The nose knows, maybe.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
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MP: 3059
#1
Naked arms, his secrets still like songs I never learned

The sun was high, the street crowded, but the world was dark for the alchemist. No, not dark. Just...black, perhaps. Although...it wasn't actually. Behind his sightless eyes, Remi could have sworn things went from a pitch colour to something more like darkened ash. He wasn't naive enough to think his sight was returning, but he was hopeful enough to think that perhaps something was taking root. Regardless though, that didn't help him with today's outing.

Today, he would go to the bakery alone. Isla had offered to accompany him, just in case, but Remi had declined. Worst case scenerio he could simply ask someone to help lead him home. As it was, he strolled through the Settlement in the body of a lion. The feline had the best sense of smell, and it was on this specific sense that he was relying. As a man he could smell Devas Bakery from perhaps 10 meters away. As a lion though, the scent of yeast and milk and all the strange and mouth-watering spices that Amalia used in her creations were like a tangible ribbon drawing him towards her.

The only trouble was all the people who were in his way.

Trying to sift through the scent of the bakery and whomever might be before him, eventually, the lion wove his way unsteadily, until he believed that he was outside of his friend's shop.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#2
A M A L I A


Amalia was outside in the garden, working amongst the weeds. It was not her favorite task, and one she often delegated, but with the LongHeat sun beating down the older women she employed grumbled and wiggled their way out of work, complaining of age and creaking backs. In past years the girl would have left it alone, allowed scorching heat to kill off the garden, weed and flower alike. But this year was supposed to be different, the year she started to care. This year her grandmother would be proud of her, and the bakery would flourish, and all would be well.

So she told herself at least, the mantra an echo behind clenched teeth as she wrestled with some of the stubborn roots. At least the soil was already soft: Amalia had bargained with the burros, leaving out cream in the shady mornings so that the earth would be tilled by afternoons. This, again, was an ancient custom, a deal struck years ago between her grandmother and the creatures. To get them on board this year had been a struggle, and for the first weeks Amalia feared she would be eaten out of hearth and home. But by now the animals were full and docile, content to work on a little less.

With dirt beneath her fingernails and caked upon her arms she looked almost more stone golem than girl. Her hair was tied in a braided fishtail, carefully wrapped but still escaping into wild wayward strands. Rising up from her patch of cleared earth she wiped her hand across her forehead, cleaning off sweat and streaking more dirt on the curves of her face. Stretching, she turned at the sound of paws on pavement, a grin splitting her face as she caught sight of the lion, only one doorstop away.

"Remi!" Amalia called to her friend, surprised and concerned but pleased as well. She glanced around for Isla or Ronin, surprised at their absence from his side. Could he see again-? But no, his eyes remained that terrible pale color, and her heart sank a little at the sight. Still she rallied, striding toward him, her voice vibrant and playful in the morning light. "Thank Rae, now I have an excuse to stop gardening- do you want to come in? Or I can bring us out some snacks."


Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
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Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#3
Naked arms, his secrets still like songs I never learned

The smell of earth had made Remi's senses rule it out as the bakery, but the sound of Amalia's voice immediately contradicted that. Turning his large head, his amber eyes a few shades lighter now that they too were unseeing, the lion perked his ears forward and took a few hesitant steps. Amalia? He called, tail flicking curiously behind him.

However as she approached, the sweet smell of spices and yeast and honied lavender wafted off of her, intermingled with the smell of moistened earth and Remi was quite sure that it was the baker.

That will teach me to think I am a blood hound. He chuckled warmly. Moving forward and potentially nudging into her thigh accidentally, the lion glanced up (in fact looking slightly off to the side of his friend) and nodded. Either. Though you will have to guide me, either way.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#4
A M A L I A


It was still strange, hearing another's voice inside her head when she was in her human skin. Amalia smiled crookedly at the lion, sadness clear upon her face but absent, she hoped, from her voice. "Over here," she called out softly, kneeling down to the feline's height, a hand extended to touch his mane in gentle companionship, as well as to guide him closer to the shop.

"You're right. Bloodhounds have nothing on you." She winked, realizing belatedly that he would not be able to see, the action as pointless as any expression she could make. Frowning again, Amalia chewed gently on her lip, resisting the urge to hug the lion, to wrap him in a sorrowful embrace. But that would be for her benefit, not his, and Remi deserved friendship. She could deal with her sadness later; today she will offer him some sun.

"How about you come in and we can gather supplies, then set up a picnic in the back? There's some shade, and the garden loo- ah, smells lovely." Another blunder, another misstep. Idiot the baker silently cursed. Trying to keep a jovial mood, Amalia stood and walked inside, her hand still resting lightly on Remi, gently nudging him through the door.


Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
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Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#5
Naked arms, his secrets still like songs I never learned

Remi nuzzled his head upwards. He'd been starved for affection for almost all of his formative and teenaged years, that even now he opened to it with surprising willingness. Lions could not purr, but Remi rumbled a low growl in his throat as an expression of appreciation.

