Then, [ With both hands on the wheel, she turns her attention in front of them. ] face forward and hold on tight.
[ Granted, in a barrier-encased city, there is neither that much room nor altitude to truly test the extent of the new flying-Regalia's capabilities, but that's not going to stop her from cutting a straight diameter across the city. ] Let's... go!
[ The wings spread, then flatten to sharp daggers behind them, giving them a boost to begin with and accelerating them right from the start. The city zooms by them as they fly across the skyline, leaving contrails behind and vortexes in their wake. Pyra herself feels pressed to her seat, her smile wide as she keeps her grip firm upon the wheel as they cross over all below them. She makes a note in the back of her mind that if they are to fly again without the top of the car, they ought to do so with goggles, because her eyes are watering from the sheer speed of the machine.
Pyra's careful to decelerate when they approach the other side of the barrier, but it seems her hair is now in a permeant state of being swept back from her forehead. It's a miracle that her headband had managed to stay on at all. Descending the car from a higher altitude to a lower one, she places the Regalia into a cruising mode to allow them to catch their breaths. ]
Ah... Mm. That was--
That was fast. [ The fastest she's ever gone in this world, anyways. ]
[He's laughing. He is so laughing. And while he did sit properly in his seat as she'd asked, he doesn't hold on; instead he braces his feet and has both hands in the air, whooping boisterously and feeling the air rush against his arms, forcing them behind him. His own hair is practically slicked back from his forehead, locks hopelessly out of place, and with a breathless exhale he slumps down in his seat, shoulders shaking with leftover chuckles as his hands fold together behind his head.]
That was so fast. [omgggg. He wants to tell her to do it again, but maybe they ought to catch their breath first.] Have I mentioned that I love you today?
[Like- yes, okay, he loves her every day. Absolutely. But this was so much! A genuinely lovely gift that is giving him an overwhelming thrill, and she's driving for him and indulging in this silly thrill-seeking mentality he's cultivated over his lifetime despite being seemingly so "important" in the grand scheme of things... he's high in the sky and getting a chance to see everything below them rushing by instead of focusing on not crashing, and it's incredible. He really, really loves this. And her. Again, and more.]
[ Had they been on the ground, she would have hugged him in this moment. She looks at him, beaming and breathless, her own cheeks flushed by the bite of the wind and his words. ]
Noct... [ She speaks his name, touched and looking at him as she relaxes in her seat. If his hair looks like that, then hers must be just as wild. ] Noct, there's no reason other than love that I give you this gift.
[ It hadn't been a some sort of holiday gift, and it hadn't even been his birthday. It certainly hadn't been a gift out of an apology or guilt for the Fetter-almost-killing-him incident, either, because she had begun working on this months ago. It just is a gift given to him unconditionally, out of wanting to make him smile because she loves him. Of course, she (and Mythra, especially) had fun designing and making it itself, having spent the greater part of a year away from tinkering with anything robotic herself aside from fuel cells, and it is a bit of a pride boost to know that he's impressed. The reason for even starting it at all had been him and the love they have for him.
He had once mentioned that at the full power of the Armiger, he could fly, as if warping isn't some sort of form of gliding already. However, she knows that his power can hurt him.
The energy within her flutters and swells as she looks at him again and sees his smile, and for once out of these past weeks, she feels as if she's done something right for him. Flying... is something she had always enjoyed. She had wanted to give him the experience of knowing what it is like to fly without exhaustion or pain, to simply experience flight for the joy of it and nothing more, and all at no cost to him. Flying is something she loves to do, and she loves that he loves it, too. ]
[He kinda wants to hug her too, and pepper her with kisses and spoil her rotten. He's going to be riding this high for days. He does refrain, though, content to wait until they're safely on the ground. She worked hard on this, so he'd better not ruin it by causing her to crash when he asked her to drive so he wouldn't.
His cheeks are flushed, again due to both windsweep and pleasure, and he can't help looking back at her with a softer smile, warmed to the core despite the cold air around them. She really has given him an immense gift, here, and he hopes she realizes the scale of it. It's very different from the Armiger- there is no danger around him, but rather he's in the Regalia, the very definition of a safe space for him. The safest place he's ever known, where he's felt the most at home from childhood all the way until they'd had to abandon it in Gralea. Instead of power, blood, and ozone, it smells like gasoline and leather. It feels like the thrumming of an engine instead of magic in his veins and survival instinct keeping him in constant motion. He can sit back, relax, and enjoy the feeling of being in the air, safe while in flight, and there's no ticking clock in the back of his mind, reminding him to get back on the ground before the power runs dry and he falls from the sky. There's no monster around to swat him out of the air either, just Pyra, smiling back at him.
Yeah, this is amazing. He's going to treasure this. He doesn't even know what else to say, just:]
[ Perfect, he calls the gift, when she had spent far too many hours wondering if it would be good enough for him. She allows herself a satisfied smile, and a quiet, loving-- ] Anything, for you. [ --as she gazes at him, lifting a hand to try to correct her bangs now that they're at a slower speed. ]
[ But then her eyes look over the panel on the dashboard as she appears to spot something. Turning the wheel towards one of the ruins of a building that has a smooth enough roof, she exclaims in a worried manner, ] --Oh, no!
We have to descend right away!
[ ...He might notice that there's something very theatric about her tone. ]
[He blinks back at her, startled for a moment with wide eyes, until it clicks that there's a vaguely unbelievable lilt to her tone. His gaze shifts to the controls, which don't seem to be flashing with any sort of warning light.]
His confusion shifts back into a grin, smooth as silk, and he glances around them for a moment before playfully scooting over in his seat a bit, moving closer to her.]
[ She notices how he glances around them even if they've landed atop of a roof. It must be an instinctual thing after being raised as a prince...
He doesn't have to worry about any of that here, and she doesn't want him to think about anything at all except this kiss as her lips find his and her hand finds his cheek.
...It might not be the most elegant of kisses, though, because it will be with teeth because his smile and joy is infectious and she just can't stop grinning against his mouth. ]
[He tucks his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for it as much as he can with the console between them. He feels her smile against his lips and he shares it, pleased that his reaction is enough to make her feel that it was perhaps worth the effort of constructing this. Though he's not sure how he could have been happier than he'd felt when they lifted up into the air. There aren't many moments that have reached that peak level of glee.
As they draw back he bumps against her forehead, eyes closed, looking content.]
[THERE ARE NO MIRRORS- oh, wait, yes there are. He leans away to check the side mirror, baffled, and then... oh no.
That is a crisis.
Hastily his hands lift to start sifting through his hair, trying to mend the damage to his once-perfect style, even if it's just going to become a disaster when they have to fly back down again.]
[ Glancing in the rear-view mirror, her hair has been made into an amalgam of slicked-back bangs exploding into a wild, fluffy puff of hair towards the back. Pyra bursts out laughing as she attempts to correct her bangs for a second time since they've stopped flying, to no avail. ]
[His hand pauses at his hair, pawing in futility at his locks. They're not sticking straight up anymore, at least...]
I should've known you'd ask. [His tone his mixed between rueful and amused (on one hand, terrible photo! on the other hand, she's hard to say no to) but he scoots a little closer anyway, ready for her to snap it.] You want one better, let's do it in the air.
[Which is super unsafe, yes, but it's still something he'd do without question.]
[ Her Artifices can fly themselves, so it hadn't been a problem to install a rudimentary autopilot brain on this thing. ] How about... one here.
[ Snap! She takes a selfie with him, and then puts away her phone. ] And one up there.
[ They take off again, soaring into the sky... And here's where he'll discover the autopilot function when she selects a mode on the touch screen and takes both hands off the wheel. ]
Let's see... [ Pyra murmurs, adjusting her camera again. ]
[He watches, curious, and is fully ready to take up his own communicator or accept hers in order to snap the photo himself. So of course when she lets the steering wheel go, his eyes widen and he reaches out to hastily grab it in the sort of responsibly self-aware panic that might make even Ignis proud.]
Mythra's idea, actually. [ She appears pleased to report this, smiling at him. She motions at the touch screen panel. ]
Our Artifices... [ She's a little quieter at the mention of them, but her voice picks back up in strength. ] They have a version of autopilot, too. While not as complex as theirs, the one that we built into this will be able to help you fly, even hands-free if you set it on a course.
[ She had been tinkering with building it earlier in the year, when she had given Honerva a small, mechanical bird that could function and fly on its own. Building its basic AI had been a little test for herself, a model that she used in constructing the flight capabilities of this car. ] I tried to make flying as easy as possible with anyone who might be driving this in mind.
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[ Granted, in a barrier-encased city, there is neither that much room nor altitude to truly test the extent of the new flying-Regalia's capabilities, but that's not going to stop her from cutting a straight diameter across the city. ] Let's... go!
[ The wings spread, then flatten to sharp daggers behind them, giving them a boost to begin with and accelerating them right from the start. The city zooms by them as they fly across the skyline, leaving contrails behind and vortexes in their wake. Pyra herself feels pressed to her seat, her smile wide as she keeps her grip firm upon the wheel as they cross over all below them. She makes a note in the back of her mind that if they are to fly again without the top of the car, they ought to do so with goggles, because her eyes are watering from the sheer speed of the machine.
Pyra's careful to decelerate when they approach the other side of the barrier, but it seems her hair is now in a permeant state of being swept back from her forehead. It's a miracle that her headband had managed to stay on at all. Descending the car from a higher altitude to a lower one, she places the Regalia into a cruising mode to allow them to catch their breaths. ]
Ah... Mm. That was--
That was fast. [ The fastest she's ever gone in this world, anyways. ]
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That was so fast. [omgggg. He wants to tell her to do it again, but maybe they ought to catch their breath first.] Have I mentioned that I love you today?
[Like- yes, okay, he loves her every day. Absolutely. But this was so much! A genuinely lovely gift that is giving him an overwhelming thrill, and she's driving for him and indulging in this silly thrill-seeking mentality he's cultivated over his lifetime despite being seemingly so "important" in the grand scheme of things... he's high in the sky and getting a chance to see everything below them rushing by instead of focusing on not crashing, and it's incredible. He really, really loves this. And her. Again, and more.]
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Noct... [ She speaks his name, touched and looking at him as she relaxes in her seat. If his hair looks like that, then hers must be just as wild. ] Noct, there's no reason other than love that I give you this gift.
[ It hadn't been a some sort of holiday gift, and it hadn't even been his birthday. It certainly hadn't been a gift out of an apology or guilt for the Fetter-almost-killing-him incident, either, because she had begun working on this months ago. It just is a gift given to him unconditionally, out of wanting to make him smile because she loves him. Of course, she (and Mythra, especially) had fun designing and making it itself, having spent the greater part of a year away from tinkering with anything robotic herself aside from fuel cells, and it is a bit of a pride boost to know that he's impressed. The reason for even starting it at all had been him and the love they have for him.
He had once mentioned that at the full power of the Armiger, he could fly, as if warping isn't some sort of form of gliding already. However, she knows that his power can hurt him.
The energy within her flutters and swells as she looks at him again and sees his smile, and for once out of these past weeks, she feels as if she's done something right for him. Flying... is something she had always enjoyed. She had wanted to give him the experience of knowing what it is like to fly without exhaustion or pain, to simply experience flight for the joy of it and nothing more, and all at no cost to him. Flying is something she loves to do, and she loves that he loves it, too. ]
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His cheeks are flushed, again due to both windsweep and pleasure, and he can't help looking back at her with a softer smile, warmed to the core despite the cold air around them. She really has given him an immense gift, here, and he hopes she realizes the scale of it. It's very different from the Armiger- there is no danger around him, but rather he's in the Regalia, the very definition of a safe space for him. The safest place he's ever known, where he's felt the most at home from childhood all the way until they'd had to abandon it in Gralea. Instead of power, blood, and ozone, it smells like gasoline and leather. It feels like the thrumming of an engine instead of magic in his veins and survival instinct keeping him in constant motion. He can sit back, relax, and enjoy the feeling of being in the air, safe while in flight, and there's no ticking clock in the back of his mind, reminding him to get back on the ground before the power runs dry and he falls from the sky. There's no monster around to swat him out of the air either, just Pyra, smiling back at him.
