chef_chocobro | Vess Manor, Stensia, Innistrad, Monday Morning (Fandom Time)

Entry tags:

Vess Manor, Stensia, Innistrad, Monday Morning (Fandom Time)

Enjoy your rest, Ignis.

Just as he'd quite suspected, there was neither rest nor enjoyment ahead for Ignis after he'd made his exit from dinner last night, especially not with that (and the sound of shattering glass) slipping into every corner of his restless mind, although he did try. It was an insurmountable task, though, perhaps as impossible to achieve as convincing either one of these diametrically opposed forces he'd found himself in the middle of (no, correction: that he'd thrown himself in the middle of), but there were things at play here that Liliana didn't quite know, about why he would be so invested in the preservation of Innistrad beyond just the urge to not let a plane get devoured by some unknown entity, but after last night's conversation, loathe as he was to admit it, it left him wondering if such destruction might actually be preventing him from making a terrible mistake.

But even without all that...

Liliana might be able to stand by to save her own skin, but he could not. The very thought of remaining idle in the face of being able to do something, even something desperate and ill-advised, actually made his skin crawl.

Well, the bright side of being unable to sleep through the night, the hairs-breadth silver lining, was that he could at least get started on breakfast early enough that he might be able to catch Jace before he slipped away on his crazed mission. He'd asked a servant to try and intercept the man when he did emerge, to extend an invitation that if he is still planning to traipse up to Markov Manor, to at least have some food in his stomach before then. And therein, he planned to lay his trap of logic and reasoning.

He just hoped, as he took a long sip from his coffee, that the tumultuous and riotous weather outside would work as a boon for his argument, and wasn't just a portent of things to come ahead.

[[ for the ~brand new bestie~ and NFB for distance, obvi ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fortunately for Ignis, he would find that Jace was easily swayed by logic and reasoning!

...So long as said logic and reasoning backed up the things he was planning to do anyway.

He wasn't sure what to think, when a zombie servant informed him that breakfast was waiting for him in the kitchen. That was a spot of consideration he certainly hadn't expected from Liliana. He figured he was lucky to have gotten a room to sleep in, especially after that weird interlude about mutual indifference--

He definitely wasn't expecting that breakfast to have been provided by Liliana's new lover, but that was who was waiting for him when he made his way into the kitchen, far, far earlier than he really would have liked.

He'd intended to demand 'is this some kind of trick?' or maybe, 'wait, so you cooked this, not a zombie, right?' but what came out of his mouth was, "Oh gods is that coffea?" with all the passion of a drowning man spotting a life preserver.

Ignis was just going to blame his lack of sleep for the faint twitching upwards in the corner of his mouth. That question made him feel as though this conversation was already starting off in the right direction, and may the rest of the breakfast continue it steadily on that course.

"Indeed it is," Ignis confirmed, reaching for an empty mug. "How do you take it? Black? Sweetened? Any milk or cream?"

"Anything you put in it just means there's less coffea in the mug," Jace pointed out.

He idly - maybe not so idly - wondered if Liliana still drank hers with cinnamon, or if that had changed along with her perfume, lavender and oranges. Which was more proof he needed that coffea. How Liliana took her breakfast beverage was no longer his business.

Hadn't been in some time.

"Why?" There were so many, many questions he was trying to ask with just that single word.

That response even managed to pull a huff of amusement out of Ignis; he didn't suspect that good will of two ardent coffee-lovers would carry them too far, but it was a thread that might lead to the possibility of this conversation going better that he feared it would.

And wouldn't that just make everything easier?

He set down the mug and reached for another one, setting them side by side as he poured the coffee into both of them. Yes, he'd had the mug he'd been drinking out of, but getting himself one from the same pot and taking a sip as he handed it Jace was meant to assuage any suspicion that something might have been done to it with ill-intent.

(Although simply attempting to lace the coffee with something to simply incapacitate him did not seem like a terrible idea, but hardly what Ignis was going for here).

"Just so I could prepare it to your liking," Ignis said, answering the question at its most direct interpretation, "that's all. It's quite a nice Guatemalan blend, if I do say so myself, mild but potent, to make for an excellent accompaniment to a good breakfast to start a difficult day."

Guatemalan?

"Which brings us to the most pertinent of my whys--oh that is good," Jace said, taking a very long, very needed swallow from his mug. "Why are you here, making me coffea and breakfast, especially at this ungodly hour?"

