[SE] a slow parade

REMI

the bastion

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

While normally Remi would have been happy to see old friends reunited, as Rexanna appeared to Deimos all the Bastion could do was turn toward his husband and offer him a silent but pleading look. I would very much like to be done this now. Squeezing the Knight's hand, Remi tried to keep his breath even and his face neutral even as his emotions sloshed like ice water in his stomach. Seeing so many comment on Flora's return from the dead and his argument with Mateo had left the Bastion feeling more than just a little off, and gods if the thought of faking a smile for even a second longer didn't have him wanting to fall to his knees.

I am sure there is something around here we can hunt. If nothing else, I would even be happy tearing through a few of those gourds that keep floating around. Vampire Gourds would forever remind him of Vai and while he certainly didn't feel like chasing after them for the witch's amusement, he would happily don fur and claws as he once had to tear them apart.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we shall heal our wounds, collect our dead

Then let's be done. Ronin doesn't need to be told twice, especially given the time of year and the emotions flooding from his husband to him through their touch. Some of them look different this year, apparently. They're possessed or something - either way, I'm sure on tonight of all nights, we'll find something for you to sink your teeth and claws into. Letting his fingers slip out of Remi's so he might be able to wrap an arm around him instead, it's with a brief but warm kiss to the other man's temple that the Knight aids in their swift, understated exit from the festival.

It only takes them a few dozen paces into the undergrowth before the sounds of the forest envelop them; without any winking lantern lights, the darkness is like a solid presence, and Ronin has to partially shift his eyes to be able to see better. "I'll walk with you," he invites. "But you do whatever you need to."

THE WHITE KNIGHT

and continue fighting

REMI

the bastion

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

Taking what feels like the first full breath of the evening, Remi pauses for a moment, head cocked to the side, letting the sounds and smells of the Greatwood sink into his skin. "I actually think I want to stay mostly myself." If he fully became a predator, whatever satisfaction he gained from the raw destruction he had planned would be primitive at best. The tension he needed to shake lose wasn't physical, but mental, and it wasn't the sort of itch he could scratch while fully shifted.

Straying slightly from Ronin's side, the Bastion offers his husband a slow smile before turning and closing his eyes. Rolling his shoulders to free his wings, Remi also allowed claws to sprout from his fingertips, as his skin became loosely coated with a strange mixture of creamy feathers and golden fur at least down to his knees. Below that his wraith form seemed to smudge away the finer details of his lower half. The effect was likely unattractive and confusing, but it was the only way for the Bastion to be capable of the speed and ferocity he craved, while also allowing his mind to remain fully in control.

Lure some out for me, won't you?

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we shall heal our wounds, collect our dead

Most would likely be unsettled at best at the sight of the Bastion standing in the forest, somehow more beast than man without ever losing the shape of himself, but for Ronin it's almost par for the course. Smiling affectionately towards his husband, he offers him a gentle nod and rolls his own shoulders, as if to try and crack through the tension he knows will remain there until well into Deepfrost. (And based on what will soon happen - lol timelines - it won't get any less stressful either).

It would be my pleasure. Offering a rather noble bow from the waist to Remi, the Knight takes a slow inhale and concentrates only for a moment on thoughts of his husband and his family; enough to have radiant light pulsing from him to illuminate their immediate surroundings. 

Setting off into the undergrowth as if on some midnight stroll by himself, Ronin softly whistles under his breath, the sound just loud enough that, combined with the light, it isn't long before a few gourds come rolling and tumbling and hissing out to cause mischief.

THE WHITE KNIGHT

and continue fighting

REMI

the bastion

I've said that hope I'll never find
To my myself I must confide

Wordlessly, as Remi's mouth was filled with teeth of various sizes to the point where he could do little else than grunt or snarl, he pulses affection and appreciation through their bond. Something in Ronin's bow has the Bastion thinking back to their days in Northaven, of training grounds and strolls through impoverished marketplaces, and it has one of his clawed fingers twisting the ring on his left hand.

When it comes to sentient vegetation, Remi's heightened senses don't provide much information for him to go on given how haphazardly the gourds seem to move through their environment and what little emphasis they seem to place on their own survival. Even so, hearing the thud of them bouncing off of roots and slamming through brush has Remi lowering his head slightly as his shoulders hunch forward. Darting forward using his wings to help balance and glide where the trees would allow, the Bastion barrelled into the small clearing Ronin had called the gourds into.

