your touch is atomic

maybe i'm a runaway train, maybe i'm a feather in a hurricane

Pushing his lips together and raising his eyebrows, Remi looks back into his lap. Unsure if Isla share's the attuned bond or not, the Lullaby nevertheless does his best to keep his emotions in check. Given how poorly their encounters have gone thus far he can't help but wonder if this is the longest-running prank someone has ever played on him, to suggest that he and this woman could ever have been lovers much less best friends.

Wanting very much to challenge the perfect worldview that Isla seems to have made for herself, the Lullaby clenches his jaw against the annoyance that bubbles up in the back of his throat. Only instead of being able to hold it back, Remi finds it horrifically unpalatable all of sudden such that the emotion which pours out of him is not unlike vomit. "Oh sure. I'm not funny. I'm the asshole. I do everything wrong, so just fuck me, right?" He wonders, cheeks suddenly red as he stares up at her.

"Either you don't care Isla, in which case what the fuck are you so mad at me for when I have done nothing but try and not be an issue for you." Well, you know, other than coming back to King's End just now, but that was only once in how many months. "Or you do care, but won't accept my apology about forgetting you, in which case could you just stop taking it out on me if there is literally nothing I can do?"

And still his right hand continues to braid the flowers together.

THE LULLABY

maybe it's a long gray game, but maybe that's a good thing

ISLA Oh, no. Not today, Remi Taliesin. Not fucking today. "Well you said it," Isla hisses, and later when she checks her palms, she'll find small, bruised crecents from the way she's clenching her fists. "How about you pull your head out of your ass for once in your life and realise that maybe things aren't always about you?" Because sure, that's part of it - a big part, too, but Isla can't help that. But Remi isn't the be-all and end-all of her problems, especially not right this moment, and Isla doesn't have the emotional energy to expend on a man who doesn't see the problem in that he literally did nothing about what he'd chosen to do back then. "I can't take it out on you if you act like we don't know each other," she points out, her words clipped even if her pulse is hammering hard enough that she's sure all the predators lurking beneath Remi's skin will hear it. "I'm going to go now. And I would really appreciate it if you'd let me do that."

maybe i'm a runaway train, maybe i'm a feather in a hurricane

"Ohho, that is a lot coming from you." Remi snaps back, because gods if Isla couldn't get his blood hot one way or another. "I had a husband to protect. Children. You had a life with someone else when I did what I did, so if anyone wants the world to turn on how they feel about things, it is you." The Lullaby can feel the blood pulsing in his ears and gods damn Isla for being covered in blood just now because it was distracting in ways that made his teeth want to grow long and sharp.

Toes curling in his shoes and tense everywhere except his right hand, Remi just barks a laugh up into the sky as he shakes his head. "Oh no? Because you seem to be doing a great job of it right now." But then Isla wants to leave and it's the absolute best thing and he knows it. Still, the burn on his tongue is like fire and the words come out regardless of his clenched teeth.

"No of course. Gods help anyone who does something without seeking your permission first." He adds, meaning to wave her away, but instead just holding up a small circlet of flowers between ghostly fingers. Isla is gone before Remi even realizes what he's done, and it's with a guilty scowl that has his stomach turning that he softly sets the flowers down before gathering Ronin's bouquet and returning home.

~FIN

THE LULLABY

maybe it's a long gray game, but maybe that's a good thing