hqmillioncorn

[hqmillioncorn]

sonboy allowed

[hqmillioncorn]

Sphene

[hqmillioncorn]

7/7 for 17 more minutes

[hqmillioncorn]

drawn to you

Once again Babycorn found herself absentmindely forgetting what she was supposed to be doing. Whatever it was it felt like it was really important. 'Come on Chelinka...' She addressed herself, 'You gotta remember!' Whatever it was Cherrypit had forgotten too but he was a baby so it made sense. "Bee! Bee!" He happily squealed as he drew the letter 'B' in the dirt using a stick. It quickly caught Babycorn's attention. 'Oh! That's right that's a B!' Her baby brother was so smart! 'Can you make a C next?' Cherrypit nodded enthusiastically. Of course he could! As he quickly got to work Babycorn felt something strange. 'Huh...?' It was a familiar kind of feeling. Almost like they were being watched.

with @ windupnamazu 's lunya

takes place post dawntrail and inside of lunya's room with a very worried lalafell

Lunya looked down at the necklace in her hands. Carefully she pinched two of her fingers together and held it up towards light coming in through the window.

Sitting at her desk Lunya was well into the task of organizing some of her personal jewelry, making sure to keep each piece safe and sound.

The necklace she was holding stood out among several pieces of her jewelry. For starters it was made primarily of a long piece of pink yarn with a single macaroni piece hanging from it. Another reason was that she had received it about five minutes ago from Cherrypit. “Aww…! He even left a little bite mark on it.” It was pretty obvious that they were from Cherrypit since Babycorn wouldn’t have left even a crumb behind. 

“How are you doing Cherry?” Lunya turned around to take another look at the pair of siblings currently located on top of her bed, with the younger one sitting on the older one’s back as she pressed her face against a pillow. 

Cherrypit looked at Lunya with his usual huge empty eyes and smiled. “Arabababawahwwaowaowao.” was his response and it probably meant something like, “I’m okay!” Then he took his squeaky hammer and gave Babycorn another whack on the head with it. 

Earlier Cherrypit had tried to use an actual hammer but Lunya was quick enough on the draw to swap it with a toy one she conveniently had on hand. 

“I fix Bebe!” Cherrypit gave his sister another whack on her pom, hoping that this would fix the sad funk she was in. Unfortunately it wasn’t doing much of anything besides making Babycorn squeak on occasion. 

Besides that Lunya just sort of let Cherrypit at it because it was pretty clear that Babycorn had fallen asleep the moment she hit the bed. Considering Babycorn wasn’t asking if she could have a bite of any of Lunya’s furniture.

There was some real character development there, beforehand Babycorn wouldn’t even bother asking. 

“Bebe wake up!” Lunya heard the sounds of several squeaks in a row. It sounded like a certain someone was getting bored. “Wake up! Wake up! Wanna go play! Play! Play!” Cherrypit chimed over and over. 

Lunya had no idea what Babycorn’s sleeping schedule looked like, especially since she had recently come back from visiting family but it was probably best to let her sleep for now. “Cherry, Cherry sweetie!” She pushed herself up from her desk and walked over to where both siblings were.

Gently as she could she picked up Cherrypit and held him in her arms. 

“Ker-bonky!” Cherrypit smiled and hit Lunya’s forehead with his squeaky hammer, letting out a little bunch of cute little giggles right after. 

“Oh~ You got me!” Lunya acted as if she was about to fall back, almost hitting the ground but not quite thanks to the power of keeping herself floating right above the ground. “Why don’t we play together and we let your sister sleep?” 

Cherrypit smiled wide, letting out a happy “Ya! Ya!” He loved playing with his other big sister Lunya! She was lotsa fun! “Play with Lulu! Play! Play!” 

Now came the real tricky part. Because it turns out Cherrypit wanted to play hide-and-seek and at the same time he wanted to color inside his brand new ‘B’ig Nunh Adventures’ coloring book. It took a second but eventually Lunya was able to come up with the idea of mixing the two things together. 

Lunya held up Cherrypit’s crayons in her hands, she looked around the room mentally noting the best hiding places for them. “Ready Cherry?” She asked. Cherrypit nodded and closed his eyes and covered them with his hands. A little quirk inherited from his big sister specifically. 

“Red-e!” Cherrypit repeated. 

“And remember-! No mind reading.” 

“Nono! Looking!” 

Lunya’s plan was to hide some of Cherrypit’s crayons around her room so he could run around and look for them. Cherrypit was happy to play Lunya’s idea and even spit out a few extra crayons out of his mouth for her to hide.

Nothing Lunya had never seen before. It was business as usual. 

As Cherrypit sat on the floor giggling to himself and swaying back and forth, Lunya got to work. Hiding the easiest crayons at first in pretty obvious hiding spaces. One right in front of Cherrypit, another under the table and then near the door. The others would have to be a little trickier.

“Now how am I going to stick a crayon on the ceiling…?” Maybe she could use glue? “...No, Cherry would try to eat that…” Oh! Wait, that's right she could use-!

Suddenly Lunya felt a tickle in her…Mind? Someone was trying to talk to her. ‘H-Hello???’ Who the hell was this??? 

A rustling sound caught Lunya’s attention and her head whipped over to where it was. Back on her bed Babycorn had flipped herself over like a pancake cooking on a pan. Her eyes looked like they were barely open and she looked like half of her was still fast asleep. 

‘Lunya?’ Babycorn rubbed at her eyes, ‘What are you doing in my room?’

“This is my room Bebe.”

'Oh...' Babycorn narrowed her eyes. ‘...Why does your room have me in it?’ 

Quickly it became apparent to Lunya that Babycorn didn’t quite remember the part of the day when she had come rushing into her room, crying her eyes out until she tripped on her own foot and flipped herself right onto Lunya’s bed. In an act of acrobatics so ridiculous it left Lunya flabbergasted for a good five minutes. 

Lunya explained what happened to Babycorn as simply as she could. “You caught me off guard so when you just fell asleep I was like; ‘Well this may as well just happen.’ and then Cherry walked in and sat on top of you.” That was pretty much it. 

‘Ooooh…’ It took a minute for the wheels in Babycorn’s head to start turning but when they eventually did she gave Lunya a big grin. ‘I guess I did do that! Haha!’

“Me and Lulu playing now!” Cherrypit popped into the conversation, his eyes still closed. “No cry Bebe! Play too!” Cherrypit reassured his sister in the best way he could, by patting her face with his tiny sticky hands. 

“We’re playing hide and seek with crayons now.” Lunya subtlety threw a blue crayon upwards with enough force to stick the pointy end of it on the ceiling. Cherrypit had no idea, just as she had planned. But before everything, there was something Lunya wanted to ask.

“What happened to make you cry like that?” Lunya gently asked. 

When it came to reasons as to why Babycorn could be found sobbing her eyes out it was always a gamble.

Sometimes it could be something as small as her having expected a sunny day and getting a cloudy one instead. Or perhaps someone had taken the last cookie away from her when she wanted it? Something minuscule like that never failed to make Babycorn wail uncontrollably. She was a sensitive little corn. 

On the flip side it also could have been something actually serious. Like the time a few years ago when someone had approached her wanting to interview her about some murders that had happened at a restaurant in Limsa Lominsa. 

Once Lunya asked her, Babycorn’s eyes began to water again. ‘B-B-B-B-B-B-!!’ Somehow her eyes were actually getting bigger. Lunya suspected they needed to if they held the amount of tears that Babycorn always cried. 

‘Do you think Butts is mad at meeeeeeee?’

Lunya watched as Babycorn’s eyes began to water at an almost unbelievable degree. As best she could anyway, she was occasionally wincing at Babycorn’s voice becoming more high pitched inside her head. Without even waiting for an answer Babycorn became absolutely distraught and slammed her head onto Lunya’s pillow. 

“Why do you think Butter is mad at you?”

Babycorn sniffled, ‘B-Because-! Butts won’t talk to me! He didn’t say hello to me when I came back and when I yelled hello to him he ran away!!’ Specifically his eyes went wide upon seeing her and he was gone before Babycorn even noticed. ‘He haaateeee meeeee!!!’ Babycorn sniffled. 

Lunya gently pet the top of Babycorn’s head, “Butter does not hate you! I promise!” 

‘How do you knoooooooow?’ 

“Because I know everything.”

Babycorn sniffled, ‘I thought you said you didn’t know everything?’ Most notably said by Lunya herself when Babycorn asked her how almonds could possibly get milked.

“I lied!” Lunya playfully winked, “I actually know everything about everyone in the universe!”

‘Woah…’ Babycorn woah’d, alongside her younger brother. ‘I knew it…!’

“Which is how I know that Butter isn’t mad at you.” Lunya poked Babycorn’s potato shaped nose and smiled. “He loves you, remember? He said so on the beach!” That which Lunya still should not have known about but for some reason she still knew about it.

Not that Babycorn ever gave it more than five seconds of thought on how Lunya found out about what Butter said to her.

‘He did say that…’ 

Now that Lunya thought about it…

“You just got back yesterday, right?” As far as Lunya knew Babycorn went and greeted all of them the morning after in her usual Babycorn way. By coming in through their windows and screaming 'Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Lunya was impressed, it must have taken Babycorn a ton of restraint to not break into their rooms in the middle of the night. 

‘I was too tired to say hi to everyone at night…’ At first she was worried that waiting till the morning would be too late and her friends would have forgotten who she was, which is why she did it first thing in the morning! 

“That makes sense!” It was a long trip. “Since you were gone for so long you don’t know about Butter’s parents…” 

‘His parents? The ones Butts always left to go see?’

Lunya brought her hand up to her chin, “That’s what he always said but they were usually never home.” It was almost painful to see Butter and Pancake returning home almost every time with the same exact cake they baked the day before for their parents. “Butter told me they had left on some sort of journey to find something. But…” What kind of parents didn’t check up on their children at least once in a while?!

Let alone leave them alone for almost ten years??? 

Then one day just show out of the blue and act like nothing had happened! With smiles on their faces as if they didn’t just straight up abandon their kids for years?!

In a way Lunya was of the same opinion as Cinnamon, she wanted to give Butter and Pancake’s parents a real piece of her mind. 

But at the same time she was happy for them to be reunited. Especially if it was by complete chance and YET-!

‘Uh, Lulu? There’s a crayon shaped hole in your floor.’

Lunya looked down, the floor was smoldering. “Ah. So there is.”

Anyway, “I think maybe…Um…” Maybe Butter is just a little stressed out right now. That’s what Lunya was first going to say but now that she thought about it, it was strange that he just ran away from Babycorn like that.

Lunya distinctly remembered Butter talking to her about how excited he was for Babycorn to come home.

‘I bought her lots of sweets to eat once she gets home and then maybe we can eat them together…’ 

That’s what Butter had told her just a few days earlier. Was there something that could have happened to make things change?

Well, besides his parents appearing.

But, Butter had told her this the day after his parents had made their sudden appearance. Not only that, Lunya knew Butter well enough that there was probably nothing in the world that could make him purposely avoid spending time with Babycorn when she wanted his attention. 

So? “Did something happen…?” 

‘Heke?’

“Heke?” 

‘Lunya? You’ve had this weird look on your face!’ It almost reminded Babycorn of how Cherrypit looked like when he was thinking really hard about something. ‘You said something about Butt’s parents? But I haven’t seen them.’

That’s right she did say something about them. “I was just thinking that…Maybe Butter is just worried about you meeting his pareeeennntttssssss?” That was, at the moment, the best she could come up with. 

Babycorn blinked, ‘Is it cause he doesn’t want his mama and papa to know that he likes-likes me? Cause I’m like undead and stuff?’

Babycorn really did always just cut right to the point. Didn’t she? “No I don’t think that’s quite it.” Lunya answered. 

....Probably not. 

Babycorn pushed herself up from the bed and sat down on the edge. ‘Maybe Butts is just worried that his parents are gonna leave again and he doesn’t wanna talk to anyone?’ That’s what she felt she would have done. ‘But what if he gets lonely and gets sad…?’ 

“If he gets lonely then he’ll go and find you.” Lunya was sure of it.

‘And I’ll find him if he’s looking for me!’ Suddenly Babycorn felt something tugging on her ponytail. ‘Hmmrr?’ She looked down to see Cherrypit holding up a piece of paper towards her. 

“I dew sometin’! With Lulu crayon!” 

“Hah?” Lunya looked all around the room. True to Cherrypit’s word all the crayons she had gone and hidden were gone, and instead they were all lying down on the bed next to him.

Even the one she launched into the ground in a temper. “When did he???” And where had he gotten blank sheets of paper???

This was surely just a Cherrypit thing but, when had he gotten so good at it?

Babycorn took the drawing and looked at it. ‘Woah! Lunya look!’ She turned the drawing around and practically shoved it at Lunya’s face. ‘It’s me and Butts! And we’re in the forest and I’m giving him a present!’ That’s what Babycorn could guess it was showing anyway.

“Aww! Cute!” Though Lunya thought it looked more like Butter and Babycorn were grilling something at the park. She guessed the only real person who knew what was really going on was Cherrypit and his artistic vision.

“Bah!” That was Cherrypit’s way of telling them they were both right. Somehow. 

‘Cherrys right!’ Without even taking a second to explain what she meant Babycorn pushed herself off of Lunya’s bed and pointed towards the sky. ‘If I’m gonna help Butts feel better I needa get him lots and lotsa gifts!!’ This would surely solve everything!

“Well it wouldn’t hurt-”

‘Thanks for everything Yeye!’ Babycorn rushed up to her and gave her a big hug, strong enough that it caught Lunya completely by surprise when she was lifted off the ground.

