Tongue tied in this situation

How were you supposed to go about finding someone when...everyone had just sprawled? Especially given that Remi was now limping about on one crutch unable to shift (he'd tried that once while being bandaged, and apparently sutures and bandages did not transfer when one shifted). Vai had said that Ashe and Alistair were finding their own way in this new world...but the alchemist had seen the man with his arm around another woman. Right in front of Ashe! And then the pair had jumped from the Bone Bridge like giggling children. It had been upsetting to see—perhaps because of his current situation—but he needed to make sure that Ashe was alright. And so Remi walked. It was slow going moving on his one crutch, but Remi's mind was full of things to ponder over and ruminate about that a little time spent wandering hardly seemed a bother. There was Loren's utter absence, what the god Frey had done, what the god Ludo had done, nearly attacking Vai, being unable to handle his lion-shift multiple times...Remi sighed. The list was incomplete but already it felt endless and arduous. Pausing in the middle of the street, the alchemist ran a hand across his eyes and leaned heavily against the crutch. He thought of the tranquilizers that Isla had given him and wondered if they would ever be necessary, and if so, who should have them? Ronin probably and Vai...but would it become necessary for everyone Remi was around to have precautions against him? Sighing again, Remi continued onwards, eyes scanning in earnest for the blue-eyed raven-haired woman he sought. Ashetta REMI I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows Oh but it's too late now, I let you get too close

To say Ashetta's head had not been in a good place lately would have been a sore understatement. So the fact that she was clinging to the shadows of the sanctuary would come as no surprise to any that knew the young woman. While Ashe wasn't entirely avoiding anyone as much as she had been, she was certainly only coming out into the light on her terms. Still, she wasn't holing up in the woods as a wolf, and she wasn't entirely drunk before sunset. Maybe a little bit buzzed.. but not drunk. She tried to maintain a steady sense of numbness.    She was sitting in the shadow cast by a crumbling chimney, flask lifted to her lips and a greedy wine spider reaching for it when she spotted a familiar form moving in the streets below.  Before even finishing her sip, he screwed the top back on the container and nudged Soot back into her hood with a gentle brush of her fingers - all the while her eyes never left the limping shape of Remi down below. He was limping heavily. Was that a crutch? Her heart lurched as she tucked the flask back against her hip and moved forward to a crouch, hands braced as she watched him.    She'd been meaning to go and see him - wanted to see him. Vai said he'd asked about her, and that had been enough to nearly make her heart stop. That he cared to ask at all.. the assassin moved. She slipped around the other side of the chimney soundlessly, and within the next few moments she was striding with ever-silent steps out from behind the building - straight for the hawk. "Remi?" Ashe called as she approached, her brows pulled together. She had so many questions - when had they last even spoken?    Ronin seemed to have started a fast trend with coming face to face with the men that had become her older brothers. Maybe it was the sight of him on a crutch and realizing she had no idea what he might have been facing, but Ashe leaned up to clasp Remi into a tight embrace. It was as brief as it was impulsive, and she pulled back to look him over, eyes pausing on his leg before lifting up to reach his face. "What happened?" ashe i won't take anyone down if i crawl tonight but i still let everyone down when i change in size

Despite the keen senses of the shifts he possessed, Remi was no tracker. Though he'd been more or less adopted into the Yla family, he had acquired none of their traits. Indeed, Vai seemed to still have to save and comfort him on the regular. Though perhaps that's what mothers simply did; Remi didn't know. And so as Ashe allowed herself to be found by the wandering alchemist, he smiled with a great sense of relief. Chuckling, he should have been looking on the rooftops he now realized, but the thought had completely slipped his mind. Instead he'd been hobbling around as if the assassin would simply be out for a stroll. He was a fool, but at least he didn't know it. All he knew was that he was relieved and heartily glad to see her. "Ashetta!" He called with a sunny smile, despite the pain still radiating through his leg. As she neared, the alchemist was surprised that she didn't halt but instead reached up to offer a hug. As he fumbled uselessly to try and reach both arms around her, she'd already pulled away leaving him slightly confused by delighted just the same. For a moment her question caught him off guard. He'd come to see her after all, why was she asking what had happ— —oh right. His leg. "Ah." He chuckled with a boyishly embarrassed smile. "Your mother shot me in the leg." Remi replied with a light shrug, then quickly added: "It was on purpose of course. You know Vai, she doesn't miss, or hit what she isn't aiming for. I ...ah...I can shift into a lion now, and I have not been entirely able to control myself in that form." He continued, jubilant expression souring somewhat as he sighed. "Vai was with me as a precaution. One I ended up needing as it turns out." Offering Ashe a crooked smile, Remi readjusted himself on his crutches. "I have something for you back at my shop, but first... Ashe..." Fumbling for the words, Remi's gentle features clouded with confusion and heartbreak as he looked into the oceanic depths of Ashe's gaze. "..Alistair?" He finally managed, knowing she would know what he meant. They'd all been on that bridge after all, and he couldn't have been the only one to see Ashe's husband kiss another woman. REMI I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows Oh but it's too late now, I let you get too close