You know. Seven in the morning. Utterly reprehensible.

"Not exactly the kind of hospitality I was expecting."

And don't mind if he did a little bit of mental diving while you answered, Ignis. Nothing personal (except your mental autonomy).

"Yes, well," Ignis allowed, with a conciliatory nod of his head, "good hospitality is a tenant I hold in high regard."

With coffee accepted (and properly appreciated), he turned back to the breakfast in progress, especially now that he had a time frame for when to best serve it, as he may have been preparing since well before this 'utterly reprehensible' hour.

"But even besides that," he continued, as open and frank as anything even the slightest probing might have revealed, "if you do still plan on making your march upon Markov Manor with your demands, it's an arduous journey, especially in this weather, and a hearty breakfast before hand will benefit you greatly in that regard. However," did Ignis expect Jace to try and read his mind, and therefor was just saving them both the trouble with blatant honesty? Or was he just ensuring he acted entirely in good faith?, "I was rather hoping we could use time to talk, Jace, that I might still sway you toward a more amenable, less bombastic approach."

All of that was well and good and Jace heard exactly none of it. The moment he went to scan Ignis with anything deeper than a cursory skim of his most basic thoughts, it was like somebody let a Rakdos spiker gang into his his head.

His brain was ringing with a clash of loud noise, like someone banging pots and pans together, a long with a wailing siren. The words YOU HAVE TRIGGERED THE IRRIM ALARM. GET OUT OF HIS HEAD. I REPEAT, GET OUT OF HIS HEAD. YOU HAVE TRIGGERED THE IRRIM ALARM... played on permanent loop in his brain.

"Gah!" he cried, clutching his head. The mug full of precious, life-giving coffea tumbling out of hands to crash against the floor as he was driven to his knees.

He dragged his mind away, more by reflex than conscious thought, and mercifully the din ceased. "Gods, what in the hells was that?" he asked weakly. "An Irrim Alarm?"

Had Liliana somehow done this to protect Ignis from him? But how? She was no telepath...

Edited 2025-04-07 11:53 (UTC)

Ignis wasn't sure what was worse, the wasteful spill of coffee or the crash of the mug that seemed all too similar to the smashing glass that had been fracturing his thoughts since last night.

Well, he supposed the fact that Jace was clearly in pain should be among the list as well. He turned, startled, then wincing, as he tried to access exactly what happened, but just as he was about to go to Jace, he spoke, and answered at least a one of his questions.

"Irrim...Alarm?" he asked, but before he even got to the second word, he started to understand the shape of it. The tension at the sudden outburst relaxed out of his shoulder with a soft, almost amused breath, and a gentle shake of his head. A pull in his chest, as well, for the complicated entanglement of emotions that was Irrim.

Clever girl.

"I see," he drawled, with intention, and went to pour Jace another mug before moving to clean up the spill; there was a towel being handed over to him as well, should he have accidentally have gotten any on himself.

"Jace," he continued, his voice now taking on an admonishing tone, "I am trying to have an open and honest conversation with you, there's no need to go rooting around for answers I will freely give."

He wasn't entirely sure how this blue mana telepathy really worked, but he did, almost as an experiment, focus his attention on Jace as he added, as a pointed thought, For the most part.

*Sorry,* Jace sent, sounding sheepish. *Habit.*

Up to Ignis whether that was better or worse.

"Besides," he continued aloud, mopping (and mourning) the spilled coffea now liberally spattered all over his coat, "no offense, but you're Liliana's. She's not exactly known for her honesty and fair dealings. Especially with me."

Did Ignis know? The sordid history between them? Not really able to be summed up with a simple 'ex-lovers.' Ex-engaged wasn't exactly accurate, either, but not by much.

Edited 2025-04-07 12:45 (UTC)

Could a pause drawl? Because if they could, this pause most certainly was.

"I can't imagine why," Ignis said, the words picking up where the pause left off pointedly. "And while, yes, I am, very much," and here, another sharper, different pull in his chest, "hers, indeed, we are very different people. I want to help you. She, very clearly, does not. And that, simply enough, is the crux of it, Jace. And is that not, ultimately, what you came here for?"

A pause may or may not be able to drawl, but it could certainly challenge, especially when trying to get to the heart of one's motivations.

"For help?"

"You want to help me?" Jace asked, his voice almost boyish in its hopefulness. "Really?"

He looked up (yes, up, ugh Ignis did you also have to be tall?) at the other man, and, for the first time, made direct eye contact. He didn't make it often; he didn't need it to read intentions, and while he'd learned to look at people's eyes when he talked to them, this morning had been too full of surprises to bother with it. Seeing Ignis' white-on-white, scorched out gaze, he couldn't help but gasp in surprise--thouggbhe did manage to keep hold of his coffea this time. "Your eyes," he said softly, noticing the scarring on his face, too. "What happened?"

Yes, okay, he knew it was rude, but he couldn't exactly go digging into Ignis' thoughts to find out the politer way, now could he?

And thank goodness for that better secured grip, too, because two coffee spills in a row might actually be a bridge too far for Ignis.

After all, Innistrad truly was just one plane out of infinite ones...

But the question lifted his good brow for a moment, as he remembered that, yes, that's right, he was still wearing his glasses last night, distracted as he was by the commotion, even if he had intentionally made the choice to keep them off this morning for this encounter.

There was a sigh, and an attention turned back to preparing the food.

"Burned out," he explained, keeping the answers simple and straightforward, not so much to hide any truth, but just so that they didn't get too far off-track, "a little over twelve years ago by a great and powerful ancient magic, when I..." A pause, to consider how best to put it, "overstepped my boundaries to protect someone I loved. Using the Ring should have killed me, but since I tried to use its power not for my own gain, but as a sacrifice for someone else, they were..."

A soft, sardonic huff, a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Merciful. I could keep my life, but they'd have my sight."

"Wait, you're blind?" Jace blurted out. "But you're cook--" Oh, he should probably stop talking right now, shouldn't he? He was just going to take another long drink of his coffea. "I, uh. Hadn't realized."

And would go on to forget several more times during this adventure!

"So, err, you mentioned help?"

Honestly, Ignis would take it as a compliment to his adaptation, and perhaps, in that moment, there was a slightly proud, slightly smug pull at the corner of his mouth, but this feeling of accomplishment would very rapidly diminish, yes.

The twirl of the knife in his hand and the expert flip of the eggs in the pan with his other was, of course, purely incidental.

"It's a common mistake," he offered, "but yes, Jace, I do want to help. The presence of a potentially plane-devouring threat is one I cannot fathom just allowing to loom overhead in blithe indifference. And I find that your strategy....leaves a great deal of room for improvement."

"I mean, I'm not sure what else to do," Jace said, pretending that he wasn't impressed by the knife flipping. "Find Sorin Markov, ask him to help, find the missing Eldrazi horror existing somewhere in the Multiverse, stop it from devouring any helpless planes. I'm not sure what else you're..."

The phrase looking for was right on the tip of his tongue, but he hastily decided to go in another direction.

"...thinking about." Nailed it. "I'm short on options, information, and time."

"Exactly how many other options have you even bothered to explore?" Ignis simply had to ask. "Liliana is right; turning to the Markovs is an extremely brash and volatile move. I do have a few...other connections here; perhaps that might be a better place to start, to root around for other sources of information that aren't just..."

A measured paused. "Well," he amended, "in this case, it certainly won't be us going for the jugular."

"None," Jace admitted. "I mean, I came here looking for Sorin Markov. I learned that he has a familial estate. That seemed pretty cut-and-dried to me..." Jace drank more coffee in an effort to fight off feeling foolish. How was he supposed to know about internecine vampire politics? "I mean, I've done a lot of research into trying to find out more about the Eldrazi, just not so much into Sorin. And it wasn't like I could ask my contact..."

Since Ugin refused to communicate with him anymore.

For a moment, as he processed this answer and allowed it to paint a fuller picture of exactly Jace's process, Ignis worked a little bit more on the food, and so by the time he came around to a response, it was almost ready to find its way onto plates.

"I suppose," he mused carefully, "you can at least be credited for seeking out help here before just careening off to the Markovs, but what good does it do if you're just going to completely disregard her advice?"

"Because I can't afford to listen to it," Jace said bluntly. "Lili may not care that there's an entity out there that can devour whole planes, but I do. Especially since it's partially my fault they got loose." He rubbed his temple. "I was hoping that she would give me information that would help, but if she won't, then I have to just keep going with what I do have. Because the other option is to just do nothing and I will not do that."

"There are other options," Ignis insisted, "ones that might not yield spectacular results at first, but are far less volatile than turning up at Markov Manor, invoking the name of Sorin. Or the vampire community as a whole, for that matter, who would, as I understand it, just as soon have him dead as they would you the same for even mentioning him. But we could try Thraben. It's a major city hub, as well as the seat of Innistrad's main protective figure, Avacyn. I am also in very good standing with its Guardian after assisting with its last attempted siege. Surely, Thalia will know something about what's going on, or, barring that, she might be able to offer us something more to work with."

"Okay, so there is something going on?" Jace asked. "This is only my third day on this plane, so I wasn't sure if something weird was happening or if Innistrad is just like this."

He paused to take a few bites of his breakfast. It was (surprisingly?) delicious.

"Do either Thalia or Avacyn know that there are other planes? Or about Planeswalkers? It's rare that anyone who isn't a Planeswalker does. And I really hate having to spend half the conversation explaining that no, I'm not crazy, yes, there are other planes of existence, and that's before we throw in a plane-devouring entity from beyond the Blind Eternities, who I've accidentally...misplaced...and now is traveling around, looking for its next appetizer."

Ignis massages his temple a little bit, with the reminder that the whole reason this was even a threat was, apparently, Jace himself. The building headache, he knew, was only going to get worse.

"Innistrad is 'just like this,'" Ignis admitted, "but lately, those particular charms do seemed to have been...amplified, at least enough for our accountant to have mentioned it to me during our last visit. We don't...spend a lot of time here, truth be told, so the fact that your arrival just so happened to coincide with our visit..."

Ignis was not a man inclined to read too much into coincidences, but sometimes, things really did line up in such a way...

He sighed, poking a bit more demurely at his own food. "I'm sure," he said, "I could come up with some workable explanation without having to bring the whole concept of other planes into the matter. The sudden rise of a concerning, world-destroying power does not seem as though it would be wholly out of place here. And I should like to think that, were I to vouch for your sanity, it would go a long way. I'm well-liked, in these communities. Mostly because, when we are here, I do take the time to actually go among them every once in a while."

"I'm well-liked!" Jace protested. "...Back on Ravnica...."

Not the point, Jace. And how often do you go out among them anyway? Usually too busy doing Living Guildpact duties. When you're there...why am I worried about a rogue Eldrazi when Lavinia is going to murder me when I get back anyway?

"Ahem. Uh, anyway...I see your point, but also, I arrived in Thraben...not far from what the locals charmingly call the Bloodless Wall. There was a vampire chained to it and starving and from the rows of manacles, I'm pretty sure it's not the first. I figured that Thraben probably wasn't the place to go looking for an ancient vampire, or a good place to get mistaken for a vampire sympathizer. From the minds I read, Stensia is apparently 'infested' with them, so that's where I headed."

He poked at a sausage. "I see your point, I do, but Liliana was right that Sorin may not even be on this plane. If I have to take a risk, I'd rather it be with people who definitely know him, and might be able to say where he is or when he can be expected, rather than people who might not even know he exists at all. I just don't have that kind of time."

Ignis should remember that line for later.

Oh, how the turn tables...

There was...a lot, in that response, that Ignis was taking note of, washing his food with an almost preternaturally calm sip of his coffee, the least of which was an internally wincing reminder that sometimes, being blind was a blessing when it came to going about around Innistrad.

But the foremost was an acknowledgement of what Liliana had already told him. Jace truly wasn't one to be swayed, was he? No matter what Ignis suggested, he would be ready with some excuse as to why that wasn't going to work for him.

"And what if," he promptoed, "they have nothing to say? What if going to them is actually the worst thing you can do?"

A pause, and he lifted his mug again.

"Short of having brought this potential nightmare to them in the first place."

When the internal 'I told you so's start before you leave, that might be a sign.

"Then I Planeswalk away very quickly and hope that your friends in Thraben might actually know more?" Jace said, giving Ignis his best unsure-but-game smile. "Honestly, if Innistrad is a dead end, then I don't know what I'll do. Probably try to convince my contact to talk to me again? Try to find out who the third, unnamed Planeswalker they worked with was?"

Well, Ignis could spot one very problematic issue with that particular plan, but he couldn't exactly point that out to Jace...

"Mmm." It came out as a thoughtful, displeased grunt. "I daresay, you've got it backwards, in that we should try Thraben first. I'll admit that I do often...forget how it could be rather intimidating to an outsider, but, from what I can discern, I'd much rather take my chances with that lot than with Markovs."

