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+---- Thread: nobody's soldier (/showthread.php?tid=10006)
nobody's soldier - Ronin - 08-25-2024
Ronin emerges from his jaunt down to the Spiral Marketplace slowly, knowing better than to shoot up from the depths with too much impatience. He'd had an interesting conversation with Deimos (that's putting it mildly) and had helped to decorate the marketplace for some celebration the Mer were hosting, and he's got a few trinkets for his trouble as well.
Breaching the surface of the water in silence next to the Northaven, the Knight has been adorned in a circlet of silver and seaglass (and yes, he does feel bonita, thank you for asking) as well as a small canvas sack filled with iridescent seashells that he plans to use to decorate the prow of the boat when he gets a spare moment.
Shaking away his partial shift and reaching for the ladder to haul himself back on board, he's bedraggled and his pants are soaking, but he doesn't plan for that to be a problem for long. Indeed, when his husband finds him, Ronin will have already peeled them off, laying quite naked on the deck of the boat to catch his breath in the sun.
RE: nobody's soldier - Remi - 08-25-2024
Ronin wasn't the only one playing sea monster that afternoon, and though the Bastion had left a line of drowned pirate ships in his wake rather than happy merfolk, he certainly felt just as accomplished about it.
Having spied the movement of something too large to have been anything other than another predator, the Kraken had stalked the leviathan just long enough to ensure that it was in fact the Knight and not some hellish void creature that had somehow gotten past their defences, before lazily trailing the giant serpentine creature back toward the Northaven.
Surfacing only when he was sure Ronin was somewhere on the boat, Remi lifts his head over the side of the deck where, to his surprise, he was treated to his husband's golden skin dripping with saltwater and nothing else. No doubt the Knight would feel the boyish flush of Remi's affection through their bond, but it would come just seconds before a tentacle slithered onto the deck, its tip wrapping around Ronin's big toe and suckering against it.
RE: nobody's soldier - Ronin - 08-25-2024
[say]"Remi,"[/say] Ronin says, a smile in his voice despite the warning in his tone, though of course there's little he can do to stop the suckered tentacle from gripping his toe. Groaning and trying to roll away from the appendage (the feeling has his toes curling instinctively anyway), the Knight eventually rolls to his knees and swipes his wet hair back from his face.
[say]"You better come here and do that with your lips to make up for it,"[/say] he drawls - and he doesn't mean on his big toe either, Remi, before you get any ideas. Had he not been in the process of catching his breath and resting, he might have prowled forward to get to the side of the boat and snag his husband, but no no - Remi can come to him now.
RE: nobody's soldier - Remi - 08-25-2024
Holding the rope ladder so that only his eyes peeped over the deck, Remi couldn't help but feel for a moment as if he was doing something wrong (and no, not just because of the use of his tentacles). Watching the Knight twist and turn in the sunlight had droplets of saltwater trickling down from his dark hair, following the deep furrows left by his muscles along his back, before disappearing into the wooden boards of their deck. Flushing, the Bastion's lips grew tight as he inhaled softly, his tentacle retreating.
Placing his hand on Ronin's knee, Remi let his fingers walk suggestively towards the Knight's foot, his eyebrows raised. [say]"But I mean if you are, who am I to deny you."[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Ronin - 08-25-2024
[say]"I'd argue with you, but at this point and with the number of tentacles that regularly invade our bed, I'd not be surprised if I wasn't sure myself these days."[/say] Grinning and stretching his arms above his head - definitely just to warm down his muscles and not at all to put a show on for his husband - he nonetheless watches Remi haul himself onto the deck with a warmth to his smile that likely matches the flush to the other man's cheeks.
[say]"Hey, I was clothed,"[/say] he objects, waving a hand to the discarded (and soaking wet) pants he'd been wearing down at the Spiral Marketplace. [say]"But there's nothing like drying off with nothing in the way, no?"[/say] Sweetly, but firmly, his hand snatches out to grasp Remi's wandering fingers, raising them so he can press a kiss to the back of his hand.
[say]"I met Deimos down at the Underwater City,"[/say] he declares. [say]"And I have, as the kids say, tea to share."[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Remi - 08-25-2024
[say]"Listen,"[/say] Remi huffs, combing his fingers back through his curls indignantly. [say]"It's like snoring or talking in your sleep. I can't always help it."[/say] Just how many times he could help it, though, was likely something the pair could debate.
