”A spare...camera?” Prompto shook his head. ”Nah, man. Not on me. Though I’ve got a bunch at home. They’ve all got a different feel, you know? A different soul.” Prompto didn’t know if that made sense, but it made sense to him, and that was all that mattered. He thought so anyway. ”But yeah. Totally it's cool. And mine. I’m not giving up my camera for anyone.”

Wouldn’t that be a trip? Losing his camera just like everything else? He might just totally snap.

That wouldn’t be good.

Alex gave him a broom and he gripped it like how Ignis had taught him. Not that he couldn’t figure out how to use a broom on his own, but apparently there was a proper form to these kinds of things and an improper one. Prompto was pretty much improper about everything, but he wanted to do this right. So he went around the shop, keeping his brush strokes short and neat as he tried to replay all of Ignis’ cleaning advice in his head.

It was only Prompto now. And Alex seemed even more hopeless than he did.

Prompto was busy trying to sweep a particularly stubborn line of wood debris into the dustpan when Alex spoke again. ”So, uh. Hate to dampen the mood, but…” Alex lingered on that ‘but’ long enough for Prompto to look up, head tilted. ”Tell me about Ardyn, please.”

”H-huh?” Prompto felt a chill run down his spine at that name. He wanted him to…?

”About him? Er, yeah. I guess. Why?” Prompto straightened up, trying hard to look casual, but he felt himself fidgeting, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Alex wanted to know about Ardyn. He could get that. Totally got it, in fact. So why did it make Prompto’s skin crawl?

”I don’t actually know that much. Just. What he did…” He rubbed at the side of his head, ruffling his hair. ”So, uh. What do you want to know?”

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”Huh? My camera?” Prompto looked down at it, still hanging from his neck. He’d never really thought about it like that. Not like ’making an instant painting’ or whatever. That told him two things. One, that he really was in some kind of fantasy adventure. Two, that he probably wouldn’t find somewhere to get the pictures developed anytime soon.

Bummer.

”Well, it’s not magic,” he said before he slowed down, thinking about what Alex had really said. ”Wait, you want to hear about it? Really?” This was the time when Ignis or Gladio or even Noctis would have told Alex that that was a bad idea. They’d have told him that once Prompto got started, there was no stopping him. But his friends weren’t there, and the question had been asked, and Prompto instantly straightened up, beaming like a sunflower.

”Sure! If you really want to know!” He held up his camera again and explained every function of it in length. He went on about how the light would hit the lens, how the glass would redirect it for clarity, and how the sensor read it as data. He talked about old cameras, how they would burn the image into film, but how he didn’t need that anymore with computers and all.

”You know about computers, right?” he asked then gave a nervous laugh. ”Well they’re, um. You know. They read data and show it on a screen. They can store all kinds of information and do stuff with it. Anyway.”

He showed him all the specific functions of his own camera. He focused and unfocused it, letting Alex hold it only if he promised to be very, very careful. He even let Alex snap a few and then showed him what he got. ”Very nice!” Prompto said with a grin. ”You’re a natural!”

Man, cameras were the best.

With that done, Prompto settled back on his heel, letting his camera hang from his neck again. Now that he was on a roll, he didn’t know when he’d need it again. He was inspired.

”You’re sure you want to pay me?” he asked. ”I mean, you’re letting me stay here. I kind of owe you.” For that and a lot more. If Alex hadn’t shown him, he’d either have ended up in prison or with a lot of blood on his hands. Prompto didn’t know which one was worse. ”But I guess if you insist.” Prompto looked over the book and then reached for the pen only to find that it was one of those old-timey things that used a feather. He laughed.

”Wow, this really is old fashioned, huh?” He signed his name with a little extra flourish that made it look like a third grader trying to seem fancy. ”Alright, boss! Reporting and ready for duty!” Prompto grinned. ”Broom, please!”

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”Nice!”

Prompto leaned back, camera at his eye as he tried for the perfect tilted angle. His subject -- a carnival stall with pinned plush chocobos. Above it, a kind of sparkling hologram of a cartoon bird trotted along, sometimes shaking out its wings. Prompto waited for just the right moment then Snap!, he took the shot. He giggled to himself and looked down at his screen, flipping through the album. ”Oh yeah. That’s what I’m talking about!”

The scene was set in perfect atmospheric light. He’d accidentally shot it just in time for a burst of colored lights behind the tent, bursting up into the sky. It was funny how things lined up that way.

”Now for more sights.” He kept his camera in his hands as he looked around, eyes bright. He was still in awe at the place, all lit up with those holograms and the glittering lights. They were like fireworks except small and, he thought, magical. So cool. Down the street, there was a carousel, spinning slowly to the sound of tinkling fair music. The whole thing was like something he’d have dreamed up when he was a kid.

