hashtag_chocobro | Around the Island, then Nina's Room at the Arms; Friday Morning [09/04].

Entry tags:

Around the Island, then Nina's Room at the Arms; Friday Morning [09/04].

It had taken Prompto an hour at most to get back to Fandom after he realized he'd gotten a voicemail from the sheriff yesterday. Also? By the way, dude? 'She's in one piece'? SHE'S IN ONE PIECE?!?? Where did you learn to leave voicemails because telling someone that his sister who had been missing pretty much all summer to go to war in her world with some really shoddy contact methods was, at the very least, in one piece was not going to help him with the whole flailing and panicking and freaking out and immediately wanting to go find her and fuss over her for pretty much a million years.

In one piece! Thanks, buddy!

Okay, okay, so all in one piece was good, he knew that, but that probably could have been phrased a whole lot more encouraging and comfortingly!

And because of this, Prompto did know that Nina probably needed rest, and he was definitely going to let her have that rest, but he could hardly just stay at home in Insomnia knowing that Nina was back and safe (AND IN ONE PIECE); he definitely would be useless to the boyos in that state of mind, so he arranged a portal, he arranged his own room at the hotel, and then spent pretty much the rest of the day pacing back and forth and figuring out what sort of questions he might ask her, wishing he'd brought more potions with him, trying to think of a clever way to trick her into maybe not going and doing that whole war thing again, and generally wearing a groove into the floor of the hotel room that he hoped maybe Noct could kind of pay for if they charged for that sort of thing.

He got, maybe, a little bit of sleep, and, the moment dawn broke, finally decided to put all that nervous energy into a run around the island. Which was, as tired and nervous as he was, kind of nice. Familiar. He missed this place a lot sometimes, so just doing his old routine of his morning jog was a good way to go into this, he figured.

Then he swung by J,GoB to pick up exactly the kind of breakfast that Ignis would totally disapprove of, a few drinks, and then headed back up to the hotel to shower quickly, then headed down to the room the front desk had told him Nina was in.

Knocked on the door.

Dropped his voice into a much deeper, gruffer, totally disguising octave, before grunting out, "Room service!"

[[ for the little sis! Or anyone who might want to catch him on his jog! There's OCD! Because I'm that nerd. ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Because he's there and you can!

For just the one, because there's only one door he's knocking on and pretending to be Room Service at!

It was, like, probably a good thing he'd waited because once Nina had showered and eaten and sent her clothes off to be cleaned (not the ones she'd been wearing, those were not worth saving), she'd collapsed on the bed and had been so thoroughly out of it that the world could've ended and she would have just slept through it.

Even as it was, she was awake, though she hadn't been for long when...

Okay, sure, Prompto. Room service. Did he forget there was a peephole for her to check to see if it was--yes, there he was.

She was still wearing her nightgown which was more modest than her (already pretty modest clothing) and her hair still in the braids she'd slept in but, like, had it been anyone else she'd have gotten dressed first.

But he was family. It was allowed.

"I didn't order room service," she said, amused as she opened the door, leaning a little against it.

Hey, it was worth a try! And he thought it was funny. And he figured she could have probably used some funny right now.

And even though he spent pretty much the last twenty hours or so thinking about this and how it would go, he was not at all prepared for the rush of relief and worry and gratefulness and worry and happiness and WORRY that hit him.when Nina opened the door.

"You probably didn't order a brother either," he pointed out, although you could make a few technical arguments that she had in a couple of ways, "but..."

He opened his arms a little; with a bag of food in one hand and a carrier of drinks in the other, he was probably going to need some help if hugs were to be had.

She needed a hug desperately but, like, fiiiiiiine.

"Come in," she ordered, opening the door wide and moving with it so he could get in. "Put those things down and let me hug you."

Well. It was probably going to be less a hug and more a 'cling to' but, details.

Edited 2020-09-04 20:15 (UTC)

Hugging? Clinging? Same thing!

Prompto was super quick in dropping his gifts onto the nearest surface, and if there was any hesitation in hugging Nina after that, it was just because he wasn't sure exactly how In One Piece she might actually be, and he didn't want to actually hurt her more if she was really bad off.

Of course, once he put his arms around her, there was no amount of possible injury that would have stopped him from squeezing her tight, tilting his head until he could rest his chin on the top of her head.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he said, and almost wished he didn't, because it made his voice crack a little bit, a crack in a dam that had been holding pretty strong since he got that message from Liam that was definitely about to come crumbling down now that the crack was there.

Edited 2020-09-04 20:46 (UTC)

For her part, since there were no physical injuries left (Liam had healed everything, right down to the smallest bruise or scrape, things that Nina herself wouldn't have bothered healing) he could hug her as tightly as he could.

