{Seasonal Event} I Move the Stars for No One

But Remi's magic was quick and efficient and the creature was gone before the elongated vowel of his name had fallen to the snow. Not for the first time Jigano's voice took on a tone that very much suggested that regardless of what the bard had said in the past, there was in fact a hierarchy here. One that he considered himself above the alchemist on. "She will forgive the lack of knowledge in this case." Remi said woundedly, quite sure that his friend—ascended or not—would not hold this against him. "You would wish to study it if it wore the face of the man you loved?" Remi asked gently, the boyish hurt writ clearly on his features and in the deepening lines of his forehead and around his eyes. His ear twitched slightly as if he were some equine trying to catch the bard's words, and with an obedient sigh he nodded. "You are right." He said softly with a gentle sigh. Looking down at the earth, Remi steeled himself silently for a moment, feeling the cold prickling of tears at the back of his eyes. With a wave of his hand the grave was uncovered and the creature born into the light again. REMI How do you steal what you really want When what you really want is free?

"Do you speak for her so freely now?" Jigano asked softly, expression smoothing into a calm neutrality as he considered the boy anew. He had allowed himself to be taken in by the shapeshifter's inherent emotional vulnerability, but Remi was not without arrogance of his own. He simply hid it better... or perhaps, like a spoiled child, was used to getting his way when he gave someone that kicked-puppy gaze.

"I would," the bard said, just as quietly - and without hesitation. "Being a lorekeeper...  an oracle of lore... means finding new knowledge and truths, no matter how hard they are to bear. But..." he hesitated, and then sighed. "You are also right. It isn't fair of me to ask it of you. I am sorry, Remi, I didn't think--"

But the boy was already shifting the earth back, and Jigano did not miss the betraying shine in his eyes. He hated how his heart clenched at the sight - or rather, feared it. But the fear didn't stop him from stepping forward to block Remi's view of the beast. "I would appreciate it if you would stand watch at the next junction," he said gently, pushing his cloak back to free his arms and welcoming the chill air as it helped to calm and center him. "In case there are any more, or if they hunt in packs. You don't need to see this part, if you don't want to."

"She is one of my very best friends." Remi replied, his pale and slightly shaken-gaze scanning Jigano's expression which had smoothed out entirely. There was no touch of malice that he could see, no challenge in his voice, and yet Remi felt as on the defensive as he ever had around the upper classes back home. Lowering his gaze as Jigano spoke again, flinching slightly at the immediacy of his words, Remi nodded. He knew nothing of the bard, Remi realized. Not really. Perhaps he had never been in love, or even if he had, perhaps it was true that he would put his duties before his feelings and afflictions. This was not Remi's duty, not as a humble alchemist anyways, but once upon a time he likely would have said that he'd do the same. And then Loren had come along and...well. Whoever Remi had been then had been ruined in a way that only love can ruin. Eyes still lowered—though he could see one of Loren's the creature's hands in the earth—the alchemist nodded. He wasn't sure if this was a way of simply forcing Remi away, or if it was an out that Jigano was providing, but Remi agreed. Walking the 10ft or so towards the next intersection, the alchemist took a shuddering breath and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Please, if any are listening— Once again Jigano would feel Remi's mental voice invade his thoughts, but standing at the end of the juncture, the alchemist's head was still bowed slightly, his shoulders slumped in defeat. From overhead there came a cry as a large eagle dove to circle lower. Looking upwards Remi bit down on the dry sob in his throat, an smiled up at the creature. Opening the telepathic link—one that Jigano would have access to, should he decide to feel up the mental tether—he, as well as the eagle would have a clear insight into his mind. It was one of the things many shape-changers back in Northaven struggled with, this ability to share minds but keep secrets concealed. Remi's sexuality was his only secret back home, and now without it, his mind was as open a book as any. The pureness of a first real love, and the surrounding cloud of anguish that came with feeling as though he had been used and lied to. The gentle and sweeping optimism, the inclination to trust, the desire to be useful and helpful. Please Remi whispered, his thickly accented voice almost not understandable, but with the emotional chords raising from his mind the meaning was clear enough. Will you use your eyes to look? I cannot bear to see it again...I would not ask you to fight it, only to warn. Even though he spoke to a simple eagle, Remi's tone held the reverence and respect as if it were to a king. With a piercing cry, the eagle sent back a flurry of mental agreement, gliding lower and sweeping the top of the maze. REMI How do you steal what you really want When what you really want is free?

