just a moment to hold

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

Remi just shakes his head. "I still don't understand. In Northaven anyway, you did not need to squeeze your feet into something like that for everyone to know you were vivacious." Not Isla specifically, but from what Remi had heard, nearly all the royals and bluebloods alike were as sexually frustrated as one could imagine. In a society hellbent on population growth, it really made little sense.

Isla says dancing, but no sooner do the words If Ronin and I... leave her lips, than Remi is picturing something that, in certain contexts, might be called a dance. Clearing his throat around the sudden lump there and very much wishing he had something to drink, Remi mutters: "I'd..like to see it."

Gods, you idiot.

The soft resistance of her fingertips against his chest has him wanting to press harder against her, and he's thankful for the dim light of midnight that partially hides the flush of colour now rising toward his temples. "Is that so?" He wonders with a lopsided smile, before his brow raises. "Oh?" Leaning all the more that his eyes were just a few inches from her, the alchemist tilts his head with an intentional naivety. "And if this was a date, why wouldn't I want to kiss you?" He asks, the hand near her side previously flattened against the ground, now rising to softly curl around her hip as Remi takes a genuinely flustered sip of air.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

"And yet, bluebloods did it all the same. Then again, heels were the most subtle thing about it for Northaven. I used to wonder whether half the ladies had forgotten the rest of their dresses back at home," Isla admits, tilting her head up at Remi and - of course - being completely in the dark about the conversations that Star and Lullaby might have had previously without her presence. "Then perhaps we'll have to arrange it," she says suddenly, unaware of the awkward little knife she's unintentionally twisting.

Anyway - back to the real awkwardness. Isla's body registers the heat from Remi's hand, the pressure of his fingertips, and she sunbconsciously presses into it. It's true that the physical sensation might be missing, and along with it any overt signs of her attraction, but that doesn't mean shit to her emotions. Her eyes cut easily through the darkness, catching the way Remi's cheeks flush, and Isla's chin tilts up a fraction, bringing their lips closer than their eyes are currently.

"Well," she all but whispers, "if this were a real, proper, Northaven date, one might say that propriety would come into it." A daring smirk flickers across her face, then. "But I'd say throw caution to the wind, because gods if you wouldn't be worth every sly look from every blueblood from here to Torchline."

we're gonna separate ourselves tonight
we're always running scared but holding knives

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

The question of, is it just Isla?, is in no way answered by what comes next. Though, if there was any doubt about whether or not it was Isla certainly is.

He doesn't bother to answer, his mind not offering any more flirtatious commentary that follows if this was a date, I'd... Because regardless of what it is, Remi knows precisely what he wants to do. It doesn't explain why his heart is hammering in his chest—he's kissed Isla before, many, many times now—for how he's suddenly all too aware of where his body presses against hers.

Despite the obviousness of what she's said and the lifting of her chin toward him, still the alchemist pauses just before his lips brush hers. A tremble rolls through him, his uncertainties and worries manifesting in an unconscious shiver. "I do want to kiss you." He whispers as if the fact that he was leaning over her with his lips nearly upon hers wasn't evidence enough.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

Isla can imagine this moment in parallel, at a time when she could still feel, when she would be flushed and warm beneath his hands, when the hammering of his heart would be echoed in her own chest. And though her touch is still at a perfect temperature, though the mechanisms of her heart are a near silent whirring, the sensation pours from her in the fluttering emotions that beg and hope for Remi to close the gasp between them.

Never has she seen the alchemist like this; it is no secret that she finds him attractive, and has done ever since the night when she had first Ascended. And she's seen every part of him, in being part of him - but never this. The easy charm, the spinning of stories into stars and romantic tales of wonder and woe, the way he takes charge and yet doesn't... He speaks, and Isla's smile is a soft and delighted thing.

"I was really hoping you would say that," she admits in a breathy whisper, though one of her hands sweeps up and across his shoulder, as if to investigate the way he's suddenly shivering.

Still, without any knowledge of the Lullaby's struggles with his sexuality and her part in it, nothing exists to stop Isla from closing the gap between them. Still, her kiss is slow and tentative, the medic only barely pressing her lips against Remi's, like a bridge of magpies over a river of stars.

we're gonna separate ourselves tonight
we're always running scared but holding knives

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

It's lucky that Isla thinks of him so, for there's no intentionality behind Remi's choices and the fables he tells. Ronin is the charming one, with his handsome looks and roguish quips. All the alchemist has in his arsenal are stories of stars that often focus on separation and loss if only because that was what he'd known as a boy. It's only happenstance, that now they serve him well, though for what comes next he'll thank his younger self for the role he played in it.

