cruel summer

yes other hearts were broken & other dreams ran dry

but our golden ones sail on and on

The air was already growing colder and much as Remi didn't want to admit it, Deepfrost was coming (and with it, his husband's impending death as well as LongNight). The chill against his skin was a constant reminder of all that lurked on the horizon, but it was nothing compared to the frigid wind that seemed to billow through and around the cockles of the alchemist's heart.

Ianto had told him to leave so many times, and yet here he was again like a deaf and pathetic mutt, at the doorstep of the wagon in search of the fox. He wasn't empty handed though. He'd brought a rich moss-green scarf that one of his fellow artisans had made. For all of Ianto's leather and trinkets, let it not be said his (ex)(friend) wasn't a fan of comfort. He could turn the collar of his coat up all he liked, but nothing kept the heat in like a good scarf.

Not bothering to knock or call out (if Ianto was in, the fox would already know that the alchemist had arrived), Remi simply...stood in the dappled sunlight, looking at the wagon. He'd wait just long enough to be sure that if Ianto was home, that he was definitely being ignored before pressing the issue further.

Remi

Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!

Ianto

In reality, it had not been that long since Ianto had last seen Remi, but psychologically was another matter entirely. Having been sequestered away from the beginning of Leafchange, the fox was unaware of the majority of things that had come to pass (apart from the obvious, like the blight), including any who may - or may not, as it turned out - have cared enough to search for him.

Drugged and subjected to a brutal training regime - only to get knocked out of the Cloister anyway and receive that judgement - things like heartache had taken a backseat. Whether Ianto had liked it or not, the wounds Arduinna had opened had allowed others to begin to heal. So on a crisp Leafchange day when the alchemist appeared on his doorstep, Ianto was not as blindsided as he once might have been.

In fact, Remi would not even be waiting long, and as the side door to the wagon clicked open, it would be to the sound of a whistling kettle. "Business or pleasure?" the fox asked of the nature of Remi's visit, his lilting voice echoing from within. The whistling stopped, and when Ianto appeared dressed in his usual eclectic array of jewellery and colours, he held two mugs. One of which he held out to offer Remi, before stepping out to sit on the top step of the wagon.

"You're looking well." It was a lie, obviously, but that was Ianto all over.

Coding base by Sky!

yes other hearts were broken & other dreams ran dry

but our golden ones sail on and on

Well, he wasn't expecting a response that quickly. Not a positive one at least. Blinking in humbled surprise, the alchemist tilted his head as the side door clicked open, half expecting to see someone else there, but hearing the all too familiar voice of the fox. Something echoed inside of Remi's body, another world where things had ended up differently trying to reassert itself on the present. It was a common hazard of being around Ianto, and likely always would.

Stunned even more by the offering of tea and endlessly overcome by the impossibly handsome face, the alchemist could do little more than offer a crooked and boyish smile as he accepted the warm mug, pulling it close to his chest. Business or pleasure? It was the former, but Remi wanted it to be both.

Had Ianto left it at that, the awkwardness the hawk felt might have persisted. The obvious lie however had his grin growing wry as he shook his head at the mischievous fox. "You know, I have come to find that the more people tell you that, the less true it actually is." He said, ruffling a hand through matted curls and rubbing at an eye.

"I am here for...well. An entirely stupid reason, actually. To ask about finding Arduinna." So saying, Remi held out his non-mug hand palm side up and shrugged as if to say, I did say it was a stupid reason.

Remi

Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!

Ianto

"Ah, so a lot of people have been telling you how well you look, then," Ianto murmured, smirking and blowing the steam rolling up from his mug of tea. The alchemist had looked a lot better in the fox's presence, it was true - but he had also looked a lot worse, and so this did fall somewhere in between, he supposed. As for the nature of Remi's visit, Ianto didn't try to hide the way he rolled his eyes. "You? Blindly walking into danger? Never." His borderline obsession with his godmother seemingly went beyond her connection to Ianto, it appeared.

Not bothering with the usual don't try to find her, don't go near her, don't even think about her warnings, knowing full well that they fell on deaf ears, Ianto warmed his hands around his mug, fox's tail flicking back and forth as he thought. "It depends on what you want her for, I suppose," he said.

"If you just want to say hi, you can always pray at the Wildwood shrine. She appears there sometimes." He shrugged. "Otherwise, I could take you to her. Or I could deliver a message."

Coding base by Sky!

yes other hearts were broken & other dreams ran dry

but our golden ones sail on and on

"Many more than I would like." Not so much as Ronin, but then again, most had simply avoided commenting on the hunter's state, as degraded as it had become. Remi though? Apparently having your husband dying wasn't much of an excuse for lack of sleep or unkempt curls, much to the alchemist's frustration.

