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The Rising Stones headquarters was…something. Noctis honestly wasn’t sure what else he should have expected from a guild that Alex led given how they’d met, but a half-demolished building still caught him off-guard. Okay, maybe that wasn’t entirely fair to Alex given that the entire street was smashed up. Really, the Rising Stones had made out pretty well all things considered. The basic structure was still in place. The building just needed some window repairs, a new roof, maybe a fresh coat of paint…

Well. He’d stayed in worse places while camping out with the guys. Anyway, Noctis had zero room to complain now that he and Alex were wanted by the Sonoran police for carjacking. He would argue of course that it was just hitchhiking that had gotten out of hand. And what else was he supposed to do, stay there and freeze to death in the middle of a frozen tundra? His excuses didn’t mean much in the wake of his wanted poster circulating around though, and it certainly wouldn’t save him if Ignis got ahold of him.

So the only thing to do in the meantime was to lie low with the Rising Stones until the whole thing blew over. He had a feeling that wouldn’t take too long in Provo at least. The news was pretty distant already since Sonora was way up north, and it was completely overshadowed here by the battle that had taken out an entire city block. He wouldn’t want to be either of those guys right now, that was for sure.

Alex was out for the time being, so Noctis had some time to kill alone with the stray cats that the guild members were apparently looking after. Noct had always been a cat guy, and he’d particularly warmed up to a friendly tuxedo cat who had a tendency to head-butt his shin whenever he wanted pets. It would be dark soon, and Noctis had neglected to ask where the cat food was, so he made up his mind to go catch them something for dinner instead. He’d been itching to try out his fishing pole in this new world anyway, and sunset was one of the most active times for fish. Plus it wasn’t like he wasn’t laying low if he was just heading over to the river.

Outside in the rubble, Noctis shielded his eyes from the orange glow of the sunset, deciding that the river he remembered seeing on the way into the city was back to the north. A large pile of debris was in his way, so rather than walk all the way around it, Noctis summoned the engine blade to his hand instead and threw it towards the top. He warped after it in a shower of blue sparks, landing unsteadily on a chunk of concrete before leaping down safely on the other side.

Or that was his plan at least.

As it turned out, a dark-haired woman was examining the ruins with troubled eyes on the other side of the wreckage. He very nearly fell directly on top of her, but with a little course-correcting, he managed to land just next to her and stumble into her instead. An apology was already on the tip of his tongue since he expected that he’d knock her over, but she ended up feeling like a solid wall of muscle. Noctis was the one who found himself on the ground instead, blinking up at her to make sure he hadn’t hallucinated. No, she really was just a tall, thin woman who didn’t look particularly imposing. Somehow it felt more like he’d smacked into Gladio though.

“You’re really strong,” he said, climbing to his feet and dusting off his pants. “Sorry about that. I didn’t think anyone would be out here either this late.” She was the type of brunette woman that would have probably left Prompto sputtering for words with her curves, but Noctis himself noticed other things. The way she’d been staring at the wreckage with an upset expression until he’d run into her for one thing. The fact that no one would be here at night if they had anywhere else to go for another.

“I’m Noctis by the way,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he introduced himself. No last names or titles. He wasn’t running away from them exactly, but they didn’t mean anything here anyway. “I’m staying in what’s left of the Rising Stones Guild. About to go catch some fish for some stray cats though.”

[attr=class,ooc-notes]When you casually invite someone to go fishing.

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The woman seemed a little awkward about the compliment, but then it was the first thing that he’d said to her. Gladio didn’t refer to him as Prince Charmless for nothing—Noctis wasn’t always great at social queues, but being friends with Prompto for so long and seeing him put his foot in his mouth made Noctis feel downright charismatic in comparison. Not that his blond friend was expected to lead a kingdom someday like the prince was.

He at least hadn’t scared the woman off, and she introduced herself as Tifa while explaining that she trained a lot. “You’re a fighter? What’s your weapon?” She didn’t have anything on her that would help him identify it. Noct didn’t either of course, but most people didn’t have the luxury of storing weapons in their glaive like the Lucian kings did. Maybe she used something small though, like guns or daggers. Prompto and Ignis would approve.

Tifa guessed correctly that the Rising Stones guild was the half-demolished building next to the destroyed one, and Noctis nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, it’s a mercenary guild. The guy who runs it is helping me get on my feet since I just turned up here.” Alex had told him that there was some anti-offworlder sentiment in Zephon, and he’d definitely seen that during his car chase in Sonora. Tifa seemed nice though, so hopefully she wouldn’t turn on him just for that. “I guess there was some kind of fight here? I’ve seen the wanted posters, and Alex keeps talking about some blond hobo homewrecker.” A direct quote unfortunately, and Noctis shrugged a little since he didn’t have much more of an explanation for that one. Alex had a lot of good one-liners. Noct was going to start calling them Alex-isms.

“So make of that whatever you will.” He waved one gloved hand, before glancing back at Tifa in surprise when she asked if she could join him fishing. Truthfully, he’d be glad for the company. He’d fished out with the other guys for so long now that it would feel pretty quiet to do it alone. He was too used to their backseat fishing. “Sure. I might even have a spare pole you could use if you want.”

Okay, so he definitely had multiple rods. Probably even a dozen, but he didn’t want to scare her off by getting too passionate about fishing yet. He’d save that for when they actually started.

“...So what brings you all the way out here?” He asked as he started heading off towards the spot he’d had in mind. He wasn’t sure if she’d like the question though—she had looked pretty upset about something before he’d bumped into her. “Not trying to pry though if you just want to fish.” He’d been there. Staring at the water and waiting for a bite could be pretty good for forgetting your problems.

