(no subject)

[expectopromptoyum]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Marie
Contact: Seemarierun in Plurk or PM the journal
Age: I’ve got more years than Baskin Robbins has ice cream flavours.
Current Characters: None. I played Will Solace for a couple of months about a year ago, but dropped due to time constraints and loss of muse.


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Prompto Argentum
Age: 20
Canon: FFXV
Canon Point: Just post Episode Prompto / prior to his rescue in the main storyline of the game. Prompto has been recaptured by Ardyn, presumably both as bait and for information.

Background:
Prompto Argentum at the FFXV wiki.

Personality:

First and foremost, Prompto Argentum is what he was made to be - by himself, by his parents, and by his friends, once he finally made some. That's what he's currently struggling to tell himself, at least, because he's just been confronted with the fact that he was originally, just, well... made. Not only that, he was mass produced in large quantities by a mad scientist working for an evil empire for the purpose of crushing the city-state that he thought was home. Half-demon dudes with his face likely killed the king - his best friend's dad - and destroyed who knows how many lives.

It's pretty heavy stuff, and Prompto's not trying to downplay it so much as fit it into his skull without feeling like he's going to throw up. This will get easier when he's not chained up in Ardyn's diabolically-coloured keep.

Prompto's parents adopted him when he was one year old. It's hinted that he was stolen/rescued from the clone-baby facility. Presumably, he was your typical baby with a weird UPC hand tattoo and did things like eat, nap, poop, and say "goo" a lot, because - aside from the tattoo - he seems utterly gobsmacked by Verstael Besithia (the aforesaid mad scientiest) and the production facility with rows and rows of Prompto-faced males in various stages of daemonification. Also, it's unlikely that the Lucian powers-that-be would have adopted him out if he was deemed a threat.

His parents aren't shown in any of the various FFXV media, but Prompto seems to be fond enough of them. It's clear that they work hard, likely by necessity, and he's often alone in the evenings. They weren't even home for him to show off his new Crownsguard uniform, which bummed him out but... didn't surprise him. The Argentums seem to be your average lower-to-middle class with aspirations types, judging by their small house, but ability to send their son to the same school as the crown prince, and the chip on Prompto's shoulder about being the common man compared to his aristocratic friends. It's not a huge chip, but he makes a point to bring it up and to not treat Noctis like a prince. Also? He kinda sucks at bowing and scraping.

Prompto has a unique outlook - from the day he found the injured puppy Pryna, it’s like he’s cast himself as an extra in his own life. The pup, who he called "Chibi" and took great joy in tending to, dramatically altered Prompto's life. Here was this adorable, cuddly, affectionate being that liked him. When he was in grade school, he was lonely, and life was huge empty stretches between class and dinner and sleep. Then, he found Chibi, and he had someone to rush home to. Someone to take care of and play with. His world had colour outside of the viewscreen of his digital camera.

And then one day, Chibi was gone, and the world was so much smaller than it had ever been. It was back to slowly dragging himself back home from school, now with the added disappointment of having lost his dog from his own bedroom.

Not long afterwards, he received a letter from the magical dog's owner, Lady Lunafreya, who has tracked down Prompto using the hankerchief he had tied onto Pryna. Lunafreya thought he was. Her letter implies that Noctis doesn't have a lot of friends and hopes that Prompto will continue to be a good friend. The note has a profound impact on Prompto, who overinterprets it out of social inexperience as a directive to befriend Prince Noctis. It was probably the first time he'd gotten a letter in the mail, especially a perfume-soaked one, and this stranger thought he was obviously the Prince's friend. So obviously, he can't let her down. He's gotta be Prince Noctis' friend.

Which... doesn't get off so well. Prompto's awkward, socially and physically, so it's an inauspicious start involving stuttering, tripping, and misinterpretting what's being asked of him. It culminates in disaster - Noctis, trying to help Prompto up off the ground, says that the other boy is heavy. Prompto, who as a tween was overweight, was crushed.

He never had to be stubborn or determined before. He was an only child who didn't have anyone to fight with. On that day, his stubborn streak was born.

Cue the training montage (fans of the trope, yes, there is an all gray Rocky sweatsuit involved). Prompto spends a long time losing weight - in his eyes, bettering himself - to be worthy of being Noctis’ friend, because they're supposed to be friends, dammit. Lunafreya is counting on him!! In the unshown years, Prompto gets more confident as he gets fitter so that, when the boys next speak on what appears to be their first day of high school, Prompto is able casually run up and say hey.

It's a huge step for him, and Noct outcasuals him (clearly the start of a beautiful friendship). Prompto hasn't looked back - he figured out the friendship + Prompto algorithm in that moment, and he's been trying to be the best version of himself ever since.

He's still not quite comfortable with himself. As a kid, he was very introverted and quiet; for the past five years, he never shuts up. There’s this constant pressure to remind everyone why they like him. Prompto has a good sense of humor, and he trots it out whenever and wherever possible. Puns and wordplay, sarcasm and fingerguns. Even his fears are often tempered with as playful a delivery as he can muster.

Prompto likes to think of himself as a ladies man, but would secretly be happy being a lady's man. He's like the human personification of Flynn Rider's smolder. Bless him, he tries so hard. What he needs is someone who will tell him that he'd be cool without trying.

