hqmillioncorn

[hqmillioncorn]

a sticker book for traded wol stickers ...!

[hqmillioncorn]

luha kids but what if they were enlarged 🤯

[hqmillioncorn]

i call him. eliddolbus.

[hqmillioncorn]

my little sister's deck has no pathetic cards

"So you mean to tell me you've been going around and telling people that I'm your little sister??" Lunya was floored, flabbergasted and shocked to learn about what Babycorn had been doing. "Yeah!" Babycorn was glad that Lunya understood. Lunya shook her head and looked down, sighing. "Babycorn you do remember I'm a year older than you." Maybe if the difference was a couple of months Lunya would let it slide, but this was a whole year. Not to mention that Babycorn was, well, Babycorn. "B-B-But-!" Babycorn tripped over her words for a couple of seconds, until she found her footing. "If I'm your big sister I can protect you and make sure nothing ever bad happens to you! That's why I gotta be the big sister Lunya!" Lunya was a little caught off guard. That was actually kind of sweet. "Babycorn...I love you and I appreciate the thought but I-" Lunya was interrupted when a dragonfly flew past her, catching Babycorn's attention. "Woah what's that?!" Babycorn ran to chase the dragonfly and would have face planted into the ground had Lunya not acted quick enough and grabbed the back of her shirt collar to keep Babycorn in place. "Classic Babycorn..."

with @windupnamazu 's lunya and butter

in butters continuing adventures to win babycorn's heart he decides one of the ways to do so is to take up arms against an impossible opponent. in the deadliest form of combat to ever exist. triple triad........................

It was just a little bit past sunset. The weather was finally cooling down and the sky was growing darker.

The ground was still a little moist from the rain earlier that day. Which made it perfect for Babycorn and Cherrypit to dig around in the mud. And the dirt.

Cherrypit was digging another deep hole to himself yet again, biting at and scaring away any bugs that dared to crawl near him. “Ra! Ra!” Cherrypit roared at them in his tiny squeaky scary voice. 

He knew he was free to dig as much as he wanted to since all he had to do afterwards was fill the hole back up. 

Lunya had very patiently explained to him (and Babycorn) they needed to do that after one too many people took a tumble down into the dirt.

Most of those people being Coco Cocoda. 

Meanwhile on the surface, a very mud-covered Babycorn was simply sitting down, waiting to see when Cherrypit would want to go back inside for snacks. “I want-! Popoto chips~!” Babycorn sang to herself. She had been craving them aaaaaall day. 

Suddenly, something caught Babycorn’s eye, putting a stop to her little concert. 

A tiny puft of hair was poking out of the hole Cherrypit was digging. Without even a second thought she grabbed the hair akin to grabbing a radish to pluck it from the ground. When Babycorn pulled her arm up she also pulled her baby brother up. Cherrypit took a small break from chewing on some mysterious object to let out a happy little giggle and wiggle around. “Bebe! Bebe! Hi Bebe!” he greeted his sister. 

“Hi Cherry!” Babycorn wiggled him around a little bit. Just like she knew he liked to be and then set him down on the ground. “Do you wanna go see if we can find some popotoooo…?” Her voice trailed off as she noticed what Cherrypit was chewing on. Even as mud covered as it was she could still recognize it. 

“Oh, hey!” Babycorn held her hand out in front of Cherrypit’s mouth. A movement that her brother instantly knew meant to give her whatever he had in his mouth. “Blah..!” Without any hesitation he let the drool-covered object fall into his sister's hand. 

Now that she could get a good look at it, Babycorn actually recognized what she was holding. “These are my old triple triad cards?!” They were covered in baby drool and mud but she was more than positive that’s what she was holding. “Tiple tiad!” Cherrypit happily repeated, clapping his hands. 

“I buried them a long time ago! Cause I thought they would grow into a card tree…” Back then Babycorn was even more clueless about things than she was now. She was convinced that her deck of cards would grow tenfold if she planted her cards into the ground to grow like plants did. That’s how those cards ended up almost six fulms underground. 

“I guess they didn’t really go anywhere, huh?” Not that it really mattered, she ended up getting more cards over the years anyway. 

On a whim, Babycorn reached into her pockets and took out the usual cards she carried with her. The five cards that she constantly tried to battle people with. “Ooh..They’re the same cards!” One of the sets was much more mud covered than the other but there was no mistaking it, it was a one to one match. 

