sick of running fast as I can

AMALIA

"Ronin must have... have known. Agreed." That it could be anything else in inconceivable to the girl whose faith in her deities is absolute. "Safrin's reason... she must be important, the child. Seren." A role must need filling, the Shield thinks, biting her lower lip thoughtfully.

She balks at the sharpening of his eyes and tone, knowing they aren't for her but still withering a little beneath it. His outright denial is surprising and unexpected: she had anticipated him to take any child of Ronin's in with open arms. How could he reject this, the daughter of a goddess-

But then, she wonders, how would she feel, were Deimos to bring a child home?

Somehow things are only managing to make less and less sense. "...Sunjata?" Amalia repeats, now thoroughly confused. "Why is he involved...?"

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

"He thought it was a dream." The excuse was a lame one, and the lacklustre tone with which it was said suggested Remi thought as much. He'd not blame his husband for something done in a dream, but it was hard not to want to. To demand, how is it you didn't know? or the even more unfair: why did you want to at all?

'Aoife was..' Mine? The only one? Different? Trailing off with a hard swallow, Remi shook his head a touch helplessly. Maybe that's all there was to say, just those two fragmented words; Aoife was.

"Ronin and Sunjata are close." Remi replied in that same toneless voice. The voice of a victim still in shock giving a report for the umpteenth time. "And she's...taken to him." A slight snarl tugged at the alchemist's lip at that. Already the relationship bordered on inappropriate—Ronin said as much. "He lives near us, by the lighthouse, so..." Another non-explanation. Another shrug.

AMALIA

The statement about it being a dream isn't one she has the bandwidth to examine or investigate right now. Especially with his follow up statement, those two words ringing hollowly through the busy street. Aoife was- and the expression on his face is heartbreaking, the quiet helplessness more eloquent than any words.

Stepping forward Amalia raises a hand up to his cheek, hoping to capture his face, his eyes, to fix him with a stare. "Aoife is yours," she murmurs, fervent and serious, searching for understanding in his green eyes. "She will always be yours."

Dropping her hand Amalia draws back, expression once again unsettled. Wrinkling her nose in open distaste, the Shield glares at the floor. "I don't trust Sunjata," she says softly, frowning. "Least of all with a child. He's reckless and destructive." But then again, which one of them isn't these days?

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

His jawline is like stone, that's how hard he's clenching his jaw, but he does let her redirect his stare. Searching her dark eyes, eventually, Remi nods. "But only her." He whispers, and in that moment it's possible Amalia is the first one to hear that sentiment. Ronin and Remi hadn't really discussed whether they'd try and add to their family; the wounds had been too raw. But even now, with emotional scars finally healing, the alchemist knew he couldn't bear it.

Perhaps thinking along the same lines, or simply feeling it through the attuned bond, Remi can only shrug. They all indeed are reckless and likely none of them deserves anyone's full trust anymore. "It isn't for me to decide." It was for Ronin, but...that hardly meant Seren would listen.

"Why are you here?" Remi asked, brow raised as a passerby in the market bumped against his shoulder. With a low growl in the back of his throat and a glare cast towards the offending silhouette wandering down the crowded street, he turned back to Amalia.

AMALIA

She cannot imagine the loss he's experienced, the vacancy that Aoife left within him. And though it hurts to hear the declaration that he does not want to try again, Amalia simply nods. Aoife had come into his life in tragedy, and left the same way. With a final caress of the Alchemist's clenched jaw, the Shield drops her hand.

Still it is hard to see him resist responsibility for a child so staunchly, especially the child of a god. Biting the inside of her cheek Amalia glances away, blinking when a figure knocks against him, eyes visibly growing wide. "It's so crowded," the Shield murmurs, briefly distracted by the forgotten bustle of the world still moving around them. "Is it always like this?"

As to why she's here... looking back at Remi, Amalia shrugs. "I was hoping to find a, one of those rocks - the ones that let you breathe underwater. But I got distracted." A ghost of a rueful smile flickers over her lips, fading quickly. "And I had a gift for Ronin. For both of you, really."

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

"It is, yeah. Everyone here is out for themselves." Strangely, this is said with a touch of affection as Remi looks over the crowd. Far from the tallest of the throng in the streets, still the alchemist seems at home here amidst bodies that push and shove and care little for who gets in their way.

Letting his head tilt slightly to the side, Remi pauses before a slow grin cracks his stony expression. "Not a rock. An organic gemstone. The Cloud Mantas grow them on their foreheads." Chuckling a touch at that, the alchemist raises a brow and shoots the Sheild a darkly amused look. "You're allowed to like him more than me. Just because we're married doesn't mean everything has to be shared." He replies with a slanted sort of honesty.

AMALIA

Remi's comfort is only highlighted by the way Amalia fails to fit into this setting, shrinking back from the milling crowd as a tall man walks between them without so much as a by your leave. Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, the Shield smiles uneasily. "It's strange to think that all of this was here the whole time we were... well, in there."

Amalia's lips quirk in distaste at Remi's clarification. She remembers Ronin prying the gem from the dead creature, its blood sprayed across them both. "Is there a way to gain one without... y'know. Killing it?" It's obvious she anticipates the answer to be no, but she'd been hopeful. It would be the best way, followed by finding an already deceased creature.

Remi's next comment makes Amalia's cheeks color, though more with puzzled embarrassment than amusement. "Do you think that?" the Shield asks, frowning as she looks at Remi. "I care about you both."

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

"And there's so much more. The locals talk about other places...but.." He shrugs his shoulders, a gesture that seems to have replaced his boyish smile. '..I hardly care. I can't see myself leaving Torchline any time soon."

Remi's eyes take in the way Amalia seems to subtly recoil in dissatisfaction and merely hums in the back of his throat as he shakes his head. "Not that I've found. You could buy one in the market if you don't want to take the stone yourself."

Running a hand through his curls and then down the back of his neck, Remi gives the baker an earnest stare. "I do, sure. You're closer with him, aren't you? Stars and Sheilds of Safrin that you are." There's no animosity or jealousy in his tone, just bald recognition of certain facts. "I didn't say you did."

AMALIA

"What about finding one who's already dead? From old age, or another cause?" Though she supposes it could be argued that the stones she would buy in the market are, indeed, from those already deceased. "The rest of the body is used for food, I'm guessing?" At least let their bodies not go to waste.

There's some truth to Remi's words, as much as she feels uncomfortable admitting it. Twisting her lips into an awkward smile, Amalia rubs her arm anxiously. "I guess... I don't know. Part of me's always envied him, for how close he is to Safrin. Wanted to be more like that- good enough for her. And ever since the rebellion and all of that... I feel like I can be honest with him, I suppose. Whereas you were always so happy and bright and I didn't want to cloud that over with my issues." The awkward smile becomes an apologetic wince, a little wry now. "Though I suppose that matters less, now."

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

"The ones who die of natural causes are most often eaten by the creatures around them." The Alchemist replies with a mild shrug. "Though I'm sure if you ask anyone in the markets, they'll of course tell you how ethically sourced all their wares are." The arch of his brows suggest that this is, of course, complete and utter bullshit.

Remi clicks his tongue in humble disagreement at her words. Good enough? Amalia is indeed that, but perhaps not for Safrin. Then again, his thoughts on the goddess have been thoroughly tarnished by recent events.

For a moment he looks surprised, on the verge of dark laughter, before it fades. "I can see that. I wasn't being honest with myself, always holding my tongue and acting as though things were alright. How could I expect you to feel you could be honest with me?" Shaking his head at how her lips warble into a wince, he shrugs it off. "It does, yeah. And...I might not be happy and bright anymore, and what I am now...might not be the best either, but it is better. Not in all ways, but in the important ones."

AMALIA

"Maybe that's the answer, then." Thoughtfully Amalia hums, considering this alternative option. If she could coax one of the creatures who consumed the mantas to give up a stone, perhaps it would save her the ethical dilemma of taking it from a slain corpse.

Remi's surprised look is somewhat lost on the Shield, anxious as she is at her own admission. "We're both good at hiding," she says with a shrug, glancing back up at him, that twisted smile still on her lips. The smile fades as he continues, uncertainty wrinkling between her brows at his attestation that this is better. Her mouth opens to comment, then snaps shut; she has no idea what to say to that, and so she only nods.

Their strange reunion out of the way, the girl glances back around the market before turning up to Remi. "Since I have you here... will you show me around? I don't think I'll get a manta crystal today, but I'd like to take something back for Deimos. And maybe pick up some new ingredients to try out."

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

"I think I can do that." The Alchemist agrees, most of the tension having faded from his shoulders. There is much he still carries around, old wounds and ghosts he can't seem to shake (or doesn't want to). But for now, it's easy enough to just ignore it all and wander through the market with Amalia.

He is softly bemused by how she picks out all the things that are different here, he shrugging along easily enough finding the change rather nice. They stick to surface-level conversations, never wandering too deep into stormy waters. All in all it makes for a rather pleasant afternoon, and quickly as the sun begins to fade, it's time to walk the baker back to the portal and for the Alchemist to return home himself.

~FIN