I want to ride my chocobo all day!

A Hospital on the Mainland; Late Wednesday Morning [11/12].

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 12:02:40 GMT

It had happened earlier that morning, like a promise of all the mornings ahead where they'd be roughly pulled out of sleep by the demands of a tiny little human, but Prompto was ready, he was preparing for this since....well, all of last month, really, so getting Liz to the hospital to have their baby went....

Well, he wouldn't use the word smoothly, there was no small amount of chaos, but it did go quickly, and then once there? It was just a matter of time and a lot of anxious pacing on Prompto's part and a lot of...well...a lot more work on Liz's. And a lot of questions from Noctra that Prompto thought he'd be prepared for, but...well...there was just a lot going on, okay, interspersed with moment of waiting that made for an interesting juxtaposition.

Finally, though, he was able to send out the text announcement to friends and family that he'd been itching to send out since...well, all of last month, really:

Welcome to the world
Trevor Corleonis Argentum!!!

He, of course, included loads of pictures of the wrinkly little boy, especially with his proud mama and very uncertain looking big sister, and mentioned how everything had gone really well, hospital room information if anyone wanted to swing by with well-wishes or whatever else, and then he was going to be completely over the moon over this new additional bright light in their lives.

[[ definitely open for visits, responses, whatever else! ]]

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

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 12:21:50 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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The Consistently Creepy but Unexpectedly Abandoned Mansion in the Woods; Sunday Afternoon [12/19].

Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:07:45 GMT

Prompto Argentum was really bad at time management. To his credit, it had been a while since he'd done something like this, and that had been a little different, anyway, because it had been friends he'd turned to for help (man, he should really pop in and see how Sabine was doing, and he really hoped Astrid was doing well out there in the wide world, too), so it had been a little different. But he started to worry when it was narrowing in on Christmas and it still wasn't ready, although he was assured it was nearly finished! But then he was worried something might happen to it if it arrived while he was in New Jersey with Liz's family, and, sure enough, it had, but Gladio was keeping an eye on it for him, but now that he was back on Fandom and settled a little, it was time to finally get Liliana and Ignis their Christmas present.

Better a late present than no present, right?

And then there was the issue of getting it to them, which was going to be a process....it was big after all, even though it was relatively thin, and it was all boarded up for safe traveling, so the thing was surprisingly heavy. Naturally, then, he recruited Gladio to help him haul it out to their place, and he was so excited to deliver it finally that he almost didn't even notice the difficulty of the task!

....well, okay, no, he really did, why was this so heavy? He didn't remember the last one being this heavy and it had been even bigger! But whatever, the point was that they finally made it, he and Gladio could set it down, he took a moment to breathe out and wipe some sweat from his brow before knocking on the door.

Only to be greeted by the steward, which, fair, Liliana and Ignis might have been in the middle of something, but then, after asking if they were home, the steward informed them that they actually weren't even home.

They were apparently in Argentina??? Prompto was pouting at this news, especially the additional information that the steward didn't know when they expected to be back (although at least there was the guarantee of 'before Ignis' class'? They wouldn't miss the New Years party, would they??), and Gladio started laughing, which made Prompto turn on him in shock.

"Wait! You knew they weren't going to be here?"

"Yeah," Gladio snorted, "because I pay attention."

"I was in New Jersey! You let me drag this all the way out here and you knew they weren't home?"

"It was good for you! A good workout! Well, sort of. You know I was doing most of the hard work."

"You were not!" Prompto huffed indigantly, folded his arms in front of him, and pouted a little more before his hands flew up in a desperate sort of shrug. "Well, now what?"

"Take it back?" Gladio suggested.

"Drag it out of here only to have to drag it back again whenever the fuck they decide to come back?" Prompto gawked at him. "No way. We're leaving it. We're leaving it for them for when they get back, but, in the meantime, we are going to the T&C, we're going to buy all the discounted Christmas paper, and we're going to wrap this up so good, and I'm gonna leave a note. I don't even want to think about this stupid thing until they get back, and they open it, and then we'll see who won at Christmas this year!"

"It's not a competition, you know," Gladio pointed out, and Prompto just barked a laugh.

"Yeah, okay," he said. "Good luck telling that to Lils!"

[[ mostly establishly, but absolutely open if anyone wants to catch either of them while they're out there or are for whatever reason also swinging by! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Sunday Morning [08/03].

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 09:18:51 GMT

To say that Dink had slept like a rock last night would be pretty accurate, considering, well, he was a Goron! Rocks were kind of what they were made of! But when he woke up that morning, he couldn't help but notice just how uncomfortably soft the bed he was in was! With a long, drawn out groan, he all but rolled himself up to sitting, making a bit loud show of stretching out his arms and yawning, before one hand fell to the mattress and squished it down experimentally.

Huh. That was definitely different!

"Whoa!"

It was just then that he noticed someone else sleeping there, too! And that was possibly even more different.

"There's, like, a lady in this bed!"

Did he wake her? There was a good chance that his lack of voice modulation on his deep, affected drawl had already woken her up; Dink wasn't exactly the greatest at things like quiet or stealth. But he didn't want to disturb her any more than necessary, either, so he supposed it was time for him to try and just...see if he could sneak on out of there without her noticing too much, maybe? Maybe she was a deep sleeper! He'd just feel bad, waking her up like that and everything...

But now that he was up, he was getting hungry, and wondering if they had any good rocks around here before he went out to maybe find some rupees or grasshoppers in some grass or something...

[[ open (for great SP!) especially for the lady in the bed! ]]

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The Danger Shop; Monday, Lunchtime [05/27].

