fandomtownies | Luke's Diner; Tuesday [05/14].

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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [05/14].

Ignis was a little surprised when Summer was pretty much there at the diner shortly after he'd finished deciding on his recipehs for the specials that day, and that she, apparently, had brought friends.

"Ignis," she greeted him with the particular lilt of someone who'd come in because she'd wanted something, and he didn't mean for breakfast, and so he approached with great caution. "You know how to cook frogs' legs, right?"

There was...a pause. "I should be insulted that you would even ask me that," he said. And one of the frogs she'd apparently brought with her ribbited, maybe as a way to dissuade him, but he continued. "Of course I do."

"Good," said Summer, shoving the box forward a little. "I have some ideas and I'd like your help to make them happen."

Again, there was a pause. "Why do I feel," he ventured, but he did reached out to feel for the box and pull it closer, "that I'm going to be implicit in some sort of crime by agreeing to help you? Also, are we sure that none of these frogs aren't just people turned into frogs?"

It had been a legitimate concern even before he wound up on Fandom, actually!

Now, it was Summer's turn to pause. "....yes?"

Ignis wasn't convinced, but he had Summer choose one frog that she was the most sure wasn't a person, and, though he was tempted to use the others for a new special, he decided it was best for her to take them over to the shelter or release them into the pond for now, and he would get to work on what she needed when he didn't have customers.

And, again, he felt a bit like this was a dark turn in the wrong direction, but so help him, if he wasn't a little curious, and, in a way, he rather suspected even Sania would support the sacrifice of a frog for the sake of satiating curiosity...

Today's Specials

Herb-Basted Pork Chops
Rainbow Peanut Noodles
Blueberry Matcha Trifle

Luke's is open!

[[ summer modded with permission lolololol ]]

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It was around ten-thirty in the morning when the door to Luke's opened, as was wont to happen, and yet, the person who strolled inside at that most ungodly hour turned out to be none other than Liliana, bedecked and ready for the day.

She didn't look entirely thrilled with the hour and there was, perhaps, less panache in her arrival than one would normally anticipate, but she still made her way over to the counter as normal, with a soft, "Hello, my darling."

"Hello, my dear," Ignis responded in kind, his smile as soft as that greeting, though with perhaps a touch of amusement in it, a touch of smugness, but also a touch of pride in it for how the new schedule of the semester was causing a bit of a shift toward actually being a useful member of society at normal daylight hours. His hand drifted out to find hers, and he leaned forward over the counter to grab a kiss now, in case what followed would bar him from any such expression of affection afterwards.

"I'd ask if I could get you something for lunch," he drawled, "but I daresay you're practically here early enough for breakfast. That's almost cause for celebration."

"You can celebrate," Liliana muttered, already rethinking this decision in face of that smug amusement she knew him well enough to spot. "I am still debating whether I wish to make this arrival time a permanent shift to my schedule for the rest of this session."

"You'll become more accustomed to it over time," Ignis pointed out, "once it becomes a more regular thing, and, really, darling, it does rather benefit me additionally, as I have my own class to attend to, and the timing of it works in a way that would make barely any time between my lunch break and my class. Might as well call it a day by noon, and that is practically untenable for me. Though..."

Would the softer smile make up for the smug one? A lift of her hand to his lips to additionally soothe the wound of such unconscionable demands on her use of time?

"If this shift does turn out to be untenable for you," he noted, "it is a sacrifice I'd be more than willing to make. The only thing I ask if that you at least give it a honest try, and also to give me the chance to make it...somewhat," he had no delusions about convincing her to embrace the morning with enthusiasm, after all, "worth your while."

She just blinked at him as he mentioned the timing. "That's why I'm here," she said, because that hadn't just factored into her calculations, that was her calculations. "My class is immediately after lunch, there is but a single hour wherein we would both need to get from one place to the other, and then your class begins. Did I want to spend any time with you at all before leaving for my class, I had to shift my schedule. Why else would I be here if not for that? For you?"

"Well, I should hope," Ignis said, expression shifting into a frown as he realized this was not exactly working the way he suspected it might, with a small bit of concern that it was more his misstep than merely the shift in schedule, "that it's as much for you as for me, darling. I'd say we both benefit from you coming in well before noon, as you have now, though...." He trailed off, sighing, realizing that he'd likely rather had the placement of things a bit wrong, no doubt thanks to his confusion surrounding his First Aid class, and took a moment to rub his forehead before waving it off.

"No matter," he said, and tried another faint smile. "I suppose what I meant to say was that I'm very glad you're here, my darling, although I acknowledge the sacrifice made on your part, and perhaps I should just be grateful for the efforts. Do you want more breakfast fare, then? Surely, you'll at least want coffee..."

