but you never leave, never

(constant conversations, passion pit)

i.

Frey wakes, more or less, to a heart attack - or at least something close to one - all because there are a pair of unfamiliar blue-green eyes peering at her from beneath an uneven veil of shortly cropped silver hair. She reaches for the closest thing to her; her diary and swings it unthinkingly at the stranger.

"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT! I don't know - " swing "who you are" - swing harder - "but - ! I assure you I have a league of lethal butlers that'll whoop your rear into the next century if you even try and lay a hand on me! I'm a princess!" Swing Harder Two, the long awaited sequel to the classic Swing Hard. It's sufficiently ineffective.

The diary is swiftly snatched from her grasp and Frey squeals. "How you've survived up to this point is baffling to me, but hey, who's complaining?" This silver haired stranger tosses the notebook over her shoulder and stares Frey dead in the eye. "I was the one who made you princess after all."

"Wh - Venti?!" Frey gapes, because yes, the voice does miraculously sound familiar. But this doesn't make sense! Unless Venti somehow became a magical girl over night, like in one of Kiel's books that is. She lowers herself from her lunging position to sit on her knees, clutching a hand to her heavily pounding chest. "What's going on?"

"If you would have let me explain before going completely nutso on me," and that look, that sharp sort of no funny business look is so Ventuswill that it almost hurts. "This situation could have been avoided entirely. But, no," her voice trills shrewdly. "'I'm a princess! Honestly? More like an idiot."

"Hey," Frey remarks defensively. "I thought you were like an assassin or something." She runs a hand through her long, loose mint hair thoughtfully. "Also I was half asleep, so. You should have known better than to wake me up like that!"

"An assassin that you were going to fight off by using your journal. I see. Your logic never fails to amaze me, but, anyway I'd say we have bigger fish to fry." And with a wave of her hand, Venti gestures to her human form with a quirked eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah. I can see that. What...happened? Why are you not all, um, dragon-y?"

Ventuswill sighs, clearly unimpressed and crosses her arms firmly. "Well, there was some sort of mix up...obviously. I just don't know what exactly caused the change."

"Have you gone to see anyone else? Like the guardians, maybe?"

"No. That would be..." Venti's cheeks turn pink. "Embarrassing. I don't want them to see me like this!"

Frey's lips turn upward at the unexpectedly cute sight. "But don't you think if anyone is going to know anything it would be the Dragon Priest himself...? Or even the others. They all have experience with transforming from monster to hum - "

"Are you calling my usual self a monster?!"

"Well. You are a dragon."

"I'm a god!"

"A god who also happens to be a dragon!"

"Ugh! You're lucky my powers aren't working right while I'm in this state, otherwise I'd have knocked you to your knees for that comment!" Venti stomps her foot and places both hands on her hips in a show of true childishness.

"Alright," Frey reasons, ducking to avoid the icy glower of the (former?) dragon, whilst standing to brush out the wrinkles in her nightdress. "Us arguing isn't going to help anything. What we should be thinking of is how we're going to get you back to normal if this isn't just a temporary thing. I still think the guardians are our best bet, but I might know of someone else who can help."

ii.

"Would you like me to test your compatibility with Ventuswill?"

"No," Frey manages through gritted teeth, her small hands clenching and unclenching as the itch to reach for her long sword grows nearly unbearable. "I want you to tell me how to fix this! You're a fortune teller, so shed some light! Enlighten me. Please."

"Hmm...Yes, I can see it."

"See what?!" Venti demands, eyes flashing with impatience.

"The lines... They are clear as day to me now. Aha, I see..." The fortune teller smiles cryptically, which only further serves to infuriate both the dragon and princess, respectively. Just as the tension in the air grows so thick it could probably be cut, the fortune teller claps their hands together happily. "Your compatibility rating is a perfectly reliable 89!"

"..."

"..."

"Just 89?" Frey implores incredulously. "I've been putting up with all of this dragon's schemes for seasons now and all I get is an 89?"

She is swiftly swatted in the back of the head by an entirely unamused Native Dragon.

iii.

"That was helpful. Not."

"Okay, but really, that was completely not my fault," Frey says meekly, kicking some stray branches out of her path. She occasionally has to grab Venti's arm and steady her because she's really not used to human legs, like at all. Simply getting her to the fortune teller had been an adventure in itself. "I didn't know they were a total matchmaker fraud. All they ever told me before was that they could read fortunes and other mystical junk."

"And you believed them."

Frey doesn't need to look to know Venti is throwing her a skeptical glare. "Well, after having met a talking dragon that inducted me as royalty, I decided not to make such hasty assumptions."

"Hmph."

"Don't worry, we'll fix this, okay? I'll go see if Arthur has any old scripts for trade that have any useful information and if there's nothing, I'll go see Leon by myself."

"..." Venti turns her face, away from the prying eyes of the Selphian princess. "Why..." The Native Dragon pauses, eyes quickly darting to the ground. "Why do you always listen to me? Why do you never question the stuff I ask you to do? It's stupid. Humans are stupid. Learn to be self serving for once, idiot."

This stops Frey in her tracks, and she reaches out to pull Venti back by the arm. She lets out a small noise of surprise.

"Hey," she remarks softly, gazing into startled blue-green eyes. "This isn't just about me, is it? I thought you were finally starting to get it. The guardians are all fine and happy now, so stop worrying about having people worrying about you, okay?"

Venti's face goes an unnatural shade of vibrant pink. "...Shut up. That's not what I meant at all!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes! I just wanted to call you an idiot because you are one!"

( a/n ) i tried for less angst but let's be real it always finds it's place somewhere sorry

i'm not really sure what venti's actual compatibility rate is (if you can even check with her in your party at all) but i would imagine it's pretty high up there after all the stuff the MC does for her and vice versa