Hello. It's me. (Summa-Awilum, I mean.)

“It was a training accident, just something stupid. I don’t know, they were fooling around, and then Ignis—” Gladio leaves the rest unsaid, and it raises more questions than it really answered, but there’s one question that rushes up and out of Prompto’s mouth faster than the rest, that feels like the lynchpin to finally understanding Noct and Ignis.

“Was Noct there?”

“Kid,” Gladio says, his leg jostling and his face gone grim again, “he was the only one there.”

⸺⸺⸺

It takes about four months for Prompto and Ignis to really become friends; it’s another three months before Prompto starts to actually get him.

Just a random bit of meta, but the Warm Red Pavilion isn't at the foot of Cang Qiong Mountain.

It's located in a remote town that is almost a half-day journey by sword. SY!Shen Qingqiu visits the brothel in (English) Volume 2, Chapter 12: Zhuzhi (web chapters 52-53) with Zhuzhi-lang, and he's recognized by one of the women there, who says that SY!Shen Qingqiu (currently in the mushroom body) looks familiar. When SY!Shen Qingqiu leaves the town, he has to rent an immortal sword to fly to Cang Qiong Mountain, and it takes him no more than half a day to reach (the foot of) the mountain.

The only other time the Warm Red Pavilion is mentioned is in Volume 4, (English) Chapter 24: Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu (web chapter 91). In Part 4, a Bai Zhan disciple traveled to a "small, remote town for a task," and he just happens to see SJ!Shen Qingqiu entering the brothel. After their confrontation--and after SJ!Shen Qingqiu beats the disciple--the disciple returns to Cang Qiong Mountain where he complains to Liu Qingge, who then flies to the town in order to confront SJ!Shen Qingqiu.

If SJ!Shen Qingqiu is visiting brothels at the foot of Cang Qiong, they're not the Warm Red Pavilion--because the Warm Red Pavilion is located away from Cang Qiong Mountain.

(It's possible the town is located between Huan Hua Palace and Cang Qiong Mountain, as Zhuzhi-lang carries SY!Shen Qingqiu to the town after rescuing him from Huan Hua Palace, and SY!Shen Qingqiu doesn't mention needing to cross Huan Hua territory on his flight from the town to Cang Qiong Mountain.)

I think it's especially interesting that SJ!Shen Qingqiu is traveling all the way to this remote town to sleep/relax in the Warm Red Pavilion, because it isn't just a short excursion. This is SJ!Shen Qingqiu choosing to take a nearly half-day journey each direction in order to sleep. It's possible that he's visiting multiple brothels depending on where he is (e.g., visiting Warm Red Pavilion when he's taking care of a task in that area, visiting a different brothel near the mountain when he's not out on a job). But if he's primarily visiting the Warm Red Pavilion, that says a lot about him, and his need for comfort from women, that he's taking a full day away from his duties and schedule solely for travel in order to sleep at a brothel where he can feel safe.

Also, the woman with the pipa recognizes SY!Shen Qingqiu, who is in the mushroom body. The pipa player must've seen and spent time with SJ!Shen Qingqiu quite a bit before the transmigration (~10 years before SY!Shen Qingqiu's visit) in order for her to see a guy who looks 30%-40% like SJ!Shen Qingqiu, and to think that it's SJ!Shen Qingqiu. The only other people who seen mushroom!SY!Shen Qingqiu and recognize him and his similarity to SJ!Shen Qingqiu are Luo Binghe and Zhuzhi-lang. So the pipa player must've known SJ!Shen Qingqiu quite well, which means SJ!Shen Qingqiu must've traveled there pretty regularly during his years on Cang Qiong Mountain.

Noct is cold and wet and still—as cold and wet and still as the world around them. Ignis doesn’t know when the change occurred, when the chaos of the Niflheimar attack gave way to this silence. The order of events is growing muddled in his mind, the roles of players confused: the Tidemother, the Chancellor. Ravus.

His knees hit the stone as he crumples up, bending over Noct. He says Noct’s name again, his mouth moving against the wet fabric of Noct’s shirt. His voice must be ruined, because he can’t hear himself. No matter. He turns his head, resting his cheek in the space between Noct’s shoulder blades, and feels the rise and fall of Noct’s breathing.

His body is too broken to take Noct from here. It feels like fire has raced through his bones, has burnt his core to ashes. If he tries to lift Noct—if he tries to lift himself—he knows his body will shatter.

⸺⸺⸺

Everything changes after Altissia.

The thought—the embarrassment—of joining them, of standing beside them while his mind is looping on Ignis’s scar, is too much for him.

“It was a training accident, just something stupid. I don’t know, they were fooling around, and then Ignis—” Gladio leaves the rest unsaid, and it raises more questions than it really answered, but there’s one question that rushes up and out of Prompto’s mouth faster than the rest, that feels like the lynchpin to finally understanding Noct and Ignis.

“Was Noct there?”

“Kid,” Gladio says, his leg jostling and his face gone grim again, “he was the only one there.”

⸺⸺⸺

It takes about four months for Prompto and Ignis to really become friends; it’s another three months before Prompto starts to actually get him.