Mon, 27 May 2024 14:32:10 GMT

There was a part of Prompto that was really wondering if they could potentially get in trouble for doing this, but it seemed, to him, that the danger shop should definitely be free use for a couple of teachers for Very Important Things during school hours when no one else was using it, right? Right! Besides, this was a guy who had the prestigious honor of being one of the few students that had gotten detention at this school in recent years (albeit much more recently for the school than for him!) for all sorts of rule-breaking shenaningans, so, really, if anything, acting first and apologizing later when it came to school property was ultimately just on brand for him.

Besides, it was easily going to be the best way to teach Liliana all about cars and driving, and he'd meticulously put together a whole program to do so, and he was hoping it didn't go too much to waste. But, while the rum being set out for the squirrels had more to do with the fact that this whole driving thing was meant to be a surprise for Ignis, it didn't pass his notice that it would probably help a little if them doing this was actually a big fat no-no.

Only time would tell! If anything, they could at least get in a lesson before getting thoroughly busted and reprimanded, and that was what counted. So he was just going to be taking some time to check over his mock-up of the Regalia he'd programmed in and also the motorcycle he'd added in case they wanted to take a stab at that, too, and then just waited for his student to show up, with a wistful sigh toward the motorcycle.

Man, he really should look into getting one of those...

[[ for the budding Death's Driver and NFB, por favor! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Wednesday [02/14].

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 13:48:01 GMT

Prompto came home with a dog-tired (heh! GET IT?) baby in his arms and immediately handed the worn-out birthday girl to her mother with a kiss, and then promptoly banished them both from the kitchen so that he could get started on whipping up an amazing....well, okay, okay, he was no Ignis in the kitchen, let's be real, so let's go with a relatively mediocre but decidedly heartfelt Valentine's Day dinner with a wine that came (begrudgingly from Argentina) recommended by Ignis when Prompto called him in a slight panic about not knowing the first thing about that kind of thing.

The mint chocolate cake for dessert later, however, he did pick up from the bakery. Sure, he'd made plenty of cakes before, especially for Liz's birthday, but he wanted to focus on dinner, and he wanted the dessert to be undeniably perfect. And as he was finishing up, he was just going to set the table nice and romantically for two, and then pop his head out of the kitchen to check on how things are going.

"So?" he asked. "Ready for your epic romantic Valentine's dinner now?"

[[ oh, hey, it's for that wifey-type person! who'd have thought?? ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Sunday Afternoon [02/11] - PuppyBowl Birthday Party!

Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:06:22 GMT

Prompto would be entirely honest; if there was anything a bit different going on in town, he was completely unaware of it, because he'd been singularly focused since pretty much Friday on getting things all ready and set up for Noctra's birthday party today. The decorations were an amalgamation of both puppy things and football things, with a both First Year Down! and Let's Pawty! balloons to really drive it home.

And, of course, the birthday girl herself was showing her appreciation for the theme, as well! Unfortunately, with her dad's excitement all morning in getting things up, she hadn't been able to nap like he was hoping she would, so he was holding his breath that the whole thing wouldn't make her too cranky or overwhelmed, but at least there was plenty to distract her in the meantime. Including a little help from Rain pulling in duty as Party Ruferee.

Then there was getting everything with the catering set out for the guests, which included your typical moddable game day fare, but especially puppy chow, mini hot dogs, and, of course pizza rolls! There were a puppy bowl birthday cake, even, with some vegan cupcake puppy players!

And, of course, near the entrance, there were plenty of party hats for anyone who wanted to claim their allegiance for Team Ruff or Team Fluff or just Team Noctra (he suspected those would be the most popular, really).

And for once, after everything was set up and copious amounts of pictures had been taken, Prompto actually wasn't feeling like he hadn't gone enough on the theme, and was feeling pretty good about this one, actually!

[[ open party is open! If you've ever talked to Prompto or Liz even once, you probably got an invitation. Heck, even if you've never talked to either of them, you could have ~mysteriously~ gotten one, too! Maybe it's your big destiny to meet your true love at a one-year-old's puppy bowl party, you don't know!! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Monday Afternoon [01/08].

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:27:50 GMT

Prompto and Liz didn't get back from their little second honeymoon until that afternoon, so it didn't make a whole lot of sense, he felt, to even bother popping down to the Photo Hut except to maybe do a cursory check that nothing had happened over the weekend. Besides, they'd just spent an entire weekend away from their daughter, the first time they'd spent any real significant amount of time away, and Prompto had to admit, he was eager to see her again, even if the vacation had been really, really nice.

So, after getting a good debriefing from Gladio and Ignis over how things had gone during the Exchanging of the Baby (and Cat), they were back home, and Prompto was using this as a good opportunity for some tummy time with Noctra, laying on the floor of the living room with her (and, occasionally, Rain taking advantage of sitting on his back) and doing a little bit of catch-up with her on their respective weekends.

"Uh-huh," he said, as Noctra continued with her elaborate babbling to clearly tell Prompto about what they missed at the picnic and definitely wasn't just her imitating the sounds and beats of conversation, fueled especially by the way he responded. "Really? Is that so? Oh, you're kidding me, for real? And how did that make you feel? Oh, no, totally, that's how I would have felt, too! Oh, us? No, we had a good time, it was warm and sunny, you'd've loved it! Maybe some other time, when you're older. Haha, yeah, yeah, I know, you're pretty big now, but, you're not gonna believe this, but you're gonna get way bigger than you are right now! Like so much bigger! Maybe not as big as Uncle Gladio, but, hey, if you keep eatig all those vegetables like Uncle Iggy always say, you might get close! You don't believe me? Guess you'll just have to keep eating 'em to find out! So tell me more about that pretty headdress I saw you had on Saturday, Liliana sent me a pic...."

