[se] sailboat bed

took a fall from a windy height

Returning home, the journey taking far less time than it should have (the forest it seemed, wasn't up to its normal shenanigans tonight), Remi lands silently near the wagon. The moon was full and high in the sky and the night smelled so sweetly of autumn-decay that the Lullaby couldn't bring himself to go to bed quite yet.

You awake? Remi calls, his mental voice a whisper despite the complete uselessness of it. It was impossible to modulate the volume of his mental voice really, just like it was impossible to scream inside one's own head. It all just sort of filtered through just the same. Regardless, it was after midnight, and whispering, even silently, seemed appropriate. If there was no answer from his husband, Remi supposed he could always force himself to sleep and then slip into the Star's dreams where he might harass his husband equally well.

i only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night

we live in a world someone else imagined

"I'm awake." Ronin's voice comes from around the wagon rather than within it, and the Star strolls within view of his husband with a gentle smile. Crowned by glowing antlers and bathed in the milk-white light of the moon, he currently looks the image of a forest guardian. Only there's nothing to guard against when it comes to Remi, and he slinks up to his husband to wind his arms around him, leaning in to steal a kiss.

"Mm, someone has braided your hair," he remarks; perhaps there's a hint of vindictive jealousy in his tone, perhaps not. That's up to the Lullaby to figure out, Ronin reaching up to carefully set the curls right. "How did it go? Are we going to have to use a couple of cans and some string back towards Torchline to stay in touch with everyone?"

the dark star

took a fall from a windy height

Remi loses more than a few heartbeats to see his husband so, bordered by dimly light Leafchange foliage and sporting the proudest set of antlers the Lullaby had ever seen. He's only just managed to suck in a hasty breath when his lips are captured. "What are you still doing up?" Remi wonders fondly as he leans back somewhat to better drink in the magnificence of Ronin's half-shift.

Reaching up into his curls to feel the knots braids Ludo has put there, Remi sighs slightly and nods. "Mmm." He hums noncommittally as Ronin teases out the braid. Grinning at his husband and then miming a look of oh! of course! Remi shakes his head. "Ahh, that would have been clever. I stupidly suggested that our friends shine hawks and luxere into the clouds whenever they needed us."

Smirking and tugging Ronin toward the logs set up round a crude campfire, the Lullaby nestles himself next to the Star as he explains what had actually been suggested. "..mirrors might have been nice, but...I don't know, I suppose I like the idea of not having to immediately reply. That's why I thought letters would work just as well." He concludes with a bit of a shrug. Especially after how they'd left things in Torchline, Remi was still understandably (or not) cagey about being always on-call.

i only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night

we live in a world someone else imagined

"I couldn't sleep. I was waiting for you. Also, Mateo needed feeding." Ronin shrugs his shoulders, though the number of excuses suggests that really the huntsman was just waiting for his husband to get home. He'd have to be blind and deaf not to notice the way Remi reacts to him, but really the Star is only interested in the man before him. Once the alchemist's curls are free of braids and tangles, he looks him over carefully, as if to make sure Ludo hasn't left any marks on him.

A quiet chuckle leaves his lips to hear Remi's ideas for their communication methods, Ronin nodding as if really considering the hawk/luxere lightshow. "It certainly seems like our style," he remarks, meandering over to the campfire and sinking down onto the logs, reaching out to wind an arm around Remi as if to subconsciously keep him close. The real explanation is a bit more doable, and at the other man's reasoning, the Star can only nod.

"Mm. We can deal with letters," he agrees, burying his nose against Remi's curls and closing his eyes. "As long as they can reach us, we can choose when to respond. Thanks for going to see Ludo about it." He kisses his hair.

the dark star

took a fall from a windy height

"Sorry,"  Remi whispers, leaning in again to brush his nose softly against the Star's. "It felt right somehow, to go at night." Other than the random braids left in his curls, the Lullaby is entirely unmarked. If anything, he looks quite pleased, especially in comparison with how his visits with Ludo normally go. The last one for instance left him darkened for days, despite the arrival of Mateo.

"Mmm, and theirs. I can absolutely see Jata shining out a deer first thing in the morning, just to have you help him open a jar that he'll later claim he loosened for you." Remi grins at that. For all of Jata's size and shifts, Ronin has proved himself the stronger time and time again. "And it will be relatively easy I think to get the things we need." Shrugging against Ronin, remembering back to one of the Taliesin's first encounters with a Wicker Woman, Remi hums a contented note.

