Hadriel IC Inbox

[claritatis]

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

Comments

[claritatis]

[When it comes to finding out about this place, Ignis has found that archives and word of mouth are far better than whatever they can find provided for them. He has made his own extensive notes from the records in the Guard headquarters, from the questions he has asked long-term residents, and from the occasions where he has been allowed to access phones from those who have been present here longer than he has.

The raised brow she gives him is met with one of his own, and he closes the door while she makes herself comfortable.]

Make yourself at home. [Ignis offers, sounding amused. While he retrieves a couple of glasses, he adds-]

There must be a number of people you might choose to spend your time with in this manner. Why me?

[dedikated]

( Yeah, he's not the only one. It seems like the gods prefer to toss out information like breadcrumbs and word of mouth is far more effective.

But tonight she doesn't want to talk about the gods or the things they do. Doesn't want to remember what they've all just went through. She just wants to drink. Which is why there's a bottle of wine on his coffee table as she - quite easily, tosses her feet up on it.

Please, tell her to get down. )

Why not? ( She shrugs. ) Like drinking with different people. Teaches you more about 'em.

( And it's... kind of nice to be around someone new, who maybe knows less about her past because they haven't been here for the gods' ideas of energy retrieval. And she owes him for the time they bumped into one another while she was running herself half to death. That interaction stopped her exhausting herself, and that's not something that should go unthanked. )

[claritatis]

Kindly remove your feet from the furniture. [He says as he comes back, tapping the side of her shoe with the back of his hand while he places the two glasses down with the other. He didn't put up with that kind of thing from his friends back home and he's not going to put up with it here, even if none of the furniture actually belongs to him.

Ignis takes a seat, not directly beside her but on a chair close by, and picks up the bottle of wine to open it.]

You want to learn about me, then. [The young man surmises.] The real version. Very well.

[It isn't a bad thing, by the sounds of it. He fills the glasses up half way and holds one out to her.]

So long as you intend to allow me the same.

[dedikated]

( She just gives him a look, one which is probably all too familiar after the false memories of that small town - slightly exasperated, as if she thinks you need to lighten up, Ignis. )

Sure you're in your twenties?

( Marc was always more concerned with the appearance of the flat than Kate was when they first moved into their own place, but even he didn't give a flying monkey's about people kicking their feet up. Hell, he did it too.

Kate takes the glass and finds a more comfortable position to put her legs which doesn't involve stretching them out on the table, eventually stretching them out under the table instead. It's an improvement. )

... Alright.

( That pause is the tell-tale sound of someone who doesn't do sharing personal details all that often or well, even if she's a damn sight better than she was ten or so years ago. )

[claritatis]

Twenty-two. [Ignis confirms with a small nod. It isn't the first time he's been asked that question and it will likely not be the last, but he has grown accustomed to people not expecting his particular attitude to come from someone who is relatively so young.

He sips the wine, briefly pauses to look at the glass, then shakes his head. It will do.]

You find that surprising.

[It isn't a question, exactly, but he lifts both eyebrows at her regardless.] At the age of six I was placed at the side of the crown prince, with the intent that I would grow up to be his adviser. I dare say that had a heavy influence.

[dedikated]

( Look, Kate remembers what she was like at 22. Most of her energy was directed towards being angry or intoxicated. Or worrying over Marc. Shew grew up fast, but not well, not when so much seemed pointless.

Kate drinks from the cup - yeah, it probably isn't a wine glass by any stretch of the imagination, but it holds liquid and that's all you can really ask for here, at times - and knits her brows together in thought. At 6, all she really cared about was running. Becoming the best athlete she could be.

Obviously, some things changed, there. )

Think it'd affect anyone.

( Running and her family. Her world was small, in comparison. Simple and straightforward. No one expected her to advise someone who would soon rule a country. )

[claritatis]

[The cup looks like it's trying to be glass, and that's really the best that can be asked of it.

Sometimes, Ignis wonders what might have been had he not been placed by Noctis' side at such a young age. Would he have ever gained an interest in cooking? Would he have followed a path so different that he can't even imagine how his life would be different? He wouldn't change anything, not even for the largest rewards that could be offered.]

Indeed... but it was a good match.

[And then, in the interests of finding out a little about her, he returns to a question that he had once thought of but never asked.]

How does one become a 'power consultant'?

[dedikated]

( It's trying, give it a gold star.

Wondering what might have been is one of those pointless endeavours you can never really stop. Part of the reason Kate keeps herself so busy is to avoid the trap of spiralling thoughts, leading to what if Marc was alive instead of me, or what if we never fell into The Agency's clutches in the first place. Where would they - where would their country be, if those things were different?

Kate inhales, closing her eyes for a brief moment. Well, normally you start with an interview, but she's not feeling the snark. It's not a harmful question, anyway. One that's easy enough to explain. )

In my case, you have th' power to see other powers. ( She doesn't bother showing it off, for once, because after the visions of a future that's yet to pass which are dancing in her head, the last thing she wants is to find bright lights of abilities she might not know. ) Then-

( She shrugs. )

Same as any job. Learn what you're doing and do it.

[claritatis]

[He nods, clearly not needing anything further in order to understand. Again, it's a simple concept, and he could find it puzzling if she was to tell him that some people had difficultly grasping the idea.]

I can see how it's a useful skill.. for other people. [The times they've talked, and the talking has turned to what she does for a living, she has never sounded particularly enthused about it.]

But do you find that you get as much out of it as others do?

[dedikated]

( Honestly, that's just... her. Kate doesn't get all that emotional sounding about things all that often, and it's easier to see things in her actions. Easier to tell how she does feel about this unintentional career path when she's caught in the middle of a crisis at work, or when she solves a particular problem with hard work.

But they're not there, and Kate's only got drinks and her own words to explain. So she takes a breath. Stays quiet for a moment. She needs to think. She didn't get her parents' abilities with words - her mother's craft for stories or her dad's ability at breaking things down - or even absorbed any of Marc's intelligence that would allow her to do this easily. )

It's... a challenge. ( She thinks back to the first day she started at Dagny's training clinic, at all the things she overcame there. Learning just what her powers could really do, figuring out how to stand in the middle of bloody chaos and keep a cool head - not just to try and ignore it and grit her teeth through it. ) ... Wasn't exactly something I expected to end up doing with my life. ( Her words are measured and that is an understatement. As a child, she expected athletics, the Olympics, always to be running. As a teenager, anything that paid would do. Once she joined The Agency, she began to believe that would be it. She'd always be fighting, always be stuck with them.

Moving into medicine is something Marc should have done, had he been alive, but she doesn't hate it. )

I get to help people. Do something constructive with my powers. ( While before it felt like it was always leading to the destruction of something. ) Get to meet a lot of people too. ( She forgets, sometimes, how much she actually likes that. She'd grown to used to the isolation, to being too busy to really know anyone outside of her work team. Even after all this time, with so much that's needed doing, it's easy to fall into those habits of those formative years. ) Can't exactly go on for hours 'bout how exciting sitting and staring all them colours are - ( Most people don't understand it, unless they'd get to see it as well. Another world around her. Sometimes headache inducing, but just... more ) - but I can't imagine not doing it.

[claritatis]

[He's curious about Kate. It's not out of some deep-seated need to know her, but she interests him and he wants to know how much of the other her came from the real version. They had been good friends - close - and he can't help but feel that same fondness towards her despite the fact that it was never truly real.

While she speaks, he feels that he sees another side of her that until now had been kept.. not hidden, but not shown. She's a private person, much like he is, and he's happy enough to re-evaluate his previous assumptions about her levels of enthusiasm.]

It is rewarding, then. [He replies with a small smile. Life rarely does go the way you expect, but Ignis never really had much of a chance to consider doing anything else with his.]

I'm glad to hear it. It's a terrible thing, to be trapped in a profession that doesn't give anything back to you.

[dedikated]

( Those false memories have buried inside somehow. Kate can't exactly explain it, just that - despite knowing none of it is real, and that she's only known this kid a month or so - she feels more comfortable around Ignis than she would otherwise. He was a solid part of a life she never actually led, one where so many of the things that caused her to be so closed off never happened - or if they did, they happened much later and she dealt with them... somewhat better.

Another long sip of her drink before she replies, lips quirking slightly. )

Not talkin' from personal experience, I hope?

( She definitely knows a thing or two about that, but call her curious, too. After all, being groomed into a profession from childhood is greatly different from anything she knows. )

[claritatis]

Hah... no, certainly not.

[He has never, not for a moment, regretted his place at Noctis' side. There isn't anywhere else he feels like he should rather be. From the sounds of things, she knows what that feels like, and there is something of a comfort in shared experiences.]

Had I never had the opportunity to meet Noctis, I imagine that my life might have gone very differently... but I have no sense of longing for something different.

[After all, hadn't he gained a great deal back? Friendship as strong as that which was shared between he and his three companions was a rare thing.]

[dedikated]

( That's good to know. It took all too many years to find that place for herself, even if that place is never the one she'd have picked out for herself as a child, or even a young adult. She's genuinely glad Ignis has that, despite how little time they're actually known each other. It's not an easy thing to find. )

Hard to figure out, innit?

( Where their lives might have gone if fundamental things were changed. If her parents were never murdered, or if she was born human instead of with the ability to see other powers. Each of these nothing more than an instant, but their effects felt for years, always there in the back of her mind.

Would she have been an athlete? Or something else? Would she even be the same person, sitting here, enjoying some wine with a new friend? Perhaps they might not have even liked each other. )