MHA #10 - Tuesday Evening

[notagoose]

So Goose had a dinner date with Ignis, which was an attempt to make up for the other week when he had seemingly lost all of the cooking skills that Ignis had taught him. Once his class was over in the morning, Goose had spent most of the day preparing dinner for this evening and making sure that it went a lot smoother than the attempts that he had had over the previous weekend,

He decided to go with the recipe that had nearly caused him to burn down the kitchen but this time seemed to go a lot more smoothly and there were no frying pan related incidents this time round.

He even decided to try his hand at desert and make chocolate chip and strawberry cheesecake bites.

Eventually it was time for the date itself, so Goose set everything up, the food was prepared and ready to go and had selected what outfit he wanted to wear.

He was trying not to feel nervous but at least this time round he hadn’t burned the apartment down?

[for Ignis!]

Comments

[chef_chocobro]

Burning down the apartment would have made for a very disappointing date, indeed.

Especially since things back home had been rather...intense in the past week, and there had been a lot weighing on Ignis' mind. After all, as soon as the information he'd been privy to went public, intense would hardly be a word to cover it. There was a good chance that he might not have the time for something like this for quite a while in the coming weeks...possibly the coming months...and so he intended to enjoy it fully while he could.

Thankfully, there'd been no issues with his portal back to the island that day, allowing him to arrive with his preferred precise punctuality at Shane's door, with a nice oaked chardonnay and some flowers. Shane always had flowers for him, after all; it was high time he'd returned the favor.

And with that (and a small adjustment to his jacket which he knew was impeccable already), he knocked.

[notagoose]

Goose did a last minute check to make sure that everything was in fact right before he made his way to the door and opened it, "Ignis, hi!" he smiled brightly when he saw him, "come in," he said, stepping aside to let Ignis in, "I didn't burn anything this time," he told him rather proud of that achievement, whether the food was still good or not remained to be seen but he was already doing a lot better than he had been that other weekend.

[chef_chocobro]

Even if the food itself turned out inedible despite the lack of burning, well...at least there was still good wine. Still, that was always good news to hear, and Ignis even managed a small chuckle with his faint smile in response.

"No flying frying pans or pieces of fish this time, either, I trust?" he asked, and then, with perhaps just a hint of awkwardness in it, held out the flowers.

"For you," he said. "Obviously."

[notagoose]

Goose laughed, “no, it was relatively straight forward, nothing went flying this time,” he said with a grin, “it was also a lot easier to follow the recipes,” he added.

He smile widened when Ignis held out the flowers and his cheeks started to go rather red, “oh thank you,” he said as he accepted them, “they’re very nice,”

[chef_chocobro]

"Yes," Ignis acknowledged...though whether he was acknowledging the thank you or confirming that the flowers were nice seemed a little up in the air, "well..."

That small bit of awkwardness seemed to linger a moment longer. "It's about time I returned that particular favor," he said, as if to explain the flowers away like they were nothing, "especially since you've risked house and home cooking for me this time." He gave a faint smile. "How has your week been? I admit, I feel a bit...adrift in the world of Fandom's goings-on having actually been away for a full week this time..."

It certainly didn't help that it had been a very long week for him, at that.

[notagoose]

Goose went to find a place to put the flowers and decided to display them on the table, , “I think compared to the previous week it was rather quiet,” Goose told him, “even though I was away back home for a few days, I was needed on a mission but I think the only thing I ended up missing out on was the Welcome Picnic,” he paused, “it was definitely one of our more unusual missions that was for sure,” he paused, “how about you, how have things been going since you moved back?”

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis hesitated, not exactly wanting to get into that particular news before they'd even had drinks, and thought of how best to respond, especially since he hardly wanted to be dishonest with Shane.

"...intense," he decided, with a small, weary sort of sigh. "There's been...talks of a potential treaty, actually, with Niflheim, so I've been locked away in meetings and board rooms in between all my other duties. After centuries of war, I suppose we should be grateful at the prospect of peace, but I think it's only natural that we all have our...doubts that it's a genuine olive branch and that it's not some sort of...trap..."

His frown deepened a moment, especially since he'd rather been hoping to be able to put all of that out of his mind for this increasingly rare evening together, but it lightened back into a congenial smile a moment later.

"But tell me about your mission, first," he said, with genuine interest and not just to step away from his own personal world politics right now, "perhaps with some of this chardonnay to start us out."

