Rocket Man (OPEN)

The first few nights Remi had spent sleeping outside. It wasn’t anything new to the alchemist after all, and given that the housing situation hadn’t been entirely sorted out yet, it seemed more or less the easy option. Despite the fact that he had slept alone (and not just without any one literally by his side, but quite on his own as it was) Remi wasn’t actually in any hurry to find himself a place to live. He’d grown up in conditions much worse than this; really it was no trouble at all to fall back into old habits. But once Vai began to set up the Rathskeller for use again, Remi needed a place to begin distilling alcohol once again, trying leaves for botanical infused drinks and other teas, and perhaps curing meat down the road. And so Remi set out to find himself a house. Although a number of the large domiciles were still apparently available, Remi chose one of the smaller and much shabbier ones. His had a broken door (no surprise there), a shattered window, and was only 2 rooms large. This was actually more or less an upgrade from where he lived in Northaven, but in all honesty it still felt like a luxury he wasn’t entirely entitled to. Remi had always been a commoner; lower of the low, especially when one took his sexual orientation into account. in Northaven anyways, and though that world was far away, still the lingering hierarchical notions directed his decisions. Opening the door, Remi entered. The wooden panel (aka the door), sat unhinged against the wall, but Remi made no effort to change it. Then he began to clean. remi rocketman; burning up his fuse out there alone

Ashenheath

Sweat was dripping down her temple, a grunt of frustration slipping from her lips, her magic was like taming a wild animal, before the hovering rock in front of her was strewn rather clumsily through the air until it landed embarrassingly close to her own feet. A child could have thrown it further. Her leather boots scrapped against the floor as Dee hauled herself upright, picked up the rock, and threw it herself out of the dilapidated house with a roar of annoyance. Which was all well and good apart from the fact that… she missed. It bounced off a rotting sodding beam, that had already fallen down partly, the small amount of extra force causing it to collapse completely. The rock rebounded and, before Dee could do anything, hit her square in the nose as a cloud of rumble engulfed her.

Spluttering, she cursed violently for the next five minutes. She spent another five checking no one had been watching.

Eventually, after striding over the fallen beam, that now partially covered her hovel’s entrance, she marched off with no particular purpose, or thought, for that matter. Her nose was turning red and now had a rather gaudy cut on it that was slowly starting to bleed. Her hair was covered in dust and looked more like a shade of grey rather than the usual dark brown. A vision of foolishness. She didn’t care. As long as no one was around to ask. She shoved her bow over one shoulder and hastily pushed her braid back out of the way as she passed other, seemingly unoccupied, houses. Some were bigger than others. Dee had stayed in the one her and Faolan had lived in since she was a child, it was old and rotting, not too small, but not overly big. It kept her warm and dry, most of the time, if she wasn’t throwing rocks and making it even more of a wreck.

A faint movement out of the corner of her eye made her stop abruptly in her marching, she drew the bow from her shoulder and knocked an arrow, edging cautiously over to the house. It could just be another dweller like herself, or someone foreign, but the spark of mischief in her mossy gaze spoke everything about her intent. A friendly introduction to a new neighbour wouldn’t go amiss, right? She poked her head around the wooden panel and went as if to enter, bow first, eyeing the stranger.
“Need help... settling in?” she asked before taking aim.

nobody teaches you how to reminisce, nobody teaches you to hurt like this

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Remi was not normally an overly cautious man. Indeed, his kind and gentle affect had allowed him to move through life without ever having to really rely on whatever bought of masculinity he was meant to have. He was not scrawny by any means, but his athletic build spoke more to his dextrousness than it ever would what strength he did possess. And so, busying himself with clearing away the debris that was strewn through the small 2-bedroom home, the shape changer was paying attention only to the movements of his hands and not the sound of Dee approaching. As her voice rang through the air between them, Remi started and spun, a look of unabashed surprise on his boyish features. As his pale sea-glass green gaze fell upon the arrow pointed directly at him, the alchemist blinked a few times before looking upwards into the face of the woman currently pinning him in place with her bow. "I–" Remi began, lashes fluttering gently. "Is this–" He tried again, his thick Italian-esque accented voice sounding all the more linguistically diluted for his consternation. Raising his hands slightly, palms facing towards the young woman to show that there was nothing in them and that he meant her no harm, Remi exhaled a shaky breath. "Is this your home? Or...It looked empty, I hadn't meant–" Trailing off and looking bashful, the alchemist raked a hand through his curls and sighed. "I had not meant to intrude." remi rocketman; burning up his fuse out there alone

