half-baked dreams

all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

"See? That's more like it." Remi agrees. But even as he breathes in the smell of his husband, his mind threatens to shatter the illusion. There's a voice in the back of his mind reminding him that this is all for show, that the two are thousands of miles away from one another, and that he smells and feels is pure fantasy.

"To be fair, I'm at the point where anyone with blue eyes reminds me of you." Or windswept hair. Or thick eyebrows. Or just about anything, really. Grumbling a sound of agreement when it came to Finn, the alchemist still insulted and wounded by their last meeting, he raises a brow as he pulls back slightly. There's an argument on his lips—the gods wanted us here, I don't think it's up for debate—but he leaves it unsaid. Everything else is fantasy just now, why spoil it?

"Oh would you now? Last I remember it was me who put you through your paces." The alchemist grins, cheeks flushing at the memory. "I'm not sure what you could do to top that." HIs smile suggests he'd be more than happy to be proved wrong.

THE

ALCHEMIST

RONIN

the dark star

"Hey, I can relate. I spotted someone with a glass of red wine the other day, and I had the weirdest urge to dunk a sandwich into it," Ronin murmurs warmly. He has no such traitorous thoughts from his mind, happy to drown in the illusion if it provides him with the comfort he so desperately craves. Smiling boyishly down at Remi as he pulls away, Ronin can only shrug. "I know, I know," he says, his expression easy to read. "I'm not suggesting forever. I know what we were told. It just feels a bit... unproductive, to put you in charge of something you've got no experience with?"

Good job, gods. "If I'm told no, then..." He shrugs. "I tried, right?" At least then he could stop hoping it might happen, painful as that would be. Still, Ronin is suitably distracted as he's reminded of the last time Remi put him through his paces, and he cackles and gives his husband a nudge. "I've got some ideas," he mumbles with a wink, before glancing past Remi with eyes that suddenly widen.

"Don't eat that," he tells Mateo, who has been about to stuff both flower and bug into his mouth, Ronin sweeping over to scoop him up and raise his eyebrows at Remi. "Have you been teaching him to eat bugs?"

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

Remi grins broadly at that, suddenly imagining Ronin swanning over and doing just what he'd said. And honestly? He'd probably get away with it too. "Maybe you should speak with Safrin." The alchemist suggests, trying not to let his frown become too evident. "You can already be in two places at once, and if it's for the greater good and all that..why not really be in two places at once." The Greatwood wasn't the only thing woefully lacking in bodies. When it came to demigods, there weren't that many of them.

Spinning around as Ronin scoops their son from the ground, Remi playfully crosses his arms over his chest and shoots his husband an amused look. "I haven't had to teach him anything. He came by it naturally." Being raised by a fox and a manticore was going to have some side effects. "Besides, it's good protein. So he can grow up big and strong like his fathers." Remi adds in a sing-song voice, leaning down to press his nose against Mateo's as he's cradled in Ronin's arms.

THE

ALCHEMIST

RONIN

the dark star

"Mm... my projection doesn't carry that far. Not between Stormbreak and the Greatwood, or else I'd... yeah." Or else he'd be here all the time, always and forever. Duh. With a gentle nod, he resigns himself to speaking with the goddess, allowing that train of thought to leave off for a moment as he's distracted instead by Mateo chomping on insects.

Staring incredulously at Remi as he swoops over to nuzzle at their (frankly delighted) son, looking for all the world an unimpressed baron, the Star snuggles Mateo close like he can protect him from being as gross and wonderful as Remi. "Does he even have any teeth?" he wonders, bouncing the child gently in his arms.

"Hey," he says suddenly. "Since we're here and this perimeter is a no-go, do you want to show me what you've come up with so far? For the stronghold, I mean?"

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

'Hence the speaking to Safrin part.' Remi supplies, unhelpfully running his teeth along Ronin's collarbone.

As Mateo cackles and reaches to pull at Remi's curls, the alchemist tries to look up despite their son's attempts to keep him grappled. "Stick your fingers in and find out yourself." Remi replies with a smirk. The answer was no, Mateo didn't have teeth. Not yet, though given how he'd taken to squawking and chewing on things, Remi figured he was close. 'Birds don't have teeth, and they eat bugs just fine." He adds with a bright and sunny smile, clearing trying to get a rise out of his husband.

"Oh..well.." Straightening, Remi rubs sheepishly at the back of his neck. "I...suppose..no? Seeing as I don't have anything to show. I...had sort of thought putting up some sort of magical barrier would be good enough. Frankly, I'm not even sure what a stronghold even is. It isn't as though we can build walls and things, not with how dense the forest is."

