stand out, fit in

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

The first thing she does is send a note to Remi, asking him to meet her in the Fields after the sun sets.

The second thing she does is wait until it’s safe for her to venture outside, knowing it takes her a bit longer while she continues healing. She doesn’t know what parts of her had broken when the giant Punking had squished her, all she knows is that she couldn’t move very well (if at all) and that there wasn’t any pain, just anger. At this point, she’s mostly healed. Her other arm knitted and fixed, thanks to rest and her new body. Her leg works again but with a slight limp as it tries to heal where her hip connects to it. There’s no pain, again, just an annoyance.

When she arrives, she finds a rock to perch herself on, folding her legs under her and watching as a few of the tinier vampire gourds roam around in the grasses. She spends some time tossing tiny little fireworks at them in their open mouths, only three, and she grows tired (she keeps a few reserved for any that venture too close) and sits back to watch as they run to and fro, absentmindedly spinning the red and gold engagement ring on her hand as the moonlight takes over.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

After the sun sets. Sign one. Having not visited the infirmary, sign two. And of course, the most obvious of all, the fact that Rex mentioned she might take Remi up on his offer to bite. Unless Frey's curse had come back and the Penumbra was back to her flirtatious ways, the alchemist thought he knew preciously what it all added up to. But of course Remi comes. Not warily, not angrily, just curious, if anything. He sees the light dancing off in the distance, knowing of only one woman who possesses such a feat. Knowing what he does about the ascended, he assumes she can long him hear him arrive before most would. "I see congratulations are in order." He calls out, her firelight playing off the jewels in the ring he had a hand in making. Stopping just short of her, his hands in his pockets and a warm cable-knit grey sweater to keep the chill of Leafchange away, he offers her a crooked smile as his head tilts slightly to the side. REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

She hears him approach before he speaks, thankful he came to her and she didn’t have to seek him out. Not that it mattered much, but she did imagine he likely wanted to spend as much time with Ronin as he could. She didn’t want to walk into anything, after all. But he mentions the congratulations and she turns to look at him more fully. “Thank you. It seems you’ve been quite inspiring as of late.” She offers to him with a wink to his crooked smile. “Thanks for meeting me, too, there’s a lot we have yet to catch up on.” A light huff of laughter leaves her.

She scoots over on the rock and pats it for him to take as an invitation to join her should he want to, but he can’t blame him if he doesn’t. Things are different now, she’s different now. Her sapphire gaze tilts back to the gourds as they continue their rampage, seemingly ignoring them. “I didn’t get to apologize to you yet for the incredible fireworks display I gave you.” She chuckles lightly, recalling the display of dicks cascading over the sky and the bouts of laughter from the crowd.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

"Well just imagine how surprised I was." He chuckled. "Here you told me I would have months and Bastien all but showed up the next day." Shaking his head, he flashed his friend a smile. "Aaa but cara! You are so very irresistible, I should not have been surprised.." Smiling, Remi indeed takes the offered seat, nudging his shoulder affectionately against Rex's as he does so. "Catch up on? You mean being squished by a pumpkin? For getting engaged and leaving me no time to plan?" With a boyish laugh, Remi looked up to the stars and nods, as if expecting to see dicks once again appear amidst the clouds. "Apologize? That was nearly the highlight of my evening." He tipped her a wink. Nearly, as the remainder of the night included marrying Ronin and having the best sex of his life thus far. "We could talk about those things." He said slowly, but kindly. "Or..." Raising a brow, he peered into her sapphire eyes, made no less vibrant by the change in her anatomy. REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

“Did he really?” She laughs, head tilting with the thought. It had been a few weeks after before he had proposed, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have it planned. The laugh grows bolder as Remi mimics Bastien’s voice and takes the seat beside her. “It’s shocking how well you do that, you know that right?” She huffs to him through quieter giggles. He nudged her shoulder next though, and she tilts her head to rest it on his shoulder as they sit there and she listens to him speak.

“It’s a Deepfrost wedding if that helps?” She jests, nudging him back with a small laugh. But in terms of the fireworks show she shrugs lightly. “It was the last thing i was expecting to come out of that box, honestly. I’m glad it fit the mood.” She says thoughtfully, while deep down wondering what other strange things Ianto had in his wagon, wherever he was. She can’t help the wide, happy smile that crosses her gaze as she looks to him (fanged and bright).

