tie my tongue in knots

FINN

the spyglass

I’ll take the long way ‘round

”I do not know what I expected.” Which he supposes makes very little sense at all, based on his previous remark. Reading aura and researching form impressions about a person that Finn sometimes doesn’t even know he’s creating, and it shows now in the make of the man before him, in his cottage by the lighthouse, in his predatory wariness and what almost reads like grief, at times.

But suddenly Remi has frozen and Finn is caught too, eyes widening, lips parting to ask if the other man is well, if he needs help - but then the moment is over and it’s the words that have him now. Remi watches the horizon and Finn watches Remi; he glances away suddenly. ”Yes you do,” he says absently. ”You just need a good enough reason.”

Then, as if catching himself, Finn shakes himself off and holds up a hand in apology. ”That was presumptive of me, sorry,” he says.

I’ll find my own way down

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

It isn't comforting to hear that not only does someone not know what to expect of you, but to be surprised nonetheless by your choices. Has Remi really strayed so far from human understanding that even his home seems out of place with the man he has become? Absently his thumb brushes against the scar across his sternum, his wet shirt clinging to the ugly mass of skin below. Sam certainly has accused him of being emotionally unrecognizable these days.

Remi watches Finn's hands rise out of the corner of his eye, but he keeps his head forward and returns his gaze to the sea. Tension feathers his jaw as he fights to keep from barking demands at this stranger. Eventually, Remi raises the hand previously on his chest, and rubs his fingers across one eyebrow, leaning heavily into the pressure.

"Those are in very short supply, these days." Remi says of the 'good reason' Finn speaks of. He suddenly looks very tired as he lets his shoulders relax slightly, exhaling a breath softly before turning an earnest and pale gaze to Finn. "Sorry you've wasted your time."

i'm holding onto the pieces of my heart's debris

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

FINN

the spyglass

I’ll take the long way ‘round

”That may be true, but they are still around,” Finn replies, hand lowering as his remarks do not cause any immediate offence, but it is clear that he has touched a nerve. Was that precisely his intention? Finn does not know even himself well enough to answer that, but he does not think so. ”There are things in motion that you are not aware of. They come with plenty of good reasons,” he says, sinking back into his seat and watching the rain with eyes that look as though they have seen too much.

When Remi turns to him the Spyglass locks onto his gaze, blue on green, tired meeting tired. And Finn smiles again; faintly, knowingly, and he shakes his head. ”I never waste my time, Remi,” he says, though whether it is a reassurance or a promise that this is not over... well, that is up to Remi.

I’ll find my own way down

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

Was that how offensively naive Remi had once sounded? Internally he winced at the thought. "Good reasons are subjective." The Alchemist says, a touch gravely, though he doesn't mean to sound quite as foreboding as he does.

Something in Remi's belly stirs at Finn's similarly tired gaze, some latent instinct that makes him want to comfort the man who looks as weary as the Alchemist feels. Not knowing what to make of the Spyglass's comment—and so making nothing of it—Remi leans back in his chair as well seemingly unable to cease mirroring his counterpart.

"Why come to me with this? If it is because I am Governor, then it isn't really me you should be speaking with, but Sunjata. He handles our security in Torchline."

i'm holding onto the pieces of my heart's debris

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

FINN

the spyglass

I’ll take the long way ‘round

”So are bad ones,” Finn replies, fingers absently turning the ring that glints upon his thumb. He doesn’t know if he will have success here - Remi’s similarity with his own appearance has caught him entirely off guard, and he wasn’t expecting such a jaded personality to come along with it. What good in recruiting against the fight if the recruit in question doesn’t care about it? Questions within questions.

Shoulders relaxing in a sigh, Finn breaks Remi’s stare to reach up and rub his eyes. ”It is not because you are Governor,” he says slowly, ”but because you are Remi Taliesin. You are touched by Ludo, and Ronin Taliesin is touched by Safrin. You are critical in this situation - both of you, more than you know. Without you and those like you, our stand against the Ascended may well be for nothing.”

I’ll find my own way down

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

Remi's eyes flicked across to Finn. Something about the comment struck Remi as judgemental or hostile, but surprisingly, this wasn't one that the other man seemed to feel the need to apologize for. Perhaps he meant it only as the corollary to what Remi had said, but surely it didn't actually need saying. Or more simply, maybe it was just the case that Remi felt so sensitive to all the things Finn was saying, because of all the things that he wasn't. That neither of them were.

The mention of Ronin made Remi's fingers instinctively seek out the band on his finger, spinning it thereupon and revealing one of the only tan lines that was left on the Alchemist's body. "Critical." Remi grunted, the word leaving a bad taste in his mouth as soon as it left his lips. "And if your stand against the ascended is for nothing?" He asked, a brow raised challengingly.

i'm holding onto the pieces of my heart's debris

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

FINN

the spyglass

I’ll take the long way ‘round

”Critical,” Finn repeats, but the word is a comfort to him more than a disease. He doesn’t look back up at Remi, feeling the other man’s eyes on him and staring out of the porch, across the bluffs to the misty grey beyond. A soft huff leaves him, almost a laugh but not quite, and he shakes his head. ”That is unacceptable,” he says, with the conviction of a man who doesn’t necessarily believe what he’s saying, but knows that he works for the sorts of men who do.

”The Ascended are a plague brought to us by the Voice. As a representative of the Old Gods, it is not a threat I would think you likely to ignore,” he admits softly. ”Why would it be for nothing, if we are stopping history from repeating itself?”

I’ll find my own way down

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

"What's unacceptable is just as subjective as reasons are." The Alchemist replied with perhaps just a hint of satisfaction, as if having successfully taken one of Finn's pawns. Or perhaps he just wanted to force the Spyglass into saying more than the bare minimum of what was presumably going on in his head.

"Then perhaps you don't know me quite as well as you've made it seem like you do." Remi replied, his eyes now pointedly fixed upon Finn's as if daring the man to meet his gaze. The scarring on his throat, the mass of skin healed poorly on his chest, the lack of emotion in his eyes—everything about Remi these days seemed to scream: you aren't my problem and won't ever be.

"Who are you Finn, to come and sit here and talk to me about obligations and plagues?"

i'm holding onto the pieces of my heart's debris

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

FINN

the spyglass

I’ll take the long way ‘round

”That’s true enough I suppose,” Finn admits, rubbing at one unshaven cheek and letting out a long sigh, as if to steel himself to the green gaze boring into the side of his head. It’s a sad sort of smile that he gives at Remi’s next comment, the Spyglass closing his eyes and falling, for a moment, into the colourful abyss that lays behind them. ”I apologise for overstepping with you. Of course I do not know you, despite our similarities in appearance. Perhaps that is what is confusing me.”

Or perhaps not. It’s hard to say, even for Finn. Especially for Finn. Finally turning his head, he glances across at Remi and shrugs his shoulders. ”I am a man with a job,” he says. ”That job is you, at this very moment in time. What is your obligation? Your plague? What stops you from doing the right thing?”

I’ll find my own way down

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

That, is fair enough. Remi finds himself more than quieted by Finn's response and perhaps a bit subdoed by it. A pawn not quiet so easily collected as he'd first thought.

What a strange thing to hear that you were someone's job. Looking up towards the porch roof, Remi ran a hand through his curls as he let the back of his neck lean into the back of the whicker chair upon which he sat. "Shitty job for you." He mused, his cheek lolling to the side that he might look upon Finn again. "There is nothing stopping me from doing the right thing. I just don't care about such things anymore. I did once, but you're about a year too late. That man would have helped you certainly."

Swallowing, the scars on his throat rising and falling like waves over his throat, Remi just shook his head as if strangely saddened that Finn wouldn't be able to do this particular job. "Perhaps you'll have a better time with Ronin. He still cares."

i'm holding onto the pieces of my heart's debris

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

FINN

the spyglass

I’ll take the long way ‘round

Finn doesn’t look away this time at least, quietly watching Remi as he leans back in the chair, as his head lolls to the side to hold his gaze. ”I’m not so sure about that,” he says with a faint smile. ”I am quite enjoying it.”

What he enjoys about it is unclear - whether it’s Remi in particular or the work he is doing. Either way, for all of what they’ve discussed, for the Alchemist’s refusal to join in with Finn’s purpose... the Spyglass does seem to relax in his seat.

”I am sorry to have missed him,” he says of the man Remi once was, hand lowering to sit back in his lap. ”Is Ronin at home? Would you join him, if he decides to go on this venture? If he cares enough?”

I’ll find my own way down

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

So alike and yet so different. Not for the first time nor the last in all probability, Remi had no idea how to take Finn's words despite being able to imagine himself saying them. Blinking in confusion, Remi returns his gaze to the sea wondering if it is the combination of Finn's words and his eerlier similiar mannerisms that are making this conversation so difficult to parse.

"He isn't." Remi said of Ronin, who was currently out boxing. How handy that Safrin healed both the Star and the flood; just in time for them to take out their weariness on each other in the boxing ring. "Go?" The Alchemist asks, his head tilted slightly to the side as if listening to something high pitched. "He has a young daughter here. The grave of the other is not terribly far from where we're sitting." He adds leadingly. "I suggest you think up a better answer to who you are if you speak with him. A man with a job is not going to motivate Ronin to put his family in danger, your good reasons be damned."

Darkly Remi looked towards Finn then. Storms brewed in his sea-glass stare, like calm waters suddenly disturbed. Who are you, Finn. He wondered. To come here and upset my life just by sitting there. A distant cousin to premonition—unreliable gut-instinct was what it likely was—caused Remi to shiver slightly where he sat.

i'm holding onto the pieces of my heart's debris

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

FINN

the spyglass

I’ll take the long way ‘round

Go, yes. Not in so many literal words - not yet - but it’s enough for Remi to tell him more about a situation for which Finn is woefully unprepared. He lowers his eyes, solemn and silent in the face of those words - a grave. Taking a long breath in and out, Finn nods his understanding. ”I am not particularly skilled in the art of conversation,” he remarks with a sudden, knowing sort of smile. ”Perhaps it would be better for one of my counterparts to speak with Ronin. Another man with another job, but one who is slightly better at it.”

When he glances back up it is to see the shadow that hides behind Remi’s eyes, the man who has eaten the one from a year ago. And it scares Finn, truthfully, causing him to swallow hard, to shift uncomfortably in his seat. ”I shan’t bother you any longer. Sorry for any upset I have caused, Remi. I didn’t come here with the intention of souring your day.”

I’ll find my own way down

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

No, you aren't, Remi thinks to say, but doesn't. He isn't the best conversationalist either, even less so these days. Sighing and running a distracted hand through his curls, the Alchemist can do little else but shrug and nod. Whatever Finn and whoever employs him have in mind seems not to be up for discussion. They seem to know enough about the men to know where to find them, so short of running away as he'd recently suggested to Ronin, there is little else to do but wait. "I'll let him know to expect...someone, then."

'Perhaps you should think about what it is you did intend." The Alchemist comments wearily, before shaking his head in a silent apology for his grouchiness. Closing his eyes and placing the bridge of his nose between two of his fingers, he leans into the pressure before speaking. "You aren't the first to suggest we...involve ourselves in whatever is brewing. I have been reminded more than once that what I am to Ludo obligates me to take part. Similarly with Ronin." Looking up, gaze pale and cheeks tight with tension, Remi exhales. "But it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." He adds in a low voice, his anger not necessarily directed at Finn, but at the entirety of creation.

All he'd dreamed of was a house by the sea and Ronin.
Though he has both, he has not wished carefully enough, it seems, and his ideal life threatened to become a nightmare.

i'm holding onto the pieces of my heart's debris

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!