"You seem...are you alright?" Raising a brow and glancing over his shoulder at Ronin, Remi softly scans the lines of his counterpart's expression.

i only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night

we live in a world someone else imagined

"You never have to apologise to me," Ronin murmurs contently, as if anything he might have been doing or feeling before Remi's return is entirely unimportant now. A low chuckle leaves his lips at the image painted in his mind at Sunjata's creative use of their apparent light signal, Ronin nodding his agreement. "Or shining it in the middle of the night because of an emergency which is just that his blankets fell off the bed and he wants me to pull them back on." No part of him sounds remotely as if he wouldn't heed such a call, if it came. That's what friends were for, right?

His eyes blink open again as Remi continues - even if what they need had been difficult to get, it's not as though it would have stopped either of them. It never has in the past. "Mm...? Yeah, I'm fine," he assures the other man, the moonlight streaming through his antlers as he gazes down at Remi. "I just... I've felt a little strange ever since we got to the Greatwood. It's nothing to worry about, I don't think."

the dark star

took a fall from a windy height

'Oh good, I'll be sure to remember that the next time I do something incredibly stupid." Remi chuckles, indeed tucking away this particular portion of their conversation to later rub it in Ronin's face. Laughing at the image of it all, the alchemist just offers Ronin a wry smile. "If that's the case, you might as well just leave your duplicate around for him." Strangely intimate though many of Ronin's friendships might be, such was the balance between the two men, and Remi adored the Star for it.

"Alright. You just seem..." Unable to really put his finger on it, without actually putting his finger on it—Ronin—Remi couldn't quite articulate what it was his husband seemed like. "...almost like you're somewhere else." Was that it? Maybe Remi was just reading into things too much. This was a strange peace that he and the Star found themselves in. Maybe he just needed to adjust to it.

"I'll need some wicker woman sap. Care to tag along in the morning? Maybe we'll get hit with a branch and see Jata and Nate again."

i only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night

we live in a world someone else imagined

"It wouldn't go far enough. The duplicate, I mean." Ronin grins right back at his husband, as if he should have known that the Star would test such a thing before they even left the shores of Torchline. "And you can absolutely tuck that information away - I think you and I are beyond apologies to each other in the traditional sense." He shrugs his shoulders, content to watch the fire with the alchemist while the stars streamed overhead. Still, he can't help but lean into the feelings Remi seems to have about him - usually, the Lullaby is on point with these sorts of things.

"Mm... I don't mean to be," he says slowly, glancing around at the darkened trees now. "It feels like the luxere in me wants to run. Like it can tell that there are other things out there in the woods. Not a fleeing sort of run... just... running." He snorts, like he doesn't understand it either - because he really doesn't. "I guess I'm still really new to this Attuned business. I don't know how you cope at times."

Raising a brow to hear that they need the sap of a Wicker Woman, the huntsman's grin is savage and almost excited. "It has been so long since I did something like that. I'd love to join you."

the dark star

took a fall from a windy height

'Traditional sense? Does that mean...we mess up so often apologies aren't needed? Or that our apologies just need to be unconventional?" So saying the alchemist leans in, unable to keep any part of himself from Ronin especially when the Star is looking so broody and stagish as he is now, and presses his lips against the side of his husband's neck.

Listening, Remi is able to empathize up to a point. None of his shifts have ever been prey animals in the traditional sense, so the flightiness of a luxere isn't something he knows. "Well, a lot of time I don't cope." He points out. Already he's clawed the trunks of any number of trees in the various camps they've set up since they've been on the road. Honestly, it's a wonder he hasn't started urinating on everything to mark his territory while he's been at it. "Honestly, the best thing you can do it lean into it. It's part of you now, just like any other urge. Hunger, thirst...and now this." Remi's shoulders rise and fall against the Star.

"Good, I thought you might. Maybe we can both let off a little steam doing it."

i only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night

we live in a world someone else imagined

Ronin's moodiness naturally melts into a grin as Remi leans in closer, and he lets his eyes close for a second to enjoy the warmth of lips against his neck. "Oh, I absolutely meant unconventional apologies," he rumbles. "We rarely need to say sorry, but when we do, I expect us to go overboard with it. The next time I mess up, I'll hire a marching band to express my forgiveness to you," he decides, the prospect utterly ridiculous (and therefore even more hilarious) in the quiet of the woods.

