My Land, My Rules

"Welcome," Nell saikd cheerfully, "Come in, hospitality and safety to you while you're here! It might be the potatoe latkes or it might be the butternut squash soup."

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"Either way, I'm excited to try them both," Liliana declared. She could be very food-motivated when she wished to be, not unlike a cat. "And thank you, dear one, for the arrangement this morning. It's lovely."

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"Then you'll get to try them both," Nell said with a smile. "I hope you'll enjoy them."

She smiled at her. "I'm glad you liked it. Feel free to let me know if there's anything in particular that you'd like on any given week and I can adjust for you."

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"Of course," Liliana said, with the air of someone who was very used to reaching out to artisans and craftspeople to make sure her whims were taken into account. "Now then, the business out of the way..." She grinned at Nell. "Which would you rather discuss first? Your weekend of delightful roughing it in the woods, or our upcoming trip to the spa?"

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"Your choice," Nell said. "Though it was an amazingly wonderful weekend. We stayed in a treehouse way up on a mountain! It had a hot tub under the stars and a huge bathtub with a shower like a waterfall and the biggest most comfortable bed!"

Guess she'd decided what was first after all!

"And the land was so beautiful! We hiked and explored all over. And the stars! Oh, to sit out and watch them at night! It was glorious!"

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Liliana found herself vastly unsurprised but still fondly indulgent.

"Okay, I'll grant you the hot tub and the waterfall shower do sound wonderful," Liliana conceded. Probably not worth a whole trek up a mountain as you could get both in civilization, but at least there were worthwhile amenities there. And not just, like, a yurt or something. "There is something magical about an entire field of stars, scattered above you like diamonds on black velvet."

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"Oh there is," Nell said. "The stars at my house back home are wonderful, but it doesn't compare to the isolation and beauty of the stars up on the top of a mountain far away from everything!"

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Liliana just shook her head, a small smile playing about her mouth. Most of the Vess Manors she'd established on various planes had been fairly isolated, yes, but that had more to do with her necromancy and a desire to not deal with torches and pitchforks.

"Well, it sounds like you had a marvelous time," she said. "And it does sound beautiful."

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"I did and it was," Nell said with a smile. "And now I get to have a spa day on Wednesday!"

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"Did you have any questions or requests or the like, dear?" Liliana asked.

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"No, I think I'm good," Nell said. "And I feel comfortable talking to the people there if I need to."

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Gladio thought his options would be overflowing with holiday themed drinks for this month, but he actually had a hard time, that day, finding something both festive and non-alcoholic, but he did find a nice variety pack of something else that sounded pretty interesting, and that was always his top priority with the drinks he brought along, so there you had it. They sounded pretty good, too, and, really, he was a bi fan of honey these days, anyway. For some reason.

So of course he was showing up and still feeling pretty good about how the weekend away had gone, already missing some of that crisp mountain air and having to pick branches and twigs out of his hair.

Edited Date: December 11th, 2023 04:29 pm (UTC)

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"Bee soda!" Nell said with a smile. "How fun!" She greeted him with a kiss, lingering a bit.

"Thank you again for an amazing weekend," she murmured. "I had such a wonderful time with you."

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"Made with real, actual bees, too!" said Gladio, because he could not help himself, grinning once he finally had the chance to respond after that kiss, which he absolutely helping in making it be a while before it ended. "And you're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it. I know I sure did. Good to be home again, too, though."

And, no, his choice of words there wasn't wholly casual or careless, either.

"Smells like you've had a busy day," he added, lifting his face a little from where it was still tilted toward her to take in a deep breath.

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Nell laughed. "Real bees! Wonderful."

She did notice his choice of words and had to stretch up to give him another kiss. "I'm glad we're home too."

Once there'd been sufficient kissing to hold them for the long trip to the kitchen, she led him to the kitchen. "Soup and latkes," she said, "And all the fixings. Plus all the usual dessert-y things, of course."

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Such a long journey; it was a good thing they were well prepared on the kissing quota to get them through such a trek, truly!

"Of course," Gladio agreed, with a nod, and another good sniff around the kitchen, now with a glance around at everything, too, and Nell probably knew what he might have been looking around for specifically before he asked, but, of course, he'd reveal his intentions soon enough.

"So," he said, "what d'ya need me to do?"

And, as usually, it was pretty tricky to just spot something to jump on in that respect, since Nell usually had things in order by the time he showed up, but still...one day, he might not even have to ask!

