The More Populated But Still Creepy Mansion, Wednesday Evening

[deathsmajesty]

It was Ignis' birthday today and between his general desire to not make a fuss over himself and her own desire to throw an island-wide celebration, Liliana had compromised on throwing him the smallest dinner(ish) party ever, just the six of them (seven, counting Noctra, which Liliana was if only to pad the numbers), and also Summer, who Liliana had managed to sneak in as the secret eighth guest in by calling her the bartender for the evening - even if she was one of the people on the island who had known Ignis the longest. Still, Liliana consoled herself, baby steps. This year, a tiny dinner party, next year a tasteful garden party, the year after that, absolute extravaganza.

And she could always demand absolute extravaganzas for her own birthdays until then, anyway.

Err. Not that she was making plans that far in advance, mind. Just, hypothetically, that would be the general progression of things, ahem.

Since they weren't actually sitting down for a meal and there were so few people, Liliana had set everything out in their large parlor with her steward on duty to rotate food from the kitchen to the sideboard before anything had a chance to sit out too long. Setting up an impromptu bar had taken a little finagling, but the clever use of a high table and an unused china cabinet (as well as the fervent wish that she'd tasked Prompto with entertaining Ignis all day so Gladio would have been available to hoist heavy furniture around) had given her Summer a corner of the room to work her magic, as well as plenty of room for the bottles of wine and jello shots she was bringing with her, which would join the bottle of excellent bourbon and the array of non-alcoholic beverages that Liliana had provided. Soft music was drifting out from several discreetly-placed speakers, kept low enough to not interfere with conversation, and there were plenty of comfortable places to sit. A last minute reminder from her steward meant the room had even been baby proofed, both in the sense of 'dangers removed for baby's safety' and 'valuables removed from baby's reach.'

Liliana liked her belongings intact and drool-free, thank you.

And now with the house prepared and the hostess ready, all that was lacking were people!

Comments

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[chef_chocobro]

And Ignis did still feel a bit awkward over any level of fuss being made over him and his birthday; he was the one who did the fussing, not the other way around! But the fact that it was smaller and quiet and something Liliana would enjoy putting together helped with that significantly. If his birthday could be used as a convenient excuse for her to get to play hostess for a nice little get-together, then so be it.

But it was kind of nice, actually, and, if left to his own devices for too long, a soft soft of smile could be found drifting onto his face as he just sort of took it all in and appreciated it.

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[deathsmajesty]

As soon as Ignis had arrived, Liliana had immediately claimed his arm and taken him on an extensive tour of the parlor, stopping at each table to list out what was on it and offer a description of it, clearly just bragging about her hostessing skills and nothing more. Certainly nothing like carefully helping him to get a new lay of the land, as it were, with the parlor undergoing such a drastic transformation and Ignis' notorious hatred of having to use a cane.

No, at best, their tour of slow, measured steps was so that Ignis knew where all the different foods were located, so he could fetch her small plates of nibbles when she wanted them.

The only table that didn't get a loving description of everything on it was the cake table, that got a quick, "And here is the table with your cake, shall we see what Summer is serving?" and Liliana was immediately shifting to glide away.

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[chef_chocobro]

And, really, if this had been the whole sum of the event, with Liliana carefully guiding him with her arm in his, leading him through as he took a marked interest in the rearrangement, endlessly describing all the little bites of food to him with the clear pleasure of pride in voice, Ignis would be incredibly content. Well. Perhaps not endlessly, he was looking forward to actually enjoying the morsels and had already mapped out a potential plan for which order (depending, of course, on the wine options), in fact.

And to have the cake met with such an abrupt dismissal after everything else so perfectly detailed, especially in light of the mysteriously absent ingredients yesterday....well, it was certainly not going to go unnoticed.

Whether or not it should also go unremarked, however...

He moved with that shifting glide easily, but it was not long after disregarding the dessert that he really couldn't help himself in asking.

"Is that truly all there is to say about the cake?" He sounded more curious than skeptical, although they were both present in the inquiry. "Simply 'there it is, now let's move on to the refreshments'?"

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[deathsmajesty]

Have you ever considered being a less clever man, Ignis? Things would be so much easier sometimes.

"W-well," Liliana said, with only the slightest vocal stumble, which only someone listening closely and well-attuned to her normal speech patterns would even have noticed, "there isn't much to say about it. At least not until you try it, of course. It's something of a surprise."

She was looking forward to him trying it and realizing that it was his chiffon cake that he had such an important memory of from his childhood, but, for as much as she liked claiming credit for things both earned and not, she was shying away from claiming credit for this. Not even because she doubted how it would taste. Nell's assistance was enough for her to be confident that the cake had turned out all right. But something about admitting that she'd even tried to bake a cake for him left her feeling oddly exposed and vulnerable.

Probably just the left of a reaction from yesterday's disasters. Liliana never enjoyed reminders of times she set out to do something and failed. Yes, clearly that was it.

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[chef_chocobro]

But were Ignis less of a clever man, would they be there, as they were now, arm in arm, and with him noticing that minute little stumble and giving her arm a small squeeze with his own as if to catch her, metaphorically speaking, as if the stumble might lead into a fall? Likely not, so that was a consideration he would not even deign to even ponder. Instead, he would stop for a moment so that he could lean in to give her a light kiss, with a soft smile to go with it.

"Say no more," he assured her. "Just as any good birthday party should have a cake, it should probably come with a surprise or two, as well. And here you've efficiently," the slightest pause at the end, just to tack on that little extra weight to the word that he knew didn't need to be there, "combined the both. It'd rather boorish of me to go and let my incessant curiosity go and ruin it.

"Though I do already feel," he added, that faint smile broadening with another kiss, "that dark specter of all my lectures about patience looming over my shoulders now."

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[deathsmajesty]

If nothing else, today was certainly going to be a record for production and exports. There might be a need to adjust certain commissions and treaties afterwards, now knowing they could be scaled to this level.

Liliana didn't much care for efficiency as a concept, but it, much like inventory, had started to take on a life of its own, connected to and yet separate from the original definition. And so when he added it, she preened under the compliment in a way she would not have, oh, five months ago, give or take a week. "I have been told," she noted, "that patience is a gift, and, my darling, it is your birthday, where gifts are to be expected, are they not?"

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[chef_chocobro]

"True," Ignis allowed, with a thoughtful, contemplative sort of drawl, "though while I certainly wouldn't want to tarnish the value of a gift given in good faith, I have to admit, it does diminish it somewhat when one is gifted something of which they already possess an abundance of."

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[deathsmajesty]

"But isn't it then improved once again to see such a willful student suddenly turn around and offer it up?" she teased. "Regardless of the 'return to sender' stamp on the box."

She laughed as she leaned against him, face upturned, fingers brushing over his cheek right below his glasses in a silent message of their own, and added, "Or do you just prefer I keep teaching you about the merits of selfishness and self-indulgence instead?" Her laugh and voice were wicked.

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[chef_chocobro]

"I prefer," said Ignis, with a tone just a little too low to be the truly chiding, reprimanding one he had so long ago perfected, and a grin on his face that would have negated that effect, anyway, and his arm moved to wrap around her, to keep her right there against him for the moment, to keep her close, "we continue learning from each other in kid. Balance...equity...a perfect equilibrium."

Re: Nibble & Chitchat

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana leaned up to kiss him, arms sliding around his waist to do a little keeping herself. Yes, they were standing half-entwined around each other, sorry not sorry other guests, they were just Like This^TM sometimes, talk amongst yourselves, you're fine. "What you're saying is that we're both too stubborn to learn from the other quickly," she said, with another soft laugh.

Funny though, how 'equilibrium' wasn't the word she'd anticipated coming after 'perfect.'

"An excellent basis for a partnership."