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

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia flashed a smile, trailing his fingers lightly over Lumi's back as he moved past him. The kettle clicked off. Ignis had become so distracted with the tale of Lumi biting Szayel that he'd failed to resume his coffee making, but he wasn't the only one that wanted a drink. Marluxia moved to the cupboard to start making his own coffee, though his standards were less exacting than Ignis's in that regard.

"Lumi isn't a picky eater," he commented to Ignis, thinking of Lumi's contentment to eat almost any body part or cut of meat due to his home environment, "but there are limits."

[thesilentstorm]

"Szayel certainly represents those limits," Lumi said, wrinkling his nose.

Picky, he was not. He'd quite happily lived on mostly nutritious bars, powders and whatnot for most of his life, with real food being restricted to restaurants. Even those restaurants, depending on how high-end they were, and how lucky they were with trade routes and sourcing, tended to use laboratory-made meat and hydroponically grown vegetables. Getting to eat real meat, from real animals was certainly a treat, let alone plants grown in actual sunlight and dirt. He was hardly going to be picky about what part of an animal the meat came from.

"Thank you, Marluxia," he said, indicating the kettle. How kind of him to offer.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Lumi. To anyone else it would have been a challenge, and a refusal. To Lumi it was an acknowledgement of his cheek.

He'd been going to offer him one anyway, but the way Lumi got in there first almost made Marluxia want to be contrary.

He looked away from Lumi, but retrieved two cups and the coffee. "Shall I finish yours, Ignis?"

[thatsit]

Ignis saw the way Marluxia's hand trailed across Lumi's back as he moved, and the casual way they acted. It felt as if there was a lot of communication happening with a simple meeting of their eyes. And yet Lumi insisted they were nothing more than companions. Friends, perhaps, even though Marluxia certainly acted like a lover.

"No," he answered, a little quickly. "Thank you. I'm rather particular about my coffee, I'm afraid," he explained. Very few people had earned the honour of being able to make it for him, and it seemed rude to stand over the shoulder of someone like Marluxia and issue precise instructions so that he could learn the correct way.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi gave a smile. It was a rare thing, barely settling on his mouth but it reached his eyes, and there was something of the contented cat about it. Uncommon, hard-won and unusual on the face of something with well-hidden claws.

He turned his attention to Ignis again, almost amused with his very particular attitude to coffee.

"There's a small coffee shop in Alexandria," he said, thinking back to one that he and Marluxia had stopped in at Lumi's behest, to give him a break from shopping for houses and being subjected to flower talk. "It was very good. They were very proud of the fact that they only source their beans from the Bancouri Wildlands and Ishval. You can buy bags of both kinds in the shop itself. A bit of a well-kept secret, to hear them talk."

[thatsit]

Ignis tilted his head and listened with interest. He had yet to find a coffee brand in this part of the world that was a patch on his preferred Ebony. In fact, a lot of people in the Palace in particular seemed content with instant coffee, which was, to Ignis's view, as much like good coffee as package mix cakes were to ones made by someone who knew how to bake.

He had no quarrel with easy food and drink. A lot of the cheapest, most delicious recipes were fast and convenient, and Ignis was quite fond of street food when he had the chance to try something new. But that speed shouldn't come at the cost of quality, and where coffee was concerned it most certainly did.

"I shall have to pay them a visit," he replied. A coffee shop that prided themselves on having the finest ingredients sounded right up Ignis's proverbial street. "It sounds like Alexandria may have to sit at the top of the list."

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia spooned out coffee into two mugs and poured water in on top while he listened to Lumi and Ignis. He already knew Ignis was a coffee snob; Nel had bought actual coffee beans on his account. Marluxia was of the opinion that all coffee tasted of the same bitter, earthy flavour regardless of how expensive the beans were or where they had grown.

"List?" he asked, adding milk and sugar so that the coffee was bearably bitter and earthy, instead of punishment dished out by mother nature onto his palate.

[thesilentstorm]

"Of Ivalician places to visit," Lumi said.

He wasn't fussy about coffee any more than he was with food, but he could appreciate a good quality cup. Especially if Marluxia was paying after making him look at flowers in a nauseatingly quaint town all day.

"Ignis is interested in trying the varied cuisines of the Lowerworld," he said. "I might do the same on the Purvamae when the house is sorted out. The ship could use breaking in."

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia gave the cups of coffee a thorough stir before picking up one cup to hand to Lumi. He turned it so that he held it to Lumi handle first. "I suppose it might be interesting," he mused. There was a lot to sort out with the house first, of course. Not just the simple act of decorating and moving in, there was also the shop to set up, and stock, and, unless Marluxia wanted to spend his every day in the future behind a counter, staff to hire.

