A Quiet Part of the Beach; Saturday Afternoon [11/13].

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto had not had a good morning. He'd woken up to a very full apartment, which was already a very odd feeling, used as he was to a completely empty house, and the two adults were very fussy over them, and all he wanted to do was play with the cat, but the other boy was bugging him and kept talking about going out for a run or trying to wrestle him or wanting to play Nif Wars, and Prompto didn't want to do any of that, especially not that last one! Because he knew he'd be the Nif, but, ha ha, joke was on Gladio or whatever his name was, because Prompto really was a Nif, but if he knew that, it probably wouldn't be much of a game any more, and he just couldn't risk him knowing the truth...

So he tried to slip away as soon as he could with his camera, and, once outside, he could breath easier and walked aroins, snapping shots of interesting buoldings and cute squirrels and other things, avoiding streets where he could hear other people, especially other kids, until he wound up at the beach, where it was quiet and the view was pretty and he could take a few more pictures and sit down because the walking had made him kind of tired (not to mention all the stress of being around all those people that morning!), and he just wanted to rest and enjoy the quiet solitude for a moment.

He did kind of wish he'd brought a snack, though.

And he wished he could have been more into playing with that other kid, but he knew already he wouldn't like Prompto, so why even bother?

[[ sad lonely kid beach is open lol ]]

Comments

[flamesburned]

Liz had woken up and was not really sure where she was - she wasn’t home but there
had been a cat there , which had been fun. She’d never had a pet before.

After a while, she decided to head outside and see what was happening. She was rather nervous though in case she ran into kids from her school because she hoped she didn’t have to run away from anyone today.

She also had her camera with her and had been taking as many photos as she could when she got to the beach and was along it when she saw another kid and froze, she didn’t recognise him but he might know her and she stood there debating whether she should turn and run now.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto had just taken a few more shots of the sea and the horizon and a few clouds he thought looked a little like chocobos when he got the distinct feeling that he wasn't quite alone anymore. He lowered the camera and turned his head and blinked.

"Oh." It was a girl. Just a girl, but he wasn't sure he recognized her, but that wasn't surprising, it wasn't like he ever talked to anyone, even if she did go to his school. And why would anyone want to talk to him, anyway? She probably just wanted to use the beach herself, and now she had to deal with him taking up the space.

"S-sorry," he said, trying not to strain too much with the awkwardness of getting his heavy self to his feet. "I was...I was just leaving..."

He hadn't been, of course, but if she wanted the beach, she could have it. There were probably other quiet spots on this island he could go instead...

[flamesburned]

So he wasn’t like the kids at her other school, at least so far he hadn’t started calling her names, “you don’t have to leave,” she told him, “um …I’m Liz,” she said shyly.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto regarded this friendliness with deep suspicion, looking the girl over cautiously. And of course, in doing so, he noticed that she had a camera, too, and almost said something about it, even went so far as to open his mouth, but then he caught himself and started to turn away.

"It...it's fine," he said. "I'll go. You don't have to be nice to me."

Most people didn't bother, so why should she?

[flamesburned]

Liz wasn’t sure what to do, because he wasn’t being outright mean and usually most people forced her to leave and chased her away …”um …do you like photography!” she tried, she had noticed him looking at her camera, “I woke up in a place that was above a photo shop,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I..." Prompto stopped, looking now like he didn't know what to do, stopped between walking away and...not. He could probably make a break for it and just run, but that meant...ugh. Running.

He looked at the camera in his own hands.

"Yeah," he said, looked over at her again.

"I woke up in an apartment over a flower shop."

With a rowdy other boy and two very fussy adults, but he liked the cat, and got lots of picture of her and the pretty flowers downstairs...

[flamesburned]

“Oh wow did you get a lot of photos of the flowers?” Liz asked excitedly, “I got photos of a cat this morning,” luckily Rain was used to being photographed so much now.

She hadn’t met someone who liked photography before.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I got....some," Prompto admitted, with a nod, although he was still feeling pretty suspicious. "And I got pictures of a cat, too..."

And he almost thought of asking if she wanted to see them, but that was a pretty risky thing. What if she just laughed at him? That would be fair; who would want to see his dumb pictures, anyway? Or, even worse, what if she took his camera or broke it or something like that? He self-consciously started to hold his camera protectively closer.

Well, she was pretty little, she probably wouldn't break it or anything, but she could still take it. And she would probably definitely just laugh at him...

[flamesburned]

“Oh I bet you got some amazing shots,” Liz told him, smiling, she considered her own collection of Polaroids that she’d gotten so far, at least the ones she was carrying. “do ..you want to see mine?” she offered, “I found these really cool birds, I’ve never seen them before,” they were Porgs, of course Liz had found them.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had woken up in a big place with a strange man there. Maybe she worked for him now and no one told her? So now she was late getting out to work, only she wasn't sure where she was supposed to go to do that, so she was just kind of wandering.

She saw the boy there, and she was kind of wondering what he was doing here but... there was also water here, more than she'd ever been able to imagine in her whole life, and that had most of her attention.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto's shoulders stiffened a little when he realized he wasn't quite alone any more, trying to look at the girl in the corner of his eye without being obvious about it. Should he just leave? He was really kind of hoping he could be alone all the way out here, but apparently, he was wrong!

Maybe if he just hunched down and lowered his head, she wouldn't notice him there and leave him alone?

Yeah, right, tubby. Like anyone could not notice you....

[thatwaslucky]

Rey might have ignored him normally, because people were generally either unhelpful or mean, but curiosity got the better of her and she looked back at him as she gestured at the water and said, "What is all this?"

Also she never saw anyone her own age, so she was curious about him too.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Well, so much for that plan! Not that Prompto had really expected it to have worked. So he let out a slow breath of resignation, bracing himself for the inevitable onslaught of teasing and mean comments.

But what he got instead was a question that seemed to odd that he blinked up at the girl in surprise, then turned to look around for something that he may have missed.

"What's all what?" he asked. "The beach?"

[thatwaslucky]

"The water. It doesn't look like it stops anywhere."

This was a brand new concept for a desert girl.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto frowned for a moment. Was this some kind of trap? Was she trying to trick him into a sort of gotcha moment?

"Well, yeah," he said, "it's the sea. It does go somewhere...probably Tenebrae, or Altissia," he shrugged; he never paid much attention in geography class, "but not for a long while..."

[thatwaslucky]

"...Is that past Niima?"

Her geography of Jakku was not that extensive yet.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Niima?" Prompto asked. "I don't know where that is...

"Is it...." This was it, wasn't it? The trap. Where she was going to call him out for what he was and make him suffer it, right? So he should have known better, but he still asked, looking around a little before lowering his voice when he asked, "Is that in Niflheim?"

Maybe him not actually knowing would help? She'd probably just think he was lying about not knowing....

[1000yearstoolate]

When Seivarden realised that Prompto had left the apartment, she told Ignis she would go looking for him. Little Prompto seemed different from his adult self, and while Seivarden could understand that he might want to have time to himself, she wasn't going to let him get lost, or worse, run into something dangerous.

"Promto! Prompto!"

She called his name, grateful that at least the water was too cold for him to decide to go swimming.

[hashtag_chocobro]

When Prompto heard Seivarden calling his name, he groaned and fell back on the sand, staring up at the sky overhead.

It was funny, actually. Most of the time, he wished his parents were actually around more, to spend time with him and do things together. But these two grown-ups at this place were making him almost kind of glad they weren't!

He didn't say anything, just laid there, still staring up. It wasn't like he was that hard to miss, right?

[1000yearstoolate]

"There you are."

Seivarden hurried over and knelt next to Prompto.

"You just left. We were worried," she said, more with concern than accusation.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto didn't move, arms spread and feeling like some kind of beached whale.

"I'm fine," he said. "I just needed to go for a walk...."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden shifted to sit down next to him.

"Just let us know next time. Don't your parents get worried when you just disappear like that?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto was tempted to just clam right up and not say anything. He didn't know this Seivarden person from a hole in the wall, and it was none of her business! But he also had the feeling that he's be stuck with her until she got some answers, so, begrudgingly, he answered.

"My parents leave me by myself all the time. It's really no big deal."

[1000yearstoolate]

No big deal?! That was terrible! Seivarden opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"I wish I could have some words with your parents," she said. "But since they're not here you should at least have something to eat after walking all this way."

She offered him a paper bag of cookies.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto thought about explaining that his parents were just busy all the time, it was really okay, but then there were cookies being offered.

He looked at the bag, then at Seivarden.

"My parents said I shouldn't take food from strangers."

Forget that he'd eaten the breakfast the other guy had made that morning.

And forget that his stomach grumbled at this stubborn defiance on its owner's part.

...Prompto reached out and took a cookie.

"Thanks."