Furnado Animal Shelter; Sunday [09/17].

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Sidon had been absent quite consistently these past few weeks...maybe even these past few months, really...because things were getting worrisomely more intense back home, around the Calamity, around Zora's Domain, around Vah Ruta. And naturally, it was his princely duty to be there for his people, especially if things were finally ramping up to the crisis that had been having over their heads for the past one hundred years. The monsters were relentless, the blood moons more frequent, the evil ichor swirling around the castle more vibrant and spreading than ever. Was it finally time for Calamity Ganon to make his final strike to destroy Hyrule entirely, once and for all?

Needless to say, these distractions had definitely lead him to be neglecting Furnado quite a bit lately. And while he could not feel bad about being where he needed to be, there was a part of him that realized that his duties were swaying him hard in another direction, and he had to give Hyrule the absolutely most of his attention.

Which was why he came back to the island today to get in touch with Prompto and had for him a proposal: the two of them went way back, further than most, when one considered their varying time disparity, but no matter how much time had passed, there would always be a firm place in their hearts for the animal shelter, where so much of their friendships had grown over their time as students here. He knew Prompto himself had a lot on his plate these days, with supporting his family and everything, but he also knew that the animals at Furnado were always a part of that family, too. So he could think of no other person better for the job of keeping an eye on the place while he was gone than him.

And Prompto was also uniquely able to truly understand what it was like to have a complete apocalyptic destruction of your home hanging over your shoulders, as well.

So there was barely any hesitation from Prompto to agree and promise to do Sidon and Zack proud. Granted, he wasn't really sure this was wise, but, well, Noctra was growing more and more her own capable person by the day, and he was sure he could find somewhere to slide the business of the place into his schedule, especially with the help of the vet.

He did have one condition to his acceptance, though: that should Sidon find that he needed help, he wouldn't hesitate to ask for it.

And that was a promise that Sidon was more than happy to make, clapping a hand on Prompto's shoulders (without even knocking him forward too much, even!) with a laugh and an agreement, and then he went to show him all the finer details involved in running the shelter as opposed to just working there.

Furnado is open!

[[ and this will very likely be Sidon's last post for a while, as I finally nudge him toward going through canon, huzzah! ]]

Comments

[deathsmajesty]

It was good to know!

Liliana liked to have a decoy hand, that she held out for everyone to see and admire while keeping her real cards as hidden as possible. So hidden, hopefully no one would even notice she had them at all!

This was gonna be just blue skies and clear sailing. Zero problems ahead.

"He does make truly excellent food," she said with a laugh - a laugh hopefully bright enough that Prompto would miss the swap between that hidden hand and the obvious one, as she closed down that moment of weakness vulnerability and pretended that it had never been. Or, at least, that it had been less than what it was. "Your King sounds smart and not just because he agrees with me. Also, I refuse to make it a habit to praise royalty, so you know I think so."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh, no," Prompto assured her, and the grin growing a little bit showed that not only did Liliana not have to worry too much about any cards that Prompto may have gotten a glimpse or two at today, but that she didn't have to worry about him getting his cards all soaked with his own squishiness (well, never say never, but they seemed to have cleared this hand, anyway). "He was a total dumbass, more often than not," said, of course, with the utmost love and adoration, even a little bit of a wistful sigh, "but I guess maybe those ten years in that crystal gave him at least a little bit of insight."

[deathsmajesty]

"Your king sounds smart, in this one particular instance, wherein he agrees with me," Liliana said with a laugh, appreciating them quickly maneuvering away from danger.

She didn't have a phone to summon the other boyos if he'd started crying. Which meant she would have been stuck there, awkwardly patting him, at least until she came up with a suitable excuse to leave. And he only got that much consideration because of his connection to Ignis.

"So, what else should I know about him?" she asked, changing the subject yet even further. She was enjoying learning a great deal about him while returning only a pittance of information about herself. It was a game he might not know they were playing, but the important part was that she was winning.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Sidon was still nearby! Liliana could just make the big friendly sharkman take care of it!

Or literally just toss him in the puppy pen, Prompto would not mind.

"Oh, you know," he waved a dismissive hand, "the usual. He likes long walks on the beach, pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain. He is not into yoga, but he does have half a brain."

Prompto.

"Figuratively speaking," he added, hastily, because, uhhh...necromancer. "Not, like, an actual half a brain."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana glanced down at her gown. Satin was not particularly water friendly. "Even with half a brain, he's a better conversationalist than roughly three-quarters of the Multiverse," she snorted. "I'll add 'getting caught in the rain' next to 'morning jogs around the island' as hobbies he can enjoy by himself. What are pina coladas and yoga?"

Sorry, Prompto. No one has made a concerted effort to introduce her to pop culture.

[hashtag_chocobro]

You know what, though? Bad pop culture reference or no, she was interested! And that had Prompto grinning (even if the mention of morning jogs had him rolling his eyes a little with a faint groan).

"A pina colada is a drink," he said, "all pineappley and tropical and fruity. And yoga's a type of exercise and, like, meditation practice that involves stretching..."

