Monday Night at Nell and Gladio's

[mylandmyrules]

Nell wasn't sure who, if anyone, would be coming tonight after the men's weekend getaway, but she had food stuffs ready to throw together. She'd wanted to bring home some of the daffodils, but given that they were toxic to cats she'd brought home a few sunflowers instead.

And,as usual, once everything was set she settled down with her book to relax a little.

Comments

[sword_chocobro]

Well. There was at least one person who was pretty much a given for tonight, since he lived there, and if he wasn't showing up, they had bigger problems on their hands than a guest list.

Gladio had picked up some...well, distinctly not beer on his way home from his Monday errands and also some lasagna? It was a whole thing with the cat outside the store today, he wasn't sure he wanted to ask too many questions.

When he got in, he made for the kitchen to drop that off and rough-house a few kittens than went rushing for him once he'd opened the door, and then drifted over to where he figured he'd find Nell. And, with a grin that his suspicions were indeed true, he swooped in to give her a kiss before settling down on the couch beside her and craving his neck to get a peek at what she was reading.

"Good one?" he wondered.

[mylandmyrules]

They certainly would! And Nell would be so sad.

She was happy to accept his kiss and give him one back before holding up the book for him to see. "It's okay," she said. "Not as good as some of the suthor's other books, which is a little disappointing, but it's okay."

She stopped and sniffed. "Do I smell lasagna? That's a very odd flavor for a drink."

[sword_chocobro]

"I almost wish it was a lasagna-flavored soda," Gladio remarked with a laugh, but, alas, a cursory Google search pulled up no satisfactory results. And now that Nell's attention was successfully diverted from her book, he dropped an arm around her shoulders to pull her in for optimal couch snuggling. "It's actual lasagna. There was a whole thing with a cat at the store protesting Mondays. No, I have no idea what any of those things have to do with each other, but, hey. Free lasagna. I'll take it."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell made a face at that. "You'd have to drink it all yourself."

But then there was snuggling which she had missed, so she was happy to set her book aside. "Actually the lasagna is perfect. I wasn't sure if the others would be here or if you all had had enough of each other over the weekend, so I didn't make as much as usual.

Of course she'd have easily been able to whip up enough to feed an army - or just three hungry chocobros- if necessary.

"How was your day?"

[sword_chocobro]

"I'm pretty sure I could get Prompto to drink it, too," Gladio snorted with confidence. "But I'm glad I could help. And it's been a good day. Better now." Here, he gave her a shameless smirk and a little squeeze. "Sort of the the same old stuff. How 'bout you? Cover anything interesting in your first aid class?"

[mylandmyrules]

"Bleeding and tourniquets," Nell said. "Rather be here with you."

She gave him a smile and a nudge.

[deathsmajesty]

"Did I hear you got that lasagna from a cat?" Liliana checked.

Honestly, she wasn't even sure why she was surprised.

[sword_chocobro]

"Yup," said Gladio, with a nod, and then a shake of his head because he was kind of still in that surprised-but-not-really phase himself. "Big cranky orange thing hanging out outside of the T&C with a sign about how he hates Mondays."

And, oddly enough, not the weirdest thing he saw outside of the T&C that day, either!

[deathsmajesty]

"And you trust cat lasagna?" Liliana asked, which might be the weirdest thing, honestly.

[sword_chocobro]

"M'pretty sure I've eaten a whole lot worse than cat lasagna before," Gladio pointed out. He sent a look Ignis' way, which had far less to do with the quality of his cooking and way more to do with just seeing if that would get any kind of rise out of Liliana. "Besides....smelled good, looked good, he ate some, too. All passes from me. And if I get sick, then Nell can help nurse me back to health again. Wins all around."

[deathsmajesty]

"I was thinking more about cat fur and dander in my meal," Liliana said, though her eyebrow arched at his look at Ignis. "Though I can only assume you mean over the decade of darkness."

[chef_chocobro]

It seemed as though Ignis' well of cakes to bring over to Nell and Gladio's had not yet died up, even though he was now making two cakes for Monday...one to bring with him, and one to remain at home for other egregious spoiled parties to enjoy at her leisure all on her own.

Sigh. The things one did for love. But at least this would hopefully lead to far less cutthroat competition for last slice.

[mylandmyrules]

This was a cake Nell might actually fight for the last slice of. Not really. She was too good of a hostess, but she might think about it.

"Welcome, Ignis,: she said fondly. "Not sick of all the togetherness after the weekend?"

[chef_chocobro]

Perhaps she wouldn't have to fight for it by sending Gladio to do so instead.

"Shockingly enough, " Ignis said with a faint smile, "it would take a bit more than a single-night fishing trip for us to go weary of each other's company, sometimes for worse as much as for better. And, besides, it may have been nice to have some time for 'just us boys,' as it were, but it was lacking in your company and cooking, which is indeed a highlight to these visits. I trust you've been well? And plenty busy with your plants and bees?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell laughed. "I am glad that you all got a chance to be together away from all the ordinary. ANd you're awful sweet to say that."