‘I’ll see you later!’

Cherrypit hopped up from the ground and landed on Babycorn’s head. "Byebye Lulu! I love you!" He waved at her with his tiny little hand as both siblings skipped out of Lunya’s room and into the big wide world outside. 

Well. There was probably no harm in letting Babycorn go out shopping or most likely collecting leaves and rocks from the ground.

“Okay~! Byebye! Stay safe!” Meanwhile maybe she could conduct her own investigation on what was really going on. Not that she didn’t trust Butter’s parents but she really didn’t trust Butter’s parents. 

"...Didn't Pancake want to talk to me earlier...?"

But then she had changed her mind at the last second.

Babycorn poked her head back through the door. ‘By the way are you gonna-’

“Bebe. My chairs are not for eating.”

‘Otay…’

[hqmillioncorn]

new icon owo)b for artfight but why not here too

[hqmillioncorn]

stop the ride i wanna get off!!!

It would only be a matter of time before other people found out. That's what Babycorn thought, things like this don't stay secret for long. One of these days Lunya would come knocking at her door and kill her for trying to kiss her son. Well...successfully kissing her son. Which is exactly the reason why she would take this secret to her grave. Babycorn was going to die with the secret that she kissed Butter on the ferris wheel and like hell she was going to admit she wanted to do it AGAIN! Right after the first one! Unfortunately for her, Cinnamon was never one to keep gossip like this to herself.

had my first kiss on a ferris wheel but i gotta help save tural so idrc about that rn

Once again Babycorn found herself laying down in a very familiar place, the floor, staring up at the ceiling above her.

It felt like she hadn’t blinked in the last three hours since she started doing this.But of course she must have because otherwise how would Cherrypit be disappearing from her view and then reappearing somewhere else completely different?

‘...Or maybe he’s just doing that.’ Cherrypit was quite a talented little lad. 

Babycorn knocked on the floor below her, she didn’t expect a response since they were on the first story. Frankly if someone did knock back that would have been terrifying. ‘The floor here feels different than back home…’ Made sense. 

Solution 9 was a strange place and of course this would mean they would have strange feeling floors. 

So many people had already told her that perhaps staying in an apartment in Solution 9 probably wasn’t the safest thing to do but for some reason Babycorn couldn’t bring herself to stay anywhere but here.

Something about feeling like she had some unfinished business here.

Though the city was kind of scary sometimes-especially with all the robot guards still roaming around. Babycorn couldn’t just…She couldn’t just…

“Ugghh…” She let out a groan and covered her face with her hands. “...I can’t go out there…” 

The act of killing Sphene was still weighing heavy on Babycorn’s mind, especially after seeing just how sad it made people. Sure, it was their only choice at the time and they ended up saving a lot more lives than they would have had they wasted time trying to figure out another way to end things but…

Babycorn squeezed the end of her brand in between her fingers. “I have to make sure Living Memory stays safe.” Even in the state it was now, she owed that much to Sphene in return for what she did to her. “And I…” There was another reason, another altogether selfish reason why Babycorn wanted to protect Living Memory. 

She could feel the memory bubbling up inside her. “E-Eep!!” All of a sudden Babycorn’s face turned warm and she could feel the slightest sensation on her lips-

Babycorn sat straight up with a scream. “NOOO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!” 

This, of course, caught Cherrypit’s attention right away. He floated down from the ceiling, holding his bunny doll close to him. “Bebe okay?” He asked.

“BEBE IS FINE!” Babycorn answered completely normally before breaking out into maniacal laughter. “Wahahahahahahhaahahahhahahahahahwauwauhwauh!” 

Somehow this wasn’t entirely convincing. “Bebe liar! Lying!” Cherrypit pointed an accusatory finger at his sister. “Lying is bad! Nono lie!” Babycorn knew by now that her brother would go and tell on her to Lunya if she didn’t come clean but…

“It’s grown-up stuff Cherry!” Babycorn sighed, holding her head in her hands. “You wouldn’t really get it I think.” She thought about it for a second more. “...Yeah you wouldn’t.” 

“Cherry is grown up!” He stomped his foot on the ground and held out his little rabbit toy towards Babycorn. “Cherry big! Big! Big and growup!” 

There was a rather prominent pout on Cherrypit’s face. He was super serious about this. That only made Babycorn giggle a little louder than she meant to. “Cherry, sweetie…” She picked him up and placed him between her legs. “There’s a lot of things you are and grown-up isn’t one of them…” As sad as she was to admit it. 

“Bah!” Was Cherrypit’s response to the whole thing. He bit down softly on his rabbit plush and chewed it. “Bebe okay?” He asked again.

There was no hiding it. “I’m just…” She raised her hand to her chest and grabbed her shirt, hard. “...My heart really hurts.” 

There was no other way to really say it, or, there was no other way that Babycorn would want to say it. Under no circumstances could the words that were swarming around her mind would ever leave her mouth. 

‘Love…? That’s what the stories all say…’ 

At this point Babycorn had lost count how long she had known her friends and that included Butter. Lunya was the one she had known for the longest but it sort of felt like they had all been with her since she’d been born but Babycorn knew that wasn’t the case. 

The time for love at first sight had long passed. 

All the stories that had been read to her always had the princess fall in love with the prince at the very first glance, but she hadn’t felt any of that towards him.

Not at first. 

It felt like it all hit her at once.

All of a sudden there was something different about the friend she had known for years. Babycorn found herself noticing all sorts of little things about him. The way his eyes would light up when he saw her, the little wiggles his ears did when he laughed and the way his freckles would almost light up for her when his face turned a funny color. 

Lately he had even been almost sparkling, like a beam of light on a cloudy day. 

It didn’t matter what he was doing. Butter could have been filing his taxes and Babycorn would think he looked so cool while he signed his initials. 

Babycorn sighed, and there was nothing more that she wanted to do than be right next to him. Taking in some of those sparkles for herself and…and…and…

‘That’s not fair!’ That wasn’t fair to Butter! To her friend! What if Butter didn’t want to hang out with her?! She would be annoying him! Right? That was the word. Someone had called her that such a long time ago..What if…?

What if he likes someone else…? 

‘You’re pretty popular now…’ Even from her apartment she could see a billboard advertising the Arcadion. Right in the center of it an image of Butter would flash in between some of the other fighters. Babycorn had its timing memorized. It was always three minutes apart. 

‘But you like me, right?’ Otherwise Butter wouldn’t have come to save her when she was in trouble. The memories of the time were still sort of a mess but Babycorn could remember how he ran past everything towards her, placing his hand on her head. 

Butter was her knight in shining armor! Sweeping her off her feet and taking her away to somewhere safe!! It made her sigh and had her seeing stars and hearts just thinking about it…

Honestly she didn’t know how to describe how Butter made her feel. But she did, but she didn’t, but she did, but she didn’t! But she did! It was all a MESS! A mess that hurt and made her feel happy and angry and elated and scared all at the same time!!!

Honestly the closest she could relate the feeling to it was probably how she felt about Hildibrand. The coolest and most gentlemanly detective ever in all of Eorzea!!!! 

Babycorn’s beloved Hildi, the person she had dreamed of marrying for probably over ten years now. The wedding had been perfectly planned in her head for forever. The dress she would wear, the food that they would eat and even the flower that Babycorn would wear on her head. 

It was a familiar daydream that Babycorn would find herself escaping into sometimes. When things got to be a little too much.

It would always play out the same way. Hildibrand would propose during sunset, they would get married the same day and then they would meet at the altar and get married!!! That’s it!!

…But lately…Babycorn felt bad to admit it…but…

In Hildibrand’s place…Butter would be there instead and then they would get married…in a candy castle with a caramel river and a lollipop bouquet. 

The first time it happened Babycorn was too caught off guard to react. Then the same thing happened over and over. So many daydreams she had before suddenly were filled with her holding hands with Butter or just standing next to him. Just being with him was enough to make her feel happy!

And that was…

‘So mean!! And cruel! And Butts is gonna hate me if he knows!!’

In Babycorn’s little mind of her’s she was convinced that imagining Butter doing things that he would probably never do was just so mean! ‘I mean Butts and me hang out a lot but-! What if he doesn’t wanna play with me all the time?! I can’t think that he would!’

That wasn’t even mentioning the brand new part added to her wedding daydream. Usually it would just end after she and Hildibrand said their vows and hugged but now it- 

‘H-!’ Babycorn’s lips tickled again. She brought her hand up to her mouth and felt everything rush back at once. ‘That was…’ It was what she knew as a first kiss. Something she had only ever heard about from other people. Wasn’t it supposed to be something special? This was something special. Babycorn hadn’t been able to stop reliving the moment since it happened. 

The swaying of the ferris wheel, the light on Butter’s face, and the stinging of her forehead after she had missed the first time. Babycorn could remember it all. The way that Babycorn could taste the candy she had shared earlier with Butter on his lips-

‘NOOOOOOOOOOOO DON’T THINK STUFF LIKE THAT?!!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??? UWBNDNBWBUAUWBAUWBAUUWBABWAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUWAAAAAAAAA!!!!!’ 

In an act of desperation to hide from the world Babycorn buried her head in her brother’s fluffy hair. Her face felt flushed and her eyes swirled around, 'B-Butts...' Was all she could think.

It wasn’t the first time she’d done this. “Uh…? Bebe?” His sister was acting weird again. Cherrypit read her mind and saw her thinking about Butter again.

She was doing this a lot lately, to a point where Cherrypit could tell his sister was thinking about him without needing to read her mind.

[hqmillioncorn]

occult crescent doodle log

[hqmillioncorn]

stuff i prooooooooooobably didnt post here

[hqmillioncorn]

yeah thanks for the heads up

[hqmillioncorn]

i know it sounds super cliché, but you make me feel some type of way!—with @hqmillioncorn 💐

[hqmillioncorn]

✨🎨

[hqmillioncorn]

all in the name of Like-Liking someone a whole lot.

"SPHENE!!" "AAAAAHHH!" Sphene was so caught off guard by Babycorn's sudden appearance she almost fell back in the chair she was conveniently sitting on. If it wasn't for another convenience in the shape of Cherrypit holding her up she would have surely hit the ground behind her. She sighed, choosing to stand up instead. Much safer that way. "Thank you Cherrypit." Through all of that Babycorn had been talking at light speed about something-or-other. Clearly it was something she was passionate about. "Babycorn. Babycorn!" Sphene tried to get through to her. She was warned about this ahead of time. Once Babycorn got to talking she almost never stopped. "Bebe!" Cherrypit chimed in. "Yeah? What's up!" Babycorn blinked, "Oh! Hi Sphene!" "H-Hello...?" Sphene nervously raised her hand in greeting. 'What a strange girl...'

lalapril 29: Solution

babycorn enlists her brother, gulool ja and sphene to help her with the crime of the century.

Sphene hunched herself down closer to the ground and wondered how her life had all been leading to her being in this exact spot, at this exact time, in this exact place. 

Inside of a moderately sized empty container, with the only light source coming from a few openings uptop and surrounded by three other people and waiting for some sort of signal before the plan could continue. 

One moment Sphene was living in the palace, worrying about the growing danger of lightning and how they were going to handle all of that and now here she was, helping Babycorn commit some sort of robbery.

A heist even. 

Apparently this is what Babycorn had meant when she asked Sphene if she wanted to help her with something ‘super duper mega important’. Sphene figured Babycorn just wanted help tying her shoelaces or reaching something from the top shelf, you know, something simple! 

Babycorn seemed like a nice girl, even if for the first few hours of meeting each other all she did was silently stare at her with her huge scary eyes. Sphene would have never guessed that something so sneaky and conniving could come out from that fluffy head of her’s. 

Not only that, somehow Babycorn had also recruited Cherrypit and Gulool Ja into helping her too. Instead of wondering if what they were doing was right and morally just, both children were busy singing some macabre nursery rhyme that Cherrypit was teaching Gulool Ja. 

Though she really shouldn’t have been too surprised. Cherrypit was Babycorn’s little brother and it felt like Gulool Ja never ran out of good things to say about Babycorn, he admired her that much.

The star of the show herself, Babycorn, was busy talking with someone on what Sphene learned was called a linkshell. “Just act natural! It's like all those movies say-! If you act like you’re supposed to be there no one will say anything!” Babycorn helpfully explained to whoever she was talking to. 

There was just a second of silence after her explanation. After which Sphene could barely make out the sound of someone talking very fast at Babycorn from the other side of the call. 

It sort of sounded like they were panicking, a lot. 

“Just trust me! When has anything gone wrong when I planned it?”

There was even more panicked talking, it lasted almost twice as long as last time. Babycorn just kept smiling and nodding. “Egg-sactly!” She confidently answered, it sounded like she just completely ignored whatever completely legitimate argument was just said to her. “Just stand by and wait for my signal!” 

Signal? That was the first Sphene had heard of there being any sort of signal. Now that she thought about it, Babycorn hadn’t told her much about her plan besides that they were sneaking into an Arcadion warehouse to steal something.

Babycorn had failed (i.e completely forgotten) to elaborate on what they were taking but Sphene hoped it wasn’t anything too important. Everyone in Solution 9 seemed to really enjoy The Arcadion. 

During her time walking around the city Sphene had already seen countless advertisements for it on every single billboard. It would be a shame to disrupt that. 

Sphene carefully scooted closer to where Babycorn was standing. Turns out whatever crate they were inside was much too small for her to do anything but sit. However, it was the perfect size for Babycorn, their accompanying baby brother and young Mamool Ja friend. 

