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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [11/07].

Ignis truly did love his job here at the diner, especially so after his brief stint with the Chain that Shall Not Be Mentioned, but he found it incredibly difficult to actually bring himself in for his weekly shift that Tuesday. Granted, once he was actually there and started to consider what ingredients they had on hand to start weaving together some specials for the day, that all changed and he found himself incredibly wrapped up in the work and the satisfaction it gave him, but there was certainly quite the moment before walking through the door that he considered what a slog the day might feel like.

As soon as he got actually working, though, that concern dissipated quickly, as he sought to challenge both himself and his coworkers with some newer dishes inspired by a particular citrus. For no reason, really.

Today's Specials

Chili Lime Butter Roasted Chicken with Coleslaw
Black Bean Tacos with Vegan Lime Crema
Lemon-Lime Ricotta Poundcake

Luke's is open!

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How easily~~cuddly~~ sleeping necromancers were forgotten in favor of a few bushels of fruit or whatever.

The Good Sweater^TM had been remanded back into Ignis' custody over Homecoming Weekend, but Liliana'd had no compunctions about liberating it from his closet upon awakening the second time that mor--day. Which Ignis would likely discover a few moments after Liliana sauntered into the diner well after normal hours of lunch.

Her usual mulberry and cedar scent was muted by the scent of his soap, but she also carried with her the scent of deep, rich coffee. "Hello, my darling," she said, reaching for his hand to lace her fingers through his. "I have a gift for you."

Yes, he worked in a diner and could have coffee whenever he wanted. That didn't stop her from handing over a cup of the Perk's darkest, richest roast.

Ah, and what a good thing it was that Ignis had two hands, because to make him have to choose between his fingers wrapped in Liliana's or wrapped around a good, strong cup of coffee would be a particularly harsh bit of cruelty. Though rationality would certainly propose that, while his day thus far had included many cups in the past few hours, it was, distinctly, absent of her hand.

Certainly not forgotten. Merely...refocused.

And when she was there near him, beside him, he breathed in deeply, a faint smile playing in the corner of his mouth at the game of sorting through all these subtle differences from what was expected, all at the same time competing for dominance over that all-powerful call of the roast.

"And to what do I owe," he asked, with a squeeze of her hand to use it as an anchor by which to determine where everything else would be placed from there, so that he may find his way to her lips as he leaned in to kiss her, though, by now, his confidence in hitting that mark was quite assured, "this inordinate bestowment?"

"I stopped by the Perk at the beginning of my peregrinations," Liliana said, "and thought that you might appreciate a cup you didn't have to brew yourself."

Which then gave her an excellent reason to stop by the diner for lunch. She wasn't doing it for herself, obviously, but to deliver a gift. And then clearly needed to stay and eat, since Ignis got so finicky about whether or not she'd eaten recently.

"I would say it's an apology for interfering with your baking yesterday, but I must confess, my darling..." She leaned in to whisper a truly shocking revelation. "I'm not a bit sorry."

And didn't make a habit of apologizing for things anyway.

Ignis would truly find Liliana's eating habits far more depressing if it didn't give him such a perfect chance to be both opportunistic and fussy, really.

"They were likely to be terribly uninspired muffins, anyway," he informed her, "had you not so conveniently intervened, so I daresay you may have been doing me quite the favor. Perhaps I am the one that owes you the coffee."

It was a delightful coincidence how well her (one, singular) flaw interacted so nicely with his love language and need to fuss, wasn't it?

"I don't believe anything you make would deserve the moniker 'uninspired,'" Liliana tsked, much the same way she'd remonstrated with him on Olivia's settee. "Though I'm certainly not going to argue if you decided that my interference deserves a surprise coffee sometime." She gave him a crooked smile, voice laced with suggestive amusement as she added, "I find I enjoy your surprises very much."

"And you, Liliana," Ignis informed her, punctuating that entirely egregious emphasis on her name with another kiss, one meant to be just a short, brief thing, but he should know by now such a thing simply could not exist, "are an absolute delight to surprise.

"That settles it, then." It was a slight shift, from that soft fondness to firm decision, as if the matter he was about to declare so finalize had been something they'd been hemming and hawing over in the span of several indecisive hours and not a mere fleeting minutes. With coffee ans hand in hand, he couldn't very well snap, but it was instead there in his voice. "Because while this week's specials are all quite spectacular, if I do say so myself, I realize now I simply must surprise you with something else. Assuming, of course, you've the time to spare while I whip you up something?"

She absolutely nipped his lip when he drew away. He knew what he did.

And because of his unrepentant criminality, she had no compunctions about hemming a moment, "Well, I did just have a chocolate croissant at the Perk...they even warmed it up after removing it from the package for me!"

You chose this, Ignis. Voluntarily.

Was that a faint twitch in Ignis' usual, tightly-composed countenance, in the corner of his mouth with that already barely-there smile? And what of the faintly offended grunt that he tried to smooth out into a mere, deeply thoughtful hum?

"Then I certainly will have my work cut out for me," he murmured dryly, "if I should even hope to reach a culinary bar set so high."

And if there was any more proof, any more evidence needed to point to the fact that this man truly did have an absolutely unavoidable masochistic streak, he failed to win the argument with himself that would have prevented the next question from tumbling, tragically, from his lips:

"Microwaved or toaster oven?"

"There's a difference?" Liliana asked innocently. "What's the big, boxy one that beeps?"

There was a sharp intake of breath, though Ignis did try to dull the edges a little by letting it out as a tiny sigh.

"Did it make more of a soft whurring sound, or was it--" He cut himself off, shaking his head slightly. "Nevermind. It doesn't matter."

All the mattered was that this great injustice was set right, and he was already feeling an inspiration and a need to make amends by his own deft hand.

He leaned in for another kiss, this time on Liliana's cheek. "I suppose that should do well enough to tide you over while I work on something far more...worthy of your palate, darling. If you're in not great hurry."

He might have noticed the dimple that was quite prominent in that cheek when he kissed it, though she could have been smiling for a number of reasons - for example, getting a kiss.

"For you, I have nothing but time," she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear, angling her face to press a kiss to his own cheek before he pulled back completely.

She took several steps over towards 'her' table before she turned and added, "To answer your question, my darling, it whurred."

She was just such a helper.

Oh, truly, only the most helpful.

Some retort almost slipped out unbidden, but Ignis stopped, bit it back with a firmed jaw, a quirk of his head, and a very tight smile. "I'm sure it was still just a lovely," he then allowed, "all warmed on the outside yet still quite cold in the very middle, too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd best get to work."

Before he'd lost Liliana entirely to the plague that was convenience foods.

That cold smile melted significantly into one warmer one before he nodded her way and disappeared into the kitchen. He sent one of the other staff members out to bring Liliana a water, or anything else she might like to sip or snack on in the meantime, since, despite what a microwave may tell you, good things did often require a bit more time...

But he did emerge eventually, bearing two plates of chocolate and coffee rubbed steaks served over a mushroom polenta with grilled asparagus.

"I was due for a break," he said, setting the plates down and sliding into the seat across from her, "so I hope you don't mind an extra side of company, compliments of the chef."

And the nice, proper croissant would follow later.

She blew him a kiss as he went, trusting in the the slight smack of her lips against her fingers and puff of air to send it along to communicate the gesture efficiently.

"Mind?" Liliana asked. "Why else would I arrive so late in the day, but to ensure that you could go on break and have lunch with me?" Her legs slid forward, tangling their ankles together. Such a small, silly thing, to be sure but she just...

Parched earth needed rain.

She still sounded arch and amused when she spoke, but no longer teasing. "This smells amazing, darling. Thank you."

Ignis ducked his head in a small bow of deference, though the pleased, smug smile on his face was evident. "Well, it's no microwaved croissant from a package," he said, because, no, he would not let the croissant go, have you met this man?, "but it will have to do."

His leg nudged against hers.

"And I figured the hour," he mused, "was more aligned with your sleeping schedule than my break schedule."

That's fine, because every time he brought it up, it just made Liliana grin harder. "Don't worry, love, I'm sure it's just as good," she assured him brightly.

"And I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," she added. "I'm sure I would never disrespect the house of early morning runs by doing anything so gauche as sleeping in."

The withering nature of Ignis' expression in response to that, though coupled with a faint sound with the click of his tongue, was tempered only by the fact that he really had brought that one on himself.

"I'll have to keep that in mind," he stated, "the next time I wish to leave you treats..."

Which would be stronger, then? His pettiness to prove a point, or his anathema at the idea of willingly subjecting substandard snacks into her diet? Only time will tell.

"Especially since," he added, with another nod of his head, "you are clearly the very perfect picture of a model houseguest. So how, then, has your morning been spent, if not lazing about and greeting the day at noon?"

You really had, darling. And they were both so wrapped up in the subject of microwaved treats that Liliana's slip of the tongue went unnoticed - orz at least unremarked upon - by either.

"Oh, you know, the usual morning productivity," Liliana lied gaily, handing over the keys to her own destruction without a second thought. "Got up, went for a run - we must have just missed each other - did... workout things...in the gymnasium, visited sick orphans and held their little hands while telling stories..."

A task she was clearly good at, though she apparently tended towards the wildly (wildly) fantastical.

Edited 2023-11-08 12:01 (UTC)

They both had speech patterns that lent themselves to very casually-but-not-casually bandy about certain words or epithets, and none of them, at least for Ignis, had gone unnoticed. But once could be a mere slip of the tongue, an old habit, an affectation. Sure nothing worthy of acknowledgement.

Surely.

In fact, he was more apt to react to workout things with a clear expression of amusement than anything that clearly only lent itself to enhance the musical cadence of one's lilting speech and little more.

"I do regret that I have no had time to spare for the orphans today," he mused, with a sip of his n^th cup of coffee that day. "Thank goodness you were able to make some. But such a productive morning, you must be exhausted, my dear."

A slip of the tongue indeed. Liliana was quite deliberate in which endearment was used for whom and would have been quite cross to have noticed an unauthorized 'love' sneak out between her teeth.

Fortunately, she was so tickled by her own teasing, she'd missed the verbal jailbreak and remained none the wiser. Though would absolutely have agreed that such a thing had simply been affectation, nothing more.

"Those poor darlings did weep over your absence, it's true," Lilliana said with a mournful shake of her head. "You'll have to make it up to them by sending me with a full complement of baked goods sometime. To bring to them. Obviously."

Otherwise, she would be forced to subject them to prepackaged, microwave croissants, and weren't their little lives already hard enough, Ignis?

"All that productivity is quite wearying, it's true, but I must persevere. I believe naps might also be the enemy of the house."

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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [11/07].

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