She was certainly clinging back for all she was worth, closing her eyes, reveling in how safe and loved she felt, whenever Prompto rested his chin on her head.

"I almost wasn't," she admitted, not sure if she should given how he sounded but... she didn't want to lie either, not over this. "But I'm all healed up now. Liam made sure of it."

Well, it was a good thing she was healed up, then, because now Prompto was just about one more tightening short of absolutely crushing her at that admission. And he'd been training a lot lately, the gun show'd gotten some upgrades.

And he wanted to tell her that she had to be careful, that there shouldn't be any almost wasn'ts, almost wasn't was too close to definitely wasn't, and that was..

He breathed in deep.

"You missed Noct's birthday," he said, instead. "Don't worry, though. He totally loved the burrito blanket."

She was slowly being squished but, like, honestly... Nina didn't mind at all. She might, eventually.

That startled a laugh out of her.

"He loves it??????"

"Well," said Prompto, with a bit of a laugh his own, "he didn't actually say he loved it, but...you know how he is. He didn't have to say it."

Then he was quiet for a moment, just sort of letting his brain trying to latch onto the idea that she was actually back, that she was safe, that it was hopefully over for her...at least for now. Hopefully for good, but he knew better than to be that optimistic.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "I brought a bunch of food."

"I could eat," she admitted, pulling away from him, though part of her didn't want to. "What did you bring????"

"About half the fruit tart case at J,GoB," Prompto admitted with a crooked grin, and, don't worry, Prompto was probably not going to let too much distance come between them even if they weren't actively crushing each other with hugs. "And some hot chocolates. Some doughnuts, but those are mostly for me..."

He knew she wasn't too big on the sugar stuff, and he might as well take advantage of the time to splurge a little while he was here.

She giggled.

"Feeling a little sugar deprived, working with Ignis all the time?????" she teased.

"Got it in one," Prompto informed her with a grin. "I kind of want to take everything out and spread it all over the table and send a picture to him to see if he dies of shock."

Then his grin soften a little as he looked back over to her, handing the bag over so she could get first choice of what she'd like.

"They were all really pretty, too," he told her, figuring she'd at least like to know.

"They are all really pretty," she agreed, taking a good luck at them before she took a cherry one and a blueberry one. "Almost too good to eat!!!!!"

But not really, because she was going to set them on a napkin and sit on the floor with them, her back pressed against her bed. Sure, there were a few perfectly good chairs and perfectly good side tables but, like.

Floor.

Prompto blinked a little, because, yeah, he knew Nina had a particular appreciation for the significant eye candy that was his boyos, but it seemed a little out of context in the conversation, when he...

Worried. They were all pretty worried, he'd meant to say, which he didn't, he sort of missed a whole ass word there, and an important one, and was it weird that, now that he'd realized it, he was a little relieved that she thought he was talking about the pastries?

Clearly, the lack of sleep was getting to him.

And he picked out one of the doughnuts and a napkin and settled in beside her on the floor with his back to the bed, too.

Looked over at her for a moment.

Took a bite, and made sure he got all the words out this time.

"Do you want to talk about any of it?"

It did help, of course, that he'd handed her the bag of fruit tarts while saying they were pretty--what else was she supposed to think?

Nina hesitated.

"Most of it was... pretty ugly," she admitted, picking up the blueberry tart.

...

"The best part," she said, "was that I discovered the squirrels in my world have super heroes."

This was both a ~~canon~~ fact and very silly.

Prompto was quiet for a moment, with a bite of his doughnut to chew that answer over a little, then wiped a few crumbs from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, disregarding that he had a napkin.

"Do the squirrel superheroes," he asked, "have little squirrel superhero capes? Now that we've said this, you think any of the squirrels around here are going to start getting any ideas?"

She took that quiet as a chance to start eating her blueberry tart.

"They do have little squirrel superhero capes," she said, nodding sagely. "And they're colour-coded too. Mukumuku wears a red cape and he's the leader. He's searching for the rest of the team."

"Is there one with a yellow cape?" Prompto asked, after taking a moment to decide against asking what he really wanted to ask, but they'd get there. Eventually. He definitely had no intention of going anywhere any time soon, anyway.

She was just kind of grateful for the reprieve.

"Yes," she said, smiling a little. "His name is Mokumoku. There's a pink- and blue-caped one too."

He sort of figured she might.

"So those were clearly the coolest squirrels," Prompto decided, with a conclusive nod.

"They really are," she said, finishing her tart. She was maybe a lot hungry. "And it was neat discovering that doing radio here means I can speak squirrel back home. Mukumuku and I met up in a tree."

"Who'd've thunk all that radio was actually good for something after all?" Prompto asked with a small snicker.

"That sounds like a good place to meet a squirrel," he added, then hesitated slightly before asking, "What were you doing in the tree?"

