hqmillioncorn

[hqmillioncorn]

Present

[hqmillioncorn]

queuesync

[hqmillioncorn]

leylines burger

[hqmillioncorn]

And Three Heads are a Dream Team!!

“Well, it looks like it's us two again!” Babycorn gently ribbed Rebena’s sides. “We get teamed up a lot huh?!” It was more like whenever Rebena happened to be around he was always the first to volunteer to accompany Babycorn.  Besides Cherrypit of course. As they walked along, a question that had been burning in Rebena’s came to a boil. “So uh, did you and Butter finally get together?” It was at that very moment he realized it made no sense to ask that question. Babycorn had no idea who he was! If she put two and two together his identity would be revealed. “ACTUALLY forget what I said-!” Babycorn wasn’t sure why Rebena was panicking. “Together?” She tilted her head, confused. “We do a lot of stuff together!! So yeah! We’re together a lots!” Babycorn thought for a second. ' “I think last time he was sick though…He was getting all red in the face…” Poor guy. “Yeah.” Rebena sighed. “Poor guy…”

ffxiv write day 30: two heads are better than one

if two heads are good then the power of three heads can solve any and all problems ever!!

of course....really its just two heads if you think about it.

“Know where going?” 

Cherrypit laid down on his sister’s head for a better view of where they were heading. Things unfortunately weren’t looking too great for the Starsinger siblings. 

Not only were they in a city they didn’t recognize, they were also in an entirely different world. So all hope of finding at least one place they recognized was off the table.

On the bright side there was no one here that would recognize them. So there was no danger of running into someone that was still mad at them for something they had done in the past. 

Babycorn shook her head and sat down on the ground she was standing on. “Well. I have no idea where we are.” It was probably time to throw in the towel and just admit she was lost. 

Vertical did it all the time and everything always turned out fine for her. 

In fact Vertical had gotten lost earlier too and found her way back after hours of walking around. 

The only difference was that Babycorn had wandered out in the middle of the night.

…At least she was told it was nighttime. 

Her nightly journey had been In search of a tasty snack. It was a very important quest. The Crystal Exarch had made the Crystarium sound so magical and wonderful that there was no doubt in Babycorn’s mind that it was also full of yummy things to eat.  

Surely they had to be out there but just not in the places her and Cherrypit had been looking.

They didn’t know it but somehow they had managed to walk themselves all the way to the Crystalline Mean. Thankfully there had been someone watching them from the very beginning, just in case something went wrong. 

Babycorn sighed, “I don’t even know the name of the place we’re sleeping at…” All she knew is that the name started with a letter and there was a really nice Elezen standing at a table always ready to lead them to their room. 

“There, there.” Cherrypit gave his sister three pats on her head, hoping that would make her feel a little better. It always worked for him. 

Suddenly, Babycorn heard a couple of steps heading towards her, from right behind her. 

In these kinds of situations she already knew she could never act fast enough in case it was an ambush. Which is why she and Cherrypit had always agreed that he would be the first to act and that usually involved jumping at whoever was sneaking up on them and biting them like an attack dog.

Cherrypit growled and leapt off his sister’s head. “Go ‘way!!” He bared his teeth and got ready to bite down as hard as he could. But the strangest thing happened–he felt himself come to a complete stop in the middle of the air. 

“Wuah?” He retracted his sharp teeth and wiggled his arms in the air. Had he done this? Cherrypit looked up and noticed that someone was actually holding him up by his shirt. It was actually kind of fun. 

By now Babycorn had successfully sprung into action and after seeing her brother being suspended in the air by a stranger she didn’t know, or couldn’t see, she got angry. “Hey! Put my brother down you meanie!!” Babycorn charged at the stranger but tripped over her own foot on the first step.

“Owie…” Babycorn fell flat on her face. 

When she looked up, there was a hand reaching out towards her. The harsh light from the sky was almost blinding. But for some reason Babycorn felt like she could trust whoever was helping her up, it was a weird feeling. Without wasting a second she took the hand and was pulled back up. 

Then she was (almost) face to face with someone she had seen a little earlier. 

“Hey!” Babycorn gasped, “You’re Rebena!!” That was the lalafell she and Cherrypit had first met when they arrived to this new world. He was the one who led them to where the rest of her friends had landed, since they landed on top of a tree a bit aways from the others. “Hi! It’s me Babycorn! Do you remember me?!” It was always nice to see a familiar face. 

Especially if they were nice.

Rebena dropped Cherrypit to the ground and adjusted the hat on his head. “Y-Yeah…I remember you.” He tried looking away, nervously wringing his hands together. “Nice to see you again…” While his true identity was actually a future version of Cherrypit he was managing to hide it well, keeping the most damning evidence hidden by a tuft of hair covering half of his face. 

His nervousness however, was a little harder to hide. Thankfully Babycorn wasn’t too observant. Cherrypit could feel something was a little off, but that’s about all he could do. 

“Nice to see you too-!” Babycorn smiled. She stood perfectly still as she let Cherrypit climb back on top of her head. If she had bothered to open her eyes she would have noticed the dirty look the lalafell across from her was giving her brother. “I like your hat by the way! I have one just like it!”

“Is that so?” That wasn’t a coincidence. “I-”

Babycorn suddenly let out a shrill scream. Which made Rebena jump, a little higher than the average lalafell. “I-Is everything okay?!” Rebena worriedly asked. He watched as Babycorn began to pace from one side to another.

“Oooh If I don’t get back before everyone wakes up Lunya is gonna get really worried!” Ever since they arrived here Lunya had been acting so strange. Babycorn didn’t want to upset Lunya any more than she already was. On the bright side, at least it didn’t get dark or scary here. 

Well. Maybe it got scary. Just not dark. 

Rebena watched in silence as Babycorn paced back and forth, over and over, mumbling worst case scenarios to herself. There was something about Andres throwing her overboard a ship in there somewhere. He was unsure where the ship came in but at this point he felt he had to step in. 

He held his hand out toward Babycorn, “I can um, take you back if you want help…?” 

“Do you know where we were staying?” Babycorn sniffled. She was no help in that regard. Her mind was drawing a total blank, though she was pretty confident she would be able to point it out if she saw it. 

Rebena nodded, a rare smile crossed his face. “Of course! You’re staying at the Pendants. The Crystal Exarch told me so.” The Crystal Exarch had told him zip. He had been watching Babycorn since her arrival here from the rooftops the entire time. “Besides–it's like the only inn we have here. So that’s gotta be it.” 

Babycorn hummed in thought. The name did sound a little familiar. Eventually she nodded, accepting Rebena’s offer. “That sounds right I think!” Cherrypit also nodded in agreement, tapping the top of Babycorn’s head excitedly. 

Rebena couldn;t have cared any less about what Cherrypit was doing so he just focused on Babycorn.  “Right! Just follow me! I know this city like the back of both my hands.” At this point he knew he was supposed to turn around and start leading Babycorn through the city but there was a fleeting thought in his head that she would disappear once he looked away. 

‘She’s here. She’s not going anywhere. You’ll make sure of that.’

“Hmm?” Babycorn blinked, over and over. Was something going on? “Rebena? Is everything okay?” 

That was enough to snap Rebena out of his worry spiral. “FIne! I’m fiiiiiine!” He tried his best to wave Babycorn’s worries aside. “Here just follow me and we’ll get to the Pendants in no time!” All he had to do was make sure that his dolls kept their eyes on Babycorn when he couldn’t. Easy peasy. 

“You got it!” Babycorn skipped behind Rebena as he walked forward. The journey back had only just begun when her eyes caught sight of something. Rebena had a huge braid of hair! Much bigger and longer than her’s! “Oh!” She had a great idea. Babycorn grabbed the end of Rebena’s braid, just to make sure they wouldn’t get separated. 

Rebena usually hated people grabbing onto his hair. A lot of people tended to get his attention that way, and they would usually end up with his hair getting pulled. 

But, this was nice. It was like he was playing with his sister again. Getting into trouble with all the people way bigger than them. Even if he was the only one who knew what was going on. 

As they walked along Babycorn felt her stomach make a funny noise again. That reminded her! “Wait! Before we go back can we find a snack first?” All that walking around had made her even hungrier than she’d been before. “Snack! Snack!” Cherrypit repeated. He hadn’t been walking but he was also hungry.

“Sure!” Rebena wasn’t sure where they could stop but maybe they could stop by one of the stores to get candy or something. As much candy as they could take! So much so that they would get sick off it! 

The small little fantasy in his head came to an end when Rebena realized that Babycorn had no reason to invite him into their room to eat. He wasn’t her Cherrypit, just like she wasn’t his Babycorn. 

As the group turned to enter the Rookery, Babycorn and Cherrypit stared all over. They had gotten a tour of this area before, when they had first arrived, but it still looked as amazing as ever. Especially with the bird-like animals that they had never seen anything like before. 

Then, Babycorn smelled it, the distinct smell of something she could eat!

Without wasting literally any time she took off running in the direction of the food. Of course she let off of Rebena’s braid before running off. Otherwise she would have pulled him along and Babycorn knew more than anyone how much getting your hair pulled hurt. 

As soon as Rebena felt his braid hit his back he knew his worst fear had partially come true. “Babycorn?!” He could still sense her presence nearby but not being able to actually see her was a little bit terrifying. “Where did you go?!” 

Apparently it was not that far away really. 

It took almost less than a second for Rebena to notice Babycorn’s legs sticking out of a bag of amaro feed. Cherrypit was digging around a much smaller bag but Rebena couldn’t have cared less about him. 

In a panic, Rebena ran over to where Babycorn was busy eating. “What are you DOING?!”  As quickly as he could, he used his telepathic powers to turn the bag of feed over, making sure that Babycorn was the only thing to fall out. “Oof!” She fell onto the ground, a mouthful of feed still in her mouth. 

 “That’s food for the amaros!!” Rebena exclaimed. He was so grateful that there weren’t too many people around. Only a few amaros had been witnesses to what Babycorn had done. 

Babycorn looked around, confused. Then she stood up and put her hand in the bag of feed again. When she pulled her arm back out there was a handful of feed trickling from her hand. “Wan’ smome?” She asked with her mouth full. 

Silly her had forgotten rule number one of eating. Always share with other people. 

Rebena sighed and shook his head. There were tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. 

“Yeah. Sure.” 

He might as well. 

The Pendants were practically in sight now but it was still a little ways away. The trip so far, aside from the amaro incident, had been relatively peaceful. Rebena found it nice. 

It sort of felt like the time he and Babycorn had explored Ishgard for the first time. He remembered that Babycorn seemed to be a rush back then, walking quickly from place to place. It must have been the cold that had them in such a rush. That must have been it.

Something else he also remembered was that Babycorn loved to talk. 

As they continued to walk Babycorn would talk about the most random thoughts that crossed her mind. Whether it was something she saw or if something she saw reminded her of something else entirely. Cherrypit was also babbling about something, it was in baby speak. Which Rebena had stopped understanding an eternity ago. 

Right now Babycorn was discussing the possibility of them being lost. 

Just as Rebena was going to tell them that he lived here so there was no way for him to ever get lost, Babycorn interrupted him. “Actually-! We’re not lost!” She exclaimed, “There's three of us so we'll never get lost!” It was absolutely flawless logic. The more the merrier and the safer after all!

Rebena laughed, “People get lost in pairs of three all the time! Like this one time three people I knew went out into Lakeland and…” He paused, but he kept walking. “...People get lost. No matter the amount.” He tugged on the sides of his hair, spinning it around his finger. 

“Are you sad about something?”

“Eh?” That caught Rebena completely off guard. “I guess I am a little bit.” So off guard that for once, he was being honest. For once. 

“That’s okay!” She smiled, running up ahead to block Rebena’s path. “If you’re sad and wanna cry that’s okay! I tell Cherry that all the time!!” She tried to look up to where Cherrypit was still lying on head but that was pretty much impossible. Cherrypit giggled to himself as he snuggled against Babycorn’s hair. 

“I just wanna make sure Cherry’s not embarrassed to cry about things…!” Babycorn whispered to Rebena.  Ignoring the fact that Babycorn herself was a huge crybaby herself. “Otherwise he’s just gonna hold everything inside and then he’ll just get mad at everyone around him and then he’ll just be really mean and…Uh…”

 A solemn look crossed her face. “S-Sorry-! I didn’t mean to drop all that on your-!” Babycorn ran back behind Rebena and covered her face. “B’iggy always says I always tell too many secrets I need to keep to myself. Like the B’ig Nunh snowglobe collection…” 

“I see…” He remembered that. Something about Tataru not wanting to let word go out before the Starlight season. He didn’t really understand business but he could remember Babycorn telling everyone she could about the surprise. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just here to help you get home. That’s all.”

‘I’m being so brave right now. AAuuuughhHH.’

“Oh.” Babycorn looked surprised to hear that. For whatever reason. “Okay! Which way to the Pendants?” She smiled.

Rebena looked around, before pointing in a certain direction. “Right over there. We’ll know because one of my dolls is waiting for us there.” Before he could stop himself he biulrteed out the next part of his sentence. “His name is Coco!” Was it really his fault that he was proud of his own creations?! 

Of course not.

Rebena feared all the way down to his very soul on how Babycorn (or Cherrypit) would react to what he said. When all he got were blank stares he was starting to get concerned that they had somehow not heard what he said despite standing right in front of them. He knew his sister had the tendency to get distracted, but was it by this much?

Suddenly Babycorn sprang back to life. “Wow! I have a friend named Coco!!” She beamed. “That’s so cool that they share a name! Isn’t that cool Cherry?” Cherrypit nodded his head and chewed on a part of Babycorn’s hair. It was pretty clear he was growing bored.

“W-Woah!” Rebena looked away nervously, “What a coincidence…Ahahaha…” Nothing but a coincidence. A total happenstance. Totally. 

He was so so adjusted.

[hqmillioncorn]

Let me Show you my Pure Maiden's Heart!