"I'm sure the cities large enough to house a port will have some decent hotels." Marluxia wasn't much of an international gastronome, although he was willing to try anything suitably expensive that wasn't an obvious parody, but the prospect of touring some new lands and staying in luxurious hotels did have its appeal.

[thatsit]

Ignis stepped in to retake possession of the kettle once Marluxia had finished. His coffee grounds were fragrant and tempting in the filter paper, and he poured the hot water in gently, letting it soak through them.

"Eos certainly has a selection of cuisines to offer. Galdin Quay boasts some of the finest seafood in Lucis, Altissia represents some of the finest dining on Eos, parts of Uberwald are famous for their sausages, among other sundries, and for the adventurous there is always Ankh Morpork." Which was not by any stretch fine dining but certainly catered to varied palates. "I also know a rather expensive restaurant in Athlum," he added, glancing at Marluxia, "which might be right up your street."

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi took the cup from Marluxia with a nod and a look through the eyelashes that did little to veil his amusement at being presented with a drink after being so cheeky.

"At least if you don't want to join me, I'm sure I can convince Ignis to write up a guide to Eos for my own use," he said.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia held Ignis's gaze as he talked, and then turned to look at Lumi. Expensive restaurants in Athlum and the finest dining on Jylland sounded more than tolerable.

"I make no promises about Uberwald and Ankh Morpork," he replied, flashing a smirk in Lumi's direction, sausage and 'adventurous' food wasn't what Marluxia wanted to travel to experience, "but a tour of the rest of the continent might be enlightening."

[thatsit]

Ignis bowed his head and smiled at Lumi's comment. Perhaps he was a little overly enthusiastic about the subject of Jyllandi, but it wasn't often he got to discuss it, as opposed to talk at someone about it. Usually he was talking at Noct, and usually he was trying to explain how even in Uberwald people eat their vegetables as well as their sausage.

"My apologies if I've prattled," he said, "but you would both be more than welcome in Lucis, should you decide to visit us."

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi wasn't surprised about Marluxia's lack of willingness to try the more colourful dishes. He didn't have his lack of squeamishness regarding less commonly consumed foodstuffs, but he would eat pretty much anything if it came with a high a enough price tag. The idea of eating bone marrow was foul to some, but if you stuck a high enough price on it, it became haute cuisine.

"You haven't," Lumi said. "I might take you up on that. I don't know much about Lucis."

[thatsit]

Ignis's smile was genuine. "Not many do," he admitted of Lucis, "we've very much kept to ourselves until recently." Foreigners weren't unknown in Lucis, but they definitely had to integrate to the existing culture rather than bringing their own with them, and Lucians didn't often travel beyond the country's borders. Travel hadn't exactly been made easy, for one thing. It had certainly put a damper on tourism, both in and out of the country.

But that was improving, and the political situation was such that a policy of isolationism was no longer viable. The world was moving, and Lucis would have to move with it.

"Insomnia is quite different to what I've heard of other capital cities, at least here. Hence my desire to visit a few," he added. Or at least part of his desire to visit a few. The food and culture were among the reasons, and they did make for handy excuses.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia watched Lumi's expression. He made friends in surprising places lately, although it made sense that someone that would eat anything would attract someone that would, from the sound of it, also eat and cook anything.

A couple of Lucians, in a place that had apparently kept to itself, might present some promising business opportunities for the likes of himself and Lumi, too. They could at least open some doors. Especially a couple of Lucians that represented a distant branch of Khamja. Khamja didn't bother to go where there wasn't money.

[thesilentstorm]

"Oh?" Lumi asked, tilting his head to one side.

Isolationist could mean anything for a capital, he thought, as he sipped at his coffee. It was slightly on the wrong side of bitter, but it always tasted slightly unpleasant, so he didn't mind so much. Had Lucis prospered during its extended period separated from the rest of the world, or had it been stuck in a more primitive state due to the lack of interference and exchange of ideas from the outside?

[thatsit]

Ignis removed the filter paper and used grounds from his own coffee. It was as strong as he could make it, short of letting another batch brew in the same water, and it would, at least, keep his caffeine addiction sated.

"Less," he faltered, searching for the right descriptions. He didn't want to offend by referring to other capitals as 'rustic', although some of them certainly were. Historic, perhaps? But Insomnia had plenty of history, too. "Airships and ancient castles," he ventured, "and rather more tall buildings, cars, and air conditioning."

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi's eyes went fractionally wider at that revelation and he looked at Marluxia, eyebrows raised.

Ignis could talk rubbish about the other capitals all he liked, as far as Lumi was concerned. Rustic wasn't a strong enough word to describe the state and age of some of them. There were probably ruins of great civilisations on his ancestral world that weren't as old as some of Spira's ancient capitals. He had little appreciation for old ruins, he didn't care about what time and nature did to man-made structures, or how well they stood the test of either. He liked modern.