Hey, it had been a long weekend! They had a lot to catch up on!

[[ open post is very open! ]]

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Marigot Beach Club and Dive Resort; St. Lucia, the Caribbean; Saturday [01/06].

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 12:22:30 GMT

Prompto had considered a return to the same resort that he and Liz had shipped off to a year ago for their honeymoon, but with so many islands down in the Caribbean to enjoy (and without Summer footing some of the bill as a wedding gift), he figured he should angle for something a little different. But once he saw one of the islands with a relatively affordable resort on it was called St. Lucia...well...

How could he not?

They'd arrived yesterday, of course, and they took a lot of time to just sort of get a lay of the land and a feel for the place and tried to relax on the beach for a nice St. Lucian (!!) sunset, but most of that time was also spent trying very hard (and failing) to not constantly check their phones and text Gladio about how things were going with Noctra, if there were any troubles, was she eating okay? She didn't seem to be crying or upset or distraught they were gone, did she? Did they need them to come home? They could come home!

But Gladio had been very patient at reassuring them, and, when that patience started to slip, he just had Ignis take over with the reassurances, and, between the two of them (and the mention that Nell had also offered to help if needed, too), Prompto was able to at least relax enough to eventually get some rest and look forward to at least a few more days of worrying in paradise.

He really did hope that Saturday would be less worrying and flailing as they started to get more familiar with the idea of it being just the two of them to enjoy the sun and the warmth and each other's company.

There was a little stab of guilt for it, but, Prompto had to admit, it was really nice actually sleeping in and being woken up by the warmth and the sun and snuggling into his wife beside him in bed without any kids or cats immediately demanding attention, and just gave a happy, contented sigh.

[[ mostly for the wife, obviously, but can be open for texts and calls that will definitely not induce flailing, really! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Monday [08/14].

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 11:25:12 GMT

Prompto was not going down to work at the store today.

Prompto could barely get himself to get out of bed today. And it had been the same yesterday, where he just wanted to curl up as he fell in and out of fitful sleep and all the nightmares flooding back, though he tried to get up, he really did, he'd already left Liz to handle everything for nearly two weeks, it was the least he could do to get up and try to do something. Everything made him want to just break down. The thought of food made him sick to his stomach. Just even looking at Noctra made him sob desperately, so forget about actually holding her or taking care of her, which he desperately wanted to do, but he just kept getting flashes of all the things that happened in that house...

Things were bad, sure, when he got back, almost a year ago, but a lot of the worst stuff had happened a long time ago, he had the buffer of time, and he didn't have the heavy burden of fatherhood on his shoulders then, either. But now....now...everything he'd managed to carefully, expertly, deftly pack away had been dredged up and pulled out of him by that house, and now he felt hollow, he felt raw, he felt eviscerated.

He wanted to get up, but he couldn't. Every move, every turn, reminded him of something. He was incredibly tired and he wanted to just disappear for a while into sleep, but the nightmares would find him there more than anywhere else. His only respite was taking impossibly long showers, where he just hoped the running water would cover the sounds of his sobs because he didn't want to cry in front of Liz, as if he could actually keep any of this away from her in his current state.

Even just the fact that he couldn't break out of this just emphasized how weak and pathetic and worthless he was...

Prompto was not going down to work at the store today.

Prompto was not doing much of anything but feeling miserable.

[[ open ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Saturday Morning [04/15].

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 09:53:05 GMT

You know, it was kind of funny, that somehow, in their usual jog around the island, neither Prompto nor Gladio nor Ignis noticed anything quite amiss that morning; maybe that was just a testament to how ridiculously early Gladio got them all started. Then there was a small training session at the gym, and that was probably when it happened, so when they parted ways and Prompto headed back to his place to get started on a nice breakfast for Liz to wake up to, he found himself coming up on the Photo Hut with two unfamiliar teenagers loitering outside the door and kind of giving each other the stink eye.

Well, maybe not unfamiliar, because there were definitely a few things about them that looked undeniably familiar, and...

"Oh, shit," he muttered to himself in realization, because last night was prom, and he knew what usually happened after prom, and there was no denying a very strong genetic line in both of these kids, although they were much older than what he was used to getting. Were they older because he was older now? He shook his head and realized he'd worry about that later, and just as he was about to say something, they both started when they saw him approaching and said, at the same time, "There you are, Dad."

Stopped, turned to their heads to glare at each other, and then started talking at once, but different things this time.

"This is clearly one of those portal things, Dad, but she claims to not know anything about it," the boy was saying, which bounced over the top of the girl saying, "What is this? Is this one of your clone things? We destroyed Niflheim, how could there still be clones?"

Clone definitely stuck out in the babble and Prompto took a deep breath and darted his eyes toward the boy who did look remarkably like him, but not enough, and his eyes were, thankfully, different, and so he let out a slow breath and shook his head, holding up his hands. "Listen," he said, "this is a whole thing and I'll explain it to you guys in a moment, but if you're both my kids, I know you guys aren't going to want to do this on an empty stomach, so how about you both come on upstairs, I'll get some breakfast started, and we'll figure out who's who. Just....be quiet, okay? I don't need you two waking up Liz or the baby."

Good luck with that, Prompto. Even that, as you went to go unlock the door to go inside, set them off again. The boy with a groan of "Ugh, baby? Which one? I didn't end up with baby Noctra, did I?" and the girl just giving a distressed, "Who's Liz? Where is this place? Oh, man, I knew I shoulda just stuck with Fort and Avis, but noooo, I had to follow Clone Boy over here."

