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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [11/14].

Ignis was, of course, as always brewing exceptional coffee the diner, but the hot beverage that Ignis was taking grateful sips of through the day was quite different than what he was serving the general public. The roast was, admittedly, a bit lighter than his usual preference, but he was finding that, what it lacked in boldness, it made up for in complexity, which meant that it had a subtle way of asserting itself in very surprising ways. The subtly of the flavors was rather ironic, considering the source, and he couldn't help but wonder if the cedar notes dancing on his tongue along with the melange of spices was something his palate in particular might be more finely tuned towards.

He should call her, he thought, as he sipped from another freshly made cup from what he'd brought with him. He probably should have responded right when he got home from Nell's last night and found the box there waiting for him among his pillows, while contemplating how to decipher the message left for him. Well, that certainly took some of the guess work out, didn't it? But there'd been some....distance, this last week, either of them engaged in one thing or another, and he tried to convince himself that that distance was probably beneficial to the both of them, really, but he had to admit, his arguments weren't terribly convincing.

After work, then, he would, or perhaps, better yet, whip something up to thank Liliana for the excellent gift and just invite himself over, perhaps even poke around her kitchen (and her wine cellar) to see how long it would take for her to notice he was even there...

An amusing thought, one that certainly gained more momentum and left him quite a bit distracted, but, well, his days were usually pretty slow here, anyway. It was a good way to pass the time.

Today's Specials

Coffee-Rubbed Chicken Sandwich with Garlic Rosemary Potato Wedges
Sticky Coffee Tofu with Mushroom Broccoli Rice
Cedar-Wrapped Bananas Foster with Biscuits and Rum Sauce

Luke's is open!

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He hadn't called.

Not to say thank you, not to say hello, not even to ask her what she was talking about. For all Liliana knew, the gift was right where she'd left it and Ignis had pitched over the side of the pier. That certainly seemed just as likely as her usually very etiquette-minded lover (an acceptable noun, designated by particular activities and nothing further) not even returning a thank you text in acknowledgement.

Of course, walking by Luke's and seeing the specials - not that she was looking, mind you - put paid to the idea that he'd undergone some pier-related incident and likely the possibility that something had happened to his coffee before he found it. Well. That was interesting, wasn't it? Fine and interesting. Interesting and fine.

This building was eminently rottable, she noticed for no reason.

Not that she would. Liliana Vess didn't make a scene over men. In fact, she was going to continue her walk to the park with Josu and ignore anything that wasn't her beloved cat chasing falling leaves and chasing the wildlife. Perhaps she would order a lunch delivery there. Or perhaps she'd skip lunch altogether; she found herself utterly uninterested in food at the moment.

The same, sadly, could not be said for Josu, who was entirely too clever. Perhaps it was the scent of coffee. Perhaps he just recognized the building. Either way, he was flinging himself free of her arms and making a dash for the place where he'd been given fish once and therefore might again.

"Josu!" Liliana cried. "Josu, no!" She gave chase, likely making a ~~ridiculous~~ merry picture for the watching squirrels, managing to scoop him up right outside the building, having been stymied by the door. "Absolutely not," she scolded. "You have plenty of fish at home! Which is, in fact, where we're going since you've decided not to behave."

Liliana had no intention of stepping into any diners today, thanks much, regardless of what her cat wanted.

...Her voice, on the other hand, was a different story.

Edited 2023-11-14 13:47 (UTC)

Ignis was, at this point, quite deep into both his own contemplations and his current cup of coffee, beginning to speculate that perhaps cooking something to leave as a response to her gift yesterday was becoming a bit rote and predictable. Perhaps he should swing by Pick your Poison, go the direction of some bath items that would be no less appreciated but significantly more unexpected, and getting that to its logical location presented a bit of an exciting challenge that he would find mos--

It was at that moment that Ignis realized that someone (Greg, it would seem, by the unapologetic miasma of patchouli that had now entered his olfactory awareness) was nudging him with an elbow.

"Yes, Greg?" he asked, a bit peevish and terse over the interruption. "What is it? You know I can't see where you're pointing."

"Your girlfriend's outside," he offered, much more helpfully. "Arguing with her cat."

"I don't have a gir--" The protest bubbled out of Ignis automatically, before the words really processed, but once they had, he stopped short of what he was saying and instead refocused his hearing, past the sounds of the kitchen and the not-very-busy diner, aiming for beyond the walls, but discovering them a bit too sturdy to give him much more than familiar tones and cadences frustratingly muffled.

But no matter, all he had to do was wait a moment for her inevitable entrance...

But when that expected chime from the opening of the door did not follow in die time, Ignis frowned, a moment of disquiet settling over him.

"Is she not coming in?" he asked, with worry lacing the words like fine cobwebs.

"Nope," Greg dutifully reported. "Looks like she's walking away."

"Why would she--" Once again, Ignis started, then stopped, this time to shift his focus to the complicated series of events and scenarios laid out like algorithims and equations, working their way to an answer to his own question.

