fandomtownies | The Photo Hut; Monday [11/29].

Liz had promised to show photos of Hellboy’s kittens when they were born and well she also wanted to see how Prompto was after a visit to her world and putting up with both Abe and Hellboy, even though the Hellboy part had actually gone rather well all things considered.

So she had the photo album that she kept dedicated to Hellboy’s cats because there had been a lot of photos taken of them over the years and there could never be enough photos of cats, especially Hellboy’s and headed downstairs later that morning.

“Hi,” she smiled brightly once she came downstairs, she wasn’t feeling as nervous or anxious as she had been over the last few weeks, which made for a nice change.

Edited 2021-11-29 10:49 (UTC)

Okay, so, maybe there was another reason why Prompto was bothering to pop back to the island for a single shift that day, and he was grinning back at that reason now.

No, not the photo album. Although that was another added bonus.

"Hey."

“So I have the photos of the kittens, if you’re still interested?” she grinned as she came over, “also, I wanted to thank you again for last week …for being there for me…it meant, it meant a lot,” she told him.

"If I ever claim to not be interested in kitten photos," Prompto declared with certainty, shifting easily, eagerly, to where they could start pouring over them together, "then you know some weird Fandom stuff is up, because how could I not??"

The grin softened a little with the last part, though, maybe with a faint splash of pink-and-fleckles across his face, because it wasn't like he'd really done anything. All he did was give her the nudge she needed...

...and she'd let him...

...which....

He stopped, shaking his head a little to chase away those thoughts, and mostly just felt he'd been incredibly lucky that Abe hadn't managed to spill any of the beans on all the complicated feelings all of...this was digging up with regards to Yang...

"I'm just glad it helped," he said, because there was no denying that being with her team again and getting that affirmation from them even after everything that had happened had done her a lot of good. And that was the important part, really.

Liz smiled as she opened her photo album to the spot where all the photos of the kittens were from the day they were born and a few days after, Liz had moved to Fandom not long after that but she had managed to take a whole range of different photos, “I will definitely keep that in mind,” she told him with a grin as she held out the photo album to him.

“It did,” she said softly, “I …I know I don’t want to go back to being an agent, I’m happy here but I…I didn’t realise how much I needed to go back so thank you and i owe you so much, if there’s ever anything I can do to repay you …” her voice trailed off uncertainly.

There was a pause.

“I’m …also really sorry about Abe,” she told him, “it’s ..he means well but he doesn’t have a filter or the understanding that people like to keep details of their lives private,”

Sorry, Liz, Prompto was going to need juuuuust a moment before he could respond, because there were adorable newborn kitten photos opening up in front of him, and that required a little bit of melting, and then a lot of melting when he started picking Leo in particular out of the litter.

They. Were just. Too. Stinking. CUTE!

And once he was able to get over that initial swoon from the massive adorable attack, he pried his eyes away from the photos finally to give her a bit of a wry look. "Liz," he said, "please. I got a free trip to a cool secret underground government agency, an awesome meal, and got to play with kittens the whole time. Trust me. I'm good.

"And don't worry about Abe, either," he added. "It...wasn't really all that bad." Especially since he'd gone over multiple times since then just how much worse it could have been. "I mean, honestly, I'm mostly just impressed that he could manage to even put together any kind of cohesive narrative from everything going on in this," he pointed to his head, "crazy brain."

Followed by a laugh that was maybe a little self-depricating, but mostly out of astonished nervousness over the fact that...uh, yeah, that's always a cool thing to do, admit to the girl you liked that you were, essentially, just a big old mess inside.

(Not that it would probably take long to realize that just from normal interaction, but still!)

Liz couldn’t help but smile as she watched Prompto’s expression with the photo of the kittens, “they’re adorable aren’t they?” she said softly, “I would have loved to have seen them grown up,” there was a tinge of regret there, “but it was still nice to see them when they’re still so young,”

She considered the rest of what Prompto was telling her.

