Recipe #002 - Waking Up

[blindrecipe]

Who: Ignis Scientia
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Ignis' room, First Breath
When: October 1st

Action - Ignis' Room, First Breath

[Falling asleep was easy. Exhaustion had played such a huge part of things when Ignis's head had touched his pillow that night after watching the meteor strike Lyuku. Waking up, on the other hand, is difficult. Everything feels stiff and he's not sure that he really wants to face it. Suddenly, he understands how Noctis has felt on more than one occasion.

A sound to his left catches his attention and he turns his head in that direction, pulling on the scar tissue around his left eye, nose and forehead.]

The Six take me... Gladio, is that you?

[No, this isn't Zegnatus. No bed in the dread fortress was this...comfortable isn't the world. Familiar. This bed is familiar, but not the bed he had in Insomnia. It takes a minute as he attempts to open his sightless eyes out of habit.]

Noct? Prompto?

Video

[Blind men can't see buttons to make it audio only, so take in his nifty scars. It seems the Atroma have taken his sunglasses.]

I feel I must apologize to anyone who has been worried about me since the excitement with the inhabitants of Lyuku. I appear to have gone back to Eos for a short period of time.

You may find me on the First Breath should you wish to talk in person.

Comments

Video

[searingedgelord]

[Velvet knew he'd been sleeping, she'd gone to meet him to do some cooking and found out that way. But she wasn't expecting him to wake up wounded. Though after what happened to Carl, maybe she shouldn't be surprised.]

Ignis? You all right?

[blindrecipe]

[A part of him had hoped to hear from Velvet, but he doesn't want her to see him lesser than he was before. He might not be an egoist, but he does have his own self worth and the constant assistance that Gladio and Prompto seemed to think he needed with every step has irked him something terrible for the last few weeks.]

I've had the time to adjust to life as it is now, though I suspect it will be interesting to relearn my way around the ships once again.

[searingedgelord]

[Hm, well, he doesn't seem terribly distressed. At least not outwardly. She doesn't know what it's like to wake up from one of those naps. If he really has had time to deal with it, she supposes that does make a difference.]

Do you mind if I come over? You owe me a cooking lesson, you know.

[blindrecipe]

[There's nothing he can do about it. After nearly three weeks, he's made his peace with the fact that he might never get to see again. He isn't happy about it, but he isn't letting it rule his life either.

One must press onward, after all.]

Ah, yes, Prompto told me that I'd been asleep for more than a week. I apologize for any inconvenience. I'm not sure how helpful I will be in our usual lessons, but I won't forbid you to come over.

video

[brainiest]

[ Knowing he'd been sleeping and hearing him wake up were two different things; when he comes back on the feed and she sees his scarring... Her heart hurts. For a long time she just sits and watches the video, not entirely sure what to do or say, her mouth dry and her heart heavy, but soon she decides that she needs to get over it.

It's still Ignis. He's still the man she cared for, he's just a little more hurt than he had been before. She can understand that, and for a moment it feels as though her own scars ache in sympathy.

Slowly, she manages to reply, breathing out gently. ]

Can I come to the First Breath, Ignis?

[blindrecipe]

[He can sort of hear someone over the line but he's not sure who it is. If they don't speak soon, he's ready to call them out on it, but then he doesn't have to when he hears her voice.

He knows how long it's been since he'd gone to sleep and never woke up here, but it feels like an eternity, considering what he and the others went through back on Eos. Now is as good a time to find out where they stand now that he's come to terms with his own injury.]

Certainly, Hermione. You are as welcome here as you ever were.

[brainiest]

Okay. I'll be there as fast as the shuttles can take me.

[ She does want to see him, after all, after all the fretting and worrying that had come over the last handful of weeks. It feels like an eternity since they were sitting together on the planet and now... Now she doesn't know what to do or say, and she rushes to make her way to the shuttles so that she can get over to him. It's not going to end well for her heart, but it's not the first time she's been there for a friend in pain.

Off the shuttle, she makes her way through to the rooms on the ship, wandering down until she finds the one with Ignis' name on it. She knocks on the door, poking her head inside carefully. ]

Ignis?

[blindrecipe]

[It's strange, but since losing his eyesight, his sense of hearing and smell have greatly increased. Of course, he's heard stories of it happening to others, but it hadn't really played a big part of his life until now.

But he can hear her footsteps before she arrives to his door, as it's open. And then she is there. He reaches over for his walking stick that the Atroma were nice enough to let him keep and uses it to stand from his bed.]

Come in, Hermione. I fear that I don't know the actual state of this room. Prompto and Noctis had been here every day evidently.

[this_loser]

Got it on the third try.

[He's trying for annoyingly chipper, but, well, some emotions are harder to hide than others. His voice wavers behind the smile Ignis can't even see. He'd heard about people skipping forward in memories, but somehow they'd neglected to tell him about actually, physically skipping forward.]

Welcome back, Igs. T-take it easy, okay? You've been out for a while.

[blindrecipe]

Last, but certainly not least, my friend.

[The fact that Prompto's voice is so forced is not lost on Ignis. He can hear the pain that the other man is really poorly attempting hide from him, but it doesn't matter. He's lived through worse.]

How long is a while? I remember coming in here after Lyuku's meteor struck it.

[this_loser]

More than a week. At first I thought you'd pushed yourself too hard and needed a good long nap. But then you just ... wouldn't wake up. Hermione said it's something that happens sometimes. Still...