Yeah, this is amazing. He's going to treasure this. He doesn't even know what else to say, just:]
Thanks... seriously, thank you. It's perfect.
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We have to descend right away!
[ ...He might notice that there's something very theatric about her tone. ]
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...Oh no...?
[Gurl what are you planning.]
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With the car safely on the roof and stalled, she reveals her ~plan~! ]
...Because I must kiss you in this moment.
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His confusion shifts back into a grin, smooth as silk, and he glances around them for a moment before playfully scooting over in his seat a bit, moving closer to her.]
Convenient. I was just thinking the same thing.
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He doesn't have to worry about any of that here, and she doesn't want him to think about anything at all except this kiss as her lips find his and her hand finds his cheek.
...It might not be the most elegant of kisses, though, because it will be with teeth because his smile and joy is infectious and she just can't stop grinning against his mouth. ]
dw why you eatin more notifs
As they draw back he bumps against her forehead, eyes closed, looking content.]
Did that avert the crisis...?
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It averted it just in time.
[ For a few extra beats after the kiss, she continues looking at him as she's wont to do in her admiration of him. Only this time-- ]
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A-although I...--I think there's another crisis you probably should know about.
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That sounds ominous, and at the same time not.
[If it was a major crisis she probably wouldn't be giggling about it...]
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...Okay she's going to tell him. ]
You might want to look in a mirror.
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[THERE ARE NO MIRRORS- oh, wait, yes there are. He leans away to check the side mirror, baffled, and then... oh no.
That is a crisis.
Hastily his hands lift to start sifting through his hair, trying to mend the damage to his once-perfect style, even if it's just going to become a disaster when they have to fly back down again.]
You're one to talk...!
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Mm, I don't know, I kind of like it.
[ She's joking. ]
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[With the bangs all spiked up... definitely not a look for them, he's pretty firm on that. But at least she's having some fun with it.]
This might actually make me reconsider hair gel... at least for the days we go flying.
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[ Calling his attention, she lifts up her communicator, tapping the side of it with her finger. ] How about a picture?
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I should've known you'd ask. [His tone his mixed between rueful and amused (on one hand, terrible photo! on the other hand, she's hard to say no to) but he scoots a little closer anyway, ready for her to snap it.] You want one better, let's do it in the air.
[Which is super unsafe, yes, but it's still something he'd do without question.]
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[ Snap! She takes a selfie with him, and then puts away her phone. ] And one up there.
[ They take off again, soaring into the sky... And here's where he'll discover the autopilot function when she selects a mode on the touch screen and takes both hands off the wheel. ]
Let's see... [ Pyra murmurs, adjusting her camera again. ]
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Whoa, whoa! What're you doing?
[WHAT IS AUTOPILOT--]
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[ Gently placing a hand upon his that's on the wheel, she takes it off. ] See?
[ Behold. ] An autopilot function!
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[This is. The most intense revelation. Car autopilot.]
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Our Artifices... [ She's a little quieter at the mention of them, but her voice picks back up in strength. ] They have a version of autopilot, too. While not as complex as theirs, the one that we built into this will be able to help you fly, even hands-free if you set it on a course.
[ She had been tinkering with building it earlier in the year, when she had given Honerva a small, mechanical bird that could function and fly on its own. Building its basic AI had been a little test for herself, a model that she used in constructing the flight capabilities of this car. ] I tried to make flying as easy as possible with anyone who might be driving this in mind.
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