THE

ALCHEMIST

RONIN

the dark star

"...Yeah. That... yeah." Ronin almost purrs out the words as teeth run deliciously over his collarbones, the Star shivering and elbowing his husband playfully. It's situations like this that make him keen to be dumb and wrong all the time - which quite honestly explains a lot. "Oh yeah? Maybe I will," he says of their son and his tiny gnashers, tickling Mateo under the chin and spending a couple of moments simply enjoying him.

Then Remi ruins it by a) suggesting that their baby will just swallow bugs whole and b) that he has even less of an idea about what he's doing than previously thought. "...What?" All of a sudden the Greatwood bleeds away - around them is a room that's more accurately described as a bunk, with a desk, a chest for storage, a bed - small and basic amenities, put simply. The window is open, and beyond it lies the training grounds where Ronin spends his everyday lately.

"Pull up a chair," Ronin invites, nodding to the desk and setting Mateo down in a crib that has suddenly popped up in the corner of the room. "Did you ever visit the outpost, in Northaven? Beyond the Wall?" he asks. "That's a close approximation."

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

As the world shifts and darkens around them, Remi frowns deeply. Mateo too seems unhappy at this change, and he pounds his tiny fists against Ronin's chest that he might be compensated with more attention and fuss.

Glancing around the room and very much wanting to demolish it with his mind, the alchemist swallows hard and does as he's told, suddenly feeling extremely petulant about being in such a drab space. "No, I never did." Remi replies, pulling up a chair and flopping himself into it. "I nearly flew over the wall once, before Koel stopped me. It was a good thing he did, as apparently I'd have been shot down." It was worlds away now, and yet Remi felt every bit as uncertain and woefully ignorant as he had his first few days in Northaven.

THE

ALCHEMIST

RONIN

the dark star

Ronin, as it turns out, is a particularly soft touch when it comes to his husband and his son, something created by his own absence in their lives. So as if on command, he scoops Mateo back into his arms and moves to sit with Remi with the baby tucked close. Flowers and vines crawl along the walls of the drab little space, appearing as if they've been painted there by Ronin's own hand, bright and cheerful and alive.

Hearing the other man out, Ronin nods without judgement, and with a pulse of only willpower, he conjures a large sheet of paper on the desk. It tilts up to face them of its own accord, and a pencil pops into existence nearby. Handy things, dreams. The chairs beneath them expand and morph into something more resembling a loveseat, so he can slip his arm around the Lullaby while they brainstorm.

"Alright, so a stronghold is like a fortress, but it doesn't necessarily have to look like that. It's a place where you can resupply, hole up if you need to. It's a place you can defend from. Halo's Citadel is a huge version of a stronghold, if you like. It's a safe place for troops to hide out, and it's difficult for an enemy to break in." As he speaks, Ronin is sketching (doodling, really) trees and greenery to represent the Greatwood. There's also a little stick-man Remi with wings and a grumpy face. So sue him.

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

Remi smiles and exhales a sigh of relief as greenery and colour bloom back into the little space. It might not be what Ronin's reality is, but gods if he isn't' thankful that his husband won't make him endure it. Moving his legs to tuck them on the footrests of Ronin's own chair that they might be closer together, this quickly proves unnecessary as the chairs redecorate themselves into something much more comfortable. 'Why captain," Remi all but purrs, waggling his eyebrows as if all this is going to go the way of a bad porno set-up.

Listening and leaning against Ronin as he explains, Remi nods. "Oh I see...so one day it might actually be a place used by the dragoons, then? If something were to start here, this would be a place you all could use as a jumping-off point, to get to the Grounds?" Alright, so that made more sense, then.

Snagging the pencil from Ronin and not bothering to correct the scowl on his face (he usually was scowling when Ronin wasn't around these days), Remi adds his own sketches: supply caches hidden in trees, and even certain brambles and rocks that could actually lead to underground hideouts and things of that nature. 'Mmm?'

THE

ALCHEMIST

RONIN

the dark star

With his son snuggled in one arm and the other tucked around his husband, Ronin is suddenly the definition of content, and he busies himself in kissing the other man's cheek and nibbling annoyingly at his ear even as the levitating pencil continues it's business. "Oooh, careful now. I don't know what rank I hold in the Dragoons just yet," he whispers with a grin. He lets the pencil go without a fuss, conjuring another (this one is a dark blue colour, for contrast) and watching the sketches Remi adds.

"Yes, that's my understanding of it," he says with a nod. "Where I am, there's no... stronghold, if you like. The city is the city. The assets are the Dragoons themselves. I'm there to prepare them, I think, for deployment to somewhere like the place you're setting up." Of course, that's easier done when Ronin is used to being a soldier again himself - hence his current state of affairs.

Watching the additions as they come to life, Ronin's pencil adds further flourishes - small hide-outs in the trees themselves, rope ladders to connect them and other such things. "Mm, you've got it," he says with a smile, giving him a gentle squeeze. "All these years putting up with me have made you a soldier after all."

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

"Well I better get myself some favours now, before you're promoted." Remi purrs this as if it's a dirty word, tilting his chin up to give his husband easier access to anything else he might want to bite or kiss in the process.

"Ahh." Remi bites at the inside of his lip and nods while the pieces mentally fall into place. "I suppose I thought I was going to build this fortress for...ghosts, I guess." This is only partially a joke, given all the spirits in the Greatwood. But until now, he truly didn't understand how his and Ronin's efforts were going to be coordianted.

'And you've all dragons?' Remi wonders, recalling something about the dragoons being accepted-only dragon-bonded soldiers. "How dare you." He huffs, insulted. Nudging Ronin (though not hard enough to disturb Mateo), Remi hrrmphs under his breath. "I've just gotten good at hiding things." He adds with a dark twist to his lips. His sexuality. Murdered bodies.

THE

ALCHEMIST

RONIN

the dark star

"Oh, I don't know. Handsome face like yours - you might find yourself with plenty of favours regardless of how many promotions I find myself with," Ronin murmurs, chuckling and kissing the space just behind Remi's ear, the arm curled around him drawing him a little closer, like they're on a date and the Star is being bold enough to try his luck. All for show right now of course, what with their son snuggled close in his other arm.

Grinning, he glances back to the sketch and adds a few spooky ghosts in white sheets for good measure. "That's a clever idea, especially given how the Greatwood is anyway. I wonder if you could take advantage of the way it turns people about. Maybe you should talk to the Mathair, see if it's still... there. Around the portal, I mean." The tree is supposed to be a goddess in her own right, after all.

Nodding to confirm that yes, they all have dragons, Ronin stifles another smile. "Sugar is enjoying asserting her dominance, put it that way," he says, before turning back to the Lullaby. "Hide whatever you like, as long as it's not from me," he says, leaning in to kiss away the darkness in his expression.

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first

all this time i was finding myself & i didn't know? i was lost

"Oooh I'll have to keep that in mind. I hear favours are pretty valuable where you are." There's something incredibly funny and also weirdly upsetting about the thought of Remi being able to trade favours from Ronin to someone else.

"Well, the tree is certainly there. I'm not sure that it's alive anymore." He'd have to check, actually. 'All of this is sounding like more and more of something I"ll need Frey's help with.' Remi points out with a sigh, swiping a hand across his eyes. "But at least they've split, and I can just deal with the nature one. I'm not sure I could take a curse from the sex one right now." The last thing Remi needed was a perpetual boner with Ronin not around, or some absurd orgasm quest, again, with Ronin not around.

"Oh I bet she is." The alchemist agrees with a bright laugh. Just as his expression is about to sour, because indeed there is a very large something Remi is hiding from Ronin and likely always will be, its kissed away and suddenly the world is right again. "I think I might just be able to stay in a place like this, with this kind of treatment." He hums happily, sinking into the couch and sliding himself bonelessly against Ronin.

THE

ALCHEMIST

RONIN

the dark star

"Mm, very valuable. Most people have to earn them from me though. I'll just give you favours whenever you like." What can he say? Remi is just that special. Now that they're finished sketching out the imaginary stronghold, the paper folds itself into a little aeroplane, whizzing around the room only to soar out of the window and away. In its absence, the painted details continue to brighten up the little space, until Ronin releases his hold on the dream entirely and lets it melt back to the Greatwood.

Except for the loveseat, of course. That stays. "I've heard no complaints about the nature side of Frey," he says slowly, giving Remi another reassuring little kiss before relaxing back with him, his fingers stroking along the other man's arm. "Oh, is that so? I wonder what you'll think when I really decide to pull out all the stops," he says with a laugh, his head tilting to rest against the Lullaby's. "Thank you," he says softly, suddenly. "I don't feel nearly as alone with you both here."

i'll get over it
i just gotta be dramatic first