[FFXIII-2] Sunrise, Sunrise (G, 3338words)
Title: Sunrise, Sunrise
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Character/Pairing(s): Noel/Hope
Rating: G
Warning: ...Fluff?
Summary: According to Hope, Noel's natural bed hair is enough to send monsters running.
Of all the things he could have imagined, he had never thought to end up like this.
That, of course, was a very broad statement. End up and this were words that Hope chanced little to use, especially in situations that called for theorems and facts; dealt only with what was known and could be proven. Words like ‘this’ would be elaborated, dissected, and analyzed. Was ‘this’ a situation? A place? A condition? The value of a word is placed, to him, only for what it could reveal and describe. Words were meant to pass teaching to others. What mattered to him were facts: bits of evidence that there were laws in life everyone had to obey.
Fact: Behemoth migration had been travelling dangerously close (within 3 allotted kilometers) to the city of Academia in the past two years, inciting political debates on deterrence measures.
Fact: Legislation passed in 355 AF dictated that non-violent means were to be utilized by the governing administration whenever possible in dealing with the dwindling number of monsters living close to human settlements.
Fact: After years of non-aggression between humans and monsters, Noel Kreiss and Lead Advisor Hope Estheim were the only two figures in this age to have encountered and fought Behemoths successfully without the use of modern technology and acquiring extensive injuries.
(This, however, was not a fact that Hope could agree with. He remembered being fourteen and scared out of his wits the first time a Behemoth King had stood up, roaring and swinging a rotating blade twice his height directly at his face before Snow had bodily shoved him down as Lightning rammed her blade into the Behemoth’s leg to get it’s attention.
Back then, the words extensive injuries were not beyond his assessment after that battle. His fingers had shaken tending those wounds, red with gore; just because the injuries had disappeared minutes later due to powerful spells did not mean they had never been acquired in the first place.)
Those three facts, along with a number of other reasons that Hope had listed in his head as inconsequential, were why the two of them had ended up at a camp-site directly in the path of migrating Behemoths, waiting for just the moment when the herd would dot the horizon. There had been a scientific team out before them (curtailed by a military squad in case of incidents) to set up devices emitting a high pitched frequency that should deter Behemoths along with several other types of monsters from walking close to the path.
It was the latest of Academy tech: simple, effective, and cheap enough that all settlements would be able to afford without stretching their budget; primary materials being of common origins that allowed scientists to release the patent with instructions on how to create their own EMF... once it ran through the field tests, of course.
Which was what this was.
While the tech had boasted that the emittance was certainly above human range, Hope found that the closer he stayed to the machine, the more of a headache he had. It was something he’d have to write up in the report, although he was tempted to leave it out seeing as the previous scientific team hadn’t mentioned it was a problem at all and he was well aware of his own sensitivity to sound vibrations.
The headache had led to him retiring early for the night after a brief argument with Noel about how the hunter didn’t have to take watch with all the surveillance equipment around. There was nothing that human eyes would be able to detect above the infra-red cameras, traps, and security grid of this small patch of land. In fact, the area they were surveying was relatively free of monsters - there were the occasional small ones, but not the type to attack humans unless provoked.
Despite that, Hope wasn’t surprised to wake up and see the bedroll besides his entirely untouched. He blinked bleary eyes at the empty space for a few moments while his brain slowly fired up, and then sighed lightly before reaching up his arms to stretch and quietly untangle himself from the bedroll. It didn’t take him long to pull on the remainder of his uniform (since he had gotten used to sleeping in a dress shirt and pants during missions to shave off a few minutes should anything happen first thing in the morning), and push his way out of the tiny tent that had been more erected to protect unstable equipment from the elements than to house humans.
“Noel?” Hope asked quietly, looking around the small camp-site. The sun was only starting to rise, the sky still dark with a hint of orange and gold on the horizon. The hum of electricity was louder outside the tent, a quiet buzz that warned people away from the perimeter, different than the whirring of fans inside the tent from computers that had blown warm air in Hope’s direction all night.
