The Creepy, Even Less Abandoned Again Mansion in the Woods; Sunday Morning [05/04].

[chef_chocobro]

Prompto had been a bit anxious about getting back to Liz and Noctra, so when they left their weeend campsight that morning, they did so early. Far too early, Ignis imagined, for Liliana, unless Liliana had simply not yet been to sleep yet, which he fully acknowledged was just as likely. If she thought her tendency to use his absences for an excuse for marathon workshop sessions had escaped his noticed just because he wasn't there, then she clearly underestimated him...and the amount of ready-meals and instructions to the steward to ensure that they were being consumed.

It had been a long weekend, though, perhaps not as physically demanding as their days in the wilderness of the past had been, but emotionally? Mentally? Convicing your best friends and brothers that the road of vampirism was the best course to take was more than a little exhausting. So his first goal was to find his way to the shower, to clean off the dirt and sweat of the great outdoors, and then the next step was, of course, coffee. Not that there's been any lack of it at the campsite, but, well, there were degrees, and a nice cup made in his own kitchen would be just the thing. And then breakfast, where, if the aromas alone didn't pull Liliana out from either slumber or study, he could simply bring it to her.

He was not at all surprised that it ended up being the latter, finding his way to where she was, and now able to up the ante to wake her up with a soft, careful kiss and a murmured, "Good morning, my love."


[[ mostly for the lady in the house but certainly can be open after that~ (and nsfw-y what a surprise]]

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[deathsmajesty]

Liliana had fallen asleep reading, to the surprise of nobody, right there on the divan in the parlor. Josu woke up first from where he was curled up behind her knees, and then, with a beeeeg stretch, hopped down and sauntered towards the kitchen to see the state of his own breakfast.

His departure, combined with Ignis' warm and welcoming kiss, did pull Liliana out of her slumber, violet eyes opening in a haze of dreams. She was surrounded by Jon's papers, the sound of them shifting with her each movement, but she wasn't half as interested in them at the moment. "'Nys?" she murmured, yawning, but then in resolved into a bright, if still sleepy smile. "You're home..."

[chef_chocobro]

Josu would, as per usual, not find what awaited him to be lacking. Well. He might, but that had far more to do with him being a cat than any real criticism of Ignis' cooking, surely.

"I am," he confirmed, his own smile seeming to warm and grow with the radiance of her own. "And I've made breakfast. Late night in your papers, was it?"

He set the tray down before them, and he would have joined Liliana if not for those papers, not only to inadvertently shuffle things out of any particular order she may have had them in in an attempt to clear some space.

Not that he thought she would care too much, but the thought of it made him twitch a little.

[deathsmajesty]

Normally, Liliana's own goblin nature would have her shoving the papers away with no regards to their order - or, indeed, structural integrity - but considering these held the information about the Thran Empire, she did shift them carefully out of the way.

Carefully, but still hastily, thank you. "There," she said, once they had been moved to the floor safely, several fished out from various places they had drifted during the night. Then she tugged on him again to have him come settle so she could twine around him as was right and proper. "And yes. Jonathan Sims visited yesterday, bringing with him a translation of the Thran book I found."

But that, amazingly enough, was not foremost in her mind. "How are you? How'd it go? What happened?"

[chef_chocobro]

Had she not asked, Ignis would have been all too happy to just poke and prod at what she'd been working on; not necessarily out of deflection (although not entirely not, either) but just that he felt there was rarely much to say, when it came to matters of himself. But since she had, any attempt to sway the topic elsewhere would have been deflection, and he would expect her, really, to want to know as soon as possible.

"Oh," he said, breakfast temporarily forgotten in favor if just being there in her arms again, "it went terribly. Prompto's in the clinic and Gladio's vowed to never speak to either of us ever again."

He smiled softly, pressing a kiss into the top of her head, but he knew it was probably an awful thing to joke about too much, so he very quickly added, afterwards, "But, of course, not really. It went...fine. They're quite obviously not wild about the it, but they do understand. It just might take some time to warm up to the idea, but that's hardly surprising."

[deathsmajesty]

Ignis, you had taken yourself away from your home and your bed and, most importantly, her side, of course she was going to ask first thing. Her next kiss was slightly grumpy after his little joke, but it quickly smoothed out, her chill hands brushing over his face.

"I'm sure 'not wild' is you using your penchant for understatement," she said, nuzzling into him. She wouldn't doubt Gladio's decision to never speak to her again, had Ignis just left it there and not included himself in it.

On the other hand, how would Beefslab I keep a wary eye on her if he were ignoring her?

"At least they know you well enough to know this isn't something you would have chosen without a wealth of consideration behind it. Did they have any protests with merit? Or was it simply the idea itself is new and startling."

[chef_chocobro]

At least this time, there hadn't been the threat of a plane's entire annihilation looming over their shoulders, although Ignis would be inclined to say that it was just their luck if there had been.

And as necessary as this weekend had been, oh, how he missed this, even for just those few nights. He leaned into the hand light against his face, turned his head to kiss those chill fingers. But his pause wasn't all just reveling in her touch, her physical presence, her smell. It was also juggling with just how exactly to answer her question.

"I think," he said, "merit is an extremely subjective thing, in this matter. I highly doubt they would consider their arguments to be without it, while you and I would believe differently, I'm sure. The shock of it, yes, was primarily Prompto's concern, though, but even after ten years of nothing but, the man is still afraid of the dark. And who can blame him, considering what waits for us there? And Gladio...?"

That was a bit more difficult, wasn't it? And even though he knew this conversation would happen, Ignis still found himself unsure of how to express it to Liliana that wouldn't immediately have her up in arms against the man. But he didn't want to dance around it with her, either.

