cut our teeth and make our bones right here

Ronin

welcome to the playground, follow me
tell me your nightmares and fantasies

"You could take up knitting, or I'll get you a colouring book," Ronin suggests with a smirk, blinking up at the wendigo as he goes to lurk around the room again - something the hunter suspects he'll catch his new roommate doing more than once this evening alone. Glancing over the back of the sofa as Remi eyes up the map, he finds a more genuine smile flashing across his face at the prospect of finally mapping out the coastline, and he nods.

"Sure - it's been on my to-do list for a while." And it would probably help out the compound, as an added bonus. He supposes. "For now, though, I'm almost afraid to ask, but do you want to watch some TV?" Nodding at the set tucked into the corner from the chairs and sofa, it's a clunky old scavenged thing that only plays DVD box sets, but it's something.

"Could you though, if you wanted?" he wonders, of Remi's sleep schedule. "Like can you decide you've had enough of staring at the ceiling and just sleep for the sake of it?"

sink into the wasteland underneath
stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi

Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains
Welcome to the war, we've only begun

"Knitting sounds good. I could make myself stretchy clothes for when I shift." He murmurs with a smirk. 'Maybe I could even use my claws for the needles?" Wouldn't that be cute? That way the guards back at the facility couldn't take them away. Then again, he probably wouldn't be very interested in knitting while shifted, but of course, none of these things were real suggestions anyway.

'Are we allowed to leave the compound..?' The wendigo wonders, though what he's really asking is are you allowed to take me out of the compound? Maybe their little arrangement was restricted to just the undercity, not that it would stop either of them of course.

"Mmmm?" Turning as if he hadn't understood, Remi's pale eyes lock on the ancient tv in the corner and for a moment he only stares. Quite literally it had been years since he'd watched TV, and though back in his Before Life he hadn't been much for sitting down and wasting his evenings, now it seemed like the best idea his partner had ever had. "Really?" Looking from the TV to Ronin and then back again, Remi tilts his head slightly to the side. "It works?"

Slipping back around the couch and once again opting for the chair, Remi sinks down with a shrug. "Yes and no? It would be like me asking if you could fall asleep if you were wide awake and rested. Technically yes? But your body would keep telling you that it doesn't need the sleep."

Higher and higher you chase it
It's deep in your blood, go and take it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ronin

welcome to the playground, follow me
tell me your nightmares and fantasies

"All the better to eat you with, my dear?" Ronin laughs at the idea of Remi in his bed click-clacking away at his knitting with his razor-sharp claws. "If you start wearing frilly nightgowns and calling me Red Riding Hood, there's going to be a bit of a problem," he warns, and he doesn't know which is more terrifying an image - Big Bad Wolf-Remi, or a fully shifted wendigo in a stretchy sweater.

"We can leave the compound, sure. There's not much shopping to be done unless we go into the undercity. But I'm not sure whether you're allowed out-out," Ronin admits. "Then again, if we get a call like we did with the nuckelavee, I don't imagine they'd care."

But fuck the shop talk, there's TV to be watched. "It does," Ronin says with a grin. "You got a choice between Friends, NCIS, Game of Thrones or The Office." And no, Ronin hadn't chosen any of them - it's just whatever he could grab and when.

"Huh. Well, I guess now that you've got the chance to be bored, maybe you can get some extra, not-needed sleep," he suggests - either that or Remi can stay up all night watching shows.

sink into the wasteland underneath
stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi

Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains
Welcome to the war, we've only begun

Bobbing his eyebrows in emphatic agreement, Remi waggles his fingers for good measure before frowning. "And exactly what would the problem be? I can dress how I like, and if I give you a nickname, so what?" He folds his arms over his chest. "Besides, in Italy we call it La finta nonna, because it is not always a wolf who eats the little girl, but always the monster impersonates the grandmother." Remi explains.

Out-out. It's as good of a catch-all as anything else, and the wendigo finds himself exhaling loudly, and purely for Ronin's benefit. "We could always say he heard rumours of something and went to check...?"

A touch wide-eyed, Remi listens as the hunter rambles off a list of TV shows. "I..have never heard of any of them." He mumbles a touch bashfully as he spreads his fingers in an almost apologetic gesture. 'Whatever you recommend, I guess."

As for sleeping? So long as Remi doesn't find himself suddenly covered in Ronin's blood with no memory of what had happened, he'd count it as a win. He doesn't express this though, merely pressing his lips together in a half smile as he nods. The last time he'd shared a room with someone it had been a tent, the someone had been his girlfriend, and neither of them had properly made it out alive.

Higher and higher you chase it
It's deep in your blood, go and take it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ronin

welcome to the playground, follow me
tell me your nightmares and fantasies

Ronin opens his mouth to say something, decides better of it, reconsiders, and ultimately Kombucha Girl's about it all. "I was going to ask you to explain more, but I realised I really don't want to know. Not tonight, which is supposed to be your introduction to not everything-monsters-all-the-time." He smirks, shifting to the edge of the sofa to prepare to grab one of the box sets for them to watch.

"Oh I'm sure they'd look on us so leniently for that." He grins over his shoulder to Remi. "If we were going to go to the surface I'd say we just snuck out properly. But let's focus on undertown first - they'll be watching us closely enough just going out there."

As for what he recommends, Ronin is also a bit wide eyed to hear that Remi hasn't been privy to any recent-and-not-so pop culture, and that's almost as tragic as the rest of his existence. Almost, because torture still wins. "We're watching The Office," he decides, rising to his feet to feed the TV a disc. "You need something of a laugh, I feel."

sink into the wasteland underneath
stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi

Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains
Welcome to the war, we've only begun

"You brought it up." Remi counters with a sniff, though he too is perfectly happy to let thoughts of knitting and Italian folktales go by the wayside. There was TV to watch, even if the wendigo was woefully in the dark about most things entertainment-related.

'The Office?' Frowning, but only for a moment, Remi nods and leans back into the chair. He sits slightly more like a normal person and not a wildly abused test subject, but only just. As the music begins and an image of two men appears, the wendigo tilts his head slightly to the side. Were they talking about...selling paper? Glancing surreptitiously at Ronin before looking back to the screen, Remi tries to figure out what part of this was funny.

The salesman's failure to sell paper?

And now there were staplers in jello?

"Is that... the type of thing they do here, in America?"

Higher and higher you chase it
It's deep in your blood, go and take it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ronin

welcome to the playground, follow me
tell me your nightmares and fantasies

Honestly, even though Remi is trying not to act like an abused test subject, perhaps part of Ronin is still treating him like a sort of test subject, given that he's actually quite invested in seeing the wendigo's reaction to an arguably zany sitcom. He doesn't expect him to find it funny, especially given his history and Italian-ness, but thankfully there's still a storyline to enjoy. Sort of. Not much but they're trying, Season 1, and all that.

"I mean, maybe not to this extreme?" he says, smiling despite himself because he has seen the episodes a thousand times, and they never lose their charm. "Not any more though, since everything went to hell. Though I don't know what everyone living topside does - maybe they're all still stuck selling paper." Honestly, the fact that they're having this sort of conversation is reward enough for Ronin.

"We can try one of the other shows, if it's not for you," he says.

sink into the wasteland underneath
stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi

Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains
Welcome to the war, we've only begun

It takes Remi an absurdly long time to realize that Ronin is joking; the top side people are not working for Dunder Mifflin. At least..he's pretty sure Ronin is joking? Maybe topside is fueling all of their heating with fires instead of coal or electricity?

"I am not sure any of it will be for me, but I don't mind this."  It was like reading old translations of plays written in 310 AD, where none of the jokes made sense, nor did the setting or all the subtle implications. Still, it was far better than waiting to be tortured.

"Is this what most of your nights are like, when we are not together?"

Higher and higher you chase it
It's deep in your blood, go and take it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ronin

welcome to the playground, follow me
tell me your nightmares and fantasies

"Well, as long as you don't hate it, watch as many episodes as you want. It's almost like having other people around," Ronin says with a faint smile. All the actors were probably dead now, or monsters, and he doubts any film studios are left standing, but... nah. Let's not think about that too hard, or the show will feel like even more of a relic than it already is.

As for his usual nights, the hunter grins across at Remi. "Not really," he admits. "This is a pretty lazy night for me. I usually leave the radio on and restock my hunting supplies, or read, or do creepy Fae stuff you don't believe in." And if only he was joking.

"Don't get me wrong, though - I'm not complaining about it. I probably need the break."

sink into the wasteland underneath
stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi

Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains
Welcome to the war, we've only begun

"That's sort of sad." Remi murmurs, before turning to Ronin and offering the hunter an apologetic shrug. "I just mean...since you can go out to have other people around."

Snorting under his breath, the wendigo grins childishly for a moment. "creepy Fae stuff, huh. Like making your little acorns and whatnot?" That's probably exactly what Ronin had meant, and despite having seen it all for himself a few times now, Remi was still quite content to harass his partner about it.