Ashe blinked and her head tilted. "My mom did what?" she asked, and he went on to say it was on purpose, as if that lessened the shock of it. But he did explain, and.. he could shift into a lion now?He could become a second animal? She was shaking her head with wide eyes, taking in the influx of information with rapid effeciency. How did that happen? And.. he couldn't control himself. "Remi, how can you become a lion? Are you still a hawk as well?"    Her attention was drawn away from the topic - something at his shop? She shook her head and nearly asked what, but the intensity of his gaze gave her pause.. Alistair.    Ashe's eyes guttered, and she had to cast her eyes away briefly, jaw feathering. Remi had been on the bone bridge, had seen her ex-husband with a new woman, so soon... time had passed since then, winter was almost upon them, but still, it was a sharp pain in her chest. She knew he was still close to her family, knew that they all saw her for what she was, the same way Alistair did. Did Remi see it now? Incapable of love. Can't be saved.    Finally she composed herself to look back up at Remi after a moment with a tight-lipped smile, shrugging her shoulders. "He had enough," she said, as if it were no big deal that her husband had left her. She blinked and glanced about them, then to his crutch, anywhere but at those sea glass green eyes that never looked at her with reproach like so many others did. She was sure if it was niavity or not. The assassin took a deep breath, thinking of crystal clear blue eyes that looked at her and saw her too, and something tight in her chest eased.    With a more gentle smile, she looked up at Remi. "We have a lot to catch up on," she said with a sigh. "Show me your shop?" ashe i won't take anyone down if i crawl tonight but i still let everyone down when i change in size

The alchemist shook his head. "I am not sure...it just happened. And yes, I can still become a hawk. I've magic too, somehow." Shaking his head and looking bashful and not at all proud of this information, he let his shoulders rise and fall gently. If Ashette wasn't also able to both use magic and shape-shift he wouldn't have mentioned the latter portion at at all. "When did you become able to shift into a wolf? Was it here? Was it because of him?" The alchemist asked, voice dropping low at the mere verbal gesture towards Ludo. "Enough?" Remi repeated sadly, his sea-glass green stare bright with sadness and dismay. Watching Ashe's expression change slightly, Remi took a breath and released it gently. An ended marriage ... he probably wouldn't want to speak of it either. He didn't even want to really speak of what had happened with he and Loren. Though now that he knew the truth about the librarian he felt ashamed for even momentarily thinking it in anyway compared with what Ashe must have been going through. "I am so sorry." He whispered gently, his smile crooked and his lips wanting to say so much more but failing to find words would come even close to expressing his grief on her behalf. "Yes we do." He said returning her smile and leaning against his crutch to spin about. "Luckily it isn't too far." And it was lucky. Already Remi's armpit was growing sore from leaning so heavily against the wood of the crutch. He'd padded it, but there was really no way to soften the blow entirely. Well there was of course—magic—but the idea of just making his problems go away still seemed strange and like cheating somehow. So until he healed, he would hurt and he would limp. But he was okay with that. REMI I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows Oh but it's too late now, I let you get too close

