rookshire | Take a look in the mirror

Things have been strained since all the shit that went down and the fact that now even with the building settled Chiaki is nowhere to be seen means that she's likely gone, just like Lance and Mira and maybe, like them, she'll come back. Or maybe they'll never see her again, like Cee.

A thought that hurts more than he cares to admit and for a moment he can't help wondering if Wash is still looking after Ami, if CT got to go home to Varric. If she remembers him, if she misses him...

He ends up scrubbing a hand over his face, pleased as hell that at least with the storm giving them running water he'd been able to trim his beard down. The storm's broken now though and he needs to track Liam down so they can talk, preferably without any Kings or lovers interjecting themselves into things.

Which means finding him and leaning against the nearest wall, giving him space but not a lot. "You up for talkin?"

Edited 2019-06-26 20:30 (UTC)

By now, Liam's outrage for most who had stopped him from going through the sally port had cooled - save for two individuals. Liam's resentment for Ardyn was obvious - he'd forced his hand, and there were few things Liam hated more. But it was easy not to let Ardyn get to him so long as he stayed out of his way.

His anger at Gladio was much more personal. For one, Liam would never have imagined that Gladio was the kind of person who didn't see the value in saving "just" one life, especially when the rescue team had volunteered. For another, he had come to like Gladio quite a bit, and having his judgment of someone's character proven wrong was the one thing he hated above all. For the entirety of the storm, Liam can't bring himself to approach Gladio, and schedules his movements across Rookshire around his - but somehow manages to be even more hurt when he doesn't come to him.

By the time Gladio approaches, Liam could just about kill him. "Depends," he answers curtly, "on what you're going to say."

It was a good deal more complicated than that but Liam had been too distraught to listen to reason. To the point that he'd lashed out at two of the most emotionally fragile people in the group in his demands to get his way. That was where the problem came in, and why he'd felt the need to step up. Something he was hoping to be able to have a rational conversation about but the venom in Liam's tone already had Gladio holding back a sigh.

Why did he have to be so difficult?

"I figure there's a lot to say, a lot of different perspectives to consider, and I was kinda hoping to have a conversation someplace not so... public. Then we up and landed in the middle of a desert so I guess taking a walk isn't gonna be a relaxing stroll in the woods anymore." A vague gesture to the blinding heat outside. See, Liam. He just wanted to be able to not have everyone else chiming in on the conversation. There's also parts of things that the others don't know and he's not exactly eager to tell Noctis just how bad things get back home yet.

Liam's eyes flick to the door and then back at Gladio, his icy expression unchanging for the moment it takes him to decide whether to bite his head off. So far, nobody had quite convinced him with their 'different perspective', and that phrase made his hackles rise - he'd heard it so many times before to justify pollution, poverty, slavery. So complicated! So many different points of view! Liam, had you ever once stopped to consider the perspective of the person who wasn't suffering?

But for some reason, he doesn't snap. He hates to admit that he still likes Gladio enough to afford him the enourmous amount of restraint it took to hear him out. Liam sighs, his breath shuddering in frustration - he really should know better by now - and he shrugs, stare melting into something almost... sad. He was so exhausted.

"There's shade just outside the building. It's hot, but it isn't miserable. ...I doubt anyone would follow us." He'd scouted it out for his own reasons. But regardless of whether they decided to speak outside or not, it was clear Liam was approaching this conversation with as much of an open mind as he had.

Trust, he's right there with you, buddy. He's heard it all before too, from the Niffs, from the cowards in Accordo. He hates that he has to justify it at all but there's been too many times when that call meant saving the lives of everyone around him.

He can tell Liam is still mad, still tense, he's on thin ice and he can't blame Liam at all. Gladio just nods, tired and more subdued than usual. Everything was so tense, stretched to a breaking point and he didn't have the emotional fortitude to keep fighting for and with literally everyone around him. Liam had been a friend, someone to lean on together with. He doesn't want to lose that, not with the only other damned adult in the group (with the exception of Scott and maybe that new redhead).