Remi kept his gaze down, subdued and unhappy, and Jigano suppressed the urge to sigh. The fight would have been upsetting enough on its own, but that the shapechanger had chosen the boy's lost love... Frustrated as he was by the emotional outburst, he could understand it when he stopped to think. Remi had said he didn't love the man anymore, but that didn't mean he had lost all feelings for him.

The bard watched the young man walk away before turning to his own unpleasant task. He had just knelt to examine a talon when the echo of a mental voice violated his mind. He flinched, gritting his teeth against the unwelcome intimacy, the intrusion he could no longer keep out. He couldn't help but look back at the eagle's cry, sucking in a breath of wonder at the beautiful creature but... Resolutely he turned his eyes away, the moment tainted by Remi's thoughts forcing their way into his head. He focused down on the beast instead, humming a complicated dirge under his breath to keep his mind closed as best he could.

Carefully, deft fingers reached out to probe the base of each claw on the outflung hand, checking for sacs of poison or venom, or a hollow tip in the talon itself. He moved his examination to the mouth of the beast next, again checking for a means to deliver poison to a victim. Along the way he pulled his notebook out, flipping a few pages forward to write his notes, including a rough sketch of how the different 'parts' of the creature fit together - human corpse and feline traits and the spidery, almost lizard-like patches that he presumed were its base characteristics.

Finally he gently turned its mishapen head away, so it would be hidden from where Remi stood. He scrubbed his hands clean with snow and stood, dusting dirt and snow from his knees. He walked to where Remi waited, keeping watch with his eagle-eyes. "Thank you," he said quietly. "Do you want to bury it again? Or... do you just want to keep moving?" He glanced up, seeking sight of the eagle from earlier. "Your friend... is he a companion, like Edy's bobcat?"

The eagle glided overhead, and as it did so it informed the alchemist below that save for the squirrels that lorded about in abundance, there was no immediate danger that it could see. An incoming cold front was moving in though and it did not want to remain in the open. Thank you. Remi called as the creature dove towards him. Fanning its extravagant wings, the alchemist lifted an arm for it to land on. It was quite heavy compared to Remi's own avian weight and the alchemist found himself tightening the muscles of his shoulder and arm to compensate. It was lucky that he wore such thick deerskin, or the eagle's talons would surely have made ribbons of what he wore beneath. Reaching into his pocket, he fished out a large piece of jerky and offered it to the bird. With a quick snap of its beak the meat was gone. Lowering his arm and thrusting upwards, he propelled the bird back into the sky where it gave a piercing cry of appreciation. Turning around as Jigano approached, Remi's face was slightly splotchy with emotion, but his eyes had lost that frightened animal quality. Glancing over the man's shoulder, the alchemist nodded. Without moving his arm this time, the earth rose to mold itself around the creature once more. "Ah..No. Not like that. As I understand it companions share a continuous sort of mental link. This is only when I open my mind to it, as I can with the other attuned." Then, remembering that Jigano would not know what he spoke about, Remi offered him a quick and apologetic smile as he clarified. "The attuned share an interesting telepathy. Or at least, we used to. In Northaven we all had it. Here it seems only some of us do. I can even now speak with other attuned when I am not in my animal form, which I never used to be able to. And now it seems certain creatures will answer as well. I have only really tried with birds given the bond we already share." REMI How do you steal what you really want When what you really want is free?

Jigano's brow rose a bit at hearing that companions shared a mental link. That would certainly explain the sense of awareness he had of the little life inside the glacial egg he'd been given, and it was good to have Edy's words confirmed. He started walking again, listening closely to Remi, his attention split between the maze, their squirrel guides, and the information he was finally learning from a credible source.

Even if that source had a frustrating tendency to shove his way into Jigano's thoughts without permission.

"You share this telepathy... whether you want to or not?" he asked cautiously, thoughts tumbling. So far, Remi had been the only voice he'd ever heard in his mind, but surely there were other Attuned around. "And what if you don't feel like sharing your thoughts with others? It seems a difficult way to maintain your privacy. Do you have a way to keep the thoughts of others-- out?" He gave a little shake of his head, a smile twitching at his lips. "The ability to speak to other animals, though, sounds wondrous indeed. That, I admit to envying."

He marked another turn on his little map, trailing the twine on the snow behind them. Flipping between the pages he nibbled his lip, then peered ahead. "I think... we're over halfway there. Depending on how many other twists and turns there are yet." And how many boggarts. Not discounting those anymore.

