livingroom dance floor

every now and then the things i lean on lose their meaning

Remi's stomach flutters a touch unexpectedly as he stares at a door that he's not quite sure he's ever done more than knock on. Having tried to find Isla at the clinic first, the alchemist was told that no, the doctor was not in, and that unless he needed something, he could go. It was bound to happen sooner or later, that Isla simply wouldn't be found in her usual haunt, making it all the more difficult for Remi to put his finger on just what about it he found so...so...?

Maybe it was simply the fact that last time he was here, it was for his date with Isla, which they'd both agreed was one of the worst decisions they'd ever made. He thought about it often though, and fondly. It was a mess, yes, but it was a very them sort of mess.

'Isla?' He calls out, rapping on her door and wondering where he might next look for her, if she doesn't answer.

& i find myself careening
into places that i should not let me go

Coding base by Sky!

Isla

From within the house with the cheerful green door, Remi will hear a small thump, followed by quick footsteps. Isla throws the door open and proceeds to throw herself at the alchemist next, her arms about his neck in a hug before she can stop herself. "Hello, Remi," she trills, her cheeks round, her smile more than audible in her voice. It would be a lie to say she hadn't felt the same as the Lullaby, and the longer time had passed without hearing from Remi, the more lingering awkwardness she had begun to feel.

But with him in front of her now, looking the same and not seeming as though he's come to deliver bad news, all of that simply dissolves away. Stepping back a fraction to look up at him, she nods towards the interior of the house. "It's good to see you. Want to come in? I was just reading, that's all."

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

every now and then the things i lean on lose their meaning

Folding forward into her hug, the alchemist wraps his arms around her, grinning into the side of her neck. "I don't think I realized how much I had missed you, until just now." He admits, sounding both guilty and joyful. As she pulls back his hands reluctantly let her go, and it's with a crooked smile that he nods and follows her in.

"How have you been?" As soon as he asks, Remi finds himself wincing at just how tedious the question comes across. It's the sort of thing you say to anyone you haven't seen in a while, but this isn't just anyone. It's Isla; how has one awkward and misguided date made him so tongue-tied? 'Sorry, that makes it sound I have come over here to CaTch Up and not for the actual reason I'm here.' Frowning, Remi realizes that isn't quite right either. "I mean..obviously I do want to know how you've been.." Trailing off and blushing, Remi ruffles a hand through his curls and tries not to look as hopelessly lost as he feels.

& i find myself careening
into places that i should not let me go

Coding base by Sky!

Isla

"I missed you too," Isla murmurs, her sunny smile still very much in place as she follows him into the house. She moves to light a few more lanterns - she doesn't need them and Remi might not either, but at the same time it makes it feel a bit more homely. Once that's done, she moves to slouch back down onto the sofa where she had been before he'd knocked, carefully moving her books and a few anatomy sketches she's been working on.

Pulling a face, at first, to hear him say his cAtCh uP question, she can't help but laugh when he catches himself. "I was going to say," she remarks, patting the sofa beside her. "Things are good, Remi. The infirmary is doing well and we're getting back on track after LongNight. How are you?" And, given that he led with it, "And what is the actual reason you're here, if not that?"

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

every now and then the things i lean on lose their meaning

Sinking down next to her, Remi runs a hand up the side of his cheek before leaning against the back of the sofa and smiling apologetically. "That's good. I noticed I was not immediately vaporized or told I was not allowed here when I entered the Grounds, so that was nice." He's only half-kidding, fully expecting one day that he'll not just be able to stroll so easily where he wants.

Pulling in a breath Remi's head moves from side to side as he shrugs. "I am alright." Things weren't bad despite being hard, but, Isla being his best friend or not, he hadn't come to talk about himself. Well. Not that part, anyway.

Grinning, the alchemist leans forward, smile crooked and one brow raised. "I...have a new shift." He says proudly, beaming. "A very large shift. Come to think of it, I do not believe I have ever seen anything larger." Straightening slightly, Remi flushes a touch. "But I did not come just to brag. I thought...maybe you would like to try it with me."

