you're all I want and more

He said "I bet you don't remember me"

They step out of the throat of the tunnel like emerging from the mouth of some great beast, and suddenly the world yawns open before them. Steam billows up toward them, geyser thrums through the stone like a heartbeat, drowning out everything but each other. Remi pauses right at the edge where the rock drops into the vast underground lake, his curls bead instantly with moisture. He lifts a brow, sea-glass eyes bright with amusement, and casts Ronin a sideways look that is all smug triumph.

He gives a little flourish of his fingers, wrist loose, almost theatrical in the steamy violet glow. "Watery place," he announces, as if introducing a grand number in a Broadway revue. Looking down at the churning dark water, he tilts his head thoughtfully, the humour softening into genuine intrigue. "Actually..."he admits, voice warm even over the geyser’s roar, "I think an underground lake is pretty cool." His lips press together in a contemplative line before curving again. "But perhaps that is just the kraken in me talking."

He nudges Ronin with his shoulder, barely resisting the urge to lean perilously close to the edge. "Want to take a closer look?"

and I said "only ever other memory"

and your heart, love, has such darkness

"Gods, I didn't expect it to suddenly get warm." Ronin emerges from the mouth of the Crush with brows furrowed, his hand raised to waft steam out of his face. The expression quickly clears into a lopsided smile at the sight of the Breach, though, and especially to see his husband backlit with violet haze, gesturing to the underground lake as if he's a tour guide introducing a particularly interesting spot. "Quite right," he concedes, drawing up beside Remi and peering over the edge as well.

Having to lean in a bit even with their close proximity to be heard, Ronin's chuckle is entirely self-indulgent. "It is pretty neat," he agrees, glancing around as if to try and get his bearings. "I never would have expected something like this after where we came from." And as for taking a closer look? He's already taking a couple of steps back, smiling childishly at his husband and tipping him a wink. "Well obviously," he says. "It looks more than deep enough for the two of us."

Ronin is already shifting as he takes a running dive over the edge of the lip of the cavern, and whilst he's hardly small as a leviathan, the steaming water swallows up his sleek form with barely a splash, and the Knight soon disappears into its strange darkness.

i feel it in the corners of the room

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

REMI

then it went dark

Remi’s smile softens into something boyish and unguarded, dimples deepening as his gaze lingers over Ronin; over the way the humidity slicks along the sharp line of his jaw, the beads forming at his hairline, the way the violet glow makes the blue of his eyes almost electric. For a moment he simply breathes it in, the steam, the heat, the impossible cavern, and the man who always somehow outshines all of it.

Then Ronin does exactly what Ronin always does: he winks, grins charmingly, and launches himself off the edge and into adventure. Remi exhales a helpless, adoring sigh that echoes faintly into the steaming air, the kind of sound that is both exasperated and utterly in love. Wait for me!, he calls through the attuned bond, the words coloured with laughter.

He takes three steps back, gives himself room, and leaps. The humid air rushes past, heat blooming across his skin, and the moment he meets the water his form dissolves and reforms, shifting into the vast dark mass of a kraken. Tentacles unfurl like ribbons through the scalding violet water as he slices down into the depths with effortless force, following the sleek leviathan-shaped shadow below.

Remi angles himself downward, currents swirling off his limbs as he accelerates, chasing Ronin with playful determination, reaching out through the dim void-lit haze like he fully intends to catch his husband by the tail.

& it rained
and rained and rained

and your heart, love, has such darkness

I'd never dream of going anywhere without you, Ronin assures the Bastion, his voice as liltingly charming as ever even if his body - scaled, sleek and armed with teeth as big as knives - continues to cut through the depths far below. He's propelled himself down enough that the kraken unfurling overhead doesn't clash with fins or tails, but he doesn't need to know Remi as well as he does to understand that the enormous cephalopod is about to give chase.

It's quite nice down here, he admits, coiling in the water before allowing himself to follow the current, cutting through the heat and the dark like a blade. (And oblivious to the game of chase-the-tail that his husband is doing somewhere above/behind him. I can feel that the water leads out somewhere, though. Do you think it goes back to the Arclight? He can't imagine it going anywhere else, honestly, but with Starfall, who the fuck really knows?

i feel it in the corners of the room

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

REMI

then it went dark

Didn’t you just threaten to adventure into other worlds with someone else? Remi’s voice curls down the bond with dry skepticism, warm and amused in equal measure. Even in kraken form it carries that unmistakable note of really, babe? that has followed Ronin through decade of their marriage.

Where Ronin slices through the water like a living blade—sleek, powerful, precise—Remi moves with the rolling grace of a deep-sea creature, all drifting limbs and sudden, shocking bursts of speed. He isn’t streamlined so much as inevitable, his tentacles unfurling like dark ribbons through the violet light, stirring the heated water as he closes the distance between them.

He reaches out, brushing the tip of a tentacle along the sweep of Ronin’s alligator-like tail; light, teasing, more a touch than a grab. The contact sends a ripple of warmth down the bond, affectionate and playful. It does feel ike saltwater, he agrees. Remi coils and drifts, letting the current tug him forward as he thinks. But who knows what is natural down here and what was dragged in when the Family crashed? Maybe they were swimming in waters imported from another world, which was as horrifying a thought as it was exciting.

& it rained
and rained and rained

and your heart, love, has such darkness

I threatened, and then you made some incredibly good points that mean I've reconsidered forever, Ronin replies, smug and sing-song down the bond as he continues to get accustomed to this new space, trying to feel out the parameters of the underground lake from the subtle temperature changes and the way the currents drift and tug around his body. And wow, what a terrifying though-- hey!

