hashtag_chocobro | Prompto's Voicemail.

Be impressed at getting a text from Nina, Prompto! She was impressed with herself for sending it, though she'd sent a few to Vette before. It was still new enough to be a bit of a thrill to her.

Prompto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you have pictures of Nell????????????????????

Prompto was impressed! He was also laughing because he had no doubt in his mind who this text was from, either.

What's Nell??????????????????????????????

...so that'd probably be a no, as far as he knew.

What's Nell? Nina had to laugh at that--poor Nell!

She's a who!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's one of the students that started when we did, but wasn't on the shuttle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh!!!

Well, now he felt a little bit bad. But not too bad. How was he supposed to know?

I don't think I know her!!!!!!!!!!!! SO no I probably don't!!!!!!!!!! SHOULD I????!!?????

And, yes, Prompto knew he probably didn't need to respond with Nina-levels of punctuation, but why wouldn't he want to?

YES!!!!!!!!!!! YOU SHOULD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One day she'd discover emojis and the world would never be the same again.

I mean, she's crazy nice but she also showed up here with nooooooooooooooothing?!?!?!?!?! Like Vette???? !!!!! So I said she could borrow my things!!!!!!!!!!! But Vette doesn't know her either and I need a picture so Vette doesn't TACKLE her!!!!!!!?!?!??!?!?!? !!!1!

It took Prompto a little bit of a moment to untangle some of that, but he thought he mostly got it.

OK!!!!!!!!

BUT..............

If I don't know her either how will I know who to take pics of???????????????

But as soon as he typed it, he laughed and already had his solution.

W/E, I'll just take pics of EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was pretty much low-key planning on doing that anyway.

GOOD!!!!!!!!!! GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! But make sure you get some of her!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nina considered that, and her manners, and this method of conversation.

Please??????? She's got long dark hair, is kinda uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shy maybe and wears long skirts?????????????

long dark hair, shy, long skirts, GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That seemed a pretty good description for Prompto to follow, especially since, like, half the students on this trip were blondes, it seemed. Made the margin a little more narrow, really.

I WON'T LET YOU DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited 2018-10-09 16:51 (UTC)

THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nina laughed, pleased. If nothing else, she'd tried.

Sure, he knew it was probably just Nina being...well, Nina, but it was hard for Prompto to feel a nice little surge in his ego as he marveled over the fact that that right there was an actual thing that a cute girl had texted to him.

He was practically going to be walking on air all over this place today. How did everything about everything keep managing to get better?

Yeah, he texted back, because he kind of had to, I know!!!!!!!!!!

Hannibal had been hard-pressed to find a gift for Prompto that fit within the parameters of the gift - not expensive, and not obviously from him. That left out video games, camera appliances, and food.

Eventually, he'd researched and settled on a book that sounded interesting, then had it shipped anonymously to Prompto's dorm room. Hopefully it was something he'd enjoy.

Nina had sworn to send Prompto all the pictures and for the love of god, she was going to keep that promise.

PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT YOU GOING ON VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was followed by a selfie of Nina, smiling prettily; a picture of Vette, laughing; one of Sidon, looking absolutely delighted; Keyleth, who looked a bit awkward and nervous; and Lana, who was looking totally rad in armour.

Sabine's, like, coming later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So you'll get pictures of her then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALSO, COMPLETELY SCANDALOUS:

A picture of Sidon and Vette kissing on the Causeway.

MY GOODNESS, RIGHT?????????????????? SHAMELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next set of pictures were after they'd left the Causeway and reached Warriors' Village. Prompto was treated to a positive deluge of photos showing everything from the fireplaces, to the thatched rooftops, to the inside of the wells and shops alike. Pictures of the team poking around the village followed, as well as of their supper—stew, bread, cheese and fruit—and of their beds, which looked quite cozy, if a bit rustic for someone used to Fandom's level of technology and architecture.

And look!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even MORE scandalous:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A couple of blurry, dark pictures of what were unmistakably Sidon and Vette (their silhouettes made them impossible to miss) sneaking off in the dark.

Honestly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However will I cope with all of this canoodling???????????????????????????

The fact that Nina had followed Vette and Sidon and snooped until she'd realized they really, really weren't canoodling was left out, along with her pictures of that (which she deleted, reasoning that if she did so, no one need ever know she'd taken them in the first place) because, well, as horribly interfering as she was… Nina didn't want to hurt Vette and she didn't want to worry Prompto either.

So she'd keep her mouth shut (literally and metaphorically) on that bit of the evening. She knew good and well that she shouldn't've been following them anyway and, besides, implying they'd gone off to canoodle was a great deal more fun.

THE REAL FUN STARTS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have fun training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What followed that was an absolutely incoherent pile of emojis but, hey, they were all positive ones, which had to count for something, right?

Edited 2019-04-21 01:32 (UTC)

Did she....did she....overpunctuate colons?

Oh, Nina. Never change.

My talent is feeling very threatened by these photos right now.

And I think the only SCANDALOUS!!!!!!!!!! thing going on here is some very unladylike snooping. tsk tsk nina. tsk. TSK.

Here. Have some REAL scandal.

And then he sent in a slew of various pictures he'd taken himself: something a little goofy, some action, some more action, okay maybe another. One that he didn't actually mean to send, one he wasn't sure he should send because so help him Gladio looked so cool in it but also Gladio looked so cool!, one of Ignis in action, and even an artsy black and white one.

Finishing, of course, with a victory pose.

I'd say training Day 1 went well! With a little peace-sign emoji.

Edited 2019-04-21 01:55 (UTC)

You're all looking great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh no waaaaaaaaaaaay are my pictures anything like yours!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Though, uh, wow Gladio's picture was maybe going to be kept to stare at some more because wow.

But, seriously, how did he get some of those pictures at those angles?

And I don't know WHAT you're talking about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would never snoop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

U have LITERALLY sent me photographic evidence of otherwise, like, 2 seconds ago. Is this going to be regular feature? Is this going to turn into the 'In Case You Didn't Notice, Vette&Sidon are Super-Schmoop Personified?' Show??

Also, i think you gotta reevaluated 'prompto's hoe,' because I'M not the dude running around, questing with all the ladies.

Nope. He got three sweaty other dudes instead.

That was FOR you!!!!!!!!!!!!! So you didn't feel left out!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not snooping if it's for a good cause!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, but was this a good cause, Nina? Was it really?

We needed all the ladies for our vacation!!!!!!!!!!! Bait!!!!!!!!!!!! I told you, the real fun starts tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fun being bait! And stuff!

And ohmygosh they told you that????????????????????

I AM OK WITH BEING LEFT OUT OF THAT THANX

Been there, done that.

Err, half of that. Kind of. He regretted this train of thought.