& i find myself careening
into places that i should not let me go

Coding base by Sky!

Isla

"I bet it was," Isla says with a chuckle, continuing to stack up her work and research on the coffee table before sinking back to tuck her feet beneath her, smiling to Remi again. "I hope you know that if anything like that ever did come into place for the Grounds, I'll let you know. I wouldn't want you to walk in here not knowing what to expect." Especially given that he's her best friend and she wants to see him, preferably all in one piece.

That he's only alright, without extrapolating on it, has questions burning on her tongue. Luckily, Remi has just the thing for it - curiosity. Blue eyes widen to hear about this new shift of his, and without realising she has done it, Isla is leaning forward as well, like they're part of some secret meeting.

"What is it?" she asks - because of course she asks. "It's bigger than the manticore? Wh... how?" Regardless of the questions, Isla is already nodding. "Yes. I'd love to."

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

every now and then the things i lean on lose their meaning

"How very kind." He chuckles, rolling his eyes somewhat, easily able to imagine a situation where he might wake up legless on Isla's operating table, with the medic telling him that some weapon or other was to blame.

"Much bigger." Remi tells her. "It will make the manticore feel like a kitten in comparison." As for how, the alchemist just shrugs casually. "Ludo, I expect." Being a demigod, Remi had come to expect abilities just manifesting themselves, and not always with an explanation. Rarely with an explanation, in fact.

Waggling his fingers at her, it's with a coy look that the alchemist answers. "A kraken." Turning his palm up, the skin shifts to a rubbery texture as highly adjustable suckers bubble up and pulse a single time.

& i find myself careening
into places that i should not let me go

Coding base by Sky!

Isla

"Well I do try," Isla says with a playful scrunch of her nose, and though she wants to relax back into the sofa cushions, Remi makes it all but impossible with the way he dangles this new shift of his. Her brow furrows, curiosity burning in her eyes by now. "It makes the manticore look like a kitten? I don't believe it," she informs him at first, glancing down at the hand he holds out. But she ought to believe it, because as Remi partially shifts, as he gives the creature in his skin a name, a soft gasp leaves Isla's lips.

"A kraken," she repeats, breathless (as much as any Ascended can be) with the possibilities of something from a fairy story. Not a particularly nice story, but still. "Don't we need an ocean or something, to deal with something like that?" It's not a disagreement so much as it is a clarification, and Isla is already scooting closer to hold out her hand, a silent request to inspect his palm more closely.

"Have you tried it yet?"

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

every now and then the things i lean on lose their meaning

Remi nods, his breath slightly held. Though there was little chance of Isla not being interested, the alchemist can't deny that he'd wanted to impress her just a little. The way she repeats him satisfies him in ways that Remi can't properly express (and probably shouldn't try). "We would, yes, and no, for that very reason. The waters around Stormbreak are...not the most hospitable." You're going to be a kraken Remi, what does that matter. "And..." With a small smile as he holds up his hand for her, Remi shrugs. "..I thought it would be fun to do together."

Remi's fingers fuse together as he shifts more of his arm. Each sucker can be individually controlled, and given how similar this is the octopus shift he briefly had, he finds it all too easy to try and suction Isla's wandering fingers to his now tentacle-hand.

& i find myself careening
into places that i should not let me go

Coding base by Sky!

Isla

Isla's cheeks colour silver to hear that he hasn't yet tried out the kraken shift - that it's something that might be fun for them to do together, and she's already nodding before her brain has properly caught up with it all. "I'd love to," she says warmly, her eyes flicking from his face down to his partially shifted arm, her hands reaching out to examine it in a way that is only partially from a medical standpoint.