[It was unsettling. Not unlike waiting for Noctis to wake after Leviathan. He'd heard of others on sister ships in a similar state, who had been asleep for weeks longer.]

[blindrecipe]

While I admit that I do push myself, nothing so much as that.

A week...How are the others?

[He's afraid to ask about people specifically. He's not sure he wants to know.]

Is Ardyn still gone?

(Video)

[soulsflight]

(Those are some nifty scars. They get her attention.)

Had a little adventure, did you?

[blindrecipe]

[They are rather shocking, it's true.]

I'm not sure that I would call it that. A slight trip home is all it was.

[soulsflight]

(He should wear them with pride! That's a little more complicated when he can't really see them. Or anything.)

Learn anything interesting? Did time stop like they say?

[blindrecipe]

[Well, he earned them in the act of trying to save civilians, so it's not as if he's shying away from them either. It's just what they signify that really makes him upset.]

Yes, that part is true. I returned to the moment that I left and spent weeks back on my home world while I slept here for over a week as well.

[starless_sky]

Right here... careful.

<sub>[He's been sitting here with Umbra for hours. He will go cook something or heat something up for the crew. They still have real food from Lyuku. He and Luna had a cash bonus after their wedding... the Atroma's idea of a wedding gift perhaps and they spent it on food. He wasn't about to serve his wife or his friends that gel garbage.

But beyond cooking, checking on Luna, and sleeping... he was here. He watched as Ignis' body changed and he felt as sorrow weighed down his heart. He hoped Ignis could keep his eyesight here. He had hoped... that it would be a pleasant escape for them all. He remembered that miserable journey after Luna's death... When everything seemed grey and awful. When he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and maybe never wake up.

Ignis' speech in the swamp... after he was the one who fucking figured out how to kill the Marlboro. He was still Noct's greatest support and he would never leave him. He'd been so scared when he lost Ignis in Zegnautus. Gladio too but... Gladio left him at times... Ignis.... Ignis had to be taken away from him. That's the bond they had. So for the time being... he would have to be taken away from Ignis.]</sub>

I'm right here... I have some water and I can make you something if you're hungry.

[blindrecipe]

[As much as he's talked about bowing out so not to keep Noctis and others from completing their objectives, being left behind now that he cannot see has been weighing on him like an Iron Giant. Having to get in between Gladio and Noctis during their bickering, having to prove to himself and his friends that he's not worthless, being separated from Noct when he needed him the most....

It's almost a relief to be back on the Fleet, even if Gladio is gone.]

No, it's not necessary, but thank you, Noct. Where is Lady Lunafreya?

[starless_sky]

<sub>[Noctis could never leave him. He needed Ignis...when Prompto went missing he didn't call Gladio. When anything at all happened he didn't reach out to Gladio. Even Gladio jokingly called him captain but... while Noct was king... Ignis was their leader. No one would dare cross him. Noct could never leave him.

It's a relief to have him back, even if he will need a lot of help. Noct just wants to stay in the fleet for as long as possible with as many people as he can muster. If Gladio came here... it might be tense between him and Iggy but he'd be glad.]</sub>

Well let me know... oh, she's working. You know her, always a workaholic even now. Do you want me to get her? Maybe she can help your eyes...

video;

[wingenvy]

[wow, hey buddy, your eyes don't look so good.]

Ignis? Were you down for a while? Welcome back, man.

Re: video;

[blindrecipe]

[Yeah, they don't work so well either.]

Forgive me, but I'm not as familiar with everyone's voices as I was their faces. [He takes a small beat to comb through his memory.] Zack Fair, yes?

And according to Prompto and Noctis, I was asleep for more than a week.

video;

[wingenvy]

[oh.

dear.

guess that confirms it, then.]

Yeah, that's me. A week, huh... do you need anything, or are they takin' good care of you? That's a long time to be off your feet.

[luxoraculi]

[ It has been a little over a week since Ignis fell asleep. They've all been watching over him, especially after the chaos on Lyuku. She's been busy tending to her duties as communications officer, and so when she sees Ignis' video, she takes in the changes immediately.

Noctis had said he'd go blind in the future, but he hadn't mentioned how scarred the poor man would be.

It is not often Lunafreya excuses herself from work, but today is the exception. She is quick to make her way to Ignis' quarters, and she knocks lightly on the door before pushing the hatch open and poking her head in. ]

Ignis...? Are you still awake? [ Of course he is. She knows he is, but she is trying to be polite. She doesn't want to just... barge in. But she wants to know that he's alright, if he needs anything... moral support, water... anything. ]

[blindrecipe]

[It is a relief to hear the cultured tones of Lunafreya after waking up. Only three weeks ago, he'd had to deliver the news of her demise to Noctis and listen to his friend in pain at her loss.

He gives her a smile, tired and and strained though it is.]

Of course, Milady. Please, come in. [Stop acting as if he's spun glass.]

[luxoraculi]

[ When she is invited in, she makes her way forward and moves to sit next to him. The mattress dips lightly underneath her weight, and she finds herself staring down at her feet. ]

We were worried about you when you would not wake up... how do you feel?

[ Luna's tone is quiet and calm. She can only imagine that he does not want any sort of sympathy right now... she can relate in that aspect. Any time people find out her fate, they give her that look. She wants to acknowledge Ignis' injuries and remind him that they are all here for him, but she does not want to do it in such a way that might make him feel any worse. ]

You did not miss much these last few weeks... Chancellor Izunia seems to be gone for good.