Lunafreya stood before a mirror, standing sideways with a quirk of her head. She ran her hand over her stomach, trying to assess if that invisible bump was a sign that she had finally managed to gain a couple kilograms. Her obstetrician had been expressing concern that she had lost two kilograms as of eight weeks alongs, and she had started putting significant effort into keeping herself from losing more.
A light heat touched her cheeks at the thought of an actual 'baby bump'. She walked back over to the clothing she had trapped over the edge of the bed to finish dressing for the day. A buzz caught her attention and she gave her phone on the end table a cursory glance and finished dressing. She had set the phone to vibrate after realizing how easily startled she had been as of late, the phone's chimes making her flinch and be on the receiving end of Noctis's laughter enough times. She turned her attention back to the mirror and winced at the outfit, feeling a bit odd wearing denim pants and a black hooded sweatshirt.
Her shield Crowe had picked the outfit for her, disappointed at how excessively formal the Tenebraean Queen always looked. She had picked casual clothing for her before, and she remembered the first bonding adventure she had been on with her shortly after her appointment as Shield for the same purpose. With the rest of the Kingsguard protecting Noctis and Ignis during a trip to Lestallum Crowe had been directed to stay behind with the Queen. Lunafreya was originally going to join him to visit the hospital in Lestallum, but with her pregnancy all parties saw it more appropriate for her to remain at home. No one knew what effect using her light would have on the fetus. She had tried to avoid thinking about what backing down from the trip would cause the media outlets to say about her. Maybe we should make the announcement soon. She mused, questioning their decision to wait until the second trimester. Another buzz brought her attention back to her phone.
[Crowe] On my way sparkles. think well drown in poop?
[Crowe] Gonna assume yes because Ill kidnap you either way so seen you soon
With everyone away Aranea had invited Crowe and Lunafreya over to keep her company. The cabin fever was beginning to edge on her nerves, and she decided that passing the day taking turns with an infant with her friends while marathoning movies was the best treatment. Lunafreya had to admit her own degree of cabin fever.
[Sparkles] I am dressing myself, do be patient now. Kidnapping shan't be necessary.
[Crowe] Except maybe that adorable baby. He's too cute!
[Sparkles] I can't argue with you there.
[Crowe] Then you're gonna bust open with one and I can come over to enjoy all the adorable and cuddles then give the lil stinker back so you can deal with the crying and diapers and your stitches freezing pads and cracked nipples…
[Sparkles] Thank you for that imagery Crowe.
[Crowe] What friends are for! Okay see you soon.
Lunafreya snickered and passed the time with a book before making her way through the Citadel halls, ignoring the deep ache in her joints and the slight tremor in her limbs. She pulled open the passenger door of Crowe's car and sat down.
"Hey Sparkles! Got Aranea some ice packs and pads-"
"Oh for the love of the Six!" she interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Honestly!" She pulled the door shut behind her, clicking her seatbelt, thanking the Six that most car manufacturers had the foresight to install basic safety.
"And me and Aranea will be so jealous when witch hazel becomes your new best friend,"
"Or packing tape so I can get you to stop talking." Lunafreya quipped, grunting as the car was shifted into gear and rapidly pulled away from the Citadel.
"Did I manage to get the Oracle to threaten me? I should be given a medal! Or arrested for heresy. Or maybe it's just those pregnancy hormones. Oh poor poor Noct, no idea what he's in for."
"This is going to be a long seven months…" Lunafreya slapped her palms over her face.
"Don't worry I'll buy you some ice packs, pads, and all the witch-hazel you can weep for joy over."
"One day you'll be the pregnant one and I assure you, I will return this delightful ribbing."
"You're too nice for that. Oh Crowe, my dear Shield, now that you have passed a child into our world, perhaps you could be in need of items of comfort?"
"Do remind me again why we're friends?"
"Because I'm awesome!"
"Indeed, you are awesome." Lunafreya conceded, and after a rapid turn out of the end of the Citadel gates her hand gripped the door's handle, glad that the Regalia II had the addition of seat belts.
Aranea reclined in the armchair gifted to them shortly after the birth of Sentis. She groaned, expressing for not the first time her new love affair with recliners, and promised Lunafreya that she would soon understand. Crowe dropped herself on the room's cough beside Lunafreya and pointed the remove at the television, tapping at it to get the damnable player to skip through the endless trailers for movies that came out fifteen years prior.
"Still can't believe you never saw these, I grew up on them!" Crowe admonished.
"It's why we added it to her must-watch movie list, like… one-hundred times!" Aranea added.
"Well we also decided we would only watch them if we could sit here and marathon the whole series at once. Hard to have an excuse to sit there and watch movies for like… gods, fifteen hours?"
"One pregnant, one still recovering from birth, and the other the indentured servant to the Queen what better chance will we have?" Aranea asked, shifting her hold on Sentis who was sleeping quietly save for the occasional coo that would have Lunafreya aww-ing.
