chef_chocobro: ((older) (no glasses) amused to the side)
Ignis Scientia ([personal profile] chef_chocobro) wrote2025-06-04 04:39 am

A Villa in Argentina; Wednesday [06/04].

After a weekend like the last, Ignis and Liliana had whisked themselves south, shirking their oh-so-pressing duties on the island to cloister for a few days in the sunny countryside villa that had entered their ever-growing roster of hideaways, habitations, and households, and weren't they both better off because of it. Of course, for Ignis, it wasn't just about some well-earned relaxation to ease the physical and mental strain and drain that went with several days hunched over in a workroom or traipsing around Innistrad.

For Ignis, things were rarely so singularly intentioned as that, although yesterday....that had been intentionally simple, a day of basking in each other's company, feasting on local foods, making idle plans that may or may not be followed through on, distractions pending, and just reveling in the intricate steps of their surprisingly easy and endless waltz. And today had been much of the same, with just a bit more laziness involved. Lounging in bed a little later, less complicated recipehs that lent themselves well to distracted cooking, skipping his training forms out on the deck in favor of appreciating the fine work of Liliana's fingers as they plucked at her lyre or brushed through his hair and behind his ears, his head in her laps, as they discussed the artistic merits of more of that Kamigawan poetry she'd recently unearthed.

And now, as evening fell, the next second. The underlying purpose. And also the edge of a potential point of no return. And one might argue that he could still step back from that precipice, but he would find that arguement faulty and flawed. The last few days had only bolstered his convictions.

He might not be able to see the slowly emerging stars in the stretch of sky darkening above them, but he could feel the coolness creeping into the air, he could hear the sounds of the day shifting into the music of the evening, and feel the oh-so-subtle weight of the shadows shifting and lengthening to let him know that the twilight hour was upon them.

"Darling?" He found Liliana, two glasses in one hand and a bottle of one of the wines they had cultivated together on one of their first ventures out here in the other. "I think tonight is an excellent one to enjoy the fruits of our labors. Don't you agree?"

[[ for the paramour, por favor, and NFB for distance~ ]]
deathsmajesty: Art: by Alexis Collao (Lounging - Wine)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 10:38 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't suppose you have a cheese ripening somewhere that we could also partake in," Liliana asked with a smile. She was once more lounging and playing her lyre, completely unaware of either purpose or precipice. Ignis, wishing to flit off a bit and delight in the simple enjoyment of the region and one another? Why should she look any deeper that that? While her paramour could still be quite stern and severe when he wished, he had also since learned the value of indulgence, at least in moderation.

All things in moderation, including moderation.

"We still have those apples and early winter peaches," she continued. "And it's looking to be a lovely evening, clear and crisp. A fine night for wine and stargazing perhaps?"
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath as Morgana from BBC's Merlin (Smirk - Knowing)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 10:59 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh are there?" Liliana asked, her own smile wicked and curling. "Like what? Do feel free to share in exhaustive detail if you think it would be something I'd also enjoy....lingering over."

An important caveat, in case the things lingering in his mind were more related to finances than flirtation. It seemed unlikely, considering the overall mood of their impromptou trip, but she absolutely could not put spending a few hours thinking over budgets beyond him.
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath as Morgana from Merlin (Back - Smirk)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
Liliana would scoff at the very idea of either phrase being particularly flirtatious, but he'd somehow finagled efficient and inventory into that position, so she'd be a fool to dismiss the possibility out of hand.

For now, however, she was taking his, sliding off this most comfortable cheslón to head out into the evening with him.

The night air held a bit of chill with the onset of Argentina's winter, but one still mild enough to be chased away by Ignis' arms, and the air still rang with the songs of night birds, the hum of crickets, and the call of animals all around them. "A more perfect evening, hmm?" she teased as they wandered off the verandah and into their yard proper. "With neither car nor bistro? Can such an evening possibly count?"
deathsmajesty: Artwork: Macabre Waltz by Willian Murai (Action - Dead Can Dance)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 12:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"Always," Liliana said, her smile soft as her eyes in this moment. Much like the lazy day and the trip itself, nothing about this request struck her as amiss or out of left field. They danced together often, sometimes with musical accompaniment, other times simply in lieu of walking. One didn't need a reason to dance, any more than one needed a reason to play countless, inscrutable games; it was done for the love of it and nothing more.

Love. They'd finally allowed themselves to admit to the emotion a little over a year ago and since they had (and, truly, even before then, though they'd done their best to pretend otherwise), it had provided a steady beat for their footsteps to follow throughout their every dance and every day.

