near or far

the bastion

Though Remi and Hotaru didn't keep in contact the way two parents might, or indeed the way they had when their twins were first born, the bond between Valkyrie and Bastion had never once seemed to waver when it came to the needs of their children. So it was that despite the silence that had naturally fallen between them, the Bastion hadn't thought twice about reaching for Hotaru before she and Sunjata left Torchline after the tournament. The Valkyrie had known what Remi was suggesting before the words had fully left his lips, because of course she had. When had either of them shied away from the chance to see their son again?

Standing upon the shoreline with his pants rolled up to his knees and his ankles in the water, Remi gazed out towards the violet threat on the horizon with an uneasy snarl before shifting his attention back toward the beach where he fully expected to see his daughter and her mother arriving. Quiet strings of anticipation raced through him, tightening the muscles of his stomach and improving his posture if only because of the rigidity he felt. Would he be able to bring back the dead permanently, one day? Would Mort ever allow for such a thing?

Just the thought nearly had the Bastion's knees trembling, such that it was with a little shake of his head to silence his own thoughts that he continued to wait and watch for Hotaru and Flora.

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Hotaru

Take me where the shadows grow
Just wanna not be here

Valkyrie and Bastion have never needed Attuned bonds or letters to understand one another, and though she misses him frequently she equally cherishes the easy way they make the most of the time they do share. It's scarcely for solely their shared benefit now that they have children, but is that not often the case?

Scarcely ever away from her daughter's side when on Torchline's sands, Hotaru watches Remi's figure grow nearer as they walk arm-in-arm down the beach. She wonders privately how much time Remi will be able to afford them. It will never be enough, she knows, but she longs for every glimpse and stolen moment she is granted. The sweetest reminder of grief that she will willingly submit to the knife for every time.

"Good morning," she murmurs to Remi, glowing soft golden shades in the early dawn that reflect in her vulnerable smile. Her free hand squeezes Flora's elbow where it's looped in hers, taking what strength she can. There is no consideration to thank Remi for doing this, though perhaps there should be. They all want this. She can scarcely stand the moments between without lengthening them with empty words.

Take me where the stars don't show
It can get a lot out here, shining all alone

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

Feeling fluttery with youthful excitement, Flora buzzes nervously at her mother's side. She'd worn a gown that she and Mateo had picked out earlier that year, needing and wanting to look her absolute best for her twin.  Clad all in nude-lace with accents of garnet and gold, the Doubletake looked like she was ready for a night out on the town rather than an intimate family gathering.

"I don't know why I feel so nervous." Flora admits, leaning against her mother as they walk on the shoreline out toward Remi. "I mean, everything was fine last time, but...I guess it just feels like a big deal, you know?" Looking over her shoulder, if the Doubletake could have melted down such that her mother could have carried her, gods but she would have.

Eventually, they do reach the Bastion, and it's with a small smile that Flora nods to him before eagerly looking around. "How long will we have?"

the bastion

Bathed in soft golden light as they approach, Remi can't help the way his expression is instantly freed of worry or concern to see them. Loving them both in their own unique ways, that he and Hotaru had been bound together by divine happenstance had only made the quality of his love for her nuanced, but never lessened. "Good morning." Smiling warmly, he steps towards the pair, reaching out his arms to encircle both and to press soft kisses against each of their brows. "You both look beautiful." The Bastion tries to keep his fingertips pressed only against their clothing that they might not have to feel his own particular brand of paternal guilt and anticipation, knowing that both mother and sister were likely experiencing such on their own.

"Longer than last time." Remi whispers as he straightens, looking down at Flora, his heart aching for the grief he saw writ across her features. Shifting his stare to Hotaru, he wished they'd had more time together if only so that he could communicate to her all the things he was thinking, in a single glance. Alas, he had to rest of the knowledge that as grieving parents with the chance to see their son again, that their hearts likely shared the same bittersweet pulse.

"Ready?"

Closing his eyes, the Bastion reached for an untouched strand of golden light within himself. Tugging softly at it, he pulled the magic forth which would let them see and speak with their dead son.

---

Remi uses

Magic: Gone but not forgotten | 3x a year can bring back a dead PC (with permission) for one thread.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered

to bring Enzo back for a thread!

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Enzo

Time passes differently for Enzo in Mort's realm. He won't spoil you with a sneak preview into what those hallowed halls look like, but when Remi's proverbial knock comes, Enzo is waiting on the other side as eagerly as those gathered on the beach. Long legs carry him through onto the sand with an ease which implies he'd never left them.

