My apologizes for another delay. Again, work...and Episode Ignis. And being sick. Hello, strep throat, my old friend…I don't want to talk with you again. Oh, hey, this kinda fits with the chapter title! Have at it and I'll see you guys below.

Reacquainting Acquaintances

Ignis felt himself relax marginally once they pulled up to dock in Altissia. For fear of another attack, he'd stayed at the wheel of the ship the rest of the journey and his muscles were tense from the anxiety. Now that they'd arrived, he wanted a hot bath, a room serviced meal and a nap.

Those were his hopes, at least. Already standing on the dock however were several of Altissia's guards, likely alerted to their arrival after they'd shown their passports at customs. He didn't feel he was in the best state for jumping right into business, but at the same time, the sooner they got it out the way, the better. He glanced behind him to Noctis, who was about to also step down off the boat and grimaced. Messy hair, dirty and singed clothes and a slight rim of red around his eyes from drinking. He clicked his teeth and the prince turned bleary eyes toward him.

"You look like something the coeurl dragged in," he reproached, half-heartedly trying to straighten the naturally wild black hair. "If your father could see you now…"

"Yeah, well, he can't," Noctis stepped away. To his credit, he stood up straighter and tried to smooth down his shirt, but the frayed holes were still all too obvious.

Nyx descended next but paused next to Ignis. "Talk about your daddy issues," he nudged him but Ignis wasn't in the mood for his jokes. He pushed past and followed Noctis.

The row of guards gave polite bows but from the back, another figure stepped up, clearly announcing herself as the leader. "Hey, Your Highness! You're looking particularly…okay, you look like shit, what the hell happened?" She put a hand on a leather-clad hip.

"Interesting to see you here, Aranea," Ignis said quickly, cutting off Noctis' reply. "I thought Niflheim had captured your sole interest."

Her eyes flickered top to bottom as she looked at him. "Oh, don't you worry. I have many interests."

Nyx whistled quietly. Ignis stepped on his foot. "Perhaps," the Chamberlain said casually, following her as she began to lead them down a path. "But what dealings do you have in Altissia? And does Niflheim know?"

"Have you always been so damn nosy?" she said under her breath. "I was asked to come here to be—" She glanced at Noctis. At seeing he was paying rapt attention to their conversation, she hedged her words. "To be the eyes and ears of…someone. I'm not here though to sell you out so relax. I'm on your side."

They soon arrived at the exquisite hotel that Ignis was familiar with from earlier stays. As they entered, they turned quite the number of heads at their appearance. None recognized the prince, thankfully, though as security took in His Highness' haggard appearance and his youthfulness, they assessed he was only there to make trouble. Ignis quickly rushed to explain the situation to them but Nyx acted first.

"Crownsguard, comin' through!" he yelled and shoved the servicemen out the way. He was the only one that still looked relatively presentable in his Glaives ensemble (Ignis had forgotten that he too was rather battered from the "friendly fire", though he didn't look as bad as Noct). The coat was decked with the insignia of the Lucian kingdom on the back, making people quickly scurry to get out the way. However, Ignis was a little impressed when Noctis turned back to glare at Nyx to show his disapproval with his cover having been blown. It was something that'd always endeared him to the prince, how he, unlike other royalty he'd had the displeasure of dealing with (Ravus), didn't throw his status around.

While people moved, they didn't stop staring and it only got worse when Aranea followed them in. She acted as though she didn't see the gawking or likely she was used to it. When she got to the concierge desk and leaned forward, her partially covered bosom caused the receptionist to gulp and focus all his attention on keeping his eyes on hers and her eyes only. "H-how may I help you, ma'am?"

"We've got some special guests so we're gonna need the best seats in the house," she tossed a thumb at the trio. Then glancing behind her, she asked, "How many nights will you boys be here?"

"One," Ignis replied.

"Nah, after what we went through? No fewer than two," countered Nyx.

"I second Nyx," Noctis chimed in. The two grinned and high-fived like the fast friends they'd become.

"Two it is," Aranea decided and turned her back on them. It was she who paid, likely on the dime of the First Secretary. Once finished, she passed out the room keys to everyone but Ignis didn't miss when she subtly slipped a fourth one into her own pocket. "Hey, what happened to the other two that's normally with you? The beefy guard dog and the nervous puppy?" she asked. The sudden question misdirected the others' attention.