“Who are you talking to?” Sphene asked. 

“Coco!”

Now Sphene had known Coco for about as much time as she had known everyone else but even she knew by now that he didn’t seem like the type of little guy to help with something like this. “Is Coco really helping us?” Sphene asked. Call her skeptical but something wasn’t adding up.

“Yup!” Babycorn smiled. Not like Coco had a choice in this matter. “I told him if he didn’t help us I would tell Melmeltan about that time he hit me with his car!”

Sphene’s eyes widened, “He what?! Were you alright?!” 

Babycorn nodded with a smile. “You’d be surprised how hard it is to kill me!” 

As much as a relief it was to hear that it was pretty concerning that Babycorn encountered enough life threatening situations to be able to know that.

Then again, Sphene had already seen Babycorn’s resilience first hand. After getting struck by lightning drawn from all of Solution 9’s power it was reassuring to see her relatively unharmed after she woke up. 

It made her wonder for a bit what other situations Babycorn found herself in… 

Something about it was also making Sphene a little excited. Maybe she could ask Babycorn to tell her stories about the adventures she’d been on? Then after Sphene practiced her healing magicks she could go ahead and lend a hand too! 

Especially if she was going to put Calyx in his place for the heartless stunt he pulled with her memories of Zelenia.  

Sphene flinched in surprise when Babycorn’s linkshell went off again. Babycorn answered it immediately. “How’s it looking out there now?” There were a few more seconds of tense silence, even Cherrypit and Gulool Ja had paused their game to try and listen in. 

Babycorn nodded, then nodded again, then she shook her head and gasped. 

“What?” Sphene scooted in closer, “What is it? Did something happen?” 

“Oh I don’t know. Coco hasn’t said anything yet!”

Okay, maybe that was a little funny. “Then why did he call you?” Sphene chuckled. Unless it was someone else that called Babycorn. Hopefully it wasn’t anyone suspicious of where they had gone. 

“Is the coast clear?” Gulool Ja asked. 

Babycorn leaned her head to the side, as if that was gonna let her hear her linkshell more clearly. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.” She closed her eyes and frowned, then turned to the others. “Coco says we have an opening!”

His assigned job was actually to make sure that they wouldn’t make too much of a scene being pushed into the other group of crates getting moved to a warehouse in the Arcadion.

With the first signal given, they only needed one more step till they could really get started. “We just need a second opinion…” Babycorn turned to look at Gulool Ja and Cherrypit. Both of them were doing little hops of excitement. They’d been waiting for this.

“Okay boys-! Let’s see if the second coast is clear!” 

Without wasting any time Gulool Ja held out his hands and Cherrypit jumped right in between them, then he held Cherrypit up against the walls of the crate. Sphene looked at them and then at Babycorn. “Hmm.” Clearly something was happening but Sphene wanted to see how this ended first. 

Gulool Ja grinned. “It’s clear! We can go inside!” He let Cherrypit go and let him crawl back on top of his head. 

Sphene looked up at the small openings above them. Those holes were the only view to the outside and a last minute addition after Sphene pointed out they would quickly run out of air without them. “How could you tell?” From here she could only get a tiny view of the sky above Solution 9. 

“Cherry can actually see right through walls!” Gulool Ja excitedly explained. “That was how he was able to make sure we didn’t get caught when we climbed Everkeep.” 

“Ba!” Cherrypit confirmed what Gulool Ja was saying in his own little baby way.

Well this little guy is just full of surprises isn’t he? Sphene thought back to Calyx’s attempt to get rid of the Warriors of Light. Though most of them were definitely winded after the whole thing, Cherrypit was just left standing around confused without a scratch on him. 

Good thing Cherrypit was on their side. 

“Ma! Hurry let Coco know!” Gulool Ja ran over to Babycorn, still carrying Cherrpit on his head. 

Babycorn put a finger up to her linkshell, “Coco! This is your signal! Hurry!! Get a move on!!” She shrieked. It was loud enough that Sphene swore she could hear the echo of Babycorn’s voice coming from the outside.  

Right after Babycorn hung up her linkshell a pair of distinct Coco sounding footsteps could be heard scurrying around the crate. Though they did sound a bit off. Sphene pressed her head against the crate to try and see if she could hear anything else. 

Surprisingly she did manage to hear something. It was Coco whispering to himself. “...Who hasn’t run Babycorn over with a car at this point-! Melmeltan wouldn’t be disappointed in me!” 

“Hmm…” That just made Sphene think whether Babycorn had more friends she could blackmail into committing crimes with her. 

“Alright gang-!!” 

Babycorn proudly stood with her hands on her hips and addressed her teammates. “In just a few minutes we’re gonna be inside the Arcadion warehouse! And once we’re in there we just have to find the blue-est crates we can and break into them! Then my treasure will be mine again!”

The crate started to shake slightly. It was close to making Babycorn lose her balance but she was able to somehow keep it intact.

Just a few minutes after the initial shaking Sphene could feel their crate start to move forward. ‘This must be the other job Babycorn gave Coco.’ It was just one surprise after another. 

Who knew Coco was strong enough to push a crate full of them all by themselves?

“Now let’s get in there and rob them blind!!”

Gulool Ja and Cherrypit cheered loudly.

Out of the two of them Gulool Ja probably understood what they were doing the most. He could still remember Otis teaching him that stealing was something he wasn’t supposed to do but Babycorn somehow managed to convince him by explaining that they were taking back something that actually belonged to her. 

So of course that made it okay!

Sphene, on the other hand, wanted to cry. She held her hands together and closed her eyes. 

“Forgive me Otis…Zelenia…”

The ride to wherever they were going was a little bumpy so everyone made sure to hold onto whatever they could. Which turned out to be Babycorn herself. Sphene held onto both of Babycorn’s horns like they were a pair of handlebars while Gulool Ja and Cherrypit held onto both of her arms respectively. 

If Babycorn minded at all, she sure didn’t show it. She looked pretty content about the whole thing honestly. It was more of a wonder that she wasn’t bouncing all over the place with them. 

After a few tense minutes of shaking the crate came to a sudden stop. 

Babycorn was still able to keep her balance and help the others at the same time. “Weeeeeee!” Cherrypit cheered, luckily the sound of the crate screeching was much louder than he was. Once he felt the crate stop moving the let go of Babycorn’s arm and walked up to stand up on the top of the box, upside down. 

Babycorn raised her arms in the air, cheering. “I think we made it-!!” She tried to whisper, but her excitement got the better of her so she was just as loud as she always was. 

Gulool Ja let go of Babycorn’s arm and tugged on her sleeves. “Careful Ma! Cherry says there’s still people out there!” Once he told her Babycorn’s eyes widened and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands. Not even wanting to risk making a single noise that would give them away.

From up above Cherrypit put a finger over his mouth and smiled. “Shhh!” He went ahead and made his way to one of the crate’s walls and placed his face square on it. 

Sphene looked at him curiously. Could it really be that easy for Cherrypit to look outside? She crawled over to him, making sure to watch her head. “Cherry? Do you need any help?” She recalled how Gulool Ja held him up to the wall last time he did this so maybe she could do the same?

Cherrypit’s smile lingered for just a few seconds before he frowned and looked away. “Mm! Mmm!” He shook his head and looked away, ignoring her. 

“Ah…Well…” 

Babycorn noticed Sphene’s dejected look and quickly spoke up. “I’m Sorry Sphene…Cherry is still really small so he’s still having trouble telling the difference between you, the other Sphene and that other Sphene.” Honestly, Babycorn sometimes had her moments where she swore she was talking to another Sphene. 

That was a big part of the reason that Babycorn invited Sphene to come. A little bonding time committing a robbery never hurt anyone!

“I’ve been trying to help him tell the difference!” Gulool Ja explained. With the help of handy photo references and audio recordings of Sphene herself, “I think he’s listening but honestly I can’t really tell…” 

“I think you’re doing a good job!” 

Gulool Ja smiled and did a little hop at Babycorn’s praise.

It took only a few minutes for Cherrypit to declare that it was safe to come out now. No one was around to catch them or ask them how they got in there. “Okay! Let’s do it to it team!” Babycorn raised her hands to let Cherrypit know it was time to lift the top of their crate up. 

He copied Babycorn’s movement to a tee, except he was able to increase the size and length of his arms by a large degree. It was easy for Cherrypit to push the lid of the crate completely off.

So off as a matter of fact that the top of the crate flew all the way up to the ceiling, hitting it with a sort of muffled bang.

Sphene kept looking up at the ceiling even as she climbed out of the crate. “Is that going to come down?” Surely it would make some sort of loud noise once it fell that would give them away? 

Cherrypit shook his head and pointed to himself. While babbling a bunch of incoherent baby noises. Which Babycorn was quick to translate. “Cherry says he’s keeping it up there until we’re ready to leave! So don’t worry Sphene!” As for how he was doing that, well that didn’t really matter did it?

“That’s amazing…” Sphene whispered to herself while helping Babycorn and Gulool Ja out from the crate. Both we’re just a little too short to climb out by themselves. It made Sphene wonder if this was another reason that she was invited to come along. 

…Nah.

Babycorn soon gathered everyone around her. She lowered her voice to be as quiet as she could as she explained part two of the plan. 

Which is to say she was speaking at her normal speaking volume, she just thought she was whispering. As Babycorn often did. “Okay gang! Our target is that big blue box over THERE!” Babycorn twisted her body around to point at another crate that looked remarkably similar to the one they used to sneak in here.

Except that one was probably not made of paper mache and a prayer. “I’ll hazard a guess that’s why they let us in so easily.” Sphene joked. Especially since none of them had made any sort of effort to be quiet inside of a practically paper thin crate. 

Babycorn continued, “We’re going to open up that big box and take everything that’s inside of it! Because-! Because…!!!” She paused, her tail was whipping itself into a frenzy and Sphene noticed her horns glowing a bright pink. 

“Because…E-EVERYTHING in there is mine!!” Babycorn shrieked. 

“Ya!” Cherrypit let out a tiny cheer and was the first to run over to the crate Babycorn pointed at. He ran directly towards it and Sphene was afraid he was going to run right through it like some sort of battering ram. Thankfully he stopped just short of that and instead jumped up to the top and started trying to bite it open.

“He learned from the best.” Babycorn smirked. 

Sphene was almost mesmerized. “It’s like he’s some sort of can opener…” Who knew what else Cherrypit could do that she just didn’t know about yet? Full of surprises indeed…

“Cherrypit is so cool!” Gulool Ja cheered. “He even made me a toy that looks exactly like Otis!” The toy that he made for him was a lot softer than the real Otis had been but Cherrypit wanted to make sure it would be soft enough for Gulool Ja to hug. 

Oh…

“That sounds nice…” 

Juggling herself between listening in and watching as her brother sawed his way into the container, Babycorn couldn’t help but smile. ‘Cherrypit you’re so sweeeeet! Where did you learn to be so niiiceeee.’ Babycorn was filled with so much pride for him she wanted to forgo everything and just up and hug him but she had to concentrate right now! 

Speaking of concentrating…

Babycorn turned to Sphene and Gulool Ja. “I’m sorry it’s taking a while! Cherry likes to be really careful with his biting so I promise he’ll be done soon!” She was feeling really bad about making them just wait. They were both her guests and she was so totally not being a cool host. 

“It’s alright! Cherry can take all the time he needs!” Sphene would prefer it this way. This way Cherrypit wouldn’t accidentally hurt himself trying to rush things.

Though considering prior events Sphene wondered if Cherrypit was even capable of being hurt. 

Well, now that they were here with nothing to do but wait for Cherrypit to finish, Sphene figured this was as good a time as any to ask. 

“Say, Gulool Ja?” 

Gulool Ja looked up, still hanging off the top of the crate. “Yes?” 

“Why do you keep calling Babycorn, Ma?”

He looked just a little surprised to hear someone, anyone ask him that again. “Uh, well, the reason is…” It had been a while since he last explained this. Somehow it was a little harder to explain this time than before. Probably because he actually knew who his mother was now.

“...When I was younger I used to try and spy on my father from far away. To try and get to know him better!” 

Now Sphene didn’t know a lot about Zoraal Ja (there hadn’t really been an opportunity to sit down and ask about him.) All she knew about him was that he was one of Lamaty'i’s older brothers and that he was Gulool Ja’s father. 

Even with the little info she had on him, aside from some scattered whispers here and there, Sphene was positive that he wasn’t the greatest guy. Especially if he treated his own son like that. 

If only she had woken up sooner. Then she really could have given Zoraal Ja a piece of her mind. 

“I kept seeing him look at this drawing of a girl I didn’t know.” Gulool Ja remembered his father would take it out and just stare at it, for the longest time. Probably the only time Gulool Ja could recall seeing his father show any form of emotion. “I thought it had to be my mother he was missing!” He was so sure of this fact that when he first met everyone he made a beeline towards Babycorn to ask her where she’s been. 

“Even after Lamaty'i explained everything to me I already called Babycorn Mother for so long that I just got used to it. Even after everything…” 

“Doesn’t seem like she minds!” As far as Sphene could tell. 

“Yeah!” Gulool Ja grinned, “Babycorn said I can call her Ma for as long as I want! She’s really nice! And she always has yummy snacks!” They usually came from her hair but lately Babycorn was making an effort to use literally anything else. 

Their conversation came to an abrupt end with a sudden sound that sounded suspiciously like a lid of a crate being lifted up and crushed into a small metal ball. “All done!” Cherrypit victoriously cheered, bouncing the remains of the metal lid in his claws. 