And YUP. Noct told me eeeevvveeerrrryyyytttthhhhiiiinnnngggggggg.

No, he didn't, but Nina wasn't going to know that.

...if she somehow did, he was burning his phone.

That was a bit beyond her skills at this point in time, sadly.

Give her, like, three years though. She'd get there.

OHMYGOSH WHY DID HE DO THAT???????????????????????

All this was really going to do, Prompto, was result in Noct's phone getting a lot of very sad emojis.

"...why is she sending me a ton of sad emojis?" Noctis grunted, tilting his head back to glance Prompto's way after looking at his phone it just caught a virus.

(Oh, it had, Noctis. It totally had).

Prompto just looked back with a crooked grin. "Welcome to Nina, buddy," he said. "I'd feel bad, but that's what you get for cavorting with the enemy."

And to Nina, he just said:

Because he's my BFF. DUH.

Edited 2019-04-21 02:50 (UTC)

RUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that went for calling her a virus too! Not that, uh, Nina knew that.

Which was probably for the best. Even if she was. Sort of.

See if I send you any totally awesome pictures of unicombies tomorrow then.

You're going to have to. Because I don't know what a unicombie is, and I'm going to refuse to believe anything you tell me unless you can prove it.

Ha.

Got'er.

Unfair! Unfair!

Nina, for all the good it was doing her, was going to stick her tongue out at her phone.

A unicombie is OBVIOUSLY a unicorn that's been turned into a zombie, DUH!!!!!!!!!!

So basically a mesmenir.

PROVE IT.

Edited 2019-04-21 03:02 (UTC)

I'M NOT FALLING FOR THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe she'd just send Noctis her pile of pictures tomorrow. Prompto would probably still see them, but it would show how displeased (she wasn't really) she was with him.

Edited 2019-04-21 03:06 (UTC)

And Noctis would get himself a new phone.

uh-huh. i get it. i guess I'll just have to sit here in ignorance, somehow expected to just TAKE YOUR WORD for it that you're having an awesome time.

Sigh, Noctis.

You're the one that wandered off and LEFT US!!!!!!!!!!!!! You could have come!!!!!!!!!!!!! You'd make a WONDERFUL bride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....

obviously

but remind me what you guys are doing there in the first place again?

Because he wasn't sure he was getting a whole lot of vacation out of that.

He clearly had the wrong, wrong impression of what Nina considered a good vacation.

(Okay, sure, she liked beaches and warm sun as much as the next girl, but this was excellent too.)

We're stopping the tyranny of a TOTAL JERK who is KIDNAPPING LADIES and making them his brides!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nina had no problems spoiling Prompto, since he wasn't coming.

The ladies are NEVER SEEN AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he's, like, a VAMPIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're going to be HEROES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the one hand, that sounded absurd and a million times made up.

On the other hand, this was Nina.

Please don't any of you get stuck as kidnapped vampire brides.

The threat of which...yeah, still not quite fitting his expectations for an enjoyable vacation, though he was pretty sure they'd have no trouble at all taking care of that.

Nina considered that.

Not even if, like, that turns out to be the best way to have the most fun??????????????

Prompto stared at his phone for a long moment as he tried to decide that the three layers of universe separating them right now was enough for him to be bold enough to say the first response that popped into his head at that.

He decided that it was.

But just barely.

well, if that's what you're into: get it, gurl.

It took Nina a... a good while to respond to that. Mostly because she was too busy burying her face in her pillow to muffle her laughing fit at that response.

YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who was he and what had he done with Prompto???

You're right. I didn't. I wrote it.

And he hadn't done anything with Prompto but bring him home, to hang out in his best friend's apartment and text girls after a long day of hard work and pushing past insecurities. Which was all feeling pretty great just then.

I'm feeling SO ATTACKED RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, that was another pile of incoherent emojis sent his way.

Since that was, clearly, the best way to express her feelings.

And, really, she was only making it worse for herself now.

if I'm not invited to the wedding, do I still have to send a gift? Which is better for bloodsucking, a goblet or a chalise???

You keep that up mister and I'll find you and kick your bum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And wouldn't that be a way for her to show up in Insomnia, huh?

We're going to kill the groom, not marry him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nina's daily report would follow much later in the day, but not long after sunrise, Prompto was getting a selfie of her, looking far too awake for the hour, sticking her tongue out at him.

Followed by a text of: Good luck with your training today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah. That was not getting a response for a while. Prompto was so not going to handle Nina-ness and butt-crack of dawn training at the same time.

But eventually there was break enough where he could respond in kind, tongue out, fingers lifted to give a reluctantly present Noctis bunny ears.

good luck with your new vampire husband!!!!

And then, like, a gazillion heart and starry-eyed emojis.

"Prompto!" Gladio barked. "Quit messing around and texting your girlfriends!"

"Not my girlfriend!" he sang out. "Just some other super cute blonde who can't get enough of me."

"...sending him to that school was a mistake."

Nina had been totally remiss in keeping Prompto up-to-date with their epic quest which, really, had mostly been because when they'd reached the castle yesterday, she'd fallen asleep before finishing figuring out which pictures to take and then, that morning, she'd missed sending him a well wish because her excitement for Sabine had overwhelmed basically everything else.

I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU. IF YOU HAVE FORGOTEEN ME I WILL FEED YOU TO A UNICOMBIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She followed that with a pile of hearts and rainbows, and a few axes tossed in there just for good measure.

But first, yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pile of pictures she had of the grasslands and of the rest of the team laughing, talking, and walking were pretty great. She had a few decent pictures of some of the monsters, including one of a Grave Master rising from where, the picture before, it had looked like nothing more than a pile of rocks. The rest, though, were terribly blurry since Nina was not nearly as good at taking pictures as Prompto was and, well, in the middle of the fight she was usually trying to murder things but good rather than focus on how to take a picture right.

He was still definitely getting the one of the sorcerer reaching for her with it's creepy rotting face and hands though.

Her other pictures told the chronicle of there was definitely a lot of battle going along in those grasslands (the pictures, admittedly, were mostly taken after the battles though). And, as the sky darkened, pictures of the outside of the enormous castle they were heading towards got added into the mix.

Today was, like, WAY COOLER OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, inside, he was getting a pile of pictures--one of Sidon sleeping, one of Lana meditating. Vette eating chocolate and talking to Keyleth. Sabine's arrival and the glowing blue Journeyman's Crystal. A load of pictures to impress upon him just how ancient, decrepit and rather sad the castle was.

(While also being super spooky!)

Because she could, he also got a selfie of her with Egbert, the friendly zombie. (Who was terribly confused by everything, but okay with this.)

The pictures of the Larvae were kind of blurry, since they glowed oddly, and Unicombie had that problem magnified since Nina had no idea how to take pictures of a unicorn that was dead and covered in blue hellfire. The glowing red eyes turned out okay though.

