waiting in the dark

REMI

the lullaby

Every now and then the things
I lean on lose their meaning

With shaky hands and a heart set on a crash course, Remi spreads his wings and lifts himself into the air. The arrival of dawn and a new season does not bring joy for the Lullaby, whose world is unravelling faster than he can gather up the strings. Hating nearly everything about himself and the life he found himself living, there was only one recourse he think of it. And perhaps if he failed at this, he'd simply let himself fall. For now though, he flies. Then flies higher, then higher, then even higher.

The world spins as the air grows thin, but he can make do. Reaching an altitude that might kill anyone else and that birds long for, still the alchemist flies. That he can reach this far is why he's here in the first place. It's part of the problem. He is part of the problem. The observatory is round and welcoming far, far, below, but Remi has no interest in stars; all of Remi's have grown dark. He is looking for the one who dwells behind the fabric of the cosmos. The one who made the maker of the galaxies.

The Lullaby is looking for Vi.

---

Remi would like to use my chat with a big god thread pass for Vi.

And I find myself careening in places
where I should not let me go

This is Sky's coding and you all know it

vi

One might think that a demigod of death appearing to the maker of all things would be a mockery, a travesty worth the greatest and swiftest of punishments. But those who believe such things know nothing of the God of Life, in truth; they know nothing of his great reverence for death, for the ending of the things that he begins. Those who doubt his love for Mort will never know Vi in truth.

Galaxies fold and bend around the Lullaby, as if they have been drawn towards him by curiosity alone, and from the cosmos glints a particularly pure light. It flashes, twists, and if Remi should beat his wings, he will find himself quite suddenly right beside it.

The light is a telescope. More intricate even than the mechanisms found in the observatory, Vi is seated upon the clouds where starwhales swim and grow, his eye to the scope to watch the Greatwood below. "You call me. You, who called out injustice at the plans for us to turn the tide against the Ascended."

Lifting a gaze that seems to pull in all the light around them, Vi blinks. "Speak, then."

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REMI

the lullaby

Every now and then the things
I lean on lose their meaning

Flap his wings he does. Remi has no fear for what is to come. Though there is surely some bending of rules that would allow Vi to kill him, the Lullaby doesn't fear dying. But if this is how he goes, struck down for his disrespect without Ronin around to temper his tongue, so be it.

Though that's exactly why he's here, after all.

Vi's address of him doesn't invite contradiction much as Remi might once have liked to argue.

There, amidst galaxies and light, with Vi seated upon a cloud (he's helpless to think of Ronin, not that he could ever block out thoughts of the Star), the Lullaby spreads his fingers and raises his eyes.

"Safrin has stripped Ronin of his powers." He begins, his voice even, green eyes clear. "If the why of it matters, I'll tell you. I thought the most dangerous thing would be for the world to have one less demigod in it, to protect it during LongNight. I thought the timing of it was perhaps the most problematic. And had it been after...that his reparations could be made in his own time." Remi's cheeks are splotches of colour now, but his voice doesn't shake. "But I was wrong."

Remi looks down at his palms as if expecting them to be covered in blood.

"I am the thing that makes it dangerous to have one less demigod." Remi whispers as tears scour the back of his eyes. "I'm unmatched in strength, but for Ronin. I can lock the world into dreams from which they can't awake. I can kill but can't be stopped. I'm immortal, save for those I love and who love me...and that is a list that is rapidly shrinking." Pausing, the alchemist raises his eyes. "The world isn't safe with me in it, without Ronin."

And I find myself careening in places
where I should not let me go

This is Sky's coding and you all know it

vi

There are very few who might keep things from the likes of the God of Life. But his herald? Safrin has always been cunning in ways that Vi is not - which is precisely what makes her his herald. And so it may surprise some to know that he is unaware of the stripping of a demigod's powers; he is oblivious to Safrin's decision to take Caido's fate into her own whims and fancies. To doom the world on the wings of injured pride.

Whether Vi listens to Remi's entire speech is questionable at best - from the Lullaby's first words, the skies seem to swell and darken, and he does not have to work to convince the deity that there is an imbalance that must be addressed. "Then let us protect the world from you, and you from it," he suggests, his voice becoming a purr of thunder that rains across the Greatwood below.

"Safrin."

He speaks his herald's name only softly, but there is a depth to the tone that suggests that the lady of the stars's name will penetrate galaxies to find her. "Present yourself. Explain."

