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all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

The alchemist listened with a wary sort of optimism. "I did, yes." Remi agreed, wanting to sigh out his unhappiness but finding the breath stalling in his throat as he gazed at his dirt-smeared counterpart. "You have—" He mumbled, nearly reaching out to wipe it away. "Oh nevermind. So much for what I said of you staying clean." The alchemist added with an amused shake of his and a far too adoring look in his eye.

"Catch up? Vi is a god. Of life. They are all meant to be...well, masters of everything." So Remi thought, anyways. "Why not have sent the snow early. Why not just erase the blight? Why flowers?." Glaring down at the rose in his hand, Remi bit the inside of his lip hard enough that the tears prickling the back of his eyes might have been from pain as much as sadness.

THE

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"Hmm?" Obvious to the dirt on his face, Ianto could only give a sunny smile across to the alchemist as he looked up and their eyes met, before he returned to the task of planting his rose in the dirt. Patting the earth around it once he was finished, mentally declaring it a happy little flower, the fox blinked back at Remi as he heard him out. Fidgeting with a sleeve to stop himself reaching for the other man, Ianto sighed.

"Rae, I think. Arduinna seems to believe so, anyway. The blight isn't just life and death - it began and spread and mutated in nature. And Rae was very reluctant to intervene. They had to be persuaded, over time. I guess Vi finally succeeded." Why flowers, though? Maybe to plant a cure, just as the disease had seeded itself in the woods? Who knew, truly?

IANTO

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all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

Moving the earth with leonine paws not unlike the fox had done, Remi made a hollow for the roots of the plant. It was much neater than when Ianto had come upon him before, but perhaps just as careless. Remi's heart wasn't in it. He couldn't believe that a flower would somehow solve his problems. Besides, even if it could cure an area of blight, it wasn't like Ronin had been home in days.

"Finally." The alchemist repeated giving the fox an unhappy frown. "In time for some, but not for others?"

THE

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"I don't know," Ianto confessed with a gentle shake of his head, having run out of answers for the other man. Glancing up at Remi now that both of their flowers were planted at the guildhall, Ianto offered a sad smile.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, not knowing if he would at all, or especially with the fox. "How you've been holding up, I mean. I take that he isn't... that Ronin isn't here?"

IANTO

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all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

Remi glanced towards the fox and all the distance, all the pain and regret, went away. Temporarily perhaps, but the alchemist's need was greater than his broken heart. "Inside?" He offered tentatively, then with a quick and bashful smile added, "It is a bit cold out."

So saying the alchemist stood, looking down at the two roses and wondering what if anything, they could do other than remind Remi constantly that their only hope of saving the blighted was down to flowers.

THE

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The offer to go inside was an unexpected one, but Ianto nodded nonetheless and rose to his feet again. "I mean, it is Deepfrost," he remarked, scrunching his nose as he glanced up to realise that snow was falling again. All the more reason to go inside, as Remi had suggested.

Stepping away from the flowers and smiling down at them rather than seeming skeptical, Ianto looked pleased with their work. Every little helped, and if they all did this, then maybe... well. Who knew? "Lead the way," he said, smirking at Remi.

IANTO

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all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

Leading the way as instructed, Remi heaved open the door to the guildhall. Aoife was out, leaving the house like some long forgotten tomb. It was filled, and yet at the same time it was dreadfully empty. All life had gone when Ronin had. Rubbing absently at his forehead the alchemist shucked off his jacket onto a nearby chair before heading into the kitchen to heat a pot of water.

"Arduinna said she could not do anything." Remi called over his shoulder, unsure if the fox had followed him in or was going to wait by the fire. "Or at least, not yet, whatever that means." Reaching for a cup and realizing none had been washed recently (why wash dishes when instead he could be researching the blight?) the alchemist quickly created two: one with a fox asleep beneath a tree, and the other of the same tree with a hawk perched in a branch.

THE

ALCHEMIST

Quietly following Remi into the guildhall, Ianto tried not to look around too much at the signs of a shared life together; one that had been so recently broken to bits. Instead he padded into the kitchen with the alchemist, his hands buried in his pockets. "Do you want me to get the fire going?" he asked, unexpectedly awkward in such a domestic setting.

