theairlock | Week 3

Entry tags:

!round 4

Week 3

Week 3

[Two weeks in, and all at once four people are dead. Chitose, Miki, Lucina, and Tsurugi - whatever the circumstances, however any of you may feel, their rooms are just as empty at the end of the week. If you check your P.I.P.s, you'll find that their pictures on the profile page have gone monochrome.

C.E.C.E.'s morning announcement comes like clockwork on Sunday. This time, though, there's an addendum to her usual message:]

Congratulations, Champions! By surviving your first trial, you have unlocked the second floor of the ship. A new mini map has been added to your P.I.P.! To access the second floor please stand on the teleporter and select the floor you wish to be teleported to.

[In addition to the new floor, the Champions will find that they've gained another memory this week.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Welcome to Week 3! Don't forget to check in and submit your memory regains! Turn in your benefactor threads for sweet loot, too! ))

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[He sits like someone's cut his legs out from under him, or like a marionette whose strings have been dropped. He leans forward and muffles a miserable noise in his palms.]

I'm not--I'm not anything, Max, I...

[At least Tsurugi had been someone, once. Not like this. Not like Prompto.]

I'm. I, I'm. I'm a clone. Of the most twisted, evil man I ever... he, he mass-produced us, babies, so he could... so he could turn us into...

[Prompto curls further in on himself, wrapping his arms around his head, dry-sobbing from the sheer horror of it.]

He i-injected them with Starscourge before they developed a sense of self, and--and made them into--an army of m-mindless killing machines, and we've been... we killed so many of them and I never knew, I-I could've...

[Oh, real sobbing now.]

I was supposed to be--one of those things that killed Luna's family, that ruined Noct's whole life--!

[Oh, god. Oh, Prompto, honey. Max is just gonna pull Prompto into a hug, if he allows it, wrapping his arms around him and rubbing his back.]

Prompto, Prompto, breathe. You're okay. [Not "it's okay", because hoo boy it is not] Genetics...genetics isn't even a thing, bud, you're not anything other than who you are. You haven't done anything wrong. Luna'd tell you the same thing.

[This is small potatoes. This isn't addressing the whole question of magic Clone Wars happening over there - and Max winces inwardly at the comparison. How belittling. But, you know what, he can't do anything about magic clone guy. Just Prompto.]

[Despite himself, despite every terrible thing he now knows, Prompto lets himself be gathered into the hug, into where it's safe. Even if he doesn't deserve it, even if he was meant to be some inhuman thing, a daemon, a weapon, he can't help it. He's so, so weak.]

But he was right, I--my whole existence is wrong. They stole me before he could--he could f-finish his experiment, but I'm not... I can't...

[He's supposed to be a Lucian. He's supposed to be Noct's best friend. But everything, everything's adding up, all the logs and files and scanners and profiles and Ardyn's stupid, evil voice.

Hometown: Arctic outerlands, Niflheim. 'We can't have you spilling blood here. After all, it is your home sweet home.'

Prompto hides a choked whimper in Max's shirt, clutching his own wrist as if some burning brand were set there even now instead of twenty years ago.]

I killed that bastard but it doesn't change what I am, how can--h-how can I get Luna back to Noct if he never wants to see me again?

If Noct doesn't wanna see you again, he's being a jerk.

[Fuck Noctis Lucis Caelum, actually??? Max pulls Prompto against his narrow chest, reaches up with his free hand to tuck that blanket a little more carefully around the kid's shoulders. He always looks so cold, and now he seems so small.]

But he's supposed to be your friend, right? Maybe - maybe he'll come around. You haven't done a single thing to him, and...I've known you for like two weeks, and I know you're not some kind of evil clone. Nobody who's worth it should throw a friend away just 'cause of where they were born. You killed the guy, you're making things right and that shouldn't even be your job.

[He sniffles, but the gesture, even more than the words Max is saying, at least starts to quiet him down.]

I d-didn't mean to. I was scared...

[Just like Lucina.]

A-A-Ardyn called it patricide, I... I don't know, he was touching me and half his face was gone. He was t...turning into a daemon and he wanted to turn me into one, t-too, I think.

Woah, hey, that guy was not your dad. You didn't even know that guy.

[Does Prompto have a real dad, somewhere? Also, Ardyn is also a dick! He and Noctis can go join the dick club for dicks!]

Whatever happened to him was his own stupid fault. You're not responsible for...I don't know, this fucking evil clone man.

[Does Prompto have a real dad? Super unclear, supposedly he has parents but we literally never see them even when he is a small bab or just got inducted into the Crownsguard. Chalk the Argentums into that dick club, too.]

...Okay.

[He can't really argue with that.]

Should've killed him, too, when I had the chance. ...Ardyn, I mean. If that's what I'm good for.

[dick club so big]

You're good for lots of things, Prompto.

...

[Subtitle: That sounds fake, but okay.]

[oh my god]

C'mon. Everybody here loves you, y'know? [He reaches up to ruffle Prompto's hair.] Me and Roxy were just talking about how we think a roadtrip with you sounds super cool. Even if there's meteor gods, I mean nothing's perfect. You...

[Lucina should be here.]

You're a good person. You bring people up.

[After a moment, Prompto finally lifts his head, red-eyed and miserable but listening, truly.]

Me? But I... I just joke to hide from the scary stuff, I don't really...

[He's not Noct, or Iggy, or Gladio. He can't be good like they are.]

[Just for that, Iggy and Gladio are also in the dick club. Max sits back to better look Prompto in the eye, though he keeps a hand on his shoulder.]

Dude, you don't gotta be totally not scared of anything to help people out. We all just...I dunno, we all just do the best we can for each other. And you do plenty of good.

['Think what you will. But I think you're good enough for me.'

Prompto blinks his wet eyes, then breathes out and drops his chin a little, tugging at the wristbands he made out of Chloe's ruined sleeves.]

...I don't know. I--I hear you, but I... I can't stop thinking about how...

[After a moment, he presses his lips together and finds himself unable to go on. How All Of That, really. Gestures wordlessly at the first half of Episode Prompto.]

Is that enough? T-to... [To earn his place at their side. To make his existence worth the horror that enabled it?] In a situation like this, is... is that any good at all?

'Course it is, bud.

[It better be good for something, or Max himself is equally shit out of luck.]

In here, pretty much all we've got is trying to keep spirits up, you know? It's all...just gonna be worse if we give up. [Not like it hasn't been bad enough already. But he stands by that. They have to try to protect what's left.] We'd all be worse off without you.

[For a while, he just lets that percolate through him, seeing how it sounds. He still feels... wrong, bad. If he could strip his whole body away and chuck it out the airlock, maybe he would, even if all that'd be left was a scared, naked ghost. It's the only way he can imagine ever feeling clean. He wraps his hand around that ugly, cruel bar code on his wrist.

Eventually, he breathes out shakily and leans against Max again, resting his head on a lanky shoulder.]

You're too good to me, man.

[For a whole week, Prompto's just been an endless drag.]

[Max huffs out a breath, putting an arm around Prompto and resting his hand on his blanket-covered shoulder. He feels exhausted, but...this is good. Not great, but getting better, he thinks.]

I'm exactly good enough. You deserve people looking out for you.

['I'm a Lucian! I am not one of your experiments!'

'Not anymore. Now you're nothing but a failure. I ought to return you whence you came; perhaps then you might serve some useful purpose.'

Prompto shivers helplessly and doesn't argue.]

G...guess it's nice to hear a second opinion.

[He draws his legs up onto the bed, curling into a little ball, tucked as he is under Max's arm.]

I can't--can't come out today. Um... can you tell everyone I'm sick or something?

[God, poor kid. Prompto's like twenty, but Max just wants to gather him up like a little kid who had a nightmare.]

You got it. That's probably gonna make them wanna check in on you, though - is that fine, or do you want me to make something up to keep them out?

Ghh... [Darn these people and their wonderful, well-meaning hearts.] Tell them I'm sleeping?

[Max pats Prompto's hair, just because it sort of seems like it needs doing.]

Sure. I'll ward 'em off. You gonna get a little sleep for real?

[Such a kind, gentle touch. It feels like it's been years since the last time. Prompto peeks at Max over his arm, then nods wearily.]

Yeah. I'm... I'm pretty tired. I'll try.

[It'll be nothing but nightmares, he's sure, but he has no strength for anything else.]

...Thank you, Max.

...yeah, sure. You're welcome, Prompto.

[He smiles, giving him one last hair ruffle, and stands to go.] Have a good sleep. I'm right down the hall if you need anything.

[The last hair ruffle tugs a frail, phantom smile out of him. Only Max. Where would Prompto even be without Max to bring him back up?]

You're the best, dude. Don't let anyone tell you different.

[Max turns back, smiling.]

Awww, you too, man. Get some rest. [He'll flick the lights off before he goes out.]

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Week 3

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