"Magic?" she echoed, her eyes widening slightly. "So we've both got magic, both can shift." She was smiling as she said it, looking up at him. She wasn't alone. Magically, Ashe had always been on her own. In Northaven, she'd been the only one of her kind. Here, she wasn't sure if other lightning mages existed - she hadn't met one yet, anyways - but to have both magic and the wolf seemed to be something rare.     As they began making slow progress towards where she assumed Remi's shop was, Ashe glanced up at the alchemist with a half smirk, then turned her gaze ahead of them once more. "Him? Who's 'him'? No, I made the change back in Northaven," she said, thinking back to the night it had been done. A lot had changed since then. "A few months before we ended up here, I believe. With a talisman - there was no cuff... couldn't have Duke Eyebrows finding out." To say what she had done was illegal would be putting it mildly... but she had tried it the "right way". She wasn't going to let something like some leaders saying no stop her. Puh.    She glanced quickly up at Remi, her brow creasing. Sorry?Her chest tightened, and she bit down on her lip before looking away again. "Don't be," she said softly in reply. "It's better this way. He's better without me." Was she? There were moments when perhaps she thought she was. Thought she could be. Ashe took a deep breath at the flash of a smirk in her head, glimmering and clear blue eyes, and the ache in her chest eased enough for her to flash a half smile up at Remi. "I'll be alright," she said, and she thought she just might believe herself.    She glanced down to his leg as they made their progress, wondering just how far he had been walking. "What sort of magic do you have now?" ashe i won't take anyone down if i crawl tonight but i still let everyone down when i change in size

The alchemist nodded, his smile not quite as exuberant as Ashe's. After all, he had to murder his mother to get said magic. Or it seemed that way at least. "Ah. Ludo. One of the gods here ... I...have encountered him twice now. It is he who did this." Glancing sideways towards Ashe, Remi smiled with relief. He was more than relieved to know that his friend hadn't had to bargain or be tricked or otherwise have to deal with the fickle masked-deity. It didn't mean that she wouldn't in the future, but that she hadn't yet did set his mind at ease somewhat. The mention of Duke Eyebrows stumped Remi for a moment. As a messenger (and just in generally being who she was), Ashe interacted a good deal more with the higher ups of the world. Loren was likely the only duke the commoner had ever really come into contact with. Still, after a moment Remi's smile grew slanted as he chuckled nodding with understanding. "Yes...I doubt very much they would approve the likes of us having their precious magic." He chuckled, nudging her affectionately with his shoulder. Looking towards her, Remi's expression crumpled slightly but he said nothing. The last thing he wanted to hear when he'd told anyone about Loren and what had happened was that it would get better, or if there was anything they could do, etcetera. Of course he and the duke hadn't been married nor been together as long as Ashe and Alistair, but if the helpful compulsions from others were getting to him, surely it would be worse for Ashe. So instead he just nodded and offered her a sad sort of understanding smile. "Oh. Ah.." Remi nibbled at his lip trying to categorize the things he could do now. Just thinking about it made him feel slightly awkward, and inventorying his new abilities seemed like some perverse sort of bragging, even though it was Ashe who'd asked. "I can move things with my mind, and create things out of thin air." Actually, Remi could even manipulate the earth, not that he'd discovered that yet. "That is partially what I wanted to see you about." He said with a grin and a mischevious bobbing of his eyebrows. "And you? We talked about water and fire before?" REMI I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows Oh but it's too late now, I let you get too close