Later. Or never would be fine too.
Snickering boyishly at that, Remi floods the Knight's grasp with the sort of warmth he hopes makes the sun on Ronin's back pale in comparison. But then before the Bastion can try placing his hand somewhere else, Ronin is talking about Deimos of all people and that certainly has the mood not so subtly shifting. Giving his husband a deep frown—stretching his arms above his head as he had, all bronze skin and nothing else—Remi grumbles with feigned irritability as he sighs and sits down at Ronin's side (rather than astride him, as he'd initially been planning). [say]"Alright, go on then."[/say] He murmurs with a roll of his wrist. [say]"Spill the tea."[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Ronin - 08-25-2024
Later, never, or in bits and pieces for the rest of their lives - Ronin really doesn't mind. And as he feels the further warmth sneak into Remi's thoughts, it's with almost a groan of regret that he allows the Bastion to slump down beside him. He's say he'd make up for it later, but he has a sneaking suspicion that whatever he has to say will at the very least dampen any potential shenanigans.
Still, if that's the case, he starts with the good-ish news. [say]"Well, I found out that the tall, willowy looking guy who has been tailing Deimos to all these meetings is not a full grown Erebos,"[/say] he says. [say]"Erebos is still a baby, and has just learned to roll over."[/say] He pauses for emphasis, because as a man who adores being a parent, of course Erebos deserves a moment to shine.
[say]"The man is called Amhran, and he is a Rae demigod, believe it or not. Grew from a plant in Evie's greenhouse over Deepfrost."[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Remi - 08-25-2024
[say]"Oh?"[/say] Okay, that was interesting news. Lifting his eyebrows and looking for a moment properly interested in what Ronin was saying (rather than sulking about having to try and maintain eye contact while the Knight just lounged like the statue of David), Remi grinned at the mention of Erebos still being in the noodle stage. [say]"I am inclined not to believe it."[/say] He chuckles, shooting Ronin a look. [say]"Or, at least, you don't think Evie...?"[/say] It wasn't a judgement on the state of Deimos and Evie's marriage, but Remi couldn't recall the sudden appearance of a demigod child who didn't have physical ties to both of its parents.
[say]"And so Deimos is, what? His gardener?"[/say] Which, if yes, made the letter he'd penned inside all the more amusing.
[say]"On the subject of Rae..."[/say] Sighing, hating how quickly things had gone from the predictable but not unwelcome start of what might as well have been the equivalent of a Caido porno (oh sorry sir, I didn't see you, I'm just here to scrub down your wooden deck) to being about Serious Things, Remi gives his husband a tight smile. [say]"Hadama was here earlier. He...got the thing out of the wand that he mentioned."[/say] Flicking his eyes out toward Starfall as if to justify the intentional vagueness, Remi raises his brows. [say]"And now we have it."[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Ronin - 08-25-2024
[say]"Well, Deimos didn't seem anything but... Deimos about the whole thing."[/say] And through the Attuned bond, he imagines he'd have caught any sign of bittersweetness or anger or betrayal at his questions about Amhran. But no - the Sword had seemed perfectly nonchalant about his Raeling tagalong. [say]"I suppose both he and Evie are his gardeners. If you really want to risk a slap across the face, you could always ask her about it,"[/say] he suggests, grinning across at his husband.
But it seems as though he is not the only one with tea to spill, and Ronin's brows furrow as soon as the Bastion continues on the Rae of it all. He almost wants to put his hand gently over Remi's mouth, as though the whole thing might be prevented if only the other man can't speak it into reality. But of course, it exists whether they speak about it or not, and he follows his gaze out towards Starfall.
[say]"I see,"[/say] he says softly. [say]"I suppose we've got a few new scars to look forward to, then."[/say] Stretching an arm around Remi to draw him closer, Ronin presses a kiss to his husband's temple. [say]"There's something else, too,"[/say] he almost warns. [say]"Deimos told me that apparently Everest is infected by the void."[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Remi - 08-25-2024
[say]"Nope, I think I'm good."[/say] Remi decides almost immediately. As fun (?) (as gay) as it was to come up with theories, the very last thing the Bastion was inclined to do was bother Evie with his nonsense. Aoife wasn't his child after all, and his love for her was just as fierce as for his own children, not that he'd ever have welcomed questions about her paternity, especially not from someone as distant as Remi was to Evie.
