Pretend this is real for a while

R E M I Remi had been on his way to post a missing notice on the Notice Board he and Isla had established when he'd run into the younger Launceleyn Edy. It was she who had told the alchemist that Loren was probably not missing, but instead holed up in a "sex cave" with the person he was seeing. Or in a relationship with. Or whatever. The words were so jumbled in the alchemist's mind all he could recall with any clarity was the cold horror and numbness that had followed. For weeks he thought that he'd done something to push Loren away, that he'd ruined them somehow. Then he thought perhaps Loren was out exploring and had suffered some sort of accident. The notice was both a missing poster and a letter of intent to form a search party...but of course that wasn't necessary anymore. And now Remi was ... well. Not heartbroken, he couldn't be that. He was just sort of lost. And numb. But literally numb. It didn't snow like this in Northaven, and though he was probably a fool for gallivanting around, the part of himself normally tempered by caution and reason had taken a vacation. And so here he was, as a lion, using his massive paws to clear the walkway to Vai's home. The exercise felt good on his muscles, and given the utter lack of prey around and the literal numbness he felt, Remi was certain he could control himself in this form.