but you painted me golden

i could be anything in the world

"IANTO"

The roar of the rain was consuming. You felt it in your teeth, vibrating those sensitive bones in your ears, and blending together your senses such as you tasted the rain much as you heard and felt it.

"IANTO!"

Where the fox had gotten to, Remi couldn't say. Maybe he hadn't thought the Alchemist's offer was genuine, or that he really did want him to speak to Ronin first. Either way, it was, and he had, and gods damnit magical wagon or no, this was not a storm to weather alone. Pressing against the rain with all his magical might to shield himself, the Alchemist clumsily makes his way down the pathway (now completely washed out and replaced by mud and loose gravel), searching for a flash of copper amidst the storm.

THE ALCHEMIST

but all i wanted was to be his

i love it when i catch you looking at me

Ianto tells himself it’s just a bit of rain.

Ianto is wrong.

He’d set up the Wishing Wagon somewhere between the Aumakua and the bundle of cottages where Remi lived, but the wind, the rain and the resulting instability of the ground around has proven very quickly to be an impossible combination. So, forced to step out and shrink the wagon down, he’s resorted to fur over skin, hoping to find a place to hunker down until the rain eases even ever so slightly. Enough for him to bolt for it.

That time doesn’t come, and as darkness falls the fox is very thoroughly soaked and even his usually buoyant mood is starting to fail. That’s about when he hears his name belted through the monsoon, carried by the gale. And Ianto doesn’t hesitate, paws and pelt muddied as he races through the soft grass, nearly barrelling into Remi’s legs as a result.

Regardless, the Alchemist will find the vulpine pressed between his calves, wound around him,  black tipped ears flat against his skull. I’m not a fan of this, he informs Remi, though the Attuned bond belies his fatigue and unease.

i could be anything in the world

The bolt of copper is enough to thrust Remi's heart into his throat, relieved beyond words to see his friend alive, but understandably wary given his conversation with Ronin the night before. Kneeling down to press his hands against the fox's flanks, smoothing away the rainwater from his small skull, Remi shakes his head ruefully. "Thought I was exaggerating when I said to set up next to my house, did you." He asks flatly, but his relief is far too bright for the scolding to sound anything other than intensely pleased.

Near Remi, there is no rain, but even he can't keep the elements at bay forever. "Come on. Vai was making stew when I left, though that was nearly an hour ago now." The Alchemist informs his friend, glancing up to where, somewhere in the gloom, his cottage awaits. "They might all be in bed already, but I'm sure there will be leftovers."

Softly his fingers feel their way across the fox's body, not for the first time in their friendship, Remi is able to bypass all of his insecurities relating to his friend, while he's in this form. "Are you hurt at all? Can you walk?"

THE ALCHEMIST

but all i wanted was to be his

i love it when i catch you looking at me

You know, I did. Not a mistake I’ll ever make again Ianto muses, resisting the urge to shake out his fur as the rain overhead finally stops pelting down against him. Their friendship - their actual friendship - shines through when he’s in this form, and it’s something Ianto has known since the days of Northaven. Which is a good thing, he guesses, because he’s almost more comfortable in fur than out of it, letting out a small whine at the hands that pass over him.

Pressing his muzzle against Remi’s fingers, Ianto consider’s his friends words, and through their bond an unmistakeable pulse of hungry will reach him. Leftovers sound great, he says. I don’t think I’m hurt, just... cold and wet, mostly. The scents were all mixed up in the rain, and the lack of visibility meant that Ianto has spent the past couple of hours hopelessly lost. Not even the light from Aumakua can reach through this.

I can walk, if you lead the way.

i could be anything in the world

"This whole time I've been telling you that you really ought to listen to me more." Remi hums, quite smug now that he knows Ianto is alright. His fingers slip between the fox's eyes, pressing against that oh-so-satisfying groove in his skull, before scritching him behind his ears if only to coax them forward again.

"We're actually not that far from the house, not that you'd be able to tell." Remi assures his friend as he stands, the lower portion of his pants now entirely soaked through and caked with mud. "It is muddy as all hell though, so we're going to have to clean you off before we go inside, or someone will have my head." Ronin, Vai...Seren maybe. "But we can always eat out on the deck." He suggests with a shrug, leading the way back towards the house.

