My Land, My Rules

No new/old Eosian products on Turtle & Canary's shelves that week that Gladio could spot, but he did spot a drink that he might start considering carrying at the gym here soon, instead, so it seemed like the obvious choice to bring home with him to try this week.

And the nice thing about Nell having gone this route with the food for tonight was that it made it super easy for him to snag a few bites of fruits and cold cuts from the fridge to tide him over on the long journey over to join Nell wherever she'd decided to rest until people showed up.

"Good day?" he asked, leaning in to kiss her hello before settling in next to her with the usual grunt.

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"A productive day at least," Nell said after returning his kiss and making space for him to sit next to her. "Cleaned out years worth of old stuff at the store. Who strips thorns off roses and saves them in a box at the very back of an old storage closet?"

She shook her head. "I threw out so much crazy stuff."

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"Someone pretty forgetful," Gladio mused with a snort, "that's probably who. And now you gotta know I'm gonna want to know about some of the crazy stuff you tossed."

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"Thorns, of course," Nell said with a smile. "Two boxes of pamphlets from some show someone did like ten years ago. I can't tell you how many old catalogs for ordering flowers and ribbons and cards... And all of it just covered in years of dust and glitter and heaven only knows what "

She shuddered. "I was in the shower forever when I got home. But, the shop looks beautiful now "

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"Clean enough to eat off of, I'll bet," Gladio said, chuckling faintly, giving Nell's shoulders a well-esrned squeeze and a kiss on her forehead. "You wanna stick around tomorrow and do the gym next?"

The gym was fine, they had lots of NPCs for that kind of thing, really.

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Nell rolled her eyes at him. "I think I'll leave that to you. And the gremlins, maybe."

She leaned into him, resting comfortably in the crook of his arm. "If I'd had any idea what a disaster those back cabinets were, I'd have cleaned them ages ago, but I never needed to go into them."

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Trying to tell us something, Beefslab?" Liliana drawled, holding up the bottle.

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"Well, that depends, Lils," said Gladio, the smirk on his face about as far from apologetic as it could get, as he lifted a brow. "You break a sweat trying to lift it?"

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Listen, everyone had to have a dump stat, and why would a wizard choose anything but strength. That's why servants had been invented.

"I am a delicate and fragile flower, you know," she said. "Prone to swooning."

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That lifted brow was going to linger a little longer while Gladio seemed to be checking if that was really the angle someone whose blood he'd had to help clean from the carpet of his old apartment wanted to go for.

"I'll be sure to send some home with Igs for you, then," he concluded with a snort. "Can't always rely on just cardio."

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If it helped, she did not seem to be trying to sell it at all. If anything, the curl of her lips suggested she knew very well it was bullshit, but it was entertaining bullshit.

"You're going to need to support your thesis, darling. I've done quite well for myself by simply relying on cardio."

And, you know. Zombie servitors.

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You know that look? About the whole blood on the carpet thing?

Yeah, not buying that one all too willingly, either, although he supposed if she had made it this far...

"Uh-huh," he said doubtful. "How 'bout don't knock it til you try it? And then you can knock it all day because you'll have the muscles to back it up."

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Look, the whole 'and then all her blood fell out' thing was new. And muscles weren't going to help her there.

"Mmmm," she said noncommittally. "I don't think brawny is really the look I'm going for."

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chef_chocobro

After a few weeks of just getting caught up in things and letting a visit fall through the cracks a bit, Ignis was determined not only to make an appearance at Nell and Gladio's tonight, but he was also going to ensure that he brought a little extra for the hosts (well, one host in particular in mind, if he was honest), as well as his usual offering of dessert.

Which, for the record, he would like to state really was more of a cake than a bread, but anyway...

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"Oh, those smell wonderful!" Nell said. "Welcome, Ignis. I mostly went with fruits and sandwich makings given the heat, so those will be a lovely addition."

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chef_chocobro

"Thank you, Nell," said Ignis, smiling faintly as he nodded. "That does sounds like a wise direction to go this evening, considering the weather conditions. I trust the lemon feta dipping sauce for the skewers will also have a similarly cooling effect. And, as for the bread...well...let's just say I hoped to put a few bananas that were quickly heading toward spoiling to good use."

Hoped was the operative word there. Let's just kindly ignore that the bananas intended for that purpose had to be replaced with new ones regardless, courtesy of a mind terribly distracted by....earlier conversations.

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"Always the best use for old bananas," Nell said with a grin. "The most delicious anyway."