"Sort of.." Remi sighed, a complicated sort of look on his face as if he were being asked to explain why it was he laughed at certain things, or how reflexes worked. It had been a part of him for so long that parsing it seemed like a strangely impossible task. He would try of course, though he doubted his own ability to do so successfully. "It is like...a beam of light, maybe. At least, thinking of it that way does not strike me as immediately wrong. I can shine it out in a wide arc, or a homed beam. But it is not one way, at least in my experience. When it connects two minds it becomes...ah...almost tangible. You can sort of sift your mind up and through it, into the mind of who you are connected to." The question of privacy was of course a reasonable one, and the alchemist nodded dutifully at this line of questioning. "There was a friend of mine, our old Overseer named Koel." The thought of the eagle and how quick he was to raise his mental defenses anytime the pair flew together made the corners of Remi's mouth twitch. "He was quite good at only letting speech pass through the bond. It just takes practice I suppose, to keep certain things blocked off. I..." Pausing again to worry at his lip slightly, Remi seemed to be deciding something before shrugging off whatever conflict had temporarily arisen. "In Northaven, given the importance of procreation, homosexuality was not permitted in any form. That was really the only thing I kept protected." Remi admitted, glancing sideways at the bard slightly before adjusting his gaze back to the path before them. "I have always found it easier to simply allow my mind and my emotions to be seen. I have never been the best with words, and often my accent does not help with clarity." So saying, Remi grinned wryly, lips going crooked for a moment as he seemed to smile inwardly. Glancing up, Remi nodded. "I would offer to fly above and look, but there is no guarantee that the path I see will be the one we end up walking if indeed the hedges decide to be difficult." Before they'd been so horribly interrupted, Samuel had been the topic of conversation. Though Remi did not think of Jigano as a friend at this point, he certainly seemed clever enough and the way he spoke of Sam seemed to indicate some sort of affection. "Jigano, do you mind if I ask you a question about Sam?" REMI How do you steal what you really want When what you really want is free?

He had asked his questions and now he listened, intently absorbing Remi's explanation, even when it didn't make much sense. A beam of light? But the way two minds connected sent a reflexive shiver through the lorekeeper as they crunched over the snow beside each other. He was neither so innocent nor so trusting as Remi, and not all the secrets he kept were his own. To give anyone else access to them... was terrifying. Practice might be the answer, but with whom could he do so? Who did he trust so deeply? He knew so few other Attuned... Remi, really, was the only one he knew of for certain. And the boy's habit of shoving his thoughts around did not inspire trust of the level Jigano needed.

He glanced over when the flow of words paused, wondering what would come next, but it was Remi who looked uncertain, and when he continued Jigano understood why. It was a strange thought, the idea of someone trying to govern sexuality. Forced procreation was something downright dystopian, and given what he had seen and experienced that was not a word he used lightly.

"I am sorry to hear that your world was so cruel," he said, uncertain how to handle such an unexpected revelation. "I had never considered before... There were no such laws in my land, certainly not among commoners. I suppose some nobility generally had arranged marriages and so didn't have much choice but..." he shrugged. "My land did not have, ah, an overabundance of such." His land had been cold, and harsh, and fierce in many ways, but his town had been spared much of the League's influence thanks to the revenue the Torch brought in. "We had a Sovereign who lived far away from where I grew up, and so long as we paid our taxes we were left... alone." He trailed off, jaw tightening at memories of fire and blood and death raining down from the sky. But he shook off the moment, offering Remi a wan smile. "At least, when I was growing up. But Sam... yes? I won't know if I mind or not until I hear what you're asking," he pointed out, a little of his dry humor returning.

With a thoughtful glance, Remi considered the word. Cruel? He'd actually never thought of it as such. It had simply been a way of life, one that he more or less understood the reasoning behind. It was one of the reasons why he'd initially struggled so much with his friendship with Loren. He'd felt attracted to the Launceleyn immediately and had wanted to try and distance himself as completely as he could from any situations that might make it challenging for him to restrain his cravings. His unwillingness to do what society had told him was wrong had almost lost him the Launceleyn, and indeed even know he could hear Loren's voice telling him how simple it all was, and not understanding why Remi didn't view it that way. But cruel? If that was cruel then a good deal of Remi's life had been cruel, but the alchemist simply did not see it that way. Listening, the alchemist was surprised to hear Jigano divulge so much information about his past. It wasn't terribly intimate or anything, but so far the bard had played most of his history close to the chest as it were. "I cannot even imagine what that would be like." Remi muttered idly with a light shrug. "Northaven was quite small." He added dismissively, crinkling his nose slightly. Giving Jigano an equally dry stare that quickly cracked into a grin, Remi hummed thoughtfully under his breath for a moment as he considered. "Sam once mentioned to me that he wanted to be normal. But...out of all of the ascended traits he possesses, it was really only touch and a certain sort of...physical sensitivity that really seemed to be what he missed or felt as though he lacked." Furrowing his brow and sucking in on his bottom lip, Remi fell silent for a moment as the gears in his mind rapidly turned. "I did not want to necessarily ask him this, for I would not want to get his hopes up. But...there is obviously a certain ignorance that comes from wanting something without truly knowing what it might do once you have it. I assume there is a reason that the ascended cannot feel any longer, though none that I have spoken to seem to know what it is." Running a hand through his curls, he glanced towards Jigano in earnest now, pale eyes boyishly bright with optimism and tentative hope. "But if...if it could be done, do you think he would wish it for himself?" REMI How do you steal what you really want When what you really want is free?

