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+---- Thread: I breathe disaster (/showthread.php?tid=1909)
RE: I breathe disaster - Remi - 10-09-2019
[SAY]"SNOW, LOREN"[/say] Remi shouted, briskly nudging his not-friend even as the Launceleyn gaped. Reaching deep into the ground with his magic, Remi thrust the upturned earth in a circle around the spreading flames. The hope was that once the memory snow reasserted itself, the feather would be bound by a ring that it couldn't break through.
[say]"I have seen these before. Rory and Jigano have them—they will burn almost anything."[/say] He added breathlessly, continuing to pile snow and earth around the sparking feather.
RE: I breathe disaster - Loren - 10-09-2019
The nudge was all Loren needed: he sprang into action, sluggish limbs kicking snow over the still burning feathers as a mound of earth and ice rose around it. However, despite both of their efforts, the fires kept burning. Then Remi explained that this feather would keep setting things on fire, and the summoner’s eyes narrowed. This was his fault, and he needed to do something while the other man found a more permanent solution.
So he ran forward, unheeding of the flames that licked at his skin, scrambling over the shifting dirt, until he was within range of the feather and plucked it off the ground with his telekinesis. The burns and bruises disappeared with a wash of his healing magic, and he panted, trying to prevent further harm from coming to himself. It was hotter, way hotter than it had any right to be, and incredibly bright. However, he didn’t dare back away or close his eyes. However, he'd like to see the feather burn air.
RE: I breathe disaster - Remi - 10-09-2019
[say]"Don't—"[/say] Remi called, thinking Loren was going to do something stupid like smothering the flames with his body. Instead, the summoner plucked it out of the air which drew a sigh of relief from the alchemist. Running a hand through his curls, having not noticed the burns given how quickly Loren healed them, he fished into his pocket for the amulet which held his magic.
[say]"You sure you would not like your very own creation magic amulet? To...oh I don't know, make a holding pouch for that feather?"[/say] With a crooked and boyish grin, Remi held the amulet out, raising it from his palm with his own telekinesis magic and floating it towards the summoner.
RE: I breathe disaster - Loren - 10-09-2019
Loren did many stupid things—like leaving, then being incredibly careless upon his return, and giving into the darkness in his soul—but in this case, his actions actually made sense. Breathing heavily, he tried not to think how close he’d come to destroying the Manor and to ignore the smell of smoke and burnt flesh and hair lingering in the air. When Remi spoke, the Launceleyn turned to the alchemist, eyes wide and wild. The other man’s grin seemed totally out of place.
Then the amulet floated over and Loren grabbed it, though he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, seeing as he wasn’t the one with fancy creation magic. Still, he focused on a pouch that wouldn’t let any light, heat, fire, or electricity out. It appeared, and he opened it, juggling both it and the amulet. Then, incredibly carefully, he used his telekinesis to float the pouch as well, then put the feather in it. Thankfully it, worked. However, he shivered from the sudden cold and the fact that the threat had passed.
Please add the following to Loren's inventory:
Feather Pouch | A pouch that renders the Spark Bird's feather safe while it is inside. (Made by Remi)
RE: I breathe disaster - Remi - 10-09-2019
[say]"Gods Loren, if you did not want to talk you might have just said so, instead of nearly burning your house down."[/say] Remi trilled, running a hand through his curls and exhaling out an unwieldy sigh filled with adrenaline. Jittery from all the action, he took a moment to try and still his thumping heart.
[say]"I did not know summoned creatures left parts of them behind."[/say] He noted a touch warily, giving the summoner a worried look. [say]"From what I have heard, it is why the Spark Bird stays in the oasis where its sparks cannot cause fires."[/say] But now, with the ascended running around with Loren's magic and two more nestled inside of an amulet, there was no telling what sort of damage might be done.
RE: I breathe disaster - Loren - 10-09-2019
The alchemist’s joke was as out of place as his smile had been earlier; the Launceleyn just turned to stare at Remi, before the summoner shook his head mutely. That had been far too soon, and it had been far too close a call. Loren wasn’t going to be able to make light of this for a while. At the other man’s concerned statement, the Launceleyn just shook his head again. [say]”Th-they don't. I...I don’t know what just happened. It’s never happened to me before and I’ve never heard of it happening to anyone else.”[/say] His eyes drifted to the pouch and he shivered again. Not knowing what this magical development was terrified him, frankly. It didn’t match anything he’d ever experienced before.