“Did he learn that from you too?” Sphene asked Babycorn.

“M-Maybe…!” Yeah probably. 

Babycorn shook her head. “Anyways! Come on and help me carry all of this out!” Babycorn ran forward then very impressively jumped up and then straight into the crate. It was like she jumped right into a pool as the contents inside the crate splashed around everywhere. 

One of them  just happened to land right on top of Sphene’s head. “You have something on your head, Sphene.” Gulool Ja pointed out. Whatever it was it was sprawled out on her head. From down here he couldn’t really tell what it was. 

It just sort of looked really soft, it had to be if it didn’t hurt when it landed on her.

Whatever it was, it must have been really important if it was being kept somewhere as secure as this. 

Sphene looked up, from her point of view she could see a pair of legs dangling in front of her eyes. “A stuffed toy?” She was familiar with them, having amassed quite a collection of them herself when she was younger.

Knowing that these somehow belonged to Babycorn, Sphene carefully reached up on her head and grabbed it. 

Once she held it up in front of her and finally got a good look at it Sphene instantly recognized who she was holding. “Butter?!” Or ‘Butts’ as she first thought was his name thanks to someone. Not naming names. 

There was no mistaking it. The plushie she was holding onto was Butter Moontide, the kind and little long eared boy with very spiky hair that almost seemed to defy gravity and this doll was perfectly imitating that in every way. 

Sphene also recognized him as the Unstoppable Upstart from the Arcadion. All thanks to a conveniently placed billboard that they just happened to pass at the right time.

…Come to think of it, it was rather hard to rip Babycorn away from staring at the billboard. 

Now this was something Sphene immediately caught onto. “Hmm…” Sure she had her suspicions before, but this was the nail on the coffin of love that she had just been waiting to see for herself. 

Waiting for an opportunity to be able to talk to Babycorn directly didn’t take long. As Babycorn decided to go ahead and trade places with Cherrypit. So while Cherrypit was busy grabbing as many plushies as he could, tossing them outside, Babycorn was quite busy catching them in her arms and giving them a big ol’ hug.

Sphene couldn’t hold in her giggle. This was probably the most intense case of lovesickness she had seen in…well more than a century now that she thought about it. It almost rivaled the soap opera level of yearning she witnessed on a daily basis from Sir Otis. 

As Sphene watched Babycorn nuzzle a Butter plushie on her nose she slid closer, a playful smile on her face. “Is this really what you said belongs to you?” Those were Babycorn’s words exactly and now Sphene was firing them right back at her. 

“Mhhmmmm!” Babycorn giggled. It looked like she was in her own little world.

God, this was dire. Sphene couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Did anyone else know about this? They must, right?? Why didn’t anyone tell her about this? She looked back at Gulool Ja and gestured towards Babycorn in a manner she hoped would say something like, ‘Is she always like this?’ 

Gulool Ja looked up at her, as if he was thinking very hard about Sphene’s question. Which he was, but ultimately he gave her a shrug and a nod that very much said, ‘Yeah! Pretty much.’

No wonder Babycorn went through all this trouble

When Sphene looked back at Babycorn she was holding around twenty Butter plushies in a big hug, she was grinning from ear to ear  like she just received the best news of her life. “Hehehe…” Babycorn laughed to herself, she was stomping her feet quite quickly.

Now was the time to strike. Sphene leaned in closer to Babycorn, waving the Butter doll she was still holding onto in front of her face. “Babycorn! I found one!” Well if she was going to be specific it found her but who had time to explain that? 

Then in an instant, Babycorn’s eyes flew wide open and her eyes began to twinkle. “AH!” 

Before Sphene had time to react Babycorn jumped up and bit down on the doll, snatching it right out of her hands. “Babycorn?!” Sphene took a step back and stared at her hand just to make sure it was still there. “I know you have feelings for him but try and show some restraint?!” 

“Mmh?” The Butter plushie was still in Babycorn’s mouth. Eventually she spit it out and added it to the pile in her arms. “What do you mean? Who’s restraint?!” Once again the point had flown right over Babycorn’s big head. 

Sphene decided it would be in her best interest to skip that line of questioning. She had much better questions to get to anyway. “You must really like Butter?” Like was probably not the right word for it, but given earlier events Sphene doubted that Babycorn would understand the phrase completely enamored. 

Because this girl had it bad. 

Babycorn snuggled the plushies closer and nodded. “Yeah…!” She smiled, none the wiser. “Butts is a bestest friend and I love him a lots!” She loved him so much that Babycorn always wanted to hang out with him and hold his hand and laugh with him and eat snacks with him and talk with him about anything.

And maybe ride another ferris wheel with him again...

Sphene looked at Babycorn and then at the pile of Butter plushies that was building up next to Babycorn from all of the inventory Cherrypit was throwing out of the crate. “You say you organized this entire thing just for your good friend Butter?” 

Babycorn nodded, very enthusiastically. 

“I feel like you might like him more than a friend…?” 

“Silly billy! That’s why I called him a bestest friend!” 

“Do you have any other bestest friends?”

“Sure I do! I have uh…” Babycorn thought really hard about this. Well Lunya was her BFFFF (which stood for best friend for forever with an extra F), so that was different. Everyone else she tended to just call either a friend or a best friend. “Huh…” Did she really not call anyone but Butter a bestest friend? That didn’t sound right. 

“I guess I don’t…?” 

Sphene raised a good point and for the first time in a long time the gears in Babycorn’s corner of her head focused on love began to turn, but not enough. “I guess it’s cause I just think Butter is really neat! He’s really brave and cool too!” Wait till Sphene heard all about how he saved her one time! Like a knight in shining armor…

For now that was all Sphene needed to hear. 

“Your feelings towards Butter, is this why you wanted all of these?” 

Babycorn crossed her arms and huffed. “Those Arcadion jerks were gonna sell them all tomorrow at their big merch sale tomorrow.” More specifically before and after the exhibition match with the Howling Blade. “So I decided to get super ahead of the line and buy all of them myself!” 

“But they’re not for sale yet!” Gulool Ja reminded her. “I don’t want you to get in trouble…” Both Gulool Ja and Cherrypit shared similar worries. Except while one was worried about Babycorn being arrested the other was worried about getting no dessert for dinner.

To everyone’s surprise, Babycorn scoffed at such a notion. “No need to worry bout’ that!” She confidently declared. Then she pulled out a giant bag that was almost as big as her. As she shook it up and down the distinct sound of gil rattling around could be heard. 

“I saved up all my allowance from Lunya so I could buy all of these myself!” With a great big smile on her face she picked up her sack of gil and tossed it up into the now empty crate. 

“Wow. Nice throw.” Lunya said, clapping her hands together. 

“Thank you!” Babycorn happily smiled, dropping the Butter plushies she had been holding in her hands into the much bigger pile of them. There must have been more than five hundred of these little guys now and they were all her’s!

Then she froze. “Wait a second.” 

The sound of an unfamiliar voice in their group caused everyone to jump, then turn around to see who it could possibly have been that spoke.

That was how they were all caught face to face with Lunya Lanya. There was a smile on her face that was having the opposite effect on them than it usually did. 

Other than Babycorn, who jumped into the pile of Butter plushies in a vain attempt to hide, Sphene was the first to react. “Lunya?!” How in the world had she gotten in here with them?! She didn’t recall Babycorn mentioning anything about Lunya and judging from her behavior Babycorn was just as shocked as they were. 

…Could all of them have just walked in instead of going through all this trouble? 

Gulool Ja took it upon himself to go ahead and ask what everyone else in the room was wondering. “What are you doing here Lunya?” 

Lunya walked closer, picking up a Butter plushie from the ground and placing it onto the huge pile of them. “Coco ran to ask me to carry your cute little crate in here.” She had seen Gulool Ja, Cherrypit and Babycorn working on a big art project a few days ago. “It came out great by the way!” 

“Oh thank you!! Thank you!” Gulool Ja smiled. He and Cherrypit worked really hard on it and even harder on making sure Babycorn didn’t eat any of their glue. It was a lot of work. 

“UGH! That tattletale!!” Babycorn went ahead and yelled from her hiding place. 

“No, don't worry he wasn’t telling on you.” Lunya assured her, “He honestly couldn’t figure out how to move it when he couldn’t lift it up himself. So he came to me for help.” Coco tried to hide why he wanted Lunya to help him move a very suspicious looking crate but she got as far as saying “W-” before the guilt overcame him and he confessed everything. 

“I still think he’s a tattle-tale…” 

Then Gulool Ja went and asked the second question that everyone else was wondering. “Are we in trouble?” He guiltily looked away, tip tapping his fingers together. 

Gulool Ja looked so worried that Cherrypit took it upon himself to crawl on top of his friends head, either to protect or support him, only Cherrypit knew.  

“No, no.” Lunya gave both boys a supportive pat on their heads. “You’re not in trouble and neither are you Sphene.” She had to make that very clear. On the other hand…

“Chelinka Babycorn Meriala Corn Starsinger. What do you think you’re doing?” 

A growl came from the stack of Butter plushies. Babycorn would have never told Lunya her full name if she knew it was going to be weaponized against her like this. “I’m not doing nothin’!”

Lunya remained silent, waiting for Babycorn to continue. 

And continue she did. “I’m just shopping for things!” Babycorn finally jumped out of her pile, hugging a Butter plushie close to her, like she was protecting it from the cold harsh world of the outside. “I didn’t want anyone else to have one…!” She pouted, looking away. 

“Any particular reason whyyyyyy you didn’t want anyone else to have these Butter plushies?” 

Babycorn shrugged. “I dunno.” 

As stubborn as ever. “Babycorn? Do you remember what we talked about?” Lunya asked, “About how you might like Butter more than most people do?” Of course she had already tried the direct approach of telling Babycorn to her face that she was in love with Butter, but apparently Babycorn just decided to completely forget about it. 

Lunya was exasperated at first, but lately it was kind of fun seeing Babycorn slowly figure things out for herself. Even if it was taking a while. 

Babycorn glanced at Lunya and then went back to pulling on Butter plushie’s soft spiky hair. “Maybe…” Most of Babycorn’s frustration at herself came from not being able to process what she was really feeling. “I just like Butts a lot…” She whispered. “Sniffle…”  

Sphene decided to speak up. “I’m sure Butter likes you a lot too!” At the time Sphene hadn’t paid much attention to how Butter looked and acted near Babycorn but one thing she did remember was how worried he was after Calyx’s attempt on Babycorn’s life.  

He must care for her a lot, that much was apparent. 

“You don’t know the half of it…” Lunya smiled.  

From Lunya’s smile and attitude Sphene could tell there was probably a rather telling history between the two. Maybe she would have to ask more about it later? Who knows? That being said, “Why don’t you tell Butter how much you like him?” Sphene asked. 

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Babycorn screamed, “I can't do that! I can't ever do that!” there was no way in all of the seven hells (or however many there were!) that Babycorn could ever ever tell Butter something like that! 

Which was odd for the girl who never had any trouble speaking her mind.

Sphene stared at Babycorn, who was now lying on the ground and clutching a Butter plushie against her chest. “Is Babycorn going to be okay?” Hopefully she hadn’t actually said something to upset her friend. Sphene would feel terrible if that was the case.

Somehow Lunya was able to ease her fears despite not knowing what Sphene was thinking. “Don’t worry. I think she’s still figuring it out.” Lunya knelt down next to Babycorn and pet her fluffy head. There was definitely no envy in her heart for Babycorn having to deal with her feelings hitting her like an armored freight train. 

Surely it would be any day now. Hopefully sooner than later. 

“...Can I still keep them?” Obviously Babycorn was referring to her collection of exclusive Butter Moontide plushies. 

Lunya sighed, “Well…You did pay for them.” 

“Yippee! Awesome!” Babycorn’s entire mood seemed to flip on its head. As she hopped up into the air and did a happy little dance with her Butter plushie 

Doubtless that if Lunya made Babycorn put them back she would figure out a way to take them the day of the sale. Which would probably cause much more chaos than this stunt did. “I really didn’t think she had it in her…” Let alone have the idea to invite Sphene and Gulool Ja on her heist. Go figure. 

Sphene’s eyes widened. “Wait if you knew Babycorn was going to do this-? Then why didn’t you stop her?” 

Lunya’s eyes darted to the left, then to the right. “I kind of just wanted to see how far you would get.” Babycorn thought Lunya’s face looked a little funny. That was because to everyone that wasn’t Babycorn it was incredibly obvious that Lunya was trying her very hardest not to smile, or even laugh. 

“While what Babycorn did was very bad-I can understand where she’s coming from.”

Cherrypit popped his little head in the middle of the conversation, still practically glued on top of Gulool Ja’s head. There was a wide smile on his face. “For Mimi Gwaha?” He asked. Which meant something along the lines of, ‘You would do the same thing if they were going to sell Mister G’raha plushies?’ 

Lunya cleared her throat with a cough. “Anyway.” 

Unfortunately, to give the children around her and Babycorn an example of what happens when you steal something without permission, some consequence needed to be given. 

“Also, you are grounded young lady.” Lunya said very sternly and matter-of-a-factly. Making sure to raise her voice loud enough so that Cherrypit and Gulool Ja could hear her. The building they were in just added to that effect, making Lunya’s voice echo as if she were larger than life. 

“You can’t ground me! I’m like twenty-nine!??”

Lunya remained silent. Simply just staring at Babycorn with her usual no nonsense look reserved for Babycorn and a select other people. 

“...Fine.” 

It worked every time.