"Not a clone!"

"You look like a clone!"

Yeah, Prompto was going to need a miracle if he hoped to get this sorted out before Liz woke up.

[[ for the wifey, of course! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Tuesday Morning [04/04].

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 08:15:41 GMT

One of the nice things about being a puppy, really, had been the dreams. As a puppy, curled up somewhere between the foot of the bed and against Liz's side, Prompto twitched a little as he slept, deeply entrenched in a nice dream about herding chocobos. Nice, simple, happy kinds of dreams which were a strong departure from the ones he usually had, so much so that, even though he was asleep, he could tell when he'd changed back, because those dreams took a sudden, dramatic turn toward the dark that had him gasping awake, still curled up as he had been, and, of course, entirely naked.

It took him a moment, to orient himself, to register all the altered states of his being, from asleep to awake, from dream to reality, from dog to human again, to place where he was and the details of the circumstances. He couldn't help a faint grin over the fact that this transformation was likely to go much better than the last time this had happened, looking over at Liz still sleeping there and feeling pretty confident that this wasn't going to make things extremely awkward between them.

(He hoped!)

But he figured his chances on that were pretty good, and so he shifted a little, a hand gently on Liz's arm to avoid startling her too much as he started to snuggle up a little closer and whispered, "Hey, Liz. You up?"

[[ and so it begiiiiins~ for the wifey, of course! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Sunday Afternoon [02/12].

Sun, 12 Feb 2023 14:31:12 GMT

It had almost passed Prompto by entirely; he had nearly forgotten about it, which just mind-blowing in a way, because it had definitely been his absolute favorite Earth tradition/holiday. He was definitely going to blame some sort of version of anticipatory baby-brain for not realizing until pretty much that morning that it was even a thing, but something Apu had said on Friday about the Super Bowl jogged Prompto's memory. It just didn't reach its destination until today.

THE PUPPY BOWL!

And, oh, gods, that took him back, he remembered the last Puppy Bowl he'd celebrated before everything happened, it had been here in this apartment and everything, and he'd held a Puppy Bowl party every year since he'd first heard about it. It was too late to really throw together a party today (and he wouldn't want to, anyway, with Liz ready to pop at literally any moment now), but he threw out a few texts in case anyone did want to swing by, hopped on down to the store for a few snacks and drinks, and then got ready to spend his day watching adorable puppies scramble around a tiny football field and just doing their best.

Maybe. Hopefully. Unless Liz went into labor, in which case Prompto could not even be mad about it, because how perfect would that be, his daughter, born during the Puppy Bowl! It'd make sense, right, that she'd want to see it for herself?

[[ post is open, if you want to swing by, get in touch, mod a text, or whatever! At least one little drop of wholesomeness before the pollen really starts to take off lol ]]

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Some Nice Quiet Beach in the Bahamas; Tuesday [01/10].

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 10:26:16 GMT

At the time, planning for a short, sweet honeymoon had made a lot of sense, but there was nothing to make Prompto wish he'd have gone in for a longer one that coming into their last full day here in the Bahamas. Which had been gorgeous and perfect and everything he expected it to be.

Well, except for the nightmares. He thought that, with the stress of the wedding now behind him and being in a literal paradise with the love of his life would sort of put a damper on all that shit, but he was still sleeping terribly, still plagued by all the intrusive thoughts of his tumultuous past and his uncertain future. But since this was definitely one of the few chances they'd be able to enjoy a trip like this, especially once the kid was born, he hoped he did a fair job of not letting it get to him, not letting it drag him down too much, not letting it interfere with Liz's enjoyment of their time here. Thankfully, it wasn't like they were out surfing or hiking every day. They were mostly just reveling in each other's company, attempting to get all their lovey-dovey sighing happily at each other and marveling over the fact that they were married out of their system (spoiler alert: they would fail) and basking in the sun. The only things getting a workout around here were their cameras.

Tired as he was, though, from the lack of any decent sleep, in the waking hours, Prompto really couldn't be happier, and it was a little bittersweet that it was almost over. All the more reason, he figured, to make sure to enjoy it, getting comfortable on the beautiful stretch of beach right outside their quaint little hotel, closing his eyes, and just soaking up the sun.

...and falling asleep practically within minutes.

Not even all the sunscreen in the world could save him now.

[[ for the ~wifey~! and NFB for distance, of course. CW for some disturbing dream imagery ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Monday [12/19].

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 09:47:57 GMT

Prompto would not be making it downstairs for work that day.

He would probably barely even make it out of bed, that day, same as yesterday, although there was that party later. So a good chunk of today would probably just be spent trying to muster up the energy to go and pretend like everything was okay. Like he hadn't just lost nearly four whole days to living out one of his absolute worst nightmares. Like he hadn't viciously attacked his friends (who it turned out hadn't needed him after all). Like his disappearance hadn't caused nothing but distress and fear and pain to the woman he loved, who was going to have their baby, who was going to be his wife someday. Like the possibility that Ardyn or Verstaal could return at any given moment was blown wide open...

...What was worse was he couldn't even sleep away those hours, either, because most of the time, when he closed his eyes, he was just assaulted with the memories of everything he'd been subjected to in that other life, mingling uncomfortably with things that had happened in his real life, to the point where part of him worried that he might not be able to tell which was which any more. When he did actually manage to snag a little bit of sleep, it was usually brief and fitful and filled with more nightmares.

He knew he should get up. He knew he should go do something, other than the occasional zombie-like shuffled through the apartment to use the bathroom or grab small bites to eat of things he figured he could easily keep down, but he just couldn't. He would, eventually, for the party later, but for now, he just sort of wanted to wallow in it.

