Personal Voicemail

[deathsmajesty]

"You have reached the personal voicemail of Liliana Vess. If you don't know what to do next, you likely shouldn't have a phone. This call probably could have been a text message anyway."

Comments

[chef_chocobro]

If a mere smile in one's voice could shake up such troubling discourse, then what about a small, faint laugh?

"That is a risk," he assured her, "that I am quite willing to take."

Which might, for most people, be just some rote standard line, but Ignis Scientia never took risks lightly.

[deathsmajesty]

'Troubling' was precisely the correct term. Which was why Liliana was doing what she did best when facing certain realities she did not like:

She was ignoring it.

Not his laugh, of course not. Her inability to ignore it was just one of those certain realities she was eschewing, in fact.

"Careful," she chided with a laugh of her own. "That kind of challenge is how you end up with me reading and ranting to you stark naked."

[chef_chocobro]

"I should only be so lucky," Ignis said, that smile on his voice now fueled by now familiar thoughts of delicately placed pins, the whisper of fabric, and its then subsequent silence. "I'll be sure to avoid anything that may involve any splattering hot oils or other unfortunate consequences."

[deathsmajesty]

Good. Those thoughts had been a dual-purpose trap. Once in the moment, as he'd seen, while also burrowing deeply into his mind, to bloom at any opportunity.

"It is a fine line I will have to walk," Liliana agreed. "Between distracting you enough to satiate my pride, but not so much that dinner is irrevocably destroyed."

She did like his food best of all.

"You know, this reminds me. You mentioned stopping to purchase supplies for brunch, is there anything I should have my Steward pickup the next time he's doing shopping?" Totally normal question and also shut up. "Anything you'd like for me to have on hand? To make impromptu breakfasts easier on you to manage?"

[chef_chocobro]

That trap had bloomed so effectively that his mind had become a veritable garden bursting with vibrant recollections.

And some might fall into the trap for making the argument that such an offer would seem to negate the spirit of impromptu, but Ignis was certainly smart enough to avoid getting ensnared by that.

"Well," he stated, instead, "so long as you maintain your excellent taste in wine, everything else will likely fall easily into place."

But, since it was a very practical question, and he did have a bit of a weakness for practicality...

"But you can't go wrong with fresh fruit on hand, either. Some of the basics: milk, bread, eggs."

None of which did well when just left lingering and unused...practically speaking.

[deathsmajesty]

It's true; she'd been thinking impromptu based on why she was having breakfast made for him at all. But his point remained nevertheless.

"Those, I do have, at least usually," she added, ignoring for the moment how all of her eggs had gone to quick and simple meals while scrounging for herself. "I can do my best to ensure that we have those to hand. I want you feeling comfortable in my kitchen. Milk, eggs, some fresh fruits all of that seems to be a small price to pay to make you smile at the thought of cooking for me."

Dammit. She had not meant to say that last part aloud.

[chef_chocobro]

It it was far enough removed from what Ignis might have expected her to say that it three him, for a moment, and initial surprise that was followed very swiftly by a stirring in his chest, and a smile so soft that it seemed to spread over his next words like warm butter.

"A small price, perhaps," he said, "but wholly unnecessary. That'd be like paying just to breathe air."

There was a small beat.

"Although I could understand why the comparison might lose something in translation for a necromancer, but the point being, it's already my pleasure, Liliana."

[deathsmajesty]

She was definitely cursing herself for saying something so positively twee, ugh. "I promise you, breathing is just important to necromancers as not. I refused to take the final steps to learn more about undeath back on Innistrad, much to the frustration of some of the witches in vampires I was learning the necromantic arts from in the first place. No thank you, such things are not for me."

From one fraught topic to another. Perhaps third would be a lucky charm?

"Besides I quite like giving you pleasure, Ignis," she pointed out in a purr. "Perhaps you've noticed?"

[chef_chocobro]

"I have also noticed," Ignis offered, the drawl of his own voice like a soothing balm for any lingering burn left by sincerity, even if it, too, ironically, still contained quite a bit, "that you are exceptionally good at it, as well."

[deathsmajesty]

"All the more reason to join me sooner rather than later tonight," she said, stretching out along her divan with a soft noise of contentment. "More opportunities for us both to indulge."

Greedy and selfish and spoiled.