you're the waves at my feet

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

Come on, let's explore over here. Remi whispers into Ronin's mind, accompanied by a bright flush excitement through their attuned bond and the light brush of Remi's fingers against the Star's lower back. He isn't exactly trying to be subtle or coy about it, but nor does he necessarily want the entire group that they've come here with to think they're invited. Invited to what, you ask? Hot springs skinny dipping, of course.

From having been in the water with Amalia once, his clothes are already soaked. They'll dry quickly in the heat though, especially if they aren't on his body. And so, with both mischief and boyish haste, the Lullaby strips down to nothing, laying his clothes on a porous bit of stone.

Into the water without a moment's hesitation, the alchemist looks up to the Star, hands reaching out to drag him in. "I think I could get used to this as my treatment." He murmurs, a blush that isn't caused by fever creeping up into his cheeks as he beams up at the huntsman.

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please just don't forget me Ronin’s clothes might as well be wet already, such is the density of the steam and the heat of the springs all around, and he’s just loaded another barrel of water onto his nimbus for the return trip when Remi’s voice whispers into his mind. If that weren’t enough to steal his attention, the touch ghosting along his back has him turning to follow the alchemist already, a smile creeping across his face. A quick look around confirms no one will catch them sneaking off, and so Ronin disappears into the mist. First he finds Remi’s clothes, and it’s with a breathless laugh that he strips off as well - a wise decision, given that his husband’s wet hand is wrapping around his ankle to try and pull him in before he’s quite undressed. ”Hey—!” He grins, hopping and kicking off his pants before splashing into the warm water as well. Immediately the springs go to work on tight muscles and weeks of stress, Ronin groaning some incoherent ecstasy as he moves into Remi’s arms, his forehead resting against his shoulder. ”Can we live here now?” he asks.

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

The smug look on the alchemist's face suggests that the only reason he hasn't hauled Ronin in by the ankle is to keep the noise down. No sooner is Ronin in the water, Remi is gliding toward him with hands that seek out the huntsman's shoulders that he might wrap his arms around his husband's neck. Strong though they both are, the water affords them a weightlessness that their herculean-muscles simply can't provide, and the Lullaby finds himself drifting decadently against the Star.

"Mmmmmmm." Comes the incoherent response as Remi lets his head loll against Ronin's, his fingers wandering the topography of his husband's back. "This is the best I've felt in..." He frowns, having absolutely no idea about time anymore. Sickness and sleep has made the past two weeks feel like an eternity. And before that? He can hardly remember. Shaking his head, he uncoils just enough to pull back, brushing his nose softly against the tip of Ronin's. "I missed you so much." He whispers softly. "I think being away from you..like that was one of the harder things I've had to do."

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please just don't forget me Ronin takes that as a yes, smiling against wet skin and letting his eyes shut for a moment, enjoying the feel of hands against his back, of whispered words wrapped so musically in Remi’s accent. ”I missed you too,” he murmurs into the side of the alchemist’s neck, his arms winding around his waist as he draws away, just to make sure he doesn’t go too far. ”Yeah,” he agrees quietly, like he doesn’t have the words for the difficulty of what they’ve both just been through. So he doesn’t try to bother with words, instead gently pulling Remi closer to lean in for a kiss. Any heat that’s in it is caused by the hotsprings alone; there’s not a moment that Ronin doesn’t want his husband, but right now his kiss speaks of love and relief and comfort, his lips soft, savouring every touch and taste of the other man. ”Gods, I love you,” he says through a sigh.

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

The sound Remi murmurs against his husband's lips is fleeting, but entirely pure. It's a soft hush of a sigh, joyful, as if everything is suddenly right in the world. Nevermind that he's still infected. Nevermind that they don't have a proper cure. Nevermind that he no longer wants to be governor, that the Order seems to have plans of which the pair can't escape, that both Aoife and Seren are gone. Nevermind any of it, not with his lips pressed against Ronins and the salty-sweet taste of him bright on his tongue.

"After all this time...it's still only you for me. Even more now than before, if that's possible." Remi agrees with a heated laugh, the blush in his cheeks making the green of his eyes seem all the more bright. Roaming hot hands over Ronin's shoulders, Remi nudges his chin forward suggesting the Star spin in his arms to give the Lullaby more access to his shoulders and back.

"With all the lava here...I wonder if there are springs like this in Torchline. An offshoot of the Fingers no one has found yet?" Because though Remi very much does not want to live in this hellish place, gods he'd consider it to feel this way more often.