"Well, that's certainly true. You are starting to look pretty rough around the edges, and that's coming from me." Remi, who seemed perpetually scrawny in human form and who almost always had dark circles under his eyes, was perhaps rubbing off on Ronin who was starting to look the same. It didn't help that neither of them had seen sunlight in who knew how long, but in truth Ronin was starting to look like the before version of himself.

Higher and higher you chase it
It's deep in your blood, go and take it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ronin

welcome to the playground, follow me
tell me your nightmares and fantasies

"Mm... I mean, it would be sad if the majority of the people out there weren't grotty hunters like I am." Ronin scoffs. Remi had seen the great unwashed tide of people they'd had to walk through to get here, and frankly, beyond heading out to look at the board or to grab takeout coffee or play the occasional game of pool, he doesn't think he's missing anything. "And as someone who does need to sleep, with the schedules we keep it's not like there's a good time to go into town."

Bobbing his eyebrows at the other man as if to say yes, exactly like my little acorns, Remi will likely see for himself what Ronin really gets up to in his evenings. Tonight is just a special occasion, which would be funny if it weren't actually very true. "Ow, my feelings," Ronin complains, and he'd toss a cushion at Remi if he kept any on his sofa. "I let you into my home and you come at me with that sort of personal attack?"

sink into the wasteland underneath
stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi

Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains
Welcome to the war, we've only begun

"Better a personal attack than a physical one." The wendigo quips in return, smiling the sort of smile that speaks of disuse and cheeks that, were it not for his supernatural strength, would be quite sore from doing so much of it come morning.

Still not completely sure about The Office and what about it he was supposed to find interesting or humorous, Remi glances down toward his knees. Though many of his cultural mannerisms have been dulled by the likes of Suuuuuusan and Hinkystinky zapping him with something anytime his gesticulations became too great, even having been out for a few hours has some of the Italian coming out, such that as he sits and thinks, his eyebrows and lips move and flinch with each passing thought.

"You know..." Remi says slowly, glancing up at Ronin before looking back toward the carpet. "If you do not think it would upset too many people, perhaps...' Trailing off as if he meant to take the words back, the wendigo swallows. "We could go back to that bar you took me to that one time?" Then, as if needing to give Ronin a way out, Remi hastily adds: "Unless it's past your bedtime, of course."

Higher and higher you chase it
It's deep in your blood, go and take it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ronin

welcome to the playground, follow me
tell me your nightmares and fantasies

"If it were coming from anyone else I might have challenged that," Ronin says merrily enough. If it was anything else he woudn't have to be concerned with having his throat ripped out and his flesh eaten, so... yeah. Point taken, Remi.

For the hunter's part, Ronin does his very best not to look too much at the wendigo when he's busy buffering, for lack of better word. He imagines Remi will spend a lot of time like this, finally able to let his thoughts run without being caged in by pepto-pink walls or the fear of pain around every corner.

So when he finally does speak, Ronin is pretending to watch The Office and considering a glass of whiskey. How fortuitous, then, that Remi is suggesting a bar. Blue eyes lighting up, it's with a slow smile that Ronin sits up and stretches. "Well, it is a celebration tonight," he says. "And you've got your special silver chain necklace, and I've got our wendigo-kit, and I signed a document to say I'm responsible for your wellbeing..."

Laughing, now Ronin rises to his feet. "And it's not past my bedtime. I'm in if you are."

sink into the wasteland underneath
stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi

Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains
Welcome to the war, we've only begun

"Well if you ever want to thumb wrestle about it, you just let me know." Remi sings right back, bobbing his eyebrows. The wendigo might not be much to look like as he is, but even collared and needing to be on his best behaviour he would still be heads and tails above even the strongest hunter in the undercity, Ronin included.

Not quite on tenterhooks, but given the complexity of their current situation and just how recently Remi had tried to take his own life, it felt incredibly strange to be asking Ronin to go hang out at a bar. There's no sudden exhalation of held breath if only because breathing was something Remi did once every few minutes or so, but there was a fairly obvious look of relief that softened his shoulders. "Celebration? Of...?"

Thumbing at his speshul necklace, the wendigo nods and rises as Ronin does. "Should I cover this, or..?" Vaguely he gestures to his too-light eyes and then the collar. "I don't want to cause a scene or anything."

Higher and higher you chase it
It's deep in your blood, go and take it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!