Monday night at Nell and Gladio's

[mylandmyrules]

After work Nell headed home to get things ready for the evening. She thought simpler was better, both in case there were children and in case people chose to stay home with their children instead.

It would be easy enough to throw together an extra simple pasta bake or plain noodles to go with the fresh bread she'd made. And, of course she had plenty of cookies and brownies.

If she was perhaps a little quieter than usual, well, there were a number of things occupying her mind.

Comments

[sword_chocobro]

Yeah, the turnout for tonight's gathering might be a little all over the place, but, at the same time, it seemed like a good way for some tired and beleaguered unexpected parents to get a little break and some much needed grown-up conversations. Who knew? Gladio had only had this happen to him once before, and it had been an impossible alternate ending, so he didn't give it much thought. The fact that there weren't any additional tiny barefoot Nells or bare-chested Gladios running around was definitely a point of introspection for him, but, well, wasn't much point in dwelling on it too much.

Although it did, maybe, feel like a good discussion for later.

For now, he was just going to take care of his usual Monday errands, which did include proving to Summer's kids that he could a absolutely bench press and lift both of them, and then returning home with some of those Japanese sodas with the balls because they seemed like they'd be fun for any kids that might be coming by (and Prompto) and went to find Nell.

"Hey," he said, setting aside the drinks and moving in for the usual kiss in greeting, "anything that still needs doing?"

[mylandmyrules]

"Nope," Nell said - after the kiss obviously, "Not much to do till we see who's here. It's the clean-up that could be a little crazy.

She had some things she wanted to talk about as well at some point. Questions. Things this weekend had started her wondering about.

But for now she was content to curl into Gladio and hug him tightly.

[sword_chocobro]

When Nell curled up against him and hugged him like that, Gladio could tell she needed the extra squeeze he put into the hug back. And he was just going to hold her for a moment before asking, "So....what've we got ahead of us tonight?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

At least there was one kid who was totally expected (assuming, anyway, she didn't get too tired or cranky), and so Prompto was here with Noctra because she'd been pretty good and excited and even spent a good deal of time by the door back home once Prompto was done with work patting it and letting them know in very insistent tones that it was time to go to Aunt 'Ell and Uncle 'Ladio's.

And they'd get there....eventually. Apparently, Noctra also insisted on going up the stairs all by herself today, which meant....this might take a while....

But at about the halfway point, Prompto decided he needed to step in because by the time they got up to the apartment, everyone would be getting ready to leave, so he just called out, "SPEED RAMP!" and swept in to pick her up and make sounds like a video game race car to blast her up the rest of the way, much to her squealing approval.

"And in the very last second, it's the Noctra 5000, pulling ahead for the win! Ladies and gentleman, what an upset! And the crowd goes wild! Yeaaah, Whoo hooo! Goooo Noctra!"

[mylandmyrules]

Nrll had heard the yell and hurried to the door to see if anything was wrong and laughed when she w=saw what was going on. "Congratulations on your win, Noctra, welcome, Prompto."

[chef_chocobro]

At some point, eventually, the topic of Gladio and Nell had come up with Calli, and, of course, she was hoping to get the chance to see them. So when she was still around on Monday, well...he supposed it wouldn't hurt to invite her along so she could go see them, especially as her curiosity grew even more as she started to come around to the fascinating fact that all of this was in the past for her.

Only problem was that Calli wanted her other father to be there, too, but Stark had pointed out that he'd hardly had any time to spend with his other children, and Calli, riding some sort of magnanimous high from her successful dinner plans last night, loftily decreed that they could come too then.

So there was a sigh and a warning voicemail sent to Gladio that apparently, they were bringing a whole crew with them, with Stark and Calli and Summer and Bixby and Cass all thrown into mix.

At least they'd had time to make two different kinds of cupcakes, what else?

[mylandmyrules]

"How are you holding up," Nell asked sympathetically. "Sounds like it's been quite a weekend."

[chef_chocobro]

"Yes, well," Ignis said with a sigh, "I suppose it was time for Prompto to finally pass the torch to someone else for having a particularly chaotic one of these weekends. But it has been...enjoyable. I can't say it's been like that for any of the others."

All apologies to Spero and Lancea, of course, but he knew they would understand.

"Have you and Gladio been enjoying the quiet, at least, on your end of things?"

[very_serious_cupcake]

Calli was very excited to get to see Nell and Gladio here at their place on this island where everyone met, and she was very relieved that it was the complete opposite of the scary (albeit much nicer inside) mansion.

"Oh, this is so cozy!" she gushed, and then her attention was caught elsewhere. "And you have kittens!"

Her father was against pets, even no matter how much she promised to take care of it, so she was also loving that everyone seemed to have cats around here, too.