"Back in Lucis, of course," Ignis answered, stepping over to the elevators. He watched her press a button for the top floor and the group climbed aboard. "The two were tied up in other matters so for the time being we have…Nyx." He didn't look over at the massive grin that was certainly on the other's face.

"Oh, right, I barely noticed him," said Aranea, now turning to the Glaive whose smile had melted. "I feel like I might've seen you somewhere…"

Ignis cleared his throat and shuffled his feet, continuing not to make eye contact.

With a shrug, Aranea dropped the issue. "Doesn't matter. Just making conversation."

When the elevator opened, instead of there being a door-lined hallway, there was only a brief hallway and then a single door. On the outside, it looked no different than any other found at a hotel, but when Aranea swiped the card, they stepped into an entranceway that was closer to that of a house. The hotel carpet gave way to a waxed wood floor and past that were a pair of glass-paneled doors. A spotless and lavish living room lay beyond.

"This is what I'm talking about! Fit for a king!" mused Nyx. The king in question clearly wasn't one of Lucian lineage.

"Hey! Use the guest slippers when inside the suite," Aranea quickly laid down the law, snatching the Glaive's collar before he could continue inside. "I had to actually put down a deposit on this place and I'm banking on getting it back once you leave. There's more than enough rooms for everyone and if you're feeling up to it, there's a complete kitchen, too. None of that "kitchenette" crap. Though honestly, you have five-star food a call away; why would you want to cook?"

"Because Ignis makes the best food ever, hands down?" Offered Noctis

Ignis blushed so hard, rouge couldn't have done a better job.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind picking up what Ignis throws down in the kitchen," Nyx rubbed a chin thoughtfully. This was the personal chef to the prince; the eating had to be good.

Aranea also cast the chef a considerate gaze. "True, I'm quite curious to see what Iggy's got." She never looked away from his eyes.

Despite all the praise, he figured it best to stick with his evening plans. "My apologies, but I'm rather fatigued from our travel. I think I'll let someone else do the cooking for a change." Turning away from their disappointed faces, he opened the closet door next to the main entrance and took off his shoes. From a front pouch of his luggage, he pulled his own pair of slippers out and sighed in comfort at their softness. Realizing indeed Ignis had no plans for cooking, the other two men copied him.

With the current business resolved, Aranea turned to leave. "The First Secretary will meet with you for lunch, prince. I remember one of your guys mentioning that you don't do mornings. Lunch will be at one so arrive on time. Oh and…might want to bring your A game with negotiating…you're gonna need it." With a wink to Noctis, she breezed through the door.

Ignis meant to make himself the first one to enter the quarters but Nyx had managed to beat him to it. He wasn't upset about that, except the man stood staring open-mouthed at all the splendor around him like a fool. "Toto, I don't think we're in Lucis anymore…" he said in a daze.

The strategist thought about throwing at him that he'd slept in this very suite once already but figured stooping to such a level was unnecessary. However, he did watch carefully as Noctis only went as far as the living room before making himself comfortable on a plush, red sofa. Curling up on his side, he looked to be asleep in seconds.

Likely he wasn't, but it was as good a time as any.

Without a word, he roughly slapped Nyx's arm to snap him back. When the man opened his mouth to cry out, he silenced him with a look. He glanced to Noctis and then twirled his finger around in a circle.

Nyx understood. As though the past moments had been someone else entirely, he became gravely serious and took off down one of the hallways. The suite had four bedrooms, divided on opposite sides of the floorplan. As Nyx went one way, Ignis took the other.

His route included the bedroom Noctis had stayed in last time and figuring the prince would keep to the same location for simplicity's sake, he started his hunt there. Pulling one of his ever-handy pens out, he scanned it up and down the walls, past the outlets and around the light fixture. He scoured the blankets and sheets and completely pulled the drawers out the dresser to check inside. He inspected every corner of the closet and disassembled the lamps, even checking all the bulb sockets, then shook the lamps upside down to be safe. All of this and much more was covered in a thorough twenty minutes and at the end, he came away clean.

He felt his shoulders relax a little. Noct's room checked out.

He continued the process for the other bedroom, the bathrooms on this side, and an office area. When he came back to the main area, Nyx was just finishing up his side. The two shook heads at each other but really, the best places for security breaches was in the public areas. By now, Noctis was knocked out completely on the couch, his limbs flung every which way. Seeing him made Ignis grateful for the separate rooms. On the initial road trip to Altissia, the group often had to stay in a tent when money was tight or when lodgings were too far away. The tent could fit six comfortably…unless your group consisted of Noctis Lucis Caelum, who slept across the breadth of three people.

