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]

[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. )

[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?

[dedikated]

( Ignis is that really an avenue of questioning you want to go down, when it makes a playful smirk flit across Kate's face, her brows raising in response to his.

There are many things she could take bites of here. But she won't, instead smoothly taking that hand from his wrist and finding the collar of his shirt this time to pull him close for a kiss. )

[claritatis]

[There are so many reasons he was attracted to her to begin with, and so many reasons that he loves her now. The way she challenges him is certainly not the least of them.

He leans down to her easily, not resisting the pull on his collar even for a moment and when his lips meet hers it's a soft, warm, lingering thing that he doesn't rush to pull away from.]

[dedikated]

( There's a time and a place for heated, fierce kisses and tangled limbs, but this is not that. It's soft and gentle, sweet and all the things which lend themselves to the peace under the trees and in the shade, where time seems to slow and her heart is a full thing in her chest.

Her fingers leave his collar, briefly smoothing the fabric back into place and traversing the lines of his shoulder before wrapping around his upper arm ever so lightly. )

[claritatis]

[The fruit is abandoned, dropped to the ground with the lightest thud in favour of putting his arms around her. What's between them here is patient, comfortable, and Ignis long since grew entirely at ease with being seen displaying this kind of affection. He thinks nothing of the possibility of being observed.]

You didn't have to lure me out under false pretenses. [He tells her quietly when they part for air, a small smile in his voice.] If this was what you wanted.

[dedikated]

( This sort of comfort has so quickly become a part of this, the sort of thing where it's easy to forget the world around the in favour of simply being together. It's so utterly entwined with being together with him that it's impossible to imagine anything else, when being held like this feels right in a way it never has before. )

Do want lunch. ( She corrects, words murmured only loudly enough for him to hear. ) Got distracted.

[claritatis]

Hm. [He's close enough to feel her words more than he hears them. His fingers link in the dip at the base of her spine and he keeps her close without holding her there, yet still quite sure she won't pull away from him.]

Entirely my fault, I'm sure.

[dedikated]

( While he's correct (annoyingly often) that she doesn't pull away, Kate does pull back enough that she can speak normally instead of murmur into his lips. )

Aye.

( It was. Obviously.

Her eyes cast a quick glance at the fruit on the floor and back up to Ignis. As distracting as he is... )

Find somethin' better, then?

[claritatis]

Hold on. [He hums, amused.] What's the rush?

[She might have pulled away from him just that bit more but he doesn't let her go just yet. They have time, don't they? He leans down to lightly kiss her again, a small smile against her lips.]

We're not done, are we?

[dedikated]

( There isn't much need to rush when Hadriel is (reasonably) quiet, it's true, and it makes it easy to convince her to slow down even as her heart clenches in a way which leaves her slightly breathless. )

We're not?

( The words are playful and light, murmured just before another soft brush of lips. )

[claritatis]

Not yet.

[Ignis does not often verbally take charge of things happening between them. He has his own quiet ways of being in control, things he will and will not allow, but this is an unusual occurrence.

He does seem aware of this as he smiles wryly at her in those brief moments before she kisses him, and he holds her to him as that kiss is warmly returned.]

[dedikated]

( She trusts him in the kind of way that allows him to tether her back, to take charge without unnecessary arguments. These moments may be small, may be over in the space of a few heartbeats, but they mean as much as the big things when she sinks into them without complaint or awkwardness, fitting against him like she was always meant to be there. )

[claritatis]

[It would be difficult for him to explain how he feels about her in words. What exists between them is a feeling, an emotion, a near-tangible something that defies language. Ignis feels it in the way they subconsciously reach for each other when they're near one another; in the smile that always comes to his face when he sees her.

In the gentle fullness in his chest each time he thinks of her and everything they have built between themselves in such a short time. It could have been little more than lust - an infatuation that could have faded. Instead, a fire had been lit beneath it.

His fingertips trace the line of her jaw while he kisses her, curling into her hair and around the back of her head. He won't keep her too long though. They still have lunch to find. When he moves back, he takes her hand and smiles warmly.]

Let's try another tree.

[dedikated]

( Words are often difficult, but even more so when they all feel inadequate to describe what they've built here. How simple time spent together has quickly blossomed into an unspoken trust and treasuring of all they have. Things are so easily torn away in this city, in life itself, that it's been easy to try and turn such things away before, but he's all the reasons not to do so in one simple smile and touch. )

Hungry?

( It doesn't take much to add the implication to her tone that she wouldn't object to it just being another place to kiss. )

[claritatis]

That is why we're out here.

[It's entirely not Ignis' fault that Kate is so tempting to him, but he is quite hungry and not in the mind for something that looks like a small pear but tastes like cherries... and not particularly good cherries at that.]

Not that I have any objections to the company.

[dedikated]

( So who are we blaming because it isn't Kate's fault either.

It entirely is. She's being an asshole. )

Lead the way.

( She can probably give cliffnotes on more than a few things here, simply due to the amount of times lunch has been "six random things picked off a tree and ate as she walks back to the clinic." )

[claritatis]

[This, in all honesty, is always more about the time spent together than what they end up eating. Ignis laces his fingers lightly between hers as they move out from beneath one tree and under the next, his attention half in the branches and half on the woman walking beside him.]

How is the clinic?

[Idle small talk. There's more to what he's asking than the question.]