MHA #18; Sunday Morning [09/28].

[chef_chocobro]

It would surely be no surprise to anyone who knew Ignis that he could, at times, be a bit...well, obsessive, when it came to feeding people. There was also a part of him that felt that, yes, Liliana, even though they were very much guests that were not invited, he couldn't very well just ignore the GateWatch's presence on the island this weekend. Furthermore, there was a brunch that day at the Park, and he was certain that voracious Planeswalker appetites will be continued to be satiated there later at some point as well, by making his own breakfast for them, he could at least mitigate the amount of time spent with them all chipping away at the privacy here that, clearly, they had been taken for granted.

Sure, sure, plenty of damage had no doubt already been done, but the more time spent in cultivated spaces, the less opportunity for chaos, disorder, or whatever else was making this such a hard weekend for Liliana to deal with.

And so there he was, back in the kitchen of his old apartment, where he had shuttled their visitors into for the sake of preserving at least some sanctity to their home before the mansion wound up going the way of the Ravnica townhouse and them taking permanent residence down in Argentina (and then where, after that was inevitably spoiled and breeched??), to surprise them all with a nice breakfast. Of course, Liliana had been more than welcome to join them, but he rather suspected she'd continue to prefer him to lean into excuses that she was far too busy with the demands of the actual purpose of the weekend. He was more than willing to do his best to keep them distracted, occupied, entertained, and, most importantly, out of her hair entirely.

And, okay, okay, let's face it. He may have just really wanted to dive into the excuse to just make a really big breakfast for everyone. Like the beginning of the post may suggest, it was....a whole thing.

He was absolutely going to continue to insist to himself that it was all just strategy, though. Ahem.

[[ for all the guests, of course, should they so wish, and anyone else who might want to swing by for breakfast or otherwise! ]]

Comments

[mtggarystu]

Jace, too tired to remember the illusion that made him look taller and well kempt, shuffled into the kitchen. "Whaaa?" he mumbled. "Ignis? You're...breakfast?"

[chef_chocobro]

Well, if there was anyone to forget that sort of thing around...

"No," Ignis said, not missing a beat in whatever elaborate system he had going on with all his different cooking elements, complete with a twirled spatula and a flipped pancake, "but omelettes and French toast and croque madames are. And plenty of coffee already in the carafe to the left there, feel free to help yourself."

[mtggarystu]

Yeah, but the odds that he remembered that?

"Croak whats?" Jace asked, padding over to the carafe. "Why breakfast?"

[chef_chocobro]

....a point very well made.

"Because," Ignis drawled over a clatter of plates, "it is the meal traditionally served in the morning upon waking, intended to break one's fast, thus...breakfast."

Yes, he knew perfectly well that that wasn't what Jace meant with the question, thank you.

[mtggarystu]

Jace was just going to pause for a few minutes and just sip at his beautiful, blessed coffea and hope that it made him better able to put sentences together. Or at least get less aggravated by Ignis' deliberate misunderstanding.

"Why are you here, making breakfast, for m--us?" he asked. "I didn't think you were all that happy to see us."

Did he sound injured about that? Yes.

[chef_chocobro]

There was the faintest tug of utterly unsuprised amusement at that barely-stopped gaffe.

"I assure you, Jace," he said, almost feeling a little bad about his current far more caffeinated and cognizant state, but no one could habe expected him to have opened that particular door and for Ignis to not waltz directly through it, "I would be elated were I to be seeing anyone right now."

An adjustment of heat here, a pouring of one thing into another thing there...

"But," he continued, now giving Jace a proper answer to his question now that he'd worked around to it, "as...inconvenient as your unannounced arrival may have been, you are still guests in my quarters, and it would be an egregious dereliction of my duties as host if I'd failed to serve at least one meal for you all during your stay here. And I feel that breakfast, in particular, is an excellent meal for getting everyone off on the right foot for the rest of the day."

Plus maybe he just actually really wanted to. Shut up.

[mtggarystu]

He missed the first gaffe, and then had walked facefirst into the second!

Jace, fortunately, had had enough coffea by this point to not point out how ungrateful Ignis had been the last time he was able to see, and if he knew the phrase, he'd think that was very gucci of himself.

