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+---- Thread: whiskey, smoke and aces high (/showthread.php?tid=5405)
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Ronin - 08-23-2021
[say]"I could make a joke about that, but given the fact that it's my ass that currently feels tenderised, I'll shut my fucking mouth."[/say] Ronin flashes a smile to Remi, though he does shake his head at the suggestion that he might be able to learn to ride a motorcycle in the days leading up to a weekend out of town. [say]"Not this time, no."[/say] He chuckles. [say]"But maybe next time. If there's a next time."[/say] There's jumping the gun and then there's whatever this is, he's sure of it. And yet, he doesn't stop.
[say]"I'll make sure to get marshmallows, just for you,"[/say] he chuckles, waiting until Remi turns off the water before he steps out of the shower and grabs his towel, giving the other man enough room to do the same. [say]"That's something I think I can fit on the back of the bike. Apart from you, obviously."[/say]
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Remi - 08-23-2021
[say]'Only yours was tenderised in a good way."[/say] Remi chuckles in response, before feeling a cold wave of self-doubt slosh against his feet. [say]"Right?"[/say] He wonders, turning so that his shoulders squarely faced Ronin so that he might flash the other man a crooked smile. [say]"If? I'll have you know I'm an excellent travelling companion."[/say] He continues, huffing. [say]'You're going to be booking weekends away just to see what sort of snacks I bring."[/say] It's leading, and the jovial tone that Remi uses is a poor disguise for just how close to too much he's come. Not unlike Ronin though, the musician finds he both can't, and doesn't want to stop.
Grabbing the towel and ruffling it first through his curls before wrapping it around his waist, Remi rolls his eyes. [say]"Maybe I can sit on them. That way they take up less room and it saves my ass."[/say] Saves it for other things, is what his smile says as he clears his throat, pawing at the fogged up mirror to reveal a hazy reflection of the two of them.
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Ronin - 08-23-2021
[say]"Right,"[/say] Ronin agrees readily, his grin matching Remi's even as he tucks the towel around his waist. [say]"Oh I have no doubt,"[/say] he says of the other man's capability of a travelling companion. [say]"But you don't know what it's like to go away with me just yet."[/say] Honestly, Ronin travels light and he doesn't make a nuisance of himself, so it's unlikely that he can be categorised as a bad travel companion.
Scoffing, Ronin can't help himself as their rather charming reflections are revealed in the mirror, and he reaches out to give Remi a gentle smack on the ass. [say]"I reckon your ass will be alright,"[/say] he says, though it's up to him what he does with the marshmallows. [say]"Any preference for what we should order? Or should we just get what we had last time?"[/say]
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Remi - 08-23-2021
[say]"I don't, no. But all I'd need to do is post a picture of the Inn's sign on Instagram and I'd be flooded with fans, so I have that as a backup. And surely you can't be worse than them."[/say]
Turning, Remi spins about as his ass is unceremoniously smacked, and he looks as pleased as offended. [say]"Don't you start what you can't finish."[/say] He hisses menacingly, before boyishyl nudging past Ronin. The hallway air is decidedly cooler, and whatever growing warmth there had been beneath his legs is extinguished by the abrupt change in temperature.
[say]"I'm easy."[/say] He calls over his shoulder, snorting under his breath at the unintentional double entendre. Rifling through his closet to tug on a shirt (this one with a row of birds on it that says nice tits. Closer inspection reveals each bird is indeed a type of tit), Remi holds out a shirt for Ronin. [say]"Unless you prefer to put your dirty one back on?"[/say] He asks, waggling the garment. That one said "Why couldn't the pony speak?" on the front. On the back, it read: "He was a little horse".
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Ronin - 08-23-2021
[say]"Oh God, please don't. I'd planned to go up to the mountain for a bit of peace."[/say] Ronin grins across at the other man, only to let his eyes flicker over Remi's body, as if he's considering whether he wants to finish what he's just started. At that moment, of course, his stomach does rumble, and Ronin scoffs and decides against a response in lieu of following Bandcamp back out into the apartment.
[say]"A'right,"[/say] he calls back, fishing around for his phone and opening the app to order them food when there's a t-shirt with pony puns on it being thrust in his direction. And Ronin really has to consider whether he'd prefer to pull on his dirty shirt again, before he smirks and snags the garment from Remi. [say]"Thanks,"[/say] he says, resisting the urge to suggest he just keeps a spare set of clothes here. Because that would be getting weird.
[say]"I'll order - you decide what to put on TV?"[/say]
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Remi - 08-23-2021
[say]"Awww, Netflix and Chill?"[/say] Remi snarks, but nods contentedly. He doesn't bother trying to move Amadeus from his position draped across the couch. Instead, Remi flops down onto the loveseat and tosses one of the pillows at his dog (who doesn't even move as it lands on his head). It'll be a tightish squeeze for he and Hallway, but it seems they're getting pretty good at that.
