Now you know it's so much better to pretend

[thatsit]

Since the revelations of the meeting the mood in the Palace had shifted. In part, that was because the population had shifted. A number of attendees had left for their own homes once more, and the air had felt a little less tense ever since.

Bellatrix had been the first to depart, slinking off with her tail between her proverbial legs before anyone had chance to notice her retreat. Ariane Emory had stayed the night and left for Gralea the following day. Ignis had no doubt the woman would be back, but since her chances of laying her hands on the stone were currently zero she'd likely considered it a waste of her time to linger. He wasn't sorry to see the back of her black clad followers, whose impassivity was unsettling and existence an affront, although neither of those things were the fault of the individuals themselves.

Sir Integra and Alucard had stayed an extra night, which Ignis suspected had more to do with the presence of Noah clan in the Palace than Integra's own wishes. Alucard was a barely leashed attack dog at the best of times, but the Palace was, if not a no-combat zone then at least a neutral one where residents were expected to behave themselves. Ignis had sought her out prior to her departure, and they'd spent an hour discussing the meeting, the attendees, and Ignis and Gladio's plans to stay on a while longer.

She'd promised to pass his well wishes to his aunt before she'd left.

The Noah remained, though they seemed more intrigued with the Arrancar than they did with Ignis and Gladio. It wasn't unfounded; the meeting had held a number of revelations, not least the fact that Captain Aizen's underlings were daemon-infused experiments. It explained a lot about some of them, such as why, despite their reputations and behaviours, they were kept around.

It only raised questions about others. Nel, for example, seemed perfectly level headed and competent, and even had a background as a ranked watchwoman, and yet as one of Captain Aizen's Arrancar, she was infused with daemonic power. Why she had consented to that was a small mystery, and one that was probably rude to enquire about unless one knew her personally.

She was preparing for another visit to D District, maintaining the air that she was Captain Aizen's lover. Ignis had informally taken over some of her kitchen duties, duties that were not, Nel had said, given to her but which she had assumed because it was that or allow a disorganised free for all that would see inhabitants surviving on cup noodles and ready meals, and no one ever washing the dishes.

Aside from anything else, it gave Ignis a good position from which to ingratiate himself with the Palace's other inhabitants. Some were self sufficient, stubbornly so in some cases. Others were accustomed to Nel's presence, and became similarly accustomed to Ignis's.

He had two flavoured batches of Lucian Delight, cooled and ready for slicing into cubes to one side. He'd found an apron too, which made him feel much more at home in the Palace's kitchen. With his sleeves rolled up and his jacket hanging over the back of a chair, he practically looked like he belonged there as he sifted cornflour and icing sugar together.

Comments

[thatsit]

Ignis's smile retreated slightly. Lumi seemed to be considering what he was saying a little too much.

Perhaps Marluxia was his type? Which would put him in the same tricky position Ignis had found himself to be in. Wouldn't that be an interesting connection to have?

"Preferences don't tend to factor, where we're from," he explained. "Once one reaches adulthood it becomes a matter of duty and family lines, at least for the upper classes, so the conversation often seems moot. I couldn't honestly state with certainty what Gladio prefers either."

He could for himself, he just didn't want to, but it did mean that Lumi not really knowing which proverbial team Marluxia batted for wasn't all that unreasonable. It just meant they'd never had cause to discuss it. Just as Ignis hadn't.

[thesilentstorm]

"Ah," he said, understanding. There were classes he knew of which were similar, back where he was from. Similar reasons, too. Well known family names, supposedly well-bred families. They married for land and power, the same as they supposedly did in the olden days.

It was a rarity, though. Other cultures were rather more common. One major group tended towards marriage and monogamy. His culture tended very much away from that. Spira seemed rather more like the planet-based system, which made a lot of sense. It didn't have the space limitations or a need to vary the gene pool with casual and near-anonymous encounters like the other two.

"Where I'm from relationships with a sexual element are a rarity, as are marriages," he said. "It is... not the done thing to pair yourself with a comrade. The close quarters expected of the lifestyle sets itself firmly against anything that could cause conflict or the possibility of inbreeding. Physical relationships are considered much less important than family, blood or otherwise, and is relegated to a system of casual encounters. I believe the term is 'no-strings attached'."

Were they in Lumi's home, the very concept of him and Marluxia being anything other than allies simply wouldn't come up.

[thatsit]

"That sounds," Ignis paused, the word 'horrible' on the tip of his tongue, but he stopped himself. What Lumi described was not far flung from Ignis's own, very understandable reservations regarding close relationships with other members of the Crownsguard, for example. "Very practical," he concluded. "Though potentially lonely," Ignis added, giving Lumi a slightly rueful smile. "As much as one has opportunity for loneliness in such close quarters."

