took a fall from a windy height

it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name

'Also a lie.' Remi mumbles, more to provoke his husband than anything else. The pair have been good; not a single sexual bandaid to be found. And though he can't be entirely sure of things, given how deep a hole they'd previously found themselves in, Remi is fairly certain they're near the top of it now. And not a moment too soon.

Having precisely the same thought, Remi shoots the Star a confused look as they descend toward their front door. "What is the point of windows, then?" He mutters under his breath, reaching down to pluck up a note with his name on it. "How dare you. My penmanship is much better than yours, I'll have you know." Waggling a finger at Ronin before opening the door, (honestly, now they have to trudge all the way through his shop and up the stairs), Remi's fingers are already opening the letter.

Stopping in the dappled light pouring in from the window, Remi's brows furrow together as he reads and then re-reads the words on the page. 'che cosa? He whispers in a voice that's small and confused. Having not even realized what language he said it in, Remi looks toward Ronin, holding out the letter looking both defeated and exhausted. "She's...leaving."

it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay

I will fight the end

"Fuck off," Ronin tells his husband with the utmost affection, the words practically laughed out through the kiss he's smooshing against Remi's cheek. The nimbus descends for them to climb down and enter through the shop - the Star is still grinning, gathering up the blankets and hurrying up to the entryway. "Windows are for letting in light, and for me to call up to you when I've forgotten my keys," he informs his husband as he unlocks the door. "Besides, you've got a letter, so... you're welcome."

They step inside, Ronin locking up again and fussing with the blankets. "That wasn't an insult, dear husband. I know your penmanship is beautiful - that's why I suggested you do it. I bet you haven't done anything as mundane as writing a letter in a while."

Folding the items over the wagon wheel that still hasn't yet become a table so they might dry off, Ronin barely hears his husband speak - but he still knows they aren't words he's ever heard Remi say before. "What was that...?" He frowns, turning to face him properly.

"Who is leaving?" The mere look on Remi's face has Ronin crossing the room to him, taking the letter to glance down at it. "Oh... oh. Fuck, Remi. I didn't realise things were so bad..."

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name

"You were a baron. Surely you used windows for more than that." The alchemist protests, knowing full well that Ronin had spent years in soldier's camps and whatnot, but still conjuring up images of a younger man slipping in and out of various windows.

"Shows how much you know. I wrote one to Morgan just a few days ago. And it...well. The quality of my penmanship wasn't what I need to work on." Remi replies with a crook smile as he fusses with the paper.

"Mm?" He doesn't know what he's said—hadn't it been what?—and finds himself unable to answer the latter of what's asked of him. "I..." Remi's throat suddenly feels coarse and his eyes sting. Shaking his head the alchemist turns, sea-bright eyes devoid of laughter that grow darker by the moment. "I've just realized...we live somewhere now...where two of the people I love most would be killed if they ever tried to come here."

For a moment the alchemist says nothing. Does nothing. Then, suddenly, he lashes out at a cup currently being used to hold pens on the counter, sending it flying and shattering against a wall. "Fanculo." He swears under his breath, before clenching his teeth together and pinching the bridge of his nose.

it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay

I will fight the end

"As a baron, I couldn't possibly say," Ronin replies, the picture of propriety even if he's rocking the 'drowned rat' look at the moment. Unfortunately, their threads of conversation - Morgan's letters and Remi practicing things that aren't penmanship would have to wait - are thoroughly sidelined by the message from Vervain. Still holding the letter between his fingers, Ronin gently sets it down on the counter; his lips part as if to say something, before he realises that there isn't anything to say that would magically make this better.

And he shouldn't be trying to, either.

The mug shatters against one of the walls, Ronin wincing, though not for the reasons one might think. Through their Attuned bond, the flare of arousal to see his husband commanding such a presence is difficult to hide, but acting on or even thinking about what that might mean is something for another time.

"I didn't consider that..." He steps up behind Remi to carefully slip his arms around him. They are both still soaking wet, and it's cold down in the shop, but it doesn't stop him from drawing the other man back against his chest. "We could always visit them. Both of us, or just you. Whenever we can."

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name

There's a snarl on Remi's lips as Ronin wraps his arms around him, and for a moment it flares larger as they touch. The attuned bond pales in comparison to the magic the alchemist wields and feeling the steady comfort of the Star combined with the influx of arousal is enough to make feathers trickle through Remi's damp curls and for claws to poke out from his nailbeds.

