notagoose | MHA 10 - Friday Evening

After months of talking about making Ignis dinner, with an additional extra week and a half where he had been a goose, Goose was finally ready to make a dinner for Ignis.

Ignis had requested a dish that involved fresh produce and what was in season, so after doing a bit of research, he finally settled on making a roasted squash and parsnip soup for an entree and then for dinner he made roasted pumpkin and potato.

Then after careful consideration, he decided to go with a Roussane for the wine.

Everything was prepared, nothing had been set on fire and now all he had to do was wait for Ignis.

[for Ignis!]

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From:

notagoose

Goose had been rather close to the door as he waited for Ignis so there wasn’t a long wait at all before he went to open the door.

“Ignis hi,” he said with a nervous smile, “thank you for coming, come in,” he stepped aside to let Ignis come in, trying not to hover but he wanted to be close still in case he needed to help Ignis with putting his dish down or anything else he needed.

From:

chef_chocobro

There was both relief and a certain satisfaction in having gotten the right door, as he locked all the little details of the journey into his mental map. Perhaps it was a bit....presumptuous, but he had to admit, he had a feeling it was a path he would be taking often.

"Shane," he greeted back, with a nod, shifting the cane back into his free hand as he stepped in, and offered out the box that held the cake for him to take. "Dessert, as promised. For later. It smells wonderful in here..."

Barely even the slightest hint of something being burned or scorched or over-seasoned. He was impressed...enough so that one might have even heard it it there in his tone.

From:

notagoose

Goose smiled brightly at that, “I made squash and parsnip soup and roasted pumpkin and potato,” he informed Ignis, a little nervously still and worried that he wouldn’t like what he prepared, “I …I hope you like it,” he said shyly, “I also got us a roussane,” he added.

From:

chef_chocobro

"A roussane," Ignis remarked, looking fairly impressed and almost a little bit touched over how well Shane had taken to this particular assignment, although he seemed to be reserving his complete assessment until after one particular question:

"An older vintage, I take it?"

From:

notagoose

Goose did look a little sheepish at that, “I only got one that was a couple of years old,” he admitted, “I …um got one of the first ones that was on the shelf,” he admitted.

Edited Date: 2022-11-11 07:51 pm (UTC)

From:

chef_chocobro

"Ah." Ignis was careful not to let his disappointment surface in his tone, especially since it was still a perfectly suitable choice, and he may have slightly gotten ahead of himself there. "Well. I've yet to meet an roussane I didn't like, and I'm sure this one will be no exception, especially enhanced," here, a small smile, in Shane's general direction, "as it's sure to be, by the company. But most wines, as they age, actually develop slightly different flavor profiles, and an aged roussane brings out certain notes of spice and nuttiness that would be quite complimentary to more autumnal fare...

"That being said," he added, this time with a more apparent smile, "all the wines I've had up until recently have been quite aged by default, so a more recent vintage will be a nice change of pace. Fresher, more vibrant..."

And, oh, this seemed to be veering a little into metaphor territory now, wasn't it?

From:

notagoose

Goose did smile at that at, he had been worried that he had chosen the wrong wine and then the whole evening would be ruined.

He made a mental note yo check the vintage of the wine in the future.

His smile widened at that last part and he went a little red, “well…” he said shyly, “I hope it doesn’t disappoint, it’s been a while hasn’t it?”

He was absolutely talking about the wine and dinner.

Possibly.

From:

chef_chocobro

"Far too long," said Ignis, the sincerity of that sentiment digging in far deeper than that the lightness of his tone would suggest, deep enough that if he wasn't carefully, he might find himself mired in it with little recourse to get back out again, so he moved swiftly on.

"Shall we, then?" he asked, and, taking a moment to try and think back to the last time he was in this apartment (he doubted Shane had redecorated, and he would have thought as much even if ten years had passed for him, as well) and also taking into consideration that the layout was already more recently familiar to him thanks to his own.
.
"Table is this way, yes?" he asked, after moving in the presumed direction.

From:

notagoose

“Of course,” Goose smiled brightly and he nodded, wincing as he realised that Ignis couldn’t see that, “the table’s this way,” he told him, hesitating and then waited to see if Ignis needed help to go to the table.

Nothing had changed since the last time Ignis had been in his apartment but he wasn’t sure how much Ignis would remember.

From:

chef_chocobro

Well, it wasn't as if Shane's decorating style was particular...elaborate. One might even go as far as to say it was practically nonexistent. And while Ignis didn't exactly remember exactly, he was used to navigating around unfamiliar spaces far more dangerous than this, found a chair with ease, and pulled it out to have a seat.

"I'm really looking forward," he said as he got himself settled, taking a moment just to spread his hands on the table, to feel it and get a measure of the space around him, "to trying what you've prepared tonight, Shane. Thank you for having me."