Cherrypit crawled over and reached his hands out, “Card! Cards?” Then a few more pieces of baby babble that sounded like “Yubabilakuku?” Which Babycorn knew meant something like, ‘I wanna see too? Please? Please?’

“Okay here you go!” There was no harm in giving Cherrypit her old buried cards. He was the one who had dug them out so it was only fair to give them back to him. “Remember you can chew but don’t eat them too much. Kaykay?” 

“Kay! Kay!” Cherrypit repeated. This usually meant he understood. Usually. 

As Babycorn handed her brother back the cards, yet another something caught her attention. This time it was a sound behind her. The sound of a door opening. “Hellooo-oh?”  Babycorn leaned back as far as she could to try and see who it was. 

Her eyes lit up with excitement when she saw Butter staring down at her. For some reason he was upside down but that didn’t really matter. “Hi Butts!” Babycorn was about to ask what he was doing out here but she noticed something he was carrying in his hands. 

A bowl, full of a particular snack.

Babycorn let out a dramatic gasp, pushing herself up from the mud and standing in front Butter with shimmering eyes. “Popoto chips?!” How had he known she wanted some?! Besides her telling literally everyone who she ran into that day that she was craving popoto chips.

Butter giggled, “You told me you wanted some! So I went and found some for you!” Specifically he had run out in the rain to go buy as many bags as he could carry home. “I even went and bought some extra bags so if you want some more later you can grab those!”

“Weally????” Babycorn’s eyes looked to be watering. “For meeeeee?” 

“Really!” Butter maneuvered the bowl in his hand on top of his arm so he could pet the top of Babycorn’s messy head. Making sure to avoid any parts of her head draped in mud. “Here you and Cherry can have as many as you want!” He held the bowl out towards Babycorn, waiting for her to take it. 

“Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!” Babycorn let out a deafening squeal and grabbed the popoto chips from her good friend Butter. She took a seat back on the ground and began eating them, even dunking some of the chips into the mud for extra flavor. “Chip! Cheep!” Cherrypit crawled over and grabbed a handful. “Thank you Butts!” He was a polite little boy so of course he had to remember to thank Butter too. 

“It’s no problem really!” It's not like he could just stand by and let Babycorn suffer a single more second wanting a snack and not being able to eat it. He couldn’t let the world be that cruel to her.

Not only that, making sure that Babycorn never went hungry was on his list of ways to woo her. 

An ever growing list that just always seemed to be getting longer and longer the more awesome ideas he and Oleo had. 

“D’you want sum too?” Babycorn asked with her mouth full. It would be rude not to share, she had learned this by now. Butter very kindly declined and began to walk back inside. For some reason Butter leaving made Babycorn feel a little sad.

If only there was some way she could get him to stay a little longer…

That’s when she had a genius idea. “Do you wanna play triple triad with me?!” She blurted out. 

Butter froze, his hand on the front door. “Triple Traid…??” That had come completely out of nowhere. 

At least, for Butter it had. 

It didn’t take Babycorn long for her to scurry back inside and pick up a triple triad mat from her messy room. All while tracking mud inside the house.

While she was doing that Butter was grabbing his own cards from his collection. He had started collecting them ever since getting his first pack of them at the Gold Saucer. 

Both lalafells shortly meet up back outside, placing the mat on the garden table, they both took seats across each other. Cherrypit took his seat on top of Babycorn’s lap, eating popoto chips from a much smaller bowl Babycorn had also grabbed. Which meant she also tracked mud all over the kitchen too. 

“Caurd!” Cherrypit pointed at the cards in his sister’s hands and giggled.  He’d also been the one to decide who would play the first card. Of course Cherrypit choose Babycorn to go first. Butter expected nothing less. For now he was patiently waiting for his turn to go. 

Babycorn looked up at Butter with a big grin, she swayed happily from side to side without a care in the world or a thought in her head as she looked down at the cards in her hands. 

There was a Sabotender, and also a Sabotender, then another Sabotender, alongside a Sabotender card with a bite taken out of it, and a Calcabrina card that Babycorn always let Cherrypit put into her deck. 

Most of the time the people she played Triple Triad against would never let her use this deck on account of the silly rule of it technically being ‘illegal.’ Whatever that meant. Babycorn didn’t really understand. 