SLEEP WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was still, like, totally not sure what to make of how she felt about how that morning's conversation had gone but Nina was nothing if not true to her word and that meant that Prompto was still getting his daily pile of pictures.

You had better be TOTALLY EXHAUSTED after a hard day of work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sabine being grumpy as she was woken up, Keyleth looking chipper as she rummaged through her things, Sidon and Vette talking in the morning.

This is a good team!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm keeping this team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After that was a long slew of yet more terrible, awful pictures of fights and monsters. And, for fun, the ever changing sky outside was also documented, with the timestamps so he could squint at those and try to figure that out. (Good luck with that; she had no idea how it worked either.)

He was also getting a bunch of pictures of empty coffins, since they were interesting, and creepy, and well, yeah, that was it really.

Each of the pictures in the puzzle room were also sent to him, as well as Keyleth's awesome filling a coffin full of water for Sidon.

And Sidon sitting in a coffin filled with water.

He's too big!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But the water's good for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since she didn't really know what else to say, she just sent more emojis (he could make what he wanted of the rainbows and coffee cups and some things she wasn't actually sure what they were, she just picked them at random) and left it at that.

Prompto really was exhausted. Pooped. Even Iggy agreed toet them all get take-out afterwards, so he wasn't really planning on responding to Nina until maybe tomorrow, after they'd both had a chance to not only work off but also SLEEP off anything that might have gone off in their conversation earlier.

But you couldn't receive a text of Sidon sitting in a coffin and not respond, no matter how close to the brink of training-and-food coma you were.

wtf, is he bait? Just hanging out in a water-filled box for dead dudes, nbd.

Okay, it was kind of funny, in a weird kind of way.

Please don't let sidon turn into a vampire. That idea is terrifying and should never be a thing that exists

~~Dun-dun-duuuuuuuun!~~

Edited 2019-04-24 02:50 (UTC)

Nina was up bright and early and squinting outside at the... no, she wasn't sure what was going on outside and didn't really want to know either.

Especially not when she still had Miss Dozy and there was no Vette in their room yet.

So, first, Prompto was getting a text:

Are you, like, you today??????????????????????????????????????

And then she was putting stage one of her plan to read all the books into motion by texting Ignis:

Good morning!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd, like, ask Prompto but I'm pretty sure he'd just tell me to ask you anyway, so I skipped that step??????????? But would you know how I could go about getting a library card for Insomina's public libraries????????????????????

In light of everything he remembered from the weekend, Prompto honestly wasn't sure who he was anymore, and he wound up staring at his phone for a long moment, reading Nina's message, wondering about replying, and then burying himself in his pillows and blankets for a little bit longer. He didn't have class until third period, anyway. If he could put off facing the world in any capacity for as long as he could, he was going to do it.

But eventually, he crawled back out, typed out a response, deleted it, considered something else, got halfway through that before deleting it again, and then just went with his first impulse, but littering it with a bunch of crying emoji to make it seem like he was mostly just joking even though he mostly just...wasn't.

Unfortunately.

So many emoji. So obviously a joke, then, right?

What a weird fucking weekend.

And as for the other text Nina'd sent out, she should hopefully greatly enjoy the well-thought out and detailed information coming to her through several nearly-novel length texts in response that detailed for her all the various libraries around Insomnia, brief descriptions of each with his recommendations for each one focused on which might best suit her needs based on any particular information she might be looking for, and if there was anything in particular she was hoping to discover, to please let him know and he would direct her post-haste toward the location that would best suit her needs for that particular set of data. If she had any questions, here as well were the phone numbers for each one, and an assurance that the staff were all very friendly and eager to help, though to please be mindful that there will be some information not readily available to the public, though he suspected she would be nothing but curteous and understanding should she find herself curious about any of those things.

By the time Prompto answered her, Nina was busy reading her way through... man, like, Ignis talked a lot but while she was quietly horrified at the extensive responses to her text she was also rather delighted.

It was so nice to have someone be incredibly helpful and be detailed about it.

Prompto's text derailed her for a bit, as she squinted at his words and his emojis and what she knew of Prompto. Eventually, though, Nina settled on:

It was super weird and I'm glad you're back.

With a pile of hearts, since she didn't really know what to say to him about everything else.

Then she went back to reading through what Ignis had sent her.

Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!! I really appreciate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you, like, know which library would be best for history???????????????

Her romance novels she'd figure out which library was best for those on her own.

Of course Ignis knew which libraries would be best, Nina, and he was happy to impart that information to you with far too much detail about specifically which eras and which fields of interest, too.

Prompto, meanwhile, just looked at his phone again in one hand, staring at it, and then staring at fucking barcode on his wrist and realizing that all he wanted to do was get up, take a nice hot shower as if that could wash away the whole weekend, and get it covered up, even though he was the only one there to even see it right now. He didn't want to think about it. He practically wanted to burn it right off his skin. And he didn't want to talk to Nina. If he felt before that she'd be better off not interacting with him, it was doublely true now. Triple true...

...but not responding at all would only make her suspicious, probably, or worse...worried.

So he just quickly answered back with "Yeah, me too" and a smily face and a rainbow and a couple hearts back before shutting off his phone and shuffling toward the bathroom to get ready to face the day and look for some good distractions.

And a worried Nina was impossible to get away from, it was true. As it was, Nina considered his text carefully and just... let it go. He was himself again, and texting her, and everything else would be figured out in time, right?

Besides, she had... a lot of reading to do, once she sent Ignis a text about her appreciation of him.

You're the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And a pile of happy emojis, lest he think punctuation was the only thing she could abuse.

Nina had… completely ignored Prompto's text of complete bullshit and, like, she was still horribly anxious about if he was… what he was doing… but she was being really good, keeping busy, trying to give him space instead of incessantly texting him the way she wanted to.

But, like, giving him space?

Wasn't going to stop her from sending him pics of the (black and white) campfire party. Or a few selfies of herself with her beer, hanging out in her lawn chair around the fire.

And of the ritualistic burning of things since, hey, no one needed those things anyway, right?

He was also getting a few pictures of Vette, holding a beer and sticking her tongue out (at him) at the camera, and of Okuyasu doing a Manly Man pose, just because she could send them to him, nyah.

Edited 2019-06-26 16:07 (UTC)

What was that? A late night text? When she should be sleeping, but wasn't? Only a fool would think she hadn't timed it deliberately so that, like, if he didn't answer, she could reasonably pretend he was sleeping...

THE FISH CAME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And if, like, Prompto needed any further elaboration on which fish then he was totally hopeless.

