Obedience - something which had been ingrained into Remi by society as well as life - was readily given. Instead the alchemist held her steady as the bear man searched for the tools needed to fix the beam in place. Peaking his head around, he listened as Devrum surprisingly began to elaborate a bit on his life. Vai was an excellent conversationalist, and Remi had often thought it was amusing to see her with someone who he'd only seen as gruff and more or less capable of only grunts and gestures to communicate his meaning. Thinking now that perhaps he simply hadn't been around Dev at the right time or perhaps the bear just needed to warm up to him a little, Remi smiled and happily listened on as he spoke.
Releasing his hands as instructed. "Sickly?" He intoned tilting his head slightly. Dev appeared if not the picture of health, at least someone who wouldn't go down without a fight, even if that fight was caused by an illness.
Again doing as he was told, Remi knelt down before the bear-man and continued to listen.
"Everything is fucked." Remi repeated. The wording was far more crude than the way the alchemist would have worded it, but he found himself agreeing with the sentiment wholeheartedly. Most of Remi's creations were done on a much smaller scale; the measurements more minute, the infractions more severe. But Dev's example resonated with him, and Remi found himself bobbing his head in agreement, and finding he rather liked the way the swear word felt in his mouth, out here in the fresh air.
As Dev reached around Remi, the alchemist stiffened slightly. Not because it was a man around him (though once upon a time this closeness with anyone would have sent his mind flailing), but because of what it represented. If Vai was roughly a mother figure then that might make Dev roughly a father figure. And as it was, Remi's father had been horrible and subconsciously Remi was reacting to that in some way.
Picking up the hammer, Remi hefted it in his hand several times to get the weight of it. Swinging it gently he felt the way the head balanced itself in his hand to try and predict what sort of a swing he might need to accurately hit the nail. Taking a breath, his hands used to much more dexterous labour than this, Remi swung and ... well... he didn't miss entirely, but he did bend the side of the head of the nail given his inaccuracy. "Ahh!" He exclaimed, inwardly recoiling slightly and shifting the hammer in his hand. Trying again he found his aim much truer.
Listening with his head cocked slightly as he worked, he couldn't imagine the description Devrum was given and how it came to be the man who stood behind him. "I am sorry to hear of his passing." The alchemist said under his breath, the words almost involuntary they came so quickly. Politeness was almost second nature, and yet it didn't sound perfunctory. Remi truly was sorry to hear of it, especially since Devrum seemed to speak so highly of the man.
Vai had explained a little of what had initially gotten the bear locked up, but not in detail.
As Dev's hand found the back of Remi's shoulder, the air rushed from the alchemist's lungs, he stiffened, and the hammer went wild. Clearing his throat and running the length of his arm across his eyes to clear the bit of sweat starting to accumulate, Remi chuckled but shook his head no. "Northaven? No. My father remained back in Northwind and my mother died when I was younger..." Trailing off, Remi's accent seemed to become thicker as he became more introspective, feeling the need to reciprocate the way Dev had. "My father was a merchant, though not a particularly good one. He spent most of his time whoring and drinking - both when my mother was alive and after she had passed - and spend the remaining time trying to cheat and steal his way into the next week. He sold junk dressed up as priceless artifacts and babbles." So saying, the alchemist sighed his disapproval and shook his head. "I did what I could to keep us afloat. My skills lay in the creation of things like tonics and liquors and pigments and things." Shrugging gently - paint was certainly not the same as making a house - Remi smiled. "It got us by, at least." remi Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning
And I find myself careening in places where I should not let me go
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