From:

notagoose

Goose smiled , waiting as Ignis sat down and then he took his own seat, “you’re welcome, I’ve been looking forward to making this dinner for you, cooking while you were gone …it helped keep me busy,” he admitted, “I’ve missed cooking for you,” he added, “I hope you enjoy it,”

From:

chef_chocobro

"I'm certain I will," Ignis assured him. "Especially if you've kept up with it. Cooking is a skill that, like most others, is only bound to improve with practice."

Considering where Shane had been when he first started his cooking journey to where he was now? Well, that was pretty good proof right there. But even if his skills had regressed in his absence, Ignis would still enjoy just the fact that he'd tried, and that they were enjoying the fruits (or vegetables, in this case) of his labors....together.

His smile was small, and distant.

"I've...also missed this," he said.

Which wasn't quite what he meant, but that was as close to what he meant as he would allow himself to get right now.

From:

notagoose

Goose smiled softly at that, staring down at his soup for a moment, “I haven’t set anything else on fire in the kitchen,” he told him, as he looked back up, “even though that stain is still there on the ceiling…my dad wasn’t happy when he saw it,” he admitted.

There was another pause, he hesitated for a moment, “It …it hasn’t been the same, while you were gone …I …I missed …you …I missed …us,” he started to feel himself go rather red.

From:

chef_chocobro

And there was another soft smile, as Ignis felt briefly for a spoon, picked it up, and carefully dipped it into the soup in front of him. Because that just seemed fitting, didn't it? Him, carefully dancing around something while Shane just goes fumbling straight for it without abandon.

But, even with that extra grace period of all that time while Shane was a goose, Ignis still hadn't quite sorted out where he stood on all of it. He was still working out exactly where he was.

"I should think," he noted, "he should be quite grateful that a stain on the ceiling was all he had to contend with.

"This is quite good, by the way," he added, dipping in his spoon for another bite, already seeing himself making very short work of it, and not merely because he'd been so long without good, fresh, seasonal offerings. "Remarkable, really."

And also talking about the food was undeniably easier.

From:

notagoose

Goose smiled at that, relaxing as he took a mouthful of his own soup.

“Thank you, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough,” Goose admitted, “there were quite a few options to choose from with what was in season,”

There was another pause, “I did try to tell him that,” he said, “the apartment could have been in a lot worse condition, I mean several months ago it didn’t even have furniture,” he added with a grin.

From:

chef_chocobro

"Gladio and I," Ignis remarked, smiling back, though he rather wished he could see that smile so easily detectable in Shane's voice, and this it hadn't been so damn long since the last time he had, so his memories of it weren't quite so....fuzzy, "rather lucked out, in that regard. Ours came furnished."

There was, then, a thoughtful hesitation, filled with another bit of soup, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to at least start traipsing a little closer to at least one of the elephants he could only assume had joined them in the room.

"Obviously," he said, "I can't speak for it's taste level, but I can at least attest to it being functional."

From:

notagoose

“I did have some basic furniture and then when I was that alien cat I ended up eating a bit of it,” Goose said with a smile, stirring his soup for a bit, “I didn’t get any more until the party Summer threw for Gladio and I,” he looked around the apartment, “it is pretty nice furniture,” he paused, looking up at Ignis, his cheeks now bright red, “especially since it’s nice when I can have people over,”

Edited Date: 2022-11-11 11:33 pm (UTC)

From:

chef_chocobro

"It does enhance the experience significantly," Ignis agreed, "to be able to eat at a table rather than, say, the floor."

Not that he hadn't eaten food in even stranger places.

His tone went...mildly more lightly conversational as he tried not to spend too much time locating that glass of wine.

"Do you have people over often?" he asked, fairly certain he knew the answer, but almost more curious about how Shane answered rather than what.

From:

notagoose

“No, not really, you’re the first person I’ve had over in a while,” Goose admitted, “Summer came over once, we had Sangria,” he paused, “I’m actually not entirely sure who my neighbours are,” he revealed, even though Ignis would probably not find that really surprising.

From:

chef_chocobro

"I'm not even sure Gladio and I even have neighbors yet," Ignis admitted, but, in his defense, he'd only been back for a very short while, and he was more concerned with familiarizing himself with the island itself again; then he'd focus on reacquainting himself with its inhabitants. "But those upper floors are fairly new, aren't they? I don't remember them being there before."

From:

notagoose

Goose nodded, taking another mouthful of soup, “I think it happened not long after you left?” he tilted his head as he tried to remember, “it just happened overnight one day and the building ended up with another three floors,” he explained.

From:

chef_chocobro

"That sounds incredibly convenient," Ignis noted, "and also very...Fandom. But what a loss for the potential contractors who would have otherwise handled a project like that."