the little prince

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

Sucking in his cheek to try and make it harder for her fingers to find purchase (it doesn't work), the alchemist does indeed begin to protest. Quickly silenced by a pebble-blue stare and Isla's surprisingly strong (though perhaps not for an ascended) hands on his shoulders, Remi huffs a breath of defiance before plopping down onto the bed.

Isla's scans will reveal any number of poorly healing wounds, from ribs that still have small hairline fractures in them, to a broken toe that has been completely ignored. "Likely, yes." Remi replies, trying to keep absolutely still as if Isla's gaze is something that might not work if he moves too much. He sits stiffly as she examines him, feeling fully like a burden. "I might be Ludo's demigod but...it always seems risky to visit it." He explains. "I think the others are far more cherished by their gods than I ever would be." Which was just to say that out of all of them, the Lullaby was likely the most dispensable.

Isla

Isla manages to conduct her exam with a babe in her arms, rocking Mateo gently as she hmms and scrutinises, poking Remi here and there with much less of an impressed look on her face. There's no cooing or exclamations of perfect, only raised brows and the knowledge that they both know he hasn't been taking care of himself. "You have a son," she reminds him, "and a husband who loves you. So you should stay in ship-shape for them, if not for yourself."

The smile finally comes then, and she glances around to see if there's somewhere she might put Mateo for the time being. "If you think there's anywhere safe to let him nap, I'll take care of the obvious stuff for you now. But only if you promise not to come back with more injuries."

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

"I am in shape." The alchemist points out unhelpfully. A few broken or cracked bones and scars which just wouldn't heal didn't change that. It wasn't what Isla meant, and given that she wasn't Ronin, Remi realized he probably shouldn't just say the first things that came to his mind. Sighing apologetically and nodding, he glances up as she mentions finding a place Mateo would sleep.

"Honestly, having been around Ianto, that boy will sleep anywhere there's a patch of sunlight." The mention of not returning with more injuries just has Remi smiling rather crookedly at the medic. "Well, that's a rather cryptic way of saying you never want to see me again." He says with a chuckle. Reaching out for Mateo (finding sunlight being a task probably better suited to someone who can easily endure it), Remi reaches for a blanket he can use as bedding. "I think I saw windows in one of the rooms we passed on the way here." Large stained glass ones from the Temple, if he recalled correctly.

Isla

"Remi, being in a shape isn't the same as being in good shape. Or healthy. Or..." She waves a hand at him in general as if to explain the things she's just seen in him. Still, she can't help but grin as he speaks of Mateo, and she accepts the blanket to bundle him up, before nodding for her to follow him. "Regular wild child, your son," she remarks. "The Temple isn't the warmest, but I imagine we can find a snug alcove under a window for him to snooze."

And then you're all mine, she wants to say, but even the words are enough to make her want to snort with laughter, so she refrains. "It is absolutely not me saying I never want to see you again. That is a cryptic way of you saying you never want to see me again," she informs him breezily, her voice taking on a soft echo as they move into the temple proper. "You're the expert - which window looks to his taste?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

'Well, now you're just being picky." The alchemist playfully complains. "Besides. I'm functionally immortal now. Maybe I should have led with that." This being a doctor's visit and all. It partially explains why he's rather careless with his health. "The two of you are among the few things that can kill me, so.." He shrugs softly, following her into the Temple proper.

"Is not." The alchemist protests with a huff. "I just mean..since coming here, I almost never don't have some sort of injury. Comes with the territory." Whether that territory is being a demigod, being married to Ronin, living in the Greatwood, or being Remi, isn't clear.

"That one." The alchemist murmurs instantly, nodding toward a midnight blue pane of glass with a bright white star in the middle.

Isla

"I am a medic, and it is my prerogative to be pick-- you are what?" Isla blinks at Remi, managing to look quite adorably gobsmacked as they head into the Temple. Functionally immortal is definitely something he ought to have mentioned, mainly because he must know how interesting that will be to her. If it weren't for the boy in her arms, Isla might have smacked him. "Well," she says in a huff instead. "That's still no excuse not to look after yourself. And what does that mean, exactly? I doubt I could kill you even if I tried." She scoffs.

Her expression softens at the sight of the window with the star in it, the Ascended nodding and moving over to settle Mateo in the midnight glow in his blankets. "Will he be alright here?" she asks, trusting Remi if he thinks it best to leave the boy. In the Greatwood, she imagines he's fallen asleep in a lot worse places.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

Remi grins, knowing that Mateo is currently all that's keeping him from experiencing the dissatisfaction behind Isla's stare. "It means the only people who can kill me are ones that I love, and who love me. There aren't many who fit that criteria." As for whether or not Isla could kill him? Something dark coils and awakens deep in his belly at the thought of it. Ruffling a hand through his curls, Remi exhales a touch more sharply than he'd intended and shrug. "In a fight, probably not. But any other time I'm not sure I'd ever see it coming."

It feels him with a delicious sense of dread that instantly makes him feel guilty. Remi doesn't want to die of course, but powerful as he is, there are so few things that make him feel afraid these days, that the tingle of adrenaline in the balls of his feet is a rarity that his predatory nature is keen to destroy.

"I think so. But, just to be safe—" Remi thinks of some of the more obnoxious bells that line the wishing wagon, and like magic (because it is), they appear in his hands. Placing them softly around the boy that the Lullaby and medic might be alerted if he moves (or is moved), Remi turns and nods.

Isla

It stuns her, put simply, as Remi explains the nature of his immortality, and she ponders over it whilst she settles Mateo in his makeshift bed surrounded by bells and stained glass. Only once her hands are free and the boy is content does she step back, turning to wrap her arms around the alchemist in a firm hug. "You would never see it coming because it would never happen," she tells him gently, stepping back to smile up at him.

