endless numbered days

REMI "Oh? My mistake." Remi said with a grin, happily accepting the cup. "Good thing I did not splurge and add love guru on the back of your banners." With a frown, Remi waved his hand immediately, shaking his head. "I do not mean you, Ronin. Of course I can be myself around you. You more than most, really." Taking a sip of the wine and finding it surprisingly good, and so immediately assuming that Ronin hadn't made it himself, Remi nodded. "I just wish I did not think about him all the time." He continued sadly, the him obviously being Loren. Taking another long sip from his glass, Remi exhaled a long and steady stream of air. "This helps. Perhaps I should drink more, and date less."

"Well I mean, I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to put that on the back of the banners. I'm sure Vanya would think it was hilarious." And in all fairness he must have been doing something right. Vanya was the most beautiful thing in the world, in Ronin's opinion, and so whatever he'd done to win her heart was worthy of 'love guru' status. Settling comfortably in his seat and taking a long and warming sip of wine himself, he laughed into his cup. "At least you don't have to keep up the pretense all the time, then," he remarked, sounding glad about that, though he drifted off into thought at the alchemist's admission. "Would that I could do something to help you stop," he murmured, arching an eyebrow at Remi's next comment and chuckling despite himself. "Believe me," he said, "it is a slippery slope, though even I have to admit that sometimes it can be nice to lose one's head." RONIN I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do

REMI "I suppose next time you could allow me to be murdered by a banshee." Remi said with a casual shrug and a cheerful grin suddenly on his lips. "Or ask your Safrin for a time machine....or I suppose I could just make my drinks a good deal stronger." He added with a cheeky grin, setting down his cup and moving to stand. "Now then." He said to Sugar, stepping towards Ronin and leaning down to encourage the dragonling to switch warm-bodies. "I am going to do something, and you are absolutely not going to try and attack me. Do we have a deal?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. Glancing over at Ronin, he raised his brows suggestively, hoping that the ex-baron would play the part of the adult should his child get out of hand.

"You are right, I could. But I feel that allowing you to be murdered by a banshee somewhat defeats the purpose of this mighty monster hunting guild." Ronin chuckled, taking another sip of wine before setting his cup down. A good choice, it seemed, since Remi was getting up suddenly and leaning down to give back his dragon. The guildmaster smiled and let out a soft whistle to encourage the (now sleepy) hatchling. Sugar trilled at Remi and disentangled herself from his hair; he would feel her tension and the way her muscles bunched before she leapt from his shoulder and directly onto Ronin's lap. The ex-captain laughed at the flurry of claws and wings and tail that he was suddenly keeping warm, though he arched an eyebrow up at Remi. "You are going to do something?" he echoed. "Is this wise?" RONIN I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do

REMI "Ahh true. We would not want that after all." With a wince, Remi tried to keep his shoulder as steady as possible as the coiled creature departed and glided? flopped? landed in Ronin's lap. "I suppose I will have to give her flying lessons soon, mm?" Looking down at Ronin with a satisfied smirk, Remi shook his head. "Not likely." He answered with a grin, before suddenly all but disappearing down onto the floor. Shrinking into a black and grey and adorably fury body, Remi climbed up the side of the chair and wagged a finger at Sugar, chittering at her as if to remind her of their agreement. Making an 'a-okay' motion with his small thumb and forefingers, Remi scurried towards the banners to begin to hang them on the rafters with his dexterous paws. If he wasn't being chased by a dragon of course.

At the mere prospect of giving Sugar flying lessons, Ronin shot Remi a look that was clearly of the be my guest, you crazy bastard kind. He had been trying to encourage his hatchling, on and off, to use her wings, but right now she seemed much too young and curious of the world to do much with them. Indeed, she was already curled up on Ronin's lap and watching Remi with lazy blue eyes when he suddenly... wasn't there any more. Bristling, the dragon sat up and huffed out a breath of startlingly cold air, snapping her teeth at the not-Remi that was scurrying up the chair. For his part, Ronin was suitably dumbfounded, watching Remi clamber about with the banners with a slack jaw and a blank expression of confusion on his face. "A raccoon," he remarked. "You can do that now? Damn, Remi-- oi!" Obviously he was being chased by a dragon. Sugar did not appreciate the intruder that had replaced her friend, and she was skittering across the floor to jump and flap up at the raccoon in the rafters, shrieking her annoyance and clambering up one of the chairs for leverage. RONIN I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do

REMI With a squeak of alarm, and some angry chittering (you didn't need to speak raccoon to know that this was a string of curses directed at Ronin), Remi's dexterous paws gripped the beams that went floor to ceiling, scurrying up one of them and darting into the rafters high overhead. Briefly he considered darting towards the open-second floor, but the last thing he wanted was to be out of eye-shot of Ronin. Of course, that actually assumed Ronin was in any position at all to do something about this. Continuing to flit from surface to surface as Sugar made a valiant effort to catch him, Remi squeaked again, dropping one of the banners (hopefully on Sugar to give himself a moment to think), before darting towards Ronin in a haphazard gesture of THEREISADRAGONCHASINGMEHELPTHISISYOURFAULT

