I want to ride my chocobo all day!

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! ]]

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!! ]]

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! ]]

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 ]]

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! ]]

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!]]

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* ]]

Twilight fell over the city of Altissia, and it was one of the most beautiful things Prompto thought he had ever seen…and also one of the most lonely. The last two few days hadn't been easy, though, of course, he did all he could to make sure it didn't show. But all that idle time waiting for the boat, and then the long journey across the ocean to Altissia itself…a communicator that didn't work…a phone that still wouldn't connect…the only known portals off this world either under Niflheim control or just simply destroyed…all that was left for him to do was just…think.

And his thoughts, right now, were anything but comforting, as he leaned against the railing of the balcony of the Altissian branch of the Leville, looking out over the Walls of Water, the star-streaked night sky, the canals and the incredible architecture, the bursts of flowers and colors everywhere, and the music still filling the streets.

( It's a photographer's dream.... )

And Prompto pulled out his phone, and began to type:

So we finally made it to Altissia! It's even more beautiful than I could have even imagined. You'd absolutely love it. Gods, I wish you were here….

Several minutes and probably hundreds of words later, he drew in a breath as his thumb hovered over the send button and finally pressed it. Was met with the same blinking dots that still sat tauntingly after every other message he'd tried to send so far. He breathed out a sigh and looked up to the sky again, before finally turning to join the others in the room, the laugh bubbling out of him almost as soon as he crossed the threshold.

"Oh, man." Bright, bubbly, never-let-'em-get-you down Prompto Argentum, back in full force, firing off positivity like he fired off bullets. "You guys have got to see this shot of Gladio in the gondola….instant classic!"



[[ OH BOY, Altissia hits a little different these days, let me tell ya!! NFB, NFI, OOC is love because this is almost all original content, baybeeeee, save for various snippets of events and dialogue from Final Fantasy XV Chapter 9 "Callings." ]]

It was early, and it was a good thing Prompto was enjoying the quiet, enjoying feeling actually nice and relaxed, because it was just about the only moment of peace he was going to get that weekend. Liz was still asleep next to him, and he didn't want to disturb her, but he was comfortable and reminding himself that there'd been plenty of...exercise this week, so he could probably skip the jog this morning. He was idly scrolling through his phone, quietly, contemplating slipping out of bed and trying to make breakfast or something for them when he thought he heard something coming from downstairs.

He frowned a little, thinking at first it might have been Rain getting into something, but he craned his neck to look down and see that she was also still sleeping, curled up at the foot of the bed. Then he heard more, almost like a scuffling, things moving around, and voices. Quiet, but there was definitely some sort of conversation. Prompto's frown deepened. Fandom? On a Saturday? Could be anything...

Still not wanting to wake up Liz and have her start worrying or getting her upset if he didn't have to, Prompto very carefully slipped out of bed, found his clothes, found his gun, and carefully slipped downstairs to the shop to see what in the hell was going on.

And was met almost instantly with a girl calling out "Say 'Wookiee!'", the light of a flash from a camera, and then the girl lowering the camera to look over to the boy next to her and saying, "See? I told you."

The boy was holding up his hands as if to prove his innocence. "I didn't touch anything," he declared. "This was all her idea..." He seemed to trail off a little as he looked over at Prompto, his eyes widening a little. "Whoa. This is trippy."

"Told you," the girl said again, this time with more emphasis and more of a smirk.

And Prompto was....right. Right. Pollen week. Prom. And then the kids. You'd think he'd have remembered, having been through this...a few times before, but this was always the sort of thing to catch him by surprise. But if that were the case, then these two were...

"So this is really it, huh?" asked the boy, looking around curiously while the girl continued to snap photo of everything around them. "We went through time and space and now we're at the shop where it alllll began."

"It's too bright here," murmured the girl idly.

"I kind of like it," the boy added with a shrug.

And Prompto....couldn't help grinning a little, shaking his head. Having two was kind of new (and, boy, wouldn't he soon be looking back on those halcyon moments when it was only two!), but it was impossible for him to not feel a little thrill of excitement for what this all seeemded to suggest. He should probably go wake up their mom, she'd probably want to see this, she'd...

"Wait a sec," he realized, "how did you even get in here?"

Truly, a continued, unanswerable mystery for ages upon ages of these weekends.

[[ for that lady, their kids, and one little extra nugget along the way ]]

It was an absolutely beautiful day in Duscae. Well, actually, if he was entirely honest, it was a little too warm for Prompto's tastes, but it could be as scorching hot as the surface of the very sun and Prompto would be fine with it, because he'd managed to convince Liz (it hadn't been that hard) to be dragged back to Eos with him that weekend so that they could have a date at pretty much one of the greatest places in the entire multiverse: the chocobo farm!

Because Liz had never even seen a chocobo yet, much less ridden on one, and that was obviously a crime that needed to be rectified immediately, and, thankfully, it was a pretty easy fix. It was kind of exciting for him beyond the chocobos, too, because this was his first time out of the city without the others, which meant he was going to be particularly nervous about making sure they manage to get back well before nightfall, but they'd gotten an early start, so they should have plenty of time.

Even this early in the morning, there was some light activity going on around the small ranch, the farm hands getting ready to feed the chocobos and corral all the fat little scurrying chocochicks underfoot. A truck selling weapons and supplies had just parked off to the side, opening its doors to show off its wares to more adventurous types planning to head out into the wilds. A few people sat at some tables underneath umbrellas to have breakfast, with old Wiz Forlane overseeing it all. Overall, an excellent day for some chocobos!

Well, every day was an excellent day for chocobos, if you asked Prompto, but he was pretty sure he couldn't have asked for a better one, and he grinned over at Liz as they arrived, fighting off the urge to just instantly drag her over to the pen with the chocobos, because just look at them, Liz! They were right there, in all their chocobo glory! But they could build up to it. He could be patient! Sure!

"Well," he said, "here we are!"

And now the real challenge was going to just be ignoring the constant messages from the other guys reminding him not to lose his phone like he did the last time they were there!

Like, dang, guys, you have some weird creepy asshole pilpher your phone once, and you never hear the end of it!

[[ NBF for distance, obviously, and also, obviously, for that girl he kinda likes or something, idk ]]