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.
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year 5, quarter 3
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[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Somehow Noctis was in the back of another taxi that was heading into Sonora, but he had hope that this time would end with fewer explosions. For one, Alex wasn’t here. That was a big part of it. For another, he was more prepared this time for what Sonora had to offer. He had on his winter weather outfit, which consisted of jeans, a blue coat with a vest over the top, and a cap that Gladio always judged him for. Noct had no idea why himself. He thought the hat looked pretty damn cool.
There was a bottleneck of cars to pass through the gates of the city, and Noctis drummed his fingers on his leg impatiently as he craned his head to look out the window. They were close enough to the front at this point that he could see the border patrol agents stopping each car before they could pass, and it frustrated him to no end even if they were just doing their job. He was in a hurry today though—he desperately wanted to catch Prompto before he left Cissnei’s place. Or even worse, left the city. Noctis wasn’t sure that he could take just barely missing him again. He had to find one of the guys this time. He just had to.
There were only two cars ahead of them now, and it was at this point that Noctis noticed the driver handing over some kind of papers that the border agent was examining. That set off his alarm bells a bit, and he leaned into the middle of the car to talk to the cab driver.
“Hey.” The heat was on full blast, and his bangs fluttered lightly against his face as he tried to get the guy’s attention. “What exactly are they checking for?”
The man’s eyes flickered towards him in the rearview mirror. “Just identification. You can hand yours up to me now if you want, we’re close enough.”
Noctis’ mind immediately flashed to his Insomnia driver’s license or his defunct school ID. Neither of them felt like they’d work in this kind of situation. “Identification?” There was only one car ahead of them now.
“Anything from the other cities works fine. They just don’t want to let in any brand-new otherworlders, yeah? Too much trouble.”
Noctis’ eyes got a little bigger but he said nothing. They were pulling up to the checkpoint now, and the cab driver was rolling down the window to hand over his own papers from Provo. As he turned back to collect his passenger’s though, the man blinked in surprise. Noctis had vanished. Where he had been sitting was just a small pile of gil to pay for the trip. Too bad it was the gil from home.
For his part, Noctis was currently dangling from a sword halfway up the wall that surrounded Sonora. The blade wedged into the stone wasn’t as stable a handhold as he would have liked, and he winced as a gust of cold wind nearly made him lose his grip. Still, he couldn’t go through the front gate legally without first registering with another city apparently. There was nowhere to go but up, and he eyed the distance to the top of the wall a bit dubiously. There was definitely a path for the guards to walk around up there, but getting there was the problem. He couldn’t exactly float without unleashing the full power of his armiger, and he’d only managed to do that once with Luna’s help during the battle against Leviathan. Maybe his time in the crystal would have taught him to do it on command, but that didn’t exactly help him now.
“Alright. I got this,” he muttered, trying to pump himself up as he gingerly braced both feet against the wall while carefully letting go of the sword with his right hand. If he thought his position was precarious before, it was nothing compared to dangling one-handed, so he didn’t waste any time in summoning a dagger to his free hand. Chucking the dagger upwards, he simultaneously pushed off against the wall and yanked his sword free. Warping upwards, he managed to roll forward and banish both weapons, completing a somersault and hopping to his feet safe and sound on the top of the wall. He whooped in victory, feeling almost sad that none of his friends had seen that move, before realizing that his head felt lighter and that he’d almost certainly lost his hat doing it.
Shit.
“Hey! What are you doing up here?!” Speaking of shit, a guard had noticed him, and Noctis raised both gloved hands as he stared down the gun that was pointed at him. “I can explain,” he tried a bit feebly. Normally he would have had no trouble fighting back, but this wasn’t an MT or anything. This was just a normal person doing their job, so as the woman approached him, he made the executive decision to run instead of fight. And by run, he decided to just let himself fall backwards off the wall towards the city.
The woman made a squawk of distress as he fell, but Noctis didn’t get a good look at her expression. For one, the air was almost unbearably cold as it whipped around his body and made his eyes water. For another, he was too busy making sure that he didn’t splatter to death on the pavement. Warping to the side at the last second before he would have hit, Noctis instead took a rough tumble across the sidewalk in a tangle of his own limbs. Not the most graceful of landings, and he had probably ripped his clothes, but he was alive and inside the city. A win was a win.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Caius seemed to think it was pretty funny that Noctis stored his fishing equipment in his glaive, and the prince glanced at him in interest when he mentioned that he did too. “You know, I think we’ll get along just fine.” It was actually pretty nice to have someone to fish with again. His friends had never had much interest in joining him, but they had been huge fans of back-seat fishing and reminding him to respool the line. It had gotten kind of old at the time, but he found that he missed it now that he was alone. Hopefully they could rescue them soon.