The lasagna in the kitchen caught her eye. "Of course, in addition to what I've made we also have lasagna from a cat apparently. As for my plants and bees, they're all thriving, I should have a ton of honey to harvest this year!"

[deathsmajesty]

"I saw the cake you left behind," Liliana purred into his ear, arms coming around him from behind. "And this is why I love you. Well, one of the reasons, I suppose." Her hand slid down his arm to tangle with his.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Not only did Noctra insist on going to Nell and Gladio's in her chocobo outfit, but she also wouldn't leave until Prompto was properly chocobo'd, too.

There was a good chance the only conversation anyone would get out of her today would made of only warks and kwehs,and Prompto wasn't even mad about it. This was, after all, clearly a monster of his own design.

(Which was a vast improvement on the monsters of his father's design, too).

[mylandmyrules]

"Well, wark to you too," Nell said with a cheerful smile for Noctra. "I see I havr two chocobros as dinner guests roday. Come on in!"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Hey, Nell," said Prompto, grinning a little sheepishly, a little apologetically as Noctra trilled out another 'Wark! Wark! Kweh?' and blinked innocent blue eyes around the assembled masses. "Thanks. She's clearly got the chocobo spirit today, and I can't even be mad about it, this is the monster I've created." He chuckled a little fondly and poked Noctra's nose. "Chocobo nugget."

Then, putting his adult face back on, he asked, "How've you been, Nell?"

[mylandmyrules]

"I'm good," Nell said. "Glad to have Gladio back, but also glad that he got to get away with you guys."

She turned to Noctra. "Wark, Kweh! I'm afraid I'm no chocobo, but I'm glad to see you."

[deathsmajesty]

Perhaps Noctra was eager to show off her chocobo outfit. Perhaps she was eager to see what pretty jewelry Liliana would offer up. But either way, she wandered over to babble at Liliana. Luckily for the girl, Liliana was at loose ends at the moment, and was willing to listen to her with grave attention.

"I see," she said, and, with a rustle of silk, leaned down to pick Noctra up so they could continue their conversation as a more respectable height. "Mmmm, chocobos are all well and good, but don't discount horses until you've ridden one, sweeting. Regardless of what your father and uncles tell you. Trust me, I have excellent taste."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Spoken like someone who's never ridden a chocobo before," Prompto said, with a chuckle, after watching this all fall into place with a little cautious curiosity and letting Noctra wark and kweh at Liliana a bit before coming over. "Guess we'll have to see how she feels when she's old enough to ride either, but I will point out, she's not insisting on going anywhere dressed as a horse..."

[deathsmajesty]

"Of course not, not with Daddy's insistence that there's nothing better," Liliana sniffed. "She hasn't had a chance to appreciate a good pony."

She glanced over to Noctra thoughtfully. "Another few months, sweeting, before you're old enough to ride with me, I think."

And then she seemed to notice that she was holding her and looked to Prompto to see if he wished to take her back. Ahem. "...Assuming your parents allow for it, of course," she added hastily.

[deathsmajesty]

Much of Liliana's good mood from the weekend remained on Monday, perhaps even heightened considering how Sunday had progressed. So she swept into the apartment all smiles.


"Hello, Nell dear," Liliana said. "Are you quite recovered from the fright I gave you?"

[mylandmyrules]

"Yes," Nell said with a rueful smile. "And now I know to check any wayward middle of the night text I get from you before panicking." Be careful, Liliana. An important text might go unchecked for a bit now. Oh, who are we kidding? This was Nell!

[deathsmajesty]

Somehow Liliana didn't seem overly concerned about that terrible outcome. "Sorry, dear, but I hadn't thought about what time it was or how such a thing might be taken. I simply saw and responded so you wouldn't worry."

Or assume the worst and tattle.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell laughed. "Well, all's well that ends well."

Or have her show up and make you eat.

[deathsmajesty]

Pffft, Liliana had been down in her workshop. Nell would have shown up and had to wait when she came back up. On the plus side, that was when she was most likely to be hungry, so hey!

"So did Ignis ask you to keep an eye out for me?" she asked.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell raised an eyebrow. "Ignis? No. I thought it up all by my ownself."

She had. Though it was possible Ignis might have asked her if he'd thought of it.

"You're my friend, Liliana. I know you don't always remember to eat and thought I'd check on you."

[deathsmajesty]

"He threatened once," she said. "It's different when someone checks in of their own volition." And then she pouted sighed. "Physical bodies were a mistake."

[mylandmyrules]

That got a laugh. "There are days when I would definitely agree with you. But there are others - most days - when I rather like having a body."

