Hadriel IC Inbox

[claritatis]

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

Comments

text;

[hotspurred]

No doubt Kate, being Kate, has not told you that her birthday is in a fortnight. You, if no one else, ought to make a gesture.

text;

[claritatis]

I'm impressed that you managed to keep track of that without any formal calendar.

text;

[hotspurred]

I drew up my own not long after my arrival. I have maintained it since. It is hardly a difficult task.

text;

[claritatis]

I wouldn't imagine so, in theory.
With the assumption that the years of every world are identical in length, and that the days spent in the caverns and on the planets since match what we are all accustomed to.

Regardless, I'm sure it's adequate.

text; at like 1am

[dedikated]

Been just over a year, hasn't it?

( Such an amazingly detailled text message to send that is totally clear about what's on her mind at this hour. )

[claritatis]

[He's asleep, but this wakes him. There's no helping the smile as he reads the message and puts his glasses on to reply.]

It has. Any regrets?

[dedikated]

( That's a good question. She wasn't thinking about that, specifically, but it does put her late night musings into a bit more perspective. )

Not this time round.

You?

idk what this counts as

[dedikated]

( Things found on Ignis' fridge one morning, in familiar spiky handwriting: )

Word Association:
Sun

cute is what

[claritatis]

[What.

He adds another post-it, lined up very precisely to the first and written on in his own neat, careful handwriting;]

Moon.

yeee

[dedikated]

( It's fun.
Kate doesn't use a new post it note, but rather scribbles her response under his. )

Walk.

text but like on Kate's phone like a troll

[restinglichface]

hey hot stuff what r u wearing xoxoxoxo

[claritatis]

[At first, he's surprised... but this is so unlike Kate that she's either very drunk, or someone has her phone.]

Do you mean you can't remember?

AHH THIS TAG GOT LOST IN MY INBOX IM SO SORRY

[restinglichface]

[HO HO HO HO]

refresh my memory

hey guess what this is.

[dedikated]

( Come over. Dress warmly.

The invitation went something like that, so typical that she barely pays the actual wording any mind but for a brief quirk of the brow at the request to dress warmly. It makes a small part of a relatively whirlwind day spent trying to make this city more livable when the only god they have is Confusion, of all the glowclouds in the multiverse.

She gets to Ignis' place just as the sun starts setting, pausing at the door instead of simply entering, and knocks. )

You in?

( Or is she too early? )

ayyy

[claritatis]

[Having Confusion around is, at least, an indication that eventually most of them will find their way back. Until then, Ignis is alert to the fact that Confusion's events, along with Fear's, have a tendency to be the least favourite of the lot.

He's surprised to hear the knock, in truth, but he moves quickly to open the door. He's already dressed to go out, used to wearing layers almost constantly against this cold by now, and he plants a brief kiss on her forehead in greeting.]

I'm glad you're here. Come on, we're going up to the roof.

[dedikated]

( Her expression brightens up whenever he's around, the simple fact of his presence a warmth and a balm that makes it easier to forget the shitty situation they are — as almost ever — in. It's soothing in a way which is almost akin to the buzz of telepathy in her head, a long-absent reminder of her best friend's presence, familiar and easy and hopeful like the kiss he plants on her forehead. It's something which allows her to shed the weight of everything else and feel normal — or something like it, anyway.

Her head tilts when he suggests the roof, expression flickering in bemusement. The spire rooftops weren't exactly suitable for much more than a launch pad, tapering into fine points, so... )

Which one?

text backdated to early jan @ night

[carrotkeeper]

Soooooooo

is there anything

you want to tell me?

[And yes, these did come as three separate texts. Don't ignore her. This is important.]

[claritatis]

[What?

He looks at the three texts for a while, a small frown on his face as he puzzles over what she could mean. Something he wants to tell her?]

Nothing immediately comes to mind. Why do you ask?