Or now. Man, it was all so exciting!

He wandered down the street, grinning so wide his cheeks hurt. It was cool just being here. Really cool and fun and it hadn’t cost him anything! He tried to keep his mind on that instead of how he’d got here. He’d only just showed up at the city when he’d heard about the festival and the sign-ups for The Voyage de Amour. Ignis and Gladio would have groaned at that, but Prompto thought it sounded romantic so he’d signed up in a heartbeat. Free food? Free fun? And a date?

His heart pounded at that last one. A date. He had no idea what awaited him, and that made his palms sweat. Would she like him? He hoped she’d like him. She had to like him, right?

Right. No way he’d strike out this time.

There was a great whoosh of air, and Prompto jumped, stopping to stare at the thing in front of him. It was like an air tunnel. It was like a great big fan thrusting someone up and up and up until they were floating there, shrieking with delight. Prompto fumbled for his camera and shoved it against his eye, calculating the right settings in an instant and snapping the picture. It was a girl. A really cute girl in a halter top and short skirt and she was flying. Prompto watched her for a while longer before he looked down at his camera, flipping through the pictures. There she was and it was beautiful. The shot! The angles! The lights! Then there was his subject who looked like a kind of fairy goddess, floating way up high and-

She wore a badge pinned to her front. It was red.

”Huh?” Prompto scrambled to look at his own badge, pinned among the other patches on his vest jacket. Red. Definitely red. He looked between his camera and his jacket a few more times before looking back up at the girl. She was on the ground now, and she was looking at him and she was smiling.

She waved.

Prompto’s face erupted into a grin as he laughed, thrusting a hand up in the air and waving it with his whole arm. ”Hey!” he called over the crowd before he hopped on his heel and jogged over to her. Alright, Prompto. Play it cool. Real cool.

He swallowed. Yeah. Cool. That was him.

”So, uh. I see you’ve got a badge.” Prompto pointed at it as he came to a stop then he pointed at his own. ”I’ve got one too. I guess...we’re a match?” He gave a little laugh before leaning back on his heel, one thumb looped into the pocket of his jeans. ”Unless I’m totally wrong. Which is cool. You look good. Real good!” Laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you? ”Oh, uh. I’m Prompto! Yeah!” He held out a hand. ”Nice to meet’cha!”

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”Oh. Uh. Hm.” They resembled him? It didn’t sound like the big sword guy resembled him too much. Except they were both blonde and liked hair gel. By that logic, Alex also resembled him, but Prompto didn’t think so too much. He tried to imagine what kind of fight would have wrecked the guild like this. It was probably something big and climactic and like something out of a cartoon. Or a videogame.

Or just Noct fighting anything. That’d always been cool to watch.

”Yeah, I don’t think it was because of that guy.” Prompto rubbed at his neck. He didn’t want to tell him any more, but it was probably a good thing to do. Partly because he owed him an explanation. Partly because if he ran into anything weird, he wanted Alex to have heard it from Prompto first. Just so he knew that Prompto hadn’t gone evil. That’d be bad. ”Er. There’s a ton of guys who look just like me turns out. Maybe one of them messed up?”

And went nuts in the city. Maybe they got confused and thought it was Niflheim? The daemon ooze did something to your head, he thought. It wasn’t like they’d been born the way they were. Or...created. Grown?

Prompto winced.

”But who knows!” Prompto tried to perk up, keeping the tightness out of his throat. His voice cracked. ”You know. It’s really hard to say.”

And that was exactly as much thought as Prompto was willing to give it.

”Sucks about your shop though. Sounds like it was a real bad fight.” Course it was. Making that kind of impression. ”So what’ve you got for me?” Prompto swung his legs and hopped off the crate, standing at attention with a joking hand over his heart. ”Prompto, reporting for cleaning duty!”

Yeah. That’d do it.

”I’ve got a friend who’s real neat. Like, cleaning neat. He’s always trying to get us to help out so I know what I’m doing. Iggy approved!” Not that Alex would know Ignis’ name. Or would he? Creepy.

”Videogames are…” Prompto started then froze. ”Wait, a dark knight? Seriously?” Oh man. That was cool. So cool. ”Like. Like a disgraced blood knight? Living part shadow, part light? Is that where you got your crazy powers from? Seriously?”

Man, this really was like a videogame! Thankfully, his whole career of videogames and cartoons in high school had prepared him for this. Take that, mom!

”So you’re a dark knight in an adventurer’s guild taking quests? Do you get xp? Grind out dungeons and raids?” Prompto made a longing noise. ”So. Freaking. Cool!”

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