At least Rain seemed to sense that he wasn't feeling very well, and, helpfully (and perhaps because Liz was right, that she had missed him while he was gone, too) spent a lot of her time curled up with him in bed, too. It was a little thing, sure, but it helped.

[[ ooooopen! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Saturday Evening [12/17].

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 22:59:37 GMT

It was one of those things where, if you squinted at it hard enough, the logic of it may have started to fray along the edges, but, broadly speaking, it made sense. Prompto, unlike so many others these last few days, hadn't simply woken up in Fandom a different version of himself; he hadn't woken up in Fandom at all. So when things were set right again, he was set right back to where he had been: in his bed, seemingly safe.

( Or maybe it was the last moments experienced by his other self (Cut for potentially disturbing imagery) )

Ignis' sword...? It had been the sleek, long Genji blade, too, the one Gladio had earned in the Trial of Gilgamesh. And at one point, he'd ripped Ignis' shirt in the fight, revealing a splash of tattooed feathers and a sharp eagle's eye. And Ignis could see again, too. Remembering those details actually help him breath better now, deep and shallow and trying to calm himself down. It had to be a dream, then, right? His brain must have somehow merged Ignis with Gladio in the dream, and that was why...That just meant...

Hand now covering his eyes, breathing now coming easier, albeit still in shaky gasps and exhales, Prompto just waited for it all to pass, until another wave of nausea hit and put him right back over the toilet again.

[[ for liz, of course <3 ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Tuesday Morning [12/13].

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 09:59:31 GMT

It would figure, Prompto finally got in a good night's worth of sleep, only to be woken up early in the morning for a training day, the soft buzz of the alarm on his phone pulling him out of it, and him being quick to reach over and shut it off so that it didn't start to disturb Liz. Looking over to see that she was still sleeping, the temptation was strong to just say fuck it to training (what were they even training for anymore anyway?) and just snuggle up and stay in bed, but he didn't want to deal with Gladio blowing up his phone and pestering him, so he reluctantly pulled back the covers and dragged himself out of bed, snagging up his phone as he shuffled quietly out the door to the bathroom.

It took him until he got to the kitchen, after he finished feeding Rain and started putting together a pre-workout protein shake that he noticed a message from Gladio already coming in.

"Come on, man," he grumbled groggily, "it's not even time ye--"

Then he read the message:

We got mistletoe. Enjoy the day off. Unless you WANT to come over and start puckering up.

To that, Prompto just grunted, because he absolutely did not, thank you very much, but...he took a moment to consider this news, put all of his breakfast stuff back away, and shuffled back into the bedroom, immediately slipping back into the covers and snuggling up to Liz, fingering brushing against her shoulder, followed by soft kisses, along with a light "Babe, babe. Wake up."

He kept his voice light, though, almost a little playful rather than serious.

"I don't want to alarm you, but we might have a problem..."

[[ for she who is in the bed, obvi! ]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Tuesday Evening [11/29].

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 10:26:02 GMT

Liz was working downstairs today, which meant Prompto was dedicating himself to prepping for their Christmas Decorating Extravaganza for the better part of his. How much prep worked needed to go into getting ready to decorate? If you were Prompto, and you knew Christmastime was one of your fiancée's favorite times of year, the answer was a lot.

It also helped that, even though it wasn't really his holiday and he hadn't even celebrate it in about ten years, Prompto also really loved the trappings of the season, and just all the warmth and good cheer that went along with it.

He'd taken care of the grunt work of getting a tree and setting it up, so that all that was left was for it to be decorated, although he probably reconsidered and rearranged its position in the living room about five times, and gave Rain a very stern talking-to about how this was a tree for looking at, not for climbing or eating, a speech that Rain listened to with patient indulgence, because, thank you, Prompto, she knew how Christmas worked. She was 'rewarded' with a small Santa hat that would definitely mysteriously disappear by the time Liz got home, but the one Prompto himself was wearing would be firmly in place.

Dinner was some turkey chili (chili counted as soup, right?) in the crockpot so it was ready for whenever, there were all sorts of decorations he'd borrowed from the back room at the T&C to sort through and start sorting through and putting up. The whole place smelled like cinnamon, and he'd found one of those stations on the TV that just showed a nice crackling fireplace and played jazzy versions of all the classic holiday songs, which meant he was spending the rest of his time crooning to Rain (and making up half the lyrics, because he didn't really know them that well) while he made some fancy hot chocolate and tried his best not to eat half the marshmallows for it before Liz was finished with work and ready to get her Christmas on.

[[ for that ~fIaNCéE~~ ]]

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BPRD Headquarters ; Newark, New Jersey; Thursday [11/24].

Thu, 24 Nov 2022 10:10:56 GMT

It was hard not to enjoy a holiday that centered around getting together and eating lots of delicious food, even though Prompto couldn't really bring himself to actually eat much of it. His stomach was just too fluttery with nervous an anxiousness, a feeling that got worse and worse with each passing bite. The sooner the meal ended, the sooner his plan would take effect, and even though he'd been thinking about and obsessing about it privately for weeks now, he was now faced with it actually happening.

The main meal was winding down, so it was time to bring out the pie and the cake (pumpkin and mint chocolate, of course, and respectively) that he and Liz had made. He cast a quick glance across the table toward Hellboy to confirm, before launching into action.

"Who," Prompto declared, placing his hands on the table and pushing back his chair as if to stand up, "is ready for dessert? Should I go get them now?"