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"You get to serve the soup today," Nell said with a smile. "And you can help others with the toppings for their latkes if they need a hand."

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The two extremes of vacations: Gladio and Nell roughing it on a mountain and Ignis and Liliana in a luxury hotel in a city somewhere. (Clearly the places they overlapped were ski lodges and beach houses)

"Oooh," she said, examining his sodas with interest. "These look--" She stopped as she pulled one out, the honeycomb cider and needed a second before she could speak again. "Might I have this one?" she asked in a voice that sounded completely normal, assuming one didn't notice the very small catch in it at the beginning of her request.

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Oooh, and beach houses meant beach runs! Always a big fan of making jogging even more obnoxious with the addition of shifting sand underneath your feet!

Gladio, however, did catch the little pause there, that little odd beat; he sort of wondered how anyone could have missed it, really, but he was always pretty keen on noticing things like that, it'd been part of his job, trained into him since he started pursuing his duty in earnest. He wasn't going to say anything, though, he wasn't even going to lift an eyebrow, he was just going to tuck it away perhaps for use at another time, if it was even really anything to come up again.

Instead, he grinned, snorting a little. "What if," he ventured, "I said no?"

They were for everyone, Lils, they were for sharing, so if you were gonna go and ask silly questions like that...

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Lils.

Anyway, she had asked to be polite, and certainly no other reasons. Liliana cleared her throat - no reason, probably just a bit of potato that had gone down the wrong pipe - and then looked up at him with a countenance that had never known any emotion beyond arch amusement in her entire life.

"Then I would simply have to team up with Nell in some kind of daring heist to claim one anyway," she replied with a casual shrug. "Which does have an appeal now that I've said it aloud, I must admit."

Ignis could answer his question, at least a little bit, did he ever decide to ask it rather than simply hold onto it in hopes of using it against her some day.

The sweetness came not from any of the fruit, however, but the honey, made from bees who fed solely from apple trees, and blended into cream.

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Lils and Igs! It was perfect!

"It definitely has an appeal now that I'm hearing it," he admitted. "That almost makes me want to say no just so I can see that all unfold, you know."

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The first time Bridge Largemeat called her that, she was probably going to stumble and require Ignis to keep her from falling on her ass. Which was likely not a deterrent, no.

"You'd really press Nell into a life of crime? " Liliana asked. "Tch. Terrible, just terrible."

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Deterrent? Oh, no, that was an incentive if he'd ever heard one!

"I wouldn't press Nell into anything she wouldn't want to already do herself," Gladio pointed out, and though the tone was light and playful, there was the firmness of a genuine creed in it, for just a moment, as he leveled a look at Liliana that seemed contrast to the smirk on his face. Just a moment, and then he snorted. "Maybe I should booby-trap 'em next time."

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Liliana kept his eye contact and there was a moment when her arched eyebrow and return smirk flickered into something else - something someone might even qualify as belief before it flickered back.

Look, just because she and Gladio had their own tension didn't mean that she doubted his personal integrity. Not even because of how he felt about Nell, just in general.

"So you're saying that Nell is already primed for a life of crime," Liliana said with a decisive nod, because who had had a moment of silent communication? Not these two! "Well, that does make my pitch easier."

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With Liliana out on her errands that day, Ignis figured it was an excellent time to work on something that was a bit of a challenge for Nell's gathering that evening, something that required focus and finesse that he could accomplish knowing he'd be quite free from mitigating factors or significant distractions. He also figured that, with the latkes that seemed to be the bit of whimsy for the day, Nell would likely cater her own offerings to that theme, so he steered away from doing so himself.

Which meant he was, ultimately, showing up with a vegan chocolate soufflé that had proven to be a delightful challenge, accompanied with a delightful crème anglaise, resulting in him feeling terribly proud and satisfied with himself upon arrival.

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"My darling," Liliana said, drifting over to his side once he'd finished greeting the hostess ~~regardless of what order the pings came in~~ . "I have a question of the utmost importance for you."

Said important question was not impeding her from leaning in to give him a lingering kiss of greeting, however. She'd been gone for hours and, well...

Always.

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Even questions of the utmost importance needed to make way for things of far more significant consequence, and, yes, the sort of kiss of greeting to make up for those hours was clearly paramount, something they were both in agreement on, the way Ignis' hand slid easily around Liliana's hip to help support that lean. A kiss that helped to be the balm to soothe the frustration of not only spending his afternoon with a soufflé, but a soufflé without eggs, no less.