He had not had enough coffea to not ask his next question, though. "Every time you s--" wait no "--I show up, you always act like it's an aggravation. Why?"

[chef_chocobro]

Was it only an unfortunate matter of time before he just naturally picked it up from Summer?

And Ignis would certainly have pointed out that, in that instance, there were rather quite a few additional annoying factors that had been dampening his gratitude significantly.

"Because it is one, Jace."

Oh, sorry. Was he expecting a delicate answer to that question he shown have known better than to ask in the first place?

[mtggarystu]

Yes. And at some point, he was going to say that, out loud, to Ignis, and Ignis would have to deal with that.

"I thought we worked really well together!" Ignis protested. "We saved the plane, Ignis!"

A pause.

"Is this about Liliana?"

[chef_chocobro]

For a moment, there was Ignis's own pause in that meticulously orchestrated symphony of culinary skills that had continued ceaselessly as they spoke, the tiniest fermata, before he sighed, and resumed, although the tempo, the pace, had changed, into a decided ritardando, as he brought things to a focused finish where he could, utilizing the waiting platters and bowls or simply turning them off. Once everything seemed taken care of for the moment, he slipped off his glasses to better massage out the migraine forming behind his eyes that for once had nothing to do with Jace's magic, placed them back on his face, and went drifting toward the carafe because now he felt sorely lacking.

And all that, plus waiting until he began to pour before he gave his exasperated answer.

"I don't know, Jace. You tell me."

A sip of his coffee, and, no, Ignis could not see you, Jace, but it might seem very much like he could with the 'gaze' being level in your direction now. Through the glasses. Even, it would seem, through the blindness.

"Is this about Liliana?"

[mtggarystu]

"Uhh..." Now more than ever, Jace really wished he could just browse through Ignis' mind for the right answer. "Maybe...?"

He didn't know, Ignis! That's why he was asking!

"You did seem like you were trying to kill me at the end there..."

[chef_chocobro]

The sound Ignis made couldn't seem to figure out if it was meant to be an already exhausted sigh or a disconsolate grunt. Either way, it was blessedly soothed by another gulp of coffee.

"Well, then," he said, "yes, it was about Liliana, because the only thing keeping me from her was being trapped in your mind tower, and the only way to destroy your mind tower seemed to be destroying you, but I'm talking about here and now, Jace. In your surprise visit. Where I'm just here trying to be a half-way decent host with some breakfast, and your first reaction, instead of being graciously accepting, is to question and challenge it and then wonder why it makes me feel aggrivated. I know first hand how introspection is not your strong suite, but perhaps it might serve you well in unraveling those particular mysteries. That said..."

He gestured to the food laid out neatly on the counter. "Breakfast is served. Bon apetit. Do you suppose the other will be up soon to join us?"

[mtggarystu]

Jace heaved a sigh, since that certainly didn't answer his overall question, but he had definitely not had enough coffea to keep prodding.

"Gideon is already out, he runs and works out in the mornings." Jace did not understand any of those impulses. "Chandra sleeps until noon at the earliest, and Nissa...." He shrugged. "She said something about the apartment having bad angles and I think she slept outside."

[chef_chocobro]

"Ah."

The weight of disappointment hung heavy on such a small, soft sound.

"Then I suppose it's just the two of us."

And it wasn't even simply that fact, facing down a no-doubt guaranteed frustrating breakfast only in the company of the one member of the Gatewatch he found particularly exasperating, but more for that lost communal aspect, of making that connection with them through his food, regardless of how he mat have felt about their impromptou descending on Fandom.

"Well," he said, trying to make the best of it by getting started on a plate for himself, "then, at least there will still be plenty waiting for Chandra when she does wake up, and more still should Gideon and Nissa be by before you all head out..."

Perhaps he really should have done some sort of farewell luncheon or dinner instead? Hmm.

[mtggarystu]

Jace made a scoffing sound, reaching out to Nissa and Gideon (not Chandra, though. Waking Chandra up with telepathy tended to result in burned bedding, so it was done only as a necessity.)

Ignis has made breakfast for us, he told them. Come have some.

He got two affirmative answers in return, and looked back to Ignis. "They're on their way."