Monday Night with Nell and Gladio

[mylandmyrules]

Nell had decided on lasagna for dinner - one extra large one with meat and a smaller one without. She made up a garlic spread for the bread, that Gladio could slather on her bread before they heated it up for serving, and a large salad. That plus the usual snacks and desserts should be more than enough for anyolne who might stop by.

Once everything was set and the lasagna ready to pop in the over she had some time to put her feet up by the fireplace and snuggle with the cats and/or Gladio if he was there. Though if he growled against her neck she might just have to drag him off to the bedroom.

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[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto didn't bring drinks or some fancy dessert, but he did bring a baby and some invitations!

As usual, he didn't know how long they'd be there at Nell's tonight, but he was really warming up to the idea of getting the chance to go hang out with everyone, even if this week was going to be loaded with opportunities between Ignis' party and Noctra's. But after last week? He felt like they all deserved a lot of good time and good food and good company.

Plus, he was saving himself on some postage by delivering a few invitations in person tonight, and, besides, based on Friday's texts with Liz, Noctra not only had a cute new dress to show off, but also a new best friend.

[mylandmyrules]

"Welcome," Nell said with a smile. "Hopsitality and safety to you while you're here. And doesn't Noctra look adorable! Who's your new friend sweetheart?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

One of Noctra's hands was clutching the little chicken plush to her mouth while the other was lifted to open-and-close at Nell in her version of a wave, her big blue eyes just staring at her the whole time before she managed to mumble out response.

"'ot albabo," she said. "'Ickah!"

"Awww," said Prompto, who really couldn't help melting over his kid sometimes, even in the presence of other people, and he gave her a little kiss on her forehead. "That's right, Noctra! It's not a chocobo! It's a chicken.

"At least," he added, leaning toward Nell with one hand over Noctra's closest ear as he lowered his voice into a whisper, "I think that's what she said?"

It's not like she was about to correct him if he was wrong, though, right?

"But thanks, Nell. How's it going? Smells great in here, by the way." He took a moment to breathe it in. "Garlicky!"

But you know what? Sure, it was zombies and angels and daemons last week, but you weren't going to hear Prompto complaining about a little extra protection against vampires while he was here!

[mylandmyrules]

"Aww... such a sweet chicken," Nell said, waving back at Noctra.

She smiled over at Prompto. "Lasagna and garlic bread," she said, "With a salad, of course, and some snacks and desserts."

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto had to chuckle a little bit at the mention of that salad in the middle of all of that, but it weirdly enough, made him feel a little more comfortable. Like, if he had a salad with it, then he didn't have to worry about pigging out too much on everything else.

(He would definitely still worry about pigging out too much on everything else).

"Sounds great," he said, bouncing Noctra a little, although she was still almost chewing on the chicken and just mostly staring at Nell a bit. "And it's really nice of you to cook for everyone like that. I mean, I know there's no shortage of food at any gathering with this group of people, but still. It's really appreciated! Oh, and if you're not doing anything on Sunday, we're having a party for Noctra, I hope you and Gladio can make it, it's almost her birthday! And with Iggy's birthday on Wednesday, we're going to have a pretty good week, I hope!"

It was the sort of thing that made him a little nervous, honestly, like something was sure to go wrong, but also, they filled that quota up pretty nicely last week, in his opinion!

[mylandmyrules]

Vegetables were important, Prompto!

"Oh, I don't mind cooking," she said. "And Ignis and the Detective always bring something along." And Gladio supplied drinks!

"I'll definitely be there and I don't think there's anything that would keep Gladio away," Nell said with a smile. "Is there anything I can bring?"

[deathsmajesty]

"Trying to show up my party, are you?" Liliana teased, opening up her invitation and reading it aloud. Not for anybody's personal benefit or anything, just to prove she did sometimes read mail immediately.

"What is a puppy bowl?"

Don't ask her what she was picturing, Prompto, it will only make you cry.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Oh, noooooooooooo.