The camp-site looked empty of a certain hunter. Hope took a moment to stretch, unconcerned by that fact. If anyone or anything had gone in or out of the camp, he would have been notified. Besides, it was early yet.
It was a few minutes (while Hope checked on the perimeter, make sure systematic scans were running appropriately, and then perused data gathered from the night before) before the scientist went on the search for his missing companion again. A missing companion who took only seconds to be found once Hope put his attention to it.
It was with an amused huff that the silver-haired man crouched down in front of a slumbering figure, balancing his weight on the tip of his toes as he laid his arms atop his knees. While the large tree they had based their camp-site around provided sufficient cover, it wouldn’t have done much for warmth the night before.
“Noel.” Hope called out quietly, lips quirked upward ever so slightly as he saw the brown haired hunter stir from where he had fallen asleep sprawled out across the roots of the tree. He couldn’t blame the man one whit - the sharp hum of electricity, Hope had found, was quite soothing after several hours to acclimate to it, and tended to induce a drowsiness that the hunter would probably be unaccustomed to. “If you were going to sleep anyway, you might as well have come inside.”
“Mwaa - ?”
Bleary blue eyes blinked at him, squinting a moment (much to Hope’s amusement) as he was still soothed into lethargy by the hum, before Noel suddenly sat up sharply, muscles tense and all signs of sleep gone when he realized he had fall asleep on watch.
“Hope!” The younger man sounded guilty even as the scientist adjusted his balance by shifting one foot back a little while crouched. “I didn’t - what time is it? Did something happen?”
Hope couldn’t help it. “Yes. The behemoths stormed the camp-site and destroyed everything, Noel.”
The hunter cursed loudly before scrambling to his feet in a hurry, eyes wide and reaching for his sword before he registered that one, everything around them looked as neat and undamaged as it had last night, and two, Hope had a hand over his mouth and his head tilted town, shaking slightly from muffled and nearly silent laughter.
“Don’t worry,” Hope continued moments later when he managed to catch his breath again, standing up as Noel tried in vain to protest that it wasn’t funny! except with very little success because he couldn’t recall seeing Hope laugh like that before. Actually, he couldn’t recall seeing Hope laugh at all despite spending more time with the other and Hope smiling pleasantly on a frequent basis. “We’re still alive because of you diligently guarding the camp. They were all scared off by that hair of yours.”
“...That’s not funny.” Noel protested finally, even as his free hand went up to smooth out his locks, feeling self-conscious about his appearance first thing in the morning (how could he not when Hope looked just as pristine as ever, other than his pants being a bit rumpled?). His words faltered, though, as he caught on to the smile Hope was still trying to hide away behind a hand. Different. It was different than the smiles Hope gave others in Academia, the polite greetings and compliments and encouraging words.
His grip on the weapon tightened a moment before he set it down, the other hand that had been smoothing through his hair now rubbing at the back of his head as he straightened, willing the embarrassment away. It wouldn’t do for him to stare at Hope now.
“Maa,” Noel tore his gaze away to the side, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Snow said you were a brat as a kid. I never believed him, you know. Guess I should have - you’re worse than Yeul.”
He hadn’t meant to mention her, mostly because Noel didn’t like talking about - before. Serah knew. Hope had an inkling, but the scientist hadn’t pried. They both knew enough to understand that Noel liked to keep his past private, not because he was hiding anything, but because the pain of Yeul’s death was still too sharp.
“I did say that you needn’t keep watch.” Hope replied, still with a small smile even as he tilted in his head to the side in apology for the earlier scare. “Nothing would have gotten in without the perimeter alarm going off.”
It was a moment later before Hope tsked and reached up to bat Noel’s hands away from his hair, black gloves warm even in the mild chill of the early morning. “Are you trying to mess it up more?”
“If that’s what it takes to drive the Behemoths away...”