"Hey pops," he greets with a debonair smirk. "Loving the new look. It's good on you." Contentment, that is. Enzo won't deny the personal perks of his father shifting allegiances to Mort but it's clear he's not suffering as deeply as he had been during their first visit. The same could be said of his mother, who glows with her own ascension and the light of more life in her eyes, just as he'd asked her to find. "You too, ma. Geez, how much have I missed?" Enzo grins, opening his arms to wrap around the neck of each parent to bring them into a gangly bear hug. Over their shoulders, his eyes find Flora; always the best for last, of course. His hand beckons her in to tuck her against his side.

"A lot I'd say, right Queenie?" It's a teasing mutter buried in a kiss against her temple, content to languish in a tangle of limbs. He's not keen on letting go - or being let go - anytime soon.

I'll tell a guy I like him but only if I'm drunk
I might take shots real fast, but I take love real slow

Hotaru

Take me where the shadows grow
Just wanna not be here

Hotaru supports her daughter's weight entirely, blonde heads tilted together. "So much has changed. For all of us. I think it's normal to be nervous." And it's certainly momentous even if they've been here once before. It is still the act of bringing back the dead which could never be understated. Ru's face turns up toward Remi's like a flower to the sun as he chastely kisses her brow, the wisp of emotion she gets from him subtle for how it feels like her own. "It's good to see you. You look lighter." She could call him handsome in return for his own paid compliment, but this feels more meaningful.

Her breath catches strangely with the overwhelming notion of more time to spend and share. How could she not be ready? "Yes," she whispers. It happens so quickly after that, a shimmer of sorts like gauze and gossamer, and then there he is. Enzo.

It's a good thing their son can move on his own power because Hotaru's knees lock with the strength it takes to remain standing. It's been far too long since she last heard his voice;her memories of it had started to painfully fragment and fade. As he draws them in her arms come up, one around Remi's back and the other around Flora's until she can grip Enzo's shirt and complete the circle, their children as closely corralled between their bodies as the demigods can manage. "Countless things. We've missed you so much, sweetheart." It's hard when instinct demands she ask after him, mother hen and interrogate, but she knows there's nothing he can say. He's happy and safe, but he's dead. There are no life tales for him to regale her with anymore. That job - that burden - is theirs alone now.

Take me where the stars don't show
It can get a lot out here, shining all alone

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

Tears well up instantly in Flora's eyes, and though she'd told herself in the mirror over and over as she was applying her makeup that she wouldn't ruin her mascara, she could already feel the tears threatening to overflow. Flora's heart feels as if it has simultaneously been thawed and painstakingly put back together like that type of pottery laced with gold, while at the same time feeling the loss of Enzo all the more keenly for the multitude of stories that she has to tell him.

Gods, but he looks so perfect.

Though Remi and Hotaru had made she and her brother, Flora felt a certain sense of ownership over her twin that she couldn't properly explain (not that she'd ever really tried). So it was, that despite the hugs her parents were obviously entitled to, Flora barges her way through their tangle of limbs in order to twine her arms tightly around Enzo's neck. "I've missed your stupid face so much." She gasps against the side of his neck, the words mangled by tears and laughter both as she loses the battle to keep her tears in check.

"Dad says we have time, this time." Flora whispers, just in case her twin had been mentally trying to manage his allotment with each of them.

Though it felt like childhood to have the four of them together again just like this, selfishly the Doubletake wanted to whisk her twin away where they might have at least some of the conversations that they should have been having throughout their lives. You know, the ones you typically did not have in front of your parents.

the bastion

Not one to have held back tears even before his alignment shift, as Enzo strolls from one reality and into theirs, the Bastion makes no attempt to hide the breathless sob that pries apart his shaky smile. Tears instantly roll down his cheeks and with his arms wrapped around his family, he has no means nor desire to wipe them away. "You don't look half bad yourself." Remi replies, his voice rough with emotion, because of course their son looks alright, frozen into a splice of time, forever young within Mort's halls.

Enzo asks how much he's missed, and gods it's like a dagger the way the boy says it as if he'd been off travelling, and not waiting out their lives in the Mort's halls. "Nothing we can't catch you up on." The Bastion says, and though their daughter has not said so yet, the way Remi's fingertips find her skin communicates the depth of her need for time alone with Enzo.