And, because she'd been thinking about it for, like, a week and a half at this point but actually talking to him in person was… well, she wasn't sure how it would go, really, and Nina was brave to the point of severe recklessness when it came to her safety and she knew good and well that fortune favoured the brave when it came to love, too, but all the same, she was a bit anxious about the next bit:

And, like, the last two weeks have been CRAZY MAD but, um, being your sister was pretty great??????????

She'd been so happy. Nina had thought about that a lot.

Of course Prompto was still up. He'd gotten sucked into this dumb new farming game ~~lol method rp what's that??~~, and kept telling himself, okay, one more day, he'd get through just one more day, and then he'd go to bed. Okay, one more. One more, he'd just gotten enough money selling cheese to upgrade his chicken coop, he had to at least do that before he went to bed...

...and that's when his phone started singing at him, and he was about to hit Nina up with a bunch of excited exclamation marks when the rest of her message came in, and he blinked.

Huh.

Right.

He'd had so much happen to him that week, he'd been six very different versions of himself (seven, if you included being pixelated the following week, too) that it was all sort of a mad jumble, but that one, the one that started it all, sitting in the common room together, making sure she ate breakfast, talking to their dad....

It was such a headtrip he tried not thinking about it, if he was honest.

But was it really all that weird? At this point, Nina practically was like a sister to him. But having her be his actual blood-related sister? With parents that were actually around?

And if she remembered even half of what he did about that reality...

He bit his lip, contemplating just brushing it off because it was kind of late, and he could totally pass it off that he was asleep, and then he forgot, or something like that, but then he decided maybe he'd go with the next best thing to ignoring it: deflection!

Yeah, well, you missed the one where I could have been YOUR sister.

Because, yeah, talking about being a girl that one day was easier.

Also: FISH!!!!!!!!!!

That singing fish would be the one sole fish on the entire island this week.

And, then, because he felt bad now about the deflection:

Also also: it was pretty great. I guess. I mean, as far as sisters go, I could have done a lot worse.

Yeah. Good one, Prompto, that was so much better than just deflecting it.

He should go to bed.

He... Nina kind of wished he had been in bed, with those answers, since they left her feeling decidedly mixed about basically everything. Ugh.

Why was this so hard? It should be easy, right, because there was no question that they were important to each other, so why was actually saying anything so hard?

Nina gave serious thought about pretending she was asleep now and just ignoring his messages but, like, she doubted he would believe that--she'd never go to sleep right away after letting him know about The Fish.

(Who was, in fact, one of two fish on the island this week, since Iris was also in possession of a singing fish on a plaque, god help everyone.)

Besides, she had a lot of work to do before she slept anyway.

"Prompto," she muttered, "you idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Boys were so dumb.

I was the best sister EVER you.................. you.................. BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And he'd been a pretty great big brother too. She had an excellent memory. It left her unsettled, to think of that life that wasn't hers, but was some version of hers. It left her a bit envious.

More than a bit, really, but Nina wasn't quite willing to admit that to... anyone, really.

I'm wrapping the fish in pink wrapping paper and you can't stop me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why would I ever want to stop you from that?

Honestly. Did she forget who she was talking to? The rest of this gift included matching rompers for the whole future Kingslaive of Insomnia that featured a sloth riding a dinosaur. There really were no limits here.

AND you were my ONLY sister ever, so that also makes you the worst.

This was the best gift ever.

Nina stuck her tongue out at her phone.

I guess, like, that makes you the best-worst big brother too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So there! Or something.

I was also, like, thinking sparkly rainbow ribbon for the gift????????????

It was Wednesday, Nina had a party to plan (she, uh, probably ought to tell Prompto at some point, but she wasn't sure if it would go down better for Sidon to tell him or not…), and she was up to her pretty little eyeballs in her own self-inflicted work and picking out her classes.

But, like, it was Wednesday and Nina didn't want Noct to think that just because the summer things were over that she was going to stop talking to him.

Which was why Noct was, out of the blue, getting a text: What do you think I should get Prompto for his birthday???????????????????????????

On the surface a simple enough question except that, like, Nina had thought about it and realized she'd… never bought a birthday gift before? And Prompto deserved a good present and how was she supposed to pick out a good present with no experience?

So Noct was also getting a lot of panicked looking emojis. To emphasize the seriousness of her question.

Then, since she was busy badgering hot guys in a different universe, Nina also wrote Ignis a… rather lengthy email. It was more like a novella, since she'd been hoarding questions for… a few months. Mostly because the idea of trying to get it all into text format was just, like, way too exhausting and email was better for longer things, it really was.

She knew that, when meeting the guys that she'd been giggly and bubbly and, in her opinion, totally adorable, but that she'd also probably not come off as the smartest since Nina rarely came off as particularly brilliant when talking to people… so this email was likely to be a bit of a surprise (though perhaps less than it could be; she wasn't sure what Prompto had told them) but, like, anyway…

Other than the intro ("Hi Ignis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!") and the outro ("You're the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"), there was not a single punctuation mark either extraneous or out of place but was, instead (and after the opening pleasantries of having enjoyed meeting him and the guys in Insomnia), a series of increasingly complex questions she had about the development of Insomnia's infrastructure and the impact of that on the rest of the kingdom, particularly given the war going on and the increasing divide between those who lived inside the wall and those who lived outside of it… and the request that, if he could point her in the right direction for these answers that would be, like, totally amazing because she knew he was busy and she didn't want to waste his time, that'd be great!

And she didn't add, but she sort of hoped that, like, if he did have time that he'd answer her himself.

Either way, Nina didn't really expect an answer from either of the guys any time soon (and was tragically sad that she had nothing she could reasonably text Gladio about) and was happy enough to just send it all off and go back to working on The Party.

Edited (...a day later isn't too late to edit a ping, right? RIGHT?) 2019-08-29 19:50 (UTC)

Even though Ignis found himself terribly busy with all the preparations for the prince's birthday, he read Nina's message with interest and ensured that he took the time to respond to her. His response easily matched her in length, even with his distracted state, and she would find his information to be clear, precise, and helpful, as she was likely coming to expect from him by now. His response was by no means exhaustive, however; he had rather enjoyed finally getting the opportunity to meet Nina, and he thought she was a very sweet girl, and well-intentioned, but they were still a nation at war, and he had to be cautious of what sort of information he divulged, even (or perhaps especially) to Prompto's friends from school. But it was extensive, covering a good deal of ground, providing for her a multitude of links to articles and information regarding the topics she seemed interested in, as well as divulging a few of his own (official and public-friendly) thoughts regarding a few of them.

Since he was being so cautious, he was not likely to be sending Nina much that she couldn't dig up all on her own, as it was all very much public knowledge and easy to access, with the exception of his personal opinions. And even those seemed very polite and above-board. But, then again, that...might have just been the fact that it was Ignis

And as for Noctis?

How should I know???? He probably need some new socks or something....

