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Description
Another long day at the office has wrapped. Ignis sighs as the keys to his penthouse suite jangles as he unlocks the door. Relieved he gets to spend another night in relative peace by himself. It’s been weeks and he hasn’t seen Indra outside of when she would make the occasional delivery and small talk on the phone. He’s begun to miss her and despite his best efforts, it seems like things are still falling apart. Just slowly this time.

Exhausted, Ignis walks into his massive apartment. He sensed that the lights were on, perhaps he left them on when he rushed out to work that morning. Then a strong smell of chemically enhanced lemon hit his nose. The smell only getting stronger when he turned towards the kitchen. Almost frozen in place, he puts up his hands defensively and gasped. He’s not alone and this scared him. The door slammed shut behind him and he was ready for a fight.

A soft voice echoed from across the kitchen, “uhh…hi?”

Fear turned into a flood of emotions and Ignis shakily blurted out, “by the gods, you came?!”

“Yes, I’m done running. Uhh…I wasn’t planning on using the keys but I wanted to try it out,” said the voice.

“Seems everything you said was true,” said Indra, a believer now.

“What are you up to?” Ignis asked, after regaining his composure.

His blushing smile was so big it made his cheeks hurt.

“Cleaning. I had a bad day at school. I failed a big test. I figured I could come here to unwind,” said Indra as she finished wiping the kitchen counter.

Maybe the stress from all this was getting to her too and affecting her grades at school.

“You clean to relax?” asked Ignis, while taking off his coat and hanging it on the rack near his door.

“Sometimes. I figured you could use a little help. The place was getting a little dusty. Don’t worry, I didn’t move anything around,” Indra explained.

He has been neglecting his house duties because the emotional stress of everything was getting to be too much.

She approached Ignis wanting to hug him but she didn’t want to get any cleaning agents on his fancy work clothes. Ignis was still reeling from that moment of panic. He felt his temperature fluctuate and a slight shiver in his spine. One minute he felt hot and the next cold. He was trying his hardest not to break a sweat.

“Perhaps you should come over more often when you’re stressed,” Ignis joked.

Indra chuckled, “I bet you’d love that.”

“If you need help with school I can connect you with some of the best tutors,” Ignis suggested.

“Thanks for the offer but I’ll be meeting with my friend later,” Indra replied, edging closer to fill the gap between them.

They both broke out in laughter which lifted the tension in the room. Ignis went to lock the door and catch his breath. Indra washed off her arms and put away the cleaning supplies. He didn’t want to waste any time and once they were done he met her in the living room.

“How have you been? How are you feeling?” asked Indra. She was sitting on the couch now with a book nearby.

Ignis stopped in his tracks, the question pierced his soul like a dagger. “I’ve been so unexplainably sad. I can’t remember the last time I truly felt happy.”

He made his way to the couch and sat beside her. If only she knew the warmth from her presence was more than enough. The addictive scent of amber vanilla and coconut was deeply missed. On long work days she smelled of sweat, coffee, and coconuts. It was comforting and euphoric. Ignis had grown lonely and restless not being this close to her in so long. Indra was speechless for a moment. She knew he wasn’t talking about her or their plight directly. Instead she sat with him in silence until Ignis decided to speak again.

“So…have you thought about things?” he asked, acknowledging all the space and time he had given her. He’s not unaccustomed to waiting but this time was literal torture.

“Yes.” she answered.

“Do you want to talk about it? Or is it still too soon?” Ignis asked nervously.

“I thought about my behavior. What I was doing isn’t going to help or fix anything,” she began.

“I’ve done a lot of reading and research. I’m figuring out how I can apply this new knowledge and advice to myself as I move along,” Indra continued.

With a crack in her voice, “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Her self awareness and accountability was admirable. She wants to work on herself and not only try to be better, but do better also. Clearly, she’s been doing the work during her time away from him.