No great tracker is he, Remi wanders a fair more than is strictly necessary before the lights from the cottage blur into view. Hardly anything makes it through the rain—not sound, not light—and one might think it was almost by chance the Alchemist finds his way home at all.

Reaching the porch, Remi realizes that he too needs to clean himself off before going inside. Biting the inside of his cheek, he flashes Ianto a crooked smile as he tosses a towel towards the fox. "Dry off, I'll be right back." So saying, Remi slips inside where he removes his pants and shirt, leaving them in a pile by the door. He should have done this outside but...sticking to his boundaries is far more acceptable even if it does earn him a scolding later.

After a few moments, Remi reappears, dressed in a warm sweater and clean pants, with two large bowls of stew.

THE ALCHEMIST

but all i wanted was to be his

i love it when i catch you looking at me

Mm, well maybe I needed an occasion as terrible as this one to finally believe you, Ianto grumbles, but it’s all good natured - especially as deft fingers come to deliver pets, his ears reluctantly flicking forward again by the time they’re headed for cover. Yeah, for a beach... place... I wasn’t expecting all the mud, he admits. Indeed, the fox is mostly brown by now from the chest down, and he sticks close to Remi’s side as they wander. And wander some more. And Ianto is just about to ask if Remi is lost when the cottage finally comes into view.

Racing up the steps and shaking himself off (getting water and mud everywhere, obviously), he lets out a yelp at the towel thrown in his direction. He wasn’t shifting back for love nor money (it was still warmer like this, wet fur and all), so by the time Remi returns it’s to find the fox sprawled out on the towel, having rolled himself all over it to soak up the majority of the rain.

Nose lifting at the scent of the stew, Ianto is back on his feet in seconds, padding up to try and put a damp and muddy paw on Remi’s clean pants in an attempt to get on his hind legs and see better.

i could be anything in the world

Not sure what to expect when he reemerges—Ianto might be naked, might have left entirely, might have killed something already—the Alchemist can only grin to see the brown towel and the still mostly-brown fox upon it.

"Manners, you." Remi says, spinning in a circle to try and evade the fox. He doesn't mind getting dirty again, but it's the principle of the thing. Probably. "You know, I have the strangest urge to tell you to sit before I give you this." Remi murmurs under his breath, immediately deciding the idea of Ianto as some sort of pet is an unhappy one. Setting down the stew but taking the spoon out of it, Remi plops himself into a chair nearly spilling his portion all over himself. Grumbling idle threats to himself under his breath, he lifts his feet to rest them on the bannister as all around them the world is almost entirely washed away.

"We'll have to reintroduce you to Sugar if you're going to come inside like that." Remi says conversationally, taking a large bite of potato. "She's become...rather protective. Moreso than usual."

THE ALCHEMIST

but all i wanted was to be his

i love it when i catch you looking at me

I have manners! I’m not trying to steal. Just trying to... taste. Ianto chuckles, trailing around Remi as he spins, yipping in his excitement for food. Snorting his indignance at the prospect of being told to sit, Ianto nonetheless does just that, his wet and muddy tail thumping the deck as he waits for Remi to set down the bowl. He’s on it as soon as it’s in front of him, though his laughter is obvious through the bond - he’s seen Remi nearly topple over.

With his nose in the bowl, Ianto doesn’t have to pause for breath to keep talking - probably half the reason he prefers to stay in shift, honestly. Is that so? Protective in general, or just of you? he wonders, gold eyes flicking up to look at the Alchemist. Am I going to get bitten and frozen?

i could be anything in the world

'Well, she's always been protective in general.' Remi says, blowing on the top layer of his strew. Watching Ianto eat, the Alchemist wonders if the fox doesn't have some protective coating on the top of his mouth that keeps him from being burned. No, probably not, Remi muses to himself with a smile, watching as his friend's whiskers grow dark with meaty liquid. "Lately I think she just...knows I'm not myself. "

It probably has more to do with the things Remi has been struggling with as of late. Things the dragon has no doubt picked up on. Watching Ianto, hunched over and adorable, it's all too easy to simply think he'd overreacted the other night. That the temptation would entirely disappear. But somewhere inside he was sure that should those amber eyes turn blue, he'd find his back against the wall again.

The real question, was what to do about it? Internalize, as he had once done? Or...tell his friend, that he might better understand why feathers were want to appear in the Alchemist's curls at his touch?

"Vai's son is here. He looks...well. He looks exactly like Devrum." Remi says with a smirk, spooning more strew into his mouth.

THE ALCHEMIST

but all i wanted was to be his

i love it when i catch you looking at me

Oh, Ianto is most certainly burning his mouth. But given his last few hours out in the cold and the endless rain, he’s very content to deal with that later. Steam rolls up from the bowl of stew, the fox pulling back only so he can lick at his chops and give his tongue a break from being scalded. Well, maybe you can put a good word in for me. Let her know I’m not out to make your life difficult. But then again she might just attack me anyway. Dragons. What can you do?

Hunkering back down to attack a potato, the surprise rolls out of him to hear of Vai and her son. Already? he asks - the kid could only be like... two, right? I’ll make sure to stay out from under his feet. I don’t want my ears pulled, he says with a mental chuckle, accidentally nosing the bowl across the deck as he tries to get at a bit of meat. I thought this was already dead, he grumbles, obviously unimpressed with his food suddenly being on the go.

i could be anything in the world

Remi scrunches his nose a touch at that, not out to make your life difficult. It isn't Ianto's fault that he does, or that he's...moved on in ways that somehow, a happily married man, has not. "She might. But you're pretty fast...and if not, she'll not follow you under the couch, or the bed." In a stand-off between Sugar waiting to pounce and Ianto sleeping beneath a piece of furniture, Remi thought that the vulpine would win hands (paws, claws) down.

"Time does...strange things to children here. Felix is nearly a man now. Ronin's daughter is technically...a few months old? But you'd swear she was 12." The Alchemist shrugs. "Maybe she's even older now, I don't know. She's always either out, or hiding away in her room." Teenage girl things, he's been told. Not that he has any idea.

Snorting as Ianto scoots his bowl around, the Alchemist makes absolutely no attempt to help. In fact, he makes things worse by shoving the bowl with his telekinesis and even goes so far as to snatch up a piece of potato and levitate it towards his own bowl.

THE ALCHEMIST

but all i wanted was to be his

i love it when i catch you looking at me

Is that so? I wonder why... though I’ll keep it in mind. Always good to have a place to hide, Ianto laughs softly, making a mental note to try and scout out the best hiding places when they do go inside. Glancing up as Remi explains about the way children seem to sprout up at random in Caido, he shoots the Alchemist a look that’s nothing short of befuddled, even as a fox.

Oh, I... see, he says, not sounding as though he understands it at all, but deciding not to delve any deeper. He didn’t have children and didn’t plan on them, so whatever the world did to them, it was none of his concern.

What is his concern is the way his bowl keeps running away, and the way a potato seems to be going to visit Remi, when it really should be getting in his mouth. Growling, Ianto naturally leaps after it, and unless the Alchemist moves, he’ll get a lap full of fox.

i could be anything in the world

Remi directs the flying potato into his mouth, his teeth clicking shut as Ianto lands in his lap. Allowing himself one completely (un)subtle chew, the Alchemist raises a brow at the muddy fox who has, in all likelihood, spilled his stew all over Remi's lap.

Frowning deeply, not at all happy about this sort of warmth spreading between his legs (though really, it was better than the other kind), Remi just tilts his head accusingly to the side, narrowing his eyes at Ianto. "Remember that talk about manners we just had?" He asks, sounding unimpressed, but grinning just the same.

THE ALCHEMIST

but all i wanted was to be his

i love it when i catch you looking at me

There’s stew everywhere, there’s mud everywhere, and Remi’s still eaten his potato. It’s a great feat for a fox to look outraged, but Ianto manages it, a soft growl in his chest as he huffs at the Alchemist.

Well I don’t think you were very polite either, he informs him, hopping down and shaking out his fur before trotting over to nose his bowl back to Remi’s feet. It’s still half full, Ianto sitting before him and glancing pointedly down at it, as if to tell the other man to take it.

Sorry I spilled,” he says through a sigh, one ear flicking. You can have mine instead. Guess that’s another set of clothes ruined on my account, heh. It’s painfully obvious that Ianto had hoped to finish his meal, but he isn’t a monster.