Hope chuckled, more subdued now as Noel found himself looking anywhere but at the scientist while gloved fingers carded through locks of his hair. “It’s a good look. One of those - ‘I fell asleep outside on top of a tree root’ look. You could start a trend. I’m sure a majority of teenage girls would love it.”
Noel grimaced slightly. “What, like the way they go on and on about you? No, thanks.”
“I’ve yet to hear anyone comment on my hair.” Hope feigned ignorance, drawing back as brown stands finally fell into some semblance of order. The morning sky was growing brighter, the light bringing colors back into the world, and Hope thought that Noel looked quite... respondent in the sunrise. A personification, perhaps, since he couldn’t justify just what it was that reminded him of new beginnings with the younger man. But that was just it - lately, the more time he spent with the hunter, the more Hope was reminded that determination and perseverance really could incite the change he had always advocated (but never quite seen until he came to the future, as he was the one taking the slower path). Noel was living proof that things could be changed, that he shouldn’t give up any time soon.
It was disarming. He couldn’t remembered the last time he had joked with someone.
“You’re kidding, right? Have you even walked down a street in -”
A single sharp beep of the machinery (loud enough to wake them had they been asleep) disrupted Noel from his comment, and the two of them dropped the conversation as Hope turned back to the tent, drawing open the front flaps to examine the terminals inside. Noel followed after he picked up his weapon again, stretching his arms high over his head to work out the still sleepy kinks in his muscles.
“Right on schedule.” Hope commented as he clacked away on the holographic keyboard. “And we should be seeing them right about... now.”
On queue, there was a faint rumbling in the distance, not quite as loud as a herd of Adamantoise but still significant in it’s own right. The long shadows of several Behemoths travelling together could be made out from the rising sun; a significant event by itself, seeing as Behemoths usually chose to prowl alone.
There was an inquiring noise from the terminal, and Hope paused in his data entry to leave a finger on one of the buttons.
“ - we’re seeing signs of movement near the vicinity. Mr. Estheim?”
“Affirmative.” Hope responded, voice once again smoothed over to what Noel recognized as a polite and professional tone the older man took when addressing Academy employees. “Herd position is holding course. Slowing down.”
While Hope was watching the display on holograms, Noel was keeping an eye out on the actual monsters, despite them being far enough still that they weren’t a threat. He wasn’t going to let technology tell him what his eyes could clearly see.
“They’re shifting course.” Hope commented, and there was an acknowledging noise from the person on the other side of the comms line. “Twelve degrees. That would put them far out of range of the camp-site.”
Good, Noel thought. One Behemoth he could take down easily, but a herd of them was pushing it a bit, even with all of Hope’s odd inventions. (It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to see the Director of the Academy hurt in a confrontation like that.)
“Should the deterrent be working from this distance?”
Noel snorted at the question from the comms. “Oh, yeah. Definitely working. Unless they’re actively hunting something out of the way. Have you heard this thing? They’ll definitely want to stay out of the way.”
Hope gave him a startled look. “You can hear it?”
“Well, yeah.” It was obvious that Hope heard the signal just fine, especially since the other had retired early the night before due to it. Noel waved a hand in the air as emphasis. “Not like you - no headaches or anything, but yeah.”
There was a hesitation before the faceless person behind the comms line said, “The frequency should be well above the range of human hearing.”
“If I couldn’t hear things like this, I wouldn’t make a very good hunter.” It made sense to him. “So yeah. It’s working. If they don’t come here.” Years of tracking made it easy to piece out just how habitual monsters were; they always followed the same trails, and if they deviated from it, then they must have had a good reason.
“I’ll call in should the situation change.” Hope said before he released the button, standing straight away from the console after that and turning with a subtle smile toward Noel. “It seems they didn’t need us after all.”
Noel didn’t comment that he was fairly sure they hadn’t needed them in the first place. He knew Hope well enough by now that he understood the other man would be able to list all the reasons they were here in the first place. Except...