Her head tilts to him as he suggests something else, sapphire gaze meeting his own sea glass ones, her brow quirks. “Or…?” She asks, head tilting slightly. “What did you have in mind?” Her voice is quieter now, taken by surprise but curious all the same. What did the Alchemist have up his sleeve this time?

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

Remi laughs happily. "It is all the accent, really." He says with a soft shrug, leaning his head against hers and simply sipping in the night air for a moment and reveling in a moment not currently spoiled by giant pumpkins or husband-killing-blights. "Mmm, a field of snow and lights provided by the luxere." The alchemist mused, the romantic in him more than pleased to picture what Rexanna's wedding might be like. Chuckling and slipping an arm around Rex to balance on as much as for the friendly embrace, the alchemist merely shook his head. "Well, if such a thing came from Ianto, I cannot say I am surprised. Though..have you seen him as of late? He has been...gone." It was because of their breakup, Remi was quite sure. Narrowing his eyes with a playful sort of skepticism, Remi hummed a vague note for a moment as his shoulders gently rose and fell. "Oh...how about when I offered to let Sam bite me to take on the vampire gourd you said you would take me up on the offer? How changed your smile has become, lovely as it is? And how, if all of that is true...you could always come flying with me one day, if you wish." REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

She smiles gently, leaning into him and nods when he mentions it’s the accent. There’s no denying it, it’s just how it was. And she found she liked it immensely when Remi would joke about Bastien, a nice change of pace from what so many others have said about him. But wedding talk takes home and she nods her head again, sighing lightly at the thought, wistful and picturing it. “Ah, if only the Luxere liked me.” She snorts.

She leans into Remi more as he drapes an arm around her, listening to him ponder the response she gives, posing a question to her. “I haven’t seen him, no. I’ll keep an eye out for him though.” She replies, turning her head to him to see what he thinks of her offer. But it drops as he questions her retort to him when they faced the pumpkin that nearly killed her and she chuckles lightly. “That’s really the main reason I asked you to come out here.” She says lightly, head tilting toward the sky as she considers his question. “I am newly Ascended now… The Voice wasn’t certain it would be possible.” She trails off, looking back to him. “Abandoned and all that. We were unsure how my magic would respond.” She explains before sitting forward a bit.

“Bastien had offered me the choice if I wanted to do it. And I thought about it for a long time, how much I love the sun and everything about my normalish life. But then Zariah locked me in the Manor and tried to marry me off, and I broke out through the bathroom window. Went to grab Bastien, and I ascended, hoping it would take my magic too. But it didn’t, I still have that part of me, just not the blessing by Frey.” She explains, eyes drifting over to catch his sea glass gaze as she points to the collarbone with the brand he had likely not seen in some time. “It’s all very new to me, and I haven’t… Bit anyone before.” She pauses, giving him a small fanged smile. “I don’t know how it will work with me already having magic. But if the offer is there, and nobody would mind, I would love to fly.”

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

"Well, we have lots of time to make up songs for them and bribe them with treats. We will make sure your wedding is aglow with their light." Remi says with a grin, his mind already thinking up ways that they might entice the gentle creatures to stand guard at such an event. Humming a note of appreciation, Remi falls silent for a moment as he mentally calls out for the fox. Surely if he is anywhere, it is in the Greatwood but...it is worth a try. Like he expected though, there is no response from the darkness. Certainly not one with an irish accent, anyways. Sitting up slightly straighter if only to regard Rex as she speaks, Remi listens with a careful and kind consideration. "Welcome to the club." He says affectionately as she mentions her magic. The hybrids, few as there are, have their own struggles in this world. As an abandonedxascended, Remi can only imagine that Rex is in for a slightly steeper learning curve than most. Hearing the story about Zariah made Remi draw in a breath, feathers appearing in amidst his curls as a predatory golden colour bled into his fractured green stare. It took him a minute to catch up and understand—Zariah, Launceleyn, magic family, no magic no marriage—but he nodded eventually, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he'd held. It was pointless now he supposed, to tell her that there were other ways of protecting her. This was quite irreversible, he was sure. "And how do you feel? I know Isla when she first changed said it was...overwhelming for one, but quite amazing too." Realizing what his offer implicated, Remi smiled a touch boyishly and awkwardly, crinkling his nose. "Well..." He said, drawing a breath. "You have never bit anyone before, but have you been bit?" Remi asked slowly, wondering if he could avoid this awkward explanation. As he had learned on more than one occasion with Sam, it took more than just a quick sip to transfer power. He had no feelings for Rexanna save for platonic ones, but under the influence of her teeth? Those moments were hazy and confusing. There was Bastien to think of as well. And Ronin, he supposed. REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

She nods in a quiet appreciation to Remi’s half promise, the Luxere settled, lighting the wedding with their familiar, comforting, golden glow. And she smiles to him in response to it, knowing it was exactly the type of extravagance her and Bastien would love. But his next statement takes her a bit off guard, and she snorts to him as she recalls what Frey had told him the day they met. Their disdain for the Abandoned. “Why’d you go and do that?”

She can’t help the other smile that crosses her face as she reaches up with a pale hand to poke him in the shoulder. “I think that might make me more hated by Frey than you. You’re welcome.” She jokes, a crooked smile crossing her face. But he sighs quietly as she tells him her tale and when he asks her how she feels, her shoulders roll lightly as she looks out over the fields. “Its… different, but the same? I released a lot of my old self when I Ascended. I don’t have much left of that to hold onto. I feel more brave, and painless.” She chuckles, as though her spectacular display of getting squashed under a pumpkin here was any proof of it.

But then Remi sucks in a breath and asks her if she knows what it all entails, and she audibly laughs, head turning to him. “I have been dating an Ascended since Flowerbirth.” She pauses consideringly, and if she could blush she likely would have. “I was first bit by Archebold. Then Lucas.” She pauses with another light chuckle. “I have a deep knowledge of how it feels.” She winks to him before considering him a bit more seriously. “I just don’t know what it feels like on my end, now.” She says thoughtfully. “Is it just the bite itself or do I have to do something now to activate it?” She considers with another awkward laugh.

And Remi? Hadn’t they been in this situation before? Less influenced by a god, of course, but he had become one of her best friends. She doesn’t think to Bastien about it, knowing he’s likely fine with it (given the fact they’ve done quite a lot on their own with others) but Ronin? She doesn’t know what he would think of it. She doesn’t want to offend. But if Remi is offering, perhaps it's her best chance to learn.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

"Ohh well then. I shall make sure to get you an extra extravagant wedding present then." He said with a snort. And in fact, it probably did make Rex more hated. For all that he'd heard the sex-god say and do, when it came to the ascended, they all seemed to have a very clear viewpoint. With a laugh, Remi reached over, pinching one of Rex's wrists lightly as if to prove that indeed she felt no pain. He was about to ask whether or not that helped or hurt she and Bastien's sex life, before realizing that he very much did not want to know the answer. Based on what came next in their conversation, he was blissfully glad he'd kept his mouth shut so as not to appear even more horribly naive. "Right. Right." He said, scrunching his nose slightly. With all the pleasure a bite could bring, of course she'd experienced that with Bastien. Gods knew Remi had with Sam enough times, simply for the thrill of it. Her calling it a deep knowledge only flustered the boyish alchemist all the more, who shot the Penumbra a wry grin as he shook his head. "Not to my knowledge. It needs to be enough that you feel it. I know Sam said that he could almost...sense it in him. A little like your magic, I suppose. The shift feels a bit like that." A reservoir of power. A wellspring to draw on. Light within. They all thought of it differently, but the sensation was probably more or less the same. "Neck or wrist, what's your pleasure?" REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

“I need all the help I can get.” She laughs at his invitation for a great wedding gift. She hopes it’s better than her gift to him, the dancing firedicks display in the sky. No matter how well received it was. Then, her eyes follow his reach as he pinches her arm and there’s no reaction, a small chuckle leaving her with the attempt, a shoulder rolling in a shrug as if to say “Well? You tried.” It was nice, though, to not be defined by doing things that prevented pain or the cold, to not really ever need to sleep aside from the resting period to recoup — something she had to do a lot of while she recovered from all her pieces that had broken.

She doesn’t think much on it as Remi responds to her explanation, a sheepish look crossing her face as the information lands, like small bombs from the Alchemist. She wonders if Bastien has ever used her magic, and for that case Lucas as well. The thought is short lived, however, and she glances back over to her friend as he offers it. Her eyes widen a bit as she looks at him with a tilt to her head. “Are you sure?” She asks quietly. “I’d rather not have an angry fallen star on my doorstep.” She says a bit quietly, though through her surprise she finds her humor, hands delicately taking his arm as she considers it.

The neck would be too… Intimate, she thinks, eyes drifting back down to his arm. Her sapphire gaze flits back to him as she raises a brow. “Please don’t make fun of me if I mess it up.” She says with a quiet laugh, raising his wrist to her lips, and she tests out her fangs for the first time. Their sharpened points biting down (as delicately as the Penumbra can) along the veins of his wrist.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

"It..." Remi's shoulders rise and fall. He'll tell Ronin..ask him what the marital rules say about it. That there is the...sexual chemistry that accompanies the bite isn't the intention, and that is what Remi thinks ultimately matters. It's a side effect, an unfortunate but pleasant one as it happens. The neck would be faster, but as Rex knows, it is indeed more intimate. Smiling softly as she takes his hand in hers, Remi's eyes drift upwards as his teeth find the inside of his lip. Glancing down with a snort Remi raises a brow. Just about to say something along the lines of if Sam can do it, you can do it, the slivery silvery feel of her fangs against his skin immediately silences him as goosebumps trail up his spine. Hitching in a breath, wanting to steel himself, the alchemist feels the world immediately dissolve as her fangs push deeper into his wrist and whatever it is that causes the feeling pours into him like a tidal wave. Biting hard against his cheek, the alchemist becomes hyperaware of Rex leaning against him, his arm still around her. Heat floods from where her body touches him, rendering him breathless as heat coils low in his stomach. He has to fight to keep his hands where they are, his lips where they are, and to not pin the Penumbra against the rock upon which they sit. REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

It’s unconvincing at best the way Remi begins to give her a solid answer, but she doesn’t mind. He shrugs, and she finds she can send Ronin an apology (likely it won’t happen again unless absolutely necessary) should it be needed. But her focus is on him now, as she takes his hand into her own, a silent question in her eyes as she looks up to him. And then she bites.

Immediately, Remi’s reaction is to be expected, and silently she wonders if Frey could see them now. It’s overtaken as the taste of copper and warmth erupts within her, a sparkling feeling that ignites on her tongue. And where most things taste like ash the moment it touches, she finds Remi’s blood to be tantalizing, like fine wine, as she fills so slowly enough of herself the amount she thinks she needs. (Expertly cautious with it since her rendezvous with Lucas.) She can’t help but to indulge a little bit at least, the feeling so great and vibrant within her, she finds herself leaning closer to him — one hand braced on his chest while her nails grip onto his shirt before they slide to his neck, to grasp his curls. Her eyes lift up to meet his sea foam ones, continuing her drink, watching while he struggles with the feeling.

Rexanna doesn’t know what it’s like, having always been satisfied after. But it feels wrong, to attempt it in the moment. He is married, and she is engaged, after all.

She pulls from him then, covering the wound with a hand, the other brushing the blood from her lips as she smiles to him, feeling the crackle and fire within her shift toward something else, something bigger and she sighs contently. But Remi? She leans to him then, using the one hand that covers his own, to see what it is he would like in return with a small playful tug — wondering if it borders on the edges of not okay.

Still, she tempts fate.

Carefully and gently, the Penumbra situated herself on the rock to fully face Remi, to see what he might do, what he might want.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

The chemicals are strong, that's the point of them after all. But as she parts and the deadly elixir coursing through his veins is stifled, the hedonistic need for sexual satisfaction begins to wain. Softly the alchemist's eyes flutter open, his lips parted in a silent O as his breath continues to race and his chest to rise and fall with his pounding heart. Indeed there is a sudden bulkiness in his pants as he awkwardly swallows, suddenly noticing the coppery-rouge on Rexanna's lips as she leans in and moves to face him. Cheeks flushed with the blood that hasn't meandered south, he looks down with a dreamy stare at where her hand covers his. In his mind's eye Remi sees Ronin, the strong jaw and startling blue eyes. It both helps and hurts in that moment, shifting his desire to a more appropriate target, but that only succeeds in fanning the flames. Sipping a breath of air, the alchemist's gaze meets the Penumbra's. Her eyes are nearly the same blue, but so much softer. Her features elegant and beautiful, whereas Ronin's are strong and roguish. It helps, these differences, as much as the receding tide of her bite. Closing his eyes, his fingers twitch slightly in her grasp. "Did you.." He whispers. "..is it enough?" REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times