[deathsmajesty]

"Bodies that aren't projections of your own will given form by magic," Liliana amended. "Where you could eat and sleep and...partake in other physical enjoyments, but didn't require obnoxious upkeep and maintenance and were immune to things like 'aging' and even most 'deaths' because that simply wasn't how you saw yourself."

[mylandmyrules]

"I suppose," Nell said, "Though I guess I'm one of those 'to everything there is a season' people. I could do without the aches and pains of getting old, but I don't think I would want to live forever."

[deathsmajesty]

"I suppose that is where we disagree, dear one," Liliana said. "I didn't rest until I regained my immortality. And my youth as well, because an eternity as an ancient crime didn't suit me, either."

Unlike some people, Grandmother Sengir.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell smiled at her. "Then I hope you'll remember me fondly when I'm gone."

[deathsmajesty]

There was a moment, less even than an eyeblink, where Nell could spot a deep and abiding grief within Liliana.

"Of course I will, my dear," she said. "I shall raise a glass in your honor every year. Well, most years. I've lost a few years every now and again in my work."

[mylandmyrules]

"And I shall watch over you from the other side," Nell said with a soft smile.

[deathsmajesty]

"I kicked down the barrier to heaven recently to shove a spirit in there," she said idly. "I'm sure your transmission will go more smoothly."

She still didn't really understand all of what that meant, but she'd talked to Nell enough to get that much.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell shrugged a little uncomfortably. "Not sure I'm gonna make it to heaven," she said. "Pretty sure I'm not actually."

God frowned on murder. At least Nell's god did.

[deathsmajesty]

"Why?" Liliana asked, since she didn't have much of a bar for what getting into heaven entailed anyway.

[mylandmyrules]

"He's... pretty strict on his commandments," Nell said. "And I haven't actually kept them all."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana raised an eyebrow. "Well, what are these commandments that are so all-important?" she asked.

Try and catch a god telling her what to do.

[mylandmyrules]

"There's prob'ly three of the ten," Nell said, "But the main one is the one about not murdering people."

Yes, even if the few who knew about it said it was self-defense, she wasn't so sure God cared about that.

[deathsmajesty]

Then this god was even more of an asshole than they sounded like, if anyone was unsure about Liliana's not-at-all humble opinion.

"Well, I'm out," Liliana said with a shrug. "Though, dear one, a god that sees things only in black and white with no shades of gray is hardly one worth the worship."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell sighed. "I have a difficult relationship with him anyhow, seeing what the people of God's Cloud of Glory do in his name, but still."

[deathsmajesty]

"Why does what they do in his name have anything to do with what you think of him? I have a whole cu--" Liliana stopped, blinked, frowned. Then her eyes widened fractionally and she shook her head. "People will attach themselves to anything. Who says he even knows about them?"

[mylandmyrules]

"I was brought up to believe that what the Church said was the Word of God," Nell said quietly. "But some of them are definitely not good people, so if God approves of the things they do and have done..."

She shrugged.

Especially some of the things they'd done or tried to do to her.

[deathsmajesty]

"Many people say things," Liliana said gently. "If you hadn't met these people through the Church, would you believe the things they had to say? Would you so much trust them to tell you what's good for breakfast?"

[mylandmyrules]

It's so much harder when they're family.

"They... aren't all bad." She had a hard time looking up. "But no."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana was most certainly not ready to discuss family.

"People don't have to be good or bad to be worthy or not of trust," she pointed. "Especially not trust in that they are speaking for God." Liliana laughed lightly. "My dear, I hope you don't think I'm all bad and hope even more that you wouldn't trust me to speak for a god. And you've love Gladio and the same."

She shook her head. "They have been cultivating your mind with these beliefs since before you were old enough to realize that your mind was a garden. That doesn't mean they were planting anything but weeds and noxious plants. It's your garden, little woods witch. And you can plant those things you wish and remove what it is you do not. The trick is choosing to go in and do the dirty work of removing them, rather than passively accepting their presence."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell had spent a great deal of time considering all of this and there was just too much to unpack at a dinner gathering, especially since so much of what was still uncertain in her mind, so she simply nodded. "It's a lot to consider."

[deathsmajesty]

"Indeed," Liliana said with an incline of her head. "A lengthy process, regardless."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell, who had just begun the process of wading through a book about cults and the psychological damage done by them, could only agree.

"At least weeding my actual garden is easier," Nell said, "And the weeds are real easy to pick out."

[deathsmajesty]

"I think I might make myself a greenhouse, once we finish the grounds," Liliana mused. "I raised flowers once, on Lorwyn. It would be nice to raise them here, too, now that I know I can."

[mylandmyrules]

"I'd be glad to help out in any way you need," Nell said with a smile.

[deathsmajesty]

"I will be sure to consult with you once I get that far," Liliana said. "I haven't a fairy staff to assist me this time."