bwah

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[windupnamazu]

FFXIV Vanilla Gpose Challenge 1. Portrait

[windupnamazu]

even without c+… there can still be fat lunyas for those with the eyes to see…

[hqmillioncorn]

leave it in the past, leave me in the past

Lalapril Day Thirty: Endless hey turns out babycorn has a grandma! no not that one. this one isnt too scary! or mad! or both! shes just a little out there? what does that mean? well, butter is about to find out! totally already knows what he's getting into, no need to ask him twice; Butter belongs to @windupnamazu

Today was the day. 

The day that Babycorn was going to introduce Butter to her grandmother.

Apparently. 

Because like so many things Babycorn tended to do, this too came about with absolutely no warning and completely out of nowhere.

Something about her and Cherrypit (mostly Cherry) cooking up a lunch to share with their grandmother today.

Said grandmother's mere existence was a fun and apparently not too important tidbit Butter and literally everyone else learned on their way back from Treno when Babycorn told Krile that they shared one more thing in common now. 

Aside from being a Lalafell, Babycorn made note that both of them also discovered an older relative they had no idea existed. All during their trip to Tural.

All Krile had to say to all of that was, ‘...Wait what?’ 

Then everyone else of course asked Babycorn what the hell she was talking about. 

Turns out Babycorn at some point ran into her maternal grandmother. On a totally innocuous day when she'd been out shopping an old woman approached her and asked her if the word ‘Starsinger’ meant anything to her. 

One thing led to another and after spending an afternoon hiding in a barrel (just like old times!) Babycorn learned that her grandmother on her mother’s side had been living in Tuliyollal this whole time!

“That means I have two grandmamas now!” Babycorn grinned holding up four fingers. 

Knowing that Babycorn wanted to learn her numbers, going so far as to still attend classes while on vacation, Butter gently pushed two of her fingers back down. “That’s two. What you were holding up was four.” He explained. 

She took a few seconds, looking at her fingers and then back to Butter. Before it finally clicked. “Oh! Right! That’s two!” The number two! Or as she liked to call it, the Cherrypit number. That made it much easier to remember. “Thanks Butts!”

“Anytime Bebe!” Just saying her name out loud was enough to put a smile on his face. 

As Babycorn kept walking and pulling Butter by the hand he couldn’t help but to have his mind wander to the Starsinger's other grandmother. To say that it made Butter nervous was an understatement.

But could anyone really blame him? Especially when Babycorn’s other grandma was–well–like that. 

Constantly visiting the mansion and accusing everyone that lived there of keeping Babycorn there against her will. Accosting anyone she laid eyes on–no matter who they were.

There were times Butter even considered her to be even worse than the Crystal Braves were. At least with those guys he wouldn’t have to feel too bad if the need to fight back ever came up.

Had Babycorn not been there most of the time to immediately de-escalate the situation Butter wasn’t sure how long he could go without throwing hands with a (at most) seventy-nine year old Elezen woman. 

It turned out that Babycorn’s (new) grandmother lived in one of the many houses they all walked past way back when Wuk Lamat first showed them around the city.

The part with all of the stairs. “She told me that she saw us walking with Lamaty'i back then!” Babycorn explained, “She wanted to ask me about my mama but she wasn’t sure how to!”

Pretty understandable. It would be a little off-putting to walk up to someone you didn’t know at all to ask them about their mother.

And in Babycorn’s case her dead mother.

When putting all of that into consideration it was almost a miracle to know that things ended up working as well as they did. “My grandma says she was friends with Gulool Ja Ja too! And a buncha other people cause she’s reeeaaaally old!” 

With every step they took together Babycorn kept bringing up some other fantastical thing that her grandmother apparently told her she'd once done.

Something about scaling a mountain to touch the heavens and having created a brand-new dessert that since become a staple in Tuliyollal.

As the feats continued Butter caught the scent of meat grilling in the air. His nose twitched, up and down. “Is Cherry making carne asada?" Sure smelled like it.

Babycorn stopped, twirling in place to look directly at Butter. “Woah! How’d you know!?” She stared him down, “Can you read minds too Butts…?” That would explain how he always seemed to know exactly what snacks she always wanted. 

Not to mention how he always correctly guessed whenever she was feeling down. 

Butter smiled and pointed at his nose. “Smelled it!” 

“Oh!” Babycorn nodded, over and over. Yeah! That made sense. “I forgot about noses! I forgot you have a nose Butts!” Even if she thought it was really cute every time she noticed it. 

Only a couple of steps later Babycorn and Butter reached the top of the hill, where the smell of delicious food was the strongest. 

“We’re here!” Babycorn announced their arrival with a happy little giggle. 

If this were any other family the sight of a toddler manning the grill with an elderly Lalafell sitting beside him would at the least be met with a few concerned looks.

But given this was the Starsinger family it would have been weirder if something like this wasn’t the case. 

“Hi Bebe!” Cherrypit waved, a pair of tongs in his oversized gloved hands. 

Babycorn hopped up and down, her tail wagging happily behind her. “Hi Cherrryyyyyy! Hi Grandmaaaaaa!” She waved her arms all over the place as if she wasn’t basically right in front of them. Right after her little greeting was over she took off running towards her grandmother. 

The moment she noticed Babycorn running towards her she lifted the book she was reading up from the table in front of her to make room for her. “Chelinka! My love, there you are!” She smiled. 

Turns out it only took a couple of months for her to realize how Babycorn worked. 

Because once Babycorn reached her she–for some reason just laid her head on the table to look up at her. In the exact manner her grandmother expected her to.

“I’m back and I brought my bestest friend Butts! Cause you said that would be okayyyyy!” She was resting her knees on the ground and still managing to kick her feet so excitedly-like.  

Babycorn was just that happy, and for good reason! 

“I can see that!” Her grandmother smiled, petting Babycorn’s head a couple of times. 

First impressions so far were good. No signs of potentially getting attacked by a cane. Thank goodness. Besides that,  Butter could definitely see the similarities between her and both Starsinger siblings. 

Cherrypit shared such a similar hair color and style to her he wouldn’t be too surprised to learn if that was what initially caught their grandmother’s attention. 

And both their grandmother and Babycorn wore almost the exact type of bangs. The very ones that were on the cusp of covering their eyes.

She and Babycorn even had the same little hair spikes at the top of their heads. 

It was kind of really cute. 

But what really stuck out to him the most was her earring. A bright green star shaped crystal that looked much too similar to Babycorn’s own necklace to be a coincidence. 

“This is my grandma!” Babycorn gestured proudly at her, almost as if she was introducing a celebrity rather than a family member. “That means she’s my mama’s mama! She’s really old and she lives here in Tuliyollal!” It absolutely tickled her to be able to explain it to everyone. 

Which really begged the question of why didn’t she think of doing this before?! It was so fun!

“Ooooh, so you're Chelinka's little boyfriend she never stops talking about!” Her grandmother beamed.

Babycorn made a strange noise that sounded kind of like, “AAaaaaAAAaaaaaAaaa?!??” 

Oh, yeah. That was why. Babycorn remembered now. 

“Grandmama!” Babycorn jumped to her feet and to her own defense. Her tail wagged erratically behind her in a complete panic. “I-I don’t talk about Butts that much!” It was just most of the time! Maybe even half of the time if she was being generous. 

“Ah, really?” Her grandmother looked genuinely confused, she brought a finger up to her chin and looked up into the sky in thought. “But isn’t this the boy you’re always saying is so cute and so brave. And that one day you’d like to marry him and have-?”

“GRANDMAMAAAAA!” Babycorn wailed so very loudly. “I didn’t-! No I haven’t…!!”

Then she noticed that Butter was looking right at her, with that same little smile he always had. 

Before he could even say anything Babycorn zipped right over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, shaking him in place. “BUTTS I PROMISE I D-DON’T TALK ABOUT YOU THAT MUCH! IT'S JUST I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW THAT YOU’RE SO COOL AND CUTE AND REALLY STRONG AND BRAVE AND I LIKE THE WAY YOUR-!” She needed him to desperately understand that she definitely was so normal about being his friend and liking him a lot. 

Babycorn was still talking by the way something about thinking Butter’s hair was ‘so totally soft and nice.’ while Cherrypit laughed at her in the background. 

Amidst the shaking Babycorn was subjecting him to, Butter found the strength to tell her how he really felt. “It's okay B-B-Bebe! You can talk about me as much as you waaAaaqaAant!!” He managed to spit out. 

“Oh! Okay!” Babycorn let him go and blushed, bringing up her hands to her cheeks. “I just love talking about Butts aaaall the time!” She giggled.

This was true, it was little wonder her grandmother recognized him the very moment she saw him. 

Butter’s face shifted to a familiar red shade. “Hehehehe!” It was kind of nice to hear that Babycorn thought that much of him.

However, surely this only meant that she was talking about him that much because she considered him a good friend. 

A completely platonic friend. She was so nice.

To him and everyone. Equally.

Babycorn’s grandmother shut the book she'd been reading, knowing there wasn’t going to be any peace and quiet for a very long time. “It’s very nice to finally meet you Butter.” She stood up and gave a very surprised Butter a hug before taking a step back.

“I’m Titija, Chelinka and Cherrypit’s grandmother." She turned her head to look over to her grandchildren, watching their mouths move at breakneck speeds talking about something or other as they hopped all around the grill. 

“...But I’m sure you know that by now.”  

Butter shrugged and nodded. Really it was more of a shock that Babycorn was able to keep this a secret for as long as she did–even if it was never intentional.

“Y-Yeah-! A little…” He tried laughing as nonchalantly as he could without making it seem obvious how nervous he felt right now. 

Which was quite a bit. 

“Um, by the way it's good to meet you too…Err…Is there something I should call you or…?” Butter stammered. 

“Most everyone calls me Tija. So you can go ahead and call me that, okay dear?” Titija laughed to herself. She rested her elbows on the table, “Unless…” There was a tense pause, as she looked at Butter with a playful glint in her eyes. “...You want to call me grandma already?!”

“UH!!??!” Butter started to panic. Just how much did she know? 

Oh god, what did Babycorn tell her?!

Before Butter could think of what the worst thing Babycorn could have told her (apparently there was a lot?!) Titija decided to put her plan into action. This was only the first step. “Chelinka, my love, could you and Cherry go inside and fetch more vegetables from storage?” She asked. 

The game of chasing each other around while laughing that both siblings were playing came to a pause, for the moment. Since Babycorn practically jumped at the chance to get her hands on some more yummy food.

“You got it grandmama!” She curtsied and nodded. 

Then with a hop, skip, and a jump she entered her grandmother’s home with Cherrypit following right behind her. “Cherry help Bebe!” He cried, knowing that without his help his big sister would most likely end up being crushed underneath a crate full of tomatoes. Much like last time. 

As the door slammed shut Titija shook her head and smiled. “That’ll distract them for a few minutes.” Or maybe even hours.

Days if there was enough food in there to last that long. 

Over the few months they already spent together she quickly learned that neither of her grandchildren could resist snacking on anything they found delicious. And that meant anything. 

Butter, now more nervous than ever thanks to being left alone with his girl friend’s grandmother, struggled to keep himself still. He was shaking like a small dog, much like he usually did when it came to doing anything with Babycorn. 

Except in this case it had to do more with dread than it did excitement. 

“Butter?” 

At the sound of his name his ears stood straight up and he very slowly turned to look at Titija. “Y-Y-Yes…?” He answered. He prayed to whoever was listening that Babycorn hadn’t told her about the hugging stuffed look-alikes of them that the Arcadion recently started selling. 

“Could I ask you a silly question?” Titija asked with a smile. 

Butter nodded, as quick as he could.  

“Tell me, are you aware of what a Starsinger is?” 

Oddly enough, Titija asking him this made him feel a little less scared. 

Which was very much the opposite reaction he tended to get the few times someone asked him a similar question. “Um, y-yes…I do! That’s what B-Babycorn and Cherrypit are…”  He stammered, right before remembering a little something else.

“I-It’s also their last name! Yeah!” Oh, he knew that last tidbit very well. Almost a little too well. 

…He really hoped Babycorn didn’t tell her about that time he fooled an entire nation and then some into thinking they were married. Please please please please please please please-!!

There wasn’t really any effort needed on Titija’s part to tell just how tense Butter was, “Shh, calm down, it's not a test.” She tried to assure him. The key word being ‘try’ because Butter was starting to look even more anxious than he did before, if that was even possible. 

That was on her, she mayhaps came on a little too strong.

Not that she would know the real reason Butter was shaking like a leaf in the wind. 

“I…” Titija paused, twisting a lock of brittle hair between her fingers. “I need to make sure you know what you’re getting into.” 

That was enough to snap Butter out of his spiral of embarrassing thoughts. “...Huh?” At first he wasn’t sure if he heard right or not. “W-What I’m…?” He tried to ask, falling just short of finishing. 

Titija leaned in closer, sighing. It looked like she was having trouble breathing. But right before Butter could ask if she was okay–she looked right at him.

Unlike Babycorn’s, her eyes were glowed with an icy blue color. 

Even so, both of them did share a similar trait. Neither of them looked right, no matter how you spun it. 

“I need to make absolutely sure you’re prepared for what it's going to be like–to spend the rest of your life with a Starsinger.” 

This time Butter responded with no hesitation. “What do you mean?” He asked. 

Titija sighed, in such a way that it felt like she couldn’t believe what she was about to say.

Her expression softened. “...When I was young I fell in love.” She glanced down at her hands. One of them held onto the other. No ring on her finger to be found. “With a wonderful man…That when I told him I was scared to leave my hiding place he told me, assured me that he would keep me safe.” 

‘No matter who or what comes our way!’

That’s when it finally clicked. “Oh! You’re A Starsinger too…!!”  Butter didn’t know why he didn't realize it before. He chalked it up to all the nervousness from before clouding his thoughts.

Considering Babycorn’s own mother was a Starsinger it must have meant that it was something that could be passed down through generations. 

It had to have started from somewhere. “I am.” Her earring started humming, there was a faint glow coming from the center. “Even so–neither I or my daughter are able to do what Babycorn tells me she’s capable of.” 

Back when Babycorn first explained what she and Cherrypit could do Titija felt her heart drop, lower and lower the longer she talked. Being able to change someone’s fate, changing the world itself, and opening rifts to other worlds. 

Titija caught herself getting frightened of the feats her granddaughter was describing to her. Not out of fear for how powerful she was, but what sort of people that power could attract. 

“I know the sort of desperation that drives people to us…” 

Back when she was young she was constantly getting caught off guard by the drive shown by travelers to make the journey to her and her mother’s isolated home in the mountains. 

Her mother showed each and every one of them the same amount of empathy, no matter what they asked of her.

All up until the day she left with one of them and never came back. 

Titija slowly turned away from Butter to grab the book she placed on the table. Taking it in both her hands she brought it closer to him.

“...As do you.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. 

At that moment Butter realize why that book looked so familiar. Butter recognized it immediately–this was the journal his mother handed him. 

The same one with pages upon pages of research his mother and father documented about Starsingers during their travels. Butter only really flipped through a few pages himself, not being able to stomach reading past the first few. 

“Yeah I…” He looked down, worried at what Titija must be thinking about him. “...I guess I do.” 

Butter’s worries were as clear as day to her. “Please don’t think I blame you for any of it. I know what happened.” Titija assured him. “Babycorn told me everything you and the others did for her. And I said to her that I wanted to personally thank all of you. I hope you don’t mind if you’re the first I meet.!

Of course there were also a handful of other reasons Titija asked her granddaughter to bring over the boy she just couldn’t stop talking about to come see her first. 

“Um…I…No, not at all!” Butter stammered out. “I-I would do it again! If I had to!” Not that Butter ever wanted a repeat of that incident. He promised himself and Babycorn that he would do whatever it took to stop something like that from ever happening again. 

A promise that Babycorn happily let her grandmother know that he made. 

Which made it monumentally important to warn him ahead of time. “If you continue down this path then let me warn you as I warned Antoni–You will lose your chance at a normal life.” Titija solemnly spoke.

“Well I don’t know if my life has actually ever been normal…” Butter laughed. 

Something that he picked up on over the years was that raising your baby sister while living in the remains of a hollowed out tree with the help of a magical cookie fairy wasn’t actually seen as normal. 

Not by most people anyway. 

“If you choose to start a family with a Starsinger–people will come after them. Of that I have no doubt." It happened before and it would happen again. All that could really be done to stop it was to be prepared. 

Butter nodded, “I know.” 

“I just want to make sure you’re aware of what you’re getting into.” 

Right now probably wouldn’t have been an appropriate time to laugh, Butter thought.

That sort of question never crossed his mind because it never needed to. By default he was more than ready and prepared to tackle anything and everything if it meant being able to be at Babycorn’s side. 

His feelings came spilling out before he could stop himself. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know as much about Starsingers as I should…I think…” 

Butter looked down, holding the locket he was wearing in the palm of his hand. It shimmered in the sun’s light, the red gem in the middle let out a soft light. 

Memories of the day he first received it as a gift from Babycorn flooded his mind. Her wonderful smile, the way her eyes shimmered when she looked at him, and how carefully she’d put the necklace on him. 

“But I know what I want to do. I want to protect the people I love. My friends, my family, and Babycorn. I don’t want to feel as helpless as I did back then–if I can help it.” He grinned, it was almost infectious. “I hope it's enough of an assurance for me to tell you that.”

Titija looked completely caught off guard, if only for a fraction of a second before she laughed it off. “...Well, that does explain things.” A lot of things actually.

Not to say Titija still wasn’t nervous over both her granddaughter's safety as well as Butter’s. Having personally seen how it could end. 

But now there was the hope she desperately needed.

Finally, it gave her the chance to think for a moment that maybe this time things would end differently. “All I can ask is to please…” She hesitated for a second, clenching her hands together hoping it would give her enough strength to speak. 

“...All I can ask the both of you…Please don’t make the same mistakes as us. Antoni and I…We both thought any danger long passed but…”

Memories came flooding back.  

The day she left the mountains to go live with Antoni's family, Titija laughing at the idea that her powers were special or even desirable enough for anyone to ever ask for her aid. 

The day her daughter was born and the day she was taken away. 

The moment she gave up her search for her. When all she could do was look up at the sky and pray that they were looking up at the same set of stars. 

All she wanted–all she wished with all her heart was that Babycorn and Cherrypit would never have to suffer through that kind of pain. Not any more than they had already, once was enough.

“I know hiding and running from danger can only get you so far but it’s all I can think to do…” Titija pleaded. “And I know I can’t convince you, either of you, to hide away from the world but please just be careful.”

After hearing Titija’s words, even after everything, there was only one question on Butter’s mind. “Did you ask Babycorn about this? About what she wants?” Considering she was the Starsinger it only felt fair her grandmother ask her what she wanted to do too. 

“I did.” Titija nodded. “Just yesterday, she said something along the lines of…”

‘I’m not scared! J-Just a little sometimes but not all the time!!

Cause I know my friends and my family are gonna protect me! And Butts too! He told me that he’s always gonna come and save me if I’m ever in trouble! So with Butts and everyone I know, me and Cherry will always be safe! And I’ll always be with Butts! Forever and ever!’ 

As soon as Titija finished recounting Babycorn’s words she noticed Butter’s demeanor took a turn for the giddy. He was giggling to himself and the tips of his ears were tinted a light pink. 

“Heheee…! She said that?” He asked, twirling a piece of his spiked hair around his finger. 

Titija smiled, a hint of remorse in her eyes that she hid far too well for Butter to notice. “...I was…very surprised at how much Babycorn believes in everyone. Especially you dear.”

Before meeting her grandchildren she could basically count the people she trusted completely on one hand. “Though you’ll have to forgive me–I worried that she was putting too much trust into you. But I see now that I have nothing to worry about.” 

Ideally a perfect world would have it so there would be no danger to protect any Starsinger from but here they were instead. All they could do was their very best. 

“I just hope she doesn’t give you too much trouble! "You've seen how she is." Titija laughed, "...Not too bright." And that was being generous given recent events having to do with a certain Queen.

“Aw it’s okay! I love when Babycorn gives me trouble~!” Butter answered without giving it much thought to what he was saying or what the hell he meant until he was done saying it.

“W-W-Wait I-I mean-! I don’t mind it i-if she gives me trouble! I-I mean she did a littleee but I mean not that she would do it on purpose! N-Not all on purpose! H-Her hearts in the right place-! But I-!!! Um! Um! Um! I don't mind! But I don't like it or anything-! I mean um, unless I should?! Sometimes I d-do! But wait no-! I m-m-m-mean-!!” 

Butter’s way out manifested at that moment when the door to Titija’s house swung open again, with Babycorn and Cherrypit marching back outside with wide smiles on their faces. 

Accompanied by a variety of different kinds of leaves adorning the tops of their very messy heads.

“Babycorn? About the vegetables?” Titija asked. 

Both siblings looked at their grandmother, confused and tilting their heads to the side very cutely. “The what?” They asked in unison. 

“Ah. Never mind love.” That was about the outcome Titija was expecting. No doubt that every vegetable in her home was long gone by now. 

Instead it was time to get to the important part. “By the way–your little boyfriend Butter is just as sweet as you told me!” She smiled, from ear to ear. “You have good taste! Must have got it from me!”

“Really?! Wow thanks!” Babycorn was glad to hear but it was odd since everyone else literally told her the opposite. “Butts did you hear that?! You taste good!” She did a happy little dance, staring directly at her boy friend Butter. 

“U-Uh-huh...?” 

“Don’t worry I’ll taste you again so we can still make sure!”

“UH-HUUUUH??????”

It shouldn’t really have surprised him to hear Babycorn say something like that in front of her own grandmother when she showed no problem saying even worse things in front of her friends. 

Pretty bold of her, if we’re being honest. 

Kind of too bad Babycorn really had no idea what she was saying. Oh well.

Titija decided to let both of them slide. More important to her was that her granddaughter was in good hands and it looked like Butter was as well.

From the few details Babycorn told her she was happy to know that her own daughter was also able to find her own happiness. 

Watching Babycorn make Butter start blushing and in turn get herself flustered when he turned the tables on her, assured her that things would be alright.

That wasn’t even mentioning how determined Cherrypit was to protect his sister and vice versa. 

She couldn’t help but think back to the close knit family Antoni once introduced her to. 

…Okay that was enough time. 

By now Cherrypit was back at his grilling with Butter and Babycorn conversing with each other at his side. Which was the perfect opportunity for Titija to interrupt their little conversation.

She raised her voice high and looked right at Butter. “From what I heard you two haven’t even been on one date. Don’t tell me that’s true?!” Titija pointed right at him, directly calling him out.

Butter for the most part reacted accordingly by going “?!?!?!?!?” out loud with his mouth somehow. 

With him out of the way Titija went ahead and turned her attention back to her granddaughter, who looked absolutely struck with fear. “You're going to have to really step it up if you want to give me grandchildren before I’m dead and buried in the ground!” 

“GRANDMAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!” Babycorn wailed.

[hqmillioncorn]

don't even kid, we're a perfect fit!

Lalapril Day Twenty-Nine: Discovery the cool upstart butter moontide is taking alexandria by storm!! and with popularity merchandise comes hand in hand of course and metem has a great idea of his own the future soon to be champion of the Arcadion; Butter belongs to @windupnamazu

Metem really had to hand it to himself–he really knew how to pick ‘em!

Who could have ever seen it coming? That the brand-new challenger he so totally randomly picked off the street would go and fight his way through the Arcadion’s Light-Heavyweight tier with such ease. 

Why Metem would go so far as to say it looked like Butter hadn’t even broken a sweat during any of his matches. If the upstart kept going like this then the Cruiserweight tier wouldn’t even be a challenge. Then all that would be left after that would be the Heavyweight and then…

…he was getting ahead of himself.

“Right! The reason I’ve asked you here today-!” Metem put his hands on his hips and proudly smiled at the other two Milalla in the room.

That being Lunya and a very bored looking Butter. Both were sitting down on the benches of the Greenroom, facing away from the giant display screen that recently served as a means for Butter to get familiar with his future opponents. 

“I’m sure you’re more aware than anyone Butter–that you will soon be making your grand debut into the Cruiserweight tier.”

“Yeah? So?” That was all set to be in a couple of months or so, he remembered that much.

“Y-Yes well, for that very reason we have to prepare a whole new line of merchandise to sell that corresponds with your scheduled matches!” Metem hoped neither would realize this decision totally wasn't made at the latest of last minutes. 

At the time Metem was so elated he finally found the perfect competitor to breathe new life into the Arcadion he never even considered the possibility of all the new merch they would have as a result.  

Just yesterday Metem extended Butter an invitation back to the Greenroom to show him what new items he and the geniuses at the Arcadion marketing division came up with. 

Past exchanges about this were usually the same ol’ ‘Can we please sell things with your face on them?’ sort of questions. 

Maybe it was a bad habit, and maybe Cinnamon was right that Butter should ask more questions about it but Metem always had the worst timing.

He would always (always!) call him while he was right in the middle of hanging out with Babycorn!

It wasn’t until today when Lunya, his self-proclaimed agent and manager, finally put her foot down. “No son of mine is going to let a company copyright his face and not have a say in it!” Lunya was going to make his contract with the Arcadion benefit him whether he wanted to or not. 

So Lunya went ahead and walked right in the middle of his not-a-date with Babycorn. One where Bebe was hand feeding him fruit from a perfectly normal sized parfait they were sharing. 

Without mercy she dragged the poor guy away from a very confused and bewildered Babycorn. 

“NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” Butter wailed. 

Before they made their exit Lunya made sure to remind Babycorn of something really important. “Do NOT eat that whole thing you are going to give yourself a tummy ache!” She waggled her finger at her to make sure her little sister knew she meant business. 

“Oh, and don’t worry I’ll bring him back!” Lunya smiled. “I’ll even give you both a little treat for being so patieeeeent~!” 

And now they were here. 

Metem paused, for a few tense seconds taking a look around the room. 

“Actually. I will be. Right back.”

Turns out he may have forgotten the reason they were all gathered there. Opps. It could have happened to anyone really.

With that, Metem zoomed out of the room faster than either Lunya or Butter could ask him about it. 

None of this helped in making Butter feel any better. “You could have let me finish my parfait…” Butter grumbled. It was just a little unlike him but he did have his moments, especially when it came to Babycorn. 

Before Butter could say anything else he felt someone grab his shirt collar, lifting him off the floor.

Lunya’s eyes were very much closed but he could still feel her intimidating stare looking right through him. “I will stop interrupting your quote, hang-outs, unquote. If you call them what they really are.” 

“A?”

It just wasn’t sinking in. 

The air around Lunya grew more tense and very scary. “OooOOoh you hate Lunya…Even though she’s so niceys and patient…” She cried, a single tear falling from her sparkly eye.

Hadn’t she already gone through so much? Wasn’t having to live through the ordeal of Coco and Melmeltan’s slowest of slowburns romance ENOUGH?! 

“You want Wunya to Suffer?!” She wailed.

Lunya held Butter up in the air by his shirt collar, swishing him all over the place as she posed dramatically. “N-No I d-d-d-don’t?!” He was starting to get dizzy.

Just then Metem walked back in, box in hand. It was a shimmery golden color and all wrapped up with a matching bow on top. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long!” 

Lunya gently set Butter back down into his seat. His eyes were still spinning but he was otherwise okay. For now. 

“It’s no problem! Your president is paying us by the minute after all!” Lunya reminded him.

“He’s not paying you????”

An issue that could be settled right after Metem could present the whole reason they were gathered here. “Let’s see here…” He mumbled to himself as he looked for somewhere to safely put the box he was carrying. 

For some reason Metem was presenting his surprise almost like it was a priceless work of art that needed to be treated with the utmost care. Which was funny in hindsight because whatever was under that box couldn’t have been worth any more than seven-thousand gil. 

Unless of course, you had a certain audience in mind.

In that case the price was closer to absolutely priceless. 

Eventually he settled on just placing it on one of the small triangular tables that connected the benches together.

“Ahem.” Metem cleared his throat and the show began “Feast your eyes–on the newest additions to the Upstart’s merchandise collection!” 

An almost blinding sliver of light shined through the slight opening of the box–until Metem enthusiastically ripped off the box’s cover.  

Butter struggled to shield his eyes from the dazzling light.  “W-What’s…?” he tried to ask, but found himself at a loss for words once the light cleared and he saw with his own two eyes what amazing, wondrous thing almost blinded him.

(and only him because Metem and Lunya had no idea what he was seeing)

There they were.

A pair of stuffed toys, with the appearance of not just Butter but Babycorn too. Both were dressed up in the outfits they'd worn during their match with Honey B. Lovely.

That is to say, they were just in their regular Arcadion outfits. 

The expressions were cute and simple and had pale pink oval blush markings. Both also had their arms outstretched in front of them, almost looking like they were asking for someone to hug them. 

The material they were made looked fluffy, really fluffy. And also soft. Soft enough one wouldn’t be able to resist cuddling one. That’s how cozy they looked. 

Butter leapt at the chance, taking out his wallet in record speed. “I’ll take forty!!” 

“Down boy.” Lunya pulled him back into his seat. “They probably don’t even have forty made yet.”

Metem grabbed the stuffed Butter in one hand and Babycorn in the other, wiggling them in place. While just a tad bit concerned at how much Butter was vibrating in place, he nevertheless continued. “They come as a set  As the tagline says–You can try to separate them but they’ll always find each other no matter how far!” 

Then Metem brought the stuffed Butter and Babycorn closer together, closer and closer and closer…

A recent memory in Butter’s head was making him blush, his face turning a deep red. “W-W-W-What are you-??” Fueled by pure instinct alone Butter closed his eyes. 

Then–it clicked. 

Morbidly curious, Butter opened his eyes and then he gasped, his eyes widening to what might have been twice their size. “BbbBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB.” Was about all he could say. 

Because in Metem’s hands the stuffed facsimiles of him and Babycorn were hugging, embracing the other in their outstretched arms. It was very cute. Their heads were close enough that it even looked like they were kissing if someone looked close enough.

“They come with little magnets inside!” Metem explained, “So, when they’re held close enough they will–pop together!” He separated them and then brought them back into each other's embrace, again and again. 

“Just like that!”

Lunya thought it was really cute how Butter kept frowning every time Metem would separate them and then go right back to smiling when he made them hug. It was like clockwork. 

While she was sure Butter was ecstatic to see this, Lunya had some worries she needed to make known. “It’s alright but…What about Butter’s fans? Will Babycorn be okay?” She asked.

Maybe Metem just wasn’t aware of the quickly growing Butter fan club that was probably doubling in members as they spoke. Though Yaana warned all of them about something along the lines of it happening it pretty much snuck up on all of them. 

By the time Butter exited his third match he already had a crowd of fans waiting outside for him–all of them chanting his name and holding signs congratulating him on his sweeping victory.  

Not only that, there were several that threw caution to the wind and asked for either one singular date with him or his hand in marriage.

Something about it felt a little bit familiar. 

It’s not like Butter wasn’t flattered or anything but it was all just a little overwhelming. 

Metem chuckled, normally yes this would be a problem but in keeping up with just how strange the upstart’s debut was–it only made sense his fan reception would be just as surprising. “Oh I wouldn’t worry about that.” 

From out of his pocket he pulled out one of those fancy phones with a screen you could touch. Lunya could still see the teeth marks from when Babycorn tried to eat it. 

“We had a handful of our investigators infiltrate some online spaces and what we uncovered may surprise you…” 

Metem turned the phone towards Lunya and Butter so they could take a peek. Both leaned in closer, reading the words on the screen as Metem slowly scrolled through the evidence. 

‘Did you see how the upstart started getting serious once Honey started going after his teammate?!’ 

‘lmao isn’t she the same girl that the king said he was dating? i guess she is kinda single now’

‘would i lose souls if i said i think she and butter look cuter together than she did with the queen OR kign?’

‘Waiiiiiiiiiiit they’re so cute together?? they’re even wearing each other colooorsssss!!!!!’

‘#babybutter I edited all the clips i could find during the match where they helped each other out and looked at each other! Let me know if I missed any!

‘babybutter? 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 don’t you mean buttercorn?’

‘um no??? lol Everyone knows that its the tops name that goes f-

“OoHHHkaYYYY!” Lunya pushed Metem’s phone out of view, “Hahaha! I think we get it!” She already got enough of that from Babycorn after all her lessons with Laith.

And she was being generous in calling them that. 

She didn’t need to be given reminders of what awaited her on what would happen after said lessons inevitably started again.

Also she needed to protect her son, her twenty-eight year old minor. 

Butter gave it some thought. “I mean…I would be good with s-selling these.” He looked over to a corner of the room, thinking once again about that fateful encounter when he and Babycorn rode the ferris wheel among the fireworks. 

“T-They’re c-cute…” Butter giggled out, he took hold of his beloved locket and held it close.  

“Right? In a completely platonic way?” Lunya raised an eyebrow.

“Mmmhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm...” 

That probably meant something along the lines of, yeah sure. 

“Wonderful!” Metem was happy it worked out. Especially after all that effort they put into making sure the hug was perfect. They used the hug Babycorn and Butter performed at the end of the second round as a reference but the most difficult part was incorporating her tail. 

With that out of the way Metem went ahead and finally gave Butter what he wanted. “Since we have more than these two–Butter would you like to give these a home? Just keep them a secret until the official reveal. That’s all I ask…” 

Memories of Hector’s enthusiasm in showing off to all of Solution 9 that he was about to be an action figure began to run through his head. Now that was a hectic weekend.

Metem handed the stuffed toys to a very happy Butter, “Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuu…” he squealed. He placed the stuffed Butter right next to him and proceeded to give the stuffed Babycorn a big hug, holding her close to him. 

Oddly his expression soon turned into a confident smirk. “Hehehehe! Take that little Butts…” Now he had his own Babycorn that his kiss stealing counterpart could get jealous at. Ha! 

“...Little Butts?” Lunya suddenly had some questions. 

Butter was already far too gone, his eyes closed as he daydreamed about locking hands with Babycorn and spinning happily in a field of flowers as a dragon flew over the sky and threatened to kidnap Butter to take him up high in a tower to keep him prisoner. 

Then Babycorn would go and collect all the jewels she needed to defeat the dragon and then save him and then she would pick him up in her arms and then-

“Okay, yeah he’s gone. Right.” There was a little something that Lunya wasn’t forgetting. “Did you ask Babycorn about all this?” If they were going to be selling these in pairs then Butter wasn’t the only person Metem had to ask about it. 

Even if most of what they were going to say to her about intellectual property would fly over her head, pom, and horns. 

About that. “Well…” Metem looked awfully suspicious for someone with nothing to hide, “That’s already taken care of!” He smiled.

“What!?” Lunya sighed, “Please. Don’t tell me she signed anything.”  

The worst ran through Lunya’s mind. Gods forbid Babycorn had gone and signed another contract without ‘adult’ supervision. Last time she did that she almost sold herself to a traveling circus and at the same time also gave most of her possessions to a scam artist. 

“Oh no, nothing like that.” Metem went back to fiddling on his phone.

There was a certain something he was looking for. Something from just a few days ago. “Ah, here we are.” Metem turned the phone around to show Lunya, and only Lunya since a certain other Lalafell with Viera ears was busy making two stuffed toys hug while giggling to himself. 

As the image on the screen began to move it showed Babycorn in the Greenroom just as they were. Cherrypit was sitting next to her and playing with some chalk he found on the ground.

And by playing I mean he was eating it.

Metem’s voice came through the phone. ‘I wanted to get your opinion on these–since it involves you and I know were the reason our first batch of stuffed Butter’s sold out.’

Lunya wanted to ground the small Babycorn in the phone for nodding and confirming everything Metem was telling her. “So everyone knows she did that then?” She asked, of course referring to the robbery of tens of thousands of stuffed Butter plushies she robbed last month.

“The warehouse does have security cameras for a reason Mrs. Lunya.” 

As the video continued Metem explained pretty much the same thing he had told them to Babycorn instead and when the reveal happened–her reaction was also about the same as a certain someone else’s. 

In a way. 

Babycorn wasted literally no time as she leapt towards the stuff Butter, hugging it tightly and spinning in place. “KIiIIIiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….” That was the approximate kind of noise that she made. 

“I want more! Make more of THESE!” She outright demanded. 

Then when Metem explained that they were a set of her and Butter her tone didn’t change in the slightest.

It got so much more louder and excited.

‘You mean me and Butt’s get to hug together! As toys and in real life?! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! I WANNA DO THAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!’

That’s where the recording ended, because a certain pom wearing little lady ran rammed right into Metem demanding he hand over more of these stuffed toys. 

Needless to say, it was about as good of a blessing from Babycorn as one could ask. Metem had the bump on his head to prove it. “Don’t you worry, we can discuss Babycorn’s compensation at a later date.” Metem figured he wouldn’t get anywhere discussing that with her face to face. 

Having known Babycorn for almost a year now he doubted she even knew what money was for. 

Just like that Lunya had now been cast as Babycorn’s agent. What did that make–three of her friends under her belt? Honestly, most of her worries fell upon just two of them.

She knew full well that Butter at the least would read through his contract before just blindly signing it. Which was more than she could say about Coco and Babycorn. 

Lunya thought about it for a second. “Then that’s a seventy percent cut for us!” She beamed. 

“HUH?!” 

The shock alone almost sent Metem to the floor. Last time Lunya asked for sixty why was the number getting higher all of a sudden. He wasn’t about to just stand here and let himself get finessed. 

“Now wait a-!” 

“You gotta pay the Babycorn tax~!” Lunya giggled. It’s a real thing. Look it up.

“No, no. That is not a real thing. You are not fooling me.” Metem grumbled to himself, using his phone to open up the best search engine electrope could power. 

It took less than a minute for him to face the facts.

“...Well I’ll be.”

[hqmillioncorn]

the one who corroded my heart is...

Lalapril Day Twenty-Eight: Paradise solution 9 is making everyone feel like a fish out of water, but there are some things that never change despite the setting. like how butter has to fight for his life. but now, its more dire than ever. guy who really thought this was gonna be a vacation and not another character arc; Butter belongs to @windupnamazu

Butter wanted to go home. 

Or to just be anywhere but here.

Yes it was true that Solution 9 was cool, even he couldn’t deny that. With its awesome flying motorcycles and all sorts of technological advances that would threaten to make even the most tech savvy of Eorzean’s heads start spinning. 

He was awestruck by the gigantic city as much as everyone else was when they all first arrived. At some point while trying to take it all in he remembered his neck quickly getting sore. 

These were definitely some of the tallest buildings he had ever seen in his twenty-something summers of being alive. It almost felt like they just kept going and going and going and going…

It made him feel…kinda small. 

Still–he didn’t really have too many negative feelings towards Alexandria itself as they learned it was called. 

None so far.

Did he wish this place came with some sort of map? Yeah, just a little. 

It also didn’t help that there were robotic sentries wandering everywhere in the city. Just staring them down with blank expressions as they walked by. Looking much too similar to the ones that attacked them on the way here for him to be comfortable with.  

And the questionable way that they handled the souls of the dead aside–it was pretty chill as Babycorn so eloquently put it. Butter made the decision that if the girl he loved felt this way then of course he would too. Supporting her was the least he could do for her. 

Especially since everyone else didn’t seem to. 

That was the only reason Butter decided to give Alexandria and one of its rulers the benefit of the doubt. Until he knew it was the whole that posed a threat and not just Zoraal Ja he would keep his sword sheathed. 

There were no second chances when it came to keeping his loved ones safe, not for him.

…yes, it was true he felt this way but there was this strange feeling he just couldn’t shake. No matter how hard he tried, but it needed to go, for the sake of him having Babycorn’s back. 

Amid the explorations and investigations their team were conducting, Babycorn took Butter aside to ask him nicely if he could go with her to go find something to eat.

‘Lunya said I had to take someone with me to make sure nothing happened and she and Mister Laith are real busy. But I wanna…’ She quietly explained, stomping her feet kind of unenthusiastically on the ground. 

To be completely honest Babycorn didn’t have the stamina to argue with her big sister on this one. 

With such a big new place to have to navigate around she was pretty relieved she could take someone else with her. Coupled with the strange way Cherrypit had been behaving ever since they breached the dome–it was quickly taking it out of her. 

So Babycorn was more than glad to get all the help she could get. 

Butter was happy to accompany her, no matter where she took him. And the where in question turned out to be a cafe on the side of the Nexus Arcade. 

Somewhere Queen Sphene showed them earlier. Babycorn couldn’t quite remember the name, even after thinking for a very long time (three minutes). Instead referring to it as somewhere Sphene told her she could order as many things as she wanted since the generous Queen was paying for her accommodations. 

Turns out Babycorn changed her mind about eating something and decided she wanted a yummy drink instead. Multiple of them. Maybe even enough to get someone worried about her if they didn’t know her well enough.

Changing her mind at the literal last minute was something Babycorn had the tendency to do a lot, but Butter just knew it as one of her cute little quirks. 

Oh suddenly Babycorn doesn’t want to sleep–she wants to bake a cheesecake instead! Things like that made Butter giggle and twirl his hair around his finger just thinking about it. 

Despite being lost in a daydream of getting to bake a four-layer cake with Babycorn one day while giggling and kicking his feet in the air, Butter was almost frighteningly attentive in making sure Cherrypit didn’t wander too far. 

It was something not many would understand at first–the sheer amount of trust someone like Babycorn would have to have towards someone to trust them to watch over her baby brother while her back was turned.

Butter himself always took it especially seriously, since he was one of the few that could understand exactly where Babycorn was coming from. 

Even though Pancake and Cherrypit didn’t share too many similarities between themselves, one thing they did have in common was having older siblings that could be a bit overprotective.

More than just the one sibling even! 

So as the pair sat in wait for Babycorn to come back with drinks in hand Cherrypit decided to kill the time by chewing on his baby leash. Not out of a desire to escape and run rampant or anything, he was just the type of baby that preferred to investigate things using his very dangerous mouth. 

Babycorn did see this coming and tearfully asked for Lunya and Butter’s help to craft her perhaps what might have been the strongest tether in all the realm and beyond. 

The daydream Butter was lost in paused for just a second, after feeling a tug on his sleeve. “Hmm?” He looked to his side, Cherrypit was looking at him with huge pleading eyes. The question was clear even without him even having to ask.

“There, there. Bebe will be back soon!” Butter carefully untangled part of the baby leash from between Cherrypit’s teeth. “Then she’ll have your yummy drink and your cup too! So hang in there, okay?”

Because of course he ate the cup after he was done with the drink, just like his sister. 

“Okaaaaayyy Butts…”

There was a little bit of a whine in there but Cherrypit understood. It was just like big sis Yeye would tell her. Sometimes for really yummy things you have to wait a really long time, but he still didn’t like it. 

As Butter gave Cherrypit a small pat-pat on his head, he let his eyes wander around the cafe. 

They were sitting at one of the tables closest to the counter. A strategic move on Butter’s part to also make sure that Babycorn didn’t potentially wander off either. From here he could see the line starting to move, making Babycorn the next in line to order. 

Butter could only hope she didn’t go overboard and order too many drinks. For both their sakes and the sakes of the poor unsuspecting baristas over the counter. 

He also wasn’t sure if Cherrypit could hold out that long.  

As Butter continued counting the seconds in his head he noticed something laying on the table next to theirs. Normally it wouldn’t have caught his attention, not in the slightest, since he was putting all of his concentration into making sure Cherrypit didn’t run off too far. 

Just as his eyes began to drift away from it–they snapped back to stare at the magazine in disbelief.

Butter felt his heart start to race, faster and faster in his chest.

Wasting no time Butter scrambled out of his seat as slammed his hands down on the table, staring down at the pages in front of him. 

Cherrypit curiously followed right behind him, still connected to Butter by the baby leash tied around his waist. “Butts?” Had something happened? He tugged on the older Vierafell’s stylish shorts to try and get his attention but there was no response. 

There. Right there on the open pages of the magazine was a picture of the King of Resolve himself, Zoraal Ja, in the same almost otherworldly armor they had seen him in just a few days ago 

And right next to him was a different photo. One that had immediately caught Butter’s attention.

An image of Babycorn, clearly taken during their time in the Outskirts. 

Her pose gave off the impression that this was a candid shot. Taken right in the middle of her turning around to either look at something or talk to someone. Her mouth was open, as if she were still talking to someone and she looked surprised about something. 

The question of who could have even taken this photo was quickly pushed aside because somehow that wasn’t even the worst part. 

Butter picked the magazine up from the table. He gripped the magazine pages with so much force the pages were threatening to come undone. The pictures in question also came paired up with a massive headline connecting them together. 

‘Hot News!! King of Resolve announces New Relationship with outsider from another world!!!’

‘EXCUSE ME???????’ 

What the hell was this?! 

Butter didn't even care if he was possibly causing a scene because really–what was he looking at?!  At what point in time did Zoraal Ja announce this?! And for that matter–why?! 

It was one thing to have feelings towards Babycorn, because while Butter had his own particular feelings over people that constantly proposed and made googly eyes at the girl he loved, it's not like he wished for their untimely deaths or anything. 

(okay maybe sometimes he did) 

This however, was different.

Zoraal Ja outright lying and saying that she was actively dating him was…was…SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY. 

Surely, SURELY even he would realize that Babycorn would hear about this and call his bluff. Or was he being delusional and expecting her to play along? As far as he could remember she never really had anything bad to say about her experience of being on Zoraal Ja’s team. 

In fact Babycorn only ever had good things to say, both about her time with him and Zoraal Ja himself. Which all quickly disappeared into nothing but disbelief and ire towards him once he had invaded Tuliyollal and killed Gulool Ja Ja. 

So, when taking everything Zoraal Ja did in the past seventy-eight hours into consideration this was probably the least worst out of all of them.

Didn't mean Butter couldn't be pissed off about it though.

Is this really the way Zoraal Ja was going to repay her kindness?

…That wasn't even mentioning that this picture of Babycorn couldn't have been taken any less than a day ago! They hadn’t been exploring the dome for that long and yet Zoraal Ja wasted no time in making sure people heard about this lie. 

No wonder people had been looking at Babycorn with such weird looks. 

Just how fast did people in this city get news out?! 

And ANOTHER THING. WHY WAS THIS NEWS WORTHY?!

Whatever. Enough was enough. “Cherry, give me a hand with this.” 

Cherrypit did as he was told and opened his terrifying maw wide, letting Butter toss the magazine inside. His sharp teeth snapped shut with a loud boom. Then Cherrypit did his best impression of a saw blade and shred the pages into ribbons.

“Pooey!” After he was done he spit out the remaining pieces of paper up into the sky, letting them rain down on him like confetti. “Snow! Is snow Butts!” He put his hands up in the air and did a happy little bounce. 

“Yeah…! Snow…” He hoped Cherrypit could forgive him for not feeling too enthusiastic right now. There was a lot on his mind.

And it was about to get even much worse. 

“Cherrypit! Butter!” 

Butter’s head whipped around at the sound of his name. While he failed to recognize the voice’s owner he already knew it didn’t belong to Babycorn.

It didn’t take long for him to realize who it was that was calling to them. 

It was honestly very hard to miss Sphene, even among the citizens of Solution 9 she stood out like a bioluminescent cerulean thumb. 

“Hello there!” Sphene waved at them before she walked closer to them, waving at anyone who said hello to her on the way. Once she got close enough she greeted Butter and Cherrypit with a polite curtsy. “May I?” Sphene asked, gesturing to an empty seat next to them. 

“Y-Yeah-! Of course!” Butter scooted over in his seat to give her some more room, he didn't want to be rude or anything but…

Respectfully, didn’t Sphene have anything better to do than to follow them around? 

“What brings you two to Mosaic? Trying to sample some local drinks are you?” she asked.

So that’s what this place was called. “No…Er…” Despite knowing he could trust Babycorn and in turn trust Sphene he couldn’t help but be just a little nervous. It couldn’t have had anything to do with trust, so maybe he was just intimidated with her being royalty. 

Yeah that was probably it. Butter made room on his lap for Cherrypit to sit. “We’re here with Bebe.” he explained, “She’s buying us drinks right over there.” Butter tilted his head in the direction of the counter. There was nothing they needed to hide, they were friends after all. 

Sphene shot a glance to where Babycorn was. She giggled to herself. “By the looks of it she’s ordering quite a few…” 

“Yeah…” it was exactly as Butter expected. Hopefully it wasn’t too many where they would have trouble carrying them back. 

Sphene looked back and forth at Babycorn and Butter. There was a large smile crossing her face that she tried in vain to cover with her hand. “If it's just the two of you and Cherry…? Oh my…” Sphene chuckled, “Don’t tell me, are you and Babycorn on a little date?”

Butter didn’t quite care for the way she had emphasized the word date like that. It almost felt condescending. Regardless of his feelings he had to set the record straight.

“No I d-don’t think so!” he tried to laugh it off. 

Cherrypit chewed on his leash a little more aggressively, quietly growling. 

It wasn’t very clear if Sphene believed his words or not. A few of them, Butter included, noticed quite quickly how hard it was to get a good read on exactly how she was feeling. “By the way…Have you heard of what Zoraal Ja did?” Sphene asked, with a smile on her face. 

Butter wasn’t sure what to answer here, but ultimately it wasn’t his choice to make. 

Sphene sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head on the palm of her hand. “I don’t wish to speak ill of him but is it because he’s King that he thinks he must be entitled to everything but don’t you think telling everyone he’s dating Babycorn is going a bit too far…?” 

“Yeah…” Butter anxiously tapped his seat with his fingers. “It is.” 

“I spent over ten years hearing him talk about her and just how much he misses her then one day–he just stops.”

Sphene couldn't figure out why or how Zoraal Ja’s clear crush on Babycorn just disappeared so suddenly. It hadn’t even fizzled over time. It just stopped. Point blank. 

For years she questioned if he actually been able to tell just how bored she was becoming hearing about this girl day in and day out. Surely not, Sphene was adept at hiding her true intentions. 

Then one day it all came back in full force, with absolutely no sign of stopping. 

Suddenly sweet innocent Babycorn and the invasion of outside of the dome was all Zoraal Ja could think about. 

Not in that order of course, eternal conflict was still his top priority. 

“If I had to guess…Maybe seeing her again reminded him of his true feelings…” Sphene placed her hand on her chest, closing it in a fist as she felt nothing. “It’s a little romantic when you think about it.” 

There was really nothing Butter could do to hide his absolute bewilderment towards what Sphene said. His mouth was agape, his eyebrows overturned, and his eyes were full of worry wondering just how she had even come to that conclusion. 

Sphene decided she wasn't going to wait for an answer. “But if you ask me…” She closed her hand around the skirt of her dress and squeezed it tight. Her body remained completely still as she looked up to the sky.

“Babycorn deserves someone who loves her enough to never cast her aside…” She looked right at Butter–her head tilting to an almost unnatural degree. 

“And who would stay by her side even beyond death…” 

She smiled. 

"Wouldn't you agree, Butter?” 

A chill blew through the air. There was a clear answer to her question but Butter’s throat quickly went dry, closing itself up. No matter how hard he tried to answer nothing would come out. 

Butter tried to call upon all his strength to overpower whatever was holding him back but there was nothing. This couldn’t be where his convictions ended, could it? 

He could feel Cherrypit’s small hands clinging to his jacket–shivering as he buried his face against him. 

“I…” Butter tried to say. 

But it was too little too late. 

The sound of footsteps coming towards them cut him right off.

“Sphene?! Hi! What are you doing here?” 

Babycorn finally made it back, three drinks in her hand and one balanced on her head in between her horns. She took great pride in being able to remember everyone’s orders but quickly lost track of which ones belonged to who. 

“If I knew you were gonna be here I woulda’ gotten you something too!” She smiled.

Sphene practically leapt up from her seat, “Babycorn! Helloooooo!” She cried as she stretched her arms out and ran right towards her.  

With her arms and top of her head presently occupied Babycorn really had little choice but to let Sphene give her a great big hug, hopefully she didn’t mind too much not being given one in return. Or having to get on her knees to reach her. Damn Babycorn’s lack of a growth spurt.

“Hi! Sphene” Babycorn greeted her again. “Do you want me to get you a drink too? I still have some gil left over from what Lulu gave me!” 

Sphene shook her head. As much as she would want to keep it a secret how delighted she was that Babycorn even made her the offer–her actions would quickly give her away. 

“I am satisfied enough just to get the chance to see you again.” Sphene stood right back up and stayed right on Babycorn’s heels as she made her way to the table where Butter and Cherrypit were waiting for her–Sphene’s arms dutifully behind her back awaiting Babycorn’s next move. 

Butter kept his gaze fixed on Sphene. Her last question towards him was still running on a loop through his head.

No one at that table would have any way of knowing just the kind of internal struggle he was dealing with at that moment. 

To keep trusting Babycorn or to turn her back on her and trust in his own instincts. The very same ones that were screaming for him to take Babycorn by the hand and take her as far away from Sphene as he could. 

“Here ya go Butts!” 

Babycorn slammed down a drink in front of her bestest friend with such enthusiasm she almost caused it to spill over. “Thanks Bebe…” Normally her smiling face would be enough to make him feel better no matter what but it was just making him more worried. 

“Bebe! Bebeee!” Of course the sound of her brother crying out her name caught Babycorn’s attention right away. 

Babycorn moved her arms in front of her and picked him up, he was awfully clingy lately. All of it starting from the very moment they all stepped into the dome. “Shhh…It’s okay Cherry. I’m here. I’m here.” No matter the reason Babycorn would always try to find a way to calm him down. 

She stroked his hair while letting him lay his head against her. “I brought you a really tasty chocolate milk. Do you wanna drink it together?” Like all their other adventures Babycorn made sure to bring his favorite cup with her. A bright pink one with yellow stripes. 

Cherrypit nodded, wiping his teary eyes on his sister’s clothes. 

“Would you like some help with that?” Sphene chimed in. 

Babycorn’s pom spiked up in surprise. She didn't even realize that Sphene was still around. “I-I mean if…Don’t you have a buncha important queen stuff to do?” What was really weird was that it wasn’t even the first time Babycorn asked her that question. 

Sometimes it even felt like Sphene was actively following her but that would be silly!

“Not to worry! I always make time in my day to check in to see how my people are faring.” 

Butter glared at her, crossing his arms. “We’re not Alexandrians. We don’t live here.” The way his voice sounded caught Babycorn off guard–enough for her to be too stunned to say anything. 

So that’s how it was going to be. “Well–that is quite a different take than what Babycorn told me.” Sphene smiled warmly. Butter’s feelings could be seen loud and clear. She wondered if he even realized just how easy he was to read. 

Sphene got down on her knees and draped her arms over Babycorn’s shoulders, embracing her and pulling her in closer. “A queen must protect her people–even from the smallest of dangers.” She smiled.

Butter stared at her–eyes wide open and unblinking. His pupils were shaking in anger.  

“Um…Sphene?” Babycorn wiggled in her embrace. “I can’t move. Can you please get off me? It's kinda annoying…” There was that lack of a filter again. No one could really fault Babycorn all that much for generally speaking her mind. Especially in this case. 

Butter really hoped it got under Sphene’s skin. 

If it did, then she hid it well. “Of course.” Sphene moved back, giving Babycorn back her personal space. She sat on her legs and rested her hands on her knees. “You should hurry and give Cherry his drink. He seems restless.” 

As unrespectfully as he could mean it, Butter questioned, what did she know about Cherry?

Babycorn carried her brother back to a seat, setting him down while she grabbed the drink on top of her head to pour it out for him. There was a tense feeling in the air going right over her head as she hummed to herself while filling Cherrypit’s cup with his drink. 

Since Babycorn returned Butter hadn’t stopped staring at Sphene, wishing with all of his might that she might burst into flames any second now.

Meanwhile, Queen Sphene spent this whole time looking at Babycorn. 

“Babycorn? Can you show me that necklace of yours again?” Sphene asked, holding her hands together and grinning. Really it was just a simple question. There was no reason Babycorn couldn’t grant her this little request. 

Butter could hardly believe what he heard. Again? What did Sphene mean by again? He looked at Babycorn with complete disbelief, his face paling.

What necklace was she referring to? 

It could only be one. Her Starsinger necklace. 

“Babycorn…Did you…?” 

This couldn’t be the same Babycorn who once needed someone to go out with her out of fear of getting recognized as a Starsinger–it just couldn’t be.

The very same Babycorn who was too scared to even think about her birth name in fear that someone would find her out. 

The Babycorn Corn who almost threw her name away but was stopped from doing so at the last minute. 

Butter, Lunya, literally everyone he could think of told Babycorn over and over again to be careful what she told people. That there were countless people out in Eorzea and beyond that wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of her and her powers. 

Nothing Babycorn already didn’t know but someone like her needed to hear it and definitely needed to hear it more than once. Throughout all of that she told them, assured them, that she would never do something like that. 

They could all rest easy knowing Babycorn knew to only share her secret around only people she knew she could trust, or knew that the others could trust. 

They'd known Sphene for less than a week. 

She couldn’t possibly be that STUPID.

“Sure!” Babycorn grinned.

Then without even wasting a second, she took a deep breath and concentrated, bringing her hands up close to her chest. 

A single point of light appeared right between her palms–glowing brighter and brighter until it reached its limit. Glowing as bright as a star.

In time the light shrank into itself revealing a golden necklace with a shining green jewel in the middle. “Here it is!” Just like that, like it was nothing.

Sphene’s eyes sparkled, almost as much as the jewel itself did. “Wow! It’s still so beautiful!” She took her hand and gently took hold of the necklace, inspecting it at all angles while the chain still hung around Babycorn’s neck. 

Her innocuous statement proved Butter’s worst fear to be a reality. This was not the first time she'd seen it. 

“This? Lets you use your Starsinger powers?” 

Babycorn nodded, quite enthusiastically. “Kinda! Yeah! I can use them without it but it helps me make sure I don’t like accidentally get lost or stuff…” It was the way she was saying it, just so carefree, that was making Butter’s hands shake. 

“That’s truly amazing…” Sphene traced her fingers along the outline of the large jewel, before placing her hand on it. 

She wanted a closer look, she wanted it to be closer to her. 

Sphene tugged on the necklace.

Babycorn let out a whine as Sphene pulled her forward. Towards her. Her legs were shaking, trying so hard to keep themselves steady and in place. Her face contorted, wincing in pain. As if she was actively fighting to make sure the smile on her face never wavered. 

A fight she was very much losing. 

Butter was moving faster than he was thinking. 

His mind was a cloudy mess. As he pushed himself forward, crawling on the seat to get to Babycorn’s side as quickly as he could. Forgoing his drink and carrying Cherrypit in his arms. 

The very next thing he knew–his hand was wrapped around Babycorn’s own. The words left his mouth before he considered what he was even going to say. “Bebe! W-We have to go now, remember?” Butter pleaded, a bead of sweat trailing down his face. 

“If we don’t get back soon then Lunya is going to get worried…!” That part was more truth than it was a lie.

They'd already been gone for far too long. Maybe it was silly that the two of them, as old as they were, still had a curfew but right now it was the only thing he could fall back on. 

“I…umm…” Babycorn looked at her hand in Butter’s and back to Sphene, her hand still gripping her necklace with enough force it looked like she was moments away from crushing it.

“You should go.” Sphene let go of Babycorn’s necklace, sending it falling back down against Babycorn. “Butter is right–you don’t want to make your friend worried.” She stood back up, taking a few seconds to straighten her dress.

“We can speak again later, Babycorn. If you so wish.” This time Sphene decided she wouldn’t bother. She glared down at Butter and Cherrypit with eyes that couldn't do anything to hide just how annoyed she was at both of them. 

Before walking away without another word. 

This was it–the worst was over. Butter had done it.

He managed to protect Babycorn against all odds. 

But things weren’t going to be that easy. Not anymore. “Wait but…!” Babycorn took a few steps towards where Sphene had gone, reaching out her hand for her. 

Before realizing there was no way she could hear her. Sphene was already too far gone.

But there was always the chance she could come back. Which is why Butter wanted to put as much distance between them and Sphene as he could. “Babycorn we should really-” 

“Butts why’d you do that!?” Babycorn snapped at him.

She stepped away, ripping her hand back away from his. Her breathing was heavy and erratic, barely able to hold her tears back. “Sphene is my friend!” She yelled “ We were just talking and if you’re mean to her she won’t wanna be friends with us!” 

What wasn’t Butter understanding? It was because they were friends that Babycorn was sure Sphene would never do anything to hurt her.

And to stay friends with someone was easy. All that was ever required was to listen and be with them. “I was gonna help her…cause we’re friends…” That’s all that was ever needed. 

Sphene needed her. 

Butter was in disbelief. Complete disbelief at the words Babycorn was saying.

“She…!” He started, but then Butter stopped himself just short of losing his temper at her. 

His hand was still shaking. There were so many things he wanted to tell her. Most of the thoughts running through his head wanted to yell and scold her for thinking like that.

Maybe if he hadn’t still been holding Cherrypit he would have taken her by the shoulders and shaken her–desperately asking her what she was thinking?!

What made-up world was she living in where she could trust Sphene so blindly?! 

It was pissing him off. It was making him mad at both Sphene and Babycorn when he already knew that one knew what she was doing.

and the other…

“Babycorn let’s just go.” 

just didn't know any better

[hqmillioncorn]

rain or shine I'm by your side, so why won't you look my way?

Lalapril Day Twenty-Seven: Resolve wow! team zoraal ja, bakool ja ja and also Babycorn totally beefed it and victory goes to the opposing team! yay! which is nice but now where did zoraal ja go? he was right here...? ...and hey where did babycorn go too?

In a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy Babycorn, along with Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja all lost the Feat of Repast. 

Badly. 

Almost comically so. 

Turns out putting bits of sofa cushion inside the xibruq pibil didn’t land her many points with the judge. Bakool Ja Ja went so far as to accuse Babycornof sabotaging their team from the inside but the truth was that she really was just that stupid.

That did beg the question of where she got the sofa cushion in the first place but that came second after the bitter sting of defeat. 

To say that Babycorn felt guilty was a bit of an understatement. 

While she was happy that her friends won there wasn’t any hiding just how bad she felt being the larger part of the reason her own team lost. Koana tried to help her feel better by assuring her that those two would have likely crashed and burned even without her help. 

“I don’t even think Zoraal Ja would have tried if you hadn’t been with him.” Wuk Lamat assured her, patting the top of her sad, sad sniffly head. “You probably gave them a better chance of winning by just being there.” 

“Besides winning–I already think it's impressive how you were able to convince him and Bakool Ja Ja to wear matching chef hats with you…” Koana couldn't wrap his head around how Babycorn pulled that off. Not until his sister pulled him to the side and whispered the latest sibling gossip into his ear.

Then it all made even LESS sense.

‘BABYCORN?! Really?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Isn’t that the one I saw grab a whole fistful of dirt and stuff it into her mouth?!’

‘YYYeah…………………………………………………’

Just what the hell did someone like their elder brother see in her?

Wuk Lamat brought up the idea that the reason was because Babycorn was smart and battle savvy.

To which literally everyone ever asked her what the hell she was talking about or if she knew someone else named Babycorn Corn. 

The moment Koana and Wuk lamat realized what was happening and what Zoraal Ja was wearing, it took every ounce of strength they possessed to keep themselves on task. After spending a good few minutes staring at him slack jawed in shock. 

By the way the chef hats were Babycorn sized and pink in color. So while it was oversized on her, they were practically puny on the heads of both Mamool Ja’s.

All three heads of course. 

“I thought it would be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!” Babycorn loudly wailed. 

Despite the odds Babycorn managed to give everyone the slip. 

In the midst of celebratory congratulations for both Wuk Lamat and Koana, Babycorn figured she might as well go somewhere else since she technically didn't win alongside them. 

There really was no need to congratulate her. She already heard enough of what she'd done from both of Bakool Ja Ja’s mouths. “It wasn’t on purpose…I’m not a liar…” She sniffled, kicking away a small pebble as far as she could. 

Babycorn could never stand it–being called something she wasn’t. 

She lost sight of the pebble, despite not kicking it very far. Babycorn let out a long sigh. If only both of her ex-teammates hadn’t stormed out in a huff. Maybe if she had been a little quicker then she might have had time to explain herself...

Just as she was about to give up–she spotted something in the distance. 

“...Wah!” There it was! A distinct Zoraal Ja like shape in the distance. 

This time there was no time to waste. “Zoraal Ja!” Babycorn cried out, her legs were already moving, carrying her as quickly as she could towards her new friend.  “W-Wait for me! I have to-! I have to tell you something!” She kept running, even after tripping more than once. 

No matter how many times she hit the ground Babycorn kept pushing herself up, even when her knees started to sting. “I’m here!”

For all the time that passed since her childhood in Ul’dah there were still a few things from back then that still lingered. The biggest being that she never wanted to lose a friend once she thought she made one. 

No matter what. 

Which is how, despite it all, Babycorn was actually able to catch up to Zoraal Ja.

Of course him stopping to stare at her played a huge part in that. And Zoraal Ja for his part did a great job masking his surprise. “You…” His tail twitched, ever so slightly.

For some reason he felt relieved, happy, and terrified to see Babycorn here. 

All in that order. 

He didn’t lose all his bearings though. Still managing to keep himself composed long enough to push Sareel Ja into the bushes to give Babycorn the illusion that he was alone. 

Once she was finally right in front of him Babycorn didn’t even give herself time to catch her breath.

“I-I just wanted to say I’m really sorry f-for making us lose like that! I wasn’t trying to, I promise! They don’t let me cook a lot in the kitchen so I also don’t know the names of a lot of the stuff they have in there! I’m not supposed to touch the stove! Really I wasn’t being mean! I promise I was only trying to help-!”

Babycorn wasn’t stopping, her horns were shifting multiple colors and her eyes were starting to spin. 

“Stop talking! You’re forgetting to breathe!” Zoraal Ja pressed his hand down against her head as carefully as he could.

He was quickly held hostage by the ever growing thought of Babycorn looking like a cute little tomato. It ran through his head in a loop.

As he tried to shake that imagine of his thoughts he noticed Babycorn was still talking. “Stop that.” Zoraal Ja carefully took hold of Babycorn’s pom between his fingers and pulled her up.

Babycorn stuck her tongue out as she was lifted off the ground. She kicked her legs and wagged her tail all over the place. “Bleeeeeeeeeh…” There was no way she could explain herself now! Not when she looked this ridiculous–no one was gonna take her seriously!

“Are you done?” 

“Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnno…!” Babycorn was not helping her situation.

The answer was clear. Kind of. “Then I will keep you up here until you’re done.” He wiggled her a little in the air to prove her point. “I don’t want you to run out of air.” No one could ever say he didn’t care, at least a little. 

It took a minute but eventually Babycorn got tired of kicking her legs. She blinked, looking up at Zoraal Ja. “...you know this is kinda fun!” She grinned. It almost felt like she was flying! 

“It’s not supposed to be fun.” 

Babycorn either didn’t hear him or just didn’t care. She spread her arms out wide and flapped them up and down. “Yaaaaaaaay! I’m like Lunya!” Floating in the air always looked like it was so much fun and turns out it was!

Okay that was enough of indulging her. 

…wait no he wasn’t doing that. He was NOT keeping Babycorn up in the air for a few extra moments just because it was making her happy and the sound of her laughter was something that was genuinely making him feel oddly calm about everything. 

That would be stupid. That would be right. 

While Zoraal Ja’s first instinct was to just drop her, he surprised himself when he realized what he was actually doing was safely lowering her down. Then just as he was recovering from that ordeal he felt something on his arm. 

“What are you-?”

And there she was. Babycorn Corn, grabbing onto his arm like she was some sort of parasite. She was resting her chin against him and staring up at him with her huge sparkly eyes. 

….Where was he? What was going on? Was Babycorn always this…

Right. 

It took a bit but Zoraal Ja finally snapped out of it. “What are you doing?” He carefully moved his arm up and down to test the limits of how much he could move with her hanging off her arm like this.

It’s not like he wanted to send her flying off into the air or something. Then if that happened he would have to go and run off after her to make sure she landed somewhere safe. Even if he needed to catch Babycorn himself. 

Babycorn’s mouth wobbled, as if she was on the verge of crying her eyes out despite having been laughing just a few seconds ago. “You’re not mad at me right?” Her eyes somehow got even bigger, even more plead-ier. Somehow. It was kind of…  

Kind of..

“We’re still friends?” Babycorn asked.

It was getting really hard to deny it now. The thoughts in his head no matter how weak they seemed were relentless. “Yes.” Zoraal Ja answered. “Now quit asking.” 

It took Zoraal Ja only a few hours to accept how Babycorn was making him feel. That was part of the reason he gathered the resolve to ask Wuk Lamat over her teammate's love life. 

The idea that he could possibly have feelings for Babycorn of all people ultimately wasn’t the reason why he was feeling so conflicted lately. While yes, this was the very same girl who when he first saw her was getting dragged away from eating a taco on the floor. 

And the same girl who he noticed eating food that was clearly meant for Alpacas, only stopping when one of her friends physically carried her away. 

Also the same girl who was mere seconds away from ripping his throat open. 

It couldn’t quite be called love at first sight. Mostly. Babycorn definitely caught his attention a few times before but it at most was just because of how odd she was.

The way she talked, the way she walked, and everything she did. 

All of it made him feel some sort of way he just couldn’t bring himself to describe. Especially when it came to seeing her talk with the others around her. 

The way she would just start up a conversation, waving in their faces, acting like they had known each other for years. Zoraal Ja was aware enough to realize that was most likely the case but then why was she acting the very same way towards his sister? 

They'd only known each other for a few months at the most, yet here she was. Leaping onto Wuk Lamat for a hug and asking to be carried around on her back.

As if they were long lost friends, reunited at last. 

If that little time was all it took then he asked himself–could he be treated the same way?

That was the drive behind his initial question during the start of the Feat. There had not been a single point in time where he questioned if his request to have Babycorn on his team would be taken seriously.

All Zoraal Ja wanted was for Babycorn to look at him, to look towards him. 

Putting into consideration yesterday and today everything went exactly as he wished it to. He and Babycorn were able to talk about so many things and even if he ultimately didn't say too many things back to her, he was satisfied just hearing her voice and hearing her say his name. 

But, what now…?

Babycorn spoke again, still on his arm by the way. “Cushion is so tasty but I forgot not everyone likes eating what I eat!” Which in most cases didn’t bother her because it just meant there was more for her.

But in cases when she wanted to share any of her tasty snacks with anyone it usually caused more trouble than it didn’t. 

Unfortunately no one in all of Tural had ever heard the time honored phrase of ‘Don’t let Babycorn into the kitchen if you still want your food to be somewhat edible.’ They were words to live by. 

“I really thought everyone would like it…” She sniffled, resting her head against his arm like he was some sort of pillow. “I’m sorry Zoraal Ja…” Babycorn apologized again with her huge tearful eyes. 

“Like I already said. It’s fine. Stop talking about it.” 

No reason for her to keep saying it. Zoraal Ja had never even been upset at her in the first place. The fault all lied in this stupid Feat he and the others were forced to participate in. 

The idea that cooking a random meal of all things would help to decide which one of them was powerful enough to become the next Dawnservant was laughable. 

“O-Oh…!” Babycorn nervously wagged her tail. Zoraal Ja sounded really mad. “I’m sorry…”

Zoraal Ja grit his teeth, letting out a growl. “And stop apologizing. You don’t need to keep doing that.”  

Suddenly, he felt a weight lift from his arm. 

Once he turned to look he noticed Babycorn back on the ground. The horns on her head were pulsating a faint green. She was holding her hands in front of her and she hung her head low, her gaze focused on the ground. Away from him. Time was quickly running out. 

Come what may–he was going to give it his best shot. 

Without a second thought Zoraal Ja held his hand out towards Babycorn.

She happened to spot it from the corner of her eye. “Huh? Zoraal Ja?” Confused as she was, there was a part of her that was really hoping this was his way of saying he still wanted to be friends with her. 

Even after everything Krile said, even after what Wuk Lamat warned them about. 

Babycorn didn’t want to believe someone who she connected with so easily could possibly be anything but a friend. It did frighten Babycorn at first, to think of what horrible thoughts Zoraal Ja could possibly be thinking about the world he wanted to create. 

…Because what would happen if she understood?

The cloudy sky rumbled above them. The weather was taking a turn for the worse. The air crackled. “Would you…Would you come with me?” Zoraal Ja’s hand was shaking. He really wasn’t bothering to hide it. 

Not for her. 

“I don’t know when I’m going to return so I…I want…” 

The question threw Babycorn for a loop. Or it would have, had she already not heard something similar before. Years of countless proposals would make even the most flustered person jaded after some point. 

And Babycorn was no different. 

“I…” She was finding the answer harder than it was supposed to be. Because while it was true that Babycorn was more than a bit of a people pleaser–Zoraal Ja vastly underestimated the love she had for her friends and her family. 

Unfortunately for him.

Babycorn tried her best to laugh despite the situation. “I’m sorry I can’t. I have to-” 

The thunder grew louder. The wind started blowing. And that was it. 

Zoraal Ja said nothing, taking his hand back. 

And as the first drops of rain began to fall in Yak T'el he turned his back to Babycorn. It was all he could do to fight back against the torrent of words building up in his throat.

Having to avert his gaze from Babycorn was painful, it went against everything he wanted to do. 

Especially because he knew–he just knew that Babycorn was looking at him.

The First Promise.

The Miracle.

Zoraal Ja.

None of that meant anything to her.

When he was with her he could feel it. 

The chance to not have to adhere to any labels placed upon him before he even formed a cognitive thought. By her side he didn’t have to be a champion, or an eldest sibling, or a grand pillar responsible for holding Tural together.

He could just be…

“If you’d wanna–when you get back to Tuliyollal we can go eat something together! You can show me and Cherry all the yummiest places to eat! If that’s okay!” Babycorn smiled. 

Zoraal Ja could feel the raindrops landing on him, dripping down. 

“And I’ll make you some snacks too! Like I made Wuk Lamat cookies and she said she loved 'em! So I’ll make you some too!”

Time had run out. There was no time to wait. The wind grew stronger, thunder roared. 

Zoraal Ja failed to answer her. Walking away and refusing to look back. 

Babycorn kept her eyes on him until he was too far away to see.

[hqmillioncorn]

some ventures require a sacrificial lamb

Lalapril Day Twenty-Six: Reason in lieu of the calyx and necron incident cherrypit is determined that death stays far away from all the people he cares about. especially his big sister. The only way he could think to accomplish this is of course to take her place.

With one final pink bow on top of his head Cherrypit put the finishing touches on his full proof disguise. He took a step back to fully inspect himself in the mirror.

“This looks okay. Okay. Yeah.” he nodded, assuring no one but himself.

Cherrypit tilted his head from side to side, admiring the excellent choice he had made in headwear. His sister owned a lot of different colored ribbons, all of them for specific outfits but he always liked the pink one the best. Sometimes Bebe would even let him wear it!

Much of the rest of the outfit Cherrypit threw together was made up of old clothes he wore the very last time he stepped up to take over his sister’s body. For some reason or another his sister kept most of the clothes around, even going so far as to bring them with them to Tural.

Maybe she was thinking that Cherrypit would want to wear them again once his own body started aging? It was a little bit optimistic to think it would happen while they were on vacation though.

“Don’t be a horse!” Cherrypit reminded himself of some sound advice his big sister Lulu once gave him.

The only thing that was more recent was a robe that Babycorn recently picked up off the ground from their recent foray into the city of Sad d’oria and beyond.

Of course Cherrypit had taken it upon himself to dye it a more suitable color for this outing.

Granted, it was a little bit more pink than his sister usually wore but surely no one would bat an eye at that. It’s not like Babycorn never wore pink or something! It was just a color Cherrypit tended to wear instead, no big deal!

He stomped his feet on the ground trying to get a feel for the body he created. Hopefully no one would mind the bloody mess he made in the bathroom.

It was hard enough to find somewhere quiet enough where he could grow more bone and muscles but it was even tougher trying to figure out Babycorn’s exact measurements.

Every time Cherrypit was sure he got it right he would take another look and decide he made her much too short, or even way taller than she was. If he wanted to fix it he had to discard the leftover flesh and bones he wasn’t going to use anymore.

Too much of it was filling the bathtub so eventually he just gave up entirely, “Good enough. It’s fine!” he reassured himself, using words he more than likely heard someone else say at some point.

While Cherrypit was no stranger to shapeshifting at this point it still felt a little strange looking at his sister’s face in the mirror. Especially when she looked just as nervous as he did.

What was even stranger was hearing a perfect replica of her voice come out of his mouth. “Hmmm…” Cherrypit leaned forward, inspecting his sister’s face closer in the mirror.

While his shape shifting skills had improved in leaps and bounds since two years ago, there were still some hiccups here and there.

Little imperfections that would always be noticeable by anyone with a close relationship to the person Cherrypit was mimicking.

Given that he was going to go meet the Scions in a couple of hours there was little chance they wouldn’t notice that Babycorn suddenly had Cherrypit’s birthmarks on her cheeks and that he was conveniently missing.

Cherrypit tried not to get so frustrated at his own shortcomings but given he was only two-years old that was pretty much impossible. “Dumbdumb…So dumb and stupee.” He wiped at his eyes with his sleeve.

But he needed to do this.

He didn’t have a choice!

If Cherrypit didn’t act now then Babycorn would die.

Just like Calyx told him back then, it was only a matter of time till her time ran out and death would take her away from him. No matter how hard Cherrypit tried he couldn’t imagine a life without Babycorn with him.

That was the whole reason they were in this mess in the first place! Where he would rather give up his own life to save her's.

To be left alone was the worst fate Cherrypit could imagine.

Never being able to see Babycorn again, or hug her, or tell her how much he loves her…

There was no way he was going to let that happen. Not to her, not to anyone he loved. Cherrypit was going to find a way to keep everyone with him as long as he could and it started with this.

Calyx was right. He had to do something before it was too late.

The flutter of wings behind him let Cherrypit know that it was time to go.

Airy came back, flying out of Babycorn’s room and carrying Hungstal in her (surprisingly strong) small cookie fairy hands. “Crumbs…! Why do you have to be so heavy?” She asked, receiving no answer from the snoozing backpack.

“Tch. W-Whatever…”

Honestly this was probably the better outcome. Airy knew this probably would have been ten-times harder if Hungstal were actually awake for all of this.

Earlier when Cherrypit cast his sleeping spell on Babycorn he'd been so incredibly nervous about it so he ended up tripping halfway through, sending the spell all over the room instead of just her. Hungstal was an unplanned target but thankfully it did work out in the end.

Airy fluttered her way over to Cherrypit and dropped Hungstal in his little hands, watching as he slung Hungstal over his shoulder. “Hey man. Um…Y-You ready and stuff?” She asked, not really sure what to say about this whole plan they had going here.

To help ease Cherrypit’s nerves Airy volunteered to help him pull this incredibly stupid stunt off.

Sure, at first she was only doing it because she wanted to encourage Cherrypit to get in trouble and act out, because while her goal of taking over the world had sizzled over the years she still very much believed that life was more interesting the more rules you broke.

But now…

“You ever think that this might be aaaaaaaaaa…” Airy tried to delay the truth for as long as she could. She really (REALLY) couldn’t believe she was actually about to say this but she had to. Otherwise she would regret it for however long she would be alive.

“…This might be a bad idea!!” She blurted out. Airy could quickly feel her beliefs start to crumble. It really did feel like she took physical damage saying that.

Cherrypit shook his head, closing his eyes at the same time. “No!” he whispered, “Cause we gotta make sure Bebe no die!”

“Right…For Bebe…” Airy flapped her wings a little less enthusiastically.

Not that she didn’t care about Babycorn herself, but something about all this was making her uneasy.

Keeping Babycorn out of danger was one thing but just how far was Cherrypit willing to go to make sure of that? The kid had to know that if something happened to him it didn’t matter just how safe Babycorn was, her life would be over.

There would be hardly a reason for her to go on.

Airy saw it happen first hand.

That wasn’t even mentioning what was going to happen once Babycorn woke up…

“Oh my god we’re so dead.”

[hqmillioncorn]

reach for the stars! although they look pretty far...

Lalapril Day Twenty-Five: Cosmic its the middle of the night in ul'dah so many years ago and a much younger babycorn and cherrypit are staring up at the night sky. thank goodness their best friend yeyema is here to explain things they don't know! smartest and cutest little girl in all of eorzea; Yeyema Yema belongs to @windupnamazu

Evening snuck up on them and before Babycorn knew it the sun was already gone and the sky turned dark. 

Babycorn couldn’t remember how far she and Cherrypit traveled to get here but it must have been a lot since the sky here wasn’t nearly as overwhelmingly pitch black as it was back home. 

Sometimes she would be too frightened to peek out the windows for any signs of her parents returning home. 

Babycorn was sitting down, keeping herself busy tracing the outline of the brick floors with her fingers. At the same time she was making sure her baby brother didn’t wander too far away from her.

He tended to do that, especially during times when they didn’t have anywhere to go. Even back where they lived she would have to constantly remind him of their parents' rules regarding the outside. “Cherry? Don’t go ‘way. Okay?” she asked him nicely. 

Cherrypit crawled in front of her, he pressed his face against the floor and smiled. “Bebe!” That was his favorite word to say nowadays. When he looked up at her she could see all sorts of small indents over his face where small pebbles had stuck to. 

“Bebe! Bebe!” He moved his little arms up, then down as fast as he could. That usually meant he wanted her attention.

As if he would ever have to ask for something like that. “Cherry? You wanna sit together?” Babycorn asked, not even waiting for an answer before changing her sitting position to give her brother some space to sit with her. 

“We can sit! Come on!” She grinned. 

Babycorn watched as her brother crawled his way over to her, one hand over the other. 

Until finally–he was sitting in her lap giggling to himself over something he must have found really funny. Or maybe, he was just happy to be with her. The top of his ponytail blocked some of Babycorn’s view but it was a problem with an easy solution. 

All she had to do was push Cherrypit’s hair down enough to give her room to rest her head on top of it. This way she could see and it was really comfy too–almost like a pillow.

“Hmmm…” Babycorn shut her eyes for a moment, “I miss my pillow…” 

Even now using the darkness and her imagination she could still see her old home, her old bed. The soft white blankets that she would often hide under to surprise her papa and mama whenever they came home and her pink pillow her papa made for her… 

“Mama…Papa…” She missed them terribly and she was sure that Cherrypit did too.

Babycorn knew thinking about them too much would just make her start to cry and whenever she did, Cherrypit would also start crying. That much noise would catch the attention of other people. 

Something that needed to be avoided at all costs–especially when she was around this area of Ul’dah.

‘Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think-’

Babycorn opened her eyes and started scratching the back of her head, clearly looking for something in there among all the dirt and the fleas. “I put it in here…” she mumbled. To make up for a lack of pockets anywhere on her outfit, Babycorn instead decided to use her hair as a way to carry things around. 

It took a second or so but she finally managed to find what she was looking for–a yummy looking popoto that Babycorn was saving for just this sort of occasion.

Like always she offered any sort of food to Cherrypit first, then after taking his share the rest would be for her. 

Carefully, Babycorn moved the popoto in front of Cherrypit’s mouth. “Muah?” He curiously sniffed it and after deciding he wanted some he took his customary first bite, chewing a good half of the popoto in his sharp teeth. “Nummy!” He giggled.

Once he got his share then it was Babycorn’s turn. None of this food so far was as good as her mom’s cooking but what else was?

The funny smell coming from the popoto started tickling her nose. It was making her tummy grumble. It'd been a good while since she late ate.

Just as she was going to take her first bite–a noise caught her attention. 

The sound of someone walking behind her. 

Unlike her brother Babycorn wasn’t gifted with the ability to turn her head completely around so she was at the mercy of whoever was right behind her. Given that there was probably no time to run away, she braced herself for the inevitable kick to the back of her head or shove to the ground.

But it never came. Instead someone pet the top of her head. 

“Babycorn? Why are you still here?” 

Her eyes grew wide–she knew that voice!

Still unable to turn, Babycorn celebrated the only way she knew how to, “Yeye!” She yelled, wiggling her legs and moving her entire upper body from side to side. “Yeye hi! It’s me Babycorn! Hi! Hi!” She was so happy to hear her friend! 

“Yeye! Yeye!” Cherrypit repeated after her. 

While yes, Yeyema was just as happy to see her friend too, there was arguably more confusion than anything. “But you said you were gonna go home now.” At least that’s what Yeyema remembered her saying right after their afternoon of drawing pictures together. 

Turns out she and Cherry hadn’t really gone anywhere at all–just barely making it outside the door to their hideout. “I don’t want Babycorn to get in big trouble…” Yeyema whispered under her breath, 

The deal with Babycorn was that she could visit as much as she wanted to but always had to leave before it got too late. She also had to promise to be extra careful whenever she came over to make sure that no one followed her here. 

Something like that hadn’t quite happened yet but given Babycorn’s reputation among the people of Ul’dah absolutely no chances were being taken. 

“Oh…Home…um…” Truth was that Babycorn really didn’t want to go back to her appropriately named hidey-hole. The walk home always felt so lonely, even while holding her brother’s hand the whole way. 

She sort of just wanted to spend a little more time with the only other people that outright didn’t treat her like something she wasn’t–even if it was from far away. 

“Please Yeye! Don’t teeell!” Babycorn pleaded. 

Yeyema ran around her friend, taking a seat right in front of her like she usually did. It was the best way she could make sure Babycorn didn’t stuff any dumb bugs in her mouth. 

“No worry! I’m no snitch!!” She looked rather proud of that fact. “What are you and Cherry doing?” Yeyema quickly noticed they were both eating something, hopefully it wasn’t anything too gross. 

“Me and Cherry are looking at the sky!” Babycorn answered, raising her hands up high. 

Then she took a bite out of the rotten popoto in her hands. The popoto was so rotten it was falling to pieces in her hands, liquefying and dripping down her fingers. 

It was…really gross. 

Too gross for Yeyema to keep looking at them. “Babycorn! Stop eating it! That’s yucky!” Normally she would smack it right out of her friends hands but there was no way Yeyema was getting near that vile looking thing. 

She also learned by now that getting her hands anywhere near either sibling's mouths was always a gamble and not a chance she was willing to take right now. 

“But it’s tasty…” Babycorn looked up at her with her huge green eyes.

There was no way something like that could ever be tasty but if there’s anyone who would find it tasty it would be her weird new friend. “Um…” Yeyema fiddled with her hair before she decided that yes, she was going to do what she had impulsively thought.

“Wait here-! Don’t go anywhere okay?” Before Yeyema ran off she needed to be extra sure Babycorn didn’t run off anywhere, this was very important. It was always scary just how easy it was to lose sight of someone who looked as strange as both siblings did. 

Sirius and Chet would probably scold her endlessly if they ever found out she did this, but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Probably.

If all else failed Yeyema could probably just lie and say it was her that ate the popoto. They would believe her, they had to. 

For little Yeyema was far too cute to say no to.  

It didn’t take long for Yeyema to come back, a fresh popoto in hand. Or at least, fresher by comparison. “Here!” She held it out for Babycorn to take. “This is better for your tummy!” It would probably taste a lot yummier too. 

With the way Babycorn’s eyes sparkled and shimmered you would think that Yeyema just handed her a gold-plated popoto. Which wouldn't have differed at all from a regular one–Babycorn would gladly have eaten it all the same. 

“Thank you Yeye!” Babycorn went ahead and threw the rotten popoto over her shoulder, it hit a wall behind her with a disgusting sounding splat. 

“Ew…”

Yeyema could only hope nobody would ask about the smell.

Just as she did before Babycorn gave Cherrypit the first bite and then the other half was for her. As she took the first bite her entire face lit up, Yeyema was right! “This is yummier!” Or maybe it was yummier because her friend gave it to her? Whatever it was–it was still so tasty!

Now that Yeyema could sit next to Babycorn without the risk of seeing her dinner again she joined her friend in looking up at the sky. 

It was quiet at first–distant footsteps and quiet murmurs filled in the silence but Yeyema already knew it was only a matter of time till the inevitable. Not even a mouthful of popoto stood a chance against Babycorn’s curiosity.

“Hey Yeye?” She asked, kicking her little legs in the air. “What are stars?” 

Just like so many questions Babycorn asked, Yeyema had an answer to this one too. And how! 

Most of the time when she asked a question Yeyema was happy to explain it to her and that made Babycorn happy, but there were a few rare occasions where one of her questions would make Yeyema herself extremely excited to answer. 

Babycorn liked it when she could make Yeyema happy. 

This time seemed to be one of those types of questions as Yeyema smiled from ear to ear, wasting no time in answering Babycorn’s question. “Those are stars! Wayyyy up there!” Yeyema stood up on her very tippiest of toes, pointing up at the faded sky above them. 

She was in particular pointing at a bright point in the sky that looked to be flickering, glowing bright one second and dimming the next. 

Babycorn was mesmerized. “Stars…” Just being able to say the word with her own mouth made her feel some sort of way. 

“Me and my uncle used to look at stars aaaaaall the time!” Yeyema posed proudly, doing her best to focus on the now and ignoring the familiar tug of homesickness pulling on her heart. “H-He said that they’re reaaaallyy big rocks in the sky that are also reaalllyyy far away!” She explained, getting so excited she was swaying back and forth in a similar manner to her friend.

“But if they’re so far away how can we seem ‘em?” Babycorn asked. 

Cherrypit nodded, agreeing with her question. 

“It’s cause they glow!” Her explanation was followed by a chorus of oooh’s and ahhhh’s. “They glow a lot cause they get really really hot! Even hotter than here!” And Ul’dah was already so hot, especially when the sun was right over them. 

Which reminded her, “Oh! Oh! Did’ja know the sun is also a star! It’s just soooooo big! So it makes us really hot too!” 

“Woaaaaaah!” That star must be huge! “Cause it gets so hot here!” 

There was just so much that Yeyema wanted to tell her about stars that she could barely hold herself back. It was almost an entire repeat of what happened when Babycorn asked her what the ocean was. 

“And-! And there’s people who use the stars to draw!” She traced her finger along the night sky, as both siblings watched her with awe. “They can make a whole buncha pictures with them! Like the Ewer! That’s a biiiig jug of water!” She extended her arms out and balanced herself on one foot, doing her best to imitate the Ewer if it was just about to tip over. 

Yeyema giggled alongside the siblings, “That one's my favorite!” It'd been her favorite for as far back as she could remember. “The pictures are called conti-lattions!” 

Of course Yeyema knew that they were called constellations but that was a big word! So cut her some slack, it was close enough. 

“Oh! Yeye?” Babycorn raised her hands and waved them around to get her friends' attention. “Is there a corn…one?!” Babycorn decided she wasn’t even going to try and say that really long word Yeyema said. 

Yeyema thought about it for a second. “...No I don’t think so?” 

At least, she was pretty sure. “I don’t remember seeing a corn one in my uncle’s books…” And she must have flipped through those pages more times than she could count. Surely she would have remembered seeing an ear of corn in there if there was one. 

“Corn in the sky! Corn in the skyyyy!" Babycorn seemed unbothered about this fact and more enamored about the possibility of a corn in the sky instead. 

Her little song actually reminded Yeyema of something important. “Mhhm! Remember when I told you all about how my family used to sail the ocean?” She asked. Unknowingly she was leaning closer towards the siblings in pure anticipation for Babycorn’s answer. 

Thankfully Babycorn delivered. “Yeah!” She nodded, followed by Cherrypit. “You told us all about the biiiiiiiig boat! And the biiiiig water!” 

“Big!” Cherrypit repeated. 

“Yes! Yay!!” It made Yeyema so happy to hear that Babycorn actually remembered. “My family used to use the stars to navigate the ocean!” And here was the best part. “Cause stars don’t move in the sky! So they look at them and know where to go!”  

“Woah! Cool! Cool! That’s so cool!” Babycorn clapped her hands together. “You know so much about lots Yeyema!” 

Yeyema grinned, “Hehe! Thank youuuu!” 

Babycorn told her the same thing almost every single time she answered one of her questions, but still, it was always nice to hear. Though sometimes it was a little scary just how little her friend seemed to know about the world. 

Sirius even once theorized that the siblings came from underground, like a couple of newly grown plants.

Even if that were true someone still had to teach them about stuff like this and Yeyema was happy to share what she knew with her and Cherrypit. 

There was, however, another reason Babycorn had asked Yeyema about stars.  

“My Mama told me that–she really doesn’t like the stars.” 

That caught Yeyema off guard, she couldn’t think of anything to say. 

So Babycorn continued. “My Mama…She said that stars only cause pain and heart-ache. That everything would be better if they were gone. Forever.” It was just a little unnerving to hear Babycorn saying verbatim the exact words that her mother must have said to her. 

Yeyema never heard anyone say anything like that. “I…” She struggled to say anything in response. What kind of person would think like that? 

Was she allowed to think that about her friends’ mother? 

Then, Babycorn stood up, she carried Cherrypit in her small arms. 

“But-!” She smiled, “When my Mama comes back I’ll tell her everything you told me and then mama won’t be so scared of stars anymore!”

“You…will?” Yeyema couldn’t find the words. 

In a way–she could understand.

If Babycorn could be believed (and why wouldn’t she be?) she grew up in Thanalan, not too far from Ul’dah. If that were the case then the stars her mama saw could have been the very same ones they were looking up at right now. 

The ones in the pale, almost sickly looking sky. 

Yeyema recalled her first few nights in Ul’dah. The lights of the city were almost too blinding to look at. Then came the struggle of even trying to find a single star in the sky. No matter how much she looked there was absolutely nothing. 

It got to a point where she was convinced that either the stars conveniently created a massive gaping space in the exact shape of Ul’dah or they were so livid at the decision she made that led her to this city they stopped shining for her as punishment. 

But Sirius told her both were equally silly to think. 

That being said, if these were the kind of stars Babycorn’s mother was familiar with–then she could sort of understand where she was coming from.

“I thought stars were s’pposed to be bright everywhere but…” Yeyema closed her eyes and thought of her home. 

The green fields, the smell of the oranges as she picked them up from the ground, the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the rocks. It was still all so vivid.

Then there was the sky–overrun with stars that almost glittered in the skies. Back home there was no struggle to see the stars. No needless squinting, no straining her eyes to try and see even a glitter of a star. 

Yeyema sighed, wiping at her eyes, though no tears had made their way through. “...at my house they were so bright and pretty…but not here…” There was no ‘were.’ The stars over her home still shined as bright as they always did, she just wasn’t there to see them anymore. 

“I wish…” She sat down and looked up, “I wish I could go home and you could come see them too…”

The stars here just couldn’t compare. 

Never ever. 

Babycorn, for all her shortcomings, could still tell when her friend was feeling sad. It reminded her a lot of whenever her parents would go through the same thing. Without saying anything she sat down next to Yeyema, laying her messy head on her shoulder. 

“Yeye…” At the same time Cherrypit laid down on her legs, almost like a small dog. This always helped his sister whenever she was sad about anything. 

Babycorn fixated on the last thing that Yeyema said. She'd never been included in anything like that. It was unheard of, so there was only one thing she could say to that. 

“Then I’ll go to your home Yeye! Like you said–We can go together and see all the stars in the sky!” 

Even though it had been her idea Yeyema was still a little caught off guard.

Babycorn shot up, extending her arms out at her side while she ran around all over the place. Of course Cherrypit ran right behind her. The idea of going to her friend’s home just made her so happy, the way Yeyema always described it made it seem like the most wonderful place in the world.

“Yeye’s family sounds really really nice! I wanna see them! And I wanna see the staaaaaaaars!” She laughed, not really paying attention to where she was going. “I wanna see Yeye’s Mama and Papa and Uncle and Ants and-! And-!” 

“Babycorn!” Yeyema called her name. Someone had to stop her friend from running into another brick wall. So she pushed herself up and grabbed Babycorn’s arm, spinning her in place until she came to a stop amid a storm of giggles coming from both girls. 

“It’s AUNT! I don’t have ants!” Yeyema laughed. Babycorn always got those two mixed up. Well, there were certainly ants around her home but they weren’t related to her! Probably!  

After spinning in place for long enough Babycorn fell down to the ground but there was no painful faceplant to be seen, partly thanks to Yeyema’s intervention. “Ants! I wanna see Ants at Yeye’s house! And stars!” Babycorn hollered. “I wanna seeeeee!” 

“You can! And we can see the chickens and the ocean and the stars and EVERYTHING!!!!!!” 

Yeyema smiled wide. 

That’s right, it was always when she returned home, never if. 

One day she would go back and she would bring with her everyone that wanted to come with her so they could meet her family she loved so much! They could all play fun games together and eat the yummiest foods! 

It was going to be so much fun! Yeyema couldn’t wait until that day came.

“And when we all go you can bring everyone! You can come with your Mama and Papa, and Cherry!” 

She would just have to remind herself to tell everyone that Babycorn and Cherrypit had the tendency to bite.

Everyone except for Babycorn’s own parents. Since they probably already knew. 

In the end Babycorn and Cherrypit spent almost the whole evening talking with Yeyema about everything they would do the day they could visit her home.

Not once did Babycorn ever have any doubts about whether her friends' family would like her–because of course they would! She knew all of them were nice! Just like Yeyema was so nice!

After some begging Babycorn even convinced Yeyema to ask her parents if they could go sailing and look at the stars like she said her family used to do. While she couldn’t guarantee it, Yeyema still promised she would ask her uncle to stargaze with all of them. 

Just like the two of them used to. 

“Oh! Then we can look for the corn stars Yeye!” 

Only time would tell if these promises would ever come true.

Babycorn stepped out of the Waking Sands, the last of the group to exit.

She groaned, annoyed to have to help out with yet another job and one so early at that. The sun hadn't even risen yet. Babycorn placed her hand above her eyes and looked up at the sky, frowning.

She always despised stars.

[hqmillioncorn]

i shed a tear as you vanish in the snow

Lalapril Day Twenty-Four: Bounty babycorn and butter are out on an errand for a good friend! so off they go to garlemald!! in the snow! with hungstal and not much else but they're gonna be carrying a lot of stuff back! little guy who just wants to do his best to help; Butter belongs to @windupnamazu

“Steppy…Steppy…Steppy…”

Babycorn looked down at the snow as she walked, watching intently as the snow sank beneath her every step. “So crunchy!” The sound of the snow made her want to keep walking ahead just to hear more of it.

Fortunately by now Babycorn learned the harsh lesson of what could happen if she walked too far away from her designated travel buddy.

She would either end up hopelessly lost or just fall into a ditch somewhere and have to resort to calling for help. Right now she wasn’t in the mood for either.

Instead Babycorn decided it would be much smarter to take some snow with her and step on it some more once she got back to her room. She reached up to her head to take off her conveniently shaped bucket hat and turned it over. “Just need a little bit!” Surely Garlemald wouldn’t mind if she just took a little snow with her.

Just a bit away from Babycorn, Butter watched her do all this while sticking as close as he could while still trying to get his work done.

He giggled to himself watching her push the snow in her hat as far down as she could to fit as much as she could in there. It was really cute…

To Babycorn’s credit she already spent at least twenty whole minutes staying on task and chipping away at the rock they were supposed to be mining.

That was at least nineteen more minutes than her previous record.

As Butter placed another Garlean thingy (as babycorn referred to it) inside the ever helpful Hungstal he figured he might as well ask. “Babycorn? Do you remember what Lunya asked us to do?” he rubbed his gloved hands together, trying to keep warm.

It took a second for Babycorn’s memories to catch up to her. “Ummmm…” She dropped a handful of snow on the ground as her head wasn’t really up to doing two things at once. “Right! We have to collect a buncha stuff and bring it back to Thavnair for her!!” She sparkled, looking extra proud for being able to actually remember that.

Something about Lunya needing it for some supplies she was making to help out with Thanvair's recovery from █̸̻̟̌͂█̵̼̩͈͉̄̋█̸̹̟̍̌̚͜ ̸͔̻͉͊̈́̈́█̶̬̞̙̋̊̀̇͜█̸̞̜̐̈́█̶̙̤͕͛̇█̶̏̒̆͌͜█̷̬̣̳̓̆̔ͅ ̷̦̖͋█̵̺͎̤͊̂̽█̸̲͓̿͝ͅ█̶̘̇̀̈́̚█̷̛͓̤̜̰͗̽͝.

Butter himself was also lending a hand here and there whenever he could but he figured today his efforts would be most valuable in helping Babycorn with her gathering job.

…and he really wanted to hang out with Babycorn again.

“We also have to remember to get some things she needs for the work she’s doing with the Studium.” Butter reminded her.

Babycorn knew that place! “Yeah, the Study-um!!” That was the really boring place where Lunya and Tilika spent a lot of time. “If we get a lot of stuff then Lunya will be really happy right?”

“Right!” Butter nodded.

“Yay! Me and Butts are so helpful!”

Babycorn danced around in the snow, holding onto her hat that was now absolutely overflowing. “Then let’s go get the rest of the Garlean thingies we need!” Then in a show of remarkable hindsight she put her hat back on–which instantly covered her face with a sheet of snow brought down by the power of gravity.

“Oh! I can’t see now! Waa!?” Babycorn spun around in a circle, absolutely confused how this could have happened and why her entire head was suddenly feeling so cold.

Butter was on the case right away. “Here lemme just-!” He ran up to her and gently brushed away the snow that was on her face, which took care of half the problem.

“I still can’t seeeee!!”

“You just need to open your eyes Babycorn!” Butter laughed.

Oh, right.

This happened a lot.

Babycorn opened her eyes to see her bestest friend Butter standing right in front of her. A great big smile crossed her face, “You saved me again Butts!” How much was that now? Babycorn lost count.

Either way she was grateful and just a little starstruck because of it.

“It’s nothing really…” Butter laughed, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. “Come on, we should get going before it gets too late.”

“Mhhm.” While Butter looked over his shoulder Babycorn took the time to fix the fluff on his poncho. It was a little strange that Butter was letting her get this close to him.

Normally if she tried doing something like this he would start shaking and turning all red like he was really sick. For a couple of days Babycorn was even scared he was allergic to her or something.

All of a sudden, Butter grabbed Babycorn’s hand, leading her forward. “L-Let’s stick together, okay?” Hungstal was already on his back so they could get out of there as soon as they could.

Though Babycorn was just a little caught off guard she of course went along with it. Her trust in Butter’s guidance was insurmountable. “Oh…Okay…!” They must have been really short on time.

Butter was going so fast they were almost running together at this point. Babycorn was right, somewhat.

Time was running out. Butter saw them getting closer, bolder.

For some reason, he and Babycorn were being followed. Butter noticed something was off since they first departed from the Lochs.

At first he chalked it up to being just a little paranoid, especially since they were just about to cross the five month mark of the day he ran into his parents in Thavnair again. If he was being honest it was probably another reason he accompanied Babycorn all the way out here.

Good thing too, because the people following we’re getting even closer now.

Butter let out a low growl, stopping dead in the snow. He stopped so fast Babycorn didn’t have the chance to stop her legs from moving. “WaAh!!” She lightly bumped into Hungstal, still on Butter’s back. It worked out since it cushioned the blow Babycorn would have otherwise had against his sword instead.

Babycorn looked up at Butter with the intention of apologizing for running into him and Hungstal, stopping only when she noticed his hand hovering over the handle of his sword.

“Butts…?” Was there something there? Something that she couldn’t see. Before Butter could stop her–Babycorn turned her head to look behind her. “What’s happen-?!”

Then Babycorn felt something warm fly by her face, her hat tumbled to the ground behind her. She looked straight ahead and could still see the spark of light from the pistol that took a shot at her.

Almost as if time slowed to a crawl strands of her yellow colored hair flew all around her. As her eyes quickly darted her left she noticed her braided hair was now undone.

Not only that–parts of it burned away.

Babycorn didn’t want to blink, in fear of what would happen next but she couldn’t stop it.

When she opened her eyes again instead of a pistol she saw Butter standing right in front of her. His greatsword was drawn as he held it in front of him, using it as a shield. Babycorn could still hear shots ringing out around them.

Until all of a sudden, they stopped.

“You bloody idiot! We need them alive!” Someone yelled, most likely at their trigger happy teammate.

That small interval in firing gave Butter the chance to decide what was going to happen next.

Running was no longer an option, not if this is what they were going to do. He needed to make it clear to everyone who dared to even think of going after Babycorn that it wasn’t going to happen, not as long as he could still draw breath.

Seeing Butter stare them down with a flash in his eyes all while holding his two-handed sword in one hand got a few of them rattled.

“Starsinger!” One of them screamed, drawing a spear. “Just come with us. There’s no need for violence!”

Babycorn shivered in place, too afraid to run, to do anything but look away and whimper

“Grab the Starsinger!”

A group of five charged at Butter, with all the intention of letting one of them handle him while the rest went for Babycorn.

Butter recognized this particular group of people. Most of them were wearing hoods that hid their identities. There had to be some sort of relation to the kidnappers that went after Babycorn during their outing at the Gold Saucer months prior. The similarities were just too much.

It took little effort on Butter’s part for him to catch onto their plan. One of them swung a sword down at him which he parried with ease, giving him just enough time to go after the four who were trying to give him the slip.

Butter gripped his sword and swiped at their feet, and with one large swing he sent them falling to the ground. The gust of wind from his swing was enough to knock down the other two he hadn’t aimed at.

“Tch, did Babycorn bite you so hard you needed to come back with weapons this time?” If memory serves right it was Babycorn who mostly saved herself with a helping hand from Butter. Courtesy of an umbrella he grabbed while running to her.

That would explain just how inexperienced they all seemed to be. The few attacks they were making were filled to the brim with openings for him to retaliate.

It took no effort on Butter’s part to quickly incapacitate his opponents. Either with one swift blow to the head with the blunt part of his sword or with a good ol’ reliable punch.

And it would be oh so rude if he didn’t accept those open invitations to beat them senseless!

So that’s exactly what Butter did.

If he could just scare them off that would be good enough for now. There were a couple of reasons why he hadn’t used a more violent way to defeat them but the biggest was that Butter didn’t want to frighten Babycorn more than she already was.

With those five down, Butter’s attention switched over to the few who choose to not foolishly charge at him. With his sword still in hand Butter decided he would be nice enough to give them enough time to decide if they were either going to be stupid or not.

The answer came faster than Butter was expecting, when a gun was raised against him.

Looks like the answer was stupid. Butter wasn’t sure if they actually noticed when he deflected multiple shots with his sword or not, but that hardly mattered when Babycorn was still in danger.

Butter got ready to protect himself with his greatsword. He moved it in front of him but just as he did, he heard something else from behind.

His ear turned just in time to hear the sound of someone pulling the trigger.

There was hardly any time to react, his sword was already placed to his front which left him hardly any time for him to switch it to the back. The only way out of this he saw was hoping he could roll out of the way fast enough.

But if he did that then…What if one of the bullets hit Babycorn instead?! He couldn’t…!

Time was up.

“BUTTER!!”

First Butter heard his name–then he heard something break.The sound only got louder and louder. It began to feel like something was cracking under pressure all around him.

“W-What?” Something was screaming at Butter to put his sword down, to look in front of him to see what was happening.

As hesitant as he was to listen, he eventually did.

The moment he lowered his sword he was facing the bullet that was fired at him. He couldn't help but to move back, just slightly.

Something was quite obviously wrong.

Then something strange happened, even stranger than a bullet freezing in mid-air.

The bullet began to unravel, turning into long ribbon like strands that floated up into the air. Eventually disappearing into thin air.

Butter couldn’t see it from behind him but the same happened to the other bullet that had been fired at him.

If only it had ended there.

Butter quickly noticed that the person holding the gun wasn’t moving.

They were frozen in place just like the bullet. Nothing anyone said to them triggered any sort of response, it was like they were a statue. It was the same case for the person who fired at Butter from behind.

Then, just like the bullet, both began to unravel.

Amid the sounds of gasps and screams the ribbons rose up to the sky in a circular motion, splitting them up bit by bit until there was nothing left.

The weapons they fired just moments ago dropped to the ground and shattered. The pieces scattered into the air and quickly faded away.

At first Butter couldn’t believe what was happening. He imagined even the others that had been fighting him felt the same way.

Many of them realized what happened at the same time. Some of them scattered to their feet in a panic, running away as fast as they could. Others still couldn’t find it in them to move.

Butter was among the first to react, the only thing on his mind was to check if Babycorn was safe.

As Butter sheathed his sword onto his back he turned around and saw her. “Baby…corn?” Both her eyes and hair were glowing the same golden color as before–when he and the others were finally able to rescue her from his mother and father.

When they used her Starsinger powers to open a portal into the Thirteenth.

Unlike before Babycorn was still fully aware of what was happening around her. “What did I..? I...I just…!” She couldn’t stop shaking, her hands trembled uncontrollably as she looked down at them. “…Did I…I just…! No No No…” Still in full denial of something she shook her head from side to side, over and over.

Butter got down on his knees in front of her and was quickly at a loss of what to do. From here he could see just how wide with fear Babycorn’s eyes were. “Babycorn! Bebe I’m here, it's okay. T-Talk to me.” He tried to assure her.

If it was anything like before he would have to fight to have Babycorn acknowledge him as actually being there, but he was willing to, no matter how long it took.

This time was different however.

Babycorn’s breathing was fast, much too fast as she grabbed Butter’s wrists with as hard a grip as she could manage. She looked at Butter with tears in her eyes, “Y-Y-You were in danger…and I…I…I couldn’t…!” She clenched her teeth struggling to even keep talking.

It was just too much for her. Babycorn lowered her head and kept sobbing, apologizing again and again.

“Babycorn…What did you…?”

There wasn’t a world out there where Butter would want to make Babycorn cry, but something like this needed to be explained. “It’s okay. Just tell me what happened.” Whatever it was, they could handle it together.

No matter what. Butter already promised he would never leave her side.

Babycorn’s shoulders were shaking, as her sobs soon made way for quiet laughter. “Heh heh heh…” There was another cracking sound just above Butter, from something he couldn’t see.

Then she looked up at him, a bright smile on her face. The glow in her eyes shined even brighter. “I made them disappear. They tried to hurt you…!” Another high pitched laugh, “So I made it so they were never born!”

Butter struggled to believe the words coming out of Babycorn’s mouth. “Y-You…”

He read in the files collected by his mother that Starsingers were capable of changing people’s fates but was taking someone’s life away to the point they never even existed even possible?

As Babycorn kept laughing to herself all Butter could think about was if she knew she was capable of doing this before just this moment.

If only he had moved faster.

[hqmillioncorn]

I'm in love with you! Came out of the blue!

Lalapril Day Twenty-three: Lost babycorn always wanted to be seen as Normal, to do nothing but normal things but somehow life still found a way to keep getting weirder. but maybe thats okay....? guy who picks the best spots for totally-not-dates; Butter belong to @windupnamazu

Life was certainly a strange thing. Babycorn learned this by now.

Another thing she learned was that life could always get so much stranger. 

Just when Babycorn thought that this was just how normal life was supposed to be, something always seemed to show up to throw it all for a loop. Or even worse, she would actually see that the life she was living was in fact, not normal at all. 

How was she supposed to know that not every kid grew up essentially locked up inside their house never knowing that there was an entire world beyond her front door? 

Now her life was something else entirely. One moment she could be at the edge of the universe, watching her friends sacrifice themselves one by one and the next she would be at a carnival watching her boy friend try and win a stuffed Cactuar for her. 

If Babycorn could be honest, this was the kind of normal she preferred. 

Walking all around the pop-up carnival, while holding a deep fried fudgesicle in one hand and holding Butter’s hand in the other. It was as close as heaven on earth as Babycorn thought she could get. Her mood was absolutely through the roof right now. 

Butter even let her eat anything she wanted to! He promised that he wouldn’t tell Lunya, not even if she asked! “Just point me at something you want and I’ll get it for you!” He told her. 

Some would say Butter might have been too good at that, because by now Babycorn had taken a bite out of almost every food being sold here. That of course included part of the stand itself. 

Right now though, the rest of the carnival was safe. Neither of them were walking and Babycorn was standing all by herself, watching Butter play one of the various carnival games around them. 

All Butter had to do was hit something with a hammer really hard to make the bell ring really loud. Apparently he and this random carney knew each other. Or at least it seemed like it? 

The random carney seemed to know Butter at least–calling him by name to come and take on his newest strength challenge. 

Something about finally being able to defeat Lunya Lanya by proxy or something? 

Babycorn honestly had no idea what any of those words meant but she knew that if there was anyone just as strong as Lunya–it was her bestie best friend Butter Moontide. 

“You can do it Butts!” Babycorn yelled out to him, taking the last bite of her fried fudgesicle. Which of course was the stick itself. “You’re super strong! Yeah! Yeah!” 

Butter grinned at her as he picked up the hammer and swung it over his shoulder. “Thanks Bebe!” As long as Babycorn was cheering for him he felt like he could do anything.

This was especially true now, since there was a stuffed toy on the line, one that he knew Babycorn would love. “Alright Butts…” Butter spoke to himself, taking a deep breath. “...lock in.” 

Babycorn giggled just hearing Butter hyping himself up. ‘He’s so cute!’ She caught herself thinking without meaning to. ‘Cute…? Is that right?’ Recently she’d been thinking quite a lot about Butter, calling him things like cute and cool. 

Both of which were very true things! At least, Babycorn thought so. 

Though it wasn't exactly love at first sight like at her stories told her it was going to be, Babycorn found herself surprised to suddenly feel like she cared less and less. 

At this point there was no feasible way Babycorn could keep denying the obvious. Her own heart had been telling her things even she wasn’t aware of for what was almost years now. 

But, there was always this voice in her head.

Babycorn looked down at her hand, by all accounts it was one of the most mundane things one could think of. Most people made use of their hands every day without ever giving it much thought. 

It was probably one of the most normal things about Babycorn someone could name.

With that in mind now Babycorn turned her hand over to look at her palm. A thin crescent-shaped line cut right through the middle of it.

Even now Babycorn couldn’t remember when they first appeared–the eyes on the palms of both her hands. 

The pair of eyes would look right at her, blinking incessantly. It was almost like they wanted her to tell them the reason why they were on her hands.

This must have been some cruel joke. As if she had the answers, come on. 

It couldn’t have been more than a few years ago. Definitely before the whole thing with Cherrypit in Garlemald happened at least. That was around the time she recalled first having to wear bandages on her own hands, after having spent years wrapping them on her brother’s arms. 

Back then Babycorn would cry every time she saw them, for as long as her eyes could handle. Sometimes she would run out of tears–her eyes going dry.

But she would still try and force more out. She wasn’t done crying, not by a long shot. 

Babycorn’s heart was broken, completely shattered. 

Because she knew, she was sure of it, her stupid decisions just cost her everything. 

Nobody would ever see her as normal after this

Nobody could ever love her after this. 

Nobody would ever hold her hand after this. 

*DiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggggg*

That loud high-pitched noise snapped Babycorn right out of her thoughts. 

She looked up just in time to catch a view of a bell flying high through the air, getting farther and farther away until Babycorn just couldn’t see it anymore.

“Woooowww…” If Babycorn had to guess she would say it looked like it was going to land right in the middle of the ocean. 

As she was looking into the skies Butter came walking up to her, sparkling and looking as proud as ever. And in his hands was of course an oversized stuffed Cactuar. “Tada! Easy peazy!” he cheered, as the carney behind fell to his hands and knees in despair. 

“Yaaaaaaaayyy!! Yippee!!” Babycorn let out an ever louder cheer as she threw her hands into the air, waving them around excitedly. “Butts is the best! Butts is the coolest!!” She cheered very loudly. Her enthusiasm was through the roof, as she tip-tapped her feet on the ground very, very quickly. 

Butter handed Babycorn the prize he won for her and she immediately started hugging the stuffed Cactuar so tight that the few needles on its head looked like they were seconds away from going flying off into the horizon themselves. 

Then, Butter held out his hand towards her. 

For some reason–Babycorn found herself hesitating.

Whether it be because of the thoughts that were recently swirling around her head or her general silliness making her forget that she'd been holding Butter’s hand the whole time. 

Today was one of the many days in a row she'd forgotten to bandage her hands. They were out in the open and if she wasn’t careful then her eyes could very well manifest. Butter must have known that, didn’t he? 

But there was that look in his eyes, Babycorn could probably look in them for hours. 

His eyes reminded her mostly of the sky. Something that would always watch over her, no matter what happened, vast and full of endless possibilities.

Most of all, Babycorn could always see a certain kindness in Butter’s eyes. There was never a time she could recall where he looked at her as anything else but someone he cared about. Even back then...

Babycorn brought the stuffed Cactuar closer to her face and slowly extended her hand back towards Butter. ‘If I give him a choice then that’s more fair, right?’ She faced her palm towards the sky, the mark from her eye clearly visible. 

'It makes me feel like I really belong somewhere...'

Just like that–Butter reached out his hand to her.

He wrapped his fingers around hers, pulling her in closer. They were a perfect fit. Like this was how it was meant to be. “Do you want to go get something else to eat Bebe?” He asked her.

Babycorn walked up closer to him, just staring at Butter without saying a single word. 

Maybe one would normally be at least a little weirded out by their girl friend staring at them with unnatural bug eyes but this was just the norm for Butter. This was just another way Babycorn liked to say hello. Personally, he thought it was very cute. 

“Hi Bebe.” Butter held onto her hand just a little tighter. 

“H-Hi…” Babycorn giggled.  

“As long as my hand is in his–it’s like I can do anything!” 

She rested her head on his shoulder, making sure to watch where her horns were pointing.  “Thank you.” There were so many things she was grateful to him for, but what was going through her mind was being thankful she could be so loved by someone as amazing as him.

“I’m sorry for being so selfish Butter, but can you please keep holding my hand for just a little longer?”

[hqmillioncorn]

this goes way over a childish war

Lalapril Day Twenty-two: River coco cocoda famous for being Coco sits down to enjoy a snack but uh oh here comes babycorn and cherrypit with their cornbread they lovingly made for a certain someone. coco cocoda is Coco. :) and lunya 'loves cornbread oh so much (real) (not a lie)' lanya; belongs to @windupnamazu.

Coco paused mid-bite as he quickly noticed the distinct sounds of Babycorn and Cherrypit coming down the hall and into the kitchen. 

For the record the closest sound it could be compared to would be like if a mop was being beat against the floor trying to clean up a puddle of cookie dough.

As the sound got louder, Coco nervously looked at the pristine plate of cheese and crackers he'd just finished preparing. The poor guy hadn’t even gotten the chance to even take the first full bite of his fancy little treat. 

And if he didn’t act fast he was going to lose it all to the terrifying maws of Babycorn Corn. 

There was only thing he could do now–take advantage of Babycorn’s lack of object permanence.

Thinking fast Coco took a crate full of fruits that was left lying on the kitchen floor and quickly overturned it, sending all the fruit tumbling everywhere. Maybe he would get in trouble with Lunya about it but it was a price he was willing to pay if it meant protecting his yummy cheese.

Besides, if you really think about it this was Babycorn’s fault anyway. 

Coco just barely managed to cover up his precious snackies with an upside down crate in time for a very dejected looking Babycorn to walk in, followed of course by her totally normal baby brother shaking a rattle between his sharp teeth. 

Very much like a dog carrying a squeaky toy. 

In Babycorn’s hands was a large metal plate that anyone would be shocked to see her carrying. Surely such a thing would be much too heavy for her to carry and they would be right. Normally it would be, except that right in the middle of the plate was a priceless delicacy that would be an absolute sin for her to drop.

Also Cherrypit would start crying for a billion zillion years about it. Because what Babycorn was carrying was the very special and rare chocolate covered cornbread. 

Cherrypit was running around Babycorn on all fours, growling and saying something through the rattle in his mouth about wanting her to set the cake down already so he could eat it already. 

“Geez! Give me a second Cherry!” She whined, “Gosh didn’t someone teach you about being patient?” Babycorn thought about it for a second. “Waiiit. Didn’t I do that?”

Then the very next second she figured it wasn’t worth dwelling on and moved to the table in the center of the kitchen instead. 

From the table Coco stared at her with his large and watery Coco Cocoda eyes, ‘Don’t sit down, don’t sit down, don’t sit down.’ He repeated to himself inside of his larger than average head.

Lucky for him Babycorn wasn’t the most observant of people so she paid no mind at the huge eyes staring her down. 

Unlucky for him, Babycorn sat down. 

“Frick!”

“What?” 

Coco immediately looked away, resting his arm on the counter to try and look as unsuspicious as possible. “I didn’t say anything.” He whistled to himself. 

“Yes you did, I heard you!” 

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yeah-HUH!!”

Already less than five sentences exchanged with each other and Babycorn and Coco were already threatening to start yet another fight with each other. It might have been a new personal best if their literal first meeting hadn’t started with Babycorn immediately attacking him without even a single word. 

Just as Babycorn was about to call Coco’s hat stupid, she noticed something. And Coco noticed that she noticed something too. Her eyes started to drift towards the crate just sitting on the table.

It just looked so out of place. Begging to be pushed off, with a cool crashing sound. 

‘Nooooooooo’ Coco cried, ‘My cheeeeese!!’

Then, out of the blue, Coco’s savior came in the form of Cherrypit, who leapt up to the table and planted his entire face inside the chocolate covered cornbread.

“Uwah!” Coco just barely managed to avoid getting pelted in the face with chocolate. Bits of cornbread and ham flew around everywhere as Cherrypit chewed his way through the cake as fast as he could.

“Cherry!!” Babycorn stood up on her seat and glared down at her baby brother, “Remember your manners!”

Cherrypit emerged from the cornbread, his face dripping with chocolate and mustard. “Okay-ye! Manners!” That’s right his sister taught him that it was nice to mind his manners whenever he was at a table with other people! 

Remembering what his sister told him, Cherrypit instead sat down and pulled out a small plastic fork. Then he ate the fork and started digging into the cake with his dirt coated hands instead. 

“...Close enough!” Babycorn smiled. At least this time he remembered the fork. 

With that out of the way she was now free to find out what the hell was up with that crate on the table and why it was making her nose tickle.

If she didn’t know any better it smelled a lot like…

“SO!” Coco scrambled to think of a question, shaking like a small forest rodent. “What’s with the cake?”

Babycorn puffed out her cheeks, looking quite upset to say the least. “It’s not cake! It’s cornbread!” She growled. Coco did every single time, and yet Babycorn also fell for it every single time. 

“I mean it's basically the same thing.” Coco sneered. Quite a rare expression from him that only a privy few were witness to. At the top of that exclusive list was Babycorn Corn herself. It really was unfortunate just how easy she was to ragebait. 

“It is so NOT the same thing!!” Babycorn stomped her feet down in frustration. 

Whatever! Babycorn wasn’t going to let this get to her. Even though it had already successfully gotten to her but actually no it didn’t no way shut up. Stop talking. Shhhhhhhh.

Babycorn sighed, resting her head on her hand ever so daintily. “I made Lulu some special cornbread that I was really sure she was gonna like but then she didn’t want it…” Then she sighed again. As if this was all one one giant tragedy. 

Coco thought back to earlier this morning, back when he first walked into the kitchen. Honestly Babycorn having baked something would explain why the kitchen was flooded earlier this morning. With oil. 

“I thought Lunya hated cornbread?” Coco was pretty sure this was the case. 

This was a Lunya fun fact that she always made sure to remind everyone of whenever they would go out and bring food back to the manor. It probably wasn’t that necessary to remind them every single time that they shouldn’t bring any sort of cornbread anywhere near her, but maybe it was considering present company. 

Babycorn was quick to defend herself. “Ha! Well this one's different!” She laughed quite haughtily,  “It’s chocolate cornbread!” Looking rather proud of her own creation that was totallyyyy different from any other cornbread out there in the world right now. 

“It still has cornbread in the name.”

“Shut up! It’s different!!” Babycorn screeched. 

It really wasn’t. 

“Besides–! Isn’t it your fault Lunya doesn’t like cornbread?” Coco asked, very knowingly. 

This was the other half of the Lunya fun fact regarding cornbread.

It all happened back during their time in Yanxia. Babycorn, just having gotten back into her own body, tripped and fell head first into the One River alongside Cherrypit. “Kiyaaaaaaaaaah!” Babycorn yelled, just seconds before she tripped over literal thin air and fell head first into the water. 

It wasn’t really anything new–dear dead Babycorn tended to fall into large bodies of water a surprising amount of times for someone who was so scared of fish. 

Still, it was probably better to grab them sooner than later. 

This time it was Lunya who wasted absolutely no time to go and fetch them, taking the initiative to swim out into the open water by herself.

Powered by the blessing from the Kojin and a second wind courtesy of just having liberated Doma, Lunya swam all the way out to where the Starsingers drifted out. 

When she got there she was surprised to see the siblings just calmly floating in the water, Cherrypit resting on his sister’s head as she chewed on something. ‘Don’t tell me she’s eating something she picked off the ground…’ Lunya thought. 

Given her track record Lunya was certain she was eating the very thing that caused her to tumble into the river in the first place. 

Then as Lunya was about to tell Babycorn to grab onto her so they could swim back to shore, the pom-wearing demon pulled out a gigantic plate of soaked cornbread from under the water. 

‘Ah.’

Babycorn’s eyes lit up, sparkling with admiration. ‘Do you want some Lunya?’ She took a forkful of very wet cornbread and wiggled it in front of Lunya’s face. 

Lunya had to be honest. ‘...No, not re-’

Babycorn and Cherrypit then hit her with the double critical attack of being really really cutieful and nice, they looked at Lunya with huge pleading eyes that they both knew Lunya couldn’t resist their cute wittle faces. 

‘Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Sure. Okay.’ 

A few bites couldn’t hurt, or kill her. Probably.

Then to Lunya’s horror a few bites turned into seconds and then it turned into several. Somehow Babycorn kept pulling out cornbread after cornbread, all from the same place, from under the water. Each one soggier and larger than the last.

‘Don’t worry I brought lots with me!’ Babycorn assured her bestie.

Eventually the sun began to set and the others began to worry. 

Reese, alongside self designated first mate Coco and Vertical commandeered a small boat and set sail towards the direction their friends all floated out to.

When they got there they were met with the sight of Lunya floating face first in the water, her poor tummy barely clinging onto life.

Right next to her were Babycorn and Cherrypit, still eating cornbread and wondering if they should have brought something to drink with them since Lunya looked like she was really thirsty. 

Unfortunately for Coco the flashback located above took a little over five minutes to go over so by the time it even reached the halfway mark Babycorn had already lost interest and instead was much more focused on watching a fruit fly zip around a bunch of bananas. 

This was partly the reason Babycorn kept bringing Lunya cornbread even though the latter tried to drill it into her head that she didn’t want anything to do with cornbread ever again forever. 

‘Well…As long as she leaves my cheese alone.’ As Lunya once told Coco, never look at horses in the mouth. 

Babycorn finally remembered where she was and looked right at Coco, taking a seat and wiggling her legs in the air. “You want some Coco? I still have some ingredients left over so I could-?”

“Nooooooo. I’m. Fine. I could never take something as…” Coco glanced over to where Cherrypit was still going to town on the cornbread. Very frighteningly it looked to be oozing out some mysterious purple liquid.  “. Yummy. Looking as that away from you.” 

Babycorn narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “...Are you being sar-car-stic again?” Or whatever that was called. 

“NooOOOooOoOOoooooo…”

Even Babycorn wasn’t that slow, “You are! You’re saying that my chocolate cornbread is gross looking!” She jumped off her chair and marched closer to him, aggressively putting her hand on her hips. 

“Well you said it not me! Heh heh!” Coco smirked. 

Now this meant war. “Well I think your hat is stupid!” Babycorn yelled with her whole chest. Which was not a lot.

“Hey!!” Coco hopped off his own chair, “You’re just jealous!” His hat was actually so cool looking and the big feather on it gave him tons of swag and stuff. 

“HA! As if!” 

“You wouldn’t know fashion or cooking if you tripped and fell on it!” 

Babycorn got as close as she could to Coco, aggressively pressing her forehead against his. In turn Coco did the same. They both bared their teeth as their annoyance with the other grew and grew. 

As they continued to not-so-silently bicker they rammed into the other to the point where they were pressing the sides of their faces together. All while trying to growl louder than the other was.

“You saying I don’t know how to dress myself?!” 

Coco laughed, chortled even. “If the pom fits!”

“Say that again. Coco Cocoda.” Babycorn growled. 

“If. The POM. FFFFitSsssss.” 

With that Babycorn finally had it–she leapt up and attacked Coco with all intents of ripping his dumb hat to pieces using her teeth.

Coco was no slouch though and had already been through fights just like these countless times now, so he was able to subdue her by putting a piece of a chair leg in her mouth. 

“Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!” Babycorn turned her strategy instead to bonking Coco’s fluffy head with her very weak fists. It honestly felt like nothing was punching him. Even with the extra protection from his massive hair. 

It was still really annoying though. 

“Hey! Cut that out!” Coco pulled on one of her braids to try and get her to stop. 

It was at this very moment that Lunya entered the kitchen.

For she had suddenly been hit with the feeling that she needed to make sure her annoying little sister wasn’t going to get it into her head that she needed to make another type of cornbread, not today. 

“Babycorn are you-?” 

Instead Lunya walked in to see, well, all of the above. 

By the way Cherrypit was still stuffing his face with handfuls of chocolate cornbread, he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. 

“Hm.” 

Lunya decided she had seen enough and turned around to walk back.

[hqmillioncorn]

time to become an Absolute Loser!

Lalapril Day Twenty-One: Doom "I THOUGHT HILDI WAS DEAD AND GONE FOREVER BUT HE CAME BACK!!! I WAS SO HAPPYYYY!! BUT NOW HE FLEW AWAY TO THE MOOOOOOON!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WE HAVE TO GO GET HIM BACK!!! EVERYONE?! HELLO?! WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE CRYING?!" cute moon explorer vertical height belongs to @windupiceheart , guy who will protect us, Himbo hooters belongs to this guy, and oh my god get me off the moon i wanna go home, Lunya and Butter belong to @windupnamazu

There weren’t a lot of things that Butter outright hated. Holding true to that, there also weren’t a lot of people he hated either. Someone would have to try exceptionally hard to find themselves on that list. 

Or they could just be Hildibrand Manderville. 

Leave it to that guy to not even let Butter enjoy the unbelievable fact that he was standing on the moon. Instead all he could feel was pure unbridled irritation towards that man. “Grrrr…” He couldn’t help but grit his teeth, remembering the reason they were up here in the first place.

That guy just had to be an idiot and get himself launched into space, didn’t he? 

Butter’s hopes of finally having got rid of him were quickly dashed when Babycorn conveniently remembered that they did have a way of getting up to space. Then when he looked at Lunya just to make sure that this was just another of Babycorn’s fanciful, totally untrue tales, he was terrified to see her looking just as disappointed as he felt. 

‘Lunya…Please tell me…We can’t actually…?’ He was really about to start crying. This couldn’t be happening. 

All Lunya could do at this point was place her hand on his shoulder and shake her head, looking like she was about to burst into tears herself.

It was so over. 

To be honest Butter hadn’t been paying attention to much of anything once they got on the moon, but he was pleasantly surprised that fate decided to put him on the same search party as Babycorn. 

In this case fate had a name, Lunya Lanya. Who decided to split up into two teams just to avoid having to listen to the ramblings of their new assistant for the time being.

She couldn’t get out of these fast enough, taking flight on Argos with Nashu, Babycorn and Butter sitting behind her. “Wow…” Nashu put her hand over her eyes and looked all over, “I can’t believe this entire place is made out of cheese…” 

“I know right! It’s so yummy!” Of course Babycorn would be the one to agree with her. 

“If only we had brought some crackers with us…” Nashu thought to herself, “How many types of cheese do you think they have up here? What do you think Babycorn?” 

At this point Lunya had to intervene. “No one is eating the moon! Or I’m turning the magical glowing ancient dog around!”

Butter spent the whole ride sulking at the back of Argos. He couldn’t even enjoy getting the chance to sit next to Babycorn. Not with the threat of having to see Hildibrand alive and well looming over the moon’s horizon.

After scouring the whole moon there was a whole lot of nothing spotted. Which seemed to vastly improve Butter’s mood overall. This even gave him the chance of appreciating just how cute Babycorn was being, even if he was already doing that anyway. 

Right now Babycorn was explaining to him and Vertical (who has already been to the moon Babycorn was there to see it) all about what amazing things they could find on the moon. 

“There’s these loporrits on the moon Butts! And they have ears just like yours!” Babycorn put her hands up over her head to try and imitate a set of bending bunny ears, “They go hop! Hop! Hop! Hop!” 

It was really cute…

“Come on Vertical! Like this! Hop! Hop!”

Vertical studied what Babycorn was doing for a bit, before raising her hands up over her head, “like this?” She bent them similar to how Babycorn was doing. She couldn’t really see over her head so hopefully she was doing it right. 

“Yeah! Yeah!” Babycorn hopped on her two feet, “Just like that!” 

Lunya, still sitting on Argos’ back, giggled. “Aww! Vertty, Bebe you’re so cute!” She took out a fancy new camera device and snapped a few pictures to keep. 

As Babycorn continued to hop all over, kicking up moon dust wherever she went, she turned to Butter. With her wide shimmering golden eyes. “Butts? Do you think we’re cute?” She asked.

“Yeaaaaaaahhhh…” Butter swooned. He was barely able to keep himself steady. Maybe it was the moon but he was feeling much lighter today, almost like he could float away any second. 

“thanks man.” Vertical smiled.

Then, at that very moment, Lunya received a call from her linkshell. Thinking it was just Pancake asking if they could order more snacks to their room again–she happily answered it.

“Mhhm? Oh, really?” Her smile slowly, but surely, began to drop. “I see.” another long sigh, “We’ll be right there…” 

As it turned out, the other group was far “Luckier” than they'd been. “Himbo says they found him. We should go and meet them, he gave me the coordinates.” She tried to ignore Babycorn’s excited cheers as she jumped all around Lunya with a “YIPPEE” and a “HOORAY!!” 

There went Butter’s good mood. “Oh. Yay.” Gods forgive Butter for not exactly being ecstatic about finding the Inspector. Things couldn’t have been worse than they were now for him, and anyone who loved Babycorn Corn, but mostly for him. 

Since, for some reason or another, Babycorn had gotten it into her otherwise empty little head that if she were to save Hildibrand from his eternal sleep he would in turn ask for her hand in marriage. And now that she'd gone and done that, all that was left was him to propose to her.

Obviously. 

Even if that wasn’t how it worked at all in the slightest (or whatever silly thing her friends told her) there was always the slight chance that something that ridiculous could very well happen if Hildibrand was involved.

Especially now that Godbert knew about Babycorn’s feelings towards her son.

It didn’t take long for their group to arrive. 

One by one they properly dismounted their Chocobo, vehicles, and magical ancient flying dog.

Clumsy as ever, Babycorn’s footing slipped as she was descending from Argos. “EEp!!” she cried out, her hands trying to reach for anything that could help her, but alas, it was no use.

Then, just as she closed her eyes to try and not get any moon dust in them, she felt something catch her. 

“Mmm?” 

Though actually, it was someone. 

Babycorn carefully opened just one of her eyes, looking all around. Then she looked up to see Butter–looking right at her. “B-B-B-Be…” What he wanted to do was ask if Babycorn was okay but he acted without thinking. He caught her in the heat of the moment but there were no regrets, all that mattered was that she wasn’t hurt. 

Okay. There was one regret and that was that he couldn’t spit it out! His heart was beating too fast, his face was getting too red. Babycorn was going to notice any second.

Except she wasn’t. Because Babycorn had something going on with her too. “B-B-B-Bu…?” Something in her chest was going ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump really fast!

Maybe it was because she still wasn’t quite used to having a normal heartbeat but maybe…

All of a sudden it hit her.

Babycorn squealed and jumped right out of Butter’s arms. Tightening her new ponytail behind her head. “T-Thanks Butts! I-I gotta…Um…!” For once Babycorn was struggling to come up with something to say. 

That was weird, really weird! Really really weird!

 “Um…” Then something even weirder happened, Babycorn started blushing. In a panic she covered her cheeks with her hands. Her face was getting warmer and warmer. 

Butter walked up to her, his voice came back and he was going to make it count. “Babycorn…I…” He couldn’t back out now. This was it, this was the moment he had been waiting for. 

Everything since the day they first met was leading up to today–he was going to tell Babycorn how he truly felt about h

“WE’RE OVER HEEEEREEE!” Nashu yelled to them, she was waving her arm towards them just in case they couldn’t see her. “Follow the sound of my voiceeeeeeEEEEE!!

Every little effect that suddenly overtaken Babycorn disappeared in that very second. “Oh! There’s Nashu! Let’s go find Hildi everyone~!” She skipped her way over to where Nashu was, singing all about how Hildibrand was going to propose to her. 

Right behind Butter, Vertical finished the last of her popcorn and Lunya dropped her Buttercorn numero uno flags to the ground. “Damn it…!!” She was sure this was it. Out of everything she felt the most sorry for her poor son. He’d been fighting for so, so long. 

“maybe next time.” Vertical assured her.

Butter’s desire to see Hildibrand explode again increased exponentially. 

With that little event over their frankly disappointed group walked closer to Nashu’s voice and the truth started to become clear. “We did it, Babycorn–we found the inspector!” Nashu jumped up in the air and cheered, “Case closed!”

Delion could hardly believe what he was looking at. It was like something out of a nightmare. “Horrendous... Only aliens could subject a man to such a callous–and physically implausible─fate.” 

It was just as Nashu said. There in front of them was Hildibrand Manderville, legs up in the air and upper half in the ground, business as usual if it weren’t for the fact there was a group of no more than TWENTY OF THEM.

No one dared to move, or to even say anything. For fear that what was in front of them was actually real and happening. 

It got even worse when one of them started moving. In the usual Hildibrand way, by gyrating his hips and wiggling his legs pretty much everywhere. 

Completely on instinct, Himbo pulled out his weapon, “Stand behind me!” In just a few seconds there was a crowd of people behind him. Less cowering in fear and more just taking anything to separate them from the gaggle of Hildibrands in front of them, Nashu included. 

“D-Do you think the real Hildibrand is among them…?” Delion whispered, not wanting to be heard from whatever creature the aliens had morphed this man into. “Could they even be real?”

Then the worst happened–one of the Hildibrands popped out of the ground. Much like a flower would but with more screaming accompanying it.

“WHAT IS THAT THIIIIIIING!?” Lunya cried out, placing herself in front of Babycorn and Butter. 

So far on this gentlemanly adventure Delion and Lunya had disagreed on many things, whether it was their opinion on Sharlayan or questioning if her friend Babycorn was actually an alien.

Right now however, both were thinking very much the same thing. 

“What manner of waking nightmare is this?”

As the Hildibrand(?) expertly inspected his surroundings Nashu continued the conversation that he had interrupted. “Impostors, you mean? Don't worry─I know just how to find the real inspector!” With that confident promise Nashu went ahead and pulled out two of her trademarked Nashu Surprises! 

The threat of Hildibrand blowing up did nothing to make Butter feel any better. If anything the threat of him blowing up into even tinier Hildibrands was making him even more nervous about this whole thing. 

Butter wasn’t the only nervous one. With more Hildibrands joining the fray they all took one look at Nashu and began to instantly plead their case. “Cease and desist, Nashu! Use your powers of deduction, not destruction!” Their voices all overlapped with each other. 

“Hmmm.” Nashu had to admit, it was a little disappointing. “They're all so authentic─and synchronized. I honestly can't tell the difference…

Still behind Lunya, Butter carefully moved back just a tad to try and get a better eye on Babycorn. Maybe he was going to regret asking this but right now any sort of help would probably be good to have. 

“Do you have any ideas, Babycorn…?” His voice trailed off as soon as he looked at her. 

While he did have the brief thought that even she would have been weirded out about what was going on, he was just a little off on his guess. What Butter could have never guessed was to see such a scared looking expression on Babycorn. 

She looked completely, and utterly terrified. 

Whatever problem Butter had with Hildibrand was quickly pushed away. “Babycorn? Are you okay?” he quietly asked, holding his hand to her. “What’s wrong?” Please let it be something he could help with, for her sake. 

Babycorn held her hand in the other and looked around in a complete panic. “I-I-I…!!” Her voice was shaking and her eyes were starting to water. Until it all came to a head.  

“I CAN’T MARRY ALL OF YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!”

With that Babycorn ran off crying, not really sure where she was going since she was running with her eyes closed.

Butter took off right after her, not even thinking about what Babycorn screamed out into the heavens. “Bebe come back! W-Watch out for that hole!!” He yelled out to her

Vertical watched as Butter jumped down the same deep hole Babycorn had just tumbled into. There was no sound of either of them hitting the bottom yet. “do you think they’re going to be okay…?” She asked, quite worried.

“You know…I think they’ll be in better shape than we’re about to be…” Lunya sighed. 

“yeah. You’re probably right…” This was literally so scary.

[hqmillioncorn]

eorzea, past and present ~ flower care

Lalapril Day Twenty: Flourish babycorns LITTLE sister (true) (not fake) (totally not a lie) is married and hanging out with her cool new husband that she also knows! which only means one thing, and its that shes gotta bother both of them now!!!!!!! lunya lanya the cool and awesome belongs to @windupnamazu

Now that they were all back home from their adventures on the First for the time being, Babycorn wasted absolutely no time in making herself as annoying as possible.

By trying to drag both Lunya and G'raha to some uncharted location in Mor Dhona that she swore was super cool and super secret. Of course she accomplished this by ambushing them in the middle of breakfast and pestering them until they agreed to go with her. 

She super duper promised that it wasn’t going to take a long time, so there was that assurance. 

Still, Lunya had her doubts. “I don’t know…” And for good reasons too. 

Doing anything for Babycorn either had the chance to either take a few minutes or half a day, at the least.

But Babycorn was just so insistent. “Please, please, please, please, please.” Babycorn pleaded, with half of G’raha’s pancake in her mouth, taken directly from his plate after she asked if he was going to eat that and not waiting for an answer. “Pweaaaaaaseeeeee…!!!!”

Cherrypit was giving his sister a hand in her efforts by adding his own cutieful charm. “Plleeaaase Lulu and Mimi Bwaga?” His eyes were so big it was genuinely very difficult not to look into them. 

“Weeeell…” 

Lunya and G’raha looked at each other, each of them racking their minds to try and remember if there was anything really important they needed to do today, other than spending time together. And they would be doing that regardless of whatever crazy thing Babycorn wanted them to do.

“Eh, why not?” Lunya shrugged, taking her long last sip of her rolanberry smoothie. “Take us away Babycorn!” 

While this wasn’t quite the type of adventure G’raha imagined himself taking right out of the gate with Lunya, he still couldn’t help but feel the excitement building up in his chest venturing into the unknown at her side. 

Also this might as well just happen, it was Babycorn after all. 

“I believe that’s your cue Babycorn.” G’raha laughed. 

Honestly Babycorn couldn’t believe they actually agreed to it, her brain still wasn't fully caught up. “Wait…” Give it a second. “Wait! Really?! You’ll come with me?!” There it goes. 

Babycorn scrambled up to her feet, her knees just a little sore from kneeling on the ground to do her begging and pleading. “Yipppeeee!” She took Cherrypit’s hands in hers and they both started doing a happy little dance together.

“Lunya and Mister G’raha are coming~! Lunya and Mister G’raha are coming with us~! Yay!”

“Yaaaaaaay!” Cherrypit joined her in celebrating. 

Then as Lunya and G’raha prepared themselves to follow the pair, while cleaning up their mess they happened to hear both siblings giggling to themselves. Rather maniacally. With a “Hehehehehe!” and a “Nyahahaha.” That was hardly, if ever, a good sign.

“Do you ever get the feeling that we might be in for more than we bargained for?” 

Lunya sighed, “Just a tad.” Of course it was far too late to back out now. 

As the group made their way to the center of Revenant’s toll, Babycorn explained that she wanted to take Lunya and G’raha somewhere deep into Mor Dhona to give both of them a present.

And NO, of course she couldn’t just bring the present to them, that would have been ridiculous! “I’ll take you there cause I know where it is! Exactly!” Babycorn beamed, looking very proud of herself. 

“Take you there! Sactly!” Cherrypit copied her sister’s pose and expression. 

Turns out it was actually close enough to walk to. Thankfully. “Lead the way then Babycorn.” Lunya gave her the go ahead and stood behind the siblings along with her fiance. 

Babycorn wasted no time and took Lunya’s hand, pulling her along. “Let’s go Lunya! Let’s gooooo!” Almost as if nothing had changed since their days in Ul’dah, and just like back then Lunya was perfectly content seeing where Babycorn would take her.

Meanwhile, Cherrypit nicely asked G’raha if he could hold his hand. “Mimi Bwaga go with Cherry?” He held his little hand up as far as he could, even standing on his tippy-toes so G’raha could reach him easily.  

“It would be my pleasure.” 

It came as no surprise that Cherrypit turned out to be the quicker among the two Starsinger siblings. After a giggle or two he pulled G’raha along at a breakneck pace, only made faster because he was just so excited for Mister G’raha and Lunya to see the surprise they had. 

As a cloud of dust overtook Babycorn and Lunya, with the younger of the two letting out a loud “KiiiiiyyYYYYAAAAAH!!” from getting caught off guard, falling to the ground right after.

Still standing on her own two feet, Lunya was able to spot something through the cloud. “Raha!?” She cried out to him. 

At this point G’raha wasn’t even walking, just sliding across the ground and letting Cherrypit do most of the work for him. “I’ll see you at the finish line, my lodestar!” He grinned.

There was something oddly nostalgic about it.

Now this was serious. G’raha’s fun little comment lit a competitive fire in Lunya almost immediately. “We’ll see about that!” She pulled Babycorn up from the ground as quickly as she could and took off running after both boys. 

In an instant the roles were reversed and Lunya was dragging Babycorn behind her. Of course now Babycorn was running right behind her instead. “Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!” but it sounded like she was having a great time. 

Now Lunya knew full well she could never beat someone like Cherrypit in a race, but speed hardly mattered. For there was a trick up her sleeve. All she needed to do was yell as loud as she could and Cherrypit was sure to hear the sound of her voice.

Then again, she was sure he would hear her even if she whispered it. 

“CHERRYYYYY!” she yelled out as loud as she could, “If you let me win I’ll buy you some ice cream after this!”

It took a second but eventually the tips of Cherrypit's oversized ears wiggled, hearing what Lunya promised him. “Ice cream! I want iced cream!” Soon enough his speed began to slow down significantly.

Cherrypit finally slowed down enough that G’raha's feet were back on the ground. Then they both came to a complete stop. “Ah.” That turned out to be enough for Lunya to run right past them without even trying

G’raha looked to his left just in time to see his inspiration zipping right past him with the smuggest smile he’d seen on her yet.

“Bye-byeeee<3!” Lunya said, winking and blowing him a kiss. 

G’raha lovingly sighed, looking down at Cherrypit who was happily bobbing his head left to right while singing about the ice cream he was going to get. “How do you feel about ice cream sundaes? Perhaps we can convince Lunya to buy us all one?” He suggested, knowing full well that Lunya would have no choice but to agree.

“Ya! Ya!” Cherrypit cheered, “Eyes cream for every one!” 

It was a foregone conclusion that Lunya would arrive at the destination first, even with Babycorn’s vague directions, because for once the directionally challenged Babycorn actually knew where she was going. 

“We’re here! We’re here!” Babycorn cheered. 

The very second they got there Cherrypit also got there, still holding G’raha’s hands. 

That was odd. “Eh? What?” G’raha looked around, a stumped look on his face. He could have sworn they were fulms behind Lunya and Babycorn, but now they were just right next to them? 

Could it be? “...Teleportation already?” The other Cherrypit learned that only just a few years ago, but then how did…

“Glad you could join us, Raha!” Lunya smiled. She quickly made his way towards him to stand at his side. 

As soon as he laid eyes on her his expression softened. “I’m glad to be here.”

Their little group had traveled east of Revenant’s Toll, all the way to the parts of North Silvertear where hundreds of beautiful crystals lined the cliffs. 

At one point G’raha could recall more than one instance of Lunya having to pull Babycorn and her sharp teeth off of the crystals during their expedition into the Crystal Tower.

Given the way they were arguing at the time he could only assume things like that happened a lot. And he was absolutely right. 

In an incredible demonstration of showmanship that could have fooled anyone into thinking that Babycorn didn’t have stage fright, she and Cherrypit stood right in front of her friends, gesturing to a crude looking opening in the walls. 

“Tada!” Her eyes were sparkling as she got down on one knee and spread her arms wide, “This is me and Cherry’s secret spot!” 

In front of them was a small entrance, cut into the crystals themselves and leading into a small cave. The hole was just the right size for any lalafell to walk right through. “One day we got really bored so me and Cherry ran all over and we found a yummy wall to chew through! Oh yeah we also got really hungry too!” Babycorn quickly explained. 

Luckily for G’raha the opening just so happened to be almost his exact height. Almost like it was fate that Babycorn and Cherrypit were hungry enough to eat just the right amount for this very day. 

Lunya decided she would unpack all that later, for the sake of the moment.

“This way! This way!” Babycorn ran inside, with Cherrypit right behind her. “Your surprise is in here!” 

“Follow! Follow in here!” Cherrypit ran around in a circle, excitedly babbling out some little words he made up before following his sister inside. 

Right as G’raha was about to take a step inside he noticed Lunya thinking to herself, “Is everything alright?” He wondered if she was thinking over her decision of letting Babycorn get away with eating an entire wall of crystals without telling anyone. 

“Thinking about it…” Lunya closed her eyes, “Babycorn had something similar to this back in Ul’dah…” but with that one Babycorn explained that she found it by chance. Not a word about eating her way in there. 

“I would say she’s got a knack for it.” That was the only guess G’raha could provide. Not without any more context at least. 

“Yeah…Maybe…” Probably nothing to it. 

The instant Lunya and G’raha stepped inside their jaws dropped. 

G’raha looked in all directions, trying to take everything in. “This is…” 

“Incredible…” Lunya shared in his disbelief. For good reason. 

For all of a sudden they were suddenly surrounded on all sides by a rainbow of colors, all coming from the different kinds of flowers. Some flowers even looked to be shimmering, almost as if they had fused with the crystals themselves. 

Not only was the cave surrounded by flowers, there were bushes upon bushes of greenery taking up space inside the cave. To the point where nothing but it could be seen. 

“Where did all this come from?” Lunya wondered, walking forward and deeper into the cave. 

G’raha followed at her side, and when he looked up he took notice of a large opening high above them. Once he noticed Lunya followed suit and the both of them looked up to be met with the skies of Mor Dhona.

“That must be how these plants get their sunshine.” G’raha guessed. 

Lunya nodded, agreeing, still a little at a loss for words. That and she was packing away a question for Babycorn which mostly amounted to, ‘Don’t tell me you ate the ceiling too?’ 

Right. Answers. They needed answers. 

“Babycorn, did you find these here?” G’raha asked. That could very well have been it. Perhaps left behind by someone who used to live near or at Revenant’s toll.

The answer turned out to be much simpler than either of them previously thought. “I grew these all myself!” Babycorn winked, with both eyes. By the way, Babycorn didn’t know how to wink. 

Lunya’s response was instant. “I refuse to believe that.”

Babycorn’s response was also instant. “AAAAAH???” 

G’raha had to admit it, he also couldn’t believe it, given everything he knew about Babycorn. “I have to say–I can’t quite believe it either.” Especially when G’raha knew she could barely take care of herself, let alone a cavern full of plants. 

Babycorn couldn’t believe this! She was telling the truth! “I’m not lying!” She crossed her arms and pouted, “See, Lunya you told me lying is bad so I-”

“Babycorn you literally lie all the time.” Lunya reminded her. “To my face.” Multiple times in a day in fact. 

Cherrypit seemed to agree with this sentiment, as he continuously nodded his head, over and over. Only stopping when Babycorn held his head in place.

“Well-! I’m not lying about this one! Promise!” She pleaded.

Honestly, Lunya couldn’t see any of the telltale Babycorn is blatantly lying signs that were usually so front and center. “Okayyy. I believe youuu~!” She smiled. There was a little something else to her smile, but she was doing a good job at hiding it. 

G’raha smiled just a bit himself, as he watched Lunya playfully rock back and forth on her heels. 

“Heh!” Babycorn laughed, smiling quite smugly for someone who had just been shaking like a leaf in the wind mere seconds before. “Isn't it impe-ressive?” She asked, saying that word completely wrong. "Growing flowers like this is such a big sister thing to do!"

Lunya shook her head. "Hmm. No I don't think it is."

"EHHHH?!!"

Choosing to ignore her little sister's protests Lunya went ahead and moved on. "I just can’t believe you didn’t give in and eat all these flowers!” She knew from personal experience Babycorn's track record of doing exactly that.

“W-What?! T-They’re all named after my friends! I could never eat theeeeeem!!!” Babycorn cried. 

Now that she mentioned it, G’raha did notice something curious sticking out from the plants here and there. Little white signs with things drawn on them.

Deciding he wanted to get a closer look, he knelt down and was met with quite a sight. 

The face of a blue miqo'te (given the face markings) wearing a strange looking hat with a heart on it, looking completely straight faced. “Is that…” G’raha almost didn’t want to say the name. “B’ig Nunh?” He asked, just a little bit afraid to hear the answer. 

Lunya skipped over a few stray potted plants to get a closer look alongside G’raha. “Yup. That’s him.” It was quite easy to put together that Babycorn drew this particularly B’ig herself.

Figures she would name something after him, she loved that guy.

“Aw, he’s a bunch of blue lilies.” It was kind of cute, Lunya had to admit. It was pissing her off. 

While the newly married couple were busy trying to spot any more drawings of their friends among the plants, Babycorn took this chance to grab the presents she prepared for them.

“Okay Cherry, come help me out!” Babycorn called out to him. 

That was the sign to follow her and help her carry out some things with her. Cherrypit nodded and prepared his head, ready to hold up the presents like a table. 

He knew that his sister was pretty much useless in the strength department. 

Just as Lunya pointed out a little drawing that looked a lot like Krile, they heard Babycorn trip. It was actually a very distinct sound. 

“Babycorn are you okay?” They both said in perfect unison. 

Right on time, Babycorn answered. “I’m fine!” She quickly stood up, a tiny sprout sticking out of her pom. “I’ve got your presents with me!” She grinned, “I got one and Cherry is hiding with the other one sooooo…!”

Babycorn looked up at G’raha, looking so excited that if she had a tail for whatever reason it would probably be wagging right now. “Mister G'raha, your present is first! So close your eyes!” 

“Right away!” He did as he was told and closed his eyes, complete with a little laugh that Lunya thought was especially cute. 

Then from behind her back Babycorn unveiled a potted plant and it was absolutely massive. “Here it is!” She cried out, letting G’raha know it was time to open his eyes.

Most of the plant consisted of bright green leaves that became so heavy it looked like they were spilling out of the pot itself. Looking almost like an ocean's wave that was cascading out.

Among the greenery were small specks of red flowers with yellow centers. They were bright, and the further down the plant you looked the more abundant that became.

“This is the one I named after Mister G’raha!” Babycorn beamed. 

It was hard to believe what he was seeing. “It’s…much bigger than I expected.” G’raha even worried for a second that Babycorn was having trouble holding it up. Were her knees shaking or was that his imagination? 

This was the part Babycorn was embarrassed to admit. She looked down and kicked a few pebbles at her feet, trying not to make any sort of eye contact with either G’raha or Lunya. 

“I was actually planning to give it to you when I got to see you again…” Babycorn sniffled, “And to be fair-! You were gone for a weally long tiiiiiimeeeeee…!! WaAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” Babycorn cried out, letting out a loud wail that echoed all the way to the outside. 

“Aww…” Lunya took the plant from Babycorn’s shaky arms, giving her a pat on her head. As soon as she did that Babycorn seemed to calm down, letting out one last sniffle.

Actually, this was the one thing she wanted to avoid, this was supposed to be a happy occasion with presents and everything. 

Right! There was no time for crying!

Babycorn composed herself by shaking her head really fast and letting out a few funny noises. “It’s got so big! Cause it had a reallyyyyy long time to grow!” she repeated, “Cause someone was busy sleeping!” She puffed her cheeks out angrily. 

“You know–she’s got you there Raha.” Lunya smirked.

“I suppose she does…” 

G’raha knelt down next to Babycorn, fighting all urges inside him that told him that petting Babycorn’s head would end up in lost fingers.

In a strange inverse she actually looked excited about it. “Thank you Babycorn, I promise to give it a good home.” He pet her head and ruffled her hair around. 

Babycorn proudly grinned, “His name is Mister G’raha too and you have to take care of him!” There was one other thing she needed to make sure he knew.

For this part she needed to make sure to stare right at Lunya, “And don’t make Lunya take care of him. He’ll super die.”

“HEY??!!” Lunya huffed, “What are you talking about?!” 

“Good to know!” G’raha laughed. 

“Nuh-uh! No it’s not!!” 

Babycorn decided to cut Lunya’s defense of herself off, not that there was anything she could really say to defend herself at this point.

Almost everyone that knew Lunya by now had seen firsthand the devastation Lunya brought upon herself whenever she made any attempt to take care of a plant. 

“And here’s Lunya’s present! Her name is also Lunya!” 

In walked Cherrypit once again, adorned with a small potted plant on his head. “Lulu! A present for Lulu!” Compared to G’raha (the plant, not the catboy) it was much smaller, with just a few purple hydrangeas adorning it. And just like the rest there was a small white sign with Lunya’s face drawn on it.   

For once Babycorn succeeded in getting Lunya distracted enough that she forgot about wanting to ground her. “Ooooh! It’s so cute!” Lunya squealed, taking the flower from Cherrypit’s head. “Thank youuu!!”  She bounced the little potted plant named after her in her hand, while still holding onto the absolutely massive G’raha plant. 

Lunya was just cool like that.

“By the way…” Babycorn playfully put her hands behind her back and smiled, “That’s actually Lunya the second!”

Lunya raised an eyebrow. “The second?” What could have happened to the first Lunya? Hopefully nothing too bad. Suddenly, Lunya was filled with a strange apprehension.

What if Babycorn was lying when she said she would never eat the plants? After all, she ate meol just fine before. “...Did you eat her? Be honest.” She would only be a little bit mad. 

“Noooooo!!” Babycorn cried, “I wouldn’t eat Lunya! That would make me sad!”

“No, no eating! Cherrypit repeated. He still remembered that Bebe’s first rule about this secret place was that he wasn’t allowed to eat any of the plants, just like her.

But the rocks were fine to chew on, that part was okay. 

It was a little embarrassing to admit, and yet. “The truth about Lunya the first is…” Babycorn tilted her head, as she struggled to admit the truth. Even if it really wasn’t that bad. “...That you’ve been looking at her!” 

Babycorn spread her arms out wide, just in time for the light coming in from the sky to illuminate the plants all around her.

It was just as Babycorn said, while most of the cave was still covered in bushes of leaves and the like, it was clear now that the flowers that belonged to them were all hydrangeas. 

Sharing the exact same colors as the one Lunya was holding in her hand.

“Lunya the First one got too big for her house! She started growing everywhere!” Babycorn jumped up and down, waving her arms everywhere. 

And how-! There was nowhere in the cave anyone could look that Lunya the first hadn’t gotten to. “She used to be really small but the weirdest thing happened…!” Babycorn explained, “When we got back from the First she me and Cherry saw she got all big! And sparkly too!” 

True to her word, the hydrangeas had a strange shimmer to them. Making them seem more like stars overtaking the night sky than anything else. Of course it caught both siblings off guard at first. For a minute they feared they had been gone longer than they thought.

“Lulu big! So big!” Cherrypit raised his hands as far up as he could without ripping through his bandages. 

If Babycorn was to be believed, the first Lunya (the plant, not the lalafell) had probably been the size of its successor. If that was the case, then not only did it clearly grow since then, it grew almost four times its size in a quarter of the time G’raha’s plant did.

Faster than any other plant Babycorn cared for.

Not only that, it almost looked like it deliberately followed a path. Growing it's leaves all around the other plants, in a pattern that could have resembled an embrace. 

G’raha just couldn’t help himself. “Almost as beautiful as the real Lunya...” 

Lunya looked up at G’raha to see him looking right at her, with those eyes of his that always happened to look at her a certain way. With adoration and gratitude for all that she’s done. 

“Oh, you think you’re sooo cute, don’t you?” Lunya sneered. 

“I may have been called that, once or twice.” 

“And? How would you feel about a third time?” 

Ever so determined to keep her reputation as a hindrance in Lunya’s side–Babycorn butt herself into the conversation. “Mister G’raha you have to make sure Lulu doesn’t take care of Lunya the second, she will also die.” 

“AAUGH!! BABYCORN!!! THAT’S IIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

Lunya threw both plants into the air, letting Cherrypit catch the larger one on his head and letting G’raha catch the Lunya the second.

“I believe. That is your cue Babycorn. Again…” G’raha laughed. 

Babycorn let out a scream and took off running, in a circle around the cave. 

Lunya chased right after her around the small circle Babycorn ran in. “You get back here!” She yelled out to Babycorn, angry little puffs of smoke were coming out from her head. “You are grounded young lady!! For forever!!”

“THAT’S SO LONG!!!!” Babycorn wailed.

[hqmillioncorn]

to be left behind is fate

Lalapril Day Nineteen: Return after a trip to gridania goes wrong babycorn and cherrypit are left waiting for their ride back to the lavender beds. somewhere that for some reason is really starting to feel like Home...

This was strange.

No, this wasn’t just strange, this was downright wrong. 

Babycorn let out a sigh, her sour mood lessened just a bit by the sight of her baby brother playing with some of his new toys. “Vrrmmm! Vrrrm!” He made all sorts of noises with his mouth as he cut open some fake wooden food with a plastic knife. 

Really a lucky break for both of them that Babycorn packed those in her small bag today. Most of the time though, she decided that her brother’s toys took precedence over unnecessary things like potions or ethers.  

While Babycorn kept watch over Cherrypit she sat down on a nearby treestump, wiggling a tasty looking branch she found earlier. “I’m so booored…bored right outta my brain…” She sang to herself. Babycorn took the stick and began tracing into the dirt in front of her. 

Right now both of them were patiently waiting for the ferry to take them back to the Lavender beds, and it was so dreadfully boring. Maybe this was some sort of punishment for sneaking out? Because of course this would happen to her. 

“If I don’t die first…betcha I’ll go insane…” 

Earlier that day she'd taken off in a huff with Cherrypit at her side, fresh off a fight with Lunya over whether or not Babycorn could be trusted to go out shopping on her own. 

To be honest she didn’t care about any of the stuff she might have needed to buy but instead was much more focused on proving Lunya wrong. 

It was just too bad that Lunya was right. 

Everything started to go wrong the very second she stepped foot out of the mansion.

First she discovered quite early on that her wallet was empty, devoid of anything that even resembled a piece of gil. “I couldn’t have eaten all of them yesterday…could I?” It was supposed to be a quick midnight snack but it could very much be possible she'd eaten much more than she remembered. 

After that Babycorn figured she'd already come too far to give up now so after crossing the water on the ferry she kindly asked Cherrypit if he had any gil of his own to spare.

He spat out a few coins from his mouth but it was nowhere near enough to buy anything Babycorn had in mind. 

Still, even that wasn’t enough to stop her.

As the Starsingers began their trek to Gridania they were suddenly ambushed by a pack of wild ladybugs. The most threatening of all woodland creatures for sure, though that wasn’t even the worst part. 

Right as Babycorn was about to go ahead and let Cherrypit at it–a fish from the nearby stream jumped out of the water and smacked her straight in her face.

It was a victory for the fish as it successfully knocked her out for the next four hours. By the time she woke up it was already dark. 

The only solace she had was knowing that Cherrypit caught the fish and eaten it, evidenced by the fish bones he was playing with while he waited for her to wake up.

“This bites…” Babycorn mumbled. She brought the stick close to her mouth and took a bite. For a brief moment she felt slightly better. “Tastee.” but not by much. Since she bit off a significant part of the stick now she had to lean in even closer to the dirt if she still wanted to draw on it. 

“Tch.” It was such a pain. 

By now Cherrypit prepared an entire fishy soup in his bowl, all mixed with leaves and nuts he picked off from the ground. His oversized sleeves were stained with dirt. Which to be fair is what they looked like most of the time. 

From where he was sitting he could hear his sister continue singing her silly little time wasting song.

“Cause I’ve got nothing else to do…Stuck here wastin’ time…” 

Eventually Cherrypit joined in, adding his own little lyrics that were mostly baby gibberish that sounded a lot like the words Babycorn was saying. “Boaaar! Lalalalaaaaa…miiiiineeeee!” It was very cute. 

With the song still on his mind he took one of his play spoons and shoveled a spoonful of dirt into his mouth, then turned to his sister. “Waoat?” he asked. Which for him meant something along the lines of ‘What is taking the ferry so long?’ 

“I don’t knoooow Cherryyyy…” Babycorn groaned, honestly she really wanted to have an answer to that herself. As she chewed on the end of her braid she tried to think of something she could say to reassure her brother about the situation they were in. 

Or at least keep him distracted for another few minutes. “Cherry? Can you make me a cake? A biiiiiiiiig mud cake?” She raised her hands high up into the sky to give him an idea just how big she wanted it.

Cherrypit looked up, and up, and up. “Woaaaaaw!” He nodded, “Cake!” and got right to work digging up the dirt with his already dirt stained sleeves. 

Hopefully that would keep him occupied for a good fifteen minutes, maybe even more. Probably enough time for the ferry to finally get here. “Then we can finally go home…” Babycorn sighed, resting her head on her palm.

It took a few seconds to process but once it did–Babycorn froze. 

…No way she had just said what she thought she did.

There was just no way. Nuh-uh.

Babycorn sat up and nervously chewed on her fingernail. “H-H-Home…?” The word sounded so strange, but then why had she gotten the urge to say it again? 

There was just no way she felt like that towards the mansion she’d gladly slept outside of for the first few weeks of staying there. “No, no. I-It’s not home.” Her and Cherrypit’s home was back in Thanalan, with their mama and papa. 

Any day now they would get to go back. Once their parents came to find them then that would be the day Babycorn could finally leave all of this behind. It would be all for the better. 

It would. It would. It would. It just would. 

No way she could make the same mistake, not again. The last time Babycorn started thinking of someplace as her home when it clearly wasn’t, it didn’t end well.

Out of everything that Babycorn wanted most in the world, it was to avoid something like that happening to her ever again. The easiest way for her to accomplish this of course was to push away literally anyone who tried to get close to her, as far away as she could. 

The only way Babycorn felt she could feasibly accomplish this was to call people names, not listen to them, and generally be as rude as she wanted to be. Everything her head was telling her was the wrong thing to say had to be what came out instead. 

Even so, it wasn’t like she didn’t mean most of what she was saying. 

‘You should try and be a little nicer. Remember, kindness goes a long way!’

‘M’yusa is totally right! You might even get a treat out of it! Like the ones we gave you.’

Babycorn figured Blooming and M’yusa would say something like that to her. They were always the ones reminding her that she needed to watch what she said around the customers. 

‘But don’t forget, if someone’s rude to you first, you show them what for!’

Stelala was always there to stand up for them whenever anyone showed any sign of ungratefulness. “...You would probably tell me I’m being too mean.” Sometimes even Babycorn could surprise herself with how nasty she could get. If she was back in Limsa Lominsa then she probably would have been grounded ten times over by now given everything she’d said or done. 

‘You always put yourself first, never forget that.’

Annie told her that once.

‘Babycorn, can you promise me something?’ Allie looked at her with a smile, ‘Please don’t ever think you’re alone. There will always be someone out there to help you, no matter what. I promise.’

“...Liar.” Babycorn wiped at her eyes, 

There was no way anyone from her previous ‘family’ could have possibly known what really happened, or maybe they did?

Would that have been any better, really? 

Babycorn thought they were a family but in the end it was someone from her family that had been responsible for taking it all away from her. 

Anyone of these strangers people friends could be the next to place a sword in her hands, forcing her to push it deeper inside, forcing her to take a life while they got away with taking away countless. 

Babycorn didn’t really want to lose anyone else, she really didn’t. 

Not even all these people that she kept trying to convince herself were nothing but strangers. 

Unfortunately Babycorn did very much care. It was something she couldn’t get rid of no matter how much she tried. Her inherent kindness that 

There was just something kind of nice to come back home to a group of people she recognized. 

By now Babycorn knew the names of everyone who lived in the mansion with her and even some of the neighbors in the Lavender beds. Any farther than two houses down is where names start to get muddled but even so, Babycorn could see a face and remember the last time she’d seen them. 

It was actually starting to scare her. 

But, nothing could beat the fear she felt so deep in her heart to realize that some of the people here recognized her. 

Everyday she would have to tread the mansion carefully to avoid running into any of the retainers that prowled the residence. 

At this point Babycorn had to plan her way around the routes they would usually take just to make sure they didn’t see her and ask her how she was doing and if she needed anything. 

Retainers like Sirius and Puriri were easy to give the slip and most of the time they wouldn’t check up on her personally. The real problem was that Butter guy.

For some reason Babycorn just kept running into him and he kept giving her food that was exactly her tastes?! Not only that, he would deliberately go and check up on her too! It was so scary! 

…But some deep and messed up part of her had to admit it was nice to get the attention. 

“Grrr…” Babycorn tugged on her braids and growled. That wasn’t even the worst part!

Turns out no matter how hard Babycorn tried to think otherwise she found herself gravitating towards thinking that her fellow housemates were nice to be around!

Which was the exact opposite thing she wanted to happen to her!

Countless thoughts would start to overtake her little head. That would constantly tell her she was actually enjoying her time with these people!

It must have started when Babycorn had enough and bit Reese’s hand. Even after that, she somehow wasn’t kicked out! Which just didn’t make sense to her?!

In fact, it did the opposite because the day after she finally agreed to move into the mansion.

For some reason?!

Getting a room was the least of her problems when it turns out she would have to be almost next door neighbors with a whole bunch of them. Oftentimes she would be up late at night and catch B’ig Nunh trying to sneak his way back to his room, in that clunky, loud suit of armor of his. 

The one that made Babycorn chuckle every time she caught sight of it. 

Which she shouldn’t! Cause it wasn’t funny!

It also definitely wasn’t fun to get carried around by Vertical to get a rare chance to see the world through a whole new perspective. And while she was on the topic, Himbo's cooking also definitely wasn’t yummy and she…she…didn’t enjoy it!

Babycorn lifted the stick up from the dirt. Taking note of what she had been mindlessly drawing this whole time. “...You gotta be kidding me.” Right there in front of her was a drawing of the manor, with her and Cherrypit smack dab in the middle with countless other people shaped blobs surrounding them.

There they were, her and Cherrypit with big wide smiles on their faces. “Stupid..Stupid…Stupid…” Babycorn bonked herself on the head repeatedly. 

Now that she was thinking about it, against her will by the way, she would even go so far to say that it was kind of fun teasing Coco as much as she did, even when he teased her right back. There was something about it, something that made her smile and it was insufferable! 

Then there was Lunya herself. 

It was no secret that she was the person that Babycorn butted heads with the most. Sometimes it even felt like she was disagreeing with her just for the sake of it, and yeah that was true. 

This whole trip of hers happened just because of it. 

But there was something Babycorn couldn’t shake. No matter how much she tried or how much it didn’t make sense. 

How relaxing it felt to have someone care enough to argue with her. 

Babycorn didn’t bother wondering if Lunya felt the same way, with all the things she’d said to her there was no way Lunya didn’t hate her at this point. It was exactly what Babycorn wanted to happen so it didn’t really make sense for her to care about her one bit. 

“...I hate Lunya.” Babycorn convinced herself. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

This was the way it had to be.

For all of them, every single one of them. 

“I hate all of you.” 

How dare they.

How dare everyone give her this false hope of finally finding a place she belonged and then take it all away.

It hadn’t happened yet but it would, it always did. 

It happened in Ul’dah. Then it happened in Limsa Lominsa, and now it would happen in Gridania. 

Babycorn looked down to see her tears fall, staining her already dirty robe. “I-I hate you…” She wiped her eyes dry, “I hate you! I’ll never…never…”

Suddenly, Babycorn noticed a small hand tugging on her robe. As soon as she looked up she could see the ferry, right on time. 

Turns out fifteen minutes or so was all that was needed. “Here! Here” Cherrypit jumped up and down, waving his oversized sleeve over to the docks where the ferry was making its landing. 

“Yeah…” Babycorn took a deep breath and shook her head to try and clear it. “Good job spotting it Cherry.” If it wasn’t for him she might have missed it altogether with the time she was having. 

Cherrypit smiled, taking in the congratulatory head pats from his big sister.

“We should probably get going.”

With that Cherrypit took his designated travel spot on top of her head. At least, it was his spot when he didn’t have to keep hidden. “Go! Go!” He cheered, resting his head on top of her pom, squishing it down. 

Before they could go though, there were still a few things Babycorn needed to do. “Just a second Cherry! We gotta clean up your toys and take them with us!” Now with a place to stay they could do something like this! 

Cherrypit could have as many toys as he wanted! It made Babycorn extremely happy. 

And yet, as she gathered Cherrypit’s cooking equipment she could think about how things could have been if that lousy Coco and Vertical never found her in the first place…

If only she never agreed to join the Scions, which in itself was a whole other can of delicious worms that Babycorn didn’t want to get into!!!!

“What’s wrong with me…?” 

Even now Babycorn could still remember the first day she threw her pride aside and accepted a room inside a mansion. For the first few hours she and Cherrypit ran all over the mansion, just trying to take everything in. 

It was hard for Babycorn to describe just how it made her feel to hear Cherrypit ask her if this was really happening every few minutes. 

While it hadn’t really felt that long for her personally since the last time they’d been able to sleep somewhere that could even feel like a home, she imagined it must have felt like ages for Cherrypit. 

It was probably a big reason he spent so long running around in the basement while screaming his head off. Thinking back, that probably would have scared anyone that was home. If it did she never found out. 

With the toys all cleaned up there was no reason for Babycorn to keep thinking about this.

“Just one last thing”

Babycorn eyed the drawing she made, staring down at it with no emotion whatsoever. Slowly she took a breath and raised her foot. Her hands were shaking. 

As she remembered the first day again Babycorn recalled feeling so relaxed and so safe that for the first time she could remember she fell asleep, both her eyes closed. 

“I hate...I hate all of you…!”

Babycorn stomped the ground, hard. She moved her foot back and forth until the drawing was unrecognizable, until there was nothing of it left.

Only then could she move forward. “Okay. Let’s go Cherry.”

[hqmillioncorn]

never fret! your fashion saviors are here bebe! whether you want it or not!

Lalapril Day Eighteen: Gear it turns out when you magically grow a tail out of nowhere your clothes do not magically change themselves to fit your new accessories (if they can even be called that) but babycorn happens to have some friends to help her! lucky her! very good friends who can also make clothing adjustments wow so talented! Lunya and Butter belong to @windupnamazu

“Sniffle…” Babycorn sniffled out loud.

Today might just be the worst day of her entire life. 

Barring the hundreds of horrible days up to this point, today could only be beaten in misery by the day she woke up to find herself with a new pair of horns on her head and a wriggling tail behind her. 

Which, by the way, was yesterday.

“Ahuuuhuuuuuhuuuuu…” Babycorn cried, resting on her arm while a puddle of tears quickly began to form underneath her. How could it have come to this? Everything was fine just a few days ago!

Their kind-of-sort-of vacation was off to an exciting start, there was a whole bunch of yummy food she could eat with everyone, and she and Coco argued for an hour over who out of the two of them could haggle the best. 

(it wasn’t either of them. shocker.) 

Now here she was. Lying on the floor. Balling her eyes out, while two of her closest friends stormed her entire closet in order to specially modify her clothes to be able to fit her hindrance of a tail. 

There were no better people she could have asked to help than Butter and Lunya. Even if she didn’t actually ask them to and it was more like they walked in to see her crying her eyes out over a pile of clothes she failed to put on that day. 

It was nice that they were helping her, especially since both were really good at this kind of thing. Babycorn was always amazed to see what kind of things they were able to create or fix using their hands and a bunch of tools Lunya always told her she wasn’t allowed to touch. 

BUT!  There was a big BUT-! 

Babycorn wasn’t doing anything to help! 

Here they were sitting on the floor of her room, helping her out of the goodness of their hearts and she didn’t even have any snacks to share with them!!

She'd gone and eaten them all yesterday night, like a fool!!! All because she had felt so very sad about her disfigured appearance. 

There was nothing Babycorn could do to repay her friends for all of their help! Not even any gil! Not that either of them needed it, but still! “Uwauwauwuawuaaaaauuuuu…” Her clothing was placed far away from her to avoid the risk of having them get absolutely soaked. 

If that happened then Lunya would have exactly two seconds to act before Cherrypit took it upon himself to help dry the clothes with a fire spell. Which, while helpful, would probably cause a whole load of problems while only solving one. 

There was only one thing Lunya could do to stop this. She hummed and followed that with some fake coughing that surely wasn’t suspicious at all, hoping to catch the attention of a certain someone.

That certain someone was of course, Butter. “Hmm?” He paused his work and was about to ask Lunya if something was up. But all he needed to do was take one look at the massive ribbon on her head that was currently in the shape of a large arrow and pointing at the Babycorn lying on the floor between them.

It had been a full four minutes since Butter had last pet her head.

And clearly this was four minutes too long. “Uwauwauwauuu…” Babycorn uwau’d. Thankfully for the pile of clothes still untouched, her sadness disappeared the instant she felt a familiar hand pet her fluffy messy head. 

“There, there.” He gently rested his hand on top of Babycorn’s head, making sure to be extra careful around her horns. “Don’t cry Bebe.” He gave her a few extra headpats just to help her feel better.

Babycorn’s mood did an instant flip. There was a smile on her face “Oh! Okay!” It really was just that easy. Unfortunately Butter still did need both of his hands to work on Babycorn’s clothes so for her sake he couldn’t keep it up for too long. 

Luckily Babycorn was a little bit slow on the uptake. “Hehe! I like it when Butts pets my head!!” Babycorn laughed. 

Lunya paused her work and turned her attention to the strange new tail wagging erratically next to her. “Really? You don’t say?” She giggled, as if Babycorn wasn’t already making it obvious enough before.

Now, however, it was almost too easy to tell. Babycorn’s new tail would constantly wag from side to side whenever she was feeling even a little happy. As far as Lunya knew Babycorn hadn’t yet realized her tail was doing this.

Evident by just how much she wasn’t crying about that. 

With Butter successfully doing his part in keeping Babycorn calm, Lunya put the finishing touches on one of Babycorn’s dresses. “There we go…” It was a ruffled yellow dress, one that she’d worn to the beach just a few days ago. 

“Just be careful, okay Cherry?” What Lunya was referring to was the fact that there happened to be a very excited toddler holding onto his big sister’s cool new tail.

It looked like he was having a great time, getting jostled from left to right. “Weeee! Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!” Cherrypit cheered. 

Sadly for Babycorn, Butter was adamant to not let Lunya do a majority of the work, even at the expense of making poor Bebe cry. While he was going to try his best to make sure that didn’t happen it was still important to get this done.

‘Forgive me Bebe…’ but it was for her own good. 

Just like the time he couldn’t open the door for her when she was running from her shots…

Sad as she was to feel Butter stop petting her head, she tried to keep herself brave. While the pile of clothes was definitely shrinking it wasn’t going as fast as Babycorn wanted it to. 

Cherrypit let out a sad little whine as Babycorn’s tail grinded to a halt. “Waaah…” Now it wasn’t fun anymore. It was just kind of sad. Maybe he could go and help Lulu and Butts with fixing clothes for his sister but playing with a tail was way funner than sewing.

“Hmph!” Cherrypit pouted, tugging on Babycorn’s tail. Whether Babycorn felt anything from this was sort of a mystery since there didn’t seem to be any reaction from her. 

Lunya felt her ribbon deviate towards one Cherrypit Pit Starsinger. “Cherry. Stop pulling on Bebe’s tail.” She hadn’t even needed to look at him to know what he was up to.

Of course Cherrypit didn’t listen at first, not until after Lunya hit him with the second ‘Cherry.’ That was when he decided it was probably the better option to listen to his second big sister. “Otay…” His attention soon turned to occasionally swatting at Babycorn’s tail whenever it twitched. 

For some reason it did that quite a lot. It didn’t seem to bother Babycorn but it was something a little curious that a few people noticed. “Sniffle…I’m sowry you have to do this for meeeee…” Babycorn cried, her eyes started to water again. 

The moment Babycorn started to snuffle again Butter’s hands moved at light speed, finishing the tail opening in one of Babycorn’s skirts at record speed all so he could pet the top of her head again. “You don’t have to be sorrryyyyy!” Butter comforted her, “I wanna help you! And Lunya does too!” 

Babycorn looked at Butter and at Lunya, back and forth. With her huge wet eyes. “Weallyyyy?” 

Lunya wiggled her sewing needle at her, making sure not to get too close lest a Bebe grab hold of it and chomp it down in one bite. “Babycorn, have I or have I not been fixing your clothes for as long as we’ve been friends?” She asked. 

There was another sniffle from Babycorn. “...You have.” 

“Then? Why wouldn’t I want to fix your clothes now?” Lunya grinned, “So stop being a silly Bebe!” 

Lunya reached over and gave Babycorn her own head pats, ruffling her long bangs until they completely covered her eyes. “Luluuu!!” Babycorn laughed, “That’s not fair! Now I can’t see!” If she couldn’t see anything then how was she supposed to see what was making her sad?

“That’s the plan.” Lunya winked. 

Babycorn raised her arms in front of her and moved them all around, “Buuutts?” She eventually pressed her hands against his face, not that Butter really minded. “Buuuuutts! Help meeeeee! I can’t seeeeee!!”

Woe is her she’d fallen for another of Lunya’s tricks! Butter was her hero so of course he could help her regain her vision. 

And that’s exactly what he intended to do. “I’ve got you!” As carefully as he could he parted Babycorn’s bangs to reveal her eyes–that were still closed.

“Bebe!” Butter laughed, “If you wanna see you have to open your eyes!” 

“Oh!” Babycorn opened her eyes, blinking once, then twice. She looked around the room, almost like she'd forgotten where she was entirely. Which was probably closer to the truth than it wasn’t. “Lunya I can see now! Hi Lunya!” She smiled, “Thanks Butts!”

“Hehe…! No problem Bebe…” Butter laughed bashfully. For a very long time. A very, very long time. 

Lunya shook her head. Some things truly never change. 

Though Butter had matured and really grown into his own, there was one thing about him that remained the same throughout the years.

The ability for Babycorn Corn to do or say anything and make him blush almost as red as Cherrypit’s hair tie. “I thought you were supposed to be the one doing the woo’ing Butter?” She asked with a playful tone. 

“Lunyaaaaa! Shhhhhhh!” That was supposed to be a secret! That for some reason or another she (and a bunch of other people in the mansion) happened to know?! Yeah, that part still confused him.

“I am woo’ing! R-Right Bebe?” He’d been giving it his all ever since that fateful day on the beach. 

When Butter went to look at Babycorn she was lying down on her side looking up at him with her big woobly eyes. “Woo! Woo!” Was Babycorn’s only answer to that question.

Neither a yes or a no was indeed the most Babycorn answer she could have given. 

After that whole conversation Lunya and Butter got back to work going through all of Babycorn's clothes. On occasion they would have to trade a small notebook back and forth between them, which had the exact measurements of the tail hole they needed to make.

By now Cherrypit had grown so comfortable with Babycorn’s tail that he fell asleep, hugging onto it tightly. Lunya likened it to a koala. It was so important that she needed to take a break from her work to snap a few pictures of the adorable sight with her brand new camera. 

“Cute! Cute! Cuteeee…!” Lunya floated up into the air for a better angle, almost hitting her head on the ceiling. 

Aside from that business went on as usual and the two of them were almost finished with just a few skirts were left. Butter decided they would have to work on Babycorn’s hats later if she wanted to, since it was getting a little late.

Of course now that Babycorn could see again her little head began turning its rusty gears and thinking about her predicament again. 

Which once again meant she needed to apologize for growing a pair of horns and a tail out of nowhere. “I’m sowwrrryyyy Lulu and Butts…” Babycorn wailed, "I didn't mean to get angry…” She tipped-tapped the ends of her fingers together. 

Surprise monstrous transformation aside, Babycorn's closest experience to what happened with Valigarmanda was going all out with her Reaper job.

Even then that transformation only ever gave her a pair of horns and they were usually gone by the next day. The tail was entirely new and entirely terrifying. 

Lunya set her needle down, finishing the last skirt on her side. “Bebe I already told you–it’s okay!” 

“Oooh…okay…” From the sound of it, Lunya’s assurance finally landed. It probably had more to do with how little clothes were left to modify than it did with the level of Babycorn’s intelligence. 

“Besides, you don’t want to borrow Butter’s clothes for the rest of your life do you?” Lunya asked, bringing up a very good point. 

Since this was a clothes emergency Babycorn didn't get a chance to change out of the clothes Butter initially let her borrow last night. One of his cool jackets and a pair of shorts.

One could say that the jacket probably wasn’t necessary, since it was just Babycorn’s tail that was causing her discomfort but Butter made the mistake of letting Babycorn just have free pickings from his suitcase. 

Babycorn opened her mouth to answer, before stopping. “...Hmmmmm…” She chewed on her finger for a suspiciously long amount of time. 

“The answer is no. No you don’t” 

Lunya needed to step in at this point, because her son’s face and ears were turning so red she was starting to genuinely fear for his safety. 

“Aww! But Butt’s shirt smells so nice!” Babycorn grinned innocently. 

“Babycorn. You have to stop talking. Please, I'm begging.” 

Butter meanwhile, toppled over. Eyes spinning and now there was nothing he could say that didn’t sound like complete gibberish. 

“Woah!! FOR REAL?!” 

Babycorn wouldn’t have believed it if it wasn’t right in front of her.

Inside the safety of the Tritails Training Butter was proudly showcasing a shiny and very stylish new varsity jacket. He proudly displayed it, holding it from sleeve to sleeve.

“Cool huh?” Butter confidently smirked, for little did anyone know this was no ordinary jacket. Butter was debuting a brand-new merchandise straight from the Arcadion's workshop.

A snazzy new varsity jacket themed all around the up and coming upstart from the Arcadion. The competitor from outside the dome, Butter Moontide! (which was him by the way) 

It was mostly blue in color with white stripes decorating the sleeves and bottom of the jacket. It was adorned with holographic stickers showcasing Butter’s various sponsors, all handpicked by Lunya herself.

There was also a patch on the front with his personal contestant number the Arcadion gave him.

As Butter flipped the jacket to the back she could see that the majority of the space was dedicated to Butter’s emblem that he and Lunya created. All for the sake of marketing's per Metem’s request. 

Babycorn hadn’t noticed but there were also thin lines of yellow, adorning every part of the jacket. For some reason.

“Isn’t it neat?” Lunya asked, hoping to hear Babycorn compliment her work some more. 

Babycorn nodded, very enthusiastically. “It’s so cool! You both did really cool!” She clasped her hands together and ran all around Butter trying to get as close a view of the jacket as she could. “It’s sooooooo pretty!! Waaaaaaa!! You and Lunya did awesome!! Awesome!” Her tail was wagging excitedly behind her. 

“Butts! Butts! That’s Butts!” Cherrypit pointed from on top of Babycorn’s head. Honestly kind of impressive that he was able to identify Butter based solely on colors and some aesthetic choices. 

“Yeah that’s Butts!” Babycorn nodded, “Are you gonna wear this jacket for your fights?” 

Butter carefully folded up the jacket and held it under his arm. “Nah, I don’t think so, but I think Metem said something about selling these after my next match!” he explained.

There were talks for Butter to do something like Babycorn guessed but Metem concluded that his current outfit was too iconic to do away with. 

“Wow! Wow! Wow! That’s amazing!” Babycorn jumped up and down, unable to keep her excitement in check. 

“Even better–we got Metem to agree to share eighty-percent of the profits with us!” Lunya beamed. 

Babycorn’s smile slowly began to fade, her jumping came to a sudden stop as she landed with her feet on the ground.

She looked at Lunya with a completely straight face. “Okay, how the hell did you manage that?” 

Lunya laughed, looking off into the distance with a smile on her face.“Nyehehe…I have my ways... “ Her truly scary and a little terrifying ways. Butter actually worried for Metem’s safety once or twice in there.

Butter took the opportunity of Babycorn setting her overactive baby brother back onto the floor to work up the courage to go through with the second reason asked her over. “R-Right! H-H-Hey B-Bebe?” He walked up to her with the jacket and more behind his back. 

“Heke?” Babycorn looked back at him after watching her Cherrypit crawl over to chew on some small weights. “What’s up Butts?” 

“Actually…” He struggled for a bit before realizing that looking at Babycorn’s wonderful shimmering eyes and her cute smile was actually not helping him in this case.

So instead he closed his eyes and simply just went for it. “This…it's actually a gift for you!”

Butter held out the folded up jacket out in front of him, there was also a little something else underneath it. “I-I got you the skirt for it too, since its gonna be sold as a set and everything and-”

He didn’t get the chance to finish before Babycorn snatched the gift from his hands, running as fast as she could to the gym’s changing room that it conveniently had. 

Then five seconds later she emerged wearing her snazzy new outfit. 

“It’s a perfect fit! YAY!” Babycorn cheered, running in circles to check out every single part of her new outfit. Apparently too dumb to think to look into a mirror or even check if there was a mirror. 

Butter watched with a content smile on his face as Babycorn wiggled her arms around. The sleeves were the perfect size for her, not too long and not too short. She turned around as far as she could and wagged her tail around, “The skirt even fits my taiiiil! Yaaaaaaaay!” 

Babycorn ran right for Butter, embracing him in a tight hug. Almost lifting him right up off the ground. “You’re the bestest Butts!!!!” She squealed. 

“Only the bestest for you Bebe! Hehe~!” 

Babycorn let go of her cute boy friend and ran to show Cherrypit her brand new outfit. “Look! Look what Butts got for me Cherry!” She posed for him endlessly and as he clapped his hands for her.

He wasn't really sure what was making his sister this happy but it just was funny to see her dancing around so sillystyle. 

Then before Butter could do anything else, Lunya slid up right next to him. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a smirk on her face. “Sooooooooooooooooooooo? Any reason why the first prototype that Metem ordered is exactly Babycorn’s size?” She sneered. “And why does the skirt fit her tail ex-act-ly?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Butter answered. There was a familiar smile on his face. 

One that people usually saw on Lunya herself.

[hqmillioncorn]

Can't you hear the planet crying out in Fear?

Lalapril Day Seventeen: Adrenaline even while trapped in his sister's body cherrypit is still hell bent on using his mind reading powers to help. this time against sapphire weapon. as they say, second time is the charm. probably. Second part to The initial Ruby Weapon one

Never let it be said that Cherrypit didn’t know how to listen. 

True, most of the time the conversations his much taller friends had amongst each other would fly completely over his head. Especially given all the big words many of them tended to use.

Then there were the few times he got so bored of hearing people talk about whatever he would turn his attention to anything far more interesting he could see.

Though, there was one person Cherrypit always listened to–his big sister Bebe.

To him everything Babycorn told him was law, the absolute truth. 

If she told him the clouds in the sky were made of marshmallows then they must be! If her story was that babies came from eggs just like him, then that was the truth and nothing but the truth!

And if Babycorn told him that the moon was made of cheese, then of course it was! It must have all sorts of different types of cheeses and everyone who said otherwise was a liar! 

Even if Cherrypit was occasionally smarter than his sister in some things, just like a lot of other people were, he would gladly believe her instead if it made her happy! 

...but just like any other two-year-old out there–Cherrypit had limits.

Of course there were times when he deliberately went against something someone explicitly told him NOT to do. It didn’t matter if those orders came from Thancred, Y’shtola, Lunya, or even Babycorn herself.

If Cherrypit wanted to do something contrary to what he had been told, then by the gods he was going to do it. This was just another one of those times, just turned up all the way to a whopping twenty. 

Surely his sister would understand why he needed to do this!

Cherrypit couldn’t just stand by and let whatever happened to Milisandia happen to someone else. All he had to do was get there in time and stop whatever happened the first time.

With that plan in mind, they certainly made it quite easy.

Taking advantage of his diminutive size, Cherrypit snuck his way around everything and everyone, taking the one chance to climb his way onboard of the G-Warrior. Right under everyone's noses.

“I miss be small…” He couldn’t help but miss his shrinking powers the whole time he was sneaking his way in. If he was in his own body he would have taken the G-Warrior in at least half the time it'd actually taken him.

Instead it was up to him to find a way to make the breakout using his sister’s body. Which quite famously could not even begin to do half of the things Cherrypit could. 

Unfortunately this included reading minds.

Cherrypit did consider the possibility of not being able to do the very thing he was risking it all for but he had to at least try. 

It probably couldn’t be any harder than it'd been to turn the G-Warrior on at least. It was so hard for him to concentrate over the sounds of everyone yelling that instead of thinking about it Cherrypit instead resorted to pushing every button close enough for him to reach. 

Somehow Cherrypit was able to pilot the G-Warrior all the way to where Sapphire Weapon was waiting. All thanks to being small and young enough for his presence during strategy meetings to go fairly unnoticed.

It hadn’t been the easiest thing in the world, especially just how much he needed to sit forward to reach the controls but he was determined to make it before it was too late. 

There were even some do-dads above him that required him to stand up on his seat if he wanted to have any chance of reaching them. “Les’see…” Cherrypit looked around the cockpit, all sorts of things were calling his attention. 

Though how much attention he was giving them all depended on how brightly it was glowing. There was one button in particular that was flashing a bright yellow light, it was practically begging at him to press it. 

So of course he just had to. “Bop!” Cherrypit pressed his tiny hand against the button with as much force as his sister’s body could muster. As soon as he did something in front of him lit up, it was so bright Cherrypit had to briefly cover his eyes. 

When he opened his eyes again Cherrypit was finally able to see things through the G-Warrior’s eyes. At the very least, it was much clearer than before. “Woa! Sea!” They were hovering just above the open ocean and right in front of them was the Sapphire Weapon, starring them down. 

It was a little bit scary looking but it was too late to back down now!

And yes, since escaping the storage facility Cherrypit had just been flying by pure feeling alone. Being able to see like this would have made things way easier! “Thanky G-Wawaor!” Cherrypit sat down and wiggled his legs happily in his seat. 

With all the parts in play all that was left to do now was concentrate. There was someone in Sapphire Weapon, he could feel them. It made him wonder for a second if his sister could also feel things like this.

If that was the case then maybe…?

“CHERRYPIT PIT STARSINGER WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Oh. That was his full name. This wasn’t good. 

As scared as he was, going so far as to hide behind his own hands, Cherrypit still had enough  cognition to realize he recognized that voice. It was Cid, one of the many people Babycorn always told him to listen to no matter what. 

And here he was doing the exact opposite. Oppsies. 

On the other side of the radio static riddled voice he could hear another recognizable voice. This time it was Gaius, someone Babycorn told him NOT to listen to at first.

She changed her mind about it later after cooling off a bit. 

Not that he really needed to guess. Their faces were being displayed on his right side, complete with angry, very disappointed stares. Cherrypit tried his best to look anywhere but there but it was really hard. 

By the sound of it there was a whole other conversation happening between them on the other side of the screen. One that Cherrypit just knew was about him.

Otherwise he wouldn’t be hearing his name right now. 

“-the thrusters last that long?” Gauis sounded like he was at a loss. 

“I don’t know how Cherrypit did it…! He just did!” There was no feasible explanation Cid could come up with for how the G-Warrior managed to fly this far, because as far as he knew there were none. 

Well, suppose Cherrypit wasn’t a Starsinger in name only. 

“Cid. How did CHERRYPIT get past the pilot recognition system?” Gaius asked.

Hard as it was to admit, there was a very easy explanation for that. Easy as it was, Cid still struggled in explaining. “It…It has Babycorn’s face on record so I imagine-” 

“WHY IS BABYCORN IN THE PILOT RECOGNITION SYSTEM?!” 

“If that's how it's going to be–Why don't you go ahead and remind me of what happened during the assault on the Praetorium?”

For now it sounded like Cid and Gaius were distracted enough to forget about scolding Cherrypit  for the time being. Though it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention back to him. 

With all the noises buzzing around the cockpit there was no way he could concentrate enough to read anyone’s mind and time was running out. Nothing else to do but try and emulate one of his sister’s many tactics she once used to get out of situations quite similar to this one. 

Cherrypit raised his hand up to his air. “Bzzzzt! Bzzzt!” Cherry can’t h-hear you…! Bzzzzzt!!” He shut his eyes, armed with the idea that if he couldn’t see them then they couldn’t see him. 

“Cherrypit.” Gaius got as close as he could to whatever he and Cid were using to talk to him. He sounded very tired. “We can see you making those noises with your mouth.” 

“Fuck!” 

“Hey! Language!” 

His cover was totally blown–how could he not get upset?! “Just lemme do this!” Cherrypit pleaded. “Wanna help…” Now he turned his whole body to look at them through the screen, unsure if they could see him back. 

“No more Millis…” Cherrypit never wanted to see that happen to anyone ever again. 

Gaius couldn’t say anything to that, his mind started racing. Of course he wanted to do whatever he could to save whoever was piloting the newest weapon, even if all evidence pointed to it being  impossible. 

But it possibly came at the cost of putting Cherrypit in danger. Their tumultuous past aside, this was just a child. A really, really stupid one. If something happened to him they would all be responsible.  

But he never really had a problem with that before, did he?

His mind flashed with the memory of the look Babycorn gave him that day he asked of Milisandia’s fate. It was the first time Gaius recalled actually understanding how she could ever be capable of defending Eorzea. 

Cid tried to reach out to Cherrypit again, “Cherrypit you don’t have to do this. Just bring the G-Warrior back and we can figure something out.” Even if time was quickly running out. God forbid that something happened because then they would lose both Babycorn and Cherrypit. Then what would he possibly say? 

Cherrypit decided he wasn’t going to wait anymore. 

He had to do this–he couldn’t fail! 

Cherrypit leaned forward, gripping the controls in his tiny hands. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to concentrate on the mysterious pilot of the Sapphire Weapon. Reading someone’s mind never felt this hard to do but he had to do something.

The Sapphire Weapon wasn’t going to stay still forever. 

He could still hear Gaius and Cid calling out to him. Their voices soon began to fade, replaced with the sound of Cherrypit’s own heartbeat.

An unusual sound.

Then–there it was. A connection.

Cherrypit’s eyes snapped open, he gasped.  For a second it felt like he couldn’t breathe.

In a panic he reached for his throat as he acted on pure instinct. Then the dreadful feeling was gone as quickly as it appeared. Cherrypit found himself taking quick breaths, he blinked away any tears he cried away as fast as he could. 

Most of the time there was never any worry about this sort of thing, seeing as his usual body didn't need to breathe. This was basically a brand-new sensation for him.

One that he didn’t really like if he was being honest. 

Cherrypit quickly tried to push it out of his mind. Right now he needed to be brave, there was no time to be a scared crybaby. No more crying. 

He looked up. Similar to Ruby Weapon, it was empty as far as he could see. A sea of blue overtook the horizon above and below him. There was no end. It went on forever. “Helloooo?” Cherrypit cried out. “Who’s there?” Something like this worked last time, so it didn’t hurt to try it again. Maybe someone would even respond this time. 

The landscape around him greatly resembled what he remembered seeing in the short time he spent inside Milisandia’s mind. Or, whatever it was he looked into that day. Cherrypit could still recall thinking Ruby Weapon was alive, with a mind of its own to look into. 

It was scary to think that might have been closer to the truth than he first realized. 

Whatever the case back then Cherrypit put his full concentration into the weapon itself–not the pilot. This time however, he wouldn’t be making the same mistake as last time. He was sure of it. 

As far as he could see he was walking in a complete empty void, nothing for him to see or look into as far as he could see. “Still weird…So weird.” and a little scary. To see a mind so empty and devoid of memories felt unnatural, it wasn’t right. 

As he wobbled forward it didn’t take long for Cherrypit to realize there actually was one little thing that was different.

“Oh!” His hands-! They were his hands, not his sister’s! 

This was his body!!

The differences kept coming because unlike the last time–he could hear a voice! Cherrypit could hear it coming from all around him. 

‘Hmph. You always did have a stubborn streak…’

He looked all around for any sign of–anything really.

Anything besides the wide blue void he found himself in. “Who’s there?” Did this voice belong to the person who was piloting the weapon? “Is okay! I’m Cherry! I help you!” Even if he couldn’t quite see the mysterious pilot, Cherrypit could hear them.

If that was the case then maybe they could hear his voice too!

‘All right, Ricon. I won't let you down.’

There was that voice again. 

It had to belong to someone. “Where are you!?” The sooner he could find who that was the sooner he could help them. “Come out! It’s okay!” Surely they weren’t scared of him. Cherrypit wasn’t scary but he could understand if they found the G-Warrior just a little scary.

Even he could admit feeling a little spooked when he first came face to face with it. 

After taking a few steps, Cherrypit suddenly felt something near his ankles. “Wha-?!” He looked down to see that he was now treading in crystal clear water, so clear that he could see his own bewildered expression staring back at him. 

The only thing he could think of as a response to what was happening now was just how glad he was that the water wasn’t any higher. Even if he did receive the gift to breathe underwater, Cherrypit still wasn’t very confident in his swimming. 

Then the ground began to shake, the water rippled under him. 

This was familiar. A very bad kind of familiar. “No no no!” This was just like-!!

He was too late!  

“Wait!” Cherrypit didn’t know who he was yelling at–not until he saw him. 

An au ra right in front of him, one who surely hadn’t been there the last time Cherrypit looked. He was wearing a uniform that looked similar to the one that Milisandia had been wearing. His hair was a dark green color, getting lighter at the ends. 

Cherrypit didn’t have to look any closer to notice that something was quite obviously wrong with him. He bent down on his knees, staring down at the water. The water was still so clear that Cherrypit could see him clawing at the ground. 

“Ricon…?” Cherrypit just had a feeling. “Is your name Ricon?” He stepped just a little closer, reaching his hand towards him. 

Ricon’s head snapped up to look at him. “You…” His pupils were so small Cherrypit could barely see them. He was gritting his teeth so hard he could hear them grinding against each other. His entire body was shaking, his arms most of all as he struggled to keep himself above the water. 

Even so, Cherrypit wasn’t scared. “Ricon! I’m here! Help you!” 

Ricon let out a guttural scream, swiping his arm at Cherrypit. “Get out of here!” Whoever this was, or how they got in here wasn't important. Time was precious and he couldn’t spend it thinking over something as frivolous as that. 

But for some reason or another Ricon couldn’t stand looking at him. 

Cherrypit hadn’t realized it but contrary to what he believed–he was scared. 

His hands were trembling just like Ricon’s, and he stared at him with such wide eyes. Regardless of how brave Cherrypit wanted to believe he was, his appearance couldn’t lie, he was frozen in fear. 

Ricon couldn’t take it. He couldn’t stand looking at someone so small and weak. Just seconds away from bursting into tears, having to rely on his elder siblings to protect him…

This time it would be different. It needed to be. “I have to…” Ricon didn’t have the luxury to be scared. This was the choice he made and he was going to see it to the end. “I have to protect them!”

This time the responsibility was his, as long as he could, as long as his mind and body could last. 

Cherrypit already knew the drill. He could feel Ricon’s emotions overwhelming the space around them. The sky was starting to darken, the shaking was getting stronger. This couldn’t happen. Not again.

“No!” Cherrypit ran forward, arms outstretched. “Have to stop! Stop! Stop!” He tried in vain to grab onto Ricon’s quaking arm. Instead Cherrypit found himself thrown to the ground by a strong push.

His attempt at intervention however, was just enough to weaken Ricon’s balance just long enough to send him falling to the ground, hitting the water with a strong splash. Ricon grunted as his head became submerged in the deep blue. 

There was something Cherrypit didn’t know. 

It was already far too late. 

At the time he'd been trying to concentrate as much as he could, so he could be forgiven for missing the moment the Sapphire Weapon activated oversoul.

It was only natural to go all out at the start, that would give his siblings more time to escape. His fate was already sealed either way.

It took everything he had but Ricon was able to just barely push himself out of the water, arms trembling as he looked at Cherrypit. “You need to GO.” There it was again. The fear in Cherrypit’s eyes was overwhelming, but it didn’t even begin to compare with just how much pity there was. 

‘Just promise you'll wait for me...on the other side.’

“Leave! NOW!” 

The water underneath them began to glow. Brighter and brighter until at last–it ignited. 

It only took a single second for the ignited blue ceruleum to completely surround them. Cherrypit let out a scream as his vision quickly became nothing but flames. He was filled with so much fear he didn’t even begin to think why the fire wasn’t burning him. 

He knew he had to run, to get away as quickly as he could but it was just like before. Cherrypit couldn’t move. He couldn't speak. He hated fire.

Then Cherrypit heard it, a scream. 

When he looked up he saw it–Ricon had stood up and was completely engulfed in the ceruleum’s flames from top to bottom. His mouth was agape, frozen in a scream that never seemed to end. 

Even when he covered his ears he could hear Ricon screaming, begging for it all to stop. 

Ricon’s last conscious act was to reach out his hand towards Cherrypit, finally deciding to accept his help. It was only natural to wish for survival, at the final moments. 

It was too late. Too late. Too late. 

“Well, well. It seems the savages have been busy…”

The commanding voice was muffled but there was no doubt it was coming from Ricon himself. 

The flames glowed brighter as Ricon became still, the screaming had finally stopped but his eyes still darted back and forth. Even as half of his face began to drop, melting like the wax of a candle. It didn’t take long for the rest of his body to follow suit. 

Whole pieces of Ricon fell to the ground with a sickening squelch. Some of Ricon fell on top of the others, the sound of that was arguably worse. 

There was nowhere else Cherrypit could look. All he could do was stare. 

Finally, a new body was formed from Ricon’s remains. The ceruleum opened a way for them as they stood up. A fully armored Garlean that Cherrybit hardly recognized emerged, scattered pieces of skin and an old uniform still sticking to him.  “…I shall enjoy breaking their new toy.” 

The familiar armed Garlean moved his hand into a fist, before looking down to stare at Cherrypit in complete silence. There was no emotion, just a single mission on his mind. To defeat the savages who dared to raise their weapons against their army.  

Someone had to put them in their place. 

Cherrypit shivered, a faint memory at the back of his head. 

“I should have known it would be you. Your lot have a habit of this.” 

He was too late. 

[hqmillioncorn]

with just a single word you can change My present

Lalapril Day Sixteen: Fortune luck is finally on cremia's side and shes making headway into finally going back home! yay! not only that she's going to fix whatever has happened to her home, if those annoying heroes can be believed. now if only this girl would cooperate. guys who are totally not doing anything wrong; Cremia and Scotch belong to @windupnamazu

Babycorn had no choice but to look at the spread of food in front of her. 

There was everything from grilled dodo, mashed popotos, baskets upon baskets of bread, and more pies than Babycorn could link to a flavor in her head.

Alongside the pies other various desserts were also sprinkled across the table. Chocolates, cakes, and bowls full of candies. 

An ominous looking stew at the center of the table was drawing her attention. 

Normally, Babycorn would have already stuffed her mouth full with at least five different plates at this point but she couldn’t bring herself to move.

Not at all. Something was stopping her. 

A looming dread that was quickly beginning to overwhelm her. 

The feeling spread all through her body and kept her as still as a statue. Only occasionally showing life by her blinking and the slow rising of her chest as she took a breath. Her hands were balled up into fists and resting on her legs, as her eyes darted around nervously. 

Babycorn tried to keep her attention on the food as much as she could. That being said, there really not much else she could look at, even if she wanted to. 

Anything else was out of her view, just too dark for her to properly see. It made sense. She imagined her captors probably didn’t want her to notice any means of escape at this point.

Hard to believe but this wasn’t Babycorn’s first experience with this sort of thing. 

Several candles were placed on the table, barely managing to illuminate the area around her.  Most of them looked like they'd seen better days, half melted as their wax dripped onto the table.

Babycorn wanted to speak up and repeat something Lunya told her about candle safety a long time ago but she couldn’t find the courage. 

Having to stare at the food through the darkness was making her eyes sting but it beat having to acknowledge what else was right in front of her. 

Just barely noticeable within the light coming from the candles was the scarier half of her two captors, the woman she only knew as Cremia. 

Across the table Cremia smiled, tilting her head while resting her chin on her hands. Her eyes were closed but Babycorn could still feel the same ice cold stare that she'd been subjected to since the very start of this whole ordeal.

Was she not doing enough? What did she want from her?

No. Babycorn knew what she wanted. 

Cremia literally hadn’t shut up about it since she first woke up here. 

…Speaking of never shutting up. There was Cremia’s voice again. Babycorn could see her mouth moving but whatever words she was saying were muffled, almost incomprehensible. 

This was completely intentional. Babycorn was periodically tuning her out, with mixed results. Though by now her trouble in hearing any voice clearly probably had more to do with her being tired than it did with spite. 

It was hard to get any sort of sleep in the jail they placed her in.

Cremia took note of Babycorn’s lack of any sort of reaction and stopped. A faint smile crossed her face. She had no problem raising her voice in order to be properly heard. “Don’t be shy! Go ahead and take a bite of anything.” Cremia gestured to the entire spread. 

Babycorn looked at her silently. 

“Scotch worked so hard in preparing everything. Give it a try.” 

Out from the darkness the second half of her captors came walking in, carrying a couple of plates with him. “That should be about it!” Scotch set down one plate right next to one of the candles, a bowl filled with crackers and small cubes of cheese. 

Irresistible to Babycorn in any sort of scenario that wasn’t this one. There was no way Cremia knew that though, right?

The other plate Scotch carried in had been placed right in front of his wife. A bowl full of different kinds of fruits, with pomegranate seeds sprinkled all over. “Here you are my love. Just the way you like it.”

There was no chair for him but it seemed like he preferred simply standing next to Cremia anyway.

He took a step back to give Cremia the space to sample his handiwork. 

Cremia held a single pomegranate seed in between her fingers and wasted no time in savoring it. “Thank you Scotch.” she smiled, reaching out towards her husband “How could I ever properly thank you for everything you’ve done for me?” 

Without missing a beat Scotch took his wife’s hand and held it in his own. “My love, your happiness is all the gratitude I could ever ask for.” He moved her hand closer to his lips and delivered a gentle kiss. “I will give my all to see you home.” 

“Oh Scotch, you spoil me...” Cremia laughed. 

If Babycorn still possessed the strength to roll her eyes she would have done that tenfold by now. 

Cremia’s attention fell back onto Babycorn. To her everlasting dismay. “If you’re worried about the food being tampered with, don’t be.” With that reassurance she reached across the table and took a simple sugar cookie into her hand, before biting into it. “Do you see now? We mean you no harm.” 

That was probably the funniest thing Babycorn had heard all day. 

“We can’t have the Starsinger starving now, can we?” 

Scotch nodded his head, immediately agreeing with her. “Not when we’re so close!” Preparing all this food took almost an entire day but he was prepared to make whatever sacrifice he needed to if Cremia asked him to. 

Scotch closed his eyes, thinking. “I would say at this rate we should have a portal open in at least the next few weeks or so…” If everything went as they planned, even with their secret weapon fighting them every step of the way he was going to make sure it got done.

“And if our Starsinger cooperates with us?” 

That word was Babycorn’s cue to look away, look anywhere but where Cremia was. 

“Then it should just take a few days!” Scotch beamed. In his opinion the sooner he was able to make Cremia’s dream come true the better! If only the Starsinger they brought with them from Thavnair understood just how important this was. 

With that exact thought in mind Cremia rhythmically tapped the table with her bitten off nails. “So Starsinger, tell me, did you put any more thought into it?” Cremia thought she was already being so generous giving her an entire day to reconsider. 

At first Babycorn didn’t want to grace her with a response. 

But after some thought, she figured she should say something at least. 

Maybe with her stupid question answered Cremia would finally leave her alone? 

So Babycorn just shook her head. She really didn’t feel like talking, not with either of them. But it was mostly the truth, she really hadn’t thought about what Cremia told her at all. 

She spent most of last night (day?) opening and closing her eyes, over and over, hoping that the next time she opened them she would be back home and not–wherever this scary place was.

And when she wasn’t doing that she was crying, sobbing for someone to come save her. 

Cremia sat by her side, listening to every single word. 

“That’s a shame.” She brushed a lock of her hair away from her eyes. Smiling, laughing away Babycorn’s defiance. “Such a shame…” 

Cremia’s hair was one of the first things that Babycorn noticed about her, it looked unkempt and messy. Unfortunately it reminded her of how messy her hair tended to be. 

She really should have taken better care of it. It was a silly thought to have. Especially now that she was likely starring at the end of her life. 

One of the first things Babycorn tried to tell Cremia to deter her from her plan was that if they went through with using her Starsinger powers, she was likely not to survive.

Even if she was a little scared at this point Babycorn figured that her saying all of this would be enough to let her go. After all, Cremia and Scotch were different from other bad guys in the past. They had to be! 

They were neither Ascians, Garleans, or ancient creatures bent on the destruction of the universe. These were Butter’s parents we were talking about!

If they were anything like Butts they had to be really nice, just like him! Surely she could be reasoned with, Babycorn naively believed.

That hope was quickly snuffed away like it never existed at all.  

By now Cremia and Scotch decided they waited enough and began to dig into the several plates of food on the table. Babycorn couldn’t help but just stare as Scotch grabbed the entire bowl of stew and brought it to his side of the table, making sure to take some bread sticks along.

Then they just started talking to each other. 

Scotch spoke about how his soup was well regarded all around Gridania and Cremia nodded at his every word. She took a knife and fork and started cutting into a slice of grilled dodo. Right after that, they poured each other a glass of wine. 

It was like she wasn’t even here, like she didn’t even matter. 

Babycorn clenched her fists tight enough her nails dug into the palms of her hand. 

“If you’re going to die anyway, like you said, you might as well indulge yourself.” 

It hurt her to hear Cremia say it so casually. Did she not realize the weight of what she was saying? This was Babycorn’s entire life she was talking about. If Cremia went through with this–then what would be the point of everything she'd done so far?

All the suffering, how much she fought to get to this point. Did none of it matter?

What was the point of anything if this is how it was going to end? 

Alone and afraid 

“You really should be thanking me.”

Babycorn’s head jerked up. Almost a little too fast, it hurt just a little bit. As she opened her mouth to speak she noticed Cremia’s eyes looked right at her. They looked almost as manic as the ones on her earrings. 

Her throat felt dry. She struggled to get the words out for so many different reasons. “Thanking…you…?” But she needed to. 

“Quite frankly you’re putting your powers to waste.” 

Cremia was being so blunt it almost made Babycorn want to laugh. Who did she think she was to just things like this to her? 

Regardless of Babycorn’s opinion on the matter she couldn’t express it, so Cremia continued. “You didn’t seem too surprised when I told you about what I planned. So I can assume you know exactly what feats you’re capable of.” And how. Cremia spent hours yesterday explaining to Babycorn every single part of her plan from the very beginning. 

Nothing went unsaid, no matter how small the detail. Including what part Babycorn was to play in it and how Cremia was not going to take no for an answer. 

“How selfish must you be to waste your worth like this…” Cremia sighed, shaking her head. Scotch followed her lead, nodding and sympathetically patting her shoulder in understanding. It broke his heart to see her this dejected.

“Think of just how many people you could help. Oh, Starsinger if only you weren’t so selfish.” 

Babycorn wanted to argue at first, but maybe Cremia was right. 

So many tragedies could have been avoided if she just accepted her fate. It hadn’t mattered in the end. She fought for so long and it still came to this.

Could the real answer be that she needed to stop fighting?

“As a Starsinger you should know that your body is, quite frankly, useless.” Cremia explained. All her research into Starsingers came to this conclusion. Research that she unknowingly stole from a scientist that was just as mad as her. 

She stood up from her chair and walked into the darkness. “What really matters is the source of your power–your soul.” Her voice sounded as if it were coming from all directions. 

As Babycorn tried in vain to gather her bearings, Cremia walked up to her, placing her hand on the frame of Babycorn’s chair. “If only you would listen!” She jerked the chair forward suddenly, knocking her to the ground. 

As Babycorn hit the ground she tried to scream, either for help or out of fear. 

But nothing happened. 

“Your soul, your energy could be used in so many ways you could never imagine!” 

Babycorn held her hands over her head, trying desperately to put anything between her and Cremia. Ignoring the pain coming from her hands which took the brunt of her fall.

Amidst Cremia's screaming Babycorn begged whoever could hear her for her to be back home. Surrounded by people who loved her and wanted to protect her. 

Who would never do anything to hurt her.

“You could change the world! You will change the world! I will see my world again! My home!” 

This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not ever. 

‘Please, please, please…’ 

Please, let this all be a bad dream.