"Blindly?" Remi repeated, face free of emotion save for a slight narrowing of his eyebrows. Quickly though the charade of being wounded by the reminder of his vision disappeared and Remi merely gave the fox an bemusedly pointed look.

Forgetting about the scarf for now, Remi awkwardly shuffled his feet, his eyes unsure quite where to fall. It was truly difficult to look at the fox and not feel all sorts of guilt-twinges; guilt for what he'd done, and guilt for what some deep and dark parts of his mind still wanted to do, married or not.

Clearing his throat slightly, Remi took a small sip of his tea. "She gave me a charm that would protect Aoife from the blight." The alchemist started to explain. "And given what she was able to accomplish in healing the Undine, we thought...well. We thought it worth asking to see what she could do now. I know others have asked and she has said it goes beyond her magic, but.." Remi shrugged, suggesting that her actions hadn't exactly bore that out.

And then, because there was no one better to ask the question to, Remi managed to pull his gaze up from where it had landed somewhere around Ianto's feet, to his face. "What do you think?"

Remi

Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!

Ianto

Ianto raised his eyebrows right back at Remi, the notion that he had stumbled into an accidental insult lost on him. (Lost only because he had known exactly the implications of what he was saying when he'd said the words). A smile playing along his lips, he sipped at his tea and set it down on the step beside him, before patting around in his waistcoat for his pipe and smoking mix.

He nodded slowly as he got everything ready, more than aware of Arduinna's help against the blight - how could he not be, when he had all but been glued to her side for most of LeafChange? "I think that there's more to her than she ever lets on, but that curing the blight by herself truly is beyond her. She managed to help the undine with aid from others, and even then that pushed her magical limits." He shrugged, tamping down the tobacco into the pipe.

"But I think if you wanted to ask, she'd probably barter with you. The charm, for example, is linked to her very core - I know that much. If anything were to befall her, it'd be ineffective."

Coding base by Sky!

yes other hearts were broken & other dreams ran dry

but our golden ones sail on and on

Remi watched Ianto's fingers working on the pipe with a quiet thrill, the ministrations of the fox when it came to pipes and the like always drawing the alchemist's eye and interest. "The blight has spread to others in the Grounds." Remi said, almost as an afterthought, unsure just what the fox knew or how much he even cared to know. "In some it is quite bad." Some of course being Ronin, but perhaps that didn't need saying. "With less than a season to live. I thought perhaps—"

Falling utterly silent as his once-friend mentioned that Aoife's charm was linked to Arduinna's core, Remi's teeth clicked together as he squeezed his eyes closed. "So.." So Aoife's safety was inexorably intertwined with Arduinna's. Gods that figured. Biting his cheek as he opened his eyes wearily, Remi nodded.

"Do you think I would have anything she'd want?" The alchemist asked carefully, knowing that unlike last time he'd bartered with Arduinna and offered up anything in return for the fox's freedom, he was no longer in a position to do so.

Remi

Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!

Ianto

"Mm... I'd heard rumours, but I wasn't sure," Ianto said, a hint of apology in his tone as he placed the pipe between his lips and produced a matchbook from his pocket, striking one. His brow furrowed as he thought of those afflicted. "It sounds like an awful disease," he murmured. "I hope something can be done. I do know that if there was anything that would cure the woods and Arduinna was capable of it, she'd be doing it already."

Puffing a few times on the pipe, exhaling deeply and taking it from his lips once more, Ianto gazed pointedly at Remi. Once he had tried to protect him by telling him nothing. Now, honesty might save his life - as it would have done all along. "Oaths and promises," he said. "They are her bread and butter. Careful, though - she'll own you, literally, with a few well placed words."

Coding base by Sky!

yes other hearts were broken & other dreams ran dry

but our golden ones sail on and on

Though Remi heard the sympathy in his once-friend's tone, it rang slightly more hollow in the alchemist's ears, reminding him of just how far removed Ianto was (had made himself?) from all that was happening in the Grounds. Thinking it by choice rather than Arduinna's treachery, the alchemist simply smiled faintly and nodded.

"I...was not sure. When she does and does not choose to help has never made sense to me." He added with a small shrug. Though if Ianto thought she would have done more if she could have, the alchemist supposed that was more than reason to believe it was true.

Unable to help it, Remi's eyes flit to the leather collar around the fox's neck. Once upon a time, he'd have been bound happily to save those he cared for. Now though, he wasn't sure that price was warranted. Still, eyes rising slowly, the alchemist couldn't help but wonder how much of Ianto's restricted freedoms were self-imposed. The fox was a talker to be sure, but could the alchemist work out a better deal than the fox had?