Ignis removed his gloves and dropped them on the table. He reached to touch her and instead scooted himself closer by her side. Their arms touching now. He yearned for her touch and softness.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Ignis insisted, reminding her that all this was his fault.

He took out his phones and also placed them on the table and told her all his passwords. Reminded her that she’s free to look through and use them when she wants. Indra did the same although not sure how he would do so considering his disability.

“This old phone is a little glitchy. I’ve been wanting to get a new one for a long time. Haven’t had the chance yet,” Indra said.

“I’ll figure it out,” said Ignis. Suddenly getting a potential gift idea in his head.

He explained how the disability features work on his phone and how to use them. If she needed help she could just ask. However, neither bothered to pick up a phone yet.

Indra leaned her head on his shoulder and exhaled. Ignis placed his arm around her waist and rubbed her back slowly. His hand would glide like silk in and out of her ironed straight hair. Ignis leaned his head into hers for comfort.

“Indra, what do you want?” he asked, uncertain if she was still sitting on the fence in regards to their relationship.

“I want what you want,” she answered.

Relief rolled over his body in waves, sending shivers up and down his spine. It was clear that she’s not going anywhere. This was his moment to explain the measures he’s taken already to prevent this from happening again.

“I’ve taken back the keys, ceased all outside contact unless it’s work related or an emergency, and removed/unfollowed from the socials. Got rid of the memories, deleted messages, comments, photos…everything I could find. Not just with her…” Ignis stammered.

Hiding that Gladio helped him with the purge. They even flipped his apartment upside down and inside out to throw away anything incriminating. There was nothing worth remembering or keeping when all it ended in was failure, shame, regret, embarrassment, and tarnish his reputation to the point of almost ruining his life. The process forced Ignis to do healing he never thought he had to do, and fast.

Acknowledging that working together does complicate things but they aren’t friendly outside work anymore. Regrettably, he admits that Aranea wasn’t the only old entanglement he was keeping around. Although in his mind, he closed all those doors the moment he set his sights on her. Now he physically purged and let it all go, once and for all. Effectively cutting off everyone’s access to him except for life long best friends and co-workers. If Indra wasn’t keeping anyone who she shared such a history around, why should he? It wouldn’t be fair.

“I want the path forward to be clear and let nothing, nobody, stand in our way,” Ignis added.

He knew it shouldn’t have taken a new relationship for him to have done the work. However, he hasn’t had anything this serious in a long time. Indra couldn’t blame him for being on the back burner in so many of their lives. It seemed nobody ever took him seriously.

“I greatly appreciate that,” Indra said softly.

“It should have been done long ago,” Ignis said, resting his hand back on her waist.

“Ignis, do you think we’ll be able to come back from this?” asked Indra.

“Yes. I do believe everything will be alright one day.”

Indra reached around and slid her hand up to Ignis’ waist and up his back like he was doing to her.

“I’ll be right back,” Indra stood up to head over to the washroom.

Ignis took this moment alone to stand up and stretch to relieve the tension built up in his back. He exhaled as he stretched out his back. He didn’t realize his sitting position was a little awkward. He sat back down to kick off his shoes and socks. Pinching his toes into the rug below the couch to ground himself. Ignis was so excited at the thought that there’s still a chance for a future with Indra in it. He sat back down closer to the other side of the choice when he heard the washroom door click open again.

Indra picks up the book and lays down on the couch next to him. Her head resting on his thigh as she read. Eventually rolling over onto her stomach and continuing to read.

“What are you doing now?” Ignis asks, feeling the book hovering near his thigh.

“Studying,” Indra answered.

“Are you staying the night?” Ignis asked.

“Not tonight. I have school, work, and studies tomorrow,” Indra answered while flipping the page.

“Did you eat?” Ignis asks as his stomach growled.

“Not yet,” Indra answered with her nose buried in her book.

“I’ll whip something up when you need to take a break,” Ignis told her.