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every bait and switch was a work of art

Safrin arrives as if heralded by vast waves comprised of stars. The world swells and brightens as she nears, light and colour brightening because of her mere presence. With a smile that's almost coquettish, the deity turns to look at Remi. Sweetly her expression breaks, for just a moment, to something terribly wicked, blackened and vile. I will ruin everything you hold dear, if you test me, that smile says. No sooner should his heart beat once, then the goddess will have turned a radiant smile back toward Vi.

"The punishment of my chosen demigods has never bothered you before." Safrin begins, her tone apologetic and sweet. 'Perhaps the timing of it was not ideal, I can see that now, but if they can't be trusted to listed on the cusp of LongNight, how else can we be confident that they will listen when the stakes are much higher?" Her back turned to Remi and her eyes fully upon Vi, the herald sweeps her hands open in a placating gesture.

"With your demigod at Ronin's side, I saw no cause for concern." Looking only slightly over her shoulder to where Remi stood, Safrin smiles. "I had every reason to think that Ludo kept as close an eye on its demigod as I do mine."

you're the one prize i'd cheat to win

vi

Vi is as a slab of marble against the sun as Safrin arrives. He gives his herald the gift of his full attention, hearing every word she has to say, every nuance implied, everything she doesn't say in the voids between. "I see," he says, his gaze divided now between the suffering Lullaby near them, and the radiant beauty of his herald. "You are right, Safrin. This is, indeed, a cause of great concern. I would know what your chosen did that was so damning as to merit the removal of all of his light."

His eyebrows raise. There's something about the expression that suggests that this had better be good. A storm writhes beneath the deity's skin, waiting for release. "I imagine it must have been the most terrible injustice of all, for this sort of punishment."

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every bait and switch was a work of art

'My light.' Safrin corrects quickly, but quietly. Her cheeks flush a gorgeous shade of red that waves of cosmic air quickly wipe away.

Tutting slightly under her breath, Safrin again looks over at Remi. But now she does so as if he's some lost pet who had gone rabid and attacked a child. She frowns, as if it's sad to see him like this. "To have his magic removed for three weeks?" Safrin tilts her head back, her laughter bright and beautiful. "Already it has had its intended effect. His piety is refreshed and his attitude more aligned with what we need him for." Turning back to Vi, Safrin merely shrugs. This is all clearly some big misunderstanding.

"Truly, if anyone is at fault here it is Ludo. Say what you will about my punishments of Ronin, but at least I have made sure that my chosen can be trusted before giving him such power."

Could the same be said for Ludo and Remi?
Clearly not.

you're the one prize i'd cheat to win

vi

He has given her the opportunity to speak plain, to offer him the truth or an explanation at the very least. But Safrin chooses, as always, the low road, and Vi's disappointment in her causes the stars - all of them, every single one - to wink out around them all at once. An illusion of course (or is it), Remi will doubtlessly feel how cold the world has become as life quite literally holds its breath.

When the world begins moving again, Vi watches his herald not with fury, but with shame. "I did not ask about Ludo. I did not ask about his demigod. I did not ask what the effect was, or whose light it was that you removed. I asked you what he did to merit removing his abilities on the verge of LongNight, when we are unable to intervene."

That, however, seems not to be an answer he requires any longer. "You will restore balance." It is not a request. "You will not be so fickle again, lest you wish for your own light to blink out. Are we clear?"

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every bait and switch was a work of art

It isn't in Safrin's nature to be cowed. Not when she has an audience. Had Vi sent away the Lullaby, perhaps her facade would have been done away with. As it is, with the man who constantly buzzes around her Star like some wayward bit of rock caught in his orbit, she'll be anything but silenced.

"Forgive me for thinking your ire might like some context." Safrin replies in a tone that very much suggests she isn't apologetic at all. But when has Vi every listened to her? Just like it isn't in his nature to be sympathetic and understand her emotional and irrational whims, so it isn't in hers to be forced into a straight line.

And so as his final judgement is handed down, Safrin tilts her chin up. She looks victorious, despite the monumental threat hanging over her. "What he did, was disobey. And just as you've demonstrated now, the punishment for disobedience is the removal of light."

Just as Vi handled her disobedience with an iron fist, so too had Safrin learned to the same. And if Vi could take away her light with a war brewing against the ascended, it seemed all the more reasonable that Ronin might suffer the same fate on a smaller scale.

Rounding on Remi, the goddess smiles, tightlipped, cruel, and gorgeous. "You won't have me to blame next time you can't keep yourself in check." She'd make sure of it.

Disappearing in a black cloud of energy, the goddess goes to do as she was bid.