Feathering his jaw for a moment, Remi shifts against the Knight, settling back against him and giving his head a little shake. [say]"I started a letter inside asking Deimos and Sunjata to meet us if you want to read it over and see if it...makes sense."[/say] Hopefully it both would and wouldn't at the same time, though it didn't seem worth it just now to try and explain it to Ronin when the Knight could just read it for himself when they went it.
Reaching for the Knight's hand to interlace their fingers together, Ronin will feel Remi's emotions suddenly shiver as ice stiffens in his veins. [say]"He..."[/say] Exhaling sharply, the previous colour in his cheeks and warmth in his touch all but draining out as he searches his husband's face. [say]"Like Everest Hart? Like the one dating Isla?"[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Ronin - 08-25-2024
[say]"You know, I thought you'd say as much,"[/say] Ronin says with a smirk and a nod, feeling very much same about the subject (only replace Aoife, these days, with Flora). Alas, it seems that their tea spilling is very much over and done with - he doesn't really count the news about Ever, since it's more concerning news than gossip - and he works his fingers carefully through the other man's wet curls, gaze still pinned out on Starfall in the distance. [say]"Mm, I can do that,"[/say] he confirms, and he accepts Remi's hand just as his thoughts and feelings ice over entirely.
Tearing his gaze away from distant purple hues, he glances almost guiltily down at the Bastion, as if he's done something wrong in bringing such news into their home. [say]"I don't know any other Everests,"[/say] he says, as he'd said to Deimos as well. [say]"Not to mention, he said that Flora told him about it."[/say] Wincing, it seems as though they're every much late to the party on this one.
RE: nobody's soldier - Remi - 08-25-2024
[say]"Wh—"[/say] The muscles in Remi's legs tighten suddenly as if his body means to get up and do something about it right then and there. Wincing as he hisses out a breath, the Bastion forces himself to sink back into the here and now, though the telltale feathers that now prickle out of his wet curls and threaten to trickle down his back are a gauge of how successful his restraint presently is.
[say]"So..Flora knows, and told Deimos, but...the...healing springs in Halo?"[/say] Slowly he pieces it together; Flora had probably told Deimos because of the springs, and now that the springs had been completed, Deimos had told Ronin so that he could.....because of often Everest was in Torchline...?
[say]"Does Isla know?"[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Ronin - 08-25-2024
I'm sorry, Ronin nearly says, squeezing his husband's hand a second time as he spots Remi's tells in the smattering of feathers through his hair and down his neck. [say]"That's what I thought, yeah. It's how the conversation came about - the springs are open now, so I asked if there was anyone out there that they might try them on."[/say] And unfortunately, it seems, Everest Hart is the winner.
[say]"I don't know,"[/say] he confesses to Isla being aware of the situation. [say]"Deimos mentioned that some people in Stormbreak know, but I'm unsure who that might be. Tobi and Finn, maybe?"[/say] He'd certainly want to know if any of their children had been infected by the void. Either way, it feels as though this, as well as the lily Remi has recently been given, now sits in their hands. [say]"Do you think he'd come, if we asked him to go to the springs?"[/say]
RE: nobody's soldier - Remi - 08-25-2024
[say]"People know?"[/say] There have been times in Remi's life that he's felt naive, but it had been a good long while since he'd received information that fundamentally shifted what he thought everyone else around him knew and believed. Everest was infected, and the queen of Torchline was just letting him frolic through the region?
Exhaling and looking all the more stunned for how his lips remained open, the Bastion shifts away from Ronin slightly, but only so that he could better see his husband. [say]"Do we care? I mean, surely this isn't the sort of thing that's...that's just his choice?"[/say] When the Blight had struck Ronin wanted no part of the healing process, but that hadn't meant anything. When Flora had been infected, she'd been healed. Gods, they'd been doing all sorts of quests for seasons now to keep the void out, and here Everest was, sailing in and out on the regular.
[say]"Why aren't you more upset about this?"[/say] Remi blinks himself out of his thoughts, eyeing his husband somewhat skeptically. [say]"Am I being crazy right now, or is this not as big of a deal as it feels like?"[/say]