The reading of the invitation outloud did lift Prompto's eyebrows a little, with a faint grin as he glanced over toward nobody who might have personally benefited from such an action, and then grinned more directly at Liliana. "Hey, man," he said, "no shade to Iggy or anything, but mine features an adorable baby and cute puppies running around like they're playing a sport, so you were already coming in at a disadvantage. But, that's what the puppy bowl is. You see, every year, there's this big game called the Super Bowl, it's football, I don't really care about it that much, but, in conjunction with that, there's the Puppy Bowl, and it's literally one of my absolute favorite things about this world ever. It's where they get together a bunch of shelter dogs, put them on teams, and have them 'play'" his grin grew even more as he lifted his hands to put extra emphasis on the finger quotes there, "football! It's literally the cutest thing ever, and I've always held a party for it, even before we got stuck in Eos, and it just so happens to be really close to Noctra's birthday this year, so it's perfect for her birthday party! You guys gotta come!"

Well, he figured Ignis would regardless, but it would be nice if Liliana came, too! Especially since, you know, she was hopefully getting a nice break from all that daemon hunting and angel slaying or whatever?

[deathsmajesty]

Angel slaying was more a perk than anything else. You saw them, Prompto! They'd picked fights with her for no reason. Ugh.

Also, her eyebrow raised as he made the very bold claim that babies and puppies somehow made a party better, but he had gotten whacked in the head or whatever with a shovel, so he was understandably somewhat addled.

"We're going to be in Argentina that day," she said, musing over the invitation, and then glanced back at Ignis. She would have no compunction skipping a party held in honor of a child, especially one who was barely making formative memories, but Noctra was Ignis' niece by every metric but blood and when had that mattered to anyone who wasn't a sangromancer? Or a vampire? (There was an impressive overlap between the two categories anyway.) "We'll have to confer, of course, but I'm sure he'll be amenable with us portaling back for a few hours."

[hashtag_chocobro]

Look, Prompto loved the guy (and didn't even have any issues with saying it, let alone just typing it!), but if given the choice between Ignis and adorable puppies running around a tiny football field, there was really no contest. Adding his daughter into the mix just made it a wash. But at least, if it did come down to that, they'd both leave pretty happy with their respective opinions on that!

"Argentina?" Prompto frowned, now feeling a little worried (and maybe a touch upset) that Ignis might have planned something when he knew Noctra's birthday was coming up. "What for?"

And then, the worry and frown both deepened as he wondered, "More daemon stuff?"

Look, he had a daemon for a brother-in-law-by-every-metric-but-blood, and he lived in New Jersey, so don't tell him there couldn't be weird daemon stuff going on down in Argentina, too!

[deathsmajesty]

Sure, but why would Liliana care about other people's demon problems?

"His birthday present," Liliana explained and she had no idea when Noctra's birthday was, Prompto. "We're going to a resort in Argentina for the weekend. It's a vineyard and you can actually make your own small batch of wine for them to process, bottle, and ship to you eventually. Oh. And fly-fishing of course."

Which Ignis had been vehemently opposed to, which was why she was now including it every chance she got. She was such a delight.

"I sprang the idea on him last night."

[hashtag_chocobro]

And as Liliana was describing it, Prompto had to admit, he couldn't really blame Ignis for being a little swayed into putting a trip like that above the birthday of a kid that wasn't even his....up until she got to the last part, after which a look of surprised confusion flitted over his face.

"Wait, fly-fishing?" he asked. "Really? Wait. Is it, like, a thing where you catch the fish, and then they give a lesson or something on how to prepare it? Like in a traditional way or something?"

He's been on a lot of school trips, there was almost always something like that in those kinds of places!

[deathsmajesty]

"I have no idea," Liliana admitted with a soft chuckle. "I'm only including it because when we were discussing excursions, it sparked a several minute rant on how he felt about fishing. Which, to sum up, is 'not a fan.'"

And she enjoyed bedeviling him and he, apparently, was fond of being bedeviled, and so there they were.

"I am certain Ignis will want us to return to the island for Noctra's birthday party," she said. "Did he know the party was going to be this Sunday?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

Yeah, well, you wouldn't be much of a fan, either, if you were dragged to every fishing spot you passed everywhere from Insomnia to Altissia from hours on end, only to then have the guy who dragged you there go and sacrifice himself so that every time you thought about it, fishing not only made you feel residual trauma from being bored out of your mind, but also residual actual trauma from missing him so much you'd actually give anything just to be that bored with him again....