[carrotkeeper]

Okay

That was the wrong answer

But I'll give you a second chance since you're Gladdy's friend and all

event shenans

[dedikated]

( The very earliest hours of the morning are hardly a stranger, more a close friend than anything else, but even so, her senses aren't fully alert, certainly not enough to notice that familiar little noise in the back of her skull, like television static. )

( ...What time's it? )

( Boy, it's sure a good thing that Kate clearly explained her tele— who are we kidding, of course she didn't. Perhaps the unfortunate case of memory swapping may have given a hint to the ability, but even then, it could be so easy to overlook in the grander scheme of that time she almost died. )

[claritatis]

[And Ignis, who still hasn't recovered fully from Altissia for as much as he has been trying to act as if everything feels normal for him, sleeps far later into the morning than he normally would and wakes up to Kate's voice murmuring a question at him.

He grimaces slightly, without opening his eyes, and mutters back--]

'I don't know. It's morning.'

[dedikated]

( Right. Murmuring. )

( Obviously. )

( But a quick look at her phone confirms the time — about 7am, much later than she'd usually be in bed until, but it's comfortable here after a week of sleeping alone — and Kate rolls onto her side and sits up, casting a glance over her shoulder at the sleepy lump of boyfriend in the bed. )

( ...Cute. )

( She probably should control the telepathy, filter her thoughts back to normal communication, but it's been far too long since she's had to try, and the morning is still fresh enough that the effort needed to do so doesn't quite get pulled up.

Not yet, anyway. She's missed the buzz of the bond more than she cares to admit, and if she can't have Faith's voice on the other end of the line, Ignis' isn't so bad. )

( I need coffee. )

sHHHH

[dedikated]

( It's a brief moment's rest while trying to fight off never-ending waves of Null. A pause where Kate leaves her bow and arrows by a wall - in sight and reach, but not in her hands - and groans as she sits down on a table. If the sheer boredom of battle after battle isn't enough to convince her that she's done with this life, the simple fact that her body's getting old and starting to protest, starting to feel the effects of every injury and fight before this, is.

But that's not the important thing here. The ache in her legs will pass as will this moment of peace, and she doesn't particularly want to waste the latter. There's never enough of them. Her hand reaches across, brushing the back of a palm, one she knows all too well, and comes to rest on top of it. )

I'll miss you.

( There it is. Out in the open. Not that there ever was much doubt about that, but these goodbyes won't be like the ones she's had before, where echoes of unsaid words rattle uselessly in her chest. She refuses to let them be.

So. Those three words. Those three, too obvious words. )

[claritatis]

[He's barely left her side since this started. His uncanny ability to find his way across the field of battle apparently extends to locating her in the mess of Null and Hadriel combatants, and he takes the opportunity to rest as she does. Highly trained he may be, but the years do take a toll.

Ignis is tired.

He feels the approach of her hand a bare moment before she makes contact, and he turns his own over to lace their fingers together. The words hit him like something sharp and solid, sinking into his chest and reminding him, not for the first time, that they come from different worlds.]

I'll miss you, too. [The words aren't easy to say, emerging in a low murmur as he squeezes her hand. He'll miss her, so much that it's already an ache in his chest.

But--]

You know I'd follow you anywhere if it meant we could stay together.

[dedikated]

No, you wouldn't. ( The dismissal comes without thinking, because she's always lived by that assumption. That logic. It's held true for her from the first moment she set foot in Hadriel, and has been the same for him for as long as she's known him. They're both too attached to their worlds, with too much responsibility and too many people tying them there to want to leave it permanently.

Things have changed, that much is true, with Noctis' death, but that key piece hasn't changed, surely. She would never have been willing to leave her world, even straight after losing Marc. There were still others. There were still her friends.

Most importantly, it was still her home. Still the logic and rules she knows and understands. )

Wish that were the case. ( Don't get her wrong, the selfish part of her which demanded that Glacius better come find her world, if he truly can travel through dimensions and the universe, aches for nothing more than that. The ability to simply keep the best parts of this city and have her home world and her friends-turned-family all at the same time is simply too good to be true. )

But Earth isn't Eos.

( Isn't his home, and no matter the selfish desires or how strongly they burn, she could never ask him to leave whatever's left just for her. )