But, not too long after that, another message followed:

Seriously, though, it's Prompto. You could get him anything, and he'd love it. especially if it's coming from the heart

or something

You're his bestie and you suggest SOCKS?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

Noctis, no.

And I can't, like, get him SOCKS FROM THE HEART???????????????????

Oh my gosh, Noctis. Why. And yes, yes you were getting a few gifs of people headdesking and facepalming. Just to drive the point home.

Besides it, like, gave her something to roll her eyes about as she re-read Ignis' reply and… honestly, the blandness of it (Nina could recognize toeing the official party line just fine, thanks) was both a little depressing and rather reassuring at the same time.

Because, like, Prompto could argue with her until he was blue in the face but this, right here, was comforting knowledge that she'd been right and that, like, she wasn't really friends with these people.

Even if, like, she was a bit sad that he hadn't been right. It would have been nice to have more friends.

So Nina's own response was in a similar vein to his. She thanked him graciously for the time and effort he'd expended on directing her to places where she could begin her search and his opinions of some of the resources, hoped that she hadn't inconvenienced him too badly, and wished him well for the preparation of Noctis' birthday—since they knew she knew it was coming up. Only at the end of it did she veer even vaguely personal with a mild request that, if he thought of any books she might find interesting in the future, she'd always be interested in a referral, no matter the topic.

Then she signed off on that with another thanks, a ton of exclamation marks, and hit send.

Then flopped down on her bed and heaved the greatest of sighs, before brightening slightly with the consoling thought that he'd at least answered her and didn't seem to dislike her.

But, really, it was such a gloomy thing that she'd been right and Prompto had been wrong. Not unexpected.

But gloomy nonetheless and a little lonely.

I'm booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooored!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So. There was a text, Prompto.

Are you busy???????????????????????????

Not even a little.

Even if he was busy, Prompto wasn't about to tell Nina that after a text like that.

all I did today was jog and hang out on some dude's boat. You got something in mind??? Movie night? Video games? Pop-up party????

Edited 2019-09-13 22:07 (UTC)

As long as food is involved somewhere I'm, like, down for anything???????????????????

Nina did have to squint at the text though.

What's a pop-up party???????????????? Do you even HAVE video games I'd find interesting??????????????

I KNOW YOU LIKE THE CAT FARMING ONE! And a pop-up party, like, you know, a sudden party that kind of pops up out of nowhere. Get some pizza, shoot everyone a text, bam. Pop-up party. I'm still in town, too, so I can pick up whatever if you want. Or you can come meet me and we can get sushi or sandos or milkshakes or something???

Nina considered that. Normally, she was super down for a party, but tonight... she wasn't really feeling it.

THE CAT ONE IS INSIDIOUS AND ADDICTIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT MY FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super not her fault!

And milkshakes are super not dinner but now I want one, so yes please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Would your roomie be cool with me crashing your room????????????? Or would it be better for me to meet you??????????????

Ah, damn. Prompto almost went into auto-pilot and nearly forgot about the fact that he actually did have a roommate now.

I don't think Grog'll mind if he's around; if anything, I can always bring him one?

Or five.

Dude was huge.

But milkshakes'll melt by the time I get there, too!

And you might spill them if you ran!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Though Nina was going to laugh at the mental image of him running up all the stairs the island had with an armful of milkshakes melting.

I'll meet up with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know Prompto would try his damnest to make that work, but the casualities would be truly, truly tragic.

Chilly Boulder?? he asked ~~as I go throw up a post?~~

Yes, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~~if you don't mind lol!~~ I don't trust J,GoB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not after the whole peach thing.

You got it, PD! <3 See you there!"

It was much, much later in the day honestly, it was basically night by the time she got around to to updating her charts enough with the new information that Wayne and Ignis had given her to go on (with Ignis getting a text that was just a 'you're my very favourite person right now, just so you know' and a pile of rainbows, even if his helpful suggestion had meant her work had to be completely redone to account for all of the extra possiblities) before she realized that, yeah, okay, in order to complete her latest updates, she needed clarity from Prompto.

YD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! V. important question!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOR SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then, before he could dwell on that for too long, she added:

How do you feel about boys???????????????????

Ooooh! Intrigue! Prompto was sitting there, grinning at his phone, eager to see what sort of crazy nonsense Nina had gotten into her head this time, and then--

--stared at the message for a good five minutes, trying to formulate a response, but, even with all that time, there was really only one reply.

NINA WHUT

IT'S FOR SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As she giggled madly into a pillow at that response.

Was Wayne doomed to be loveless?

Wayne? Probably. We'll have to wait until Season 7 drops to be sure, though.

And once again, Prompto was stuck in a long pause of figuring out how to respond to that, and coming out of it with but one solution.

NINA HOW

What the heck kind of science was she even doing??

The science of relationships, obviously!

It's important!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was going to send him a haphazard picture of her charts, spread out all around her, and definitely written in languages that neither he nor Vette would be able to read.

See????????????????????????

If you're reading this IN REAL TIME then you're up WAY too late playing video games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TO BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Duty calls so I'll be off-island for a bit, don't worry, okay?????????????????? Vette's looking after Foomy, so you've got to come up with t-shirt ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If she turns into a bird AGAIN can you please make sure to feed him??????????????? He likes sandwiches and salads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO PEANUT BUTTER. Love you bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And an absolutely obnoxious pile of hearts and rainbows and stars to follow that.

Nina was still incredibly annoyed at Prompto regarding Foomy and she was going to Have Words with him at some point about it.

But, like, Prompto's birthday was coming up soon and she did love him and it was literally her sworn duty now to remember his birthday (well, okay, she still had to wait for the paperwork to be fully processed for it to be Officially her sworn duty) but, like...

Noct was still getting a text:

What's your schedule looking like for the weekend of the 25th???????????????????

Unaware of any drama that might be unfolding all the way out there on Earth, Noctis actually checked his texts and gave a soft grunt that might have almost sounded like a laugh if you knew where to look for it when he got Nina's.

Especially since Ignis would know the answer to that way better than he would.

Not sure, but that's right around Prompto's birthday. Why? Something up?

She was going to continue to expect Noctis to have some idea of his own life, honestly, normal people did!

... And she was probably going to text Ignis later too. Just, like, in case.

BECAUSE of Prompto's birthday, obviously?!?!?!!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like, I need to know if you guys can show up to my Plans for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which she hadn't finalized yet because, well, she'd started planning about two minutes ago.

Yes, but Noctis was hardly normal, much to his chagrin.

Why am i not surprised you already have something planned?

He wondered if he could convincingly claim the reason they hadn't made any plans yet was because they were clearly waiting to see what she had in mind because obviously she would and they wouldn't want them to conflict. But, really, he knew they were probably just going to wait until the last minute. Prompto never seemed to really make a big deal out of his birthday...