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hashtag_chocobro

It was always a good time when ~~the player actually had the chance~~ everything worked out that they could head out over to Nell and Gladio's on a Monday, so Prompto was pretty pleased to have made it tonight. Not really as pleased at Noctra, who was very excited that they'd had enough time between classes and coming over to finish up a very impressive little book of mostly green squiggles that was supposed to be a book of plants for Aunt Nell. Sure, every single one of those plants, from a tree to a dandelion to a rose looked almost indistinguishable from the other with the exception of the colors used (and the exception of the last page, in which a gladiolus took a more person-shaped form in mostly black), but there was some really good talent on display there! And she was so excited to show it off that she was flopping it eagerly in her hand the whole way over and up the steps to the apartment.

"She's in a big artist phase at the moment," Prompto was more than happy to explain further, practically bursting with pride over the whole thing, really.

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"Oh my!" Nell tucked her skirts under her and settled down on the floor next to Noctra. "Is this for me? Look at all those beautiful plants! Tell me all about them, sweetheart."

Sorry, gentlemen. You'll have to fend for yourselves for a bit.

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hashtag_chocobro

Oh nooooo, what was Prompto going to do? A chance to socialize and interact with people whose ages were (at least) in thr double digits for a change? Whatever would he do with such a turn of fate?

There was a moment of making sure everything was good with either of them before he was convinced they were both pretty engaged, nodded, and went to go see what weird drink Gladio brought this week for a moment. He'd be back soon, but if battle had taught him anything, it was how to seize a gap of opportunity!

Noctra, of course, was more than happy to explain what was what, in terms about as fuzzy as the drawings themselves, but you could pick out the Oses and Biwwies and Oibin Iby (that one got a scary bad growl!) if you knew where to look for them!

The Eyacks were her current favorite.

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Nell nodded and smiled as Noctra 'explained' her drawings. "Lilacs? Those are some of my favorites, too! Nice choice!"

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Liliana looked over the picture book gravely. "Mmm. Is there a lily there, perhaps?"

Not a Lili. Never a Lili. But a lily? Acceptable.

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hashtag_chocobro

"Well, Noctra?" Prompto promptoEd, with a nod and a little nudge to his daughter in his arms. "Can you show Liliana the lily?"

Noctra blinked for a moment before giving an excited sound of recognition, bobbing her head, and flipping through the pages to proudly show off a splatter of green, purple and black scribbles.

"Biwwy!" she declares triumphantly, holding it (shaking it really) out at Liliana.

But Prompto looked a little skeptical and confused. "Are you sure? I thought those were the orchids."

"No," Noctra insisted,with a confident lift of her chin. "They're biwwies."

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Liliana wasn't particularly fluent in toddler babble, but context clues were incredibly useful and so she had no problems affixing Prompto with a playfully superior look and sniffing, "Obviously those are lilies. Orchids are hardly so regal. Very good, sweeting," she added, giving Noctra soft tap on the nose - anyone who called it a boop would be flayed - "Your horticultural knowledge is quite advanced for your age. Is it about time you started helping out Nell in her shop?"

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Ignis had reminded Liliana that is was Monday and that it had been several weeks since they had made their appearance at dinner. Liliana hadn't believed it had been quite that long, but then, she'd never been the best at keeping track of time, even when she'd been mortal.

Well, time to return with an entrance. "I'm here!" she called gaily. "You're welcome!"

[This is, in fact, a canon line from the MTG battle arena game and I love this for her and me.]

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Nell laughed. "And we're ever so grateful!"

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"I thought you might be," Liliana said, pleased by the reply and smug at having earned it. By being Liliana Vess, of course. "Apologies for missing the last...few?" She honestly had no idea at this point. "It's a matter of personal pride that I don't allow calendars to boss me around."

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"Not to worry," Nell said. "Gladio and I were fine with a few quiet evenings to ourselves. And it's not as if the food went to waste."

She smiled fondly at Gladio across the room. "That is never a problem."

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"I believe it," Liliana said, with a laugh. "So then what have you been up to dear one?"

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"Oh, the usual," Nell said. "Work at the two shops, classes, my daily runs. Oh! I went back and visited Lana's warrior women the other day."

That had been a day. Nell smiled, thinking about it. "I came back tired and sore and bruised, but they were impressed with my progress. They think Gladio's been good for me."

And she laughed. "And they're right, of course."

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"Lana's warrior women?"

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