Her chill fingers found his warm ones as she moved into position against him, her other hand letting go at the same time to glide up his arm and rest against his shoulder. She tilted her head, resting her forehead against his temple, lips brushing against the scarred skin of his cheek. "Though I will admit you're going to have to talk fast if you expect me to believe your idea of a perfect evening doesn't involve Ebony," she murmured with the softest breath of a laugh as they fell immediately, perfectly, into the rhythm of the song.

And, of course, one another.
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath (Kiss 03)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)
She followed the line of his cheek with her lips until she made her way to his mouth, any further commentary requiring a pause as she delivered a kiss that strove to be suitable for such a perfect evening. It was lighter than many, languid and slow and exploratory, a kiss that existed simply for the sake of itself, for their enjoyment of one another's mouths, rather than serving as a start to something else.

More would come, she had absolutely no doubts about that, but for now, they were both content to let this moment stand on its own, ripen in its own time.

"The thus far is important," she agreed with a smile after the kiss - or perhaps after several kisses - had wound down. "Considering the future that stretches out beneath our feet. But what makes this night so worthy of the title? It is rather a crowded field, between Carnivals and birthdays and nights spend stargazing, hmm?"

How could one start declaring most perfect days when they'd already accumulated so many?
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath (Surprised - Wide-Eyed)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Liliana laughed, her hand skimming down between them at his salacious little sally there, and then spun out elegantly, gown belling, hair arcing, starlight glinting off of her headdress. And then, still laughing, she was whirling back into the warmth of his arms, face tilted up to his.

And then he asked her and the laughter stopped and her eyes went wide, her feet losing their grace and stumbling through the rhythm.

"What?" she gasped. Then, "Oh!" A pause where she just looked at him, mere fractions of a second, surely, but it likely felt like forever as she trembled in his arms, wanting to sputter, wanting to demand that he repeat it so she knew she'd heard him correctly, wanting to kiss him harder than she'd ever kissed anyone in her life, wanting to Planeswalk away beyond where anyone could find her. "I...I..." Her heart was racing, it was hard to breathe through the maelstrom of emotions within her. She couldn't remove the image of the bag from Thursday from her mind, the one that had started her even considering marriage at all as a possibility, once it had become obvious that it could never be one.

"Do you truly mean it?" she asked him, barely above a whisper. She'd seen the bag, Ignis, had guessed where it had come from, the graveyard of your heart. "It's all right if you don't. I don't require--" She stopped talking, looking at him, his face, the way he was projecting all his love and adoration at her. She exhaled a shaky breath, and worked through the fear to allow herself to be honest. To be vulnerable.

"I can think of nothing that would make me happier," she whispered. In that moment, not even her freedom, not even reversing the Mending, seemed to equal it.
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath (Kiss 01)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
For a moment Liliana nearly quailed. Husband? Wife? Those weren't words that were meant for her. They spoke of warmth and cheery domesticity. Of children and white picket fences and strictures and, no, such things were not for her. She was zombies and death and independence. She did as she wished and when and with whom. She was Liliana Vess, not some meek and mewling wife. She was all ready to tell Ignis that she'd been wrong, she'd made a mistake, that yes, she wanted to be with him, forever, but not as some ungainly hausfrau, mending shirts and running after snot-nosed children--

Well, if anyone will be mending, it will be Ignis, a voice - her own voice whispered in her mind's ear. He wouldn't trust you to do it anyway.

Which...true. Ignis knew her well-enough to know that waiting for her to mend or tend or fix something was a fool's game. And they'd already discussed - and then lived through - her absolute lack of desire for children. Would he expect her to change so completely simply because of a ring on her finger and a new title to add to her list of them? Did she think he would, to even want those things?

And--wait. She was Liliana Vess. Who was she to be unnerved by mere words? Husband? Wife? Yes, other, lesser people might end up taking on sad little lives that hemmed themselves in with rules and constraints because they thought they should, but not her. Never her. She had done as she pleased for two hundred years and no bits of rocks and metal wrought into a pleasing form - which she hadn't even gotten yet! - or words mumbled over by some person with pretensions of authority over her - ha! - was going to change that. Could ever change that.

And...unless she truly didn't know him at all, Ignis would never want them to. Which was why she did love him. Could love him. Could marry him. Because he knew her, far better and deeper than she had ever thought someone could and still wish to stay...and had chosen to do just that. Stay. Love her. Bind himself to her far more deeply than any ceremony could.

