stand out, fit in

REXANNA

they say the loveliest angels

make the cruelest demons

It’s a wonderous thing, how strong the effect of the bite can be — overriding preferences, overriding the fact that they are both with others, but it disappears when she removes herself from him despite the pleasure that’s so obviously on his face. Suddenly she wonders if she should take him to the Guildhall, to bring him to Ronin and tell him to finish the job, but the thought disappears as he awkwardly shifts and those sea glass eyes meet her own sapphires.

Things are different between her and Remi, but still in the friendship way — at least she hopes so.

She pointedly ignores the salute, giving him a small roguish grin when he asks breathlessly if it was enough. “Yes.” She replies, calm, collected, cool. She’s certain it is, and she can feel the well of it that’s separate from her own, itching to be reached for. She refrains however. Instead, she looks to her friend and tilts her head, leaning in to whisper as she removes her hands from him as if it might help banish those thoughts. “Are you okay, though? Did I take too much?” She asks, a small amount of concern in her eyes.

She really doesn’t want to have that conversation with Safrin’s fallen star.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

It is strange indeed to be made to want something that you don't. For all of his encounters with women, Remi has remained firmly gay the entire duration. Unlike his husband who is seemingly content with either gender, the alchemist's preferences have not changed. Even so, with Rex's teeth deep against his wrist he wanted her just as much as any man. Now though, in the moments bleeding after, the feeling was like a cold shadow. As she leans in, Remi tilts his head towards her. With a smile half-smile, the alchemist nods as he uses his now-freed hand to adjust the position of his pants as casually as he can. Though, likely they are far past that now and as much as Remi doesn't necessarily want to draw attention to it, surely it isn't as though Rex is ignorant of the effect she has had on him. "No, I am fine. It is just.." With a boyish shrug, the alchemist merely shakes his head as he ruffles a hand through his curls. "..well. You know what it is like." He concludes, clearing his throat b bashfully. 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 lets him readjust himself, forcing her gaze to remain on his face. She makes it a point to ignore it, to try and make it any less awkward than it already is. But still, it is something they shared — especially if she needs to use whatever it is she’s siphoned from him. But there’s relief in the way he says he’s fine before trailing off, sapphire gaze flickering uncertainly. But he continues, and with it, she runs her tongue over the last bit of remaining blood that’s stained her lips dark rouge as she looks over the field to the bumbling pumpkins.

“I do, yeah.” She adds with a soft laugh. “If you need some relief I can take you to the Guildhall, though that might… be an awkward conversation.” She admits, running a hand through her dark hair as she glances back to Remi. “Wouldn't blame you if you did want to, though.” She adds, flashing him a small half smirk.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

Remi finds himself laughing immediately, the awkwardness disappearing as he ruffled a hand through his curls offering Rex a wry smile. "In Northaven, I was never allowed to...be with who I wanted. Trust me, I have had more than my fair share of..ahhh.." Clearing his throat with a boyish grin, he shrugged. "..dealing with it." So saying the alchemist nudged Rex's shoulder affectionately, relieved that the burning heat that her body previously ignited in his was gone, and stood. Stretching his arms out, to relieve tension much as anything else, Remi turned around and grinned at Rex. "Ready?" He asked with a bright grin. Feathers appeared on his arms and in his curls. "All of what I am is now available to you, so you will have to focus. Think of the hawk. Of wings and soaring. You will feel it in you." 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 listens to him diligently, as a good friend does when someone tells them something important. And she resonates with him, in a way, smiling softly to him in agreement. “As have I.” She offers quietly. Her marriage in Halyven had been orchestrated, schemed, plotted. It never harnessed any love, any hope aside from keeping her country safe. But ah, none of it really mattered anymore, did it? She had relinquished it the moment she Ascended. Now all they were, were memories. And she holds onto them still, just without the regret she once bore.

Soon enough, he stands from the rock and she follows his figure, watching while he stretches and she stands too. She doesn’t stretch, however, she has no real need to. All she does is watch, listen, learn. And she dips down into the recesses of her wells, into the one that’s not quite hers, feeling foreign yet powerful. And with it, she glances over to Remi with a small laugh. “You’ve got a surprising amount in you.” She jests, reaching for the hawk he has described, pushing past the beast with claws and wings and barbed tails for something more delicate, more normal.