Isla's touch has him shivering more, and as she kisses him, her lips cool and familiar, it's a flighty sort of sigh that moves from him to her. That there's no heat...no gasp of air on her part...it's fine, isn't it? He could pretend that they were somewhere cold, and that's why her lips felt the way they did, or that she'd just take in a big breath and didn't need to sip for air.

Or, even better, he could learn not to equate the things in him that showed attraction, to the ways she now did. It wasn't as though he expected her to get an erection; she hadn't the parts for it. Why was this any different?

Pushing himself onto his elbow if only so that his hand could curl under her raised head, hesitantly, Remi experiments with what it might be like to blanket her body with his. She's all but said yes, and together they've investigated one another in ways far more intimate than this, and yet he would trade a thousand LongNight orgasms for these soft kisses beneath the stars.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

It's so different to their last meeting in the fields - Isla drunk on adrenaline and relief at having lived through the worst of LongNight in the burning Grounds, Remi hollow and heartbroken and not knowing where he might find his life come sunrise. And yet, like the Lullaby, Isla almost prefers this. She might not be able to gasp breathlessly or sip for air, but the sensation of him moving and shifting against her, the sweet and almost curious press of his lips and his tongue; it's enough to draw a soft moan from Isla that escapes into the blanket of stars above them.

She moves willingly with his touch, and her back arches just a little (not like a foot) as if to encourage him closer, to lend her more of what she can't experience by virtue of simply being alive. Fingers gently grasp at the lapels of his suit, as if to draw him over her in earnest, and one of her legs lifts so she might playfully graze it along his thigh. Perhaps most telling of all, though - Isla doesn't feel the need to even hint at using her fangs, and when she does part from Remi at last, its with a smile a shy as it is pleased.

"I think I'd quite like this to be a date," she admits.

we're gonna separate ourselves tonight
we're always running scared but holding knives

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

For all Isla is, Remi's mind still stubbornly wrestles with the way it thinks she should be. Or at least, the way it expects her to be. It's all he can do to quiet these intrusive thoughts by focusing on the sudden space beneath the ground and her back, and how easily his hand shifts from her hip to fill the void; the feeling of her barefoot suddenly against him; the tug of her fingers against his jacket.

"Well, I will let you in on a secret." Remi whispers as they part, gazing down at her with a soft stare only made dark by the lack of light around them. "I think it has always been a date." Remi's smile is boyish as he whispers this, tugging at one side of his mouth, though it's no less sunny for it. "Which makes kissing you like this instead of at the end of the night, which is how first dates are meant to go I think, all the more improper." Whether it was improper in their narrative of commoner and dutchess, of ascended and demigod, or married man and best friend, Remi hardly knew nor did it matter to him in the least.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

Isla tilts her head, unsure what kind of secret might be unveiled while Remi is holding himself over her like this, but then of course the alchemist manages to pull the proverbial rug out from under her again, and the medic's cheeks flush to hear it. She seems bathed in moonlight, like this, shining with a pale light in contrast to Remi's darkness, and her smile suggests that if they weren't wrapped up in each other, she's probably have hit him playfully for being so corny.

"Well, it's rather improper for a duchess to go on a date with a commoner, if you want to take it that far," she reasons, her fingers splayed out against his chest, her head tilted up so that they need to do little more than whisper to each other. "All things considered, though, I quite enjoy being improper with you, Remi."

we're gonna separate ourselves tonight
we're always running scared but holding knives

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

The line between romantic and corny might be a fine one to walk, and Remi is quite sure he has no idea which side of it he's on. 'Oh, of that I'm quite aware.' He had Loren to thank for that, but pleasantly, all these years later, the thought wasn't accompanied by any sting or pang of regret or anger.

