hashtag_chocobro | Noctra's Second Annual Birthday PuppyBowl Extravaganza!; Sunday [02/09].

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Noctra's Second Annual Birthday PuppyBowl Extravaganza!; Sunday [02/09].

It was that time again! The absolute best and most important day of the entire year (in Prompto's incredibly biased opinion, anyway!): Noctra's birthday party and PuppyBowl party super ultra combination!

Truly, how perfect was it that these two favorite things aligned so nicely that they could practically forever be tied together, at least until Noctra decided she hated it, but, come on! She was his daughter, how could she ever get tired of puppies? Anyway, he'd been spending all week preparing for the event, the apartment was all decked out, the kitchen was filled with snacks and beverages, and he'd even upgraded the TV to better show off the Big Game once it began.

(The upgrade in TV, of course, had nothing to do with additional benefits that would spill over to his video game addiction, either, shhhh).

And now for people to just show up and celebrate! Which Prompto hoped would be a thing not only because it would be more fun with more people, but also because if not many people showed up, then that meant he'd have no choice to eat more of those little hot dog bites and pizza rolls, and he really didn't need to be doing that.

[[ Open to All! Let's just pretend I actually had time and brain to have Prompto actually send out proper invitations XD ]]

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It's a birthday party and a big game (the only big game that really matters!). Whether you're Team Ruff or Team Fluff, no matter how cute the players are, everyone today is really Team Noctra, and she's 1000% today's MVP! Come on in, arrive and mingle, and hopefully have a good time!

As difficult as it had been for Gladio to convince himself that he really should leave the house for Noctra's birthday party, when there was just so much at home to enjoy (mmm, especially that hot tub), he wasn't about to deal with Prompto giving him disappointed puppy eyes for the rest of his entire life for having missed it.

They just might...you know...leave very soon after the game was finished. The kid was two (well, technically not even yet!); she was going to be tuckered out after a few hours of this anyway, right?

He was, however, also going to find himself far more drawn to the Cup Noodle^TM on offer than usual today, with a down right voracious appetite, and maybe he should have been paying a bit more attention to the fact that he was sneezing a bit more that usual today, especially since it wasn't even raining, which was usually when his allergies really kicked things up a notch.

Ignis would like to politely argue with someone else's narrative that he faced a much more difficult challenge in having to leave a whole different country to return for Noctra's birthday party, but, of course, since his and the little one's birthdays were so close, it was always a given that such a sacrifice would undoubtedly need to be made.

Besides, he had class in the morning.

And he was also not too terribly concerned if they missed a bit of the PuppyBowl. A good deal of its charm was,naturally, utterly lost on him.

There were chill fingers brushing sharp nails along his inner wrist and forearm. You know, as a hello.

Yes, they'd just spent all week together. So?

It was a greeting that had Ignis thinking already of a return to Portugal, or, far more immediate, of how cold and lonely their bed must have become during their extended absence from it for another.

"Darling," he said, leaning in to meet her touch with a kiss. "Tell me. Is the decor persistently egregious, or is this the year Prompto has finally embraced the art of subtly?"

"And there's that hopeful optimism I adore," Liliana said with a chuckle that better belonged in that cold and lonely bed he was thinking of so fondly, rather than a child's birthday party. "Though I suppose on a scale, it does look like he only drove three trucks of decor into the house, not four, so..." A graceful shrug and then she stepped closer, brushing against him to murmur, "It makes me long for the comfort of our home most acutely."

With another, slightly harsher, glide of her nails.

You know, for how often Summer had been in this apartment through the years, she had never spend nearly as much time as she was now speculating on the potential roominess of any of Prompto and Liz's closets.

It was a realization that had her squinting at the windows a little bit and realizing that Valentine's Day and Three Minute Dates were both this coming weekend.

....well. That awkward timing was definitely going to spoil some of that wholesome innocence of watching puppies play football at a child's birthday party, wasn't it? But she was resolving to be good about it.

She was pretty sure she would fail, but an effort was going to be made! If Gladio lost his shirt somehow, though, she was going to have to leave.

Edited 2025-02-09 14:55 (UTC)

Stark had not eyed up any closets as of yet. But he did come up beside Summer, fingers just brushing against hers, and whisper a "hi."