What she did understand was just how frustrated she always was to learn she couldn’t play with her beloved cards. Her disappointment was usually short lived however and would fix the problem by just letting Cherrypit pick five random cards from her collection. 

With his eyes closed. 

For Cherrypit she decided to play his favorite, the Calcabrina card. She placed it on the top right corner. “Caurd! Capabina!” Cherrypit laughed, he stretched his arm to where the card was and gave it a little pat. 

On the other hand, whenever someone did let her use her favorite little cards, Babycorn would get so happy that the act of actually winning the match would hardly matter to her anymore. 

She was just happy to be able to use her cards for once. Which was exactly what was happening now. Babycorn giggled and kicked her feet in place, a wide grin on her face. 

Now it was Butter’s turn. Not that he realized it at first. It took Babycorn telling him it was his turn to go for him to notice. Something about being too busy staring at the cute girl in front of him was just a little distracting. 

“R-Right-!” Butter simply took a Delivery Moogle card and placed it at the bottom right corner. 

It was not Butter’s objective to win this match, rather, he wanted to try his hardest to let Babycorn win. Just to make her a little bit happier. Of course Butter didn’t mind doing this, he was happy to.

The only thing was that…

Making Babycorn win a triple triad match ended up being much harder than he thought.

They were now well into their ninth game of the night. And this was the ninth time in a row Butter was trying his absolute best to lose. He had done all he could, placing his cards in horrible places, getting his cards taken away on purpose, even playing cards with his eyes closed. 

Yet somehow, someway, Babycorn kept finding some way to lose.

Surprisingly, she didn’t seem to mind. It was almost the complete opposite. Every time Butter won a match she would get ecstatic about it. Letting out another “Yay! Butts wins!!” and clapping until her hands stung. Truly she was just happy to be here. 

It was getting late so both Babycorn and Butter decided it would be best to turn in for the night.

As Babycorn collected her cards all back up she congratulated Butter one last time. “You’re really good at this Butter! I can’t believe you won so many times!!” Cherrypit shared in her sentiment. “Butts win’d!”He had never seen someone win against his sister so many times. 

Most people just walked away after the first match after seeing the nonsense they were playing against.  

“Y-Yeah…” Butter could hardly believe it either. He still felt a little bad wiping the floor with Babycorn so many times but if that made her happy, who was he to judge?

“I bet you could even beat Lunya!” Babycorn placed the triple triad mat on top of Cherrypit’s head not paying any mind to the innocuous comment she had just said. “She’s really really good! I’ve never seen anyone beat her!” 

Butter knew full well of Lunya’s triple triad reputation. Tales were still told of the innocent looking lalafell who wandered the lands, defeating opponent after opponent, collecting the spoils of the battle. “I don’t…Hmm..” A thought crossed Butter’s mind. 

Oleo had said something about wooing Babycorn by doing something that really impressed her. Beating Lunya of all people in a triple triad match-that would woo Babycorn ten times over. 

Surely, Lunya would go easy on him if it was for the sake of winning Babycorn’s heart? Right?

The next day Butter decided to put his plan into motion. He took a peek outside, Babycorn and Cherrypit were back in the front lawn. This time they were playing with their sentient backpack, Hungstal. Basically just throwing treats into its mouth and watching as it ate them up.  

“Good job Hungstal!!” Babycorn clapped, throwing another chicken bone inside it. 

Things were lining up perfectly. All he needed to do now was get Lunya’s attention, which wouldn’t be hard at all. Right now she was in the middle of planning a redecoration of the house’s main foyer. Something she had been hard at work for the last couple of days. Butter hoped that Lunya wouldn’t mind being torn away from her work for a little bit, but a part of him also figured that she would appreciate the break. 

Butter carefully walked up to Lunya and was about to get her attention, when she turned around to face him first. “Yeees? Something on your mind Butter?” She swiveled her chair towards him, “Do you need more gil to buy snacks for Babycorn again?” Lunya let out a knowing little laugh. 

Butter shook his head, he didn’t know why he was feeling so nervous about this. In hindsight, it could have been his own self-preservation warning him. “Lunya? Can you help me with something really quick?” Butter asked. 

“I’d be happy to!” Lunya was happy to help her son that was only a few years younger than her with whatever problems or favors he wanted. “Well, I suppose that depends on what you need!” Maybe today Babycorn was craving a different snack. Hopefully nothing too out of the ordinary.