Ignis sat there silently with his hand on her back while she studied. He smirked as he reflected on how a momentary scare turned into a break through. Ignis’ confidence in the relationship was slowly returning as was his smile. When Indra finally took a break from her studies, Ignis cooked a healthy dinner for two. The deep conversations continued intermittently between each course. Breaking the ice with laughter and the occasional joke.

As the night came to an end they said their goodbyes with a hug. Ignis was so touch starved he yearned for more affection than a hug. But affection isn’t what it used to be lately. Regardless, he’s happy they are talking and spending time together again.
It felt like a soft re-start to their connection.
One step at a time he tells himself.

———————————————-

Ahh, “Bell Lets Talk” day has come and passed. A day when big companies and celebrities like to pretend they care about people’s mental health. When people you know DM you their content and think they did something special, while also pretending to care about your mental health. 🙄 We all know they don’t.

I thought, what else can I do? I happened to have another art piece that needs its chapter to be re-written. So I made Ignis and Indra talk it out instead. Really opening up to each other because all the stress and tension was taking a toll on their professional and personal lives. It was only a matter of time and something’s gotta give.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading myself about writing stories where the character is blind has a disability. Ignis’ is blind and Indra has chronic pain, they’re both traumatized and have mental health issues. As most of society does at this time, it is a post apocalyptic story after all. Therapy has been mentioned before but it’s still a fairly new concept and not many people trust it yet. Indra being one of them. I was a little worried that my story is often too dialogue heavy. Making it very annoying for me to write out. It seems actually blind people don’t mind it too much. It makes me feel better about some of these chapters being that way.

This one was heavily inspired by Vicente Romero Redondo’s painting called “Reading Time.” There was plenty reading to be had, not only from Indra taking some time to study but also clearing the air about their feelings and asking all the hard questions.

It’s another older piece that once again uses Indra’s older model. It is funny how I went from wanting her to look like my drawings to looking more realistic and less cartoony as time went on. I can’t wait to make more art soon with her most realistic looking model.

Description
Another long day at the office has wrapped. Ignis sighs as the keys to his penthouse suite jangles as he unlocks the door. Relieved he gets to spend another night in relative peace by himself. It’s been weeks and he hasn’t seen Indra outside of when she would make the occasional delivery and small talk on the phone. He’s begun to miss her and despite his best efforts, it seems like things are still falling apart. Just slowly this time.

Exhausted, Ignis walks into his massive apartment. He sensed that the lights were on, perhaps he left them on when he rushed out to work that morning. Then a strong smell of chemically enhanced lemon hit his nose. The smell only getting stronger when he turned towards the kitchen. Almost frozen in place, he puts up his hands defensively and gasped. He’s not alone and this scared him. The door slammed shut behind him and he was ready for a fight.

A soft voice echoed from across the kitchen, “uhh…hi?”

Fear turned into a flood of emotions and Ignis shakily blurted out, “by the gods, you came?!”

“Yes, I’m done running. Uhh…I wasn’t planning on using the keys but I wanted to try it out,” said the voice.

“Seems everything you said was true,” said Indra, a believer now.

“What are you up to?” Ignis asked, after regaining his composure.

His blushing smile was so big it made his cheeks hurt.

“Cleaning. I had a bad day at school. I failed a big test. I figured I could come here to unwind,” said Indra as she finished wiping the kitchen counter.

Maybe the stress from all this was getting to her too and affecting her grades at school.

“You clean to relax?” asked Ignis, while taking off his coat and hanging it on the rack near his door.

“Sometimes. I figured you could use a little help. The place was getting a little dusty. Don’t worry, I didn’t move anything around,” Indra explained.

He has been neglecting his house duties because the emotional stress of everything was getting to be too much.

She approached Ignis wanting to hug him but she didn’t want to get any cleaning agents on his fancy work clothes. Ignis was still reeling from that moment of panic. He felt his temperature fluctuate and a slight shiver in his spine. One minute he felt hot and the next cold. He was trying his hardest not to break a sweat.

