>>@QUICKSILVER | @ALL

[millimeter]

[ 1 | Like a week before everyone finds out they're going to Jhashch:]

hey, what kind of stuff have you guys seen? anything photo worthy?? i wanna see your pics!

[ 2 | And like an hour later, he adds another message. Yes, these are technically separate posts.]

quick question!!
where are you guys from?
bonus points if it isn't earth (but earth is ok too obv!)

[ 3 | And then again, though this one is at least a few days later:]

ssssssssooo
informal poll time!
is it normal for people not to remember joining cost
i mean like
do you remember?

jw bc i've met a LOT of people who don't remember

[ 4 | And at some even later point:]

OMG LOOK

[ATTACHMENT: LOOK.png] [Pretend the background to that photo is more BASE appropriate.]

SHE'S SO CUTE
WHAT DO I DO???>>
😩😩😩😩
someone help how do you take care of a chocobo in omnispace

[I'm sorry for everything.]

Comments

[garbagepilot]

[There's still a little bit of suspicion there, but it's very slowly bleeding into curiosity. She's never seen a camera like that so when he holds it out she can't help leaning forward, but what she sees on the screen makes her cheeks go pink in a very embarrassing way.]

Why? [And that sounds harsh even to her, so she tries to soften it a little bit.] No one's ever taken my picture before.

[She'd like to try to pass it off as him just wanting a picture of his adorable new friend, but it's framed so that it's the both of them. There's really no denying they were both the focus.]

[millimeter]

[Her reaction makes him blush and he looks away, awkward.]

Um, 'cause they're fun to share with other people, you know? And...I guess it's proof. Even if I forget. [His nose wrinkles a little; that's never been a concern to him before, but he's been thinking about it a lot lately.] It's like you've always got a little piece of something good.

[He gives her a tentative look.]

D'you mind if I take more...? Not right now! But in general.

[garbagepilot]

[And hadn't she done something similar on Jakku? Picking a desert flower and keeping it as a reminder that even in such a brutal, inhospitable place had given her a sense of hope that she could be like that flower, something that survived even if it didn't thrive. Reminders are necessary, and after a moment she nods.]

That's- that would be fine. I don't mind.

[And his explanation is enough to have banished some of her embarrassment, so she can't help looking back at the screen, curious.]

Can I see the others you've taken?

[millimeter]

Yeah, of course!

[He brightens immediately, thumbing back to the previous picture as an example—it is, unsurprisingly, one of many portraying the fluffy little critter pecking at his knee—before he lets Rey have the camera. He looks over her shoulder at the photos, sitting down so the chocochick can climb into his lap.]

I took more with the BCE, but I'm not totally sure how to transfer pics yet.

[Depending how far Rey goes back through the pictures, she'll find all of the recent ones are of the fish and COST recruits, with little snapshots of BASE mixed in; a few at the very beginning are of a strangely empty BASE before Gallipoli. Further than that and...well, it's exactly what you'd expect from FFXV.]

[garbagepilot]

[She takes the camera carefully, making sure not to touch the lens or drop it as she follows his example and swipes through the photos one by one. She takes her time to look at each and every one, smiling at the sheer number of different pictures of his chocobo, the scenery on the fish outside, people she recognizes.

Without even thinking about it shifts so that they're sitting closer together, so he can see over her shoulder easily without having to do too much leaning that might disrupt his little friend.

These are good, Prompto.

[And then... then she comes across this one and she doesn't even say anything. She just looks at him, eyebrows raised, like she thinks he might have lost his mind taking this one.]

[millimeter]

[And he turns bright red, even as he tries to go for insouciance and fails miserably.]

Hey, I'll have you know the battle selfie is a tried and true Lucian art form!

[It is so fortunate he isn't from further along his DLC, because oh my god. It would be so bad.

He rubs at his nose, embarrassed but not nearly as mortified as he should be.]

I, uh. Maybe got knocked out right after that. But it was totally worth it!

[garbagepilot]

Oh, I'm sure.

[There's a heavy amount of sarcasm there, but something shifts in her expression as she looks at him and then back at the picture. Maybe she's being a little unfair.]

On Jakku, there was this field of black glass that was caused by a ship landing and super-heating the sand all around the impact sight that we called the Crackle, because when you stepped on it you could hear it cracking and shattering. Part of the ship, a spire that had been part of the hull, was still sticking straight out of the glass, and I used to climb up that when I felt bored. It might have been a hundred meters or more.

It's not taking pictures of giant monsters trying to eat you, but I don't think I'm really in a place to tell you not to do stupid things because they seem fun. Just... try to be more careful here, will you?

[She's seen enough people die, felt enough loss through the Force.]

[millimeter]

[He gives Rey a crooked smile, more abashed by her not taking the opportunity to drag the shit out of him.]

Yeah, I will! It's not like I want to get hurt or anything. I guess I just think...once it's gone, it's gone.

[He chews his lip, thinking of Rey's description of the Crackle and how it reminds him of the Rock of Ravatogh. Of permanent fixtures in the landscape that make for once in a lifetime experiences, that take your breath away once you get to the top despite the danger—or because of it.]

It's the kind of thing I would have missed out on as a kid. [He shrugs a little, not looking her in the eye and bouncing one knee to the chocochick's suspicion.]

[garbagepilot]

[She hasn't spent enough time around people to be able to identify a bouncing knee as a sign of anxiety, but the way he won't look at her tells her there's something... off, about whatever he means by that. It's something more, and she can't help wondering if a missed childhood is something they have in common.

She'll never know if she doesn't open herself up, and as unfamiliar with this sort of thing as she is, she wants to try. She doesn't know what's waiting for her at home, what her role in the future of the Jedi and the Force is, but she knows she needs to learn how to be more than she is now.

There's a bit of a hesitation, but eventually she reaches out, brushing her fingertips over the back of his hand before giving it a slightly awkward pat.]

I missed out on those things too.

[millimeter]

[His eyes flick down to her hand, surprised, and then back up at her face. Still distinctly embarrassed, but over that he's earnest and questioning, like he's trying to decipher what she means without asking.]

No kidding? Never would have guessed.

[Rey is just so many things Prompto is not; he isn't certain or independent or strong. And while sometimes he relaxes enough to forget about it, he feels worlds away from other people. Literally and metaphorically, when it comes to recruits in COST.]

I guess maybe 'cause you don't strike me as the type to let anything stop you.