"I told you this wasn't wise!" Ronin yelped, half laughing as he clambered to his feet and tried to chase after his dragonling gone wild. Sugar wasn't having any of it though, and as she was chittered at she snapped her teeth up at the intruder-racoon, and the angry flaps of her wings actually succeeded in getting her airborne off the back of the chair, even if it was only for a few moments. Squawking and beating her wings as she landed clumsily on the floor, she prowled about with fierce blue eyes on Remi in the rafters like he was playing some sort of game with her. If the game was "what did you do with my friend get out of my house". You know. That game. Ronin was just about to pick her up and try to calm her down when suddenly she was draped in the banner - that of course sent her absolutely wild, Sugar screeching and thrashing about in the fabric before Ronin could get to her. The guildmaster could feel her anger and her panic, but before he could disentangle her there was a raccoon skittering towards him, and Ronin did the only logical thing - he scooped Remi into one arm, using the other to try and free his dragon. With the amount of biting and clawing it was almost certain that this particular banner was ruined. "Not your finest moment, Remi," Ronin murmured breathlessly, glancing at the furry, bandit-masked face so close to his own. RONIN I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do

REMI No, it was Remi who had said that this plan wasn't wise. That why was he was currently clambering and clinging to Ronin after all. He who willingly does the unwise must always have a friend present . Or handy. Or something. Surely that was a proverb and not just something Remi had made up on the fly. Chittering loudly now, his small heart beating frantically in his chest as his instincts demanded that he flee!flee!flee!, Remi snarled and hissed at the maroon-swaddled dragonling that Ronin was trying to unveil. Blowing an unimpressed stream of air into Ronin's face, Remi reached forward with his small paws to try and aid in removing the (yes definitely) ruined banner from Sugar.

Remi's assistance was appreciated, especially given that Ronin was down one arm now (the one that was holding the raccoon), though he did huff right back at him. And his snarling and hissing probably wasn't helping matters - not that Ronin thought he could help it - so it was entirely on autopilot that the guildmaster paused to give Remi a quick scratch behind the ear, like that would help or something. Eventually they managed to untangle the frantic dragonling, who looked positively wounded that her master was holding the intruder rather than her, and she trilled what was undoubtedly a filthy insult up at them both. The struggle had taken it out of her, however, so there was no jumping or snapping of teeth, though she somehow did manage an expression of being haughty-as-all-fuck. Ronin sighed. "I think she prefers the human you," he remarked to Remi, a smirk on his face as he glanced at the furball in the crook of his arm. RONIN I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do

REMI For a moment Remi happily leaned into the affectionate scritches, before another of Sugar's demanding screeches reminded him that he was currently being held beneath Ronin's arm while a very angry and childish dragon was contesting his permission to be int he guildhall. Shifting into his own body, which more or less meant that Ronin had his arm awkwardly around Remi's neck and shoulder, the alchemist grinned playfully over at the dragon, arching upwards and then giving Ronin a dirty look. "Handsy much?" He asked with a laugh, ruffling a hand through his hair before bending down to look at the dragonling. "I thought we had agreed that there would be no attacking? Not all of the attacking." He scolded, but his smile was far too broad for his words to sound even remotely angry.

Ronin yelped as there was suddenly a full sized human alchemist under his arm where there had been a fuzzy raccoon, and he laughed as well as he glanced down at the other man. Bouncing his eyebrows suggestively, he released him and stepped back. "Oh you would know if I were getting handsy," he informed him, letting him lean down to (rightly) scold Sugar while the guildmaster went to fetch something from upstairs. While he was gone, the dragonling in question had skittered back uncertainly as the intruder was replaced once more with a friend, and she approached him warily. Rising up onto her hind legs, she would nose as his hand and his knee and any other available part, as if to check it was really him. "She's only a baby, still," Ronin said with an affectionate grin as he returned. "But I would definitely say her manners need some work. I hope we don't come across any furry fluffballs any time soon, or I might never get her back." He carried with him a small blanket that Sugar had clearly half shredded, but she must have been attached to the thing because she scrambled up Ronin's leg to snuggle into it in moments. RONIN I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do

REMI "You say that, but dragon or not your arms felt very welcoming." Remi laughed after him before redirecting his gaze to Sugar. Sitting down slowly, he fished a bit of meat out of his pocked for her, holding it in the flat of his hand so that she'd have to fully come to him to take it. "Fun fact about me Sugar. I can be a hawk—" Raising a finger to indicate one, "—a lion—" two "And now a raccoon. If you can't love me at my raccooniest, you can't have me at my humaniest." He joked affectionately. Rising off the floor as Sugar scurried towards what was a glorified ball of rags, Remi grinned crookedly. "I try to do one nice thing for you Ronin." He said shaking his head as if the very foreseeable consequences of his shifting were still the guild master's fault.

Sugar happily accepted the bribe, nibbling gently and affectionately at Remi's finger before taking herself and the scrap of meat over and into her blanket. Ronin laughed, shaking his head and carrying the dragonling over to the chair he'd vacated and setting her and the blanket down so he could investigate the damage. "I think you'll find that it was you at your racooniest that did this. At least it was only the one banner..." He nudged Remi on purpose on the way past, moving to gather the shredded banner out of the way (he'd drape it over Sugar's makeshift den, so she could officially be part of the guild). "Since when could you shift into a third form anyway?" he asked, moving to grab up the rest of the banners. "Come on. I can help you hang these up." RONIN I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do