saturday's sons

REMI

"Well if that's the case, surely I'd be much farther along than I am....? We have been together for quite some time, husband." Remi points out. Do you see the flaw in your logic, Ronin? Do you? If you're such a good teacher, why is Remi such a lost cause?

"Good vibes only?" Remi repeats, his eyebrows lifting as a smirk softly fits itself onto his lips. "You've been hanging around with our children too much, I think." He says with a crooked smile that has his dimples appearing beneath the scruff on his cheeks. Alas, Remi isn't known for his good vibes, and so it's probably of no surprise to the Knight that as the Bastion blinks his way through the thoughts that stockpile themselves against his teeth that the palette of his emotions blooms in various shades of indigo and gray.

"I'm...obviously Starfall and what's happening with the Family is terrible." He begins his voice a touch more emphatic than it perhaps needs to be if only because of what's to follow. "But...I am sort of looking forward to having something to do again." He admits, his gaze flicking up from the hollows just above his husband's collarbones to find the blue of the Knight's eyes. Looking a touch bashful, Remi swallows as his head tilts slightly to the side. "I'm meant to serve as a protector, but since I don't go into KQs because I'm too high level other than defending our little group when we all get together, I feel useless." He wasn't useless, of course, and he knew it, but it didn't stop the way he'd started to regard Ronin's acts of generosity and general knightliness with a fair amount of jealousy.

"Also I've given up on knitting."

If you were church, I'd get on my knees
Confess my love, I'd know where to be

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"We have, but learning isn't done passively, husband. I don't recall you and I having a single lesson." Smiling now, because the train of thought is fast becoming ridiculous, it's lucky that Ronin is easily distracted by the other subjects of their conversation, because otherwise this wonderful soak in the hotsprings might fast become a terrible and gay rendition of My Fair Lady.

Not knowing quite what to expect as Remi begins to speak, Ronin samples the palette of his emotions much in the same way as he might test out strokes of watercolour against a canvas. Saying and doing nothing until he's got the whole range with which to play, the Knight eventually leans in to press his lips against the other man's in a kiss as slow and sweet as it is almost possessive. Wanting to convey so much more than he can in words than he knows is possible, hopefully his lips will do for now.

"Knitting didn't seem like your thing anyway," he murmurs, lifting the other man up and into his arms in the water so he might ferry them back out into the deeper parts of the spring. "I can understand that, though." Feeling useless, he means. "Since I'm starting my School of Hard Knocks, is there anything you think you could bring to Torchline that people would find useful? I imagine a lot of ships need protecting out at sea." And a large kraken will do wonders in staving off pirates.

REMI

"And whose fault is that, teacher?" Remi wonders through a crooked smile. If nothing else, The Rain in Spain song would certainly sound better in Remi's accent than Ronin's so it might not be a total wash should their conversation continue to unravel.

Releasing the rocky wall in order to slip his arm around the Knight's shoulders to draw him closer, Remi softens against his husband's kiss. His admission had apparently been a heavier weight than even he'd realized he'd been carrying, and now with the words spoken and the heat of Ronin's kiss acting as a further balm, Remi feels as though he can properly breathe now that there wasn't something lodged in the pit of his stomach.

"No, you're right. It was just nice to do something new with my hands, seeing as I have both of them again." Smirking at the weightless way his body was manipulated, Remi sank bonelessly against the Knight, sighing softly as the warmth of the springs sloshed over his arms and shoulders. "Mm, I suppose. I helped Flora run off a pirate ship a few seasons ago. I haven't heard much since but I guess there's no reason I can't go and see for myself." And if not that, perhaps Remi could simply aid small fishing boats the way Ronin helped little old ladies cross the street.

"I met a young dragoon at the Hanged Man and offered to let him really have a go at me, but.." The Bastion shrugged, doubting the young man would take him up on it, and while he was a touch disappointed, he certainly was surprised.

If you were church, I'd get on my knees
Confess my love, I'd know where to be

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"I have so many things you could do with your hands if you're that keen to find something to keep them occupied," Ronin purrs against Remi's lips, as if that much should have been very obvious. "Both hands," he adds with another kiss before drawing back, just in case the Bastion is worried that he won't find himself challenged enough by his husband's suggestions.

Finding a gentle shelf of stone to sink down upon, Ronin sits all too comfortably so he can gather Remi into his lap, letting the water lap up around his shoulders and neck. "A pirate ship? Gods, I bet the coast is rife with them. And void creatures too, in the water all around. At least until Vi manages to shield the last parts of Torchline." It might not be glamorous work, but it's something he thinks the Bastion would be good at.

He's also very good at taking a beating, evidently, and his last comment has Ronin grinning. "Well, you ought to have said so. Would you do me the honour of opening up this training school with me, and you can be the ultimate test for anyone wanting to try their skills?"

REMI

"Is that so? Like what?" Letting his fingers comb through his husband's hair, Remi eyes the dark strands somewhat skeptically. "Your hair is too short to braid if that's what you were thinking." He mumbles against Ronin's lips, unable to kiss the Knight properly thanks to his grin.

