hashtag_chocobro: (fiddling)
Prompto Argentum ([personal profile] hashtag_chocobro) wrote2019-04-18 07:18 am

Room 303; Late Thursday Morning [04/18].

Right. Classes were done for the semester for Prompto, his room wasn't covered in ketchup anymore, he was mostly planning on sticking around for graduation because, duh, obviously he wasn't going to miss his girlfriend graduating (although at the same time, no, please don't, like, ohgods, what was going to even happen now?), but he wondered if he should stick around for the whole week before then, or, like, head back home for training early, get in more work, take a break to come back for the weekend, and then back to Insomnia again until the start of the next semester. That...was easily the best plan, he felt, and he knew going back and forth wasn't much of a problem for him. He'd have to make sure it worked with Noct, though, and, in the meantime, he'd just hit the shooting range here as much as he could, get in some work here before really hitting the ground running with the boyos.

He still felt pretty antsy about everything, though, to feel entirely comfortable getting behind a gun right now. But he figured some mindless video games would be a good way to clear his mind, and it was actually working pretty well before his phone started buzzing to alert him to a new text message.

From Noct.

U OK?

Amazing how just three letters could fill a person with such a firm and distinct sense of dread and forebodding.

yeah. y?

Prompto did not like the stretch of time that existed before a response came in.

Got a message yesterday from one of your friends saying you had a real bad weekend. 'Tragically rough' she said.

Well. That definitely helped Prompto get an idea of exactly which supposed friend had gone and sent messages back home, and was just going to let his avatar die a horrible bloody, fiery death right now while he tried to figure out exactly what he thought about that.

She said she'd like to come visit, too, Noctis contined, that your hoes need to meet your bros...

she SAID that????????

Murder. So much murder, Nina. Like, literally, all the murder.

Yeah, she did. You think you'll bring them with you over the break? We can make arrangements.

No. That was a big, fat, emphatic no, one he hoped Noct could feel through the phone. Not this time. Too much work to do. And i'll explain everything later promise. But i think i might head out tomorrow after work, if that's cool. i'll have to come back for graduation but...

He took a long moment, debating on whether or not to include the next part.

I think I really just need to be home for a bit.

The swiftness of the reply was almost as encouraging as the reply itself: Whatever you need, Prompto.

Thanks, buddy.

And he wasn't going to get all teary eyed, he wasn't going to change his mind and head to the portalocity office right then and there, he was going to just go back to his video games and blow the shit out of some stuff, before heading out to the shooting range and blowing the shit out of some stuff there. And then cuddle all the puppies tomorrow, followed by whole weeks of blowing the shit out of some stuff back home.

Perfect plan, really.

It was going to be okay.


[[ I am clearly taking advantage of my day off while I can. door and post are open! ]]
bookbeltof_love: (fake smile)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Supposed friend? She was hurt!

Actually, she was continuing her not-so-subtle fussing over her friends because, like, that was totally the best way to avoid dealing with her own feelings over the whole weekend.

Nina leaned in the doorway. "Oh, wow," she said, impressed. "You got rid of all the ketchup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
bookbeltof_love: (that doesn't sound right)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, like, he did a good job then," she said, since… yeah, there had been ketchup everywhere. "Do you think, like, he'd accept cookies in thanks????????????"

It was only polite!

Nina wandered in to see what sort of game Prompto had going. "What are you playing today??????????"
bookbeltof_love: (o rly???)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Nina hummed thoughtfully.

"You don't look like you're very good at the spying bit," she said, watching the screen with a bit more interest than she had before. "What you're doing is, like, the opposite of sneaking around!!!!!!!!!!"
bookbeltof_love: (yeah uh huh)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Nina glanced at the top of Prompto's head.

"Then why play it?????????" she asked curiously. "Is it that fun?????"

It… still didn't look like a spy game to her. Honestly, Prompto, she was going to accept what you said, but her doubts were growing here.
bookbeltof_love: (seriously considering)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 03:53 pm (UTC)(link)
She frowned at him. He was being weird.

"I mean, like, just visiting?????????" she said, shrugging. Which was a total lie. She'd come specifically to check on him, but Nina was good at multi-tasking when she wasn't dealing with her own teenage angst. "If you're busy, I can, like, go?????????? But I was thinking it might be fun to see if you wanted to come grab Vette with me and go for lunch in a bit???????????"

That way she could keep an eye on both of them at the same time. She was a genius, really.

Nina hesitated.

"Are you okay????????? You're kind of… muted?????????"
bookbeltof_love: (bless your heart)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Really, Nina would have been willing to let the tragically rough dig go past uncommented upon had it not been said in conjunction with the rest of his words.

Sure, she wasn't supposed to know he was leaving in the first place, but Nina had no shame.

"Oh, good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She beamed at him. "They contacted you, then?????????????? That's great!!!!!!!!!!!"

No shame whatsoever.

Besides, obviously if he wasn't going to tell her when he was going to be on the island and not it meant she had carte blanche to go looking for that information, right?
bookbeltof_love: (o rly???)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Nina was almost glad that he was reacting like this. It was better than the weird, muted him and how he had barely acknowledged her presence at first. This way, at least, she knew she had his attention.

