banebu | call me out.

( The sun has yet to fully sink beneath the horizon, casting long shadows across sandy shores and glistening gold against the rolling ocean. Slowly, promenade lights begin to twinkle and the sounds of pairs of footsteps making their way along the raised wooden path to Galdin Quay's famous restaurant thunders above her head. The scent of salt across the breeze a familiar tang in the back of her throat as she breathes deep. This place hums with life and warmth, from the mutterings of couples on the boardwalk above to the rumble of waves against the shoreline.

She's never done well with waiting, pacing back and forth along the sand with hands threaded behind her back, shoes dangling off fingers as she passes by dining tables and chances a glance at the car park, searching for a familiar car or a silhouette which remains burned into her memory, even after months of being too busy to be in the same place. Each movement enough to draw the attention of warm brown eyes, and most of them earning nothing but a soft tsk under her breath and the pull of lips to one side in dissatisfaction when it isn't him.

Until, eventually, it is, and her heart jumps in that way it always does, brows raised slightly in surprise. Sometimes luck can be on their side, this isn't a meeting destined to be delayed on one end or another by politics or assisting forces greater than themselves. )

Thought I was going to spend the night with the seafood.

( A smile crosses her lips when he's finally by her side, but then, it always does when he's there. )

[It's been a year since the daemons and the darkness were finally banished for good. Since Noctis forged the final covenant with the past kings of Lucis and drew on them for the power to destroy Ardyn forever. Since, miraculously, they had allowed him to live despite his willingness to offer up his life to save the world. Or perhaps because of it.

Months, since Noctis' wedding to his childhood love. Since the two of them were crowned.

Since the celebration that followed, where Gladio had fallen conspicuously silent for some time before nudging Ignis and commenting that a pink-haired woman on the other side of the square had barely taken her eyes off him for hours.

'Well, that's hardly sporting', Ignis had hummed as he sipped his drink, and it had taken his friend next to no time at all to realise that the new king's advisor had no intentions to follow up that piece of information in the slightest. If it hadn't been for Gladio (and Prompto, and later Iris) he would have never found himself forcefully moved over to where she was, awkwardly introduced, and then left to apologise for his friends and tentatively feel his way into the kind of conversation that even at the age of thirty-two he was entirely unaccustomed to.

He would later scold Gladio for being so heavy-handed with a blind man, and then thank him for doing it.

Ignis reaches Galdin Quay later than he had intended. One thing or another always crops up in Insomnia, and the journey isn't a short one, but he steps from the car and while the driver heads inside to enjoy a meal, makes his way down to where she's waiting without any need for aid. Since Ardyn's defeat, the lines between shadow and light have been getting sharper, and though Noctis will tell him nothing he is not without his suspicions.]

Apologies, I should have called ahead. [He smiles when she does, as if he knows. His damaged sight finds the shape of her against the lights behind her.] Have you been waiting long?

( Those were ten long years. So easy to lose track of time, to have every day meld into one continuous blur, not sure if you've slept for minutes or hours. After a while, it becomes all you can really remember and the sun seems like a distant fairytale, something told to comfort a child. There was a time when the daemons couldn't roam so freely. To have it back—

It took time to adjust. To understand their place in a world where daemons were no longer a threat. There were still monsters to face, items to find, but lists of hunts shrunk, too many people for too few jobs. Ten long years where all she could do was fight, and years before that where friends and family dragged her around in (frankly, ridiculous) quests to be heroes.

She could have gone back to Lestallum. Does, from time to time. The city needs all the help it can get in rebuilding itself out of the base of operations for the people left and back to something like it was before. Something better, if possible. But the greater world called out, offered space to breathe and a million other ways she could offer her help. Beyond hunting, beyond simply rebuilding her own place.

Her friends — her brother — they all wanted to be heroes. And they all turned into bones and dog tags under the idea that heroism means fighting. Sometimes the world is best helped by doing something else.

Or maybe she's just getting sentimental, like she does when Ignis smiles and earns arms wrapped around his shoulders (sorry about the shoes that may just have lightly hit his back in the process, though.) )

Still haven't beat the parade.

