I'm almost me again

the white knight

"So do you think we ought to take a look at where Sunjata's old boxing ring was and see if it's fit for purpose," Ronin is saying as his husband ferries him gently towards the deeper water, "or shall we start fresh? I wonder if having it against the waterline would be a good idea - we could use the ocean as part of the training, that way." Bouncing his eyebrows at Remi, of course the remark brings to mind his very first meeting with the Bastion, when he'd waded out of the water naked all that time ago.

Regardless, as they finally reach the hot depths of the springs, the Knight relaxes and swims forward a little so he might snag his arms around his husband to draw him close. "I don't think I've ever been this far into Frey's Breath before," he remarks. "Maybe that's a good sign?" If they're looking for Rae's Lilies, it might well be. Then again, maybe they'll end up being eaten by a lial.

i'm almost me again
she's almost you

RONIN

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

"Depends on how big you want it to be. It was set back sort of by the road, wasn't it?" Squinting into the mist as if to try and conjure the image of what the boxing ring had looked like when freshly built, the Bastion gives his head a little shake. "We could be really crazy and design it so that it stretches right from the shoreline back into the jungle, that way there'd be lots of different surfaces to work off of." Remi suggests, raising his eyebrows in response before heat that has nothing at all to do with the hot springs, floods his cheeks and colours them a dusky burgundy.

"Mmm, nor me." He agrees, his arms and legs immediately stalling as he was reached for. As much fun as it was to run away and then seek out Ronin earlier, Remi is more than content to keep the Knight against him even if their combined body heat is making the springs feel a good deal warmer. "You'd think we could just ask for a lily, you know? Or at least that Sunjata or Hotaru could." He murmurs as his fingertips trickle suggestively against his husband's hips before clasping around his lower back.

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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the white knight

"Mm, it was," Ronin agrees with a sigh as he lets himself melt against his husband's touch, humming his interest at the other man's suggestion even as he entirely relies upon Remi to keep them afloat now that they are in considerably deeper water. "If it weren't for the void so close, I'd agree with you entirely," he says, furrowing his brow, "but I wouldn't want our efforts to be ruined within weeks if the spread continues."

Raising his eyebrows, both at the red flush to Remi's cheeks and the suggestive dance of his fingers, the Knight leans in to smooch a kiss against the underside of his jaw, as if in payment. "I suppose there's no reason why there can't be outings for training, even if we keep the central location of Jata's old place." He shrugs.

As for the lilies, it's with a scoff that Ronin nods his agreement. "You'd think, right? Or what about that tall guy who tags along with Deimos these days? Has he ever introduced you to him?"

i'm almost me again
she's almost you

RONIN

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

Tentacles appear in addition to the Bastion's legs, stretching down until they touch the bottom of the spring and acting as an anchor for the pair. Tutting under his breath, Remi grins. "That's no way for the leader of the Taliesin School of Hard Knocks to be thinking." He says, thickening his accent if only so that his teasing disapproval would sound all the better. "Surely our students can handle taking care of a few void critters to begin their training?" Grinning, he shrugs. "And if I can't be trusted to keep the School safe, really, what good am I?"

The kiss against the underside of his jaw is far too fleeting but probably appropriate given that they were in public, and without the excuse of being blighted or having been separated across continents, they really ought to keep things more or less appropriate.

"It's your vision." Remi interjects gently, not wanting to steamroll the idea. "I just know...and this is from fighting with some of the demigods even, that no amount of training seems to teach common sense and use of the land if you aren't specifically thinking about it, you know?"

As for the tall guy, Remi knows who Ronin means but he responds with a shake of his head. "It isn't Erebos, is it?" Aside from Aoife all of their children had taken the fast track through growing up; perhaps Deimos thought childhood wasn't the best use of his son's time?

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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the white knight

Unable to stop his laughter at that, Ronin lets his legs wrap loosely around Remi's waist once he's certain there are tentacles about to stop them sinking and drowning, draping his arms about his shoulders too for good measure. "You make some very excellent points," he agrees, leaning in to brush his nose against the other man's. "With you to keep the place safe and with all of that in mind, perhaps on the fringes of the jungle would be quite a good idea."