But Hellboy chimed in with a hand held out as if to stop him, as he pushed back his chair, too. "Don't worry about it," he said, beating Prompto to standing up. "Sit tight. I got it."

Prompto, leaned over the table slightly as he was hald-way up himself, blinked over at Hellboy quizzically. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Hellboy was already halfway to the other room as he waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder. "Don't sweat it. You're the guest."

Prompto looked like he was going to protest, pulled back, and sighed. Shrugging his shoulders, he settled back in the chair, with more relief than he meant to show, because perfect. So far, so good! And once he was seated again, he grinned over at Liz.

"I'm not even sure," he admitted, "how much room I've got left for something like dessert."

( A Thanksgiving Proposal....with Cats. )

And, considering how Prompto just met that with another kiss, and considering how these things usually went with these two, Hellboy was just going to go ahead and get to digging into and distributing those desserts to everyone else at the table. Maybe if they were lucky, the might even leave some for them for whenever they managed to pull themselves apart.

[[ preplayed with the fabulous flamesburned, naturally! Establishy and NFB for distance, but of course 💍💍C is definitely welcome!]]

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The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Late Thursday Afternoon [09/15].

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 22:00:36 GMT

In the soft glow of the afternoon light through the windows, stretched comfortably on the couch with Liz there in his arms, Prompto began to feel a peace and ease that he hadn't felt for...a very long time. If there was anything to make him believe more than anything that this had to be some sort of dream, it was this moment, right here, this surreal contentment that was settling over him, in this moment that he wished he could just hold onto forever.

But it didn't take long, either, for the quiet, the peace, the soothing comfort, to start to take over in a different way, and he found himself starting to doze off. Because everything had happened so quickly, he hadn't had time to process just how exhausted he was. It had been a lot, really, finally infiltrating the Crown City, fighting their way through daemons and magitek troopers to reach the Citadel, fighting a god, all with the emotional toil of having to say good-bye to Noctis, once and for all, and, before he could even begin to contemplate that loss completely, being whisked back to Fandom, finding out that barely any time had passed at all here, and, not only that, but that Liz was pregnant. With his child. And he was realizing now that he didn't even know what had happened back in Insomnia. Did Noctis finally manage to confront Ardyn? Did he give himself over to the Kings of Lucis to banish the Starscourge, once and for all? What about the others? Gladio, Ignis...did they make it? Would they wonder where he'd gone?

Even with all those thoughts swirling in his head, as he quietly lay there, his fingers lightly brushing circles into Liz's arm, he felt sleep trying to take him away. But falling asleep here might mean waking up elsewhere, so he pushed past it, and he figured, if anything, they should at least....you know, talk about some things, especially if it helped him stay awake.

( So....a baby, huh? )

[[ Continued, of course, from here and once more preplayed with the fantastic flamesburned. CW for light on-the-surface trauma and shameless slander against Ringo Starr, NFI since they'll likely be at it like this for a while now, but OOC is always welcome ]]

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From the Streets of Insomnia to the Streets of Fandom (et al); Late Thursday Afternoon, 09/15.

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 17:23:42 GMT

The light that filled the sky was blinding, impossibly bright and burning through the darkness that had surrounded them for so long. So bright that Prompto found himself cringing away from it, a gasp of pain seering through his eyes as he lifted arm to cover them and curled away from it. For a brief moment, he wondered....was this what it had been like? For Ignis? When he slipped the Ring of the Lucii onto his finger? Was this...was this what would happen to them all now, in light of Noctis' fight, his sacrifice? Then, a moment later, he felt himself transported, entirely, into somewhere not of this world, somewhere in the ether between worlds, his body suspended in a vast ocean of nothingness. Ignis and Gladio and Noctis there with him, Ardyn before them; the two Kings lifting their arms and reaching forward, and then, suddenly, Lunafreya was there, reaching for Ardyn's hand. The moment they touched, another burst of golden light, this one warm and embracing, but just as blinding, as he winced again and closed his eyes....

...before he opened them, the weightlessness was gone, he stood once more on solid ground. The light...the light was still so...so bright, but, groaning at the pain, Prompto fought through it to open his eyes again. Had it worked? Was this...sunlight, already? So soon? It had been so long since he'd seen sunlight, it would take a while for his eyes to adjust, and while he struggled to see, there was a rumble at his side, in his pocket. His phone, going absolutely crazy, vibrating and chiming with notications, puzzling enough to distract him slightly from the burning light. But, squinting, he realized the scene was becoming clearer, shaped presenting themselves, but it wasn't the Citadel he saw before him, it was...

"What?" he breathed out, staring with disbelief. "Fandom?"

His mind was reeling. What was....what was going on? Was he dreaming? Was he dead? Why would he be...after all this time....what had happened....with Noctis...with Ardyn....with Insomnia, with Eos? He held out his hands before him, turning them over, shaking his head as if he couldn't quite believe they were real, and then looking up, down the causeway, that familiar skyline, the castle on the island, of his youth....

And his phone, his persistent phone, still vibrating, enough that he dug it out of his pocket frantically just to get it to shut off, only to stare at it in marveled fascination at the absolute slew of notifications that it was being hit with, sent nearly a decade ago, finally making it through. Voicemails, texts from Liz, from Summer, even one from Yang...He shook his head, unable to process the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions racing through him as he lifted his eyes back toward the island.

"I..." he managed to stammer out, barely able to believe it himself, "I'm....back?"

( At first, Liz didn't realise what was happening... )

[[ preplayed with the ever lovely flamesburned; NFI and to be continue in another post shortly. Mild CW for some poorly dealt with surface-level trauma, and the OG Chocobro has officially returned! *internalized high-pitched squealing* ]]

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Tollhends Stronghold; Cleigne, Eos. 01/14 759 ET [08/14 ET].

Sun, 14 Aug 2022 12:01:14 GMT

Prompto had been so focused on the communicator and the dozens of wires and connections leading in and out of it to the control panel in front of him that he almost didn't hear Aranea entering. He did, of course; it was so quiet inside the fortress that each step echoed, and when she set the heavy canister on the desk, it clunked and sizzled in a way that finally pulled his attention away.

"It wasn't easy," she reported, giving the canister with its glowing electric energy inside a small pat with her hand, "but I found one, buried deep in Costlemark. You ever been there? Place is a nightmare."

Prompto grinned faintly at that. "Well," he said, "if there's anyone who could handle it, then, it's definitely you, Aranea." He went a little quiet for a moment, looking at the canister and feeling a tight clench in his stomach at the possibility of it actually working....with the likelihood that he was chasing after an impossible thing looming heavily over it. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she said, tilting her head a little bit as she looked back at Prompto, with that steady, discerning gaze that always made him squirm a bit uncomfortably. Like she could just see right through him. And, with everything they'd been through together in Niflheim....she probably could.

( Hey, blondie. Looks like you got something on your chin. )

"Get a fucking razor," she concluded, moving her hand now to pat his cheek before she pulled away and started heading toward the door, lifting a hand in a wave goodbye.

"See you around, Shortcake," she called out, and it was all Prompto could do but stare after her for a good, long moment, before he could even remember what he'd been doing.

Cleared his throat, which now felt exceptionally tight and dry, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat to turn his focus back on the communicator, and the energy canister now beside him. "Right," he said, to no one but himself now at the control panel. "Communicator. Fandom. Energy reserves. We got this." Letting out a long, slow breath. "Back to work...."

[[ AND THUS THE BEARD HAS OFFICIALLY LANDED. It's a very important landmark moment in my elaborate filling-in-the-ten-year-timespan blanks, and, yes, there actually had been a point to turning Gladio into a plant after all. NFI, NFB, OOC always welcome, *presses on the fast forward button even harder now* ]]

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The Hammerhead; Liede; Eos. Tuesday Morning, 10/15 758 ET [08/09 FT].

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 11:58:54 GMT

While the current rash of animal transformations that had struck Fandom Island had only lasted about a week, time was moving very differently in Eos, and it had been well over a month since Gladio had turned into his very lovely namesake flower and Prompto had been turned into a puppy. And the world may have descended into darkness and ruin for most, but puppy!Prompto? Was discovering that even the Apocalypse wasn't half bad if you were smoll and adorable and furry on four legs.

Of course, that had an awful lot to do with the fact that Cindy had, despite Ignis' best efforts to sway her away from such a thing, all but claimed the little golden retriever as her own, and that little golden retriever was certainly in no position to argue with that! And let it be known, he wasn't merely basking in the attention now doted on him by his new charge, either! He made himself useful, fetching tools for her when she needed them, chasing away imps when they got too close to the Hammerhead's enclosure, and occasionally serving as an aid to Ignis when Cindy sent him out for parts. Between the two of them, they were the best hunters for supplies around!

( Yeah, life as the mechanic's new canine companion was pretty good )

And that was how Prompto Argentum came to be splayed out on the floor of Takka's old diner wearing nothing but a very tiny pair of denim hot shorts, wondering if he would just be better off disappearing into the darkness for good instead of waiting for Ignis to show up with his actual clothes.

[[ NFI, NFB, OOC welcome, like I could refuse this once it was in my head, c'mon! ]]

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The Abandoned Crow's Nest at Taelpar Rest Area; Duscae, Lucis, Eos. October 25, 756 ET [07/09 FT].

Sat, 09 Jul 2022 12:10:29 GMT

It was kind of funny, really, if you thought about it...but not too much. Down that road were very dark things, even darker than the whole world had become. But it felt as though any time there was even the slightest spark of something resembling hope, just as that light started to brighten and glow and offer some semblance of comfort, something would sweep in and extinguish that flame and make things somehow ever worse. At least they'd managed to secure the Hammerhead; after the daemon attack, they'd fortified it, built up the walls and the gates and scoured all the reststops and encampments for extra lighting to rig up and absolutely flood the place. Never again. The Hammerhead would not fall. Cindy Aurum wouldn't allow it.

The communicator had not been so lucky. Once he finally had the chance to recover it, Prompto was left wondering what had even been done to it. Even with his deep, familiar knowledge with the device, it would probably take weeks to put it back together, and then there was the matter of finding another energy source for it. But, maybe, just maybe, it might not matter. If they could get into Insomnia again, find the hubs, figure out how to get the portals back, then they wouldn't even need to communicator...

So they slipped eastward. And while the Empire had crumbled from within at the source up in Niflheim, it appeared as though the faction in Insomnia didn't get the memo. The last remnants of the Empire was still holding out, with Insomnia, ironically, as its new stronghold. Dreadnaughts still clogged the sky; there was no way to even get near the gate to the bridge without being stopped by MTs, there could potential be an approach by water, but even the cover of the constant darkness would by spoiled by the constant sweeping lights along the shore. Not to mention that Insomnia had their own daemons now. If they were going to try to get it, it would require a bit more planning than just a dash across the bridge to sort through the rubble...

So they hadn't made any progress, and were, instead, slightly more worse. Without the sun, days were starting to blur together, but Prompto was trying his best to keep track of the passage of time, even though each day, each week, each month just seemed to feel heavier and heavier. Noctis' birthday had passed, and that hit particularly hard. And now, somehow, almost astonishingly, it was Prompto's.