“Perhaps you should come over more often when you’re stressed,” Ignis joked.

Indra chuckled, “I bet you’d love that.”

“If you need help with school I can connect you with some of the best tutors,” Ignis suggested.

“Thanks for the offer but I’ll be meeting with my friend later,” Indra replied, edging closer to fill the gap between them.

They both broke out in laughter which lifted the tension in the room. Ignis went to lock the door and catch his breath. Indra washed off her arms and put away the cleaning supplies. He didn’t want to waste any time and once they were done he met her in the living room.

“How have you been? How are you feeling?” asked Indra. She was sitting on the couch now with a book nearby.

Ignis stopped in his tracks, the question pierced his soul like a dagger. “I’ve been so unexplainably sad. I can’t remember the last time I truly felt happy.”

He made his way to the couch and sat beside her. If only she knew the warmth from her presence was more than enough. The addictive scent of amber vanilla and coconut was deeply missed. On long work days she smelled of sweat, coffee, and coconuts. It was comforting and euphoric. Ignis had grown lonely and restless not being this close to her in so long. Indra was speechless for a moment. She knew he wasn’t talking about her or their plight directly. Instead she sat with him in silence until Ignis decided to speak again.

“So…have you thought about things?” he asked, acknowledging all the space and time he had given her. He’s not unaccustomed to waiting but this time was literal torture.

“Yes.” she answered.

“Do you want to talk about it? Or is it still too soon?” Ignis asked nervously.

“I thought about my behavior. What I was doing isn’t going to help or fix anything,” she began.

“I’ve done a lot of reading and research. I’m figuring out how I can apply this new knowledge and advice to myself as I move along,” Indra continued.

With a crack in her voice, “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Her self awareness and accountability was admirable. She wants to work on herself and not only try to be better, but do better also. Clearly, she’s been doing the work during her time away from him.

Ignis removed his gloves and dropped them on the table. He reached to touch her and instead scooted himself closer by her side. Their arms touching now. He yearned for her touch and softness.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Ignis insisted, reminding her that all this was his fault.

He took out his phones and also placed them on the table and told her all his passwords. Reminded her that she’s free to look through and use them when she wants. Indra did the same although not sure how he would do so considering his disability.

“This old phone is a little glitchy. I’ve been wanting to get a new one for a long time. Haven’t had the chance yet,” Indra said.

“I’ll figure it out,” said Ignis. Suddenly getting a potential gift idea in his head.

He explained how the disability features work on his phone and how to use them. If she needed help she could just ask. However, neither bothered to pick up a phone yet.

Indra leaned her head on his shoulder and exhaled. Ignis placed his arm around her waist and rubbed her back slowly. His hand would glide like silk in and out of her ironed straight hair. Ignis leaned his head into hers for comfort.

“Indra, what do you want?” he asked, uncertain if she was still sitting on the fence in regards to their relationship.

“I want what you want,” she answered.

Relief rolled over his body in waves, sending shivers up and down his spine. It was clear that she’s not going anywhere. This was his moment to explain the measures he’s taken already to prevent this from happening again.

“I’ve taken back the keys, ceased all outside contact unless it’s work related or an emergency, and removed/unfollowed from the socials. Got rid of the memories, deleted messages, comments, photos…everything I could find. Not just with her…” Ignis stammered.

Hiding that Gladio helped him with the purge. They even flipped his apartment upside down and inside out to throw away anything incriminating. There was nothing worth remembering or keeping when all it ended in was failure, shame, regret, embarrassment, and tarnish his reputation to the point of almost ruining his life. The process forced Ignis to do healing he never thought he had to do, and fast.

Acknowledging that working together does complicate things but they aren’t friendly outside work anymore. Regrettably, he admits that Aranea wasn’t the only old entanglement he was keeping around. Although in his mind, he closed all those doors the moment he set his sights on her. Now he physically purged and let it all go, once and for all. Effectively cutting off everyone’s access to him except for life long best friends and co-workers. If Indra wasn’t keeping anyone who she shared such a history around, why should he? It wouldn’t be fair.