[hqmillioncorn]

the dream comes to a bittersweet end

Living Memory was no more. Sphene had been stopped and the danger was over. Despite that, despite the smiles all around her, Babycorn couldn't help but feel a bit bittersweet about the whole thing. She figured everyone else felt a little bit of the same way. Especially Wuk Lamat. For a moment during their final fight Babycorn had wished with all her heart that Lamaty'i could have gotten through to Sphene. Babycorn's shaky hands gripped her necklace tighter than she would like to admit. She could hear her own thoughts telling her there was no point in changing fates. She had to remember her promise to him!

lalapril 29: golden

babycorn and cherrypit take the opposite of a victory lap around whats left of living memory. whatever that is.

Living Memory

A bright light and the sound and aether warping around a singular area began to fill the forever silent air in Living Memory. Once it had all finally gathered around, a small lalafell and a slightly taller lalafell came tumbling to the ground from mid-air.

“Tada!” Cherrypit cheered, “Pe-fect landing!” He had so expertly landed right next to the aetheryte without a scratch on him. It was a given rule by now that just like cats, Cherrypit always landed on his feet.  

Much unlike his sister who had somehow found herself falling into one of the palm tree planters.  “Nice work Cherry!” She gave her brother a thumbs-up while still upside down and her head halfway in the dirt.

Babycorn was pretty used to rough landings by now and she was always proud of her brother whenever he was able to teleport them anywhere.

He had a much better track record than Babycorn did anyway. 

At least he actually was able to actually ‘land’ on the ground. 

Babycorn flipped herself over and back onto her feet while shaking a little bit of stray aether from her hair. Her brother’s teleportation method may have been quicker than most but it still left her feeling a little dizzy most of the time.  Especially as of late. 

As Babycorn collected her bearings and tried not to drop them, she noticed her brother taking off running towards one of the zip lines. “Cherryyyy! Don’t run off too far!” She knew all too well what he was capable of and nowadays it was probably even more terrifying since Cherrypit could run farther from her than ever before.

“Bebe! Let’s go! Go!!” He jumped up a few fulms into the air and laughed. He was excited to visit Canal Town again and all the other really fun places his sister told him they were going to visit. 

“Cherry! Wait for meeee!”

While Babycorn never actually wished she had any of Cherrypit’s powers she was always just a tad jealous of how nimble he was sometimes. Surely if she was as quick as him that would make catching up with him so much easier.

Maybe having the power of walking up walls and ceilings wouldn’t hurt either. Especially around bedtime. 

“Bebeeeee! Hurryyyyy!” Cherrypit whined.

Time was ticking and dinner was gonna be soon. Babycorn knew this better than anyone since tonight was B’iggy cooks night. He always made something really yummy.

Not one to miss dinner, Babycorn jumped up in the air but the result was not more than a couple of ilms. Nothing. Oh well, it was worth a try. “I’m coming! Just give me a second! Okay sweetie?” 

Guess good old walking it was. 

Cherrypit was not going to stand for this. He quickly decided to give his sister a helping hand, by floating up just above her and reaching his hands out. “Bebe! Catch!” He smiled as Babycorn grabbed onto his hands with no hesitation. “Careful!” He dutifully reminded her. 

“I’m holding on, don't worry!” 

Both siblings rose up in the air, higher and higher, until they high above the ground. Babycorn wiggled her legs excitedly, looking down at the scenery below them. At least she could be comforted by the knowledge that her brother would most likely not let her go.

That did make things a little less nerve wracking. 

…Even if he did sometimes like dropping her and catching her for fun. 

“Woah! You’re so strong Cherry!” 

Not a surprise but Babycorn never got tired of Cherrypit’s smile whenever she complimented him. “Hehehe!” Cherrypit giggled. 

All their running and screaming around caught the attention of a few sentry units, but they weren’t really programmed to do much anymore. Aside from providing some assistance here and there, mostly in getting people from point A to point B. 

A group of them silently watched on as both siblings flew all the way to Canal Town. 

Canal Town

Nothing much had changed since the last time they were here.

The world was still empty, grey, and very fake. 

Babycorn sat on the edge of the canal, swinging her legs back and forth. On the other side of the canal she watched as Cherrypit rode on the backs of several confused Outrunners. “Don’t you know the more you move the more he wants to stay on?” She yelled at them.

Getting Cherrypit off of anything was practically impossible if he actually wanted to stay there.

She could hear her brother yelling, “Let’s be fend! Let’s be fend!” while hopping from one Outrunner to the next. 

That was strange. “Wonder where he got that from?” Who could say?

Babycorn took another bite of her bag of popcorn. Making sure to throw some over the canal so Cherrypit could grab some too. “Thank ywou!” He shouted while chasing down another Outrunner, visibly panicking by flailing its hands and flashing a blue screen. 

At least one of them was having fun.

It was a very eerie feeling knowing that they were the only living people here. 

…In a way. 

A walking un-dead sort of way. 

When they first got here Babycorn quickly boarded a gondola and tried to push it so that she and Cherrypit could ride it around the town. But no matter what she tried the gondola just wouldn’t run. Not even Cherrypit was able to push it, that’s when it became obvious that it wasn’t going to happen. 

The water was completely still, lifeless. 

On a whim Babycorn threw a popcorn kernel into the canal water. When it landed, it didn’t even make so much as a small ripple. No matter how much she waited, the popcorn just floated there until the water soaked it enough to sink it all the way to the bottom. 

“Aww…” It was a shame, she was probably still going to eat it eventually.

Babycorn recalled first learning about the delicious popcorn they sold here from a lalafell that looked remarkably like her. Some of her friends had even mistaken one for the other.

When Babycorn finally did get to try the popcorn it was absolutely delicious, she couldn’t get enough.

Which is why she found it so strange when everyone else noted that it really didn’t taste like anything. 

In the end she never really got to thank that other lalafell for the recommendation. “Thanks for the popcorn…” Hopefully she would still be able to hear her. Babycorn picked up another handful of kernels and stuffed them in her mouth. 

The Windspath Gardens

The Windspath Gardens (again) weren’t all that different either. 

Babycorn walked slowly through the gardens while Cherrypit ran and skipped all around her. He laughed to himself with every step he took. After what happened in Canal Town pretty much every Outrunner along the path swiftly moved out of their way. 

Which made their walk much more peaceful, “Byebye! I love you!” Cherrypit waved at an Outrunner running away in fear.

“I’m sure they love you too Cherry.” Babycorn was pretty sure that was a lie but she didn’t want to make her brother sad. Those were about the only lies she could tell.

As they continued walking Babycorn kept finding it strange how this place was so colorful compared to the rest of Living Memory. While everything else had turned grey the flowers and grass all over the garden remained just as vibrant as they were when the terminal was still online. 

Though it was nice to see some color it still made Babycorn a little sad. 

All these flowers remained here even when everyone else was gone. Were they going to get lonely without anyone taking care of them? Wouldn’t they start getting sad now that they stopped seeing the usual people pass by them? Either way it must have all come as a shock to the flowers to see things be so suddenly different.

Cherrypit stopped just a little ahead of Babycorn to kneel down in front of some flowers. “Hello!” he said looking at a patch of pink flowers. “Hello! Hello! Floweys!” There was no need to be scared of him this time, Babycorn let her brother know ahead of time that these flowers shouldn’t be eaten.  

Cherrypit gave the pink flowers a little pet, not too hard and just soft enough. “Be nice!” He reminded them. This was something Cherrypit often reminded his friends they needed to do, not because they weren’t nice but because he was just echoing what his sister always told him. 

Babycorn watched as Cherrypit ran all over the field to pet every single flower he could. Saying both hello and goodbye to them. 

There honestly wasn’t a lot about back then that she could remember. This was their final stop and by now Babycorn had pretty much stopped paying attention. Of course she had been there to see the terminal shutdown and Cahciua disappear shortly after. 

She didn’t even want to think about the kind of pain Erenville went through at that moment. 

Hopefully this field would be a nice enough view for Cahciua and the rest of them. 

Asyle Volcane

This wasn’t really all that fun either.

Well, maybe not for Babycorn but Cherrypit looked like he was having a great time walking and jumping on the water’s surface. Occasionally he would make the decision to sink all the way to the bottom of the river and walk down there instead.

“Just like Vertical…” Maybe it was something he picked up?

The lazy river in the Asyle Volcane was way more lazy than it was a river. Babycorn was just floating by herself in one place on the donut shaped inner tube she brought with her. “Maybe I should have brought a swimsuit?” Not that it would have made much of a difference.

Her clothes tended to dry off incredibly quickly anyway. 

Deciding that she finally had squeezed enough fun out just floating she called out to her brother. “Cherry! Could you throw me off the water?” A simple question with a simple answer, as Cherrypit simply grabbed hold of the inner tube she was sitting on and dropped her back on the ground.

Babycorn lifted up her sunglasses, “Thanks Cherry!”

She watched as his skin folded back into his arms with some of it dissolving into the air again. “No poblem!” He said with a thumbs-up, then he went right back down into the water. From here Babycorn could see the bubbles he was blowing. 

“Silly little guy..." She giggled, He doesn’t even need to breathe.” Maybe it was just a force of habit. 

Babycorn wiggled out of her inner tube and let it drop to the ground. Just as she expected, it was already dry. “What’s up with that?” Oh well, best not to question it. 

As Babycorn tried to resist eating her inner tube and instead do the smart thing and deflate it, she turned to look at a set of chairs and a table. It might not have meant a lot to the average person but for Babycorn, and a lot of other people, it brought back a collection of memories. 

Though Babycorn was sad that Krile had to lose her parents just after getting them back she was glad she got the chance to talk to talk to them one last time.

It was a little rude to admit but Babycorn hadn't said anything to Krile after that. Instead the next time they spoke was a bit after their return to Tuliyollal.

At first Babycorn had no idea what to say but something about this, just let her say something without thinking twice about it. 

‘I hope you can get to see your parents soon Krile!’ 

Krile looked surprised to hear Babycorn say anything. Then she let out a chuckle, ‘Personally I don’t mind waiting a good while before seeing them again…’ She understood what Babycorn meant though. 

‘Huh? Don’t you know? Your parents always watch you! My mama and papa saw everything I did! So yours are totally looking at you now too!’

‘...I suppose they are.’

Babycorn’s only regret? 

Never getting to taste that yummy looking ice cream Krile, her parents and even G’raha ate! 

Damn her for being so considerate of others!

Yesterland

Out of everywhere in Living Memory, Yesterland was the place that gave Babycorn the most mixed feelings.This was one of the most magical places she had ever experienced! There were so many people running around with smiles on their faces. 

There was nothing bad, nothing wrong, it was all perfect! 

…But it was also the place where Babycorn had to accept what they were there to do.

Even if this place was a dream come true it wasn’t worth the cost of the fate of other worlds and everyone living there. Sphene was willing to sacrifice millions of people and their home just to make sure her's was safe. 

It was just as she said, they were the actions of a brutal queen.

Now instead of a dreamy wonderland it was just…nothing. 

Babycorn looked up at the carousel, from down here she could still see her brother jumping from horse to horse acting if the ride were still moving. Sometimes imagination was a wonderful thing. Though she was sure that with enough force her brother could probably get it moving again.

Then again he was unable to move the gondolas back in Canal Town so who knew really…? 

“Bebe!” Cherrypit shouted from above. When Babycorn turned to look he was holding onto the severed head of one of the horses. “I'm horsey!” He helpfully explained before making a perfect imitation of a horse’s neigh. 

“Cherryyy. Put that back.” 

“Okaayyyyy!” Cherrypit waddled away ready to glue the horse head back on with his sticky acid saliva. 

There was just something about broken down rides that made her feel sad. They were created just to make people happy but now here they are, with no other purpose left in their lives. Similar to the flowers Babycorn wondered if they also missed the people that used to be here. 

The smiles on everyone’s faces, their laughter. 

Babycorn looked up beyond the carousel and to the ferris wheel. It was standing completely still, never to move again. “I hope you’re not afraid of heights.” She was talking directly to the basket up top. It would be really sad if they were just stuck there forever and afraid. 

“...I guess after forever it would probably stop being scary.” Go figure.

Though Babycorn had ridden on the ferris wheel she couldn’t quite remember what the view had been like at the very top. There were other things on her mind at that moment. Like…

“Ulp-!” Babycorn instinctively shielded her face from anyone looking at her. So far no one but her and Butter knew what happened up there in that basket.

As far as she knew anyway, maybe the whole world knew by now and she had no idea. That would be mortifying! 

What would people think of her accidentally slipping and slamming her head into the floor while trying to...to...TO... TOOOOOOOOOOO

She just couldn't say it!!!!!!!! She couldn't even THINK it!!!!!!! 'I wasn't trying to do THAT I swear! I promiiiiiise!!' Babycorn was just trying to get a closer look at Butter's cute eyes! That was it! That was totally it!!!!

Though it wasn't all that bad. Babycorn heard Butter giggle, but when she looked up he could see him looking at her with nothing but love for her on his face. How could she have known this is why he fell so hard for her in the first place?

Then when Babycorn grabbed Butter's hand and pulled herself up he felt so bad for her Butter went ahead and kissed her right on the cheek.

An act that was so spontaneous and out of nowhere he looked as flustered as Babycorn did. If that was the end of things then maybe she wouldn't have felt as embarrassed about the whole thing.

But noooooooooooooooooooo. Babycorn just had to let her heart lead the way. The heart that was beating so fast in her chest that Babycorn felt for a second that she might be dying. Except Babycorn knew what dying felt like and this wasn't it.

This was something else.

