again and again and again

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

"Not to brag, but knitting long rectangular things is my specialty as it happens" Remi quips, bouncing his eyebrows proudly. He'd only barely moved onto vaguely rounded shapes, and if the holes in the recent pair of mittens he made Ronin were anything to go by, it was probably best he stick to rectangles.

"Well I should hope not." The Bastion agrees cheerfully, his own eyes already shiny with tears at the memory. Hugging Isla tightly in return and having to stop himself from lifting her off of her feet and spinning her around in his arms. (He would have, but for fear of, ahem, compromising her dress). "Honestly, it was....quite literally the happiest I think I have ever been." Remi whispers softly, not needing to do anything more than that given how tightly he was still clutching the Remedy. "We were both appropriately sappy afterward as you can imagine, but in the best way. Ronin had to stop me from just bringing her back immediately." Remi admits with a little laugh.

"But...I do want to see Vai again, and...well, I thought I would offer the last spot of the year to you, actually." Although with Isla's heart seemingly in a different place than it had been a year before, perhaps the Remedy wouldn't want to reprise her annual meeting with Varus, given that her lantern hadn't been selected that Leafchange.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

one bright morning goes so easy

Thoughts of knitting and the clinic are appropriately far from Isla's mind as Remi wraps her in a hug in return, and she doesn't care if she'll have to touch up her makeup after this - or if he'd decided to lift her up and risk flashing the rest of the ball her underwear - for the golden joy that spills from all the places they touch. "Good. I can't think of anyone else who deserves it more," she whispers. To be able to see Aoife again, to hear her laughter, to hold her in his arms - Isla literally can't imagine how it had felt.

Letting out a shaky sigh and parting from him only enough to be able to gaze up and into his green eyes, the Remedy nods with warm understanding. "After that, I don't think anyone would blame you for wanting to see her again right away." She laughs. Her smile does fade into a touch of confusion, however, as he continues, and the offer has her lips parting in soft surprise.

"Remi, that's..." Letting out a sigh that has her breath trembling more than she expects it to, she softly shakes her head, however heavy the veil of sadness threatens to drape around her shoulders. "I got to see him twice after he died," she murmurs. "And that's a lot more than anyone else gets. I don't... I'm not sure it would be good for me, to open that all back up," she admits.

It's not as though she and Varus had broken up, or had parted on bad terms. He'd died when they'd been very much still in love, torn away without goodbyes, and the loss threatens to consume her whenever she lets it wrap its hands about her too tightly - especially now, when moving on has started to feel possible.

"See Vai," she urges him.

darkness always finds you either way

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi didn't think he was deserving of it at all, but gods he wasn't going to argue. If he'd learned nothing else from having come to Caido, it was how fickle his fortunes could be and how abruptly all that he knew and loved could be taken away from him. Relaxing his hold on Isla reluctantly, of all the men to dance with the Remedy that evening it was Remi whose finds suddenly trembled against her as he exhaled a shaky laughter.

"Okay." Understanding what it was to tear open old wounds, Remi leans forward to press a kiss against his friend's forehead, lingering there if only to selfishly absorb the golden outpouring of joy that she still radiated despite the shadows of sadness. "I wanted to offer just the same." He'd keep offering it to her too, year after year, to bring back anyone she might want. "Hotaru, Flora and I also got to see Enzo. It was hard for us, but harder for Flora I think. I...' Pausing, Remi sighs softly. "..we might be ready to let him go, but I am not sure she ever will be."

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

one bright morning goes so easy

"Thank you." Both for offering and for letting it go - this time around, at least. Isla's eyes slip shut as he leans in to kiss her forehead, the Remedy content to stand in his presence as the orchestra strikes out the final notes of the dance, and she's grateful for the first time for the space that had inadvertently opened up around Remi. At least they haven't bumped into anyone else by standing still.

Gazing back up at him, she tilts her head to hear about Enzo's return as well, Isla shaking her head sadly. "He's her twin," she murmurs. "I don't think either of us can understand properly what she lost." All the same, she makes a mental note to check in with Flora back at Torchline, as she'd promised the other woman she would.

"Come on," Isla invites suddenly. "I'll cry if we keep up this talk. Let's go and raid the buffet table?"

darkness always finds you either way

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

"No, probably not." Remi agrees, sounding all the more forlorn for the suggestion he might never understand the depths of his daughter's sadness. Still, the moment was more or less a happy one, and so it was with a boyishly crooked smile that the Bastion selfishly took a moment simply to gaze down at Isla. "You deserve everything, I hope you know that." He murmurs sappily, having once again to fight the urge not to simply pluck her up off the dance floor and carry her off in his arms.

"Which is just to say, I hope that Everest makes you happy, and also if he does not, I better be the first person you tell." Grinning, he nods, fitting his fingers through hers at the mention of food. Despite having been promised that he would be allowed to lurk around the fringes of the party, the Bastion had found himself surprisingly social that evening. Perhaps even more surprising was how much he'd enjoyed it.

~FIN

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!