And all results pointed to one terrible conclusion, resulting in quite possibly the most prim, the most proper "Well, fuck me" ever uttered before.

Without wasting another moment, he swiftly, expertly vaulted over the counter (easily the most direct path, with far less chance of some hapless busboy ending up in the way) and headed for the door, with no intention of stopping there, either.

"Liliana!" he called out after her. "Wait just a moment!"

"Liliana! Wait just a moment!"

Liliana debated continuing to walk. She didn't make a scene over men, nor was she beholden to them. If she wanted to walk, she would walk, and she would continue walking until she wished to stop.

... However, she could also acknowledge that that would be a very petty response and while she was absolutely more than willing to be petty, the internal calculations she was constantly doing in regards to the effect of any given action on her own pride insisted that this was not the best time for such overt pettiness.

So she stopped. Even turned around. Raised an eyebrow ever-so-slightly. "Yes?" she replied, sounding calm. Detached. Polite. "Can I help you, Ignis?"

Edited 2023-11-14 16:40 (UTC)

And had Liliana elected to continue, Ignis would have kept running after her, until his long stride allowed him to outpace her measured steps or she realized the futility, as he had no intention of stopping until he'd caught up to her. Even if it meant having to manifest the ability to planeswalk out of sheer stubborn will alone.

Thankfully, it didn't have to come to that, as he all but skitted to a halt before her when she did stop, and slightly turn, and lift her eyebrow in a way that he could feel in her voice.

And, for once, he hadn't planned far enough ahead to strategize what to do once he did catch her; the catching was the only thing that mattered. And now that he had, he realized there had been no need to plan or plot or anything, because it was clear to him that there was only one thing to be done.

There was a moment for Ignis to catch his breath, because he going to need every bit of it he could muster for his attempt to answer that question with an arm around her to pull her that slight bit more toward him (mindful of the cat, of course) and a kiss with every bit as much determination as he'd intended to pour into his pursuit.

Oh.

Well.

It was a very good kiss, now wasn't it? Not enough to melt through the ice of her high dudgeon and cause her to free a hand from Josu to reach for him instead, but enough to perhaps thaw it a little, perfect posture unbending enough to allow her to sway forward and give him her mouth more fully. Something more like a 'medium dudgeon,' perhaps; an acknowledgement that she was more pleased than not that he hadn't pitched over a pier, regardless of how satisfying it had been to imagine herself doing the pitching.

And as the kiss wound to its inevitable conclusion, her teeth found his lower lip as they so often did, but this time, instead of a playful nip, they delivered a proper bite, the sting serving as a warning that he had not reached clear waters yet.

"Do not think," she murmured, voice warm and husky, the polite detachment having been transmuted into an edge, "that a kiss will always be so effective."

Edited 2023-11-14 18:13 (UTC)

Perhaps it was foolishness. Perhaps it was merely the adrenaline borne from finding oneself so close to fumbling over such a devastatingly treacherous ledge. Or perhaps it was just that ever-present thing looming over them that neither dared to even acknowledge, much less utter the name of, but Ignis found himself, wildly, grinning in his relief that his gamble had paid off.

Well.

That it hadn't been nearly as bad as it could have been, which he felt was a success in and of itself.

"I haven't had the chance to thank you properly for your gift from yesterday yet," he murmured, so low and quiet it was a good thing they were so close still that she might hear it, "so I had to take drastic measures."

"Yes, whatever did happen to your phone, darling?" she asked, voice tart as key lines even as her expression was drawn into one of exaggerated concern. "Did something tragic befall it over the last week?"

Big words for someone who didn't even have one six weeks ago, Liliana.

"Indeed," Ignis countered, "an almost unbearable silence. Up until, that is, yesterday, but by the time I was able to ascertain the meaning of your intriguing riddle, my dear, it was quite late, and I had work in the morning."

He had already resigned himself to bend, and even break, for this woman a million times over in most circumstances, but he was certainly not about to apologize for standing by the importance of a good night's sleep.

"I was working on something, you know," he added, softer now, and with enough wisdom to know that adding a chiding suggestion that perhaps she be more patient would not likely help his case in this instance.

A good night's sleep? Ignis, were you even listening to yourself? You knew Liliana didn't know the meaning of those words in that particular order.

Though, hmm. He did, she begrudgingly noted, have a point about the two-way silence. Not that she was going to apologize for it. Or even acknowledge it, save by allowing, "I suppose it is possible that, had you called, I would have attempted to lure you from the comforts of your bed and into mine."

She had, it should be noted, progressed into something approximating 'low dudgeon' by this point. Though had he been less wise, that easily would have skyrocketed right back up. Instead, she did free a hand, resulting in a mmmrble from Josu, and raise it to his face. "Are you sure you need to work so hard?" she murmured.

Should anyone be seeking proof positive of just how utterly besotted this man had become, they need not look further than the fact that he found the suggestion the his singular day of employment be even remotely 'so hard' charming instead of just patently absurd.

(If, indeed, it was even his job she was referring to in the first place).

Or perhaps even just the way he leaned his face into that hand as if it and it alone was the only thing keeping him standing, the way his hand moved to cover hers to better ensure that anchor stayed in place. That might do it, too.

"Rest assured," he sighed, "if I were to have responded last night, there would be barely anything you could have done to keep me away."

It could only have been his job she was referring to! What else could she have been saying without saying? That he needn't have been working on something for her? That his thanks - that his presence - were appreciation enough, especially for such a simple gift? Of course not. Even more patently absurd than a strenuous single day of employment. It was far more likely that the wealthy and spoiled woman before him simply couldn't fathom a full day's labor as anything other than exhausting.

"Who says I would have tried?" she asked softly. "Perhaps it was only because I didn't wish to discover which of the two of us would claim the lion's share of your attention that I wasn't lying gift-wrapped amongst your pillows as well."

Edited 2023-11-14 21:43 (UTC)

"As if there could ever be any contest," said Ignis, fully aware of the fact that this still did not illuminate enough to burn away any persistent shadow of a doubt, but perhaps the way he turned his head just enough to press a kiss lightly against Liliana's fingertips, against the palm of her hand would help.

"Come back to the diner with me?" he then offered. "I know we usually eschew the specials, but the dessert today truly is quite exceptional and not to be missed. I've also brought some of your gift with me, but I rather think I've had my fair share of keeping it all to myself. It might be time to see how it sits in better company...and a better location."

What could she say? She knew how much you love coffee/I>, Ignis.

"You will be once more required to make fish," she warned. "Josu tried to run into the diner earlier, the cheeky little begger."

At his name, Josu let out a loud, self-satisfied meow, looking for all the world like the king of it. Meanwhile, Liliana's hand fell from his cheek, angling her body to fall into step with once they started walking.

"...How did you know to come after me?"

It certainly would be a very fair assumption to think that having to choose would inspire at least a little bit of turmoil-related sweat on Ignis' part, but, at the same time, he'd never skipped out on a lavish free vacation just to come drunkenly knocking at coffee's door in the middle of the night yet, had he?

"I'm sure something," Ignis said, a soft smile surfacing again, "suited to his tastes can be arranged."

In fact, there was a good chance that Ignis was feeling very generous toward a feline for a change in that moment, and, well, was it really spoiling the cat if he was also doing it to clearly ensure that Josu made such urges to visit even more frequent?

And with Liliana's question, the soft smile grew into a faint grin, with a breath of a laugh and a shake of his head. "Greg called you out," he revealed. "Said you were outside, arguing with your cat. So, naturally, I expected you to be on your way in, and, when that didn't happen..."

He trailed off, and though the smile barely budged, it certainly took much more effort and strain to keep it firmly in place.

"Well," he said, "you know the rest of it after that."

Ah, but did he know where coffee lived? Considering he remained here and not in that halcyon utopia, blissed out like a caffeinated lotus eater, it seemed doubtful.

"Ah," Liliana said after a moment's thought. "Patchouli."

Further dwelling upon the preceeding disagreeable circumstances seemed unnecessary, so she helped his smile a bit by sliding her hand into his as they walked and giving it a squeeze. One might even read it as something of an apology of her own, perhaps. Not that she did that kind of thing, mind.

"Do you like it?" she asked. "The coffee, I mean. I know you prefer your roasts darker and more robust, but I thought the complexity might offer an allure all the same. And I certainly couldn't visit Kaladesh without bringing some kaapi back for you to try."

Anyone expecting an apology out of Liliana Vess was surely a fool, and Ignis, despite previous examples that might hint to the contrary, did not consider himself a fool.

Certainly not one of that magnitude, anyway. He was more than satisfied with her hand in his, and that small squeeze, which he returned, as it did, in fact, help his smile, and, he found somewhat unexpectedly because he hadn't quite realized it had even been a concern, his breathing, as well, which seemed somewhat easier now, as if coming up from being submerged underwater.

Water that seemed, still, quite rough and tumultuous seas that may call for caution, but perhaps with a hint of cleared skies up ahead.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't make a whole specials board inspired by subpar coffee," he pointed out; let's pay no mind to the fact that the last one had hardly anything to do with coffee, if at all. "Complex is the perfect word for it, I think, and it manages it without feeling like it's trying to be too much all at once. When the flavors don't harmonize, they seem comfortable letting a singular one take the stage..."

There was a slight pause.

"I would very much like to learn more about its place of origin, actually, if you'd be willing to regale me with such information..."

"You might, however, make a whole specials board inspired by what proper coffee is and should be," Liliana teased lightly. "As an offended response to some upstart beverage that had the audacity to pass itself off as that most sacred brew."

She winked at him, pairing the gesture again with the light double tap on his wrist, and then her face bloomed into a smile. "I would love to tell you more about Kaladesh." She struggled to sound casual. "It seems I've become something of a guest lecturer as it is. Perhaps I should give some thought to making it official."

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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [11/14].

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