( And sorry she's not sorry about that comment, or the fact that it all started with herself and Faith, stood working down a list of cocktails and discussing their — ahem — Thoughts And Opinions on the new king and his retinue. )

[When the long night had finally passed it left many people behind without a place. So many had found their ways into the professions of hunting, protection, and without so much of a need for it they faltered in finding their way in the new world... which was so much like the old world, but forgotten. Ignis had been one of the lucky ones. His path was easily laid out, as it always had been, and it hadn't taken long for him to prove his worth to all who doubted that he should still have a place beside the king.

In all that, he had never thought that he might need something else, something other to give his life more meaning now that the lifelong task of escorting Noctis to his destiny had been fulfilled. Ignis had protested that he needed nothing, that he was content.

But then he had met this woman, and he had realised that contentment is not the same as happiness, and that some types of happiness are different from others.

The one that throws her arms around his neck and leans close to him is a special kind. The kind that brings a smile to his face unbidden when he thinks of her, the kind that intrudes into his thoughts at all hours but is never unwelcome. He runs his fingers lightly down the back of one of her arms, and chuckles.]

In my defence, I could hardly know that you were showing interest. How long do you intend to hold that against me?

[She doesn't, and he knows it.]

My perception of my surroundings only extends so far.

( She doesn't, but then, what are loved ones for if not for dragging up the past and making it into a running joke? The curve of her lips shifts into a smirk at the defence that's said time and again for no real reason than habit and pride, and her response is preceded by the familiar stretch of her body until their lips meet in a lingering, chaste kiss.

She's been so many places recently, had so little time with anything familiar that the routine jabs and the trail of fingers along bare skin feels like coming home again. )

How many people'd it take to get you over?

( Her voice is low, laced with amusement, even though Kate barely intended to end up here, either. Idle gossip and debating which of the King's friends you'd bang doesn't exactly lend itself to meeting on beaches at sunset, tangled up in each other as the faintest notes of boardwalk musicians busking for change just barely rings out over the rhythm of waves against sand. The hours of talking at the bar, too easily finding a rhythm in conversation and sparks of something more intriguing than simple good looks, however —

It was nothing more than the wrong pun said at the right time that led them here, through all too traditional first dates ("You've got to wear something nice, Katydid!") and figuring out how to balance duty and work with an ever burgeoning need to spend time together.

Somehow, it works.

And these moments — the handful of days before Kate inevitably decides she wants to do something else, go somewhere new and see what projects are there — are all the sweeter for them. )

What're we here for, anyway?

( The beach at sunset is romantic and all, but it's not like they're short of ways to feel their hearts skip beats even cramped in a hotel room in Insomnia. She's guessing Ignis has a plan. He usually does. )

[A soft, semi-defected sigh escapes him when the question comes moments after her lips part from his.]

Three. Under duress.

[What had made them think, in those moments of pushing him across to the then-stranger who had been watching him, that Ignis would want anything to do with their plan? No doubt they hadn't considered that he would actually gain a relationship out of it (Gladio, personally, had been shocked that Ignis had stayed to talk to the women at all), or that he would still be in that relationship, several months later.

They had taken to one another easily, immediately finding common ground not in background, but in wit and humour. She was not the kind of woman that he had ever considered he might be interested in, when he considered it at all, and yet here they were.]

We are at Galdin Quay, and you need to ask why? [His smile is small but amused, and he leans down to plant another light kiss on her lips. She loves the beach, and he needs little more reason, but that isn't all.]

I thought we might have a meal, perhaps spend the night here if you were willing. [Ignis' attention shifts away, to the sound of music drifting off the dock. He looks in the direction of it for a few moments more, then takes both of Kate's hands in his.]

Can you dance?

( Three. Under duress.

Yes. That's exactly the story everyone wants to tell when discussing how they met the person who made them think that something more than a casual fling was worth it. You're lucky Kate lets that go, Ignis. That she sees the humour in it just as much as she does needling him about how long it took him to get over to where she was sat.

Her shoes hit the sand as he pulls her arms from around his neck and finds her hands, and while it's true she loves the beach and has had entirely zero chances to sample any of the restaurant's cuisine here, she can still ask what the plan is.

Especially if said plan ends with them tangled under bedsheets together. She misses that more than she's missed salt air and sand between her toes. )

Haven't tried since I were a kid.

( Which is the truth. Not since her mother told her they couldn't afford both dance and track lessons. One thing had to go. )

Lead me?

( Is it like riding a bike? It's all muscle memory after all. )

Naturally.

[There are worse ways to meet someone. The truth of it was that if Ignis had been able to see he may have never been pushed over to her in the way he was, and they may have never got around to talking at all.