That very same heart that had only come back to life a few years ago gave Babycorn the strength to grab Butter by the collar of his jacket to hold him up towards her. That was about as far as she got before she froze.

All she could do was stare at his stunned expression.

Then almost at the same time, they both went in for another try.

And this time, to future Babycorn's shame, she only missed by a few ilms.

The two of them didn't exchange a single word until they were back on the ground.

After everything was all said and done Babycorn could hardly look at Butter anymore (let alone think about him!!) without feeling her face grow hot and her palms start to sweat. Which yes, was just as uncomfortable for the eyes on her palms as it was for her. 

Like HELL she was going to tell anyone all of that!

Was she being too dramatic for something that only lasted a single second? No of course not! Babycorn thought. Though in a way it was kind of a blessing in disguise that her worst memory here was accidentally giving herself a mysterious bump on the forehead.

“Ugghh…” That didn’t mean she had to be happy about it though!

It even made her feel even less embarrassed about the time Otis made her star in playing the role of Queen Sphene. Forgetting all her lines…having to improvise…

...Apparently though people loved her performance.

Which was even more agonizing!!!!! 

Okay. That was enough suffering for today.

???

Curfew was nearing. Babycorn knew they had to start making their way home now if they wanted to avoid getting in trouble again. Just as she was about to call Cherrypit over so they could say goodbye to Living Memory, a strange glimmer caught her eye.

“Huh…?” There was something over there.

Near what used to be a stand that sold Alexandrian themed souvenirs. Back then Babycorn had wanted to buy every single one of them but she was very easily talked out of it by Lunya, and if Lunya didn’t encourage her to spend gil then she was being serious. 

It was probably for the best because after turning the terminal off every single one of the souvenirs disappeared alongside everyone else. 

As Babycorn walked closer the glow became stronger, almost as if it was getting brighter just for her to be able to find it more easily. Now even Cherrypit had noticed it, “Light! Tha' light!” He shouted as he floated down from the carousel to try and catch up with his sister. 

As both siblings got closer the glowing object started to dim, “It’s right under here…”

Babycorn moved a piece of fallen cardboard away to reveal a ribbon, glowing a familiar color. 

“That’s just like…” Babycorn reached towards the ribbon, taking it in her hands. It had the same kind of glow that Sphene’s tiara once had and the same teal color. The same tiara that Babycorn once asked if she could wear on a whim.

‘Dodged that bullet…’ How was she supposed to know it was a regulator???

It was strange though, this ribbon did look like one of the souvenirs Babycorn wanted to buy back then. If that was the case though, what was it still doing here when all the other souvenirs had disappeared? It didn’t make any sense.

Cherrypit crawled closer and sniffed the ribbon, letting out a hiss when he did. He scrambled up on top of Babycorn’s head and continued to glare at it from up there. 

Babycorn didn’t seem to share in her brother’s apprehension. “Well if it’s here I don’t wanna leave it by itself…” She looked around to see if there was anyone else this ribbon could have belonged to.

It wouldn’t do any harm to just take it right? 

It wasn’t like she was stealing anything because there was no one left here to steal from anymore. Still, something about this was making her feel a little guilty. Even if there was no one here it wouldn’t do any harm to leave some form of payment. 

Babycorn made her decision and dug around her pockets for some gil. After some searching she went ahead and dropped about a thousand gil on the souvenir stand’s counter. “There! And now we paid for it!”Babycorn gave a triumphant smile and stuffed the ribbon in her pocket.

“Let’s go home Cherry!” 

Cherrypit felt a familiar icky feeling.

[hqmillioncorn]

i'm gonna make you kiss the sky tonight

"You-What?!" Pancake couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You rode a ferris wheel?! That's not fair! I've always wanted to ride one of those!!" Pancake had always wanted to ride a ferris wheel ever since five seconds ago. "Me and Linnet could have ridden it!!" "It's okay. It wasn't that fun." Butter tried to assure her. Pancake rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm so sure it wasn't." She pointed at the cookie fairy sitting right on Butter's shoulder. There was a smug smile on her face and Pancake could hear the familiar sounds of chiming bells. "Let me guess? You rode it with ~Babycooooorn~ Didn't you?" "Nooooo! Of course not!" As Butter's little sister she knew full well when her brother was lying through his teeth. "Uh-huh?" Pancake looked right at Cinnamon. "Hey Cinnamon, flap your wings twice if they did something super romantiiiic." Before Cinnamon could do anything Butter grabbed her and again tossed her over his shoulder. "Let's talk about something else." He looked over to the almost too tiny to see cookie fairy sleeping on Pancake's head. "I'm way more interested about what you and Linnet got up to while we were gone."

with @ windupnamazu 's butter

lalapril 28: life

the babycorn living memory experience feat. butter moontide where nothing of note happens.

‘Keep an eye on Babycorn.’ 

That’s what Butter kept repeating to himself as the group stepped into Yesterland. In a way it was similar to Canal Town but instead of a town this whole place looked and felt more like a theme park than anything else. 

But somehow it still had that same sort of hazy feel to it. 

As if they were inside a dream. 

Butter watched as a group of children ran past him chasing down a costumed mascot, laughing out loud with smiles on their faces. Unfortunately he wasn’t the only one watching them having what was arguably the time of their afterlives. 

Just a little ways away Babycorn was also watching. Taking everything in before it was too late.

She and Cherrypit had been the only two to oppose shutting off the power to this part of Living Memory. It should be noted however, that Cherrypit was only agreeing with his sister because he knew she was always right. 

‘If all these people are happy here…Why do we have to get rid of it?!’

In the end Canal Town was shut off. Turning the once golden town to an empty grey husk and its residents also began to disappear, Butter expected Babycorn to start crying, start yelling, to do anything. 

Instead she just stayed quiet and stared at all of them. 

Since then she hadn’t spoken a word to anyone. Not even Cherrypit. 

It’s not like Butter didn’t understand where she was coming from. Having been Babycorn’s friend this whole time, a place like this was pretty much all she ever dreamed of. Somewhere where you could be nothing but happy with the people you love. Where tragedy would never find you. 

Where life never really ended, not even after death.  

But…the bad heavily outweighed the good in this case. 

If they let Living Memory exist forever then they would put their own world in jeopardy. Countless would die, including their loved ones. All for the sake of keeping those who had already left the world ‘alive.’ 

Butter just couldn’t understand what Sphene’s goal was. Surely she was smart enough to realize that eventually she would run out of aether, no matter how many worlds she targeted. 

Butter already knew where he stood. Anything that threatened to hurt his family and Babycorn had to be stopped. No matter what. And if that included Sphene then he would stop her too.

It didn’t matter how much she pleaded with them, if her plan remained unchanged then Butter was going to stand in her way till the end. 

“Hey Butter?” Butter felt someone grab his hand. He turned his head to see Babycorn standing next to him. She was looking right at him, with the same empty expression she’d been wearing since leaving Canal Town. 

“Do you want to ride the big wheel together?” Her voice was monotone with almost no emotion to it. 

As concerning as this was, this was still Babycorn. “...Wheel?” He wasn’t sure what she was talking about. 

Babycorn pointed up. When he followed where she was pointing he noticed a huge ferris wheel right in front of them. How had he missed that? Maybe in all his thinking he’d just completely overlooked it? Honestly it was completely fair. 

Butter did his best to smile, “I’d love to go with you.” 

Babycorn simply nodded and held his hand tighter. 

He hated doing this but there was something he needed to take care of first. “Let me tell Lunya really quick..”  “Don’t go anywhere. Okay?” 

“I won’t. Don’t worry.” 

Behind Babycorn, Cherrypit gave Butter a serious nod. It was his way of letting Butter know that he was going to keep an eye on his sister. Which usually meant Babycorn was going nowhere. Since Cherrypit could stretch out his claws as far as he needed to in order to grab her.

Now a bit more reassured Butter gave her a little wave as he turned and ran back. “I’ll be back. I won't take long, promise. 

Everything went off without a hitch. 

Though she was concerned Lunya had a feeling that maybe spending some time with Butter would help Babycorn with the clear heartache she was facing.

Alread having already known Babycorn for even longer than most sort of did let Lunya see this coming. But like a runaway train, there was nothing she could do to change its course. 

Once Butter got the all-clear he ran as fast as he could back to Babycorn and Cherrypit. 

Thankfully they were still there waiting for him right where he left them. 

After explaining that he and Babycorn were free to ride the ferris wheel, Cherrypit conveniently excused himself by sinking straight down into a puddle of black tar. “...There he goes again.” Butter hoped that whoever ended up having Cherrypit suddenly appear in front of them wasn’t doing anything too important. 

Together Butter and Babycorn made their way to the ferris wheel. 

There wasn’t much of a line,  thankfully. “Looks like we lucked out!” Butter joked.

There was hardly a response from Babycorn. “Hmmm..” She was keeping her hands together in front of her, looking straight down. To say that standing in line was awkward would be an understatement. 

After what felt like forever it was their turn to board the ferris wheel. Butter let Babycorn enter the basket ahead of him. It was only polite to let her do so. Despite that Babycorn just stood there, seemingly waiting for Butter to take a seat first. 

Butter decided to see what would happen if he sat down and on cue Babycorn sat down right across from him. To be honest he was a little sad she didn’t want to sit next to him but he probably would have cheered up if he knew the reason why Babycorn decided to sit there. 

(which was because this way Babycorn could look right at him) 

As the basket doors closed the ferris wheel started moving with a jolt. It was strong enough to surprise them both and throw them a little off balance. They fell forward and ended up staring at each other’s eyes.

“Urp-!” Babycorn quickly sat up, her back straight and her hands resting on her knees. Her head was strategically turned away so Butter couldn’t see her blushing. 

As the basket climbed higher into the air the view became much more enticing. Babycorn turned around in her seat and climbed onto her knees to try and get a better view.  “Woah…Awesome…” Without any warning she went ahead and pressed her nose against the glass for a quick second before moving back. “Hehe…” she giggled to herself.

She was acting a little bit more like usual self now. That was a good sign. 

The ferris wheel came to a stop. Their basket stopped just a little before reaching the very top. Though this didn’t stop the view from being spectacular. “Woah…” Babycorn gently pressed her hands against the window. Just a little itsy teeny bit afraid that she would push it out. 

Normally she would be a little nervous being so high up from the ground but Babycorn knew she was safe as long as she was with Butter. 

Babycorn looked down at the view, everything was practically glowing. “Isn't it so pretty?” There was something to look at almost everywhere you looked. Balloons, stuffed animals, and yummy food? Just being here was making Babycorn feel excited. This place practically had it all. 

Even better was that all of the people walking below looked to be having so much fun. There was so much to do here Babycorn doubted that they would ever run out of things to do. “Everyone looks so happy…” All the permanent residents here had all met with a tragic end but despite all odds they lived on. 

As if nothing had ever happened. 

They were all content and right where they should be. 

Babycorn made it no secret that she thought everything about Living Memory was a dream come true. She was one of the first ones to take off running once they crossed the golden portal, running ahead of everyone and happily taking a free balloon from one of the sentry robots. 

While their basket swayed in the wind Babycorn rested her head against the window, her own reflection looking back at her. “Nobody ever has to die…They can all be happy forever and ever…” The carousel in the distance caught her attention. The way it seemed to go on spinning endlessly.

“No one has to be sad anymore…” 

Butter couldn’t think of anything to say. He looked away, clenching his fists. 

He actually had so much he wanted to say but he just couldn’t. He knew in his heart that Babycorn meant well. This wasn’t her fault at all, but he still needed to tell her that this was their only choice.

Butter knew he was strong enough to tell her, no matter how much it hurt, but at the same time he just wasn’t. 

There was one thing that was clear to him however. 

Sphene was using Babycorn’s own kindness against her. 

In hindsight it was clear that Sphene tried her very best to worm herself into their group. Possibly to gain their trust or because she really wanted to be friends? It was still hard to say. Sometimes things just don’t work out.  

Whatever the case, it was pretty easy to guess that Babycorn herself had probably told Sphene what her dreams were. Of course Babycorn would. If there was anyone she trusted it was anyone that called themselves her friend. It didn’t matter how long they knew each other, it was all the same to Babycorn. 

And if Babycorn trusted Sphene enough to tell her about her dreams of a perfect world then…

Butter quickly realized what she would do when she finally ran out of aether.

This couldn’t wait. “Babycorn…” Panic began to rise in Butter’s voice. “I think...I think Sphene is trying to trick you.”

“I know.”

That wasn’t the answer Butter had been expecting at all. 

The basket became eerily still. The sound of the wind around them completely stopped. “Just how stupid does she think I am?” Babycorn laughed, it sounded empty, hopeless. “As if I would ever help her…I would never hurt my friends…” The very idea of that made her laugh even more. 

Enough was enough. Butter took a chance and stood up, rocking the basket. He took a step across and sat down next to her. “I know you wouldn’t.” He placed his hand on top of hers and sighed.

Babycorn took her head off the window and turned to look at Butter. She still couldn’t find it in herself to look him in the eyes. It was just like before. “All I want is for people to be happy forever…” For everyone she loved to have a chance to be happy, to have their dreams come true, to never have to suffer. “I don’t understand…How is that bad?” 

“It’s not…It’s not bad.” Butter took her hands in his. “Sometimes I even wish for a world like that…I think everyone wants the people they love to be happy but sometimes some people just lose sight of it and end up hurting other people on the way…”

“...And nobody should have to suffer to have a perfect world.” Not even her. Babycorn knew this. She knew. 