Not that time seemed to matter anymore. There certainly wasn't anything to celebrate. But while everything had been turned completely upside down, that just made Prompto want to cling to little things that much more.

Which meant it was time for another Sad Birthday Cupcake.

Probably the Saddest Birthday Cupcake Yet.

He could already hear Ignis complaining about wasting resources to make it, but Prompto didn't care at this point. Sad Birthday Cupcakes were a tradition, godsdammit, and he wasn't going to let the Apocalypse and the complete destruction of everything he knew and loved get in the way of that. Especially since it seemed to be one of the few things he could still....well, enjoy wasn't the word. You didn't really enjoy Sad Birthday Cupcakes.

But you could cling to them.

And he was clinging to the soft glow of the single candle on the cupcake for a good, long time before he sighed, blew it out, let the darkness settle in around him again, and then, exhausted but practically automatic at this point, reached for the gun at his hip to load it and get it ready before the inevitable horde of daemons came scurrying out to wish him their own version of a happy birthday.

[[ *whistles innocently while leaning heavily on the fast-forward button as we start in on some good old 'passage of time placeholder' posts* NFB and NFI, obvs. ]]

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The Hammerhead; Liede; Eos. Tuesday Afternoon, 08/30 756 ET [Friday Evening, 07/01 FT]

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 08:45:57 GMT

Even with the help of Aranea and her airship, it had taken nearly a month for Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio to make it back to Lucis, although any distinction between nations now seemed....superfluous. The Empire had been left in shambles, all of its major players--Ravus, Verstael, Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt himself--were all presumed dead, succumbed to the daemonification that had been subjected to and killed at the hands of the Kingsglaive and their King. All that remained was Ardyn Izunia, the man who just picked himself right back up and carried on after having been shot multiple times through the heart as if it had been merely a mosquito bite. Who'd told them Noct was gone and wasn't likely to be back for a very long time, and who said he certainly hoped they weren't afraid of the dark.

So they'd taken down the Empire. They'd gotten the Crystal. But the Crystal was useless, and they'd lost Noct along the way, and the darkness had completely taken over.

At first, they hoped it was just Niflheim, but it became clear, watching from the safety of Aranea's airship, that it encompassed the entire world. Daemon hordes thriving and swarming all over the planet, tearing down powerlines, destroying energy sources, anything that would allow them even the slightest hint of light. The only exception, with its massive power plant and a population large enough to defend it, was Lestallum, which quickly became a hub for refugees, anyone able to survive long enough to make it there safe and able to add to the support. The Hunter networks were out in full force, scouring the darkness for survivors, for resources, batting back the daemons as best they could.

And there was, of course, the Hammerhead, equipped with generators and a mechanical whiz like Cindy, one outpost beyond Lestallum, and that was where they found themselves now, after a brief jaunt out to Galdin Quay, abandoned for a while now, but still, they were constantly going to be on the hunt for any survivors that may have been missed.

It was a little jarring, honestly, how quickly the Apocalypse could actually happen. Even with so many hints and possible futures to show him that this was going to be the way, Prompto still couldn't believe how much the world had changed in such a short amount of time. But one thing that didn't change was his promise to keep trying to get the communicators to work. And, just before everything really went down, back in the days of sunlight, back when his biggest concern seemed to be a scary looking cloud hovering over the mountains of Niflheim, he'd had a spark of an idea. And now that things had reached some sort of equilibrium on their return to Lucis and he had access to all the tools and tech that Hammerhead had to offer, he went about finally attempting to hook up a lightning flask to the communicator to see if that could give it enough charge to work.

Ignis had been very reluctant about the idea. Practical as ever, he pointed out that, without Noct to extract the energy and craft it with his elemancy, their magical resources were severely limited. And with daemons having taken over the world, they might need every ounce of it they had. But Prompto convinced him to spare at least one flask, just enough to try it, and maybe a second if it actually worked. "If anything," he appealed, "just something to let them know we're okay."

"Not exactly the word I'd use for it," Ignis noted dryly.

"You know what I mean," Prompto was almost too annoyed to roll his eyes. "Besides, I said I'd try, Igs. I have to at least try."

It took a bit of doing, but finally, Prompto thought he'd managed to hook up some sort of rig that would channel the energy from the magical flask into the communicator, and he looked at the little glass container of magic for a brief moment, took a deep breath, and finally switched it on.

He'd been so used to nothing happening that he almost didn't know what to make of the fact that the little light on the communicator started to glow, the lightning in the bottle crackling and sizzling as it poured itself into the device.

"Iggy!" he shouted, eyes going wide. "Ignis! I...I got it! I got it! It works!"

"It works?" Ignis was at his side in a second, and Prompto started to send out a 'do you read me' message, but then Ignis' hand was on his shoulder. "Wait. Shhh. Listen."

There was a voice already coming through the speaker, but it was faint and quiet and Prompto turned the volume up.

"That's Goose, isn't it?" he said.

"It is," Ignis confirmed, who listened a moment longer and seemed about to respond to it, but then he stopped, as the words seemed to repeat. "And it seems to be....some kind of recording...."

"Recording?" Prompto frowned at the communicator for a moment, before his frown shifted to a disturbing surge of energy from the flask. "Why would there be a recording?"

"I don't....know," Ignis admitted, his own frown deepening as he just settled in to listen even closer to the words, to extract some meaning out of them and their purpose and what exactly it all meant.

[[ for the man with the communicator! NFB on the chocobro side, but can definitely be FB on the Goose side bayybeeeee! ]]

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