"I would rather not be owned." Remi said with a sigh, resisting the urge to rub at the wedding ring on his hand. "Would you want to be there, if I did decide to speak to her?" The hawk wasn't entirely sure why he was asking, but felt compelled to know the answer either way.

Remi

Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!

Ianto

Exhaling a few smoke rings, Ianto silently offered the pipe out to Remi in case he wanted to partake. "That goes for both of us. She's fickle and mercurian to me as well," he agreed regarding Arduinna's motives. "I've no idea what strings she's pulling, what deals she's made, what else she might do. But she does love the Greatwood, and seeing it blighted will probably make her more open to discussions." Or she might just see the opportunity to take Remi under her wing for good.

"Wouldn't we all?" Ianto flashed a golden grin at Remi; they were no longer at a stage, it seemed, where heartfelt conversations were possible, and so this was as close as it got. "Oh, absolutely not." He shook his head firmly at the idea of being with Remi when he spoke to Arduinna, rubbing self-consciously at the back of his neck. "I've seen enough of her for a long while."

Coding base by Sky!

yes other hearts were broken & other dreams ran dry

but our golden ones sail on and on

Remi moaned a low not of discord as he shook his head at the offered pipe. It wasn't that the sweet tobacco scent wasn't calling to him, more than he didn't trust himself or his thoughts. Lips where the fox's had been, the momentary and fleeting instances of their fingers being so near. It was silly, really. But integrity was something the hawk valued, having only broken unspoken vows of monogamy once, with the man he ended up marrying. Still, as Remi was wont to do, the alchemist played it safe.

So too did the alchemist note the surface-level conversation they were having, and so merely quirked a brow as the fox declined his offer.

"There is...another reason I am here." The hawk began with a crooked smile. Unlinking the scarf from around his neck, he held it out towards the merchant, but not before a trace of magic rushed through. It would take keen eyes indeed to notice how, on one of the ends, the golden-embroidered hawk subtly shifted to become a cardinal. Where once the cloth was contained by a golden fox and a golden hawk, now both shifts were Ianto's. It seemed unfair perhaps, to offer his once-friend a gift with such an obvious reminder of their what-almost-weres on it. Truly, Remi didn't know what he'd been thinking.

Still, he hoped the moss-green token would be enough. "I heard that you are the man to see about fireworks of a very certain variety."

Remi

Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!

Ianto

Shrugging, Ianto took back the pipe and happily puffed away on it between sips of tea, the fox seeming utterly at peace in the doorway of the wagon in a way that probably surprised Remi as much as it did himself. He raised an eyebrow as the other man spoke about a second reason for comin, Ianto smirkng. "So my godmother and my tea weren't the only things you fancied, huh?" he quipped, tilting his head and reaching out to accept the scarf.

It was warm and it smelled like Remi, and once that would have been enough to topple Ianto completely. But times changed, and in a season of torture both mental and physical, the ache for the familiar was distant, locked away. A smile tugged at his lips as he spotted both fox and cardinal - Remi's magic was far too quick for him to have spotted the change - and he looped it carefully around his neck.

"Fireworks, you say? I have many a variety, it's true. What are you after, good sir?" he said crookedly.

Coding base by Sky!

yes other hearts were broken & other dreams ran dry

but our golden ones sail on and on

"Shocking, I know." The alchemist quipped back, the easiness of banter like a papercut on his heart. Arduinna aside, once tea would have been reason enough to chat away the afternoon with the fox. Now it seemed Remi would always need a reason to be in Ianto's presence, if not for the sake of their tattered friendship, but to keep the alchemist's guilt at bay.

"Good sir? I think this is the first time you've treated me as an actual customer. No wonder you are so successful." Remi tittered with an equally crooked grin, before schooling his expression into something thoughtful. " Oh...of the dick variety, I should think. It is for a wedding, after all."

Remi

Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!

Ianto

Ianto's smile only grew at Remi's quips about the nature of his business - perhaps customer-merchant was a better relationship for them, after all that had happened. Because Remi wasn't the only one struggling at camaraderie, for all that the fox seemed comfortable in their conversation in a way that hadn't been possible last season. Indeed, he schooled an appalled expression onto his face, rising to his feet with pipe and tea in hand.

"How dare you suggest that I would peddle such things? Where did you receive such misinformation?" he demanded, feigning offence as he headed back inside the wagon. Once there, he grinned over his shoulder at Remi. "How many do you need?"

Coding base by Sky!