"You know," said Summer, as her fingers met that brush by entwining themselves in Stark's in a particularly distracted way, "it's a shame about Nell, because I'm pretty sure we could both take down Gladio in record time, but if we play it right, we could probably tag team Liliana and Ignis..."

...what?

Did she say that outloud?

Whoops.

In football! Ahe had been talking about in football. Ahem.

Blinking at little, she apparently chose to ignore that she had and just turned her head to give Stark a winning smile.

"I mean," she said, "no. Not yet."

Prompto would probably not approve if she'd shown up to his kid's party having pre-gamed.

Edited 2025-02-09 17:32 (UTC)

Stark looked over at her, startled, then had to spend a moment lost in thought. They were interesting thoughts. Very interesting thoughts. Thoughts that he could spend some time with, perhaps.

"I...I'd rather not be killed," he managed to get out, giving her a crooked smile. "But, perhaps, later, for the other."

It wasn't that Liliana didn't want to be here, exactly, even if kittens, puppies, sports in general, and small children did not rate highly amongst her interests. But, hmmm, there was just something about being home that had her a little bit...well.

Still, they were here, Liliana was delighted with the gifts she'd gotten for Noctra (she was certain Noctra would adore them as much as they aggrieved Prompto), and she, like Gladio, was going to be hitting up the snack table fairly regularly, even if she would be avoiding the Cup Noodle^TM in favor of the other, more interestingly ~~shaped~~ flavoured options. Though, honestly, she really found herself hankering for a mango....or maybe some pomegranates...

"Liliana!" Would Prompto be so enthusiastic to see her once he saw her gifts? Let's find out. "Hey! Welcome back! How was the birthday trip?"

They were all perfectly age appropriate, Prompto! And educational. Were you going to deny your child the benefits of an education???

...Just remember, it could have been a musical instrument instead. You're welcome.

"Fabulous darling, it was positively wonderful," she assured him. "There was a wine museum that included a bar and a number of different tastings, enough to necessitate several trips to ensure we were able to taste all the historical blends. And how has the island been?"

Well, when you laid out the other option like that...

"I wouldn't really know," Prompto said, with a faint snort and a crooked grin. "I've been pretty much nose to the grindstone in setting all this up. But at least if something happened, it wasn't so big that it would interrupt me, you know? But I'm glad your trip went well. You do know, though," his grin found even more of a tilt, "that now we get to steal him for something this week, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Liliana said, while the fates laughed. "I'm sure he'll be willing to spare you a few hours for a nice meal or the like. Though best of luck convincing him he'd rather spend a night in a bed other than his own."

"Did he like the cake?" Nell asked. "And was Portugal wonderful?"

"Oh yes to both," Liliana said with a soft laugh. "We took a lovely drive for his birthday, and had cake on this picturesque outlook, along with a picnic lunch and plenty of wine. Honestly, darling, it's beautiful country. I know you and Gladio aren't particularly wine enthusiasts, but I think you'll appreciate walking the land if nothing else. Such healthy green mana."

"Oh, that's wonderful," Nell said. "Maybe we'll take a weekend and visit sometime. I have heard that it's a fabulous place and you just confirm what I've heard."

"I'm certainly intending to go back," Liliana assured her. "We had a delightful time in Douro, but I've heard wonderful things about the Azores. I do adore a beach."

Which went against her whole 'goth' aesthetic, but Liliana actually enjoyed sunshine. It helped that she never got overwarm.

Yes, Nell had a hard time imagining Liliana on the beach, but she certainly wouldn't dream to question. If Liliana said she loved it then she did.

"I can't say I've heard much about it myself," Nell said, "But I'll take your word for it. And I'll look into Portugal."

If it helped, Liliana wore bikinis that covered the absolute bare minimum and tended more towards sunning herself than actually doing anything like swimming.

"You know, I'm surprised that they haven't tried to have all of us go on a vacation somewhere," she said, pausing to look around at the assembled. "That seems like a very Prompto thing to do, honestly."

Puppies playing together was hard to resist. Even if other hard to resist things might be competing for attention at the time.

Puppies and snacks and good company (and probably Ignis but if they just didn't speak to each other maybe it would be fine today?) and an adorable birthday girl. Definitely worth coming over here for.