Yeah, about that...

Having met his parents (... their parents, right, right, she had to get used to that now) Nina got the why of that.

SOMEONE has to be on the ball about these things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm taking that as a compliment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should, Noctis texted back, and, since it was text, he could even smirk a little bit about it, too. What did you have in mind?

Haven't decided yet, she said blithely, with a pile of cheerful emojis swarming his way. But the island's, like, pretty picky about visitors so if you guys can come, I'm going to move it off-island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nina squinted in thought.

And don't, like, take that as an 'oh, I shouldn't come, it would be a HASSLE' because, seriously, sight-seeing in someone else's world is NOT a hardship AT ALL for birthday parties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You mean like what we did in Hyrule for my birthday? That did seem to work pretty well. We could probably put together something private here, if you wanted, to make it so Vette and Sidon can make it, too. But if you have ideas...

Noctis tapped out that ellipses with a particular thoughtfulness, wondering if that was a good, nice way of saying that pretty much whatever she planned would be fine, especially since he wasn't about to go against her when it came to planning pretty much anything. That would require effort and energy that he just did not have, especially since he knew her a lot better now.

Nina was, like, really, really new to the whole family thing. Really new.

But she was still pretty sure she was right about getting her brother's best friend to pay for her brother's birthday party was, like, super tacky.

No, it's cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually, I just had the most MARVELOUS idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just need to see if I can swing it in time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because there really wasn't all that much time until Prompto's birthday.

Honestly, a thought like that hadn't even crossed Noctis's mind. But, then again, why would it?

Cool. Let me know if you need help with anything. Keep me updated and stuff.

Good luck?

He...was not great at this, no.

Oh, Noctis.

Nina sent him a pile of hearts and stars in return.

Just find out if you and the guys are free that weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, this was something that was so much more Ignis's thing, but that wasn't going to stop Noctis from making a promise he wasn't entirely sure he could keep, but...well...they'd figure it out.

We will be. Don't worry.

It wasn't like he couldn't handle Ignis's endless exasperation if it turned out otherwise.

Nina still did not know for sure if Noctis and the guys were showing up but, like, Noctis had said he'd get back to her--and hadn't--but had also implied that they were going, and Nina was going to assume they were going on the further assumption that if she did and they had to back out, at the very least, she'd wind up with a prince being apologetic to her and, really, that was winning all around...

(Though she still really hoped they could, you know, actually come...)

Either way, Noctis, Ignis, and Gladio were getting a series of texts from Nina detailing their travel arrangements, their accommodations, her security measures (the latter of which she assumed Gladio and Iggy would care more about than Noctis), and the timing of all of the above along with a cheery 'I can't wait to see you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' and a pile of hearts and an equally cheery, but much more menacing, 'if you breathe even the SLIGHTEST WORD of all of this to Prompto I will make ALL OF YOUR LIVES a LIVING HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then more hearts and stars and rainbows just to drive the point home.

Usually she'd tell them she'd murder them but, like, Nina knew better than to do that over technology when dealing with an actual prince--Noctis and the guys, knowing her, would probably be fine with it; she would never mean it seriously--but, like, it would also probably ruin her application into the intelligence services of Lucis because, like, who hired a spy that threatened the heir to the throne with death?

Instead, like, she'd just leave them in suspense.

It was more fun anyway, doing it like that.

...

... And if Noctis hadn't mentioned any of this to Ignis and Gladio, well, he was going to have to now!

Edited (*edits all the edits*) 2019-10-22 16:33 (UTC)

At this point, really, all of the guys had to be used to varying levels of nonsensical questions from Nina.

So Ignis was getting a polite query regarding the nature of aspartame, what it was in, and if she ought to be avoiding it.

And then all of the guys, including Prompto, because why not, were getting a lengthy series of texts about various dresses and her demanding their opinions on them pretty please it was important.

Because of course she'd do that. Of course she would.

Nina was just about one hundred percent sure that Noct was going to wind up sharing this with her brother anyway but, like, that was also part of the fun to see how long it took her query to Noct to get to her brother and...

Never let it be said that Nina didn't deliberately spread nonsense around.

FOR SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you, like, think of any situation where Prompto would successfully fake his death??????????????????????????

Science, with Nina, was a strange, fickle beast.

But, hey, it gave her something to do while waiting for Iris to get back to her around her classes.

ASSUMING YOU REMAIN UNKIDNAPPED

Ah, yes, texts from Nina.

I HAVEN'T BEEN KIDNAPPED FOR THE RECORD. I'M AT THE LIBRARY IF YOU NEED ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nina had a lot of feelings today and so capslock made her feel better.

BUT CAN YOU GET MY PINK HAIR CURLER AND THE PRESENT ON VETTE'S BED AND DESTROY THEM, PLEASE?????????????????

Nina supposed that required further explanation.

LIKE. THOSE WERE FROM THE WELCOME PICNIC, of course she'd claimed a present for Vette and not opened it, shut up, she was coping just fine with Vette's absence really, AND TIP AND I ARE THEORIZING THAT THERE MIGHT BE ANOTHER WAVE OF KIDNAPPINGS AND THE GIFTS SEEM TO BE RELATED SO, LIKE. THEY HAVE TO GO. PLEASE????????????

Even though she was really sad about losing her pink hair curler. It was super great.

But being un-kidnapped was also super great, so…

THANK YOU LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prompto had been on his way to the library when Nina's text came in, and he was still planning on going to the library, but, since he wasn't sure how long this new assignment would take, he figured it would be good to at least let Nina know he got her message first.

YOU GOT IT!! ON IT!

It just seemed right to respond in all caps, really.

DID YOU WANT PHOTO EVIDENCE OF THE DESTRUCTION WHEN COMPLETE???

And, quite a bit later, probably quite a bit too much later:

ALSO, NOT KIDNAPPED!!! IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING!

Oh, Prompto.

Honestly, you were the brightest part of her day.

She sent him a cheerful wave of sparkly stars and hearts.

EVIDENCE WOULD BE LOVELY, IF YOU DON'T MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A beat.

ALSO GLAD YOU'RE NOT KIDNAPPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like. Really, really glad.

Yeah, so.

Nina had an important question for her brother.

This was probably going to earn her another incredulous rendition of her name but, like:

Proooooooooooooooomppppppppppppppptooooooooooooooooooo can u b cupid for the party on Thursday???????????????????????

Prompto, who was very much trying to lose himself in violent video games right now because these sorts of weeks were a million times easier to deal with when he actually had a girlfriend and a single room, looked at his buzzing phone like it might try and bite him.

Because sometimes, instinct was real.

But he didn't know what cupid was, so he googled it real quick before sending Nina an answer.

