I want to ride my chocobo all day!

Oh, man! What a week! Prompto was definitely feeling like he'd been through the wringer a few times and then some, but it was all sort of an oddly good feeling, too, because the training had been tough, and the subesequent mission that followed had been nerve-wracking and stressful, but they did it, and they'd done it well, and it was hard not to feel totally accomplished and maybe, just maybe...feeling like this all wasn't just some big mistake and he really was on the right path, he really would make an excellent Crownsguard, even if he was miles and miles behind Noctis and Ignis and Gladio and everyone else. Maybe he actually did belong there after all.

He was riding that high a little bit once he finally got back to Fandom, relieved to finally get a little bit of R&R after all that rigerous training. At least, he hoped so, because, knowing Fandom, he'd probably tumble straight out of training and into chaos, though he hoped whatever he did find was just more of the holiday silliness that Nina had oh-so-handwavily kept him updated on through multiple texts and messages and videos. He was almost a little disappointed to not run into any cute beverage-distributing bears or squirrels in santa hats on his way back to the dorms, but, at the same time, he felt a little too tired to have truly appreciated it, anyway.

"Ahhh," he sighed as he burst into his room, threw aside his bags to take care of later, and then just headed straight for his bed, where he did a little turn before plopping down onto it with an even deeper, more content sort of sigh. "Dorm sweet dorm..."

And he was just going to revel in that moment for a bit, before pulling out his phone and shooting off a few texts to interested parties to let them know that he was back, and then he tucked his phone away and just stared at the ceiling and enjoyed not moving for the very brief amount of time he suspected he'd have before a certain sister came bursting through the door. He had to cherish this little blip of peace and quiet while he could.

[[ because I'm ready to have at least someone back! Door and post are open! Feel free to mod getting a text if'n you like! I may be a bit slow here and there but I've missed you guuuys ]]

Bro. Prompto Argentum was just straight up not having a good time this week. Or this summer. If it wasn't dealing with the grim reality of his terrible futures, discovering he was a clone produced for awful experiments, turning into a monster, being trapped in a dome under water, being attacked by zombies or dinosaurs or whatever else, it was...

Look. He knew he was new to this whole..er...intimate relationship thing, and all, but he thought he was doing a pretty good job of it. Practically a natural, though having a girlfriend like Yang was definitely a significant help, he was not even going to lie about that. But this week had been...it had been...uhhh....

Not good, man. Not. Good.

Maybe the summer was getting to him in unexpected ways. Maybe his stupid clone body was already breaking down. Maybe being a monster that one week had really messed him up. Maybe his luck had run out. Whatever it was, though, he really didn't appreciate it. He and Yang had tossed around the idea that maybe it wasn't even them, it could be the island, because of course the island would do something stupid like this, wouldn't it? But he didn't want to leave it to chance. Today, he was going to turn things around. Today, he was going to take care of himself. He was going to get in a good run, he was going to eat well, today, he was...

...going to go right back to bed, groaning with regret at the way his head spun when he tried to actually crawl out from his covers. His nose was running, his chest was tight, he was practically burning up, and then, as if to confirm what he suspected, he let out a big sneeze that racked through his entire body and left him groaning in misery.

Of course. Of course. On top of everything else this week, it appeared as though he'd caught Mr. Burnside's flu from yesterday, due to some mysterious, massive critical failure of his constitution, or something.

"Ohmygod," he moaned to no one in particular, curling up and trying to find some way to breathe, feeling practically his whole skull at the moment, "just kill me. This is the woooorst."

At least with everything earlier that week, he was just embarrassed and only wanted to die on a deep, spiritual mortified sort of level. But now? Now? It was evverrrryytthiiinnnggg.

"I swear," he murmured, sniffling, stuffed up, into his pillow, "if you still die after everything I'm being put through right now, Noctis, I am so figuring out how to bring you back so I can kill you myself."

[[ you roll a 1 on a con check, you're gonna pay the consequences, boyo! Closed door, but open post! ]]

Though he still felt like it was some sort of miracle that he'd decided to stay, Prompto had not just hitched a portal right over to Insomnia the moment he got back from his food philosophy class on Monday, even though he'd been tempted. He really, really didn't like what the island was doing this week; the whole being-under-water-in-a-dome thing would have been bad enough all on it's own --it didn't help that he kept thinking of that force-field that had gone up with all the vampires, either -- but the fact that it was leaking? That it was clearly not maybe the most structurally sound? Terrifying. Like, at least with Insomnia's barrier, you barely noticed it. And it was, you know, underneath sky and not an entire ocean that would crush them all in probably two seconds after the first really big crack. Just thinking about it made it hard for Prompto to breathe...

...and then there were those...those...things, attacking people at every turn, all of those nightmares he'd been having about himself, come to life, lurching for him...