And though it was tempting to put off other matters, no matter how pressing, for a little while longer, he never did like to procrastinate if he could help it.

"I may," he stated, the arm that had made its way around her in no hurry to retreat, "have an answer. What's on your mind, darling?"

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"How do you feel," she asked, and he could practically hear the sparkle as she did, "about Christmas trees?"

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There was, in that first moment, where Ignis seemed to be taking in a breath to respond, maybe just a touch of disappointment and maybe even a little bit of confusion, though the clear and evident excitement in her voice seemed to have him sort of take that initial reaction about what was a question he wouldn't have immediately expected, but certainly did make sense, given the season, and shift it, tweak it, just a little, and that inhaled breath was released again with a faint smile, a light laugh.

"I have to admit," he said, "that I don't really feel much about them at all, though I certainly have a deep appreciation for pine offering up a variation in the scents of the season beyond cinnamon and peppermint. Though now, I certainly must beg the question of how you might feel about them?"

He had a hunch, though his intrigue on what exactly her thoughts on the matter were had piqued.

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"I think they sound absolutely delightful," she said. "All the bright lights and bright colors and as you said, the scent of pine redolent in the air, just as the kitchen smells of sugar and cinnamon and baking things and mulling wine..." She stepped closer, to wrap her own arms around him, tipping her face up to his. "I was thinking of getting one for the mansion, along with plenty of decorations--" Which she'd already bought, yes, you were welcome Summer's bottom line. "--and spending an evening decorating it. Though I suppose if such a thing holds no interest for you, I can find another time and simply set it up on a room you're in less often or the like."

Especially after an afternoon of skating perhaps ~~not that she was expecting that yet~~, followed by dinner and an attempt at keeping Liliana from stealing all of the dough before he could bake cookies for them to enjoy while they decorated...

Didn't it sound like a lovely way to spend an evening together?

Edited Date: December 11th, 2023 08:35 pm (UTC)

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"My indifference," Ignis informed Liliana, faint smile tilting down toward her lift gaze, "doesn't necessarily denote a complete lack of interest, mind you, especially not when, already, you make quite the compelling case for me to reconsider my position on the matter. I think that sounds like a marvelous idea, and I would feel terribly put out to have missed it."

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"Glad I could sway you around to my way of thinking," Liliana said, and he could hear her smile, nothing faint about it. "I didn't even have to point out that it will necessitate keeping Josu out of the front parlor to keep him from getting into mischief."

She was aware of Ignis' thawing towards her cat, but she didn't kid herself to think it meant he liked the feline, simply that he was learning to tolerate him better.

"If you didn't like the idea, I would have done it myself, of course--" She was enamored with it and wasn't going to let something as paltry as someone else's disinterest dissuade her "--but I will admit that the idea of decorating with you makes the whole idea brighter."

You know. In that non-couple-y way.

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"Hello, Ignis," Nell said cheerfully. "I hope you had a nice weekend, though I'm sure it wasn't nearly as nice as mine was!"

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Ignis had to chuckle a little bit at that greeting, offering Nell a small nod. "Hello, Nell," he greeted back. "And, you know, a part of me feels compelled to challenge you on that, but I know better to submit myself to a losing wager. The weekend away went well, then, I take it?"

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"Good choice," Nell said with a laugh, "and yes, it was wonderful. We stayed in a treehouse in the middle of the mountains. It was amazing. Everything smelled so fresh and clean and the birds! Oh, it was glorious!"

There were stars and sunsets and sunrises, too, but no need to mention things he couldn't have enjoyed.

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And while Ignis greatly appreciated that bit of consideration, he certainly wouldn't have minded hearing about Nell's own enjoyment over such things. After all, after everything, it was always an encouragement to know that people still could.

"It certainly sounds like just the place for the two of you," he noted, fondly and pleased. "Hopefully, you were able to get some relaxing in and it wasn't just all hiking and exploring. I know how Gladio can be if you get him in just the right element."

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"Oh, there was a lovely hot tub for soaking in under the stars and lots of time to relax and read," Nell assured him, "But the hiking and exploring was wonderful and there was really no one else around - not near us anyway, so we could just enjoy all of it as we chose."

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"Good, then," Ignis said, with a nod, warm smile still in place. "I'm glad. You two deserve a little bit of time to just enjoy each other's company, especially out and about somewhere I know you would both enjoy. It's good to hear that it went so well."

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