Furnado Animal Shelter; Friday [12/21].

[in_sidon_we_trust]

It would not be an easy task; this, Sidon knew. But he also knew, undeniably, that he couldn't expect Prompto to hold down the fort, as it were, by himself, for a prolonged period of time. So though he knew it would difficult and brutal, he at least had time to prepare himself, to bundle up, to strap a pack of needed supplies to his back and grab his weapons before leaving the warmth of the dormitory fires and heading out to ensure that his friend received some well-earned and much needed relief. He stuck to the edges of the island, figuring that he could always plunge into the water to escape these strange, tiny, softened snow taluses if he needed to, but thankfully, his momentum, his speed, his incredible jumps, and a few well executed swings of his sword and stabs with his trident managed to clear his way well enough until he rushed into the warm glow of the corridor of heat lamps and heavy bags leading to the shelter's generator.

Prompto had been even busier since yesterday, it seemed, narrowing the passage to ensure only one snowmonster could get very far into it at a time, try as they might to tear it down, since the path was now dotted with small piles of their coal eyes and their stick arms burning slightly to slow them down with melting and maybe give them second thoughts unless they, too, wanted the remaining parts of their melted bodies added to the fires.

Needless to say, Prompto was more than a little surprised to see Sidon ducking under the blankets he'd throw up to keep the snow off and the heat in. "Sidon! What the hell, man? You shouldn't be out there!"

"So it's a good thing," he said, shivering still despite the warmth thankfully creeping back into him, "that I am not out there anymore! And I should think that you shouldn't be out here alone, either."

"I got it handled, dude!" Prompto insisted. "You really shouldn't have taken the risk."

"And what about sleep, Prompto?" Sidon asked pointedly. "What about food? Were you intending to just stand guard the whole time and deprive yourself of rest and sustenance until this whole thing blows over? Goddess only knows how long that shall be! You'll need respite and repast if you're too be in any sort of fighting shape, after all, and so I'm here to provide it. I've brought food, more blankets, and my weapons. You need to eat, and take a break."

Prompto made a little bit of a face, because he knew Sidon was right, and he was really, really glad for it because he honestly did feel about ready to drop off into sleep if it weren't for his rumbly tummy keeping him up, but he was still going to roll his eyes a little bit at the lecture. "Yeah, okay, Mom."

Which was...ironic, because Sidon had just kind of shown Prompto more attention in that moment than he usually ever got from his mom, but whatever. They got Sidon set up inside the fort around the generator, got some food in Prompto before sending him inside to get some sleep all cuddled up with puppies (which was kind of the best break ever), and once he was rested up, they both stood watch over the entrance, taking the snowmen to task whenever a few of them managed to get through the gauntlet, patching up what they managed to tear down, and then they worked out a schedule between the two of them so they could take turns making sure they were well rested and ready to go, idly chatting in the downtime while Prompto occasionally spritzed Sidon down from a spray bottle so that the heat lamps didn't wind up drying him out too much.

It was most unfortunate that they had to deal with these circumstances in the first place, but, all things considered, though it was at times harrowing and worrisome and terribly uncomfortable, it could easily be a lot worse, and the animals were still safe, and that was what mattered.

[[VIVA LA FORT FURNADO. Open!]]

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[chirpchirpchirp]

Somewhere elsewhere in the back, Vette had been sucked into a kitty nap field. And... look, there were blankets, and there were large numbers of kittens, and she was warm. And kittens? They liked warm almost as much as Vette liked soft, so that worked out pretty well for both of them.

Anyway, why head back to the dorms in the snow when she could stick around here where there was power and heat?

So she was yawning, still wearing yesterday's clothes and still half-buried under blankets by the time she'd gotten enough freedom to make her way back to the shelter's back door, one kitten still draped over her shoulder.

"Oh, hey," she said, "another brave puppy protector appears!"

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Vette!"

Needless to say, Sidon was fairly surprised to see her stepping out of the back door and into the fort, though the initial shock of it came with an incredible wave of relief. He had been trying his hardest not let himself be too worried over the fact that he hadn't seen her, knowing full well that she was strong and capable and assuming her own adventurous spirit had drawn her out, but not into anything she couldn't handle, and he'd actually done a spectacular job of burying it underneath everything else that had been occupying him. But that moment of actually seeing her, safe and sound, somewhere warm and protected, with an adorable cat on her shoulder managed to dredge it all up and it hit him like a break in a dam.

He almost didn't know what to say, but he managed to stick with a simple, fascinated, "I didn't know you were here, too!"

"I told you I had it handled, dude," came a faint grumble from where Prompto was fanning some more heat into the embers of the coal-eye fires, which Sidon acknowledged with only a faint grunt, since his attention was very clearly going to be elsewhere at the moment.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Yeah," Vette laughed. "Somebody went and mentioned that there might be puppies in distress and needed a... hair dryer?"

She leaned sideways to glance at Prompto.

"Did that thing survive the night, anyway?"

Important questions from the sleepy ball of blankets.

"Anyway," she added, looking up at Sidon with a grin, "I can't say no to puppies. Secret weakness, right there."