"Mmm... in between the arms of the building? Yeah.. that'd probably be okay for a little while." A quiet nod towards the doors and then he's heading outside, not even looking back to see if Liam was going to follow. If the older man decided to say fuck it and just lock him out for awhile he'd deserve it but Liam struck him as the type to hate him to his face, not stab him in the back so... here's hoping?

He could have left Gladio to his own devices outside, and it would have been extremely satisfying to let him roast... but the revolutionary considered himself above petty revenge. Liam convinces himself to go with a sigh - quickly stripping off his long-sleeved wool turtleneck to replace it with a cut-up sleeveless hoodie - and heads outside to find him. He joins him a comfortable distance away, crossing his arms - the scar on his upper arm now visible, permanently disfiguring one of the lines in his half-sleeve tattoo. Once in awhile, he'll draw his finger down the mark and wince.

From the safety of the shade, Liam stares up at the desert sky. Why did they have to end up here? There was no place in the known universe Liam thought could be worse.

"So. You wanna go first?" Hearing Gladio out gave Liam an opportunity to calm down if he had the wrong idea, or build up his argument if he didn't.

Edited 2019-07-02 04:34 (UTC)

Gladio nods, leans against the cool stone of the building and sighs softly.

"'s only fair." It is. Liam's both the one that ended up hurt and the one who'd sorta been ganged up on too. He hadn't meant for it to go that way but it had and it was at least partially his fault.

"I'm sorry she's gone, for what it's worth. She seemed like a good kid. Not cut out for this shit, but a good kid. And I'm not saying I'm right, we don't know. But that kind of shit? Moving walls and crap? that's a good way to get dead and getting killed..." He huffs a sigh and runs a hand over his hair as though there could be any flaw in the tight, neat braid Ignis had done for him that morning. At least he genuinely looks guilty.

"Places like this? Or like the Islands we were on, or like the shit hole tower Shion was in. Death stops meaning a whole helluva lot. It's never permanent. Same forces that be that dropped us in here aren't going to let us die but lemme tell you they can make sure it hurts like a bitch. But that's the thing. There's no noble sacrifices to make if everyone comes back so if she was just dead, got stuck out there and got fucked up. Then she'd be back by now.

What's worse is when you wake up one morning and someone you love's just... gone. No trace of 'em like they'd never been there. Room empty, shit vanished. Gotta just hope and pray that wherever they ended up they're gonna be okay. Maybe they got to go home, maybe they can fix things. Point is you'll never know and it's agony not knowing, trust me I know, and it's even worse when they come back cause half the time they don't remember and then everything's fucked up again cause you knew 'em, you made so many memories and now it's like they're a stranger.

The point is. The storm brought us here, the storm probably took her out other wise she'd be back. And as infuriating as it is, you suffering wasn't gonna do shit to change that. More to the point? That little girl in there? I don't care how brave she is saying she'd go with you, I'm pretty damned sure dying like that and coming back from it would break her. She's so sweet and young and she doesn't deserve that. I'm sorry shit got outta hand, I'm sorry Ardyn is a reactive asshole, and I'm sorry you got hurt."

And that's it. He slumps against the wall, all but deflates against it and looks at Liam, tired and weary.

"'m not sorry you're still alive though... jerk"

Liam stares hard at Gladio as his words sink in. In some way, raging against an obvious villain was enjoyable. It was satisfying to be infuriated by injustice, and it felt even better to quash it by doing the right thing. Being angry with Gladio? Sucked. Gladio was apologetic and considerate, and Liam hadn't been ready to write him off from the beginning. This just wasn't fun at all.