Probably.

you're the one prize i'd cheat to win

REMI

the lullaby

Every now and then the things
I lean on lose their meaning

The light is sucked out of the world like a breath held before a verdict. Much as the Lullaby loathes Safrin, even he is too tense and unbalanced to take too much pleasure in the scolding handing down to her. Remi watches the display with as much silent respect as he can. Still, he bristles as Safrin tries to pivot the situation, making him seem deserving of all the blame. He was entitled to some of it to be sure, but the picture Safrin painted made his teeth clench and grind against one another as he struggled for silence.

And when she turned to him? The words were bright on his tongue. Words he could never say, couldn't even think. And so despite what she'd likely think it meant, whatever victory she took from it, Remi forced his eyes away from her.

Eventually, when Safrin was gone and it was only he and the God of Life again did Remi find himself able to breathe. "I don't...intend for Ronin to be a crutch." He offers, for there was some truth in what Safrin had to say, loathe as he was to admit it. "But no one deserves to be hurt if I.." Remi had once been the paradigm of self-control and restraint. Gods, how far he'd fallen.

..lose control."

And I find myself careening in places
where I should not let me go

This is Sky's coding and you all know it

vi

"Have your slings and arrows - just get it done." Vi doesn't look at Safrin as she takes her leave, more than content in the knowledge that, whether she manipulates the situation into her favour or not, his wishes will be carried out. And this leaves a sky slowly blinking once more with scars, a deity with his telescope... and Remi. Vi peers back into the scope as the Lullaby speaks once more, and when he replies it is with surprising pragmatism.

"Balance is sacred above all else," he rumbles. "Most forget that. Death run rampant is chaos to be sure, but overabundance of life can lead so often to destruction as well. It is not a crutch, when it is a necessary weight on the scales of balance."

Looking up from the telescope, for a moment all of Vi's attention is upon Remi. It will feel as though his veins are yawning open, as if the god can see right into his beating heart, to the core of life that brings such pain and recklessness upon the world at times. "It is a lesson harshly learned, Remi Taliesin. But it is one I think you are starting to understand."

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REMI

the lullaby

Every now and then the things
I lean on lose their meaning

It is perhaps a step too far, a reach that will cost him more than just his fingers, but Remi hasn't held his tongue since Aoife died; if that's part of the lesson he's meant to have learned, he's behind in his studies.

"It would be much easier if I didn't love him with everything I am." The alchemist says, breathing in a breath that for the first time in years feels as though it actually fully fills his lungs. 'How are we meant to stay on opposite ends of the scale that it would stay balanced when all I want is to be by his side?"

If anyone knew, surely it would be Vi. Vi whose love for the God of Death was famous. Lofty and perhaps out of touch with the scope of Vi and Mort's love, and what he shared with Ronin, still Remi thought if there was anyone who might understand his struggle, it was Vi.

But then again, he was a mortal asking a God for relationship advice. Perhaps it was simply an impossible comparison. Perhaps he was just an idiot for asking.

And I find myself careening in places
where I should not let me go

This is Sky's coding and you all know it

vi

Vi has already returned to his telescope, the deity watching the Greatwood with no small amount of interest, and as the mortal speaks again his dark eyes flash up, as if he might hold the Lullaby hostage using nothing more than a well timed gaze. "On the contrary," he says. "It would be much more difficult." Drawing in a breath that seems to drag clouds over the cosmos, Vi leans over as if to clasp Remi by the shoulder.

"Easy," he says, "you stand side by side in the very centre of the scales." As if that should provide all the answers in the world, Vi doesn't take Remi's shoulder in a brotherly display of combined purpose.

No, he shoves him out of the skies, out of his presence, and out of his evening.

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REMI

the lullaby

Every now and then the things
I lean on lose their meaning

Vi's hand upon Remi's shoulder is like a square-circle. It's crushing but life-giving, impossibly light and yet inescapable. It steals his breath and fills his lungs with air as he gazes upon the God of Life.

In the middle?

Gods but that sounds so simple; why hadn't Remi thought of that before? Opposing forces needn't be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Just on either sides of a line, and both Star and Lullaby have had more than enough practise stepping over lines.

But then he's falling, and for a split second he considers not catching himself. Would it kill him, if he didn't? It was caused by one he loved just as surely as if it had been Ronin's hand on his shoulder and not Vi's.

Oh, but Ronin.

Ronin.

He realizes, suddenly, brightly, and perhaps painfully too late, that he doesn't want it to be over. That perhaps there is a way forward for them that won't fix them too far apart from each other for them to see eye to eye.

Ronin...I want to come home.

~FIN

And I find myself careening in places
where I should not let me go

This is Sky's coding and you all know it