[se] baby this rain changes everything

looking like that, you'll open some wounds

What little rains were to come this season had been making their rounds with surprising frequency in the Hollowed Ground. Puddles like potholes pockmarked the roads and fields to the delight of small children and the horror of anyone wanting to walk outside without getting muddy or wet. Remi was neither, and predictably he wasn't bothered at all by the water that soaked the bottom of his shoes such that every step was accompanied by a squelch.

What did bother him was a rather large puddle just outside the Atheneum. He could have sworn he saw it move (though that might have been a mere shiver of light caused by the moon). Even so, he stood with his arms folded, staring at it quite studiously. So long did Remi remain this way that shadows began to coalesce around him, climbing up his body and hiding him partially away in their inky darkness.

THE LULLABY

you were in the fallout and you lost some friends //

The only strange thing he’s noticed about the rain and having a metal arm? It’s the annoying plink, plink, plink that constantly barrages him anytime he steps outside. It’s bearable, for the most part, but it’s one little thing that nags at his mind. So he takes as long as he can in the Atheneum, picking between which book to read for himself since he’d gotten one for Isla in Halo, and when he’s finally picked one? It’s been tossed into the bag around his shoulders and he heads back out into the rainy night with a quiet sigh.

He hasn’t been gone too long, at least, not long enough for another random fire to sprout – he’s pretty sure – but he is a bit distracted as he leaves the Atheneum and nearly slips right into that large puddle – his boot coming down into the hole quite hard with a large splash and if it weren’t for the metal arm that clings to the wall beside it, he’d have likely fallen on his ass. “Nice. Real nice.” He half mutters, pulling his boot out, glancing around to ensure he’s alone (which he definitely thinks he is). “Hm, well... Might as well match.” He mumbles, before he’s splashing his other boot down into the puddle with the glimmer of a boyish smile crossing his face.

VARUS

looking like that, you'll open some wounds

'Y'know..I was hoping someone would do that.' With a twitch of his fingers, Remi seems to simply appear. He's been there all along of course, but such is his magic. And these days? Well. Remi has enough on his mind that staying still is quite easy for him to do.

"In a book someone read to me once, a boy who loved jumping into puddles jumped into the wrong one, once upon a time." Raking a hand through his curls which are rain-damp and messy, he folds his arms comfortably across his chest as he looks from Varus to the puddle and then back again. "He was never heard from again, of course. Ever since then..." Remi shrugs, offering the other man a boyish smile of his own. "I mean, you never really do know, do you?" The Atheneum had books that could open up and swallow you whole; whose to say some of that magic didn't slip into the rainwater outside?

THE LULLABY

you were in the fallout and you lost some friends //

The boyish smile shifts to something of on edge as Varus appears to jump out of his skin, splashing again in the puddle as he grabs the bag along his shoulder and his head snaps to Remi. “Oh for fucks sake.” He curses, thankful to not have his unbeating heart lodged in his throat. “Warn a guy next time.” Hopefully, there wouldn’t be a next time… But if there were.

Anyway, Varus remains standing in the puddle as Remi speaks of the book, the tale spun in a way that does have Varus carefully pulling himself out of the puddle and appraising this stranger anew, a playful smile forming on his face. “Maybe the boy became a king in an underwater palace?” Varus suggests, innocent at first before it grows quite a bit darker. “Or maybe he drowned.” Shoulders rise and fall in a shrug, the moon glinting off the water that drips from his metal arm. “Wanna take it for a spin?” He gestures to the puddle with a slowly growing shit-eating grin. "It appears safe."

VARUS

looking like that, you'll open some wounds

"Should I have whispered don't be scared, first?" Remi wonders, his own smile not having faded at all. "I have always found that anyone who says that usually does not mean it to be true." He points out with a shrug.

"Could be, but he came from a good family. So the story goes. Why would he not send word?" The suggestion of drowning as Remi releasing one of his arms that he might tap the side of his nose with his finger. "No body." It was a child's story, but when told by someone like Remi, it could easily found like a nefarious murder mystery.

"You see normally I would...but how am I to know you aren't just there to tempt me to a watery grave?" Playfully said, it wouldn't be the first time Ludo had tried to lure Remi into a seemingly innocuous situation that would have actually resulted in his death.

THE LULLABY

you were in the fallout and you lost some friends //

Another bubble of laughter leaves Varus with the roll of his eyes. “Nah, a little ‘you aren’t alone’ as ominously as you’ve said don’t be scared would’ve been a little less frightening.” He admits with a crooked smile.

As for the boy? A good family? Well, there’s another small smirk that crosses Varus’ face with that. “Maybe he didn’t want to be found? Maybe his good family were leeches?” A waggle of his eyebrows meets Remi until the mention of a possible watery grave arises and Varus stares at the puddle, eyes bright with calculation.