[mylandmyrules]

"Welcome," Nell said. "I'm Nell. Hospitality and safety while you're here."

She smiled over at the kittens. "The orange one is Rigel and the black and white one is Cygnus. And they're both very friendly."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer had to admit, this was a little weird for her, but, well, Gladio and Nell were her friends, so it's not like they'd be all ew no why would you let her in our house Ignis?, and honestly, she wasn't going to trust Stark to be able to handle keeping Bixby and Cass in line all by himself, and they did love hanging off Gladio's arms earlier when he made his Monday stop to the store...

So she was there, with her kids, half-wondering if she should have brought a jello mold or something.

"Just....don't touch anything unless you're expressly told you can," she warned them. "And for the love of god, Cass, if I see you anywhere near those cats, I will throw you straight into a portal to Screaming Sun planet."

"I wasn't gonna!" Cass insisted, deftly stepping away from the kittens with her hands promptly darting behind her back and her face as innocent as could be.

[mylandmyrules]

"Summer, welcome. Hospitality and safety to you while you're here," Nell said. "And welcome to your children as well."

Even if she was going to keep a close eye on Cass and the kittens.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Hey, Nell! Hi!" Summer said. "Thanks for letting us crash thing thing, everything just got really....complicated? Between....everyone? You know with me and Stark, and Stark and Ignis....Your place is so cute! And this is Bixby," gesturing to the boy with the mop of redhair, who waved his hand, "and Cass," the girl smiled big and wide and oh-so-innocently.

[stykera]

Stark was feeling not at all sure of himself but he was here at the request of an impossible child and he was on good terms with nearly everyone who would be here. It would be fine.

Gladio and Nell, at least, he had smiles and hellos for without having to worry too much about it.

[somethingwithglowing]

"Dad," Bixby sidled up to Stark at some point, in the evening and gave his hand a tug for his attention. "Gladio says I could be big and strong like he is if I ate enough Cup Noodles, is that true?"

[stykera]

"It worked for Gladio," Stark said. "It might work for you. But he does work out a lot. You'll need to do that, too."

And probably come from more substantial stock than your parents. Sorry, kid.

"How many cups of Cup Noodle do you think he eats every day? Can you eat that many?"

[sword_chocobro]

"Stark," said Glaido, nodding to him as he ignored everyone else in this post before him, for some weird reason, and then had to grin, looking over at where Calli was trying to convince Cygnus to come sit on her lap, then back to Stark with a lift of his eyebrow. "You and Igs, huh?"

That was much funnier than giving him crap over the ones he had with Summer, after all. That barely even warranted mentioning.

[blueblackbrat]

"Stark," Liliana said, coming up to him with a black-haired, purple-eyed teen in tow. Irrim really was a miniature version of Liliana, her father present more in her magic than her looks. "I would like to introduce you to Irrim, one of my visitors for the weekend."

"Hi," Irrim said, giving Stark a small wave. "I heard you come in the other day, but I didn't want to intrude."

So she'd eavesdropped telepathically because obviously.

[mylandmyrules]

"Hello, Stark, welcome to our house," Nell said with a smile. "Hospitality and safety to you while you're here. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana had considered staying at the mansion that night - no offense meant to Gladio or Nell, but her patience for children was very low and it had been exceeded days ago - but Irrim had very obviously wanted to accompany Ignis. She'd also considered just sending her along with Ignis and enjoying an evening to herself (that sounded woooonderful), but that also felt somehow like admitting defeat and so here she was, in attendance, wondering if she shouldn't have brought several bottles of wine to indulge in.

[sword_chocobro]

Well, it wasn't wine, but how about a novelty Japanese soda with a ball in the neck of it? Gladio was grinning faintly as he offered one (grape, of course) out to her with a nod.

"Lils."

Forget dealing with all the kids, Liliana! Now you had to deal with Gladio!

[mylandmyrules]

"Liliana, glass of wine?" Nell offered. "I have a bottle of Sister Erasmus' and you seem as if you might need a glass. Not that you don't look fabulous, of course, but i've listened to radio."

[blueblackbrat]

For all that Irrim had wanted to accompany Ignis to his friends' house, now that she was here, she found herself oddly shy and hesitant, sticking to her mother's shadow, of all things.

But for all that her mother was an expert in making Irrim feel unwelcome, she knew that she'd raise a fuss worthy of the entire Abyss if someone else did.

[deathsmajesty]

"You're very quiet," Liliana couldn't help but notice. What with how Irrim had suddenly swapped from 'can't get away from you fast enough' to 'suddenly underfoot.' "Do you not want to play with the other children?"

[mylandmyrules]

"Welcome. I'm Nell," she said. "Hospitality and safety to you while you're there. Please make yourself comfortable."

Nell would not tolerate someone be unwelcoming to a guest in her house either.