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[ While he's distracted with his hair, he'll hear her rustle in her seat. ] Mm, Noct?

[ Calling his attention, she lifts up her communicator, tapping the side of it with her finger. ] How about a picture?

[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.]

Whoa, whoa! What're you doing?

[WHAT IS AUTOPILOT--]

[ She startles when he suddenly reaches over to the diver's side, grasping the wheel. ] Wh-- No, it's okay!

[ Gently placing a hand upon his that's on the wheel, she takes it off. ] See?

[ Behold. ] An autopilot function!

...You can do that? Make a car drive itself?

[This is. The most intense revelation. Car autopilot.]

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.

[He leans in to look at the panel, now searching for commands he hadn't noticed before. Sure enough it's there, while the car gently glides around obstacles without either of them touching the wheel. And she even talked a little more about the Artifices, mostly unprompted! He's being spoiled today.]

That's so cool... this might actually prevent Ignis from having a panic attack at the idea of us in the air. [He grins.] Is there anything you can't do?

[ Her cheeks flush at the praise. There are, indeed, many things she cannot do... as well as many more things of which she's capable, just that she hasn't shown them in all this time. And at the height of her power, reality is hers.

In some sense, working on this flying mechanism itself had been a treat. From the moment she had stepped into this realm, she's been putting herself to work on various things and ideas, but it's been so long since she's made anything as complex as this. ] Having your family in mind did make me make this as extra-safe as possible.

[ As if she wouldn't have had already! But the thought of his friends and family worrying about each other as they fly, or worse, not wanting someone to fly because they are worried-- she had wanted to do everything she could to assure that they're safe. She glances at him, lifting up a hand to brush a few wayward strands of hair away from her face. ] It was... fun to work on this, too.

[ The wings themselves had been wonderful to see come to life again. She has so few things of her world in this one, and after the Fetter nearly killed him, she'd never wish for any of her Artifices to make an appearance, either (were that even possible), no matter how much she might miss them. But seeing the wings themselves brings a nostalgic expression to her face. It's almost like having another piece of her homeworld in this world, too.

Shyly, though, she wants to know his opinion on them-- ] Do you... like the wings? How they look.

[He glances over his shoulder to look at them again, still smiling brightly. Every time he catches so much as a glimpse of them out of the corner of his eye he feels that same gleeful thrill, a reminder that they're in the air, if the wind whipping through his hair wasn't reminder enough.]

Yeah! They're kind of bright for the Regalia, but that just makes 'em stand out. They look like... I dunno, you. You and Mythra. It's almost like your signature on it.

[Bright glowing wingspan? Yeah, that sort of screams Pyra's influence. Even with the aesthetic clash he doesn't at all mind her touch on the family's car.]

[ She's obviously pleased by his answer, cheeks flushing again. ]

M--mm! [ Pyra nods enthusiastically. ] Those wings... They're similar to the ones on our other Artifice, Siren.

I couldn't think of a better way to make her fly in a way that I'd trust to keep you safe. [ Conventional means? What's that? And as much as she knows how Ophion can fly without wings of any sort, Siren's wings adds an extra degree of agility and precision in flying. ]

It sure makes it believable, definitely- as soon as they came out I realized right away what you were telling me.

[wings = flight, it's simple science! And he feels plenty safe. They haven't crashed even once in ten minutes.]

What's Siren like? If you want to say it...

[The name is unfamiliar to him, and while he's curious, she looks so happy that he doesn't want to pry and make her uncomfortable in the middle of a good time.]

Siren is...

[ Extraordinarily dangerous.

But she can do this. ] Humanoid in shape, a mechanical goliath. [ A giant robot, in other words. ] While not as large as Ophion, you'd be able to fit within the palm of their hand.

[ Saying so, she reaches for Noctis' hand to take. She can do this, yes, but she appreciates his support. ]

While I had sent Ophion to hide below the Cloud-Sea, I kept Siren above the atmosphere.

[In the palm of their hand... sounds very Bahamut. His fingers curl around hers, giving her hand a light squeeze, and his expression shows he's grateful she's willing to share.]

So it's like a... magic... space bird. Person.

[Very eloquently spoken.]

[ She is not offended at the description; in fact, she appears amused. A giant space person with wings. ]

Not inaccurate, but also robotic.

[ She looks at Noctis. ] On the cathedrals' scrolls and walls, they'd often depict Siren as a being with feathered wings. [ Something that, unbeknownst to her, they'd conflate with her own image in five hundred years. ] I suppose they thought these ones were too [ extra. ] glow-y and surreal to comprehend.

[ She pauses, looking upward. ] Sometimes we were able to spot Siren in the sky as it remained in orbit. Almost like a slow moving shooting star.

People love doing that. Remember the Cosmogony? The artist gave all the Messengers wings, but none of them have any. And a bunch of the kings! Bet in a few hundred years I'll have wings, too. [He grins at her, carefully ignoring the implications of that. The theoretical is more fun.] That sounds so cool, though. And it'll just run forever up there?

[He's more used to technology or magic needing to "recharge" so to speak. Though maybe if it was in resting mode, it'd be comparable to any of the Lucis Caelums having a nap. The magic builds back up for when they next need it- something like that.]

[ Funny how the depictions do not match reality. It does make her wonder if any of the depictions of the four deities here are different from what they truly appear.

...She would have continued with the topic of wings and his family if he hadn't asked the proceeding question. ] Forever and ever... [ She confirms, quiet for a moment. Forever and ever until the world might end, but yes. Theoretically, yes. ]

If you're wondering, I didn't include space-flight capability on the Regalia.

[/bullet dodged

He considers the comment a moment, then awkwardly scratches at a cheek.]

That's... probably for the best. Sounds like a lot of work.

[Even if they could get past the barrier, he doesn't like the idea of a bunch of extra mods on his dad's car to make it spaceworthy, whatever that might require. He's assuming a lot, but it isn't as if anyone on his world's been to space.]

[ Space is also considerably more dangerous than what they're doing now...

Although she doesn't need to, she looks back in the direction the autopilot's taking them, closing her eyes and breathing in the cool air. She's quiet for a long moment, a moment during which her hand adjusts in his from clasping his palm to interlacing her fingers with his.

When she exhales, she speaks. ] ...I missed this. Flying, I mean.

[He looks sidelong at her, even though she's not looking. Impossible to miss the quiet contentment on her face, and it warms him to the core, moreso than even the gift itself.]

That kinda makes it a present for you as much as for me, doesn't it? You should treat yourself more often.

[It's a good thing, he wants to emphasize; doing a lot for others is fine, and he won't call it selfish anymore, not when it's meant to encourage her. Self-serving, maybe. That's not necessarily bad. Self-care? Whatever one calls it, it's good for her. If she lets herself have and enjoy things, it means she feels that she deserves it enough to not refuse, and that's important.]

[ Would she have made something like this for herself? It's difficult to say. She's working the drop ship with Besithia, but that's more of his project than hers; she's only providing extra metal and the fuel cell for it...

Like so many times before, it feels as if she's treating herself already. Pyra looks at him, smiling. ] You're here, and we're flying together on something that's from both of our lives. [ His father's car, the wings of her Artifice. It's a lot.

She loves him, and she loves flying, and she's gotten to share that love of flying with him. It's a perfect moment. ] What more could I ask for?

Probably at least a few things, but this is awesome, either way.

[He tugs out his own communicator, flipping on the reversed camera option, and leans in, holding it up over them both.]

You could ask for a selfie, since I did distract you before.

[Bad hair and everything! This is his selfless (but small) gift to her in return.]

[ --Right, a selfie. Her smile widens as she leans in. And just as he's snapping the picture, she goes in for a kiss to his cheek. ]

.....We should take more pictures together.

[ While she had been in her world, she had only been photographed once (as Mythra) with Addam and the rest of their group. While in this world, she had taken so very few pictures of herself with Somnus.

With Noctis... They needn't be so stringent with pictures or photographs. She can take as many as she wants with him, and he with her. She'd like to keep a few with her on her own phone, as well. ] Would you send that one to me?

[His cheeks are a little pink in response as he lowers the comm, smiling quietly as he fiddles with the options to send it her way.]

Only if you do the same, and it's a deal.

[He doesn't particularly like photos of himself most of the time, but... photos of Pyra are nice. And photos with Pyra can be nice. One on the ground, one in the air, disaster hair and all... she still looks cute. And he doesn't immediately want to delete a pic of himself, so hey. That's growth.]

[ Hearing the ping of a notification on her own device, she nods, satisfied.

Prompto may have taken photos of him countless times, but to her it's invaluable-- and the fond, grateful smile she gives him in return shows it. This photo, any photos of them together or just him, will be regarded as precious to her. Because it's him there, and she has a portrait of the memory in which it's been taken. ]

...This trip was supposed to be a gift to you. [ She says, her voice warm and loving. Of course a picture can't be the real thing, and her expression grows more appreciating when she looks at him. His cheeks are pink-- it's cute. ] You've already given me something precious in return.

[ A moment passes, and she shakes her head-- that's not right, either. ] No. Every day-- it's a gift, to be with you.

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