"Do you think Iggy likes his knives because he likes cooking, or he likes cooking because he likes his knives?" Prompto asked Noctis as they watched Ignis sharpening his knives with a single mindedness that made them both a little uncomfortable.
"I hope it's the first one." Noctis admitted, not wanting to consider the implications of the second.
"Yeah, me too." Prompto agreed as the steady grinding of the blade over the sharpening stone filled the apartment. "It's more comforting to think he spends all that time making sure his knives are sharp for the sake of cooking, than him just cooking because he really likes sharp things."
"You two are aware," Ignis didn't look up from his work, "that I can hear you?"
Noctis shot Prompto a glare, "Just ignore us."
"Normally I would, but you seem quite curious." Ignis paused to inspect his work, examining the blade. "If you're not sharp enough to figure it out, why not just cut to the chase and ask? It's not so pointed a question that it will cleave our friendship apart."
"I just remembered I need to go home." Prompto stood up.
Noctis followed. "I'll walk you, we can eat out or something."
Ignis wore a very self satisfied smirk.
Prompto was out of his seat belt, sitting on his knees snapping pictures as the car flew down the road. The weather was clear, they had a good view of the Disk from here, and he'd just gotten a new filter that he had to try out on everything.
"Prompto, I know we've had this discussion before, and that physics was never your favorite class in school, but need I remind you what happens if I have to stop suddenly and you are not properly buckled in?" Ignis was constantly chastising someone about their behavior in the car. Noctis liked to sit up on the back seat from time to time, and Gladiolus had a bad habit of putting his feet up on the upholstery while reading.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep moving and fly to my death." Prompto had the camera glued to his face, taking in the world through the viewfinder. "Just a few more shots and I promise I'll sit down and be good."
"Maybe I wasn't clear enough. Sit down now." Ignis's voice was firm and left no room for arguments.
With a heavy sigh Prompto dropped back into his seat and fastened the safety belt. "Could we at least pull over so I can take some pictures then?"
"I suppose if we find a picturesque spot we can give it a shot."
Prompto groaned and proceeded to hit his head against the headrest in an attempt to forget.
It was late in the day, and they should have already been making camp or in the relative safety of a nearby rest area, but fate had other plans for them this evening.
An Empire ship had dropped a rather large and imposing magitech mech on them, and they were struggling to keep their ground against it. The thing seemed nearly invincible to anything they could throw at it, and Noctis's magic was all but useless. So they were going with the good old fashioned method of hitting it until it stopped moving.
They'd been at it for hours already though, and nearly lost a dozen times in the process, but they had it down, one of the legs taken out. They just needed a final push to get it off line.
"Ignis," Noct yelled, between warp strikes at various points on the mech. "Instructions."
He had identified a weak spot in the chassis that could be the key to victory, he pointed to it. "Give it everything we have."
Several intense moments later and there was the satisfying sound of the machine going offline, and more importantly it's machine guns spinning down.
Prompto collapsed onto the ground, sitting in the dirt with his head back and eyes closed. "I need a bath and a bed."
"You and me both." Noctis agreed, hands on knees as he tried to catch his breath.
"We gotta get back to the car first, let's go." Gladiolus dropped his sword, it disappeared before it cleared his finger tips.
They trekked back to the car, climbing in and collapsing into their seats, but before Ignis could start the engine there was an ominous tearing sound from a few yards in front of them.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Prompto sounded like he was about to cry.
"Just throw it in reverse, Iggy, we still have enough time to get out of here." Gladiolus watched as huge hands began clawing from the hole in the ground. The engine revved to life in response, headlights cutting through the darkness to show the deamon materializing before them.
Ignis slammed the gear shift into reverse, tires kicking up dust as the car whipped around and he put it back into drive. "This day is driving me mad."
"Ignis please, not now!" Gladiolus shouted as a giant fiery sword crashed down where they had been a moment before, the ground shaking enough to feel in the moving car.