Not like that time she was craving cupcakes baked using a special baking mix that had been discontinued seven years ago.

“Great!” Butter jumped and clicked his heels together before mysteriously running over to the front door. “I’ll ask you about it outside! Thank you!” He stepped outside and closed the door as gently as he could. 

Leaving behind a very confused Lunya.

“.........heh?” 

What in the world was waiting for her outside???

As soon as Lunya stepped outside she was met with the sight of no one around her. “Huh?” Hadn’t Butter said something about meeting her outside? Where could he have run off to? Maybe Babycorn whisked him away to some other grand adventure which usually involved going shopping for food. 

“I hope they have fun out there.” Lunya sighed, they were growing up so fast... Maybe she would call them a little while later and ask them to bring her a snack too. They usually did, if Babycorn happened to remember. 

Lunya turned around to go back inside, when she heard someone call out her name. 

Butter emerged from the shadows of a nearby hydrangea bush with Babycorn right behind him. He held his cards out in front of her, “Lunya! I challenge you to a triple triad match!” It took a second for Butter to process what he had just said and done. Most of this was a spur of the moment sort of thing. “...uh, please? If you’re not too busy?” 

Butter was a little worried when Lunya didn’t say anything. Only keeping her back turned towards him. He couldn’t have upset her, could he? There was an apology brewing up inside him but before it could escape he heard Lunya’s distinct voice answer him. 

“Oh-! Of course! I would love to~!” 

The sky began to darken around them. Clouds rolled in from out of nowhere, covering the sun behind them. Butter looked up in surprise. The weather was supposed to be clear today, wasn’t it? 

The distinct sound of thunder sounded all around them. Flashes of light lit up the sky, illuminating Lunya for every crashing sound they heard. A wind howled past them. Sounding more like the echoes of the past, warning them of something sinister coming towards them. 

Cherrypit giggled to himself, but there was something a little malicious about it. 

Before Butter could be even more confused of what was happening, Lunya turned around, slowly. There was a wide grin on her face. Normally Butter would find some sort of comfort in her smile but right now the only thing he was feeling was something akin to dread. Horror? Complete regret? Something along those lines. 

An ominous bell began to toll in the distance. For whom was it tolling? Butter could only guess it was a prelude to his funeral dirge. ‘This was a mistake. This was a mistake. This was a mistake. This was a mistake. This was a mistake.’ 

Babycorn’s pom stood up on its end as she excitedly looked around. “Oh! Is it dinner time?” A bell could only mean that food was ready! 

Lunya walked closer to the pair and Cherrypit, a threatening aura was coming off of her. “No-it’s not dinner time yet but someone is about to be cooked.” God help him she even had cool one liners.

Butter had set up the triple triad mat ahead of time. It was in the same place he and Babycorn had played together just yesterday. He hoped that maybe putting it in the same location would give him a little bit of luck but now he wasn’t so sure. He also wasn’t so sure now about Lunya going easy on him just because Babycorn was here. 

“You can do it Butts!! I believe in you!!” Babycorn cheered him on, standing in his corner. Even though certain doom certainly awaited him it made Butter’s heart flutter a little hearing Babycorn believe in him so much. 

Meanwhile Cherrypit was standing right behind Lunya, cheering on her victory. “Go wuwu! Go wuwu!” Both siblings decided to do this so neither of their friends would feel left out. Lunya pet the top of Cherrypit’s head for good luck, fluffing his hair around. “Hehe” he giggled. 

Just like before, Cherrypit was the one who decided who would go first. After telling him that Babycorn could not go first because she wasn’t playing he changed his answer to Lunya. 

“Thank you Cherry!” Lunya chimed. 

Then before Butter knew it, Lunya had already placed down her card. It wasn’t one that Butter recognized. It was his turn now. He had to play something. “It’s okay Butts! You got this! Yeah! Yeah!” Babycorn’s cheering was actually helping a little. For a second he actually believed that he stood a chance. 

That was before he finally played a card, then Lunya played her’s, and he played another and so on. It was pretty crystal clear that Lunya had won the round. She had turned all of Butter’s cards into her’s. “Wuwu wins!” Cherrypit clapped and cheered. Lunya was so cool! 