Not wanting to let either of them out of his sight, Remi swallows, lifting his gaze above the hovel of reunited siblings, to try and catch Hotaru's gaze. Again he wishes they shared more of a bond that he could communicate nonverbally to her, or that they shared the attuned bond. All he could do was reach out and brush her arm with his fingertips, flooding her with a palette of love and understanding. "Why don't you two go for a little stroll down the beach?" He suggests softly.

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Enzo

Surely this will grow more difficult over the years as his frozen age becomes more apparent, but right now it's easy to forget. His hands are solid now as they tighten on his parents instead of incorporeal from inside Mort's halls. Pretending he's been away is easier; he hates to see them cry. Guilt is one of the few burdens he still carries in the afterlife, where most other regrets and grudges become meaningless.

His arms fall away to cinch tightly around Flora's waist, burying his face in her bare shoulder until only Safrin herself could measure the space between them. "Not as much as I've missed yours, stupider as it is." It's a wet murmur of childish competitive spirit the likes of stuck-out tongues and badly concealed middle fingers. Impropriety that had been entirely theirs alone.

Their dad's offer has Enzo pulling away enough to make a face, mischief dancing beyond the glaze of his eyes. "That sounds so elderly. Don't make more twins while we're gone, okay?" Because boring as Remi makes it sound, Enzo intends on doing exactly that. With that parting shot of brattiness, he hauls Flora onto his shoulder and strides off down the beach, her beautiful gown demoted to a bunch of fabric gathered in the back of her knees. "I'm going to shake the smile out of you since this is the second time you've ruined your makeup on my behalf," he dramatizes, jostling her slightly with each sandy step toward privacy.

I'll tell a guy I like him but only if I'm drunk
I might take shots real fast, but I take love real slow

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

"Gods you're the worst." Flora complains dramatically, slipping all too easily into the banter they enjoyed when Enzo was alive when they were younger.

"Oh my god ew Enzo." Swatting at her twin's shoulder, Flora nearly expected her hand to fly through him, ghostly as he was. But no, he was solid enough to hit which made the Doubletake suddenly overwhelming giddy that she couldn't help but throw her arms around his waist once more as he carried off. "Enzo if you tear this dress I will kill you again myself!" She warns, and though the bounce in his stride hasn't shaken away her smile, it has removed all of her tears.

"Besides, I haven't even been wearing as much makeup anymore." Flora admits, the words uttered against her twin's lower back. "Everyone I thought was worth impressing turned out to either be an asshole, or dead." She mutters, thinking of men like Jack and Koa and Neron. "You included." Flora adds with a laugh.

"Now can you please put me down? I don't want to have to go to the doctor tomorrow and say that my ghost-twin threw out my back."

Enzo

"You'd never buy something low quality enough to tear," he refutes easily, grinning ear to ear. It may not be laughter just yet, but he'll take sass over crying.

He hums as if considering her proposal, but when he looks back they're far enough away from their parents that he's willing to concede and gently set her down. Partially so she can see his smirk when he takes the blatant opening she's given him. "I don't think anyone is professionally trained enough to not be scarred by the implications that gives." Though now he wonders if their dad could, theoretically, bring someone back from the dead for some grieving widow to get one last dick appointment. If it weren't for Flora's muttered grievances it's clear from Enzo's suddenly bright eyes that he would happily dive down that rabbit hole. Alas.

"And don't think I didn't hear you, I'm still worth impressing despite being dead," he sniffs in feigned offense. They stand alone on the beach, Flora in her finery and Enzo in the clothes he'd died in, and he loves her so much that death seems as easy to vanquish as the monsters they'd brandished tree-branch swords at in their childhood. Bumping his fist beneath her chin, his expression softens. "So...no king for my queenie?" It's a silent offer, an I'm here now, tell me everything.

I'll tell a guy I like him but only if I'm drunk
I might take shots real fast, but I take love real slow

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

Ewwwwww. Flora too is wondering the same, and with the sort of telepathic look that only twins possess, she glanced at her counterpart with a mixture of curiosity and horror as she imagined not just anyone getting to have one last dick appointment, but her brother. "Did you..uhm...were you ever with anyone, before...?" Before you died is what she meant, but gods if that wasn't the strangest thing to be saying in a context where it made sense.

Reaching out to clasp his wrist between her fingers, Flora gives her head a little shake. Tugging down slightly that he might sit on the sand with her, Flora continues the shake of her head as she lets her fingers soften so that they could slide against his.

