FFXV: After the Fall

Chapter 21

A little after nine, they were all sifting through some of the many reams of paper they'd stolen after breakfast, with the occasional sheet being scrunched up and thrown into the study's fireplace by a couple of them. One of those people was Nyx.
   "Y'know," he said, "it fucking bothers me how much useless shit these guys write. I've got reports here from the city and they're goin' on about daily counts of bullets, grenades, spare parts...who the fuck ever does that? Like, ever?"
   "Not you, that's for sure." Noctis smiled.
   "Fuckin' A. Know what I'd do with a report like this?" He then scrunched that one up too and threw it into the flames. "That. Then I'd go about having somethin' called a life."
Prompto laughed. "Bro, I thought your knives were sharper than your mouth. Startin' to think I got that all wrong."
Nyx grinned. "You know me. Tell it like it is."
   "That'll only get you so far. Most likely? Into a pile of trouble."
Prompto then got hit by another ball of paper, and looked at Nyx while scrunching up his own.
   "My mouth does get into a lot of places," he said, "but never trouble. That's where we differ. I'm an expert with mine."
   "Yeah, right." Prompto threw a paper ball at him, but Nyx batted it away and it sailed over to land on Helena's lap.
She lifted her sheet up, spied the paper, then looked at both of the widely-grinning men. She then scrunched up her own sheet and used her gifts to make the both of them fly around in the air.
   "Y'know...I kinda agree with both of you." She said.
She then froze the paper solid with ice, and they shattered and rained freezing cold snow down over the two giggling men.
The others laughed as Nyx and Prompto both shot out of their chairs to brush the coldness off their head and clothes, and Nyx levelled a playful look at Helena.
She merely smiled, then went back to looking at her papers.

Roc then came into the study. "Ah," he said, "so this is where you're all hiding. Thought you'd have left."
   "Need to wade through all this." Noctis told him.
   "Any joy so far?"
He shook his head. "Not unless you love countin' bullets."
Roc paused, then let it pass. "I...thought you were all setting out for Galahd today, that's all. Was going to suggest that you give all that stuff to me. I've plenty of people who are currently bored and looking for something to do."
They all stared at him.
Prompto spoke first. "Wha...why the hell didn't you tell us that? We just spent the past half-hour combin' this shit. Some of us has to get up extra-early!"
   "You mean you? I couldn't find you. And like I said, I thought you'd already headed out for the settlement. If you don't want my help, then I'll happily-"
   "No!" He grinned. "That's a big help."
   "I rather thought so. Just leave it there, I'll send someone to come along and pick it all up later." He then left the study, and the six friends all looked at each other.
   "...that was nice of him." Noctis said.
   "Yeah. Maybe too nice?" Prompto wondered.
Nyx shook his head. "I'm not gonna refuse the help, this shit's gonna put me to fuckin' sleep soon." He dumped his stack of paper on the table, then looked at the others. "So! What shall our esteemed selves do today?"
   "I'm in a party mood." Prompto smiled. "Let's go to Galahd."
Nyx grinned. "You ain't seen a party until you've done one there. They go pretty big."
   "We do need to visit there anyway." Ignis agreed. "Helena?"
   "Uh, yeah." She nodded. "If they've not had a blessing for that long, it would be a crime for me to not go."
   "Agreed. We'd better make sure that we have everything, in case we don't end up back here for a while."
They all went off to check their belongings, and twenty minutes after that they were rolling along the roads, heading for Galahd, the largest of the known immigrant settlements in the south-western desert areas of Duscae.
   "So what happens when a village is blessed, Hel?" Noctis asked her after a while. "Never seen one done before."
She paused. "What- not ever?"
   "Not ever. Didn't get to leave the castle much."
She went back to looking at the passing scenery. "Well, after being introduced to some of the local people, I don't have to do it straight away. Magisters have to travel far, after all. I'm hoping to start within an hour or so of getting there, though. As far as seeing it goes, there's quite a bit really. It's not like a light show or theatre play or anythin' like that, but it's still very visual. I'll make my way to wherever they have their altar or place of worship- sometimes it can just be a statue, depending on what people it is- and it's actually that that gets the blessing."
   "Do you get all glowy and shit?" Prompto asked.
She nodded. "Sure do. We also trot out something that's part of the Divine we ascribe to as well. I could do any of them, but...for this one I'll have Bahamut himself."
   "...really?" The blonde gasped. "Wow!"
Nyx slowly turned his head to look at her.
   "Well really, he's the one who holds my proper rank." She explained. "Doing anything less would be an insult, both to the people and the Divines. I've been thinking though...depending on how these people are, I might have an extra surprise for them."
   "Like what?"
She smiled. "I might decide to give them Shiva too."
They all laughed at that.
   "Oh, she is gonna hate you." Gladiolus grinned.
   "Long as she doesn't do it within earshot of me." She replied. "I think she'd find it very educational. Either that, or I hold onto her necklace for quite a while longer."
Nyx smiled. "I'm still gonna have a fully-intact settlement at the end of this little idea of yours, right?"
   "Of course." She told him. "And a very blessed one, too."
   "...thank you." He said gently.
   "So I'll trot a replica of Bahamut out for a bit, I'll bless the settlement for a whole entire year in front of whoever wants to come take a look, then after that, I'll explain things to Shiva and leave her with them for a few hours or so."
   "Then party?" Prompto asked hopefully.
Nyx chuckled. "Yes, Prom, then party. Take a while to set up, but twice as long to see through. Hope you like the strong stuff."
   "I'm...not too sure if it'll like me, but okay."
   "If that's the case, you might wanna stay away from a brew that us guys call Rakkash. That shit is strong. Deceptively strong, it's pretty smooth when goin' down. I can't even take much of that."
   "How bout in moderation?" Gladiolus smiled.
   "Heh. Yeah, a little's always good."
   "Then that's what we'll do."