“Wow…How could this happen?” B’ig Nunh shook his head, the supposed corpse of Hildibrand lay at his feet.  “He’s not dead!” Babycorn stomped her foot on the ground. “I could tell! Sin eaters smell a certain way when they die!” It was sort of a mix between a campfire and corn chips. Unfortunately it did smell a little delicious.  At that moment an echo vision began to ring in everyone’s ears. Everyone hunched over, holding their heads in pain. Babycorn tried so hard to keep her eyes open and her mind clear to make sure that Hildibrand didn’t go anywhere. But it was no use. Hey. …Why was it just static?

ffxiv write day 29: Soulmate with @windupnamazu 's lunya and butter and coco cocoda whos also @bobacupcake 's and @windupiceheart 's vertical and big nunh

somehow further hildibrand adventures! what unfortunate event could have befallen out beloved inspector?!

Tragedy had struck in Radz-at-Han! 

As if by divine happenstance, or in everyone else’s cause, an evil coincidence. It turned out that the portal that had once swallowed Inspector Hildibrand, Nashu and Gilgamesh up way back when had apparently dropped them off just an entire continent away. 

It was a fact that filled Babycorn with joy and Butter with dread. 

Pancake was also confused, surely the curse/spell she cast with Linnet should have lasted longer than this? Maybe they just needed more of Hildibrand’s hair? She knew she should have just taken the entire locket. Cherrypit had been practically pushing it into her hands. 

As soon as the gang ran into Nashu and she explained the whole situation, not even the scariest crate full of fish could stop Babycorn from following her all the way to where she had told them the Inspector was. 

True to Nashu’s word the Inspector was there, they had both escaped the scary portal they had fallen into relatively unscathed. For the most part. Nashu had also explained that Hildibrand had seemingly fallen into a deep slumber that he wasn’t waking up from.

“I’ve tried everything!” Nashu lamented, “Someone had told me to try using something called a cymbal but when I did-they broke into pieces! And they weren’t loud at all!” Unknown to everyone there Nashu had actually just grabbed two ornamental plates and banged them together thinking they were cymbals. They looked remarkably similar. 

Taking a break from her groveling Babycorn’s pom spiked up, she had an idea. “Have you tried breaking a plate?! That’s pretty loud!” Of course she spoke from experience. 

“Oh!” Nashu’s eyes widened, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” Babycorn was always so resourceful. 

At this point Lunya had to step in. She grabbed Babycorn and carried her to what basically was the other side of the room. “I swear to god we can’t let you near each other like this.” Something about Babycorn even being near Hildibrand and Nashu in a close vicinity made the stupidity of the room increase tenfold. 

And that was the last thing they needed right now. 

Ideas began to bounce around the room and that was enough of a distraction for Babycorn to sneak back across the room from the corner Lunya had placed her into. Literally everyone noticed her doing this but Lunya was too lazy to carry her back and Butter didn’t want to make Babycorn sad.

Babycorn stopped right next to Vertical and looked up at her. “Hey! Hey! Vertical! It’s me!” 

Vertical looked down and smiled. “hey babycorn we’re just about to explore hildibrand’s body do you want to help?” 

Babycorn made a face that looked like a surprised baby chick. 

In the matter of a split second, Lunya was right behind Babycorn, covering her very long ears with her hands. “Don’t say it like that in front of her!?” Not that Vertical was wrong but it was a dangerous game talking like that in front of Babycorn. “She’s going to start saying that around people and then what will people think…?”  

Vertical grinned, “hahahahaha.”

Butter was seconds from death, or from smothering Hildibrand with a pillow. Whichever came first. 

Somehow even after that Babycorn was allowed to climb onto the bed. She sat on her knees on the edge of the bed and looked at Hildibrand with her shimmering eyes. “He looks just like a sleeping prince…”

“Or a corpse.” Lunya chimed in. 

“If only…” Butter whispered under his breath. 

Babycorn poked at Hildibrand’s arm. There was no response. Babycorn thought about something familiar about this entire situation. “I think someone read a story to me just like this once….” It was either somewhere between a long time ago or just yesterday. “I remember now-! It was a story about a cursed princess that was stuck sleeping for a long time.!”

“Oh I love that one!” Nashu exclaimed, “My favorite part is the part where the princess falls asleep. A nap actually sounds really nice right about now…” 

“That’s the one!” Babycorn hopped off the bed and ran around the bed to be closer to Hildibrand. “Which means if this is like that-! Then we can wake up Hildibrand with a kiss from his true love~!” Of course Inspectors Hildibrand’s true love had to be no one but her!! “I’ll kiss him and wake him up from his eternal slumber!!”

A wave of dread washed over everyone. Especially Butter. 

It kind of looked like he had just died then and there. 

“Doesn’t my idea sound great?!” Babycorn stood up on the bed and looked at every one of her friends, expecting them to call her a genius and praise her on her ingenuity. And then they would all come to the wedding between her and Hildibrand where there would be lots of cake and-!

Lunya walked over and picked Babycorn up, carrying her back to her corner. “Alright that’s enough. We’ll figure something else out before you kill my son.” 

“But it was a good idea! Let me try at least once!?”

“Absolutely not!”

It was decided, they were all going to go to the First and get Hildibrand’s spirit back to his own body! Preferably in one piece! And if not in one piece, then they would just put him together when they got back.

Of course not everyone could go to the First. One of the ones to stay behind was Butter. He was very sad about it, more worried that Babycorn would find herself hungry for a snack and he couldn’t be there to give her one he had packed. 

Reluctantly, and while waving an embroidered handkerchief, Butter saw everyone off. 

Meanwhile back on the First, clues of where Hildibrand could be lead them to the middle of Lakeland. With help from familiar faces (specifically named Theyler and Vonard) they were all able to find the elusive Gentleman. In a form none were expecting to find him in.

“A SIN EATER?!” Babycorn wailed so loudly that even Lyna, who was back at the Crystarium, heard her. 

“Wow…” B’ig Nunh looked up at the tree above them, most everybody else was pretty much speechless. “Kind of majestic if you think about it.” 

“It’s really not.” Lunya tiredly sighed. 

Babycorn ran up towards Hildibrand, almost placing herself right under the branch he was standing on. “Hildiiiii! It’s me! Babycorn! I-I know I look different but you have to remember me!!” Tears were streaming from her eyes, “Even if you’re a sin eater I promise I won’t eat you like the other one! I promise! Even if your wings look really yummy from here!” 

“What did she just say?” Coco was getting scared. 

Hildibrand looked down at the group of people under him. He swore he could recognize some of them. Something in his mind was trying to remind him of that. It wasn’t until Hildibrand’s eyes fell upon the lalafell most familiar to him. 

“Ah-! If it isn’t Lunya Lanya! I’ve heard you and the ‘Crystal Exarch’ were married recently. I offer my congratulations!” He struck a most gentlemanly pose. “I’m glad you were able to find happiness and I trust your pursuit of me has come to an end?”  

All eyes were on Lunya–fearful of what she would do next.

Her eyes were closed and there was a smile on her face. “Ahahahaha…” She stepped back and in an instant pulled out a comically large hammer from basically nowhere. It was triple her size and adorned with jewels. “I’ll handle this.” 

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Babycorn sobbed. She was on the ground holding onto Lunya’s leg. 

“Verty?” Lunya looked up at Vertical with a smile still on her face. “Do you still have the present Nashu gave us?” She had been entrusted to hold onto it for some reason I don’t care to explain. “uh yeah.” Vertical pulled it out and showed it off. It was a bomb, thankfully still unlit. For now.

“Great!” Lunya beamed, “Throw it in the air and I’ll hit it towards him and then give him a few bonks to the head! That’ll fix him!” She paused. “Or kill him. We’ll just have to see!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Babycorn sobbed even louder.

Coco looked back and forth from everyone in a panic. There was a lot happening. “Are we just going to ignore what Babycorn said?!”

[hqmillioncorn]

Don't Cry over Spilled Milk!

Babycorn turned to look at where the scream had come from. She had been picking flowers a few seconds ago but if there was a scream that near to her and in the middle of Gridania, there was only one explanation. As it turned out her guess was right. There was Cherrypit, reconfiguring his face and in front of a hyperventilating midlander.  Babycorn rushed up and put herself between the midlander and Cherrypit. “Sorry! Sorry! About that! Cherrypit just really likes to scare people using…Glamours!” Of course that was the biggest lie in the world but her friends had helped her come up with it to minimize the amount of people asking what Cherrypit was.  “And he’s very sorry!” Babycorn looked down at Cherrypit with a smile. “Aren’t you Cherrypit?” Cherrypit looked straight at the midlander and nodded. He wasn’t sorry at all. 

ffxiv write day 28: deleterious with @windupnamazu 's butter

babycorn wake up you fricked up big time and in butters room no less

Having practically raised Cherrypit since she was young made Babycorn very good at apologizing to people for any damage he caused. Whether it be property damage or emotional damage, Babycorn was always ready to take responsibility for it. There was no world where she was going to let Cherrypit take the brunt of people’s anger. 

But. Ironically. Babycorn was very bad at taking responsibility for things she did herself. 

Because if someone found out she broke something or god forbid killed another person in cold blood surely the entire world would turn against her again and chase her down another alleyway to corner her again. Call it an overreaction but Babycorn was adamant in her stance. 

Truly the only way to take care of something she might have accidentally broken was to run away and hide. Sometimes she would go so far as to bribe any witnesses (usually the younger ones) with any yummy snacks on hand just to make sure no one told on her. 

Lately she was a big fan of erasing her mistakes. Sadly that was one method that had its limits. Those limits were called ‘If she used her powers too much she would pass out on the ground and get scolded for doing it.’ 

Which was the reason why she was currently hiding inside of a closet in Butter’s inn room in the For’ard cabins. . 

“Sniffle.” Babycorn said out loud. The closest was dark and kind of cramped but it was the only place she could hide where no one would find her. If she dared to step outside then Butter and Pancake would be outside ready to ambush and kill her with rocks (literally.) Maybe she deserved what was coming to her considering what she had done.

Or rather what her tail had done. 

Right now Babycorn was hugging onto it tightly. Both for the emotional support and to make sure it didn’t cause any more destruction. While it was true that Babycorn was starting to feel a little better about having horns and a tail that weren’t going away for now, her control over her tail was almost nothing.  

It would twitch and grab things on its own if she wasn’t putting her full concentration on moving it. And asking for Babycorn to concentrate on one thing and one thing alone was a lot like asking moogle to walk somewhere instead of flying.  Frankly impossible and way too much trouble. 

Babycorn leaned back against the wall of the closet. “If Butter finds out what I did…He’s gonna hate me for the rest of foreveeeerr…!” Her eyes were watering just thinking about the possibility. Butter would probably get so mad he would kick Babycorn out and tell her that he never wanted to see her again and that for sure meant that he would also never hold her hand ever again too. 

The very thought of that was making Babycorn despair about something that hadn’t even happened yet. 

A sudden noise outside made Babycorn jump, her horns getting tangled up in some clothes hanging right above her. As carefully as she could, Babycorn crawled over to the door and creaked it open just an itty bitty bit. 

“Is there anyone out there Cherry?”

In her infinite wisdom she had given Cherrypit the important job of guard duty. So while he was busy playing with his wooden blocks he was also doing the very important job of making sure Butter and Pancake didn’t know she was hiding. 

Cherrypit turned to look at his sister and shook his head. “No person! No! No!” There hadn’t been any sign of any people aside from the few people walking by that Cherrypit could see from under the door. He was reading each and every person’s mind just to make sure it wasn’t Butter or Pancake. Or even Cinnamon. 

Honestly, Cherrypit had no idea really why his sister was hiding in a closet or why he was supposed to tell her if he heard Butter or Pancake coming. Oh well. He would always listen to her either way and Cherrypit was having fun either way. So it was a win win. 

Babycorn let out the breath she was holding in. “Phew. That’s good…” Then Babycorn scuttled back into the closet. 

Right now her plan only had one step. That which was she was going to hide inside the storage closet for the rest of her life and only then would Butter never ever get angry with her.  

It took only a few minutes for her plan to crumble before her very eyes. And it all started with Cherrypit opening the door and peeking inside. He was starting to wonder if there was something really cool in there that he was missing out on, like a yummy snack or something. 

“Bebe? Bebe? What doing?” He crawled up closer to her to see what she was doing and ended up forgetting what he was doing halfway and just hugged her instead. “Hi Bebe!”

“Cherryyy!! Noooo!” Though she was desperate she wasn’t about to push Cherrypit out of hugging her. Instead she would just panic and die. “Okay Cherry, can you go back outside and make sure that-!” 

Babycorn was interrupted by the sound of a doorknob turning. Because as it turned out, not only had Cherrypit also opened the door to see what Babycorn was doing, he was also coming to warn her that both Butter and Pancake were home. 

“Wait-!!” Babycorn held her hand out to try and stop the door but it was too late. 

The door opened and Babycorn tumbled right out, alongside Cherrypit. Who was having a lot more fun than her. “Weeeeee!” Cherrypit cried out as he rolled on the floor like a ball. Pancake bent down and caught him in her arms. “Gotcha!” Years of playing with Cherrypit had prepared her for things like this. 

Meanwhile Babycorn was just lying on the floor, flat on her face and unmoving. Desperately hoping no one would see her. Instead she felt someone pet the top of her head. “Babycorn? Are you okay?” The sound of Butter’s concerned voice caused her to spring back to her feet. “AHAhahaha! Hi B-Butts!!” Babycorn said a little louder than she meant to. “F-Funny seeing you here?!” 

“Um, this is our room?” Cinnamon pointed out. “I really think it's much weirder to see you here instead of us.” A thought crossed her mind as she smirked. “...Or are we interrupting an intimate moment between you and Butter??” 

Butter grabbed Cinnamon from the air and threw her over his shoulder. “Don’t listen to her.” 

