Hadriel IC Inbox

[claritatis]

"You've reached Ignis Scientia. Leave a message and I will endeavour to get back to you post-haste."

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[dedikated]

( It must suck to be the guard here, and Kate is often thankful that the clinic doesn't have the same kind of scrutiny, outside of those who simply don't trust doctors.

But, walking together down the street (and yes, she probably does need faster steps to keep up with his tall ass, but we digress), the change of topic is just fine by her. Work will surely be waiting for them both when they get back. )

Wonder how much energy people collected for Hope.

( That should be coming into effect soon, she thinks. )

[claritatis]

We'll find out, soon enough.

[Ignis' words come out on a thoughtful murmur with a gentle swinging of their hands between them as they walk. He measures his steps so she can keep pace without trying too hard - they're in no rush, after all.]

After spending so long keeping the creatures out of the city, I'm beginning to long for some reprieve.

[dedikated]

( True enough, and she doesn't stop the soft swinging, the only response found in the way she leans in towards him just a little bit more. )

Want a sick note?

( The wry smile tugging at the corners of her mouth can be heard when she speaks. )

[claritatis]

[Ignis hums out a soft sound of amusement and squeezes his fingers tight around hers, just for a moment.]

I don't think I've reached that stage, just yet. [He tells her, glancing sidelong at her as a smile warms the edges of his expression.] But I'll be sure to let you know if I do.

[dedikated]

( She catches that warmth as his eyes flick towards her and her stomach tightens in a way which seems to blossom into her heart, so brief it may not have been there at all.

Except for the tingle that lingers afterwards, pricking at her with each step. But silence falls over them, comfortable except for that one little pinprick of emotion which stays, and Kate's eyes eventually trail off towards the windows of stores and the streets around them, happy to walk like this for the moment. )

[claritatis]

[He falls easily into that comfortable silence, hooking the thumb of his free hand through a belt-loop and keeping Kate's held lightly in the other.

When they reach the orchard, he ducks under a tree and lets out a soft huff as the shade takes off the worst of the heat. With his fingers still laced through hers, he tugs her after him.]

[dedikated]

( She more than has the reflexes, the strength, to resist that movement, but Kate falls into it anyway, steps quick as she stumbles into the shade and into him with a breathless huff of laughter, hand curling into fabric before it slips up to his necklace. )

Fancy meeting like this.

( And, with that, she tugs him down for a kiss. )

[claritatis]

[A soft breath catches in his throat, his hand coming up reflexively to grasp hers and keep her from putting too much tension on the chain around his neck. There's enough strength in her to fight anything he tries to make her do but she so rarely uses it, and Ignis chooses not to point that fact out.

He leans down to the kiss she tugs him into, lingering on the soft, warm press of lips. It's a warmth entirely unlike the constant barrage of the suns and the heat that always hangs in the air. Something that sinks in slowly and gently, settling into the part of his heart that's set aside just for her.]

[dedikated]

( It's a slow kiss, gentle and longer than it needs to be under the shade. Her fingers never clutch the chain too tightly, but her hand wraps around his when it curls around hers, squeezing as she pulls back. Easy moments seem to come so naturally when he's here, and her heart is full in her chest as she looks up at him. )

I—

( Hm. )

— So. What d'ya want?

( To eat. Of course. )

[claritatis]

Hm. [A kiss falls to her forehead, so easy with the difference in their heights and when she never hurries to move away from him. There's a reluctance in the way his eyes pull from hers, and he scans the branches above them with another low sound of thought.]

Given the level of choice I'd be foolish to be too picky. [His tone is wry, but warmly so.]

Did you have something in mind?

[dedikated]

( Hm. )

No idea.

( The orchard isn't exactly blossoming like it used to, but there's enough to scrape together something resembling a meal. She glances up to the tree above them first at something shaped vaguely like a pear. If it was drawn by someone who had never seen a pear. )

Tastes like cherries.

