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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[claritatis]

I may need a hand or two, but you might be surprised at how capable I am at climbing.

[We can't all be quite as strong and agile as you, Kate, but Ignis certainly gets by. He didn't decide on this building only to find later that he wouldn't be able to get up to the roof without too much help.]

Why, are you worried?

[dedikated]

( She's not that strong. He should meet... most any of her friends from home, really. She put all her points into her agility stat, and the rest suffered. )

Rather I weren't?

( A playful smile tugs at the corners of her mouth as she butts her shoulder against him. Isn't that what couples are supposed to be? Concerned about the other? )

[claritatis]

I might be put out if you weren't. [He replies, amused, turning his head to plant a kiss against her hair while they walk. Sometimes, he wondered what Gladio would make of Kate. He wouldn't mind seeing his friend put through his paces by a woman a third of his size.]

We'll both make it up there. I've tested the route for myself, it isn't too difficult.

[dedikated]

( It's relaxed and warm despite the temperature in the dark of this icy planet, calming in a way wholly unlike morning rituals of watching the sun. A feeling of complete safety, so all-encompassing that it nearly startles her out of the moment. Familiar as it is after all these days together, old instincts still prickle at the back of her neck. Never good to feel too comfortable, they whisper, and they've served her well in life back home and on Hadriel.

But here, in the little bubble that wraps around two people walking towards a building, they feel as ill placed as a human in the underground and she shakes her head ever so slightly to dismiss them. He isn't a city run by foreign "gods" or a cruelly headed organisation, but the person who has brought another layer of meaning to her life - not simply here in the city but throughout all of the decades she's survived to make it here.

Kate finds his hand and gives it a squeeze before breaking free, accelerating without word of warning and springing into the air to land with eerie perfection on the highest wall. )

Hurry up, then.

[claritatis]

[Those same quiet instincts prickle at Ignis while he's here. Don't get too comfortable. Don't ever think even for a moment that you're going to get to keep the people that you've come to care for. He's all too aware that any of these things can be taken away in an instant, as if they were never there at all, but while he has them he's going to make the most of every moment.

He squeezes her hand in turn when she offers the gesture, and watches her with a faint, slightly amused smile as she displays her skills.

Show-off.

Ignis does not have her talent for acrobatics, but with a little effort he manages to get up onto the wall without too much trouble. Once standing, he shows no issue with balance, and makes a small gesture for her to continue.]

After you.

[dedikated]

( Give her this, not everyone manages to be an absurdly attractive, intelligent, skilled chef. Unnaturally fancy footwork is all she has. Besides, he still makes it easily enough and Kate takes the hint without a word more, hopping from one ledge to the next before hauling herself onto the roof.

She's going to get too old for this one day, but right now any twinges are easily shaken off and dismissed, ignored in favour of looking out over the darkened landscape and waiting for Ignis to follow. )

[claritatis]

[It's trickier for Ignis, but he makes it up after her with a soft sound of effort and straightens up, brushing the dirt and dust of climbing off his hands. He takes a moment to look out at the view, then moves over to her and pulls her gently into his arms, pressing a quick and gentle kiss to her mouth.]

I love you. [He tells her with a small, quiet smile. Ignis doesn't linger over the words, the weight behind them, knowing all too well how easily Kate can be made to squirm under it. Instead, he snags her hand to find somewhere comfortable to sit.]

Hard to believe how long it's been... [How long they've been here. They've come a long way from that first brief, terse conversation while she was hurrying to the clinic.]

[dedikated]

( It's quite the view, a far cry from the overcast skies of the islands or the five second darkness in the desert. It goes without saying that it's better than the underground, but more than that, it's the first time in years she's truly seen a sky that wasn't dulled by a city's light pollution.

Her thoughts are quickly cut off by the kiss, the words which come and go in favour of finding a place to sit, and in the cold of the night it's only logical that she curls in closer to his body, tossing her legs over his and clamping her hands between her thighs. )

Y'think? Feels like forever.

( She hasn't forgotten home, but there are times when it takes just a little too long to recall all the details. )

[claritatis]

Mm. That, too.

[He put an arm around her and places the other hand over hers, rubbing his thumb lightly along the side of her wrist. It's cold, but it isn't unbearably cold, and Ignis would always rather be cold than hot.

Here, with her pressed close to him like this, it's easy to forget he's cold at all.

The stars begin to appear quickly once the sun goes down. Like being in the country, far between one town and another, they shine brightly without too much light pollution to conceal them.]

Look.

[dedikated]

( She can't say she prefers this temperature to warm sun on her skin, but at this moment in time, the city isn't unbearably cold, reminding her all too much of the UK in winter (without all the dampness). It's tolerable for now, but he's warm and they're alone up here, and it's oh-so-easy to simply curl close and not worry about anything else.

(Sometimes, Kate wonders just what her friends would think if they saw her here, so content to indulge in all the things she would normally roll her eyes at.

They'd never let her live it down.)

Her gaze trails up to the sky as they're plunged into total darkness, up towards unfamiliar constellations, countless stars scattered across a velvet canvas. How long has it been since she saw the sky like this? Probably not since training with Dagny, and she's quiet for a long moment, drawing lines between dots with her eyes and wondering what the actual constellations are here. )

S'pose this place has some advantages.

( They wouldn't get this sight if Hadriel was a city in full bloom, would they? )

[claritatis]

[As she curls in, he draws her close and rests his chin on her shoulder, exhaling a soft and contented breath. They're so far, now, from the first awkward steps of this relationship when he wasn't sure of where to put his hands when she kissed him.

He stays that way for a few long moments, then straightens up a little and lightly kisses the side of her head.]

