Furnado Animal Shelter; Wednesday [10/04].

[hashtag_chocobro]

One of the things that Prompto absolutely promised to keep up around the shelter for Sidon in his absence was keeping the fishtanks almost obsessively clean, and so that was what Prompto was focusing on today. The cleaning process that Sidon had perfected took a whole day, after all and it was much trickier for Prompto since he wasn't as apt to being in the water as his predecessor was. And the big tank that Sidon himself used in the winter months?

Yeah, he was probably going to bring some sort of SCUBA specialist to take care of the cleaning on that one. They had one of those little roving pool cleaning robots, but he didn't trust it to do a very thorough job, really.

And, besides, he had an ulterior motive to cleaning out the fishtanks today. Because in cleaning them out, he could also redecorate some of them with some cool spooky pirate themed decorations in time for spooky season!

Furnado is open!

Comments

[deathsmajesty]

"Hello the shop!" Liliana called, walking in with a purring Josu in her arms.

Oh, don't look so sweet and smug, mister. You know what you did. This was retaliation for having to be so well-behaved in the diner yesterday, wasn't it?

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Hello the customer!" Prompto dutifully, cheerfully called back, with a moment to wipe a little sweat off his brow over the current tank and a breath of relief for a good excuse to take a break. He grinned over at Liliana coming it, and then even more when he saw who she had with her.

"Awwww!" he said. "And who's this handsome feline? Is this your cat?"

What? She could have just picked him up off the street! If you were picking up a cat off the street, this was the place to bring him!

[deathsmajesty]

"This is Josu," Liliana said, scritching him behind the ears. He was an all-black cat with a purple collar, surprisingly tiny for being over a year. When the light hit him just right, it showed that he had black-on-black stripes. "He's coming back for a visit; I got him right here from Sidon."

Josu gave Prompto a regal look and yawned, then leapt down from Liliana's arms to saunter off and investigate all of the interesting smells.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Josu," Prompto called after him as he started to sniff around, tilting his head thoughtfully with a faint smile and just making sure he didn't start venturing off to where the fish were hanging out while he cleaned the tanks, but so far, so good, so his attention shifted back to Liliana. "And it's good to see you again, too, Liliana. How've you been?"

The grin on his face suggested that Prompto might have had an idea or two.

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana raised an eyebrow at him. "Rather exasperated, really," she drawled. "It's why I came to see you, Prompto. In hopes you can assist me with a small...hmm, let's call it a domestic issue...that I've been having."

[hashtag_chocobro]

What? Someone hadn't shown up for training yesterday, and so here poor Prompto only had Gladio to help him fill in some blanks and answer some questions!

"Exasperated?" he repeated, both his eyebrows lifting because that was definitely not the answer he would have expected, and for shame, Iggy, really now! He snorted a little, but then he got worried that that might have actually been a problem, so those lifted brows knitted a little with concern. "....what's the issue?"

And, more importantly, how was he the most likely candidate to be able to help with it?

[deathsmajesty]

"Well," she said, leaning in and dropping her voice, like she was confiding in him with the greatest of secrets, "I'm currently renovating my ballroom, darling, and the noise and the mess is just dreadful. The last thing I want is Josu underfoot where he could get hurt or eat something he isn't supposed to, so I've been bringing him along with me when I leave in the mornings now, but he's being a dreadful pest while I'm working on some very old and delicate artifacts next door." She reached out with a hand, the other sliding up over her heart. "Would it be possible to perhaps leave him here during the days while I work, and then pick him up in the evenings, once the construction has ceased for the day, please darling?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh," said Prompto, who had been listening carefully with wide eyes that now got washed with relief, and he let out a small laugh. "Oh, yeah, totally, that's not a problem at all! In fact, if you need him to stay for longer, we do kenneling here, so we got you covered. It's especially popular when people leave for the school trips and people have their pets stay for a whole week, we've got special suites for them and everything! Sidon's idea, but I definitely helped put them together. A little Doggy Daycare, some Kitten Kindergarten, a Hamster Hostel and a Ferret Flathouse! He's definitely welcome for as long as you need."

There was a slight, considering pause. Maybe the kind that was weighing something, and that smirk was, faintly, back.

"Are you going to be staying somewhere else during the construction, too?"

[deathsmajesty]

"I hadn't considered it," Liliana said, then frowned. "But I suppose I probably should. The closer we get to the end of the month, the later they'll likely have to go. If I don't have to worry about Josu, I suppose I could just planeswalk back to my estate on Innistrad..."

Oh, that was going to be exhausting, though. And planewalking left trails for others to follow.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Is planeswalk exactly what it sounds like?" Prompto asked. "Walking between planes? Like portaling? And there's always the hotel, too. Or, you know, maybe someone else could have some room to spare...."

Not that he had anyone in mind, but there had been a point in time where him, Ignis, and Gladio had all been squeezed onto the same bed, he knew they were good for sharing!

[deathsmajesty]

Sharing Beefslab? Prompto, you kinky boy you.

"Yes, exactly that," Liliana said, raising an aristocratic eyebrow at him. The sun could shatter and the sky fall before Liliana Vess asked someone to take her in like a poor relation!

...Though, of course, were an invitation offered, that might be different, but asking? ILLEGAL.

"Planeswalkers walk through the Blind Eternities that separate each plane and traverse from one to the other. But portals..." She shook her head. "Planar portals no longer work. Another thing the Mending took from us." Her expression shifted to something akin to...resigned fury, almost. "Planar portals were how non-planeswalkers used to be able to go from one plane to another, but that's impossible now."

[hashtag_chocobro]

There was...a very long pause, as Prompto started to give Liliana a very odd look the more she spoke.

"Has...but you know about Portalocity, right? I mean, some places are still impossible for other people, like it's given us so much trouble since...well, since everything happened...but it's still pretty good for most places."

[deathsmajesty]

"I know about what now?" Liliana asked, brow furrowing. "Is this another phone app?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"There is a phone app, actually!" Prompto informed her, cheerfully now, because his phone-whipping-out skills were almost as good as Summer's, and even more stylistic from all that gun-slinging. So phone was out and he was leaning forward to scroll through the absolute mess that was his home screens until he found it.

"See? You can either go to the office here in town or just schedule a portal to show up wherever. With exceptions," he frowned a little as he entered the information for Eos in, just to see, and his expression went rueful as that familiar denial and inaccessible message popped up yet again, "of course."

[deathsmajesty]

"And when you say portal, you mean...?" Liliana was doing her best to keep her voice level, casual even, but her hands were gripping each other, knuckles white as Prompto proceeded to blow her fucking mind.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Um, well..." Prompto chewed his lower lip a moment as he tried to think of a good use of a one-off demonstration portal, got a spark of inspiration, and scrolled a little. Typed a few things, and...

"Give it a second."

And then...portal! In the necessarily vague fashion that these sort of things were wont to do.

"I scheduled it for ASAP, to this place in Baltimore that makes really great mint chocolate cupcakes." He chuckled a little, tilted his head toward it. "Wanna go? Figured I might as well use this as a good way to score some bonus points with the wife while I show off."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana had to let go of her hands to clutch her skirt instead. "Wait," she said, voice a little unsteady. "It's not just--planes? It's within a plane? Both? Either? And you can bring. Cupcakes? Organic things? Through?"

Her lip wasn't trembling, yours was. Also, shut up. Also, also what the fuck?

For a moment, Liliana was incandescently furious at the entire island for not telling her of this before. The rage died down almost as quickly as they'd flared, even at her most petulant, she couldn't support that level of illogic, but it had the benefit of stopping any tears from forming.

"I--I can't," she said, stumbling up to her feet. "I can't. I can't. I mean. I have to go. I have--at the shop. Scrolls. Fragile. I must. Thank you for your invitation, perhaps another time." She was so rattled she dropped a curtsy, brain on 'gracefully declining a social invitation' autopilot. "Enjoy your cupcakes. I have to--" And then she was fleeing out of the store, a hand made of purple energy scooping up Josu in her wake.

Well, Josu and a toy he'd been playing with. Sorry about that, Prompto, she'd pay you for it later.

Anyway, yeah, she definitely handled that pretty smoothly. Good job, Liliana.

[hashtag_chocobro]

And Prompto, even more thoroughly confused than before, was just about to remind her about the cat, but then....well, okay! She was on it, and he was left wondering what exactly he said wrong in all of that, and there was no way his brain could catch up with her by the time she'd swept put of the store.

"Uhhhh," he said, eloquently, and then considered how much time he had left on the portal to go through, let the vet know he'd be right back, and then was left wondering if he should pick up cupcakes for Liliana, too, as he tried to go back through the conversation to pinpoint where he'd put the patented Prompto foot in his mouth...