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please just don't forget me ”Good, because I’m not going anywhere. And I don’t ever want anyone else.” Ronin’s eyes blink open just enough to catch a glimpse of bright green and dusty pink, and he’s already smiling like an idiot when Remi tries to nudge him into turning around. Ronin obeys, but only after stealing one last kiss, his hands sneaking up the length of Remi’s back, before he’s surrendering to his husband’s touch. Humming a thoughtful note, Ronin gazes around at the thick steam rising off the springs, at the way his hair is already damp even though he hasn’t submerged himself yet. ”If there isn’t, do you think we could make one?” he asks with a soft laugh, stealing a glance over his shoulder at Remi. ”I think we could. Either that, or we’ll just have to make sure we pass through here, wherever we end up travelling.”

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

Remi's repetitive proclamations of love might look to the outside world like someone who is insecure. Perhaps especially so in the wake of Ronin and Amalia's tryst; but nothing could be farther from the truth. He simply likes how the words sound on his lips, and how promises of forevers, and only-yous ring in his ears. He'd tell Ronin a thousand times over just how loved he was, as if it was his favourite song to sing.

Remi's look of annoyance is ruined by the way he shivers under Ronin's fleeting fingers. Relaxed though the waters might make them, touching his husband (in any capacity) is one of his favourite pastimes, and it's with vigour and experience that he massages the muscles of Ronin's neck and shoulders.

"I'm sure we could. Though I don't know if we'd appreciate the heat in Torchline as much as here." Remi notes with a laugh, though perhaps underground things would be different. "Speaking of passing through...Has Safrin ever said anything to you about the portals? About not using them?" Them being the ascended technology that they were. Both Star and Lullaby could fly, so it wasn't as though the world was locked to them without the use of portals, but certainly it made things much easier.

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please just don't forget me The groan of pleasure that leaves Ronin’s throat is a carnal thing, the Star wanting to respond to his husband, wanting to tell him that he’s perfect and that he can never ever stop what he’s doing, but all ability to speak is stolen away with the feel of strong fingers on tense muscles. His knees grow weak with it, Ronin melting back against his partner’s chest, turning his head to kiss his cheek. ”I think I’d appreciate this wherever we were,” he objects, his words a bit slurred and his smile so stupidly besotted that he might as well be a love struck teenager. ”Mmm... no, she’s not said to avoid them,” he says. ”I decided not to use them, but when Safrin told me about LongNight, I used them to get back to the Grounds. Why’d you ask?”

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

The Lullaby can sense all that Ronin feels, and though there's nothing sweeter than hearing words of adoration leave Ronin's lips, Remi is perfectly content with the magical serenade of emotion he can feel rising from the Star. A giver by nature, even still after having embraced his selfish-side, Remi's hands redouble their efforts, sweeping across Ronin's skin in well-practiced movements.

"You would." The Lullaby counters with a grin. "Just...thinking about things, I suppose. I take it there isn't a portal in Stormbreak, should we go there. And not one here either, though...I guess the ascended might make one should this water prove helpful." Would it heal them? Remi's brow furrows, his fingers momentarily slowing as he considers. There's every reason to think that it won't, though other than Nate, Remi doesn't know of any other ascended who are sick? "The last time we thought about moving I started building us a wagon. I suppose I'm just...being antsy." He admits with an almost bashful shrug as his fingers resume their slow and diligent wandering.

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please just don't forget me Remi is the only thing keeping Ronin on his feet before long, his head lolling against his husband’s curls, steam curling up around them and sheathing them from view. ”Can you blame me?” he mumbles, smiling and exhaling a deep sigh as Remi turns him into putty and slowly puts him back together again. Still, he furrows his brow as he speaks about the Ascended, Ronin huffing out a breath and slowly straightening up. ”I don’t know if water would work for Ascended,” he says slowly; from what he can remember about them, they have no need for it. ”Do you think... if they drink from someone who has drunk the water... then it might cure them for a bit?” It sounds far-fetched as he says it, but really, it’s not the weirdest thing in the world. With a chuckle, Ronin straightens up and shifts in the springs, scooping Remi up into a piggyback. ”If you’re antsy, what’s wrong with just you, and me, and the clothes on our backs?” he says, swooshing through the water with him. ”That’s real travelling.”

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

Letting his head loll forward so that the side of his cheek grazes against Ronin's, Remi just grins silently to himself. Oh, there are plenty of things he might blame the Star for, if only so that he can demand reparations. This isn't one of those times though, so the alchemist keeps his filthy thoughts to himself for the time being.