Of course no cookie fairies were harmed during this action. Cinnamon simply bounced off the wall and flew back, a smirk still on her face. 

“A-Anyway-!” Butter stepped up closer to Babycorn, “Um..So what were you doing here anyway?” He stretched out his arm to pat her head, checking for any bumps that she might have gotten falling out of the closet. “Do you need help with something? I can help with whatever!” Butter grinned. 

Babycorn felt her face starting to get warmer.  “Err um uhhhhh….!” There was just something about what was going on that was fluttering her more than she had ever been flustered. The fear of Butter hating her had been violently pushed to the back of her mind. Replaced with thoughts of her and Butter going out to eat somewhere, holding hands. For whatever reason.

“I’m fine!” Babycorn yelled out suddenly. Her horns had turned themselves a hot shade of pink. Nobody was sure what that meant. 

Pancake looked upon the scene, mentally taking down notes in her head to share with Linnet later. “Your sister is pretty weird–huh Cherry?” She whispered to the toddler she was carrying in her arms. Cherrypit giggled and nodded. Babycorn might be a little weird but he still loved her all the same, and of course so did Pancake. 

“Babycorn? Are you sure you’re okay?” Butter had to ask. It looked like she had been crying. If there was anything he could do to help her feel better, he would do it. Be it climbing the highest mountain to get a once in a lifetime cup of pudding to crossing the widest river in the universe to reach a delicious drink for her. He was definitely normal by the way. 

“I’m fiiiiiiiiine!!” Babycorn said lying through her teeth. It was very easy to tell when she was lying. “I’m not lying by the way!” She smiled very suspiciously. 

Of course Butter knew Babycorn was lying but if it made her happier to believe her then he would. “Okay…! I’m glad you’re okay.” 

“I’m glad y-you’re okay too…” For some reason Babycorn couldn’t get herself to stare at Butter. That was strange, she had never had this kind of problem before. Maybe she was sick? Yeah. That was probably it…

Pancake decided she had enough of watching her brother and hopefully future sister-in-law flirt in front of her. “If you need me I’m gonna go get a snack with Cherry.“ Before she could even take the first step–Babycorn zipped right in front of her to block her way. “N-No you can’t I…!!” 

Babycorn couldn’t figure out what to say next. “Um…You…I…”

Cinnamon grew suspicious. “Did you eat all our snacks again?” This had happened more than once. More than twice even. “If that’s the case we can just buy more. With the allowance they get from Lunya we got enough to buy an entire store’s stock front and back.” 

“But Lunya said we have to save our money and not spend it all right away?” Pancake brought up. 

“You really gonna take advice from someone who doesn’t follow her own advice?”

“Hmm. Good point.” 

By now Babycorn had pretty much accepted her fate. She sniffled, wiping some tears from her eyes and snot from her nose. “A-Are you gonna throw rocks at me? Or are you gonna chase me away? O-O-Or…?” Twelve forbid there was a knife somewhere at hand’s reach.

“What?!” Butter could hardly believe what he was hearing. In fact he didn’t believe it at all. “Why would we do that?! We would never do anything like that!!” The very idea of it was making Butter wonder if someone had ever done that do Babycorn before. 

If there were people that had–then Butter would make sure to find them and kill them himself. 

“It's cause…cause…” Babycorn looked down at the ground in shame. Her tail slumped down to the ground. “C-Cause…”

“Cause…?” Butter hesitated a bit. 

“I knocked over your juice pitcheeeeeer!!!” Babycorn wailed loudly. “I-I-I didn’t mean to! I was just turning around and my stupid tail knocked it over and it spilled juice everywhere!!” She continued to wail and cry as loudly as she could. 

Cinnamon looked around, true to Babycorn’s words the pitcher was on the ground, scattered and broken into pieces. “So that’s why it smells like fruit punch in here.” 

Without even missing a beat Butter slowly took Babycorn’s hands in his. “We’re not going to do any of that. I promise. Nothing you could do would make us, any of us, do something like that.” Butter looked straight at her, his voice firm to make sure that Babycorn was listening to him. 

“R-Really…?” Babycorn couldn’t stop herself from asking, “No matter what I turn into?”

Butter smiled, “No matter what you turn into.” There was confidence in Butter’s voice. His face wasn’t feeling warm but his heart was overflowing with love. “Babycorn Corn. I want you to know that no matter what you do or what you turn into. Or even where you go, I’ll be by your side.” He paused, “If you want me to, that is.”

“Of course!” Babycorn held Butter’s hands as tightly as she could. Which wasn’t very tight at all, considering her minimal strength. “I always wanna go everywhere with you!” Having Butter at her side made her happy. Even if it felt like her heart was going to explode sometimes when she held his hand.

“Me too!” Butter grinned. 

Pancake cleared her throat, cutting through the atmosphere. “Hey? What happened to us?” She said with a playful smile on her face. “Can you believe this Cherrypit? Let’s leave these two lovebirds alone.” Pancake turned away, nose in the air and walked over to the beach chairs on the other side of their room. 

“Wait-! No! I! I mean we’re not-!!! I mean-! I’m-!” This time Butter’s face flushed a light pink, he brought his hands up to his cheeks and turned away. “I-I’m just gonna clean up! Sorry! Excuse me!” Butter grabbed the closest towel he could then walked over to the juice puddle on the ground. 

Babycorn jumped into action. “Oh! I’ll help!” Her tail wagged from side to side behind her as she walked behind Butter.

Pancake watched from afar and sighed. She had always wanted Butter to be brave and confess his feelings to Babycorn and though he’d made a lot of progress Pancake never imagined the end result would be so…Embarrassing. 

Then again. Butter was always a little embarrassing to watch. 

Pancake handed Cherrypit a cookie for him to chew on. “I really thought she was gonna say she finally ate Cinnamon or something.”

Cinnamon flew right beside Pancake and waved her sleeves up and down. “Hellooo?! I’m right here!!” She angrily chimed at her. 

[hqmillioncorn]

A Memory is a Memory that isn't Mine

Babycorn sneezed, and then she sneezed again. The wind around her was so cold she was freezing her stupid horns off. Not to mention she was severely underdressed for being on the summit of a freezing mountain.  When had she even gotten here? The last thing she remembered was sneaking into the kitchen and grabbing a glass of chocolate milk with a side of an entire bag of dog treats.  Suddenly Babycorn had a realization. “OOooh I must be dreaming!” No duh.  She looked around. There was no one else near her. It was a pretty lonely mountain, except for the comfort of a freezing cold wind. “Hmm?” Babycorn looked down, at her feet was a small little plant remarkably shaped exactly like a moogle. Something in her told her that she needed to collect as many of these little plants as she could. Weird dream.  …That still didn’t explain why she was so cold. 

ffxiv write day 27: memory

dawntrail spoilers

on a fun little trip to eat some yummy food babycorn has a strange encounter with someone familiar and a stranger at the same time

Babycorn couldn’t remember where she used to live. Not that it really mattered at this point, her house was probably long gone considering how long it had been since then. Sometimes it would bother her but most of the time Babycorn was too busy to be thinking about lots of other things to be sad about it. 

That was the way to do it! To be so busy with other things that you had no time to be sad! It was genius to be honest, at least Babycorn thought so. 

Lately however, there were a few moments where Babycorn would find herself about the oddest things. 

Just the day before she had stared too hard at the pools of molten rocks in Urqopacha and felt a tug of sadness. The kind that felt like she was missing something, or someone. If she found herself trying to think of why she was feeling this way Babycorn would suddenly find herself losing herself in a storm of memories that didn’t belong to her. 

Ever since becoming a Starsinger her memories had been full of people she didn’t recognize but she still felt some sort of connection to them. A part of her missed them despite never meeting. 

At first Babycorn just figured these memories were just something that happened a long time ago to her and she had just forgotten. Or maybe–it was like her memory of what happened to her parents. Where her own mind had made up the lie that her parents had managed to make it out alive.

Whatever the case Babycorn didn’t worry about it too much. Not as long as she didn’t think about it too much, everything would be fine. 

And everything was fine, until a few weeks ago. 

Having just returned from Living Memory recently Babycorn decided she wanted to finally enjoy the vacation she had once ignorantly thought would be uninterrupted the day they arrived in Tural. Obviously that didn’t turn out to be the case but it was better late than never!

Now it was just time to sit back and relax on one of the chairs of Aunt Til’s tacooooos!!

Babycorn had never had a chance to try any of the tacos or anything from here so this was the very first place she had rushed to. Her and Cherrypit ordered everything on the menu. Twice! 

Of course they ate every single plate and Babycorn remembered how Lunya told her that she shouldn’t eat the plates at restaurants ‘Home plates only!’ is how Babycorn remembered her lecture and not ‘Please stop eating plates.’ Cherrypit also took this advice to heart but couldn’t help but take little bites off the plates.

As Babycorn continued to devour her food she noticed that Cherrypit was playing with the napkins in front of him. “Bebe! Bebe look at mine!” He was putting the napkins on top of his head, one over the other. He just kept going until there was a little pile of them on his head. “Look Bebe! Look! Me!” 

Babycorn giggled and added one of her napkins on top of Cherrypit’s head. Her little demon tail wiggled in happiness. “You’re real good at balancing those Cherry! I sure couldn’t do that!” This was a very true fact that even Babycorn knew was true. 

Cherrypit giggled and took a sip from his little sippy cup, full of soda and backwash. “Boo! Boo! Boo!” He put his arms in the air and turned his eyes a scary red color. 

He was scary enough to make Babycorn jump in her seat. “A-Are you a g-ghost…?!” There were a lot of things that scared her and one of those things were ghosts, the spirits of the undead. Especially if they were the kind of ghosts that sought out revenge against the living. 

Ever since she could remember she had been scared of them. “Cherryyyy!” Babycorn whined, “I told you not to scare me like that-! Ever since we explored that cave when we were kids and found that…that…?” Huh. That was weird. What was that? 

It was like the words had come out entirely on their own. They didn’t make sense. There was no cave near where her and Cherrypit had grown up. At least, not that she could remember…

…No! There definitely hadn’t been! She would have remembered! 

Not to mention that her and Cherrypit would have never been allowed anywhere near a cave with how protective their parents were. The farthest they had ever gone on their own was just a little bit outside the front door. 

And yet, when Babycorn really thought about it she had this clear image of her and Cherrypit exploring a cave. Him swinging a small hatchet around.Something that would and could happen but he just looked too big, not like a toddler. 

By now Cherrypit had noticed the worried look on his sister’s face. Also another big clue was that she had stopped eating. “Bebe? Okay?” Cherrypit didn’t really understand a lot of things yet but he did understand that sometimes something would be wrong with his sister. Her eyes would glow and she would stop talking for a long time. He didn’t like it when that happened. 

Babycorn heard Cherrypit’s voice and looked over to him. Something was wrong.

She wasn’t looking at her brother. She was looking at a stranger. His hair was brown just like Cherrypit’s but it was pretty clear that this was not a toddler–this was someone closer to her age. He was wearing green all over, albeit all a different shade. He also looked worried.

‘Chelinka don’t worry, okay?’ 

Babycorn blinked, “How do you know my name…?” She had never met this person before. How would he know? 

But at the same time Babycorn knew exactly who he was. 

“...Yuri?” 

There were so many memories in her head with him. It was hard to not know who he was. This was her brother, just another version of him. Normally it would be hard to wrap her head around a concept like that but after knowing she was just another version of a girl for more than half of her life it was pretty believable. 

Yuri let out a laugh. Babycorn recognized it, it was the same way Cherrypit laughed. ‘That’s me! Nice to meet you!’ Yuri paused, ‘Or I guess nice to see you again!’ Though technically they had just been talking a few seconds ago. 

…Or had they? That was Cherrypit but Cherrypit was Yuri too. Babycorn’s head hurt.

“I got lots of memories with you in them.” Babycorn admitted. Though Babycorn had no clear order of when certain memories happened she could sort of parse the difference between the ones where they were younger or older. “Are those people you traveled with doing okay? They seemed nice.” 

‘Do you mean Al, Meeth and Gnash?’

“Oh.” Well good news that Babycorn now had names to associate with the faces she didn’t recognize. “Yeah them!” 

‘They’re doing just fine! Al and Meeth still live in our village and Gnash comes and visits once in a while! And mama and papa they-’ Yuri stopped before he could continue, he had completely forgotten. ‘I-I’m sorry. I forgot that here your mama and papa are…’

Babycorn shrugged, “It’s okay. Honestly…it’s kinda nice hearing they’re okay somewhere out there.” Would she have preferred it to be her world? Of course. Always. But she had to take what she could get. 

There were lots of other memories that Babycorn wanted to ask about but if she did that they would be here all day. Instead she led with the most burning question she had. 

“Is there a reason I can’t remember anything after they killed papa…?” Everything after that fateful night to a random morning where she woke up as a twelve-year old was entirely a blank aside from a few hazy memories here and there. 

Yuri frowned, it wasn’t something he liked remembering much. ‘That was when you were sleeping. For a really long time.’ Everyday he would wake up and hope that that day would be the day that his sister would wake up. It was just the two of them back then and he had needed her back then more than ever. ‘But you woke up one day! And that was the best day of my life!’

Babycorn figured. The little memories she had from that time were just memories of Yuri talking to her as if she could say anything back. He would cook for her, clean the house and train the rest of the day to keep her safe. Yuri never left her side. “Thanks by the way. For taking care of me.” 

‘Anytime and anywhere.’ Yuri meant this with his whole heart. 

Babycorn could sense something in the air changing. Her time with Yuri was almost up. Well, at least with this version of her brother. There was one small thing she wanted to say, before it was too late. 

Babycorn took a deep breath. “I’m sorry you had to bury our papa by yourself…” At least she had Cherrypit with her when she did it. 

‘Hey…that wasn’t any of our faults. Especially not yours.’