"Divide and conquer then!" Jace declared, sounding pleased with himself. "I'll go to the Markovs and you to Thraben! Twice the ground in the same amount of time."

The appeal of just accepting that proposal was strong; Ignis would have done his due diligence in trying to convince Jace against his foolhardy plan, and he'd find himself on the side of a plan that didn't put him at odds with Liliana. She could hardly begrudge him dropping in on Thraben.

But that hadn't been the point. The point was to prevent Jace from getting himself killed, and this man, by himself, in a den of Markovs...

He said so himself, he could just Planeswalk away.

Then why didn't he do that last night? With Liliana and his zombies? Did he truly have the confidence to believe that she wouldn't go that far?

Just as he seems to doubt just how vicious and deadly the Markovs are, as well. Would he Planeswalk away? Or would he just have the confidence to think he could get out of this one, too, just as he surely had the confidence that he would't unleash a planes-devouring monster into the multiverse or that he wouldn't eventually encounter a mind that would make him very much regret attempting to tap into...

Ignis sighed.

"There really is nothing I can say to dissuade you, is there?"

Hey now, Ignis. He'd unleashed three planes-devouring monsters! He'd just managed to contain the other two.

"Short of providing me a map to where Emrakul is hiding or a means to communicate with Sorin directly, probably not," Jace admitted. "I need answers and I need them yesterday, so I've got to go with the most likely source, even if it's also the most dangerous."

He finished his breakfast and pushed the plate away from him slightly as he stood up. "I appreciate the thought, Ignis, I really do. And the breakfast. But I've got to get going. My horse got eaten by a werewolf last night, and Stensia's a pretty big province by foot."

Especially when he still didn't have exact directions to the manor anyway...

"And treacherous by one's self, even in the full light of day."

There was a moment, as he finished up with one more bite, before realizing he still didn't have much appetite, and pushed back his chair as well. As he stood, he took a moment to drain his mug (there would always be an appetite for coffee), and then began to gather the plates for cleaning.

"If you do, indeed, insist upon going," he said, "then at the very least accept my offer to guide you there. It'll do us even less good if you wind up lost or otherwise incapacitated before you even reach the blasted place, and I cannot, in good conscious, allow you to go waltzing off alone."

And, if he were truly honest with himself, Ignis was starting to find that he, too, wanted answers. Not just in regards to the quest to locate Sorin Markov, but also, perhaps, from Jace himself.

Jace hesitated. Then realized he was hesitating and exhaled. "I would...really appreciate that," he admitted. "Usually I get where I'm going by reading the minds of people around me, but Innistrad so far has been very low on the non-werewolf people, at least since leaving Thraben." He fiddled with his coat a moment, then asked, "Does Liliana know you intend to come with me?"

By which he meant, Is this going to cause trouble?

He wasn't sure how he was going to feel if the answer was 'yes' or 'no.'

Edited 2025-04-07 17:44 (UTC)

Ignis hesitated, but his hesitation was very intentional.

"The prospect," he stated, "has been discussed."

By which he meant, Yes, it absolutely was.

Though exactly how much and for who mostly was very much still to be determined.

Okay then. His funeral.

...Yes, that was a necromancer pun.

"When can you be ready to go?"

Ignis considered less how much time he'd need to prepare and more about how much time was wise. Knowing full well that this was a potential, if not the most likely ending to this conversation, he even already had his weapons settled on another area of this kitchen.

The only remaining factor, then, was Liliana. She was probably still in her workroom, throwing herself and her anger too heavily into her projects. She knew his plans, and he knew that he was likely to be just as stubborn about making sure Jace didn't traipse into this alone as Jace was about traipsing into it in the first place. It wouldn't do any of them any good to rehash the same arguments all over again.

It isn't walking away, he thought to himself, if you come *back*.

So then you'd best make sure to do just that, Ignis Scientia.

"Just a few minutes," he said, "to fix up a plate to be taken up to her. She does tend to forget to eat when she's working."

"Does she still take her coffee with cinnamon?" Ignis asked, even as he called himself an idiot for doing so. "And oversalt everything?"

"...she does take it with cinnamon," Ignis confirmed, after a long moment where it felt like admitting as much was like revealing a secret too personal to be divulged, "but oversalting?" He huffed slightly, at the same time adding perhaps just a pinch of extra salt to the eggs as they spoke. "I daresay, I don't think I'd be here for this conversation if that were the case."

And, with that finished, he made a determined stride toward his weapons and slipped on his glasses.

"Well, then," he said. "If we are still going, then it best be now. The more we can move during the day, the better."

For all of Ignis' current attachments to Innistrad, that part, in particularly, would always strum inside of him that home chord, and all the better for it, to stir up all those protective instincts, and the hope that, if they actually succeeded in saving her, Innistrad would give her far more than Eos ever did for the same regard.

The plate was duly taken away and if Ignis thought that would somehow magically bestir Liliana to come down and say goodbye to him in the kitchen, he was mistaken.

It wasn't, in fact, until they were in the yard, almost to the massive gates that closed off the property that she came dashing out of the house, wearing her favorite nightgown under a dressing gown, barefoot and bare-headed (though he could hear the everpresent jangle of the Chain Veil) and flew at him.

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she kissed him, hard and fierce and with no small remnants of last night's anger. It was neither forgiven nor forgotten (indeed, how could it be, with them leaving to march forth into idiocy?), but still. She was here. "You're a fool, Ignis Scientia," she told him. "A fool who courts death of his own volition. You have one job, and that is to come back to me. I don't care about Sorin, or the Markovs, or this plane-eating monstrosity, your one job is to return to me. Feel free to leave Jace to die if you must--"

"Hey!"

"--so long as you return."

Wasn't it Liliana herself, who always said it was a fool's game to love her, especially as deeply, as intrinsicly, as he did? So it just came with the territory, really. But she was there, and she was in his arms, and to let go suddenly became the most odious prospect. The relief in Ignis' kiss back was so massive, so powerful, that it practically weighed him down as he felt that inevitable undertow that dragged him time and time again into her, leaving him nearly drowning until he had no choice but to come up for air.

The temptation to call the whole thing off, to change his mind and stay right here with her, and if the beast that Jace unleashed upon multiverse consumed nearly half the planes ever in existence, then so be it.

It was fleeting, though, any wisp of selfishness inside of him quickly brushed aside by that looming selflessness, bolstered now with this timely reminder that it wasn't really Innistrad that he was fighting for.

(It had never been Eos, either).

"Always," he said, ignoring Jace's protest, or Jace's entire existence entirely, or the entire world, the gloomy raining weather, the howling wind, the pressing shadow of door, as he rested his forehead against hers, holding onto this moment. Tucking it away safely into the forefront of his brain to propel him tirelessly through whatever frustration and danger ahead of him. That, over anything else, was key. He had to come back.

Although, right at that moment, all he had to do was to kiss Liliana and then to all but force himself to, eventually, let go.

Liliana stepped back when he left her go, drawing up the remains of her dignity, her majesty even, that she could run about in her nightgown and still appear regal, that she could fling herself at a man and still appear self-possessed.

"Jace," she said, tone imperious. "Just so we're clear: if he dies, there won't be enough of you to donate to a carnarium."

Jace had turned away, was looking at the road, ostensibly for anything untoward, but mostly so he didn't have to see...that. It brought up too many memories, was too close to certain things and too different from others for him to be truly comfortable. Again, he thought of Ignis' lack-of-surprise at his name, the use of the term 'paramour.'

No, all of these were useless thoughts, stupid thoughts, dangerous thoughts. Liliana only brought trouble and heartache and if Ignis hadn't figured that out yet, that was his business.

"Duly noted," he said, mildly, and pleased himself with how natural it sounded.

"Try not to get yourself killed, either," she added.

It was useless, and stupid, and dangerous to brighten at that addition, but he did anyway. "The Multiverse has been trying for a very long time," he said. "It hasn't succeeded yet."

"Miraculously," Ignis found himself muttering, "and thank gods for that, because I imagine a miracle is precisely what we'll need."

He felt himself pulling up a little imperiously, too, to collect himself not differently to how Liliana had, and his head turned to her, to give her just the faintest hint of an apologetic smile and a nod, uncertain as to whether or not he felt grateful that he couldn't see her face in that moment or desperately wishing he could.

"Well, then," he said, a bit more clipped now, as he turned and started his feet forward, before his heart had the opportunity to stop them and pull them back.

Edited 2025-04-07 19:35 (UTC)

A ghost of chill fingers of his cheek, his lips, and then she, too, was turning, heading back inside. She did not give them another look.

Jace fell into step with Ignis, and, for the first, and also last, time in this venture, wisely held his tongue as they walked.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Vess Manor, Stensia, Innistrad, Monday Morning (Fandom Time)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject