in a word, love

Vervain

"The honeymoon phase can last as long as you want it to," she remarked with a wry smile, as if to reassure him that he need not jinx his own happiness that way. As for whether she would stay? Remi's grin was enough to persuade her if nothing else, and she found herself smiling too, glancing away to flop down on the sand beside him.

"I will be going back to visit," she said of the Greatwood. "But for now, at least until the end of Deepfrost, I think you have me." Nudging her shoulder against his, she let out a deep sigh. "I think I had persuaded myself in circles, in the Greatwood, looking for something long gone. I need to be some place else for a while, and why would I choose anywhere else? Bonus points if you need a healer."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Remi grinned widely at that, Vai fitting neatly back into his life like a piece gone he'd knew he'd find once again. Stretching out his legs so that the waves just barely tickled the bottoms of his feet, he set his palms on the sand behind his back and leaned, chin turned up to the stars.

"Well....I think that is about all the small talk I can muster, honestly." He said with a sheepish grin. "With anyone else I might have gone a bit longer but...well, you aren't just anyone else." Turning his head over his should, he gave the witch a sad smile. "This last year...to say it hasn't been easy is more of an understatement than I care to admit. And though Ronin and I have managed to pick up most of the pieces, we're both still a bit of a mess."

we were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun
never give up, never slow down, never grow old,
never, ever die young

Coding base by Sky!

Vervain

Remi stretched out and Vai pulled a knee to her chest, watching the dark waves and the play of the stars upon them. Her smile tinged with sadness when he spoke and finally shattered the illusion of happy chit-chat, though they had both known it was coming. "Sometimes you need the small talk, to remind yourself that for whatever else has happened, it hasn't all been bad," she said, glancing across at Remi and tilting her head as she regarded him.

"You're a mess with most of the pieces picked up, though. That's better than where you started," she reasoned, reaching out to affectionately muss his curls. "You can be a mess around me. I hope you remember that."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

'Mmm, that, to be sure. But also...I wanted just a few moments of something that felt normal. I'd finally found Ianto again a few weeks ago and...I made the mistake of breaking into it all too soon." The Alchemist's cheeks flushed an unhappy crimson in the fading light as he thought of how his merry meeting with the merchant had turned sour so quickly.

"I do." Remi said with a boyish smile as he leaned against Vai, slouching down so that he could put his head against her shoulder. Resting there comfortably, he went into the highs and lows of all that had happened to he and Ronin since their wedding. The blight, Ronin's elevation to King and near-immediate fall, the festival and the life that Loren's ice had taken, how he and Ronin were thrown onto the beach with nothing but their shattered hearts and Aoife's dead body. His voice remained mostly even throughout the retelling, having done it so often now that at times the words just drifted from his lips. He only regained some semblance of emotion at the mention of Ludo and his recent encounter with the god, and the things Safrin had asked of Ronin during LongNight.

"So...as you can imagine Ronin will absolutely want to see you. But I thought it worth knowing about Seren before you had a chance to properly knock this go around."

we were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun
never give up, never slow down, never grow old,
never, ever die young

Coding base by Sky!

Vervain

Eyes widening at the mention of Ianto, Vai understood even more why they'd been operating under this veil of normality - and she wouldn't blame Remi for it. She wrapped an arm around him as he slouched down, kissing the top of his head and falling quiet to listen as he started from the top. She'd heard, of course, about some of what had transpired, and though the Alchemist had said it enough times to numb himself, it was Vai's first go of it, and she had to wipe at her eyes at the thought of the starry-eyed child and the short, abrupt end to her life.

And if only the tragedy had ended at that, Vai pulling Remi closer, holding him more tightly, like she could have done something to shield him against everything that had happened, everything with Ludo, with Seren, with Longnight. "No, I completely understand," she murmured, scowling out at the sea. "I... I don't know what to say, Remi. Is there anything I can do? Anything you need?"

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

It was cathartic to speak the past year to someone whose immediate reaction wouldn't just be one of pity or judgment. There were many ways in which Remi and Ronin might have been such that they'd have evaded much of what came their way. Few though—of whom Vai was one—would understand the core of the men who'd gone out into the world, and acted as they did. So it was that though her questions were similar to those asked by others, they felt distinctly different. They felt real somehow.

'Neither Ronin nor I would be opposed to having a night off from Seren, I imagine." Remi said with a twisted grin. Though it might have just sounded like a joke, quality-time with his husband was something Remi sorely needed, but Seren wasn't a child like any other. Despite Sunjata often acting as babysitter, the Alchemist would only ever trust her fully to Vai even though she wasn't his to look after.

Rubbing at one eye, Remi looked up to the stars. "That's what came before. Now, Ronin is preparing to go back to the Grounds for LongNight. Safrin gave him the ability to become a luxere with the caveat that he must protect everyone for that week. If he succeeds, she'll remove Vanya from where she sits in the stars, and let her finally go to Mort's realm. To Aoife." Biting the inside of his lip, he glanced over towards Vai with a hum. "Would you stay here with me, at the end of DeepFrost? To help with Seren and...but then, perhaps Ronin might need you there.." Trailing off, the Alchemist frowned, truly uncertain where best to ask the witch to be. His soul needed her here, but Ronin's body might need her there more.

we were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun
never give up, never slow down, never grow old,
never, ever die young

Coding base by Sky!

Vervain

With a warm smile, Vervain nodded gently to Remi. "Of course. I'll take care of her whenever you need," she said, like it was the least she could do. And obviously that couldn't be it. That what had happened in the past was it, that it was plain sailing from here. Sitting up a bit to look at him properly, Vai's expression was one of quiet horror, of deep concern. "He's there all Longnight?" She inhaled deeply and let it out again.

"...I'll do whatever you think would be best. Though knowing Ronin, he would refuse if I said I was coming with him." For all the Dark Star's antiheroics, he had a good heart and she knew it. "Of course I'll stay with you, though, if that's what you want. I've missed you."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"All LongNight. I...don't know if it was just...life making it impossible to think or some willful ignorance on Ronin's part, but he only just realized what it might be like for Vanya, alone in the sky, with only Ronin to look down upon. Not that he isn't worth watching of course, but with her daughter gone from view? Forever?" Remi shook his head. "And so he went to Safrin, and this is what she asked of him. To remain outside, all LongNight." The Alchemist's cheeks flushed at this, and it was clear that he was brandishing thoughts of what might come from his thoughts.

"Ahh, but when has Ronin refusing stopped either of us?" Humorously said, there was more to it than that. If Remi asked Vai to stay, and Ronin was hurt or even...worse (he'd not let himself think what worse might entail), would the witch be able to stand having been in Torchlien in relative safety, knowing she might have done something to help?

"I've missed you too." Remi agreed with a boyish inflection of love underscoring his words.

we were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun
never give up, never slow down, never grow old,
never, ever die young

Coding base by Sky!

Vervain

Reaching out, Vai cupped his cheek for a moment, eyebrows knitting together sadly. "He always needs to do what's right, huh," she murmured, chewing on the inside of her lip and raking her hair out of her face.

"It hasn't stopped either of us, but... well, you and Ronin aren't the only ones with more to consider than just yourselves." Terrible as Vai would feel if something happened to Ronin out there, she would not leave her son without a mother, potentially. Not for someone else's mission.

"Shall we head back up to the lighthouse?" she wondered, her thoughts suddenly stormy with all that Remi had said. Just as he had predicted, funnily enough.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"He does. I so very deeply love and hate him for it." The Alchemist agreed with a sly smile, unable to hide the blush of love that coloured his cheeks.

"What? Since when?" Remi cocked a brow, his expression one which positively begged Vai to explained why it was they had to consider the needs of others. It was a way of displacing his lingering doubts about the saving of Vanya of course, and no doubt Vai would see right through it.

"Sure." Taking a moment to enjoy the slow lap of the waves, the Alchemist rose and offered a hand that in no way Vai needed. "Do you have somewhere to stay? It wouldn't be the strangest thing in the world for Ronin and Seren to wake up with you in the morning."

we were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun
never give up, never slow down, never grow old,
never, ever die young

Coding base by Sky!

Vervain

"If that's how you feel, you're both doing it right," Vai said with a smile, grasping his hand nonetheless and pulling herself back to her feet, dusting the sand off her clothes. "Since forever, and you know it." Scoffing, she gave his hand a gentle squeeze before following their footprints back across the sand, up to where the lighthouse shone brightly.

"Honestly, I was looking forward to spending the night under the stars here," she said, smiling over her shoulder to him. "Maybe I could come up tomorrow and see all of you, though?"

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"Mmm...if you say so." The Alchemist quipped skeptically, before chuckling and running a hand through his curls.

'I'd stay with you if I didn't think it would worry Seren." Ronin likely wouldn't think much of him not being around, but the star-child was intensely sensitive, and he'd not worry her for a selfish night between the stars. Not with all the night sky made him think of these days.

"Tomorrow, then. I won't tell Ronin. I think he'll like the surprise."

we were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun
never give up, never slow down, never grow old,
never, ever die young

Coding base by Sky!

Vervain

"I do say so," Vai murmured, smiling softly to him and pausing before the rocky trail leading back up to the lighthouse. "There will be other nights. I'm not going away again, so perhaps you and I can have a campout another time," she said, fully intending to do just that in the nights to come. Standing before Remi, for all that had been said and not said, Vai knew they had barely scratched the surface of what the Alchemist had actually been through. A summary didn't do it justice.

So, stepping forward, she wrapped him in a tight hug, one that said everything her words couldn't. "Love you, Remi. Sorry I haven't been here," she murmured.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Happily accepting the embrace, sighing and softening against her as he only did with Ronin, the Alchemist shook his head against her dark hair. "Don't apologize for that." He whispered against her, his hands easily wrapping around. "Not with a missing husband and son to look after." Remi added, pulling back slightly to give the witch a loving but admonishing look.

'Well, I'll leave you to the sea and the stars." So saying, Remi didn't quite let Vai go just yet, instead snaking forward for just one more squeeze of her, one more inhale of her familiar smell, and one more moment in the warmth of someone he thought he could still genuinely care about.

we were ring-around-the-rosy children, they were circles around the sun
never give up, never slow down, never grow old,
never, ever die young

Coding base by Sky!