He feels her shoes hit the sand near his feet, and takes a moment to remove his own - easier, more comfortable - before freeing one hand to take off his socks along with them. In the uncanny way he has, he'll remember exactly where they are as he takes her away from them and a little closer to the music, bringing one of her hands up to his shoulder. He gives her instructions in a low voice, and somehow even knows when she's looking down at their feet.]

Keep your eyes on me.

[One step, then another lead to tracks across the sand, and a small smile on Ignis' face as they abandon the more rigid first instructions for something more experimental. He spins her once and draws her back to him, curling a hand around her waist.]

Not too difficult, is it?

( And that would have been a travesty. Who would bring that unintentional smile to your face if not her, Ignis?

It takes more than a few moments to remember where and how feet move, to balance that with sand shifting underfoot and moving backwards. Turns out a couple of years of dance classes do pay off, though, once all the pieces fall into place and Kate stops watching her feet and casts her eyes back up towards him instead. The longer it goes, and the louder the music gets as they move, the more each step and shift of bodies is unified, as one.

Being in his arms feels like coming home and moving like this is just a reminder of the fact that they work well together. From the outset, where conversation quickly became easy, to everything they've done since. As though Kate doesn't really need to think about how to fit into this; she just does.

Like the missing piece of the puzzle. )

Easier than fighting Coeurls.

( She'd shrug if her arms weren't occupied finding their place against him, steps quick and light as they get closer to the sea and the sand shifts from loose particles to something solid under their feet. )

[She has become the missing piece that he hadn't realised was absent. There's only so much of a life that can be satisfactorily taken up by duty and while Ignis has never had a complaint about his friends and never a doubt as to their importance to him, Kate has become part of him as something new.]

Many things are. [He replies, and his matter of fact tone belies his amusement at the comparison. Battle could be like a dance, but he thinks that at this moment he prefers this to fighting anything intent on ripping him apart.

Though unable to see it, he notes their position by the volume of the music and the consistency of the sand under their feet. Still, the soft sound of surprise that leaves him at the first lap of a wave against his ankle is genuine, and he stops mid-step to look towards the ocean as if it should not be where it is.]

I believe I lost a few steps, somewhere.

( She fits into his life and he fits into hers, as though there was never any question about the fact that they were meant to work together. It's so easy that it should almost be alarming, but it's a comfort more than anything, to know she has someone who works with her new life, rather than against it.

There's an exhale of breath that's almost a laugh at his response, and Kate has to wonder if there's really a time where this isn't vastly preferable to fighting monsters. Because if you asked her, this feels much more pleasant. But that soft noise dissolves into an actual laugh, soft as it is, when the tide begins to curl around their feet, cool and steady as it rises up across the beach. )

Think the tide's coming in.

( Though, one might wonder why the shift of the tide is reason enough for Kate to pull Ignis into a kiss. The truth? It has nothing to do with the tide and everything to do with the very last dredges of light illuminating the lines of his face - old scars and pale eyes, the curve of full lips - in a way that makes it hard to think of doing anything else. )

[No doubt of the match, and yet it would have been so easy to miss. Had circumstances been that little bit different, it would have passed them both by and Ignis - absorbed back into his duties - would have never realised what he'd lost out on.

There's no need now for those kinds of thoughts, though, with this woman who has given him more than she could ever realise held in his arms and against the beat of his heart. He doesn't resist her when she draws him down, but cups the side of her face as he kisses her, eyes dipping closed and a small smile curving his lips against hers.]

There's something I want to tell you. [He murmurs softly when they part, only by a few inches as he's unwilling to let her move further from him just yet. What he's about to tell her hasn't even been mentioned to Noctis yet. He doesn't want to give the king hope for something that might never come to pass, knowing how Noctis still blames himself for his friend's current state.]

I think... my eyesight is beginning to return. In the smallest increments-- I'm not sure as of yet if I might be imagining it.

( No need for those thoughts at all, not when they're so comfortable stood together like this, with the familiar brush of his fingers against her cheek, against the corner of her mouth. Certainly not when her mind is drifting to how nice it would be to have this for more than a couple of days at a time.

She does all sorts of things, and she loves what she does when she helps rebuild places, but it's a tiring life and she feels blessedly normal in these moments of freedom from it. And the world is slowly beginning to be pulled back together, to something that's been lost for all too long...

