as his eyes go distant while he stares at nothing in particular.]
The last time- we were out after nightfall. A daemon attacked us, and my attendants were killed. I almost was too, when dad arrived. All because I wanted to see the fireflies...
[That fluffball in his arms is being petted. No, he's not going to mention how for months after, he wasn't able to walk. How it had taken a miracle for him to even awaken from the nightmare he'd been caught in. Nothing about how he'd only started to be eased back into his old self - he'll never be that kid again, but a part of him still lives any time chocobos, small animals or fishing's involved - back in Tenebrae before the Empire came for both royal families. Nor the look on Ignis' face when he'd realized he couldn't feel his legs. He's obviously gotten better, but...]
So, we're going to be avoiding travel after sunset. Where the actual danger is.
[...What? Prompto is staring at his friend, a deep mix of concern, surprise, and a hint of terror showing in his eyes. The fact that Noctis just called the King 'my old man' doesn't even register in the face of this. It's the first time he's ever heard about this, and the idea of it, of Noctis nearly having been killed by a daemon... it's hard to imagine daemons even being *real*, never mind one of them actually hurting someone he knows.
There's an audible swallow from Prompto before he says quietly-] I... Noct, I had no idea...
[He shifts, just enough to actually touch their knees together, giving a small supportive touch to his best friend.] Y-Yeah. Traveling during the day and all that. We're not gonna let anything happen to you.
['We're', as if Prompto has any say in the matter.]
Of course not. The Crownsguard kept it under wraps from the public. No idea if that changed after Tenebrae, though.
[He was too young and too distracted by the other surrounding events to really care. Preoccupied by the realization that the two friends he'd just made then were being held captive in their own home by the Empire. Especially Luna.
That little shift pulls him out of his thoughts, though he still gently petted the chickling in his hands and lap.]
I know. [He believes in you all.] Besides. Getting these little ones back to their mothers... That's more important.
[He pauses in petting the little guy, looking at the time.] ... Want to stay at my place? That way they don't have to look up your address to pick you up.
[Not to mention they'll need to clean up this mess, too... Damn, Ignis is going to be mad when he finds out.]
Oh, uh, yeah! I guess that makes sense, doesn't it? [Besides, he doesn't want to deal with the questions about where his parents are and all of that stuff. He doesn't want to talk about any of that. It's awkward and weird and he knows there's no point because he can't change anything.
So instead, he gestures to the lot of the sleepy chicks.]
We need to get greens for these guys to bring back to your place, then? I know it's probably against your life beliefs or something to spend money on anything green but I think these are worth it.
[Okay, so he's teasing a little, but he holds up the sweepy-wittle-chick and smiles over the back of the chick. See? Totally worth having to buy lettuce and things, isn't it Noct?]
Okay, okay, no carrots. There's plenty of other stuff we could get them.
[He all but beams even as inside, he's laughing because what IS it with Noct and veggies!? They're not great but who cares-- and Ignis cooks everything amazing! Picky, picky.
Noctis' side is getting rubbed into by the top of a chocobo head, pressed into his clothing. The chicks are almost all asleep, looking content.]
...Sooooo... how do we get them back to your place? They all look so cute asleep.
[Look man, he can't help it. It all tastes like grass to him, and don't ask how he knows what grass tastes like. He was a very adventurous three year old, much to his nanny's chagrin.
...Also he'd be lying if his heart didn't melt a little more at that little nuzzle. Oh, no.]
Hm, I left my car a block away... They should be able to fit in the backseat if we can get them downstairs without disturbing them too much.
[...He totally would have asked how Noct knows what grass tastes like.]
Umm... [Prompto looks around, thinking, before gesturing.] If we got like, a bedsheet? And took them down two at a time in the bedsheet so no one sees them? Or maybe we could kind of put them all together on the bedsheet and slowly pull it up and pick it up like sack? As long as we do it slowly, they should all sort of press together?
[Yes, he is talking about walking out of Ignis' apartment with a large stuffed sack of chocobo chicks with the Prince at his side. This surely never could go wrong.]
Kinda guessing on Cor?? If this doesn't work let me know.
No way, Ignis is a fighter?? [That actually takes Prompto by surprise because it's really hard to imagine Ignis, who is always so pristine and in button up and vest and pressed slacks, doing something like getting sweaty in training or fighting someone.
Then that second bombshell. Whoa. Whoa. Even he knows that name. That's a pretty famous name of one of the people protecting all of Insomnia.
His jaw hits the floor.]
Uh. Like, the guy we've learned about in school?
works for me!
the power of fluff compels him aaaaa.]Yeah? [He raises an eyebrow. Is it really so surprising considering he's almost always by Noct's side and was picking him up from school instead of an obvious bodyguard? Well, until they started hanging out more after school, anyway.] We were practically raised together, so he started weapons training a few years before me.
[He chuckles at Prompto's reaction, though is very careful to make it seem like he was laughing more at the feathery fluffballs antics behind him instead.]
The one and only. [A shrug.] Why?
[Maybe if he's so casual about it, Prompto won't point out how big of a deal it is...
pffft]no subject
Prompto is melting at the sight. It's too much. Cuuuute.
But THE MARSHAL... he doesn't even know what to do that! They'll be traveling with someone famous! What do you do around someone famous?! Not hyperventilate. Don't hyperventilate. Focus on the cute chicks.]
Ha, we'll be traveling with the Marshal. ...I'm the only one who doesn't know how to fight! Ha, ha, okay. [Okay even the chicks aren't helping as much as he'd like.] We'll get you to the ranch, little guys.
no subject
Hey. [Calm down.] I doubt there'll be fighting in the first place. Even then, we'll probably be told to keep watch over the little guys and girls.
[Even though he's more than capable now. He highly doubts his Shield or the Marshal will allow it unless absolutely necessary.]
no subject
But Cor the Immortal!]
Y-Yeah, you're right. [Excuse him while he hugs a fluff to him, a little embarrassed to even be embarrassed like this in front of Noct, who sounds so relaxed about the whole situation. But he's been outside the city before. Of course he's relaxed.]
no subject
[Prompto doesn't need to be excused if he's hugging the one in his lap too, right? That's what he thinks, anyway. Even as his eyes go distant while he stares at nothing in particular.]
The last time- we were out after nightfall. A daemon attacked us, and my attendants were killed. I almost was too, when dad arrived. All because I wanted to see the fireflies...
[That fluffball in his arms is being petted. No, he's not going to mention how for months after, he wasn't able to walk. How it had taken a miracle for him to even awaken from the nightmare he'd been caught in. Nothing about how he'd only started to be eased back into his old self - he'll never be that kid again, but a part of him still lives any time chocobos, small animals or fishing's involved - back in Tenebrae before the Empire came for both royal families. Nor the look on Ignis' face when he'd realized he couldn't feel his legs. He's obviously gotten better, but...]
So, we're going to be avoiding travel after sunset. Where the actual danger is.
no subject
There's an audible swallow from Prompto before he says quietly-] I... Noct, I had no idea...
[He shifts, just enough to actually touch their knees together, giving a small supportive touch to his best friend.] Y-Yeah. Traveling during the day and all that. We're not gonna let anything happen to you.
['We're', as if Prompto has any say in the matter.]
no subject
[He was too young and too distracted by the other surrounding events to really care. Preoccupied by the realization that the two friends he'd just made then were being held captive in their own home by the Empire. Especially Luna.
That little shift pulls him out of his thoughts, though he still gently petted the chickling in his hands and lap.]
I know. [He believes in you all.] Besides. Getting these little ones back to their mothers... That's more important.
[He pauses in petting the little guy, looking at the time.] ... Want to stay at my place? That way they don't have to look up your address to pick you up.
[Not to mention they'll need to clean up this mess, too... Damn, Ignis is going to be mad when he finds out.]
no subject
So instead, he gestures to the lot of the sleepy chicks.]
We need to get greens for these guys to bring back to your place, then? I know it's probably against your life beliefs or something to spend money on anything green but I think these are worth it.
[Okay, so he's teasing a little, but he holds up the sweepy-wittle-chick and smiles over the back of the chick. See? Totally worth having to buy lettuce and things, isn't it Noct?]
1/3
Are you seriously.
Trying to bribe him to buy leafy greens.
With sleepy and adorable chocobo chicklings?]
2/3
no subject
... Fine. So long as it isn't carrots.
[He may hate veggies but carrots in particular are like the seventh ring of hell for him.]
omg I laughed so hard
[He all but beams even as inside, he's laughing because what IS it with Noct and veggies!? They're not great but who cares-- and Ignis cooks everything amazing! Picky, picky.
Noctis' side is getting rubbed into by the top of a chocobo head, pressed into his clothing. The chicks are almost all asleep, looking content.]
...Sooooo... how do we get them back to your place? They all look so cute asleep.
yesgood 8D
...Also he'd be lying if his heart didn't melt a little more at that little nuzzle. Oh, no.]
Hm, I left my car a block away... They should be able to fit in the backseat if we can get them downstairs without disturbing them too much.
[Not to mention: cleaning. Ugh.]
XD
Umm... [Prompto looks around, thinking, before gesturing.] If we got like, a bedsheet? And took them down two at a time in the bedsheet so no one sees them? Or maybe we could kind of put them all together on the bedsheet and slowly pull it up and pick it up like sack? As long as we do it slowly, they should all sort of press together?
[Yes, he is talking about walking out of Ignis' apartment with a large stuffed sack of chocobo chicks with the Prince at his side. This surely never could go wrong.]
no subject
[It's only by a technicality that he isn't trespassing in the first place.]
no subject
Well, do we just... carry them out? Won't that look pretty weird, too? Maybe less illegal than robbing, kinda, maybe?
[He looks over all of the sleeping peepers, then, more softly-] And how do we do it without waking them up? They look so cute like this!