Caius seemed to wave off the thought of Prompto spilling his life story to a pretty girl by admitting that he had before too. Noctis almost asked if that girl was here on Zephon, but he thought better of it. He didn’t want to bring up any bad memories for the kingsglaive if his girlfriend was still back home on Eos. Especially since he didn’t really want to talk about Lunafreya on his end, and she was still the only girl he’d ever been interested in. Maybe that was why Ardyn had killed her. He seemed to want Noctis to hate him, even if he still wasn’t sure why.
The prince’s mood was going to plunge way too fast if he kept on that line of thought, so he was glad that Caius continued onto the stories that he’d apparently told Cissnei about the king of Lucis and his ‘exploits.’ That at least was enough to make him laugh a little. “You mean my dad actually had exploits?” Sure, Noctis had heard stories from Cid, Weskham, and Clarus about King Regis’ journey to collect all the royal arms, but it was a lot different to hear it from someone his own age. It made it sound like he’d continued to be exciting, and Noctis had never really seen that side of him. He’d been more of a stern king than anything since the war with Niflheim had worsened.
Noctis adjusted his grip on the fishing pole as Caius gave a way too specific example that he hoped Prompto didn’t get drunk and let slip to Cissnei that he cared about someone, because apparently she’d spread it if doing so would benefit her. “...Dude. She did that to you?” He asked, since Caius hadn’t exactly been subtle about where that had come from. “That’s pretty messed up…I don’t think we have to worry about Prompto though. Everyone and their grandfather already knows that he likes our mechanic. He literally calls her the grease-monkey goddess.” It was one of those nicknames that made him worry about Prompto really. His friend just turned into such a stuttering mess around girls, but he was bound to grow out of it someday. Probably.
Noctis had to grimace a bit at Caius’ description of Sonora. It really did sound like they were walking into a still-occupied Gralea. He’d never had the chance to do that back home after Ardyn had the place overrun with daemons, but there was nothing else for it here with his friends on the line. Ignis and Gladio were probably suffering pretty bad it sounded like, but at least they weren’t in danger of being executed before they could stage a rescue. They were all screwed if the rescue went poorly apparently, but Noctis waved aside the possibility of execution for himself. He was way too used to being on the run.
“That’s probably what Niflheim would have done if they’d caught me too. Same fate, just a different place.” On the other hand, he had no idea what Ardyn had planned for him. His last words before Noctis had been sucked into the crystal only raised more questions than answers really. He wanted a proper fight once Noct had reached full power, and he wanted him to come mad and ready to kill him. But why?
Not that dwelling on Ardyn mattered until his friends were safe.
It suddenly occurred to Noctis that this was a lot more to risk for Caius than it was for him. “Hey…” Taking the risk to only hold onto his fishing pole with one hand, Noctis turned to face the blond man a little more seriously. “Don’t feel like you have to get involved with that directly. I know you barely know us, and it sounds like you have a pretty good thing going on here. I wouldn’t ask you to put any of that at risk when you’ve already helped us a lot.” Honestly, he wasn’t sure that they couldn’t use the help, but he didn’t want Caius to feel like he had to join the rescue because he used to be one of Regis’ kingsglaive. That was all.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] After Noctis took him up on his offer to join them fishing, Caius and Vordun moved back to the water’s edge. Trailing after them, Noct settled into a sandy patch of ground near the kingsglaive. Personally he was hoping to get a little closer to the dragon, but he understood that Vordun wanted to sit next to the guy he actually knew. Cats were the same way. You had to be patient if you wanted to earn their trust. Of course, throwing in a little food never hurt either.
Caius was nice enough to offer him some fishing gear, but Noctis waved him off with the trace of a grin. “Thanks. My fishing rods came with me though since I stored all that in my glaive. I guess I should have put more everyday objects in there. Our camping gear would really come in handy right about now.” As he spoke, he summoned his fishing pole to his hand in a shower of tiny blue sparks before he set about dealing with spooling the line. Truthfully, storing his fishing rod next to the royal arms of his ancestors had been bordering on disrespectful in some people’s eyes, but he had never seen the issue himself. It was certainly his first weapon of choice aside from the Engine Blade.
As he worked on attaching a reel and selecting a lure that would be suitable for the ocean in the daytime, Caius painted him a thorough picture of Cissnei. It was a well-rounded description, and he got a better idea of why Caius had pointed Prompto to her. She sounded a bit like Aranea honestly—competent and capable, you probably couldn’t trust her, but in the end she might mean well. Or at least she had what you needed.
“...Yeah, I trust Prompto. I know he’ll do whatever he can to get them out. If Cissnei wants his life story though, then she probably has it,” he admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s not really known for his restraint. So hopefully she doesn’t find much use for any of that info outside of Eos.” Anyway, that was a problem for after Ignis and Gladio were safe. If Cissnei could help his retainers, then he didn’t really care how shady she was in the meantime. Though considering how much help they’d once had to accept from the Chancellor of Niflheim, Noctis was used to situations where he was forced to rely on someone that he’d rather not. He was also familiar with how badly that could go wrong.
The thought of Ardyn left a sour taste in his mouth, so he cast the line into the ocean a bit further than he’d wanted to. Grimacing, he reeled it in a little as he tried to process all the information that Caius had given him. “Please tell me you’re joking about the robot houses.” He probably wasn’t. There was probably a story there. Noctis wanted it.
He also wanted to ask the question that had been bothering him since he had learned where Ignis and Gladio were. “...Hey. How similar is Sonora to Niflheim? Would they try to execute them?”
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Caius got a bit emotional when Noctis thanked him for trying to save his dad, so the dark-haired prince politely glanced out towards the sea to give him a moment. Truthfully the whole topic was getting him pretty worked up too, but he was glad to have met a glaive, even if they were far from home. Especially one that had almost given everything for his father. He just wished he could thank Caius somehow, but he didn’t really know the man well enough yet to tell what he would want.
Well. Maybe a way home, but Noctis was itching for that himself.
The blue dragon seemed to understand human language pretty well, because he visibly perked up when Noctis mentioned fish. Caius invited him to join the pair of them, and Noctis brightened before remembering that he had to high-tail it back to Sonora now. “Maybe just for a little bit. Sounds like I need to get back up north.” He wasn’t relishing the return journey either. It had been freezing and he had spent half of it clinging to Alex on the back of a chocobo after their stolen taxi had exploded.
That whole escape wasn’t his finest moment. Ignis would probably have a heart attack if he ever heard the story, but he really hadn’t had much of a choice. Plus he’d left gil behind to pay for the car. That made it better, right?
…Right?
Morally dubious scenarios aside, he really didn’t like the picture that Caius painted of Cissnei. She sounded like the kind of girl that Prompto would trip and spill all his secrets to before he even had time to take a breath or think about what he’d just done. Noctis also let out a slightly pained noise when Caius described some kind of run-in Prompto had apparently had with Caius’ intern. For everyone’s sake, he hoped she at least wasn’t too young.
“Yeah, you’ve definitely met him,” he said a little sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry if he made her uncomfortable. He’s been like that with girls since high school. I always figured he’d calm down someday.” Probably. Hopefully. At least maybe once he had cause to be less desperate, though the thought of him going off and having a normal life with some faceless stranger made Noctis a little uncomfortable. His life was always going to end up right here, but Prompto could have taken a different path if he’d wanted. Ignis and Gladio could have too, really.
He’d never known how to tell the three of them just how grateful he was for them choosing to share his fate.
Clearing his throat, Noctis crossed his arms to cover that brief vulnerable thought. “You don’t seem to trust her much. How’d you two meet?” He asked instead. “And…anything you know about Sonoran prisons in general?”
That last question may have been a bit too blunt in showing where his head was at. If there was no getting Ignis and Gladio out peacefully, then he’d storm the walls if he had to. Somehow Noctis thought a glaive would respect that line of thinking though. The ones he had known before had always been soldiers of action. Hopefully Caius wasn’t any different.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] 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,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Noctis dropped his head forward when Caius gave him the bad news that he’d just missed Prompto by a few days. “Figures…” Ironically, Noct himself had just come down from Sonora and Provo, so they must have passed each other in transit at some point. That was just his luck. If the gods existed here, then they weren’t exactly on his side this time.
Then again, when had they ever been?
Caius shared that he still had his powers, which made Noctis raise an eyebrow. Lucian powers were supposed to be connected to the sovereign who had given it to them, so he should in theory have lost it after Noctis’ dad had died in the attack on Insomnia. He nodded slowly though as Caius explained a little further. “So you were brought here during the invasion? I…guess that could make sense. If this place exists outside of time for Eos or something.” That was the only thing that could make sense really. If Regis was still alive at this point in time for Caius.
It was weird though—he never thought he’d see a kinsglaive again. Especially not one who had been willing to die for his dad, so he tucked his hands in his pockets as he offered his gratitude. “...Hey. Thank you. For trying to save him.” It wasn’t nearly as eloquent as a king should probably be, but Noctis was worried that he’d get emotional if he put anymore into it. This stranger probably didn’t want that from him when they’d just met.
Meanwhile, Vordun was actually being super friendly and rubbing all over his hand, which brought a slight grin to Noct’s face that he normally reserved for cats. “Sorry for thinking you might attack me, buddy. I’d give you some fish if I had any on me.” Not that a fish would go very far for a dragon—maybe a Behemoth would be a better present. Its meat hadn’t been too bad in the Cup Noodles that Gladio had made for all of them either.
Noctis’ smile slipped off his face though when Caius shared that Ignis and Gladio were locked up north in a Sonoran prison. Prompto was apparently trying to negotiate their release, which…good luck with that, from what he’d seen. “...They won’t let them out. I don’t like what I’ve seen of Sonora so far. They’re too much like the empire for my taste,” he shared bluntly.
…Alright, so Noctis had maybe deserved the rough treatment when he’d almost been arrested for car-jacking in Sonora, but it was really all one big misunderstanding, and Caius didn’t need to know that part. Enough of his dad’s retainers had thought Noctis was just a kid without him making the first kingsglaive he’d run across here think that too.
“Can you tell me which informant?” Shaking his head, Noctis turned back to Caius with a serious expression. “I’m glad Prompto’s on it, but I need to help them too. They’ve always been there for me.” Always. Even when it had cost Ignis his eyesight. Plus Alex had told him they weren’t exactly kind to otherworlders in Sonora. He didn’t like to think about what was happening to his friends.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] 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,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] The blond guy jerked to his feet like Noctis had woken him up pretty abruptly. The prince felt bad about that honestly—it was a beautiful day to be down by the water, and the man and his dragon had seemed to just be minding their own business. Noctis was feeling pretty sheepish about barging in even before he noticed that the man was staring at him like he’d seen a ghost. Frowning, Noct was about to ask him what was up, but he froze at the title the stranger used to address him. Your majesty.
After weeks of not being recognized anywhere, it caught him completely off guard, and all he could do was stare at the man for a moment. The title wasn’t…wrong necessarily. His father was dead, but Noctis still didn’t feel that he deserved to be called a king yet. He’d never been crowned, and it wasn’t a title he’d even felt that he could use while Lucis was still under the empire’s control. He wasn’t a king of anything if his nation had been conquered, and maybe he never would be a king now that he was trapped here on Zephon. He’d never have the chance to set things right like this.
“...You’re from Lucis?” He finally managed, stepping forward to look at the man better. He was tall and built and looked to be just a few years older than Noctis himself—maybe around Gladio’s age. He honestly suspected that the guy probably came from Insomnia itself, since in his experience, nobody outside the capital city much cared for the royal family. Not that he could really blame them when his dad had pulled back the wall and left them to fend for themselves against Niflheim and the daemons. Even if his father didn’t have a choice, it was still a part of his legacy that made him uncomfortable to remember.
The man reassured him that the blue dragon—Vordun apparently—was friendly, so Noctis held out a cautious hand for the creature to sniff. It was the hand with the Ring of the Lucii on it, and he lightly stroked a few of Vordun’s scales before he got completely distracted by the man saying that he’d met Prompto just a few days ago. “Seriously? You’ve seen him?” That perked the prince right up as he looked at the blond stranger. “I met someone else who knew he was here, but we weren’t sure where he’d gotten off to.”
Had he finally met someone who could help him find Prompto? Still, even that was set aside for the moment when the man held out a hand and introduced himself as Caius. The weight of his words weren’t lost on Noctis, and when he shook Caius’ hand, it was with a solemn respect that was unusual for the prince. He knew what the kingsglaive had fought for and risked during the fall of Insomnia, and it would haunt Noctis to his last breath that he hadn’t been there to help.
“I’m Noct,” he introduced himself in return, which was unnecessary since Caius had known him on sight. He wanted to show him that he didn’t have to stick to titles while they were in another world though. “If you were a glaive, then…thank you. For everything you did for Insomnia. And for serving my father.” It was only after letting go of his hand that he realized something was a little odd about that considering what had led him here. “Actually, this might not be by chance. I came down this way when I thought I felt someone using Lucian magic. You…would have lost yours though, right? After the fall.” Specifically after his dad had died, but Noctis didn’t really want to go there, and he doubted that Caius did either. Too many memories.
Shaking his head, Noct tried to focus on the last thing that Caius had said. “Then you know where Ignis and Gladio are too? I heard from Alex—er, he’s the guy who found me first—that they were in some kind of trouble in Sonora, but we didn’t know where to start yet.” Caius was turning out to be a treasure trove for finding his friends, so he would have liked the guy immediately just for that even if he hadn’t been a kingsglaive.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Noctis had thought he might have to venture into the city to locate the source of the magic, but after whistling for the chocobo that he’d rented, his intuition actually sent him in another direction. Specifically to the beaches that were a few miles away on the other side of the lake. It was a sizeable body of water to cross, and while Noctis had felt pretty isolated in his own corner of it, he discovered after mounting the chocobo and dashing off around the perimeter that there were actually a few other people out and about. Some were fishing like he had been, and others were out on the water in small rowboats or just plain swimming. He raised a hand to some of them as he dashed by, though he secretly hoped that none of the fisherman would catch the king sturgeon before he could manage it. Still, there were more important matters to deal with right now, even for him. Finding his friends qualified.
It was a relaxing ride down to the beach with the warm wind whipping his hair around his face and the ocean horizon getting bigger and bigger as he approached. The white sands seemed crowded with people, but after hesitating for a moment, Noctis steered the chocobo in a different direction. It was a little too crowded for his taste, and he felt like Prompto would feel the exact same way.
After running down the coast for a little ways, Noctis came across a lesser-used corner of the beach. It looked like an ideal fishing spot actually, and after slowing down to look at it, he noticed a bright blue mound that was glinting in the sun near the water. Squinting at it, he urged the chocobo a little closer so he could get a better look at it. Was it a big boulder? Some kind of animal?
Having lived his entire life under the crystal bestowed upon his family by the Draconian, it took Noctis longer than it should have to realize that the creature lying on the beach was a dragon with its blue scales glinting in the sun. Unfortunately, the chocobo realized a split second after he did, and it reared up with a sqwauk of fright. Noctis landed hard on the sand as the bird tore off down the beach for safety. “Wait-” Noctis stretched out a hand, but ended up dropping it and his head with a sigh as he let it go for now. He’d go collect the bird once it had a chance to calm down.
Not that he really blamed it. Keeping a careful eye on the dragon, Noctis rose to his feet to see if it would attack him, but it seemed more sleepy than anything. In fact, it didn’t seem to be napping alone, and Noct blinked in surprise as he finally noticed the blond man fishing next to the creature. Laying on the dragon actually, which felt like a power move. If Prompto were here, Noctis had a feeling that he would be losing his mind over how cool this guy was.
“...Hey,” He greeted him a little lamely since the man had just watched him wipe out in the sand. He stayed where he was up the beach for now until he knew for sure that the dragon didn’t mind strangers. He wasn’t out to provoke anyone’s pets. “I’m guessing that’s your dragon.” It was probably the other way around actually, since he wasn’t sure you could strictly control a dragon. Maybe this guy was some kind of dragon tamer though.
That prickling feeling of Lucian magic was back and stronger than ever. “...You haven’t seen another guy around here, have you? Name’s Prompto, and he’s got blond, spiky hair. Kind of short. Maybe 5’8…”
It was worth a shot when the source felt so close.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] 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.