That's about when Remi decides to try and stick her hand to his arm, and she flails a little as she tries to release herself. "Hey, no fair," she informs him, glancing back up only for the silvery flush to grow more intense. "Ah, so... do you want to... now, or...?" It's hard to find a good way to say do you want me to give you a boner now or at a more convenient time, and also sorry about it. Especially since their terrible not-date.

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

every now and then the things i lean on lose their meaning

"Life is not fair." Remi counters with a shit-eating grin as she flails. It's good timing that he decides to release her then based on what she asks next. His blush isn't silvery, but it matches hers just the same, and the alchemist finds himself wondering if there's an appropriately joking way to compare the boner she's going to give him and the one from their date. The punchline of course being how he won't have finished either time.

"Well.." Ruffling a hand through his curls, Remi pulls in a breath as if to say something before pausing, and then shrugging. "I suppose if...you are not going to need to—" What's that feeling? Remi's cheeks fill with heat. Ah, yes. Jealousy. "—bite someone else in the meantime, you could..I mean, we could now. But, if you are, then.." Don't worry Remi. Isla's other boyfriend doesn't have powers to borrow yet.

Painfully aware of how ridiculous he's being, if Isla hasn't released his hand completely, he'll tighten his (now human) fingers around hers. "I am not trying to be this awkward. But after our date.." He winces, and then catching himself, laughs under his breath. "Are we okay?" Seeking out her eyes, Remi's head tilts imploringly to the side as his fingers softly squeeze hers.

& i find myself careening
into places that i should not let me go

Coding base by Sky!

Isla

"Mm, you're right about that." Not only is it unfair - it has a habit of being quite unnecessarily cruel, and Remi has been on the receiving end of it more than once. It's one of the reasons she keeps her fingers wrapped in the alchemist's when he shifts back, her gaze slipping from his face so she shamelessly doesn't have to look at him while they talk about the more awkward aspects of their relationship as of late.

Clearing her throat softly, Isla shakes her head. "No, I... there's no one else," she confirms. Other boyfriend, Remi? Does that count you as one of them officially, then? But as Remi squeezes her hand, she can feel his eyes on her, and the medic glances up that she might look at him properly. Her smile is sweet and open and relieved, in fact, to be talking about it, and she shifts under his arm to give him a hug.

"Gods, I hope so," she says of being okay. "I think perhaps I put a little too much pressure on myself when we went on that date. It was... it felt like things had to be a certain way, and that's just... not us. I was embarrassed of how I acted as soon as I got home. So... yes, I want us to be okay. I don't see why we shouldn't be."

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

every now and then the things i lean on lose their meaning

'I only meant...since you can store the ability, not that—" And as his tongue threatens to strangle him, Isla nestles herself at his side and everything suddenly feels lighter and easier. Gods, he loves her for how elegantly she can turn things around.

'I really did enjoy most of it.' Telling her stories beneath the stars, the maps they started to make, the feeling of her pressed beneath him in the midnight-blue grass. It might have ended strangely and abruptly in a way that left him wanting, but even now the memory of it warms his heart. "Then we are alright." He agrees, pulling her closer and resting his cheek atop her head, all the while trying not to let his previous thoughts stir too much warmth. Not least of all because of what's to come.

"If you bite me now...we could go to Torchline at midnight. Or...does the sunlight affect you the same way, if you are shifted?"

& i find myself careening
into places that i should not let me go

Coding base by Sky!

Isla

It doesn't matter what Remi meant - to hear that they are alright, and that he'd actually enjoyed their time out in the fields together? That's more than enough for Isla. She closes her eyes for a moment, letting him draw her closer and nestling her head against chest. "I'm really glad to hear that, Remi. I was worried that you weren't going to visit any more, because of it," she confesses, peeking up at him and feeling silly for even thinking it now.

Still, what he says about the light is a good point - Isla doesn't know, honestly, and it shows on her face, the medic smiling to him. "I would rather not risk it," she says. "Let's go at midnight. I'll make sure I do some investigative work about it, though, so we can know for next time." Because by now, is there ever any doubt that there will be a next time?

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