voidtreckerexpress | But in and outside

Entry tags:

But in and outside

Who: Renee & Ignis
When: Basoon 19
Where: Somewhere on the train
What: A chat post battle, Ignis has a thank you he hasn't yet delivered
Warnings: None yet?

After recent events, Ignis has been checking on more people, his team and getting things together. But there's one person that he hasn't personally thanked yet which was Renee. It almost seemed as if he couldn't find her on a crowded train which was the strangest thing. But then again maybe she'd been so busy with other things of late that it couldn't really be helped.

She'd helped him and his team out with their mission and had even brought food at one point. So her kindness hadn't been forgotten at all. So as the advisor passed through the train today, finally he'd spotted that familiar head of red hair sitting down. Without a word, he went back and brought coffee. She had remarked once how she liked how he made coffee so he thought to bring her some.

Placing the cup in front of her at the table along with the creamer and sugar, Ignis smiled. Good manners forbade him to just have a seat without permission. So he looked at Renee questioningly.

"May I sit?"

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"Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas too--the lights and ornaments that the pine trees get decorated with are pretty. I just like Halloween better, I guess. I mean, there's a scary aspect to it--you're supposed to frighten other people and be frightened a bit, and there are haunted houses and stuff."

Not that Renee had actually been through a haunted house--acted at one? Sure. It had been a good way to get a costume and a bit of money for candy to pass out to kids...

"Usually my brothers and I would try to get jobs around then. Raking leaves, mowing lawns, or acting at a haunted house. The last part was the best because we could get away from Dad. Once the actual date for Halloween rolled around, one of us would stay home and pass out candy. The others would get candy by trick or treating. If we had extra time, we'd go work the haunted house, too--they were super popular. That was basically it, for us."

That and hiding their earnings and their candy from their father, too.

More notes went down. Ornaments were something new and the trees.."Are the trees only allowed to be Pine?" By the Six he was going to do this christmas thing right. Especially since Renee said that this was all a sort of spirit that resided in people.

"Halloween is something to do with witches and costumes then correct?" That was about all Ignis knew about Halloween. And as he listened he had more questions. "What is the meaning behind this..trick or treating and passing out candy?"

There had to be a reason behind the things. Christmas he understood about now. But this Halloween thing was new and he wanted to learn all that he could about it.

"Uh. I think they use spruce too. They're supposed to be...coniferous? So with needles instead of leaves, and cones filled with seeds." It had been a while since Renee had had any sort of biology class, so the proper terms took a moment to unearth themselves...

"Ornaments are just little decorations." She'd noticed the note-taking. Not that Renee could figure out why Ignis was bothering, but most of his team did consist of children, so... "Christmas motifs are things like...reindeer, snowmen, gingerbread men, Santa himself, elves--but not like Feanor or Curufin, they're smaller and more cutesy, if that makes any sense?" She really does not want to see what Feanor might do if he were likened to a Christmas elf.

"Yeah, it hearkens back more to rituals about turning of the seasons and the dead, if I remember my reading right. You dress up as something frightening to scare away the spirits of the dead?" It had been equally long since Renee had read things about that, so she was worried it was hazy. "It's a pagan holiday too...or around it. That's more a harvest festival. It's called Samhain, but they're usually right around the same time? I think?" Renee chuckled a little.

"It's a bribe, basically. You're giving out treats so you don't get tricked. The trick part was more of a thing in past centuries, but some teenagers who are more delinquent than my brothers and I were? They'd do things like throw rolls of toilet paper into people's trees, or egg their houses, if they didn't get candy or whatever in quantities they liked."

More meticulous notes were taken and Ignis nodded. Renee was definitely pretty well informed and this was all going to help so much to try and do this whole christmas thing proper for his team. But he did plan to hold a team meeting to see what was traditional to them to, just in case all of these wonderful notes didn't compare with anything that they were used to.

He couldn't help but laugh at the mental image of Feanor or Curufin as tiny elves making toys that he'd heard about so to give himself a moment after that, he had some coffee. "That does indeed make sense."

After listening to Renee get back on the topic of Halloween, he continued to take notes about why the holiday had the traditions that it did. The harvest aspect was interesting and made notes about it being pagan. Those got question marks for him to ask about.

