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?"

[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!"

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.