revivalproject | Trimming

Entry tags:

Trimming

WHO: Everyone! It's a mingle, get into it, bring your own winter traditions
WHERE: The diner
WHAT: A little winter celebration
WHEN: The solstice/end of the year
WARNINGS: Mark it if you get weird. I assume we're all a little busy, so if you want to use this to handwave some cordial introductions or a quick lore dump from Tony, just let me know.

There wasn't any official invitation or forewarning. In fact, Tony hadn't exactly planned to spend his day like this. Arriving at the diner, though, it would be difficult to ignore the acrid smell of burning, or the waft of coffee trying vainly to cover it. The scorched scent could have come from the brazier crackling outside of the diner door, spreading a ring of warmth that left a patch of the walkway cleared of snow, though the effect of that fire was more cozy, inviting anyone in the square near the fountain closer, with a sweet, woody smoke and an extra sharp, green scent from the lurid red and weirdly purple, piney boughs hung around the doorway. The burnt smell was stronger inside, anyway, clearly from a mishap in the kitchen, with another stack of those prickly branches on the diner counter not doing a convincing job of covering a black mark scorched into the surface. The rest of the room might have been distracting enough, though; red, white and pink glitter was dusted throughout the space, spreading from where it had been intended to be contained in clusters of flowers on tables, and colourful glass was hung from the ceiling in icicles or gathered into balls that all winked in the flicker of warm light. Where there weren't lumpy, grey-ish candles, hurriedly disguised with more glitter or brass bowls, there were small, woody shells like chestnuts dotted around the room, filled to teetering brim with a viscous sap that gave off a yellowish glow and left the whole diner shimmering.

Nestled in doorframes and above the counter where a spread of food that might be alluring to the particularly brave, were more lovingly crafted decorations: clusters of small, gold leaves in bouquets tied with red ribbons that chimed softly like bells if someone stood underneath them. The food on display did not give a great hint of what the disaster might have been. Rather, it was difficult to discern which dish would be the main culprit. There was a large bowl of a creamy, yellow liquid, with suspicious lumps and blackened flecks floating in it, with a stack of mismatched cups next to it for serving. The coffee pot next to it was probably safer. The foods that weren't cooked, per se, but sliced and piled onto plates were likely innocent, too, though it was entirely possible that some of those fruits should have been cooked to be edible. A tray of what kind of looked like pancakes looked trustworthy enough, assuming the worst of them didn't make it to the serving stage. In general, the decorations were clearly handled more competently.

The days had been dark and cold, and the diner was warm, bright, and ready to leave everyone full of dubiously edible cheer. If you stayed long enough, maybe Tony would even offer you one of those strange bundles he was fastidiously working on at a table, where an occasional crack sent a puff of smoke swirling up among the gently tinkling glass ornaments.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Nope," Gladio agreed. "See, Ignis got himself in a spot of trouble, and Ravus helped us get into Niflheim. We loaded up in his ship. The Regalia was safe back in Altissia until after you went into the crystal. We've been using it to help us during the Long Night."

Because the thing was SUPER good for transporting things, especially with all the modifications they put into her.

"A spot of trouble?" Noctis asked. He wasn't sure what Gladio was referring to, but of course he had faith in his advisor. But he shook his head at hearing all of the things that his shield went through and experienced, but wasn't what had happened in his timeline.

Things were just so strange.

Finally he turned away and shrugged. "Guess I'm just glad it all seemed to work out for you guys."

"On the altar, when you were unconscious. To protect you, he lied to Ardyn and agreed to join him. After using the ring apparently. And Ardyn took him to Niflheim, leaving you and Ravus behind. So we went after you two as soon as Prompto and I got there and heard from Ravus what was happening."

And there, that was their division point.

"You didn't experience that?"

Noctis made a face that clearly showed him being troubled over the thought of Iggy going anywhere alone with Ardyn. But he only knew through his crystalline sleep what happened because his advisor had given him 'a small sacrifice in the greater battle' as an answer that day while he was laid up.

His head shook and it felt like he was getting a headache from trying to envision this timeline that Gladio had.

"No. No I didn't."

Yeah, no one had liked the idea that Ignis had been left alone with the guy. But apparently he'd done a number on the asshole, so that was something. But Gladio was definitely left worried to hear that.

"Dammit. Fucking hell I wish I could punch the gods extra just to make them make your timeline better."

Noctis had to smile and laugh a little. "You haven't changed a bit." And with a small sigh, the king took some comfort in that fact too. "It's good to see that fiery spirit."

It was his way of saying that he'd missed his shield.