He shook his head when she went on about eggs and toilet paper. He was just glad he grew up where he did and not where Renee was so all of that was definitely avoided, because it sounded altogether unpleasant. "I see." was all he would say regarding it.

"And I'm sorry, I don't quite know what pagan is."

Why did his cellphone not work so he could look this up? Oh right, space.

"However, I do have a more pressing question. "When precisely is Halloween?"

"It's got to do with religion, not that I'm religious, myself. It's..." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "One of the biggest religions on my world is monotheistic, they worship one god." Despite said god being in three parts, usually. "Anyway, pagan is pretty much anything not involved with that religion."

Renee shrugged at that. "Anyway, I don't know what month Bassoon's supposed to reflect, but Halloween was at the end of October. First full month of the fall season. Leaves on the trees were turning colors and falling off, and it could be sort of cool and spooky most places where I'd lived, so."

A thought struck her then. "You want me to put little drawings of Halloween stuff and Christmas stuff in your margin? They're not going to be stunning, but it might give you an idea of what you're trying to aim for, I guess."

If it were up to her, Renee wouldn't, but she was pretty sure Ignis was doing it for the kids on his team--if not the younger set on the whole train--and as far as that went, she refused to be a party pooper.

No notes were written on pagan or this other one god thing.

But then notes were written at the part of the colours and leaves. Renee had mentioned spooky things and haunted things earlier, so those went into the notes.

At her offer though, Ignis was delighted. "Drawings would certainly give this a clearer picture. If you would be so kind." Immediately he turned the papers around to her so that she could start to get to work. Really he didn't need them. But getting her involved in this whole thing was where he was going with it.

"They need not be stunning, but they will help."

"Good, 'cause they're not going to be stunning. Music was my art, not...drawing or painting or stuff." Though really, her doodles aren't terribly bad. She has Christmas ones by his entry there, as a border. Santa's head, a reindeer, an elf head, a Christmas ornament (just a simple bulb), a string of lights. She adds on a gingerbread man and then moves on to Halloween--a witch on a broomstick, a black bat, a black cat, a full moon, a skeleton, a vampire, and a werewolf.

"You think I'm missing anything? Wait, you wouldn't know." She makes a face at that. "Then again, you could always ask someone else to add to them..."

Ignis sips his coffee as his green eyes watch Renee do her doodles. He didn't recognize some of the things she was drawing but he was definitely interested. It took her a little while to get them fully drawn but he looked up as she asked her question. Honestly he had no idea what she was missing, and he smiled as she supplied that he wouldn't know the answer.

"I wouldn't even know what to ask them to add." This was said with a small shake of his head. "As it stands, I'm not completely sure what you've drawn so far." His head tilted as he tried to decode the symbols, but then the green eyes returned to Renee's face. "Care to translate for me?"

"Okay, okay!" Renee couldn't help but snort in amusement, then leaned over the notes and started pointing to the doodles.

"You know what bats and cats are, I hope?" Pointing those out. The cat was just a face, really, though she picked up a pen again and did a little doodle of a cat in a Halloween-style back arch. So long as no one was asking her to do a portrait or anything, her doodles served just fine. "And I hoped the moon was kind of obvious, too."

She went down the line, naming each doodle and if possible, she tried to give a little history about each monster she'd drawn. Renee ended up adding a little Frankenstein's monster head, too, and describing the story of the mad scientist and his creation.

"And that's Halloween stuff," Renee said, moving on to repeat the process she'd just ended with one holiday with Christmas, now. "So didn't you have any holidays where you're from?" she asked, once she'd finished there.

He nodded about the cats and the bats. "Yes the moon was." Ignis is still watching her pretty intently trying to figure out what she's doing. It was truly fascinating to hear all of the things that Renee knew about. All of these stories really helped create a much bigger picture in his mind than he had before.

"You should be a school teacher." And this wasn't said mockingly, Ignis genuinely meant every word. He marveled at all of her wisdom and then she moved onto the christmas doodles that she was doing. Again Renee was quite the source of information.

When she turned a question on him, he shook his head. "Birthdays and the founding of the Kingdom. We have festivals but they're themed really, nothing at all such as you're describing."