And so it went, round after round after round, Lunya came out victorious. It didn't matter what cards Butter switched out or whether he went first or second , the outcome was still the same. There was no stopping the Lunya sweep.

“Lunya wins!” Lunya chirped, setting the winning card down on the mat. 

At this point Butter had lost count how many times he’d lost. It was pretty clear by now that Lunya was showing him no mercy. There was only one thing on Lunya’s mind right now and it was to win. 

Butter inhaled a steady breath and held it for a worrying amount of time. He wasn't the type to give up, this was proven time and time again. and yet, even he had his limits. His convictions had run out. With a heavy sigh Butter set all his cards down in a stack and placed his palm on top of his deck. 

Which is of course the universal sign of surrendering in a card game 

Lunya blinked, looking up at Butter. “Aww are you sure?” She was having a lot of fun but if Butter wanted to call it she would oblige.

Butter slumped down in his seat. “Yeah…I don’t think I have a chance of winning…” At least, not with the cards or luck he had right now. Maybe in one-thousand or so years he would actually stand a fighting chance. 

“Well you’re right about that.” Lunya smiled, “But you did put up more of a fight than my usual opponents! You made some really smart moves!” Unfortunately it hadn’t been enough. Not against Lunya. “I’m sure if you keep trying you can beat anyone that stands in your way!”

Butter felt a newfound sense of hope. “Even you?”

Lunya giggled, “No <3” 

Well that settled that. 

“By the way-” Lunya stood up from her seat and put her hands behind her back, “You’re welcome.” She winked at Butter and playfully smiled, the same little smile she had on the entire time they were playing. 

“Huh?” 

Before Butter could ask what Lunya meant, someone grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around. “BUtter!!!” Babycorn screamed at him, “That was AMAZING!!” she waved her arms up and down. There was a shocked look on her face “You looked so cool and awesome and really really really…!” She was stumbling on her words.

Babycorn placed her hands on her cheeks and looked away, she let out a nervous little laugh. “...You looked really cool!” Her face felt a little warm. Mysteriously. For some reason. 

“Cool!” Cherrypit repeated. 

Butter felt his own face warm up. “O-Oh!” Was this it? Was this what it meant to woo? It felt a little like Babycorn was wooing him now too. She looked so cute right now. Well, Butter thought she always looked cute but that’s not the point right now. “Th-Thank you..!” He didn't really need to win in the end. Who would have guessed?

Babycorn shook her head, trying to snap herself out of whatever love filled haze was filling her head with flowers. “And you even went up against Lunya and you're still alive! That’s really impressive!” 

Butter blinked, twice. “Huh?” Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? What did that mean? What did she mean by that????????

Butter turned around in a panic to ask Lunya what the heck Babycorn meant by that but she was already long gone. “Huh???” What did this mean? Could he have died at any point in the matches? Probably not. Lunya loved him like a son BUT WHAT DID BABYCORN MEAN???

Cherrypit waddled over and pointed out towards the front gate. “Luwu gone!” He had seen it first hand. Not wanting to disturb the lovebird’s moment, Lunya had just sprinted away as quickly as she could. She was still in earshot, listening to everything they were saying. 

“...What the hell is Babycorn talking about…” Lunya whispered to herself.

[hqmillioncorn]

Turning and turning Our feelings are tumbling around

Pancake and Linnet watched as Cherrypit continued to climb up the Gridanian aetheryte. It was actually kind of impressive how much the baby leash could stretch. Both girls had decided to take Cherrypit out for an impromptu walk after their complementary breakfast. Courtesy of a promise Lunya had given the three of them the day before. And Cinnamon just decided to tag along. "Do you think he's trying to eat it?" Linnet asked out loud. "No I think he's just having fun biting it." Pancake recalled something Babycorn had told her years ago. "Babycorn said that Cherrypit is still growing his teeth so that's why he bites things still." "Ooh." That made sense. Pancake smiled, it was nice to have things back to normal for a change. Was a thought she had right before seeing Cherrypit take a bite out of the aetheryte. Well, as normal as things could get around here,

with @windupnamazu 's butter and pancake and linnet and cinnamon

when youre recovering from getting kidnapped and used to traverse and heal another world things can get a little boring and also hectic

The day felt like it was going too fast and going too slow at the same time. Somehow it was earlier than Babycorn thought, even though she didn’t feel the least bit tired.