He was trying to bridge the gap between himself and the pup. He really was. For the sake of their mutual friends, he told himself, but perhaps a little for the wounded young man as well. But he didn’t know what Remi wanted – from him, or from the world at large. He gave a gift of knowledge, information that he would have tucked eagerly away, and pursued further had it been offered to him but—

The shrug, the dismissive tone that discarded anything not of Northaven, was as surprising – and nearly as painful – as if he’d been slapped. He felt his heart beat once, hard, against his ribs, shock at being dismissed so casually catching him nearly breathless. He had given Remi a part of his past that no one in all of Caido had heard and the boy… couldn’t care less. Not about him, much less the past that had formed him. It wasn’t – shouldn’t have been – a surprise. Not really. There was a reason he’d been trying not to let the young man grow on him. He was, he thought through the chill that settled over his heart after the brief flare of hurt, not so much a person to Remi, after all. Perhaps no one not from Northaven was. They were just warm bodies for the alchemist to use as props – people he could help, not so much out of the goodness of his heart as a desperate desire to be needed. Wanted. Useful. They didn’t matter so much as individuals, really, so long as they gave him a chance to be a hero in some way, small or large.

Oh, Sam…

Jigano smiled automatically in response to Remi’s grin, courtesy ingrained even as his thoughts spun into shadow. He didn’t quite catch up with what the alchemist was saying until he paused again, and the bard blinked to try and banish the odd feeling of another scratch on his piecemeal heart scabbing over and closing itself off to try and protect what remained. ”There is always a price for power,” he murmured with a slight shrug of his shoulders as they turned another corner. The snow was growing thinner, he thought, as if the closer they came to the center, the more the hedges had protected the paths between them.

He glanced over to Remi and caught his gaze, seeing behind the optimism less the desire to genuinely help a friend, so much as to be able to see himself as a hero to someone, whether that help was particularly well thought-out or not. The bard found a smile, a little sad, and shrugged in response. ”False hope or no, Remi, I cannot and will not presume to speak for him. Something so important, so intimate… he would have to make that decision for himself. Whether or not he would grasp the potential consequences, or even consider them…” The bard shook his head. ”If he could unAscend entirely, is perhaps the question you should be asking him instead.”

For how knowledgeable Jigano seemed and how wise his words had been in the past, Remi found his response entirely lacking. Too focused on his thoughts and hopes for Sam, Remi missed whatever icy shadow might have stiffened the bard's face; though with Jigano's practiced mask honed presumably from years of experience, even were he to have looked he likely wouldn't have seen nothing at all. Raising a brow, Remi heard a similar tone as the one Jigano had taken when Remi said he did not think Isla would mind having left the sample given the circumstances. Silently the alchemist wondered if Jigano had found himself improperly spoken for once and now refused to ever do the same. Still, given the hypothetical nature of this situation and that Jigano's thoughts on the matter were precisely what he was after, Remi felt a shaky surge of disappointment. Thus far given their interactions in the library-fiasco, Jigano seemed to be the one Sam was closest to. Indeed, he'd hidden behind the man (then woman), a number of times, rather than coming to Remi who he had recently been intimate with and was dressed as a veritable knight. Rarely did Remi make those sorts of assumptions, but given the evidence it seemed safe. Mumbling a tone of agreement, Remi tried to exhale his held breath as steadily as possible, despite wanting to sigh it out in a great lurch. "But that I cannot do that for him. To unAscend him, I mean. But the former ... " Remi's voice dropped low. Hesitant. Worried. "I might. But I would not get his hopes up. And..." Twitching his lips, Remi's heart was racked by the complicated non-relationship he'd formed with the red-headed man, still unsure precisely on what trajectory they found themselves on, if any at all. "..well. I would not want to let him know that it was I who suggested anything. Or...was facilitating it." Remi said, his words feeling awkward in his mouth. Offering Jigano a rather apologetic glance, his cheeks tingling with heat despite the cold, Remi turned a sad gaze towards the ground. He did not particularly want to elaborate on his reasons, assuming that Sam would be mortified if anyone knew what had transpired in the cave. Though Remi couldn't have known that in fact Jigano was already aware, he had hoped from at least some guidance from the bard. But not wanting to speak on someone else's behalf was a sentiment Remi could understand, and so despite the weighty sadness he felt at having his road appear no clearer, Remi forced a smile onto his lips as he nodded agreeably towards the bard. "I understand." He said as easily as he could, before training his eyes on the pathway ahead. REMI How do you steal what you really want When what you really want is free?

That caught the bard's attention, however morose his wandering thoughts had become. He arched a brow as he continued the rough sketch of the maze, before pausing to close the book on his pencil and give Remi his full attention. "How could you return an Ascended's sense of touch?" he asked curiously, blue eyes intent. "And... would it work for more than just Sam?"

He tried to quash the little spark of hope in his own chest, firmly reminding himself that they couldn't have been the first to consider something like that. Surely others had tried before? But... as resigned as so many naturals seemed to be... what if they hadn't? If they'd just accepted it 'as the way things were' once they Ascended? He'd run into some odd blindspots with them in the past, and this very well could be one of them.

Jigano took a deep breath to calm himself, turning back to the path and considering his words. "Please," he said at last, "I would be grateful if you could tell me what you had discovered. And I promise not to tell him what you have found, unless and until you choose to tell him yourself."

Still not wanting to overstate his abilities, Remi nibbled his lip for a moment as Jigano's striking blue stare was leveled on him in his entirety. "I never had magic before coming here. " Remi began, voice hesitant and almost shy. Again that feeling of being an impostor in the library licked against the back of his skull. He was a commoner and a shapeshifter. He had no business with magic, and everytime he used or spoke of it, he expected someone to finally take notice and snatch it away. "I do not how it works fully yet...Once when I was trying to work on an item it...ah. Well it became alive. It turned in to a lobster, actually." Remi added with a frown. "Since then however it seems I can create...well, magical devices. A numbing balm for Isla which never will empty. A sword for Kalt that can cut through almost any obstacle and shrinks back into a bracelet when not in use... " Twitching his lips again, Remi bit the inside of his cheek hesitantly. "I do not mean to imply Sam is a machine in the sense that he is not human, but when Isla described to me her ascension...well it certainly sounds mechanical. I wondered if I could not...if I could create some sort of patch that would allow his skin to feel again." Glancing towards the bard, Remi's pale stare wafted over his face, trying to read what he might be thinking of all of this. Foolish? Naive? Stupid? All of the above? REMI How do you steal what you really want When what you really want is free?

Jigano waited for Remi to speak, the admission of not having magic before arriving on Caido a sharp reminder of how the bard had lost his magic, but he pushed it down again. It was a loss he regretted, but was learning to accept in exchange for a chance to start over... except Ludo... no. Not now.

Not when the alchemist was saying such curious things. "A... lobster?" he repeated, utterly bemused and a bit bewildered. "Now there's a story I'd love to hear..." He'd seen one living thing turned into another on his world - usually enemies that Oni had turned into squirrels or newts - but never something inanimate turned into an animal. As if he'd needed further proof at how bizarre Caido could be! Considering what they'd just been attacked by... He suppressed a shiver, instead making a few notes in the margins of his map about what Remi had created. "All useful," he agreed. "That sounds like an amazing ability indeed but...? He waited curiously through the young mage's hesitation, trying to figure out where he was going.

He frowned at the implication - or rather, hurried reassurance - that Sam shared characteristics of a machine, but at the mention of Isla's Ascension he nodded slowly. What she had told him had created some interesting parallels with the androids in the Silvermount. Though, those had lacked emotions which Isla and Sam both had, as human as any other, and had very much not been drinkers of blood - or anything else.

Rather than respond immediately, Jigano took his time to think, chewing his lip as he split his attention between the maze and the puzzle Remi had posed. "What... sort of patch?" he asked slowly at last. The difficulty was in imagining what it would look like and how it would attach. Interface? Though despite being told that his Ascended friends lacked blood and relied on a mysterious 'fluid,' and that Isla's sight had been replaced - upgraded? - by the Voice he'd seen no sign of wires or gears or any of the things he associated with machines.