He was right. “See you later then.” Babycorn waved at her other world version of her brother and the very next time she blinked her familiar baby brother was back in view. “Byeee Chewinka!” he was wiggling both his hands at her. 

“Wha-? Huh?” Babycorn was confused, she looked behind her to see if the ghostly form of Chelinka who she KNEW she couldn’t talk to anymore was somehow behind her. There was nothing there but a view of the ocean. “That’s weird…” 

Cherrypit giggled to himself.  His sister was so funny.

[hqmillioncorn]

27: memory

wc. 197, Vertical, Pre-ARR

She wakes up. 

She opens her eyes to the bright white sky. It hurts to look at. She can’t feel her body. She closes her eyes.

She wakes up. 

It’s blurry. She thinks she hears a voice, but she’s not sure. She feels herself drifting again.

She wakes up.

It’s warm, or she thinks it is. Her body aches. She opens her eyes to the dark, wood ceiling and the warm yellow light. There’s a blanket on her. It’s nice… 

She wakes up.

She blinks. She can feel her body again. She looks beside her.

“Oh, good!” An older man is sitting next to the bed. He smiles. “Was afraid you weren’t going to wake up. Do you know where you are?”

She shakes her head, she slowly sits up. 

“You’re in Coerthas Central Highlands right now. How about your name?”

She opens her mouth to say something. Then she looks down, confused. “... ver...” It slips out of her mouth, but it doesn’t seem right. She reaches up to rub her head. 

“Don’t have to force yourself, miss. I’ll go get you another blanket, rest some more.” The man leaves.

She furrows her brow. She sits there.

[hqmillioncorn]

SOS (Save our Sbabycorn)

Babycorn sneezed once, then twice, then another three times.  Her nose was all stuffed up. It was so hard to breathe sometimes that Babycorn was worried that she might be dying. That was far from the truth because all she really had was a small cold, but Babycorn didn’t know that.  Her entire body felt sore and she was beyond tired. As she and Cherrypit walked through Gridania she was wobbling from side to side. “Bebe?” He was starting to get a little worried.  Babycorn stopped and swayed from side to side. “I’m fiiiine! Cherry! Don’t worry!” She smiled, while talking to a post in front of her. “...Cherry did you get taller?”  All of a sudden Babycorn’s balance failed her. She dropped down into a small puddle of water with a loud “Eek!” In an instant her clothes and her hair were soaked. And for some reason… “...Hey! I feel a whole lot better!” 

ffxiv write day 26: zip

babycorn visits some family when they figure something about her thats kinda important

To say that Babycorn was nervous was the understatement of the century. 

Right now there were about a million different places she would rather be than the place she was right now–at this very moment in time. Pupusa was sitting next to her but unlike Babycorn she was the very picture of uncaring apathy. Currently she was flipping through her third magazine at the time. 

From the way Pupusa was looking at it Babycorn figured it wasn’t a very exciting read.  

Babycorn wiggled uncomfortably in her chair. “Hey Pupusa? Can we just go home and forget the whoooole thing happened?” She hoped that they could walk out those doors and never ever turn back. That would be the best outcome. 

“If I let you run off I would never hear the end of it.” Pupusa didn’t even bother to give Babycorn a glance. Rather, she just kept on reading the stupid magazine in her hands that she hated. 

“But I don’t wanna be heeeeeere” Babycorn wailed. 

“Does it look like I want to be here either?” 

“Um…”

“The answer is no, Bebe.” Pupusa flipped a page in her magazine, gripping it tightly enough to give it even more wrinkles than it already had. It was a pretty old magazine.  “Besides–you only have yourself to blame for being here.” Despite the harsh wording Pupusa was one hundred percent right. 

“How is this my fault?!” 

This time Pupusa was annoyed enough to stare Babycorn in the face. She set her magazine down by throwing it back onto the coffee table in front of her. “Are you serious?” Pupusa knew Babycorn was dense and a little bit stupid but there was no way someone could be this dumb.

“We’re both here because you had to open your big fat mouth!”

Just a few hours earlier Babycorn had arrived at their home on a whim. All because she had happened to be visiting Ul’dah for an errand someone asked her to run. Pupusa had answered the door and promptly slammed it shut in front of Babycorn’s face. No way she was going to spend the afternoon with the Warrior of Light. Nuh uh. 

The only reason Babycorn had been allowed in was because Ceviche was on her way out and happily invited her inside. 

“I’m just on my way out with Libra but help yourself to any snacks around!” Ceviche grinned. In her arms was Libra, her one-year old daughter. Libra shook the rattle in her hand and smiled at Babycorn. She babbled her own unique greeting at her. 

“Hi Libra! Cool shaky thing! Babycorn did not know what a rattle was. “Where are you guys going?” Wherever the answer was–Babycorn was going to follow them to make sure they were safe. After all, absolutely anything and everything could happen when Babycorn personally wasn’t right behind the people she cared about specifically. 

“We’re just going to the doctors!” Ceviche answered. 

Babycorn was NOT following them.

“Okay have fun!” Babycorn moved so fast over to the kitchen that for a second it looked like she teleported herself in there. The sounds of her going to town on some leftover nachos from earlier that day very quickly filled in the silence. 

“Right.” Ceviche turned to leave, “Okay Libra let’s go get you those shots! And you’re gonna be a brave girl aren’t you?” She tickled Libra’s nose and giggled alongside her. “We’ll be back!” 

Pupusa got as far as opening her mouth to wish Ceviche a safe trip before the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps stopped her right before the first word. Babycorn had run back from the kitchen, a plate of nachos still in her hands and face covered in cheese. 

For some reason she looked really scared. 

“WHY ARE YOU GOING TO SHOOT LIBRA?!” Was this some sort of family thing she never heard about?! 

“What?” Pupusa didn’t have time for this. She sensed trouble coming a malm away. 

Ceviche on the other hand, was very taken aback. “Excuse me?!” She covered one of Libra’s ears. Even though they were covered by her onesies hoodie already. “Where did you hear that?!” 

“Y-Y-You said she was gonna get shots!” Babycorn’s eyes were watering and she was shaking in her custom-made boots. What had Libra done to deserve this?!  “Libras so smaaaall you can’t give her a gun!” Though he was still sleeping a memory of Cherrypit flashed in Babycorn’s memories. “...Then again-”

“Okay wait!” Ceviche was going to put a stop to this before it went anywhere else, while Pupusa just stared in the background, refusing to get involved.  “Babycorn. What do you think getting a shot means?” 

“Like…a gun?” Specifically a machinist gun. Like the ones Cherrypit liked to play with sometimes. Without Babycorn’s permission, might I add. 

“Seven hells-! NoO!!!” The majesty of the Warrior of Light being part of their family was quickly fading. Especially for Ceviche, who had spent the most time around Babycorn so far. “It’s just shots! Like at a doctor’s!?” At Babycorn’s age it should be common knowledge by now!

Babycorn’s memory was drawing a blank. She knew what a doctor was, some of her best friends forever were doctors! And even though they were scary sometimes they were still friends! 

“D-Don’t tell me you’ve never…”

“What? Gotten shot?” Babycorn shook her head, “I’ve been shot lotsa’ times! Mostly in Coerthas. During a fight! It was really fun!” And some other times here and there of course.

“Y-You’ve never…” Ceviche was at a loss. Was this really THE Warrior of Light standing right in front of her? “Have you ever even been to a doctor before?!”

“Just once! When I was a little girl my mama and papa took me to one cause I almost died!”

“I see.” 

Pupusa poked her head into the conversation. “I see. I guess your parents beefed it before you could get any shots.” Babycorn had already told them all about what had happened to them and in turn they told her about her grandfather. 

“Yeah I guess they did.” Babycorn did a good job pretending she wasn’t a little hurt by that.

Ceviche was deep in thought. Considering she was good friends with her daughter’s doctor she could very easily ask for a small favor. Because despite the mystique of the Warrior of Light falling to pieces–Babycorn was still family. And she couldn’t bear any family of her’s being in any danger of falling ill to any sorts of illnesses. 

It was decided then. 

“Okay! Chelinka Starsinger you’re coming with us!” Ceviche wasted no time in hearing Babycorn’s answer and grabbed her arm, dragging them outside. “Huh????” Babycorn had no objections with going with them, she was happy to! But it was a little confusing. 

Libra let out a happy little babble, as if she understood that her favorite playmate was coming with them. 

Pupusa remained silent as she watched from the front door. Finally–some peace and quiet.

“Pupusa you’re coming too!” Ceviche yelled from oh so far away.

“Aw-! What?!”

“I still don’t see why I had to come.” Pupusa slouched even deeper down into her chair. “You’re the one who needed to come here. I’m just collateral damage at this point.” Didn’t Ceviche know that she had more important things to do. 

Things that Pupusa couldn’t quite think of but surely it would come eventually.

At that moment the door to the doctor’s office opened. Both Pupusa and Babycorn turned their heads to see who was coming out this time. Unfortunately for Babycorn it was Ceviche and Libra, the latter had a little lollipop in mouth. “We’re all done!” Ceviche cried out, “And my little angel didn’t shed a single tear! She’s so brave! Aren’t you sweetie!!” She lifted Libra up in the air and wiggled her nose against her’s. 

“Okay Chelinka! Your turn!” 

“Yeah she just ran out the door.”

“What.” What Pupusa had said was true, the door was just slightly ajar and Babycorn was nowhere to be seen. This would not stand. “Here-!” Ceviche handed Libra to Pupusa and rolled her sleeves up. “I’m going to bring her back here if it's the last thing I do!” 

Pupusa let out a sigh. “Your moms really crazy–did you know that?” She grabbed Libra’s arm and wiggled it up and down. “Cwazy! Cwazy! Mamas cwazy!” Libra repeated. Pupusa smiled and lighty tugged on Libra’s small strand of blond hair. 

As it turned out Ceviche wouldn’t have to run far. When Babycorn ran out of the doctors as fast as she could she tripped on the very first step out. Falling backwards she landed on the back of her head and practically knocked herself out. 

“Ah.” There she was, a bump on her head and a pair of dizzy eyes on her face. 

“I guess that makes things easier.” Certainly didn’t make them harder.

[hqmillioncorn]

If there comes a time where you are falling down-I'll be your Savior

Cherrypit looked down at his current project and then up at the Crystal Exarch. “Hmm…I think the hood needs work…” He mumbled to himself. All it would take is a few things to fix. Nothing to worry about.  Currently the Crystal Exarch had no idea Cherrypit was in the Ocular. The power to turn invisible came in handy for a lot of things. One of them being sneaking out of the Crystarium and the other was to spy on the guy he was trying to make a doll out of. Despite how Cherrypit behaved he really did appreciate everything the Crystal Exarch had done for him. He was like some sort of weird pseudo-dad and annoying big brother who thinks he knows everything at the same time.  Of course that also included knowing Cherrypit was in the room.  Cherrypit turned behind him, looking at his supplies and dolls. “Lulu can you hand me that thread? And Verty? Can you hand me that snack I packed?”  Both dolls happily attended to their tasks.

ffxiv write day 25: perpetuity

cherrypit loves babycorn!! cherrypit loves cake!! cherrypit loves...

There were a lot of reasons that Cherrypit liked dolls. 

Dolls are fun to play with and fun to hug too! That’s what Cherrypit thought. Everytime he and Babycorn would come across a place that sold toys he would go through all of them and if he happened to make a connection to one he really liked then there was nothing Babycorn could do to keep him from taking it home.

No way in all of the seven hells she could ever resist Cherrypit’s pleading look. 

His giant eyes staring right at her, the way he would wiggle his big ears, the big smile on his face that told Babycorn that he believed with all of his heart she was going to buy it for him because she loved and cherished him.

Babycorn would always fold immediately. 

When Cherrypit wasn’t buying his dolls, he was making them. 

He learned how to make them when he was the tender age of two-years old. The same age he had been for the past twelve years or so. The dolls Cherrypit made weren’t professional by any definition of the word, but it was still pretty impressive. 

The weaver’s guild had given him all the supplies he needed and in a short time Cherrypit had made a stitched rag doll. Giving it the name ‘Bebe.’ The name of the person he loved the most in the entire world! Babycorn was flattered, and a little mad that some doll had stolen her name but if it made Cherrypit happy it was fine. 

There weren’t a lot of places Cherrypit didn’t take his dolls to. 

He would take all his dolls, especially the Calca and Brina dolls, to all sorts of places. Like the kitchen, B’ig Nunh’s room, the very top of a tree and to the doctor’s office. The last one in particular was very important. Cherrypit needed all the support he could get to stay brave in there. 

Another scary place Cherrypit would take his toys was into battle. 

They wouldn’t fight but they would be there when the battle was over, ready to play a fun game with him. Then when night would fall he would sleep in a big pile of his dolls. Then they would have a nice rest and sweet dreams together. 

Playing with his dolls was so much fun!

The truth was that Cherrypit has a special secret talent! That you can’t tell anyone about! 

Cherrypit can bring dolls to life! So they can talk and walk and do a lot of things on their own. All Cherrypit needs to do is think it, and the dolls do it. So many of his dolls would clean up around the mansion. His dolls would also make sure that all his friends were safe and sound. 

Ready to let Cherrypit know if something was wrong. 

Of course Cherrypit didn’t just bring his own dolls to life. He would bring life to any toys that his friends had. Like Linnet and Pancake’s stuffed toys. They would mostly run around when both girls weren’t looking, cleaning up the messes they left behind and helping with their homework. 

There was something else Cherrypit loved about all his dolls.

Unlike so many things whenever dolls broke or got ripped apart–Cherrypit could fix them easily! 

All it would take was a few stitches here and there, maybe some replacement stuffing and they would be as good as new! Different dolls could also be fixed in all sorts of different ways. He could use glue for porcelain dolls, tape for paper dolls and a thread and needle for the rest. 

That way Cherrypit’s dolls would last forever.

His friends would last forever. 