[notagoose]

Goose nodded, listening to Ignis explain what had been happening ,”I hope it does work out for you, though, I’ve never taken part in the actual political debate side of things but we’ve provided security for quite a number of diplomatic talks,” he said, “I can imagine how intense they can be,”

He paused, “a chardonnay sounds perfect,” he said, “it wasn’t a bad mission as such and we were successful in our objective but it was definitely one of the more unusual missions we had,”

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis made the executive decision to make a move to go scrounge up the few glasses for such things that he knew Shane to now have, so that he could pour them each a glass, and, while doing so, quirked an eyebrow as he looked up at him.

"One of the more unusual ones?" he said with an intrigued note of amusement. "Well, then, clearly, you're going to have to elaborate. If there's one thing I've managed to glean from your stories about your missions, Shane, is that unusual tends to be the least requirement for them."

[notagoose]

“Honestly after the last couple of years, that wouldn’t surprise me. It makes trying to write out mission reports interesting that’s for sure,” Goose grinned.

He paused for a moment as he considered how to even explain what happened, “Well I was asked to return home so I could bring Icarus and Winter along on our mission, they’re telepathic dolphins,” he explained, “we had received word that there were Crown Agents on the planet Walcab and they were seeking out this Stargate that the locals believed was a gate way to another universe,”

It was still a weird thing to say.

[chef_chocobro]

Having just come through a portal to another universe, that part, at least, didn't seem the least bit odd, certainly not when compared to...

"Telepathic dolphins?" asked Ignis, handing Shane his glass of wine and feeling quite positive had had to have expected that question to be forthcoming.

[notagoose]

Goose accepted the glass with a smile, “while Walsh was overseeing the creation of BETA, there wasn’t many places I could go when I wasn’t at Fandom so I spent a lot of time at Longshot and that was where I met Icarus and Winter, so I spent a lot of time with them growing up,” he explained, “I guess I’m like their handler,”

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis looked mildly impressed by this information, and even more amused that that was the part about 'telepathic dolphins' that Shane felt needed the explanation. "And so you continue to be," he noted, lifting his own glass as if to toast to this observation, "a man of many surprises."

And so, with that first sip and a moment's thought, he then asked, "So how did it all end up with this stargate, then? Was it, indeed, a gate way to another universe and, if so, what will become of it now?"

[notagoose]

“Well it was a gateway to another universe,” Goose explained, “but it turned out it was designed to keep something locked from the other side getting in, Captain Foxx ended up getting stuck when he tried to get the key with his phaser glove and then we all ended up having to get him free,”

He paused, “I ended up absorbing the electrical charge to do so and in the process the gateway was destroyed but it meant the Queen couldn’t use it either and we stopped something potentially very dangerous escape into our universe,”

[chef_chocobro]

"Mmm." Ignis hummed thoughtfully, considering his wine for a moment. "Then, overall, a net positive on the whole. And you're alright? After the electrical charge and everything?"

And, if you asked him, he thought he did an exceptional job of not letting too much concern leak into the question.

"Put that healing factor to use for something other than staving off potential alcohol poisoning?"

[notagoose]

Goose grinned at that, “it was a bit of a change using my abilities the way they were supposed to be used,” even if he had been slightly hungover at the time but details, “but I was okay after absorbing the charge and so was Zackery, he was unconscious for a bit but we got back to the ships in time before everything exploded,”

[chef_chocobro]

There was perhaps a slightly disapproving look on Ignis' face at the word explosions, but he also reminded himself that well, if the gate was destroyed, he probably should have assumed an explosion of some sort would have been involved.

"Well, then," he said, "thank goodness for that."

A little less able to keep the concern out of his voice that time.

[notagoose]

Goose realised that mentioning how everything had exploded was probably a bad idea, on top of the piloting through a mine field whole being chased by Crown agents.

“We were pretty lucky,” Goose admitted, “it got a bit chaotic there in the end when Zackery got out the key but at least in our universe they can’t use the stargate to come through,”

[chef_chocobro]

"All's well that ends well, I suppose," Ignis noted, with a faint sigh into his wine. "And even the best laid plans," said in a way that might suggest he didn't imagine such a phrase actually applied in this case, "depend more on luck than we like to admit.

"But I'm glad," said in a way that might suggest that word didn't quite cover it properly, "everything worked out."

[notagoose]

"Well aside from getting Icarus and Winter to help us and meeting up with Captain Weej, we didn't really have much of a plan," Goose admitted, agreeing with the narrative's assessment of the situation, "I think I spent more time waiting than anything but aside from a few explosions," which was really part of the course when it came to missions that the Series 5 team went on, "so the luck probably played a bigger role on our side than normal, that and Crown Agents are terrible pilots," he added with a small smile.

[chef_chocobro]

This, coming from the man whose preferred method of landing seemed to be crash?

Ignis figured it was probably a good time for a change in topic, before his opinion on how Shane's operation was run (or not run, by the sounds of it, how do you not go in without much of a plan?) continued to decline and before he started to get a little twitchy over the bad guys on this particular scenario also being called the Crown.