"I mean, yeah, but he's also a prince—he could have been busy!!!!!!!!!!!" None of them had gotten back to her, after all, though she had read receipts showing they'd locked it at least. "I just wanted to make sure they'd look out for you!!!!!!!!!!!! Because you'd, like, go back there and pretend you hadn't gone through a weekend where basically no one you knew was alive and you probably didn't even ask your kid for details about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina would have. But then, if Nina's child had dropped that on her, there would have been a full out interrogation and the kid would have expected that.

So.
bookbeltof_love: (excuse me????)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Being friends with people isn't about being worthy!" Nina snapped, stepping right up into his space there, genuinely distraught. "It's not about is he good enough or can he do enough. If it comes down to those things, then they're not your friends in the first place."

Harsh, definitely… but also true.

A terrible, horrible part of her wished she had a way to have his bros listen to him say this, and she could, but she wouldn't. Nina had lines, even if they weren't the ones everyone else had.

"If they willingly spend time with you, if they tease you but help you when you make mistakes, then you're already friends. You don't have to be perfect to be friends with them. I bet they're not perfect either. I bet they do things that bug you and that you don't like, right?"

Her eyes narrowed and she poked him in the chest.

"You don't like that I went and told your boys you were coming off a bad weekend, right?" Nina raised her chin in defiance of the fact that maybe, just maybe, asking this next question was one she was scared of the answer to. "Does that mean you're going to stop being my friend? You're my friend, even when you do things I don't like."

She had a list. Mostly centered around the whole dating-Yang thing, so she wasn't going to air that list, but the point still stood.

Nina blew out her breath. "You having a hard time one weekend… you screwing up… friends aren't going to drop you for that. It's okay."

It… it had to be… right?
Edited (html is my worst enemy) 2019-04-18 17:28 (UTC)
bookbeltof_love: (judging you)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not okay," she said, making no move to, well, move. "Why wouldn't I understand? Because you don't want them to not like you? I get that."

She'd, like, die if Lady Teresa and Lord Shin had no more use for her. And that wasn't nearly as dramatic or metaphorical as it was usually. After a moment's hesitation, she figured, what the hell, maybe it would help him to know that.

"If I died," which, well, that was a cheerful way to start things off, "only you and Vette would miss me for me. That's it. That's all. Like, Sidon, yeah, he'd miss me, but I'm pretty sure he'd miss almost anyone he's talked to once or twice too. Maybe that's a disservice to him, but the point is, you and Vette? Are it."

So, that was a start.

"But, like, when it comes to work... when it comes to home, it's all about what I can do for Lady Teresa and Lord Shin. I'm useful to them, so they keep me around, they praise me, they need me. Do they actually care about me for me? I don't know. I, like, hope so, but I don't know and I'll probably never know. But... I don't know," she took a step back from him, clasping her hands behind her back, "like, if you're going to call someone your friend, shouldn't they... be that?"
bookbeltof_love: (yeah uh huh)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's not what I was saying and I would hope you know that," she said, stung. "What I meant is that, yeah, Sidon's great and everything, but he's not you or Vette. If I'm having troubles or if I'm sad or something, I'm going to go find either you or her. He's great. Sabine's great. I like Lana just fine. But you two know me best. Sidon and Sabine and Lana and everyone else, I want them to see me only at my best."

She shifted, uncomfortable with the way this conversation had turned.

"And you and Vette haven't seen me at my worst either but… I feel like, if it happened, it'd be okay. Maybe. That… that we'd still be friends. I, like, hope so. I don't know about everyone else. So, I guess, maybe I just… I get that they're your bros. But I guess I don't get how you can love them so fiercely and not have just a little more trust that they love you at least a bit back." Nina looked down, with a short laugh. "Well, like, I guess I get that too because it's not like I always trust you and Vette too, but… I don't know."

She was sad, now.
bookbeltof_love: (fake smile)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"I never said anything about throwing anything away," she said, frowning at him. "I want you to have all your friends."

Both his bros and his hoes!

"I just…"

Nina shook her head, thinking about what to say to that. She wanted to argue that he wasn't nothing. That he mattered, just as he was, because he was him, but that argument wouldn't work on her and… she didn't think it would work on him either.

"Look… I'm sorry if I've made things worse for you back home," she said, finally. "If I did, I didn't mean to."

Her hands were clasped together so tightly that they ached. Nina hated this, that he felt he had to earn friendship. Respect, a spot, even acknowledgement, those things she understood having to earn. But friendship was precious precisely because it was supposed to be freely given.

"Is there anything I can do to help make up for that? Make it… I don't know, easier for you to keep that spot?"
bookbeltof_love: (that doesn't sound right)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-18 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
See, and from everything Prompto had said about Noctis, that was the sort of reaction Nina would expect from Noctis.

"I'm going to worry about it anyway," Nina said, since that was... the easiest part about all of that, where everything he said hurt. "You're my friend. I care about you. If your future is potentially going to be horrifically terrible then I'm going to want to help."