Instead she seemed to feel more tired the darker outside it got. It was kinda annoying. 

Babycorn shuffled around the bed she was currently sitting on. Considering all the times she found herself sitting in such a similar position Babycorn was a little annoyed with herself that she wasn’t at least a little more used to it yet. Or at the very least figured out the perfect pillow ratio to sit comfortably against. 

‘Uncomfy…’ Babycorn thought to herself, chewing on a pencil in her hand. As uncomfortable as the beds in the Twin Adders infirmary were, they were a million times better than her previous accommodations had been. 

Just a little over a week ago she had spent night after night sleeping on the ground. 

Babycorn unconsciously began to crumple the important book she was holding in her other hand. It had only been a couple of days since she woke up from her latest Starsinger induced coma. Though, in her defense, this one wasn’t entirely her fault. 

It couldn’t really have been helped in the case of having been kidnapped and forced to use her power against her will. 

Babycorn still couldn’t remember much of it but from what she could remember, it was that Cremia and Scotch weren’t very nice. Cremia had been the worst of the two, berating her and ranting to her for such a long time. She could understand the desperation of getting something back that you lost but this was just on the verge of being crazy, in Babycorn’s opinion.

Whatever happened to them in the end, Babycorn hoped that they both got the punishment they deser-

Babycorn let out a hiccup, quickly covering her mouth. 

How could she have forgotten that Butter was in the room with her?!

If he heard her thinking such rotten things about his parents what would he think about her?! 

Babycorn kept her mouth covered as she watched Butter walk all around the room. 

He was happily humming a little song to himself while he cleaned up. Picking things up and putting them away, throwing out the trash and making sure that it didn’t get too dusty in here. 

Butter loved doing little tasks like these. For as long as Babycorn knew him he always seemed to be doing something. Babycorn was always a little worried that Butter would somehow complete all the little tasks in the world and he would run out one day…

With all the fun that they all had last night however, it was probably a safe bet that Butter wouldn’t run out of things to clean anytime soon. Pancake and Linnet had brought over several board games and a bunch of snacks courtesy of her allowance from Lunya and Tsuna. 

Babycorn, of course, won none of the games but she did learn just how fiercely competitive Tilika could be.

It was a little harrowing to see the final opponents of every game be Cinnamon, Lunya and Tilika. Though as suspenseful as it was, there was something fun about all of them being together. With nothing to worry about except for the possibility of Cinnamon flipping the game board over. 

At the end of the night Lunya won most of them, except charades. Pancake and Cinnamon won that one, to no one’s surprise. 

Everyone all had so much fun the whole night long that most of them ended up passing out, leaving whole game boards and pieces strewn about the room. Alongside some half-eaten snacks and drinks that were still half full. 

Babycorn had been asleep at the time but Tilika and Lunya had offered to help clean up, only to be waved away by Butter who assured them he had it handled. Both Lunya and Tilika had a hunch that some of Butter’s decision was influenced by the fact that he would be able to stay with Babycorn a little longer. 

Of course, Babycorn didn’t mind. She liked Butter being here! Babycorn liked any of her friends being here, but Butter was a special case. When he was around Babycorn felt like there was nothing that would hurt her because Butter would be there to save her! 

If anyone else tried to take her away he would find her! Just like he had done this time!

Babycorn’s smile and warm feeling in her chest faded a little as she watched Butter’s ears wiggle around. Nervously she reached her hand over to tug on one of her braids, only to find it absent since her hair was down. “Um, hey Butts?” It still felt a little strange to be able to talk with her mouth. Her throat felt oddly dry. 

One of Butter’s ears turned towards Babycorn as he turned around in a split second at the sound of her voice. In his hands there was an empty board game box. “Hmm? Is everything ok?” He looked around the room, taking note of the sun coming in through the window. “Is the light bothering you? Do you want me to close the curtains a little?” 

“Huh?” Babycorn blinked. Now that he mentioned it the sun was sort of bothering her. “Yeah. Could you close them? Pretty please?” 

“Right away!” 

Babycorn kept her eyes on Butter as he happily made his way over to the window and adjusted the curtains. “Actually…Can I ask you a question?” Babycorn nervously chewed on her pencil again. 

“Yeah! Anything!” 

“...Could you hear what I was thinking?” 

