[ Don't start with him, Prompto -- they both know you would've done the same if positions are reversed. It's not that Noctis doesn't like her, he does. She might be weird and not forthcoming, but there's a sort of curious vulnerability he finds in her. Noctis is surprised when he leaps immediately to her defense, like he's protective of her, and he's coming to the same bittersweet conclusion as Summer does.
Prompto likes her -- like, really likes her, and more than anything Noctis wants to know that Summer won't hurt him for it. His best friend has the softest, biggest heart, and the last thing Noctis wants for Prompto is for him to be hurt. He softens, just a little, but he doesn't back down. ]
Okay.
[ Noctis says softly, hands in his pockets. He can't back down, he has to make sure Prompto is safe with her. Himself, and most importantly, his heart. ]
[Noctis will feel it, surely, when her magic works again — she lifts a hand up close to her head and brings her fingers together in a sort of pulling motion, and as she does her bright red hair abruptly loses its luster, fading back into the dull, boring brown it had been when she'd first rolled over in bed. Magic, evidently, is what goes into making it that hue most of the time; without the benefits of whatever spell she uses to color it, her hair is plain and average. Unremarkable. Ordinary.
She's more hesitant about enacting her second move, the second spell she pulls off of her face. She glances away to do it, turning her face down and to the side, and when she slowly brings it back to face Noctis straight-on, her reason for that becomes clear.
Half of her face is exactly the same as it'd been before — soft curves, smooth skin, paleish complexion. The other half, though, is anything but.
Though the eye on the right side of her face is mercifully fine, the skin is battered and red with old scarring, from her forehead to her jawline and across her cheek. There's a slight nick in her eyebrow, as well, that isn't there in her illusion — a hint of a vertical scar, like something had cut down her face and the brow had never recovered from it. Something burned her once, perhaps, or at the very least scarred her horribly, and though eerily her eyes still seem to be completely fine, the rest of it makes for an unsettling duality — one half intact, the other half destroyed.
She swallows hard, forcing a smile onto her lips, and makes her voice go nonchalant when in fact she feels anything but.]
This is why I need to do that.
[She keeps her chin up, as she swallows hard again.]
Having people, y'know, ask questions — it, uh, it gets old, after awhile. So I just. Don't...give them a reason to ask.
[Prompto's shoulders slump as the bomb--and that's what the question feels like--is taken deftly out of his hands and detonated elsewhere, above his shoulder. Summer doesn't need to do that for him, and shouldn't have to, and he doesn't understand right now why Noct asked in the first place. Prompto just wishes he hadn't, knows Noct's going to feel like a jerk in an instant and Summer's already feeling bad, and this isn't what he wants for his birthday at all.
The warning goes out of his tone. Its absence is the clearest sign it was there in the first place.]
It's nothing bad.
[He says it without looking at either of them, meaning it for both. It's nothing for Summer to be ashamed of. It wasn't her fault, it's not a fault that she wants to hide it. It's nothing for Noct to take cautiously into account. Nothing that'll hurt Prompto.
His right arm's tucked under her, helping balance her weight on his back. Even now, after he's told Noct and Ignis the truth, he still wears the wristband over his barcode.
Finally, he sighs, and looks up at Noct faintly reprovingly through his bedhead.]
[ Prompto's right -- Noctis does feel like a jerk. He visibly softens when he sees what Summer shows her, and a part of him regrets pushing her for it (the more stubborn part is doggedly attached to the fact that at least he now knows, at least he knows Summer would be safe for Prompto).
He bites his lip briefly, not in dismay but in understanding. It's terrible, sure, but now he at least has an explanation for the magic, even if he's pretty sure these are not the circumstances that Summer's wanted to reveal them to. ]
I'm sorry.
[ He says softly, because he knows when he's fucked up and this is probably one of them, and now the mood's... well, the mood's dampened. But he understands now why Prompto's so protective, why he cares for her like this. In her, maybe, he finds a kindred spirit of a sort. He doesn't look away, because he's pretty sure she might have had more than her fair share of people cringing and turning from her. It might be unsettling, but it also means that someone's hurt her, too, and he finally nods.
He hopes whoever it was got whatever was coming to them. ]
We're good. C'mon, let's go, or Iggy will get cranky.
