runs_on_batteries | IC Inbox/ Interactions 2.0

[Gladio had only half being paying attention. He'd borrowed a book and that was a lot more interesting. At least until the communicator was shoved at him. He sighed.]

You're an ass...

[But he still took the phone to read what he was supposed to answer.]

Less sugar. Not no sugar. Just less. If you can reduce the fat too that'd help.

All right.

Any preferred flavours, or flavours to avoid?

avoid ginger.

Hello Gladio.

I'll make some adjustments and arrive in one hour.

There maybe small breaks [ but who knows, Ignis hasn't gotten lucky yet and this nonsense started up a few days ago ] but you have to get lucky with it.

[ He pauses for a moment as something else clicks, he had been quite busy to make this connection with Gladio, with Noct and Prompto bedridden and in the recovery stages. ]

You haven't seen the sun in quite a while, haven't you? [ It won't be too much longer, he hopes. He can feel the sunlight when it's out.

Reggie? Then that one clicks. ] Ah, Regis. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you've befriended him.

[ With Eos and Tony's world having cats, he does wonder if Eos has a poker, but by a different name. ] I'm not familiar with poker, I'm afraid.

Hey Era.

sure. we'll see you in an hour.

... if you've green tea at all?

I'm sure I have some around.

[ The request does give her another idea to try for a new batch of cookies, and so while the now sugar-free and low-fat pomegranate apple cookies finish baking, Era makes a test batch of similarly 'healthy' green tea cookies.

(Having a boyfriend with creation magic is infinitely helpful sometimes.)

Once satisfied that everything tastes as delicious as it should, she tucks everything away in her inventory, puts on her rainboots and rain poncho, and sets off for Gladio and Tony's residence.

Precisely an hour after her last message there is a polite knock at their door. ]

[Tony frowned and thought. When was the last time he had seen a sun that was similar to the one back home?]

No, not for a while, I'd guess. I'm not too sure.

[There was some discomfort in his tone from having to admit the ambiguity there. A more appropriate word to 'discomfort' was haunted.]

We only ever saw it if we stopped at a world with an atmosphere similar to ours and had a few temperate days. That combination didn't happen very often. Usually the worlds were volcanic or a blizzardy tundra and on the train, it was just the Void.

[It took him a moment to pull himself back to the rest of their conversation.]

What games do you know?

[Tony had showered and gotten dressed. He looked a while lot better than the last time Era saw him. No longer in red military gear, he was in loafers, jeans, and a comfortable, blue sweater. He had a kitchen towel over one shoulder and had almost finished putting the mini-pies/ tarts in the oven.]

Glads? Are you available to get the- never mind..

[He straightened up and went over to get the door himself. He gave her a smile and backed up, gesturing for her to enter.]

I expected you to be more punctual than this.

[Gladio had gone back to reading. Sat on the love seat, somehow managing to fit his large frame on the two seats with his bare feet up and pressed against the arm of the small sofa. He was comfortable where he was. And he could have gone to open the door...

Except he was lost in the book and it took him a second to realise anyone had knocked at all.

When he looked up he offered a smile and lifted a hand in welcome.]

[ Era returns the smile; small and uncertain, but earnest all the same. It wavers at his comment on punctuality, leaving her to give a quick glance upward on reflex to gauge the time, then realizing the man is teasing her. Her smile returns, less tentative than before. ]

My apologies. I'll be sure to sync up our clocks next time. [ She bows politely in greeting and steps inside. Pointedly, she removes her dirty boots and places them near the door. Then, even more pointedly, she pulls out a pair of soft flats from seemingly nowhere and puts them on.

Footwear handled, Era takes off her jacket (revealing an outfit that contrast sharply with the watermelon monstrosity) and looks for a place to hang it. ]

Hello, Gladio. I've green tea leaves for you, as well as matcha. I wasn't sure which you would prefer.

[Tony laughed both when she has to check on the time and when she pulls out her slippers. He takes her jacket from her and seriously considers tossing it at Gladio- but the chocolate would make that less amusing and more messy. So instead, he just hangs it up.]

Make yourself at home. However, you can't sit on that chair, stand on that spot of carpet, or look out that window. I'll go put the kettle on.

[ Era nods, stepping further inside and taking stock of her surroundings. It's... quaint. She tries not to think of the time she spent in a near identical townhome what feels like an eternity ago, before all of the heartbreak. It helps that the furniture is laid out differently, and not altered into a more pretentious aesthetic. ]

Where should I put the cookies?

Ignore him. He's a terminal stupidity case.

[Gladio lowered his book and gave a warm smile and gestured with a hand toward the couch opposite him. The house was still very basic. Only having lived there just over a month he'd still not had time to really personalise the place. But give him time...]

