Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
at adventu, we believe that colorful story and plots far outweigh the need for a battle system. rp should be about the writing, the fun, and the creativity. you will see that the only system on our site is the encouragement to create amazing adventures with other members. welcome to adventu... how will you arrive?
year 5, quarter 3
Welcome one and all to our beautiful new skin! This marks the visual era of Adventu 4.0, our 4th and by far best design we've had. 3.0 suited our needs for a very long time, but as things are evolving around the site (and all for the better thanks to all of you), it was time for a new, sleek change. The Resource Site celebrity Pharaoh Leep was the amazing mastermind behind this with minor collaborations from your resident moogle. It's one-of-a-kind and suited specifically for Adventu. Click the image for a super easy new skin guide for a visual tour!
Final Fantasy Adventu is a roleplaying forum inspired by the Final Fantasy series. Images on the site are edited by KUPO of FF:A with all source material belonging to their respective artists (i.e. Square Enix, Pixiv Fantasia, etc). The board lyrics are from the Final Fantasy song "Otherworld" composed by Nobuo Uematsu and arranged by The Black Mages II.
The current skin was made by Pharaoh Leap of Pixel Perfect. Outside of that, individual posts and characters belong to their creators, and we claim no ownership to what which is not ours. Thank you for stopping by.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Zack, it turned out, was a pretty good listener. Prompto still didn’t know how to feel about him, really, and he sure didn’t know if he trusted him but he wanted to and that was something. ”Heh.” Prompto rubbed his neck, glancing at him with a small smile as Zack offered to help him get to where he needed to go. ”You don’t have to. I mean, you’ve probably got other stuff you need to do, and it’s my problem really, but if you really wanted to, I mean…”
He didn’t know what he was saying, but he was also really sick of traveling alone. Would Zack be the best person to go with? Probably not, but boy oh boy was the road lonely without friends.
Zack decided to check if they could move yet, and Prompto nodded shifting onto the balls of his feet just in case. It really was cramped in their hiding hole. Cramped and dusty and gray. He wanted to move deep down in his soul, and he couldn’t help a grin as Zack called back to him that the coast was clear.
”Perfect, time to boogie!”
”Boogie?” Prompto snorted with laughter. ”I like it!”
Zack waved for him and then leapt out, dashing across the twilit yard, and Prompto glanced over at the distracted men to make sure they really were distracted before he followed suit. Zack was a beast tearing across the distance at a speed that Prompto could only barely keep up with, and he didn’t even seem out of breath. It reminded him of Gladio taking his morning runs across the beach. Except Zack didn’t turn around and call him weak once they’d finished their sprint and Prompto came stumbling to a halt behind him, hands on his knees as he tried to just breathe.
It seemed like they’d gotten away though. So mission success?
Zack told him a little about what he’d been doing, about his friends and how he wasn’t really pushing to find them. He seemed so genuinely optimistic, so completely carefree that Prompto was a little jealous. Prompto knew how to keep a smile on his face, sure, but he couldn’t help but worry. All the time. Particularly at a time like this.
Zack didn’t seem to have that problem. He was really cool that way. Strong and cool and confident. Prompto really did want to trust him.
”I’m sure you’ll find them!” Prompto said, perking up in an attempt to match the other man’s energy. ”I mean, I heard about mine when I wasn’t even really looking and they’re way out of the way. And I haven’t actually found them yet, but that’s something. Maybe you’ll just…walk into somebody one day? Depends on how much your friends stick out, I guess. And how many people you talk to.
”Maybe I’ve even seen one of them,” he went on. ”What do they look like? I’ve been around some places.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto’s head was spinning as he left the Angel Eyes Detective Agency that morning. He’d spent a long time in that back room with Cissnei and longer in her office when they officially met the next day. Cissnei was thorough, that was for sure, but it was worth it. She said she needed more time to get her informant to do what she wanted. She said she needed Prompto to get a team together. All of that would take time, time that he didn’t know if they had, but it would all be worth it if it actually worked. Prompto didn’t know if he’d put this much thought into something in his whole life, but that’s what came from traveling alone, he guessed. He didn’t like it. Not one bit.