Laughing and flailing a little in the water as he feels a tentacle brush against his tail, Remi will be privy to both surprise and affection as it floods back through towards him - at least until the Knight uses his agile advantage to cut more quickly through the depths. Do you think there was water back wherever they were before they came here? It's idle wondering, nothing more, though as Ronin swims a little further, he sends a pulse of curiosity through the Attuned bond, having noted the water start to get a little colder.

Shall we see if this really does spit us back out into the Arclight? Or perhaps we should do that on our way back. I'd hate to get out of here but not be able to find our way back in. That's code for I don't want to go all the way back through the weird throat caves.

i feel it in the corners of the room

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

REMI

then it went dark

A smug pulse rolls down the bond from Remi in colours of see, I am always right, but it dissolves almost immediately into bright, boyish mischief as he trails a tentacle along Ronin’s tail again. He basks in the flare of surprise that answers him, right up until the leviathan surges forward with a speed Remi absolutely cannot match in this bulky, drifting form.

Oh, sure. run away, he mutters through the bond, all fond grumbling as the water churns in Ronin’s wake and forces him to push harder, tentacles slicing through the current Ronin so rudely distorted. He glides after him with determination that is equal parts competitive and affectionate.

At Ronin’s idle wondering, Remi hums thoughtfully, the sound carrying through their connection like a warm ripple. I am not sure, he admits, drifting into the deeper violet haze. Vox always seemed so...surprised by how everything here looked. Us, the plants, the animals. Maybe where they came from truly was that different. Perhaps they had no water at all. The idea chills him more than the actual cold creeping through the depths.

He’s about to answer the question of following the current—his agreement coiled and ready—when Ronin's Very Good Logic diverts his course. Agreed, he thinks, before twisting back toward the warmer waters. Any idea what is meant to come after "watery" ?

& it rained
and rained and rained

and your heart, love, has such darkness

Does it count as running when I don't currently have legs? Ronin wonders idly, though he does take pity on the slow, lumbering kraken in his wake, twisting his lithe body in the water to circle back towards him. If they hadn't been so insane, maybe we could have had a nice conversation about it, he says of the Family and where they'd come from before Caido, his tone drier than the desert to the north.

Now it's his turn to coil himself about the kraken's ribbon-like tentacles, and as they both direct themselves back to warmer currents, Ronin contents himself with tangling in Remi's many limbs, trusting the Bastion to ferry him along in his wake. I can't recall, he admits of what's next. I'm not sure anyone made it much further than this, and given that we weren't allowed to be involved, I paid less attention than I otherwise might have.

He supposes it can be a surprise for them both - and hopefully it won't be a terrible one.

i feel it in the corners of the room

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

He said "I bet you don't remember me"

Remi doesn’t bother dignifying the leg comment with words. Instead, he sends a surge of theatrical exasperation down the bond, the emotional equivalent of the I GUESS gif where the guy throws his hands into the air. The steam-warped water around him seems to tremble with his unimpressed amusement.

He nods along mentally at Ronin’s observation, the humour in him dimming into something wry. Mm. It reminds me of when Zariah tried to take over the Grounds, he agrees, voice dry at the memory before a chuckle unfurls down the bond like a warm ripple. Wherever she ended up, I imagine she was rooting for Dahlia the whole time.

When Ronin coils around him, Remi answers in kind; tentacles curling with exaggerated relish, looping around the leviathan like he fully intends to drag him home as an enormous, wriggling trophy. The motion is smooth and powerful, guiding them both upward through the warmer currents, their bodies cutting through the violet-black depths with ease.

As the water lightens, growing brighter and shallower, Remi loosens his grip. When the depth begins to dwindle—too tight for leviathan or kraken—he releases Ronin with a pulse of affection, letting the Knight find his own space while he draws back. The kraken’s shape dissolves, shrinking and folding inward until Remi stands once more in his own body, chest heaving slightly with the shift. Water sheets off him as he wades the last few steps, curls plastered to his forehead until he runs both hands through them, ruffling them back into unruly life.

The humid air clings like a second skin, steam curling around his shoulders as he steps out of the lake and onto the slick stone, breathing in the strange, hot, voidlit cavern. "That way, do you think?"

and I said "only ever other memory"

RONIN

the white knight

Tittering down the bond in response to Remi's entirely understandable exasperation, Ronin all but lazes in the cradle of the kraken's tentacles, ensuring he adds a few wriggling flourishes for drama as if his fellow monster really is dragging him back to his lair to stack upon. Ugh, I never need reminding of that, he says of Zariah, sending the mental equivalent of a nose wrinkle through the bond. I bet she and Dahlia would have gotten along wonderfully, until one tried to betray the other. Which would have been inevitable, Ronin thinks.

They rise through the water, steady and slow, and when Remi finally releases him so they can find the space to shift back without crowding the underground lake with their vast size, Ronin allows himself to be abandoned. He does flail a bit, of course, like he's manage to escape his doom, but in the end the Knight that swamps out of the water after his husband is safe and sound and on two legs again. "It's as good a way as any," he says of the direction Remi suggests, sweeping his hands back through his wet hair to slick it out of his face, wringing off his shirt and squelching back onto more solid ground.

"Come along, then," he invites, wrinkling his nose at the way his clothes cling to his body, but knowing better than to complain when things could be so much worse in a place like this.

~FIN

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!