"I'm not an indentured servant!" Crowe snapped, and Aranea snorted. "I'm Shield. To the Queen of fucking Lucis!" she added defensively, and Lunafreya couldn't help echoing Aranea with her own giggle. She wasn't sure anymore if this argument between her friends was merely for friendly teasing, or if Crowe still felt defensive regarding Aranea's jokes.
"May I hold Sentis?" Lunafreya asked before the woman could snark back at Crowe.
"If you get up to get him. This chair has accepted me as a part of itself. I'm not moving until I have to pee in about ten minutes." She answered back. Lunafreya smiled, getting up from the couch and approaching her friend, leaning over carefully to scoop the semi-sleeping infant into her arms. She was surprised how light he felt, drawing her arms close to her chest and smiling down at him. He had been swaddled in a blanketed patterned with little carbuncles.
"How's bramble been doing with the baby?" she inquired, recalling the little carbuncle.
"Kinda surprised he's not in here, must be the company. He always needs to be in the room where the baby is. Wanna see something cute?" She answered, and reached into her pocket for her phone, flicking through some photos then held it out to Lunafreya who smiled at the picture. It was Sentis tucked into a nest of blankets and pillows on the couch right next to Aranea, Bramble curled next to the infants head, his nose next to Sentis's ear.
"This is so adorable I fear I may vomit," Lunafreya joked.
"Pretty sure everything makes you puke lately," Aranea teased.
"Yeah, like if I made you a gouda sandwich with pickled bass fried in bacon fat." Crowe remarked, smirking when Lunafreya gagged, shaking hear head,
"Oh gods I can somehow smell that!" She cried, scrunching her face and exhaling sharply through her nose. "Not sure I can eat fish now for a week."
"Crowe if she barfs on my baby I'm blaming you." Aranea pointed, narrowing her eyes at the now manically laughing woman. "You can bathe him while he pees all over you. You'd be amazed the distance he can get!" She added. Lunafreya now joined in the laughter, shaking her head a bit. "And you, missy, enjoy this while it lasts. Few more months and every time you laugh you'll need to cross your legs!"
"The two of you honestly paint the most beautiful picture of pregnancy."
"How's the little bugger sleeping through this?" Crowe asked, shocked that Aranea hadn't immediately shushed her or Lunafreya once they began laughing.
"Oh we've gotten him well used to sleeping through noise, pretty nice not needing to walk on eggshells around him. You can sit with him for a bit if you want Luna." She explained. Said woman nodded, happy for the chance to sit on the couch and snuggle the sleeping Sentis.
"Besides the movie's about to start! Man I am way too excited for this!" Crowe smiled, lightly nudging Lunafreya's arm once she sat back down, and turned her attention back to the movie. "Still shocked the little fantasy-buff in the gang never saw these movies." She shook her head, tisking.
"Noctis has offered multiple times, but you made me promise I would watch it the first time with you." Lunafreya provided, and got shushed by Crowe who pointed at the television again as a whispering voice began to speak.
"So, what'cha think, what'cha think?!" Crowe asked excitedly. The first movie in the trilogy was running through the credits. Sentis was back with his mother, suckling at her breast, and an empty bowl of popcorn sat between Crowe and Lunafreya, an empty bowl sitting next to Aranea as well.
"This was quite lovely! Honestly, I can better understand your surprise at my never having seen it." She smiled. She had watched movies with her mother and Ravus as a child, and after Nifleheim's invasion movies became an intensely rare event when Ravus managed to smuggle a movie into her room with a portable player, and she was always more than happy to watch with him. But the movies he brought her were always his personal favorite of ancient historical fictions of civilizations that had fallen thousands of years before.
"Kinda surprised you never read the books. You're a big fantasy buff."
"These books were written by a Lucian, no?" she inquired. She knew of the book trilogy that this movie trilogy was based off of, and Noctis had tried as a teenager to smuggle her a copy but Niflehiem had confiscated the books upon arrival.
"Oh right. Man, the Nifs were psycho about that kinda' thing. Its like every Nifs' giant dick would shrivel up and fall off if anyone dared enjoyed media from outside of Nifleheim." Aranea rolled her eyes.
"Or Tenebrae. They never tried to purge Tenebraen literature or art." Lunafreya replied.
"Maybe that's how we should have defeated those Nifs, hold up a book by the power of Lucian books! Then shoot 'em all in the face while they cry over their dicks falling off." Crowe puffed out her chest, holding the movie's DVD box out ahead of her, jutting her bottom jaw.
"Okay come on come on, we have like, ten more hours of movie to go so pop in number two!"
"And another bag of popcorn?" Lunafreya requested shyly.
"Wait, are you actually capable of eating you finicky bird?" Crowe asked, quirking a brow.
"I am not finicky. Merely… nauseated."
"One pickled fish sandwich coming up!" Crowe leapt to her feet, ignoring Lunafreya's groan to gather more popcorn. She pinched her earlobe, a trick Aranea had suggested to her at some point in time, trying to will the trick into easing her nausea as her imagination ran wild with the imaginary smell.
"Want me to slap her for you?"
"I find it quite difficult to dismiss that offer." Lunafreya replied.