“C’mon,” He prompted, a hand on Hope’s shoulder to lead the other man out. “Might as well enjoy the rest of the morning.” The hunter was aware of his own small victory when the silver-haired man didn’t so much as twitch at the touch. It had taken numerous outings and wheedling from Noel before Hope had come to accept the casual touches that Noel had once been so familiar with while growing up with Yeul and Caius.
The dark of the sky was mostly clear by now, bright pinks and oranges swirling in the clouds to illuminate miles away. The two of them found themselves seated on the roots Noel had slept on before, watching both the rising sun and the waking monsters; more than just the Behemoths, but creatures that slowly filled the vision, out searching for food. In the distance, there were several bright yellow Chocobos squawking loudly to scare off a young Amam, still small enough that it reared back as the birds jumped and flapped in a group to put themselves as too much trouble to hunt in a group.
It was far more life than Noel was used to.
He liked it. A lot.
“I didn’t think I’d end up like this,” Hope breathed out, barely loud enough for Noel to hear. “Here, I mean. Just...”
The scientist paused, and Noel could only imagine the amount of thoughts running through the older man’s head in those moments.
“...Just here.”
“I know what you mean.” Noel agreed, leaning back into the tree trunk. He had never dared to dream of a land like this back in 700AF. With other people, with technology like this, with a land full of life and clean waters and fertile soils; with bustling cities that had buildings spiralling into the sky, with Cocoon in the air and another arc ready to hold the human race protectively. Here, specifically, watching the rest of the sunrise with a friend who -
He snuck a glance over to Hope.
“You know, if you just wanted some time away from the city, you could have just said. I’m pretty sure everyone would be fine with it.” That’s what made sense to Noel. No one really needed them out here, after all. With all this technology? Experience with hunting wasn’t needed at all. The two of them could have easily been replaced with a series of computers or even robots - they had plenty of that back in Academia. “But hey, I like it out here.”
“...I don’t know what you mean.”
Of course not. “You’re right - this whole thing couldn’t have succeeded without us. Cheers, then.”
At the very least, Hope didn’t look disgruntled at that, nor distant. He watched the herd of Behemoths in the distance, getting further with every step, and hummed thoughtfully. Noel thought for a moment that perhaps the older man wouldn’t respond to that (not that he needed to), before the scientist leaned over slightly without taking his eyes away from the distance and said, “We couldn’t have succeeded without your bed hair.”
Noel made a choked noise, unable to decide between embarrassment (but why should he be embarrassed?) and glee at the whimsical atmosphere of the morning. Who knew that Hope had a sense of humor? Or that he could deliver all those lines completely deadpan?
“If that’s the case,” he finally grinned, “Then I’m going to need your help with that. Since you fixed up my hair and all. Can’t have all the monsters running away from me when I’m supposed to fight.”
Hope’s eyes finally looked in his direction, his features amused. “A comb would suffice, Noel.”
“No can do. My hair is far too powerful. Haven’t you heard? A herd of Behemoths ran away from it.”
“I believe the Academy is working on a file on that.” Hope agreed, smile once again gentler. “I’ll add an addendum regarding the monster-deterring power of your hair. Noel Kreiss: time traveller, with hair that incites monsters to run the opposite direction?”
“Not opposite.” Noel corrected, raising his hands to demonstrate. “Twelve degrees off course, if I remember.”
Hope blinked, and then ducked his head to laugh quietly. “Of course. Twelve degrees.”
Noel couldn’t help but grin at that, bringing his hands down once again to rest on the tree roots. “You haven’t said if you’re going to help me or not.”
“I’m not sure.” Hope responded, and by now the swirling colors were easing out of the sky as the sun took dominance. With the mystical sunrise over, he pushed himself up from his seat despite Noel’s protest, ready to face the day. There were reports, assessments, and even breakfast to cover before the next team would arrive and relieve their shift.
Before all that, though - “I kind of like your hair like that.”
Ignoring the warmth on his face (he must have sat out under the sunlight too long), Hope mentally prepared himself for the rest of the day, leaving Noel to stare and mouth those last words before the hunter finally jumped up to join him.