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Bebe would

Cherrypit looked up, he had been resting his head on his knees for who knows how long. 

His room was a mess. Torn up drawings and pieces of broken furniture were littered everywhere. There was a sign that something had been on fire recently. It still smelled a little like smoke. 

Cherrypit wiggled his feet around, they had fallen asleep. He had fallen asleep too. How long had he been asleep for? There was no one in his room anymore except for him. 

There was a mirror leaning up against the wall next to Cherrypit. He ended up startling himself when he looked at his own reflection. 

Different colored eyes were staring back at him. A blank white and and a piercing blue one. 

Cherrypit’s eyes were stinging. Maybe it was from the crying or from how long he was exposed to black rose. His eyes were red and puffy. He had been crying for a really long time. It was dark when he got back to his room and now there was light outside. A beam of light was softly shining its way inside. 

As it turned out–Cherrypit wasn’t as alone as he thought. 

The sound of rustling papers caught his attention. It was coming from the other side of the room. Cherrypit stood up and slowly walked towards the noise. He didn’t really have a plan of what to do once he found out what had made the noise. It felt like there was just something pulling him towards it. Something familiar. 

When Cherrypit got there he looked down to see a small doll, sitting where he had left it when he left the day before. There was a teacup in front of it. The last time he was in this room Babycorn had promised him she would play with him when they both got back. 

Cherrypit picked up the doll in his tiny hands. It was a doll he had once made himself. 

“Bebe…” Cherrypit hiccuped out, his breathing becoming faster. Something in his chest was hurting. 

The doll wasn’t moving anymore. It wasn’t looking at him. 

Just like all the people Cherrypit had seen. Standing and fighting one moment then in a flash they were lying on the ground, unmoving. No matter how hard Cherrypit had yelled at them to wake up nothing would happen. He had run through the battlefield trying to find anyone he recognized. Nobody woke up. Nobody.

No matter how loud he yelled. How much he shook them. How much he used his magic to heal them. How much he wanted them to wake up. 

Cherrypit gripped the doll in his hands.”Bebe…” its old stitches slowly began to tear themselves apart. 

Babycorn had stayed awake more than the others. Cherrypit could still remember. She had said something to him, he saw her mouth moving but it was so loud around him he hadn’t heard a word before she

Cherrypit let out a scream and tore Bebe in half. 

Stuffing of all different kinds and from different times came spilling out. He kicked the stuffing away and threw the remains of the doll against the wall. Cherrypit let out a sob, crying louder than before. The pain in his chest wouldn’t stop, his heart just kept going and going. 

He cried out for his sister, saying her name over and over again. Hoping that she would be able to hear him and come running back to get him. 

There were no tears for his broken doll. He didn’t care. He barely remembered it had existed. Who had the time to care?

When nothing lasts forever after all.

[hqmillioncorn]

Did someone say Happy Nameday?!

“Happy nameday Rori!!!” Babycorn popped out of the ground in front of Rori. After Rori finished screaming he was finally able to process what Babycorn had said to him. It was only just a little bit weird. By her standards. “It’s. Not my nameday??” Rori didn’t even remember ever mentioning his nameday around Babycorn.  “I just know it’s your nameday cause Cherry told me so!” Right next to Babycorn the smaller and younger Cherrypit popped out of the ground as well. “Bah!” He wisely said. Of course he actually had no idea when Rori’s nameday was. He had just read Rori’s mind and picked out a random day. “Here we got you a present!” Babycorn rumaged through Hungstal for a bit before finding what she was looking for. “Ah-HA! Tada!” She held up her present proudly, “The newest B’ig Nunh almanac! I got it just for you!” “...T Thanks.” 

ffxiv write day 24: bar

with @windupiceheart 's rorichaux

on a day like any other babycorn is going to talk to her good friend rori :)

Another year passed, and with it came another Valentiones Day. With the festivities in Gridiania coming to a close for the day. Though that didn’t mean that everyone was gone by now.

Rori let out a yawn. His shift was almost over and soon he would be free.

Free to do whatever it was that Roris did with the time they spent not working. Perhaps he would go on a jog or eat a delicious meal. Truly the possibilities were endless. Yes, it would just a few more minutes until-

Something made Rori pause, something was coming. 

Or more like someone. 

Because even from far away, he could hear the telltale cry of someone yelling out his name. Followed by the sounds of several tiny little steps that could only come from a lalafell wearing a pom on her head. Rori figured that this might as well happen. 

It had been almost an entire day since Babycorn had last visited him during his work hours. Either she was slacking or she had finally died. There was no inbetween or any other explanation for her absence. 

The approaching cloud of dust was enough for Rori to confirm that it was indeed Babycorn heading his way. “Yeah okay.” He grabbed onto a nearby post and braced himself for impact. Then as the cloud of dust got closer and closer, a strong breeze blew past Rori, almost blowing him into the air like the stick-bug he was. 

When the wind died down opened his eyes, looking down to see Babycorn grabbing onto his leg like she was about to fly away instead. Babycorn looked up to stare at Rori with her huge and shimmering bug-like yellow eyes. “Hi Mister Rori-Chow!!” 

“Hi Babycorn.” Rori greeted her. 

He extended his leg out and waited for Babycorn to let go. Once she did, she plopped onto the ground. Looking more like a rag doll that had fallen off the shelf. “It’s Ro-ri-Show.” Rori explained for the hundredth time now. He hoped that breaking it down into sections would help Babycorn get his name right. His first mistake was to hope that Babycorn do anything right. 

“Okay Mister Rori!” Babycorn saluted him. 

Rori sighed, the first of many to come. 

Babycorn bounced back a step and placed her hands behind her back. She was wearing a strange outfit Rori had never seen on her. The big poofy skirt she was wearing sort of made her look like a giant cupcake. Complete with sprinkles. From what Rori knew of Babycorn he wagered that those were real sprinkles. 

There was also a massive candle on her head. Thankfully it wasn’t on fire. 

“Mister Rori! I have a surprise for you~!” Babycorn threateningly sang out loud. She didn’t mean for it to sound like a threat. It just sort of happened whenever Babycorn told people she had a surprise for them. “It’s right behind my back~” 

“Y-Yeah. Sure. Alright.” 

There was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. 

Unless this ‘surprise’ took eleven hours for Babycorn to explain like the last one had. 

Babycorn did a cute little twirl and extended her hand out to Rori. “I wanna invite you to my nameday party!!” That sounded normal enough.

At least, it was normal. Until Rori looked down to see what Babycorn was handing him.

Babycorn’s left hand was stuck inside of a glass jar. 

“Um.” Rori truly was at a loss for words. Which is why he just continued to stare at the jar around Babycorn’s hand and at Babycorn’s rapidly blinking face for the next few seconds. “What’s that you got there?” Rori finally worked up the courage to ask. 

Babycorn wasn’t sure what Rori was talking about. Pretty evident considering the confused smile she was giving him. “Hmm? What? Where?” She turned around in a spin, looking for something that was on her. Like an excited dog chasing its own tail. 

It was kind of cute. “I’m talking about the jar on your hand.” It reminded Rori of the time Babycorn stuck her hand inside of an anthill. Only pulling it out when he told her she could. Then Rori had to take a two hour bath to get all the ants out of his hair after 

“Oh this?” Babycorn wiggled her hand around. There was a simple explanation to this actually. “I was eating berries and I thought there were none left but I saw there was one more and put my hand inside to grab it!” She brought the jar closer to her and bit it for a while before giving up. 

Previous teeth marks showed that she had tried this before. “I also got the invitation to my party inside! See? See? I’m holding it!”  Babycorn held her hand up as high as she could for Rori to see.

Rori looked as close as he could. The jar looked pretty empty, aside from the obvious. True to Babycorn’s word her hand was wrapped around a now pretty crumpled piece of paper. That must have been the elusive nameday party invitation.

Even so this was far from the weirdest thing Babycorn had done.  As far as he knew. And yet, Rori still had to ask. “Why did you put your hand back in to eat berries with the invitation in your hand?” 

“Uhhhhhhhhh…” It seemed Babycorn didn’t have an answer. 

Not to mention that the jar looked pretty empty. There were berries in there bouncing alongside Babycorn’s hand and the invitation. “Were there actually any berries left in there?”

“There were!” This time Babycorn was quick to answer, “I ate em’ and then I put my hand back in the jar.”

“...Why?”

“I forgot it was empty!!”

“...” Rori had no idea what he was supposed to say next. There was a part of him that truly wondered how Babycorn had managed to stay alive this long. Was it luck? Was it fate? Was it some inexplicable third thing? 

Whatever it really was–Rori was glad that Babycorn always bounced back. Even if it came at the cost of several hours of hearing her yapping about some neat rock she found yesterday under a moldy piece of bread that she later ate and saved half of it for Rori.

“Wait-!” Babycorn suddenly exclaimed, “I know how to get this off me!” 

“How?” Rori asked genuinely wondering what sort of method Babycorn was going to come up with. Maybe something like licking it off? That sounded plausible. Though she could have never guessed what was going to happen next.

Without a moment's hesitation–Babycorn slammed the jar into the ground. It smashed into teeny tiny little glass shards. “Yay! My hands out!” Babycorn let out a cheer and waved her hand around. Weirdly enough it was kind of hurting but surely that would go away on its own eventually.

Rori stood frozen, mouth hanging wide open. “a,” That was the only thing he could manage to say. At least until he said the next thing, “You’re-uh bleeding. Um we should probably….” Probably go get that fixed or something. That was the smart move. Right. What the heck.

Babycorn looked at Rori, confused. Until she looked down at her hand. “I guess I’m bleeding now!” She said with a grin on her face. Bleeding suddenly from her body wasn't something Babycorn was unfamiliar with. 

This was the same girl who had an eternally bleeding scar on her body since childhood. 

“Uhhhhhh. Let’s just get some bandages for that.” 

Rori led Babycorn to the first-aid station they luckily had on hand. Turns out there were many accidents that happened to be related to Valentiones day. Babycorn walked behind Rori like a baby duck following her mom. As they neared their destination she suddenly remembered something! The very thing she was still holding in her hands.

“Mister Rori! Here! You can have my invitation now!” Babycorn held it up and waved it at Rori. Waiting excitedly for him to take it. “Here! Here! Here! Mister Rori! Mister Rori! Mister Rori!”

As ‘excited’ as Rori was to take a blood stained invitation he decided to tell Babycorn he would take it after tending to her hand. “I’ll go to your party. It’s not an invitation only party, right?”

“Nope!” Babycorn shook her head. “I think everyone should come to my twenty-seven nameday party! I made invitations so I could drop them from the sky all over everywhere!”

“That’s nice-”

Wait. Rori stopped dead in his tracks. Had Rori heard right? “...How old are you turning?”

“I’m turning twenty-seven!!” Babycorn winked and stuck her tongue out. Posing with her fingers pressed against her rosy freckled cheeks. 

Rori paused, taking in what he had just heard. 

“...You’re twenty-SEVEN?!” 

Babycorn was ONE YEAR YOUNGER THAN HIM?!?!?!

[hqmillioncorn]

23: on cloud nine

wc. 988, B’ig Nunh x Y/N, You are going to have a Fantastic day.

You are sitting under the shade of the tree. The wind is soft against your cheer, the grass waving back and forth, you let out a breath and think to yourself. Wow, what a wonderful day, I don’t think it could be any much better. 

You close your eyes and you revel in the serenity of the world, when you hear something. Someone to be exact.

“Hi, [Y/N]!” You open your eyes and you’re met face to face with B’ig Nunh’s awesome, handsome, sexy, beautiful face.

He smiles wide. You are taken aback by the miqo’te who has suddenly appeared in front of you.

“H- hi, B’ig Nunh,” you manage to get out. You and him have been hanging out for 3 to 6 months depending on who’s reading this.

“Wanna hang out?” he says, tilting his head, making the heart-shaped moogle pom on his head bounce to the side. Wow that was so… You don’t have the words. You might have felt his outfit be weird and eccentric in the beginning. Though depending on your tastes, maybe you did like it even back then. But now? Regardless of whether you liked it or not, you find his fit Cute and Great and Amazing and he looks Great in it.

“Sure!” you say, a faint blush appears on your cheeks. “What do you want to do, B’ig Nunh?”

He thinks for a second before his eyes open wide. “I know a spot, wait by the road!” B’ig Nunh goes on first. You watch him run. He trips and falls on his face. You swear you hear him go kyaa! but you decide to ignore it for his benefit. You get up from under the cool shade of the tree. Goodbye tree for now, it was lovely sitting with you. 

You wait by the road. 1 minute, then 2 more, then 5. Another 5, that equals to 13. Where is this catboy, did he just go home? Then suddenly, you hear a soft rumble in the distance. 

“Sorry, sorry! Had to remember where I parked!” B’ig Nunh pulled up in a black roofless car. You are extremely impressed that he has both a car and a driver’s license. 

“You can drive?”

“Yeah! C’mon get in,” he leans over and opens the door on the passenger’s side for you. 

He drives down the road. It’s suddenly dark because that seems more romantic. After a while of driving, you hear him start to hum, tapping his finger on the steering wheel, and you… 

He gently shakes your shoulder, “Sorry to wake you, but we’re here.” You flutter your eyes awake. You didn’t even realize you fell asleep. How embarrassing! He gets out of the car first and opens the door for you. You get out and see you’re in front of a hill. “C’mon!” 

He grabs your hand and walks you up. Your heart beats faster. Why? Must be the walking. When you reach the top, a beautiful landscape below. It was magnificent. The night sky shines with all the stars twinkling. “So, how is it?”

“It’s… I’m speechless, B’ig Nunh.” 

“[Y/N], I took you here because I wanted to ask you something, I hope you don’t mind.” he said.

Your brain flashes back to all the playdates you’ve had in the past. Like the time when he took you out for drinks and you thought he was gonna drop the drinks but he caught all 5 of them, you don’t know why he was carrying 5 drinks, and the other time when he took you to the moonfire faire and tried to impress you with doing the obstacle course and he did it but you couldn’t see it because you didn’t do the course at the same time as him because you were too busy eating ice cream. And that other time when you two hung out and did a thing and you did and he did something and you did something. What wonderful memories. 

“What is it?” you ask.

“Well, I really enjoy your company and… well, do you want to go out with me?” His face is completely red when he’s asking this by the way. Your heart is beating fast and you can’t blame it on the uphill walk. 

Do you want to go out with B’ig Nunh? The answer is yes. “Okay,” you reply to him.

“Yippee!!!!” B’ig Nunh jumps with joy and then settles down and takes your hands.

And then he looks into your eyes, and the you look into his eyes, and then he looks into your eyes, and then you look into his eyes, and then he looks into your eyes, and then you look into his eyes, and then he looks into your eyes, and you look into his eyes some more, and then he looks into your eyes even more. Mesmerized by his blue-cerulean and green-cerulean orbs, you stand there   staring, as he is.

He closes the gap between the two of you. You’re kissing! That’s #awesome! His luscious, soft lips against yours. You don’t see this, but he’s lifting one of his legs up. Suddenly you’re french kissing- Ishgardian kissing even, your tongues fight for dominance. He runs his hand through your hair, or your bald head, depending on whether or not you have hair on your head.

b’ig 

You furrow your brow, did you hear something? You shrug it off and continue to make out sloppy with B’ig Nunh. 

b’ig 

You hear it again. You pull away from B’ig Nunh.

“Hey B’ig Nunh, are you saying your own name while we make out?”

“No?” he shakes his head confused. 

“b’ig,” Huh? B’ig Nunh jolts awake. He sits up on his bed. Looking to the side, he sees Vertical next to him. 

“it’s lunch.” she says. B’ig Nunh stretches.

“Verticallll, you woke me up at the good part, I was making out with B’ig Nunh.” he whines.

“?”

[hqmillioncorn]

Journey to the Seventh Heaven

Cherrypit looked up from being on his phone to see his sister finally arrive home.“So you have fun on that date of yours?” He had been up waiting for what was hours now. Frankly he had expected his sister to arrive sooner, considering her reputation.  Babycorn jumped over the couch to sit next to where Cherrypit was lying down. “Yeah! It was lotsa fun!” Without even waiting for permission she dug her hand into the bowl of popcorn Cherrypit was eating.  Not that she ever needed permission. ‘That was odd’, Cherrypit thought.  Normally Babycorn never answered his question about how her outing went. 

ffxiv write day 23: On cloud nine with @windupnamazu 's butter

modern au ! not specific babycorn goes out somewhere fun with butter :)!!! yaaaaaaay!!!

As Butter hit the hot pavement outside he made sure to extend his arms out. “Weeee!” Babycorn came flying out of the building not long after, her eyes closed.

After a few tense seconds she landed safely in Butter’s arms with a squeal.“Ehehehe! Thanks for catching me again Butts!” She hugged Butter tightly and kicked her legs in excitement. 

Butter’s face turned an all too familiar shade of pink. “N-No problem…!” He had already caught her mid-air several times today. 

The owner of the establishment slammed the door behind them but not before shaking her fist and them. “Never ever ever come back if you know what’s good for you!!” She had yelled so loud that it was impossible to not get the message. 

Babycorn hopped back up onto her own two legs and waved at the owner. “Thank you! Have a nice day!” After waving for a few seconds she turned to help Butter up. “Ups you go Butts!” She snorted in laughter a bit after realizing she had accidently rhymed. Butter thought it was really cute.

“So um…” Butter nervously tugged on the sleeve of his jacket, “Did you like the Museum of Frozen Foods?”

“I LOVED it!!” Babycorn cheered, stars in her eyes. 

“Really?”!

“Yeah!” A small burp escaped Babycorn’s mouth, “All the food was real yummy too! That was the best part!” 

Butter had taken his eyes off of Babycorn for just a minute to look at the world’s oldest microwave and one minute was all it took for Babycorn to take exactly one bite out of hundreds of frozen t.v dinners. 

Of course she brought the one she thought was the yummiest to Butter so they could share. Then Butter had the idea to heat it up inside the world’s oldest microwave. Turns out, the one Babycorn picked out was really good. A meatloaf meal with a side of mashed potatoes and corn. 

But also it was against the rules to eat museum pieces. As they quickly found out.

Butter just hoped that they didn’t call home and tell his parents he got in trouble. He was on thin ice as it was after the incident at his university where he helped Babycorn set the cafeteria on fire after heating up a calzone in a makeshift campfire. 

“Where are we goin’ next Butts?!” Babycorn asked, running around Butter in a circle. She had to expend her endless amount of energy somehow. 

Butter’s ears drooped down. “Um…” They were actually slowly running out of places to hang out. 

So far they had been kicked out of the Museum of the History of Chocolate, the Exhibition of Fried Foods, the Museum of Ice Cream and the Wax Museum. All for the same reason. 

“I think those wax figures could have used a little more time in the oven!” Babycorn picked at her teeth and flicked out a piece of the very much deceased Queen of England. “Where are we going next Butts?!” 

Butter looked around, trying to spot anything else that might be fun. 

Eventually his eyes caught sight of a small souvenir shop on the corner of the street they were standing on. The city they lived in was littered with these sorts of stores. All expertly placed to give tourists a place to waste their money. 

And also Babycorn who frequented those stores despite her brother’s warnings.

Butter also knew about this. Babycorn’s backpack was full of tacky keychains for a reason. “Hey why don't we go over there?” He pointed over to the shop amidst the crowd. Hopefully Babycorn would be able to see where he was pointing at. 

All doubt that she didn’t see left his mind when Babycorn let out a loud gasp, grabbing his hand and running forward. “That looks fun! Come on Butts!” So far this date thing was really fun! Babycorn was really confused at first when Butter asked her to go on one before, since she didn’t really understand what a yummy tasting fruit had to do with anything. 

Cherrypit helped her to understand that Butter just wanted to go somewhere with her and have fun. He felt like it wasn’t worth it to elaborate anymore than that. Since unknown to Babycorn she had been on a lot of dates already.

All of them ending when Babycorn got bored enough to just forget she was hanging out with someone entirely and walk back home alone. 

But with Butter it was totally different! She was having the time of her life!

Even if Butter himself didn’t notice and was himself semi-convinced that Babycorn was just having an average time. 

Babycorn pushed herself through the crowd to run to her favorite section of every store. The snowglobe section. “Butts look! They have one with a little dolphin inside!!” She tipped-tapped her feet in excitement, pushing her face against the display glass. 

The glass was getting so foggy that Butter couldn’t even see what she was pointing at.

Butter thought Babycorn was really cute when she was excited. Be it from seeing a weird looking bug crawling around to a plane flying in the sky at a low altitude. It was just great seeing her so happy. 

He couldn’t believe that his friends had once warned him about getting near who the student body once dubbed ‘The weirdest girl ever.’ There was absolutely nothing strange about Babycorn! In his honest opinion. 

Babycorn was the most normalest person Butter had ever met in his entire life. 

“Butts do you think they’ll let me drink the snow globe water?!” 

 “I guess we’ll just have to ask!” Butter grinned, without missing a beat. 

[hqmillioncorn]

Hope comes Knocking

Babycorn, Babycorn, Babycorn. Sphene had heard that name before. Only once.  During the first few days after Zoraal Ja’s arrival she had heard him talking to himself. Most of what he said was about where he had come from so Sphene was a little curious about it. She had tried her best to hide herself and listen in.  Of course most of what she heard made no sense to her. It was just names and places she didn’t know. What was she expecting? Something that did give her pause though was how Zoraal Ja wished he could have had one more chance with someone named Babycorn.  …Wasn’t that a vegetable? 

ffxiv write day 22 (free day): pinky promise

Dawntrail spoilers!!!

babycorn has some sort of existential crisis and decides to rope sphene into it in a way

After walking around Solution 9 for what felt like forever Babycorn had shyly asked if they could 

take a small break. The break came right after she had made a passing comment about how cool a motorcycle on display was. 

So the pause coincided pretty well with her resting and Butter running up to try and buy a motorcycle with the gil he had on hand. All while Lunya tried to convince him that buying it at full price wasn’t going to impress Babycorn at all. 

One of the only reasons Babycorn hesitated in asking if they could stop was because she hadn't wanted to interrupt Sphene’s tour. What if Babycorn made her mad? She really wanted to be Sphene’s friend.

After everything, Babycorn needed to feel like she had more than anger in her heart.

There were so many thoughts floating around her head that she hated coming from her own head. Back in Tuliyollal she had been scarily close to losing her temper and charging Zoraal Ja for what he had done to Gulool Ja Ja. 

She had been mad before, there was no doubt about that, but she’d never been so mad that her body started changing. 

Babycorn scratched at the bandages wrapped around her arms. After the attack Tuliyollal on had ended she had told everyone that she had injured herself and that Cherrypit had helped her wrap bandages on her arms. 

Cherrypit at the time had been confused why his sister was lying to their friends but Babycorn practically begged him to play along. 

How was she ever going to face her friends again when her arms were growing more mouths and eyes on them? 

Eyes on the palms of her hands were easy enough to hide at first but after what happened in Tuliyollal they started traveling upwards, burning her arms to a crisp as they did. Thankfully they didn’t hurt, just as Cherrypit’s arms didn’t hurt him. 

Maybe her and Cherrypit were more alike than she thought? That was her first guess. 

But then why had she sprouted horns and a tail too? Cherrypit wished he could always have those but could never get them to stay on him permanently. 

There were more pressing matters at hand however, and Babycorn’s journey of figuring out what exactly was wrong with her and her little brother would have to wait till later. Much later. 

Until then it would be just fine to not think about it. Out of sight, out of mind, as Babycorn once heard someone say. If she just hid away the parts of herself she didn’t want to think about, it would be just fine. 

Though her arms were able to hide just fine, and the horns were somewhere she couldn’t see, her tail was a whole other matter. Whenever Babycorn almost tripped over her own tail she felt like hiding under a rock and never coming out. 

Why was it so hard to be normal? All her entire life she had wanted nothing but that! 

Babycorn sighed and looked down at Cherrypit. He was sitting down next to her on the floor, playing with a small doll he had bought during the tour. It was a doll of Queen Sphene, complete with accessories that Cherrypit was too young to play with. Choking hazards and all. 

“Speen! It’s Speen!” Cherrypit waved the doll in the air before sticking it in his mouth. That meant he really liked it. 

Babycorn was so fixated on watching her brother play that she failed to notice someone sneaking up right behind her. 

“Hello? Excuse me?”

Babycorn screamed and leapt up in the air when she felt someone tap her shoulder. The urge to run away was almost overpowering but Babycorn had to be brave! For her little brother! “Who’s there?!” She ran to grab Cherrypit and hide him underneath her arm, sort of like a football. 

Cherrypit thought it was really funny. “Haha! Yaay!” He cheered, wiggling his arms and legs around.

Babycorn looked up, expecting to see something horrifying beyond belief, despite their current location. Instead she was almost face to face with the Queen of Reason herself. “O-Oh!” She put Cherrypit down on the floor and watched as he sat right down. “Hi Miss S-Sphene!” Babycorn nervously greeted her. 

Was this how you were supposed to greet royalty? A ton of her other friends were royalty too! Had she been saying hi to them wrong all along and they were just too nice to say anything?! Maybe she should just die.

Sphene, unaware of Babycorn’s current inner conflict, continued to speak with her. “Babycorn was it?”  

“T-That’s me…” Babycorn answered her. At the same time she was shivering and shaking like a small dog. 

Sphene knelt down to try and be on the same level as Babycorn. “Are you feeling any better? I know you said you were tired.” It was easy to tell, considering how far Babycorn had fallen behind in the group. 

“I’m fine! I’m feeling fine!” That wasn’t entirely a lie. Babycorn had needed to stop and catch her breath for a few minutes, but now she was feeling a lot better! Aside from the feelings that she was turning into an irredeemable monster but surely those would go away on their own. 

Sphene sighed in relief. “That’s good. I was worried my tour had harmed you.” She stood back up looking away from Babycorn. There was no way Babycorn could have seen the guilt ridden look on Sphene’s face. “The last thing I would want to do is harm you or your friends.”

At the mention of friends, Babycorn felt a tug. A burning question that had been bothering her ever since they first stepped into Solution 9.  

“Um…Sphene? We’re friends? Right?” 

Sphene looked almost shocked to hear what Babycorn had asked her. “Of course!” As if there was any question about it! In Sphene’s opinion anyone would look at them and think they’re friends of course! “Despite our short time together I think of you as a dear friend. My only wish is that you think of me as a friend as well.”

Hearing Sphene tell her that felt like a weight had been lifted from Babycorn’s heart.

 But at the same time, there was this odd feeling of obligation. “And friends tell each other everything…” 

“Hmm?” Sphene hadn’t quite heard what Babycorn had said. “What was that?” 

Babycorn took a deep breath. From what she learned about friends over the years was that trust was a big part of it. Even so she still wasn’t quite sure what it really meant. Of course now that she thought about it–maybe it had something to do with keeping secrets. 

And Babycorn had quite a big secret. A bit of a life threatening one considering past events. 

If Sphene was going to be her friend then she would have to trust her. Just like all the others were saying before, to make sure that Sphene didn’t have any ulterior motives. 

“Miss Sphene? Can I tell you a secret?” 

The very second that Sphene gave her the okay–Babycorn told her everything she could think of. About Starsingers, about what happened to her and Cherrypit when they were younger and how they had grown up. At first Babycorn was worried that telling Sphene everything would take much longer than it would.

But as it turned out, explaining to someone you had infinite power inside you coupled with the ability to change the world’s fate and bend it to your will was pretty simple actually. 

“...And my name is Chelinka Starsinger!” Babycorn explained at last, “But everyone just calls me Babycorn!” 

Sphene was speechless. To think that the universe entrusted that much power to just two people was unbelievable. If not a little unnerving considering the two people that had it. Neither Babycorn and Cherrypit were exactly poster children for makers of good decisions. That much was clear even in the short time they had known each other. 

“Chelinka Starsinger…” Sphene repeated Babycorn’s true name to herself. No wonder Babycorn considered her powers a secret. If other people knew about it there was no telling what kind of things she would be forced to do. 

Sphene’s gaze grew dark, whispering under her breath. “Had I that power I could…” 

“But it’s a secret so you can’t tell anyone! Okay?” Babycorn reminded her. Not that she thought Sphene needed reminding. Someone as nice as her must have a lot of friends and secrets all over her kingdom! It was only natural. 

“My lips are sealed!” 

Babycorn had no idea what that meant but it sounded reassuring. Even so, there was one way she could make sure that her starsinger secret wouldn’t spread. Not unless Babycorn wanted it to. Babycorn held out her hand, sticking her pinky out.  “Can we pinky promise on it?” 

At first Babycorn was worried that because her and Sphene were from different worlds she would have to explain what a pinky promise was. Thankfully Sphene copied her hand movements exactly. “I would gladly.” She nodded. 

Babycorn beamed, smiling wide. “Then it’s a pinky promise!” 

“It’s a promise! Chelinka.”

[hqmillioncorn]

Fun in the Sun (or the Shade!)

“Here ya go miss!”  Babycorn stepped aside to let Cherrypit deliver a bag full of millioncorn to the woman who had hired them to gather them. “We got as many as you told us to get and then we got lots more too!”  It had been almost too easy. Especially with Babycorn’s newfound skill of actually being good at botany.  “Lotsa corn! We go lots!” Cherrypit cheered. He was always happy to help.  The woman nodded, thanking them and giving them the gil she had promised. “If you’d like–you can join me inside for some stew as well.” It had been so long since she and Al had had guests. A part of her missed it. “It might be a while though so I understand if you adventuering types don’t have the patience for-” “YIPPEE FOOD!” Babycorn ran in with Cherrypit right behind her. Both of them hopping up and down in excitement.  There was something about them that was so familiar to Meeth. Too familiar. 

ffxiv write day 21: shade

aleria and lalatov go vegetable picking for some millioncorns but also its really hot oh no :(

The sun relentlessly shined down on almost all of eastern Thanalan. Today was a particularly strange weather day. The sky was almost covered entirely in clouds, making the possibility of the sun making it through near impossible. 

Yet of course, fate always found a way to make Aleria’s life just a little harder. 

Aleria moved her hand slightly above her eyes to try and block out the sun. She let out a small growl while considering the ramifications of what destroying the sun would do to the local ecosystem. 

Both her and Lalatov were currently hard at work collecting millioncorn as a favor for Meeth. 

Meeth hadn’t seen either of them out into the sun without any protection. Meeth had sent them both out into the wild with two of the biggest sun hats she owned. “Make sure to bring them back in one piece and bring yourselves back in one piece too!” Then she laughed loudly at her own joke before sending them off. 

But even with the added buff of having a sunhat, Aleria was still getting the sun in her eyes. 

Aleria noticed that Lalatov was having just as much trouble as her. Either the millioncorns were stronger than they looked or Lalatov had little to no strength in those skinny arms of his. Something told Aleria it was probably the latter. No matter how hard he seemed to pull, the millioncorns wouldn’t budge. “Do you need some help?” Aleria cried out.

“Huah?” Lalatov turned his head over to look over to her, “No! No! I’m fine! Totally fine!” 

Aleria was less than convinced. “Are you sure?” While her basket was already filled to the brim with millioncorns, Lalatov was struggling to even get halfway. Aleria grabbed a millioncorn from her basket and looked at it.  Was it worth it to work this hard just for this little thing? “What are these even for anyway?” 

Lalatov took a step back from trying to harvest a millioncorn to catch his breath. “They’re for Meeth’s stew!” She had told them that they could get as many helpings as they wanted in exchange for helping her gather ingredients. 

A stew in such hot weather wasn’t exactly the kind of thing Aleria was dying to try. Not only that but she preferred eating at home, alone. “Sorry but I think I’ll pass on the stew.” 

It’s better for her not to get close to people. 

“What?!” Lalatov fell on his back in surprise, scrambling to his feet in record time. “I promise it’s like the best thing you’ve ever tasted!” 

If Aleria learned anything about Lalatov by now it was that he never gave up easily. 

“Really?” Of course there was skepticism on her part. One didn’t just declare something being the best thing you’ve ever tasted without some proof. There was only one way for Aleria to test this. “...Could you survive being buried up to your head in it?!”

Lalatov didn’t miss a beat. “I would eat myself out of the stew in a flash!” 

“Damn. That must be some stew.” 

Lalatov nodded excitedly, “You don’t know the half of it!” He turned his back to her and looked at the millioncorn with more determination than ever. “And once we finish here we can go and eat with everyone!!” Though he had more determination, his strength sadly had not increased at all between then and now. 

Unbeknownst that Lalatov was doing all of that to impress Aleria, she decided to step in. “Here let me help!” Alaria walked up behind him, wrapping her hands around his own. “Alright-! On the count of three we pull together! Okay?” 

Lalatov’s face blushed a light pink. “O-O-O-Okayyyy…!”

Aleria was confused. Why did it sound like Lalatov was suddenly shivering? In this hot weather? Oh well, probably nothing to worry about. He was a weird guy. He had to be–if he wanted to befriend her. 

Lalatov had almost been too flustered to do anything on three, having just been quick enough to help Aleria once the number left her mouth. It was a shock to him how easy it had turned out to be. 

The millioncorn landed in Lalatov’s palm and he hurried to drop it into his basket as if he were holding a hot popoto instead. 

“Wow! You’re a natural!” Lalatov grinned, “You made it look so easy!”

“Hey don’t forget you helped too.” Even if it wasn’t by much.  

“I-I guess so…!” 

Lalatov looked around nervously. Maybe it was time to throw in the towel and admit he just wasn’t cut out for farm work. “Could you…Maybe help get the rest too…?” No doubt Aleria had already seen his poor attempt to harvest millioncorns already. Why would she offer her help otherwise? 

Aleria looked surprised, if only for a second. Then she gave Lalatov a sympathetic smile. “Alright! But only if you carry the basket behind me.” She didn’t want him to feel too left out now.

“Of course!” 

Lalatov grabbed the basket, happily carrying it while running behind Aleria. 

With the millioncorn that Meeth had asked Aleria and Lalatov to harvest all collected, both started on the journey home. It wasn’t a particularly long trip back home but the heat was making it feel like it would never end. 

Even with the help of Meeth’s sun hats the sun was relentless. 

For Aleria the heat wasn’t much of a problem, it was the sun getting in her eyes that she couldn't stand for much longer. Aleria set down the basket of millioncorn to adjust her sun hat for the umpteenth time. “Sorry Lalatov.” She sighed and picked the basket back up, “I just don’t like having my eyes hurt so much. You know?” 

That and the idea of not being able to see where she was going. It was making her nervous. 

Though she would never admit that part. 

Lalatov nodded, “We’re almost there! Don’t worry!” He assured her. 

Ever the optimist. Aleria liked that about him. A little too nice for his own preservation but that’s what she was here for, wasn’t it? 

As they continued to walk suddenly, the sun disappeared from Aleria’s eyes. “Hmm?” Instead now there was what looked like a shadow of something over her, completely blocking the sun from hitting her. “That feels nice…” Aleria hummed. A nice cool shade was just the right thing she needed on such a hot day like this. 

It was so nice that, for a moment, she never considered where the shade itself might be coming from.  

Aleria let out a sharp gasp and looked up. Afraid of what she would find.

Instead of the worst she could imagine, she was staring right at the wing of a dragon. A wing she had seen not too long ago. “Jeepers…” Aleria’s mouth hung open. That being said, it still was quite a sight to behold for her. 

Lalatov leaned in, a smirk on his face. “Is this any better?” He flapped his dragon wing a bit, trying to create a slight breeze. 

His wand, the limiter that his parents had given him, was broken now. 

With it gone he was free to do whatever he wanted to do with his inheritance. The dragon blood from his mother was never anything he was scared of showing people, unlike what his parents believed. The day he used it to its full potential to save Aleria was one of the best days of his life so far. 

Aleria thought otherwise. “Are you crazy?!” She dropped her basket and grabbed Lalatov by the collar of his robe. “If someone sees you with that wing out or anything they’ll…they’ll…” Her hands were shaking, she knew what the consequences of standing out were. 

The idea of losing Lalatov–of losing the one person who could come close to understanding her. It would be too much to bear. 

Lalatov gently held Aleria’s hands with his own, giving her the chance to let him go. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere!” He took his wing and wrapped it around Aleria. Shielding her from the outside. “Besides I'm already hanging out with you! I don’t think my social standing could get any lower!”

“You’re so…” Aleria wiped some tears from her eyes and laughed,  “...You’re so stupid you know that?”

“I’ve been told once or twice.” 

Sometimes even thrice. 

With the Lalatov’s wing protecting her from the sun, Aleria picked her basket back up and sighed. “Sorry I can’t shade you with my own...” 

“Don’t worry about it!” Lalatov gave her a warm smile. The same one that Aleria loved seeing.  “Until you can and even if you never do, I’ll stay right by your side.”

[hqmillioncorn]

The Sweet Taste of Victory

On a seemingly normal summer day Tilika walked in to see Babycorn and Cherrypit having thrown all of their triple triad cards all over the floor of her apartment. Normally this kind of behavior would have had Tilika asking many questions but nowadays it just seemed like a regular day when it came to both Starsingers. Despite that, Tilika couldn’t help herself. “Any reason why you have your cards all over the floor?” Other than just for fun. Babycorn looked up at Tilika, a card in her mouth. “We’re just ranking them by how good they taste!”  Now that Tilika noticed, there were several triple triad cards that had a clear bite mark. Some even had more than one.  “That tracks…” She would have to remind them cards aren’t for eating.

ffxiv write day 20: duel with @windupnamazu 's Yeyema !

yeyema teaches babycorn how to play triple triad but uh ...

Babycorn laid her head on the small little table in front of her, making her already messy hair even messier. She tilted her head in all sorts of different directions to get a good look at the cards laid up all over the table. “Ooooh! Aaahh!” She had never seen anything like them! 

All the different pictures and symbols on them were blowing Babycorn’s mind. A thousand little questions about them zipped and zapped through her mind. “Neato…” Babycorn said, tilting her head on the table again. 

And Yeyema held the corner of the table with her one free hand to make sure Babycorn didn’t tilt the table off balance. Again. She was quickly growing tired of it. So quickly that it had been less than a minute. 

Yeyema put her hand on Babycorn’s messy hair and pushed her away. “Get off!” Couldn’t Babycorn see she was busy? “You’re messing up my cards!” 

The answer was that unfortunately, no, Babycorn could not. 

Right after being pushed away from one side of the table, Babycorn popped up on the opposite side. Yeyema whipped her head from side to side wondering just how in the world Babycorn had managed to pull that off. Both had only known each other for just less than a month so poor Yeyema was still getting accustomed to Babycorn’s weirdness. 

“What’re you playin’?” Babycorn asked. The table tilted to the other side again when Babycorn rested her head on it. 

Yeyema moved her cards out of the way just in time before they could slide right off. “I’m not playing anything!” She elaborated,  “I’m just looking at my cards.” It was a pretty slow day with nothing much to do except watch Cherrypit crawl around like a bug. 

“What’s a card?” Babycorn had never heard of anything like it before. 

Yeyema let out a small giggle, “These are cards silly!” She held up a card with a Chocobo on it for Babycorn. “See?” 

“Woaaah!!” Babycorn had never seen anything like it! Except pretty much everywhere in Ul’dah but she had no idea those things had names! That was amazing, the most amazing thing that Babycorn had heard today. “Why are they named cards?” 

“I dunno!” Yeyema answered. 

Babycorn was floored. “What?! But you know everything Yeyema!”

“I don’t know everything!” Yeyema laughed. “But it's called triple triad! It’s really fun to play!”

“Tiple Traid…” Babycorn repeated to herself. It sounded so cool and magical! She had never heard of the game before. How long had it been around? Had she been living in a world with triple triad all her life?! That was amazing to think about. 

“Can you teach me how to play?!” Babycorn’s eyes lit up, she hopped up and down. “It looks like fun!!”

“Hmm…” Yeyema looked at Babycorn, tilting her head.  

Yeyema wasn’t thinking over whether she wanted to teach her or anything. She was just wondering how fast Babycorn could jump. After watching Babycorn bouncing for a few minutes Yeyema stretched her arm out and put her hand on top of Babycorn’s head to try and keep her still. 

“Hehe.” Babycorn stopped bouncing and changed to wiggle around from side to side. 

Yeyema’s eyes widened. Her new friend was so strange, but she was also pretty funny. “Okay Babycorn! I’ll teach you!” It would be fun to have someone else to play with. And also to win against. 

“Yay!” Babycorn cheered.

Cherrypit, who had been here the entire time, also raised his hands in the air. “Yay!” he let out his own little cheer even if he had little idea of what was going on. 

Babycorn grabbed Cherrypit and ran uncomfortably close to Yeyema’s side. “Hi Yeyema!” A smaller voice echoed underneath the table. “Hi Yeye!” Cherrypit was crawling all over the floor, eating some rocks someone had left behind. 

“How do I play?! How do I play?!” 

“It’s easy!” Yeyema kicked her legs in excitement, “Look see!” She held up a Sabotender card and showed it to her friend. Babycorn’s eyes sparkled with excitement and a bit of drool. Surely that was normal. 