That, at least, wasn't terrible.

"I'd found out who the survivors of the attack on the Youth Brigade were," she said slowly, picking up her other tart. "That's why I left, in the first place."

She couldn't remember if he knew that.

"But I was staking out one of their houses to see if they'd show up when I met Mukumuku."

All the attempts to keep him updated had been so jumbled and sporadic that Prompto only had a vague, at best, idea of what had been going on. But none of it really matter much at that moment, anyway. All the mattered was that she was back.

"Typical spy stuff," he said with a playful shaking of his head. "I really should have guessed as much."

"I like typical spy stuff," she said, resting her head against his shoulder. "I'm good at it."

Literally the best at it, though she didn't know that.

"The best," said Prompto, who also didn't know that, but he didn't need to know it to believe it in that moment, tilting his head towards her on his shoulder.

"What're you going to do now?"

Nina was quiet and thought of fire.

"I don't know," she said, then added: "I haven't checked Portalocity yet."

Because if it was open, she would go. She'd have to.

"Why would you need to check--?"

But his brow hadn't even started burrowing all the way before he filled in his own blank.

"Oh. So, it's still...?"

"Maybe," she said, shifting so she could draw her knees up to her chest, setting her half-eaten tart down to the side. "I didn't order the portal that brought me back. Like, it just appeared out of nowhere. I barely even saw it before I hit the beach."

Nina was quiet for a moment.

"It saved my life."

Prompto set down his doughnut, too. There wasn't a whole lot left, but he definitely wasn't hungry anymore.

Plus, he needed to be able to hug Nina again.

"Well, thank gods for portals, then."

She leaned into the hug for all she was worth.

"I'm okay now," she said, partly to reassure him and partly to reassure herself. "You can't even tell I was hurt."

Which meant she had been hurt, which he knew, of course, but to hear it straight from her...

Prompto squeezed her a little and then snorted a dry laugh. "All in one piece," he murmured.

"I'm going to have to make sure and thank Liam at some point before I head back. I...wish I could have helped."

Of course, he also knew there was really no way he could have, but that actually only made it feel way worse.

"You'd have hated most of it," she told him. "I hated most of it."

Really, even though she'd nearly died at the mercenary fort, it was the only battle that she understood. He couldn't leave a military fort standing.

But...

"I'm glad you're here now."

"Me, too."

And he knew she wasn't wrong, either. He hated a lot of the stuff he knew he'd have to do back home, too, and he was lucky. He didn't have to be out there like all the grunts or even regular Kingsglaive.

"I can stay as long as you need me to, too."

That made her huff something that was almost amused.

"If Ignis and Gladio decide they need you back, they're just going to tell you to bring me with rather than let you stay here."

That was going to earn a huff right back.

"They'll tell me to bring you so that it lessens the chances of you getting eaten by another portal that sends you back," he said. "It wouldn't have anything to do with me. In fact, they'd probably say I can stay, they'll just take you."

"Noct would never stand for that," she said loftily. "And I don't think the others would either--you've gotten a lot stronger."

It was hard to miss the arm gains when she kept getting hugged.

"Maybe."

He'd been working on some new weapons, too, but he still didn't sound too convinced, nor would he probably ever be. He was a good shot and a barcode, at best.

But that wasn't the point here.

"Either way," he gave her another squeeze for good measure, "I'm here, okay?"

Nina did not envy Ignis for the uphill battle he must've fought in the reality where he and Prompto got married. Not even a little.

"It means a lot that you're here," she admitted, closing her eyes briefly. "I'm sorry I was gone so long. Did you get any of my texts?"

She'd tried so, so many times to reach him.

"A few of them," Prompto said, "but not very many. And I wasn't sure if I should respond, I didn't want your phone going off at an awkward moment or even if they'd come through..."

She sighed.

"Given how terrible getting anything through was, it was probably best not to answer," Nina admitted reluctantly. "But if it's ever working properly and I'm texting you, it's fine to answer."

No ending the world right when Nina gets back, dammit.

LISTEN PROMPTO, he wasn’t going to lie and say “okay”, because she was SUPER NOT OKAY when she arrived! AND SURE SHE MIGHT BE PHYSICALLY FINE NOW BUT HE KNOWS HOW THIS GOES THERES PROBABLY OTHER SHIT GOING ON.

Then just say that! That's a MILLION TIMES BETTER, DUDE! Prompto has a VERY OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION, LIAM.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Around the Island, then Nina's Room at the Arms; Friday Morning [09/04].

Catch Prompto on his Jog! - 09/04.

Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

Re: Back at the Hotel - 09/04.

OOC - 09/04.

Re: OOC - 09/04.

Re: OOC - 09/04.