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Character/Pairing(s): Noel/Hope
Rating: G
Warning: ...Fluff?
Summary: According to Hope, Noel's natural bed hair is enough to send monsters running.
Of all the things he could have imagined, he had never thought to end up like this.
That, of course, was a very broad statement. End up and this were words that Hope chanced little to use, especially in situations that called for theorems and facts; dealt only with what was known and could be proven. Words like ‘this’ would be elaborated, dissected, and analyzed. Was ‘this’ a situation? A place? A condition? The value of a word is placed, to him, only for what it could reveal and describe. Words were meant to pass teaching to others. What mattered to him were facts: bits of evidence that there were laws in life everyone had to obey.
Fact: Behemoth migration had been travelling dangerously close (within 3 allotted kilometers) to the city of Academia in the past two years, inciting political debates on deterrence measures.
Fact: Legislation passed in 355 AF dictated that non-violent means were to be utilized by the governing administration whenever possible in dealing with the dwindling number of monsters living close to human settlements.
Fact: After years of non-aggression between humans and monsters, Noel Kreiss and Lead Advisor Hope Estheim were the only two figures in this age to have encountered and fought Behemoths successfully without the use of modern technology and acquiring extensive injuries.
(This, however, was not a fact that Hope could agree with. He remembered being fourteen and scared out of his wits the first time a Behemoth King had stood up, roaring and swinging a rotating blade twice his height directly at his face before Snow had bodily shoved him down as Lightning rammed her blade into the Behemoth’s leg to get it’s attention.
Back then, the words extensive injuries were not beyond his assessment after that battle. His fingers had shaken tending those wounds, red with gore; just because the injuries had disappeared minutes later due to powerful spells did not mean they had never been acquired in the first place.)
Those three facts, along with a number of other reasons that Hope had listed in his head as inconsequential, were why the two of them had ended up at a camp-site directly in the path of migrating Behemoths, waiting for just the moment when the herd would dot the horizon. There had been a scientific team out before them (curtailed by a military squad in case of incidents) to set up devices emitting a high pitched frequency that should deter Behemoths along with several other types of monsters from walking close to the path.
It was the latest of Academy tech: simple, effective, and cheap enough that all settlements would be able to afford without stretching their budget; primary materials being of common origins that allowed scientists to release the patent with instructions on how to create their own EMF... once it ran through the field tests, of course.
Which was what this was.
While the tech had boasted that the emittance was certainly above human range, Hope found that the closer he stayed to the machine, the more of a headache he had. It was something he’d have to write up in the report, although he was tempted to leave it out seeing as the previous scientific team hadn’t mentioned it was a problem at all and he was well aware of his own sensitivity to sound vibrations.
The headache had led to him retiring early for the night after a brief argument with Noel about how the hunter didn’t have to take watch with all the surveillance equipment around. There was nothing that human eyes would be able to detect above the infra-red cameras, traps, and security grid of this small patch of land. In fact, the area they were surveying was relatively free of monsters - there were the occasional small ones, but not the type to attack humans unless provoked.
Despite that, Hope wasn’t surprised to wake up and see the bedroll besides his entirely untouched. He blinked bleary eyes at the empty space for a few moments while his brain slowly fired up, and then sighed lightly before reaching up his arms to stretch and quietly untangle himself from the bedroll. It didn’t take him long to pull on the remainder of his uniform (since he had gotten used to sleeping in a dress shirt and pants during missions to shave off a few minutes should anything happen first thing in the morning), and push his way out of the tiny tent that had been more erected to protect unstable equipment from the elements than to house humans.
“Noel?” Hope asked quietly, looking around the small camp-site. The sun was only starting to rise, the sky still dark with a hint of orange and gold on the horizon. The hum of electricity was louder outside the tent, a quiet buzz that warned people away from the perimeter, different than the whirring of fans inside the tent from computers that had blown warm air in Hope’s direction all night.
