hashtag_chocobro | On the Way Back to the Dorms; Wednesday Evening [08/14].

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On the Way Back to the Dorms; Wednesday Evening [08/14].

This week had, for the most part, been pretty stinkin' great, really. Prompto had been having a blast, and he knew everyone else was, too...for the most part. He knew there'd been some trouble with some other people, but that wasn't bothering him much because, so far, all of his friends and everyone he'd run into seemed to be doing what toys like them did best: having fun and overflowing with the happiness that came with being just great toys on a great island. And tonight should have been no exception. Tonight should have been amazing, with the Wednesday activity, the party, the hugging booths, all of it! Perfect recipe for cheer and good fun.

But something was...wrong. Really, really, really wrong, and he almost wished he hadn't noticed it, but once he did, he just...couldn't shake it. And the fact that the really, really, really wrong thing was coming from Nina...only made it a bajillion times worse.

He knew Nina extremely well; they'd been through so much together! And because of that, because of all the times he'd witnessed it first hand, he could tell when she was faking being happy. He was pretty sure most people couldn't; she was really good, but not good enough to hide all the signs from someone who not only witnessed her faking it before, but who had also faked it enough times himself. Not lately, of course. Not this week, but before...

...what even was before? It didn't matter. What did matter was that he was worried about Nina, he hated what he started to think about her, but he had to make sure. He had to see if it was all in his head or if she really, truly, honestly might be...

He felt bad even thinking it!

...a Bad Toy.

He had to make sure, though! He had to get her alone, where she might drop the facade and then he could know for sure. Easy enough! He'd just offer to walk her home, be a Gentleman about it, grinning broadly and sweeping into a playful, knightly sort of bow and offer up his arm so that the lady doth not worry about the long journey home all by her lonesome. He knew she'd eat that right up and it was fun, besides, the way they always played and pretended. She'd be totally tickled, and then it was all just a matter of trying to figure it out for sure.

Because he wasn't about to turn in his best friend if he wasn't sure.

And once he was sure, well...

"Man," he gushed as they started heading back, beaming brightly at Nina, "that was some party, huh?"

[[ for Pink Diamonds only! Well, okay, if anyone else wants to run into him after the Nina thread, I'd be so for it, but mostly for Pink Diamonds, la~ ]]

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And, like, Nina was tired.

Sure, this level of enthusiasm was basically her default and she was aces at lying her ass off, but the sheer incongruity of being a toy (where were her clothes?!) and everyone else being toys and the horror of what would happen to her if she got caught...

All of that left her tired. And she trusted Prompto, though she knew she couldn't, didn't dare right now. Knowing that hadn't stopped her from linking arms with him, to saunter back to the dorms, humming softly, and happily, as she'd gone, hoping the soft sound of her happy (always happy) humming would deter too much more conversation...

"It was so great," she said, matching his happiness. "It turned out so well, I think everyone was really happy!!!!!!!!!!!"

Now that he suspected...now that he knew...Prompto felt like he could just practically feel it off of her. This was all wrong. This wasn't Nina. Not as he knew her, anyway; she should be exhuberant after a party like that. Tired, sure, but happily so, the sighing, self-satisfied kind of a job well done. Worn out. Worried. Not happy...

...and that made him unhappy. She was making him unhappy, too, and he didn't exactly relish what he knew he had to do now, but it had to be done. It was for her own good! She was Nina! If Nina wasn't happy...

...then there really was something deeply wrong here.

Too bad he was completely missing the mark on exactly what it was.

"I think so too!!!" he gushed, eagerly, brightly, laughing just a little. Then, biting his lip, he shifted gears.

"Well," he allowed, venturing nervously into what he knew was dangerous territory, but this was important! He had to take the risk! For her sake, and for everyone else's! "Maybe not...everyone..."

Edited 2019-08-15 00:18 (UTC)

"Not everyone???????????????" she echoed, feeling a thrill of fear go down her spine. "Oh my gosh, did my party make someone unhappy?!?!??!?!"

If that was the case, then she'd feel terrible!

And probably feel that for real, too, since it wasn't anyone's fault, from what she knew, that they were all brainwashed and toys.

And as a thrill of fear went down Nina's spine, a twist of dread stabbed deep into Prompto's gut. Because that reaction...instantly, all Prompto wanted to do was change course, brush it off, make Nina laugh and make her happy, to abolish any moment of unhappiness and distress he may have caused in her, but...but...

...no, making someone happy when they were as far gone as he was pretty sure Nina was was no job for just one simple little action figure like him, not even with all his very nice jointed limbs. No. This was beyond his ability, it wasn't anything for any average toy to just try to take on his own. It needed to be handle by the experts.

"It was a great party," he offered, emphatically, because it was really important that she knew that. "I had a blast, it was so much fun, Nina, all those hugs and dancng and just getting to see everyone! Mostly everyone was pretty happy, as far as I can tell, except....except for....someone, and I don't think most people would have even noticed, this person is, like, always happy, but....I noticed. And it's...it's not good, Nina. It's not good at all."

That... oh, that... sounded bad. For her. This was what she'd been afraid of, but she couldn't let it on now. She'd already dropped her potch into the wishing well and there were no takebacksies.

"No!!!!!!!!!" she said, her voice hushed. "No, like, that couldn't be right!!!!!!!!!!!! So many people were making sure everyone was happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Didn't you see Tip and Sabine and Astrid and Detective Ballerina Diaz??????????????? Nothing would have gotten past them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Prompto felt a faint surge of pride over that, that even with all those other people, including someone whose job it was to root out this sort of unhappy disobedience, and he was the one to figure it out. Pride, but he also felt terrible, because why did it have to be Nina, out of anyone?

But, it if wasn't Nina, would he have noticed?

"I did see them," he confirmed, and he stopped, so that he could snake his arm out of Nina's and turn to look at him, his plastic face as serious as the moment it came out of the packaging. "But I also saw you, Nina, and I saw something I don't think anyone else would have been able to see. Something I....something I almost wish I didn't see, but I still saw it, and it's not like I can just unsee it, either!"

Well, he could, and Nina was thinking that though she didn't say it.

"Me............???????????" she said, eyes big and earnest. "Prompto, what are you talking about???????????????? It was my party!!!!!!!!!!!! I had so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And all that punctuation made him flinch a little, and then, briefly, he wondered if the whole fact that she was making him so unhappy right now was enough to implicate her on the influence alone. It wasn't as if he liked having to do this! It was for her own good!

But...he could....he could have been wrong, right? Maybe he really was wrong. Maybe he was the unhappy one who should--

--no. No way. He had been so happy, like, all week. It was definitely her.

"Nina," he said, looking intently, pleadingly, into those big and earnest eyes. "You're not...lying to me right now...are you?"

She wouldn't....she wouldn't lie to him like that, would she? He was Prompto, he was one of her best friends, they were part of a team, he was her brother...

Edited 2019-08-15 01:27 (UTC)

Oh, sure! Now he wasn't her fake brother!

There were times when Nina would feel bad for being meaner than Prompto could be.

"I would never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, lying without a qualm. This was too important to feel bad about. "Prompto, how could you?!?!?!?! I might tease a little, and I like to plan surprises but I would never lie to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This... was not one of those times.

Prompto narrowed his eyes a little, as if trying to look deep past the plastic and into the heart of Nina's soul, and he could believe her, he could tell himself that he had no reason to think that she would just stand there and lie to him like that, but....

"Nina," he said, leaning in to make up for their height difference, hands on her shoulders, "please. Look at me and promise me you're not lying. This is important."

Nina shivered a bit, under that touch, because it didn't feel right. It wasn't right. Plastic on plastic, his serious plastic face staring at her...

She didn't want to lie to him.

But Nina had done harder things.

"I promise I'm not lying," Nina said earnestly, meeting that gaze of his, one of her hands reaching up to cover one of his. "I wouldn't. Not over something like... this!!!!"

She so, so would. And was.

Prompto wanted to believe her. He really, really did, because not believing her meant that he believed she actually would lie to him, especially at a moment like this, but he just couldn't shake that bug (ugh, stop calling it a bug, Prompto!) in his brain, couldn't shake that feeling at the party that, despite all her smiles and cheer and chipperness, she was deeply unsettled, deeply bothered, deeply...unhappy and if he didn't do something now, it was only going to get worse.

"Okay, then," he said, and nodded. "So we're doing this the hard way, huh, Nina?"

And he moved to go pick her up, to sling her into his arms; if she wouldn't go willingly, he'd just have to take her there himself!

"What are you talking about?!?!?!?!" Nina protested, making her voice high and frightened. "What are you doing??????? Prompto, are you okay???????????"

And this... this was going to suck because Prompto was way more mobile and flexible than she was so he could easily catch her, even if she got away from him, but she was still going to struggle, scared.

Honestly scared because she'd seen what had happened to Bus Dean and did not want that to happen to her.

"Prompto, what's wrong?!?!?!??!"

It was the only defense she had that might work! Playing innocent, acting like he was the one being weird.

Nope! Because Prompto had made up his mind, and he had her, and he was sticking with his convictions. It was for her own good.

"You're wrong, Nina!" he told her. "You're pretending to be happy, but you're not, I know you're not, because I know you, Nina, but it's okay, it is! Because you can still be happy, there's still a chance, especially if you're not too far gone. They can make it better, Nina, before it's too late, and then you'll be happy, like you should be. I just....I just want you to be happy, Nina! Before....before it's too late!"

Maybe it was already too late...

...but then he really needed to do this.

"Put me down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, her voice rather shriller than she'd like it to be, but Nina was now struggling in earnest to get away from him. "You're scaring me, Prompto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Put me down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I'm not letting you go, Nina!" Prompto insisted, tightening his arms around her squirming. "I have to do this! You...you did a really good job, I mean it, you really did, but you can't fool me. I can tell you...you..."

His voice hitched a little, and he tried to force down a lump in his throat, to no avail.

"We can't have any Bad Toys, Nina. Not even when they can pretend to be Good. In fact, that's even worse! Because it's all just a lie!"

Look at how unhappy she was making him! He'd be crying right now, if he could. It wasn't right!

She wanted to cry herself, for his total betrayal and for the fear this was inspiring in her. Nina hadn't felt so physically helpless in a long, long time. Normally, normally, if Prompto had tried this, she'd have been able to hand his ass to him easily and get away.

Now, though, thanks to her stupid plastic body, the best she could do was ineffectually squirm, try and kick and hit—the kicks couldn't come close to hitting him, thanks to her joints not working that way and her hands just sort of slid off of his plastic body—and, and he was taking her to the Toybox.

He could cry all he wanted! She was the one terrified!

"But I haven't done anything bad!" she protested. "I haven't, Prompto! You'd have noticed!"

She'd thrown a party! People had had fun!

"You lied to me, Nina!" Prompto protested. "You looked me right in the eye and lied to me, don't even tell me you didn't, because I know you did! That's bad! And you were having bad thoughts at the party, I could tell, and you weren't having fun, you were just pretending! So we have to do something now before it gets even worse. First it's lying, and then what? Secrets? Insubordination? Treason?? We have to do this now, Nina, before it's too late! They can still help you, you can get better, before it gets worse. Before you really go and do something really bad, and then it's too late..."

Nina abandoned pretending she didn't know what he was talking about, that she was a Good Toy, just confused, for something that was closer to the truth, since the total lie didn't seem to be working.

She could always revisit it later.

"You're scaring me!" Which was absolutely, totally, the unvarnished truth. ""Prompto, you're scaring me! You're going to get me hurt!"

And that was good! She should be scared! If she was scared, she'd know not to do it again! And she was finally being honest and truthful with him; his heart lifted a little, and he laughed.

Good. Good. This was all so good. She would learn, and she would be better than ever.

"You're going to be fine, Nina," he assured her with a tight squeeze not meant to hold her, but to be encouraging....comforting, almost! "You're one of the strongest toys I know!"

………………………………………..
…
.
…………………….

… yeah, that was… that was honestly horrifying, hearing him laugh at her saying she was scared, at him carrying her to a place where she could be destroyed. Having him be so genuinely delighted at her fear was… was just…

Nina redoubled her struggles to get away from him. Hitting him about the head, flailing wildly, hating that she couldn't get a better angle to hit or kick him. Hated that she couldn't bite him.

"Let me go! I mean it, Prompto! Let me go!"

"Hey!" Prompto grunted a little as Nina redoubled her efforts, his heart sinking right back down again. He almost lost her a little bit, there, with all that flailing, but he just tightened his grip on her as much as he could, refusing to let go.

Good thing they were getting closer now, though, he didn't know how much more of her struggling he could manage to hold.

But he was starting to get a little mad about it.

"Nina! Stop it! I mean it! Why do you always have to be so overdramatic?!?"

"Overdramatic?!" Oh, hey, Nina's lungs, plastic that they were, worked just fine, the words soaring up. "Overdramatic?! I'm being perfectly rational!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And she was still flailing wildly.

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On the Way Back to the Dorms; Wednesday Evening [08/14].

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