"Ludo might not cherish you the same way that other gods do towards their chosen. But I cherish you, and so does Ronin. So does Mateo. I'll come with you, if you're worried about visiting it." Obviously a wretched idea, given Ludo's penchant for wanting to obliterate Ascended, but the offer is always there for a dear friend.

Linking her arm through Remi's, Isla ushers them back towards the infirmary. "Come on," she says. "You've got a broken toe, and I'm going to make you let me bandage it up. And that's just a start."

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

The hug is unexpected, and though Isla won't be able to see it, there is a flicker of a snarl on the alchemist's lips. His predatory nature, skilled in imagining situations with which he has to defend, envisions her arms lovingly wrapping around his neck, only to plunge something sharp in his back. Returning the hug as he blinks away this mental image, the alchemist hums adoringly into the pale yellow of Isla's ponytail and nods as she pulls back and peers up at him.

"No." He replies instantly, and this time she will be able to see the snarl that tugs at his lips. Though this one isn't directed toward her. "Ludo has set others on tasks to kill the ascended." Remi's teeth grind together as he tries to swallow away this instant rise in fury that has sent feathers curling into his hair.

'A toe? That hardly matters.' Remi whines lazily, falling into step easily with the medic though letting her lead the way to the exam room once the hallway narrows. "I could make it so that I don't have toes. Then what would you do?"

Isla

This version of Remi is entirely different to the one she left behind as a woman. The unicorn in her knows it well, but even then it was prior to his ascension into demigodhood. This Remi is new, and Isla steps back with a worried frown furrowing her brows. She stops herself from reaching out for him, in case the predator in his blood rears its head further, instead glancing back towards Mateo. "Alright," she says slowly, giving a gentle nod and smiling at the boy. "Well, if you'd like me to watch him when you go to see Ludo, I'm happy to do that too."

Falling into step back towards the exam room, Isla lets herself relax a fraction and rests her hands in the pockets of her medical coat. "If you made it so you didn't have toes, I'd have to fix your paws. Or talons. Or whatever you decide to replace them with," she informs him easily, gesturing towards the bed for him to sit and take off his shoes. "If you'd be kind enough to lay down. I'll fix the surface wounds - I know they don't bother you, but let me do this for me, okay?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

"Oh you're a vet as well now?" The alchemist smiles slyly at his friend, kicking off his shoes in an incredibly boyish fashion (stepping on the heels and pulling his feet out). "You missed the stage where I had tentacles." Waggling his fingers at her to demonstrate, he sits on the bed where Mateo had been previously.

"I thought girls liked scars." Remi protests, not meaning a single word of it. Given that the majority of his unhealed and poorly-healing injuries are on his torso and arms, he helpfully peels off his shirt before flopping back onto the bed like a petulant child whose been told he has to go to sleep.

Isla

"Oh, I'm not a vet. I would just cut off the talons until they became toes again." Isla grins to Remi just as sunnily, waiting for him to peel off his clothes (some of them anyway) and flop onto the bed before she approaches again. Armed this time with bandages, disinfectant and an array of other fun tools, she sits down by Remi's feet, shooting him a glare that dares him not to keep his toes where they ought to be. Particularly the broken one.

"I'll not bother to warn you when it hurts, since you've been walking around with this stuff for goodness knows how long." Isla sighs to him, like she's the long suffering mother to his petulant child, and gets to work. "And I do like scars. I like very neat scars that have clearly been sutured with skill," she informs Remi haughtily, flashing him a mischievous smile. "How is it, being back in the Grounds? Weird?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

"I would say that that isn't how amputation and being an attuned works, but...I'm not keen to test that theory." Remi says warily, though there is a mad twinkle in his pale stare that suggests it would take almost no convincing should Isla want to try it.

Glancing down at her over the length of his own body, Remi (un)helpfully wiggles his toes, demonstrating just how far apart he could hold them. He might not be a raccoon anymore, but he hasn't forgotten what it feels like to have dexterous toes.

"Listen. I don't...feel pain quite the same way I used to." It wasn't like being an ascended of course. But for the alchemist, pain was now something he could more or less ignore on a sliding sort of scale. "Ahh well. Sorry to disappoint." Remi's body is a tapestry of recklessness, not least of which are the massive scars still not fully healed from the day Aoife died.

"Mmm, yeah. At any moment I expect Zariah to appear and start ordering me around, or Jigano to tell me what an idiot I am." Folding his arms behind his head and staring at the ceiling, the alchemist pulls in a breath. "One of the last times I was here I almost died. Properly died, too. Ronin had all but gone mad, and I...well. I was ready to follow him in that madness." Swallowing hard, Remi twitches his nose. "It was during LongNight. I never thought I'd come back here, after that."

Isla

This is what she has missed about Remi most of all - that willingness to do something ridiculous for the sake of knowing it. Why else would you want to do something? There's just as ferocious a twinkle in her own eyes as she turns her attention back to his toes, flicking one of them as if that will persuade them to stop wiggling. With her optical upgrade it doesn't take much to identify the broken digit, and Isla spends a few moments in setting and carefully binding it up.

"As if you could ever disappoint," Isla tells him with a very undignified snort, scooting up to sit at his side this time, to examine the half-healed wounds and various marks and scars all over his torso. Huffing out a sigh this time, she first gets to work on cleaning him up, raising a brow to hear him speak so. "I could call you an idiot if you like?" she suggests, before reaching out to pat his arm. "I'm sorry... let's try to build some better memories for you here now?" she offers.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything