New memories & old wagons

i'd bring you further roses

"I had thought of trying to win back Ludo's favour...but...I know too little to make any attempt. And it is entirely possible that anything I do will only make things worse.". Taking a deeper breath, Remi raised his teacup awkwardly and a little hesitantly towards the fox. "To knew memories, then?"

Flashing the fox a smile, Remi shrugged. "Oh I am not sure, a mysterious man from my past, a wagon in twilight, a lucrative business venture with the tea..." The alchemist grinned with another small shrug. "Oh and let us not forget the secret he carries, the deal he has struck with the locals to let him pass among them." He added with a grin.

It certainly sounded like a better story than disheveled alchemist fucks up again

but it does you no good

Coding base by Sky!

it's not what it looks like

"Hm..." Ianto gazed thoughtfully into his cup, playing now with one of the bright rings that adorned his fingers. "Perhaps we could work together, to help you regain Ludo's favour," he said slowly. "There's a small section of the woods, here, that are said to belong to it. It's where the Fae bury their dead." Ianto wrinkled his nose - it gave him the creeps, truthfully, and he tried to steer clear wherever possible. But if it hadn't become abundantly clear already, he'd walk into all kinds of shit for Remi.

Nodding, he raised his cup to toast as well. "To new memories," he agreed, flashing a golden smile across to his friend. "Oh, but this wagon sells much more than tea," he murmured, looking just as mysterious and mischievous as ever. "Perhaps if you do decide to join me, I will see about letting you in on it." He chuckled, sipping at his drink and setting the cup down again.

As for his secret, his deal... Ianto shook his head. "It's not a deal, truthfully. They just fear my patron, and I was able to barter trust from there."

i'd bring you further roses

Remi too hmmmmmd thoughtfully, his expression crumpling in eerie anticipation of just what Ludo's woods might be like. "This sounds like a terrible idea." He said with a grin. "Would your wagon come with us? You know, if all sorts of ghosts and things come out and we need to hide?" Remi was only partially kidding.

"Ohho, and the plot thickens." The alchemist quipped, half winking as he took a sip of his tea (more in an effort to hide his ever-widening smile). Listening intently though, as Ianto spoke of whatever it was which had happened to him that immediately clouded his gaze, Remi bit the inside of his lip and tried to draw whatever he could from the brief bit of information he was given.

"It sounds...both lucky and unlucky. That you were in some ways protected, even though—" His eyes flashed to the leather collar around Ianto's neck. For a brilliantly stupid moment, Remi thought to lean over and touch it, and transmute it into flowers or something equally absurd. Something made him stay on his side of the table though, merely offering a small frown in place of unsaid words.

but it does you no good

Coding base by Sky!

it's not what it looks like

"I can bring it along, certainly." Ianto said with a gentle nod, smiling to Remi and thinking it both a wise and wonderful idea, to bring something within which they could hide. "Although from what I've heard, the spirits there are usually peaceful. The Fae bury their dead with lanterns, so that they might find their way to Mort." He shrugged his shoulders, before flashing a wicked grin at the other man at the suggestion of the wares he sold in his wagon. "You have no idea," he promised him.

But the smile faded almost as soon as it had appeared, and Ianto sighed and touched his fingertips to the collar as he realised Remi's eyes were upon it. "Even though I am now enslaved," he finished for the alchemist. There wasn't another word for it. "When I was on the brink of madness, I was found by a wild Fae. She is responsible for all I am able to sell. For the wagon, for its wares, for my being able to get to the village. All of it."

i'd bring you further roses

Remi grinned broadly now, not bothering to hide it. ”Friendly though they might be with anyone else, given Ludo’s inclination to try and make my life decidedly more difficult I would feel much better having this wagon should things go sideways.” This he said with an unconscious glance towards the back, before looking back towards Ianto.

Remi’s eyes followed Ianto’s fingertips, again wanting very much to reach across, and to...to..to what, though? ”I wish you were with us.” The alchemist mumbled, perhaps unfairly. What good did it do them now to reminisce about parts of their past unable to be changed? Still, he did wish it. Old or new friends, Remi hated the look he saw on Ianto’s face, his fingers curling into a fist silently on the table as he looked down bloodily into his glass.

”Is there anything I can do?”

but it does you no good

Coding base by Sky!

it's not what it looks like

"Ah, yes." Ianto laughed to his friend. "That might make things a tad more difficult, it's true. Well... I'll bring my wagon and be sure to protect it from any of Ludo's shenanigans. You have your lens now, too, so that ought to help," he reasoned. "We'll nose about, see if there might be anything we can do to help you get back into this god's good books, and if it goes tits up we'll hide like the brave souls we are."

It was easy to be buoyed by talk of future adventures, of silliness sprinkled with a liberal amount of danger, but there was no way for Ianto to speak about his godmother without it cutting him to the quick. His lips pressed into a line at Remi's wish, Ianto shaking his head. "Do not wish in this forest," he cautioned. "You never know who might be listening."

Unexpectedly, Ianto barked out a laugh at Remi's question. "Oh absolutely not," he said, his tone warm and kind. "I forbid it. This is my burden to bear, the good and the bad. Stay away from the Fae if you can. They bring nothing but trouble."

i'd bring you further roses

“A perfect plan, if ever I heard one.” Remi said with a laugh. “And we are animals, are we not? Surviving is what we do.” He added with a shrug at the notion of hiding being something that was bad.

“I wiiiiish..” Remi said, elongating the vowel and shooting his friend a mischevious look. Tapping his finger against the edge of his nose, he let it fall back to the table with a bright smile. “Alright. Fine. No wishing. Out loud, anyways.” The alchemist added with a cheeky grin.

“Forbid?” The alchemist repeateded with a curious expression. “Hmm. I suppose if I do not listen I would not get to learn what else this wagon can do?” He didn’t mean to make light of Ianto’s situation by any means, but it had been a while since the alchemist had been forbidden to do something and he found it mildly...endearing?

but it does you no good

Coding base by Sky!

it's not what it looks like

"Aye, that is true enough. Though I believe you said you were able to become a lion now, did you not?" Ianto snorted softly. "That is not the sort of animal that hides from anything, so I have heard. Well, not unless they are hunting it." He shrugged. Remi's almost-wish actually drew a wince from the fox, as if he was worried he would actually go through with it, but luckily it tapered off. Still, Remi seemed determined enough to make light of his situation, and Ianto's eyes darkened somewhat.

He nodded simply. "Yes," he said. "You will learn everything about this wagon and what it can do. And you will learn the ways of the forest, and you will be able to come and go as you please through the Sidhe Village. And when godmother calls, you will obey with your nose in the dirt until you are told you can stand. You will do her bidding, however against your nature it is. Sound good?"

i'd bring you further roses

“Oh you are an expert on lions now?” The alchemist returned with a quirked brow and shit-eating grin. “Would have been great to have you around when I first found out I could be a lion. I killed a....well, a spirit, I suppose, and nearly killed a complete stranger and was thrown in a pit for a few days. You could have saved me a lot of trouble what with all your knowledge.”

“Sounds like Northaven.” Remi replied, biting his lip. “But...you are not alone now. You do not need her. Whatever she wants or has over you, is it worse than what Ludo has over me? And you thought we could beat that?” However at the mention of doing something against his nature, Remi’s expression soured considerably with concern and worry. “Wait...Ianto..” Remi’s fingers drummed slightly on the table, dancing forward only mere inches at a time.

“ You cannot say all of that and expect me to just sip my tea.” He protested gently.

but it does you no good

Coding base by Sky!

it's not what it looks like

"Oh, hardly. I found a book with a picture of a lion in it once, and they look pretty bitey, so I just put two and two together," Ianto said with a wry smile, shrugging easily, though he did seem more troubled than anything at the sound of what had happened with Remi when he had first discovered the shift. "Are you alright now?" he asked, the worry obvious in his voice.

But oh, they weren't talking about Remi, and all of a sudden Ianto very much wished they were. He snorted and shook his head. "It's worse," he said in a tight voice. "I made a deal, Remi. And she has upheld her part of it and then some. I will never be done with my part." And when he had been alone in the forest, that had been just fine. But he wasn't, anymore.

"Sorry. I didn't intend to bring the mood down," he mumbled, sitting back from the table a touch now, as if even that was a bit too close. "I'm afraid I'm not feeling well, Remi. You might have a more pleasant day back in the woods."

i'd bring you further roses

"I will have you know I can be equal parts cuddly as well as bitey." Remi scoffed, feigning indigence as he raised his chin slightly with a grin. "Now?" The alchemist repeated, knowing what Ianto was getting at but not necessarily wanting to discuss it. "Well now I am sat in a magical wagon with you. Of course I am alright."

But then things changed, and Remi was left considering his mostly-empty tea cup. His eyes searched the table as if there might be some map hidden in the grains of wood to tell him what to do. There wasn't, and so he was forced merely to nod into the weight of Ianto's words. It was obvious he was being asked to leave, that he had been too colloquial about what Ianto had been through, and now he felt a crimson stain darken his cheeks with embarrassment.

"I might." Remi agreed slowly, looking up. "But I would rather stay here if that is an option. If it is not...well. For all the things I do not know about this wagon, I do know where the door is."

but it does you no good

Coding base by Sky!

it's not what it looks like

It was unfortunate, but quips about the properties of Remi's tiger form would have to wait for another day. His mood thoroughly soured, Ianto avoided looking anywhere near Remi, absently playing with a fray along the edge of one of the cushions. Chewing at the inside of his lip at the other man's comments, he felt he would have been able to let the alchemist go, if only he had left without a word. But hearing him speak, facing the man behind the misunderstandings... Ianto found he couldn't insist on it.

So instead he sighed heavily and nodded to the other man. "You can stay," he mumbled. "Excuse me, though, if you would." Without further warning, where a man once sat there was suddenly a fluffy red fox with a collar about its neck, which padded listlessly towards the back of the wagon only to collapse down amongst the pillows.

i'd bring you further roses

Remi was not the sort of man who said one thing wanting another. He did not ask for someone to leave if only to see if they would beg to stay, and something told him Ianto was the same. That if the alchemist got up and left, the fox would be content with that decision.

But that didn't mean you couldn't want two things at once.

And so, despite the pause between the offer and the acceptance, the heavy sigh, the downcast eyes and the way Ianto's fingers worried things best left untouched, Remi's resolve remained.

Watching the fox appear and then dart into the oasis of pillows, Remi smiled quietly to himself and also shifted. Where there had been a man suddenly there was a lion, one rising to his feet, shoulders lowered as if meaning to pounce. Really, Remi was just unsure of the proportions of the wagon in this new body and didn't want to jostle any of the numerous things strewn out and about. Carefully, with claws retracted, Remi joined the fox in the bed. Larger by far and with a level of comfort he'd certainly not earned, Remi flopped down next to Ianto, his golden body easily spooning around the fluff of copper.

I have an idea. Remi purred through the mental link, stretching out his paws for a moment before curling up once again. I will tell you things I have told no one before...then there will be no repeats and it will all be new.

but it does you no good

Coding base by Sky!

it's not what it looks like

Ianto had found his favourite pillow (and it wasn't much of a surprise that he much preferred to sleep in this form), curling his tail about his paws to become a perfect circle of red fluff, nose buried in thick tail fur. The appearance of a fucking lion had golden eyes growing wide, his heart beginning to thunder dangerously in his chest as instinct kicked in - but it wasn't a predator, but a friend who loped over, flopping down and around him.

Remi brought warmth and a surprising degree of comfort, Ianto pausing for a moment or so before letting himself loll back aaginst tawny fur and rumbling breaths. He wanted to point out that Remi wouldn't know if he hadn't told him something before, given that he couldn't remember, but he did appreciate the sentiment. And Ianto hated being depressed, so it wasn't difficult to coax him to distraction.

Alright, he said. In return, I will tell you all the things I once told you before. It will be repeats, but then you know again.