Butter shook his head, “I couldn’t hear any of it!” He smiled. Normally such a question would probably have a normal person doing a double take at least three times but at this point neither Babycorn or Butter were normal by any sense of the word. 

“Oh! Okay that’s good!” That was the end of that, Babycorn decided and went right back to whatever she was doing before she started thinking or whatever. That is to say her attention went right back to the book of word searches that Butter had given her earlier. 

Butter had heard Babycorn mumbling to herself something about being bored and decided to let her borrow his book full of word searches.

As Butter picked up another piece of trash he heard Babycorn giggling. “Are you having fuuun?” Butter asked. He was glad she seemed to be having a good time. 

Babycorn nodded, wiggling her legs around. “Yeah! See? See?” She held up the book into the air and pointed at it with her pencil. “I’m circling all the letters! Just like you showed me!” Indeed, Babycorn was circling all the letters in a bunch. The only problem was that none of them formed anything that resembled an actual word. 

“I think I’m winning!” Babycorn kept giggling to herself.

Butter didn’t want to tell her otherwise. “I bet you are! They should give you a big trophy for it!” Something like, the most circles ever circled inside of a word search ever. Chances were that Babycorn probably did circle a real word with all the constant scribbling she was doing. 

“Can I do more pages? Is that okay?” Babycorn figured she should ask since this book was Butter’s. 

“Go for it!” Butter didn’t mind. There were countless word search books out there in the world but there was only one girl of his dreams. And if she wanted to write all over it, then who was he to say no. “I also have picross and word fill books if you wanted to try those!” 

Babycorn’s face lit up. “Wow! I have no idea what those are!!” 

“Don’t worry I’ll teach you!” 

Butter had spent the better half of the dawn teaching Babycorn how word searches work. Of course all she had really understood was circling letters but she was still in the early stages of learning to read still. It would probably make good practice later down the line. 

If Babycorn had her pom up it would have fluffed up in excitement. “Are you gonna hold my hand again and help me write!?” That’s what Butter had done earlier and it was really nice and made her face all warm and her heart beat a little faster than usual and and and and-!

Butter made a funny little noise with his mouth. Something that was a cross between a gasp and someone answering a question with a resounding ‘Yes!’ There was something kinda cute and endearing about it. At least Babycorn thought so. 

Babycorn took Butter’s squeak as a yes (which to be fair it was) and let out a little cheer. “Yay! Thank you Butts!” 

As excited as she was to learn a whole bunch of other things with her very cool friend Butter-first she needed to finish what he taught her first. There were so many more letters for her to circle! 

Babycorn continued to circle letter after letter as time marched forward she and Butter would have small conversations with each other. At one point Babycorn asked Butter what his favorite kind of cake was. Butter’s answer was his sister, Pancake. He felt extra proud of his little joke after Babycorn doubled over in laughter. 

The room was almost all clean now. All that was left was some trash under a small round table everyone had used to hold drinks. “Alright-!” Butter pumped himself up and dove under to pick up the candy wrappers strewn over the floor. 

Soon after Butter disappeared from Babycorn’s view, she took notice. “Butts…?” Babycorn leaned over as far as she could trying to see if Butter was still there, just out of view. Babycorn’s heart began to beat a little faster, she felt a lump in her throat. 

Did something happen? Did he go somewhere? Did someone take him?

It wasn’t long until Babycorn couldn’t take it anymore. “Butts!” She cried out, “Are you there? Butter?!”

Butter reacted a split second right after Babycorn had first yelled his name. His quick reaction time was not without its consequences however. Since his first instinct was to see if something was wrong with Babycorn. Which meant he had to stand back up. 

In doing so his head ended up impacting the bottom of the bottom of the round table with a loud crash. “Ow!!” Butter hissed at the pain and hunched himself over, waiting for the pain to subside. “Ow..Ow..Ouch…”

“...B-Butts?” It sounded like he was hurt. A faint glow appeared in Babycorn’s eyes. “A-Are you o-okay?” To someone who couldn’t see the whole picture it sounded like Butter had gotten really hurt by something. Or by someone Babycorn couldn’t see. 

Babycorn let out a sniffle, “Butter please be o-okay…! Butter…Butter…?” 

By now the ringing in Butter’s ears was starting to fade. “Ah?” Butter rubbed the top of his head, it was still stinging but otherwise he would be fine. Now he could hear Babycorn saying his name, over and over. “Ah!” Butter crawled out from under the desk as quickly as he could and jumped back onto his feet. 