....fuuuuuck thaaaaaat. But running away to Insomnia was...just that. Running away. Like a coward. And Prompto didn't want to be a coward. And something deep, deep, deep inside of him told him that being a coward, especially in the face of all his friends here was far worse than being crushed to death under a sudden rush of water, of suddenly losing air because there just wasn't enough of it anymore, of being ripped apart of sliced to ribbons by something that could have been, would have been, should have been human.

If he was staying, though, there was no way he was leaving his room, unless he absolutely had to, or unless he was going to classes. He was definitely not venturing into town, and that included for the weekly activity (though he kind of wish he knew it was going to be just at the auditorium and not the community center or something). He was still on the fence about work tomorrow, though, biting his lip, eying his phone a little, debating on whether or not to just text Zack and tell him 'sorry man, i can't come in today, but i'm sure sidon could come in for me?'. He liked to think Zack would understand, but the idea that Zack might think he was a coward....was just too much.

So he debated a little while longer before sighing, not sending anything yet, and picked up his video game controller again to just...lose himself somewhere that wasn't here, as if that would be enough to just make him forget.

And you know what? Sometimes...it kinda was...

....just like when he was a kid and all he wanted was for the whole world to just...go away.

[[ door is closed, but the post is open if anyone wants to swing by! ]]

Prompto had known what he was going in for when he decided to take a whole week of intense training back home; it was actually what he'd been looking for and, sure enough, he felt a million times better because of it, though he was definitely thoroughly exhausted. It didn't really catch up with him, though, until some of the adreniline faded, and it hit him almost like brick wall once he got back to the island and back to his room, and there was his bed and his soft kitty facce pillow waiting for him. He threw his bags off to the side unceremoniously, just about nearly called out to Girl to have her provide her excellent puppy-pillow services before remembering right, no Girl, she's with Zack again and feeling a little pang of sadness over that.

But that pang of sadness was washed away by relief as he went over to the bed, turned around so he could drop down onto it on his back, and let out the most decompressing sigh ever, pulling that cat pillow in close. It was weird, really, how used to this place he'd gotten, how much more comfortable it felt to be back here than in his own home back in Insomnia. He had barely even gone home, really, spent most of his time at Noctic's place, which was more comfortable than home, too. Home was just sad and empty; turns out the trip lined up perfectly with some business his parents had elsewhere. He managed to catch them for a little bit one morning before they left, but then that was that.

The work with the boys had been good, though. Really good, actually; he threw himself into it completely like he'd been planning and he actually felt like he'd accomplished something. Gladio even seemed impressed, and that was, like, ultimate right there. So it was good, and he had the opportunity to go back again next week, but he was starting to feel like maybe he'd stick around here after all. He still wasn't quite sure what Yang's plans for after graduation were; he was almost too afraid to ask. So it would be nice to make the most out of what little time they still had left.

Right now, though, he figured he should at least make an appearance at work, if only for the half-day, because why not get the chance to fit some puppies in? His week had been tragically lacking in puppies. So just a little half-day. He just had to get back up again, but, man, this was so comfortable, and he was still so sore from all that work, and if he closed his eyes for just a minute, he could maybe nap off some of the portal-lag, and then he'd go...

...go right to sleep, maybe. Because bed comfy, Prompto tiiiiiired.

[[ door and post are open! ]]

The last few days had been kind of a whirlwind, trying to get used to the idea of this tiny little person that was apparently his and Yang's supposed future daughter, while simultaniously spoiling her rotten, taking about a million pictures, and teetering on the edge of asking a zillion questions, because Prompto had them, he had sooooo many of them, but every once in a while, Lulu would say something (such as "It's nice to hear you laugh so much, Dad. I mean, like, really laugh" or at one point where she just sort of smushed his face and asked if grinning like that all the time made his face hurt) that made him think that there were answers in there that he might not really want to know. And Lucy, for the most part, was all brightness and sunshine and excitement that even he had trouble keeping up with...until suddenly, she wasn't, and she was serious and thoughtful in a way that was a little bit startling and disturbing on a face so young and so cute.

So Prompto tried not to think about it and he tried to do what he did best, which was deflect and distract with some shopping trips and getting some food and some candy (so, so much candy, and don't tell your mom, okay? She'll kick both our butts), and then back to his room to play some video games ("How are you even this good?" "Eat space dust, Old Man!"), and, when that got a little boring, Lucy found the container of spare parts and electronics that Prompto kept around when he wanted to tinker around with stuff, and quickly started sorting through them until the room was pretty much covered with them and she was quietly working away at putting stuff together, with occasional bursts of talking about how this was kind of like this one thing she made with Aunt Ruby, and this was like this one thing she'd made with him and her mom, and this was kind of like what she wanted to make for herself, but she still wasn't convinced she wanted to stick with ranged attacks because melee weapons were just soooooooo much more interesting. And big. Really, really biiiig.