.....but anyway....

"I'm pretty sure I mentioned it to him," Prompto said, "but, I mean, we've had kind of a busy week. Maybe I forgot? Or he did? Or it got lost in the shuffle? I don't know, I guess the nice thing about portals," when they actually worked the way they were supposed to anyway!, "is that popping over really shouldn't be a problem, though, right?"

Prompto sounded a bit like he was trying to convince himself and not doing a very good job of it, but, of course, he didn't need to worry about it at all, Ignis had definitely considered this and was planning on just that, and would be shocked to discover that anyone would even think otherwise, even if that anyone was Prompto.

[deathsmajesty]

"Prompto," Liliana said with a soft sigh. "He watched your cat for you. He plans out whole menus to make for Noctra that are delicious, nutritious, and will hopefully spark a love of cuisine in her as she grows. He suffered through several hours of her trying to take his glasses off at the picnic."

He wouldn't even do that for her, hmmph.

"Do you truly think he would miss her birthday party, even for a trip he will love? Ignis?"

Honestly, feelings for Prompto and Noctra aside, did Prompto really think Ignis would prioritize something that would make him happy over literally anything else?

[hashtag_chocobro]

Liliana! Prompto just figured everyone prioritized everything over him! Sure, he'd like to think that his involvement wouldn't be a factor when it came to Noctra, but there was no avoiding it, really, and therefor...

Her appeal toward reason, though, did pull a little bit of a sheepish grin out of him as he rubbed the back of his neck a little. "Well," he said, and sighed, since she did make a pretty good argument, didn't she? "No. Not if he could help it, anyway. But, I mean, I don't really think anyone could blame him if he decided he'd just rather enjoy his super nice birthday trip with his girlfriend uninterrupted, though...

"I would definitely blame him if he decided to enjoy fishing uninterrupted, though," he added, "that'd just be too far, man."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana arched an elegant brow at the title, but since she was getting Prompto to see reason, she wasn't going to derail it to quibble over word choice. Weird how that kept happening.

"I am fairly certain that if I did try to convince him to spend any part of our vacation to go fishing, I'd be returning to the island with one paramour fewer than I left with," she said, adding just a touch of stress to his proper title.

Because they were bougie bitches, that was why. And other reasons that were very not important and had nothing to do with emotional vulnerability, how dare.

"You're his family." She shrugged. "He would move heaven and earth for you. And that includes going to the birthday party of his niece."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I don't know, Liliana," said Prompto, but it was in a tone that had decidedly shifted toward the light joking and the ribbing and the very unseriousness that he would always use to blanket all those insecurities and uncertainties, "I mean, you did say something about him making his own wine. It might take at least ten birthdays to drag him away from something like that."

Then, he snorted, maybe a little bit to show just how convinced and joking he was. "Actually," he added, "when are you leaving? Maybe by the time Sunday rolls around, they'll have kicked him out for being too insufferable about it, anyway."

[deathsmajesty]

Mmmm, Liliana was over two hundred years old, Prompto, and employed a great deal of deflection to boot. You think she didn't recognize someone doing the same? Game knows game, son.

She regarded him for a long moment, violet eyes unfathomable. Normally, she wouldn't bother pointing out that his insecurities ended up doing the people around him a grave disservice, but one of those people was Ignis and she was generally inclined to bestir herself on his behalf where she wouldn't for others. But--no. There were others about and this was meant to be a friendly gathering, and so she blinked and that deep measuring look went away, replaced by her normal arch amusement.

"Darling, I'm once again offended. This vacation is worth fifteen birthdays, at least. I didn't even tell you about the vineyard tours, the early morning coffee bars, and the world-renowned chef working with local ingredients." She crooked a smile at him. "And yet, we'll be there."

Because, she supposed, if Ignis were going, she might as well, too.

"We leave Thursday, after his class lets out. And by Sunday, I'm certain that he'll either be eternal friends or sworn enemies with the sommeliers, and, honestly, I'll be entertained watching either."