And now he had to decide which was better, waiting and seeing how that actually played put, or fessing up. But Liliana had been nice, and Iggy had had a hard enough time with things like this,so his grin turned apologetic once again.

"I actually don't know if he likes any of those things," he admitted. "They're all just from a song."

[deathsmajesty]

Nice on a curve of Prompto, maybe. She hadn't been actively harmful and for some people, that was enough.

She raised a slim black brow, mentally erasing those points she'd just scored from her tally of things she knew. Rude to Lilis.

"I suppose I shall just have to find out for myself," she said. While keeping her edge, obviously, it hardly as fun the other way. "And see how long I can keep him believing I think his personality comes from a song."

[hashtag_chocobro]

For Prompto, not actively harmful was usually everything.

He chuckled a little bit, thinking that he was looking forward to seeing how that might go, but then he tilted his head and considered Liliana a bit thoughtfully before adding, "Isn't that half the fun of it, anyway? Getting to know what they like, discovering all the little quirks and details of what they like, what they don't, what they're all about? And, I mean, I know he can be a tough nut to crack, but...knowing him as long as I have? He'll make it worth your while." He snorted, just faintly. "He can't stand wasting time."

[deathsmajesty]

Oh Prompto. She was going to let you down so hard.

"Were you not planning to tell him everything you learned about me from this conversation?" Liliana asked archly. "Whereas I must do all my digging myself."

She was fairly certain the fun of dalliances was the dallying, honestly. Anything else moved it into relationship territory. Which this wasn't, for reasons.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Tell him?" asked Prompto, now laughing a little. "And miss the rare opportunity to actually have something to hang over his head for a change? No way. Not unless he can offer me something better."

Problem was that it would...not take much for him to be swayed, but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

[deathsmajesty]

This was what Liliana got for not having friends. She had no idea that that was a thing. She looked at Prompto with surprise before laughing, adjusting her tally even more in her favor.

"How does that work exactly?" she asked. "Just make little comments about how that reminds you so much about something Liliana said the other day with no further explanation?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I mean, sure," said Prompto, with a shrug, and a faintly crooked grin, "that's one way to do it. You don't even have to go that specific, either. I could just....mention that you stopped in, and then that's it. That's all. You leave it there, and they drive themselves crazy trying to figure out how to fill in that blank."

And they used to do it to him all the time, so, in a way, he felt like this was finally some payback a long time coming.

[deathsmajesty]

If Liliana had known friendship had involved mind games, she might have been better at it.

"Well, you'll have to keep me informed how it goes," she decided. "It's only fair, after all."

How? Listen, that part didn't matter. It just was. Trust her. That never ended poorly for anyone!

"How it goes for both of you, I should mention." Since she had a feeling that Ignis would be harder to spin up than merely mentioning her name.

...And if he wasn't, wouldn't that be fascinating to learn?

[hashtag_chocobro]

And ass-slapping, Lili! Don't forget all the ass-slapping!

Prompto chuckled again, and he nodded, although, really, let's be honest, this was going to be far less of a mind game on his side because he would probably break and want to gush about how nice he thought Liliana was well before Ignis would even twitch.

"I'll definitely keep you updated," he promised.

[deathsmajesty]

Yes, but she was unfairly banned from ass-slapping as a method of bonding, sob. ;_;

Also, Prompto had a very low threshold of 'nice,' didn't he?

"How very convenient we've turned out to be neighbors, then," she said, since texting remained outside her knowledge. "Plenty of opportunity to stop by and offer delightful updates on how that's going."

No offense, Prompto, but she agreed with the above narrative and was giving you one (1) conversation. And that was because she was rounding up.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Or maybe, just maybe....Liliana could be a lot nicer than she herself suspected?

(A little of Column A, a...okay, a lot of Column A, maybe a smidge of Column B? Perhaps? Just a little?)

"Plus," Prompto pointed out, certainly not one to think that he alone could ever be enough of a draw for a person, even if he did come with juicy Ignis gossip, "we got kittens."

[deathsmajesty]

You know, he might have the smallest point. Liliana could be very nice when the spirit moved her. How did that song go? 'Good is different than nice'? Something like that.

"That is a powerful draw," she admitted, reaching down and picking one up to cuddle again. "You will have to promise to come in and see if I can't entice you into trying out something magical."

And this was how she proved she could be nice: that second comment was delivered with 84% less flirtation that Ignis would have gotten. (But not none, she was who she was, part one million.)

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I should definitely stop in and see what you've got some time," Prompto agreed, with a firm nod and clearly not even picking up on even a fraction of that 16% flirtation; it usually took at least 110% for him to even realize something even remotely similar to that could even be going on. "But, like...it's all...safe magical stuff, though, right? I mean, you probably vet most of it, try to make sure no one's going home with something actually cursed or anything like that?"

[deathsmajesty]

It needed to be over 25% for her to even mean it. She just flirted like breathing.

"The Infinite Consortium is made up of absolute professionals," she assured him.

So...no. Not really.