But this conversation was telling Nina that, really, if she needed his help on anything, maybe she wouldn't ask him. If he, like, found out she needed help with the stuff she was going behind Vette's back to work on... well, she wasn't going to tell him now.

"I didn't say much to them," she said, since he made it sound like she had. Nina dug out her phone. "You can see the message if you want. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I want to help. As for mentioning the visit that..."

Nina blew out her cheeks.

"That wasn't so we could, like, babysit you or anything. Or because I don't trust you. It was partly because I'm curious about your world but also because, like, Vette and I were talking about you and your bros and how... ilke, maybe you were ashamed of us or something, since we--mostly Vette--haven't even met them through, like, when you're gaming. I mean, I don't game, but Vette does, and that just... stuck, I guess."

And... really... none of this conversation was making her feel like he wasn't ashamed of her.
bookbeltof_love: (yeah uh huh)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, Prompto.

"But we didn't know it was about you," Nina said, though she was relieved that he wasn't ashamed of them. "Like, we just knew you talk about them all the time and that if you were talking to them, you'd end the conversation or the game if we wandered by. So, eventually, that just wound up with us going 'is it us?' because we couldn't think of what else it could be."

Because they both also had fairly terrible self-esteem when it came to things like that. And insecure paranoia was a sport all three of them participated in to an extent.

Tucking her phone away, she glanced at him sideways. "And I didn't know you'd be working the whole time you were away either. I thought it was, like, a visit. Not like when I tell Vette I'm gone for a job."
bookbeltof_love: (seriously considering)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
Nina nodded slowly, considering that.

"Um, like, can I ask why you think you really need it?????"
bookbeltof_love: (seriously considering)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
"That makes sense," she said, leaning forward a bit and finding that, yeah, her smile, while not as brilliant as usual didn't feel wrong either. It felt right. "Like, honestly, Prompto. You should have just said that's why you were so worried about keeping your spot."

Did it really have anything to do with friendship when he had to earn his spot on a team? She didn't think so, except, perhaps that it was friendship that had gotten him the chance to try for the team in the first place.

"So, like, while you're there you need to work on working with them, but here--you can work to make yourself stronger and more qualified and, if you want... I'm sure people here will help train you or train with you. Even if, like, it's just a matter of keeping you company while you study." Nina was a champ at research, Prompto.
bookbeltof_love: (No you!)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
It was, at least, a reason that made sense, darnit!

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nina said loftily. "I grew up in a school!!!!!!! I'm good at studying!!!!!!!!!"
bookbeltof_love: (smiling dressed up)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
"I would never distract you," she said, with total earnestness which was ruined almost immediately by her giggling.

Because yes, yes she would. Or he'd get bored and start talking to her and that way would lead to a lot of distraction and trouble.

"I can run with you, if you'd like," she offered instead. "Vette would be more help with your guns, I think, though since I'm more of a close combat sort of person." Or a fry them with magic sort of person. Nina was pretty adaptable but she didn't have any long-range weapons. "But then, if you're okay with... everything, for now, I guess we could just... ask her, if you wanted?????????? Like, we could still do lunch???????????? The three of us???????????"
bookbeltof_love: (smiling dressed up)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Yeahno, for the love of god, best not to mention that.

Nina had, overall, been very good about not opinioning about Yang and his relationship with her but, really, talking about that would only make it worse. She knew her crush was horribly unrequited but that would just be mean.

In her own way, Nina was doing her very best to be considerate of his dating life while mourning her own feelings for him.

She brightened.

"Yes!!!!!!!!!! I still want to!!!!!!!! Especially since you're leaving tomorrow oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!"
bookbeltof_love: (thinking hard)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Rude!!!!!!!! I wouldn't celebrate that!!!!!!!!!!!!"

But she was laughing too.

"Maybe, like, I'll grab Vette and we'll go on a totally rad vacation and send you all the selfies of us having loads of fun, though, so you don't forget us!!!!!!!!!!!"

Because that was, in fact, a horrible niggling worry of hers.
bookbeltof_love: (bless your heart)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Is there super, secret Crownguard stuff??????????" Because, well, Nina loved secrets. "And oh my gosh, yes, you have to send pictures!!!!!!!!!!!! As many as you can!!!!!!!!!!!"

A beat.

"And, like, pictures of your bros too!!!!!!! Have they seen pictures of us??????? If so, that's totally unfair!!!!!!!!!!!"
bookbeltof_love: (No you!)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
The first time Nina set foot in Insomnia she was basically going to wander off the moment everyone's eyes were off of her and go prying, why yes. And shopping, probably, because that was also fun.

"Life should be fair," she said, grinning, "at least, in my favour!!!!!!!!!!"

That wasn't fair at all, Nina.

"How do they not notice you taking pictures though???????????"
bookbeltof_love: (thinking hard)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
Nina blinked.

"That's... that's really impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Also a crying shame that he wasn't spy material.
bookbeltof_love: (that doesn't sound right)

[personal profile] bookbeltof_love 2019-04-19 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
"You're supposed to eat lunch, not take pictures of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina laughed. "But I'll race you to the scrapyard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She was going to steal a head start on that too, bolting out the door.