"Oh, hey, Stark!" Prompto greeted when he saw him. "Thanks for coming! How's your weekend been?"

"It's been calm so far," Stark said. "Which is always appreciated."

And he hadn't been worried about people in ferret suits, so that was nice?

"So...good. And yours? Busy, getting ready for this?"

"Ohhhh, yeah," Prompto said with a laugh, and it also came with a proud, happy sort of sigh as he looked around at his handiwork, and especially at Noctra having a good time, currently trying to turn Gladio into some kind of climbing gym; before long, she was shrieking with giggles as she dangled easily from one of his arms like it was a tree branch. "Biggest day of the year!"

Yeah, you heard that right, Christmas. You got nothing on NoctraBirthdayPuppybowlMas.

"We also turned the apartment into a box fort this weekend, too," he added, because that was also pretty noteworthy.

Stark followed Prompto's gaze to Noctra and smiled. If there were thoughts of Gladio being climbed by anyone else they weren't evident at this time.

"I do enjoy the puppies. And Noctra." They were excellent distractions from any stray thoughts.

"I don't think I've ever seen a real box fort."

Arden - whose internal HVAC was currently protecting her from external, airborne effects, thank the goddess - wasn't sure how long she'd be staying at a party that seemed mostly Professor Argentum's friends, but she did at least want to stop by and say hello and Happy Birthday before probably pulling and awkward fade at some point before the Big Game.

But Arden! You couldn't come to a birthday-slash-Puppybowl party and then not even enjoy the Puppybowl!

Prompto had also mostly just expecting the only people to swing by to be his small little knot of found family, though, so her arrival was definitely a pleasant surprise.

"Arden! Hey! Welcome! Good to see you! Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to the party!"

Listen, Arden was very awkward and also everyone else here was an Adult^TM and knew one another pretty well. Bailing before the Puppybowl sounded waaaaay better than standing awkwardly around on the outskirts on conversations!

...Besides, now she had to run home and surprise Cal with the Puppybowl. There was a three-legged puppy.

"Oh, thanks!" she said with a smile, his greeting soothing the concern that the invite had mostly been performative. "I wanted to make sure Little Miss turned two in style, you know?"

Having a three-legged puppy did seem to make it a little unfair for all the other puppies out there, let's be real.

"Believe me," Prompto said with a laugh, and a gesture toward all the work that had been done setting up for this, "I know. I've been pretty much looking forward to this since the time she turned one!"

"Really lucky her birthday landed on the Su--the Puppybowl this year," Arden said, looking around at all the decorations.

One of the many perks of being a Jedi was that Cal could mostly suppress any weird feelings that had stirred up today, especially when he had other things to focus on. He didn't know anything about the other big sports thing happening today, but Arden had said the magic word--"puppies"--so here he was.

It was pretty exciting for Prompto that anyone outside his main circle would even want to come to this sort of thing, so someone in the circle outside the circle just outside the main circle?

Thrilled.

"Oh, hey! Cal! Good to see you, man,how've you been? Thanks for coming! Welcome to the birthday-slash-puppybowl party! Food and drinks are over there in the kitchen, you can go ahead and help yourself, otherwise we're just hanging out until the game starts and trying not to step on the birthday girl."

Seriously, it was kind of impressive, how someone so small managed to constantly be exactly right in the way at almost all times.

"I'll be sure to watch my feet," Cal said with a snicker. "How old is the birthday girl? And is it her actual birthday, or are we just celebrating multiple things together?"

Arden grinned at him and slid her arms around his waist, which was nowhere near as fraught as this would be in, oh, two days or so. "Have you picked a team yet?" she asked. "Is it the team with the three-legged dog?"

Cal put on a fake look of offense as he put his hands over hers. "Have you met me? Of course I'm rooting for the team with the three-legged dog," he said. "I mean, no matter what, the real winners are us getting to watch a bunch of puppies run around."

"Does this mean I have to root against the three-legged puppy?" Arden teased. "I can't believe you'd put me in that position, Cal. Now I'm a monster."

"Why are you rooting against me? Why aren't we rooting together?" Cal asked. "I know we like competition, but not for puppies." It was totally different!

"Well, I was gonna bet you five kisses that my team would win," Arden said thoughtfully. "Which would mean that you'd get five kisses if yours did. But I think three-legged puppy outweighs kiss bets."

