Happy Birthday Aster

[savedbyasong]

Who: Shion, Aster and anyone! Mingle among yourselves!
What: It's Aster's birthday. Any and all friends are welcome (and if you don't know them you are still welcome, they won't turn anyone away)
Where: The southern beach on Islet four.
Warnings: Hopefully none

Aster's birthday was important. A date she had chosen herself, a date to celebrate her and everything she had achieved so far.

The last time they had celebrated had been in the tower and now they were in a completely different world with different friends and Shion was determined for it to be a nice day.

He had had help. Ignis had helped cook of course. Shion heavily suspected the candied fruits were from Dagger and he had no idea how exactly Connor had managed it (and he wasn't going to ask) but Laurent had provided ice for sea salt ice cream.

There's a fire on the beach and fish on sticks to roast. Guests may have to wrestle off an overexcited Dreaeater but Shion tries to keep Excalibur under control for the most part. Cobweb and Thalassa are a lot more calm, flopping down near friends to demand pets.

Shion keeps an eye on Aster, hoping she is having fun.

Comments

[want_to_belong]

"Yeah. Titan, Ramuh, Shiva, Leviathan, Bahamut and Ifrit. They're kinda like... a part of the planet or something. They, uh, can definitely be seen by humans."

Thinking back, he tried to imagine someone not noticing Leviathan towering above Altissia. Missing her would be like not noticing your arm was gone.

"I think there's similarities to gods here, but I don't know much about what gods would be like on other worlds. They don't usually appear to people, though. They have messengers."

[savedbyasong]

"Part of the planet?" He wrote those names down as he listened. The only god he knew from his world was Elyurius and everyone here had as much understanding of her as he did. She had been in one of the visions at the warped storytelling and that was the first time Shion had seen her, even if he had known of her from other visions he had had.

"Messengers? I thought you said they could be seen by humans?"

[want_to_belong]

"Yeah, but they don't really speak 'human'. Usually. And I guess it's probably like how a king will have dudes working for him, too. Gentiana was a messenger, for example! She spent a lot of time around Noct's fiancée, and probably brought messages back and forth."

Or so he assumed. He wasn't there. "We've seen her a few times. But, then, we went and saw Titan up close and personal, and I have no idea what he said. Noct seemed to get a message, though."

[savedbyasong]

"Oh." They didn't speak human. Shion had gotten used to these places where everyone understood each other despite being from many different places and times. If it was not for... whatever translated for them would they be able to understand the gods here at all?

"I understand. So they could be seen but not communicate with humans. What were the messengers? Were they gods as well? Lesser gods? Or just chosen humans?"

[want_to_belong]

"Messengers were kinda divine? Most the time. Like, they'd be blessed by the gods at least I'd assume. Maybe like a lesser god, but I never really thought of them as gods exactly?"

Though it had been his religion, he hadn't been much of a zealot, and certainly didn't have the knowledge or connection that Noct and the others group up with. He'd been an average citizen who hadn't seen anything as far as he knew. Of course, he had no idea a certain puppy he'd met was a divine being.

"Iggy has studied this kind of stuff. He'd know a lot more details than I do. I mean, he was close to the king and Noct his whole life."

[savedbyasong]

"I'll ask him. Not that it's really important it's just interesting." And he liked learning about different places, different worlds.

The more you knew the better you understood things after all and though this was a different world there might be things here that could be understood if he knew more.

He smiled and looked out over the ocean again. "Do you want any more food?"

[want_to_belong]

He nodded with a smirk.

"Sure. Has Aster been having fun?" He shoved the last bit he had on his stick into his mouth, and shoved it to the side a bit. "B-T-W, I never asked 'bout your names. How come she decided to change to Aster?"

[savedbyasong]

"I think so. I hope so." Aster has had so few birthdays, Shion is determined to make everyone he can physically be there for special.

He grabbed some more fish and began cooking it, studying the flames as Prompto asked about Aster's name.

"A lot of it is her story to tell." Shion did not doubt that she would tell Prompto herself if he asked her, but it had to be up to her. It was her name and her life.

"But also... Having the same name as each other was a bit confusing. We didn't mind but it was more... obvious here especially when I first arrived, dad always called me kiddo anyways..." Nicknames were good for stopping confusion.

"Because of the more personal reasons she decided to change her name. Shion is another word for the Aster flower and so that's why she went with that. So we both still do have the same name, it just sounds different."