[Progressively, everything comes together into a pleasantly spicy-smelling dish of colourful vegetables in a rich-looking sauce. Ignis only relaxes more as time goes on and he easily sinks into his element, and his smiles and even laughter come far more quickly in response to even the dryest of Kate's quips.]
Here, taste this. [He brings up a fork with a couple of pieces of vegetable speared on the tines offering it up for her to try.]
Tell me if you think it needs more salt. [Even the blandest of dishes can be salvaged with a little salt, though what he makes is anything but bland.
Still, he watches her curiously, awaiting her verdict.]
( After the vegetables are cooked, Kate has nothing more to do, so she rummages the cupboards for glasses and tableware, asking about drinks and stewing a bag of lavender scented tea for herself. Things are easier with company, the drink isn't exactly necessary, but the scent is familiar and relaxing (and, more importantly, about the only thing she has that can be served hot right now). )
Mmm- ( Hold up, chewing. ) Tastes good. ( But you're talking to a woman with perpetually underseasoned and bland tasting food when she cooks her own stuff, so take it with a pinch of salt (ha. ha).
She steps back, brushing a finger against the corner of her mouth to remove residue that isn't even there. )
[Her opinion might not count for much given her usual food but he looks pleased with it regardless, and looks back to the cooking as she asks her question.]
When I was ten years old, and Noctis only eight, he told me of a dessert he had tasted in Tenebrae while visiting Lunafreya - a young girl who would become his betrothed. [He pauses to taste the food himself, then does take the liberty of adding a little more salt to the mixture.]
I decided that I would try to recreate it for him. It was a feat I never managed to accomplish, but he enjoyed everything else that I made to such a degree that I continued to develop the skills through my teenage years.
( That's... incredibly sweet, really. Kate blinks, once, as she processes the whole story. How one little moment can spiral into something like this. One day, one conversation, one friendship deciding something that sticks with you forever.
A stone thrown into water, the ripples casting out into infinity. )
... Wait. ( A stone thrown into water, and one part of this story pulling up memories of a world they never actually had, where she taught and he cooked, and Kate realises she doesn't remember asking at all - )
Twenty-two. [He glances at her on the answer, his eyebrows briefly lifting up. It isn't the first time he's been asked that - his level of maturity has been out of pace with his physical age since he was very young - but it had never occurred to him that Kate didn't know.
Though, it does come to mind that he isn't sure of her age, either.]
( She knew he was younger, certainly. Even before seeing him with his hair down in the wake of the nightmare they were stuck in together, she knew he was still quite a bit younger than her. It only made sense with how things worked out back in that sleepy small town. )
Just checkin'.
( There aren't many twenty-two year olds who manage to be that put together. Fewer people still who've been doing it for quite so long, who've been taking care of another since before they're even old enough to drive. Even with all her parents', her aunt and uncle's, reminders that she needed to look out for her brother, take care of him, taking care of was restricted to helping him be less of a bookworm-y nerd for her childhood.
It sounds as though Ignis never had that freedom, those few years where responsibility was nothing more than a vague concept for boring adults.
That's a little sad. )
Used to twenty-two year olds bein' dumb and impulsive.
( It's said with a shrug, like of course that would be the case. He's just a little different from most.
[Impulsive, certainly. He thinks of his friends. Noctis, Prompto... even Gladio were still all so impulsive in their own ways. Ignis hadn't been for a long time - he hadn't been able to afford to be.
He can almost tell what she's thinking, though. He never had the chance at a childhood.]
... I haven't regretted my life, Kate. Don't worry about that.
( But yes, it was right on the money. She's thought too much about where her life could have gone, where Marc's life could have gone, if she'd made different decisions. Better ones. A series of thoughts only amplified by that event a few months ago.
Suffice to say that a life without regrets is a luxury she can't comprehend.
But for now, with food cooking and the comforting smell of her tea, it's easy to avoid falling into those thoughts. Better to think of the present when there's so much still to be done. )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
action.
Here, taste this. [He brings up a fork with a couple of pieces of vegetable speared on the tines offering it up for her to try.]
Tell me if you think it needs more salt. [Even the blandest of dishes can be salvaged with a little salt, though what he makes is anything but bland.
Still, he watches her curiously, awaiting her verdict.]
action.
Mmm- ( Hold up, chewing. ) Tastes good. ( But you're talking to a woman with perpetually underseasoned and bland tasting food when she cooks her own stuff, so take it with a pinch of salt (ha. ha).
She steps back, brushing a finger against the corner of her mouth to remove residue that isn't even there. )
So, how'd you get into this?
( A quick gesture at the cooking food.
Call her curious. )
action.
When I was ten years old, and Noctis only eight, he told me of a dessert he had tasted in Tenebrae while visiting Lunafreya - a young girl who would become his betrothed. [He pauses to taste the food himself, then does take the liberty of adding a little more salt to the mixture.]
I decided that I would try to recreate it for him. It was a feat I never managed to accomplish, but he enjoyed everything else that I made to such a degree that I continued to develop the skills through my teenage years.
action.
A stone thrown into water, the ripples casting out into infinity. )
... Wait. ( A stone thrown into water, and one part of this story pulling up memories of a world they never actually had, where she taught and he cooked, and Kate realises she doesn't remember asking at all - )
How old're you, again?
action.
Though, it does come to mind that he isn't sure of her age, either.]
Why do you ask?
action.
Just checkin'.
( There aren't many twenty-two year olds who manage to be that put together. Fewer people still who've been doing it for quite so long, who've been taking care of another since before they're even old enough to drive. Even with all her parents', her aunt and uncle's, reminders that she needed to look out for her brother, take care of him, taking care of was restricted to helping him be less of a bookworm-y nerd for her childhood.
It sounds as though Ignis never had that freedom, those few years where responsibility was nothing more than a vague concept for boring adults.
That's a little sad. )
Used to twenty-two year olds bein' dumb and impulsive.
( It's said with a shrug, like of course that would be the case. He's just a little different from most.
That's not a bad thing. )
action.
[Impulsive, certainly. He thinks of his friends. Noctis, Prompto... even Gladio were still all so impulsive in their own ways. Ignis hadn't been for a long time - he hadn't been able to afford to be.
He can almost tell what she's thinking, though. He never had the chance at a childhood.]
... I haven't regretted my life, Kate. Don't worry about that.
action.
( But yes, it was right on the money. She's thought too much about where her life could have gone, where Marc's life could have gone, if she'd made different decisions. Better ones. A series of thoughts only amplified by that event a few months ago.
Suffice to say that a life without regrets is a luxury she can't comprehend.
But for now, with food cooking and the comforting smell of her tea, it's easy to avoid falling into those thoughts. Better to think of the present when there's so much still to be done. )
Long as you're happy.