He missed his friends.
Prompto shivered as he stepped out onto the street. It was cold out, that was for sure. It wasn’t “trying not to turn into a popsicle alone in the middle of the tundra” cold, but it was cold enough that he didn’t like it. He wore his fur-lined jacket that he’d pulled from the liminal space where he kept his guns, and he had on his winter hat too the one that uncomfortably smoothed down his hair. Still, he shivered as he stood on that sidewalk, looking around for which way to go.
There were a lot of people here even in the morning. They pushed past him the way they always did in a city like this. A few cars zipped by, slowing to a stop at the light down the street. He hadn’t really thought about what to do next before he’d left Cissnei’s office. She’d given him a few too many instructions to keep straight on his own.
He needed a bigger strike team. Right now, they had him and Caius to infiltrate the place, but they needed one or two more people at least. Then they needed a getaway driver (where would he find one of those?) and a healer which he hoped he could fill if he could figure out where Yuna lived in Provo. He guessed that was the right place to go then since it was the only lead he had. He’d catch a train out of Sonora, find Yuna in Provo, and then keep going on back to Torensten to meet up with Caius. It was as good a plan as any, he thought, though his thoughts didn’t usually mean much.
”One step at a time, Prompto.”
He shook himself, hoping the bad thoughts would fall right out of his head. Time to get going. It’s not like anything would get done just by standing there.
So he started towards the train station. Or where he thought the station was. He wasn’t the best with directions, and he’d been pretty distracted when Cissnei had brought him to her detective agency so he didn’t really know where he was, but he could always ask for directions if he had to though would that out him as an outsider to these people if he asked? He knew they didn’t like outsiders here so that might put a wrench in his plan, but how bad would it look if he just asked for directions to a train station? Definitely not too bad, right? So he totally could if he had to and-
And…
Prompto felt something.
He didn’t know what it was at first – just a little tug at his mind. Then he felt it again, and he slowed to a stop so suddenly that someone behind him bumped right into him and he stumbled forward and almost landed in a great big pile of dirty snow.
”Watch where you’re going!”
”S-sorry!” Prompto gave an apologetic little wave at the man who’d run into him and then pulled himself together, biting his tongue. He’d felt something. Something real familiar. Something that reminded him of…
Of witches and magic in Alex’s house. It felt like magic.
And that’s when he started running.
Well, not running exactly, but jogging along at the fastest socially acceptable pace that he could use to still slip through the crowd and not get knocked over into the street in front of oncoming traffic. What he felt was magic. The kind used by somebody connected to Noctis. Ignis and Gladio were locked up. So unless they’d escaped on their own…
It had to be…
Didn’t it?
He stopped at a crosswalk, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for the light to change and the little sign on the other side to turn green. He wished he could just warp over the cars like Noctis. Noctis…
”Come on, come on, come on!”
The light changed and he sprinted across the street, dancing away from a car that almost hit him because it stopped too slow. It honked at him. Oh well. He had places to be because if it was really him…If it was really Noctis-!
He tried not to get his hopes up. It could have just been Caius coming to check up on him. But it was hard, real hard when that feeling kept tugging at the back of his head and he was sure somewhere deep down inside what it meant.
”Please, please, let it be him!” he pleaded to no one in particular. Maybe it was a prayer to the Astrals. He didn’t know. ”Let it be Noctis!”
He kept jogging, and he kept hoping, deep down in his heart of hearts, that his wish would come true.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Cissnei told him to keep it down which was something Prompto was used to hearing, but he felt a little ashamed nonetheless. They were in Sonora after all, talking about breaking into a Sonoran prison. He really should have been more careful, but he couldn’t help it. When he got excited, he just couldn’t keep quiet, and boy was he feeling something right now. He felt like a neon sign flashing his feelings so bright it could be seen from space.
Still, he’d try to keep it to himself.
”Sorry,” he whispered, grimacing. He wasn’t sure that it was a quiet whisper, but it was better than nothing. ”How much pressure are we talking about? Cause I won’t talk just because they ask, but if it’s too much pressure, wouldn’t anyone talk? I don’t know.”
Maybe it had been more of a hypothetical question. He felt a little silly even answering.
She had heard of Gladio so that was good though apparently she knew Ignis personally? He wondered what that was about. Had they been separated at some point? It didn’t matter because she also said that she was working on Noctis, and Prompto felt his heart soar hopefully. ”You have? I guess…I guess Ignis would ask you to find him. If you’ve met him before.”
His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. This was a lot. Too much, some might say, but that was okay. It was all what he wanted to hear.
”Any sign of him then? Noctis, I mean.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. ”I’m guessing you haven’t found him, but if you’ve heard anything…”
He bit his tongue. Yeah. He was getting his hopes up way too high.
For now, he needed to focus on Ignis. Cissnei knew where he was, but there was still a lot of work to do from there.
Prompto paused to consider what she’d told him. He wasn’t really used to coming up with the plans or helping to flesh them out once someone else had started on the idea. He was more the kind of guy who kept to the background and did what other people told him to do. But that wasn’t really an option here, was it?
”I’m a gunner,” he said slowly. ”I mean, I’m good with guns. Or any other tech, really. I’m best if I can put some distance between me and them, but I can use just about any tools I find on the way. I cleared out this one place all by myself once, swarming with MTs. Er…those are like soldiers except they’re made of daemons. I can drive a car if no one else is around to do it, but Ignis kind of banned me from getting behind the wheel again so…”
So not great credentials there, really.
”When I saw the prison, there was this big wall of magic around it. I didn’t like the look of it. Maybe there’s a way to turn it off inside. If I can find the switch, I’m sure I’ll be able to figure it out. Plus any other security we might want taken down.”
It felt weird, talking himself up like that. Not that he never talked good about himself. He did a lot, actually, but this felt different. It felt serious. He hoped he wasn’t making himself sound more useful than he really was.
”If you want a small team, I’d say we should probably have three or four people. I’ve already got Caius on board so that’s two. Then…if you need a healer at the safehouse, I think I know somebody. Have you heard of Yuna? We’re friends and she works with Caius so I’m sure she’d help.”
His knee bounced up and down from the nerves. He wasn’t used to thinking this hard.
”So we still need one or two more to help us get in. And a driver.” Prompto glanced at Cissnei nervously. ”Does that sound right?”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] There. He’d gotten it out. Prompto felt a little better now that he knew he’d done his best. Find Cissnei? Done. Ask her for help? Also done. But he’d found Caius and asked him too, and he still remembered how he’d reacted. Caius had looked at him like he was crazy and then they’d had to talk in a closet because Prompto was asking him to go on a suicide mission and they could start some kind of international incident. Prompto didn’t really understand, but he knew it was bad, and he knew he was asking a lot, and he hardly had any money so why would she help somebody like-?
”And you are in luck.” Cissnei leaned back, head tilted with her finger tapping at her cheek. ”I’ve a feeling I have already found them.”
”You…wha-...huh?”
Prompto stared at her.
He stared at her as she described a tall blonde man with glasses. Who went by the name of Ignis.
So good he didn’t even have to say the name! So good she knew where they were before he even got here! Had she known he was coming? Had she known why and gotten a head start? He felt so giddy that he hardly even noticed when she teased him about his straying eyes. None of that mattered anymore because she’d found Ignis.
”Uh-huh! Yeah! I’ll do what you say! Whatever you say! I’m used to taking orders like that. Ignis always comes up with the plans.” He rubbed the back of his neck. He still didn’t quite know what was happening, but it had taken a turn in his favor, and he wasn’t about to complain. ”It’s um. Ignis and Gladio. Do you know about Gladio? I think they’re together. That’s what I saw, anyway. Back where we came from, it was me and them and…Noctis. I want to find him too, but Ignis and Gladio come first cause I know they’re in trouble.”
Which wasn’t how it was supposed to be, he knew. Noctis was supposed to come first, and he did most of the time, but right now he didn’t know where Noctis was and he did know about Ignis, and hopefully Ignis wouldn’t hate him for it too much for it.
”So uh. When do we start? Cause I want to as soon as we can, you know, so they don’t get hurt. But…I know this kind of stuff can take time. What do you think?”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Thankfully, Zack agreed and Prompto let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He was real glad that Zack didn’t want a fight. Then Prompto would have had to have done…something. He didn’t know what. Would he choose to stop him? Fight with him? Or just…leave? He was glad he didn’t have to find out.
Zack moved farther into their hiding place and set his huge sword beside him so he could sit. Prompto followed suit, plopping down carefully in a nook formed out of some jagged stone debris. He sat cross-legged, hands resting on his knees, drumming an anxious beat. He’d never liked sitting still. It was just one of those things he wasn’t good at.
There were a lot of things like that.
”It is getting darker so they might be switching shifts,” Zack said. Prompto frowned and looked out at what he could see of the sky.
He was right. The sun would be setting soon. Prompto felt something sink within him.
”Guess I ran out of time.” Prompto bit his lip. He couldn’t go out on his own at night. This wasn’t Eos. He wouldn’t be jumped by daemons probably, but it was always more dangerous out on the road at night, and he didn’t want to take any chances. Which meant he’d have to stay in Provo for the night which meant that he was wasting travel time to get to Sonora which meant-
Which meant…
”Man, I really screwed up.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. ”I uh. I have somewhere I’m supposed to be. I have to get to Sonora. Fast.”
He didn’t know how much of this would mean anything to someone who’d just landed around here and barely knew what Provo was. He didn’t know how much of it would make sense to someone who’d never heard of Eos, but he was already talking, and Prompto knew it was pointless to resist what he wanted to say.
Knowing his mouth, it’d all come out whether he wanted it to or not.
”I was with my friends before. And then…I woke up here. Alone. I tried to find them, but then I found out they’re in a lot of trouble. I’m headed to Sonora to try to find help. I hope I'm not too late.”
There was that despair, familiar and ready to eat him alive. He choked it back and shook his head. Nope. Not feeling it. Not today. Not right now.
”Heh. Sorry,” he said. ”Just…on the mind, you know?” He glanced at Zack, wondering again just where he came from and what his deal was. He was a real strange guy. That was for sure.
”So uh. Where are you headed? Is there anybody you’re trying to find?”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Zack confirmed that he wasn’t from around here which made Prompto feel a little better though the details on that were…
Concerning.
”You uh. Huh?” He got gunned down? That was…
”Okay, you’re gonna have to slow down on that one because that sounds real bad. Like, are you okay? Are you hurt? Why, uh. Why did they shoot you? Or were they like evil or something? Or was it like a gang thing? Were you in the mob? That sounds like something out of a crime movie.”
He was probably getting ahead of himself.
”We can, uh. Talk about it once we’re out of here. Yeah?” Prompto tried for a grin, but he didn’t think it was very convincing. He was still way too on edge for that. Zack agreed to head out with him, and he went on ahead, leading the way as Prompto followed carefully behind him.
Now that he could get a good look at him, it was obvious that Zack had never been in any real danger climbing around in here. He was tall and muscular, sure, but he moved with a certain grace that reminded him of Ignis. His steps were light, almost perfectly balanced though it didn’t seem like Zack was thinking much about it. Prompto sure was though. He was, perhaps, overthinking it as he worried that every step might cause the whole building to come crashing down on them.
Zack led them out the back way. Prompto struggled to keep pace. He thought about voicing his fears, but somehow managed to bite his tongue. He didn’t want to attract any outside attention when they weren’t technically supposed to be here.
Instead, he listened to Zack talk. Apparently, he was from somewhere out in the country. Prompto liked that kind of place. Nothing but open road and camping and your friends at your side. He liked the city too though with its warm beds and showers. Prompto wasn’t too hard to please, really.
”That sounds…pretty nice!” Prompto said around gasps for breath as he climbed, balanced, and scrambled his way behind Zack. ”I come from somewhere that's- Ack!”
Before Prompto could finish, Zack had grabbed him and shoved him against a with enough force to take his breath away. At first, Prompto thought that maybe he really was finally attacking him, but then he saw the look on Zack’s face and where his eyes were fixed. Prompto took the hint and followed his gaze to a couple of guards roaming around outside their makeshift hiding place. Prompto frowned.
Well that didn’t look good.
”Well,” Zack whispered, ”We could either wait until they move away, find a new exit route, or fight them. Which sounds more fun?”
”Wha-?” Prompto blinked and searched his face for a joke. All he saw was a smile. Which didn’t mean Zack wasn’t joking, but there wasn’t any sign that he was either. ”Wait, hold up, we can’t fight them. They’re just doing their job! I don’t want to hurt anybody!”
Prompto tried to keep his voice down to an urgent whisper. He hoped the men outside didn’t notice.
”So. We should find another way, I guess.” He felt suddenly uncomfortable. The idea that he was taking shelter with a crazy man resurfaced, and he tried to shove it away again. He had no idea who Zack was or what he was about. He didn’t want to make assumptions either.
”They shouldn’t be there that long. Then we can sneak past. I think.” He hoped. ”Let’s just wait it out.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Was she…enjoying this? Her face was all red, but she sure didn’t look embarrassed. The look in her eyes…it was almost too much. If she looked at him like that much longer, he might just forget about everything, forget about his friends, forget about his mission, and just…give in.
But she knew Cissnei. That was her answer. That Cissnei was “good at finding out one’s desires.” Well that…wasn’t really what he’d asked. But it shook some of the heat out his head all the same. ”Really? You know her?”
He’d barely gotten the question out before she sat next to him. Close next to him. He tried to shift away but she just moved closer. Then she reached out for the bottle of wine on the table.
”In fact, I am Cissnei,” she said, and Prompto felt his heart stop.
”O-oh.”
Oh.
All of Caius’ words came flooding back. ’She’s nice enough, but that woman always has her own agenda.’ ‘Don’t put your full trust in her.’ ‘I know a cold killer when I see one.’
’Especially don’t drink with her around.’
He watched Cissnei uncork the bottle of wine and pour him a glass. He stared at it and then at her. And in that moment, he understood.
He understood Caius’ warnings. He understood them all too well. Cissnei was dangerous. She was, perhaps, the most dangerous person he’d ever met in his life. And given his life, that was really saying something.
”I, um…”
Words. Words wouldn’t come. Words were a thing of a bygone era where he wasn’t at the mercy of an armed informant dealer in a corset and fishnet stockings. That should have killed any hold she had over him, but it didn’t. Because she still looked like that. Because she was still so, so, so close. Because part of him (the part he wasn’t proud of) still wondered just how far this would go.
She asked him a question, but that didn’t matter because her lashes were lowered in a steamy gaze set right on him, and he had to swallow back everything that made him want to do.
”Y-yeah,” he said. ”C-Caius didn’t send me. Er…he didn’t send me for him. I wanted…I mean, I need…”
Think, Prompto!
”I need…help. Finding my friends.” He closed his eyes. He needed a moment to collect himself. He couldn’t see her, but he could smell her perfume and that was almost worse. Still, he forced himself to breathe. His nails dug into the fabric of his jeans. Breathe. He had to pull himself together.
”I’m…looking for my friends,” he said again. ”They’re in a prison in Sonora. That’s all I know. It’s a prison out near the mountains where there’s still snow. And there was some kind of a magic wall around it. I saw them, but I don’t know where it is. And that’s…why I need help.”
Slowly, carefully, he opened his eyes. He was still in the same sleazy room with velvet curtains and satin benches. In front of him was the glass of wine that he couldn’t drink now because he hadn’t been watching it closely and Caius told him no. Then there was Cissnei. He tried not to look at too hard at Cissnei.
”Caius said you don’t work for free. I’d give anything. When I saw my friends, they were…in really bad shape. Which was why this couldn’t wait.”
He risked a glance at her. ”Do you think…you could find them?”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] There were some things that Prompto knew he could handle. Monsters, for one thing. And MTs. He knew how to handle his guns and a camera and Noctis. There were also things that he knew he couldn’t handle like cars or directions or math tests. If he’d been asked on a good day, he’d have said that he could totally handle women too. Probably. If he had the chance.
And he would have been so, so very wrong.
As the singer looked at him and let out a deep, throaty growl, he realized too late that he could not handle this. Not at all. He had, in fact, never felt more out of his depth in his life. Then she was crawling on him and looking him in the eye and he felt things that made it hard to breathe and oh gods why was this happening to him?
He wanted to run. He knew for a fact that there was pure terror in his eyes. Had he gone paler? Redder? He didn’t know, but he hadn’t felt this scared fighting off daemons and he didn’t know what to do about it. He’d come here for a reason, some voice told him. He’d come to find someone. To help his friends. But that voice was a teeny, tiny speck compared to the dual infernos of fear and lust raging through him.
Why was she picking on him? Why, after he’d saved her from falling? Was she into him now? Did she think she was doing him a favor? What was she-?
She tugged him to his feet, and he was powerless but to follow. She had him on a leash, and she knew it. He’d follow her anywhere. Do anything for her.
Goddess, the voice whispered. He was transfixed by her power.
Time seemed meaningless as she danced across the room, tugging him along beside her. Every now and then, her attention would turn to another poor, unfortunate follower here to worship at her altar. Always, however, she would fix her gaze back on him and lure him closer once again.
Closer and closer until they were in another room and she’d pulled a rope and the curtains closed and-
And-
And what was she going to do to him now?
They were alone. Alone together. In a satiny room behind a velvet curtain in the red light district. And she was dressed like that and he was here and she’d brought him here and-
Oh no.
He stared at her in abject horror as she faced the curtain, back turned to him, her fiery hair a curtain over her bare shoulders. What was she going to do to him? What did he want her to do to him?
Noctis, help me!
She turned to him.
And then she spoke.
She thanked him. And told him that she smelled his fear.
He made a noise that was not dignified. Something between an 'Ah' and a tortured moan. Words would not come. They were long beyond him now.
But she asked him a question. A question he should probably answer. ’Maybe I can help you.’
Help him? He could think of lots of ways she could help him. Either by escorting him out or getting a lot closer than she was right now. But that wasn’t why he was here, was it? He was here because…
Because…
”I-I’m looking for someone,” he said before his brain could really catch up to him. ”I um. I came a long way to see her. She’s, uh. Supposed to be real good at finding stuff. Information, I mean. And Caius told me she was in Sonora but when I went to the place he told me, she wasn’t there, and someone said she’d be here and it really can’t wait so-”
So…
”So. I came here.” He swallowed. ”You don’t, uh. Know a Cissnei, do you?”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto really really didn’t know what to make of this guy. Part of him wanted to lower his defenses, accept that the mysterious man with the giant sword definitely seemed okay, and chalk it all up to some weird set of circumstances he couldn’t understand. The other part of him (the one that sounded a lot like Ignis) told him that the first part was stupid and he needed to keep on his toes. He wished Ignis was here to make the call. He was always a lot better at making plans than he was.
But he wasn’t, and that was kind of why Prompto had come through here in the first place. So it was up to Prompto to decide what to do, and boy oh boy did he not know what to do.
”Have you…not been to Provo before?” Prompto asked slowly. Apparently the guy had been “lost” until he’d seen a sign. He made it sound like he’d never even heard of the city before which meant…
Wait a second.
”You’re not from here, are you?” Wheels were turning. Slow, rusty wheels as all the pieces slotted into place. ”Oh! Well uh. Yeah, that makes sense! Totally been there, bro. I guess you just wanted to check it out, right? I got into some trouble up north the same way. Except it ended up pretty bad. Then Alex found me and-”
Some signal from his brain told his mouth to stop moving. He was just so relieved to finally understand something that he couldn’t help it. He talked when he was relieved. He also talked when he was nervous, scared, or excited. Prompto just liked to talk, really.
”Uh, anyway. I guess I get it if you’re new.” He shifted his weight, rubbing the back of his neck. The guy introduced himself as Zack Fair, and Prompto nodded. He hadn’t heard that name before, but it was nice to learn something new. ”I’m Prompto,” he told him. ”Nice to meet’cha!”
He wasn’t actually sure if it was nice or not. They were in a big field of debris, after all, and Prompto still didn’t know if he trusted him or not, but it felt like the right thing to say so he said it. Plus, if the guy was like him then he probably needed a friend right about now. Prompto knew he sure had when he’d been new.
He still did, actually.
”You should tell me about where you’ve been. Where you came from. What you’ve been up to. If you need any directions…” Wait, he was forgetting something, wasn’t he? Prompto glanced around at their dismal surroundings, nerves creeping back into his smile. ”Er, maybe we should get out of here first though. I do not want to be here when it all falls apart.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] For not the first time, Prompto felt like he was really, really not in his element.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like cities. He loved them, actually, that sweet, sweet civilization and all, but Sonora always made him uncomfortable (it was too much like Niflheim) and this place in particular, well…
Prompto didn’t know another word for it. Somehow, someway, he seemed to have stumbled into some kind of red light district.
Which would have been fine. Great, even if his friends were around! He could imagine himself begging Noctis to come somewhere like this that was all lit up in dull colored lights where the streets were never empty and smelled like whiskey and perfume. There were girls too. Lots of girls hovering around the kind of places that promised even more girls inside and more than once Prompto had to force his eyes on his feet, cheeks thoroughly red, just to keep from getting distracted. He was here for a reason. He had something to do. Something important. And he’d do it! Even if it meant resisting the call of the streetside sirens of Velvet Street.
Caius had told him where to find Cissnei and he’d gone there, but the office was empty and after asking around, this was where the people that knew her had sent him. He was starting to wonder if it was some prank. Or maybe she liked to gather information around here. That wouldn’t surprise him. If any of those women had sidled up to him, he’d probably have told them anything they wanted to hear.
His journey took him to a dingy looking place with a great big neon sign which read “Hell’s Angel” in flickering lights. It sure wasn’t the kind of place he was used to, and for a moment, Prompto just stood outside it, staring. He saw men go in and drunker, flustered looking men stumble out. All the windows were curtained so he couldn’t peek inside any way but the front door. And inside, he heard singing.
This was really, really not his kind of place – at least not without Noctis to give him some kind of support. But Noctis wasn’t here and that was the point and if saving his friends meant visiting a strip club then he’d just have to do what he had to do!
So Prompto steeled himself, took a deep breath, and started inside. He hoped he looked old enough. Did Sonora even have drinking age laws? What did a valid ID even look like around here? It didn’t matter because he was let inside no problem. He guessed he looked pretty mature for his age. That must have been it.
The scene he walked in on was loud and dark and crowded. The place was crammed with tables and the tables were crammed with men who looked really into the whole thing. On each table was the faint glow of a candle that was about it when it came to lighting. The whole place looked like a fire hazard to him, but he could still see mostly by the light of the stage which spotlighted a single woman rooted to its center. And as he saw her, standing there, time seemed to slow to a halt.
She was singing. He knew she was singing, but he couldn’t really make out the words. There was just her, fiery and beautiful with her hand trailing up her chest, swaying like a cobra captivating her prey. She was smiling. Was she smiling at him? No, probably not him. But it felt like him and he could hear his heart in his ears as his eyes trailed from her heels up her netted stockings and-
”Psst! Sit down! You’re blocking the view!”
”Huh?”
A man behind him called him something real rude and he blinked, shaking the fog from his head. Right. He was just kind of…standing there, wasn’t he?
But where was he supposed to sit?
And how the heck was he supposed to find that Cissnei woman in a place like this?
Well, first things first, he had to find a chair somewhere which he did somewhere uncomfortably near the back. He had to share the table with some guys he didn’t know and who looked about twenty years older than him. They didn’t seem happy that he was sitting with them, but he didn’t see anywhere else so he just sank shamefully into a plastic chair and hoped they wouldn’t say anything. They didn’t.
The performance continued though he felt a little more dispirited now than before. This place was so dark, so cramped, and so distrating that he had no hope of finding Cissnei. If she was even here to begin with. He was starting to think he’d have done better to just camp outside her office and hope she came back. He had lots of experience in camping. He’d just need a tent and a sleeping bag and maybe something to eat (he was starving) and-
The music picked up, and suddenly there were women everywhere.
Prompto almost yelped in surprise as wave upon wave of beautiful women cascaded in from the doors he hadn’t even noticed, and suddenly all of his worries were dashed away. There were tall women and short women, blondes and brunettes and some of a darker complexion and they were all pinched together in their perfect curves cinched at the waist with high heeled stilettos and curls swaying with their movements and one of them stopped near him and his eyes landed on her breasts swelling out of her corset and would any of them talk to him probably not but what if what if what if-?
In the center of it all was the red head. She was still singing as she stepped off stage. She was coming closer.
”Step this way! It’s time for us to play They say we may not pass this way again! So let’s waste no more time! Bring on the men!”
She was right there. Right in front of him. So close he could see the candlelight glistening against her dark red lipstick and the thin layer of sweat over her breasts and then-
And then…
The table erupted into whistles and hollers as she threw herself across it, sprawling backwards with her back arched and her knee drawn up and Prompto stared at that knee, bare except for the fish nets which ended at her thigh and the whole table whooped as she tussled her hair around wildly, but Prompto just sat there, frozen with terror, awe, and something else nameless that he’d felt before but never like this and she sat up just enough to grab a man’s tie and pull him closer and he thanked the Astrals that wasn’t him because he might have just had a heart attack but what if it was him how would it feel to be so close, staring into her eyes, smelling her perfume and-
And then she was gone. She was still dancing. Prompto let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
He didn’t like this place, he decided. It was too much. Way, way too much for just him alone. If he wasn’t careful, he’d end up getting hurt or worse -- getting his heart broken.
”I suppose a rose by any other name… The perfume and the prick’s the same.”
Prompto saw what would happen a moment before it did. He saw her heel catch on an outstretched boot, saw her lose balance, saw her fall against a kind of small guy in the entry way that jerked away in shock. Prompto didn’t think to move. He saw it all happen one thing after another and reacted with the kind of speed that could only be honed looking after your buddies in too many chaotic fights with monsters to count.
As the red-haired woman tripped, Prompto was already on his feet. As she collided with the man in the doorway, he was already behind her, and as the man pushed her away on instinct and she started toppling backwards, he’d slid under her, arms outstretched to catch her before her head could hit the floor.
She landed and he caught her and it was only then that his thoughts caught up to him and he’d realized just what he’d done and that he now held a beautiful woman in his arms.
He felt heat rise to his cheeks. ”Oh, uh. H-hey.” He felt his throat closing in on itself, threatening to strangle him. ”Careful there! Almost hurt yourself. Heheh.”
Maybe if he willed it hard enough, he’d sink into the floor and never rise again.