[attr=class,ooc-notes]Go Fish

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Tifa apparently fought bare-handed, and Noctis gave her an impressed look at the revelation. No wonder she hadn’t budged when he’d run into her. She could probably back-hand him into next Tuesday if she wanted to. “No kidding? Punching out a monster sounds harder than using a sword honestly. I don’t think I could do it.” Losing access to his weapons was part of the reason he’d been so lost in Gralea honestly, when he’d been separated from his friends and forced to rely on the ring’s power alone. Maybe he would have had an easier time there if he had trained with his fists more like Tifa. And wouldn’t that have surprised Ardyn.

The image of ruining the chancellor’s plans by punching out daemons was pretty funny, and it was honestly the first time that Noct had been able to look back at everything without wanting to crawl into a hole. He was grateful to Tifa for that, even if she wasn’t aware of it.

Noctis wasn’t always the most for small talk, but he was aware that he’d been quiet for a while, so he rubbed the back of his neck as he headed off towards the fishing spot he’d seen earlier with her. There was definitely something troubling Tifa, and while it wasn’t in his nature to pry, he felt like he should say something at least. “...Did you find who you were looking for?” With how upset she’d looked when he’d first run into her, he was betting that the answer was either no, or yes but it didn’t go well.

She said it was alright if he talked since she didn’t know anything about fishing, and he laughed a little sheepishly in response. “You don’t want to give me a free pass to talk about fishing. Just cut me off if it’s too much.” It’s what his friends would have done. As for his dad, Noct wasn’t sure that he’d ever tried to talk to the King about his outdoor hobby. His father had been way too busy for that, not that Noctis wanted to dwell on that.

Too late. He was dwelling on it.

Thankfully he couldn’t brood for too long as the lake he remembered seeing while entering the city came into view. There was even a dock leading out a little further into the depths that Noct had eyed longingly when he’d first seen it. There had been one or two people fishing on it then in the daytime, but it was deserted now. Probably because the setting sun was starting to cast long shadows around them. Their loss though. Sunset was one of the best times to fish.

“Alright, here we are.” Hopping up on the dock, Noctis reached into his glaive and summoned two poles into either hand with a flash of blue sparks. He kept the Tranquility for himself and handed over the Mind Breaker rod to Tifa. It was the one that he’d brought with him from Insomnia, and while it wasn’t great for catching huge fish, it was easy to use and reliable. Definitely a great starter pole.

“First things first, you just need to spool the line through the reel. I can walk you through it.” Taking a seat on the dock, he went about showing her how to attach the fishing line. “Then you can pick out the lure, which I think is the fun part. You have to be strategic based on the type of fish you want to catch.”

[attr=class,ooc-notes]Erin pretending she's been fishing in the last 10 years.

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Tifa seemed confident that he could fight with his fists too if he had the proper training, but Noct grimaced a bit at the thought of more classes. He’d spent half his life in training of some kind or another—swords, magic, politics, the list went on. He didn’t relish the thought of more, so he should probably just stick with swords. Tifa sounded tough though. Noctis would probably just break his hand on the first day.

Her conversation with whoever she had been looking for didn’t seem to have gone very well, and he nodded sympathetically as he strung the line through the pole, deciding to let that subject drop for now. She didn’t seem up for talking about it, but maybe after she’d caught a fish or two. That was enough to improve anyone’s mood.

Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind that he could ramble about fishing, and he perked up a bit as she mentioned her own interests. “You’re a bartender?” Noctis hadn’t actually been to very many bars in his life, considering how recognizable he’d been in Insomnia. He and Prompto had gone a couple times with fake IDs though, which would have given the Citadel’s security team a heart attack if they’d ever found out about it. “I bet your fighting comes in handy then. You ever have to throw people out?”

Noctis had pulled the fishing poles from his glaive without really a second thought, but Tifa seemed impressed. He guessed that the rest of the magic that he’d seen on Zephon didn’t exactly line up with Lucian magic too well. “It runs in the family,” he explained a bit wryly, though his lips quirked upward a bit when she said it was cool. “Definitely comes in handy not having to carry anything, but it comes with a lot of other baggage.”

Like an ancient prophecy foretelling your death and an undead chancellor intent on tormenting you and ending your family line. That felt too heavy a topic of conversation for a fishing trip though.

Tifa was a quick learner, and Noctis nodded approvingly as she got her fishing line strung through the pole. “Close on the lures! It’s actually the pole that’s meant to be strong. Lures are what you string on the hook to attract the fish. They look like something they’d want to eat.” He pulled his tackle box out of his glaive with another flash of blue sparks so that he could open it up in front of her and show her his wide selection. “You can either tailor it to the type of fish you want to catch, or you can just go with your gut.” Both had served him pretty well in the past.

He left the decision on Tifa’s lure to her, but for himself, he selected one that resembled a small, thick blue fish. It was called a Big Blaze Bahamut, though he’d never been sure why—it looked literally nothing like the Draconian. Still, it was good for an evening time-frame and he’d had success with both salmon and sea bass with it in the past. Perfect fish for feeding cats with.

Once he’d gotten the lure securely fastened on the hook, he showed her how to cast the line by holding down a small button and flicking out with the pole so that the line went sailing a short distance away before plopping in the water. “Now we wait,” he said afterward, settling in at the end of the dock after making sure that Tifa was all set too. Hesitating for a moment, he glanced over at her. “Hey…thanks for coming. I know I’m a stranger and all, but I’m not really…used to fishing alone anymore. I’m still pretty new to Zephon.”

[attr=class,ooc-notes]Not what Tifa bargained for after Sephiroth I'm sure.