#shieldofcaelum

He all but drags the other man towards the messier parts of the city, where the buildings almost squished together and the streets are narrow. Möngke pauses before immediately heading straight to a rather rundown sushi bar of some sort and waves Gladiolus over. The sushi bar itself looks like it might’ve seen better days, now grown weary and strangely discolored with time.

The Glaive doesn’t seem to care about the building’s condition and heads in, opening the door for Gladio and pointing up at the ceiling of the doorframe. “Watch your head,” is what he means to say with a pointed look.

Inside, the reek of fresh seafood mixes with the smell of tempura cooking. The interior itself is cleaner than expected, thankfully enough. Möngke makes a point to rap his knuckles against the door twice to gain the owner’s attention—who happens to be a withered, gruff-looking woman with a squint to her eyes. She looks up from the cash register behind the counter and scowls before she recognizes one of the customers’ faces.

“Little monkey! I ‘aven’t seen ya in ages!” the owner greets warmly with a harsh laugh. “Brought a friend? Come in, come in—the others took a break.”

Dark glasses weren’t particularly practical for a place like this, given how dim it already was, but Ignis felt it necessary. He didn’t want to run the risk of anyone recognising him, even if there was next to no chance of someone he knew ever deigning to patronise this kind of establishment. Present company excluded, of course. That company being Gladio, who had managed, somehow, to persuade Ignis out for the evening.

The bar was barely more than a large, underground room, lit by bare bulbs that flickered from time to time. Ignis had grave reservations about the overall health and safety, but Gladio seemed comfortable in this environment and that was enough to put Ignis’ mind at rest. The glass of bourbon in front him didn’t inspire similar confidence. Wine, he could deal with. He was used to wine at official functions, and knew his limits, but hard liquor was relatively unfamiliar to him.

It had been weeks since the inauguration day of her becoming Queen of Dalmasca. She had been tackling tasks asked by her people slowly making peace return to the small country. Even the other two countries surrounding Dalmasca was at peace. Yet with this peace now alive in the hearts of every Dalmascan, her advisors still wanted her to have a body guard.

What ever for? She had asked herself multiple times. Ashe, at first was very hesitant to the idea but when her advisors said they didn’t want her to have the same risks that happened to her father. She had agreed but at the same time she didn’t think it would happen.

But to make her people and advisors happy, she sent out word to the peoples that she was looking for a bodyguard. She would be specific on this. But what to look for? She thought about their connection. She needed someone that she would be comfortable around 24/7. Other thoughts crossed her mind but the main one that remained in her mind was the connection.

The day of the choosing of a bodyguard had many people come to present themselves to her. Some irked Ashe and by the end, she felt hopeless. Standing out in the garden, she took a deep breath of the desert air and looked at her flowers.

A servant came up towards her slowly and with a bit of hesitancy he spoke. “There’s a man here who heard of your body guard call….”

Iris had been at home with her brother, but remained in her room playing with some of her toys. That was, until she heard the groan from her stomach. She was hungry, for sure. She got up and headed out of her room, humming a bit as she headed to Gladio’s room and knocked. 

cont from here.

In the designers defense, he was in a crystal stasis for ten years. I doubt he did much lifting. If anything, he should be skinnier, because of lack of movement and nutrition.