She cupped his face in her hands - not chill, no, warmed by his own, his body heat just one more thing he gave to her so freely - and kissed him. Heavy. Deep. Like a promise. "Ask me again," she murmured. "So I can answer it right."

deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath as Morgana from BBC's Merlin (Smile - Gratitude)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
She just might at that. Just for the joy of hearing him say it.

"Yes," she said, voice clear and ringing and certain. "Yes, Ignis - my 'Nys - I do believe I will."
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath (Smile - Fairy Godmother)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 06:25 pm (UTC)(link)
So you'll call me majesty, boy you better bend the knee
'Cause you're lucky if you mess with me


A song from that day they'd ended up singing, leaving him to croon his full agreement of just how lucky he was...

And here he was again. Kneeling. Lucky? He seemed to think so, for all that she - and most other people - tried to tell him that loving her was a fool's errand at best.

"Third time's the charm?" she suggested, spreading her fingers so he could slip the ring onto her hand. Her other hand came up to cradle his face, tilting it up to her, thumb stroking over his skin. "Either way, yes. Yes, I'll marry you, you ridiculous man." She tugged him lightly, urging him to his feet. "Though now that you've asked three times, you know you can't change your mind, right?"

deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath as Morgana from BBC's Merlin (Head-Tilt - Fond Smile)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-04 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Liliana smiled into this kiss, soft and full of a happiness that felt as bubbly and effervescent as champagne. "You are at that," she murmured against his lips. She also felt the unexpected weight on her finger now and, to her surprise, it didn't feel heavy or confining. It just felt right.

His own hand felt naked, however. They were going to have to fix that. She was not the only one so promised, and therefore, was not the only one who needed a ring, no? She didn't think that Ignis would mind a tangible cue of his own for this, either. Something to think about.

"I do have one question for you though, my darling," she said, after kissing him again for the sheer pleasure of it. Her voice was gentle. Understanding. "What about Noct?"
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath as Morgana from BBC's Merlin (Uncertain)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-05 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
Liliana's own confusion was evident as well. "I thought..."

Had she misunderstood? Should she, perhaps have asked him about what that baggage had meant, rather than assuming it was related to her insecu--err, that was, nothing, never mind.

"That is..." she tried again, "I saw the bag. From Thursday." She'd seen multiple, even though she'd pretended not to. A courtesy to one another. Even if it had taken up far too much space in her brain afterwards. "If it weren't from him..."

Why else would he have had marriage baggage if it hadn't been from losing Noctis, first to an arranged marriage and then to death itself?
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath as Morgana from BBC's Merlin (Surprise - Huh Brow Furrow)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-05 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
Of course they could. That wasn't even a question at all. Ignis had lost a hope, a dream--in some ways, those were the hardest to lose of all.

"I know you never were," she said softly. "But that didn't..." She trailed off as he continued, eyes almost as wide now as they'd been for the original question. "I am no expert," she said tartly, "but being married and being beholden do not seem synonymous to me. At least, not any kind of marriage I intend to participate in." The nervousness she'd felt earlier rose up and she fought it back down. Not now, nerves, she was making important points. "I think if you're on your knees asking me for something, the term 'beholden' flies out the window." And as for my track record..."

Well, she was not currently manipulating Ignis on behalf of an ancient dragon, nor was he convinced he was actually his dead best friend, so...those seemed to be outliers and probably should not be counted.

"...it's true that I have not given it much thought in the past, nor felt it particularly important, but...you actually have that baggage to thank. Because I saw it, and concluded that you would never wish to marry because of it and then had to think about what I thought of that..." She hadn't gotten particularly far, because that involved thinking of Noctis and how his loss was affecting Ignis and she hadn't particularly enjoyed doing that. "But, if that is the case, my darling...how long have you had that ring for?"
deathsmajesty: Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor (Hug - In Need of Comfort)

[personal profile] deathsmajesty 2025-06-05 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
"A wise decision--" though Summer's own taste in many things was highly questionable, though clearly jewelry was safe enough, "--although I will point out that Prompto was discreet enough for me still be able to take you by surprise." Yes, of course she was preening. Shh.

She held up her hand, once more admiring the band around her finger. "Nearly a year," she murmured. "I do see why it might have turned to baggage in that time." He could have just asked her opinions on the matter, honestly now.

Like you asked about Noctis? She was just going to ignore her own internal monologue right now. It was clearly discombobulated from the day.

"Did you mention this to them, too?" she asked, wrapping herself around him, her head resting on his shoulder. "When you told them about becoming a vampire?"