NO

And now he was wondering if he should check on Nina, because she'd clearly fallen and hit her head and gone crazy or something.

No one wanted to see that!

Unless....

....and now Prompto was wondering if he shouldn't have been too hasty with his answer.

Maybe he'd just see what kind of case Nina might make for it. And it was Nina, so he was pretty sure she had a case to make for it all lined up.

Whaaaaaaaaaaat?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nina sent a bunch of pictures with sad puppy eyes in response to that before she got around to asking:

Why not????????????????????

Which was an incredibly unfair and also very awkward response back, because, yes, legally....

Prompto was going to ignore those pictures and not think about that.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT CUPID IS?????

It seemed pretty self-explanatory, Nina!

Although...

...wings would be pretty cool. And it did seem like a really good excuse for glitter.

Heh. Like you needed an excuse for glitter!

She was really good at looking sad too!

Even if… given this week, yes, it was incredibly wrong.

HE BRINGS ROMANCE TO PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By shooting them! Which, like. Prompto used guns.

Come ooooooooooon!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's Tisarwat's FIRST party that she's thrown ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, like, don't worry that it would be ~scandalous~ because she's even decreed that it is a No Glove sort of party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which she didn't know if that meant anything to Prompto, but it meant a lot.

All Prompto knew about Tisarwat and gloves was that wee-tiny Tisarwat thought his were tacky.

The nerve!

So, clearly, he didn't know exactly what that meant, but he could take a few guesses. Which he was pretty sure were wrong, because they seemed ridiculous, but...

I haven't brought romance to anyone in MONTHS, Nina

Excuse him a moment while he pushed back down that swell of crippling self pity, ahem.

And no one wants to see that, anyway. Why not ask like Sidon or something? He's like one of the most romantic people out there, except maybe yourself, and he's already got the bow and arrow. and also, you know, no one pulls of barely any clothes with confidence like a dude who never wears clothes at all

And how very grateful they all were for that.

(Except maybe the people in his sex ed class).

It's not YOUR fault that Yang isn't around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmph. So there.

The rest of it though... the rest of it had potential because, like, Nina knew how Sidon could be...

Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was, like, thinking blond because angels are usually blonde but you're SO RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can, like, I get you to ask him though???????????? I'm like SUPER tied up doing invitations right now and he's not very good at the whole texting thing.................

And if Prompto believed that she'd ever give up on him that easily, well... he didn't know her or Sidon very well.

Oof. For a second there, Prompto was pouting at his phone as if Nina could actually see it, wishing she really wouldn't just go head and drop her name in there like that so casually because it still felt like such a deep cut.

But frowning at his phone meant being distracted pretty quickly by the stream that followed. Which didn't chase the pout away entirely, because, great, the only reason she'd even thought of him in the first place was just because of hair.

Yeah, there was no way he was doing it now!

That is TOTALLY fine! If talking to Sidon means I don't have to do it, then I will talk to Sidon all DAY if need be!

It would, really, be such a chore...

Really, Prompto, Nina was trying to keep things sisterly on her end and hair was about as totally-siblings-really that she could come up with...........

I mean, like, you've totally got the arms to pull it off yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!! But if you're not willing......... then Sidon's a good second choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After all, he had been her first choice here!

... this was going to be a long week.

But thank you for talking to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And even without the whole... weird... of this week, she did mean that.

It wasn't his arms he was worried about, Nina! Prompto basically lived in tank tops. He was fine with his arms!

But he had to admit, it did feel pretty good reading that,a nd he may have taken a moment of ego-pumping to look at said arms and try a few flexes, and, yeah, yeah, yeah, she was right, they were pretty good arms.

I'll keep you updated! Love you, too!

And that really was incredibly sincere without even a tiny little sprinkle of the week touching it.

Nina had… completely forgotten about Ignis' birthday. Which, like, to be fair he probably didn't expect her to have remembered (or known) in the first place so realistically she was totally in the clear…

But, like, that just wasn't Nina's style.

So Ignis was getting a package delivered to him—to his work address because, from what she could tell, Prompto didn't actually know Ignis' home address and while she did, like, the whole point was to not be super creepy.

(In an emergency, like, that was totally different though.)

Anyway, he was getting a package. It was a neatly wrapped, very wooden sturdy box, about the size of a large shoebox, and absolutely filled to the brim with a wide variety of spices and sauces from Vette's universe, all of them neatly packaged and labeled—in Nina's most precise lettering--with their names in English (since the labels on all of the containers were… not… in anything remotely like English), their basic flavour profiles, what they were commonly used for, and their best before dates.

It was also postmarked and her letter was dated from before his birthday.

Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prompto let me write this—all the translating just, like totally defeated him, the savage—but we had a blast picking these out for you and hope you enjoy them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Nina & Prompto Argentum

And, really, the only surprising thing about the note was the fact that Nina had signed it, but also Prompto had.

Prompto had… not.

But really, forging her brother's signature was hardly a crime, right? Especially when she was covering his ass, too, about a friend's birthday…

The fact that it was late was totally being blamed on portal issues.

Nina was... working up the nerve to send Noctis her usual weekly update but, like, it was kind of terrifying too when she hadn't any idea of how he was taking the whole thing. Had Prompto gotten around to telling him?

She didn't know!

On the bright side, Nina had a really good pretext to text Prompto about Noctis.

I found Noct's next bday gift!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT THIS MAJESTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS WONDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It held neither majesty nor wonder but it was, in her opinion, absolutely amazing.

omg wtffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

Because, really, was there any other response to that? Other than practically dying from laughing so hard, and then laughing all over again thinking of how Noctis would respond to something like that.

Probably about as equally confused as he'd responded when Prompto did break the news to him about his potential children with Nina showing up last weekend, just, you know, on a completely different level.

He was pretty sure Noct was still picking up the pieces of his broken brain on that one, but he had texted asking for more info and if Prompto had, you know, pictures, which was a dumb question because of course he had pictures, but also he explained that Nina probably wanted to be the first to share those, because, you know, but just give it some time because Nina was pretty freaked out about it, too.

Which he realized after the fact might not have been the best thing to say.

But hey! It was a process!

Besides, there was new, other important business at hand:

DO YOU THINK THEY MAKE IT IN A BLANKET SIZE???????

HANG ON, I'LL CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because, really, if there was anything better than this as a hand towel, it was this as a blanket. Prompto was right. Would the internet have that?

Nina considered ruining this mad, mad plan to ask about Noctis but...

No.

No, okay, while she was also looking to see if there was a blanket, she also just hit send on her weekly update. Which was really, like, half diary at this point (but she knew Noctis read it, so the effort always seemed worth it), and this week it had a lot more pictures and some videos of their children. Nina apologized if that freaked him out, noted that Prompto was meant to warn him, and then breezily continued with her update because...

Well.

