in_sidon_we_trust | Zora's Domain, Hyrule. Thurdsay [12/27 FT].

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Zora's Domain, Hyrule. Thurdsay [12/27 FT].

After the long, somewhat dangerous, undeniably scenic journey back from Rito Village to Zora's Domain, it was the final day for the Hyrule trip, and Sidon had arranged for his friends to arrive to a wonderful party held in their honor. He and the other Zora had hung up bright and colorful banners and he'd convinced someone from the Wetland Stable to come up to the Domain to prepare a feast: Fish Pie and Seafood Paella, but also non-fish meat dishes, like Poultry Pilaf and Spicy Pepper Steak. And, of course, Creamy Heart Soup to celebrate the closeness of their friendship! There was Fruitcake and Nutcake, fresh bread and Honeyed Fruits. Some of the Zora had tried their hand at a little cooking themselves, but the results were a little dubious. Either way, the royal guests would certainly be eating well tonight!

And then relaxing in the peaceful Domain over stories of their adventure out into Hyrule, or perhaps some excitement to return to Fandom, or whatever else, as their final evening settled into a crisp, clear night,

[[ and the final Hyrule post! No OCD on this one, and a big gigantic thank you for everyone making the slog through the holiday fog to make for another great adventure in Hyrule!]]

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She blinked as he handed her the clips. That was... honestly, that was sweet of him, but then he'd be cold too and that was no good either.

"Thank you," she said, clipping one of them into her hair, but then she offered him the other one back. "You should keep one, though, so you don't get cold either."

Nina studied him, quietly, as she considered what else he'd said.

"I am a charity case, through and through," she admitted, since that... that wasn't even painful, really, just the truth. "But... you too???? I'm not, like, very good at the whole really friends thing yet, but I think that... part of being friends is bothering each other with our dumb shit sometimes."

"No, it's okay," Prompto waved the offer off, "the shirt and the pants do the same thing, I'll be fine."

He would just lose his set bonus, and it wasn't even that cold, anyway.

"And, yeah, it is," he agreed, "but not, like, all the time, that's a good way to get rid of friends, too...But fine." Here, Prompto pulled out the start of one of his crooked grin. "I promise, from here on in, I'll bother you with more of my dumb shit, okay?"

...as for the other stuff, well...he'd rather leave it hanging on a lighter note than getting into all of that, but he and Nina could probably have an...interesting chat, by the sounds of it, on the subject of charity. It was surprising, if he was honest, but oddly comforting, too, that there was something in common there.

And that was an evasion, after she'd said so much, but really that was what Prompto tended to do, at least a little, when things got weird and emotional. He just deflected until he didn't have to.

But she wondered, and would keep wondering, about him being a charity case too, since he didn't want to talk about it.

"You'd better," she said, though her smile was more relieved than anything else and she certainly didn't sound like she was ordering him about on this matter. "Or... or else I'll tell Sidon you hurt my feelings!!!!!!!!!"

Then she giggled. It was a bit anxious, her giggling, but real enough despite that.

Evasion was practically Prompto's middle name.

"And I'll just send Vette to go distract him," he said, loftily, seizing on the opportunity to talk about something lighter now that it seemed they'd managed to make it out of the woods a little. "Then what?"

At least for now.

"Then...," she paused, using the excuse of putting the other clip into her hair to scramble for an idea. "Then I'll tell your friends at your home!"

How she would do this? No idea.

And they'd probably just be very confused at a totally cute girl calling them up and complaining about Prompto.

Honestly, Prompto wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Nina did manage to figure out a way to do it, which was why this whole useless thing seemed so absurd to him.

But the thought of Gladio splitting his well-muscled side laughing over the scenario playing out in his head was indeed sobering.

He gave her an expression that could probably best described as wibbling.

"I am going to involve you in so much dumb shit," he vowed, "you're going to get absolutely sick of it."

Feelings were extremely dumb and Nina had never been useful to friends before, so...?

She burst out laughing at his expression.

"Never!!!!!! And, like, we can include you in more of our dumb shit, if you want???????" Nina looked at is face and started giggling again. "Like, I just wasn't sure on where you stood on, ah, some kinds of dumb things."

She and Vette tended to do not exactly legal things after all.

"Well," said Prompto, who didn't really know exactly where he'd stand on not exactly legal things, in the long run, "how're you going to know if you never bother asking, hmmm?"

That... that was a good point.

"This is true," she conceded. "Though it would mean you being willing and able to drop everything at a moment's notice too, and with your raids, we don't want to interrupt that!!!!!!!!!"

Not when it was spending time with his friends!

If Nina kept this up, Prompto was going to start thinking she was just trying to pull out any excuse she could find not to invite him along...

"We can always reschedule a raid," Prompto told her. "Plus, it'll help make me seem all important, with other, cooler things to do than just sit around playing video games all night."

And that wasn't the case at all!

"Oh! That's true!!!!!!!" Nina clapped her hands together. "Which would help you out, if you had to be all 'see you, guys, got a thing'!!!!!!!!!"

She liked this idea, really. It was a funny way of being helpful, but it was very Nina.

"Though, like, I guess I shouldn't barge into your room and ask if you want to do a stupid thing then, the way I announce it to Vette... we'd need, like, codewords or something..."

Yeah. Sorry, bros, duty to all my cute ladyfriends calls was a phrase that Prompto would never get tired of having to use, if it ever came to that point.

"Codewords, huh?" he said with a grin. "I could be down with some codewords."

"And they'd have to be ones that make you look good!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Since that was, like, paramount here!

Nina's eyes narrowed slightly in thought. She had one that would qualify, but she didn't know if…

"Would Yang like, care, if your codeword was that you had a hot date???????????"

That made her feel weird since her feelings on Prompto were super mixed when it came to the whole dating thing, but it was one of the few things Nina didn't really need to know his friends for to think of.

Forget throwing himself off the side of the balcony; that question right there hit Prompto with enough surprise that he'd nearly fallen off of it out of shock. He was sort of under the impression that everything with Yang was all subtle and totally on the DL, especially since he hadn't mentioned a word of it to anyone.

...but Nina was in pretty tight with those squirrels sometimes, wasn't she?

So excuse him for a moment while his brain sort of shut down and his face filled with the brightest red imaginable, and he almost wished he had fallen off the balcony instead of actually being able to stand his ground.

"...please don't use that as a codeword," he said, already imagining how a codeword like that would only inspire demands for details.

And then he blinked, which seemed to get his brain going again so that he could supply, "Just, like, make it about fighting monsters or something! Or that someone needs my help. There's a crisis that, like, only my particular talents can solve. Or there's a pickle jar that needs opening! Something needs to be hacked! Or...or a gadget's going haywire. Codewords like that!"

She'd also told him, before, that she was a spy. Sorry, Prompto, but of course Nina knew things she shouldn't about you. She was a good friend (or was trying to be) but she was also kind of terrible about the whole concept of privacy.

Professional hazard, really.

And he was both her friend and the guy she maybe-sort of had feelings for!

His reaction told her a lot more about his feelings for Yang than she really wanted to know. Nina bravely ignored that pang in her heart. Crushes were stupid and she wanted to be a good friend, so…

"Well, I guess so," she said dubiously, "though I don't know why you're so embarrassed at the idea of a hot date??????"

"It's not that I'm embarrassed," insisted He of the Incredibly Red Face. "It's just...y'know...none of their business."

It was one thing if it was just joking around and stuff, but once you got actual feelings involved...

Prompto sucked in a breath, squaring his shoulders, lifting his chin, in an effort to gain back some modicum of dignity. "Besides," he said, "a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell, Nina."

"Gentlemen still say when they've got dates!!!!!!!!!!" Nina protested, with a flurry of giggling. "They just don't share the dirty details!!!!!!!!"

And Prompto was just going to fix Nina with a doubtful look, one that almost had a good amount of oomph to it, too, before the blush started to creep right back up across his cheeks.

"Yeah," he said, "you think those guys'll just take it at 'hot date' and leave it at that?"

Just like, you know, he was oh-so-sure someone like Nina would herself be totally satisfied without any dirty details...

Edited 2018-12-28 19:40 (UTC)

Shhhh. Shhhhh. Nina's obsession with the dirty details was maybe stronger than her need to be seen as a lady.

"I haven't talked to them," she said brightly. "But, like, if you want me to call them and ask I can totally do that!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And wouldn't that be a way for her to meet them? How about it, Prompto?

That wasn't even remotely funny, Nina, as clearly indicated by Prompto's very serious face that didn't at all involve biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smirking faintly despite himself.

"I'll save you the trouble," he said, "and tell you now that they totally would not leave it at that, and using 'hot date' as a codeword is a fast track to me being hounded mercilessly for dirty details."

It actually wasn't; there might be some light ribbing from Noct and Gladio and probably some actually useful advice from Ignis, but admitting that wasn't nearly an effective strategy.

She considered that rather solemnly, despite the mirth in her eyes.

"I hope not," Nina settled on. "Because, like, it's funnier to think about that happening than the idea that they actually would, because you're pretty awesome, you know, and you deserve friends that treat you awesomely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A beat.

Okay, time to swerve right back out of seriousness.

"But I guess, like, I'll just have to find another thing to call them about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Or," said Prompto, lifting a finger, "counterpoint. You don't have to call them at all, and life can go on just fine the way it is. I mean, they've got a lot of stuff going on, Nina. Noctis has a kingdom to help run, Gladio's probably got some undiscovered muscle to find, Ignis..."

....was mostly boring. Which meant that was easily the most hilarious.

"You know, actually, Ignis probably doesn't have much going on at all. If you call any of 'em, it should probably be him."

He could already see the bruise forming on Iggy's forehead from all the facepalming.

Nina paused.

"Does that mean, like, you wouldn't mind if I did????????"

Though the mention of all of Gladio's muscles was intriguing.

And there was a faint grunt of regret in Prompto's throat as he waffled a bit on an answer, because he knew...he hoped, anyway...that if he really insisted that she didn't, she'd respect that. She should respect that, and if she didn't, then they'd have some problems, but at the same time, did he really want to be that guy? He definitely didn't, but there was no way this could possibly turn out well for him.

So he sucked in a breath and resigned himself to the fate he'd somehow managed to work himself into a corner with. "Yeah," he said, "that means, like, I wouldn't mind if you did."

And Nina whooped and, in a fit of exuberance flung herself at him for a hug.

"I'll like, try not to embarrass you," she promised, since it didn't take a mind reader to guess that Prompto would be concerned about that, like, a lot. "I make no promises for how embarrassed Ignis gets though, okay?????????????"

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