[claritatis]

Does it?

[He looks quizzically up at the fruit on the branches above them. There is never going to be a day that he gets used to the oddities around the food here, but he can at least get used to cooking with them. So far, he's not managed to make anything inedible.]

I can't say it looks entirely appetising.

[dedikated]

( Kate either. It's a strange thing to bite into something which tastes nothing like your brain expects it to. Apple tasting grapes, oranges which look like bananas... )

Does anything?

( That's certainly a truth of Hadriel. Nothing ever really looks... mouthwatering. Or close to it. )

Still edible.

( Which, for the most part, is all Kate ever cares about. If it tastes good, that's just a bonus. )

[claritatis]

[Ignis sighs, pulling a piece of the fruit down for himself and looking at it with an entirely unsatisfied expression.]

It says little for food when the best compliment there is to bestow upon it is 'edible'. [He laments wryly before taking a bite.]

... Unfortunately, that's truly the best to be said at the moment.

[dedikated]

( It's all sorts of wrong, crispy like an apple with the taste of a cherry and unbearably dry all at the same time. Kate's fingers curl around Ignis' wrist and pull the fruit towards her, stealing a bite once he's taken his, eyes fixed on his face as her teeth sink into it. )

That a no, then?

( He is the one who knows food here, not her. )

i'm not sure we have *enough* threads... but you know what this is.

[dedikated]

( Blankets end up halfway to her ankles when the sun starts to rise and heat soaks through the small studio house, the freezing night easily forgotten as morning begins to peek into the city. Something like morning, anyway. Hard to really consider any of it morning when the darkest hours are gone in the blink of an eye.

She doesn't feel the gut-twist of guilt right away, not while pressing fingers into the corners of her eyes to pull away sleep, too busy stirring to realise that something is off. Kate pushes hair that's fallen loose from her forehead and opens her eyes-

And that's when the ache comes. It knots her insides up with the same intensity those words said last month did, her head echoing with a song and dance it's used many a time, though never before in this context. How she hasn't said anything, that she should for once, rather than holding everything in and hoping that it's obvious. How after ten years she still hasn't made up for never saying it to her brother when she should have.

Should have seems to come up a lot in her life. Should have said more, sooner, done more. All these things she can't change which prick back at her stomach in a way she'd suppress by staying busy. It comes framed with the knowledge that there are these things here and now where she can avoid the should haves and the regret, with just a few little things.

But Ignis is still asleep and his breathing is still and even, so, for now, Kate shifts a little closer and curls her arm around his waist, saying nothing. )

[claritatis]

[He sleeps easily beside her, and in the doing so he too misses the initial twinges of guilt that wash over the city. The touch to his waist stirs him slightly, the softest sigh passing his lips as he reaches for her in return without fully waking.

Despite the warmth in the room he draws her close to him, the contact of her skin drawing him further into wakefulness.

It's then that it hits him, stirring like the last dregs of a nightmare that follow when you open your eyes to twist your stomach and the middle of your chest. It impacts sharply enough for him to not so much still as stiffen, and his barely conscious mind is only just prepared for the way that his thoughts suddenly race.

What cuts the deepest is only to be expected of him.

Naturally, it's Noctis.

His awareness of the future while he's been here has always been more of a burden than a blessing, but it has never hurt more than in these moments. There's so much that the young king will have to suffer, so much that Ignis will not be able to save him from despite how he will try. Knowing it's destined does not help matters when the world means nothing to him if Noctis isn't in it.

But here, with the woman he loves so much that it's almost an ache, there's something else. Things he has wondered if he should tell her, but hasn't only to save her from worrying about things that she may never have to deal with.

Ignis presses a kiss into Kate's hair, barely moving save for the motion taken to slide his arm around her.]

[dedikated]

( She uses the closeness to inhale the familiar scent of him, to try and wash away the guilt that gnaws at her. Years on years of pushing it away should make this easy, but the gods never allow that, do they?

It's the same twist, the same dogged train of thought she felt last time she was here, soon after Sharon had unleashed the fog over the city. She takes a deeper breath and presses her forehead against his side lightly, closes her eyes against it and it almost feels like a respite. They quiet to a whisper instead of scream and the warmth of bodies pressed together comforts her despite the stuffy heat of the city which all but blankets them.

His presence fills the room more than the heat does, turning a simple one room house from a place to sleep to a place to unwind. It seeped into her bones, unnoticed until it was all too late to escape from it, found its way inside her in quiet moments of falling asleep from exhaustion and taking breaks together.

But the moment of silence breaks under the simple stiffness under her hands, too sudden and too strange to be normal. )

... Something wrong?

( The words come through clear, unobstructed by sleep or exhaustion, and she lifts her head from his shoulder, the knots beginning to tighten in her gut. )

[claritatis]

I'm fine.

[He murmurs it while the lapping tide of regrets coils in his gut like nausea. For a moment or two he watches the ceiling, then closes his eyes while he tries to push it down.

There's so much he's keeping from her. So much that hasn't been said for reasons that hold no weight when he truly thinks about them. All things can be broached in conversation. She deserves to know that he might one day come back here damaged in a way that may mean she no longer wants him. That he'll be different. That time will pass without her and that so much will happen.

He winces, pushing against the urge to sit up and try to move away from the weight pressing on his chest.]

Something's happened.

[dedikated]

( The words mingle with the guilt she's already trying to push through and create a nauseating wave of dread, something which flickers visibly over her face as she shifts onto an elbow and props herself up. )

... What?

( Part of her, the part which crows about how she hasn't said enough, murmurs that it's probably because she doesn't say enough. Because all she could say to I love you was I'm sorry. )

[claritatis]

[She moves, and without the light weight of her to keep him down he finally sits up. One hand goes into his hair, brushing it back out of his face while his eyes flicker from one item to the next in the room, desperately trying to focus through the mounting sensation of guilt. It's strong enough to make his breathing unsteady, his fingers curling tightly into the sheets.]

This isn't--... This isn't natural. [But Gods, it's near enough a tangible pain to fight it.] When Sorrow was killed, it felt like this, do you remember?

[It's not something he needs an answer to. Ignis would defy anyone to forget about that. But there's one thing that's important, here. One thing that comes to the fore in this particular company, and Ignis is quick to grasp her hand and squeeze it gently.]

It's... It's not us. It's them.

[dedikated]

( Oh. That. It doesn't remove the knot of her stomach or the way her mind continues nagging, but it's not what her thoughts had spiralled to and it helps. Somewhat. )

It... felt like this last time he was revived.

( She measures her words in that slow, even way which is so unlike her usual speech. Thoughtful and measured. )

[claritatis]

[A sigh.]

Ordinarily it would be, but as things are, beggars can't be choosers.

[He looks from her to the piece of fruit, and lifts his eyebrows slightly.]

Will you get your own, or are you content with taking bites from mine?

[claritatis]

Ah...

[A brief tension twitches along Ignis' jaw, and he gives Kate's hand another squeeze before he pushes himself out of bed as if getting up and walking might ease it. It doesn't, of course, and he rubs a hand around the back of his neck as he paces the short length of the end of the bed.]

You don't think it could be..?

[dedikated]

Probably. Fits.

( With the cleaner city, the feast. Her eyes follow him, dark with unease as that knot practically solidifies on her gut, whispered words of guilt about all the things left unspoken because they've simply been too awkward to say.

Kate pushes herself up and rocks forward until she's balanced on her knees at the end of the bed, fingers grasping for his wrist to stop the restless pacing. )

You wanna talk?

( That offer is given with a brief brush of lips against his, words unable to stay entirely neutral under the weight of what this kind of guilt seems to want. Words of her own bubble in her chest, but she keeps them back for a moment more. )