Slicing through the first gourd he came into contact with using only his claws, the fact that most were the size of footballs had the Bastion roaring his impatience as he kicked, slashed, struck, and stomped his way through a handful before pausing to eye a group of floating gourds lingering high up in a tree, merely watching.

I have an idea...

If his size was going to be a problem, then perhaps he could do with it. Shifting entirely, Remi's body became small and round, furred in black and grey. With dexterous and grabby hands he climbed up the nearest tree, his fluffy tail wriggling behind him. Edging out onto a branch, the raccoon poked his nose down, beady eyes locked on one of the floating gourds a few feet below.

Then he jumped for it.

That there's no choice outside your mind
when your heart is overthrown

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we shall heal our wounds, collect our dead

Illuminated as if he's pretending to be one of the lanterns in the Festival of Lights, Ronin is clearly happy to pied piper the gourds into the best place possible for Remi to exact his... revenge? fun? entertainment?, tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat and falling to a halt when he reaches the clearing. It's only his partially shifted eyes and keen senses that allow him to notice the Bastion just before he starts his rampage, Ronin hiding a smile and taking a subtle step to the side as if to avoid being hit by any pumpkin guts.

Content to wait out the carnage and watch, as his husband in all his monstrous glory spots the gourds floating high above, the Knight almost senses what is about to happen before it does. "Oh no," he mumbles, but it's too late - a raccoon is already scurrying and clambering its way up one of the trunks of the trees - a trunk that grows ever skinnier as it climbs high into the Greatwood's canopy. "You be careful--" he cautions, already on the move to position himself beneath Remi should he need to catch him.

Which is precisely when he fucking jumps.

"This is your idea?" he calls, voice tight with incredulity.

THE WHITE KNIGHT

and continue fighting

remi

A lot's been changin' lately and I can't tell
If it's me or if it's everybody else

If anyone knows what a raccoon's terminal velocity is, now might be a good time to pipe up. Given who and what he is there's little reason to think that Remi will be seriously injured by what is about to happen next, but that doesn't mean it isn't equal parts hilarious and ridiculous.

With his arms and legs outstretched like he was a flying squirrel, the Remi lands directly on one of the ghostly gourds with a solid thwwunk. It drops several feet not unlike a helium-filled balloon, before, and this is where things start to get properly ridiculous, it begins to spin.

Having apparently realized that gnashing teeth and swatting vines would do little against the fuzzy interloper with its claws dug into the gourd's orange flesh, the creature begins to spin faster and faster and faster as if to force Remi off.

R--n---in! Remi thinks, just before his claws tear off a chunk of orange pulp and he goes flying.

we're only human but w?'ve got hands & hearts & noses
So stop and sm?ll the fuckin' roses

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we shall heal our wounds, collect our dead

If ever Ronin has wished he could give a warning of now don't do anything hilarious, it's right now. And yet, as he stands directly beneath the raccoon clutching to a gourd that begins to spin like a top, he can do little much, at first, other than stand slack jawed and bemused. Granted, he absolutely doesn't expect the pumpkin to spin quite so fast or to pick up so much speed, and though there's equal parts worry and wild amusement in the Attuned bond, he's nonetheless doing his best to guess the raccoon's trajectory.

And here's where you'll have to thank your husband for that dex stat, Remi, because as the fuzzy football goes flying, the Knight is already on the move, having to dart through the undergrowth and around branches and tree trunks to get to him. Forced into a dive with his arms outstretched, Ronin does manage to catch his husband for better or for worse, sending them both tumbling along the forest floor for a few paces.

"Remi, please don't have any more ideas tonight," Ronin pants.

THE WHITE KNIGHT

and continue fighting

remi

A lot's been changin' lately and I can't tell
If it's me or if it's everybody else

Somewhere, someone is lifting their arms and declaring Ronin's efforts a touchdown.

Tucked against Ronin's chest and with more than enough fluff to protect against the pinecones and other bits of flora that have collected in his fur, Remi's little black hands reach out for his husband's collar, such that when they finally come to a stop, the Bastion is cradled against Ronin the way one might hold a baby or a bride.

my hero, the raccoon titters through the bond, and, just because he knew how much Ronin would hate it, used his claws to brush away a few stray pine needles stuck in Ronin's hair.

What about just one more idea. Perking his ears forward, the raccoon shifts enough to press the tip of his nose against the Knight's.

Snacks?

And so they did.

~FIN

we're only human but w?'ve got hands & hearts & noses
So stop and sm?ll the fuckin' roses

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!