Furnado Animal Shelter; Wednesday [10/18].

[hashtag_chocobro]

Things may be pretty quiet all around the island with so many people off on the school trip, but that was definitely not the case inside Furnado! With the addition of all the extra guests from people oh so handwavily of course! kenneling up their furry (and, in one case, shelled? armored? how did you describe what lobsters were?) loved ones while they went scampering around New Zealand, there was a lot to keep up with and maintain, but Prompto was kind of loving every moment of it. Those pet suites for the visiting animals was really a stroke of genius on Sidon's part, and he may have been enjoying playing host to all the pets.

He really wished Rosa's dog would lay off his shoes, though! C'mon, Anna! He was wearing these things right now!

Furnado is open!

Comments

[deathsmajesty]

Considering how their lady conversation ended, Liliana had owed Prompto a visit before this, but last week has been a whole thing and she was here now, wasn't she? Still pale and slower and easily tired (Gaea, replenishing blood took forever, she had new appreciation for the thralls back on Innistrad), she still managed to call, "Hello the shop!" with a fair bit of energy as she swanned in.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Hello the customer!" Prompto chirped back, having finally wrangled a very squirmy and shoe-hungry pup into her shoe-themed pet suite and then hurried his way back to the front of the shop with a sheepish grin after finding a towel to wipe the dog drool off his boots.

"Hey, Liliana, how's it going?"

[deathsmajesty]

"Improving," Liliana said, finding her previous confidant, the chair that had been there for her back when her feet had been injured. It had helped her pretend to be fine and healthy then and she was pressing it back into service today. "I have an old friend--" an overstatement "--that I might visit soon. It's been...mmm, almost a decade since I've seen her last and her hospitality and gossip are impeccable."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh!" Prompto said, blinking a little. "Well, that's...good! That's great, actually, that you're feeling better, it's really good to heat that!"

He still hadn't been...completely filled in on all that had happened. All he knew was that it had been really bad, and that both Gladio and Ignis were upset about it, but in different ways, and it really threw everything off between them in the meantime.

"And also good about your friend! You know, catching up with old friends, that's always really nice, right?"

Was he feeling a little nervous about saying the wrong thing and not realizing it until it was too late again?

Don't be silly.

He was feeling a lot nervous about that!

[deathsmajesty]

Well, until Gladio used his words and talked to Liliana about his concerns and possibly had them proven correct, he was just going to have to stay mad about it. Tch. Beefslab.

But while Liliana was self-absorbed, that didn't mean she was unaware, and Prompto's overall nervousness was almost palpable. With an inward sigh, she gestured at him to sit and asked, "Would it help if I explained?"

At least some small percentage of it, anyway.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Gladio was the muscle! The brawn! It went against his whole MO to just use his words!

Meanwhile, Prompto looked half-worried he was wandering into a terrible trap.

"Uh...yes?"

The uncertainty was mostly because he wasn't really a hundred percent sure what it was that Liliana was going to explain about.

[deathsmajesty]

And you were very pretty, Prompto. Even if Liliana did kinda wanna lick her thumb and rub it over your chin.

"Thank you for the cupcakes, by the way. The gesture was unnecessary, but delicious."

And she hadn't been about to give them back just because they hadn't been needed. That was just preposterous.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Despite his nervousness or confusion, Prompto smiled a little at that, because that he understood.

"You're welcome," he said, with a firm nod and a pleased lift of his chin that he'd at least done that part right. "I figured you wouldn't want to miss out, even if, uhhh....something came up. Or...something."

[deathsmajesty]

"You did nothing wrong," she told him gently. "In fact, you told me something that made me very happy. It's just...bound up with a lot of other things. I can only liken it to suddenly discovering the music shop down the road has started carrying your favorite musician's works. The elation of knowing you can listen to your favorite song again all twined around the memory of everything else that you loved still being out of reach."

[hashtag_chocobro]

And, considering what they had been talking about then, it didn't take much for Prompto to now put two and two together and his smile turned a little rueful.

"Yeah," he huffed out softly, "I can definitely relate to that feeling..."

Then there was a brief and fleeting moment, as if just giving that sentiment a little room to breath in the light before shoving it back down underneath where he'd pulled it up from.

"But I'm glad, though," he added, "that you're okay. And that you liked the cupcakes." He laughed a little, brightness restored. "Told you they were good!"

[deathsmajesty]

"They had cream in the middle!" Liliana said with a smile. "Cream and a dollop of lemon curd. I didn't doubt you, but also I will admit I hadn't expected them to be that good. Did Liz like hers?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I swear to god," said Prompto, shaking his head, but grinning a little more over at Liliana, "that woman would exist on mint chocolate cake alone if given half the chance."

But, like, no, really, it was kind of a concern for him sometimes.

"It was definitely a nice surprise."

[deathsmajesty]

"Impossible," Liliana sniffed. "Ignis would hear a cry from the vegetables of the universe and be over in moments, making her something healthy and delicious and possibly a dessert that ruined inferior mint chocolate confections for her entirely."

SHUT UP SHE WASN'T SMILING FONDLY, YOU WERE.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"And that," said Prompto, after what was definitely not a faint smirk in response to any fond smiling,because said fond smiling clearly did not exist, "is why Iggy is not allowed to make desserts for my wife. My cakes wouldn't even stand a chance, and then where would I be?"

He only had so many tricks up his (nonexistent) sleeves! And then what? Rely on his charm and personality? Might as well hand him the divorce papers now!

[deathsmajesty]

Don't worry, Prompto! You would still be pretty! Being beautiful had been serving Liliana well for almost two centuries!

"Convincing him to make cakes and then passing them off as your own, obviously, darling," the neutral evil necromancer said without missing a beat. "Just make sure he bakes them when she's not around, throw some flour about, perhaps some adorably across your nose, and point out how hard you'd slaved all for her."

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto rolled his eyes a little at Liliana, snorting faintly, but also really hoping she was just joking.

"Yeah," he said, "because that's a good thing to introduce into a relationship: lying. I'm sure the experts'll be really on your side with that one. Besides, I like making food for her, and she likes pretending it's edible."

[deathsmajesty]

...Sure, she was. Of course. Hahaha, see?

"Ahh, see, there you have one up on me," she said with a soft chuckle because obviously she was just joking. Would Liliana Vess lie? "I don't cook. Whatever that feeling is that you get when you hand someone something you've prepared especially for them and now get to watch them eat - I don't have the impetus. I promise to heartily enjoy all the cakes that Ignis makes and is forbidden to give to your wife."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Has he been cooking you a lot of cakes? Lately?"

Yes, he said it in a way that seemed to be suggesting something else.

No, he did not know what that something might be.

[deathsmajesty]

Lilana paused. "...No?" she asked, now trying to figure out what getting a lot of cakes meant - or, more specifically, what not getting a lot of cakes meant. "He's made me various desserts, like the Tenebrae fruit tarts and a chiffon cake and a delectable fruit salad...?"