Those teas are great. Want a cup?

[After marking his page, Gladio set his book down and went to hold his hands out for the cookies. They smelled pretty good.]

I'll take em into the kitchen. Just sit and relax for now.

She did it to me!

[Tony gave Gladio a glare, but it didn't have any heat behind it.]

I'll get those, I have just another minute on the tarts.

[He takes the cookies from Gladio and gives him a brief, friendly pat on the arm and left to add the crumb on top and stick the pastries in the oven. In this case, it wasn't a general statement but literally a task that took sixty seconds before he was coming back.]

Sometimes I'll find a way to get us real fruit, but right now these are going to be the synthetic stuff from the replicator. By the way, Era, you couldn't use any potatoes could you?

[He gestures to a bucket near the replicator that is now overflowing with various kinds of synthetic potatoes.]

[ She blinks as she hands the cookies to Gladio, confused by what she may have done, but ultimately decides it doesn't matter. More pressing is the matter of where to seat herself...

By the time Tony addresses her, Era has yet to move, uncertain of where to sit. ]

Ah— I have real fruit, in my garden. Just pomegranates and caelumfruit, but it's enough for desserts. [ Her hands move as she speaks, accentuating her words with vague gestures. ] I made apple-pomegranate oatmeal cookies — free of added sugar, and low in fat. The green ones are matcha cookies, with a bit of vanilla. They've more fat than the others, and have minimal sugar.

[ Era draws her hands back in, wringing them together. Absentmindedly, she begins pick at a loose scale on the back of her hand. ]

If they'll otherwise go to waste I can find use for them.

[Gladio didn't get it either, but since the cookies had been taken from him he decided to change tack and deal with Era instead.

Well aware of what that tail of hers could do, he smiled and with the lightest of touches to get her attention, he tapped her elbow and then pointed to the sofa.]

Those cookies sound great. But c'mon, sit with me.

[And so he moved and dropped himself down on one end of the sofa to show her it was okay, since Tony seemingly put in her head she couldn't go anywhere and she actually believed him.]

Tony can make himself useful and make us tea, can't you?

[Tony hoped Gladio would straighten Era out on what was real and what was him just joking around. He didn't have the patience for it. However, the request for tea which others might have thought was beneath the older man, got a positive response.]

On it!

[He found a plate to set the cookies out on and sampled the apple-pomegranate one- yum!. He waited for the kettle to boil so he could rejoin the party.]

[ The touch to her elbow comes as she's giving one final, analyzing look around the room, startling her so badly she nearly jumps out of her skin, tail standing straight up in alarm. It slowly lowers back down as the fright wears off and, upon concluding that the sofa is the most secure seat in the room, Era moves to sit on the end opposite of Gladio.

She sits on the edge of the cushion, tail curled firmly against her leg, and wonders if it would be impolite to say she doesn't like tea. ]

You were both in a different world before this one.

[ Because Tony is not of Eos, nor Eorzea, and he and Gladio have an easy comfort with each other that doesn't come from only a week of cohabitation. ]

[ There's a pause here, concerned. A look comes over his face as if he's considering something here. He sighs and removes his hand away from the book, settling back a bit. He hadn't pushed Gladio too hard, but it's neither of their faults.

He's definitely picking up on Tony's tone here too, not missing the discomfort. ]

When Gladio first arrived here, it was an awkward time too. He spoke little of the train. These worlds, it was to save them, correct? [ He'd at least remembered that much. ] He spoke of a little girl too, who helped him through a dark period, but he hadn't wanted to open up about it.

[ Have a small helpless shrug. ]

Yet, you've told me more about this train. [ A small pause as his brain connects the Void itself. ] The Void was darkness. [ It's the state of Eos, if he and Prompto ever go back home. Noctis is asleep in the crystal. ]

That was the goal but we didn't always succeed.

[He sighed hearing mention of his daughter again. It was hard knowing she was still out there and he might never see her again.]

Don't let him fool you, Ignis, the whole thing was a dark period. Madoka might have made it a little easier at times, but we were captives and powerless to the Voidtrecker forces, whoever they were. He's suffered greatly and I wouldn't expect him to open up, especially when he isn't feeling safe with you three to begin with.

[He wanted to go on, to tell Ignis off again about how the other young men should be rallying around Gladio to help him deal with what he'd been through not sniffling over something stupid, but he held his tongue. If that wasn't a display of how much he wanted to get along with this new Ignis, nothing was.]

No, the Void... [He took a second to think of how to describe it.] It wasn't nothing and it wasn't darkness. There were colors and shapes inside it. The elves in our train said they heard voices and singing. I learned later that was a way they described their magic. So whether it was literally singing or not, I never did figure out, but it could drive a person mad. If you looked at the Void long enough or listened too closely, you'd hear or see things that were terrifying and they wouldn't be able to describe it later.

People got sick from the Void. We never did figure out how that happened, but it wasn't just in someone's mind, although it often was. A little boy said he kept hearing violins playing and even though he was a violinist, the sound was enough to make him cry in fear. I'm sure it sounds like I'm adding to my story here for affect, but I assure you, I'm not.

... That was Madoka? [ That was Tony and Ignis' daughter on the train. Have a surprised sound at that. Gladio hadn't mentioned her by name, just by a cute little girl. ]

I know, [ his tone going gentle, not wanting to fight again. He wants to get along here too. ] he's adjusting to a new Ignis, Noctis and Prompto. We offered him a place to stay, but he denied and after a while, I hardly blame him. He needed the space to get used to us again and he said that the train was cramped. This world, it sounds like it's a vacation compared to what you two have been through. [ This train sounds like hell and he doesn't know what Gladio's told Noct or Prompto either. ] Perhaps this is what he needed, is someone from the train that understands him better than us three do.

[ He can admit that much, it's been over a month and a half, and while they've been training at Gladio's place, he feels disconnected from his friend. Ignis isn't a fan of the distance and wishes to close it, but he knows he has some work to do. He has walls to break down inside Gladio, he missed his friend most of all. Gladio showed up for his birthday, but he seemed more interested in giving Ignis his gift then leaving right away. That wasn't the best place to get into a discussion so Ignis had... let him go. The past few months haven't been helping either, this is the first he's felt like he's been given a break. Yes, the strange rain and bears are annoying, but his family is safe. Maybe he can sit down with Gladio again and try to talk. For now, he's willing to talk to Tony, perhaps that can shed some light on what happened on the train a bit. ]

I just hope that someday, he can feel safe around us again. Prom understands better, having come from the Fleet. [ And it's been three and a half years since Prom's seen Gladio last. ]

No, it's alright, I believe you. [ Starting from the very moment he'd arrived on this world actually, and after what the four had been through back home on Eos, the Void doesn't sound too far fetched from the weirdest thing that they've been through. The Void sickness doesn't sound pleasant in the slightest though and as he listens to it, he exhales a breath, again surprised at how awful this place was sounding. ] This Void sickness, you didn't experience it yourself?

What else happened on there? This is sounding more and more unpleasant; and it's the people that made it for you two, isn't it? [ This is his take away the more he hears about the train. ]

Hold out your hand.

[He gently pulled off his wrist the bracelet his daughter had made him with tiny white conch seashells on it. He placed it in Ignis' hand, trusting him fully.]

This is from her. You would've liked her. She was a lot like you. Very polite to a fault and brave and sweet.

[He nodded, knowing what Ignis was saying about Gladio.]

He probably did need the space, but it's possible you guys gave him too much. Would you have told Noct or Prompto just how badly you had been hurt somewhere or that you need them or would you have too much pride for that?

[Tony sat back and gave a soft laugh at that. This place was definitely a vacation. It hadn't come out that he was, in fact, the leader of that train but he was sure it would eventually.]

We'll see. It might help if you pass this along to Noct. Gladio won't be thrilled, but I think he should know how bad it really was.

[That reminded him. He might need to go see if he couldn't find Prompto.]

It affected everyone every now and then, myself included.

[He had no idea what was his PTSD and what had been the Void sickness. For someone with a perfect memory, he flat out didn't remember some of it which was terrifying. Since it was requested and he loved to hear himself talk, Tony went into detail describing the layout of the train itself and the fact there was no way to access the engine room.]

The only time we ever heard from anyone was when these random announcements were played that we needed to get ready to do a mission or people say they heard the conductor ask them to the engine room right before disappearing for a stretch of time. It was random. We never knew if the person was gone and would come back or gone for good. Gladio disappeared for a while. I thought we were going to have to put Prompto on meds, he was so upset.

[Gladio tried to keep his reaction to Era minimal. He'd tried to be more obvious when he'd touched her elbow but clearly not obvious enough. He sighed internally and did his best to push himself as far away from her as he could, if she didn't like his presence that much.

She was a damn minefield and Gladio didn't have a map to navigate it.]

Before coming here we were on the same train together, yeah.

[Tony came back in and gave the two a pleasant smile. He had the plate of cookies that he set on the coffee table.]

The tea is steeping, so it'll be a few more minutes.

[To Gladio.]

You should try that pomegranate one. It's really good.

[To Era.]

So I hear all three of us make terrible first impressions.

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