"He does worry that it might not be the most sound strategy."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana shivered happily as his lips brushed over her palm, her wrist, and she stroked her thumb over his high cheekbones before her other hand tilted his head up slightly.

"Let me guess," she said, words all but buried in his skin, "Prompto was horrified at the idea, thinking of the stereotypical vampires this plane showed as entertainment, but as you continued on, his concerns were placated as you promised you wouldn't become some dessicated creature of the night, and pointed out it's the best way for you to remain by my side--" her teeth grazed along the skin of his throat "--for always, since neither of us are particularly fond of the idea of indebting you to demons either." This time, not a skim of her teeth over his neck, but a slow, steady sinking of them into his flesh. "And while Prompto can be swayed by the pure romance of it all, Gladio thinks you're a fool for binding yourself to someone as inherently dangerous and untrustworthy as myself? And while he cannot claim you're rushing into this decision, but that you're ignoring certain realities you don't wish to acknowledge?"

Again, like who Liliana was as a person?

[chef_chocobro]

The skim of her teeth against his throat made it very difficult to focus on Liliana's assessment, but the lift of Ignis' chin to encourage this sort of behavior showed that he clearly didn't mind. The bite pulled from him a needy, wanting groan, and his words were deep and thick and almost hurried, despite his usual drawl, to get out before his lips found herself.

"Got it in one, my darling," he murmured. And while perhaps there had been other choice descriptors at play, it hardly seemed relevant to mention them, especially not when that kiss was going to linger for a very long time. As his hands gripped at her to better pull her close and feel her there, he began to wonder if the rest of this conversation was one that could wait for further details to be revealed. If they were even all that necessary...

[deathsmajesty]

You knew her, Ignis. And her curiosity and also self-absorption. One of those traits even topped your list of favorite Liliana qualities!

All of which meant that Liliana might be amenable to a pause, her hands busy with his shirt and their kiss continued, but dropping it entirely?

Unlikely.

"Anything I missed?" she asked, her hands pushing over the front of his shirt to greedily claim the skin of his chest for her nails and fingertips while her mouth moved back to continue its onslaught against his throat. She knew her lover quite well, which meant that she was fully aware that he saw very little wrong with answering any and every question she might ask...while also eliding over anything that happened that she didn't ask about.

[chef_chocobro]

"You mean, besides your perambulating paramour?" Ignis asked, with a brow lift and a smirk that she could hear, just as she could hear the way his breath drew in, his heart quickening, the soft pull of the fabric of her dress as his hands sought their purchase for her skin.

Because, no, while he certainly didn't expect to dodge any of her burning questions, any distraction he may have in being timely about answering them was clearly now entirely her fault.

[deathsmajesty]

"Always," she replied, even if the question hadn't, exactly, been asked. It still remained true enough. "You're allowed to perambulate away from me if you must," she continued, voice dipping down, growing husky as his own hands began their exploration. His chest was abandoned so she could unfasten her gown; it was lovely, of course, and expensive, and absolutely needed to be on the floor. "If only because I love it when you show me how much you've missed me."

A statement, obviously, even delivered with a throaty laugh in his ear. An ear skilled enough to hear the soft request below that statement.

[chef_chocobro]

Did an ear need to be particularly skilled to have discerned it, though? Because Ignis felt as though he'd heard it loud and clear.

"Always," he murmured, impassioned and hungry as his hands hastily hurried to help Liliana remove that gown, desperate to have his own shirt join it on the floor and have her skin against his. But more than that, to have her feel in his touch just how deep that craving had been.

"I do hope you've a clear schedule for the day, my love," he said, between kissing her and wrapping an arm around her, to roll atop of her; loathed to draw away for even the moment it took to loosen his belt and shed his trousers, despite the fervent return to her a moment later, "because if I'm to show you even a fraction of how much I've missed you....we will be here."

He pressed a kiss against her shoulder.

"For"

The next kiss against her collarbone.

"A while."

And then his mouth found far better things to do than waste uts resources on words.

[deathsmajesty]

When hadn't he heard the words beneath the words? That was one of the things that had drawn her to him, beyond the sex and the excitement of their verbal dancing, their love of games. He knew how to listen, how to let her protect herself by saying things without saying them, all cloaked in plausible deniability. And she has been able to tiptoe closer and closer to being able to express her vulnerability openly, because he so carefully let her deny it entirely.

She wrapped her arms around him, back arching as his mouth teased and tormented her, hand sliding into his hair, gleefully wrecking what even several days in the wilderness hadn't been able to touch.

"My darling...what... could possibly...hold my attention...more than you?" Today, of course. Obviously she had meant 'today.' And yet, it had fallen off the end of her sentence.

His mouth's fault, clearly.

She was so much warmer now, flushed with pleasure and desire both. A hand slid down from his hair to his shoulders and upper back, wickedly sharp nails digging into his skin with every gasp he drew from her.

[chef_chocobro]

Liliana often left so much unsaid with the words she spoke, and Ignis did pride himself in being able to catch most of them. And he, for as verbose as he could be at times, also priced himself in his ability to say a great deal with very little.

Well, now, he intended to say volumes while using no words at all. It was, of course, a story Liliana had heard many times before, though never quite the same, new surprises and turns guided by her own tale told in her breaths, her gasps, the lines on his back scratched in with her nails, the lighting of her limbs around him.

And after even just a few nights away, he had many things he needed to tell her, indeed. And he prided himself in his ability to communicate every single unspoken work exhaustively.