Kate doesn't know. He draws her in like a magnet draws in metals, but what would she even do if she settled down? She's been on the move since before the darkness swallowed their world whole. How do you settle into a life you left behind almost as soon as you were classified as an "adult"?

Not that those thoughts get much of a chance to stay at the forefront of her mind, because- )

What?

( She almost thinks she's misheard him, drifted off and made up sentences that fill in the words she wasn't paying attention to. )

... Is that even possible?

( It would be a miracle. )

The way in which I went blind in the first place wasn't what you'd call 'conventional'.

[He hasn't told her all of it, but enough for her to get the idea. He told her the facts, but spared her the knowledge of how agonising the process had been. How he'd felt the fire burning over his skin long after the battle against Ardyn. How sometimes, even now, he still feels a twinge of pain along the edge of a scar, or around his middle finger.]

Noctis lived, despite all odds. He forged an agreement with the kings of Lucis that no one ever had before. It... would not surprise me if he had included something about me, as well. [Because Noctis, despite how occasionally thoughtless and childish he could be, truly cared for his friends. Ignis knows that he would not have forgotten him, not if he had the opportunity to repair some of the damage that had been done for the sake of saving him.]

I've been seeing things. Nothing solid, but... light and shadow. I couldn't see even that much before.

( ... Fair point. She stays quiet while he talks, teeth catching her lip in idle movement, turning over the idea in her head. He'd be able to see once more, if his theory's correct, to have back the full independence that was denied him by a split second decision to protect someone he cared about.

Kate's always admired that. Always thought it was brave. And you don't have to be around Ignis for very long to know how fiercely his pride burns. How much he hates to be coddled, or even simply helped at times.

She doesn't say she's glad or she hopes so, because Ignis isn't even sure yet and because it doesn't matter to her. He's sunk into the foundations of herself, of her life, now, and all that really matters is how it affects him. So, instead of words, she relies on her favourite method of communication with him, and presses a kiss to his lips, one which burns bright with happiness, hope. With everything that means she wants this miracle for him, and she'll stay by his side regardless. )

[Ignis has adapted, over the years, to the point that sometimes it's difficult to believe he's really blind at all. He can go toe to toe with the best of the Glaive, or the Crownsguard, and beat them all without seeming to even try. It's almost become a rite of passage to attempt to beat him before being sworn into service and no one has managed it yet.

But there are some things he misses. Being able to drive, for one. Being able to see the faces of the people he cares about, when what they look like fades bit by bit from his memories with every passing day.

She kisses him again and he puts both arms around her to draw her up against him. Ignis knows she doesn't care if he can see or not. She never cared about it, not from the first moment they met. He rests his forehead against hers as they part, eyes closed and a soft breath taken in before he speaks again.]

I love you, Kate.

( Ignis catching her off guard seems to be a running theme. From the first joke he cracked to every well thought out surprise and meeting he's planned for them since. The words aren't exactly sudden - not after all these months, still going strong despite all the time apart and busy - but they feel plucked from her own tongue and mind, held back only by the comfort of silence.

Strange. She never thought it would feel so certain. Then again, she never really thought about ending up like this with anyone at all. )

Took the words out of my mouth.

( You don't need to see to know there's a smile on her face, not with the amusement dancing in her tone. )

[He doesn't need to see her to know she's smiling, and he can't keep the smile from his own face as he pulls her close to him, then picks her up and spins her around. A warm laugh leaves him and as he sets her down again, he kisses her soundly, then exhales a soft, happy sigh.

It's a different kind of vulnerability - a softer one - and one he's more than willing to let her see.]

I love you. Gods-- [Just for a moment, he feels like his strength of feeling might burst clean through his chest. When he kisses her again, it's gentle and warm.]

I'm so fortunate-- so lucky to have met you. I truly am.

( A noise leaves her, equal parts startled and joyful and entirely unrestrained, as her feet leave the wet sand and her hands cling to his shoulders for some sort of balance. She... wasn't expecting that, but he's everything she never expected in so many ways. If he wasn't, this night wouldn't be happening.

The fresh cool of the beginning of night, the sudden movement, the words, they're all enough to flush her cheeks pink, warmth blossoming to the tips of her ears and down her throat. Despite the ever busy seaside resort, this part of the beach is theirs and theirs alone right now and she doesn't mind the fact that she can't keep her physical reactions in check; that her cheeks flush and her mouth curls in that kind of giddy, girlish smile she so rarely lets out.