"Nah...There...I mean..." She starts to try and contour the tales of the men in her life so that it would all sound the way she wanted it to, before suddenly, and rather painfully, realizing that this wasn't just anyone she was speaking to, but Enzo. Swallowing almost shamefully, Flora pulls in a breath and just lets it all out in a way she never had before. From the way Koa had been her first and how he'd fled out her window, to all of her trysts with Jack and how she knew the captain wanted her only for her body and how that had made it all the more exciting, to her enchanting evening with Neron (not that it had gone anywhere), and then how Koa had sprinkled himself back in the mix time and time again. She mentioned Paige too, and how the girl had asked Flora to be her girl, just before disappearing.

"And I found out from Mateo, that literally the same night Paige asked me to be hers, she made out with him." All the while she'd been talking, her fingers had been pouring over Enzo's: from tracing the lines on his palm, to massaging the muscles of his thumb, to slipping her fingers through his as if to ensure that every single inch of him was absolutely tangible.

Enzo

Enzo slides down to the sand beside her, fitting against her like puzzle pieces even with the sneakily growing years that come between them. "All the way? No, but I had my fair share of fun giving and receiving from all sorts." The bartender from their last visit to the Hanged Man is the last he can recall. There's a bittersweetness to his lack of experience but regret is hard to feel in Mort's perfect realm; it's painfully easy to feel here.

His fingers slide between hers as his free hand comes to draw nonsensical patterns on the smooth skin of the back of her hand. It reminds him of late nights playing this exact game, guessing letters and words traced on empty patches of skin when the moon had been too faint for open eyes to sneak hints. There's so much he's missed. How much of this hurt could he have prevented if he'd been here?

Enzo doesn't try to hide the disgruntled cut of his expression as the words finally tumble to a stop. "First of all, gross. Isn't there an unspoken girl code with at least two separate rules on that?" Mateo is their brother - which actually sparks an epiphany. "Sounds like gold digging to me," he sniffs dismissively, passing swift and flawless judgment. With a family like theirs, it's no surprise people would want to leverage that power by holding Flora's heart. "And second of all, where in Ludo's raggedy britches did your standards go?" Turning to face her fully, Enzo lifts their tangled hands to press a frowning kiss to her knuckles, his drawn brows and intense eyes staring at her over their tangled fingers. "Even the greatest sex in Caido doesn't give a guy with literally nothing to offer a pass to string you along. You're gorgeous, you're well-connected, and you're literally a queen. So it's clearly not just hooking up if you're letting it happen." There's plenty of fish in the sea for a coastal spot like Torchline if she wanted a more reliable booty call, and she'd had Jack to fall back on, so what gives? "Unless you want to start dating? 'Cuz the only reason I see to not wipe the board is if you're catching feelings." Enzo wouldn't be surprised given the tragic-romance vibes of their plentiful parents, it's in their blood to crave that sort of connection even if it cuts their fun short. He has opinions lurking on his tongue but his eyes never leave hers, hunting for any hint that she might try to downplay her answer.

I'll tell a guy I like him but only if I'm drunk
I might take shots real fast, but I take love real slow

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

Puckering out her lower lip, Flora nods. "Well, maybe next time I'll bring someone along with me, how's that?" She suggests, catching her lower lip between her teeth as a smile bloomed outward across her face. "Maybe I can hold some sort of competition for the spot, and find out who's good enough to pop my dead twin's cherry, mmm?" It hurts to laugh, like pressing against the still-hard thorns on long dried flowers, but gods she can't help herself.

Truly, Flora won't even realize how perfect things had been with Enzo until she was left alone in her bed that evening, that was how easy it was to fall into old patterns despite the years that now separated them. As his fingers traced patterns on her skin, so too did her own hands rove, joining the freckles on his wrists and connecting the lines of invisible constellations.

"Pffft, more than two." Flora agrees, flopping forward theatrically and remaining there for a moment so that she might disguise the way her twin's words strike right  to the heart of the matter. Of course she likely isn't fooling him at all and Enzo would be the last person in the world to judge her, but gods if she doesn't hate how silly it sounds when it's all spelled out so clearly.

"Maybe I have." She admits, of having caught feelings. "But I mean...I should have standards, right? Like, how many times should I just let someone fuck off out of my life before it's too much?" When did right person, wrong time just become a pretty lie? The fledgling feelings she had for Koa wasn't at all like the decades-long romance of their mother and Sunjata, nor the against-all-odds love between their father and Ronin. It was just a shot of something sweet, the high of which she'd never quite felt again no matter how many times she'd chased it.