He tries to keep up his glare as he continues, knowing he shouldn't rush to forgive him when there was still more to discuss. But the mask has cracked, and the corners of Liam's mouth curl into a miserable frown as he folds his arms carefully. "I'm not like you all," Liam begins factually. "I didn't have the privilege of coming from a universe I'm not native to. I'm working from an incomplete picture, and I don't have the support the rest of you have. Not by half." Friendly as the rest of them had been to him, there was simply no making up for time. There were just some disadvantages that couldn't be addressed, and it wasn't equal, but it also wasn't unjust. It simply was.

"So when you stopped me from 'saving' someone I wanted as my friend- same as anyone here- what was I supposed to think? From my perspective, we were leaving that girl to her fate, and I had to take it or die." He sighs. He knows in his heart that he overreacted - that he played up his outrage to burn his bridges as fast as possible - but the rest of them had to learn that Liam Ferohn-Gau didn't bend to threats. "The universe would be a shittier place if we turned away from injustice to save our own skin. In that moment, helping someone was worth more than my life." Liam didn't know Ardyn - didn't believe in his virtue like he believed in Gladio's. What if Ardyn insisted on something even worse in the future? He had to know there was someone willing to keep him in check.

"I asked everyone to tell me if there was something I was missing. I trusted you! I thought you would have just told me, but instead, you..." Threatened him, let him get injured, left him suffering in the dark for three days while the resentment ate holes through his guts. The moment after Asch revealed their fight had been for nothing, Liam could have wept furious tears, had the others not been watching. Even now, they prick at his eyes.

Liam squares his shoulders and marches over to Gladio, tense as though he might get in his face - and then pushes him up from his slouch, shoving him firmly but affectionately. In spite of his hurt, there's some tenderness to his tone. "Idiot... You really let me down." That was Liam's breaking point. He was too damaged and miserable to handle another betrayal.

Edited 2019-07-06 18:49 (UTC)

For a moment he's sure that Liam's going to deck him, punch him square in the face and he'd deserve it. He makes no move to stop him, accepting whatever the older man plans to do. But somehow it's only a shove and disappointment and fuck if that doesn't hurt more than an blow. He stands up straighter for a moment, only now realizing just how much height he had on Liam, his force of personality made him seem so much larger.

"'m sorry." The shift in his stance only lasts a fleeting moment before he's throwing his arms around Liam, regardless of the heat or how gross everyone is he hugs the other man to him for a long moment. It's strange how much Liam's disappointment hits home, like he was failing Cor or His Majesty somehow.

"You were already so worked up I didn't think you'd listen. All of that, explaining everything? That took more than a minute and you'd already made up your mind what you were going to do, the rest of us be damned. I thought... you'd at least see the reason in not adding to the body count. As soon as Ardyn got involved it was a whole different story." Okay so maybe outside in the sun it's a little too hot for this. He leans a little instead, one arm around Liam but not fully hugging him.

"I wouldn't have let him kill you but... trust me when I say stepping in to argue in your defense would've made him more likely to kill you out of spite. Though I have to admit if he'd been a second or two slower I'd have jumped between you. Make sure neither of you could kill each other. He uh... he had everything he knew turned on him for being that kind of idealistic and self sacrificing so it pisses him off when people think it'll change anything. Makes no sense, I know but he's bitter about it. Besides. A gun wouldn't have... done shit to him. Not during the storm." Just let him lean on you Liam, Ardyn is exhausting, even just trying to explain part of how he thinks.

The last thing Liam expected entering this conversation was to hug it out, and he responds to Gladio's embrace with a startled, shallow gasp - yet even in the heat, Liam lingers there willingly. Breathing slowly to vent out his bitterness, forehead pressed against Gladio's chest to hide his face, Liam closes his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd needed to be held like this.

When Gladio releases him, Liam's expression is as tired as his, age lines creased in misery and exhaustion. Would he have shot Gladio? He doesn't know. He doesn't think so (doesn't want to think so)- but the truth of it is that his temper had been pulled as taut as an unravelling thread, and in that moment, he'd looked at Gladio and saw the enemy. But when the dust cleared, it would have been horribly clear that he had lost two friends instead of one. To what end? To be the hero again? To feel anything again? Liam feels a familiar self-loathing stirring in his chest. He leans into Gladio's support, the very recent memory of his heartbeat a comfort.