It sounded very much as if Lumi hailed from a nomadic culture where one traveled with family members or close associates, especially for 'inbreeding' to be considered among the list of concerns. Which would certainly make the fact he and Marluxia were close and yet not physical much more understandable.

"I suppose it isn't much different in Lucis," he added, "with the exception that the no-strings attached relations are preferred to be in the form of adolescent boys sowing their proverbial wild oats on the infertile ground of other adolescent boys so as to avoid upsetting many generations of careful political manoeuvering by getting the wrong girl pregnant." He shrugged one shoulder, as if to shrug the notion off. "Even then, the relationships are clandestine and never acknowledged."

[thesilentstorm]

That made sense, in a strange way. He supposed it allowed the boys to get experimentation and mutual stress relief out of their systems without, as Ignis mentioned, any unwanted illegitimate children. It didn't surprise him that it was kept quiet, though.

His own culture were fairly open about sexuality, with those who stick strictly to one sex being more of a rarity than those willing to take pleasure from both, but the others he was used to were rather less casual. The Palace seemed fairly unbothered, but he sometimes wondered if that was typical of Spira on the whole, or just expected because Khamja was, by and large, made up of strange people who existed on the edge of society at the best of times. They were hardly a normal cross-section.

"I take it your family won't be pleased," Lumi said.

[thatsit]

Ignis's lips tightened. His family, should he tell them of his own preferences and why he wasn't about to produce little Scientia heirs any time soon, wouldn't accept his reasoning. Duty before all else, after all. It was only the fact that Ignis's duty to the crown, and by extension to Lucis superseded any family commitments that he remained currently unburdened by such things. It was a not a state of affairs likely to last.

"Is it terribly obvious?" he asked, looking directly at Lumi once more. He wasn't accustomed to being so easily identified as having a preference for men, let alone the type of man. He didn't think Gladio knew. He hoped Gladio didn't know, and that Lumi was simply unnervingly observant.

[thesilentstorm]

"Not especially," he said, after a moment's thought.

He wasn't entirely certain, but he got the feeling that he might be. He seemed very close to Gladio, though after this conversation, he had rather started to feel like he'd made the same mistake others made about him and Marluxia.

"You're hardly Szayel."

[thatsit]

"That's small comfort," Ignis replied. Ignis hadn't had many dealings with Szayel; more than half the Arrancar had been absent from the building on their arrival, Szayel included. On his return, Szayel had been quick to make an impression.

The man was obviously homosexual, and made a point of it. He made Marluxia look positively subtle.

Of course if Lumi was correct then Marluxia was not gay and could merely pass for a gay man in good lighting. Szayel, conversely, lived up to every stereotype and a few more Ignis hadn't been aware of prior to meeting Szayel. The man was so aggressively not straight that he created whole new stereotypes just by existing.

"As far as I'm aware," he explained, "no one knows, Gladio included." He added, after a moment's thought, "A least in Lucis. Things are different here. People seem to look more closely."

And jump to conclusions based on the perceived closeness between two men, he thought, as Ignis had done with Lumi and Marluxia, and as Lumi may have done with himself and Gladio.

[thesilentstorm]

"It's less that people look more closely and more that there isn't an expectation towards normality. What is considered normal here is different, I think."

He wondered if it was just that Ignis had not met many people like himself. Lumi usually found it easy to pick out those similar to himself, though of course it wasn't foolproof. Even so, a dog always seemed to recognise a dog, even if one was a large shaggy mutt and the other was a small, sleek thing. It was possible to fool the people around you by never barking just as it was possible for a cat to wag its tail when happy or a dog to do the same when annoyed, both to give the wrong impression, but more often than not you could see somebody for what they were.

He rather thought that Gladio probably knew. The way he looked at Ignis suggested he probably knew.

[thatsit]

Ignis considered that. The baseline for what was considered normal was different here.

Here as in on Ivalice, for one. Ignis had been aware of some of the cultural differences, and swiftly become aware of others, such as the treatment of tags, or mist mutants as they were known here. The proliferation of mist mutations both minor and major wasn't treated as the social leprosy it was on Jylland. Similarly, Selkies were commonplace, more so in some places than others, but the mixing of cultures and races wasn't quite so shocking here.

And then there was Khamja itself, and the Palace in particular. Ignis hadn't gone out of his way to pay attention to the personal lives of others, at least no further than might be necessary to find a way in, but it was considered no stranger here for a man to be in a relationship with another man than it was for him to be in one with a woman.