Prompto's own tinkering wasn't going nearly as productively, since he was spending most of the time still stuck in that slack-jawed fascination that hadn't left him since Saturday morning.


[[ door and post are very, very much open! ]]

While Prompto still sometimes missed having a roommate around (he'd spent his whole childhood by himself; it was something novel and new and nice, having a roommate, brief as it had been), there were still many benefits to having a single room that he'd come to enjoy. Uninterrupted make-out and snuggle seshes with his girlfriend. Being able to be as loud and obnoxious when playing video games and no one to look at you funny when you rage quit. Unabashedly dancing around the room in your underwear while bleating out songs into a hairbrush...

...and today, that morning, Prompto was more grateful than ever to have a single room so that the only person that would hear him whimpering and crying at the overwhelming pain in his thigh and calf muscles was Girl, who would only then come over to offer him comfort and not be judgey about it at all.

Three whole days. He had spent three whole days riding a bike around the island, thinking he was some sort of bicycle riding superhero who obviously was used to this sort of thing, but Prompto Argentum, for all he tried to work out and keep in shape and be buff, was not and he felt it. Oh, gods, did he feel it, in every single fiber of his poor, poor legs. And butt. And arms. And...oh, gods, he felt it evvverrryyywheeerrreeee.

He didn't think he was even going to make it to class today, not unless someone carried him there, and that was a total bummer, too. Bad enough he missed shopping day and pirate day because he was a puppy, now he had to miss classes again because he was practically immobilized and pretty sure he was going to just die from the pain.

On the bright side, though, he could probably skip leg day for about a month straight and still be fine.

Oh, gods, whyyyyy? Stupid bike-riding superhero!

[[ door closed, but post is def open! ]]

Prompto only had a question. A simple, innocent, almost dumb question, really, about the trip to Hyrule in a couple of weeks, and what he got was an answer, sure, eventually, but not until a really confusing time up in Sidon's room trying to figure out why all that mistletoe was bothering them. Aaaand eventually figuring it out. Aaaaaand being super awkward about it, because this time Sidon was actually in his right mind and not bitten by a gremlin. But they did get the mistletoe to stop bothering them, and Prompto made his very hasty and incredibly awkward exit, and resolved to possibly just lock himself in his room with his harmless video games for the rest of the day.

The potential of this mistletoe thing was not lost on him, of course. But having just experienced such a situation, he realized that the likelihood of realizing that potential was far less than the likelihood of something far more awkward. It just wasn't worth it. And video games...video games would never let him down.

He just wished they were a slightly better distraction from worrying about whether 'rampant mistletoe' would be a good enough excuse for explaining to one of your best friends why you were kissing her boyfriend. Again.

[[listen, if I have the opportunity to make my boys kiss for dumb reasons, I am going to take that reason, because that's just who I am, you guys, i am filled with crack and trash. Even if I'm too lazy to actually write it out, though not too lazy for aftershocks. door may be closed, but the post is definitely open!]]

Prompto had a date.

And Prompto Argentum wasn't going to let some wire-chomping mouse cause him to miss out on a date.

Well, okay, it wasn't so much a date as it was that he'd made plans for a raiding night with Noct and Galdio during his shift at the C.I.C. that evening. Obviously, that exact thing wasn't going to be happening now, but he wouldn't let the current circumstances throw a big fat fried-mouse wrench in his plans and spoil something he'd been looking forward to since last week. Without an idea of how long the C.I.C. would even be out of commission, he had to think fast, act fast, and just be glad he'd been saving up his money instead of giving into the temptation to buy all sorts of new shinies every week.

He'd hooked himself up a preeeeetty sweet rig over there; he probably wasn't going to be able to perfectly replicated it in his room, but he knew he could cobble something together that would be more than efficient and satisfactory, and what his new room set-up lacked was easily something he could build on and improve on, and maybe he'd have an even better set-up given enough time and tweaking.

Setting it up had been pretty easy, too, that wasn't a problem. It was the set-up on the other thing he'd gotten that was giving him issues now.

Because of course he'd also gotten a pull-up bar.

And was realizing he had no real idea how to install it, which meant that he'd sort of delayed the original intention of the date with his bros back home, but they were still there on his phone as he tried to have Gladio (who he only knew hadn't died laughing yet because he was still laughing his butt off) walk him through it, figuring if anyone had experience installing a pull-up bar, it would be Gladio.

"You're just lucky," Prompto informed him loftily while making another attempt at what should honestly not be this difficult, maybe he got a cursed one or something, that seemed like it could be a thing around here, "you're not here right now, or else this pull-up bar would totally be re-purposed as a beat Gladio on the head bar.

"Not that there's anything up there to damage, anyway," he added in a murmur specifically intended to never be heard.

[[ door and post are open!! ]]