Finally, Liam sighs, low and long. "We're lucky to have you, Gladio." That was the ultimate truth of it. "I've always been sure of that. And if you trust Ardyn- well, I can't fight with you anymore." The argument was over. So deep was his trust in Gladio that he was willing to call an uneasy truce with a man he was sure he hated, a man so unpredictable, dangerous and tyrannical that being locked up with him was viscerally disgusting. Ardyn had dominated him, humiliated him, and injured him so effectively that he'd suffered through something he should have been able to shrug off. This was more than a leap of faith. This was letting Gladio blindfold and leave him adrift with a promise. "But I can't face Ardyn. One way or another, I can't talk to him." Perhaps indefinitely, for both of their protection. Could Gladio and his friends accept that and still let Liam live within reach? Liam was terrified that the answer was 'no'.

Edited 2019-07-14 06:37 (UTC)

"We're lucky to have you too, Liam. It's-" He sighs, leans a little more. Then just huffs out a half strangled laugh and uses the arm around Liam's shoulders to tug the older man down to sit on the hard pan beside him. It's hot and sticky but all the stress of the last few days and Ignis falling apart on him this morning is just too much and Liam is one of the few people outside the situation that he feels he can lean on without adding to their burden.

"It's easy, when you've been through something enough times, to become kind of numb to it. Dying, people leaving, like it's just part of how things work now." He frowns, clearly troubled by this and the look he gives Liam is grave. "I think the worst part is that... I didn't even realize. Not till you started looking for Chiaki and I just couldn't be that upset. I barely knew her, y'know. It..."

He scrubs a hand over his face, lets his head thunk back against the wall behind them and stares up at that pale sky. "Back home, even before all this. We had to leave people behind a lot. The Scourge, the same disease Ardyn has. It kills most people turns them into dust and brings them back as daemons. The number of friends, comrades, I've personally had to put down. It's easier, here. At least like this they vanish and you can tell yourself maybe they just went home."

"And I don't blame you for not wanting to be around Ardyn. He's an ass a lot of the time but it's sort of a form of self preservation. So like... I trust him to try. He's been trying in his own way but there's a fuck ton of damage up here." He taps his temple, offers Liam a weak, apologetic smile. "I mean... we've gotta learn to be civil a couple days outta the month at least but no one's gonna fault you for wanting to punch his lights out."

Once more Liam gratefully allows Gladio to pull him in, taking his seat close to him like they had done when Gladio was injured. It takes a moment for him to realize that Gladio might not be so open around Noctis or Prompto, and for an instant, Liam freezes- it was risky to become the confidant of a man he only thinks he knows- before forcing himself to relax. Enough. He had promised to trust him.

Liam could laugh - here they were, two men with the opposite problems, yet they had both seen people carried like ash into the wind and had hardened their hearts to it. Only, the blame did not lie with one of them. And Liam had called Gladio the callous one... "You told me about that future. I should have remembered." This might be the closest anyone has gotten to an apology from Liam. For all Gladio had lived through, his actions that day made perfect sense. "No one has the energy to care that much for that long. Not even someone like you." There was considerable admiration behind those words. Liam knew that well - for a person who cared so deeply for the humans around him, there was only so much empathy he could afford outside of them, after enough time. One day, it was like a switch had been flipped, and Liam could no longer bring himself to care what happened to the human race. (He wonders what Ardyn would do if he learned about the Medusea virus; deciding Ardyn he doesn't need another reason to kill him, Liam resolves to keep that card close to his chest.)

"...I meant one thing I said to you," Liam tells him, "I want to help you. Even if there's nothing that can be done." In other words, Liam was prepared to hear what he knew the others could not, any time Gladio needed. He only wished he had the strength to let that trust go both ways, but while the loyal facet of his personality had emerged from the war intact, his trusting one had not. It was much easier to dole out support than to take it.

