adelphoi | (no subject)

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[ being in insomnia again is.. strange. the city is the same as she had remembered, and yet so different, so strange after so many long years in tenebrae. this city seems so enormous and sprawling, sharp and stark in comparison, bright and chrome and full of people. though she remembers her time here, her earliest years, she was still quite young when her parents swept she and her brother back to the motherland, and those tender years of growth had been spent in a city very different, a home that she had grown used to, settled into.

and now they are here again, political tensions spurring her father to emigrate here, to lucis again. the empire has been still and quiet, and there have even been talks of treatise, but alisaie trusts her father's judgment, for all his political involvement. more than national pride, he hopes for his family to be safe and secure, and short of living in the bush, insomnia had seemed to him the ideal location. with the wall so strong, such a city must be impenetrable, yes?

alisaie does not know the details of it all, her father would disclose only so much - she and her brother were to focus solely on their studies, bettering themselves, and not to worry about such things outside of their control. lucis might not be a large nation, but insomnia is safe, and secure. it suits their needs just fine.

still, settling in, for alisaie, is not necessarily easy. unlike the rest of her family, smooth-talkers with political savvy, she has a hard enough time simply getting along with her own peers. her friends in tenebrae had been few and distant, their relationships thin and civil but little more. to have to start over again is.. a nightmare. but she is not here to make friends, she is here to finish her schooling, to graduate and prepare for university and beyond. there's nothing to be afraid of.

yet her knuckles are white around the books clutched to her chest as she climbs the stairs that first day, eyes forward, chin high, and it takes less than a week's time for her to earn a reputation as a haughty, conceited little snob, the little rich girl sort who is far too good to waste her time with those she deems beneath her - everyone, apparently. this is not entirely the case of course, but it suits alisaie's needs just fine. let them think what they want, so long as it affords her a wide berth and quiet time to herself, without the terrifying distraction of working her way into, and maintaining her place within, a social circle.

the weekend seems to take an eon to arrive, but friday is here at last. alisaie sits outside at a table on campus, alone, peeling the crusts distractedly from her sandwich, her advanced chemistry textbook open in front of her. three afternoon classes, and this horrible week will be over.. ]

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[ Though he hopes to hear from her, his expectations aren't exactly high, especially as more time passes since their fateful last meeting. So imagine his surprise when he receives a text from Alisaie, with succinct instructions and the offer he can't pass up.

One chance. Gods, he still has no idea what he's done to restrict himself to only one, but...maybe this is just the gauntlet she puts all her friends through. It will be worth it, to be counted among her companions.

Hopefully she sees him as worth it, too.

He sends back a simple "see you soon" in response before he heads out towards the park she specifies. Though he wasn't exactly a kid who played outside a lot, he still knows exactly where she means, from the countless times he walked past it on his way to and from school. This time, he runs to it, calling out to her as he approaches, much as he did before they last spoke.

...Maybe she finds him obnoxiously loud? Oh, well... ]

Alisaie! Hey! Good to - see you!

[ ...He's winded again. ]

[ alisaie is there before him, and it's quite late in the early evening right now, just after dinner time, so the tire park is nice and quiet and devoid of shrieking hellions. she wanders over the mulch, and sits herself down at last on a large half-buried tire, swinging her feet beneath her and staring at her hands.

she shouldn't be nervous. he's the one in the wrong here, the stuck-up bully that he is, yet still she feels uneasy, her stomach twisting up in knots. by the time he's calling out to her her heart is hopping up into her throat, but she swallows it down quickly enough, lifting her eyes to watch him approach. gods, did he sprint here? ]

Hello, Prompto.

[ He sure did sprint here...and he has to swallow against his dry throat before he can speak. But that's just as well — it gives him a moment to take in the look she's giving him, to...try to assess. She looks no happier to see him than she had when they last parted company, but she's here, which is what matters. This is his chance to make things right with her.

If he only had any idea where to start. ]

Didn't keep you waitin' long, did I? ...I ran here as quick as I could.

[ He slants a grin at her as he shoves his hands into his pockets. Man, he must look real nice right now, red-faced and slick with sweat from his run. But his appearance is not his foremost concern right now. ]

Apparently.

[ she's not entirely sure how she feels about it, after all - whether it's a good or a bad thing. is he truly so desperate to make amends with her, or is he simply chomping at the bit for a chance to appeal to a pretty girl? she can't yet say. ]

But no. I have not been here overlong.