If anything, the overabundance of men seemed to lend itself to more all-male relationships within the Palace confines.

"You have a point," he conceded. "Though I doubt Khamja represents all of Ivalice," despite all of Ivalice being represented, near enough, "it's certainly different to what I'm familiar with." He flashed Lumi a slight smirk, "Though Szayel and Marluxia still have sufficient room to tone it down."

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi thought back to the shower of petals that had accompanied his scythe-summoning ability. Toning it down would be a good start, but it was unlikely.

"You aren't wrong," Lumi said quietly, amused. "Where is it you intend to visit when you go out looking for culture?"

[thatsit]

Ignis tapped his glasses up his nose as he thought on Lumi's question. "Well, Rabanastre's close," he answered. "I'd also like to visit New Archades, Alexandria, Bhujerba," he listed, before adding, "A pity about Midgar." It would have been on his list, had the option been there. "Capital cities tend to be more visitor friendly."

He looked at Lumi with a faint smile. "Is there anywhere you'd recommend?"

[thesilentstorm]

"New Archades is rather nice, but some of the areas are essentially blocked off from visitors due to the need for a pass of some description," he said, thinking back to the one occasion he and Marluxia had decided to visit. "Bhujerba is on Dorstonis, so it's not the Lowerworld. On the plus side, it would be easy for you to visit on your return to Lucis. The house Marluxia and I bought is on the outskirts of Alexandria and as far as capitals go, the separation of districts by their use makes it easy enough to navigate. Midgar... was rather famous for being revolting before the Fall, so I doubt you're missing much. It was known for the Plate, but there were slums below with measures to stop those from there getting above their station. I hear people lived and died without ever seeing the sun."

It sounded dismal to him when he had read the newspaper reports about it. The Plate had collapsed, crushing those beneath it in the slums. There had been no survivors, no chance of escape, according to the report. Even in the wake of the disaster, Midgar's government had come under fire for their treatment of the city's disadvantaged.

"These days much of Bancour's capital culture survives in Palumpolum, which is supposed to be rather less unpleasant than Midgar itself," he told him. "Though Ingram is said to represent the core of the country more accurately."

He remembered the minor outcry that Ingram wouldn't be made the country's capital in lieu of Midgar, too.

[thatsit]

"Perhaps Ingram, in lieu of Midgar then," Ignis replied, with a smile. "I've never been outside of Jylland before," he explained, "so I'm interested in taking in the sacred and the profane, rather than simply strolling the pretty sights." If he was honest, beyond the borders of Insomnia he wasn't well travelled. He'd visited family in parts of the Union, but even that wasn't a regular occurrence, and he'd had a few forays out to others parts of Lucis over his life, but mostly, he'd been safely tucked away behind Insomnia's walls. Most of his knowledge of other places came from books, or reports.

"I'd like to see how those cities are built, and function, flaws and all. Sadly, I doubt we'll have the time to visit everywhere I wish," he added. With a job to do while he was here, Ignis might not be able to excuse too much jaunting about taking in the sights in the first place. "Where would you suggest I prioritise?"

[thesilentstorm]

"If architecture and food culture are what you're looking for, I'd suggest Rabanastre and Alexandria over Ingram. They have outdoor food markets and a reputation for tourism," they'd looked around some of the tourist spots when they'd arrived. It was a good excuse for them to look relatively clueless about the world and not be called out for it. "I hear that Ingram is more residential. I've not been there."

[thatsit]

Ignis gave a nod at the suggestions. "Rabanastre should be easy enough to fit in," he replied. He might have to ask Gladio about going to Alexandria. It was supposed to be a beautiful city, and their female-led military structure might be enough to pique Gladio's interest. "I'm sure we can make time for Alexandria too."

And, with a little luck, a stop in Bhujerba on the way home to see a city built mostly on air travel whose cuisine had traveled across most of the planet as a result, and been heavily adapted along the way.

"Perhaps we can stop in on Marluxia's floristry shop?" he added, flashing Lumi a grin.

[thesilentstorm]

"You should," Lumi said, the ghost of a smile on his lips. "It will be interesting to see how he takes to ... customer service."

As far as he knew, Marluxia had never done anything like that. He certainly hadn't. His work tended to deal with clients and targets more than customers, so he was pretty sure he'd need to develop a different skillset if Marluxia intended to have him work there occasionally.

He was fairly sure Marluxia could, at least, wing it. People were divided as to whether they saw Marluxia as charming, or slimy. Neliel sat firmly on Team Slimy, but others seemed to like him well enough. Perhaps his brand of charm would work better with a backdrop of flowers than in a den of murderers and criminals.