[SE] olly olly oxen free

we live in a world someone else imagined

"Okay - so what if we watched Kamaria? Is that acceptable, or...?"

The conversation has been ongoing since they left Vai's cottage, and Ronin is busy dragging himself out of the Stonesong now, stark naked after taking a very refreshing dip to wash off the humidity of the forest during Longheat. Mateo, of course, has been left with the witch, after a discussion which has led into this one.

"Don't get me wrong, I absolutely understand. I should have thought of the bigger picture before I asked," he says with a soft smile, slouching onto the warm grass to stretch out and dry off. "I just figure we should clear it all up now before I try to sneak us a day off together and accidentally start a war."

the dark star

REMI

the lullaby

Much as Remi would normally be entirely enthralled by the sight of Ronin stepping out of the Stonestong like the literal demigod he was, the alchemist's arms are folded across his chest and his cheeks are flushed up to his ears in a manner that has nothing to do with his husband's appearance. "How is that relevant?" He grumps in response.

"The war might not be started yet, but it could, at almost any moment it seems. And—" He has to tug his eyes away from the golden light that dapples his husband's body and threatens to steal the heat in his cheeks in lieu of a more southernly locale. "—when the infirmary burned down, even Isla said that someone might try to get at me by hurting those I care about. Now who does that sound like."

Ah yes. Nate. Nate the babysitter-adjacent.

Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

we live in a world someone else imagined

Ronin's cheeks flush as well, to gaze up at his husband like this, and he props himself up on his elbows to take Remi in properly. "I love it when you get worked up about things," he says sweetly, patting the grass beside him to invite him to come and sit down as well. Then, letting out a sigh to pull all of the amusement out of his thoughts, he gives the matter due consideration. "You're right, of course," he murmurs. "While I don't think Nate would ever harm a child, Mateo isn't worth risking for anything."

He glances back across to Remi then, though, furrowing his brows as his attention drifts to the state of the infirmary. "The Wren Society and the Slagveld were hit at the same time," he mutters, shaking his head. "That can't be a coincidence, surely...?" It also makes it very unlikely to be Nate, in the case of the infirmary at least.

the dark star

REMI

the lullaby

Remi's pants are still half-way undone, his fingers having halted when the conversation turned properly to Nate. Frowning down at Ronin, the alchemist stubbornly refuses the affection and chooses to childishly kick off his pants instead. "Tell me. But for my life, Mateo and Seren's lives, is there anything you wouldn't do for Safrin?" Glancing over his shoulder, naked as well and stomping towards the River, Remi considers his point made.

Up to his knees in the whirling water, Remi takes a sip of air before forcing himself down. Adrenaline races up the back of his throat with the chill, but quickly his body acclimatizes and he's left feeling quite cool and disembodied. "Well, no one ever said Nate was smart." Remi counters. "Perhaps the hit on Isla was meant to ensure Nate's role as most prominent doctor? And...who knows, perhaps the fires in Torchline were meant to target me, through you, given your friendship with Sunjata....or maybe Nate was just done running the Advocates." Ronin's membership afforded Remi at least enough information to know where the group was, even if the rest of the details were vague.

"Even without the fires, until Nate vows to face me himself if it ever comes to that, I do not want Mateo anywhere near Nate." Remi's expression screams coward, even though his lips are too busy snarling in disgust to say anything of the sort.

Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

we live in a world someone else imagined

Remi's point is well and truly made, and Ronin can only let out a long sigh and flop back against the warm grass to watch his husband stomp away to the river. He tucks his arms behind his head, brows furrowing at the Lullaby's increasingly outlandish threads of thought to try and connect Nate with anything and everything to do with the fires. "I think you might have to draw me a diagram," he remarks, shuffling to sit up again as he hears Remi swishing around in the water.