All but kneeling astride Ronin, the buoyancy of the water soothing any complaints from his knees, Remi resumes the slow ministrations his hands had been doing before. With increasing pressure the Bastion let his fingertips work their way up his husband's pecks before he gripped the muscles that ran from his shoulder up to his neck and

"Naively I had hoped that sort of activity would die down with Starfall being so close, but knowing Torchline I bet it hasn't at all." There ain't no rest for the wicked, as the song goes. "But you're right. And if I get to smash a few pirate ships in the process, what of it?" Grinning at the thought, if only because as a kraken destroying a ship was not unlike a child smashing boats in a bathtub, Remi made a mental note to let Hadama and Flora know that he'd be slipping out into the waters more frequently, and not to worry if reports of kraken sightings became more common.

What, like the gym boss in a pokemon battle? Laughing with surprise, the Bastion almost immediately shakes his head no. "The training school is your idea. I don't want to take that away from you just because I can't find enough things to do to stay occupied."

If you were church, I'd get on my knees
Confess my love, I'd know where to be

Code stolen from Queen Sky

even my darkness shines for you

"Oh, well if that's the case, I'll grow it out just for you. Either that, or I'm sure Mateo and Flora will be willing subjects for your braid practice. Or... maybe not, actually." He'd been about to suggest that their son would likely be more forgiving than their daughter of Remi's novice efforts, but that's really not true.

Leaning in to let his head rest against the crook of the Bastion's neck as his hands do the gods work on muscles that never seem to get the chance to relax despite all their efforts, Ronin hums his content and winds his arms around the other man's lower back. "Wherever there's trade, there are people willing to steal it," he agrees - though that isn't necessarily a bad thing for a bored demigod looking to make himself useful.

Gym LEADER, but yes. Remi might have shaken his head instantly, but Ronin is already grinning against his throat, tiptoeing his fingers up the length of the other man's back. "Who cares whose idea it was? Imagine you and I going to work together. At a job. Instead of being regions apart on some divine mission." It's so domestic as to be positively delightful, and Ronin is reminded of their time in Stormbreak when Mateo's florist had still been an alchemy shop. "Besides, then it could be the Taliesin School of Hard Knocks."

the

WHITEKNIGHT

Table coding by Sky

REMI

"Well if not your hair, what did you have in mind, then? Kneading dough for bread, maybe?" Remi wonders, his fingers pulsing against the Knight as if to remind him of their desperate need for enrichment.

"Listen to you," Remi hums, leaning his head against Ronin's as his fingers continue to seek out points of tension in his husband's shoulders and neck. "So wise in the way of commerce." The words are teasing but also genuine; there were gods knew how many insights the Knight offered up so frequently that Remi often forgot to appreciate his husband's cleverness.

Moaning softly as Ronin's fingers work their way up his back, Remi's muscles shiver in response. He can feel himself relaxing down even further against his husband in a way he hadn't thought was possible, but apparently there were still parts of his body that were refusing to yield to the warmth of the water.

Wanting to roll his eyes at how easily Ronin was able to spin even the sourest of Remi's moods into something positive, the Bastion tightens his grip against the muscles of his husband's neck before immediately letting his fingertips pulse like raindrops against his skin. "Only if I get to be the hard knock."

If you were church, I'd get on my knees
Confess my love, I'd know where to be

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"Oooo, Remi Taliesin, baker extraordinaire," Ronin hums, and the other man will be able to feel his smile against his skin. "That one gets my vote. You have to promise to bring all the best pastries home, though, or I'll really believe you've stopped loving me." Of course the Knight has latched on to the hobby that results in food - if a butterfly had flapped its wings somewhere off the coast of Northwind, perhaps Ronin would have been a baker instead of this.

Grinning properly and gathering Remi against him all the more as they melt into each other's arms, he's forced to look up if only because it's getting difficult to hold a conversation while drooling into the Bastion's shoulders. Either way, his ministrations are most definitely appreciated, Ronin letting out a deep and happy sigh. "Maybe you ought to become a masseuse," he suggests. "But only for me."

Letting warm hands smooth across Remi's sides before looping gently around his neck, Ronin's expression is positively sunny. "I was very much hoping you would be," he confesses with a wink. "Now come on - I think I spy a flower waaaaaay over there." He nods deeper into the hotsprings where the mist is thick and the water even deeper.

REMI

"You never know, I might be really good at it." Following recipes wasn't unlike the sort of alchemy he'd once been known for, and surely if he could make gin he could make other sorts of things? "Our kitchen is a little small, though...maybe I'll have to tether another boat to ours and use it just as a kitchen." Then the Northaven wouldn't refer to just one houseboat, but a small floating kingdom. "You're going to have to do a lot more running if we're going to start measuring the amount I love you in pastries." Remi points out with a grin, not needing to see or even feel his husband's smile in order to be entirely consumed by the golden sheen of it everywhere they touch.

Opening his mouth to say that masseuse was actually a good idea, Remi's teeth click together as he cocks his head to the side. "Remember how all of this was to give me more things to do? I'm already sitting around waiting for you half the time while you're out kissing old ladies and helping ducks across the road." He huffs before brushing his nose softly against the Knight's.

Glancing in the direction Ronin was looking, the Bastion lifts his eyebrows curiously before narrowing his eyes as if he might see through the mist. "Do you? My, what good eyes you have, husband." Shifting and pressing his feet against the rocky crevice Ronin had been seated on, Remi tugs the Knight backward before slipping around in his arms in order to properly ferry him towards the mist.

~FIN

If you were church, I'd get on my knees
Confess my love, I'd know where to be

Code stolen from Queen Sky