hold fast to dreams

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

Once semblances of other things were finalized, Melita wasted no time, breezily situating them amongst the Last Word, sliding into a booth and snagging at the drinks’ menu, as if she hadn’t had enough at the meeting. “First,” she remembered, abandoning the outlook of cocktails for her bag, and removing another contained inside. “This is for Ronin, for helping me with Safrin,” and she slid it over towards the Bastion, a grin on her features despite everything that coincided with said gift. Contained within was some Halovian whiskey from her spare moments between dropping off Iskra and discussing things with Amhran, and a wide assortment of baked goods and candies.

Sighing, she tilted her head, studied the man who’d once been so interwoven with Ludo that she was certain it’d left an abundance of scars. His had been a different side – and she could readily understand if he didn’t want to cross back into those paths. But he was also one of the few she could avidly discuss it with. That understood. “Second…did he tell you about everything going on?”

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi doesn’t bother reaching for the drinks menu. Flora has kept his gin threaded through enough of the cocktails here that he already knows what he wants, and orders with the ease of someone who’s sampled his way through most of them before settling back into the booth.

His brows rise as Melita slides the bag across the table, surprise giving way to a warm chuckle as he draws it nearer. "I heard Safrin was..." The rest of the sentence dissolves behind the boyish smile tugging at his lips, his eyebrows lifting as though they might supply the word he’s wisely chosen not to say aloud. Difficult seems far too mild, based on what Ronin had told him, but Remi has no intention of committing anything less flattering to the air where Safrin might conceivably hear it. "He’ll appreciate this," he adds instead, glancing down at the assortment before setting it carefully beside him.

At Melita’s second question, his expression sobers. Remi leans back against the booth with a sigh, one arm settling along the worn leather as he nods. "He did." His fingers tap once against the seat before going still. "If Mort hadn’t become involved, I don’t think I would make much of it. It doesn’t seem so surprising that Ludo might disappear for a time." A slight shrug accompanies the words, because absence and unpredictability have always been woven into the herald as tightly as rags and masks.

"But Mort searching for them is different." Concern tightens across Remi’s features as he studies Melita from across the table. "How much of this do you think is connected to what is happening in the jungle and the desert?"

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

By the time the waiter came back around she’d finally made a selection, but her attention was pinpointed and focused on the Bastion for the interim, jostling her companions over to slide them into their own seats within the booth. He was very careful about his wording, and Melita smirked, nodding along with that all-knowing way of Safrin-esque experiences. “Good,” she preened instead over Ronin’s gifts, before they got into the heart of the main issue.

She should’ve talked to him sooner, she realized, but with so many other things to follow up on and other letters to dictate, the Honeybee hadn’t realized how much of her time had been taken up on ‘tasks’ and ‘responsibilities’ rather than her usual flair for fucking around. Her expression softened too, trying not to go mulish when it came to Ludo. Remi had his own history with the raggedy god, and far more than herself. “That’s what I thought too -,” she’d been quite shocked, bewildered, and quite honestly, believed she’d been in trouble when Mort suddenly appeared before her. “And truthfully, I think it’s all connected somehow. The dream sand came from both places. There’s the DreamWalker itself…,” she sighed, running her fingers over the wooden table. “I asked Amhran to confer with Rae about it. We’ll see if we get any information there.”

Pausing, she drew in another breath, eyes flickering around as if she’d forgotten something before they beelined back to Remi’s gaze. “Safrin mentioned a DreamWalker set of antlers that Flora has. We might be able to use those somehow. But – if Ludo is in the jungle, I wonder how we’re supposed to well, pry it out.” Other than the usual battle and back and forth. “And all the sleep stuff. Have you found yourself drifting off at all?”

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi’s brow furrows at the mention of the DreamWalker. "Wasn’t that killed years ago?" he asks, only for understanding to settle across his features as Melita clarifies that she means its antlers. "Ahhh," he murmurs, nodding as he draws in a slow breath. "I wouldn’t bank on Rae offering anything particularly helpful. From what I’ve seen of them in the past, they tend to prefer staying out of things."

He runs a hand back through his curls as their server arrives with the drinks, humming his thanks before lifting his glass. The cocktail carries the familiar taste of his Upside Down Waterfall gin beneath whatever Flora has built around it, and Remi takes a small sip while he considers the question. "I suppose it depends on whether we think Ludo is hiding because it wants to be found, or because it’s upset about something." Neither possibility feels especially reassuring, though the latter tightens faintly at the corners of his eyes.

At the question of sleep, Remi tilts his head, his expression turning briefly apologetic. "Well...yes, to be honest," he admits, though a small smile softens the concern in his face. "But we do have new twins at home, and even though they aren’t newborns anymore, they’re still quite a handful." It makes exhaustion difficult to treat as evidence of anything beyond the ordinary chaos waiting for him and Ronin at home.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!