honey and the moon

i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks, for never to return

"Well, I was trying to think of anything but you and how obnoxiously charming you always were." The alchemist grumbles, as if the Star's gravity-well of charism was something deplorable. "But back then, I didn't know about you and Loren, and so I had no reason to even think of you as anything other than some untouchable soldier, however ruggedly handsome you might have been." Remi shrugs lightly. "If anything, you might have thrown me in jail had you found out what I was thinking. So it's best you didn't." Now the thought of the former-soldier doing any such thing is entirely implausible, but back then? Well. Not trusting bluebloods was a way of survival for the commoners.

"Mmmm no, that good." Remi chuckles, waiting for the huntsman to bring the rib up to his lips before reaching out to steal a bit of pineapple off of his plate.

Such a simple and predictable thing for Ronin to say, but still it causes the alchemist to blush deeply, his boyish bashfulness colouring even the tips of his ears. "Really?" He all but whispers, as if wanting to hear the words again and again. "I honestly..I had no idea..." Biting the inside of his lip to keep his smile from growing even more crooked, Remi swallows down the bright lump of infatuation lodged in his throat. "I never thought it would be you. I loved you, but...I didn't mean to fall in love with you." Forgetting himself, and running a hand sticky-sweet with pineapple juices through his curls, Remi watches the slow play of firelight in Ronin's gaze for a moment. "But when you did kiss me, gods if it didn't immediately change everything."

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"It's a bit of a shame, if you think about it. Imagine how much time we wasted thinking the other wasn't interested. Though I guess it was different back at the Wall." Ronin grins, though he supposes - given what he knows about Remi's previous hangups - that even if they had been aware of the other's proclivities, it's unlikely anything would come of it. Not until the world was more accepting of it. And case in point - all had worked out in the end. Even if Remi is a filthy thief.

"Oi!" Ronin manages through a mouthful of meat, his laughter playfully outraged, his plate held out of reach. Tossing one of the rib bones into the fire, he concentrates on a bit of pineapple next, just to make sure he actually gets some before Remi steals it all. "That good, huh? You ain't seen anything yet." He smiles mischievously across at the Lullaby (pretending not to notice the pineapple stickiness he rubs into his curls).

"Mm, really," he says softly, licking the juices from his fingers and letting his smile grow all the sweeter as he settles his gaze back on Remi. "I had to stop myself when you first opened the door, the day I came back. A good thing, given that you looked like you were about to kill me." He grabs another rib, offering it out this time to feed to Remi - sharing is caring, apparently.

"Gods, didn't it? It felt like coming home, when I finally kissed you."

i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks, for never to return

'Oh, I don't know about that. I can't imagine living with you and your smugness had you been my first male kiss." Remi protests, plopping the stolen pineapple in his mouth. "Wan' i' 'ack?" The alchemist asks, opening his mouth to reveal a very slimy bit of pineapple on his tongue.

"Talk about growth. You stood there naked just like the day we met, but yes, I most certainly didn't think about killing you." Remi agrees, rolling his eyes at the absurdity of it all. "Surely though that was better than just letting a potential Ludo-ghost waltz into the house." Grinning at the offered meat, Remi gently helps himself to it, before softly letting his teeth graze over one of Ronin's fingers. Someone is daring tonight. The alchemist thinks. Speaking with his mouth full would be rude, of course.

Swallowing the last bit of meat, the alchemist exhales a laugh, running his tongue over his teeth to remove the remaining juices and sauce. "It also felt a bit like having your home entirely torn down." Remi had been with Ianto at the time, happily even. Ronin's kiss had changed things absolutely for the better, but that didn't mean it hadn't left its fair share of destruction as well. "I do remember thinking I'd felt anything more right before. And I still feel it now, every time." So saying Remi leans forward, all pineapple sweetness, to kiss his husband, savouring the warmth of him, the feeling of his lips, the familiar dance of tongues and synchronized breaths.

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"Smugness? I would not have been... I... Yeah, okay. I'd have been insufferable, you're quite right. And no I do not want it back, thank you." Ronin wrinkles his nose at Remi, though there's a hint of a smile on his lips and he resists the urge to push Remi's face away. The Star is all baron in a suit, apparently, and this uncouth behaviour is earning his husband all the points none of the points.

Letting out a chuckle, Ronin allows his husband to take the meat from his fingers (and give them a good nibble, too). "I trust you," he tells him, and for all the playfulness in his voice his expression is earnest. "And you're exactly right, of course. Better to be safe than to let a potential Ludo-ghost go waltzing into the guildhall."

Flinging the rib bone into the fire once Remi is done with it, Ronin licks the sauce and juices from his fingers and raises an eyebrow in response to the other man's remark, though the more he thinks about it the more he understands. "Mm. It's those feelings that are worth building a life around," he begins, only for Remi to lean forward and steal the rest of his sentence. Not that he's complaining, moaning a note of hunger that has nothing to do with the food.