Ideally, he would've liked to have moved him without waking him up, but Noct was a grown man (sort of…), not a child he could sling across his shoulder. He roughly shook the prince awake as he knew Noctis slept like the dead. Finally, his eyes opened and Ignis could already read the ire that lay behind them.

"Go get in the bed if you're going to sleep," Ignis fired first, pointing a finger down the hall. Of course, had Noct gone to the room at the start, he wouldn't have been able to conduct his search but the prince didn't need to know that.

With an annoyed grunt, Noctis hauled himself up and slouched off, though had enough clarity to slam the bedroom door hard behind him. Ignis took no offense to it; he'd ply him with a good breakfast in the morning which never failed to bring him back to a satisfactory mood. Most importantly, with the prince out the way, they could continue their search.

The couch, the TV stand, inside the expensive pottery and behind the picture frames, they searched it all and again everything was clean. The last room left was the kitchen…which was also the most dangerous. The chef side of Ignis saw tools that could create wonders; the Kingsmen side saw a room littered with potential bombs. The microwave had to be disassembled. The oven was pulled out and examined with more care than a forensic investigator. The dishwasher and fridge were also scoured and every tiny appliance, from the toaster to the waffle maker, was frisked. Nothing.

By the time they were finished, it was well past midnight. The suite looked no different than when they'd first stepped inside and yet they'd fondled everything in it. The two sat on the kitchen floor opposite each other in fluffy slippers. Ignis had slouched down against the dishwasher and Nyx slumped with a complementary bottle of champagne against the stove. He was so tired though that he hadn't opened it. Simply holding it seemed to give him comfort.

"I concede, I don't want to travel with him again," Nyx groaned, digging a palm into a tired eye. "I'd kill myself if I had to do this for a living. I don't see how you do it! Then again, you have the patience of Alfred so I shouldn't be shocked."

Ignis was sure that was a backwards compliment but he was too tired to retort. Instead he answered honestly, "I usually have Gladio and Prompto there to help. Prompto's a technophile and can usually run searches without much of anything needing to be moved. And for the heavy stuff that does need to be moved, there's Gladio. This process with the three of us only takes an hour. Then again, the four of us are usually crammed into a single room so there's much less to do. "

Nyx made a face at the idea of four guys all sharing a single room and began the process of pulling himself off the floor. "Well, you're welcome to keep your merry little band. I think I'll stick to guarding the city. I like being the one to take action when crap inevitably hits the fan, not doing the dull work of preventing it from happening." He staggered on his feet a moment once up, thinking that last line over, but his frazzled brain figured it wasn't worth clarifying. Ignis was smart, he knew what he meant. "Night," he bid, and shuffled off to his room.

"Sleep tight," Ignis bade and smiled wickedly when he saw the man flinch. That ended his enthusiasm for the evening though. He too quietly groaned as he got off the floor and after a final check to ensure the front door was secured and the windows were locked, he retired to his quarters. The bed was calling his name and he very nearly shirked showering but oddly, the thought recalled memories of Noctis demanding the group clean themselves before getting back in the Regalia after a hard fight. He reasoned that a shower would help make sleep all the better and headed instead for the bathroom.

He stepped out with a towel around his waist, drying his hair with one hand and carrying the pile of irreparable damaged clothes in the other. He'd taken two steps into the bedroom when he stopped cold and looked up. Sitting on the bed, as pretty as you please, was Aranea. Twirling in her fingers was the extra key card.

"The night's still young, Tristan. Tell me you weren't going to bed already," she teased, slowly uncrossing her legs and standing up. She helped herself to an eyeful of him and then strolled past, heading to the balcony doors. "I need your help with something. Let Galahad watch the kid."

If it was Kingsmen business, it couldn't wait. Ignis was far from form fresh but he'd gone longer times without sleep with the help of his trusty Ebony. He crossed to his suitcase and removed another outfit similar to the one he'd just discarded and purposefully entered back into the bathroom to dress. When he stepped out, everything about his appearance seemed as though he'd intentionally prepared to spend a night out on the town. He felt like himself again.

"Ready?" Aranea asked.

"I've been doing this longer than you, Lancelot. Don't forget that," Ignis tilted his chin.

Satisfied with his resolution, she led him out the door where they faded into the night.

I do not seriously ship Aranea and Ignis. However, these two are such opposites that I couldn't help myself.