"Once this monster finishes eating. Honestly, you're appetite rivals mine you little alien!"
"He's been nursing for quite the while, hasn't he?" a frown quirked her lips. Aranea shrugged, it wasn't the first time Sentis had engaged in what she would call eternal feedings merely praising the Six that for once it wasn't at two in the morning that he was doing such. Lunafreya smiled a bit watching her friend, the soft expression and light smile on her face as she looked down on the infant on her breast. She found the process magical, that she was there cuddled with her infant providing him with all the nutrition he needsfor this stage of his life. She had half a mind to capture a picture of the moment, and caught in thought flinched when she felt a vibration in her pocket.
[Crowe] FERMENTED EGGS
She stuffed the device back into her pocket, leaning her head back to better be heard in the kitchen,
"You are truly a terrible person!" the cackling from the kitchen was her answer.
"My offer stands." Aranea suggested again.
"It's becoming quite tempting." Another buzz made her flinch again, and she bit down on her lip to try and formulate some witty insult to scream into the kitchen, but her brows lifted when she saw that it was not her Shield harassing her.
[Noct] Hey, just wanted to say hello. Miss you. Hope you're enjoying the marathon and can't wait to talk about the movies with you when you get home!
She smiled at the text, and that for once he had used proper punctuation in it. He had always done his best in their notebooks to maintain proper grammar to the best of his ability, and doing so in text made the communication feel less impersonal.
[Luna] Finished the first movie, taking a brief intermission to satiate my destructive appetite and prepare more popcorn for us to enjoy as we set to start the second movie.
[Noct] Liked it?
[Luna] Loved it!
[Noct] Then I won't keep you. I love you. And the tiny nugget in your belly. Feed them all the popcorn!
[Luna] Love you too. And I assure you, I am feeding the nugget quite well.
She could picture the way he was smirking at his phone, and wondered if her own expression was one of idiotic adoration. She could feel the heat touching her cheeks and shoved her phone back into her pocket, yelping when Crowe snuck up behind her,
"canned brussel sprouts with bacon"
"Oh you stop that!" she swatted at the air where Crowe's face had just been, rolling her eyes as the woman giggled and came round the couch to hand Lunafreya a bowl, walking up to Aranea to offer her one too, placing it on the small table beside her to avoid disturbing Sentis and rejoined the blonde on the couch.
"Okay, on to movie two!"
By the conclusion of the third film Lunafreya had her head resting on Crowe's shoulder, smiling through the light burn of tears on her eyes. Sentis had been placed in his crib halfway through the second movie, his mother fast asleep herself in the chair. She sat up when she felt Crowe shift, rolling her own shoulders and pinching at her sore neck.
"Well, we survived."
"Indeed." She replied, keeping her tone low.
"So. Penny for your thoughts?"
"These may be my new favorite movies that I've ever seen. They were brilliant!"
"Glad we forced you to sit on a couch for almost a whole day for them?"
"Oh absolutely," she smiled. Her eyes burned for a moment and she blinked quickly to forestall tears, cursing her own sentimentality. A whole day just sitting watching movies. She mused, shifting her gaze back to the television to avoid Crowe's gaze, sure that she would be in for a world of teasing had the woman noticed the glaze in her eyes. "thank you." She smiled a bit, trying not to sniffle. "You two were right, I did absolutely love these movies."
"And to think, we still have like, ninety-four left to show you!" She lightly punched Lunafreya on the arm, the woman turning sharply to her.
"Can't wait," she smiled. She pulled out her phone to check the time, realizing she had missed a text from Noctis. She must have truly been deep into the movie to not notice it.
[Noct] Hope you're still enjoying the marathon. Don't rush home, but I'll probably be in bed when you get back. Miss you.
She felt a bit bad for not responding, but was sure he would understand. Crowe had stood, stretching and her joints popped in succession. Aranea moaned, shifting her own form in her chair, eyes blearily inspecting the room. The quiet music of the credits played in the background, the room far dimmer now that the screen was black save for the light grey text of the credits.
"Oh… I passed out." She moaned, looking over at the television. "You like the movies?" she asked. Lunafreya responded as she had to Crowe, and the woman smiled, clearly excited that the night was a success. "Definitely worth the bed-sore I surely have on my ass. I've said for years I wanted to marathon these movies, finally had a good excuse, and sure glad I did!" she smiled, getting one in return.
"It was quite fun, thank you both for pulling me away from the Citadel for the day. I suspect I will be watching these movies on more than one occasion myself."
"Not until we widdle through that list of like, eighty movies we have on your to-do list." Lunafreya laughed, shrugging her shoulders and nodding.
"Fair enough. But it is quite late, you are tired, we best be off. Even Noctis is asleep." She suggested. Aranea stood, nodding.
"Yeah. Sentis needs to be woken up for his next feed then passing back out for two-hours again rinse and repeat until morning!" The women exchanged hugs and agreements to have another movie night soon. Aranea showed them to the front door, waving goodbye before shutting the door, Crowe whispering more gross food items at Lunafreya getting a light tap-like slap on the shoulder for her trouble and got into the car.