"You were upset, remembering wasn't something you were capable of at that moment. I get it. Trust me I've been there." Gladio huffs a breath, tilts his head to nudge Liam in something that's half playful nudge and half nuzzle because they're already leaning into each other enough that he can't really nudge without ending up half in Liam's lap.

"It's really hard... accepting that you've gotten to the point where you can't let yourself care anymore." The nudge turns into resting his head on Liam's shoulder and just... being so grateful to have him here, to have someone that can give him an objective opinion, someone who is willing to support even the bad things without it being something that feels like laying more guilt on them. He hates talking to Ignis about the Night, knows that every conversation is held with a part of his lover's mind chastising himself for allowing distance to come between them even when he hadn't even lived it yet.

"I appreciate that, Liam. More than you can know... I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough to stop Ardyn from hurting you." There's guilt there but also no small measure of weariness.

Cornering Ignis for a conversation was both easier and harder than he'd anticipated. Talking was fine. Getting him not just sort of alone (enough to make out) but actually alone was all but impossible. And he used the excuse of the last dregs of water in the pipes to drag Ignis into the bathroom with him, plunk him down with water and a brush from Scott and demand a tight 'French' braid. (Seriously, Cee, what kind of place is a French?) Once his boyfriend had gotten it started, settled into the pace of it, he took a deep breath and had to admit his treachery.

"I actually dragged you in here so we could talk without Noct or anyone overhearing. Cause... I love you but... I'm kinda pissed at you right now, babe."

Edited 2019-06-26 20:36 (UTC)

Quite honestly, Ignis begins to wonder if there is something going on the moment that Gladio insists that they do his braid in the bathroom. The water can be carried out so they can do the braid wherever they want, but that doesn't leave them alone and he's sure that is the point of all this. Ignis half-expects a discussion considering all that just happened, but nothing makes him consider that the discussion will be about Gladio being mad at him.

His hands pause for a moment on the braid as he struggles to figure out why, but eventually he has to give in and ask instead, "I'm afraid I'm not sure why you would be angry with me. Is this about me staying out of the fight with Liam?"

He can feel the uncertainty travelling down Ignis' fingers, still and thoughtful, holding his hair taut but not continuing for a moment and he immediately feels guilty. A sigh and he leans a little harder back against Ignis' legs.

"Nah, you're the only one of us with half a brain." A stiffled laugh and he lets one hand drop down from his lap to settle lightly against Ignis' ankle.

"I just... I thought we were doing better. With the whole talking things out, no more secrets." His fingers tighten, something hurt and pained in his voice for so many reasons.

"Why didn't you tell me he stabbed Lunafreya... In front of Noct, no less. I'm sitting there trying to convince him to give Ardyn a chance looking like a complete shitheel because he just watched her die and-" He cuts himself off abruptly, choking on his next breath, free hand coming up to scrub at his face before he does something stupid like start crying about this.

By the time Gladio stops speaking, the stillness that previously only affected Ignis' fingers has spread to his whole body. It doesn't even seem as if he is breathing. As if, in just a few seconds, he's been turned completely to stone. He only knows his heart is still beating because it hurts so much. First, to have Gladio think he was purposely keeping secrets again, and second, realizing that Noctis saw...

Breath finally shudders from his mouth, those shudders traveling down to his fingers as he searches for words. It was never meant to be a secret, but it had come out in a conversation where he and Ardyn talked of so many of his sins. Ignis had not been able to process all of them right then. He only knew that none of the truth changed what he felt--what he wanted--so it was pushed aside until he was able to process it.

Apparently, he waited too long.

He steps back from Gladio, unconsciously trying to hide how shaken is really is.

"Noctis was unconscious when Ravus and I made it to the Alter. I didn't know he had witnessed any of it."