"Of course not," Gladio said, reaching out to pat Noctis on his shoulder. "But we've already long since agreed. I'm Earth elemental, five star, and really the most premium character you could ever want in King's Knight."

"How can I forget?" Noctis asked with a smile. It brought back some memories he hadn't thought of since he'd arrived here. And he was glad that his shield had brought that particular memory up.

"Too bad I don't have my phone and of course internet isn't here. But I'd love to play again."

Back to the times when they had fun.

"You'd fail to do the things that needed done because you'd be playing so much," Gladio offered with a smile.

So it's fine that they don't have it.

"Come on, let's find what food is on here."

"Ya, and who'd be goofing off right along there with me?" Noctis asked, returning the smile. Sure Prompto started it sometimes, but Gladio did offer to join in.

Turning at the food part though, his attention then did a laser like focus. "Gotta wonder if there's any really good meat."

"Nah, I'm a professional, I never goof," Gladio laughed, grinning at his friend as he clapped him on the shoulder.

Totally goofed.

"YOu've been here for a while. What's good."

"Professional goof off." Noctis replied with a smile as the hand came down on his shoulder. He then started to look around and shrugged. "Just stick with what's at parties and what I can fish for and we can hunt."

"No, that's you, punk," Gladio answered with a smile, gently shoving Noct's shoulder just a bit.

"You're still doing the avoiding veggies thing, aren't you? Am I going to be Ignis here?"

"Punk?" Noct asked softly, pretending offense. He gently pushed at his shield in some sort of offended gesture.

The part about the veggies had him shake his head. "I thought the vegetables back home Iggy was always trying to get me to eat were weird. It's just gotten worse. But I'll tell ya what, I'd rather eat the ones back home over these."

Gladio laughed at the offense and push. But he moves to the counter, looks over the food, and just starts loading his plate. He didn't care. He'd try it all.

"Well, you had that chance. Now you just gotta do your best to survive."

"Ya, tell me about it." Noct replied with a nod. He grabbed a plate and started to load it as well, trying to make sure that he grabbed the good stuff. His knowledge in Agriculture wasn't going to waste after all, and he'd teach Gladio what he knew in the next few weeks.

Food right now was first though.

At least he had some good food to go with. Gladio, who hadn't flirted with the datapoints yet, just took his plate and filled it, ready to go to a table to sit down and eat.

"I figure you probably know better than I. But hey, we're going to teach these people what it means to do it with style."

"You mean eating with style?" Noctis had to ask with a smirk on his face. He wished they had access to Ignis' cooking, because that would really be dining in style. But it was enough to know how lucky they'd been back home.

"Nah, not eating. That isn't something you do with style or not. Well, except for popsicles."

No, he meant osomething else entirely.

"I meant the other stuff, like, the cooking. And I'll do it by getting them some real meat."

Noct shook his head. "I don't even want to know how to eat popsicles in style." No really, he didn't.

The last part got a smile. "So you've taken classes from Iggy?" And then he wondered how much more he missed if that had been the case.

"I could show you sometimes," Gladio answered with a smirk.

Classes, from Iggy? Hardly. He scoffs at that.

"Ig's been busy. Learned from hunters."

The king just shook his head. No, he really didn't want to see how that went.

No really.

But at hearing that Ignis had been busy, that had Noctis smile softly. Ignis was always busy even if he wasn't busy. However, hearing Gladio's answer didn't surprise him. "Well we spent enough time with them, helping them out. Seems only fair they might teach you a thing or two in return."

"I mostly got buy working with them, when the darkness came. Ig headed up the figuring out how to give the Astrals the middle finger, and we helped him, and he did some governance stuff. Prom tended to help out mechanics in any area needing him. And me? I'm just good at fighting."

So he'd gone to the hunters and glaives to train and help people that way.

Noctis couldn't help but laugh a little. Ignis was just in a class by himself sometimes. Well, most of the time but the advisor would only beam with pride if Noct told him that.

"And by helping out mechanics, you mean that he was bugging Miss Cindy?" Well it was Miss Cindy or Aranea. But as far as Noctis knew, Prompto had the biggest crush on Cindy.

"So you stuck with what you're good at." the king replied, with a teasing tone in his voice.

Ignis was in a class by himself at ALL times, thank you very much. But Gladio shook his head. It was more than that for Prompto.

"Turns out Prom's a lot more of a tech and mechanics whiz than anyone realized. With just a bit of training under Cid he found he was doing things even Cindy couldn't. So he's in high demand. Been learning some from the Exineris people too. Basically he goes around to outposts to do what he can, and not just for Cindy."

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