Normally, he’s full of nervous energy, particularly when he’s in a position to be judged and that includes in combat. Despite being given a Crownsguard uniform, it’s clear that Prompto is the least trained of Noctis’ retinue. He has to be that much quicker and try that much harder, because he doesn’t want to just skate by and “concentrate on self defense” like he was told. He's constantly fidgeting or selfie-ing. Sometimes, it even looks like he's Tyra Banks at the end of a runway, banging out three poses in a second 'til he finds the right one.

When he’s more still, his brain is working over time. He’ll stare off at the night sky at camp, thinking about how he got here or wondering if his parents made it out of Lucis okay. Before the walls of Insomnia fell, these circling brain worms were more along the lines of "how did I get here with these awesome friends?" and worrying if he was going to gain weight. But he keeps this part of him - the part that has bone-deep worries and insecurities - wrapped up pretty tight. Prompto doesn’t think he’s here, with these royal or brilliant and talented friends, because of his concerns or kindness. He’s here because he’s fun and easy-going, and do that is what he endeavours to be.

Whether he sees it or not, it is in huge part his kindness that makes people want to be his friend. Noctis didn't befriend him because Prompto worked out and ditched his glasses to have his omg-now-he's-pretty movie moment. He befriended him because Prompto was the only person who treated him like a normal person. Or because Prompto's the sort of person who constantly takes others into account and puts them first. It's his willingness to move in front of Gladio to protect the big guy when he's been knocked down or his quietly guiding a blinded Ignis without making a big deal out of it. The humour, the swagger, the techie skills - they're bonuses, but they're not worth as much as being a good person down to the core.

And that is why he's a bit of a mental mess at this pullpoint. To find out that he's of Niffleheim stock, when they're the enemy... that would be bad enough. To find out that he's somehow less than a whole person, that he's an edited down copy that's been copied thousands and thousands of times and that all of the other copies were turned into daemons and programmed to kill. No one's ever going to trust him again. Prompto honestly thinks that Ardyn will kill him eventually, so he hasn't yet had to narrow the focus of "no one" in that sentence down to "my friends".

He's a shutterbug. "Camera addict" might not actually be a recognized affliction, but he has a problem. Yes, Prompto takes very nice pictures, his friends enjoy looking at them, a camera is a great way to meet people but seriously, he probably keeps it in his underwear because it DEFINITELY does not fit in his skinny jeans and you don't have to equip the camera bag, that's all I'm saying. Kidding aside, he has an eye for beautiful scenery and action shots. Including mid-battle selfies, which he gets away with because he's the ranged fighter and pretty nimble, so no one chews him out for being reckless. Much.

The camera is a nice social prop, as well, to make him feel like part of whatever group he's with. He's the self-appointed archivist. He's the one getting them to crowd together for group shots for him to save and hoard as proof of continued friendship. It helps cover for some of his geekiness, although he doesn't try to hide it. He flaunts his geek, singing chocobo songs, humming the FF victory tune, playing video games and asking his buds to play with him.

As a final aside, if it was for anyone but Noctis, Prompto would have never agreed to a camping road trip that morphed into a quest to save the world that features an alarming amount of cliffs and caves. He’s afraid of heights and confined spaces. He also hates bugs and dirt. Surprise! There’s a ton of those outdoors too. Joy!


Abilities:
Game abilities described in detail here.

The essence of it all is that Prompto can make his guns appear from magical royal hammerspace, provided Noct has his magical abilities and doesn't mind sharing. Everything else is pretty much under the broad umbrella of "learned with training". He can also wield spells that were prepared by Noctis and bottled BUT this likely won't make an appearance in game because A. the energy nodes are obviously not available on the island and B. everyone knows that you don't equip Prompto with magic because he will fucking electrocute the melee (... the AI for party members is not great...)

Alignment: Peromei. I can see several of the options working for Prompto, but there's an in-game time skip (after his pullpoint) during which Prompto never gives up hope that Noct will return and everything will be okay in the end. Hope and stubborn determination go too well together.

Other: If accepted, I will probably pick a different username for him, as this is my trashfest meme username for him.


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Remember that we ask for samples that show 1) core character portrayal and 2) some use of emotions, such as environmental effect. You can also use the same sample source for both, just make sure to directly link or quote the emotion portion. We highly encourage using the Test Drive, and you can use prompts from the Test Drives, Intro Logs, and the Task board if you need them. Refer to the main application page for links and more suggestions.

General Sample: TDM here!

Emotion Sample: Prompt A has the emotions stuff, basically me playing with the colors both in the prompt and in a later tag in the Noctis thread that follows, where the snow is acting like him - trying and failing to be a different color/emotion. Later it turns the color of daemonized human skin when he's thinking about that, and then starts flashing back to normal white when he has a normal sort of selfless thought.

"The white snowflakes clinging to his blond hair try to be yellow instead, but the best any of them can manage is a washed-out, half-hearted blue."

"The brushed off snow is solidly purple by the time it hits the ground, but Prompto’s staring at Noct like he never thought he’d see him again.

Which... he didn’t. He half expects some inbred coding to take over to attack the Lucian king, and a purple blue galaxy of decay to eat away at his face. He doesn’t - he knows he’d never let that happen. He’s not one of them. "

"Hey Noct, I'm a self-murdering evil soldier who is highly susceptible to Starscourge, we still cool?

Six, no. He won't put that on Noct.

But the purple snow comment helps him dodge, and Prompto quirks an eyebrow and looks down, just in time to see it flash to white, then back to purple, then white, then a slightly softer purple. It keeps going down to a lavender colour.

It's so odd, and beautiful, that Prom can feel his insides unknotting, some of the tension swept away with an unexpected visual treat."

Questions: N/A