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

"As I said, far be it from me to try and put you out of business." Remi said slyly, nevermind the fact that he definitely couldn't create the sort of fireworks being discussed.

"I have been known to draw from time to time. When it turns out poorly, I just say it is abstract, or that I am taking artistic license." The alchemist was a perfectly okay illustrator, but his worked certainly lacked the sort of whimsical feel needed for the epic adventure Ianto was suggesting. Or at least it certainly felt like an epic sort of story as they were living it.

"Mmmmmmm." The alchemist hummed thoughtfully with a nod. "You were fairly scarce last season." Remi said, cracking an eye towards the fox and raising his brows ever so slightly.

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"Well then it is settled. You can 'artistically licence' all over the story that I create, and it will be told for years to come throughout the Greatwood. We'll become legends," Ianto informed Remi, winking and reaching for his tea to drain the mug of the last of it. He didn't know if any of his nonsense was helping to make Remi feel any better, but he was certainly trying his best to lighten the dark mood that had fallen over both the alchemist and the guildhall in general.

Then Remi brought up the previous season, and Ianto's hands unconsciously tightened around his cup. He glanced away and nodded. "Yes," he agreed, "I was." Taking a deep breath and letting it out again, the fox visibly seemed to withdraw into himself. It hadn't been so bad explaining to Jigano, who hadn't experienced Arduinna's cruelty first hand. This was different.

"I was being trained," he explained. "By Arduinna. For the Cloister of Trials."

IANTO

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

Remi laughed far more richly than he might have thought possible moments before. But something about the phrase, artistically licence all over the story struck him as being impossibly funny. "You can be the legend." The alchemist said shaking his head as his mirth settled into a lopsided smile.

"The trials?" Remi repeated frowning. He knew Ianto well enough, especially his physical tells, to know the question had rattled his friend. But then of course the pair had almost never spoken of Arduinna without some amount of reluctance. "But why?" Leaning in slightly to better face the fox, the alchemist wondered if he managed to get his friend out of more than just his boots, if there'd be even more revealed about this training.

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"Me? No no no. I'm no legend - I just sell the legends their supplies," Ianto said warmly, a grin spreading across his face. "I'm that shopkeeper in the stories that the hero says hello to on the way out of the village." And he was perfectly happy with that role, thank you very much. Unfortunately his good humour was destined to die with their change in topic, and Ianto let his hands rest in his lap, folded around his empty mug.

"She wanted a champion to represent her in the Cloister, and I was the most readily available," he said with a gentle shrug. "That's why my wagon was closed up, though it looked pretty much undisturbed when I got back, so I guess there weren't too many heroes passing through." He managed a smile.

IANTO

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

"You say that, but you have not written your book yet." Remi said with a boyish and confident grin. Ianto might not have thought he was a legend, but surely there were only a handful of men with as intriguing a past as the merchant had. "Well, apparently not given you live in a wagon out in the woods that moves around if it does not want to be seen. Not all that easy for heroes or just friends to pop by."

"Why you? Not that.." Feathers appeared in the alchemist's curls as he huffed quickly and tried to gather his thoughts. "Not that you could not win, only...the Greatwood Guardian seems like a lot of work, surely." Then again what did he know? He'd been knocked out in round 1.

"I came by." Remi said softly, turning his eyes down to his tea and letting the mug move slightly in his fingers to cause ripples to appear in the dark liquid. "A few times, actually."

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"Actually," Ianto informed Remi, tilting his chin up haughtily, "after striking that deal in the Sidhe Village with cheftain Delah, I'll have you know that my wagon is perfectly stationary for the time being. It is a trading post between you wonderful people and the Fae." Not that it had gotten very far or done much good. But then he had been sequestered away for torture training very shortly afterwards.

Smirking as he spotted the feathers, Ianto wanted to wave Remi off. He wasn't a fighter, it was true, and there was no other reason for Arduinna to have picked him than the one he figured it was. "Convenience," he said. "I was ready and available. And she could drug me all she liked, to make me want to fight." That probably made it easier too. "I'm not sure what she wanted to achieve with me getting the title, though." That was, indeed, a mystery.

Ianto's expression softened as Remi said he had come by the wagon, the fox managing a smile for the other man. "I didn't realise," he said. "...Thank you."

IANTO

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

"Right fine. Someone still has to be in the wagon." The alchemist countered, having only a hint at the dark depths of where the fox had actually been, and so this was said with a chuckle.

"Ready and available, mm? Far from your best features." Remi said, hoping his blush would be passed off as simple heat from the fire. Frowning at the mention of drugging the fox, Remi pulled in an unhappy breath as he offered his friend a sympathetic look, though he'd not ask for further details.

Humming an awkward note of acknowledgement, Remi moved his cup back and forth between his fingers. "I was worried about you." He said softly, hazarding a glance at his almost-maybe-friend-again. "I did not want you to think that...well, that you were still alone, I suppose." The fox had been once, when the barrier separated him from the rest of those he knew. While Remi understood some of Ianto's reluctance at being in the Hollowed Grounds, the alchemist didn't want his friend's semi-permanent residence in the woods to keep him from feeling like he wasn't apart of things. That no one thought of him.