"Oh hell no!" Renee exclaimed, looking downright frightened. "I don't have the patience for that sort of thing! I'd scare the little kids, or worse." Bust a desk in a fit of frustration, send the kiddies running scared. No thank you. Of the many things Renee envisioned herself as, a teacher was not one of them. Not in the least.

"Birthdays, huh? Not that I have any clue what I'd get you, but what the hell. When's yours?"

Renee's emphatic reaction startled Ignis a bit and he was about to apologize, but then she explained. Mentally he disagreed with her, thinking that she would be able to have the patience, but then again she knew herself better than he ever would. She had been very kind to his team so that's all he had to go by.

At the topic change he smiled. "My birthday is February seventh and no gift is required. When is your birthday?"

"Too close to Christmas to do anything for, or so I've been told." Last time Renee remembered having anything remotely resembling a birthday party, she'd still been wearing dresses willingly.

"Besides, if you're not gonna accept a gift, why should I? Turnabout's fair play and all that." She didn't think she was that good with kids, especially really young ones. That didn't mean that Renee didn't try, or that she didn't like kids. She'd just feel bad if she was the one who hurt them by being careless.

"I figure you got told the date. Three days before." The date for Christmas, she meant.

Nodding, Ignis didn't want to push it. Plans began forming in his mind immediately as to what to do. He wasn't sure who all of her friends were but he would definitely try to keep an eye on that sort of thing so that he could make sure she had her friends around her for her birthday.

"That's fair." he agreed easily. However, her birthday was before his and if he could find a way to have someone else give her a gift from him in the guise that it was from them and not him, well he won.

"Will you help me with the Halloween and christmas things then?" Might as well have a partner in crime.

"What kind of help are we talking about, here? And the more important question: why are you asking me, and not Tony? He's like a big kid anyway." Which was the gods' honest truth...

Though she made a little bit of a face at that. "Not sure you really have to twist my arm about Halloween, though, I mean." Renee wasn't entirely sure she wanted to, but since a lot of her best memories revolved around Halloween, well.

"I gotta wonder if that was why there were pumpkins on the last platform. I kinda, uh, grabbed some." Not that she'd done anything with them except store some of the bigger ones in kitchen storage--Renee had grabbed an armful of smaller ones, too. Those were still in her duffle bag, hidden in her room. They'd seemed to be okay, so far...

"Decorations.." and Ignis' voice trailed off at the mention of Tony. Something seemed off about it, maybe that was the reason she had..no. "I thought to ask you, but if you'd like to decline, that is up to you."

He couldn't force her to help and wouldn't even if he could. But then she went on about Halloween and so that's what the pumpkins must've been for. Ignis had meant to grab some for pies and ingredients, not having used them before. However, as he thought to do so, Tony had an anxiety attack and there hadn't been time.

"You did? How many?" This has Ignis curious, interested chef is interested.

"Uh, three or four big one and maybe six or seven little ones? I can carry a lot, but it also kinda depends on how good my balance with it all is." Since her kinetic powers didn't also include telekinesis, which for once Renee felt was a real pity. She could've gotten so many more pumpkins, had that been the case.

"Yeah, pumpkins are a thing for Halloween and fall in general, 'cuz usually they're harvested around them. They're usually for jack-o-lanterns..." Her lips twitched at that.

"They used to be called 'ignis fatuus' or foolish fire, 'cause they were another name for will-o-wisps, too. Things people thought were like...ghostly fire, but it was probably just like...swamp gas, I don't know. I've never seen anything like that, but I generally don't go hang around in a swamp, either..."

Renee paused again, thinking. "They carve jack-o-lanterns from all sorts of gourds and root veggies, in the places that do it, but my brothers and I just used pumpkins..." She shrugged. "And we'd put tea lights in them to make them glow."

"How fascinating." Ignis pronounced, writing everything down. At this rate, he might have more notes on Halloween than christmas. But there he went, until he caught his name used in conjunction with foolish and then his green eyes narrowed. It was something else though and he nodded thoughtfully. "Fire and swamps, both can be rather nasty business."