RE: I breathe disaster - Remi - 10-09-2019
Remi chalked Loren's blank stare up the summoner's continued displeasure with him, and merely sighed to himself. Having more or less constantly experienced magic he didn't know about, how to control, or where it came from, the alchemist was much less fussed about Loren's new ability than the summoner was.
[say]"Alright well...no harm done."[/say] He said hesitantly, the Loren of a few moments ago who asked to be held seemingly now entirely gone leaving Remi adrift once more. He wanted to ask how it felt to wield someone else's magic, if it felt different than what Loren was used to, but refrained. [say]"Are you alright?"[/say]
RE: I breathe disaster - Loren - 10-09-2019
The summoner wasn’t so sure as the other man that no harm had been done; while the physical damage had all been repaired, he could still taste the terror on his lips. However, when the alchemist asked how the Launceleyn was, he shook his whole body, then took a deep breath. Letting it out, he found the tension ease somewhat. [say]”I’m fine.”[/say] He wasn’t going to say he was good when he wasn’t, in so many ways, but even he, pessimistic as he was these days, would be willing to admit that no lasting damage had probably been done here. And in the grand scheme of emotional trauma he’d been through, this hardly made a dent. Eyes drifting towards Remi, and then the door, Loren wondered if they were still going to go inside now.
RE: I breathe disaster - Remi - 10-09-2019
Not that Loren and Remi had ever been similar, but their reactions to this right now seemed to only reinforce the utter divide between them. It had been a mistake, an accident. Something unknown, but it had worked out. No damage done, burns healed, houses saved. Or at least for the alchemist that's all there was to it. He didn't hold preciously things like the manor, or a reputation or need for perfection as Loren did, and so all of this was easy to shrug off.
But as Loren merely reverted inwards again, Remi felt himself wilt sadly though he did his best to hide it.
[say]"I should go."[/say] He said, offering the summoner a smile and trying to infuse his voice with as much lightness as he could muster, to hide his growing disappointment. [say]"Are you sure you are alright? "[/say]
RE: I breathe disaster - Loren - 10-09-2019
Not this again. As the alchemist expressed a desire to leave, Loren couldn’t help but sigh. He thought they’d made a little bit of progress, and the fact that he’d freaked himself out with his uncontrolled magic shouldn’t change that. [say]”I would still like to hear how you feel if you still want to tell me.”[/say] If that offer wasn’t on the table anymore, though, then the summoner wouldn’t stop Remi from leaving (not that he could).
Loren shivered, then, the cold catching up to him again. [say]”I believe you mentioned inside as well.”[/say] After the performance with the Spark Bird, the summoner wasn’t going to use his abilities until he could test them in a controlled environment. Which meant he’d probably have to trek out to the Oasis. He added it to his very long to do list.
RE: I breathe disaster - Remi - 10-09-2019
[say]"Alright. If you still do."[/say] Remi replied. He wanted to sound skeptical, wanted to say, are you sure? You seem tense and nervous and frayed and not at all like you do want to hear what I have to say, but that would only set the summoner off, he was sure. Much as he might kick himself later for the decision to believe the Launceleyn, he did indeed nod and glance over Loren's shoulder. [say]"After you."[/say]
RE: I breathe disaster - Loren - 10-09-2019
Where the latest batch of uncertainty from Remi stemmed from, Loren didn’t know, and didn’t particularly care. If the other man still had things on his mind, the summoner absolutely wanted to hear them. [say]”I do.”[/say] Regardless of how the Launceleyn was recovering (or not, as the case might be), now that the alchemist had raised the issue, Loren wasn’t going to be able to rest easy until he’d heard it all. Moving forward, he opened the door for both of them and for Astra, then made his way into the kitchen. It was warm, and as comforting as anything was to the summoner these days. There was a small screen in one corner, hiding the cot that he slept on. Making his way around one of the counters, he sagged against a wall. After all the spellcasting and the terror from earlier, he was more tired than usual.
RE: I breathe disaster - Remi - 10-09-2019
Padding silently behind, Remi shucked off his jacket and folded it into a small square before thinking better of it and placing it on the back of one of the chairs. It was a nervous sort of gesture, Remi clearly buying himself time. He'd only hoped he'd find the words to properly describe what it was he was feeling, how to capture the bright optimism inside of his soul. Only now, staring at Loren weak and weary as he seemed to be, Remi merely felt a reverberation of that exhaustion flutter through him.
But he'd asked for this, and he'd not put it off any more. It was now or never.
Looking down at his hands, his cheeks flushing with colour as feathers amassed in his curls, Remi swallowed nervously. [say]"I do not have anything planned, so...I apologize for how this might...come out."[/say] Glancing up towards Loren and apparently debating something, Remi drew as near as he thought he could—a few steps away—and simply looked at he summoner for a moment.
[say]"I love you, Loren."[/say] He began, eyes vaguely staring at some bit of thread on the summoner's shirt. [say]"And I also love Ronin. More than I ever thought possible. I would never wish for a life other than the one I have with him...but I am far, far from perfect. I...do wonder, sometimes, especially when I am around you.."[/say] He didn't look up. Couldn't look up even as his breath caught in his throat. [say]"I wonder what it would have been like, with you. What it was like to be with you.."[/say] Looking up nervously, Remi's eyes moved slowly up Loren's chest, to his lips, to his eyes, wavering there for a moment before guiltily looking away. [say]"...I think I always will, if only remotely. Because there was a me who was with you that I cannot possibly know about anymore, a way I was that is now utterly lost. Taken."[/say] It wasn't merely inappropriate flashes that his mind provided, but insights into who Remi might have been and what he'd been like. A man that he...simply wasn't, anymore. [say]"So yes, selfishly, I hate the thought of the ascended biting you, because I know how it will make you feel. I hate that I cannot always just...reach out for you, for a hug, or your hand, without worrying that I will feel something, that—"[/say] And this was the real honesty, so indicated by the flare of colour across the alchemist's cheeks and how his sea-glass stare wavered softly before rising. [say]"Part of me wanted you to kiss me. Or...try. Not that...not that I would have let you, or actually wanted it, but.."[/say] Clenching his teeth together and ruffling a frustrated hand through his curls, Remi made a fist on the counter and sighed. [say]" ..sometimes I can't not think about it, because it feels like the only window into the past I have anymore. But equally..."[/say]
Now he did look up in earnest, his boyish resolve easily written on his features. [say]"...I only want Ronin. I would never be unfaithful to him, and though I..admittedly have made mistakes in showing that, he is all that I want."[/say] Not that it might have seemed like it, but in Remi's mind, that was the important part. That was the whole thing that mattered.
[say]"So..awkward, as it might be at times and maybe with different rules...I do not want to be in love with you, Loren. I do not want to push boundaries or walk fine lines, and I do not think a friendship will take that, because for wherever my mind might wander, for whatever past we have, I really do only want him."[/say]
Hesitating for a moment, the alchemist swallowed trying to gauge just how the summoner was taking this. The pair had a history of a complete divide between intention and interpretation, and the last thing Remi wanted was for what was possibly their last conversation to be hopelessly misunderstood.
[say]"You came back and so much happened with the blight and LongNight and all of it that I did not have time to think. You were just there, and I was vulnerable with Ronin gone, but....I will not let that happen again. So if you do not want to be friends, I understand. But know that things...will not be like they were."[/say] All awkward pauses and lingering looks. Remi had just now said all that those looks had ever meant to convey anyhow. [say]"So..as a friend you may well hurt me, and I may hurt you, because the two of us can be quite stupid at times. But it will not be for love. I can promise that."[/say] So saying, he did manage to stretch out a hand towards Loren, palm up, shoulder the summoner accept.
RE: I breathe disaster - Loren - 10-10-2019
Oh.
Well.
This certainly put things in perspective, even if it didn’t change anything. Given that Remi had said he hadn’t planned it out, and given the contents, Loren remained silent until he was sure the other man was done. However, there were, of course, things the summoner reacted to. Taken—he winced, since it had been taken by the Launceleyn. Why Remi reacted the way he had to the mention of the Ascended: because the alchemist was jealous, which was so far from what Loren had ever thought might be the case that literally hadn’t occurred to him. That made him blink, shock and surprise writ large on his features.
To his credit, though, when Remi held out his hand, Loren only hesitated for a brief moment before resting his hand on the other man’s. [say]”Friends.”[/say] It would be messy, and complicated, but then again everything with them and in the summoner’s life. So that was nothing new. And he’d rather try to figure it out with the alchemist than without him. They'd have to talk about at least some of it. And Loren would screw up again. But he'd accept the pain he received and caused, if it was accompanied by friendship.