They rise to Remi quite quickly with a shrug of his shoulders. “Should I do it again to prove it isn’t dangerous to you?” He asks, abandoning his pack away from the puddle if only so he can jump back into it with more force, hoping the water hits Remi for proof.

VARUS

looking like that, you'll open some wounds

"Well, the thing about it is, had I said that, I would have appeared just as quickly as I did this time." Remi crinkles his nose as if with an apology. "Have you tried...not being so jumpy?" The alchemist's expression and tone make it seem as though this is a serious suggestion; strangers though they are, Varus will likely see right through it.

"Oh I see. An unreliable narrator then. What an interesting twist." The alchemist grins, horrified and delighted, to consider this. "Maybe the story of the witch who lured children with candy was written by an angry sheriff who was just trying to make it seem like there was nothing he could do."

Remi is about to point out that, if Varus was some watery-gatekeeper, of course he'd be able to walk through the puddle without issue, when suddenly water is flying his way. Not unlike the falcon, Remi bends his knees slightly so that the wings which sprout from his back can flare up and around him to protect him from the water.

Letting his wings droop that he might flash the other man a roguish grin, the alchemist raises a brow. "If you are trying to lure me into a watery death, you are not doing a very good job of it." He points out with a tilt of his chin. "That said, maybe you are doing a good job of it, since you have made me think that you are not." Remi's accent grows all the more musical with his further consideration until finally he shrugs. "You will have one hell of a surprise waiting for you if I get dragged down anywhere." Sudden krakkening, and all that.

And so, with wings spread, Remi jumps into the puddle with an aim to splash Varus back.

THE LULLABY

you were in the fallout and you lost some friends //

“Tried and failed.” He quips back with a wink, given the evident way he’d jolted when Remi had appeared. As for the story? Well, Varus’ grin grows a bit wider at the suggestion, a snort leaving him. “Ooh, yes, give the family closure when there’s no ends to follow.” His lips purse for a brief moment as if considering, but his plans have changed. Because instead of continuing to pick on the book Remi had been told when he was young, Varus is far too interested in not being some watery death Ludo and instead, chooses to prove it to the Lullaby.

The wings are a nice touch though, Varus’ grin growing wide again. “Oh that’s cheating.” He barks a laugh loud enough to echo off the stone of the Atheneum, until the roguish grin from the Lullaby is seen and Varus really has absolutely no hope of not getting splashed when Remi moves again. “What kind of a surprise? Hope it’s better than the usual ‘if I find you, I’ll kill you’ because gods that’s a boring end.” He tips a wink, cackling as he uses his metal arm to try and shield him from the worst of the puddle’s splashzone. It completely fails, because of course it does, and Varus smirks back at Remi as he stomps his foot down to splash a bit more.

“See? No watery death.” He winks, a fanged grin breaking across his face. “Though I do wonder whatever happened to that poor, poor boy.”

VARUS

looking like that, you'll open some wounds

'Ahh well. There is always next time." Remi chuckles back, mirroring Varus's wink. "For the both of us."

Remi finds himself liking the version of the story that the pair have come up with, and he tries to mentally make a note to tell Vai about how he and a random stranger have re-written the ending to one of her fairytales.

"Is it? How? You never said no wings." Remi asks, his bottom lip puckering slightly with feigned innocence. That the alchemist noticed the other man's teeth—assuming his race as well—isn't revealed on his face. And why should it be? Remi is in the Grounds after all. It be strange if Varus wasn't an ascended, wandering about at night as he was.

"No of course not, and how dare you for thinking I would ever say something so cliche. That said...I obviously cannot tell you. You could still be trying to lure me into a trap. I know what a long-con is." It's strange, trying to convince himself? Varus? of his untrustworthiness, while standing so close to him splashing about in a puddle.

THE LULLABY

you were in the fallout and you lost some friends //

He certainly hopes there isn’t a next time, but he isn’t about to admit it to the stranger – especially not when the man appears quite strong and full of feathers and wings and Varus idly wonders how soft those feathers are or if they cut like a razors edge. He can’t tell which he’d prefer more. “Helps your balance, duh.” He retorts, growing more and more boyish and playful as the water soaks through him. “All I’ve got is myself.” Gesturing to himself, he hums a laugh before shaking his head.

And then it’s just these two men standing in a very large and deep puddle, soaked to the bone – at least Varus can’t feel it – when another resounding bark of laughter leaves the Ascended. He gets the feeling that there’s little trust there, but Varus doesn’t blame Remi. He’s a stranger, after all, and Caido had its ways of making people second guess things. “Long-con, huh?” He grins, moving to fold his arms across his chest. “How long is a long-con? ‘Cause if so, I’ve been in the game a long fucking time and it’s the first I’ve seen of you.” He’s never been close with Ludo, nor any of the old gods, to know exactly just what this might look like to someone burned.