"I don't think so either." But at least Remi was in a position where he could actually think. "I assume the Voice would...try and cure them, though?" He wonders, a brow raised as his hands slip around to Ronin's chest, pulling the man tight against him. "That...well...I don't know. I doubt the water suddenly gives our blood magical properties.." Brows furrowed again, his cheek nuzzling thoughtfully against Ronin's, the alchemist tries to work out the biology of all of this. Or perhaps more accurately with the ascended, the mechanics.

As Ronin straightens and pivots forward, Remi can't help but laugh and wrap his arms completely around the Star's chest. "Not sure what clothes you're talking about." So saying the Lullaby wriggles against the Star, contouring his stomach to Ronin's back; should he feel a bit of hardness against his lower half, what of it? The water is warm, the alchemist is healthy, and his muscles are infinitely relaxed.

'Tell me more about real travelling, oh worldly one." Remi encourages, his teeth nibbling down the side of Ronin's neck to spur him on through the water.

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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please just don't forget me ”Not sure about that,” he says slowly, starting to wade through the hot springs and enjoying the hot steam as it coils around them. ”Safrin seemed... afraid of this. If she was worried, then I imagine the Voice is too. And with the way she works, if there was an easy cure the Ascended would all be better by now.” Ronin glances over his shoulder, smiling sadly to Remi. He nuzzles his cheek back, shrugging his shoulders. ”Maybe not, but we know that contaminated blood does do things to them, right? Why not... cured blood?” It’s a long shot and he knows it. Either way, if the water doesn’t cure Ascended, he can guarantee that Nate will try out the blood theory soon enough with Sunjata. Happy to be distracted with their own future, Ronin huffs out a laugh as Remi presses himself so close, feeling his excitement. ”There will be clothes, eventually,” he murmurs, head tilting to enjoy the attention, though he sinks down in the water as if he’s sneaking through it, his chin just above the surface. ”Real travelling is following the road without a map, and feeling the world beneath your feet. It’s sleeping under stars or drinking rainwater. And bathing in hot springs.” Suddenly lurching up, Ronin is almost giggling as he flops back, submerging them both in the hot water.

i kept falling over, i kept looking backward

"Safrin was?" That's surprising news. From what the Star has told his husband of the lady of stars—and indeed what he'd experienced himself—Safrin was not one to particularly wear her emotions so visibly. Though perhaps that was more to do with Ronin than her current state of mind. The thought made him grumble slightly, hugging himself all the closer for thoughts of the Star and the goddess intertwined.

"Sorry, when did you become such an expert on the ascended?" Remi wonders playfully, opening his mouth to bite at Ronin's neck as if miming an ascended bite. " 'aybe 'ou shou' 'ry i' " He mouths, his tongue brushing against the huntsman's skin as he 'speaks' .

"Oh. I see." Slumping slightly as if disappointed at the prospect of clothes (and truthfully wrapped around Ronin right now as he is, clothing sounds dreadful), Remi hums a note of happy anticipation at the picture his husband is painting. It sounds far more whimsical than the travelling Remi did as a boy, and the alchemist is more than eager to paint over painful memories with new ones. Before he might verbalize this, he's suddenly plunging back into the water. Luckily he's able to gasp a breath first, though as the warm water surrounds him he instinctively reaches for Ronin.

Where once he might have done something sweet such as pulling the Star in for an underwater kiss, now Remi launches himself at the huntsman with the intent to dislodge his soul from his body. Regardless of his success, Remi will rise to the surface with his hands behind his head, floating nonchalantly as if he hadn't done a thing.

i went broke believing that the simple should be hard

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please just don't forget me ”Mmhm. But then after the Blight...” He smiles a bit sadly. He’d also been nervous around this sickness, until he realised it seemed to have chosen specific victims and stopped there. Still, he’s quickly distracted by Remi, offering his husband a charming grin that he absolutely won’t see, especially when he’s trying to bite him. ”I’m an expert on lots of thi—oi!” He’s still laughing as they go under the water, and for a moment Ronin feels free and weightless and wonderful... Then his husband knocks his soul out of his fucking body. Ronin can’t orient himself, dizzy and numb and just about able to get his head above the surface of the water, because it’s damn near half a minute before he feels like he’s connected to himself again. Coming around slowly, he finds himself sitting at a shallower end of the springs, rubbing at his forehead. ”I didn’t like that,” he informs his husband with a pout.