Glancing into the kitchen and spotting the mugs first, and then the pile of dishes, he gave Remi a weak smile. "If you need any help with anything, I'm here," he offered tentatively. "Even if it's just reminding you to water the roses."

IANTO

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all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

"Mmm, sure." The alchemist hummed over his shoulder, not noticing his friend's awkwardness. Trying not to notice much about it, honestly. It wouldn't do to let his mind wander (certainly not letting it wander to the last time Ianto and Remi had been alone in this house together).

Turning toward the fox, and then following his gaze, Remi sighed and ruffled a hand through his curls. "I.." Biting the inside of his lip and feeling something in his chest curl inwards, he simply nodded. "..it is hard to find reason to care, these days. Not about things like this." Nearly every surface was covered with either Aoife's toys, or frantic notes Remi had taken about the blight. Those were his only two priorities after all.

THE

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Lingering for a few moments before heading back into the guildhall to prod the fire into life, Ianto frowned to himself. The place was a shell of itself, and more than a little representative than the man who inhabited it. Sighing, the fox returned once the room had started to warm, running his fingers through his coppery hair. "Shall we go and sit?" he suggested.

"...I understand what you mean, but... if you don't care, how is it going to look when Ronin comes marching back through the door when he's cured?" he asked, motioning about the place. "I figured you more for the welcome home banners than chores, Remi."

IANTO

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all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

The tea was of Remi's own devising. Once he hadn't been sure if magically-created ingredients would taste the same, but as it turned out, they worked just fine. Letting them steep individually in the cups, Remi grabbed both to follow the fox into the greatroom with a nod.

Handing Ianto the cup with the fox on it, the alchemist paused. For a moment his expression crumpled, souring, as he frowned at his friend. The urge to say something dismissive and sulky about Ronin being cured weighted heavily on the alchemist's tongue. Swallowing it down with considerable effort, Remi tugged in a breath as he went to sit by the fire.

"I...suppose I did not realize how close I was to giving up." He admitted with a painful laugh.

THE

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Accepting the mug and smiling at the little fox, Ianto followed Remi over to the fire and plopped down to sit beside him, unknotting his scarf with one hand and shrugging out of his coat. Cradling his tea in his hands, he glanced across at the other man and sighed. "I suppose Aoife isn't really the right age to call you out on your bullshit yet, huh," he said softly, giving Remi a lopsided smirk.

Lifting the mug to his nose and inhaling deeply, he nodded his approval. "A fine brew," he remarked, before glancing around the guildhall again. "The place must feel enormous without anyone else here," he said.

IANTO

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all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

Glancing towards the fox and not noticing at all the distance between them, Remi pulled his knees towards his chest and rested his mug of tea on one as he leaned his head back against the stones. Raising a brow at the other man, unable to do anything but snort in response, he simply grinned. "She probably is in her own way. Lucky for me I do not understand it yet." Indeed, though the girl had learned a number of words, her babbling-baby vocabulary was quite expansive. No doubt she had many thoughts on how her father's were handling things.

Oh. So right to it, then. The alchemist winced and nodded. "You have no idea." He said sadly, biting the inside of his lip so as not to encourage the tears prickling behind his eyes. "Much as I have thought about moving back into my shop, that would not be fair to Aoife. Nor to all the people who still turn up here constantly wanting something or other." He added a touch more ruefully than perhaps was warranted.

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"Oh, I bet she has some choice words for you, sir," Ianto said with a small smile, blowing the steam from his mug and enjoying the warmth of the fire, the way it seemed to inject some small amount of life into the building around them. "I can't wait until she finally learns to translate them into something you understand." Having never really met the child, of course, Ianto could only imagien what Ronin and Remi's daughter was like.

He hadn't intended to cause the alchemist any pain, Ianto's smile fading a little at Remi's response. "Surely they aren't still expecting anything of the guildhall? Not with the guildmaster gone?" he asked. "...Maybe you could just stay down here full time? Make it feel a little cozier?"

IANTO

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