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a-world-in-grey · 9 months

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I've been thinking about Spark verse!Prompto.

Being a kid with no training, she probably doesn't have the best control with her magic. She would have worked out how not to start random fires or shock people with lightning, but if magic users are able to sense each other. Well, she might not know that or how to hide herself before she meets Noctis. Which presents Opportunities :)

Because Noctis might actually notice Prompto's resemblance to his friend Luna, assuming the Tenebrae visit wasn't butterflied away, and ask her about it. Which might clue her in that she was looking at the wrong magical monarch when looking for her parent.

Or, which I personally find much more Fun, Noctis did not meet Luna in this timeline so when he's confronted with another magic kid. Well, he comes to the obvious conclusion. The same one that Prompto had. And being a cat of a person that he is, he just goes "I know it, you know it, Dad (probably) knows it, we're apparently not talking about it, let's just hang out and play King's Knights."

So. Normally I hc that magic users usually cannot sense each other unless the magic is brushing up against them or actively being used (Sola/Ardyn being the odd case) so Regis and Noctis wouldn’t sense Prompto if she’s hiding.

But.

This is Fantastic.

I haven’t decided if the Marilith attack will still happen or how the situation in Tenebrae will develop, but either way let’s say Prompto takes enough after Besithia instead of the Fleurets that she doesn’t immediately trip Noctis’ (or someone else’s) familiarity with Tenebrae’s royal family.

Prompto has spent years learning to hide her magic, suppressing it as hard as she can. Nope, no magic here, no siree. The scorch mark on the carpet is explained away as Prompto accidentally knocking over a candle, and while she’s bummed to not be allowed any more candles in her room, keeping her magic secret is a bit more important.

Thing is, suppressing her magic actually makes it harder for Prompto to hide it. Magic isn’t supposed to be suppressed, isn’t supposed to be bottled up and crammed into the deepest corner of her soul. Adopting a headcanon from @secret-engima’s Cyra-verse, in that having a build up of magic with no way to relieve the pressure causes health issues. I don’t know what kind of health issues I’d go with, perhaps something playing off of Oracle magic being heavily geared towards light and healing.

Paradoxically, despite her health issues, Prompto actually heals from injuries far faster than normal. It’s not to the point of noticeable regeneration, but those who look for it in hindsight can tell that Promto is healing anywhere from a 25-50% faster than what is normal, and Prompto is not yet so desperate as to re-injure herself to hide her magic. (Ironically, were Regis or Cor to ever learn of Prompto’s healing/health issues, they’d assume it the result of whatever experiment Besithia conducted, not magic.)

So Prompto spends about a decade trying to suppress her magic. A decade atrophying whatever innate control she might have had, a decade shrinking her reserves even as the slow build up of magic strains to escape its ever decreasing confines.

The first time she sees Noctis, in primary school, Noctis cannot sense Prompto’s suppressed magic. They are both young children with still developing reserves, and Noctis has no reason to look. Prompto is able to stay in the background even as she resolves to better herself so she can stand as her brother’s friend, because she can tell from a fifty paces that Noctis is achingly lonely.

(Of course, between then and the beginning of high school Prompto develops her health issues, but she hardly lets that stop her.)

She introduces herself to Noctis in high school, and to her surprise and delight, Noctis immediately accepts her overtures of friendship. (She tries not to think of how lonely Noctis must have been, to accept a new friend so quickly.)

On Noctis’ part, he is blindsided when one of the girls in his year comes up to him with an easy confidence and bright smile, brimming with magic to his senses. (Because as Prompto’s reserves got smaller with no outlet for the magic already there, it became easier and easier to sense her magic.) He accepts her overtures of friendship mostly to figure out who the Pyre this girl is, but finds himself liking her more and more as a friend until they’re practically attached at the hip.

Noctis mistakes Prompto for a Lucis Caelum instead of a Fleuret. After all, Prompto’s parents (to his knowledge) are Lucian merchants who have never left the country, and as far as he knows the Oracles haven’t left the Niflheimr continent since they were annexed by the Empire. No, it makes more sense that Prompto is his half-sister.

(Prompto and Noctis don’t acknowledge their presumed relation, not at first, but those who assume them to be dating (far more than either would like) are met with disgusted expressions and denials of ‘they’re like my sibling.’)

Of course, because Noctis can be blind as a bat when it comes to things he doesn’t want to think about, it takes him awhile to do the math around Prompto’s birthdate and realize that Regus would’ve been fooling around with Prompto’s mother when Aulea was only a couple months pregnant. That realization puts Noctis in a mood, especially when a couple offhand questions to Prompto reveals that Prompto’s parents stopped working for the Crown shortly after Prompto’s birth.

(I could make it worse and have Aulea’s death be a couple months after Noctis’ birth, so Noctis thinks that not only did Regus know about Prompto, but Regis also deliberately concealed and rejected Prompto. Due to grief, shame, or because Prompto wasn’t Aulea’s, Noctis doesn’t know, but the timing is too suspicious for him to think it a coincidence.)

Poor Regis has no idea why Noctis seems to be so cross with him all of a sudden. Clarus suggests it might be a simple teenage rebellious phase, and since Noctis isn’t getting into trouble Regis leaves it be and waits for Noctis to talk to him about it. Ignis and Gladio try to figure out what the Pyre is going on, but Noctis refuses to budge, and Prompto is equally baffled when they ask if she has any idea - Noctis hasn’t told her either.

Noctis not introducing Prompto to Regis baffles everyone too, until Clarus makes the observation that this is Noctis’ first friend that wasn’t chosen for him, so it stands to reason he wants to keep her for himself - dragons don’t exactly like to share. (Noctis is embarrassed by that assumption when he’s simply trying to help Prompto keep her LC heritage under wraps, but he can’t say that so the assumption stands.)

(Prompto thinks Noctis’ grumpy possessiveness is cute. It’s not like she isn’t grateful for the excuse not to meet Regis. She still thinks she’s successfully hidden, but that doesn’t mean she’s anywhere ready to meet her presumed birth father.)

Things come to a head when the four are hanging out at Prompto’s place - her parents out of town once more but she’s now old enough at 16 to not need a babysitter - and Prompto’s health issues flare unexpectedly, leaving her shaking in pain. It’s not the first time this has happened since she befriended Noctis, but this is the first time Noctis has been present for the flare up, and he has the benefit of being able to look at the issue with fresh eyes.

Specifically, Noctis feels Prompto’s magic surge against the steel grasp Prompto has on it as Prompto doubles over in pain and realizes that Prompto suppressing her magic is hurting her. And Noctis can’t ignore the catoplebas in the room anymore.

Prompto has a panic attack when Noctis reveals that he knows. Fortunately she’s recovered as well as she ever does from the flare up a couple days ago, but it’s not a great time for either of them. Noctis explains how he knew from the minute he met her a year ago, and how he’s tried to help hide her from his father because Regis would also notice. But Noctis tells her how she needs to use her magic, if only a bit, or her health is only going to get worse.

Noctis starts teaching Prompto to control her magic. It requires telling Ignis and Gladio about Prompto’s magic and swearing them to secrecy (Gladio looks poleaxed when he learns) because Noctis and Prompto aren’t sneaky enough to do this without help. Gladio also helps train Prompto in self-defense, because the thought of a royal being defenseless is stressful enough to give him grey hairs (he’s grateful the secrecy means eleven-year old Iris won’t be expected to take up Shield duties, but at the same time that leaves the Princess without a Shield).

Prompto proves to be a crack shot with just about any firearm she gets her hands on, and her Armiger means she’ll never be unarmed, which is one worry off Gladio’s mind. As for Prompto’s magic - it quickly becomes clear that she’ll never have more than the basics. Warping is beyond her entirely, to Prompto’s jealousy, as are shields. Prompto gets a passable skill in Elemancy for all that she’ll never match Ignis’ talent for it.

The only magic she really takes to is stealth spells. Refracting light to conceal herself comes almost as easily as shooting a gun. (None of them think to explore if Prompto can heal beyond making curatives, and the other Oracle magics are unknown to them.) She also manages to figure out a minor trick that lets her create a little night light that she can easily explain away as the flashlight on her phone if anyone nearly catches her.

Best of all, Prompto’s health issues fade. They don’t go away completely, probably never will with how much damage has been done, but any improvement is one Prompto will take.

Once Prompto gains enough control over her magic to successfully hide from Noctis even when he’s trying to sense her, Noctis grudgingly introduces her to Regis.

#ffxv #Spark!Ardyn au #Prompto Arengtum #Noctis Lucis Caelum #misunderstandings galore #which will blow up in everyone’s faces before the truth gets out #open to ideas for how that all goes down

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madeimpact · 7 months

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There was something about this Mansion and the characters it attracted.

Specters and apparitions swept through the hallways and cackled with glee as portals opened and tournament attendees were whisked away...somewhere. Too much was happening at once for Noctis to immediately call the details to mind, outside of the most obvious: oh yeah, it's October.

He braced, shutting his eyes, and felt some sort of magic begin to sweep through his entire being. Somewhat familiar, and yet changed. More eerie. Somehow...stronger?

He could feel his body beginning to change as the moonlight of this new world beamed down on him. His canines and his nails sharpened, his pupils narrowed to slits, and he felt appendages sprouting from places they normally shouldn't.

Try as he might to conceal the start he got from the ghoulish greeting, Noctis could feel the way his fur bristled, giving him away to this — Halloweentown's locals.

Wait...fur? What the...

❝ ...Goddammit. ❞

A newly clawed hand raised itself to his head...only to encounter a new set of ears to replace the old. Covered in sleek black fur, perking up from the side of his head all the way to the top. And that sensation of an extra limb behind him...

...Right. He had to figure out what happened to the others. Had they been swept away with him, or had he been separated from the group? It wouldn't be the first time the latter had happened...

Get his bearings. Be still, his beating heart.

❝ Ignis? Gladio? ❞ he called out. ❝ Prompto — ? ❞

It was hard to say whether the sound that rang out from a few paces off was in response to his name being called, but it had definitely, weirdly come out of his friend.

❝ KWEH?! ❞

#event: spooky smashing fun #hello lgbt community #...i have to make miqo'te noct icons now FUCK #❛ event: aw shit; here we ghoul again! ( halloweentown 2023 )#dash event #❛ ic: noctis.#❛ ic: prompto.#( at the very end )#❛ verse: noctis ; smash.#❛ verse: prompto ; smash.#❛ open: noctis.#❛ open: prompto.

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