[say]"Hey, have you seen this yet?"[/say] Remi calls over his shoulder even though Ronin is clearly on the phone ordering their food. [say]"I bet the husband did it. The husbands always do it."[/say] He says of the crime documentary that he's already selected.
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Ronin - 08-23-2021
[say]"We already had Chill, so this is just Netflix I think,"[/say] Ronin informs Remi with a lazy shrug, and he's hiding his smile as he watches Bandcamp do battle with his dog (unsuccessfully, of course). Raising a brow at the question that comes echoing over to him when he's very much mid-conversation with the pretentious pizza place, he still makes time to call out a nope! in response as to whether he's seen it. He also thinks it was the husband, for what it's worth, but it's something they'll both just have to wait to find out.
It's a cold, wet Monday morning when Ronin arrives back from Bear Mountain. Alone, of course, because that's how he'd left. Let's rewind, though, because there's a story about this. They'd arranged to head out on the Saturday morning. Everything was in order, and Ronin had waited outside the garage for Remi for a good twenty minutes before bothering to even send a text asking where he was.
That became the first of three texts that would say unread. Next he called (a very un-millenial thing to do, it's true), and when that just continued to ring as well, he went as far as to pull up outside the apartment building and ring the buzzer. No answer there either, and Ronin knows when he's being stood up, so it's at that point that he scrapes his dignity off the asphalt and goes on his merry way.
As it so happens, the mountains have shit phone signal, and he'd likely have petulantly ignored any messages from Bandcamp besides, so when he pulls up outside his shop, that's likely the first chance he'll have to get messages properly back in the city. Sighing and switching off the ignition, he rolls his shoulders, pulls off his helmet, and checks of any voicemails.
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Remi - 08-23-2021
There will be a voicemail, from a woman who sounds composed, annoyed, but also in good spirits.
[say]"Hello Iri—"
"—don't call him that."
"—Ronin. You don't know me, but I have a message for you from our mutual friend Remi. He's says he's sorry about marshmallows and not getting to show you his vast candle collec—"[/say]
At this point, there's nondescript Italian curses in the background, which only causes the woman on the phone to chuckle. [say]"Okay, okay. Remi says he's sorry and he'll explain why he ghosted you, but that the tl;dr is that it wasn't his fault."[/say]
Though Remi won't know it, Isla has also followed up this message with a text saying that Remi would probably like to see him, and which hospital he was currently in.
[say]"Why are you the way you are?"[/say] Remi asks the blue-eyed blonde at his bedside, who, despite wearing a doctor's coat is not his doctor. [say]"Because you are the way you are."[/say] She chimes cheerfully.
record scratch, followed by Remi's voice over as the camera pans to the blonde kissing his forehead. [say]"Now, I bet you're wondering how I wound up here?"[/say]
Insert: montage of Remi packing for the trip. He pours over his vast collection of graphic t-shirts, all with puns on them, to select the best of them. To his bag, he also adds candles, massage oil (hand made by Vai), truffles, a backgammon game, and two small stretched-canvases with some oil paints. It's the night before they're meant to leave and Remi finds himself wide awake thanks to the butterflies in his stomach. So, like any sleep-deprived millenial , he hops onto facebook and youtube and does the single worst thing anyone can do to themselves: he reads the comment section about his latest performance.
Words like sell-out, and has-been, and over-produced sham have him breaking out in a cold sweat. His foot taps restlessly as his fingers scroll, and scroll, and scroll. Critics call solo song by Sunset Patrol a desperate publicity stunt. Strip away the electronic beats and clever riffs and what have you got? A show that goes on one-song too long. Remi swallows hard. Why do lead singers always think they can pull this shit? YOU AIN'T NOTHING WITHOUT YOUR BAND, one comment wrote. No one even knows this guy's name, and he thinks he can go solo? lmao, see ya at McDonalds douchebag.
He needed to stop. He needed to sleep.
Glancing over his shoulder at the tin in his bedside, Remi tells himself he'll just do a little. Just enough to quiet the thundering of his heart. His phone rings. It's Vai. She always seems to know when he's on the brink, but there's already a needle in his arm and oblivion bleeding out behind his eyelids.
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Ronin - 08-23-2021
Ronin has three voicemails, and he's listening to them on speakerphone as he potters about the shop. One is from his landlady, thanking him for helping to fix her shelving units even though he was packing for his trip. She's left him something in his mailbox to say thanks, and Ronin already knows it'll be some kind of a houseplant. Even so, he's smiling as he checks the shop over.
The second is from his mother. It sounds slurred and annoyed, and it starts with If Bastion were here and he deletes it before the rest can worm its way into all his cracks and insecurities. And the third?
[say]"Hello Iri--"[/say]
Ronin pauses at that, tilting his head and furrowing his brow as a familiar stream of Italian curses crackle out of the phone. When the message ends, he tries and fails to be casual about the way he grabs his phone and reads the follow up text. He also tries and fails to be casual about getting onto the motorbike again and roaring out of the shop. Hospital is pretty much all he needs to read to know it's serious, and it isn't until he's actually pulling up outside said hospital that he gives himself permission to breathe.
Thank fuck he'd Googled Bandcamp to know his full name, because turns out you need that to visit someone in hospital, and Ronin likely would have just ended up wandering the wards aimlessly otherwise.
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Remi - 08-23-2021
Ronin will not only need to know Remi's full name, but give his as well. Luckily this isn't Isla's first rodeo, and she's given IrIsh clearance. With Remi being who he is, the nurses have already had to turn away any number of fans trying to weasel their way to his bedside. It's for this reason that Remi has a room to himself, and while it is small, it's a lot more than most people get in NYC without paying an arm and a leg for it.
Watching a re-run of jeopardy and knowing a surprising number of correct answers, Remi's precious pun shirt has been taken away and replaced with a non-description blue hospital gown. There are various tubes in his arms and machines whirring happily away at his sides, as he points a pudding-covered spoon at the TV and shouts, [say]"Who is Agatha Christie."[/say] One of the contestants answers, Who is Stephen King? to which Alec shakes his head and says sorry, that's incorrect, while Remi murmurs [say]"idiota."[/say] under his breath.
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Ronin - 08-23-2021
Ronin's mind has run away with him long before he gets to Remi's room, and he has visions of Bandcamp laying pallid and unresponsive and hooked up to all number of machines. As it so happens, he's half correct. The machines are there, but the Italian lilt calling out answers to Jeopardy proves that he's very much awake.
It's with a surprisingly gentle knock that the mechanic dares to open the door, still in his leathers with his helmet under one arm and his keys in his hand, his mouth feeling suddenly very dry.
Remi does and doesn't look like he ought to be in hospital, and it stifles any number of greetings that dance on the edge of Ronin's tongue. [say]"Uh... Hey,"[/say] he manages lamely. [say]"I got a message from your friend. She told me where you were."[/say]
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Remi - 08-23-2021
Hearing the door but not glancing away from the screen, Remi mumbles an answer that turns out to be incorrect. He apparently takes this as a personal affront given how he waves a hand at the TV. [say]"Can't you do anything about this pudding? It's—oh. You aren't Isla."[/say] All the colour in Remi's face seems to settle in his cheeks while the breath in his lungs disappears entirely.
Trying and failing to sit up (his muscles were on vacation, leaving only uselessly and mostly-asleep stones in their place), Remi swallows hard as he tries to process too many things at once. [say]"She...oh...you didn't need to...I mean, I'm fine, I just wanted her to tell you that I'd explain."[/say]
Setting down his mostly eaten pudding before wiping hastily around his mouth, sure there would be chocolate there, Remi nervously folds and refolds his fingers in his lap. [say]"Uh...how was..your trip?"[/say] He asks, offering Hallway a tentative smile.
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Ronin - 08-23-2021
No he certainly is not Isla, and for Remi's sake Ronin hopes that what he says is in jest. (He is particularly defensive of nurses, waiters and other public sector workers, so sue him). Clearing his throat, he manages a small smile and glances around the hospital room, noting the seat next to the bed but doing nothing to sit down in it - he doesn't even know if Remi wants visitors. (Or rather, whether he wants Ronin as a visitor).
[say]"Oh... That's... Good, I'm glad,"[/say] he says as Bandcamp says he's fine, though what he wants to say is that's an awful lot of machines for someone who's fine. As for his trip, he doesn't really manage to keep the smile at that point, rubbing at the back of his neck and sighing. [say]"Quiet,"[/say] he murmurs. [say]"I did a lot of walking, mostly. It rained again."[/say]
RE: whiskey, smoke and aces high - Remi - 08-23-2021
As Ronin's smile disappears, so too does any hope Remi might have had that they could just...breeze through this encounter. Pull up a chair, we're just about to start double jeopardy. Want to finish my pudding? [say]'So like home, then?'[/say] The levity in his voice is painful to his own ears, and the smile that accompanies the words dies as soon as the last syllable has left his lips.
[say]"I didn't mean to leave you hanging. I would have reached out sooner if I could, but...well..."[/say] Now it's Remi's turn to rub awkwardly at the back of his neck. [say]"...I wasn't conscious until yesterday."[/say] He adds in a low voice, before clearing his throat and letting his hand slump back into the bed. On one of the monitors, Remi's heart rate has increased to about 176 BPM, and continues to rise. [say]"I feel bad that you drove all the way over here, Isla wasn't supposed to tell you where I was."[/say] He mutters as his cheeks flush.