It only took three people to prod him over. )

Good job you came over, then.

( Kate this is not the time to bring that up. )

[This time, he laughs. It's going to be something that they talk about for the rest of their time together, however long that is (and though he won't say forever, he'd be happy if it was), and he might as well start being good-natured about it now.]

I've already given my friends all the thanks they need for their part in it.

[As in, just the once, and that was all they needed to hear. That he thanked them at all would have spoken volumes about his appreciation for their involvement.]

Now-- [He pauses to press a soft, warm kiss to her forehead.] --shall we get something to eat?

( It is, but let's let the topic drop for now and move on from bad jokes. Instead, Kate hums an affirmation, slowly pulling herself away from his arms. )

Sure.

( She never has tried the restaurant here, despite all the rave reviews it gets. So, their ways are made over, steps slow and hands clasped together as they stroll the beach back to where shoes were left.

The restaurant itself is as busy as ever, but the din of talking and music is pleasant in the warm light and the staff are still prompt in taking orders and moving to the kitchen. Kate's eyes follow plates as they're brought out, eyeing starters casually. Maybe another time.

She sets down her glass before speaking, finally bringing up something she's mulled over in the background of this night and many before it- )

Think it might be time to stop running 'round Eos.

( Just like that.

Maybe it is. Maybe there are things she wants more than to simply continue being productive. )

[There are precious few places in Eos that Ignis rates so highly as this one. Of course, that's why he wanted to bring her here. That, and the exceedingly comfortable hotel rooms, naturally - he wasn't going to ask the man who drove him here to stay here all night.

Of course, she can have whatever she wants, and Ignis is keen to recommend a few personal favourites. As with most things, he handles the meal as if he can see everything perfectly, the only giveaway to his blindness being the way he has to carefully locate his knife and fork, and politely ask the waiter to tell him where everything is on the plate when he brings it out.]

Do you think so? [He can't deny how he felt his heart skip a beat when she said it.] What makes you say that?

( Well. There's a lot of reasons to say it's time, if she thinks about it. So, out of habit more than anything else, Kate shrugs as she chews, leans back in her chair when she swallows, and inhales before speaking. )

Gettin' sick of living out of a backpack.

( It's the first reason. The constant roulette of where she's going to sleep tonight, whether it'll be at all comfortable, weeks of lumpy beds that leave her aching when she wakes up to work. )

Think most places are getting back on their feet. ( Which means she'll have to begin thinking of what to do next anyway. Her lips purse together, gaze never leaving his face as she goes through the reasons in her head. The truth is, more than anything, she hasn't had much in the way of reasons to settle down until there were celebratory introductions and the presence of a man who was never supposed to become this prominent a part of her life. )

S'pose it's just time, y'know?

( To think of what she wants out of her time, rather than simply how it cam be most useful. )

[He nods slightly, acknowledging each of her reasons. Ignis agrees, but in the end, settling down has got to be Kate's decision and Kate's decision alone. He won't have her resent him for drawing her out of that life before she was ready to give it up. From the beginning, he's never voiced a complaint about how her travelling can take her so far away for so long, out of contact with few ways to find out should anything happen to her.

It would be hypocritical to complain, given his own habits.]

Are you certain?

[It would be a bit change, and not a thing to be taken on lightly. And besides... having her in one place would make it all that more difficult if she decided that it wasn't really what she wanted.

Ignis could be selfish, sometimes, and he finds that he's often selfish when it comes to her.]

I wouldn't want you to make a decision like this for my sake.

I'm not.

( Said simply, with no room for argument. She's followed others for their sakes and lived a life she never really wanted to in the first place. She's used to it, and she's found her own kind of joy in what she does then and now but- )

I'm tired of travelling. ( Of not really having a place to call home, just a backpack and occasional breaks. The beauty of the world can quickly be lost after the seventh breakdown in the middle of nowhere and being stuck sleeping in a car.

She goes quiet after that, sipping her drink and shifting her weight in the chair. Despite the thoughts lingering in the back of her mind for months, she's never actually said it out loud, never thought of it in more than vague terms of living in one place again, trying to salvage some sort of normal life. It feels right, but all the same, it's still so far off being done. )

Haven't planned much.

quietly aus this

yesss

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNefNLOHVYk

weh

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what kind of rudeness is this g o s h

fluffff

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