Said even while that little kitten was purring and making biscuits on her lek. Possibly she had more than one secret weakness.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

And if they listened very closely, they could hear the faint wrrrrrrr of the hairdryer as Prompto pulled it out of the make-shift holster at his hip and held it in the air.

The batteries on this bad boy were amazing.

Sidon, meanwhile, could only return Vette's grin right back to her. It was rather hard not to; the level of cuteness standing there wrapped in blankets was almost enough to make this whole mess worth it. "Perhaps," he pointed out, "not nearly as secret as you think."

Especially not now.

But the grin softened slightly as he added, "I'm just glad to see you've been somewhere fairly safe and nicely warm."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"That's me," Vette replied, giving him an almost sharkish (really, he had the market cornered on that one by comparison) grin as she carefully shrugged out of one of her blankets, picking up the kitten with her lek as gently as she could so as to not disturb it, and held that blanket up to Sidon. "And this is for you. Crazy boy, out here in this. Prompto, you better have given him a piece of your mind!"

It would make him sad if she did it.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Yeah, right," said Prompto, failing at his concentrated effort to just stay out of this. "Like I'm gonna tell the giant Zora guy what to do."

"It was quite the opposite, actually," Sidon admitted with an almost sheepish chuckle, as he accepted the blanket gratefully and wrapped it immediately around his shoulders. "I only wanted to ensure that he was getting decent food and rest. I believe he went so far as to liken me to his mother."

Prompto, rolling your eyes and groaning was only going to sharpen Sidon's grin more, you should know that by now.

"However," he offered, quite diplomatically, he felt, "since we are all here at the moment, then that places us all quite in the same predicament, guilty of the same transgression, really, so I daresay any admonishment at all would be...quite redundant and unnecessary."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Ohhh no, buster," Vette protested. "I'm not guilty of anything. I had a blanket nest with kittens in the back room, and little Miss Dozy and I were totally warm and safe the past few... hey, what time is it, anyway?"

Her phone was so dead. She'd left her charge cable back at the dorms.

"Either way, I've got these," she added, waving her remaining blankets around. "And I run hot anyway. I'm doing just fine."

It was cold as balls and she hated every second of it.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"As am I," Sidon supplied firmly. "Better now, as a matter of fact, now that I also know the two of you," mostly her, "are also safe."

It was hard not to feel a bit more than a little touched that she'd been concerned.

"And I assure you," he added with a faint grin, "my tolerance for foolish things has increased significantly since I was just a wee little hatchling. I've had...far more practice since then."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Oh?" Vette raised her brows just slightly, a little smirk playing at her lips. "So you're telling me you didn't go diving out into the cold today? If you spend our vacation sneezing, I'm never letting you live it down, you know."

Because she cared!

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Ah!" Sidon said, lifting a finger as if to stop that notion before it managed to get any more traction. "But I never said I didn't. I most certainly did, clearly, else I can't imagine how I would have gotten here! I merely implied that I was far better equipped to handle it this time. I was bundled up and moving quickly, and I most certainly did not go leaping into the water this time, either."

Sure, that was only because he hadn't needed to, but that was hardly the point.

"There's a considerable different. But, also, that is more than fair. If I so much as sniffle while we're in Hyrule, I shall deserve every moment of admonishment and teasing you wish to dole out."

If, that was, they were still able to make it. With this weather and everything, he was starting to feel a little concerned that something might interfere with the plans. Which would be tragic, really, as he felt he needed a stay at home more than ever after all this...

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Good, I'm holding you to that," Vette informed him, sticking her nose into the air.

Miss Dozy was taking that as an invitation to start licking at Vette's ear, which earned a short squeaking sound, followed by a squirm and a giddy little laugh.

Uncomfortably cold as it was, Vette still managed to seem far more in her element right now than she had been before the snowmen.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Careful with that cat, there, Vette," Prompto said, and it should be noted that he tried very hard not to laugh at her squirming. Tried. Didn't succeed, but he tried. "Next thing you know, Nina's going to come busting in here demanding that you keep it."

"No adoptions until the New Year, though," Sidon added dutifully.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"And that rule is exactly why Dozy here gets to hang out right now," Vette informed them both. "I can't have a pet! What if I get to go home, like... ever, in her lifetime? I don't think they sell whatever Earth cats eat in the markets on Nar Shaddaa."

Hell, they barely sold what people ate in the markets on Nar Shaddaa.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"A very astute point," Sidon agreed with a nod. "I suppose one might have to just be content to drop in for a visit to see her every once in a while, then."

On Thursdays, say...

And since Sidon did know what Earth cats liked to eat, he waggled one of his fingers at Miss Dozy, which was all the distraction she needed to start licking it.

And then the nibbling started.

And Sidon was clearly very used to this sort of thing by now.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"I think she likes you," Vette offered, biting the inside of her cheek and looking terribly amused at that nibbling. "Do Earth cats eat Sidons? Well, that would be pretty inconvenient..."

What with how she was pretty fond of the Sidon she had.