"The first kiss on this date was supposed to come a lot later," he mumbles against his lips, smiling softly.

i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks, for never to return

It's a strange conversational path that they walk down, though they do so easily as anything else they've ever done together. From stolen bits of food, to subtle threats, and finally to the possibility of spirits interfering with their lives and Ronin coming back from the dead; all this they take in stride, and never once does Remi's smile falter from his face.

What Ronin has to say gives the alchemist pause, deepening his blush as he pulls back from his husband's lips. "Sorry you're right. Let's pretend that one didn't happen." So saying the alchemist rubs the back of his hand across the huntsman's lips, thoroughly ruining the moment and any lingering sweetness the kiss might have left. "Alright well, if this really is a first date, then I should be—" Scooting to the other side of the nimbus, knees awkwardly pressed together, Remi gives the Star a rather bashful look through his curls. "—about here, I think. And not able to keep eye contact with you, I should think."

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

It is a strange conversational pathway that they walk, but Ronin wouldn't have it any other way, and the Star is grinning at his husband right up until the point where Remi wipes the kiss off his lips. His oi! is stifled by the further distance put between them, leaving Ronin boyishly ruffled and utterly outraged, though the alchemist will feel the heartbeat on his finger skip a bit to see him looking so awkward and bashful. Pink flushes on the Star's cheeks as well, and he clears his throat, retrieving his plate once more.

"I am not so sure I like this," he says with a mischievous smirk flashed in Remi's direction. "Even if you are looking sweet enough to eat, at the moment. Go on, live a little - just a bit of eye contact over dinner?" he asks, tipping him a wink and popping another piece of pineapple into his mouth.

i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks, for never to return

"Well, this is what dating me would have entailed." Remi says with an all too-knowing tilt of his head. Trying to school his smile into something more neutral—hiding feelings of course being a staple on dates in Remi's experience—the alchemist can only shrug as he looks down into the firelight.

"Well that's the thing...A bit of eye contact and suddenly all I can think about is the blue of your eyes. And then, in trying to distract myself, perhaps my gaze drifts to your cheekbones and the scruff thereupon. How you can get away with it I'll never know." He smiles to himself. No matter the state of Ronin, somehow the former-baron always manages to look dashing and never bedraggled. "And then—ah—should I happen to look at your lips, all I'll be able to think of is how they might taste. The things they might say in dark places, whether your tongue is firm or soft."

Remi's smile grows slightly, but he never looks up from the fire. It helps to hide the heat in his cheeks. "So perhaps my eyes fall lower instead, and spy the way the cut of your shirt gives away just a bit of your chest, and gods, that doesn't even mention the thoughts that your hands inspire. Where I might want them to be, how it would feel to have them both softly and roughly on my skin." Raising a brow and shrugging slightly, finally Remi raises a knowing and altogether enraptured gaze to Ronin. "And so you see, that is why looking at you in the eye is not so easily done."

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"Oh?" Ronin chews his morsel of pineapple and gets to work on another rib, before Remi starts to speak again in earnest. And honestly, there is very little that can silence Ronin Taliesin, but gods if Remi doesn't manage it every single time. Licking the sauce from his fingers, he watches the alchemist like suddenly he's the predator and the other man is the prey, his words like dark music enveloping him.

"I see," he says slowly, clearing his throat and pretending that listening to the Lullaby hasn't made the pants of his suit grow uncomfortably tight. As their eyes lock by the light of the fire, it's Ronin who is forced to stop himself looking elsewhere, and he has to bite back the devilish smirk on his face. "Then perhaps we should, ah, move this on a bit, so we can avoid any more uncomfortable eye contact." He laughs.

i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks, for never to return

If the words are meant as a tease, there's absolutely no indication of it on the alchemist's face. Even as he finally makes eye contact with Ronin, there is something humbly restrained in the green of his fire-bright gaze. Something perhaps intrigued by this notion of self-restraint he once so easily imposed on himself. "Well, that would be the kindnest course of action." The Lullaby agrees, looking over his shoulder to where the waves tumble endlessly against the shoreline.

"We never did make it to the water, and I was promised toes in the ocean." Remi points out, hazarding a glance back at Ronin but only for just a moment. "And you know...Given the magic I have now, it's probably all the more important you don't touch me." So saying the alchemist reaches into his pocket where a pair of stunning leather gloves have been carefully kept. Now there is precious little skin showing which is both a boon and a curse. For the time being though, as Remi pulls them on and over his fingers, tugging them up his wrists and forearms, again he is invigorated by this strange gulf between them that dares them both to diminish it as slowly as they dare.

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

Ronin doesn't want to tell Remi what he thinks of his kindest course of action, and he spends his time listening and finishing up his food and watching the other man out of the corner of his eye. He doesn't know whether he likes this version of his husband, but he can very well indulge it and find out. The Star cleans off his hands while Remi puts his gloves on, and at the knowledge that he did, indeed, promise him toes in the ocean, the nimbus lifts up from sand.