"For all of Northhaven's classist ways...at least we were within a stones-throw of one another." The alchemist says in a dull tone, stiff in the Star's arms for another few heartbeats before he forces himself to try and relax. Closing his eyes, Remi pulls in a breath, eyeing the broken pieces of ceramic scattered on the floor. "I'd quite like to turn around and push you up against a wall, right now." He admits with a humourless chuckle. "But I think if ever there was an example of using sex as a bandaid, it is that."

It didn't change how he felt, of course.

it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay

I will fight the end

"I'm sorry," Ronin murmurs, though he isn't. Not really - he can't be, not with his arms around his husband. And one remains laced around him, the other slipping up so he can press his palm against Remi's chest, to feel the angry thunder of his heart. "I can let go if you want, because I'd quite like to let you," he admits. "Which is probably a very good reason not to do it." He really doesn't sound happy about it - but that's the price for being healthier with each other, he supposes.

"You could always split your time between here and elsewhere," he suggests, though the reluctance in the bond tells of his opinions about that. "...Or maybe go and stay with Vai for a few days, at least?" That, at least, has nothing but Ronin's support. "You can visit Isla at the same time. I'd hate for you to think that you were stuck here without them."

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name

"Don't you dare." The alchemist whispers, reaching up to possessively grasp the Star's hand that he might keep it exactly where it was. Closing his eyes, relishing yet being tortured by every place Ronin's body warms his up, Remi does his best to chase away thoughts of precisely the sort he'd mentioned. Walls, benches, countertops—they all called his name, beckoning to be christened by bodies and moans.

"I don't think there's enough of me to split anymore. Not until I'm better." Better in general, better at not being so monstrous. 'But it isn't that I feel stuck so much as its...I suppose before I was able to kid myself into thinking that this war would only tangentially affect me. That I wouldn't have to change anything, despite the which side of the line I was on."

Unable to turn to face Ronin for fear of what he might do (read: would absolutely do), Remi just lets fingers brush over his own scarred skin and the hand of the man he loves more than anything else. "I don't think I can let myself believe that lie anymore, though. And I don't know what to do about it."

it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay

I will fight the end

The possessiveness and need does little to quell the fire that's trying to kindle in Ronin's belly, the Star inhaling a long, deep breath and letting it out again, before closing his eyes and leaning his head against Remi's. He doesn't trust himself to move, let alone try and look at Remi or offer him further comfort. So for now it's just the building heat of their bodies, the press of a palm and the caress of calloused fingertips. It will have to be enough.

"I shouldn't be glad about that, but I am," he admits. "I have missed you too much to want you to split yourself again. And even for everything that it might mean... I have really enjoyed our time here in Stormbreak, so far." Ronin smiles a little. Knowing that, though, doesnt make it any easier to go forward as Remi voices his concerns.

"Isla is a little more of a line in the sand, but... even if Vai is Abandoned, does that mean she's on the other side of this war?" he wonders. "...Does Isla even want to fight?"

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name

What will have to be and what is are miles apart. The warmth of Ronin around him has Remi clenching his teeth again and again as he sips in small breaths and then tries to release them silently and slowly so as not to give away the tension he feels consuming him. Bandaids help heal, his mind tries to argue, though it isn't the head that Ronin's is resting against that is trying to make that current case. Unconsciously the alchemist's fingers have started to trail suggestive movements and gestures up the sides of Ronin's fingers, even as Remi tries to shake away such thoughts.

'I have too.' This truly does have a ring of admission to it; Remi genuinely feels guilty to be throwing away his obligations in favour of morning coffee, alchemy shops, and absurd adventures with his husband. 'I don't know. I'm not sure it matters where they want to stand, given what they are." This applied moreso to Isla than to Vai certainly, but given abandoned would be killed because of magic deep within Stormbreak's bones, he couldn't imagine a scenario in which they suddenly became allies.

'I have an idea.' Remi says suddenly, leaning down to kiss part of Ronin's arm. "Lets kill the gods, instead of our friends."

it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay

I will fight the end

"Remi..." Ronin's eyes are still closed, and the breath he's just taken has stuttered in his chest. He is acutely aware of the way the alchemist's fingers brush against his own, of the warm length of his body pressed back against him, of everything they've been missing out on and everything they might put right in this moment of hurt and anger. It makes Ronin sick, the way he wants to sink into it, and although his grip on his husband tightens rather than loosening, he can't help the sadness in his voice when he speaks.