And it isn't as though they haven't built something from the ground up before; on the contrary, Ronin thinks they're pretty good at it by now. "The Rainbow Road is probably closest to the Oerwoud," he continues, "based on our gardening the other day, anyway. You can see the jungle from it, and at low tide I know you can probably get there on foot or by canoe."

As for maybe-Erebos, Ronin raises his eyebrows, because fuck, what if it is? "You'd think he'd have introduced him at some point, wouldn't you?"

i'm almost me again
she's almost you

RONIN

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

Letting one of his hands slide down to curl around his husband's thigh and hitch him close, Remi peers into his husband's eyes, the blue made sea-dark thanks to the low light and reflection of the water, and sighs softly. "Then again maybe incorporating some of our own terrain, like metacarpal isle or the jungle-y bits near the miana pool would work as well?" He suggests as his tentacles walk them deeper still until both of their shoulders are completely covered by more than just the sweeping mists.

"You'd think he'd have introduced him whoever he was." Remi says with a laugh, before playfully narrowing his eyes and shooting the Knight a skeptical look. "We aren't having some sort of combined hallucination, are we?" It's only a little ridiculous, because given how little Remi could recall the lanky man speaking, he honestly couldn't remember anyone else interacting with him aside from Deimos. "Super aged Erebos or ghost companion of Deimos'. Those are my guesses."

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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the white knight

"So many options," Ronin hisses, grinning and evidently very willing to be hitched as close to Remi as the other man will allow - public place withstanding, of course. "At this rate, maybe we'll get a map and throw a dart at it, and build wherever it lands." Which probably isn't even the wildest idea either of them has ever had, and that's saying something. For now, at least, the Knight is content in knowing that their new little project will be happening one way or another. The details can wait - the hotsprings are for now.

Having been scattering kisses over Remi's cheeks, Ronin only pauses at the idea of some bizarre, shared hallucination between them, and he furrows his brows and regards his husband seriously for a moment. "If we are," he says, "what a weird thing to hallucinate. Especially paired with Deimos in particular." He laughs. "Oh, but that's a good one - the ghost companion. I'm going to lock in with Erebos or possibly a stalker that Deimos isn't even aware he's got."

i'm almost me again
she's almost you

RONIN

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

"You know, that could work just as well." The Bastion agrees with a chuckle. "No doubt we could make anywhere suitably dangerous and difficult for our students." He murmurs, before yet more tentacles emerge from beneath the surface of the water, pressing out from the tops of Remi's thighs it would seem. "Turn around." Remi invites softly, releasing his hold of the Knight in order to help facilitate. Ronin would find the new tentacles would serve as a sort of seat, and given that his suckers were all pointed away from the Knight's skin, Remi hoped his husband wouldn't complain too much about it.

Wrapping his arms around the Knight and encouraging him to lean against his chest, Remi presses a kiss against his temple. "I can think of stranger things, can't you? Especially knowing that Safrin is still involved with him. Gods—" The Bastion pauses, the mischievous swirl of his emotions growing dark for a moment. "You don't...think it's Safrin's do you? It would make sense why Deimos keeps bringing him to these sorts of meetings.."

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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the white knight

"On that, at least, we are both very much in agreement. Besides, throwing the dart can make it just as fun for us as well," Ronin considers with an easy shrug of his shoulders, only for tentacles to suddenly start appearing in places the Knight very much thinks they shouldn't be. "Wh--" He's cut off by Remi's gentle encouragement, and though he does shoot a (very much earned, in his opinion) suspicious look towards his husband, of course he acquiesces.

Sitting in the seat of a little kraken's cradle, the Knight relaxes back into the other man's chest and smiles - only for the expression to promptly, drop away, because Remi is absolutely right. "Shit, do you think he's another demigod? Is he Seren's brother or something?" It isn't as bad as it once was, given that Safrin no longer pulls Ronin's strings, but he still doesn't quite know how to feel about that. "Should we send... I don't know. A letter? A gift basket?" Whether to celebrate or grieve is Deimos's choice.

i'm almost me again
she's almost you

RONIN

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

Rolling his eyes and nudging his husband, Remi resists the urge to reiterate the numerous reasons why the Knight should stop being so uncomfortable around his tentacles and instead just hugs him close, his plans momentarily diverted by thoughts of more potential Safrin-children running about.

"It might make sense...Safrin wouldn't say anything and maybe with everything that happened with you and Sunjata, Deimos didn't want to say anything either?" Swallowing, Remi gives his head a shake. "I honestly don't know. Then again Deimos really doesn't seem like the type." He'd held off from becoming a demigod for all these years just to keep Safrin at arm's length, what possible motive could he have to have said yes now?

"Immortality, do you think?" Remi wonders, answering his own silent ramblings out loud.

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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the white knight

Is it the tentacles that make him uncomfortable? Or is it turning his back on his husband who has been known to slip icecubes down the back of his shorts whenever it suits him? Ronin doesn't know either, and luckily he's distracted by all this maybe-Safrin-kid talk and so relaxes against Remi as if he was made for it. Still, though, his brows are knotted together in a frown. "He really doesn't, no. Unless... maybe Deimos isn't his father, but he's been asked to take care of him?" Gods, the rumour mill is cranking now.

Immortality might have made him scoff once, but honestly, Remi has a point, and the Sword is the only one of them without the ability to die without really dying. Worth the price of the young man following him around? Now that Ronin can't answer. "Well now it's bothering me," he announces to no one in particular. "Halo is just next to The Climb - shall we go knock on his door and demand an explanation?"

i'm almost me again
she's almost you

RONIN

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

Does this seem like the sort of place ice cubes would last? Do you see Sugar nearby? Honestly, as the co-leader of the Taliesin School of Hard Knocks, you've got to set a better example, Ronin.

"But then who is?" Remi wants to know, his jaw softly feathering against his husband's cheek as he rests his chin on Ronin's shoulder. Immediately flinching at the thought of being somewhere cold, the Bastion scowls hard enough that if Ronin couldn't pick out the emotion through their bond he was likely to feel it in the tensing of Remi's facial muscles. "You're telling me that you want to leave the warmth of this pool, go out into the cold, and demand to know what bastard child of Safrin's Deimos is raising?"

Trying to turn his head as much as he could as if to peer into his husband's eyes, Remi laughs under his breath. "Go on, I want to hear you say that's what you want to do."

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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the white knight

Ronin doesn't know, and the more he thinks about it the more his head hurts. "If it were Hadama's or Noah's, they'd not be trailing after Deimos," he reasons. "Maybe his father is the fucking... night sky, or something?" Shrugging in his husbands arms, he feels as though maybe they are starting to tiptoe along the conspiracy bridge towards the edge of ridiculousness. So it's a good thing Remi brings them back down to earth with the idea of knocking on Deimos's door in Halo.

Already pulling a horrified face as he realises the implication of his actions, Ronin turns to face his husband as well, clearly backtracking from his idiotic idea. "You are a very wise man and I'm very sorry for suggesting it," he murmurs. "I absolutely do not want to leave this hotspring, and I think we should stay for the rest of the day so I can make it up to you."

i'm almost me again
she's almost you

RONIN

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

"Maybe..." Remi says doubtfully. "Only..as much as I know it created an unbreakable bond between you and her, at least for a time, it certainly sounded like she needed you in order to create Seren. Same with Sunjata and Kamaria." Perhaps she didn't and her inclusion of her former demigods was simply another manipulation, but Remi wasn't so sure.

"Alright, so long as you realize how utterly ridiculous you were starting to sound." Remi chuckles as he nuzzles his cheek back against Ronin's.

"You know, all this talk of the TSoHK—" Pity the acronym wasn't any sexier. "—had me thinking. What if I had a nice relaxing way to help train your stealth skills? A method we could use right here and now, just like this?" Pressing a kiss against the Knight's cheek, with their bodies pressed together as they were it was impossible for Remi to hide the boyish flush of mischievous and excitement that coloured his thoughts, but at least the content of them he could keep hidden.

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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