Babycorn looked up at him and smiled, with the same toothy grin that Butter fell in love with. “I don’t need a perfect world to be happy! Cause if Butts and everyone is happy then I’m happy too! And if anything ever happens…I’ll have my happy memories!” 

Butter smiled, “That’s my girl.” 

At this point it was inevitable. They were there to save their world, all worlds, from falling into Sphene’s grasp. It was probably never going to be easy. “I know it’s going to keep happening.” It didn’t mean that watching this dream fade away hurt any less. 

“That’s why I’m just going to close my eyes and wait till it's over!” Just like whenever she watched scary movies!

“That’s smart!” Hopefully Babycorn would also remember to open her eyes afterwards. “I’ll let you know when it’s over. If that helps.”

“Thanks Butts…” 

All of a sudden there was a flash of light in the sky. Babycorn let out a little yelp of surprise, thinking the worst at first. It didn’t take very long for both of them to realize what they were watching was a fireworks show.

“Woah…!” All sorts of colorful shapes and explosions soon began to overfill the fake sky all around them.

For the briefest of moments Babycorn snuck in a glace to look at Butter sitting besides her. There was something about the way he was sparkling, almost glowing even, that Babycorn couldn’t take her eyes off of. 

“Your eyes are really pretty…! Did you know that?” 

Butter laughed, blushing lightly. “So I’ve been told.” Of course all those times have been by Babycorn herself but it still counted. It more than counted. 

Would it be strange for her to want a closer look? 

Babycorn found herself moving closer to Butter, she was happy to see him start to move closer to her too. There had been countless times when he told her how beautiful her eyes were too. 

And so, they looked at each other closer. Moving in closer and closer.

And closer…

Until-

[hqmillioncorn]

the gentle wind will bring us home

Cherrypit remembered a lot about his parents. While most of his memories back then were about his big sister, since he spent the most time with her, he still remembered his mama and papa. He could remember how his papa would pick him up and walk around the house with him, telling him all sorts of stories. Sometimes he would fly Cherry up to the sky! Papa always told him to keep it a secret. And he did! Cherrypit also remembered crawling on the ground, watching his mama from below. Her tail moved back and forth as he tried to grab it. Then his mama would pick him up and give him a kiss. She was so nice that she never got mad when he chewed on her tail. It had been so long since he saw them, since they picked him up like before. Cherrypit loved Babycorn and the rest of his new big family but... What was taking mama and papa so long? Why weren't they coming back?

lalapril 27: memory

babycorn says that they can go back home! its been a long time so cherrypits excited to finally go home again!

Cherrypit let out a little yawn, rubbing some dirt out of his eyes.

He wasn’t really sleepy but he was tired. Which, for the record, he would like you to know are two completely different things. There was also the fact that he was kind of bored. Right now there wasn’t anything to do besides sit in the dirt and snatch up any bug that crawled up from the dirt. 

By now though most of the bugs had clued in that someone up there was eating them so Cherrypit was now more bored than ever. “Borrriiiiiing!” He repeated in the same cadence that he had heard so many of the mansion’s children say before. 

Cherrypit picked up a rock and bit down on it. Not hard enough to break it in half but just enough to leave some teeth marks on it.

A bit farther away he could see his sister pacing in circles. She still looking around, staring at a big piece of paper in her hands. 

“Bebeeeeeee!” Cherrypit whined, “Are we home nooooooow?” 

Babycorn knew that her brother was fed up, which was just making her more desperate. “Almost done Cherry!” This was a flat out lie. Which normally Babycorn would flub up but in her heart she really did think the end of this search was in sight. 

“Auuuuuuuughh…!” Cherrypit groaned and fell back on the ground. 

He then decided to entertain himself by staring right into the sun. 

Babycorn sighed, “Well that’ll distract him for a little bit…” The record currently stood at around three hours.

Had Babycorn been just a little smarter she would have considered leaving Cherrypit home with someone to watch him. Since that was something she could do now.

Of course in this case she would have also had to be a little bit meaner to him, since Cherrypit always asked to go with her. Then there was the time limit of how long they could be separated...

No, no. Taking him along was the right thing to do.

There was also something to be said about Babycorn wanting some support during this search. 

This was a heavy undertaking, she was well aware of that. That being said, Babycorn also didn’t want to bother anyone with something that she personally thought nobody would want to help her with. ‘They’re gonna think I’m being silly…’ She thought to herself. 

Even she thought it was a bit ridiculous to try and build a grave for her parents after all these years. 

‘...But I think it would be a nice thing to do.’ Babycorn reasoned with herself. 

The concept of a grave for someone was still a fairly new concept for Babycorn. Having learned about it a little after the liberation of Ala Mhigo. She still didn’t quite understand it and a little part of her was still a little scared of the idea she could be walking over the dead body of somebody buried underground. 

If she did, then it would be really mean! 

Thankfully Lunya let her know that usually people weren’t buried under every single ground she walked on. She explained that a neat trick Babycorn could use was to watch out for gravestones or just avoid cemeteries in general. Those usually let you know that there was somebody under there.

Babycorn couldn’t believe it at first. Lunya was so smart sometimes!

Lunya continued answering Babycorn’s questions (at least until her question vouchers ran out) and at one point mentioned that sometimes people would go and visit the grave of someone they lost. To be honest, Babycorn didn’t really see the point in that. 

‘But-! What’s the point of going to a grave to talk to someone if they can’t even talk back?’ 

Sounded kind of just plain sad to her. 

Lunya just gave her a sort of sad smile, as she continued watering the flowers in front of her. ‘They may not be able to talk to you but it’s nice to think that they can hear you. You can tell them how your life is going, where you’ve been, anything. So even though someone is gone they don’t have to be left out.’

She put down her watering can and walked over to give Babycorn a pat on her fluffy head.

‘At least-that’s what I figure.’

After that Babycorn just kept asking more questions and finding more answers. 

Eventually she learned from a random person she walked up to that not all graves needed to have someone buried under them! ‘Woah! That’s so cool! Thanks for the info!’ As she walked out of that operating room which was currently in use she began to brainstorm an idea. 

If a grave didn’t actually need a dead body then maybe she could make one for her parents too! 

As much as she didn’t like remembering they were gone, maybe having some sort of memorial to them would help her feel a little better about it all.

The whole idea reminded her a bit of the drawings of her parents she drew on the walls of her tiny alcove home in Ul’dah. Babycorn would talk to those drawings all the time! She would tell them just about everything.

Even back then Babycorn always suspected she might have a feeling she would never see her parents again. No matter how much she contradicted herself about it when she told other people that her parents were still out there looking for her. 

The only thing putting a hitch in her plan was that Babycorn wanted to put their parents' graves somewhere near their old house. 

Normally something like that might have been simple for the average Eorzean but Babycorn hadn’t been back home in more than twenty years. Not only that, everything looked so much different than they did back in her memories. 

It was obvious, even to her, that even a place as stagnant as Thanalan would change at least a little bit during the span of twenty years or so.

Of course things would look completely different to how she remembered it. 

Not only that, her memories were from when she was just a child. Most of her memories of those days were blurry and unfocused. As evidenced by the fact that she had completely forgotten that she was born with horns and a tail. 

“You think I would have remembered that.” Babycorn glanced behind herself and watched her tail move back and forth.

But enough about all that! Right now Babycorn had to concentrate on the map in her hands. “Okay I already marked down all the places my house isn’t but that’s not helping…” She was starting to think that maybe her little house just...didn’t exist anymore.

Lots of things could have happened to her house now that she thought about it. 

It could have fallen apart or have caught fire. Or even been stomped away by a huge giant! “Eeek!!!!” Babycorn shrieked, having successfully frightened herself. “What if my house turned to cookies and someone ate it…!” Not that she wouldn’t understand the desire to eat an entire house made of cookies but that would be so scary!!! 

By now Cherrypit had grown tired of looking at the sun and sat back up. He noticed his sister trembling in fear from nothing. “Scawed?” He figured that she must have gone and scared herself again. Cherrypit waddled his way towards her and placed his tiny little hand on her arm. 

“Bebe! No be scared!” Cherrypit assured her. 

Babycorn sniffled, “...Yeah. You’re right-!” There was no time to be scared right now!

She went back to looking back and forth from her map and all around her. “Yup. Still Thanalan.” While she was looking Cherrypit decided he wanted to see what Babycorn was doing and floated up on her shoulder to find out what she was looking at.  

“What we doin’?” Cherrypit reached out and pressed his hands against the map, giggling when it made a little crinkle sound. 

Might as well just tell him. “I’m looking for where we used to live. In our little house.” It wasn’t like Cherrypit was going to remember either. He was way smaller than Babycorn was at the time so it made sense. 

“House?” Cherrypit was a little confused.    

“You know where we…” Babycorn hesitated for a second. “...Where we lived with mama and papa.” 

The instant Cherrypit heard the words ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ his face lit up. A big smile crossed his face from ear to ear. “Mama! Papa! I know mama papa!” He loved them and he really missed them! Not a day went by that Cherrypit wasn’t convinced this was the day they would come back.  

“I know! I know!”

“I know you know mama and papa sweetie.” Babycorn cooed.

Cherrypit shook his head. “No! I know house is!” 

Well of course he did. It was in the Lavender Beds, that’s where they lived. 

Cherrypit shook his head with even more vigor. “No! No! I know mama papa house is!” 

“...Ah?”

Well of course he did.

Turns out Cherrypit has a surprisingly good memory.

Babycorn figured that it was because technically he was still the same age he was when they left home so many years ago. It was sort of a sting remembering that but it was best not to linger on it too long. 

“Okay Cherry! Lead the way!” 

Apparently Cherrypit was confident enough to lead Babycorn through a set of winding paths and some rocky mountains that required him to float her across. “Woah mama and papa did not make going home easy…” Why in the world would they build the house somewhere so isolated?

Well. Babycorn knew why but she didn’t really understand why. 

Eventually after what felt like forever, they reached it. Their destination. 

Cherrypit let Babycorn go back on the ground and started the process of putting himself back together. “Take your time Cherry!” Babycorn turned around to face anything else, she never really was a fan of watching her baby brother break his bones and move his organs around to their usual place after he transformed into a more monstrous form. 

With one final snap Cherrypit wiggled his left ear up and down, just to make sure. “Ready Bebe!” 

Babycorn sighed, “Oh thank god.” There was always a little bit of fear that one day he wouldn’t be able to change back.

Now that they were here, Babycorn took a look around.

Nothing here really stood out to her. The area was devoid of anything, except for a few stray stones and some dry weeds. Dead leaves were blowing in the wind and landing near her feet. 

They were also surrounded by crumbling stone walls that had clearly given way after so many years. 

There was nothing here that looked familiar to her. There was also a huge absence of anything here that resembled a house. Babycorn walked over to a dark patch on the ground and inspected it. Her adventures had taught her what recently burnt ground looked like.

So then she suspected right. There had been a fire. “But it’s been so long…Why does it look like that…? Not unless it had been just recently burned, but who would just burn down a random empty home?

While Babycorn was looking around Cherrypit had taken to running on all fours to a certain spot that was itching at his memories. “Dirty! Dirty!” He pressed an ear to the ground to try and listen for what he was looking for. 

At first there was nothing there but then, he heard something!

Cherrypit squealed in excitement and started digging in the dirt immediately. Dirt and rocks flew around in all directions. Including at Babycorn’s head. “Owie!” A rock bounced off her pom and into her hands. “Cherry! What have I-? Oh…” Babycorn turned around to see her brother practically digging himself to the other side of Eorzea.

As he often did. 

“You uh, good Cherry?” Clearly he was looking for something. Cherrypit was serious about digging holes, he often never did it if he didn’t have a reason to. 

The digging ceased for just a moment. Before Cherrypit popped out from the hole with a big smile. “Found it!” With a triumphant hurrah he held something up high above his head. 

Babycorn recognized it immediately. 

“IS THAT MY SOCK????”

More specifically the sock that Babycorn liked to use as a doll after stuffing it with uncooked beans and tying it with a string. She and Cherrypit really didn’t have too many toys so this was one of her favorites, and nearest and dearest to her heart. 

Cherrypit nodded. “Cheewry put here! To be safe!” 

The day before their move Cherrypit had taken the liberty of hiding away one of his favorite things in the safest place he could think of. “Got scawed of some…ting!” He didn’t really know at the time but something that day was bothering him.

The feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Babycorn took the toy from Cherrypit’s hand and looked at it closely. No surprise it wasn’t in the best shape. Riddled with holes and bite marks from small animals. Weirdly enough the dirt that was filling it sort of did make it look like it had in Babycorn’s memories.

“So I guess this really is…”

This had to be it. As empty and sad as it felt and looked. This was their home. 

“I guess we finally made it back…” 

But not really. There was no going back there, not for them.

“There we go-!”

Babycorn gave a final pat to the pair of small rocks placed into the dirt. 

They weren’t anything special, just a pair of small rocks that Babycorn had glued ribbons onto. A green one for her papa and an orange one for her mama. For a while she had the idea of making something bigger but it was probably better she hadn’t. 

No way she could have carried those all the way here…

Babycorn sighed and looked down at the graves in front of her. 

To be honest she wasn’t sure what to say now. So much had happened, stuff that Babycorn didn’t even have the chance to tell them during their brief encounter in the aetherical sea. “...Hey mama, papa…” She gave a tiny little wave. “Me and Cherry are back! We made it back!” 

There was no answer, as expected.

“Um…Right-! I met a lot more of my family now! I saw papa’s mama! She’s a little scary but I think she still loves us!” Babycorn crossed her arms, staring directly at her papa’s stone. “And why didn’t you tell me I’m part dragon?! I think that would have been useful to know!!” 

