DEIMOS
Smart clung to his frame, a head tilt in the refrain; sometimes it’d been cunning, sometimes it’d been malicious, sometimes it’d been manipulative – now it was just calculating, cautious, a juxtaposition between the temptation of the mountains calling in his blood, in his memories, and all the other things surrounding it. He’d lived in too many lifetimes to become drenched in impulsive, impetuous accord; even if that was Remi or Ronin’s preference – it was the means that worked best for them. His head lifted and his spine grew more rigid, a taller, more commanding stature, when the guild was offered to him.Because he was shocked, baffled; by no means as capable as the alchemist, steadily gaining new platitudes and aptitudes every day, but unlikely as a suitable replacement. His eyes widened, and he swallowed some of the shock down, struggling to decipher why Remi continued granting and gifting, or what he’d done to deserve the honors, the rewards. “I can, for now.” Future lines drawn amongst uncertain parallels, a stretch of the unknown scorching his soul; but in this, a habitual, routine structure put in place, for the time being, something else to fall back upon if Zariah’s tethers were a maligning force all over again.
The only semblance of weariness from Remi appeared at the gesture of the tyrant’s name; a fair warning though, given how much the alchemist had been entangled in her grasp. “Unfortunately.” But it didn’t mean she’d have to stay there for long – if they were stronger now, greater now, if they could work together instead of eternally drifting apart on nuances, on hatred, on animosity (or if that was merely another venture, another sojourn, none of them could truly take, ruled and reigned by their acrimonious rewards and justifications – he amongst them). “What do you plan to do?" Or were their intentions simply that – diving in headfirst, and not looking back?
He was something solid
to lean against
violent and fierce and unmoving
