This city is great at it. You haven't been here long, you didn't see both times the big Crystal Tower in the middle of town was infested with monsters. [A pause.] Not counting when it first showed up.

[Which...huh, that was when Noctis himself had first gotten the app on his phone. Has it really been that long?]

...I do have—I don't know what they're called, one of those magic rock things? Not the one Sam has, or we'd be having a very different discussion. [And he pulls his Cryo Vision off his hip. It also glows a gentle blue, a different shade from Lucian magic.] I guess I could use that more.

[He thinks, suddenly, of what Cid had said, once. Those ain’t your bodyguards, they’re your brothers. Trust in ’em. Always. Even without the weight of his destiny or the crown on him, Noctis has always meant a lot to the people he loves, hasn't he. And he keeps fucking doing this to them. Gladio would be furious, by now, would be shaking some sense into him.

...well, least he's spared that, much as he misses the guy. He breathes out.]

Yeah, we can work on it in Hyrule and Kanto. And I know there's a fight club in the city.

[As for the ass-kicking, he just makes a face.]

Can we save the ass-kicking I'm gonna get for after we get that Everstone? [So at the very least Sam can also get in on it.]