"Not like this." He's frowning, hating himself for even saying it and forcing his attention back to the thread of their conversation. "What they are? They're your adopted mother, and your best friend," he reminds him. "We might not be able to stop that war, but we can try to help how the people we care about are affected, can't we?"

Remi's kiss along his arm feels much better than it ought to, and he scoffs out a quiet laugh. "Sure," he says. "Who do you want to start with?"

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name

"I know." Remi murmurs, and though his voice is strained with resolution, his fingers don't stop. He knows, but this is a war that can't be won with soft words. It isn't one he can fight with Ronin tangled around him, and though stepping away is the easy and obvious solution, the only move the alchemist makes is to try and steady his breathing somewhat.

"Tell me you think Cian is going to care at all what they are to me. Isla is an ascended, twice over, now. Vai as an abandoned might escape all this in the woods, but..." Remi bites at the inside of his lip. "She'll never see this. Our home. Mateo can never show her his favourite places here, and she'll never have favourites of her own to show him."

Exhaling against the Star's skin, Remi doesn't say what he's thinking. Not because he's hiding it, but because Ronin already knows who the alchemist would start with, if it were up to him. "Caido, maybe." He muses. "Because they all just take their instructions from on high, don't they?"

it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay

I will fight the end

He knows. They both know, and gods if it doesn't make it even more difficult. So they stand here together, as tense as if they really were about to go to war, but there is still no place Ronin would rather be. "I don't think Cian will care who they are to you," he says, sadly and honestly. "But I do think Cian will care who you are. You might need to play this smart, when it comes to the Order." He sighs, because it's not something he cares to devote the energy towards either. But he'll absolutely do it for Remi.

"Won't she?" he wonders, of Vai. "You, with your dream magic and your ability to make things in your memories become real? It's true that it won't be here... but you can show her. And she will have favourite places to show Mateo, and to show you."

The Star smiles without warmth, also knowing very well who Remi would do away with first. "Caido? No pulling punches with you huh?" He smiles. "We'd have to find Caido, first." Exhaling out a sigh, Ronin finally opens his eyes and turns his head to look at his husband properly. "If I am being too much of a hero here, please just say. We can go upstairs and get dry clothes and I will just listen to how bad things are."

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name

Raising a brow, Remi is glancing over his shoulder to wonder at what Ronin might mean. "Number one I'm offended that you would ever think I do not play things smart." He isn't, because he rarely does, if ever. "But also..what do you mean?" Remi was only used to throwing his weight around literally. He hadn't quite grasped what it could be to wield it in more subtle ways.

Swallowing, Remi sadly shakes his head. "We both know that dreams are a poor substitute for reality. Even if that's all there is."

Inclining his head as if to say why start now?, he presses another kiss against the smooth skin on the underside of Ronin's forearm. "Luckily one of us already has planned a date for the Cordillera..." Remi murmurs mischievously, before snorting under his breath. "Well, if having dry clothes makes either one of us a hero, so be it. Things are starting to rub and not in a fun way." With an obvious reluctance, Remi pulls himself forward, but not before twining his fingers through Ronin's that they might stay in contact as they wander up the stairs and out of their wet clothes.

it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay

I will fight the end

"My most sincere apologies," Ronin croons, nosing into Remi's damp curls and smiling, pressing a kiss in the soft space behind his ear. "I was just thinking about what Cian would do if you explained things from your point of view. With the links you have, whether or not the Abandoned are welcome in Stormbreak, they might still be willing to help in this war on the side of the Old Gods. What's more, if you pitch having an Ascended on the 'inside', maybe you can afford a few exceptions for the people you love."

When had the Star become quite so manipulative? It's been such a subtle change that not even Ronin has noticed it, but violent as his partner has become, the Star has crept towards cunning in equal measures. Still, when it comes to dreams, at least, they are of the very same opinion. "You're right. Perhaps you will just have to bring them souvenirs from the place."

Scrunching his nose, both at the Cordillera date and the idea of things rubbing the wrong way (chafing, more like), Ronin follows after his husband. "What was that you said earlier, by the way?" he wonders softly. "It sounded like another language."

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!