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Entry tags:

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who: Noctis and open
what: various open prompts including baby animals at the petting zoo
when: throughout May??
where: the zoo, other miscellaneous places
warnings: nothing

A. zoo/this is technically 2 prompts

[For someone who's only ever held down one job (and not for long), Noctis is doing pretty well at this petting zoo attendant thing. He gets to sit around and pet cute animals for most of his shifts? What's not to love? It almost makes up for having to clean up after them at the end of the day.

He has zero complaints about the uniform, complete with nametag, either. Actually this is probably the best part of this job.

What's not so great is how many people he has to talk to and supposedly educate, because damn, he is not great at that. The little kids are easily entertained enough, aside from the precocious ones who keep trying to correct his Animal Facts(tm), but it's a lot harder to remember everything he has to say about the various animals in the petting zoo area when there are actual adults around... He has petting zoo stage fright.

But he tries. Mostly, to varying degrees.

If you come by the petting zoo in the morning, when he's giving it his best shot, you'll probably catch him holding, at the same time, a bunny and a rough-looking, folded-and-unfolded-too-much piece of paper. The bunny is quite literally tucked into the crook of his arm, while he frowns at the paper and flounders.]

Okay, so this type of bunny— rabbit, this type of rabbit usually lives in, uh... [please save him, ask a question or something.]

[ORRRR if you come by later in the day, when he's just tired and wants to clock out and go, he'll hold up what looks mostly like a baby alligator, but for some reason, orange, and sigh.] You want to hold a lizard?

[professional.]

B. not the zoo

[When he's not at work, Noctis can be found loitering in public spaces like shopping centers and food courts, minding his own business and playing on his phone... or buying too many fishing lures at a time, or actually standing around looking like he might want to talk to someone.

The thing is: he had shit to do at home and it was pretty dang important, and now he's here and as much as he'd like to stay in his room and sleep all the time, there are people there and so he needs something else to keep busy. Which is dreadful in and of itself, but finding something to do besides mobile games? Even worse. He's compromised and gone back to the only thing he knows how to do: favors for other people. So while he loiters, there's a little sign set next to him that just says 'ODD JOBS' on it in marker. Hire him to pick vegetables or something.

He's still wearing the lion hat.]

C. etc?!

[plotting available @melodrama!]

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[Literally where is this chocobo, Gladio... How do you keep one of those in this place if not in the zoo??]

So you're... donating them? [is that the right term,] I guess a couple babies would fit in here.

[Actual, full grown chocobos are prooobably too big for this kiddie petting zoo, even if they are So Pettable.]

[ It's a mystery. ]

Guess that's a no-go then. I could head back out there and see if I could find a few orphans, otherwise I'm going to have to breed him... and like hell I know how that even works.

[ Gladio frowns, he's no Wiz and doesn't really wanna know either. ] Know what? I'd better leave it to Prompto, that seems like something he'd know too much about. You talk to him lately?

[Noctis shrugs; all he knows about chocobos is they're adorable and eat more veggies than he ever will. So they're definitely not the best people for this task, no.]

Not any more than usual. I think he's been running around taking pictures since- that festival.

[awkward pause.......now]

[ That silence that follows seems to drag on for an age, long enough for Gladio to shift and take an uncomfortable breath. Not quite as distinct as a squirm under the weight of it but nevertheless visible enough.

Okay, he's told Noct to spit it out plenty of times, so he might as well walk the walk. ]

Hey, about that. Uh. [ Where to begin? ] ...Sorry, about before.

[... Well, that's a- start? Noctis' brow furrows, frustrated at the memory, yes, and kind of taken aback—Gladio actually apologizing is... different.

But, uh, hmm. How to respond.]

Okay.

[fucking stellar]

Yeah.

[ Gladio tries resting his weight on one leg, then the other. He can't seem to find a comfortable way to stand here without it being, well... awkward. He reaches back to scrub at the shorter hair at the side of his head. ]

I was... holding you to a standard that... [ Hrgh, Ignis had said it best, but why can't he remember how he put it? It was so good... ]

[Yep, it's still awkward... Noctis can't help him now, terminally bad with words as he is himself, so he's left with no choice but to just- watch. Witness. Wait. Even the fumbled beginning sounds like Ignis, which he isn't surprised by.]

That...? That what?

[ Gladio can't seem to pull it off, so veers off and goes his own way. He's basically further down the timeline from them anyway, right? This is old hat to him, so much that he's had enough time to slip back into some old habits. ]

I mean... I might not be your Shield anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop looking out for you.

I just might go a little overboard now and again. Can you blame me? You, Iris, Iggy, Prompto... you're all I got left.

Edited 2017-05-22 01:40 (UTC)

[Still awkward, but at least there were words. Noctis folds his arms and looks down, shifting in place while he thinks. He tactfully doesn't snap anything he'll regret about going a little overboard, since - well, of fucking course Gladio goes overboard, that's what he does.

So.] Maybe you should've said that instead of— [giving him shit about his dead father but never mind. He shakes his head.]

I still don't want to know the future. You're just gonna have to live with that.

[ It's the understatement of the century and Gladio for one is glad Noctis doesn't spell out the obvious. Still, what he does say makes his drop his gaze somewhere to the side and away from him. Yeah, he knows. He can't say he regrets saying it, but he does regret the rift it created.

Isn't that enough? ] That's fine, I just...

I wanna hear it again. [ For his own edification. ] Do you wanna leave it alone for now -- All of it? See where this leads us?

[Noctis frowns again; he still can't think of a single benefit of knowing what's going to happen before it does. Sure, it sounds good on paper, but—if he, or if any of them get complacent and mess it up? It's already possible to come to this world from different times, so surely messing up what Gladio remembers is possible too— And the opposite, if it's an absolutely terrible future?

What would he do then? Things are bad enough; he doesn't want to know if they get worse. That might be selfish, but there's been enough shit already for them to deal with.]

I want you to believe in my decisions the first time. [oh, he was just going to agree, and then that happened. well.] For once. I'm not— I'm doing the best I can.

No, it's fine. I know you are. And... [ This is so hard to express, especially given the timey-wimey chocobo shit they're dealing with here. ]

...I'm not - I'm not gonna tell you what happens, okay?

[ There's about half an impressionable youth's life fighting against the idea, but Gladio tries like hell, trying to channel as much of Ignis' logic as he can and failing, but it gives him strength nevertheless. This isn't too bad, they're friends -- they've got this. ]

Let's just try this out. [ This new reality where he can spend time with his sister without worrying too hard about his duty. Where he can pull away from Noctis for the whole, decadent length of a weekend without being required to worry - even though he will - always will. ] This quarantine for a while.

[That doesn't give Noctis the confidence to shake the feeling he's still insisting on the opposite of what Gladio wants, but— it's not something he wants to keep debating.]

Right. [Trying this place out... Maybe when he's been here a bit longer he can see the merit in it, can stand here and hand out feed pellets for baby animals without the harsh reality of their own world hanging over his thoughts. They're safer here, he supposes? And Ignis is okay.

Two whole things. It's two more than before.

It will have to do.] ...For a while. I guess that's it.

...Okay. [ Ask and ye shall receive. Noct has made no indication that this was a bad thing, and yet some nagging part of Gladio can't seem to shake this off. It's probably not a bad thing.

It's just an inconvenient thing - it steals away any pure enjoyment of freedom, the kind he's sure the King feels far more strongly than anyone else, particularly the sort who has worn the ring. ]

So... [ This pause is longer than the rest, probably more awkward. ] Noct, can I ask you a favor?

[The ring that scares the shit out of him, yeah, that one's staying around his neck and off his finger unless he really, really needs it here.

But, ah- he might not be entirely sold on what they've talked about here, but helping each other out always takes precedent over lingering doubts. So-] Yeah? What's up?

Well, I wanted to get something special. It's kinda a delicacy around these parts and I haven't been able to find it out there on my own. But it is sold at one of the markets.

[ Okay, good, he can switch gears. This is awesome because it feels like this was a good sorta-talk. Like they're dropping back into a less awkward, uncomfortable thing, something familiar. Perhaps a little too familiar: ]

Thing is, the place tends to sell out of these fast which means...

[ You know what's coming, right? ]

[.........A fetch quest? Well...]

You want me to get you food?

[ No, don't skip to the end that's totally cheating. Don't just click through the dialog! ]

No, I just want you to come with me. We gotta get there early which means...

[ Okay, he's just not getting it. ] Dawn. I need you to come with me at dawn.

[what the fuck kind of request]

Seriously...? [He'd rather not go to sleep than wake up to go somewhere at dawn.] For snacks?

Weren't you listening? It's something special.

[ Not some snack, seriously do you think he'd drag your sluggish ass out of bed for something... mundane... like

~~a run~~ ~~flowers~~

okay yeah he has a point. ]

Come on, Iggy could use something to do and we can all taste test it. It'll be fun.

[Yeah that's right, that's right!! He'd say just take Ignis, but playing the Ignis card after the rest of this conversation is probably the easiest way to get him to cave. How dare Ignis be important?]

The end'll be fun, not the beginning or the middle. But alright, alright. I'll do it.

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