He didn't really need to know how much flailing she'd done about it all.

And the internet was cruel.

they DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! D: D: D: TRAGIC AND RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I bet Summer knows someone who could get that special ordered for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can bug her????????????????????????????????

Well, fair was fair, perhaps, because Nina didn't need to know how much flailing Noctis (all internal, of course) had done over it, either!

And if he just needed some time to not only read but also process all of that, well, then, she would have to deal with that. Prompto was meant to have warned her!

omg, I was thinking summer 2!!

Even if he was a little sore at Summer for her class continuing to be absolutely horrible and quite possibily designed specifically to torture him, at this point.

(No, he didn't really believe that, but it did seem like a pretty big coincidence with some of those classes!)

like even if she doesn't know someone right off the bat or some way to get it made into a blanket, i bet she could find a dimension where it does exist as a blanket, that was kind of her whole schpiel in class yesterday: 'Infinitie dimensions, infinite possibilities!' So that means, somewhere out there, a dimension with that as a blanket exists.

Which seemed a little MUCH, but, hey, some things were just worth it. And Noct, buddy. You were so worth it.

This... this was probably a problem of using Prompto as their go-between, wasn't it?

Ignis would've kept them much more in the loop!

But, yeah, Nina didn't expect an answer from him for at least a few hours and was sort of guiltily relieved about that.

And, like, she's got ALL SORTS of connections!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! do you want me to ask her???????????????? she's at the bar tonight, but you've got class with her and we've got time, so................

Noctis was so worth the effort.

Now Nina just needed something really dumb for Prompto's birthday.

Also: Bus Dean's bday is this Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She'd managed four whole days of Not Bothering Prompto Or Anyone Really.

... So either he'd be proud of her or worried about her at this point.

Either way, Wednesday's update to Noctis was a long, winding rant about idiot jerkfaces who came in and arrested people who'd done nothing wrong and hadn't even asked around properly before making judgments!

Prompto, on the other hand, was getting a link to the podcast of her radio broadcast and a: CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?????????????????????????

“Hey, kid. Kincaid-Price here. Just wanted to let you know, your sister’s back here in Fandom, and she’s... well, she’s in one piece. She’s in a room at the hotel for the moment, figured that’d make things less complicated for you if you wanted to swing by.”

That Liam very much was of the opinion that him swinging by would be the right choice went unspoken, but was heavily implied.

“Anyway, that’s all.”

Yeah, so, Nina still had ethics to go to and all and she was pretty sure that would go better than... whatever had gone on in her economics class.

Still, the boyos were getting a text before she went to Ethics.

So, like, my economics class set someone on fire.

She was less than impressed. Less than impressed. Admittedly, she hadn't told the boyos that she'd been on fire but she figured they'd be unimpressed at the class anyway.

It was, like, in the Danger Shop and all but ohmygosh you guys. Ohmygosh.

She was going to wind up getting exactly the same text in response from both Prompto and Ignis, one with significantly more punctuation that the other.

What does being set on fire have to do with economics?

From Gladio: everyone ok?

And Noct: ???????????????? Remind me why u wanted to go back to this school again?

To Noct: I have plans that I need to not be in Insomnia for.

But her punctuation was still like a normal person's so she was... well, she wasn't quite normal yet no.

Gladio got: Everyone was fine. I got excused from class.

And Summer had been great about that.

Iggy and her brother were getting a singular answer. Something, like, about business ethics? I don't really know. I didn't stick around.

Yes, Ignis. Nina had, in fact, bailed on the first class she'd attempted to attend all semester.

From Prompto: yeah, okay, I definitely DO NOT miss classes like that at ALL. I'm sorry, sis :( :( :(

From Ignis: Could you send me the contact information of this instructor? I am very curious as to what in the world their curriculum could possibly be.

And, after a while, from Noct: ...if you say so.

Prompto was getting: And to, like, make it weirder we started the class with the guy having ants in his eyes?????

If nothing else, like, Fandom's classes were like nothing else.

Ignis: Ohmygosh. He didn't hear the fact that his request made her laugh, despite everything, but it did. And, you know what, that deserved a reward. Sure! Her name is Summer Smith, and her contact details are as attached!

She was not even sorry. For either of them. Though she did sort of wish she could hear that conversation. Or read that email chain.

Hmm...

You're just sad I'm not around to brighten up your dreary, boy-filled days any more!!!!!!! Nina told Noctis because, like, even if he wasn't, she preferred to believe he was.

Yeah, like, Nina had made the executive decision to not inform her brother that part of her soul was apparently that of a vain, venomous snake.

… Mostly because, like, if he didn't have a clue by now then he was just hopeless. But also because she knew he didn't like snakes.

So it was Monday morning that he was getting a text from her:

70s gothic disco party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were just so slithery, Nina! He didn't like it!

WHEN???

He was a little confused by the 70s part (was this an old person party???), but he was down for everything else!

Homecoming!!!!!!!!!!! That's the theme!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They'd let Nina steamroll right on through. If this was a sign for how the parties were going to go this year, well, just wait until they got on the moon.

I like it!!!

Now to see if he could convince Ignis to consider a little bell-bottom improvement to their dress blacks...

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

Could Nina chirp a text? She was trying!

We need to figure out how to make The Bus fit the theme!!!!!!!!!!!!

And while she waited on Prompto to answer that, Nina was sending a text to Ignis and Gladio.

… Not about bell-bottoms though.

FYI it'd be best to keep Noct off the island until further notice????????? It was fine last weekend buuuuuuut I'm going to be poking a dragon with a stick so to speak and they think he's my brother.

SO LIKE. Maybe not risk it?

And she didn't even know Chelsie was actually a dragon!

I'm thinking a LOT of mirrored glass..

Prompto's answer came quickly. Ignis? Not so much .

It is generally ill-advised to go poking at dragons, Nina.

Which he figured she knew, but he also figured a reminder wouldn't HURT.

And lace!!!!!! There's GOT to be lace!!!!!!!!!!

Because this bus had to be ridiculous in so many ways.

Nina eyed Ignis' text for a moment.

I know, but I'm going to anyway.

And there where two messages to Nina.

One: mirrors, lace. Probably music. Definitely lights! It'll be the prettiest bus there!

Two: I know.

No need to say which was which, especially since the second managed to be incredibly dripping with disapproval for being two simple words on a phone.

Not too much music, though!!!!!! Since The Bus is going to be at the dance and we wouldn't want to ruin the rest of the music!!!!!!!!!!!!! But DEFINITELY lights!!!!!!!!!!! ohmygosh what about blacklights?????????? Oh or an enormous masquerade mask???????

It was amazing, really, how different the responses were.

Hey, like, at least I told you!!!!!!!!!!!

It was an improvement!

Prompto's Voicemail.

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