'I do too.' He admits, and though he's absolutely loathed to do so, Remi forces himself to lean back to the side, gently pulling out his hand from behind the small of her back placing it on his own hip instead (but not before slightly adjusting his pants, for obvious reasons). With a crooked smile and an apologetic shrug, Remi laughs softly at himself, feeling both abashed and amused. "It would not be much of a date if I let myself be too distracted by you, and we did not map a single star." He says with a sweet smile, wanting nothing more than to lean down and kiss Isla again and again and again but knowing that he really ought to try and put some distance between the heat growing in his stomach and the chilly sweetness of Isla's lips.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

Remi draws back and Isla has to resist the urge to follow, especially as her fingers twitch as if to help him out with the obvious problems he might be having - because Ascended or not, that's still something she's reasonably certain she can do. "That's a shame," she murmurs. "I was quite enjoying being distracted by you." But he is right, she supposes, and so Isla shifts to lay back properly on the blanket again, her pebble blues on the dark sky above.

"So," she says. "How do we start? By poking the holes through the paper, or should I be studying these constellations first so I know I can remember them and find them again?" Honestly, with the feel of Remi - however muted - still on her lips, Isla couldn't really care less about the stars, but she forces herself to engage with it. Because she had cared, when she agreed to come out here with the alchemist.

we're gonna separate ourselves tonight
we're always running scared but holding knives

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

'Well, you can still be distracted.' The alchemist points out, all pale eyes and smug dimples. "But one of us should keep our wits about them." Should that person be Remi? Would that person be Remi? In all likelihood, no of course not.

The ascended isn't the only one distracted by phantom sensations, and as he gazes up at the stars, he's all too aware of the places he and Isla are still pressed against one another, body heat or no. "Well, that all depends on what you are interested in. We could map out the sky exactly as it is right now, knowing it will never be precisely this way again. Or we could find constellations and remember them. That way whenever you look into the sky, you will always have something to look for." He would leave it up to her which: memorialize this moment? Or map out something for the future?

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

"Well, that is a relief. You can be responsible, and I will continue to swoon into a girlish puddle as a result of all of your charm," Isla says, her hand dramatically fluttering to her breast as she lets out a whisper of a sigh - all for show since she doesn't need to breathe, of course. Indeed, as Remi turns his attention back to the sky as well, Isla lets her gaze flick to the side to watch him as he speaks, to see his silhouette dance and move in the moonlight. What would happen, she wonders, if she were to just slip against his side right now, leeching away his heat as they speak about stars, the present, the future.

And of course when Remi asks her preference, Isla pouts a bit. "Must I choose?" she asks. "I would like to do both - but I imagine we would need to have another date if we were going to do all of this," she guesses. "Could we memorialise the moment tonight, and map the constellations next time?"

we're gonna separate ourselves tonight
we're always running scared but holding knives

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

'Swooning and charm, is never something I would have thought you would use to describe you and I." Isla did not swoon, as far as he knew, and charming? That was Ronin.

Chuckling at Isla's display, the alchemist grins down at her. "You do if we're going to come away from this date with anything to show for it." Remi points out, before sitting up that he might drag his bag nearer to them. Reaching inside, he pulls out two square frames (picture frames, actually), and two pieces of parchment. Turning toward Isla with a mischievous glint in his eyes, Remi tilts his chin leadingly. "Normally I would offer you a knife to poke holes...but I seem to remember you having something sharp all on your own." Reaching for one of her hands, the alchemist raises a brow. In the room, it hadn't been his own claws that had left thin scars on his thigh. It had been something else, not that he'd had the time or desire to pause and ask her about it then.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

"Me neither, honestly. It doesn't matter which one of us was swooning or charming, it still doesn't seem to make sense," Isla says with a chuckle, but her helpless shrug suggests that, even if it didn't seem likely, it didn't stop the fact that it was happening. Remi sits himself up and Isla reluctantly follows suit, though luckily she and the alchemist are much more than mere physical attraction, and her curiosity is freshly kindled to see him take out the paper.

Still, interested as she might be, there's still a fresh silvery flush to her cheeks when he takes her hand, Isla smiling mischievously and flexing her fingers to engage the thin scalpel blades that reside within. They slip out from the pads of her fingers like a cat's claws, catching in the light as she turns her hand to show him. "Will these do?" she wonders with a coy raise of her eyebrows. "I haven't yet had the chance to test them out in surgery. But they 're proving useful nonetheless."

we're gonna separate ourselves tonight
we're always running scared but holding knives