‘Are you okay? Please, Please be okay…!’ If something happened to Babycorn again…There was no force on or off the planet that would be able to stop him from keeping her safe and sound. 

Soon enough, both Babycorn and Butter were face to face again, both of them were breathing heavily with tears dangerously close to the corners of their eyes. It took a few seconds of looking at each other for each of them to realize that neither of them were in any sort of danger. Everything was okay. They were both okay. 

Without a second thought, Babycorn placed her hands on Butter’s. She let out another sniffle, “Are you okay…?” A part of her was having trouble trusting her eyes. Butter nodded, giving her a small smile. “I am! I just hit my head a little when I stood up.” He moved his hand away from Babycorn’s for just a moment to show where he had hit it, “It hurt but I’ll be okay!” 

“You got hurt…?” Babycorn felt a familiar lump in her throat. “Was it cause I was calling you?”

Butter hesitated to answer. “...That was why I stood up but it was just bad luck. It wasn’t your fault.” He decided to ask his own question now. “Are you okay? Babycorn?”

“Huh?” It was a bit of a surprise to hear that. Nothing had happened to her. Babycorn had gotten scared but other than that she had just been sitting here. “I’m fine!” For the most part. 

It was a relief for Butter to hear that. Though they were allegedly safe, there was still this pit of worry in Butter’s gut that something, anything else could happen. A growing anxiety that his parents would walk in and take Babycorn away again. 

That something just like this would happen to any of the other people he loved. 

Babycorn noticed Butter looking away from her. She looked down at her hair, the ends of her tips were still glowing. That was part of the reason she was still in the infirmary. That and she was still too weak to keep herself up without falling over. Which also meant walking was still out of the question.

She frowned, taking in a deep breath. “Butts? Can you promise me something?” 

“Huh…?” That knocked Butter straight out of his spiral of worries. Babycorn was always forward about these things but somehow after all these years he still found himself getting shocked by it. “O-Of course!” He felt Babycorn hold onto his hands a little tighter. 

“Can you promise me you won’t ever never get hurt like me?” 

“...What do you mean?” Butter wasn’t sure what Babycorn meant. 

“Like…this.” Babycorn let go of Butter’s hands and tugged at her hair. “And like what happened at the Ghimlyt dark and when we got back from Sharlayan.”Though they were faint, she could still remember seeing the worried looks from the people around her. “I don’t…” She hiccuped, “I don’t wanna see you be all hurt…” Even seeing Butter being sad was bad enough. Babycorn couldn’t possibly imagine the pain she would feel having to see him halfway dead, and her not being able to do anything about it. 

Maybe it was a little selfish. No, it was. She had been injured and hurt so many times now and Butter had been there every time. And now here she was-asking him to do the impossible. 

That made what happened next even more of a surprise. 

Butter smiled and just nodded his head, “I promise.” 

“...eh?” 

“I said I promise!” Butter remained firm, “I’m not going to get hurt! I won’t ever get hurt! And that’s a double promise!” He winked. 

Babycorn couldn’t hold back her tears at this point. “You…” She wiped her eyes. “Y-You won’t get hurt! Yeah! C-Cause I’ll be there to help you!” Another wail escaped Babycorn’s mouth, but something was different about it. There was a laugh mixed in with it. “C-Cause I’m always gonna be with you! So I’ll protect you and you won’t get hurt Butts!” 

Butter echoed Babycorn’s laugh. “I already promised I would protect you too!” He felt warm tears dripping down the side of his cheeks. “No matter what happens I’ll be there by your side. To keep you safe!” 

“Then we’ll protect each other!” Babycorn leaned forward as much as she could and stretched out her arms toward Butter. “That way we both don’t get hurt!!”

Butter wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Yeah! That’s right!” After this, after everything. Nothing like this would ever happen again. Butter was going to protect all the people he loved, for now and forever. “And everything will be okay…” 

But he knew, he wasn’t alone in his promise. It wasn’t all on him. 

“Hey Butts?” 

“Hmm?” Did Babycorn have something else to say?

Babycorn leaned forward and gave him what some people would describe as a peck on the cheek.

“Butts, don’t ever change.”

[hqmillioncorn]

YESSSSSSSSS

[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?!?!?!