Office Hours: Office #27; Thursday [04/14].

[chef_chocobro]

Having assisted Gladio with his class that morning, Ignis arrived at his office a bit later than usual that day, which was fine, because he didn't have too much work to do. In fact, most of it was focused on finalizing the menu for the party on Saturday, shooting a few emails to Summer to ensure that he would have what he needed, and then getting texts in response lambasting him for preferring email to text. Which was fine, it helped prove as a decent distraction from the small twinge of disappointment he felt in realizing that, a week after next, he'd likely be packing up this cozy little oasis he'd created for himself over the past year or so.

It wasn't official, yet, but it was increasingly obvious that their little excursions on this odd little island would be coming to an end, at least for the time being, in favor of more important things going on back home. Regis had made it clear, to Ignis at least, that they would be needed in the upcoming months; it was time to focus on the homefront, and Ignis honestly could only agree, especially since the increasing reports of Empire activity weighed heavily on his mind.

But they'd talk about it next week. No need to go spoiling a good party with bad news.

[[ door and office are open, of course! ]]

Comments

[notagoose]

Goose was not as distracted as he had been last week when he had been dealing with the news about Walsh and everything concerning those revelations but he was finding that he was still rather nervous about this party, which was an odd feeling for him.

At least he could visit Ignis and hopefully not think so much about the party.

He stopped by the bakery for the usual coffee and pastries and stood at the door, knocking with a grin, “hey, are you busy?” He knew what the answer would be but he still had to ask.

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis let out a faint laugh at the question, knowing he'd have to eventually come around to facing that this aspect of his office was the one he was probably going miss the most, but it had been nice shoving it aside while he could. Still, he smiled softly as he answered back with the expected "Always," and then that smile quirked into a grin with his eyebrow as he added, "Especially since it appears I've been roped into some party planning now in addition to everything else."

OH, DID YOU THINK YOU COULD AVOID THE PARTY, GOOSE? There was no escaping a Summer Smith party, Goose. A Summer Smith party was eeevvveerrryyywheeere.

That said, Ignis nodded to the chair on the other side of the desk as the invitation that Shane clearly didn't even need.

[notagoose]

“Oh?” for some reason Goose started to feel himself go a bit pink as he entered the office to take the offered seat, “I wasn’t … well I didn’t know you were also helping with the planning,”

He paused as he took a moment to take out Ignis’ coffee so he could move it closer to him and set the box of pastries on the desk as had become the norm with these visits.

“It’s … I wasn’t expecting such a fuss to be made about it,” he admitted.

Goose you told Summer when your birthday was and you’d never had a birthday party before, what did you think was going to happen?

[chef_chocobro]

"No one ever does," Ignis noted a bit dryly, his smirk gone wry, although only for a moment, as he took the offered coffee from Shane with another nod, this one of appreciation. "But I'm actually glad for the opportunity to help."

More than he was willing to say outloud, really.

"Happy birthday, by the way," he added. "Albeit a bit late."

[notagoose]

“Thank you,” Goose smiled and took a sip of his coffee, it still felt weird to hear people say happy birthday to him, “it’s definitely been a strange experience, I’ve never had so many people actually know when my birthday is before, since I think at this point the whole island knows about the party,”

That’s what happened when you lived on a small island Goose.

[chef_chocobro]

And when you dropped the B-word on a party-deprived Summer, at that.

"Yes," he said, "I've seen the flyers. And heard the radio. I honestly rather admire that woman's ability to leave no stone unturned when she puts her mind to it.

"Which is why I hope you don't mind," he continued somewhat softly, "that I brought Gladio's birthday into the mix as well. I can only imagine what it would feel like to have all that laser-focused intensity directed on one poor soul...especially one who's not exactly used to that kind of undue attention."

Ignis? Incredibly empathetic to the plight of sudden awareness to one's self when unaccustomed to such things? Perish the thought.

[notagoose]

“No I don’t mind,” Goose assured him, “I’m definitely glad that I can share a party with someone, especially since I’ve never had one before, it will all be a new experience,”

There was a pause, “i must admit I’m actually…well … a bit nervous about the party,” he admitted, which felt strange to say out loud, “which seems strange because I’ve definitely been in more nerve wracking situations than going to a birthday party,”

[chef_chocobro]

"Oh, I don't find that surprising at all," Ignis remarked, almost idly, with a sip of his coffee. "Those are the sorts of situations you've been trained to handle. If we're being perfectly honest, they're what you've been built to do. On the contrast, you haven't been socialized to deal with more civic, mundane things such as parties or events, so it's hardly unusual that you find yourself feeling unprepared and ill-equipped to handle them..."

His brow creased thoughtfully with his next sip.

"Noctis," he realized, "is actually very similar, in that respect."

[notagoose]

Goose listened as Ignis explained, “I …I didn’t think of it like that,” he considered, “It’s a bit strange…I’m not used to feeling well…so nervous, especially about a party,” and he wasn’t used to admitting that he was feeling nervous so that was also a strange feeling.

There was a pause, “how..how does Noctis deal with these situations?”

He was rather curious to find out, maybe he could figure out some tips before Saturday?

[chef_chocobro]

"Well," Ignis offered, in a rather interesting mirror of another conversation going on that day, with a faint smile, "if you do find yourself a bit overwhelmed, I'm sure we can work out a viable escape plan."

He was, after all, the strategist of the group, and that was also something he had done on occasion for the benefit of the other topic of this discussion.

"And I'm quite convinced that Noctis could spend an entire month without interacting with anyone other than Prompto, Gladio, and myself, and be perfectly content with that. He never does well with too much attention and he's never exactly had much...social grace for conversation. Which puts him in an interesting spot, as heir to the throne of Lucis, but..." Ignis' shoulders lifted, almost a shrug. "That where I come in."

[notagoose]

Goose grinned softly at that, “I’m sure once the party starts I’ll be fine but if I do needs to make a retreat I’ll come find you,” he promised.

Even though Goose had a feeling he wasn’t going to be sober enough to remember that when the party did get started.

“So how do you work around that?” Goose asked with a tilt of his head as he listened to Ignis explain about Noctis and his social interactions.

[chef_chocobro]

"I'm sure," Ignis noted with amusement and another sip of his coffee, "once you find the jello shots table...we'll have nothing to worry about."

Well, they would probably have different concerns at that point, but Ignis was already preparing for those.

"And usually," he said, "it involves simply allowing me to be the one to do the talking, a responsibility he rarely minds giving over to me. It also helps with his whole...mysterious and elusive reputation, I suppose. And if that fails, well...we fall back on an escape plan in that case, as well.

[notagoose]

Goose did let out a small laugh at that, “well I do have twenty years of birthday parties to make up for,” he grinned.

That poor, poor healing factor.

“I suppose that would be one way to get out of a function,” Goose grinned, “even though back home we’re usually providing the security detail for those events so I don’t think that would go down to well,”

[chef_chocobro]

The very specific tolerance to jello when combined with alcohol it was building, though, would one day be impenetrible.

They still had a long way to go, though.

"Well," Ignis noted, "we provide the security detail for the prince himself, so remove him from the situation, and the security detail goes with."

[notagoose]

It was going to be a very impressive tolerance when that day eventually happened.

“I don’t see that happening for us, the ambassadors and senators do enjoy partying …the New Years party at BETA the year before I moved back to Fandom was certainly something,” Goose said with a smirk.

[chef_chocobro]

"Any interesting stories in particular to share?" asked Ignis, genuinely curious for a small peek into the intricacies of the politics of Shane's world that he'd only gotten a slight glimpse of last week. "Or would most of them be considered classified?"

[notagoose]

“I’m sure most of them would rather they be classified,” Goose said with a smirk that suggested that he had no problems telling Ignis about a few of the more outlandish incidents, “one of the ambassadors got that drunk he ended up on the ceiling, he’s from a species that are similar to an octopus so he has tentacles…which did make getting him down from the ceiling rather interesting,”

There was a pause, “we also had to spend half the evening stopping the guests from trying to steal the interceptors to take them for a joyride, one of them did end up crashing one in the hangar and caused a small fire, I think that was a first …there was a crash and I actually had nothing to do with it,” he added with a grin.