It's not an excuse. Instead, Ignis is desperately grabbing at some starting point while he finally processes this particular sin of Ardyn's.

The thing is moving away from him is telling of how shaken he is and Gladio turns quickly, reaching for Ignis. He backs up but there isn't far to go in the bathroom and Gladio goes up on his knees, shuffling after his lover, arms sliding around his waist, resting his head against his belly.

"Okay... okay I'm sorry babe. It just seemed like sort of a big thing to not tell me and I was upset, finding out like that." He squeezes Ignis lightly, holds onto him, refuses to let him backpedal this time. "I'm not really mad anymore, not like I was when they first got here just... a little pissed."

Part of him screams that he needs to break free of the gentle hold even as another part of him screams just the opposite. Honestly, it's a little frightening to have such strong conflicting feelings when it comes to Gladio of all people, but for now it works to Gladio's advantage as the conflict keeps Ignis from attempting to free himself.

"Ardyn said she only had a few days left if even that." Ignis' voice is strangely detached as he speaks. Facts. Repeating the facts is safest. Meanwhile, he can try to wrangle his emotions back under control.

"Awakening and communing with the Astrals was killing her. O-One more thing none of us knew."

Unknown to him, tears have slowly started to track their way down his face. So much for getting his emotions under control...

As soon as he begins to speak again, voice gone distant like that Gladio shakes his head. The words are secondary to the way Ignis is crumbling in his hands. The Astrals were killing her, of course they were. Of course they would. Why the fuck not, why let Noctis have anything left-

But Ignis needs him so he can't let the rage come up to the surface the way he wants, instead he reaches out and, carefully as he can, he takes Ignis' weight. Pulls the advisor against his chest, gently tugs his feet out from under him, and lowers him into his lap so he can be held properly. There's not much to say that he hasn't already said, though now he feels like total crap for being mad in the first place. It was stupid and if he hadn't been so confrontational about it maybe Iggy wouldn't be falling apart like this.

"It's okay babe... I'm sorry. I've got you."

Oddly enough, Ignis doesn't resist the pull. He settles down into Gladio's lap almost as if he is a doll whose strings have been cut, head resting on the Shield's shoulder, turned so he can bury his face in his lover's neck. Tears fall faster now as, not only do his emotions about Lunafreya's death, but also his worries about everything begin to spill out. Honestly, he hasn't felt this out of control since he arrived on Enso over two years ago.

Lunafreya was fated to die just like Noctis was. Ardyn had just sped the process along slightly. Everything was planned from the very gifting of Ardyn with his powers so long ago to...to...

For a moment, his throat tightens and Ignis almost chokes on his own breath.

"Maybe...maybe Ardyn's right and this is a fool's quest. It was all fated. E-even my..." He laughs brokenly, curling tighter into Gladio, "I thought I was going to change fate and all I did was play the role Bahamut assigned to me from the very beginning."

Edited (Typos! Sorry about that!) 2019-07-09 23:21 (UTC)

He hasn't seen Ignis break down like this in a long time, even when he started to crack under the strain of the petals filling his lungs and entangling his joints he hadn't broken apart this much, perhaps close but it was regrets for the past, the weight of things that had already happened. That was what had made those delicate petals so powerful. When Ardyn was at his worst, when Gladio himself had fallen apart after finding out about Ignis and Ardyn, when Noctis left them time and again.

Iggy never broke.

For Luna to be the thing that finally tipped him over the edge was surprising but then Ignis had been there, adjacent to the tragedy of that day and Gladio hadn't been able to get close enough to help. He pulls th other man in against his chest, letting himself sway slightly, a subtle comforting rocking. His fingers go to sandy hair, threading through and reassuring himself for the thousandth time that there are no flashes of petals there.