Amalia— As they reach the doorframe, Remi leans against it to orient himself. Slowly he shifts, his hands working up the side of the frame to aid with balance. "You do not have to worry about what you say." He chuckled soothingly, reaching out gently for her hand so that she can lead him. "I know it will take some getting used to, both on my end and for others. But it is alright, really."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#6
A M A L I A


It is strangely easy to take Remi's hand in hers, especially considering how little physical contact she had felt from people in the past years. Unlike the boy, she was never starved for affection- at least, not in her childhood, the time when her grandmother was still alive. It was only after her Nani's death that the young baker grew isolated, frozen out by a frigid mother, too awkward and undeserving to try to make new friends.

So much has changed. Now she grasps at Remi easily, guiding him gently into the bakery, to the same seat he had once sat upon with Aoife. "I'm sorry." For everything. Almost instinctively she reaches out, using a gentle hand to clear some wayward hair from his face. "I know it will take time, but I still want to be better about it. You deserve that much, at least."

Stepping away, Amalia goes to gather up supplies, humming softly as she works. "Any preferences? I have bread," she calls laughingly back to him. "And, ah, look at this! More bread."


Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
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Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#7
Naked arms, his secrets still like songs I never learned

Placing his fingers along the back of the chair, he lets Amalia's hand slip from his as he moves to take a seat. His fingers work softly across the table, exploring and mapping, wondering if there was anything set before him. Gently Remi shrugged, leaning back. "I cannot expect the world to simply change because of what happened to me. And you are part of that world. There are still things to see—your backyard for instance—even if I cannot see them. Perhaps that is even more reason for you to mention them. How else would I know?" He asked with a sunny smile.

"Mmm...I do not mean to be fussy, but I was actually hoping for some bread?" He asked with a mischevious grin.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#8
A M A L I A


"I'm not the world, though. I'm your friend." Or so she hopes- though that deep, nagging voice which lives in her gut whispers and curls, tugging at tremulous insecurities, snarling and snapping at her soul. Sighing, she swallows the bile down, shaking her head to brush it away. "You don't have to be strong for everyone. Sometimes you can let people be strong for you." There is no hint of obligation, no question of cost in the girl's voice: she is sincere to a fault, utterly giving, having been raised in such a way.

Grinning back at the curly-haired alchemist, Amalia tsks exaggeratedly, affecting a long-suffering tone. "Bread? You might as well ask the moon of me, sir!" Coming back to join Remi at the table, Amalia produces a large wooden basket laden with a loaf of fresh herb bread, a small brick of cheese, and some cured meats. "Alright, go ahead and take my arm. And uh, oh!" Moving away, she returns shortly, her antler-wreathed staff in hand. "You can use this to knock around, and make sure you don't fall."

Thus armed, she moves to lead on their great adventure, around the counter and through the rear of the shop to where the back door hangs open, inviting in the beauty of the world.


Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#9
Naked arms, his secrets still like songs I never learned

"I think so too." He replies immediately, his honesty and openness possibly smoothing away whatever insecurities Amalia might have about their relationship. They are indeed friends, and no slip of the tongue can change that now. Smiling sadly, he nods, his fingers gently tapping out a muted rhythm on the table. "It is hard to remember. I have been let down so many times that it always seems simpler. And everyone has their own problems...I do not want to burden them with mine." Remi replies with a shrug. Ever subservient, a commoner and a low-life even in this place that hasn't tried to enforce those old roles upon him. Some shackles are hard to shake.

Laughing, the alchemist holds his hands up in mock surrender. "Well you did say we were friends. I would bring the moon for you, if you asked it." He added with another bright laugh.

Reaching out for her arm as per her instruction, Remi made a dramatic display of nearly tripping as he reaches out for her. Holding the staff in his hands, Remi taps it experimentally on the ground. 'Well now I just think I will break something." He says with a grin, tugging her affectionately close with another boyish laugh. "Why do you have a staff in here anyways?" Remi asks as they move outside, inhaling the sweet smells of what seems like a thousand plants and flowers.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#10
A M A L I A


She wants to shake him, just a little, to find some way to get through his skull that friendship is about sharing, caring, give and take. Hypocritically, of course: Amalia and Remi are one and the same, each too determined to care for the world, unwilling to be cared for in return. Instead of violence she gives an exaggerated sigh, a verbal version of an eye-roll, chuckling softly to herself.

"I prefer the stars." Amalia smiles, thinking of the starwhale asleep upstairs, desperate to escape the summer heat. Fear jolts through her as he nearly trips, and the girl springs forward to catch his form, her inherent anxiety bounding to the fore as danger looms to strike. Wrapping her arm securely in his, the baker watches with hawk-like intensity as he takes the staff and feels around, her eyes on his feet, his gait, and the dangers of the shop. "I broke everything fragile years ago." Her voice is wry and nostalgic, and not entirely dishonest: she has broken many a piece of glass.

As they step outside Amalia inhales, enjoying the sunlight on her face. Guiding him toward a patch of grass, the girl briefly steps away to lay a blanket down. "Where else would I keep it?" she replies lightly, though there is something hard beneath her tone. Since LongNight the baker has kept the staff close, some superstitious part of her believing the antlers will keep her safe, that if she stays in the glowing red light she will not come to harm.

Which she well knows is entirely untrue, but we do not choose our totems.

"My mother taught me to fight with staves." She leads him down to the blanket, tucked neatly between two of Deimos' lavender plants. "I had hers for a while when she died, but it broke when, um. When we found the Voice." A series of unhappy memories; Amalia's voice falters and dims, growing pensive with thought. " I was going to have it fixed, but never got around to it. After LongNight, when I... well, the luxere antlers seemed to be protective. They made me feel safe. So I tied them to this staff, to make a, ah, a crown of sorts." She shrugs sheepishly, feeling foolish for her sadness, her childishness, her fear.


Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#11
Naked arms, his secrets still like songs I never learned

"Have I not offered you any stars yet?" The alchemist wondered, a bright smile spreading across his face. "They are my speciality, actually." He added, reaching awkwardly into a pocket and producing a handful of small stars. As she laces her arm through his, he lets his palm drift across his body to offer the small smattering of stars. "If you leave them in the light, they will glow when it is dark." He hums, laughing as she mentions that all the breakable items have already been destroyed.

Remi too can feel the sunlight, sighing happily at the warmth as Amalia steps away. Grinning up at the sky, the alchemist shrugs. "What kind of bakery does not have a staff-holder?" He asks teasingly as she directs him towards the blanket.

Frowning softly as she explains, the alchemist bites the inside of his cheek as he listens. He too had been there when they found the Voice, only his journey through with Sam had been positively unremarkable compared to what the "right-tunnel-team" had gone through. "I can mend the broken staff for you, if you like." He offers, leaning down onto his side slightly and letting his fingers part the grasses around them. "Or perhaps I can make your new staff more durable, so that it does not meet the same fate?"
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#12
A M A L I A


"Stars?" Amalia repeats the word reverently, not quite sure what Remi could mean. As he extends his hand she opens her own, delight brightening her bemused face as the smattering of starlight enters her grasp. "Oh!" she exclaims, dark eyes wide with gratitude and wonder. "Jyo will love these! Are they really for us?"

She laughs at his teasing, nudging him with her shoulder. "Exactly. See, you really ought to just move in and work with me." It is half jest, half honest invitation: she would be more than happy to share the shop, expand it to hold more than just her wares. The girl who laughs with Remi in the sun is a far cry from the one who re-built this bakery. She is ready to become a part of her world.

She watches him feel the grass with his fingers, and wonders what it must be like to experience the world with only four senses. Amalia tilts her head at his offer, frowning slightly in her surprise. The offer is astounding in its generosity, breathtaking in its simplicity, in the easy way he extends it to she who has been given so little. For a moment she is silent, too stunned to really reply-

-And then her tan arms wrap around him, a sudden and impassioned hug, a flurry of gratitude for friendship and kindness rising in her throat like the tide. "Thank you," she whispers against his hair, her only regret that she has nothing to offer in return.


Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#13
Naked arms, his secrets still like songs I never learned

"No, they are not for you. I am just that cruel." The alchemist said with a bright laugh that immediately and completely overturned his words. "Back...well, before—" since home did not seem any where near correct anymore, "—I used to make them all the time. I would sit and stare at the stars and then mimic their patterns on my ceiling. My house was small, just one room actually, and so I ran out of space quite fast, but.." Remi's smile had drifted from bright to lazy as he remembered it, the image so clear behind his blind eyes. Shrugging he turned back to Amalia.

"Once upon a time I would have taken you up on that invitation immediately." He says with a smile. "And not only because I was trying to hide my...ahh, preferences." Even now, in this world, saying the word gay still makes him cringe. "But half the time I cannot tell who needs me more at home, Ronin or Aoife." He adds with a grin. "Then again, a feline-inspired bakery and ...well, whatever it is I will do, there would not be anything else like it."

Blinking in surprise, blindness making it all the easier to surprise him, Remi instantly returns the gesture, inhaling deeply the various baking smells as well as something else too that he can't quite place. Something richer, like mahogany and sand, perhaps. "Well I have not done anything yet." He laughs against her. "And you will have a part to play, my eyes specifically, if this is going to work."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#14
A M A L I A


"Well, move in may have been a stretch." Amalia smiles ruefully, looking back at her small shop. "The bakery wasn't really meant to be lived in. There's scarcely space for me here. It would be very cozy, if anyone else stayed." Like Deimos- but she tries to push that thought away, suddenly glad for Remi's blindness which mercifully hides her blush. "But when you are ready to go back to work, well, the offer stands."

She can tell the hug surprises him, and for a moment she regrets it, wonders if this was a mistake. But then the alchemist returns her embrace, his friendly laugh vibrating on her shoulder. Shrugging awkwardly, she pulls away, reaching out to grab the staff. "Thank you for offering," she says, "People don't, ah... I don't get very many gifts." Always giving, never taking- it has been a mantra to live by, safer and easier that way.

Amalia runs her fingers over the staff thoughtfully, pausing to grip the antlers at the top. "All I ask is that the luxere antlers be incorporated. They... they make me feel safer, somehow." It's silly, she knows, but also true. The luxere antlers kept her mind clear during the Long Night. "They make it a bit unbalanced, though."




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