Ashenheath

She hadn’t really thought this through. If she had, wisdom might have told her this wasn’t the best idea she had ever had, it wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t a good one either. Who knew what manner of creature could be inhabiting this place and here she was, pointing an arrow at it. Luck would have it that he appeared to be less monster-like and more… Human. Dee wavered as she laid eyes on his youthful appearance, his tousled hair and the complete lack of weapons from what she could glean in a glance. Not that he couldn’t be hiding them somewhere else. He seemed startled by her, fuelling a childish satisfaction in Dee, and she watched him slightly raise his hands whilst his voice, curiously accented, came out in irritating splutters. Really Dee, you’ve got one here, she complained internally before slowly lowering her bow, taking the arrow from the string and pushing the loose strands of hair from her face.
“It’s not mine” she shrugged as she slung the bow back over her shoulder and then properly faced him.

“I heard some noise, so I came over to… Say hello” she bit her lip to stop from laughing as she waved at him with the arrow in her hand “I’m sorry if I startled you” her arm came up and the arrow slid back into Faolan’s old quiver easily. “I haven’t seen any new faces for such a long time, now I’ve seen two all at once,” Dee marvelled at him for a moment, as if the answer might be written on his face, “very strange” she said simply.

The pain on her nose, that was still stained in blood from earlier, had been forgotten about. Instead she found herself glancing around the home, it was small, a little like her own, and run down. Odd, there were others that were bigger and probably looked less slummy. “So, how come you picked this place?” as she asked, she collected up some debris and threw it outside.

Remi

nobody teaches you how to reminisce, nobody teaches you to hurt like this

_{bg | mario taferner @unsplash}

Remi exhaled, though whether it was due to the lowering of the arrow pointed at his throat or the indication that he wasn’t actually breaking and entering was unclear. Either way, the alchemist offered a boyish and relieved smile. Her apology was entirely unnecessary–it wasn’t her fault that he was startled of course, nor was this properly his home yet and so she had every right to investigate the noise–but he nodded his head politely just the same. As her eyes took him in, Remi blinked almost awkwardly. For a long time he’d played the part of a straight man, and while he was never the overly flirtatious type, he’d never before had any trouble holding a woman’s gaze. Now however, in this brave new world having followed directly on the heels of a new world of another kind (read: Remi had sex with a man for the first time), he suddenly found himself questioning the face he normally wore to the world. With a charmingly rueful smile, Remi ran a hand backwards through his hair, beginning at the nape of his neck and moving through his curls before shrugging slightly. “I met someone near the outskirts who said much the same. “ The alchemist offered with a slight nod. Reaching into his pocket, Remi produced a slightly charcoal-stained swath of cloth. It wasn’t much, but now that his surprise had worn off and he too had taken a moment to look over the canvas of Dee ‘s face, he had noticed the blood which was quickly beginning to dry. With a gentle wince he offered the piece of fabric towards her. ”Ahh...” Remi hummed thoughtfully, turning to look around and running a hand through his curls once more. “It is small and simple. What I am used to, I suppose. “ He answered honestly, as he was want to do. Honestly the fact that this place had two rooms was quite a luxury. Remi, who was used to sleeping in a wagon beneath the stars had always been a bit uncomfortable indoors. There was of course also the issue of Remi being a filthy commoner–or had been back in Northaven–who deserved hardly more than a piece of wood to sleep under. He wouldn’t dare take any of the larger homes even if he was inclined to do so. “My name is Remi.” He said suddenly, realizing his manners. Turning to face Dee, the alchemist extended a hand in greeting. If she decided to shake, she’d find his palm well-muscled and calloused from all of his time writing, though not entirely unpleasant. remi rocketman; burning up his fuse out there alone