"So," he said, oh so smoothly, "about that food..."

[notagoose]

Sometimes Goose also liked piloting head on into enemy ships as well … he had a strange definition of piloting.

“Oh yes,” Goose realised that it would be helpful to actually get around to serving the meal that he had prepared for dinner, “I ended up trying the recipe from the other week … the creamy spinach stuffed salmon,” he said as he went to start serving it, “I’m hoping that it will taste okay,”

[chef_chocobro]

It was a definition that was sure to inspire many a headache.

At least Ignis was used to those kinds of headaches, though.

But with the move into a topic that would (hopefully) cause fewer headaches (and ideally no stomachaches in their stead), Ignis smiled faintly. "I'm certainly eager to try it," he said, "and see if any of that most recent...lesson," which had only marginally been about actual cooking instruction, really, "managed to stick."

[notagoose]

Goose grinned at that and found himself starting to go quite pink again at that as he remembered that lesson, "well I suppose we'll soon find out if I managed to follow the recipe correctly,," he said, trying to not feel nervous, "I think I remembered everything from that ... lesson though," and then his cheeks started to go even redder.

[chef_chocobro]

"If not," said Ignis, who was blaming this response entirely on the presence of that blush, especially as it deepened, "then I suppose maybe more instruction may be required."

[notagoose]

Apparently it was possible for Goose’s cheeks to go even redder, “well …” he said with a shy grin, “I wouldn’t say no to further instruction … I mean … there’s always room for improvement, right?”

[chef_chocobro]

"Always," Ignis agreed, with a certain sort of satisfied pleasure that came from getting to hear someone else saying that for a change, especially this particular someone else and in this particular context. "But let us dig in and see just how much work...we have cut out for us tonight."

[notagoose]

"I do like the sound of that," Goose grinned as he began to start serving the food onto the plates, "well I managed to not burn it so that was definitely a start right? I know how to cook things without setting them on fire?"

Well considering where he was when he was first starting out with his cooking adventures it was definitely a start.

[chef_chocobro]

"I feel as though it might be extremely dangerous to tell you this," said Ignis, who should know better, but such was the charm of a blushing hulk of a man trying to fumble his wah through cooking for his benefit, "but there are actually some dishes where setting them on fire is actually the point."

[notagoose]

"Really? There are foods you can set on fire?" Goose's eyes were wide, "do you think I could try to make one of them one day?

Ignis wasn't surprised at all by that response was he?

[chef_chocobro]

Not in the least.

"En flambé," Ignis offered, with a pleased, amused little smile, but there was something a bit regretful in it, as he realized that immediately offering to show Shane about it next time came with a few complications when he wasn't sure exactly when a next time would be. And the slight concern that Shane might go ahead and attempt them all on his own without guidance.

Well. The firefighters in this town did need a bit more to do, he supposed, but that was hardly optimal.

"I'll definitely have to show you sometime," he offered, nice and vague with plenty of room for the uncertain weeks ahead.

[notagoose]

“I would like that, if you could show me how to make one,” Goose smiled, “hopefully the only thing that will be on fire will be the actual dish as well,” he said.

Even though there was a good chance that he'd burn other things in addition to the dish.

[chef_chocobro]

"That would certainly be ideal," Ignis agreed.

And then hesitated a moment, with a certain reluctance, but he supposed this was as good as an opening as he was likely to get, and he should, at the very least, be honest about it.

"It maybe a while, though," he added, with a well-practiced nonchalance about it. "This treaty business is likely to demand a good deal of my time in the next couple of weeks."

With a sip of his wine, he considered some of the finer details of the terms being discussed.

"Or months, really, if we're being realistic."

[notagoose]

Even though he tried, Goose couldn’t help his expression from faltering just a little.

“Oh,” he said quietly and then stared down at his wine, trying to come up with a better response then that, “I …oh,”

He didn’t have a better response and wow that wine was really fascinating.

[chef_chocobro]

And that response (or lack thereof) was far worse than if Shane had had so much more to say about it.

"I will try," he said, "to find a few pockets of time here and there. If...if you'd like. It's just...well, I suppose there's no harm in telling you, they're likely to make it public soon, anyway, but part of the treaty involves an engagement...and subsequent marriage...between Noctis and the lady Lunafreya. I'm sure you can imagine how involved at of that is going to be."

Not to mention just dealing with Noctis himself, when he hears the news.

[notagoose]

Goose looked up from his wine, “I …I understand,” he finally said, “I hope it’s successful,” he said quietly, “the only weddings I’ve seen are the ones on Tri-D,” he admitted, “at least some of the more extravagant ones,”