The camp-site looked empty of a certain hunter. Hope took a moment to stretch, unconcerned by that fact. If anyone or anything had gone in or out of the camp, he would have been notified. Besides, it was early yet.
It was a few minutes (while Hope checked on the perimeter, make sure systematic scans were running appropriately, and then perused data gathered from the night before) before the scientist went on the search for his missing companion again. A missing companion who took only seconds to be found once Hope put his attention to it.
It was with an amused huff that the silver-haired man crouched down in front of a slumbering figure, balancing his weight on the tip of his toes as he laid his arms atop his knees. While the large tree they had based their camp-site around provided sufficient cover, it wouldn’t have done much for warmth the night before.
“Noel.” Hope called out quietly, lips quirked upward ever so slightly as he saw the brown haired hunter stir from where he had fallen asleep sprawled out across the roots of the tree. He couldn’t blame the man one whit - the sharp hum of electricity, Hope had found, was quite soothing after several hours to acclimate to it, and tended to induce a drowsiness that the hunter would probably be unaccustomed to. “If you were going to sleep anyway, you might as well have come inside.”
“Mwaa - ?”
Bleary blue eyes blinked at him, squinting a moment (much to Hope’s amusement) as he was still soothed into lethargy by the hum, before Noel suddenly sat up sharply, muscles tense and all signs of sleep gone when he realized he had fall asleep on watch.
“Hope!” The younger man sounded guilty even as the scientist adjusted his balance by shifting one foot back a little while crouched. “I didn’t - what time is it? Did something happen?”
Hope couldn’t help it. “Yes. The behemoths stormed the camp-site and destroyed everything, Noel.”
The hunter cursed loudly before scrambling to his feet in a hurry, eyes wide and reaching for his sword before he registered that one, everything around them looked as neat and undamaged as it had last night, and two, Hope had a hand over his mouth and his head tilted town, shaking slightly from muffled and nearly silent laughter.
“Don’t worry,” Hope continued moments later when he managed to catch his breath again, standing up as Noel tried in vain to protest that it wasn’t funny! except with very little success because he couldn’t recall seeing Hope laugh like that before. Actually, he couldn’t recall seeing Hope laugh at all despite spending more time with the other and Hope smiling pleasantly on a frequent basis. “We’re still alive because of you diligently guarding the camp. They were all scared off by that hair of yours.”
“...That’s not funny.” Noel protested finally, even as his free hand went up to smooth out his locks, feeling self-conscious about his appearance first thing in the morning (how could he not when Hope looked just as pristine as ever, other than his pants being a bit rumpled?). His words faltered, though, as he caught on to the smile Hope was still trying to hide away behind a hand. Different. It was different than the smiles Hope gave others in Academia, the polite greetings and compliments and encouraging words.
His grip on the weapon tightened a moment before he set it down, the other hand that had been smoothing through his hair now rubbing at the back of his head as he straightened, willing the embarrassment away. It wouldn’t do for him to stare at Hope now.
“Maa,” Noel tore his gaze away to the side, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Snow said you were a brat as a kid. I never believed him, you know. Guess I should have - you’re worse than Yeul.”
He hadn’t meant to mention her, mostly because Noel didn’t like talking about - before. Serah knew. Hope had an inkling, but the scientist hadn’t pried. They both knew enough to understand that Noel liked to keep his past private, not because he was hiding anything, but because the pain of Yeul’s death was still too sharp.
“I did say that you needn’t keep watch.” Hope replied, still with a small smile even as he tilted in his head to the side in apology for the earlier scare. “Nothing would have gotten in without the perimeter alarm going off.”
It was a moment later before Hope tsked and reached up to bat Noel’s hands away from his hair, black gloves warm even in the mild chill of the early morning. “Are you trying to mess it up more?”
“If that’s what it takes to drive the Behemoths away...”
Hope chuckled, more subdued now as Noel found himself looking anywhere but at the scientist while gloved fingers carded through locks of his hair. “It’s a good look. One of those - ‘I fell asleep outside on top of a tree root’ look. You could start a trend. I’m sure a majority of teenage girls would love it.”