"Stop," Liliana said. "Come here." And rather than waiting for him to come to her, she leaned over, snagged him and pulled him in for a kiss. "We both know that I would cheerfully skip a thousand breakfasts to catch an extra ten minutes of sleep," she murmured to him. "I am here because I, apparently, would rather lose out on sleep than to only see you for a handful of minutes between classes, or worse, not at all until the afternoon. And you will bring me coffee because you prefer I not murder anyone in a fit of pique, and you will chivvy me into eating breakfast because that is one of the ways you show you care, and we will make this work and make this fit, and that is all that needs saying about it." Her fingers once again rested chill upon his cheek. "I don't know what is going on in your head, but what I am trying to get across is that between my sleep and my you, I have quite clearly chosen where my priorities lie and while I cannot promise to be gracious about it, I can at least promise to be here. Because it is where you are. Now acknowledge that I am the best of all possible women, if I must be awake, my ego deserves to be stroked."

The kiss, when delivered, did relax Ignis a little, but not nearly as much as it might have in other circumstances. And, on other circumstances, he might be content to just soothe that ego, but he also felt he just had attempted to do so a moment ago, it didn't take, and now she was requesting just that, so now....

There was a hesitation. A sigh. A slight shake of his head.

"It hardly feels like much of a gift at all," he said, "when you are so ungracious about it. If even light humor regarding the situation is only going to be met with contempt and complaints, I'd..."

Again, the hesitation, but a certain stubbornness prevailed, a firm decision that he didn't want to always be the one to bend when it was difficult.

"I'd almost rather you did remain in bed, 'Iana. It's no joy for me to have you disgruntled and petulant, especially not on my account."

Liliana's hand fell. "Ah," she said with a funny little laugh. "And here I was attempting to fix the wrong thing." A moment. A breath. " I do believe that I will take that cup of coffee now, darling, if you might be so kind."

And in that response, Ignis heard enough of himself in it, albeit through a filter of Liliana, that his brow creased in a frown for how clearly out of rhythm they were. A rare occurrence, indeed, but for how effortlessly they seemed to manage to match each other's steps typically, the pendulum seemed to swing equally in the other direction, for how discordant it was when they missed those marks.

"I think we both," he said softly, as he turned to pour the coffee, fumbling just slightly as he reached for a mug, but also taking the time to fix it up as she liked it, "have started off on the wrong foot. At least you've the excuse of being out of your usual element. I suppose mine is just more of the usual pedantry and stubbornness...."

And, with that, he set the mug down before her and turned to pour another for himself.

"I'm sorry," he added. "I am grateful that you've chosen me over your bed this morning, even if I've proven to be far less cozy and comfortable thus far."

He head the rustle of skirts as he turned to prepare her cup as she made to rise, then a pause as he began to speak, and more rustling as she settled back down again. She did not reach for her mug until he turned to pour his own and there was another beat or so of stillness before she actually picked it up to sip.

"I do not wish for you to be grateful," she said quietly. "I wanted only--" Well, she'd explained that already and that hadn't been the point, so she let it fall. They were terribly out of sync again, for reasons she wasn't sure of, and that left every bit of openness feeling like a vulnerability that needed to be ruthlessly quashed. She was doing her best to not do that, but that didn't leave her much desire to revisit those vulnerabilities either.

"Would you rather that then?" she asked quietly, with neither heat nor haughtiness. A genuine question, of intention going forward. "If not today, then other mornings when I am not at my best?"

At her first response, Ignis' grip tightened on his coffee, and he forced himself to take a breath and not just jump to tgat first,petty, knee-jerk reaction of using her own words againt her. Now acknowledge that I am the best of all possible women, if I must be awake, my ego deserves to be stroked. If that was true, then what she wanted was far worse than just gratitude, she wanted to be petted and fawned over and given praise for doing the bare minimum, by demand, no less, after a long speech about how much of an ordeal and trial it was subjecting herself to to her own bloody choices. Even if it had been in jest....God's forbid there be room for two bruised egos in this relationship.

And so he took a moment. He took a breath. He took a sip of his coffee, and thr heat of it seemed to make him teeter on the edge of still saying so. But that thread of defiance dissolved completely with that last question and he lowered his mug to the counter.

"Of course not, Liliana," he said, without hesitation this time. "You know my preferred place is, and always will be by your side. But can you truly blame me if it...rankles a bit to have that place be dressed as such a terrible experience for you. I'm sure you meant it only in joking, but I'm afraid it didn't quite strike that chord. It seems to have missed....and hit a nerve, instead."

Edited 2024-05-14 17:21 (UTC)

She nodded once, then blinked again when he said she'd hit a nerve, and extended a hand towards his, though she didn't immediately entwine their fingers together, simply brushed hers against his and let him decide whether or not to tangle them together. "I did not mean to strike that nerve - or any nerve," she said. "And I regret doing so. My conversation seems to be poorly calibrated over the last week or so. Something to adjust, it seems."

Not exactly out of sorts, but...out of step with people in general? Usually when she felt this way, she retreated to her workshop on Innistrad and simply didn't emerge for awhile. Something to consider perhaps? Not long, of course, but the better part of a week couldn't hurt.

"My intention had not been to suggest that being by your side was a terrible experience, but, in fact, the opposite - that mornings are only made bearable by being there and, so much so, in fact, that I would rather change my habits to include mornings with you than to endure afternoons without." Unlike her normal, almost oratory means of expression, here Liliana found her words stumbling, halting, every one needing to be pushed through. "That I did not want your gratitude because you should not be grateful that I would brave the travails of mornings to be with you, but that you should take it as your due. That there shouldn't be a question whether or not I would shift things to accommodate this new schedule, because the only possible answer is 'of course.'"

"Perhaps, then," Ignis suggested gently...very gently, though there was nothing so soft in his reach for her fingers when they brushed against his hand; if anything, it took a concentrated effort not to grip them in a way that suggested never letting go, "a bit less emphasis on how much better the bed if not for...next time. A bit...difficult, to feel like I'm coming out on top when it just feels like you're just pining for your sheets..."

He did try a faint, tentative smile.

"And without me in them, no less."

To her credit, Liliana did not point out that they were very excellent sheets. See? She was learning.

Her fingers tightened around his anyway, leaving them clasped tightly together. "I believe another misstep may be the difference between how 'I am here for you' was meant and how it was taken," she said thoughtfully. "The idea of 'I am here for you, not for me' being seen as 'I am here for you as a favor,' versus, 'I am here for you, not for me' being meant as 'I cannot be tempted by the usual benefits conferred by mornings, but once that benefit is you, my answer changes.' I am not begrudgingly here for your benefit, my darling. I am here because morning had no significant temptation for me until it was the only time in which I would be able to see you."

Edited 2024-05-14 18:53 (UTC)

And, well, if she had pointed that out, it wasn't as if Ignis could really deny that fact.

"And that is," he agreed, "truly the crux of the misunderstanding, I fear. It felt far more like obligation than it did preference.

"And I should have known better, anyway," he added, a beat later, that soft uncertain smile tentatively growing just a marginal increment more. "Liliana Vess does not do anything out of obligation. But it seems that this shift in our schedules have left us both terribly out of sorts."

He could feel her relax now, the misstep discovered and brought to light and their usual dance able to continue. "That is absolutely correct, you should have, for she does not," Liliana said, giving a soft chuckle. "But that makes everything so much clearer - and explains why we were working at such cross-purposes. For me, every insistence that mornings were terrible was an expression of how much you were worth waking up for, whereas for you, it was a reminder of just how much I was giving up to be here with you--oh."

She raised her free hand to her mouth. "And just how very differently we interpreted the desire for you to indulge me with praise."

The sound of that realization tightened Ignis' smile with a faint twitch,expelling a shirt huff of air that spoke to his embarrassment and the ache of feeling that particular complicated sting all over again.

"Misunderstandings," he said, with a wave of his free hand in a dismissiveness that was not nearly as evident in his voice, "all around. Water under the bridge now, really, best leave it behind us."

"No," Liliana said firmly. "That still has its hooks in you."

She sipped her coffee as she regarded him, the violet in her gaze getting deeper and darker. And then she set down her cup, leaned in, and cupped his face. For a moment she considered stealing his glasses so there would be no obstructions between them, but decided that it was better to not. "Let me be unerringly clear. From my point of view, I had finished telling you that I chose you over everything else, that I would not require you to give up your shift or move your schedule around to accommodate me, not when I had already made the decision that mornings were not enough to keep me from your side. That even if I might occasionally be petulant or ungracious about it, because I know myself, I would still rather be the one to adjust around you than make you adjust for me. Because I knew you would, without even thinking twice about it, and, for once, I wished for you to be the one that continued on as he was while the world fell into step around you."

Her thumb found the bottom of his scar, skimmed over the skin there. "I did not demand praise for favoring you with my presence. I didn't even demand praise as thanks for deciding to be the one who shifted. You don't owe me anything for that. I demanded praise because I am spoiled and indulged and like being told I'm am wonderful for doing such difficult tasks as waking up in the morning, not staking vampires who annoy me out for the sun, and eating three nutritious meals a day even when left to my own devices."

The fact that Ignis' mouth opened to interject with a protest about how he wouldn't mind adjusting when Liliana mentioned it, only to have him then immediately close it as she mentioned that he would do just that had proven that that, at least, she'd managed to hit with a bull's-eye. He quieted then, save for thr sigh that slipped out when he leaned into the thumb brushing against his scar, the skin on his cheeks warm with the awkward flush of chagrin.

"And from my point of view," he said softly in response, "it just sounded as though all the praise I already heap on you without provocation was somehow so insufficient that it now had to be demanded for things I wouldn't have asked of you, Liliana..."

"I understand," she said. "But no. It was simply a whimsical way to inform you that everything was settled without you changing a thing, and to close the metaphorical door on any and all protests to the contrary. Perhaps this all could have been avoided had I simply demanded a kiss instead."

Though, instead of demanding one, she pressed her lips to his instead. "You give me everything I could ask and more. And. I am. Sorry. That the time I try to dance to your measure, I bungled it so badly as to hurt you more when I was trying to showing you how much you mean to me."

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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [05/14].

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