Well, now Cal was going to pout, good job Arden. "Can I root for the injured puppy and get kisses? I feel like that's fair, because you'll still get kisses if I and my puppy win."

"Okay, but immediately claiming the three-legged puppy immediately earns you at least one kiss," Arden decided, leaning in to deliver it forthwith.

But not too deep since, you know. Kid's party.

Kisses were just a sign of friendship and care and definitely not anything else!

"I mean, this whole thing sounds designed to tug at your heart and make you feel good. Or bad if your puppy loses."

"Except I think the whole thing raises money for animal adoption and all the puppies get adopted, too?" Arden said. "So it really is feel good no matter which one of the teams wins."

Right now, watching Cal so excited about the Puppy Bowl, Arden was the clear winner.

It wasn't that Cal didn't believe Arden, but pulling his phone out to Google "do the puppies get adopted at the puppy bowl?" gave him a chance to look at more puppies. "Oh, they get adopted every year. I don't need a puppy, right? A kitten is enough?"

Please, Arden, save him from himself.

Arden placed her hand over his phone and tried to draw his eyes to hers. "A kitten is enough," she promised.

This wasn't even for you, Cal. It was fore BD-1. She loved you, baby, see?

Nell really would have rather been home, but she agreed that they needed to at least put in an appearance at Noctra's party. She was a little concerned that Gladio might have finally caught whatever it was she had since he was sneezing more than usual and seemed to be running even a bit hotter than he tended to.

Mmmm... hot...

Anyway, here they were, but she was already making plans for home and hot tub and bed. Gladio would already have eaten his weight in Cup Noodle by then.

Edited 2025-02-09 23:38 (UTC)

The spread of partytime snacks is vast and moddable, from your typical game fare to not only one, but two cakes, one for the puppies and one for the princess.

And, yes, there is also plenty of Ebony and Cup Noodle^TM, too.

Take a break from the birthday shenanigans to root for your favorites and enjoy the adorableness of Puppy Bowl XXI! Seriously, it's a bunch of animals pretending to play football to support animal charities and pet adoption, what's not to love?

You might have to catch her first, because, unlike the last party of this nature, she's way more into running around, and there's a good chance she might even crash out even before the game, but she's all dressed up and picked out her crown, and is clearly ready to remind everyone that, yeah, the puppies are fun, but it really is her party, you know!

Liz was there, taking a lot of photos and keeping an eye on Noctra as she was running around.

And, at some point, Prompto was also going to swing around to Liz and lean into her a little with a kiss, so if Noctra wanted to seized an opportunity to really cause some chaos, this moment of distraction might be it.

"You doing good?" he checked. "Need anything? I think things are going pretty well, right?"

Liz smiled happily as she returned the kiss, “I’m good,” she assured him, “and I thing everything is going well, Noctra seems to really be enjoying herself,” she said fondly.

If you brought gifts for the birthday girl, leave 'em here, and in about a week, you'll probably receive a very nice crayon-and-construction-paper thank you card full of scribbles for it!

Last year's gifts had been great, especially the fishing table, but Liliana was priding herself on this year's being even better. She'd even gone out of her way to improve upon one!

Noctra remained too young for a real pony, but there was no reason not to prime the pump, as they said, with a stuffed one. But the best gift was the Baby's First Graverobbing Kit she'd gotten. There was also a book to go along with it and, more importantly, additional toys that she'd already hidden in the cassia because bones were hardly the only treasure one could find in tombs, crypts, and mausoleums!

WINNING.

Edited 2025-02-09 16:48 (UTC)

What kid didn't like to play pretend, right? And Arden was pretty sure that having a "purse" for Noctra to put things in was good for actually getting her ready to go places and being entertained. Or something.

Listen, she wasn't around kids much, okay?

Stark had found a little something that felt on brand for him and also hopefully something a small child would enjoy. Hopefully.

Nell had brough Noctra an adorable set of creative flower building toys.

I will be at work most of the day (surprise, surprise), so apologies in advance for being extremely sparing, but also I couldn't not at least post it XD XD XD

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Noctra's Second Annual Birthday PuppyBowl Extravaganza!; Sunday [02/09].

Arrive & Mingle - N2ndABPBE, 02/09.

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