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The Photo Hut - Thursday

Liz was still rather tired but she was a bit more focused than she had been the other day when she opened the store for the day. The nightmares hadn’t returned since she’d started training with her powers so it had helped her relax a bit, her sleeping was still on and off but she hadn’t triggered her powers subconsciously at least so that was something.

After that she decided to check her email and saw that there was a new one from Hellboy.

Hellboy had invited her back to the BPRD for Thanksgiving and as she read over the email she wasn’t sure if she was ready to return, as much as she still missed everyone … it felt wrong to return, even though she knew she could at any point since it had been her choice to quit and return to Fandom. Even though she had always enjoyed the holidays at the BPRD, when they’d had a moment to celebrate in between cases but it felt too soon.

She read and reread over the email, it had been a bit over a month since she had moved back to Fandom and she decided to wait and see before she made any final decision on returning home for a few days next week. Hellboy had said they didn’t need a response, they’d have a place for her if she decided to turn up and then he’d added that they missed her - he and Abe. She wouldn’t do that to them, she would let them know one way or another but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to go back.

[the Photo Hut is open]

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Being back in Fandom for an extra day due to teaching the math class yesterday was a litlte weird, if Prompto was completely honest, although he had spent the morning reveling in having the bed all to himself (which he also got to enjoy on Sunday nights, too, but this was different, because he didn't have to be up early to get to work the next day), some major cat snuggles, then hitting up the gym for a really good workout where he wasn't too caught up in overthinking things and feeling pressure from the other guys, and now? Well, maybe now he'd just head on over to the Photo Hut...

"Oh, man, Liz," he said as he came in, a to-go tray with two cups in his hand from the Perk, "you're not gonna believe what just happened, I just noticed it, but they totally gave me an extra drink at the Perk! I think it's a black coffee with three sugars, or something. You don't happen to know anyone who might want it, or anything, do you??"

Sure, he could have just been all 'hi, Liz, I brought you some coffee' but also....no? Where was the fun in that?

Liz smiled as she glanced up from the email that she had reread for the upteenth time already that day.

“Hmmm,” she pondered thoughtfully, grateful that she could focus on something else, tilting her head as she did, “I’m not sure, the order does sound familiar, that was quite generous of the Perk,” she said with a laugh.

Edited 2021-11-18 10:41 (UTC)

Prompto's already pleased, eager expression lit up just that much more as Liz latched on and played along, and he chuckled.

"Yeah," he agreed as he came in closer to the counter, "I've definitely heard the order somewhere before, but I...can't quite put my finger on it..."

That said, he plucked on of the cups out of the carrier, the one with 'LIZ' written inconspicuously on the lid in a flowing cursive and surrounded by a smattering of loosely drawn stars, and set it in front of her.

"Either way," he then grinned and went to also free the one marked 'PROMPTO' in a much more plain script that matched the unique lettering of Eos that almost looked foreign at first glance, "if the Perk wants to go the way of other restaurants and hit you up with extra than what you ordered, I will not complain!"

Liz accepted the cup gratefully, she was still a bit tired from a lack of proper sleep so the coffee was rather good timing.

“Thank you,” she smiled when she saw her name and the stars written on it, “that would be nice if the Perk did that, they would definitely go through a lot of coffee,” she paused as she considered the fact they were in Fandom, “well a lot more coffee than they already do,” she added.

Prompto snorted a laugh at the addition. "Yeah," he said, leaning a hip against the counter as he curled up a little around his own cup, both hands cradling it as if to keep them warm. "That place probably makes a killing around here, they probably just have coffee coming out of the taps on the regular or something, like how sometimes egg nog or cider comes out of the taps everywhere else...."

He took a sip of his drink, which was a nice and indulgent holiday mocha with peppermint and extra whipped cream (because he did have a good session in the gym earlier, he earned it!), and sort of felt the awkwarness trying to creep in on him, now that the theatrics of his planned entrance were over, and he hadn't really planned that far ahead on what to do or say next.

"So, uh...." he tried, "how's the day been so far?"

Edited 2021-11-18 11:38 (UTC)

“It’s been pretty quiet so far,” she admitted because she had basically spent it reading that email and it wasn’t even that long, which she didn’t know if Prompto would be interested in hearing about it. “I did wonder if I should start decorating for Christmas since Thanksgiving is next week,”

She debated not bringing it up but maybe a different perspective might help. Well since she had already mentioned Thanksgiving.

“I got an email from home, about going back next week for Thanksgiving …” her voice trailed off uncertainly.

"....yeah?" asked Prompto, trying his best not to let his expression show any of the little flit of disappointment that came with the idea of Liz going home, especially since, dude, you literally went home every week, you were in no position to say anything about it. He think he did okay, though, in trying to look more intrigued and curious than anything else. "Thanksgiving...that's the holiday with all the food and stuff, right?"

Oh man, and Christmas! Already? He was going to have to start thinking about presents and stuff. These holidays really snuck up on you when you weren't used to them beause they didn't exist in your world!

Liz nodded, “yeah it is,” she said softly, “…um it’s just…”

She had no idea how to even word why going home now felt to soon because it tied into the whole other situation, which she still hadn’t told Prompto about and she bit her lip as she considered how to explain it.

“I haven’t been back since I came to Fandom…” her voice trailed off again.

Edited 2021-11-18 15:29 (UTC)

And a person probably didn't even have to be that astute to pick up on the fact that the topic was a little difficult for Liz, and Prompto frowned, brows furrowing, wondering if he shouldn't have said anything, but then realizing that Liz had been the one to bring it up. Still...he'd come in here to hopefully brighten her day, and it looked like it hadn't worked very well.

And now he was biting his lip as he considered what to say next.

"For..." he finally, eventually, managed, looking over at her with concern, "complicated reasons?"

That...seemed like a nice, vague enough way to put it to cushion just about anything, right?

She nodded and her expression definitely looked guilty there, “for …for complicated reasons,”

“Sorry,” she apologised, “I hadn’t expected to be invited back after …everything, I didn’t think I’d have to make that decision,”

To that, Prompto just gave a soft, sympathetic kind of smile and shook his head lightly. "Hey," he said, "don't apologize. There's nothing to apologize for. I mean, clearly, it caught you off-guard, of course it's going to be on your mind..."

He trailed off a little, biting his lip again with indecision. Earlier in the week, when she came down, they'd sort of skirted around the awkwardness of the weekend easily enough, and maybe that was the better tactic, but...in the moment, he couldn't think of a good joke to make or really anything else to say, so, maybe....

"Do you..." he ventured, figuring that, if anything, maybe asking would buy him some time to think of something better, "...want to talk about it?"

Not that he wouldn't want to if she did, of course! He'd be totally down for that, but he also understand that she might not want to, because he definitely didn't like talking about stuff like that, and probably definitely not with just some dorky dude who was kind of into you and probably doing a really bad job of trying to rein that in...

Liz debated for several moments and then realised there was never going to be a good time to do the whole “say I’m not as normal as you think I am” conversation .

Then to her horror she started crying.

“You’re going to hate me,” she sobbed.

Sorry Prompto.

Ohgodohgodohgod. Prompto stared as suddenly his 'pop into the shop to try and brighten Liz's day' took a sharp turn toward the exact oppsite of that, and, ohgodohgodohgod, he just made her cry, and what did he even do right now that wasn't going to just make it a million times worse, because he was definitely feeling like he was about to make it a million times worth.

"Uhhhh," he said eloquently in that moment of panicked indecision, and then, deciding just as quickly, set down his coffee, hopped over the counter (no, he couldn't just go around it like a normal person, thank you), and then...

Well, he was going to hug her, but, out of fear for that being the wrong thing, his arms and hands just sort of hovered in a sort of bubble around her, before he allowed himself to take the chance and at least set one of his hands lightly on her shoulder.

"Hey," he said softly, "hey, no, it's okay. I'm...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I mean, it's okay, we don't....we don't have to talk about it, I just thought..." He made a desperate sound, almost like a laugh, because he didn't know what else to do, and, really, what she'd said sounded so absurd that... "I'm not gonna hate you, Liz. I don't think I could ever..."

Even as he said it, though, it did kind of falter a little, because, truth be told, they really didn't know each other that well, but still. Still! He shook his head against his own thoughts, because there wasn't anything he could ever imagine that would make him hate someone...

...well, maybe a few things...

None of which he could imagine out of Liz, though!

"I don't think that's possible."

“I should have told you from the start,” she trembled, “about everything…I didn’t … I really like spending time with you and …”

She let out another sob, “I ….”

She stopped and started before taking a deep breath and raising her hand, she summoned bright blue flames tinged with gold, “I’m a pyrokinetic,” she said softly, “I have been since I was a child and it’s both the reason I came here as a student and why I moved back over a month ago,”

Edited 2021-11-18 17:21 (UTC)

Boy, if Prompto felt confused before, that answer was not at all helping, but at least he hadn't made things worse! Still, he was frowning deeply, shaking his head a little in bewilderment, at the flames dancing off Liz's hand and then at her face.

"Why would...why would I hate you for something like that?"

They were on an island where half the people who lived her, if not more had powers! His best friend could do stuff like that! His exgirlfriend, too, even! And if something like that was enough for Liz to think he might hate her....

A deep thrum of fear and panic resonated deep in his core.

What would she think about what he really was?

But she...she was friends with a daemon! She worked with supernatural stuff, right? So why would....?

None of this was making any sense, but he supposed, then, all he could do was look at her to see if she could make it make sense...

“Because of what I’ve done with them,” she started sobbing again, she held the flames in her hand a bit longer and then they disappeared.

“I don’t always have the best control,” she finally managed to get out, hiccuping as she did, “I have …we call them episodes, when I generate intense blasts …” her voice trailed off because now she was at the part of her story where in all honesty she wouldn’t blame Prompto if he ran away from her in disgust and she was terrified of that rejection.

Nope. Sorry not sorry, but it was clear that Prompto had no intention of going anywhere right now; he was just going to be there, listening, looking at Liz expectantly as she trailed off, waiting to see if she had anything else to add before he fully reacted.

...which worked out well, because it gave his brain some time to actually really process what she was saying and what it might meant. But he didn't want her to feel rushed, he wanted to give her the space and time to get everythihng out first, if there was anything more.

Liz stopped, composing herself as she took a few moments to compose herself, “I was 14,” she took a deep breath, “I’d had smaller incidents before growing up but we could always hide them …we moved around a lot so by the the time the authorities started to get suspicious we were gone,” she hesitated and then continued before she lost her nerve.

“That changed the semester before I started at Fandom, I was never popular as a child and moving constantly …I always stood out …then one day when I was walking home from school, a group of bullies followed me home, starting throwing rocks,” her hand automatically went up to that small faint reminder on her forehead, “I tried to escape but the rocks hit me and it triggered my power,” she took another deep breath but the tears had started up again, “I…I levelled the city block,” she let out a sob, “I…I killed 32 people that day including my parents and brother,” there it was, not the only incident but definitely the worst but she waited to see Prompto’s reaction before she even considered mentioning Pittsburg.

(sorry I’m staying back at work so I’ll be on sp for another couple of hours)

As Liz explained, Prompto listened as well as he could, trying to just focus on what she said and not let his mind latch onto things and wander into details. Like starting to wonder more about what exactly she meant by the incidents, and how this definitely put some things about last weekend in perspective, about how at least he'd never had classmates throw rocks at him (not that he ever stuck around long enough for them to even be able to have the chance), or how he would react if they did, and then...

...and then he had no problems keeping his mind from wandering away from what she was saying. What followed after that managed to demand even his scattered attention.

"Oh."

Just wait a moment, for the full weight of that to actually settle in and process.

"Oh my god. Liz..."

What could he even say to that? There were no words. None that he could find, anyway, but...maybe he didn't need words. Because he did have arms, and those arms were going to just move to wrap around her and pull her into a hug.

[[ no worries at all! ]]

Liz let herself be drawn into that hug and she sobbed into Prompto's chest, "I'm so sorry," she managed to gasp out, "I should have been honest from the start ... about how dangerous it was to be near me," there were a few more sobs and then she was fully crying again, "if you want to leave, I'd understand," she braced herself for that ultimate rejection.

On the contrary, Prompto's hug only got a little bit tighter, and he sort of wished he could claim that he just held still and silent to let her just cry it out, but he knew he was mostly just trying to think of what in the world he could possibly say to that.

But he lifted a hand, for a moment, to the back of her head, maybe awkwardly, maybe comfortingly, he really didn't know, before it dropped lightly to her back.

"Hey," he finally managed to get out. "It's okay. It's...fine. You're fine..."

Edited 2021-11-19 02:27 (UTC)

That made Liz cry even harder, sorry Prompto - she did and would appreciate what you were doing for her in this moment, “that’s not all … there were other incidents during the time I was at Fandom, nothing to that scale at least I don't think it was ... that whole week was pretty much a blur…I … my powers destroyed alien ships that were abducting students and experiment on them …I don’t know how many …” she admitted with a sob. "it happened when we were being rescued ... I was one of the last people ..."

Then there was a pause as Liz took several deep breaths to try and calm herself down.

“Then there was Pittsburg,” and here she hesitated again.

At least the hand on Liz's back started to move a little more confidently, rubbing gently to console her as she went on, although, eventually, it slowed, then stopped, as Prompto absorbed everything she was saying.

And he was back to just hugging her tightly, because, gods, that sounded terrible to have to go through, and then?

There was more?

"What..." he stammered, already feeling a sense of dread for the answer, "what's Pittsburg?"

Liz let out another sob, “it’s why I moved back here,” she trembled, “it was supposed to be a routine mission, there were reports of demonic activity in the area … Hellboy and I went with a group of six BPRD agents …” she took a deep breath, leaning against Prompto’s chest as she did to try and calm herself, “the agents got possessed and it triggered my powers … Hellboy and I were the only survivors and he only survived because he’s fire proof,” she had to stop again to try and stay calm enough to finish her story, “I … it was a very public fallout, the BPRD have to remain secret, the public can’t know about us and … I was arrested and charged with arson and murder,” the tears were flowing again, “it was strongly recommended to me that I take the blame publicly for it … and I … I did … the charges were dropped but there’s now a record …” you know in case anyone decided to do some digging into Liz’s history.

“I … it’s why I quit, I couldn’t stay there after what I did to those agents and …and why …” her voice trailed off again and she started sobbing into Prompto’s chest again.

[so sorry - I could have sworn I hit the post comment button!]

As Liz spoke, Prompto lowered his head, frowning into the hair, and he thought about how this must have all felt for her. How would he feel, a routine mission and he ended up leveling out his whole team? And here, the worst thing he had done was that one time he and Normal broke down the shield that were keeping those vampires out of Fandom....

Then she went quiet again, except for the sobs, and he was quiet, again, too, rubbing her back. Maybe she wouldn't noticed the deep, uncertain breath he took over her crying...

"Don't take this the wrong way," he finally said, "but I think maybe this BPRD is not really the best career choice..."

And as soon as he said it, he regretted it, because, yeah, yeah, yeah, he was the jokes guy, but sometimes, the jokes just weren't going to work.

"Sorry," he said, immediately after, and squeezed her a little as if to make up for it, and his tone was nothing but seriously. "I'm so sorry, Liz. I can't....I can't even imagine!"

[[ aaand I feel asleep! ]

Liz continued to sob quietly, comforted by the fact that Prompto was still there and he hadn't run out on her.

She calmed herself enough to finally speak, "there weren't many other options for me," she said quietly, "not after ... they took me in when no one else wanted me," she closed her eyes, she knew that Prompto had tried to lighten the mood and she did appreciate the attempt but at the same time ... she still felt like she had to defend them.

"I was ... before I made the choice to return to Fandom I was going to check myself into a psychiatric hospital," she finally opened her eyes, she had never admitted that to anyone not even when she'd done her first therapy session with Dr. Lecter.

"You probably think I'm crazy," she said softly, not quite daring to look up at him.

It was a bit funny, really, to think that there could be someone even harder on themselves than Prompto was to himself, and yet there they were, although, in all fairness, Liz apparently did have an awful lot to be hard on herself about. But still, that last part made him frown, and he pulled away from the hug enough so that he could lean back and try to look at her now.

"What?" he asked. "Crazy? Liz, why would I....why would I think you're crazy?"

If anything, the fact that she'd been through as much as she had and could still function relatively normal in society (even if that society was, by definition, not very normal itself) was pretty proof positive to him that she was anything but!

She forced herself to look up at him when he asked why he would think that.

“Most people have,” she said softly, trembling, “even when I was a child, my … my parents thought I’d committed some kind of sin …took me to the local Catholic Church …they gave me a crucifix and told me to pray my powers away,” which had done nothing but confuse young Liz and even though she was still a practicing Catholic to this day, she was still troubled reconciling her faith and her powers.

And even though Prompto didn't know exactly what some of that was, he had more than enough context clues to know one thing for sure.

"That...," he stammered out, then shook his head, and his brows couldn't seem to furrow deep enough to express how distressed he felt for her. "You were just a kid!"

He moved a hand up to her face, to gently try to wipe away some of the tears on her chin gently with his thumb as he tried to think of something else to say, but...nope. Nope. Words weren't going to work, and as nice as it would have been to just linger on a tender moment like that, this clearly just needed more hugs and so he was just going right back to that.

Liz sniffed as Prompto wiped away some of her tears, “I …it all just feels like it was my fault,” she tried to stop those fresh tears from falling, even though Dr. Lecter had told her it wasn’t that someone else’s actions had set it off. It was hard to reconcile with that.

Liz was extremely grateful for the hugs and she was comforted resting her head on Prompto’s chest …she had done it, she had told him everything and it seemed like he was yet to reject her.

"But..." Prompto said softly, his hand lightly on the back of Liz's head again before dropping to her shoulder, drawing her in a little tighter still, and resting his cheek on the top of her head. "You said you can't really control it, right? These...episodes? And they're all, like...triggered, right? By something....by something else...?"

Liz could only nod against his chest, she was silent for a few moments as she took comfort in that gesture, “I …we think it’s linked to when something unexpected happens and there’s …a sudden influx of emotions that I …I can’t control,”

"I guess....that....that would make sense," said Prompto, somewhat lamely, and it did, didn't it? Stuff like that happened in movies and comics and video games all the time, all these powerful people who just lost control, went into rage mode, did all sorts of damage. But this wasn't exactly a video game character, was it, but an actual person, who he really liked...and seemed to like him, too...

"Is there...anything you can do?" he then asked, almost feeling bad about asking it, and he pulled back to look at Liz's face again. "To help control it?"

“I …I’ve started seeing Dr. Lecter,” she looked up at him, “I’ve only had the one session so far but he’s given me training exercises to …to practice, with my powers,” she took a deep breath, “and I …I’ve started journalling as well,”

When Liz looked back at him, Prompto gave her a soft smile, and moved a hand to brush more of those tears off her cheek with his thumb. If he was entirely honest, that....honestly didn't sound like much, but what did he know? He didn't have any powers, and if he had....

...they'd be much, much worse than probably anything Liz had done.

"Do you....do you think it helps?"

“I…” she stopped as she considered her answer, “I …haven’t had any nightmares?” she said quietly, “I …that can be bad, so I …I guess it does help?” she trembled and sniffed.

Oh, man, that tremble had just about almost ruined Prompto for a second, but he tried to stay stronger than that and kept his soft, encouraging smile on his face. "That does sound good," he said. "Good. Erm. Is...is there anything...maybe....I could do? ...to help, I mean."

And he hadn't even finished saying it before he realized how absurd it was to even ask. She worked (or had!) with people who dealt with this kind of thing professionally! And who was he? Just some dumb guy. What could he possibly do, except the same thing he always did, just....be there?

And even that he probably couldn't do, considering how much he'd royally screwed up that one with Yang...

“I…” she looked back down, not quite able to meet his gaze, “don’t leave?” she said softly, “I know that’s asking a lot but …please don’t leave,”

[and in what feels like deja vu I’m staying back at work again so I’ll be on sp again for the next several hours, sorry!]

So. Yeah. Literally the one thing he should be able to do...

...and the one thing he couldn't do before.

But also kind of presumptious of him to even think it had anything to do with anything beyond just this moment. So, latching onto that, he tilted his head a little, to better catch her eyes even as she tried to look down, as if to visibly confirm what he was about to say. "I'm still here now...right?"

Even if he felt that was really all he could promise.

And even if he couldn't imagine she would mean anything else beyond that.

[[ gross. *sends good vibes* ]]

At first she could only nod, then forced herself to look up at him as she said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper, “I wouldn’t blame you if you had….” and then she hesitated before adding, even more quietly, “did,”

Edited 2021-11-20 05:21 (UTC)

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The Photo Hut - Thursday

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NFB from here please!

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