"But Bahamut sure as hell didn't count on this place. Or on Tory, or on years of us together in different timelines to pull together what we know. So fuck him and fuck fate." Then he cradles Ignis' chin, tilts his head up to he has to face him, lets his forehead rest against his lover's. Gladio even reaches out to capture one of ignis' hands, leading it up to settle his fingers against his cheek, let him feel the tension and strength there in the set of his jaw and the furrow of his brow. "It may be a fool's quest but I swear to you, I will not stop. I will never stop trying and I will never give up. Not for you, not for Noct and not for Ardyn. On my honor. On my father's grave."

Even the strongest person's back can break under too many straws, and this was the last one for Ignis. It's not only Lunafreya's death and the emotions he never faced, but everything else that happened in Altissia. All of it is tied together and examining one aspect brings all of them up. He may love Ardyn dearly now, but nothing will ever erase the trauma of that day.

Ignis curls closer to Gladio and lets his tears fall while he focuses his mind completely on the gentle rocking motion and the feeling of the strong, steady arms around him. He's allowed to fall apart while Gladio is here to pick up the pieces, or at the very least hold those pieces together a while longer.

Even though the Shield is gentle when he pulls Ignis' head up, the advisor almost resists. He wants more time to hide where he knows nothing will harm him, but Gladio's words are so heartfelt that he can't ignore them.

He leans forward so he can press a tear-dampened kiss to Gladio's lips, "I know you won't and I love you for it." His fingers trail gently along the side of his lover's face, "You keep me pointed in the right direction even when I'm not sure what that is."

It kills him to see Ignis so upset but he's determined to do whatever he can to ease his suffering. He accepts that kiss but lets Ignis go back to hiding once he has acknowledged both his words and his conviction.

"Dunno it's always the right direction..." Sheepish and vaguely apologetic as he tucks Ignis in under his chin, dropping a kiss to his hair before settling his cheek heavily against the top of his head. Subtle grounding with the weight of his arms around the advisor again.

"We'll always find the right way forward, though. Long as we've got each other, babe." He might not trust either one of them one hundred percent but they balanced each other so well that he believed in them as a unit more than he'd ever trusted anything. Maybe even more than he'd trusted his Dad and Regis. It had been so long now it was hard to say.

"Yes." The word is soft, almost lost as Ignis hasn't resisted being tucked under Gladio's chin at all. He lets himself drift, not like he did sometimes back on the islands when he was desperately trying to run away from things that were too much, but just to let his mind rest while the last of his tears fall and then dry. He's tired suddenly, exhausted, but in a good way he can't help but think. This needed to happen.

Ignis lets himself loose track of time for a while, but about the time he feels himself in real danger of falling asleep in Gladio's embrace, he leans forward to press a kiss to the Shield's neck and then smiles up at him sleepily, "Thank you."

Ignis isn't the only one halfway to sleep. It's honestly a miracle no one's banged on the door to get them out of the fucking bathroom but they were both naturally early risers. Gladio hums softly in appreciation of that kiss, smiles down at Ignis and drops a matching one to his boyfriend's cheek.

"You wanna go back to bed?" Because he will carry you out of here in a full on bridal carry and put you back to bed if that's what you want babe.

"We shouldn't." The words are no more than a halfhearted attempt at denial, though. Instead of getting up, Ignis just snuggles further into Gladio, arms tightening around him.

That is about the clearest permission you are going to get, Gladio. Carry that man back to bed and cuddle with him until you both fall asleep!

Not long after the entire thing at the bulletin board, Gladio will find that Asch has actually approached him, though the redhead remains carefully on the other side of Leo where he's not going to give the larger man a startle. It's been a storm of quiet tension that Asch himself spent mostly deep in his book against the doors. Pyram is hanging out outside of his collar, seemingly enjoying the warmer air.

"...Here," he says, offering a piece of paper covered in the same swirling handwriting as his notes on the board. At a glance, it seems to be formatted like a schedule of some sort. "You said you didn't really notice whether powers were working or not, so this is my notes about the last cycle. If the pattern holds, they're linked to the storm."