Ludo. Ashe's face darkened at the sound of that name. So it was a he then. And he had been responsible for what had been done to Remi. "I've had the pleasure of experiencing a visit from Ludo," Ashe murmured, tone dripping with disdain. Ashe liked the gods less and less, only one positive experience breathed of from Ronin compared to all the selfish toying they did with mortals that she heard about. Granting boons as readily as they did curses, and those boons never coming without a price. No, Ashe did not appreciate the idea of serving anyone, let alone a god.    Her attention was drawn back with the playful nudge to her shoulder, and Ashe smirked up at Remi as she gently - extra gently - nudged him back. ”Let those bluebloods try and crush us commoners now,” she said in a playful tone, though a part of her was genuine. There was no absurd social construct of blood purity determining class any longer - no classes at all. Still, she wouldn't said no to rubbing those noble noses in how much better than them she and Remi were.    His quiet understanding of what she told him of Alistair was one part heart wrenching, and another part comforting. She didn't know who Remi had to bring that kind of sadness to his eyes, but they both let the topic be. Maybe later she would be able to talk more about the man that left her, but for now..    ”Creating things from nothing!” she exclaimed. Ashe was enamoured by Kalt's magic as it was, and this sounded like something quite similar. ”And moving things with your mind… must be useful in your work, both of those. You're like a wizard from one of mom's stories now, Remi. What's this to do with me though?” She shook her head and smiled slightly, and she looked ahead of them as he inquired after her own magic.    ”Fire and water - right. It's how I made my lightning.” She had been the only elemental mage of her kind with two powerfully opposing magics. It was with that combination she had been able to achieve her unique element, but now.. ”It changed here though. The fire and water are still there, but so much weaker than before. It's my storms, my lightning, that’s come to life. I can create it from nothing now, I don't need the other elements to make it. My lightning seems to be the magic I can rely on, like it's the magic I was meant for.”    Ashe shrugged, and a sad sort of smile flickered over her lips. ”Maybe my soul is really just a storm just stuck inside this body.” Wouldn't that be a relief, of that were all she was. She took a deep breath and brushed her arm against Remi's as she glanced about, then settling her gaze on him once more. ”How far is your shop? You didn't walk too far on that peg, did you?” ashe i won't take anyone down if i crawl tonight but i still let everyone down when i change in size

Remi snorted in response. As amusing as it was to hear that they probably could stand up to any nobles or royals now, the alchemist internally cringed at the thought of it ever coming back to that. "Well, hopefully they will not even try." He jested back, though the ring of truth was there lacing his words. For someone like Ashe, Remi didn't suppose she'd have a hard time at all opposing a system like the one back in Northaven should it try to form. Remi though? Well. He wasn't sure at all what he'd do. But like he said, hopefully it wouldn't ever come back to that. "Mmmm." Remi agreed, at least until the part about him being a wizard from a story. "I suppose I will have to get myself some flowing robes and...a cat?" He gave Ashe a thoughtful look and then snickered boyishly. "I am surprised Vai has not mentioned that herself yet. To think she has let me go out like this!" Wrinkling his nose slightly in anticipation, Remi just shrugged his shoulders. "You will see soon." He said ambiguously, nodding his head to the shops ahead of which his was one. "The magic you were always meant for.." He hummed back, rather liking the way it sounded. "Well I have certainly never seen anyone with your powers back in Northaven, and certainly not here either." He replied with a crooked grin, then his stare turned decidedly more pointed. "Who's to say it is not?" As her arm brushed against him, he hobbled more feebly for a moment before nodding his head towards one of the doors. "I will have you know I created this peg." He scoffed, feigning defiance and hurt, before his expression turned more neutral and he shrugged. Truthfully Remi had walked a bit farther than he probably should have, but pain felt a bit relative lately. Given Frey had taken his ability to feel anything, Remi was left simply knowing that he should have been hurting instead of actually doing it. Having some part of his body adjacent to those feelings felt...right in some strange way. Shouldering the door open, Remi led Ashe inside. She'd find the inside of his shop quaint and cozy, lined with shelves upon shelves of inventions in variation stages of completeness. "Over here." He called, setting aside his one crutch and limping between two of the shelves to where a rather small contraption was stored under a cloth. "Do you remember when we first met? And I said I would work on your hand?" He asked, an eager and almost child-like glee writ clearly on his features. His lips twisted in happy anticipation as he pulled the device down and removed the clothe. Ashe would see a pristine and impeccably crafted version of the one she'd shown him. He hadn't of course known that hers had been upgraded since they'd spoke last about it. Needless to say though, he doubted that the one she wore would compare to what he now offered. "Watch—" He whispered, fingering a small button on the inside where it connected to the palm. A bloom of fire suddenly appeared, one that Ashe's magic could grow and manipulate and control. "It is...magic." Remi said as if embarrassed by this. "So it will not jam or rust. And the fire will always be there." REMI I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows Oh but it's too late now, I let you get too close