Again no answer.

“Or maybe you did and I just…forgot…” Like everything else.

It was getting late. “Yuri is doing good. I’m taking care of him! Promise! One day when he gets bigger I’m sure he’ll talk to you too!” Who was she kidding? Cherrypit talked to his parents all the time. The kid didn’t need anything or anyone to talk to. He just thought his parents were always listening. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t told him you’re gone.” It had been years since Babycorn found out the truth herself but every time she tried to tell Cherrypit she just couldn’t get herself to say it. “I’m sorry I promise I’ll tell him one day but right now I just…”

“Bebe!!” 

Cherrypit was running over, holding a lizard in his hand. “Lizzy!” He held it up towards Babycorn with a big smile. 

“Cool catch!” Babycorn gently held Cherrypit’s hands, “Let’s put it down really slow okay? Lizzys like a toy, understand?” Cherrypit treated his toys like they were alive (which most of them were) so he was always nice and careful with them. 

Cherrypit slowly bent down and opened his hands to let the lizard go free. “Byebye lizzy I love you!!” Both siblings watched the little lizard crawl over some rocks and disappear over the horizon. 

“What Bebe doing?” Cherrypit asked all of a sudden. Having gotten distracted catching a lizard he hadn’t really been paying all that much attention. Which Babycorn had been counting on. 

“Decorating.” 

Cherrypit skipped over to the decorated rocks, looking at them closely. “Bite?” He had been taught to ask first. 

“No bite.”

Cherrypit nodded and sat down to look at them. “What they for?” Were these like his shiny rocks that he liked to keep at home? Or maybe like Mister Rorichaux's rocks? This didn’t make sense though. They’re so pretty but there’s no one here to see them.

In a surprising twist, Babycorn had been prepared for Cherrypit to ask her this question. 

“It’s for when mama and papa get here. So they know where to come find us.” 

Cherrypit smiled, “Mama! Papa!” He practically leapt into Babycorn’s arms and hugged her. He always knew that his sister was going to find mama and papa! “Mama papa come home!” They were all gonna be together again just like before!

He was most excited to hear his mama singing to him again.

“Yeah…” Babycorn held on to him as tightly as she could. Apologizing to him over and over in her head. Hopefully once the truth came out he wouldn’t hate her. Babycorn would understand if he was mad at her for a good while, it was only fair. 

“Let’s go home. Okay Cherry?” 

“Home! Home!” He knew what Babycorn meant. “Babender!” Their little home away from home as Babycorn called it in the beginning. Cherrypit couldn’t remember the last time she called it that.

Babycorn turned around one last time.

“See you later.”

[hqmillioncorn]

The past comes for you once again

hiiiiiiii world!!! its patticake aleria marle moontide starsinger again!!!!!!! (long name i knoooow) but you can just call me patti ! (^・ω・^ ) cause thats my name! its nice to see everyone again did you know that when my papawas growing up he told me and my little brother he had a diary he wrote in! i wanted do that too but cause im not old like my papa i started writing my diary ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ONLINE!! ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ anyway! todas story is all about the scary green lady щ(ʘ╻ʘ)щ! do you remember>? the one i mentioned before! i figured you all should know the story!! i dont know a lot about it myself! but my mama and papa always told me that if i ever see a tall lady with ears like papa and long green hair i need to run away!! isnt that the scariest thig ever?!～(　TロT)σ my parents are so paranoid sometimes ! i swear!

with @ windupnamazu 's lemon

lalapril 26: Rewind

sometimes traveling to the past is not all fun and games as patti quickly learns.

The door slammed itself closed behind Patti as she slumped down beside it. She was clutching an old journal against her chest, holding onto it like it was going to disappear any moment. “Stupid…This is so stupid!” She balled up her hands and tried to wipe her tears away. “I’m so stupid…!”

The entire house was quiet today but it felt even more suffocating inside her own room. 

The blinds were shut and the entire room was dark. With nothing but the sounds of Patti’s quiet sniffling filling the empty air. “Mama…Mama...” All of this was her fault. If she had only done just one thing differently then none of this would be happening. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry Mama…” 

Patti laid down on the floor, holding the journal closer to her. “I just wanna go back…” She shut her eyes, trying to think back to yesterday. 

That was the day her entire family had all made their way to Costa del Sol to celebrate the Moonfire Faire. Patti couldn’t remember a year that went by when they didn’t go. One of her earliest memories was her mama letting her try grilled corn. 

It was a little too hot but it was one of the yummiest things she had ever tasted! 

The Moonfire Faire was one of the many holidays that Patti looked forward to every year. Honestly she enjoyed every holiday but if you asked her which one she liked the best she would tell you the Moonfire Faire by a malm! 

Sometimes if she got lucky it would even land near her nameday!

…Which just made this entire thing even more of a nightmare for her. 

If Patti had even a hint of what was going to happen after then she would have never asked her mama if she could go back to the mainland to try and find a pretty shell she and Lemon saw earlier.

At the time only her mama and Lemon had come with her. Everything was perfect. 

That’s when Patti noticed someone walking behind her. 

Somehow she'd seen this person before, back at the Moonfire Faire. Patti thought nothing of it. This was probably someone who was attending the same festival. Maybe they were going home? 

The very second she let her guard, Patti felt her arm being grabbed.

She looked down to see a knife being held against the neck. 

“M-Mama!!”

Patti watched as her mama turned around to look at her. The smile on her face stayed frozen on her face as she quickly realized what was happening. She remembered hearing her brother crying as their mama told them it was going to be okay. 

Lemon didn’t want to leave her side, even as Patti hugged him tight he kept crying out for her. 

Somehow her and Lemon were left alone. Whoever these people were, they only wanted their mama to come with them. The next thing Patti knew she was looking up at her papa and crying her eyes out. Through her tears she tried to tell him everything she could but she just couldn’t say anything.

Lemon was even worse. When papa was with them he wouldn’t let him go no matter what anyone said. 

They fled all the way to her grandma Lunya's house and there her papa explained that tío Cherry went to find where the bad guys had taken her mama and that once he found them, he was going to go help Cherry save her. 

Patti didn’t want to let her papa go. She was afraid of something happening to him too. But surprisingly, it was Lemon who helped her feel better. He assured her the whole time that her papa was super strong, just like mama! So there was nothing to worry about!

‘The only reason mama didn’t fight the bad guys was because we were there!’

Patti was glad he was here with her. For a bit, she felt everything was going to be fine. 

Until mama and papa came back the next morning. 

Ever since then Patti had been trying desperately to go back.

Normally something like that would be impossible, but not for Patti. “Go back!” Patti’s eyes glowed a bright yellow. Her time travel powers never usually worked beyond a few minutes but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying.

She could feel herself moving back just a couple of seconds. 

She tried again, and again. The seconds were always different but the amount of time she could travel back was never more than a minute. As natural as time traveling was for her, it was still tiring. Patti couldn’t keep this up. No matter how much she wanted to. 

Patti traveled back another five seconds. It was getting harder to breathe. Whether it was because of the exertion or all the crying she had done, she didn’t know. “I SAID GO BACK!!” She grit her teeth and slammed her fists on the ground, sobbing. 

Patti tried to take a minute to try and calm herself down. It was easier said than done. 

Trying to steady her shaky breathing, she carefully held the tattered journal in front of her. The journal belonged to her papa. She had seen it many times before.

The first time was when she was younger. It was on a rainy day when her papa showed her and Lemon some of the entries about him and mama before they started dating. 

Of course Patti felt bad for stealing it from her own papa but this had to be done. As she opened it to a previously marked page a bunch of words stood out to her immediately. 

Words like starsinger, taken, lose forever in particular stood out to her. 

Babycorn herself hadn’t kept the secret of being a Starsinger from her children, nor did she ever shy away from how dangerous it all was. Since she was young Patti could remember her mama telling her that she needed to stay close to her no matter where they were.

How if she saw certain people she was supposed to come running to her right away.

Patti really just thought it was overkill but now…

As she continued to flip through her papa’s diary more and more things started to stand out to her. Especially the parts where he wrote about someone coming out of nowhere and trying to take Babycorn away to use her powers for their own gain.

 “This happened b-before…?” It was almost too much of a coincidence to believe. Too many things were lining up. Including the state her mama was in now. “Papa said she would wake up soon but…” The journal told her that last time this happened her mama had spent almost two months doing nothing but laying in bed, staring into nothing. 

Patti couldn’t stand just waiting around not doing anything while her mama needed help. Even worse was having to see her papa looking so defeated. The look on his face when he first came home was...

She needed to do something. 

Reading the journal Patti finally stumbled on the first time someone had taken her mama away. It happened so many years ago and her papa had for some reason blacked out a lot of parts of his entries away. 

Luckily the parts that were missing didn’t take anything away from the info that Patti needed. 

The exact days when it first happened. 

“Thank you papa…” 

Patti slowly closed the door behind her and stepped out into the backyard. “Okay….” She held out her papa’s journal in front of her. The exact dates she needed to travel back to kept running in a loop inside her mind, just so she wouldn’t forget. 

“I’ll be back soon mama, papa. I’ll fix everything I promise…!” 

This was going to be quick so the chances of anyone catching her out here were low. 

…But they weren’t zero.

The door to the backyard opened up once again, but this time it wasn’t Patti. She didn’t even have the chance to ask who was there before Lemon ran right at her, grabbing onto her tightly.

His baby chocobo, Blueberry, was resting on his head. “Patti! W-Where are you going?” He looked just about as tired as she felt. 

There was no way that Lemon knew what her plan was. 

“I’m just going for some air.”

“...Liar.” 

Patti did the smart thing and hid the journal behind her back. Okay maybe he did know. Either he had used his sibling bond to somehow figure out something was amiss or Blueberry had gone and snitched on her. “So what if I’m lying? What does it matter to you?!” It’s not like it had been his idea to go back to the mainland.

Lemon jumped, hearing his sister raise her voice so loud startled him. “What do you m-mean? What does what matter?” He wasn’t quite sure what his sister meant. The only thing that he was really sure of was that she was about to go somewhere really far away. 

“I-I’m coming too!”

“No you’re not!” 

Patti pushed her brother away and took a few steps back. “This is important! I can’t have you following me.” This particular jump wasn’t going to be anything like their previous ones. “I’m not going back to fool around Lemon. This is serious.” Patti was shaking in anger. 

Patti couldn’t let him come with her. She just couldn’t.

Lemon let out a sniffle, grabbing his tail for support. “I-I know it’s serious…! I’m n-not a baby…!” It’s not like he didn’t know what was happening! Even though he was terrified at the time it’s not like he couldn’t remember most of it.

In fact it was almost the complete opposite. 

“I know a really bad person tried to use mama’s powers and now she’s hurt really bad!” Butter tried to explain it to his children as easily as he could. Apparently a grieving father had taken their mama to change the event of his daughter dying during the calamity. 

Help had arrived too late to stop her from making it happen. 

“I know you wanna help mama! I wanna help mama too…!” That had to be the reason why Patti was going back in time today. He just had a feeling and it was very persistent. 

“Lemon just go away!” 

“B-But I always help you go back in time!” It had always been that way, ever since they first started. Patti would supply the time travel power itself but it was up to Lemon to open a portal big enough for them to walk through. “We always go together…” 

“Well this time you can’t!” What did Lemon not understand? 

Lemon wondered to himself what his own sister wasn’t understanding. He grabbed his tail, twisted and turning it nervously. The words were getting caught in his throat as he tried his hardest not to start crying again.

“I’m scared…” Those were the only words he could muster. 

As hard as Lemon tried against it, he started crying. “I-I want mama!!” He wailed, tears streaming down his face. Why couldn’t his mama hold him in her arms or pet his head like she always did when he was scared. 

Patti tried to turn away from the sight of her brother crying his eyes out and concentrate on her mission. ‘Once I fix everything, Lemon won’t be sad anymore. He won’t be crying! So just…!’ But the problem was that her brother was crying here and now. 

She couldn’t just…

Patti slowly bent down and got on her knees. As carefully as she could, she wrapped her arms around Lemon as he cried and cried. The truth had to come out eventually. “If something happened to you like what happened to mama I…I…” Just the thought alone was enough for Patti to start crying too. “...I d-don’t know what I would do…!” 

“That’s why I have to go t-too! I don’t want anything happening to you either P-Pipi!” 

“Lems…You…” 

Both siblings held onto each tightly, too scared to let the other go. 

Lemon wiped his eyes against his sister’s shirt. “We’re gonna make papa and tío Cherry happy again too…c-cause mama will be okay…!” Really Lemon had no idea what his sister had planned besides going back in time but he knew he could trust her. 

If there was anyone who could make all of this better, it was his sister!

“Y-Yeah…!” Patti took a deep breath and pushed herself back, “We got this if we work together.” 

Lemon smiled wide, showing off a few of his missing teeth. “Together!” 

As his sister composed herself he carefully reached above his head and grabbed the baby chocobo still slumbering in his hair. Their eyes slowly opened as they were placed on the grass. “Blueberry? Can you take care of mama and papa and tío Cherry while we’re gone?” 

Blueberry nodded and gave Lemon a tiny salute before hurrying back inside the house through the carbuncle door. 

“Ready Lems?” Patti held out her hand for him. Holding her papa’s journal in the other. Patti knew she was going to change everything. Things were going to be better. No matter what she had to do. 

Lemon wasted no time in taking his sister’s hand. His eyes glowed a familiar yellow. “Let’s go!”

[hqmillioncorn]

cosmic exploration doodles while waiting on the construction fates