Mm. A few.

[Ignis has often wondered, too, what the other people from his home would think of this. Would they be awkward and withdrawn like Noctis, or would they welcome this development with more open arms? He's been mostly alone here for long enough to not put too much thought into it, but it's still something to wonder about.

It's almost funny, how much he doesn't feel like those opinions really matter.]

Though I believe I claimed the best one for myself.

[dedikated]

( And miles from that beginning where every show of affection was met with a subtle stiffening of limbs or the push towards something more explicit. As he pulls her closer, Kate relaxes, soft and pliant in his arms, inhaling his familiar warm scent under the sharp chill of the night air. Somewhere in amongst the kisses and trips to bed, breakfasts and dinners and being dragged out of work long enough to eat, his arms became the safest place in the broken city, where god-induced misery and self-induced guilt no longer tread.

She lets herself smile, lets herself lean into the kiss, and then he goes and says that and the calm is broken by eyerolls and a light shove against his side. )

Shut up.

( She moves with all the sudden, easy grace he's used to by now, lifting herself up and straddling his legs, hands going to shoulders and brushing up to his collar before pulling him close for another kiss. )

[claritatis]

I will not. [He objects playfully, but the kiss draws him in and silences him far more effectively than her words did. The cold around them goes unnoticed, and he brushes his fingers to the nape of her neck before working them up into her hair to cup the back of her head.

His free hand rests on her thigh, his thumb lightly smoothing against fabric, and he smiles brightly when she pulls away from him.]

Maybe we should do this more often.

[dedikated]

We don't kiss enough?

( It's teasing, playful, her eyes sparkling nearly as much as the stars in the sky. There's an easy freedom in this space between them, and there has been for a long time. A freedom which dissolves the frozen world around them to an afterthought and picks away at every stitch of her outer layers until they're forgotten things, no longer needed because this place is so very, very safe.

Perhaps too safe, but for tonight it doesn't matter.

Tonight the only thing that matters is the endless space above them, velvet skies and twinkling silver, and each and every soft kiss she presses against his lips. )

[claritatis]

Oh, I would never object to kissing you more. [He tells her with a soft smile edging on mischievous. There's something about her that just brings out that playfulness in him, something that he has long since identified as the kind of immaturity he has never really been able to display, tempered by experience.

Ignis catches every kiss she gives him, taking them willingly, eagerly even, and in time his long fingers work into the back of her hair to hold her against him so that the break between each is barely a millimetre for breath.]

Are you warm enough? [He asks her, after a few minutes of quiet affection have gone by.] I didn't ask you up here to freeze you.

[dedikated]

( They don't have to play the same roles they always have here, do they? Between them, there's no weight of responsibility, of trauma or work. Walls which have been up for decades melting away to nothing, and it finally makes sense, why people crave this.

She started to understand it with Sam, but it's only with Ignis that it's become crystal clear what all the talk is actually about. And by the time he asks that question, she's all but forgotten how cold it actually is out here, only just realising how distracted she is from her surroundings.

... Eh, it's not like they're about to be attacked for once. Probably. )

Mm. ( That she is. ) You want to get warmer?

( There's a very familiar smile on her face, and the tracing of fingers across the hem of his shirt. )

[claritatis]

[It doesn't surprise him, that she almost immediately turns to teasing him like that. Ignis is reasonably certain that she isn't serious, as much as he's sure she knows that he's not comfortable with the level of sexual exhibitionism required to have sex on a rooftop.]

I didn't think you had that much trouble keeping your hands off me. [He returns her teasing gently, taking hold of both her hands in his and bringing them up to his lips to kiss them.] But we can 'warm up' as much as you want when we get back indoors.

[dedikated]

( Not entirely. If he said yes, she wouldn't back out, but she expects that about as much as she expects him to dye his hair lime green. It's harmless, easy, the kind of banter they've fallen into after this all-too-quick year.

She breathes out a laugh and doesn't resist the movement of her hands, leaning back and curling her fingers over his. )

Always do that, you know.

( Pull her hands away, kiss them, whenever he doesn't want to go further. )

[claritatis]

Hm..? [He keeps her hands where they are, his fingers curled loosely over them and tucked lightly against his chest. The gentle humour in his eyes gives way to a curiosity that's just as mild (she knows his intense moods, but they're rarely given stage time in these situations), and he looks at her with the slightest tilt of his head.]

Do what?

[Oh, he thinks he knows what she means, but he'll let her say it.]

[dedikated]

( She could say it, or she could tug his hands upwards, pressing her lips against his knuckles in a mimic of his movements. )

That.

[claritatis]

Ah.

[Yes, that was what he thought. He squeezes his fingers lightly around hers and smiles.] Does it bother you?

[dedikated]

Didn't say that.

( Leaning back in, Kate drops a brief kiss to his mouth. )

Just... noticed it.

[claritatis]

Hm.

[The kiss has a smile pressed into it, the slightest chase when she draws away from him.]

I imagine it wasn't your intention to make me self-conscious.

[dedikated]

( She unwinds her hands from his to run her fingers through his hair instead, gently and ever-so-idly messing with the shape, scoffing a little at that.

No, it wasn't. But would that really be enough to make him self-conscious? )

Sure you've noticed things I do.

( A shrug. She's sure she has habits too. )

[claritatis]

Of course. [It's just the two of them, so he doesn't protest to the attention she gives to his hair, nor the way she sets several strands loose over his forehead. Noticed the things she does? He notices everything she does.]

What are you thinking about?

[He drops his hands to her thighs, moves them up to her hips and pulls her just that little bit closer.]