Remember When We Were Naive?

Delphine

The children were tired of standing in one spot, and Acantha began to squirm, twisting in her mothers' hold. The woman yanked the child to her side, nodding. "Yeah... mmm, I dunno." She shrugged, rolling her shoulders. "I wish I could tell you something other than fear and shame kept me from you but..." She shrugged.

"Some things never change." At one point in her life, Delphine had been completely controlled by Bellamy Rowan. His word was the law, literally and figuratively. She'd stopped trying to have ambitions that went against what he wanted in a wife; had become complacent.

She smiled as Remi did, nodding. "I remember Ronin, yeah. I'm glad you got married..." Her smile faded, just slightly, and didn't reach her eyes, because that had been a day she had wanted to be around for. The day her bestfriend was wed. He was there for her sham of a wedding. She should have been there for his.

She should've been there for everything. She shoved a hand through her hair, sighing. "I've missed a lifetime, it'd seem." Hers, his, her children were little gremlins who had no idea how to act around people. "I... mmm, 'sorry' doesn't really fix anything here, does it?"

Her gaze wandered the area they were standing in, and she hummed under her breath. "Yeah. Nothing I say or do will make this right." Nothing she had ever said or done had ever made anything right, ever, in her entire life. She'd lived for praise, and now she didn't know what she wanted.

It wasn't fun. She knew she was getting tired of the children, though. "I guess... what else has happened, aside from marrying a sexy man--he is still sexy, right? What do you do for a living? Did you keep your powers?"

All were important questions, and all were said in a much cheerier tone.

Let me make you smile, darling.

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

Some things never change. Remi resisted the urge to roll his eyes at that and instead shifting his weight slightly as he raised a brow. "Mmhm. Glad we got that out of the way."

Remi's lips twisted slightly in a smile, though it was soured for reasons Delphine would have well understood. "No, it doesn't." He agreed, but perhaps not as unkindly as she might have expected. She'd done what she needed to do, and now that Remi's opulent optimism was forever tarnished, he no longer expected the best from those around him. So he didn't hold it against them when they inevitably failed.

"He is, yeah." Remi said, his smirk turning mischievous in acknowledgment. Ronin had always been attractive, to men and women alike. Given Remi might be governor at Torchline but idk yet He shrugged a bit at her next questions. "A bit of this and that. Still alchemy, of course. And...I did. Still a hawk, through and through." Only now he was so very much more than that.

With a bit of a sigh, Remi looked at Delphine's children who seemed incredibly unhappy with this turn of events. "If they're hungry, there's somewhere we can go."

Delphine

Delphine studied the children, shaking her head slowly. "I doubt that would be wise." Her children had once been the only thing she had ever wanted; something about having them as infants for only a month before coming to Caido, had ruined that experience for her. She resented them.

Bryony for being so quiet, so agreeable. Acantha for being outgoing, stubborn. Of course, resenting them made her resent herself. "I really shouldn't have brought them," the slight frown to her mouth reached her eyes, hazel hues forlorn. Perhaps she would have loved her children, if the start of their lives with her had not been interrupted. She sighed, shaking her head and forcing a smile, "Ah, alchemy. I miss hearing your theories, seeing you work." The smile was fake as could be, easily seen as fake, and it faded entirely as Acantha reached out to smack Remi's hand, to get his attention.

Because of course, Delphine raised hob-goblins who did not understand a social cue to save their lives. "You're a... birdie? How?" The child peered at her mother, before peering back up at Remi.

Let me make you smile, darling.

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

At this, Remi could only shrug. His child had died in his arms; he'd not tell anyone else how to parent.

Distracted by Acantha such that he didn't comment on Delphine's lacklustre statement, he raised a brow at the small child. "Because when I was a very small child like you, I was incredibly rude and a wicked witch put a curse on me." The implication, of course being that if Acantha continued to be equally rude, the same fate might befall her.

Delphine

Acantha challenged, "Mama says witches aren't real." She stared up at the man, furrowing her brow. "Is my mommy a liar?"

Delphine shrugged and turned her gaze to the people around them. Deny, deny, deny. That was how it had always been with her. After a moment, she spoke up, "It was nice seeing you." She reached to tousle the child's hair, Bryony was just staring, in silence.

She'd made a decision, and offered Remi a smile. "I'd like to see you again... without these two, preferably."

Let me make you smile, darling.

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

"Everyone lies." Remi said with a shrug. "But you can't expect her to know everything. She is one woman, and the world is very big. That said.." Wings sprouted from Remi's back (part of his manticore shift and not the hawk he'd been telling them about), as great fangs appeared between his lips. He had been cursed, just not by a witch. He'd let the children draw their own conclusions.

Glancing up at Delphine, his more animalistic features sinking back into his skin, he nodded stiffly. "I live by the lighthouse."

Delphine

Acantha gave an audible gasp, though she seemed more intrigued than frightened. Bryony, however, continued to stand there in silence, simply observing and taking in the things she saw.

Delphine hummed quietly, her lips curving gently. "That's definitely not the bird that used to sleep in my room. But..."

She reached for Acantha's hand, "...that was really nice." As he told her where he lived, she chewed her lip thoughtfully, nodding slowly. "I'll come and see you soon, okay?" But... I should get these two back." She nodded stiffly to the children, and began pulling them with her.

Before she got too far away from him, she turned to wave, just as Poe dove back into her hair. The children didn't fight her as she led them back to the portal, they were still mulling over what they had just seen.

The walk home would be an interesting one.

Let me make you smile, darling.

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

'Nothing stays the same.' The alchemist remarked, but with a bit of a sly smile. No, not the same bird who shared her bed, but that wasn't such a bad thing.

"Keep a close watch on your things." Remi warned, brow raised. "Torchline is not...kind."

Watching stiffly as Delphine and her two children wandered back towards the portal, Remi found himself letting out a heavy breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Ruffling an unhappy hand through his curls he too turned to walk back home wondering how in the hell he was meant to explain this to Ronin.

~FIN