“The pictures are nice but it's the numbers that really matter! Because you see-” 

All of a sudden Babycorn lunged forward, biting down on the card in Yeyema’s hand. Narrowly missing Yeyema’s fingers by just a few ilms. 

Yeyema let out a scream and tried to wrestle the card out of Babycorn’s mouth. “Spit that out! Out! You don’t eat cards!” Babycorn growled and pulled the card back towards her like her life depended on it. Both girls scrambled around their little space, knocking whatever wasn’t nailed down over. 

Yeyema pulled as hard as she could one last time. “Spit! It! Out!” That last tug was strong enough to make Babycorn let go of the card. 

“Pwah?” 

Yeyema fell backwards and watched as Babycorn tumbled all the way into a wall despite not having any momentum built up. “Babycorn! You don’t eat cards!” Yeyema pleaded to her friend. “You don’t put em’ in your mouth either!” Next time Yeyema would show something cool to Babycorn she would make sure to keep it far FAR away from her mouth. 

Babycorn stared up at Yeyema, wondering how she had turned herself upside down. When really, it was her that landed up upside down. 

“So I didn’t wins?” 

“Congrats to today’s Triple Triad tournament champion-! Babycorn Corn Starsinger!!” 

The crowd erupted in applause and abject confusion. Nobody had ever expected Babycorn to ever win this tournament. Especially when she had shown her deck to everyone prior to the event. 

Her cards were pretty pathetic. She had gotten them all in a starter deck just hours before the tournament. 

Nevertheless, Babycorn and Cherrypit prevailed making it all the way to the championship. Where they swept the last competitor and won it all. 

Babycorn took the trophy from the judge and smiled. Cherrypit let out a shrill shriek and jumped up and down. “Thank you everyone!” He cheered. Having known Babycorn his whole life he knew that she was deathly afraid of speaking in front of crowds. 

On the other hand, she was a little less scared when she could recognize someone she knew in said audience. Babycorn looked down and noticed Lunya looking at her, clapping for her just like the rest. Lunya hadn’t been in the tournament this time, only showing up to cheer Babycorn on in her journey. 

Babycorn smiled, “I wanna thank my friend! Lunya Lanya! She taught me everything I know!” 

Suddenly a couple hundred eyes were on Lunya. And then just as quickly as they were on her, they were off. Because most people knew not to get on Lunya Lanya’s bad side. 

“Amateurs…” Lunya scoffed.

It wasn’t her fault that no one had a counter planned in case their opponent ate all their cards. 

[hqmillioncorn]

True love will NOT bloom on the battlefield

“Bull’s eye!” Oleo pumped a fist into the air and let out another holler.  Another dot had pierced their dartboard and even though Oleo had far less points than Butter at the moment he was still glad to celebrate every little victory that he got. “Do you think Momoka would believe me if I told her I hit a bull’s eye?” Oleo asked his best friend Butter.  “I think she’d believe you!” That was just like Butter to say, ever the optimist.  “Ha! Knew it!” Oleo smiled and watched as Butter got ready to take his turn. “Yeah! Get em’ Butter!” Truthfully Oleo had no idea why there was a drawing of B’ig Nunh on Butter’s dartboard but if that’s how Butter wanted to play then who was he to say no to it.  Maybe it would explain how good Butter was doing this game as opposed to the rest but who could really know?

ffxiv write day 19: taken with @windupnamazu 's lunya and @windupiceheart 's vertical and (sorry) b'ig nunh

babycorn practices her reading in what perhaps is the worst way possible

“LUnyaaaaaaaaaaAAAAA!!!!”

The sound of someone knocking about a million times per second was enough to knock Lunya out of her weaving. “Babycorn.” There were only two people in the mansion that ever knocked on her door like that. One of them was Coco and the other was Babycorn. 

And since there was no more than ten seconds of uncontrollable wailing on the other side of the door–the more likely it was that it was Babycorn. 

Lunya stabbed her sewing needle in its cushion and hid it away just outside of Babycorn’s view. “Coming!” She yelled back, hoping that would get Babycorn to stop hitting her door so hard. It did not. 

“Lunya! Lunya! Lunya!” 

Babycorn was knocking and saying Lunya’s name in a rhythm now. It was almost impressive how long she was able to keep it up. 

The knocking finally came to a stop when Lunya grabbed her doorknob, swinging her door open not long after that. As Lunya had correctly guessed, it was Babycorn on the other side of the door all along. “Hi Lunya!” Babycorn innocently waved at her. Almost like she hadn’t been knocking on Lunya’s door like a maniac. “I have a question!!” 

Lunya watched as Babycorn wiggled her raised hand around all over the place. “Hi to you too Babycorn!” 

“Lunya I read a book!” Babycorn smiled. 

Of course Babycorn had forgotten about her earlier question. Lunya figured she would ask again when she remembered. As always. “Oh! Congrats!” Lunya knew Babycorn was slowly learning to read and had even started to practice her writing too. 

She was making progress according to the writing Lunya had seen on the walls earlier that week. “You’re not writing on the walls anymore right Babycorn?” 

“Nope!” Babycorn shook her head. “I’m writing on the ground now!”

“You what?” 

Before Lunya could ask Babycorn to elaborate more on what she had just admitted, Babycorn remembered what she had come to Lunya’s room to do in the first place. “Oh! That’s right Lunya! I wanted to ask you something super duper important!!” 

Things that were super duper important to Babycorn often ranged from either the most mundane thing ever to asking Lunya what she was supposed to do when the kitchen was on fire.

While Lunya tried to smell the air for any sign of smoke let Babycorn know she could ask whatever question she had burning in her mind. Which hopefully was the only thing burning. 

“Lunya! Am I dating B’ig Nunh?”

Suddenly Lunya started to wish there was smoke in the air instead. “...C-Can you repeat that?” By now there weren’t too many things Babycorn did that would surprise or shock Lunya, having known the girl for years now. But every now and then something would happen that reminded Lunya she could never keep her guard down.

Surely she hadn’t heard Babycorn right. Right?

“Am I dating B’ig Nunh?!” Once she asked the second time, Babycorn pulled up the book she had been holding under her arm the entire time. “This book said I went on a date with him!” The book she held up had a picture of B’ig Nunh on the cover along with the very concerning words of Go and date and with. Not in that order. 

The aforementioned catboy was mysteriously shirtless and posing on a beach looking straight at the person looking at the cover. There was a sticker on the cover that gave Lunya all the answers to the newly born confusion in her head.

“Y slash N…” Lunya stroked her chin. She didn’t want to look at the cover any longer than she had to and pushed the book down and out of sight, Babycorn didn’t seem to mind, she thought it was fun. 

“Babycorn what did I say about reading books with B’ig Nunh on the cover?”

“Not to…” Babycorn held the book up, trying to use it as a shield between her and Lunya. “But I didn’t read it! Someone else read it for me!” 

Lunya thought she also made sure to tell everyone she could to not read any books with B’ig Nunh on the cover to Babycorn. The mystery of how Babycorn could have read the books wouldn’t stay unsolved for long. 

A sprinkle of green cookie magic started to come down from the ceiling. Until it all came to a head when Airy landed on Babycorn’s head without a care in the world. “Hey.” Airy greeted Lunya in her own callous way. By acting as if Lunya wasn’t even there. 

Of course. “No Babycorn. You are not dating B’ig Nunh.” Lunya didn’t even want to imagine a world where that even had the slightest chance of happening. 

“Are you sure??” Babycorn sniffled. 

“Yes. Very sure!” 

“Really sure????”

Lunya knew where this was going. “I’m. Sure.” No matter how many times Lunya would tell her the opposite of what Babycorn was afraid of, she wouldn’t take her for her word. Even if Babycorn lived by the singular life rule that Lunya knew everything. No matter the topic. “Alright you know what-” 

Lunya grabbed Babycorn’s hand and spun her around towards the outside. She was sure that B’ig Nunh was home and if even she couldn’t convince Babycorn of the obvious, then surely hearing it from the mouth of B’ig Nunh himself would. 

If not then, Lunya would just have to kill him. 

“Woah where are we going Lunya?” Babycorn smiled, her worries of her dating B’ig Nunh had probably blown out of her head by now. 

“We’re going to go find B’ig and talk to him!” Lunya hummed. She of course was just a very normal lalafell and there was absolutely no danger involved in B’ig Nunh talking with Lunya Lanya about this. 

“And you-!” 

Lunya grabbed one of Airy’s wings and tugged on it. “OW?! Watch the wings!” Airy tried to shake herself out of Lunya’s grasp but her struggle was in vain. 

“You’re grounded.

“You’re not even my MOM?!?!”

Regardless, Airy flew all the way back to Babycorn’s room and spent the rest of the day there. Something about Lunya Lanya specifically scared her out of her wits. 

Outside of the mansion B’ig Nunh and Vertical Height were playing fetch with Cherrypit. Throwing cans at him to watch him catch them and eat them. It was enriching for the tiny little normal baby lalafell and also entertaining to watch. 

“okay cherry catch.” Vertical threw a can way up in the air and watched as Cherrypit caught it, biting down on it. “cool.” Cherrypit crunched the can with his very sharp teeth like it was a soft sugar cookie. 

“Again! Again!” Cherrypit cheered. This was way funner to do than whatever b’oring book his sister was reading. 

B’ig Nunh picked up another can from the pile and threw it in his hands. “Alright I’m gonna put all my strength into this one! Get ready!!” Cherrypit showed him how ready he was by running around in a circle very excitedly. 

“Go!” The can flew upwards! Just as B’ig Nunh had warned, it went really high up!

Just as Cherrypit got ready to leap after it, he heard something. It sounded like a door opening. He turned to see the front door of the mansion opening. Out from the inside of the house came Lunya followed by Babycorn, who was practically being dragged outside. “Bebe! Lulu!” Cherrypit cheered and ran over to hug them both.

Which was entirely possible with the way his arms worked. 

Cherrypit extended his arms out wide and grabbed both girls in a great big hug. “Hi Cherry!” Lunya managed to squeeze her arm out and give Cherrypit a little pat on his arm. “Are you having fun with B’ig and Verty?” 

“Yeah yeah!” 

“How much fun?” Babycorn rested her head on Cherrypit’s arm to ask. Cherrypit nodded and stretched out his arms wiiiiide open, dropping both Lunya and Babycorn to the ground. While one of them gently floated to the ground the other fell flat on her face and no I won’t say who did what,  it should be so obvious by now. 

“hey lunya hey babycorn.” Vertical raised her hand to greet her good friends, while still looking up at the sky. 

B’ig Nunh also got ready to say hi to his friends but happened to be stopped right in his tracks by Babycorn running up to him, crying her eyes out. 

If that wasn’t bad enough the next words out of her mouth were almost shocking enough to kill him.

“B’iggy are we dating?” 

Babycorn was sobbing, snot coming out of her nose.It was very dire. 

B’ig Nunh froze like a statue. “What? What? What? What????” His situation was also very dire. “NO???!!! NO WE’RE NOT???”  What kind of question was that?! Where did it come from!? Why was Babycorn asking him this?! 

B’ig resisted the urge to run away and hide because if he did that he couldn’t explain to Babycorn how wrong she was. Then that would lead to her to actually think what she said was true. Which it obviously wasn’t!!

All of this was hitting B’ig Nunh at once like a…like a…

“like a can from the sky?” 

“Well actually I was going to say like a ton of bric-”

Then a can from the sky bumped B’ig Nunh on his lovely moogle cap, right before tumbling to the ground, free for Cherrypit to bite and run off with. His current plan was to bury it in the backyard for later. 

Lunya let B’ig Nunh gather his bearings before talking to him. “See Babycorn? If B’ig Nunh says you’re not dating, then you’re not dating.” There was a very threatening aura around Lunya,  “End of story! 🤗” 

Babycorn looked down at her book. She didn’t understand a single word on the cover or on the back. All she knew was that her good friend B’iggy Nunh was on the cover and he would never lie to her. “But my book said…”

“If a book told you to walk off a bridge would you?” Lunya asked.

“...Well…”

“Babycorn Corn!” 

“No! I wouldn’t!” She was scared of heights! 

Vertical looked down at the book Babycorn was holding in her shivering hands. There was something about it that she recognized. “is that the book that told you you were dating b’ig nunh?” 

Babycorn nodded, tearfully. 

Now Vertical remembered. “i saw b’ig carrying a pile of those books. he said they were advanced copies made to sell later.” Vertical also remembered seeing B’ig Nunh reading one of them from the time she went to bed to when she woke up early the next morning.  

“They’re part of the B’ig Nunh self shipping collection…sniffle…” B’ig Nunh cried, sobbed, whined, all of the above. There were currently around ten books in the collection. They were best sellers for some reason. 

(the reason was that babycorn always bought half the stock. Something nobody but tataru knew yet) 

“Yeah. I figured.” Lunya huffed. “No more reading those kinds of books. Okay Babycorn?” Otherwise they would have to have this conversation more than once and once was already enough for Lunya. 

“Okay…” Babycorn sighed, “Do I also have to not read the other thing too?” 

Everyone was afraid to ask. Especially B’ig Nunh who was basically already dead. 

“what other thing…” Vertical finally decided to ask. 

Babycorn opened the B’ig Nunh takes you to the B’each book and pulled something out, it somehow looked larger than the book itself. “This!” She turned it around and showed her friends the Sexy B’ig Nunh Calendar for the current year she had. It was a costume edition, featuring B’ig Nunh in all sorts of different costumes for the different months!

“woah.” Vertical said while she also noticed B’ig Nunh dissolving into dust and blowing away in the wind. 

Without even taking a second to ask why she had that, Lunya grabbed both the book and the calendar from Babycorn. “NO! You cannot read either!!” She also made sure to grab Babycorn and carried her back to her room with Cherrypit following right behind her. 

“Aww…” Babycorn sadly sighed. 

“Don’t worry Verty! I’ll get the broom and you can sweep up B’ig when I get back!”

“thanks.” Vertical gave a thumbs-up.