what have I done

Isla lifted her gaze to Remi just as he brought her closer, the healer arching an eyebrow before their lips met and she forgot the question she was about to ask him. While the physical pleasure of a kiss evaded her, she remembered all too well what it was supposed to feel like (and how to do it), and she responded in kind to the alchemist. The taste of blood in his mouth only spurred her on, Isla grinding against him and pressing her hands against his chest. When they parted her smile was just as sly as his own, and she nodded in understanding. "Unfortunately you might just keel over if I bite you again," she murmured; as she spoke she was moving, though, sinking down to kneel between his legs. She took his hand in hers, pressing her lips harmlessly to the inside of his wrist where she'd first taken from him, while her other started to unfasten the buttons on his pants. ISLA Hush now, I'm here

"I suppose it is a good thing I am sitting th—" The quip died on his lips as Isla glided down his lap and inbetween his legs. Remi wasn't an idiot, and though he had just kissed her (why had he done that?) there was nothing equivocal about what it was her free hand was doing. His eyes fell to his wrist which had full clotted now and he wondered if she wasn't about to reopen the wound. He wouldn't stop her of course, just as he apparently wasn't stopping her from doing anything else. He should though. He should. But he didn't. REMI What have I become? My sweetest friend—Everyone I know goes away in the end If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way

It would be a good thing that he was sitting, certainly. And he should stop her - and she should stop herself. But she didn't either. With the warmth of him filling her to the brim and the taste of blood still fresh on her lips, Remi wasn't the only one lost to touch and taste and raw animal need. One hand freed him from his pants, wrapping around the length of him and squeezing, teasing, pushing boundaries. Her lips moved from his wrist to his fingertips, to the pad of his thumb. With needle sharp fangs she nipped at him, drawing the smallest amount of blood but firing off a thousand thousand sparks of hedonistic pleasure, seemingly for the both of them. Isla shivered with it, discarding his hand and leaning to her task. Expertly navigating away from sharpened canines (not that she thought he would care if she caught him with them by accident), she took him into her mouth, her hand working in tandem with her tongue. ISLA Hush now, I'm here

Remi inhaled a sharp breath as Isla's fingers wrapped around him, as if her unbuttoning and wandering fingers hadn't been indication enough of what to expect. Even so, his eyes were drawn to her other hand which had made its way into her mouth. It was enough to feel her tongue upon the pads of his fingers while she worked his length with her other hand, but as her teeth broke the surface of his skin Remi gasped loudly and all coherent thought and and formative arguments about just how absurd it was that they should find themselves in this position were dissolved. As she dropped his hand away, for a moment it hung in the air, caught in an invisible tug of war between the last lingering whispers of the gentle and kind man that he (used to be) (was) (should be), and what had been a building desire ever since her lips had first brushed his wrist. Moaning, Remi allowed his eyes to droop closed as his pinned his lower lip between his teeth. He didn't even try to make himself relax or resist the compounding pressure that Isla's tongue and lips and teeth and hands were coaxing expertly towards climax. Moaning something that vaguely sounded like her name as her tongue drove him over the edge, Remi's hands suddenly turned into claws that cut the fabric of the arm rests into ribbons as his body arched and tensed with his release. REMI What have I become? My sweetest friend—Everyone I know goes away in the end If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way

For everything that Isla couldn't feel anymore, Remi's verbal cues and the thunder of his pulse in her ears were easy enough to follow. And for all of their joking about her being a spinster, the battlefield was a lonely place and she knew her way around a... er, this. He came with her name in his mouth and claws biting into and shredding at the chair, Isla taking everything he had to give, her hand still slowly working him though her tongue showed him mercy. When she was certain he was done she sank back on her knees, and if she had breath she'd be panting. As it was she could only gaze up at Remi with overbright eyes and the barest hints of a smile on her lips, feeling suddenly exhausted and not in a way that suggested she needed to bleed him further. "How about now?" she murmured, referring to their previous question - did he feel any better? ISLA Hush now, I'm here

His body spasmed and twitched as her tongue lazily surrounded him, his claws digging into the fabric of the chair before slouching blissfully back. Exhaling a steady stream of air upwards that made one of his curls raise and bounce out of the way, he looked down at the medic through heavy lids. He should have felt embarrassed or flustered given what had just happened—one of his closest friends here having just drank his blood and then coaxed him to orgasm all in a matter of minutes after having found her tear-stained and barefoot in the snowy streets—but he didn't. With a sly and crooked smile, Remi adjusted himself back into his pants looking down at her with a breathy chuckle. "Yes but—" Tapping his fingertips against the chair (his claws had all but disappeared now), "—it looks like I have a new sewing project for the morning." Briefly thoughts of saying thank you or you didn't have to do that crossed his mind, but went unsaid. If anything would make this situation awkward it would be thanking Isla and the alchemist very much doubted he could make the medic do something she didn't want to do. REMI What have I become? My sweetest friend—Everyone I know goes away in the end If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way

Isla flashed a smile back up at Remi, arching an eyebrow as he motioned to the armrests of the chair now shredded to ribbons. Admittedly she had been a little busy at the time and hadn't noticed. "I feel obligated to help you out," she remarked in amusement. "My skill at sutures might come in handy in this project of yours." Slowly she rose to her feet, the flush in her cheeks just about starting to fade and the song in her blood quietening enough to let her think in as close to straight lines as possible. So naturally, her gaze returned to the blooded handkerchief still pressed against Remi's neck. "I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I hope I didn't..." She paused, glanced pointedly down, then changed her mind. It was pretty obvious she hadn't hurt him. "May I clean it up for you? I think I might have ruined your shirt." ISLA Hush now, I'm here

"Someone is in a charitable mood tonight." He chuckled, the closest he'd probably come to thanking her. But he was appreciative even so. With the chemical cocktail she'd sung into his veins it would have been difficult to concentrate on much with a good portion of his blood racing through Isla's body and the rest pooling in a place not conducive to rational thought. Immediately Remi shook his head. The wound did hurt but not more than the way his lion claws had dug into his sides that first shift. It was certainly nothing that would hinder him. "Doctor's orders I suppose." He said with a grin, letting his head move from side to side to test the range of motion this slight injury would permit. REMI What have I become? My sweetest friend—Everyone I know goes away in the end If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way

"I am a healer, Remi - I can't be anything but." Isla laughed to him, glad to find that their easy camaraderie seemed to be returning, untouched by whatever had just happened. "And you're quite right, my orders." Smiling kindly, she leant down to carefully examine the wound again, cleaning it up as best she could with only a handkerchief and her sight. Still, there didn't seem to be any lasting damage, and Remi should be fine after a bath and some sleep. Glad to see she hadn't hurt him, Isla straightened up and regarded him with a sluggish sort of calm - a world away from the mess he'd found wandering around in the snow. "Thank you," she murmured. "For finding me, and bringing me back here. I was panicking..." ISLA Hush now, I'm here

Like the good patient he tried to be while under Isla's careful fingers, Remi endured her brief examination. He couldn't see his wound, but given that she appeared satisfied with it he allowed himself to exhale and nod. Glancing up, Remi offered the medic a frowny-sort of smile and nodded. "What made you decide to go? Why now? Also—" Sitting up straighter, a strange sort of smile came across the alchemist's face. "Not long ago another ascended had to—" Gently Remi gestured towards his neck. "Afterwards he was able to recreate one of my powers. Do you think you can do that as well?" REMI What have I become? My sweetest friend—Everyone I know goes away in the end If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way

Isla smiled sheepishly and fidgeted her hands together, shrugging to him. "Since the meeting in the Temple, I told myself I would find this Voice. To ask questions, to find out more, but... it didn't seem to make a difference. And what you said... about Ludo, and the Ascended." She glanced back up at him. "If I can help to get us out of here, I'll do whatever it takes," she said simply, gazing down at herself as if she must have changed in some way. "Mm...? Replicate one of your...? I mean, I don't know. How would I know if I can do magic, or turn into a hawk, or...?" Isla really looked at herself now, like she might sprout feathers at any moment. "I feel like this is the kind of trial and error that will make me feel rather silly." ISLA Hush now, I'm here

It hadn't even occurred to Remi that Isla might have wanted to try and advance their success at taking down the Spire. To get information yet but ... even he'd forgotten the words Ludo had said in the context of his. Swallowing, he nodded. "And did you?" He asked eagerly, then immediately regretted his haste. If the answer was no and Isla had merely ascended herself for nothing, surely now would be far too soon to be bringing that up. Without any real knowledge on the subject it wasn't as though Remi understood what any of the benefits of ascension actually were. Remi snorted out loud and had to cover his mouth behind his hand to try and hide the wide smirk of amusement. He'd found her wandering in the streets, brought her inside only to both experience a strange chemical lust for one another that ended with Isla giving him a blowjob as if it was merely part of a routine exam. But testing to see if she had magic was the awkward part. "Silliness in exchange for the ability to fly?" He tempted with a smirk. REMI What have I become? My sweetest friend—Everyone I know goes away in the end If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way

Isla smiled sadly. "It slipped my mind to ask, once the process was underway," she admitted with a breathless sigh. "I was otherwise occupied by then, shall we say." Both literally and figuratively, with the Voice in her head. But she supposed this meant, at least, another visit to the Shrine to see if she could glean some further answers from the goddes who dwelled there (and, if the veins of light and information were anything to go by, elsewhere). "Hey!" She laughed as well as he snorted, as if realising just how ridiculous she must have sounded given what had just happened. Folding her arms across her chest, Isla found a smile twitching at her lips too. "Okay, in the context of this evening it doesn't seem silly at all. And flight..." Her smile took on a wistful cadence, Isla nodding. "I'd like to try, if you'll show me how. But... perhaps tomorrow night." Whether because of the ascension, the bloodletting or both, Isla felt sluggish and sleepy, and she wasn't really in a state to fly anywhere. ISLA Hush now, I'm here

"And was the Voice...ah..." Unsure how to phrase what he meant to communication, Remi made a bit of an awkwardly comical face before sighing in exasperation. "Like Frey has been? That sort of fickleness and a tendency to punish?"; Giving her a wry smile, Remi made small fluttering motions with his finger tips. "Why you just flap your wings about." He said knowingly before dropping his hands back into his lap with a goofy and crooked grin. Stifling a yawn, Remi glanced out one of the windows. The streets looked dark and empty. It wouldn't be the first time (or the last) that Remi spent a night in his shop, but normally he did so as an animal and not a man. "Well, I can offer you one of these lovely chairs or...the floor with me." The alchemist shrugged, rising and stretching slightly. "You may not feel the cold anymore, but I do make a rather good pillow as a lion." Given what had just happened between them, sleeping together on the floor hardly seemed scandalous. REMI What have I become? My sweetest friend—Everyone I know goes away in the end If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way