Noel grimaced slightly. “What, like the way they go on and on about you? No, thanks.”
“I’ve yet to hear anyone comment on my hair.” Hope feigned ignorance, drawing back as brown stands finally fell into some semblance of order. The morning sky was growing brighter, the light bringing colors back into the world, and Hope thought that Noel looked quite... respondent in the sunrise. A personification, perhaps, since he couldn’t justify just what it was that reminded him of new beginnings with the younger man. But that was just it - lately, the more time he spent with the hunter, the more Hope was reminded that determination and perseverance really could incite the change he had always advocated (but never quite seen until he came to the future, as he was the one taking the slower path). Noel was living proof that things could be changed, that he shouldn’t give up any time soon.
It was disarming. He couldn’t remembered the last time he had joked with someone.
“You’re kidding, right? Have you even walked down a street in -”
A single sharp beep of the machinery (loud enough to wake them had they been asleep) disrupted Noel from his comment, and the two of them dropped the conversation as Hope turned back to the tent, drawing open the front flaps to examine the terminals inside. Noel followed after he picked up his weapon again, stretching his arms high over his head to work out the still sleepy kinks in his muscles.
“Right on schedule.” Hope commented as he clacked away on the holographic keyboard. “And we should be seeing them right about... now.”
On queue, there was a faint rumbling in the distance, not quite as loud as a herd of Adamantoise but still significant in it’s own right. The long shadows of several Behemoths travelling together could be made out from the rising sun; a significant event by itself, seeing as Behemoths usually chose to prowl alone.
There was an inquiring noise from the terminal, and Hope paused in his data entry to leave a finger on one of the buttons.
“ - we’re seeing signs of movement near the vicinity. Mr. Estheim?”
“Affirmative.” Hope responded, voice once again smoothed over to what Noel recognized as a polite and professional tone the older man took when addressing Academy employees. “Herd position is holding course. Slowing down.”
While Hope was watching the display on holograms, Noel was keeping an eye out on the actual monsters, despite them being far enough still that they weren’t a threat. He wasn’t going to let technology tell him what his eyes could clearly see.
“They’re shifting course.” Hope commented, and there was an acknowledging noise from the person on the other side of the comms line. “Twelve degrees. That would put them far out of range of the camp-site.”
Good, Noel thought. One Behemoth he could take down easily, but a herd of them was pushing it a bit, even with all of Hope’s odd inventions. (It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to see the Director of the Academy hurt in a confrontation like that.)
“Should the deterrent be working from this distance?”
Noel snorted at the question from the comms. “Oh, yeah. Definitely working. Unless they’re actively hunting something out of the way. Have you heard this thing? They’ll definitely want to stay out of the way.”
Hope gave him a startled look. “You can hear it?”
“Well, yeah.” It was obvious that Hope heard the signal just fine, especially since the other had retired early the night before due to it. Noel waved a hand in the air as emphasis. “Not like you - no headaches or anything, but yeah.”
There was a hesitation before the faceless person behind the comms line said, “The frequency should be well above the range of human hearing.”
“If I couldn’t hear things like this, I wouldn’t make a very good hunter.” It made sense to him. “So yeah. It’s working. If they don’t come here.” Years of tracking made it easy to piece out just how habitual monsters were; they always followed the same trails, and if they deviated from it, then they must have had a good reason.
“I’ll call in should the situation change.” Hope said before he released the button, standing straight away from the console after that and turning with a subtle smile toward Noel. “It seems they didn’t need us after all.”
Noel didn’t comment that he was fairly sure they hadn’t needed them in the first place. He knew Hope well enough by now that he understood the other man would be able to list all the reasons they were here in the first place. Except...
