Turtle & Canary; Monday [09/19].

[somethingwithturquoise]

It didn't take Summer long after Apu greeted with with an "Aaaarrr" while squinting like something was wrong with his eye and crooking one of his fingers like a hook to know what was going on, and him calling her a 'bonny lass' that needed to remember to order more toilet paper for the personal hygiene aisle or else he'll make her walk the plank definitely confirmed it.

"Oh, no," she groaned, "not this shit again."

And he refused to leave her alone, Talking Like A Pirate the whole time until she finally caved and made 'demands' as 'first mate' of this 'ship' and ordered him to go swab the 'poop deck' and called him a 'scallywag', and, quite frankly, she felt dirty and like a cheap hack for giving in, but sometimes you just did what you had to do to get some peace and quiet so you could get some actual work done...

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[flamesburned]

Liz needed to do a massive food shop since she figured they couldn’t live off takeaway forever and she wanted to restock their kitchen.

She had felt bad leaving Prompto at the apartment but she figured she could go in the morning and then be back in a couple of hours once she’d gotten everything she needed.

She also realised as she entered the store that she had never told Summer about Prompto being back and felt a little guilty about that.

“Hi,” she said, looking happier than she had in weeks.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Happier than she had in weeks wasn't exactly a high bar to clear, but Summer could kind of guess the reason for this particular uptick in disposition. Because even if she was just a filthy casual when it came to radio listening, she was also at that picnic yesterday.

She might have said hi to either of them, but they seemed a little too busy trying to apparently physically fuse into each other at the time.

"Liiiiiiz," she greeted back, and then just let it hang there, to see how she picked it up from there.

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled happily for a moment, “Prompto’s back!” she told her, “he gave back Thursday,” and he was still here and hadn’t gone anywhere.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah," said Summer. "I noticed. And what was that thing on his face?"

Summer.

"Like, I know war can do some pretty messed up things to people, but that just seems inexcusable."

[flamesburned]

Liz had not really noticed it to be honest.

She blinked a bit, “I think it’s a beard?” she wasn’t sure, “or an attempt to grow a beard? I didn’t really pay much attention I was a bit distracted,” she admitted.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer was just going to stare at Liz for a moment, because how did anyone not notice it?

(Although, really, gun to her head, Summer would definitely have to admit that she may be a bit more inclined than most to notice that particular kind of beard...)

But now she had to kind of wonder...

"And he looks old now, too," she added. "Tell me you at least noticed that."

[flamesburned]

“He’s ten years older now,” Liz said softly because that one she definitely knew, “he didn’t believe me that he was the father at first,”

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer nodded a little, because if Liz had claimed not to have noticed that, either, her next step was going to be to direct the other woman to an optometrist,stat.

And then she took a second to think about what Liz was actually saying.

"Ten years, huh?" she murmured, shaking her head a little before looking to Liz to confirm, "Time disparity? While they were gone? Maybe that had something to do with why we couldn't get in touch, but I generally try not to fuck with time stuff, that tends to get really whacky."

[flamesburned]

“It might be,” Liz considered, “he doesn’t know how he ended up back here or what happened to everyone, it was very sudden,”

She paused, wondering if she should say anything about trying the portal gun and decided to not mention it for now since Prompto hadn’t wanted her to, “he’s older than me now,” she said, which she was still having trouble wrapping her head around.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Probably not by much, though, right?" asked Summer, realizing she had no idea how old Liz actually was, but it was one of those things were it was older, so the details didn't really matter that much. "I mean, he was pretty young before he left. Even I had him as a student at one point."

Summer, you'd been, like, a year older, calm down.

But, Liz's potential cradle robbing (it should be noted, for the record, that the age gap had been almost exactly the same as the one between Summer and Barry, too, but we digress) aside, there were other details in all this that were sticking out to Summer way more, and she frowned.

Because Liz wasn't the only person who'd been missing someone in all of this.

"So what about Ignis?" she wondered. "And Gladio? Are they back, too?"

If Ignis got back without even so much as texting her, she was going to be...

...well, she wouldn't blame him, because you better believed she'd immediately start sending him pictures of the weird shit she made in her summer class, and he was smart enough to know that, so...fair.

[flamesburned]

“He’s turning 31 next month,” Liz told her, she was going to have to start planning something special for his birthday, “I turned 28 in June so it’s only a few years older,”

She paused, “I don’t think they’re back yet,” she admitted, “I haven’t seen them and I think Prompto doesn’t know what’s happened to them, he was in a battle before he ended up back in Fandom,”

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Thirty-one?" Summer had to stare a little bit at that, because that sounded so old, Liz. Especially for Prompto who, despite having been just a little over a year younger than Summer, was permanently just a total goofball kid to her. "Jesus."

But her attention was shifting almost immediately to her phone, because she decided she needed to try shooting a text to Ignis now, something to the tune of lol wtf where u at? Prompto's here and he's old as shit now, r u totally just ancient now??

(She said, to the man who had only been one year older. But tell he anyone believed that guy was only twenty-two and not already, like, fifty).

"In a battle, huh?" she asked, as she typed. "That doesn't sound very promising."

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded, “it’s been really bad for him, these last ten years,” she paused, “their whole world was in darkness, it hurts for him to be out in the sun right now,”

She looked guilty, “I wish I could have done more to help,” she said softly.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer glanced up from her phone, especially since it wasn't like she was expecting an immediate response. Not only because the communication lines may still be blocked, but because it was Ignis, and she tucked her phone away even with a shrug.

"You did everything you could, Liz," she said, but then remembered what things had been like toward the beginning, and couldn't help a slightly derisive grunt. "Eventually."

[flamesburned]

“I was really bad at the beginning wasn’t I?” she bit her lip, admittedly she had been really bad at the end there but at least she had stopped trying to throw herself at guys she had just met?

“I still can’t believe I acted like that,” she slumped her shoulders as she said it.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah, well...." said Summer, eyeing Liz a little, wondering if she really wanted her to give her thoughts on the matter, because, by now, Liz knew she definitely wouldn't just hold things back. "You did, so...."

[flamesburned]

Liz could only nod at that, “I have a lot to make up for …” she said softly, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to truly make it up to him, not after what I did … but I’m - I’m going to do everything I can to try,”

[somethingwithturquoise]

It hadn't been that long ago that Summer had to lecture Liz in her kitchen that maybe she should, oh, you know, take care of herself with a goddamn baby on the way, so pardon her if she looked a little skeptical about that right now.

She was pretty sure Liz couldn't even make her way up out of a wet paper bag on her own, much less navigate through the disaster she'd been the last few months.

"Well," she said, magnanimously, "either way....I'm glad he's back. He staying with you now? Or are you still going to do the whole in-patient thing with Dr. Lecter?"

Probably wouldn't be the worst idea, considering Liz clearly needed all the help she could get.

[flamesburned]

“I still need to talk to him about it, he knows Prompto and I have been staying at the apartment, he wanted us to have a chance to talk first before we continue therapy,” which Liz knew she did still need, all of her problems weren’t going to go away just because Prompto was back, “but I think Prompto and I are going to live in the apartment again,” there was a pause, “Dr. Lecter’s looking after Rain for the moment,” she added.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Just as long as you keep seeing him," Summer said with a nod. "Good therapists are pretty hard to come by. And even though I go somewhere else for mine, Dr. Lecter's good people, and I can't even tell you how grateful I am to Dr. Wong for everything she does. She's helped talk me out of a lot of bad decisions, and has really helped me come to terms with making better ones of my own..."

Actually, now that she thought about it, there was quite a few things she hadn't brought up to her lately that....might be a little overdue...

[flamesburned]

“I will,” Liz promised, “the in patient therapy has been helping, even if …the last couple of weeks didn’t exactly show it,”

Liz knew how much of a mess she was and if anything that whole week proved she still needed therapy.

“Dr. Lecter had been really great, especially these last couple of months, I - I know I couldn’t have continued to live by myself,” she admitted.