Leaning his elbows on his knees, he smiles to the other man. "Then Mateo will not go anywhere near Nate," he assures him, easy as that. "I'll admit though - I can't tell if you'd like to vent about it, or if you want reassurance. Little help?" Ronin is just as willing to sit by and mmhm and yeah what a dick to Remi's irritations - he just needs to know it beforehand.

the dark star

REMI

the lullaby

Might have to draw me a diagram, Remi mimics to himself, before unfurling a wing that he might cup enough water in it to reach Ronin where he luxuriates in the grass. Of course Ronin's question, entirely reasonable and intensely helpful, just leaves Remi opening and closing his fingers against the top of the water, glaring down at it. "It feels like you are not taking this seriously enough." The alchemist mutters. "I do not feel like we are on the same page about this." Maybe it was just a slip on Ronin's part that he hadn't realized the ramifications of having Sunjata watch Mateo, but since they were well down the road of always being honest, Remi didn't bother to blunt his feelings.

Sighing, his anger quickly dissipating, Remi pads out of the water and up the riverbank, collapsing wearily in the grass at his husband's side. "No one knows who started any of the fires. And if it was not a coincidence, then...that is quite the plot." Remi's tone has softened considerably, and as he sighs he moves to itch his cheek against his shoulder. "Isla would have died were I not there. And ... the more I think about it, the more I think it must have been Ludo who made it so that I could not see her." Raking both fingers through his wet curls, Remi shifts his stomach in the grass before raising his gaze to meet Ronin's. "I do not want anything, I don't think. I am just upset about it all." He confides eventually, with a weary sigh.

Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

we live in a world someone else imagined

They are absolutely in the habit of being honest with each other, and despite the blunt nature of Remi's words, Ronin feels a warmth bloom in his chest to hear them. His expression softens as well - just as he's splashed with the water, he might add - and he raises a hand to try and shield his eyes from it. "I'm sorry, I don't mean for it to come across that way. Of course Mateo's safety is the most important. And if one of us isn't comfortable with something, then that needs to be taken seriously. I think I was caught up with... not having to deal with world-threatening drama, when I made the offer to Sunjata."

Remi swamps out of the river and Ronin slouches back to lay with him, a hand reaching out to snag gently at the alchemist's fingers, pressing them against his lips. "Mm... if they are connected, it reminds me of when those explosions happened in Northaven. It's that kind of coordination." He wrinkles his nose, releasing Remi's hand once more so he can collapse properly in the grass.

"There's a lot to be upset about, by the sound of it. Two medical clinics being targeted... even in war, that is unusual."

the dark star

REMI

the lullaby

Remi grumbles, not able to ever stay upset with Ronin for long—amazing how just being honest could do that—and it's with a grumble of frustration and love that the alchemist leans his head against the Star's shoulder. "That was just before I arrived." He murmurs, though it was a story he'd heard often enough to know the details.

"Unusual? It's ... it's...incredibilmente stupido e miope. Che tipo di stronzo enorme lo farebbe?" Remi looks toward Ronin, flushed and tense as if he might have the answer.

Laying his arms in the grass and pressing his head against them, breathing in a good amount of dirt and moss and carrying not at all about it, Remi mumbles: "So if it was not the Order...who? Who would attack both the Hollowed Grounds and Torchline?"

Halo ?

Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

we live in a world someone else imagined

"Count yourself lucky. It was a mess," Ronin murmurs into Remi's curls as his husband's head comes to nestle against his shoulder. Kissing his hair and letting out a soft sigh, his lips part to say something else when, instead, the passionate anger of the travelling tongue comes spilling out of Remi, and he's swept away by it. Indeed, even as tense as the alchemist might be, Ronin is still grinning like an idiot when he responds. "Io davvero non so," he says, however falteringly it might be. It's the only thing he's been able to pick up so far, and it's pretty apt he thinks.

Laying back as Remi huffs out his frustration into the dirt, Ronin shifts to trail his fingers down the other man's spine, making absent patterns and letting his mind wander to ifs and buts and other possibilities. "Perhaps it isn't so much the place, as the places," he mutters. "Though that still doesn't make much sense. Can we just hide from it all for a bit, do you think?"

the dark star

REMI

the lullaby

Despite his mood, Remi can't do anything but laugh as Ronin fumbles his way through the new sounds. Whereas Mateo has developed an accent that is a charming combination of both the musicality of his father's, Ronin's own spin on the travelling tongue is not quite as graceful. Gods but he loves everything about the Star, and the stupidly crooked grin he offers in response says as much. "That would be the first thing you have learned to say." Remi quips with a smile that's far too joyful for how sour he still feels.

Grumbling contentedly into the patterns traced on his skin, Remi sighs into the earth. "Nothing makes sense anymore." He complains, tasting grass between his lips and not minding it. Tilting his head to the side that he might crack one eye open at his husband, Remi raises a brow beneath his curls. "Hide? You? What with your fire and your dazzle and your handsomeness? I doubt it."

Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

we live in a world someone else imagined

"I am nothing if not consistent with my inability to learn languages," Ronin says simply, a touch of pride in his tone as he gets the words out with enough success for Remi to know what he was saying. Nothing does make sense any more though, and Ronin sighs his agreement as his fingers walk through gentle patterns against his husband's spine. He's settled down to fuss away Remi's grumpiness when the alchemist peeps up at him and offers his challenge, Ronin grinning and shifting to sit up.

"I'll have you know that I used to be sent behind enemy lines with the express purpose of hiding in plain sight," he says haughtily, despite everything Remi says being completely true. "I bet you couldn't find me if I hid around here, even with your big, stupid lion nose."

the dark star

REMI

the lullaby

"Now that I absolutely do not believe." Remi counters as goosebumps bubble up from his spine in the wake of Ronin's fingertips. "You are far too charming, far too handsome, and far too easily distracted by mischief to had in plain sight." Even before magic had taken Ronin to heights impossible to imagine in Northaven, Remi still couldn't imagine the Star doing anything but standing out. He was simply too ralphagorn Ronin.

"Keep up that attitude, and it'll be my big stupid teeth that will find you, not my nose." Snapping playfully in Ronin's direction, only for his teeth to come together that he might press a kiss to his husband's shoulder, Remi raises a brow.

"Alright then, challenge accepted. Off you go into the woods. I will give you...what? A minute to hide?" Grinning, Remi was already very much looking forward to watching Ronin's bareass trot off into the dappled sunlight and pillars of shadow to try and hide.

Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

we live in a world someone else imagined

"Excuse me," Ronin objects with a grin that says he's very much charmed by the accurate exaggerated depiction of himself. "Perhaps I am just making up for lost time, now that I don't have to concern myself with espionage so much any more. You don't know." Except he absolutely does know, probably better than anyone else, and Ronin is just talking himself into a deeper and deeper hole as time goes on.

Chuckling, he leans in to kiss Remi's forehead as his husband's lips drop against his shoulder, though Ronin wisely chooses not to mention that the alchemist is the one who called himself stupid that time around. Besides, apparently there's hiding and seeking to be done. "A minute sounds fair," he says with a grin, rolling to stand and indeed trotting bareass off into the woods.

Of course, there's Remi's big stupid lion nose to worry about, so Ronin doesn't expect to actually stay hidden for long. But it doesn't stop him from clambering up into the boughs of a tree to hide out, peeping through the dense foliage to watch for his husband.

the dark star

REMI

if you're not going to swim deep with me

Say what you will about Ronin’s antics, it takes a special breed of man to climb naked into a tree. Surely there will be lots of sore spots for Remi to kiss better later, though. So the alchemist hopes, anyway.

Waiting a minute and not a second more, Remi rises from the grass. Rather than continuing naked though, feathers and fur envelope his body as each step becomes larger than the last. Fully shifted, the manticore pauses with his nose upturned in the air and his ears forward. Ronin’s scent is like a taut string amidst the tangled yarn of the Greatwood. He shines red and gold whereas everything else is coloured in greens and browns. There are other smells Remi might follow—Faidh, he thinks, has been about recently—but right now he has a nose only for one man.

Where oh where could my husband be. He’s so clever, I am sure I will never find him. Remi thinks loudly and dramatically, finding Ronin’s tree almost right away, not only for the smell of his husband, but the bark kicked loose during his scramble up and the disturbed moss and dirt at the base of the tree.

Perhaps I shall just rest here and have a think about where he could be.. With that, the manticore heaves himself against the base of the tree meaning to cause the upper limbs to sway back and forth, all while pantomiming a beast trying to get comfortable.

get out of my waters

Coding base by Sky!