shatteredlenses | LifeAfter Inbox

Dude. 5 second rule. It's saved many cookies.

[He was a poor boy, Ignis. He brushed off a little dirt if he needed to.

Probably a good thing on the islands where they didn't have modern cleaning equipment.]

But you had to think about it, right? I mean. You're a guy.

[It was pretty genuine. Noct had never been as interested as Prompto, but he still knew Noct had to be thinking about it sometimes. It was hard for him to imagine someone not thinking about it.]

I wanted to find resources outside of using the Storyteller. I just... I don't like depending on gods to survive. [That meant survival was at the whim of the god.] But if we wanna do it quickly, maybe we have to. If we had metal and could melt it, I think I could get started on some sort of generator. With some help, maybe. I've never built one before, but I think I have the basic idea of how to do it.

Then we could generate light instead of depending on fires. They don't like the light.

It's hard to tell exactly when midnight hits, tracking time by the stars as they are. But there's an excited crow from further down the beach as others that are watching the time decide Midnight is close enough and Gladio's arm goes from looped lazily around Iggy's waist to pulling him in closer. It's a tradition, after all, to kiss your beloved at midnight. He thinks briefly of Ardyn, probably alone and sulking in his cabin, before he shoves the thought away and claims his lover's mouth.

It's a slow, languid kind of kiss, appreciating the press of his boyfriend against him but not pushing for anything more. As he draws away though Gladio reaches up to gently take the arms of Ignis' glasses, sliding them carefully away from his face.

"Got a little present for you, babe." Murmured softly and Ignis will hear the gentle click of his visor being folded and tucked away. A sound promptly followed by a chuff and the rumble of a curious feline as he comes to nudge at Gladio's hip. Dad's excited about something and it's weird for him to have taken something away from Iggy.

"Hey! Don't lick them you jerk." Laughing and grinning he leans in to kiss Iggy one more time, an apology for the cat slobber that's going to be all over his visor when he gets it back. And then he's sliding a new set of glasses on him, wider and broader than the sunglasses that he'd modeled after his glasses and certainly not as stream lined as his visor.

But they still suit his face pretty damn well.

Gladio and Iggy were out doing romantic things, and since it was the dead of night Prompto was lazily passing time at home. They didn't have King's Knight to play anymore, so instead he was idly playing with some fronds and trying to figure out how to make something new. In the many, many months they'd been on the island he'd gotten fairly decent at it. Baskets were a breeze. A makeshift roof wasn't so bad, and it was possible to use it some amount for making furniture and other crafts.

He was sitting quietly in their 'living room' when he heard Gladio and Iggy coming back. He didn't think much of it. After all, it was dark, of course they'd head back at some point to sleep. So he continued idly fiddling with his fronds, trying to make a box, with little more than a soft "hey" in greeting.

[Alone and sulking in his cabin indeed. Knowing Noctis was back had been troubling enough, and that disaster of a trial had helped nothing. There wasn't much point in leaving, and so he kept to himself in silence, sitting with his back to a comfortably curled up Hresvelgr.]

[It wasn't like another new year meant a damn thing to him, anyway.]

It strikes Ignis, as they stand waiting for the call of the new year, the beginning of this one couldn't be more different than the last one. Last year, they had been recovering from the first surprise memory sharing at storytelling and scrambling to prepare for the death of the sun and the darkness that would follow. There had been little hope for a brighter future, only a prayer that they would make it to the next month.

Perhaps it's too optimistic to say Ignis feels hope for the future now--there are still to many unknowns--but he can at least feel happy with all of them together once again, with Gladio at his side, with neither of them hiding from each other anymore. The lingering warmth of the kiss is enough of a distraction that Ignis doesn't try to chase Gladio down when he slips his glasses from his face. Instead, he merely tilts his head, questioningly, waiting for whatever present his lover has gotten for him.

"You didn't need to. I hope you know that."

Ignis isn't surprised when Gladio all but ignores his words, suddenly too distracted by Leo's antics to give what he will think a silly objection any response. He's pressing a hand to his lips to muffle a laugh and then Gladio is carefully sliding something onto his face. It's unconscious instinct for him to close his eyes as this happens, and a trained instinct that leads him to shift his hand from his mouth to feel the shape of what has been set on his face.

"A new set of glasses, lovely petal? I don't--"

And then he opens his eyes and...understands.

He can see!

Even though Gladio told him just how long he had before the glasses' magic would be spent and he would lose his vision again, Ignis can't help but want to move quickly. There is so much he wants to see. So many he needs to track down. Noctis. Prompto. Ardyn...

Gladio is right thought. When two of the three people he wants to find the most likely to be at the cottage, going there first is the best plan. Sure enough, while Noctis seems to be out, Prompto isn't.

Something pulls painfully at his heart, though, when he hears that soft, almost dejected 'hey.' He can't help but just watch the blonde for a few seconds before coming to a decision and crossing the room. Ignoring the fact that he's probably about to cause Prompto to ruin whatever he's working on, Ignis wraps his arms around the blonde and then chuckles softly in his ear.

"Prompto. I can see you!"

[Though he won't admit it, Ignis goes to Ardyn last simply because it means he can linger with the redhead as long as he is allowed. He won't have to rush to find someone else or to see something else before the enchantment on his glasses fades taking his eyesight with it.

With a tiny bundle of light blue feathers sleeping in his arms, Ignis knocks on the door to Ardyn's shake before stepping inside. His eyes scan the darkness within and he feels a small thrill in his chest when his vision adjusts enough that he can pick out Ardyn and Hresvelgr.]

Happy New Year, beloved monster.

[Ignis nods in agreement. No matter how much Gladio may trust the Storyteller, they remain a god with power over them. It would be better if they because as self-sufficient as they can.

Still, the strategist in him is loathe to cut all ties to assistance from the Storyteller so quickly. They need to find a middle ground and starting with a few supplies from the Storyteller and then applying what they learn to materials they can find without the Storyteller's assistance may be the best way to do it.]

Gladio's done a little melting of metal, but I don't know if what he's been doing will translate all that well to a larger scale operation. It wouldn't hurt to ask him about what procedures he's been using, though.

[There is a moment of silence as Ignis thinks and then he continues.]

I believe some people have found veins of ore while exploring, but I don't know if they've been able to do much with them so far. Perhaps it's something we can ask about over the crystals.

No, of course not. What am I thinking? All the ash must be getting to my brain.

[Ardyn worried? Why the sun dying would be more lik-

Err...

The earth splitting beneath their feet and sinking into the sea would be more lik-

...

All right. He's just going to give up on that for now.]

"I'm not certain being 'easy' is something you should be so proud of," Ignis' voice is full of amusement at the start of that sentence, but by the time he gets to the end of it, he's breathless again, eyes closed as he leans up into the press of Gladio's mouth against his neck. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't take long for his hands to make their way into Gladio's hair, not with how much he likes feeling the increasingly longer locks sliding through his fingers. Surprisingly quickly, though, the grip he has on Gladio's hair changes from gentle to hard.

"I love you too, lovely petal, but I'll love you more if you give me a chance to get out of these clothes first."

This shirt has already lost one button. He'd rather it not lose anymore.

It didn't strike him as odd at first. Ignis had gotten pretty good at moving around in the year plus they'd been on the island.

And then Iggy kept getting closer. Moreso than he'd usually get, being a little on the formal or physically shy side with them often. He jumped when Ignis hugged him. Confused. Not upset - of course he never minded if Ignis wanted a hug. It was just so unlike him to give sudden cuddles. His fingers lost their place on the fronds as he place a hand over Ignis' arm.

"Wah...?" the initial shock fading away, Ignis' words began to sink in, and excitement seeped into his voice, "You can see?"

As if he had to confirm it for himself he looked up at Iggy's eyes. When had this happened? "Seriously? Dude, Iggy..."

Naturally he was happy for him. So much so that it was a little overwhelming. His smile wavered as his eyes moistened and he pushed himself up straighter so that he could wrap his arms around him, whether it was to give him a hug back or to hide the fact that he was about to cry. His project was long forgotten and dropped by the side.

Of course, he didn't know this was temporary.

I'm in no mood, little flame. [He didn't look up, pulling his hat a little further over his eyes.] What do you want?

First one argument, then another one and Gladio's mid eye roll when Ignis cuts off in surprise. He ducks his head a little, leaning down so he is eye level with Ignis, grinning broadly when the sigils on the arms of the glasses flicker to life, glowing softly blue in the darkness.

"Yeah... new glasses." He's smiling so hard it hurts and he slips an arm around Iggy's waist, holding him close but not actually pulling him in too tight against him so he can still look at his lover's face, see the surprise and joy in his expression.

"Happy New Year, my Spark... it's not indefinite. It's only a few hours but... we can recharge them next month, and you can see the girls tonight and- I dunno I thought it might be easier at night so it's not so bright." He's babbling a little but he can't help it. He's so excited.

"You've known how easy I am since we were teenagers, shut up." It's a playful rumble followed by a nip at his jaw in retaliation for the tug on his hair. Gladio makes no move to sit up, though, slumping against Ignis, making no effort to hold his head up so that, for a moment, gravity is adding to the pull on his hair. Rough nails dig gently into Ignis' sides as the Shield shudders above him. One of these days Iggy's going to just yank him around by his hair and talk at him and he's going to make a mess.

A soft, unsteady laugh and he finally picks up his head. One brief but heated kiss before Gladio finally succumbs to his lover's insistent fingers, sitting back on his heels over Ignis, finishing his buttons and shoving the shirt away. It's likely to get all tangled up in the bedding but he doesn't really care, not when he's scooting back to tug at Iggy's belt, very intent to get the other man naked against him as swiftly as he can.

[He sighed a little. He wanted to try and cut things off as well as they could, but he also understood how hard that would be to do. They didn't have a lot of the tools, and who knew how long it'd take to build everything from scratch?]

Maybe we can ask for things that people used to use to do stuff with metal? If we could at least get the basics to work with it'd be a pretty good start.

I don't know all that much about ancient metalworking, but they had all kinds of armor and stuff in the past. If they could do it, so could we.

Trail and error can produce a lot of results, and I am certain there is going to be a lot of that in our future. We just need to make sure we can keep the area we are working in and our records protected.

[Much like having to constantly repair the cottages and other buildings, having to go back over ground they've already experimented with because they've lost results and they have to be certain they covered all possibilities, will be a large waste of time.]

To that extent, we may want to focus on at least getting some of the fencing up first. After that, we can focus on experimenting.

There is a distant part of Ignis brain that's registering everything Gladio's saying despite how the Shield is rambling. The rest of his brain is still taking in what's happening and trying to make him believe it's not some kind of dream. Perhaps he shouldn't be so surprised. After all, he'd gotten that scarf for Ardyn that allowed him to regain his sense of taste, but that seems to small compared to this.

Eventually, he takes a deep breath and just forces his mind to go still for a minute. It's then he really focuses on the fact Gladio is still rambling and he should do something about that. With a smirk stretching across his face, he throws his arms around the Shield and presses his lips passionately to Gladio's.

There. That aught to do it.

Ignis probably should have warned Prompto considering how out of character he's acting. It's almost as if the two of them have switched personalities--Prompto quiet and reserved and Ignis bubbling with excitement. He just can't help it. How long has it been since he's felt this truly happy?

Eventually, as Prompto returns the hug, Ignis pulls his emotions bit more back under control, careful not to knock the sunglasses from his face as he rests it against the blonde's hair.

"Gladio has been plotting behind my back," Ignis' words are fondly exasperated. "He went to the Storyteller and asked for a charm much like what I asked for to give Ardyn back his sense of taste. Only this was to give me back my sight. It's only for a few hours a month, but..."

He trails off with a soft laugh, not really feeling the need to finish the sentence. A few hours a month is such a short time, but it's also infinitely more than he ever should have had.

[Despite his own good mood, Ignis isn't surprised at Ardyn's response. What does he have to celebrate right now? What, that he will allow himself to acknowledge that is.

Ignis makes his way to where Ardyn is sitting and then settles onto the floor in front of him. Leilani hardly stirs when he places her into his lap, and then with his hands freed, Ignis reaches out to settle one against Ardyn's jaw, tipping his head up gently.

Now that he's so close, Ardyn should be able to make out the faint, blue glow of the sigils adorning the arms of the sunglasses Ignis is wearing.]

I want to see you.

As much as he wants out of his clothes, Ignis can't help but relish the feeling of Gladio's weight on him. The feeling is made even better with how the Shield shudders under his fingertips. So much reaction to so little. It's something he wants to explore, but those explorations will have to wait because all too soon Gladio is giving into his demand.

Though Ignis is planning on taking care of his own clothing, Gladio makes it clear very quickly that isn't his plan. A content and perhaps slightly wicked smile crosses his face as he runs his fingers up over Gladio's arms and then drags his nails down over the Shield's chest making sure to catch his nipples as he goes.

"It would be something if I brought you off before you even finished undressing me, wouldn't it?"

What are you...

[He tilted his hat back with the hand not now occupied with a baby chocobo, yellow eyes narrowed at the Oracle-blue glow and then back at Ignis. The scowl on his face and anger in his voice took root from a place of concern, one even Ardyn wasn't fully aware of yet.]

...Fool. You trusted that worthless god with something this important, what are you thinking-?!

"Oh." Not permanent. But still really good. Even as Ignis acclimated to his new way of living, Prompto never wanted to see his friend hurt or struggle through something. And then there were little things, like not being able to show him his pictures anymore. Sometimes he didn't know if he should ask the others if they wanted to see them, because he didn't want to leave Iggy out.

"But every month?" He loosened his grip to sit back. That wasn't a huge amount of time to take Ignis everywhere. "I could try and take pics of everything for you to see."

For information, and to share every pretty thing he saw that they wouldn't be able to show him in person. He glanced over at his camera and picked it up. "I've got some new pics. I didn't know you'd get to see them, though..."

So he hadn't focused on taking things for Iggy.

That's certainly a hell of a way to shut him up. He makes a soft surprised sound into the kiss, then melts against Ignis, a quiet laugh rumbling in his chest at the sudden enthusiasm from his lover. Gladio lets one hand slide down, slipping into Iggy's back pocket, squeezing his ass briefly before he draws back enough to murmur against his mouth.

"We can do that part next time, babe." A soft growl on his next breath, a sharper pinch to Iggy's ass and then he's forcing himself to give the other man a little space. "C'mon, you should actually see all the work Harv's done on the place."

[A fond smile crosses Ignis' face at the reaction. Yeah, he can't say he expected any different.]

You know my opinion of our local deity. Do you really think this was my doing?

[Come now. Who do they both know who trusts the Storyteller completely?]

LifeAfter Inbox

no subject

no subject

Happy New Year!

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