“Let me guess, though, it’d be something brilliantly poetic and fitting for my end?” Instead of the cliché from Taken. Not that Varus knows what that is. Still, it beats going offline under a shrub in Queen's Gambit.

VARUS

looking like that, you'll open some wounds

"What, and that arm doesn't?" Remi counters skeptically. "I'm just supposed to believe it is all hollow and not good for anything?" He tilts his head as his brows furrow with comical disbelief.

"Well, that all depends I think." Rubbing at his curls, his wingtips drooping in the water by now, he tilts his head to the side. 'Number one, I have no reason to believe that." Remi points out with a boyish smile. "Though I will say you do look older than I am. Look, anyway." He emphasizes with a smirk, before raising a hand over his heart and wincing. "Ouch. I used to live just down the road. Had a little shop, and then a guild?" Tutting under his breath, he finds it both refreshing as much as it's strange, not to be recognized.

"Oh no, nothing like that. I am too simple a man for that. It would merely be dramatic. That, I can do." Thanks to Ronin, Remi could do dramatic quite well these days. And what would a more dramatic end be than a water-guardian (or whatever) being killed by a kraken?

THE LULLABY

you were in the fallout and you lost some friends //

“Maybe it is.” Varus quips, unable to keep the hum of a laugh from leaving his chest again. This kind of banter was far easier than most other conversations and the Ascended finds himself sinking into it with surprising ease, even if his boots are filling with water now. “Look?” He makes a little squeaking noise with his voice, the grin spreading across his face like fire. “Oh, see, that’s the problem. You see, I kind of took a long three hundred year nap.” He makes a motion of stretching out, the metal arm flexing and shifting with the movement as he cuts a grin back to Remi. “Well rested at least.” Sort of.

Mentally? A bit fried, but you know how it goes.

There’s a low whistle that leaves Varus at the mention of no poetics, and he finds his lips shifting in a small frown. “Hm. Well, I suppose so long as there’s a witness to tell my tale it wouldn’t be too bad.” His head cocks consideringly, before he’s pulling himself out of the puddle to pick up his satchel, wiping the water off the edges of it as he sends a roguish grin back to Remi. “I’m good with dramatics.” He slips the satchel back on, giving the other man a dramatic half bow. “I’m Cal, by the way. In case you need someone who knows me to be a witness to my dramatic death, of course.”

VARUS

looking like that, you'll open some wounds

It's true for both of them that the banter was easy and welcome. Especially in the wake of burning infirmaries and ones they cared about being nearly caught in the crossfire. "You kind of took a three hundred year nap." Remi repeats, incredulity making his words sound all the more musical. "Had a really hard week of luring people into their deaths via puddles, did you? Needed to sleep it off?" Remi grins broadly. "Or, was this a wicked-witch and apple type of deal? Did a handsome prince need to come awaken you again?" Oh look. Just when you thought the fairytale references were over.

Following Varus out of the puddle as well and not minding at all the squelch of water released from his shoes as he stands on the firm ground, he tilts his chin up to laugh in the moonlight. "Cal?" Shaking his head disapprovingly, the alchemist shakes out his wings before they slip back into his skin. "That is a terrible name to rhyme things with. The bards who will sing of your dramatic death will hate you for it." A terrible poet to be sure, the alchemist gives it a go just the same to prove his point. "Cal was a boy and not a gal, and was a really good pal, and this'll lower your morale, but he's dead."

Raising a brow and tilting his head as if to suggest that just wouldn't do, Remi exhales a chuckle. "You see? Terrible."

THE LULLABY

you were in the fallout and you lost some friends //

“Kind of.” Varus repeats with a crooked grin. “Not a handsome prince, unfortunately. Though the tale is rather gory.” He pauses to purse his lips, that very same crooked grin remaining on his face. “Might’ve almost wished it had to do with poison apples and sleeping curses.” His metal hand rises to scratch at his jaw, head cocking slightly before he’s readjusting his satchel.

The laughter of his name sparks his blue gaze to drift back to the Alchemist, barking another echoing laugh at the feigned poetics. “Hey, it’s short for Callahan. Anyone could make better rhymes with that.” He gives Remi a considering look, before he’s straightening his posture and trying it on for size.

“There once was a man, who was named Callahan. He couldn’t get a tan, but he trekked to Torchline and then…” He squints, lips pursing as the words flicker through his mind. Then, with a grin, he leans toward Remi. “Got eaten by a pelican.”

VARUS