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"Yes well... shhh." Ianto eloquently closed that subject, though he did seem puzzled regarding Remi's next comment, not to mention what he could have sworn was a blush racing over his cheeks. Clearing his throat awkwardly, the fox took up his teacup again to finish his drink, setting the cup in his lap when he was done. He smiled softly and shrugged at the look shot his way. What was done was done, and there was little that could be helped about that.

Still, to hear those words fall from the alchemist's lips... Ianto was fine. Had made sure of that in his time away from the wagon. But Remi still knew all his weak spots, and prodded at them without knowing. "Thank you," he said. "...For worrying, I mean. It means a lot that you would drop by... and it helps, feeling like there's someone who would visit, to see if I was okay."

IANTO

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

"Always." Remi vowed with perhaps a bit too much emotion, but in this world of dying husbands and displaced friends, it seemed one of the most important promises he could make to anyone. That he'd be there. That he'd look when they went missing. That he'd remember (ha) and worry. "Then again with all the mischief you get up to it is hard to know when you are properly missing or when you have just wondered off after a pretty face." Remi tried not to let his smile get too wry and crooked, though likely failed.

"So, what does post-Cloister life look like for you, then?"

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Not having expected quite so serious a response from the other man, Ianto forgot himself for a moment and reached out to rest a gentle hand on Remi's shoulder, giving it a warm squeeze. "I'll do my best to be just as good a friend to you, then," he vowed, smiling to him. "Or at the very least, to leave a note when I've just gone off to chase my own tail for a bit." Because obviously the prettiest face worth chasing after was his own.

As for the future? Ianto hummed out a note of thoughtfulness. "I mean... I'm keen to get the wagon on the road again. I usually let my work pave my way. Though I can't move on until a certain alchemist pays for his fireworks..."

IANTO

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

Remi very nearly leaned his cheek to rest it against Ianto's hand. Instead he merely flashed the fox a sappy smile as he looked down into his tea cup. "I would appreciate it. That way I do not spend my days prowling around your wagon fretting over you when really you are just asleep in the sun somewhere."

Pretending to seem completely ignorant of what the fox was getting at, Remi merely shot his friend a softly frustrated look. "I cannot imagine how frustrating that must be. You really ought to tell him—or her, you know—off. Hire some thugs to ruff them up or so."

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"In my defence, I have more often been asleep in the sun when you try to find me than anywhere else," he said, grinning and spreading his hands as if to tell Remi that it was his fault for always assuming the worst. "Though with these snowstorms it might be worth locking the place up and going to hibernate through the coldest parts of the season," he admitted. Not that foxes hibernated. But whatever.

Nodding emphatically but not bothering to hide his crooked smile, Ianto leant back on one hand. "You know I might just do that. How about you? You're quite the bruiser now, Remi. I bet you could show them a thing or two about delivering items promptly."

IANTO

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

"How is that any way a defence? You might have been doing any number of other things, how would I know?" Though Remi's expression was one of playful skepticism, he didn't push the issue further. To do so would be to unduly emphasize that 1. the fox and the hawk were only just now on proper speaking terms again and 2. that had Ianto been with Arduinna, he might have still said he was sunning himself just the same.

"Well the guildhall has many a dark and warm book and cranny if you are interested. Both inside and out." Was Ronin going to come home to find that all of Remi's exes were living beneath his roof? So long as he did in fact come home, Remi found he didn't care. And so long as he was able to endure the fox's coy blue stare without always blushing beneath it, it should be fine.

Definitely probably fine.

What was meant as a light hearted quip made the alchemist flinch dramatically. Sitting up straighter, he dropped his teacup which shattered on the river-rock stones. "W..why would you say that?" He gulped, face quite pale as images of Skyler flashed before his eyes.

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"I mean, you wouldn't know! Apart from me telling you now - consider that your knowing. I am lazier than most, and I'd much rather lie in the sun than go off causing trouble." The first comment might be true but the latter certainly wasnt, and the golden grin plastered across Ianto's face said as much. His toes suitably warmed, the fox moved to sit cross-legged before the fire, his empty teacup set down beside him.

Arching an eyebrow at the alchemist's apparent offer, Ianto couldn't help but be skeptical. Surely Remi couldn't be serious - after their history, that would seem... well. He didn't know. "I'll try the Greatwood first," he said slowly, "but I'll keep you in mind."

The last thing Ianto had intended was offence, and he flinched as well at the sound of the cup shattering. Swearing in a language that was definitely more suited to the Fae, the fox held up his hands placatingly. "I mean... I just meant..." He gestured in general at the other man, as if Remi might not have noticed that he was buff as all hell nowadays. "And I heard rumours about you at the Cloister, about that winged lion...scorpion thing that you became. That was all. Are you okay?"

IANTO

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