“I want the path forward to be clear and let nothing, nobody, stand in our way,” Ignis added.

He knew it shouldn’t have taken a new relationship for him to have done the work. However, he hasn’t had anything this serious in a long time. Indra couldn’t blame him for being on the back burner in so many of their lives. It seemed nobody ever took him seriously.

“I greatly appreciate that,” Indra said softly.

“It should have been done long ago,” Ignis said, resting his hand back on her waist.

“Ignis, do you think we’ll be able to come back from this?” asked Indra.

“Yes. I do believe everything will be alright one day.”

Indra reached around and slid her hand up to Ignis’ waist and up his back like he was doing to her.

“I’ll be right back,” Indra stood up to head over to the washroom.

Ignis took this moment alone to stand up and stretch to relieve the tension built up in his back. He exhaled as he stretched out his back. He didn’t realize his sitting position was a little awkward. He sat back down to kick off his shoes and socks. Pinching his toes into the rug below the couch to ground himself. Ignis was so excited at the thought that there’s still a chance for a future with Indra in it. He sat back down closer to the other side of the choice when he heard the washroom door click open again.

Indra picks up the book and lays down on the couch next to him. Her head resting on his thigh as she read. Eventually rolling over onto her stomach and continuing to read.

“What are you doing now?” Ignis asks, feeling the book hovering near his thigh.

“Studying,” Indra answered.

“Are you staying the night?” Ignis asked.

“Not tonight. I have school, work, and studies tomorrow,” Indra answered while flipping the page.

“Did you eat?” Ignis asks as his stomach growled.

“Not yet,” Indra answered with her nose buried in her book.

“I’ll whip something up when you need to take a break,” Ignis told her.

Ignis sat there silently with his hand on her back while she studied. He smirked as he reflected on how a momentary scare turned into a break through. Ignis’ confidence in the relationship was slowly returning as was his smile. When Indra finally took a break from her studies, Ignis cooked a healthy dinner for two. The deep conversations continued intermittently between each course. Breaking the ice with laughter and the occasional joke.

As the night came to an end they said their goodbyes with a hug. Ignis was so touch starved he yearned for more affection than a hug. But affection isn’t what it used to be lately. Regardless, he’s happy they are talking and spending time together again.
It felt like a soft re-start to their connection.
One step at a time he tells himself.

———————————————-

Ahh, “Bell Lets Talk” day has come and passed. A day when big companies and celebrities like to pretend they care about people’s mental health. When people you know DM you their content and think they did something special, while also pretending to care about your mental health. 🙄 We all know they don’t.

I thought, what else can I do? I happened to have another art piece that needs its chapter to be re-written. So I made Ignis and Indra talk it out instead. Really opening up to each other because all the stress and tension was taking a toll on their professional and personal lives. It was only a matter of time and something’s gotta give.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading myself about writing stories where the character is blind has a disability. Ignis’ is blind and Indra has chronic pain, they’re both traumatized and have mental health issues. As most of society does at this time, it is a post apocalyptic story after all. Therapy has been mentioned before but it’s still a fairly new concept and not many people trust it yet. Indra being one of them. I was a little worried that my story is often too dialogue heavy. Making it very annoying for me to write out. It seems actually blind people don’t mind it too much. It makes me feel better about some of these chapters being that way.

This one was heavily inspired by Vicente Romero Redondo’s painting called “Reading Time.” There was plenty reading to be had, not only from Indra taking some time to study but also clearing the air about their feelings and asking all the hard questions.

It’s another older piece that once again uses Indra’s older model. It is funny how I went from wanting her to look like my drawings to looking more realistic and less cartoony as time went on. I can’t wait to make more art soon with her most realistic looking model.