"Well, then. Let's get you some toes in that water, and I assure you that I will be the very picture of honour on this date. No inappropriate touching, no compromising your dignity. I love you far too much to risk that." He is grinning now, Ronin letting the nimbus sail over the beach and the other bonfires, out towards the glittering and dark water. Once they are far enough out, Ronin is unlacing his boots and rolling up his pants, letting his feet dangle into the water.

i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks, for never to return

"You know, as impressive as all that is, I do quite like the feeling of my feet in the sand." Remi mildly protests. Still, as they both unlace their boots and roll their pants up, Remi sighs audibly as the water captures his feet up to his mid-shins. He even scoots slightly forward so that the sea can dangerously reach toward his rolled-up pants, threatening to wet them and ruining his outfit (probably).

"It's not that touching is inappropriate so much as...well if this is a first date, I really shouldn't have complete access to all your thoughts and feelings, now should I?" Then, grinning, he adds: "Though I suppose if I did, things might have been different way back when." Not in massive ways perhaps, but in enough.

"I'll miss the ocean most." The Lullaby says softly, though there's no regret in his tone. Just merely noting how wonderful its been to live so close to the sea. "And the stars." Much as they remind him of Safrin, Remi has always loved the stars. "I'm not sure I could stay anywhere for long where you couldn't see them at night." Glancing over his shoulder and offering a soft raise of his brows, Remi nods slightly toward the Star. "What about you? What will you miss most?"

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"Oh, I do apologise," Ronin says with an easygoing chuckle, the Star allowing their feet to paddle in the water for a little bit before he gently sails the nimbus back towards the shore. Once they are at the level of the beach, Ronin sets them down, that Remi might feel the sand between his toes, and the waves tickling at his feet. And the Star is there with him, naturally, leaving prints in the shoreline as he meanders through the shallows.

Grinning over his shoulder, he can only nod in agreement, though he does reach out to offer to hold Remi's gloved hand. "I hate to agree with you, but you are right. And we're meant to be enjoying our date, not drowning in each other's feelings. So come on, let's take a stroll along this here beach and get our toes wet? The nimbus can hold our shoes."

He hums under his breath as they walk, tilting his head to listen as they chat about what they'll miss. "...I think I'll miss the city most," he confesses with a chuckle. "The streets, the marketplace, the bustle... it was never like that in the Grounds, when we first arrived. And I'll miss our friends, of course."

i cut the ties and i jumped the tracks, for never to return

"There's something I love about it." Remi murmurs, almost shyly as Ronin lowers them toward the sand. He extends his toes that he might grab at some of the wetter sand beneath them, holding it not unlike how he would were his feet talons, before releasing. "Something so organic about it." But then, as a man who'd never had shifts with hooves as Ronin did, he was always used to being able to really feel the earth beneath him. "But then, I think I've always been happiest covered in inks, or with dirt beneath my nails, so I'll understand if you don't quite agree." Remi adds with a low chuckle, offering Ronin a smile that dimpled his cheeks and deepened the laugh lines around his eyes.

'I do love drowning in your feelings.' Remi says, slipping off of the nimbus with Ronin's hand twined in his. 'Though it can be a bit...loud at times. It's overwhelming, the way others feel at times. Even feelings I'm happy to feel or know about." Shrugging, the words not so much of a complaint as just a tying-off of their conversation, Remi extends a toe and drifts it elegantly through the water as if beginning a dance, before kicking some of the spray up so that it falls back toward the waterline like rain.

"No, it never was." Remi agrees as he continues to walk half in the water, slicing his feet through the waves at every opportunity. "Something about cities...I can't quite say how it makes me feel. But it...something about them makes me feel like I'm back in Northaven. Not there, but...the man I was there, I suppose." Frowning, his lips crinkling an unhappy line as his words fail him, he eventually shrugs and gives up. "And our friends. I really should go find Ludo if I can, and see if there is a way we can keep in touch. Our own personal raven, perhaps."

Ronin Taliesin

they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me

"Oh, I agree. For you anyway," Ronin says with a charming smile shot back in his husband's direction. For an artist, Ronin is surprisingly mess-free most of the time, but the same cannot be said for Remi. And he loves the man for it, just the same as he loves watching the way his feet play through the water, sending droplets arcing up and back into the waves again. For his part, Ronin's prints in the sand are a steady line to his husband's chaotic footsteps, and if that isn't an analogy for their relationship, he doesn't know what is.

"Well I am glad you can put up with my feelings, even overwhelming as they can be," he murmurs with a sidelong grin. "Even so, this can be a nice break for you until later." So saying, he gives Remi's gloved hand a gentle squeeze, before raising his eyes up towards the lights of Haulani that are growing in the distance.

Considering their difference in opinion about the city, Ronin realises it might be true for the two of them, and he hums out a note of curiosity. "Maybe I'm trying to feel like the man I once was, in the city," he says slowly. "Not in a personality sense. Just... I don't know, really. I felt like I always knew what to do, when I was a soldier."