[ she's not here for smalltalk, however. the sooner they get this overwith, the better. alisaie leans her hands onto the tire and straightens herself up, staring into his face with an expectant look. ]

[ And now comes the part where he somehow makes up for offending her in some way he's unaware of while she gives him that look. So, easy peasy.

Before he speaks, he sits on the tire next to her, leaning forward, looking down at his shoes as he finds the right words to say. Or what he hopes are the right words, at least. Better to be honest and open and real, even if it is more revealing than he would like, like he's exposing his heart to her, to take or to leave. ]

I...want to apologize. I...should have tried to talk to you sooner last week instead of waiting until the last possible moment. I didn't mean to make you feel like I forgot about you, or anything. I...would never want to make anyone feel that way. I-I really was just...nervous.

[ This is the best he's got with what she's given him, but if she's upset because he made her feel unimportant or ignored, then he absolutely must make it right. ]

I don't...make friends that easy. Heh...really only have one. So I want nothing more than to be your friend again, Alisaie. If...you think we can be. I hope we can be.

[ he sits down beside her, and says his piece, and.. it is not at all what she is expecting.

of course, mostly she is confused by what it is that he's apologizing for - forgotten about? what in the world is he talking about? the crease in her brow clearly conveys just how perplexed she is. but more than that he sounds far more.. sincere than she had ever expected. he's speaking from the heart, or so it seems, with that same soft warmth and gentle kindness that she remembers from their youth. has he become a fantastic actor, or.. ]

I.. what are you talking about?

[ she'd hardly even considered what it is that he is talking about, clearly they're on two different roads, here, or he's simply attempting to dodge the real issue. ]

I don't care about that. What I care about is how much you have changed. How could you - how could you treat people like that, Prompto? After those boys tormented you so much when we were young, I cannot believe that you could.. could grow up to be just like them. I expected better.

[ and how gravely disappointed she is by that is quite clear in the tone of her voice, how it tightens with both fury and sorrow in equal parts. ]

[ Two very different roads, it would seem. Alisaie begins to explain, her frustration and disappointment with him, and while it's clear that she means it and 99% of the time he would readily accept the blame for literally anything, this he just cannot parse. He's far from perfect, he has plenty of flaws and shortcomings but he has never once thought of himself as a bully. He does everything in his power to not be, to treat everyone with consideration and kindness, to give anyone who asks a moment of his time.

So how...could she have gotten this impression of him?

His expression clouds with confusion as he peers up at her. It's no act how utterly perplexed he is. ]

I-I don't...Alisaie, I wouldn't ever act like them. What do you think I did? I-I'm just trying to understand. Please.

[ He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he can at least say with sureness that he hasn't done anything that could be seen as bullying. Had someone...told her something about him to taint her impression of him? ]

[ he sounds so incredibly sincere, looks so truly, completely surprised - but.. no, she had seen him, heard him. ]

Prompto, do not play me for a fool, I saw it with my own eyes!

[ she turns toward him more fully, her expression hard and her eyes flashing fiercely. she's trying so hard to make sense of this as well, to understand how he could seem so very genuine - had she not seen his behavior firsthand she would never have believed it. ]

That - that boy on the stairs, it looked like you pushed him, and when he fell you - you laughed -

[ the crease in her brow deepens, the tips of her ears flushing a bright pink in her fury. ]

And that girl's lunch, you took it right out of her hands and tossed it in the garbage. I'm not a halfwit, Prompto, I saw you!

[ ...What?

And then it makes so much sense. What she saw - or what she thinks she saw, anyway - must've given her a rotten impression of him indeed. A relieved smile washes over his face, because these are things he can easily explain - if she'll listen to him, anyway.

He hopes she will. But this is suddenly so much simpler than he feared it could be, because what she thought she saw...isn't what happened at all.

Hopefully she won't mind a little gentle correction. ]

Alisaie, I didn't push him. Sure, I shouldn't have laughed - you bet I felt bad about that afterwards. So bad that after I helped him up, I invited him to go to the arcade with me and Noct after school that day.

[ He sighs, quietly, his mouth quirking to the side. ]

And that girl's lunch? Had bugs on it. Couldn't let her eat that! It would've made her sick.

[ So now he's explained himself...the question is, will she believe him? ]

[ what. does he seriously expect her to believe that?? there's just no way. rather than softening, she only looks more offended. ]

Are you kidding me? Do I look like a child who will eat up your stories without question? Do you think I'm stupid?

