Liliana Vess Defiant Necromancer

Liliana came up from her workroom in the basement, yawning and stretching. She wasn't sure how long she'd been down there, working on her enchantments, but the light coming in through the windows suggested it was still the black of true night outside, not yet the deep, dark blue that heralded the approach of dawn. But also the stiffness in her limbs and the creak in her back also suggested she'd been down there far longer than she'd intended. Even eternal youth couldn't stop one's muscles from cramping after - she finally came to a clock and noted the time - almost eight hours of being bent over spellbooks and magical accoutrements.

But! She'd gone down after eating dinner, which meant nobody was allowed to fuss at her for skipping meals. Even if her stomach did grumble at the memory of dinner. Which had been eaten--right. More than eight hours ago now, whoops. But still! She'd eaten dinner, she was in the clear, she was pretty sure.

She gave thought to eating now, but she was tired. Better to just take a quick shower, hot enough to relax her muscles and raise her body temperature, and then climb into bed. But twenty minutes and one steaming hot shower later, bed just didn't seem as appealing as it really should, even with its collection of large pillows and thick, fluffy blankets, and sheets that weren't quite as soft as clouds and baby cheeks, but weren't that far off, either. She looked at her vast bed in vague discontent and wondered why she wasn't just collapsing onto it.

Ah. Of course.

The picnic.

Tomorrow was the picnic, her first as a teacher. Obviously, she wished to show up, chat with her fellow teachers, meet new students, experience one of these vaunted Fandom picnics for herself. But if she fell asleep now, odds were very good that she'd just end up sleeping through the whole thing - or most of it, anyway. And who wanted to show up at the bitter end of party, along with all the weird people who hadn't realized it was time to go home yet?

There was really only one thing to do for it now.

***
The door to MHA #18 eased open, Liliana tucking her key back into her pocket, and was softly closed and locked a moment later. She toed her shoes off and made her way to Ignis' room, moving quietly yes, but not trying to sneak. When wandering through the apartment of battle-trained soldiers, the sound of deliberate stealth would likely wake them up much faster than the sounds of ordinary movement would, especially with a cat and a baby in the house.

Once in Ignis' room, she stripped off her outer layers and slid into bed with him, making approving noises at the pre-warmed sheets. Ignis, by this point accustomed to Liliana sliding into bed with him at random hours, barely stirred, other than to reach out and wrap an arm around her, murmuring something she didn't catch at the coolness of her skin. With a happy little smile, Liliana cuddled in closer and closed her eyes, his body heat relaxing her just as much as her earlier shower had.

This had been a most excellent idea. Ignis would never let her sleep through the picnic. Sure, she might wake up a little short on sleep, but he'd also make her good coffee and an amazing breakfast and that would keep her going until it was time to leave for the school.

10/10, no notes for Liliana Vess, brilliant tactician.

[Apartment and occupant modded with permission.]

Ignis had mentioned he was going back to his apartment today to catch up on chores and tasks there. And, of course Liliana hadn't protested. The man had his own home, it only made sense that he would want to live in it. So she had simply replied, "Of course, my darling, I hope you have a most industrious day," and had left it at that. If Ignis had been hoping to hear anything else, he gave no sign, simply kissed her softly on the forehead and went to fix himself more coffee.

They were agreed, then.

Instead of returning home immediately after her shift was over, Liliana had hired a rickshaw to bring her to Turtle and Canary's for some earplugs (made from a reusable material other than waxed cotton, ingenious!) and a small bottle of headache pills to leave at her shop for the next time some nonsense gave her a headache there. It seemed to happen more often than not. A chat with Prompto had managed to upsell her to noise-cancelling headphones for herself, but she purchased the earplugs anyway. What? Was she supposed to walk all the way to the other aisle to put them back? Nonsense. Easier to just buy them and find something else to do with them.

Ignis, for example, would likely never be convinced to wear something like the headphones and deprive himself of yet another sense. But he might find the lessening of sound useful, especially since his apartment had so many more electronic things than her mansion did. Which meant her bottle of headache pills might be useful for him, too.

And thus, it was only logical that instead of taking a rickshaw back to her mansion in the woods, that she would ride to MHA. She had no intention of staying long, mind. Simply dropping by to offer her extraneous earplugs, offer him some headache pills, and then be on her way. She had a lovely evening planned out for herself already. A long solitary bath complete with a book and wine and candied fruits, followed by dinner ordered in from somewhere. Or perhaps she'd pop over to Ravnica for dinner and a show! The Multiverse was her oyster, after all.

She let herself into the apartment with a smile apropos of completely nothing, but if she thought the music coming from every electronic device would allow her to catch Ignis unawares, she was sorely disappointed. He was sliding the appliance known as a vacuum back into a closet as she padded into the living room, but tilted his head over his shoulder to offer her a smile and a soft, "Hello, Liliana." Delivered too warmly to be illegal, it was still dangerous in its own way.

"Hello, my darling," she said, coming forward to kiss him. "I don't mean to stay, I just had these earplugs and aspirin and I thought that--"

"I had just been contemplating getting started on some dinner, actually," he interrupted, gently pushing her hand with the T&C bag back down. "Would you care to join me?" As if they hadn't eaten dinner (and breakfast and lunch, too) together every night for the last two weeks.

All plans of baths and books and Ravnica fled Liliana's thoughts completely. "That would be lovely," she said, giving him a melting smile he could feel, if not see. "I should like nothing more," she added before kissing him again.

His smile turned into a grin and without warning he scooped her up into his arms. He was not, strictly speaking, the scooping type, nor did he imagine Liliana was the type to want to be scooped, but sometimes, sacrifices had to be made for just the right dramatic flair. He was fairly certain any protests she might have would be quieted quickly enough, as he began walking down the hall - towards his bedroom, not the kitchen.

Liliana made a small, startled noise as he caught her up and looked at him a bit wide-eyed. "Dinner?" she asked.

"It would be far more efficient, don't you think, as well as less wasteful, to retreat to the bedroom now, before I start cooking, rather than falling to your wiles in the midsts of it all and another perfectly good dinner is left cold and ruined."

At this, Liliana just laughed. "We'll discover how that works out for you," she said with a wicked smile.

"I can hardly wait," he agreed, and kicked the door closed behind them.

[Establishy! Written with that overworked rockstar chef_chocobro, who is kind enough to respond with "Yes, and--" when I rock up with a slew of words in email.]

Liliana had to think long and hard about whether or not she wanted Hannibal to stop by and provide his physician services the way he'd offered. The last person who had offered to help had actually been trying to help her over the threshold into death, which ratcheted her normal disinclination to be around near-strangers when she was hurting and vulnerable to nearly record heights. But while she was weak, she wasn't so close to death that even her magic felt drained and having a physician at least come and take a look at her wasn't the worst idea.

Ignis was amenable to having the doctor stop by so long as she felt comfortable, deciding to head into the kitchen to get a start on dinner to give them the privacy in the living room--but remaining close enough that at the slightest sound of distress that he could come running. Liliana had her suspicions that he was also still shaken by Stark's true intentions and that it had been an act of will to not just hover in a corner just in case.

If you're free within the next few hours, a check up would be appreciated. I'm staying in #MHA 18, she texted back and then settled in with a book to wait.

She did, however, return the blanket she'd been cuddling in back to Ignis' room. She might not be at her best, but she would be damned if she met the doctor looking like an invalid. Even if she was currently dressed in a pair of man's pajamas, slightly too large for her. They were at least silk pajamas, and even in her signature color.

[For the good doctor, Iggy modded with permission, though if either chocobro wants to be around it is their apartment and so are welcome!]