He liked air conditioning.

"Is it too late to retract the offer on that house?" He asked, keeping his face deliberately blank.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia looked at Lumi flatly. Lumi liked modernity. So did Marluxia, but Marluxia liked his modernity with a little less clinical austerity and a little more natural life than Lumi tended to prefer.

"Yes," he answered, "although should we find ourselves in the market for a second home," he continued, "the choice of location would be yours." Air conditioning, after more than one trip to Rabanastre, and far too many nights in travel inns, sounded very tempting.

Even if Insomnia, a city of tall buildings and air conditioning, sounded a little too like something Xemnas might design. It certainly had his flair for unusual and dramatic names.

[thatsit]

Ignis laughed at Lumi's reaction. It sounded as if Marluxia's penchant for expensive comforts was a shared one, even if Lumi was the more adventurous of the two. "I wouldn't wish to oversell it," he warned. "As I said, I'm not particularly well traveled, but you are more than welcome to visit and see for yourself."

The hotels would definitely be to Marluxia's tastes. And Lumi might enjoy the Galahdian food.

[thesilentstorm]

"You said it has air conditioning," Lumi pointed out, sipping his coffee after speaking. "There's nothing you could do to oversell it." He looked at Marluxia again. "I miss air conditioning. I wonder if it would be possible to get it installed on the ship."

He rather hoped so. He missed the background noise of it, and the cold feeling it gave the air. Humidity was something he only associated with the awful planets he had disliked visiting and here he was, on one of them, for probably the rest of his life, without air conditioning... or so he'd thought.

"What is Insomnia like when it comes to Selkies?" He asked.

He wasn't one, of course. Neither was Marluxia. He could attest with confidence that none of his ancestors, or at least none of the genetic material used to make him, was Al Bhed. But even so, white hair marked him as one of Spira's halfbreeds and he had to deal with all the Looks and whispered comments that came with the stereotypes of that race, as did Marluxia. They didn't mingle with society in general, sticking to the bigger and, as a result, rather more mixed cities, but they were ever aware of it.

Lucis and its isolationist policies may be even less forgiving.

[thatsit]

Ignis picked up his coffee and inhaled its aroma while he thought of how best to answer that question.

"To be frank," he said, looking to Lumi and Marluxia in turn, "coming here was the first time I've ever seen Selkies. Al Bhed are practically nonexistent in Lucis," he explained, "Selkies are rarer still." There could well be a few, but blonde haired humes weren't the oddity on Eos that they were on Ivalice so from a distance they stood out rather less. Selkies, conversely, would stand out considerably.

"People would be more like to comment on the fact you're foreign first," Ignis added. Lucians certainly had their jingoistic streak, and it seemed to come before racism. At the very least, the racism was more likely to go on behind closed doors. The parts of Lucian society Ignis would be likely to introduce people to definitely knew well enough to keep their unsavoury thoughts among the likeminded. "Lucis is less exposed to the stereotypes and prejudices of Ivalice. We have enough of our own to keep us going," he finished, giving Lumi an apologetic smile.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia looked at Lumi, keeping his face carefully blank at the planmaking going on. He was a fan of modern conveniences of course, and that included air conditioning, but Lumi looked as if someone had just told him there was a pot of gold at the end of this particular rainbow.

"Being judged for being foreign at least makes a little more sense," he commented, when Ignis had finished, throwing Lumi the tiniest of little smirks. Ignis had no clue just how foreign they were, but the idea of his alienness coming before his hair colour and people still being incorrect in their judgement of him amused Marluxia. "Perhaps," he said, still looking at Lumi, "if you find nowhere else able to provide the equipment for air conditioning, Lucis might be worth a visit to see about its installation?"

Marluxia didn't expect Lumi was about to let somebody else get their hands on his precious ship, but if Lucis was affluent enough to have air conditioned buildings, they'd have what Lumi was looking for.

[thesilentstorm]

"Now that sounds like a good idea," Lumi said, thinking about how nice it would be to have air conditioning again.

It was certainly one of the luxuries he'd missed. Probably the most after the freedom of air travel, another thing he'd recently regained.

He looked to Ignis, half pleased to hear that the prejudice that had obviously befallen the Al Bhed and their mixed-race descendants wasn't a thing in Lucis. He had been told that it was cultural, apparently a result of some action or other taken in a thousand-year past war, that still persisted in the collective memory, causing them to be persecuted and then simply tolerated. It wasn't as bad now as it had been fifty years ago, apparently, but the prejudice could still be felt in some cities and towns, and keenly.

Spira, like any world, any collective of people, was full of prejudices. The lowerworld preoccupation with treating those descended from the Al Bhed wasn't the only one they felt, not when there were other species to hate for trivial reasons. Beyond those, there were Mistants...

"And 'foreign' I can deal with."