[ Nyx, for one, is chill as hell -- he'll be a good counterbalance to Ignis fussing about in the kitchen, and he's not looking forward to telling Ignis how he might have messed up later. ]
Oh, jeez, we can't have that. If Iggy gets cranky then none of us eat.
[She leans a little bit heavy into the deadpan, maybe, but the tension of the moment breaks when Noctis releases it, and she's quick to bring her hand back up and flick magic back into her hair, over her face. In a few seconds she's normal again, secure behind the illusion that even she sometimes forgets she wears every day, and once it's restored she settles back down against Prompto's back, draping onto him like she's trying to convey her okayness with body language alone.]
Birthday breakfaaaaaaaaast!
[Sometimes faking it 'till you make it is the best thing you can do.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2018-10-28 02:08 am (UTC)Prompto likes her -- like, really likes her, and more than anything Noctis wants to know that Summer won't hurt him for it. His best friend has the softest, biggest heart, and the last thing Noctis wants for Prompto is for him to be hurt. He softens, just a little, but he doesn't back down. ]
Okay.
[ Noctis says softly, hands in his pockets. He can't back down, he has to make sure Prompto is safe with her. Himself, and most importantly, his heart. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-10-28 02:30 am (UTC)She's more hesitant about enacting her second move, the second spell she pulls off of her face. She glances away to do it, turning her face down and to the side, and when she slowly brings it back to face Noctis straight-on, her reason for that becomes clear.
Half of her face is exactly the same as it'd been before — soft curves, smooth skin, paleish complexion. The other half, though, is anything but.
Though the eye on the right side of her face is mercifully fine, the skin is battered and red with old scarring, from her forehead to her jawline and across her cheek. There's a slight nick in her eyebrow, as well, that isn't there in her illusion — a hint of a vertical scar, like something had cut down her face and the brow had never recovered from it. Something burned her once, perhaps, or at the very least scarred her horribly, and though eerily her eyes still seem to be completely fine, the rest of it makes for an unsettling duality — one half intact, the other half destroyed.
She swallows hard, forcing a smile onto her lips, and makes her voice go nonchalant when in fact she feels anything but.]
This is why I need to do that.
[She keeps her chin up, as she swallows hard again.]
Having people, y'know, ask questions — it, uh, it gets old, after awhile. So I just. Don't...give them a reason to ask.
no subject
Date: 2018-10-28 02:44 am (UTC)The warning goes out of his tone. Its absence is the clearest sign it was there in the first place.]
It's nothing bad.
[He says it without looking at either of them, meaning it for both. It's nothing for Summer to be ashamed of. It wasn't her fault, it's not a fault that she wants to hide it. It's nothing for Noct to take cautiously into account. Nothing that'll hurt Prompto.
His right arm's tucked under her, helping balance her weight on his back. Even now, after he's told Noct and Ignis the truth, he still wears the wristband over his barcode.
Finally, he sighs, and looks up at Noct faintly reprovingly through his bedhead.]
Okay? We good here?
no subject
Date: 2018-10-28 03:37 am (UTC)He bites his lip briefly, not in dismay but in understanding. It's terrible, sure, but now he at least has an explanation for the magic, even if he's pretty sure these are not the circumstances that Summer's wanted to reveal them to. ]
I'm sorry.
[ He says softly, because he knows when he's fucked up and this is probably one of them, and now the mood's... well, the mood's dampened. But he understands now why Prompto's so protective, why he cares for her like this. In her, maybe, he finds a kindred spirit of a sort. He doesn't look away, because he's pretty sure she might have had more than her fair share of people cringing and turning from her. It might be unsettling, but it also means that someone's hurt her, too, and he finally nods.
He hopes whoever it was got whatever was coming to them. ]
We're good. C'mon, let's go, or Iggy will get cranky.
[ Nyx, for one, is chill as hell -- he'll be a good counterbalance to Ignis fussing about in the kitchen, and he's not looking forward to telling Ignis how he might have messed up later. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-10-28 03:46 am (UTC)[She leans a little bit heavy into the deadpan, maybe, but the tension of the moment breaks when Noctis releases it, and she's quick to bring her hand back up and flick magic back into her hair, over her face. In a few seconds she's normal again, secure behind the illusion that even she sometimes forgets she wears every day, and once it's restored she settles back down against Prompto's back, draping onto him like she's trying to convey her okayness with body language alone.]
Birthday breakfaaaaaaaaast!
[Sometimes faking it 'till you make it is the best thing you can do.]