“If it helps even Hellboy can get freaked out by Abe but don’t tell him I told you that he’ll deny it,” she grinned, “I, I’m glad you had a good time though …I know it wasn’t the most ideal circumstances to uh…meet my family,” you know with the complete breakdown she’d had and revealing she’d killed a lot of people with her powers and as if right on cue there was blushing.

To that, Prompto just had to smile softly at her, before shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head as if it was no big deal, because it really wasn't. He was just glad that it all worked out and hadn't ended in, like, complete and utter disaster or something. That would have been awkward.

"Is there really ever any ideal time for something like that?" he asked, with a faint grin. "All this means," he continued with a tone that was playfully casual about the whole thing, "is just that...you're...gonna have to let me drag you to Insomnia some day," his grin broadened, knowing full well that that was going to be part of his evil and nefarious plan all along, "to met Noctis and stuff. You've kind of got it easier, since Nina and Igs and Gladio are all here already, but you definitely gotta meet Noct at some point."

And...he would have maybe thrown his parents in there, too, but, let's be honest, she wouldn't be missing much by missing them, he barely even saw them, and that was nothing new, and it seemed kind of insensitive to complain about it to her, all things considered...

“That’s true,” Liz grinned, she wasn’t sure on how she’d planned on introducing Prompto to everyone, she’d half expected it to be at next years Parents Weekend and then she’d listened to the rest of what he was telling her and her blush deepened.

She smiled warmly, still rather shyly, “I …I’d like that…” she stammered, “I still have to meet Nina and Ignis,” she admitted, “but as you said they’re here on the island so…” her voice trailed off at the mention of Gladio, who she did still want to make up for being that weeping hysterical mess in front of him the other week.

“I …I …would like to visit your home and meet Noctis though,” she finally managed to say with a grin.

"I think you'll like it," Prompto told her, with a touch of fondness for both her and the city in question. "It can get a little busy in the inner city, by the Citadel and where Noct's place is, but where I live is nice and quiet."

Too quiet, usually, but Prompto tried not to think about that too much. There was a reason why most of his time was spent just crashing at Noct's these days...

"Lots of great photo ops, too," he added, half-tempted to start pulling out his camera to show her some of the proof, but...no, it's be much better to wait for her to just see it in person.

Liz grinned, “it sounds perfect ,” she said, she dough preferred the quiet but she figured if she was with Prompto, it didn’t matter if she was somewhere that was louder and busier than she was used to.

Then he mentioned the photo ops and her grin widened.

“I can imagine just how incredible those photos must be,” she told him with a warm smile.

And there was a faint twitch, another urge to just start bombarding her with some of the pictures he knew he had saved up on his camera right now, but he fought down the urge, reminding himself that it would be so much better to have her see some of these spots with her own two eyes. It wasn't an easy thing to hold back, though, so one of his legs, as he leaned on the counter for support, began to bounce a little bit underneath him, some of his fingers drummed out an errant beat against the edges of the photo album.

"Maybe," he said, hoping he wasn't cursing himself to have something happen to ruin it if he tried making plans, "after all the craziness of the holiday, and when the new semester gets a little settled, we can figure something out."

“After the holidays sounds great, we can see what happens then,” she told him with a smile, she had no idea what her plans were for during and after the holiday season so it would be nice to have something concrete to look forward to.

There was a pause and, “um …oh before I forget did you have any plans Friday?”

Yes Liz was using her promise to Summer that she would tell people about the party to try and make sure that there would be at least one person she knew there.

"Friday?" Prompto's head quirked up with intrigue, not unlike a puppy hearing a word like treat or car ride, then he shook his head with a grin. "I mean, other than my class in the morning...nothing that I'm aware of."

Because this was, presumeably, before the mass text hit.

"Why?" his grin grew even more ask he asked. "Did...you have any plans Friday?"

"Well there's apparently going to be a Christmas party at Annie and Diego's," Liz told him shyly, "I believe Summer said it was going to be an Ugly Christmas Sweater Rager or to that effect but um ... I said I'd stop by and well..." her voice trailed off.

"Uh...um I was wondering if maybeyouwantedtogowithme," and there was that nervous babble again. She paused, cleared her throat and tried again, "If maybe you wanted to go with me?" she clarified.

Liz really couldn't believe that a) she was agreeing to go to a party and b) she was also inviting someone to go to a party with her. She wouldn't have thought such a thing would be possible a couple of months ago.

Okay, yeah, hi. There may have been a photo album with ting baby kittens opened up in front of Prompto right now, but he was still preeeeetty sure that that? Was easily the cutest thing he'd been exposed to that day.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything," he said. "Sign me up."

He probably would plan to go with the boyos, anyway, but going with Liz instead? Definite upgrade.

Liz beamed at him then and there was a bit of relief, this was totally what Summer meant when she she’d said to tell people about the party right? It just so happened to work in that there’d be at least one person who she knew and was comfortable being around, “I don’t know exact details, just that’s it’s this Friday but I … uh imagine there’ll be invites going up at some point,” this afternoon even, “but … um … I ….I didn’t know if you wanted to go together or I could meet you there, they live at MHA. I believe Summer mentioned the whole floor was probably going to be involved with hosting the party,”

The only party Liz had been to in recent years was Eliot and Margo’s so she didn’t have a lot of comparisons to how parties were supposed to go.

Prompto had to snort a little at that. "Whether they want to or not," he noted, "if Summer's involved...but, yeah, I'll totally swing by and pick you up. It's totally on my way, anyway."

And even if it wasn't? He'd take a long way around so that it was.

Liz grinned, “that sounds great, th…thank you,” she stammered a bit, yes and she was still blushing, “Friday evening then, depending on what time the party is,” she imagined they’d find out those details soon, “I’ve only been to one party recently,” she admitted, “I don’t really have much experience with these events, even though Summer said it was apparently a bit of annual thing around here?” It was only the second time it’d been hosted Liz, you only missed out last year’s.

Yeah, and, well....if Summer Smith had a middle name, it may as well be 'Hyperbole.'

"I...must have missed all the other ones," Prompto realized with a small frown. "But Summer has always been known for her parties, even back when I was in school."

You know, a whole ancient two ans a half years ago!

Then he snorted in remembrance. "She even hosted Ignis's birthday party way back in February. Nina used her magic to turn Summer's apartment into a pool and I brought him a charcuterie ship with a lunch meat sail."

It was...exactly as terrible as it sounded.

Liz blinked, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an apartment turning into a swimming pool,” she said, trying to think back to when she had been a student if there’d even anything like that, “that must have been quite the experience,” she said.

She paused, “Eliot and Margo’s party has been the only one I’ve been to in recent years,” she admitted and she had been extremely socially awkward at that, “the BPRD wasn’t exactly known for their social life,” since it was kind of hard to have a social life when you worked for a secret government organisation that included a demon and a psychic amphibian on their payroll.

Prompto laughed softly. "Yeah," he agreed, "that definitely doesn't surprise me..."

And, he realized, it probably wouldn't be much longer until he would have to cut back on the social life...and the Fandom life...too.

All the more reason to enjoy it while he could, he supposed.

"But, hey," he said, "I was at that party, too! With the masks, right? I think they did some magic like what my sister does, illusonary stuff...but I didn't really ask...it's too bad we missed each other."

Liz nodded, smiling as she did, "it was the one with the masks, I didn't really talk to many people at that party, I was kind of awkward that night," she admitted, it was more than awkward especially considering the effort it had taken to get her through the front door, "I think Jon was the only one I did talk to aside from Eliot and Margo,"

Well it might not be super busy but there was at least one customer today.

Last week had reminded Goose that Christmas was going to be coming up soon and he was going to have to start thinking about buying presents … which was still a rather new concept for him. In the past few years it had been just him and Commander Walsh and neither of them really celebrated but since joining the Series 5 team, they had celebrated Christmas last year especially since it had been Captain Foxx’s first one without his wife and they wanted to be there for their Captain and his kids and this year was going to be the same.

The idea came to him ~~and the mun had the day off yay~~ while he was doing his run around the island and he slowed in front of the Photo Hut, Niko was an archeologist and in between her Ranger duties she still attended conferences and went on digs, he also knew she used cameras for her work … maybe he could get her a new one or something? He realised it would be vintage compared to the ones she normally used but … it might be something different, maybe …. It could be worth a look.

He really wasn’t sure so he decided to go in and see what he could find, he had a look around at what was on offer and had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for, “er … hello?”

Oooooh. A customer who didn't look like just some annoying hipster! So it was a good thing he did come in today!

"Hey," Prompto looked up from his phone with a grin and slipped it back into his back pocket now that he had work to do, and turned his attention entirely to the potential customer. "Welcome to the Photo Hut. Did you need any help finding something?"

“I…” Goose realised he had no idea how to actually explain what he was looking for, “um…I thought maybe a camera would be a good Christmas present …there’s …she’s an archeologist and takes photos I thought …” his voice trailed off and there was definitely a faint blush there, “I don’t know anything about cameras,” he finally admitted.

...okay, so that level of sheepishness coming from a guy that size was...kind of adorable? Prompto had to grin a little, and figured this was definitely his time to really shine in helping him out.

"You're totally right," he agreed, hopping over the counter easily so he could better show the customer around. Sure, he could have just walked around the counter, but where was the fun in that? "A camera does make an excellent gift, especially when it could be useful like that! An archeologist, huh?"

He put a hand to his chin, stroking it thoughtfully as he considered.

"Probably something good and durable, then," he decided, "and good for details and nature photography. High res. Digital, so you don't have to lug around film and worry about it getting compromised by the elements. We've got s lot of great accessories, like travel kits and stuff, to go along with it, too!"

Goose considered the options , “she can often get called away at a moments notice, so something good for travel would be good,” he nodded.

“Our teams pretty busy these days, so being able to pack equipment quickly would make it easier,” he explained.

"So sometihng compact, too," Prompto took on this new information with a thoughtful nod. "Or at least if it's not simple to put together, it's at least quick. But no fussy parts or anything like that..."

He rubbed his chin a little more as he considered the options, then snapped his fingers like he was Ignis just coming up with a new recipeh.

"Got it!" he said, and pulled one down from the shelf. "What about this one? It's pretty durably built, and it's got great resolution and autofocus on it, but what could probably be really useful is that it's got a tilted screen, which could really help if she needs to get into some really weird tight spots or angles, you know?"

~~Thanks, Google!~~

Goose was going to completely trust your judgement here Prompto because, surprisingly this was another field that he knew nothing about.

He appraised the camera Prompto showed him, “it looks ideal for what she’d need,” he nodded, at least he’d hoped, based on what he knew of Niko’s work, “you mentioned there were travel kits as well?” Goose was still figuring out this presents thing so Niko was probably going to end up with half the store at this rate.

Which was fine by Prompto! He had even more reason now to impress the higher-ups at this place with some solid sales!

"Oh, yeah," said Prompto, grinning eagerly, because he was clearly loving this opportunity to talk shop, even if it was just from a salesman perspective. "Tons of those. Because if you're putting the money down on a nice baby like this guy, you'll want to make sure you're keeping it safe, especially if you're going into a lot of interesting places like I bet your archaologist friend does! You've got some heavy duty cases like these over here, but that's kind of a lot to lug around, and you said she might need to be on the go pretty quickly. It might be a little on the nose but a cool backpack like this one could be good. See? It's got all the compartments for the camera, the lenses, film, enough room for a collaspable tripod and maybe in some other stuff, too. And, I don't know, I think it looks pretty archaeologist-y."

Well it wasn’t like Goose used his money to look after himself after all. This was the most practical thing he’d used it for at this point.

Goose looked at the backpack and nodded, “she does travel to some pretty remote planets as well so I think the backpack would be a good choice for her,” he considered the camera and backpack thoughtfully, “do you think there’s any more accessories that she would need?”

"Hmmmmm." Now Prompto's eyes narrowed as he considered it with his limited knowledge of what an archaelogist might want to focus on. "Maybe just a few different lenses and flashes for different settings," he mused. "A good strap for the camera, too, which sounds like kind of a little detail, but it could make a huge difference."

Not everyone seemed to be as able to magically produce a camera out of some unknown depths in their pockets like he could, after all.

“I had no idea there was so much involved in photography,” Goose admitted, “but having a few lenses options would probably make sense and a good strap as well,”

Also he really wanted to make a good impression on Niko so he figured it was better to make sure she had everything he needed to give her the best Christmas present he could.

"And I haven't even gotten into the real nitty-gritty, either!" Prompto admitted with a laugh. "But...I think...that's a pretty good start, if anything. Nice camera, good travel case, something fun for her to play around with," yes, lenses were considered fun, shush, "and accessories! And the straps really go from basic to more unique, so you can really pick out something that might, you know, fit her personality really well, or something!"

“It’s … she’s …” Goose started and stopped and started blushing, “I think she’s pretty incredible, um … “ yes he was here babbling to Prompto about a girl he had a bit of a crush on back home, “um I’ve only known her for the past year since we were assigned the Series 5 task force but …” his voice trailed off, “I …”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, “oh, um … I’m Shane Gooseman,” he offered by way of introduction before he started to go into detail about why he liked Niko to some guy that he didn’t even know, “most people call me Goose,”

Edited 2021-11-29 23:35 (UTC)

Well, now, this little photo shop was just filled with adorable blushing and babbling today, wasn't it? Prompto grinned, and held up his hands as if in surrender. "Hey" he said, "say no more, Goose, I get it."

There was someone he would easily get that blushy about, too, and he'd barely even known her more more than a couple months, much less a year. And they worked together, too!

"Trust me, if she's into photography, she'll love all thus, and if not....

"Well, my name's Prompto," he said with a laugh, "and you can take that up with me, I guess! I mean, I'd love all this stuff, that's not a bad place to start."

You were getting all the adorable socially awkward nervousness today Prompto!

Goose grinned, “I’ve seen some of her photos so I know she’ll get good use out of this gear, celebrating the holidays is still relatively new to me so I guess I wanted to buy her something that was … meaningful I guess,” considering everything he had lined up to purchase for Niko so far, he seemed to be making good on that progress at least.

He hoped.

It was nice not actually be the source of the social awkwardness for a change!

"Maaaaan," Prompto said, shaking his head with another laugh, "it's been years, and it still feels new to me sometime. Are you from somewhere else, then, that doesn't have the same holidays? That's what it is for me, I'm from a completely different planet."

“I’m from Earth,” Goose explained, unbeknownst to him that there was at least one person who could perhaps know from personal experience and understand the whole ‘being a genetically engineered super soldier’ situation. “but it’s 2106 for me, for a while it was me and my guardian and then I was a student at Fandom but … “ his voice trailed off, “we didn’t really do the holidays, he was pretty busy and …” Wolf Den had been a huge mess that neither of them knew how to talk to each other about, “it’s more for my Captain and his kids that we try and celebrate at least Christmas,” he explained, “it’s …been a hard year for them,” it was perhaps a bit of an understatement since his family had been attacked and Zack’s wife’s mind was now enslaved to the Queen of the Crown and they had no way of knowing if she could ever be freed or recovered ~~since the show got cancelled before any of those plot threads could be resolved~~

Yeah, something like that would definitely do it!

"Sorry about that, man," said Prompto, with a genuine wince for the presumed and vague hardships. "But hopefully that just means you can try and make this Christmas really worthwhile, right?"

Goose nodded, “it’s the least we can do for them,” he said softly, “my captain’s a good man, if we can be there to support his family during this time, well we can at least try and make Christmas special for them,” it was something that he had been realising over the last year and being part of his team and how much of a family they had become in that time.

The Photo Hut; Monday [11/29].

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