And soon enough, she watches as Remi begins to sprout feathers while she pulls at it. A small chuckle leaving her lips at the sight of the pale feathers curling beneath his hair, before she notices she’s shrunk quite a bit. She looks down to herself, body small and delicate, arms with wings and feathers. Her body is darker than his, far more brown with little flecks of white within, and she looks to Remi with a wide look and open beak of surprise. “Oh?!” She squawks in surprise, fluttering her arms at the sides of her, feeling the feathers drag in the grasses.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

"Ah, well.." Remi says bashfully, his nose crinkling slightly as one of his hands continues to muss his curls away from his face. With an amused patience that is full of affection rather than judgement, Remi watches as Rex shrinks and contorts, her clothing and skin melding away to feathers (dark than his, strange that), until she is but an awkward fluff in the grass. "Hawks do not walk well, I will tell you that. But it is harder to shift midair." He explains almost apologetically, before he fully shifts as well. Now that she is in a body like his, she will also feel his mind opening to her. Like a tether she can take hold of and follow (or not), his mind is a beautifully open thing. It is fractured and guarded as one would expect, but his walls are low or nonexistent. Everything he is is laid bare in the attuned bond, and through it Remi pulses a warm welcome. It can take some getting used to. He explains silently, his voice even more thickly accented in her mind. Are you ready to try flying? The more you think about it, the more difficult it will be. As much as you can, try to surrender to the body you are in. It knows what to do. 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

There’s a tether, and what a strange feeling it is. Latching onto it in her uncertainty, it feels shaky at best, but she holds on as she looks to him through avian eyes, ruffled feathers moving back and forth with the slight amount of wind. It’s a strange feeling, feathers. She gives him a nod in response until he shifts, and her eyes follow him down to the ground too. She attempts to walk, despite it, and finds hopping to be the best option to get beside him.

But then his voice is in her mind, and her head whips to him, beak parting in a look of surprise as she wonders if he can hear her too. “You can just… talk like this?” She asks, uncertain if it reaches him or not across that shaky, uncertain tether. But before long, he’s asking if she would like to try flying, and she bobs her head eagerly. Wings outstretched at her sides, two of her feathers brush up against Remi’s in surprise as she moves them to get a feel for it.

“It feels… So… ” She begins to say before she shakes her head with a quiet chuckle, but doing her best to follow his lead. She settles, letting go of the control over it, letting the avian, predatory side shine through (it’s fitting, an easy shift as she’s become a bit more predatory with her ascension) and she looks back to Remi with her dark feathers and wings ready. “After you, my dear.” She aims to jest, humor passing toward him.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

I can, yes. Remi replies, his mental voice punctuated by a wellspring of emotions. All of his kindness, his altruism, his flustered-mind in response to the sexual tug he just felt, all wrapped up in a thickly accent voice. Feeling the shine of her amusement, Remi chuckles though his beak stays perfectly still. If you need to shift back, you need only to think of yourself. Though...try not to do it from a height. He warns with a smile. Still, there is the imagery of a manticore swooping down to catch a falling body; a silent reassurance that even if she falls, he'll be there to catch her. Flapping his wings a few times as if to test buoyancy, Remi hops forward and then tucks his legs beneath him. His muscles strain to properly lift him, but soon he is airborne and his body does what it was designed to. Looping in a lazy circle to ensure Rex is behind him, he wants until she is before spiraling higher. Feel the air like a pathway. You can go where you like, but there are places of least resistance until you find your way. He mentions, coasting into a warm thermal of air. 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

The emotions that flood the connection are nearly overwhelming for Rexanna as she settles and gets used to this form – for the body that’s so incredible small and short, how big everything seems. And she listens while he instructs, giving him a sharp birdlike nod, a small huff of laughter and happiness drifting toward him. “Good to know.” She tells him, shivering slightly at the thought of a fall from such a height. But she knows that he wouldn’t let her fall – not like she’d likely feel the fall, but she’d rather not return home to Bastien once more, covered in fluid and broken bits.

She watches him flap his wings and take off in the air, tucking his legs. And she mimics him, doing the same to test the wings and how the feathers react against the wind and air, and soon enough she’s lifted as well – though at first she doesn’t quite let the body do the work, and she staggers slightly to the right in the air as Remi circles above. She makes a sound similar to exhaling sharply before she lets it go, lets the body she’s in take over, and she recovers.