Ashe smirked and scoffed at his defense over that crutch of his. "Forgive me, O Wise Wizard! It was never my intent to insult," she said dramatically. Creation magic. She'd never heard of such a thing - it didn't quite sound like conjuration, but the concept seemed similar. Years ago Ashe had thought her magic lay in the arcane, unaware of her true power. She'd researched arcane magic near obsessively during that time as she had tried to master her control, and so her understanding of those magics was considerable for one who'd never had it. Though.. she supposed that knowledge was useless now, wasn't it?    She followed him into his shop, eyes carefully tracking his steps. She wouldn't be much use if he fell, but she'd try to help. Likely she'd go down under his weight, but fuck if she'd just let him tumble with her right there. Her eyes adjusted rapidly to the difference in light, and she drank in the sight of the shop. It was cluttered, but it felt comfortable and homey. It felt like Remi. Gadgets and contraptions and all manner of things lined the shelves and any other surface she saw. The wolf girl smiled, and Remi calling from further into his shop drew her attention.    She followed after him with a tilt of her head. "Yes I remember," she said with a smile. Remi had found her on her roof when she had been fiddling with a bent wire in her prosthetic. He was going to make her a new one, a better one, but he'd never had the chance. Life in Northaven had been tense at best, utter chaos at its worst. Kalt had given her an upgrade since then - it was sleeker, and it moved easier, but.. "You built it?" she asked, her lips parting in a grin and her eyes sparking.    She moved closer to Remi with her eyes drawn down to his hands, her pulse quickening. The loss of her little finger had hindered her more than she had thought it would. It was a minimal sacrifice in truth - it was a miracle she survived that fight with the stone beast at all - but still she struggled with the missing digit. "Remi," Ashe breathed as she laid eyes on it - and she watched with a near child-like wonder as he demonstrated the fire it could produce. "You're fucking amazing."    Ashe quickly undid the straps of her current one, and she quickly tucked it into the pouch at her hip, her eyes glancing up at Remi before she reached out for the contraption. "Magic - how did you enchant it?" She would slide it onto her hand if he allowed her to take it, her eyes dancing at the perfect fit. She remembered the sketches he did of her hand, the measurements he took - they had to have been accurate to know how it would fit. She gave an expirmental flex of her hand, and she let out a huff with her smile at how perfectly it moved.    Then she put pressure on that small button in her palm. The moment the small flame flared to life at the end of her pinky, Ashe reached her magic for it. A rush of warmth spread through her at the familiarity of it, the way the fire danced and flickered under her control. She encouraged it to grow, curling up her arm and licking at her clothing without burning.. but she didn't dare to make it much larger. Her tether of control over the fickle and hungry element was strained, unlike the masterful control and power she had with fire in Northaven. Now.. now that control lay in her storming magic. Her eyes watched the fire with a small smile before she let it die, flickering into nothing.    Ashe looked back at Remi as she flexed her left hand again, letting out a slow breath. "Thank you," she said quietly. ashe i won't take anyone down if i crawl tonight but i still let everyone down when i change in size

—You’re fucking amazing Remi grinned broadly at that. He wasn’t normally one to take an inappropriate amount of pride or pleasure from the compliments of others, but it seemed so genuine that the dimples in Remi’s cheeks looked completely hollow his grin was so wide. “I am only sorry it took me so long.” He chuckled bashfully. The question of enchantment merely made Remi shrug. “I do not know precisely...Ronin came in to the shop one day with a magical device he had—a small coin-like thing that could create sound—and when I tried to work on it, it...ah...well it did not go well.” With a sheepish grin, the alchemist ran a hand through his curls and shrugged. ‘It turned into a lobster actually...He still has it. Named her Echo, after the item. But it was after that that I began to experiment. I have managed to make a numbing balm for Isla as well that never seems to run out ... and Kalt took a sword that can easily cut through almost anything, and can disappear into a bracelet.” Recounting the things he made certainly made them sound a bit grander than he’d thought of them as at the time. Watching her display made the alchemist hold his breath. He had no magic with which to test it, and though he knew it would create the fire Ashe would need, he wasn’t entirely sure what would happen once she grabbed hold of it. However as he intended, the flame which had sparked merely bent to her will, and the alchemist watched with bright and relieved smile as it wafted up her arm, appearing entirely under her control. ”You are more than welcome.” Remi beamed gently. REMI I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows Oh but it's too late now, I let you get too close