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+---- Thread: [SE] the things that you do in the name of what you love (/showthread.php?tid=10070)
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RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Remi - 09-03-2024
Loving her with the sort of fierceness that has his stomach clenching as she comes around the counter, Remi inhales stiffly as he does his best to listen to the things she's saying rather than dismissing them out of hand as he's inclined to do.
[say]"As a doctor, you wouldn't call something an infection if it wasn't bad for you. Surely there have to be plenty of very bad things that you've seen that don't have symptoms right away?"[/say] It's as close to a logical argument as he can come given the way he wants to simply scream BUT HE'S INFECTED and just be done with it.
Feathering his jaw at the mention of Frey, Remi licks at the inside of his lower lip . [say]"You'll forgive me for not believing that Frey has everyone's interests in mind."[/say] He says a touch curtly, not quite able to look at the Remedy for a moment as heat flushes across his cheeks.
[say]"The hot springs in Halo can cure the infected now. I know you can't go, but I could take him, then...then no one would have to worry."[/say]
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Isla - 09-03-2024
[say]"Yes, that's true,"[/say] Isla says, giving credit where it's due and nodding to Remi, though her hands slip up to squeeze at his upper arms. [say]"But when people were infected with the blight, and with the sickness that came from Tanau, we didn't just ban them from places,"[/say] she reminds him; Ever is still human and with all the connections that come along with it, whatever infection might be pulsing through his veins.
Again, she can only wince but reluctantly give her agreement as Remi speaks of Frey - having never met the deity herself, she can nonetheless recall the Bastion's less-than-stellar encounters with them. [say]"I heard about the hot springs, but I... Remi, it isn't my decision to make. It's Ever's,"[/say] she begins softly, and where for anyone else it might have been an easy no-brainer, this is where things get more complex.
[say]"You've known him longer than I have,"[/say] she says gently. [say]"And you remember how he was, don't you? I remember, from when I first met him. The only thing the infection has done is give him room to be himself without the weight of the world on his shoulders. Would you want to give that up? I wouldn't."[/say]
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Remi - 09-03-2024
[say]"True, because those infections didn't come from a threat that wants to take over the entire planet."[/say] Remi counters, nearly grasping after her fingers to keep them in his own before clenching them into fists and balling them up at his sides.
Only the softening of her voice tugs Remi back from the dark places that his mind goes, wherein the knowledge that it's still within his ability to make the people around him do the things he wants.
[say]"Think of how it was with you and I and the Voice...you remember what it felt like for you that one time, right?"[/say] The time that the goddess had coiled into Isla's body, when she could have taken her over completely and wiped the Lullaby off the map. [say]"You felt fine before that too, and...and I'm not saying that the ascended were an infection by any means, only that...that feeling okay now doesn't mean anything. Not with how strong the Family is. There's no reason at all to think that Everest won't just wake up one day, eyes blazing purple with his hands around your throat. No reason to think he won't infect you and maybe everyone else."[/say]
Lowering his gaze back to the counter, Remi can only give his head a small shake. [say]"You saw what it was like when I came back from Starfall."[/say] He says slowly. How badly beaten he'd been, how he'd only luckily escaped with his life. [say]"If...if whatever space the infection has given Everest is something he values, he can find it again through other means."[/say] And if he can't? Well, Remi wasn't about to lose a war just because Everest liked not being quite so awkward.
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Isla - 09-03-2024
With skin made tan and golden from seasons in Torchline, these days Isla is able to properly grow pale at the reminder of the Voice and how it had felt to feel herself properly invaded by the goddess, and any objections she wants to make die on her tongue. She does remember - and although back then it had been her choice, a choice she'd made without hesitation, it had nonetheless been the springboard to all that had happened to break their friendship.
[say]"Remi,"[/say] she whispers, the tone a mix of pleading and scolding. He wouldn't, she wants to say, but do any of them know that's true? It isn't like that, but can she say it for certain?
The Bastion might have predicted correctly before, when he'd considered that there would be tears, but Isla is still determinedly blinking them back for now. [say]"I'm not doing that to him,"[/say] she tells him eventually. [say]"I can't, Remi. I love him."[/say] However unfair it might be for Remi to hear it. [say]"If he goes, it needs to be his choice. I can... I can talk to him, but I'm not making him do anything he doesn't want to do."[/say]
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Remi - 09-03-2024
It's selfish of course, the way Remi tenses to hear Isla say I love him, the pair have known each other for far too long and in too many iterations of one another for Remi to do anything other than sigh softly. [say]"Come here."[/say] As it always had been with Isla, her anger would have been far easier for him to endure than her sadness, and though there's still more he needs to say, gods he can't do it when he can so easily see the way she's hurting.
Wanting nothing more than to wrap his arms around her if she'll allow him, with a shift of his shoulders his wings move to join his arms, cocooning her as if that might somehow freeze the moment and give them time to think. [say]"He's still going to be him."[/say] Remi whispers against the top of her head. [say]"Everest isn't the infection."[/say] Surely whatever it was the Remedy LOvEd about him would still be there once he was cured. Little did Remi know just how unfounded that assumption would turn out to be, but gods, it seemed right, didn't it?
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Isla - 09-03-2024
Isla is in Remi's arms the second he reaches for her, the Remedy all but melting against his chest, forehead pressed against the faded chambray of his shirt. [say]"All I want is for him to be happy,"[/say] she whispers, the words muffled against him and sounding both quieter and louder thanks to the cocoon of tawny wings that come to wrap around them. And ultimately, with a god's blessing about it and every avenue explored to understand the infection, Everest is happy, and Isla can't and won't be the one to take it away from him.
[say]"Gods, why'd you have to come and stand on my doorstep and do this?"[/say] she complains, and although the bittersweetness of her feelings all but rolls out of her everywhere they touch, there's the faintest of smiles in her voice. [say]"I just wanted to have a day off at the beach."[/say]
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Remi - 09-04-2024
Relief has Remi's muscles relaxing as he holds the Remedy tight against his chest. If he could have, he'd have pressed her all the way into him, back against his bones and the contours of his soul where she'd once been, and where he could hold the entirety of her silhouette inside of his mind. Alas, long gone are the moments the pair shared such an intimate connection, and while Isla would no doubt feel the complex strains of guilt and love pouring from the places they touched, it wasn't nearly as descriptive as the Bastion might have liked.
[say]"I know."[/say] He says softly, one hand splayed against her lower back as the other smoothed down her hair. She'll feel his quiet huff of laughter as much as hear it, both in the way his body tenses against hers as well as in the colourful sparks of gold that flow from him. [say]"Well, that's on you for thinking you could have a day off in the first place."[/say] He huffs quietly against the top of her head, before pressing a kiss against her forehead.
[say]"I think both you and Everest might need to prepare for what you'll do if the decision is made for him by someone else."[/say] Remi says carefully, trying desperately to toe the line between preparing Isla for the worst-case scenario but not worrying her unnecessarily.
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Isla - 09-04-2024
Complex or not, whilst Isla can't feel the depths and intricacies of the Bastion's emotions quite in the way she'd once been able to, she remembers it well enough to be able to surrender entirely to his embrace and all the things he's trying to say with every ounce of magic available to him. Letting out a shuddering sigh and allowing the world to reduce down to little more than a cocoon of feathers, even for just this one moment, by the time Remi is drawing back to kiss her forehead, the Remedy is at least pulled back together enough to speak.
[say]"Mm, more fool me,"[/say] she agrees, wiping the tears from her cheeks and peering back up at him, stress still pinching at the corners of her eyes especially as the Bastion continues. She nods gently, and though the feelings that pour from her are all sorrow and understanding, there's a little thread of darkness there too, one that might as well have come from Remi himself - a commitment to protect the things she loves, whatever the cost.
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Remi - 09-04-2024
If he's at all aware of the unconscious subterfuge beginning to take root in Isla's mind, Remi gives no indication. Of anyone in their little group of friends, the Bastion is perhaps best equipped to understand the ramifications of going against the advice of everyone and everything in order to protect someone he loved; gods knew he'd done it enough times in the past. [say]"It'll be alright."[/say] He murmurs softly, and while he doesn't sound enthusiastic about it, he doesn't sound unconfident either. [say]"I loved Ronin through the blight and he loved me through whatever the hell came after...I've loved you as an accepted, an ascended, a companion, an enemy, and now an ancient."[/say] He'd loved children who weren't his, and those who had broken his heart; if he could do that, Isla, who was infinitely better than him in every way, could continue to love the aviator.
And if Everest couldn't love her, then there was more wrong with him than just an infection.
[say]"You and Ever can get through this, whatever happens."[/say] In his mind, of course, whatever was likely going to be someone dragging the aviator kicking and screaming to the springs in Halo.
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Isla - 09-04-2024
Were it anyone else, a platitude like it'll be alright might not have meant much to a logical soul like the Remedy. But coming from Remi - especially when it's followed by everything else he has to say - gods, but she really wants to believe it. Reaching out to press warm hands against his chest as if to still make sure he's whole and real and here after all this time, Isla sighs hard enough to force her shoulders down and away from her ears, and she nods to him.
[say]"Thank you for coming to tell me, even though I already knew. And for saying the things I needed to hear, even if I didn't want to hear them,"[/say] she says, meaning it despite not planning to take the advice he'd also paired along with it. [say]"You're right, of course. Hell, if we can be standing here having this conversation, it's proof enough that anything is possible."[/say] Managing a weak smile up at Remi, Isla leans up to kiss his cheek.
[say]"If it's all the same to you though, can we go and get dinner and talk about something else now?"[/say]
RE: the things that you do in the name of what you love - Remi - 09-04-2024
Having to laugh at that despite how inappropriate amusement seemed at that moment, Remi nods. He both hated and adored the history that was spread long between the two of them; hated it because of the pain it had caused, but adored it because of how much he loved the woman before him (flawed and inappropriate though that love could be). So, despite wanting nothing more than to scoop the Remedy up into his arms and ferry her far away as she pressed her lips against his cheek, instead he too tried to sigh out the tension in his shoulders before straightening.
[say]"I suppose I owe you that, for ruining your day off."[/say] He muttered under his breath, pulling his wings back behind his body before letting them meld back against his skin. [say]"Did you want to change first? Not that I don't appreciate the view, but...people might talk."[/say] Remi jests, eyeing the shawl and bikini top before inclining his head ever so slightly.
Although the pair were able to easily pretend that there wasn't an elephant lurking in the corner of the room over dinner, both knew that there was, and so it was that after an enjoyable but perhaps slightly shorter meal than normal, that Remi returned Isla to her apartment.
~FIN