She speeds up, following him with the fluttering of her wings and the dips and dives into the varying wind paths. And she follows him closely to feel the warm hint of air that makes it easier for her to glide. “Wow.” She mentions, the feeling of awe and surprise coating the tether, shifting her head to look toward the ground and see how far up they have gotten already. “Have you always been able to do this?” She questions him with an immense curiosity – wondering what kind of world had been at his fingertips (wingtips?) having been able to do this.

It’s a feeling of surprise and wonder, of awe and beauty.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

The hawk glances down with a worried hum pulsing through their bond, but quickly Rexanna rights herself and is airborne. Flying in easy patterns until she can get her barrings, Remi titters a half-laugh at his friend's surprise and elation at just how far they have (literally) come. Since I was a teenager, yes. Remi replied with a half-smile. Where I came from you were either born with magic, or not. If not and you were a blueblood (they were called), you held an esteemed position in society. No magic and no title, though? Well then you were a commoner, like me, and could undergo this ceremony. They looked down on us. Shapechangers, we were called. Both of my parents were and so I did not really hesitate. The hawk replied with a mental shrug as they continued to glide effortlessly around. 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

In response to his worried hum while she swerved, she sends a feeling of bubbling laughter at the sensation. It’s all so new, so strange, and yet something she never knew she wanted until it was here. And she follows him through the easy patterns, feeling the pressure from the air to guide her and follow, wings beating in time with his own while she tried to learn and adapt while soaring in the sky.

Her dark eyes slide over to him while he speaks of home and she does her best to recall all she knows of it — the little amount that it is — but she understands. She sends a small feeling of consolation through toward him before she reigns to respond. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” She tells him. She’s always thought the way people treated others for being different was a horrible thing to do, and had she remained in Halyven to lead them, she would have made changes.

“I was raised by servants back in Halyven, born as an orphan. Didn’t know until 19 years later that my mother had been the Queen and I was born from an affair.” She offers, trying to resonate. “It is hard being born and taught everything of a commoner, only to turn around and try to become their queen. Their too out of touch with the world at that point.” She offers before she grows daring and tucks her wings in and drops a bit, amusement sent his way when she drops a fair amount of feet and spreads her wings to catch the air and soar back up.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

With the easy and boyish affect that Remi is mostly known for, he shrugs off her consolation. Not because he doesn't want it, but simply because it isn't needed. The past is the past, and though the world is not fair, Remi has never expected it to be, lest of all to him. Listening with an incredulous pulse of surprise, the hawk veers upwards to a higher thermal as he lets loose a verbal cry of delight. Are you a princess then? He asks with no small amount of mischief in his voice. Or a queen? My, had I known I was in the presence of royalty, I might have done a good many things differently. And not just the thoughts he'd had only moments ago of pinning her against a rock. 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 trills a hum of a laugh his way as he questions her, deigning to respond until he finishes and she swoops back to catch up with him. Dark eyes slide over to his winged form, a feeling of happiness bubbling from her. “I was both for a time.” She sends him, another feeling of amusement leaving her to him. But it didn’t really matter, she had been the same the first time they met — when they had summoned Frey and she had pushed herself to him, hoping it might please the deity. My what a year it had been.

“People get… Weird around nobility. I never liked that, the power they held over people’s heads.” A hint of nostalgia flows. “I always thought I’d make a good queen, but only because it was forced upon me. I never wanted it, never craved it.” Her head tilts and she beats her wings a bit more, flowing into an easy pattern beside him.

your fall was not

an accident

you were chosen

for the damned

What a year indeed. Mmmmm Remi hummed a note of immediate agreement. Where I came from, you could be punished for not bowing low enough. He mused, and had he lips with which to twitch, he indeed would have at the memory. Perhaps we should have nominated you for the position of queen then. The hawk tittered. Zariah, Edy, Jigano, Wessex, Ronin? Perhaps the vote might have changed had they known there was a proper ruler in their midst. Though he didn't intend for it to, given how open the alchemist was through his bond, the subsequent thought of there might be a position open soon flowed through, unsaid. If they didn't figure out the blight quickly, there would indeed be an opening. And probably one less alchemist in the grounds. REMI Traded my soul to free my mind, "can I go back to being blind?" I ask myself one too many times