His pen had paused and he looked at her. "So you clean it all out and then cook the insides. Then you carve the husk and use it as a luminary.." More notes.

"Those would be splendid things to see."

Edited 2019-10-20 01:14 (UTC)

"No no, you don't cook pumpkin guts, not the squishy stuff! You can separate out the seeds and roast them, but if you want to make pumpkin for pie, you get the guts out and roast the actual pumpkin. Skin on, but that comes off afterwards." Renee was no cook or chef or anything in the ballpark of Ignis' skill, but she knew that much. If only because she'd do that to their leftover jack-o-lanterns, if they weren't scorched. Food was food.

"Oh, I should tell you about Turkey Day--uh, that's American Thanksgiving. Canada--that's another country on my world--they have Thanksgiving too, but that's usually before Halloween. American Thanksgiving is celebrated between Halloween and Christmas--the fourth Thursday in November." She didn't remember when Canada did it, so she'd skip that part--though if Ignis asked, Renee would own up to not knowing.

"Yeah, glowing jack-o-lanterns are part of the fun of Halloween! But Thanksgiving is like...gratitude for a good harvest and a time to get together with family." Which probably meant nothing good for Renee, but she was trying to separate out what was good from her own shitty experiences. "There's usually a lot of food--the centerpiece is a roasted turkey. That's a flightless bird that's native to America. And then stuff like potatoes, cranberries and yams and other veggies, and bread, and pumpkin pie...the idea is basically to eat. A lot."

Renee'd already eaten, but she already felt like she could have another go at the kitchen, after relaying that.

"I see." This had him amending his note scribbles. It seemed as soon as he got those notes down, now Renee was throwing something else at him. Thanksgiving. He hadn't heard about that one, so she got an interested glance and he pulled out a clean sheet of paper, not knowing how much of it he was going to need in order to properly notate all that she was going to undoubtedly tell him.

More notes went down but Ignis looked up at her when he was done. In that short span of time he'd filled up three quarters of the page with just notes. "Thinking of feeding an entire train would take days of meal preparation. Or different days could be scheduled since I am not the only one who cooks here." Not that he'd be sharing the kitchen with any of them as he didn't for the party.

His green eyes looked and flipped a few pages backwards. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us."

"Assuming we can even find turkeys...though that's just traditional, pretty sure there are other foods used for a main course too." Though Renee is not even going to speak blasphemy by naming things like tofu. Tofu is okay, but it's not a primary food source, even to her when she was desperate...

"You want me to do some illustrations for you there, too?" Though she couldn't help sort of chuckling at that. "Well, yeah, but you're the chef, I'm just gonna chop and clean for you if you need, I guess." She'd already volunteered, and stubborn and prickly as she is, Renee wouldn't go back on that now. If nothing else, she's got her pride.

"We can substitute. I'm sure we'll find more ingredients on another mission." Foraging and fighting were after all, certainly up this man's alley. Ignis wasn't even sure that he would be able to find birds in time, but as of the next mission he was a man on a mission of a different sort too.

"Illustrations would indeed help." He surrendered the paper and pen to her, delighted that she would help. Picking up his mug, green eyes peered into it. "I'm getting more coffee, can I fetch you another cup?"

It was repayment for all of her help after all.

"Yeah, sure." For the moment, Renee was more involved with drawing turkeys and multicolored corn and cranberries and other Thanksgiving-inspired doodles across the top of Ignis' Thanksgiving page.

"Yeah, it depends on what the train gives us too, I imagine. Not that we even know what month it actually is corresponding to, back on Earth or where ever else!" Which was a bit frustrating to her, but Renee wasn't really sure she cared if she knew when she turned 20, either...

He went off and refilled the coffee cups. Bringing them back, he set hers down first. Looking over her shoulder at the new drawings, he couldn't help but smile before seating himself across from her.

"Well I'd imagine if the pumpkins are any indication, we must be in or near this Halloween of yours." It was Renee's holiday because Ignis didn't have that back where he was from. It made him wonder what the citadel would look like though he didn't imagine Regis would be up for decorating the throne room with spider webbing.

Noct might like the idea of it, but spiders and bugs weren't his thing, so he highly doubted the new King of Lucis would allow them near him.

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But in and outside

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