“C’mon,” He prompted, a hand on Hope’s shoulder to lead the other man out. “Might as well enjoy the rest of the morning.” The hunter was aware of his own small victory when the silver-haired man didn’t so much as twitch at the touch. It had taken numerous outings and wheedling from Noel before Hope had come to accept the casual touches that Noel had once been so familiar with while growing up with Yeul and Caius.
The dark of the sky was mostly clear by now, bright pinks and oranges swirling in the clouds to illuminate miles away. The two of them found themselves seated on the roots Noel had slept on before, watching both the rising sun and the waking monsters; more than just the Behemoths, but creatures that slowly filled the vision, out searching for food. In the distance, there were several bright yellow Chocobos squawking loudly to scare off a young Amam, still small enough that it reared back as the birds jumped and flapped in a group to put themselves as too much trouble to hunt in a group.
It was far more life than Noel was used to.
He liked it. A lot.
“I didn’t think I’d end up like this,” Hope breathed out, barely loud enough for Noel to hear. “Here, I mean. Just...”
The scientist paused, and Noel could only imagine the amount of thoughts running through the older man’s head in those moments.
“...Just here.”
“I know what you mean.” Noel agreed, leaning back into the tree trunk. He had never dared to dream of a land like this back in 700AF. With other people, with technology like this, with a land full of life and clean waters and fertile soils; with bustling cities that had buildings spiralling into the sky, with Cocoon in the air and another arc ready to hold the human race protectively. Here, specifically, watching the rest of the sunrise with a friend who -
He snuck a glance over to Hope.
“You know, if you just wanted some time away from the city, you could have just said. I’m pretty sure everyone would be fine with it.” That’s what made sense to Noel. No one really needed them out here, after all. With all this technology? Experience with hunting wasn’t needed at all. The two of them could have easily been replaced with a series of computers or even robots - they had plenty of that back in Academia. “But hey, I like it out here.”
“...I don’t know what you mean.”
Of course not. “You’re right - this whole thing couldn’t have succeeded without us. Cheers, then.”
At the very least, Hope didn’t look disgruntled at that, nor distant. He watched the herd of Behemoths in the distance, getting further with every step, and hummed thoughtfully. Noel thought for a moment that perhaps the older man wouldn’t respond to that (not that he needed to), before the scientist leaned over slightly without taking his eyes away from the distance and said, “We couldn’t have succeeded without your bed hair.”
Noel made a choked noise, unable to decide between embarrassment (but why should he be embarrassed?) and glee at the whimsical atmosphere of the morning. Who knew that Hope had a sense of humor? Or that he could deliver all those lines completely deadpan?
“If that’s the case,” he finally grinned, “Then I’m going to need your help with that. Since you fixed up my hair and all. Can’t have all the monsters running away from me when I’m supposed to fight.”
Hope’s eyes finally looked in his direction, his features amused. “A comb would suffice, Noel.”
“No can do. My hair is far too powerful. Haven’t you heard? A herd of Behemoths ran away from it.”
“I believe the Academy is working on a file on that.” Hope agreed, smile once again gentler. “I’ll add an addendum regarding the monster-deterring power of your hair. Noel Kreiss: time traveller, with hair that incites monsters to run the opposite direction?”
“Not opposite.” Noel corrected, raising his hands to demonstrate. “Twelve degrees off course, if I remember.”
Hope blinked, and then ducked his head to laugh quietly. “Of course. Twelve degrees.”
Noel couldn’t help but grin at that, bringing his hands down once again to rest on the tree roots. “You haven’t said if you’re going to help me or not.”
“I’m not sure.” Hope responded, and by now the swirling colors were easing out of the sky as the sun took dominance. With the mystical sunrise over, he pushed himself up from his seat despite Noel’s protest, ready to face the day. There were reports, assessments, and even breakfast to cover before the next team would arrive and relieve their shift.
Before all that, though - “I kind of like your hair like that.”
Ignoring the warmth on his face (he must have sat out under the sunlight too long), Hope mentally prepared himself for the rest of the day, leaving Noel to stare and mouth those last words before the hunter finally jumped up to join him.