Snorting at the Lullaby's response - both because he agrees and also because it's not the best advice in the world, to just not cope - he kisses the other man's temple in return, blue eyes opening again to focus on the flames of the campfire. "Mm, the only problem with that is that my urge to go running through the forest tends to awaken your urge to chase me. And when you catch me, it tends to involves claws and teeth," he points out. "Maybe I'll start going for a morning jog. Or you can jump on my luxere form and I'll bolt off into the woods right now."

Suddenly aware that those are two wildly different extremes, Ronin grins and shakes it off. "Maybe for now we should just go to bed," he suggests. "Ianto showed me something you might be interested in, besides."

the dark star

took a fall from a windy height

"That sounds absolutely awful. Please don't ever make a mistake ever again." The alchemist protests, wincing against Ronin's neck at the thought of all the crashes of sound echoing through the forest.

Growling low against Ronin's shoulder, Remi's teeth revealed in a white smile, the alchemist shrugs. "You are very chasable, it's true." He agrees without sounding the least bit worried about it. "Maybe you just need to learn how to outrun me. Your form should be better at it, after all." The Lullaby continues, before realizing that the kisses he's been planting along Ronin's neck are now trending toward bites. Sitting up straighter, he nods at the suggestion that jogging might be a good place to start.

Speaking of wild extremes, Remi can't help the utterly perplexed expression that tugs his eyebrows together to hear go to bed, and Ianto showed me something you might be interested in, in the same sentence. "I...what?"

i only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night

we live in a world someone else imagined

It's a dangerous line they're going to walk together in the Greatwood, and Ronin finds that he loves Remi all the more for it. His head has tilted to the side somewhat, the alchemist's teeth leaving marks against his skin that he's all too proud to show off, and he hasn't noticed yet but his arm has tightened around the other man, keeping him snug against his side.

"Mm. We both used to be so disciplined, Remi. What the fuck happened?" A dark laugh leaves him, Ronin taking in a deep breath and forcing himself to relax. At the same time, he dismisses the antlers that crown his head, arms looping around Remi a little more in regular and warm affection.

At the Lullaby's confusion, though, Ronin can't help but chuckle, all but radiating amusement as he rises to his feet. Tugging Remi with him, he heads back towards the wagon. I'll show you," he says, leading them inside on silent feet, even though the chances of waking Mateo when he's out for the count are close to nil (thank goodness). On the bed, a tiny Ludo sits, fashioned out of black and white felt and cotton stuffing. "It's a Ludo doll. Apparently people make them around this time of year."

the dark star

took a fall from a windy height

Remi snorts at the question, having absolutely no idea how to answer it. "Mmm, it's true. You, running training scenarios, planning far enough ahead to get me to make explosives..." Sighing wistfully, though not missing it one bit, Remi shrugs in his husband's embrace. 'As with most things, I think we've swung too far in the opposite direction. It'll all even out, but until it does, I'm rather enjoying this." This latter bit is said with an air of admission, though it's no surprise that the alchemist has fully embraced a life of doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

Still looking unhappily skeptical about this—Ianto making 'off-limits' seem like just a casual warning in Remi's mind—the Lullaby nevertheless follows Ronin inside the wagon. Spying the doll on the end of the bed, Remi stops, frowns, and cocks his head at Ronin's description. "Well, that's suitably terrifying." He chuckles, before reaching down to look at the doll. "Your sewing, I mean. Ludo is rather cute."

i only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night

we live in a world someone else imagined

"You don't have to say it like it's wrong, to be enjoying this," Ronin says warmly, smiling over his shoulder to the alchemist. "I'm enjoying it too. And you're right - it'll even out in the end. So let's just embrace this for what it is, and for however long it lasts." He winks, stepping aside so that Remi can go ahead and inspect the little doll. Still, he lets out an outraged sort of gasp at the implication that his handiwork is not good enough.

"I am an artiste," he informs his husband, his pronunciation of the word making it sound as though he probably heard it from Bastien and thinks it sounds cool. Swatting Remi's hands away, Ronin plucks up his doll and promptly slips it over his hand, his fingers making 'hands' out of two of the little rags. "Besides," he says. "Mine is a puppet. So there. If you think you can do better, there's plenty of material leftover."

Reaching out, the Ludo puppet attempts to grab Remi's nose. Just because.

the dark star