[ because prompto, those excuses are just. laughable. ]

And that poor boy you were shouting at in the auditorium? All those horrible things you were saying - I suppose you have a handy excuse for that, as well? You spend so much time with that prince, it seems his spoiled entitlement has rubbed off on you.

[ His smile drops off at this latest rebuke, something of his lighthearted demeanor falling away. She...didn't even believe him for a second, did she? But it's the truth. What more can he say to convince her? ]

Right. That handy excuse is that I was acting as a stand-in for his monologue in the play.

[ And...she's touched a nerve, clearly. The way his expression tightens says as much. ]

You're...makin' an awful lot of assumptions, don't you think? Y'know, for someone who defended me from bullies when I was a kid...you have a pretty unfair opinion of Noct when you've never even met him.

[ Maybe he shouldn't call her out like this. But if he loses one friend to defend another from such sharp assumptions, then so be it. ]

[ of course he hops to the noctis's defense, that's really no surprise, but it certainly does not help his case. why would a prince need anyone's defense? ]

Are you saying he is not entitled, or spoiled? He is royalty. I've spent my entire life around nobility, I do not have to know him to see his behavior.

[ oh he gettin' mad, which is fair, but it does little enough to quell the fire in her belly, that twists in her heart. were she a better person she might bite her tongue and apologize, do exactly what that noble upbringing has taught her, to be demure and quiet and passive, to relent. but she has never been that sort of person, which is.. exactly why she has no friends. she has always isolated herself. there are none who can tolerate her sharp tongue.

not even him. somehow, it cuts more deeply than she expected. when they had met again on campus she had dared to hope that.. that perhaps she might make a friend at last, that somehow.. but no. it's so hard to believe him, and even harder to control her own thoughts and opinions. tears flood her eyes, stinging and hot, blurring her vision and she turns away with a sharp sniff, ashamed and afraid and angry all at once. her arms cross tightly over her chest and she looks pointedly away, blinking rapidly in a futile attempt to keep her tears at bay. ]

Forget it. Clearly t-too much has changed.

[ The sight of those tears she fights so hard to keep at bay are like a slap to the face. What is he doing? Yet what should he even apologize for? These things he never did? Defending his best friend? He won't. He shouldn't. He doesn't want to be that kind of person. Not just to make it easier, or tell her what she wants to hear, since she's so determined to not listen to the truth. ]

Maybe he is. Heh - maybe you're dead right about him. All I know is he's the only person who even gave me a chance since you left.

[ And to think, for a few short days, he thought maybe he could count her as a friend once again. Foolish, apparently, just as is everything he does. His entire existence. That's why he's the jokester. An incurable class clown. Good for a laugh, and not much else.

He scrubs at his eyes with his heel before he pulls out his phone. After a few sharp motions, he tosses it to her. Catch. ]

There's the three of us at the arcade. Lemme guess - I made that up pic, too, huh? Juuust like the rest of it. 'Cause I'm a biiiig, fat fraud.

[ The worst part is, he is.

Just not in the way she thinks. ]

[ you know, prompto, pulling out this pic like five minutes ago would have saved a lot of trouble.........

considering she's, you know, not looking anywhere even remotely in his direction, the tossed phone bounces against her arm and tumbles onto the mulch between her feet. the dry sarcasm in his voice is hardly a good incentive, nor does it help to clear her impression of him, but still her curiosity is strong. after a few sharp, trembling breaths to compose herself she casts a glance down, and bends to lift his phone off of the ground.

the picture is quite evident, the three of them together, the boy who had fallen looking none the worse for wear, laughing, enjoying himself. alisaie stares at it for several long moments, her stomach twisting up tightly, before she at last sets it down again on the tire between them.

she is not ashamed of her assumptions. to observe and draw conclusions is only natural, and those things she had seen him do - it is not his fault that she caught him at, apparently, completely inopportune times, but neither is it her fault. she certainly didn't stop to consider the bully's feelings when she caught them tormenting prompto that day so long ago. it's only their poor luck that is to blame.

nevertheless, that luck has certainly dashed what hopes she'd had at making a friend.

drawing her hand back again, alisaie tugs her canvas bag closer. it's getting dark, and cold, and no doubt he wants to get away. she certainly does. so as she speaks quietly, softly, she pulls her bag over her shoulder. ]

I'm sorry.

[ Perhaps they were natural conclusions to draw from what she had seen, but it stings, so very badly, to have his word discarded so quickly by someone he has trusted for the better part of his life. Has it really been that long she could think him so thoroughly changed? And yet it's only photographic proof that's good enough for her. That at last sets the record straight.

He doesn't want to hear her apology. He wants to run - away, now, in his heart aching and broken. He doesn't - not yet. Instead, he stoops to pick up his phone, brushing off the dirt and bark before dropping it back into her pocket. ]

...Yeah. Me, too.

[ Why had she even agreed to meet him here if she was so determined not to believe him? And yet that she does now hardly feels like a victory. He feels hollow and raw. Those ugly parts of himself so swiftly uncovered by her. His insecurity, his anxiety, his fear - she'd tapped into them all without even realizing it.

The sharp edge is gone from his voice now, replaced with something far more sorrowful, the sound of tears heavy in his mouth. ]

...All I wanted was to be your friend, Alisaie. You...never stopped meaning the world to me.

[ And he turns to go. ]

Edited 2018-04-26 06:35 (UTC)

[ they've both behaved badly, it would seem. not necessarily wrongly, but not well, either. perhaps he'd been insecure and sharp and defensive, but she had been callous and stubborn and distrustful.

what a way to come together again.

only once he's turned away can she look to him again, her throat tight and her eyes still stinging, though she has pulled herself together. ]

N-no, wait..

[ before he can complete his sad walking away scene, alisaie reaches out to snag his hand with her own before she can think better of it, or even think about it at all. her grasp is tight, and sure. ]

I.. I just - I've not had friends. Not before you, and not since. I'm not good with.. with people. I don't..

[ He's prepared to walk away and not look back. To...try and put this behind him, as much as he can, even if it will hurt every time they pass in the hall, knowing what could have been, and what would not be. They may not have been close for several years, but he'd been able to handle that alright because they hadn't stopped being friends because the grew apart, but because she left. But to have the opportunity to be her friend again only to have lost it would be a pain he felt keenly every time he would see her. For how constant a companion loneliness has been in his life, he has never grown used to its presence like he maybe should have.

It will hurt, but what can he do but face it? There's nothing to salvage here.

At least, that's what he thinks until she takes his hand.

His heart jumps into his throat, beating heart, and he turns back quickly, a gasp of quiet surprise slipping out of him. ]

You're...not the only one.

[ And he turns his hand in hers, twisting until their palms kiss, and he can wind his fingers tight around hers and squeeze. For such a small gesture, it says so very much, especially coming from her, and he can't help but feel as if she's thrown him a life preserver, to reel him back in from being lost at sea. ]

Can we...start over? Y'know...a do-over?

[ she's not sure if he will be receptive, or if he will drop her hand and leave - she'd deserve it, for her temper - but if he is in fact still the sweet boy she once knew.. then of course, he will not. this time, she will believe in him.

his hand turns in hers, their fingers knitting, and she can't help the tremulous smile on her face. ]

I'd like that.

[ and to drive it home, she gives his hand a gentle squeeze with her own, for reassurance, and support. she won't mess up this chance again, this opportunity to rekindle something she'd lost, one of the only warm memories in her past that she can call back on. this time, she won't lose it. ]

...Glad to hear it.

[ And really, he is. They've both been stupid, but he's ready to forget about it entirely, to put this in the past, and just...start anew, Prompto and Alisaie, childhood friends rekindling at last. With the luck they've had, maybe the gods have seen it fit to keep them apart, but despite that, they've found a way through.

He lets go of her hand, only so he can slowly, carefully, pull her into a gentle hug. ]

So...can we hang out this weekend? For real this time? Just aheads up - I might be involved in more drama practice.

[ Okay, he has to tease her about it a little. ]

[ o-oh, a hug.

well, she hadn't been expecting it, but perhaps she should have. prompto was such a shy boy, she could never have imagined him being brave enough to hug her, having done it only the once, on the day she had moved. he seems no less shy now than he has ever been, but his fond sweetness must have momentarily overridden it. still, she's flustered!! her cheeks and ears glow a soft pink when she pulls back, but she's smiling.

ahem. ]

I see no reason why I would need to be involved in your dramatics.

[ stop teasing her!! ]

But.. tomorrow, then?

[ As soon as he walks away, he'll probably double over in shock that he not only held a girl's hand, but also initiated a hug with her, but for now, he's too overjoyed that they've managed to get past this stumbling block to think on much more than his relief.

As his nerves are temporarily abated, as he pulls back, it's easy to nod, to nearly fall over himself doing so. ]

You got it. Tomorrow it is. Gonna have the time of our lives, gurl!

[ He can hardly wait. ]

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