MHA #18, Saturday Afternoon

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana woke up that morning - hours before anyone would have expected her to - in Ignis' bed, determined to get exactly what she wanted.

This was not a particularly new state for her to wake up in; she existed in a low-key state of 'I should get what I want' as a matter of course. But this morning, it was much more of an active desire than a passive one - which was still fairly normal - and determined to express it via song - which was much less normal. The fact that the song was a Christmas song was absolutely unheard of, but she hadn't even gotten to realizing that part. In the moment, this all felt perfectly normal.

"All I want for Christmas is your divine lips on mine
Santa couldn't get me that guess it
Was too big of a demand guess
I'll have to go and make a plan get it myself..." she sang, sliding out of bed and digging through his closet until she found what she wanted: a sweater of contested ownership that she could pull on and call it dressed enough for the morning. She left the bedroom in an easy sway, arms winding above her head as she made her way further into the apartment.

"All the kids are talking about their toys, girls and boys
I got something good for you (Promise)
I'll let you unwrap it too (Honest)
Santa doesn't have a clue not one elf
Not one elf..." In the bathroom, she finger combed her long, black hair and fluffed it, letting its natural waves fall over her shoulder for full effect. She was setting a trap, and one had to bait it just so.

She hadn't been prepared to stay over (and, already, her steward was making the trek from her manse to the apartment, carrying new clothes and toiletries for the day), but she wasn't about to wait for him to get here. Instead, she pinched her cheeks a few times to make the color bloom in her pale skin and bit down on her lips a few times to get them full and red.
"Santa sees as my name juxtaposes
'Cause I am both naughty and nice
Jack Frost may nip at our noses
But I know how to break the ice
Red lights twinkle on every business
But the red on my lips is an art
The Grinch, he already stole Christmas
But I'm gonna go steal your heart
Steal your heart..."

And then she was creeping down the hallway towards the kitchen, where 'creeping' was perhaps an overstatement because she was still singing. And there was Ignis in the kitchen, sipping at his coffee.
"I see you like your chocolate hot
Sippin' while it snows a lot
But I got something hotter for you..."

Liliana didn't know if he was charmingly oblivious to her as everyone in musicals were when they were being sung about instead of to, or if he was debating the best way to inform her that she had lost her damned mind, but it didn't matter, because she was about to make the song (and herself in general) his problem anyway. She sauntered into the kitchen, taking hold of his hand and using it to twirl herself into his arms, hips moving to that slow, sultry rhythm against his, her back pressed against his chest.
"Oh and baby did you know (We are)
Sitting under mistletoe (Oh darn)
You can't go, tonight you're mine..."

And then she twisted around, her own arms twining over his shoulders and around his neck, continuing to groove in his arms.
"Santa sees as my name juxtaposes
'Cause I am both naughty and nice
Jack Frost may nip at our noses
But I know how to break the ice
Red lights twinkle on every business
But the red on my lips is an art
The Grinch, he already stole Christmas
But I'm gonna go steal your heart
Yeah
So whether or not you're suspicious
I'm gonna go steal your heart
Steal your heart..."

The music in her mind pulled back slightly, leaving her still grinning up at him but capable of speaking. At least for now. Because sometimes you needed a bridge between verses, everybody knew that. "Morning," she purred. "Any of that coffee for me?"

[Possibly establishy and mostly for the (permissably modded) audience of one, unless someone should have reason to visit some bros. Or call Liliana. Look, idk. I get to have my characters sing, I need nothing more than the thinnest justifications for stuff today.]

Comments

[chef_chocobro]

"Good morning," Ignis greeted back, his one arm wrapped around Liliana's waist as she pressed into him, his other hand, somewhat miraculously through all the dancing, still holding his mug, and his tone played easily between the lines of bewildered and impressed, fascinated and disappointed that he couldn't actually witness this with his own eyes himself, especially in realizing she was wearing The Sweater and likely very little else.

"I would love to say yes," he admitted, "but I'm starting to wonder if I'm not about to need every last drop of it for myself..."

But the sardonic comment would not save him, as very soon after it had been uttered,music was starting again, and it was his own drawling singing voice to respond in kind.

" Somebody broke your heart," he began, in dreadful earnest, now, "under a Christmas tree...
So many fallen stars
Give 'em back to me...

"Have I been good enough," the mug, now set aside, so he could bring that hand to better use against her cheek, "To ask for your love?
You're the only girl I've got on my list
I write your name, I know it's foolish
But I chase the feeling 'cause you keep me dreaming...
That I could make you mine
Make you mine this season
Make you mine, make you mine
Make you mine, make you mine this season.

"Bells ring out on the street
Snow falling at our feet
Lights glowing in the trees
Will you dance with me?"

But Ignis and the song weren't going to wait for an answer, taking one of Liliana's hand in his and starting to lead her around the kitchen in that lively watlz as he continued.

"Have I been good enough?
To ask for your love?
You're the only girl I've got on my list
I write your name, I know it's foolish.
But I chase the feeling 'cause you keep me dreaming
That I could make you mine

"Make you mine this season
Make you mine, make you mine
Make you mine, make you mine this season...

And then, a pause, at the center of the kitchen, as the music slowed once again, and every bit of Ignis' attention was honed in on her.

"I put a star on the top of my tree
I just wanna make you mine
Its light is gonna lead you straight to me."

And he had to smile, fingers at her cheek again before they found their way under her chin, as if he knew he'd have just long enough of a musical break for a well-timed kiss, before drawing away, and twirling her out, then back in again in time to go with the rest of the song.

"I just wanna make you mine
You're the only girl I've got on my list
I write your name, I know it's foolish
But I chase the feeling 'cause you keep me dreaming

"That I could make you mine
Make you mine this season
Deck the halls with
Make you mine, make you mine
Boughs of holly
Make you mine, make you mine
Come on, baby
Make you mine, make you mine
It's Christmas time
Make you mine, make you mine this season.

"You're the only girl I've got on my list (make you mine, mine, mine)
I write your name, I know it's foolish (make you mine, make you mine)
But I chase the feeling 'cause you keep me dreaming (make you mine, make you mine)
That I could make you mine
Make you mine, make you mine this season."

And if that didn't just lead them right exactly back to where they started. Ignis, a faint color similar to that of mortification rising to those well-defined cheekbones, cleared his throat.

"Perhaps a bit of brandy," he suggested, "for that coffee as well..."

[deathsmajesty]

For the first half of his song, the music still had enough of a claim on Liliana for her to feel like this was entirely normal. You know, singing and dancing around the kitchen while singing the most outlandish things. Eventually, however, the magic had ebbed enough for her to realize that, no, this was not how their mornings went at all.

Especially since it was morning. This never would have happened after noon, surely.

"My darling," she asked, blissfully free of the urge to sing for the moment, a benefit she did not yet know to treasure, "what is happening?"

She might be tempted to skip the coffee and go right for the brandy. Her color was also a little high still, though obviously he had just been singing songs with no more control than she had.

[chef_chocobro]

Apparently, enough of the music was still moving through Ignis, as he swept Liliana around in one more dramatic turn that resulted in leaning over her with a bold and skilled dip.

"Christmastime in Fandom, darling," he said, not sang, though it was a near thing indeed with that low purr of a drawl.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

And so it turned out you could infuse the words with enough sarcasm to bypass the song entirely, although, even with Ignis' best efforts, there seemed to be a certain musicality that lingered there regardless.

[deathsmajesty]

And, oh, how they moved together, though that was true Fandom whimsy or not. A graceful arm extended above Liliana's head, the backs of her fingers brushing against the kitchen floor as he dipped her, and thus being in perfect position to end up pressed against his face once he pulled her back up.

"Oh?" she asked. "How? Will there be parties for hosting? Marshmallows for toasting? Caroling out in the snow?" More words that she didn't recognize, but Fandom seemed to accept this kind of odd spoken word remix enough to not make her sing them.