Gladio makes a small sound, curious and then abruptly hisses when he looks up and ends up stabbing himself with the needle. Suture needles are not made for sewing clothes okay. Fuck.

He takes the offering though, holding it carefully before dropping it in his lap to look at while sucking at his finger, not wanting to get blood on the paper or the project. It makes sense enough and he nods.

"I'll keep it in mind. And if you wanna, idk, work on any non-magic type skills while you're down powers then... I dunno, hit me up? Probably gonna be helpin Iris train anyway if you wanna go through some drills with us or anything."

"...I'll think about it," he says, carefully neutral. "Lessons and I don't really get along well."

It's a little bit of an understatement, but if Gladio wants to know, he can ask. It's not like Asch is going to offer the details of what's happened to him any time they're vaguely relevant to the situation at hand.

And speaking of hands... Asch's eyes fall on the bestabbened finger. "Want me to fix that? I could use the practice." Before he can't,in a few days' time.

"Like all lessons or just the kind with sharp object?" He's halfway through the question when Asch asks about the healing thing and Gladio is immediately shrugging it off, glancing at his hand dismissively. Until Asch mentions the practice part and then he carefully tucks the needle into the seam he's working on, offering up both hands.

"There's at least another half dozen pokes from using this damn thing." Suture needles suuuuuck.

There's also a nice deep purple bruise across the back one knuckle where it'd gotten snagged and working the end with the thread through had ended up piercing the skin on his finger, leaving a single dark line.

"Any, probably, but sharp objects most."

He steps around the tigerlily to get a better look at Gladio's hands, expression calm but focused as he hovers his hands over the man's much larger ones. Don't think about it, don't think about Van when you're trying to heal. Even if he can't intentionally access hyperresonance, that's how bad things happen.

But he murmurs something under his breath and light hums under his fingers, fixing up all the little injuries with a feeling of warm nostalgia. It's a feeling almost perfectly at odds with how Asch usually acts, but when the arte fades, he looks much more relaxed, himself.

"But I don't think I'm doing so badly on the self-teaching front," he says, pulling his hands back.

Yeah Asch please don't hyper resonate his hands off that'd suck.

It's warm and tingly and sort of reminds him of the softer, weaker experiments with thunder spells Noct had tried out when he was young and still learning the magic. An odd thing to be nostalgic about, maybe, but it makes him smile.

"Whatever works. Dunno how many books we've got left but if you need any construction tips I can maybe help? been building shit from scratch on the islands for a year now. Now we've just got way less reliable resources. Fun stuff."

Asch glances up at the ceiling above them. "More likely we're going to need repair than building anything, but I'll keep it in mind." Fortunately, the building seems relatively solid over their heads, at least if the previous two storms are anything to go by.

He drops his hands back, the glow from them gone.

Once the glowing and humming and all that is done Gladio holds his hands up to touch his fingers, tapping each one to his thumb and then moving to the next, flashing Asch a grin when he finds there's no pain or blood from any of them now.

"Yeah maybe but if shit's gonna keep moving I'd rather get some things built that we can just bring in to take with us rather than hoping a room's going to pop up. Like half the damned kitchen would've been nice."

"Not a lot of room for people as it is," Asch says. He looks thoughtful for a moment. "...I don't suppose you know enough to be able to tell which walls are load-bearing?"

When in doubt, get creatively destructive. Surely they don't need all of those walls.

"Load bearing? Shit... I talked about that kind of thing with Tim but I dunno if you'd wanna trust me. Especially when everything's concrete, probably with some rebar in there." It was one thing tapping on walls to find studs that sort of thing he understood even from building the adobe and wattle and daub huts he'd done over the year on Enso. But when everything was solid concrete it's a lot harder to judge.

He kinda likes having a space for him and his boyfriends though, c'mon now.

Take a look in the mirror

Do you see it clearer (Liam)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Or are you deceived (Ignis)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

CW: hanahaki flower disease references

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

somewhere in the middle of all of the happening

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject