[split] i've seen this room, i've walked this floor

and my heart ran away with me

Remi closes his eyes against the weight of her words, feeling nothing but relief to hear his internal inclinations articulated so clearly. "It never does." He agrees emphatically, strangely joyful amidst the remembered-dispair that she understood so perfectly. Riding the tide of Hotaru's own ghostly past, the alchemist doesn't shy away from the darkness that tinges the emotions that flow into him. Even now the mere mention of Aoife's name was enough to drag him back into the empty caverns of his heart where he haunted his own happiness from the shadows.

"There, you see? Only a clever mind would ask that." Remi replies with a smirk as he watches their fingers, expecting at any moment for talons to unsheath from beneath her fingernails if only because he could feel the itch of his own talons eager to do just that. "Mmm." He hums thoughtfully, wondering if that was true of what he'd done to Sunjata or not. It felt contradictory to regret something that you'd do again in a heartbeat. Insincere, somehow.

"Bother? No, I just..." Sighing and letting his fingers close around hers as well, accepting the pressure she applies without feeling some masculine need to offer her reassurance back, he swallows hard, dropping his gaze guiltily to his knees. But then, Hotaru was her own woman, damned her relationship to Nate and Sunjata. Turning toward her, Remi shakes his head. "Stay." He decides.

Smiling against her lips on his cheek, the alchemist finds himself blushing in the soft light of the setting sun. "Anytime." He offers and finds he absolutely means it. Shifting the wing slightly that still overlays her shoulders, Remi glances ahead at the shrine. "Shall we?"

remi

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

How do I keep myself from fallin' apart when I ain't never felt part of a whole?

It feels biblical, to be sharing their grief like an open river between their hearts as they kneel in the golden sunlight, naked and wrapped in feathers. “But we continue on,” against all fairness in the world. And it finds them here, together. That is simply all there is to it.

A soft laugh has breath washing over her shoulder, his boyish compliments like lukewarm water over her own. It feels as if she has known him forever, which makes the prospect of facing Frey at his side all the easier. Ru waits for his decision patiently, unaware of vows and threats that should not include her any longer. Only when he bids her to remain does she let her thumb trace over the bones of the back of his hand, a silent acceptance.

Turning to face the shrine at his behest, she leaves her cheek on the point of his shoulder and closes her eyes. “Together.” And she prays. Frey, if you will hear me...

- - -

Turning in Birthday Gift - Hybrid Pass!

HOTARU

Appearing upon a large rock directly ahead of Hotaru and Remi, Frey lays with their back arched over the rounded stone. For Remi the god will appear as if chiselled from stone and brushed with gold. Free of the tattoos given to Ronin by Safrin, this facsimile of the Star bears no markings of Frey's fellow deity. And for Hotaru? Will she see soft green eyes and breasts that fit in the palm of her hand? Will the eyes be grey, or blue instead? Will the body be tall, strong, or lithe and supple? Hotaru's wants and desires are fleeting things, but the deity is more than up to the challenge; bending traits and genders to perfectly encapsulate all that tingles and warms her belly.

"I was rather hoping you would have brought the whip." Frey says, looking lazily over their shoulder at those who kneel on four knees in the sand and the water. The air is suddenly thick with the smell of sex that settles on Hotaru and Remi like a mist, plucking, plumping, and stirring their innermost desires so much so that saying they have fucking on the brain would be an understatement. They have it everywhere. Shrugging, they stretch their arms over their head in a luxurious yawn, their perfectly toned skin rippling beneath the gesture. "What brings you here peach-lips?" Frey wonders, eyeing Remi for a moment and offering him a wink and lick of their lips, before turning back to Hotaru.

and my heart ran away with me

Wrapping an arm around her that it might rest softly on her hip—his fingers confidently placed, though not seeking or searching—Remi wonders if Hotaru can hear the way his heart hammers in his chest, with her ear placed against his shoulder. Closing his eyes and trying not to see Phoebe's face, Rexanna's, face, or Loren's, he pulls in a shaky breath that he might offer a pre-emptive apology in the wake of Hotaru's prayer, sure that he's already done something wrong.

When the god appears, looking so much like Ronin that it steals his breath, Remi's lips part in a muffled gasp that he tries to swallow back unsuccessfully. Whip? He would ask were there time, but quickly his curiosity is drowned in a sea of arousal and desire. Remi's tongue feels suddenly dry in his mouth as the blood pounding in his hearts rockets south so fast that his stomach flutters for a moment. Around Hotaru his fingers tense and shiver on her skin as he forces himself to remain still and obtrusive in the moment. Gods but it's difficult, with Frey splayed out as they are, their blue eyes lazily regarding him.

remi

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

How do I keep myself from fallin' apart when I ain't never felt part of a whole?

The motion of Remi’s arm moving around her is what prompts her eyes to open, and Frey is there as if they always had been. As much a part of the surroundings as the rock and water despite being the wrong side of the coin. Their body seems to shimmer between forms, and Hotaru knows it is the product of her own conflicted heart and loins. Tall and firm, cock and breasts alike, and eyes - like hers - both blue and gray. It renders her mouth dry, prompting her to lick her lips. “Never the same thing twice for you Frey,” she assures, though the memory of that day makes her thighs squeeze together moments before the allure falls over them.

It’s intoxicating, and she leans into Remi like a swaying branch, hand finding his thigh and gripping lightly as her breath shudders in her chest. Goals and desires are muddled in the face of desire. Tempting to simply say take me, make me yours, and pray the deity knows in what way. Tongue thick, she swallows, even the sensation of Remi’s feathers and her own hair against her skin like electricity that her magic can’t control. “Desire. For you, and for change. To beg for Atlas back, and to beg to be yours.” Begging is something she’s quite good at after all. She’s already on her knees and everything.

HOTARU

"Ooooohh but you are good with your mouth." Frey says approvingly as they run their tongue over their lips. It's a sensation that both Remi and Hotaru will keenly feel themselves. "Much as I like seeing you on your knees peach-lips, death is simply not my area. No amount of supplecating will change that." Dead was dead for Frey. Only the boy in rags or Mort himself could change that.

"As for being mine? Certainly, I would take you. It isn't though I haven't already." With a wicked smile, Frey lets their legs fall open, cock twitching for their attention between Frey's thighs. Their hands form into claws that softly press at their knees before rising upwards. This too the mortals will feel. Heightened, even. "But if that is the case, why have you brought this repressed mountain of muscle, mmmmm? Is he to be our audience?"

and my heart ran away with me

Every single nerve feels as though it's exposed, and were it not for his experience having been in the Sex Room, the alchemist might have lost his mind with the overload of it. Feeling the same, Hotaru's emotions slosh back against him, heightening the sensation further such that Remi's stomach muscles tense as his arm muscles quiver, such are his efforts to remain where he is. As Hotaru's fingers clasp his thigh though, his breath hitches in his throat as fire seems to bloom out from her touch. With so much blood already building between his legs, having her hand so close to his growing erection steals all of his focus as his mind traitorously images how easy it would be to slip his fingers around hers and make her touch him.

But then she's speaking, and so is Frey, and now there is another hand seemingly running up the inside of his thigh. Dizzy and wanting, it's only after a moment or two (or an eternity, he has no idea), that Remi realizes the conversation has circled back to him.

"No, I—" He begins, licking his lips and finding his tongue far too dry to help. "I was merely bringing you an offering." Remi manages as the coral flush of his cheeks disappears up into his hairline. Awkwardly he nods toward the peaches he had brought, thinking he likely didn't need to indicate his nudity, obvious as it was.

remi

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

How do I keep myself from fallin' apart when I ain't never felt part of a whole?

“You can have it if you like,” she offers boldly, shuddering all over when the sensation of a daring tongue slides across her mouth. Lips part on a gasp, instinctively yearning and inviting more ground for that ghostly fiend to explore. The rebuff is gentle and admittedly expected, but it gives her guidance if nothing else. Though the only tie to Ludo on her mind right now is already at her side, quivering like an eagle struck with Cupid’s arrow. For all his form does not change to suit her desires, Remi is still gorgeous in his overwhelm.

Pleasure flushed them both into rose hues, and Hotaru is emboldened by the promise of being sworn. Enough for her own thighs to widen at the touch Frey delivers from afar, nails digging lightly into Remi’s thigh in tandem. “A last minute addition to my offering, maybe? Perhaps we can teach him the delights of being free from such repression?” Remi’s stuttering answer endearing as she leans over to bite at the shell of his ear, overcome with a need to touch and be touched, careless of who. “Audience, participant...what do you think?” Heated heterochromatic eyes turn to Frey from Remi’s shoulder, though the question is aimed at both, whispered heatedly into the demigod’s ear. Frey would best know Remi’s limits and desires even before he speaks - and Ru certainly won’t pressure him one way or the other.

HOTARU

'Unplanned doesn't mean unwelcome, you're right about that." Shifting onto their side, Frey cocks their head toward Hotaru as her knees spread slightly and her lips find Remi's ear. "This one is rather fond of the box he's so narrowly put himself in. He tried to have sex with Maeve just to find out of his precious label was still right." Frey rolls their eyes at this. Genders, sexuality—the mortals made it so much more complicated than it needed to be. Making up definitions and categories and then deciding who could and couldn't be in what camp.

'Alright then. Whoever cums before me...wins."

So saying, Frey's hand part with one dipping between their legs and the other rising to clasp one of their nipples. Both Hotaru and Remi will feel their sexual prowess, though there was one very latch catch to simply riding high on Frey's coattails: undoubtedly Frey would cum first if the pair simply let themselves be tugged along, thus losing out on the prize.

and my heart ran away with me

Remi's hand flinches, moving across his legs to cover Hotaru's hand. It stills there for a moment as if its purpose had been to stop anything else she might do, but as Frey continues and the air around them goes thick with want, Remi finds himself pressing at her fingertips that her nails might dig deeper into his skin.

Remi's eyes roll up slightly as his chin lifts, shivering despite the heat of Hotaru's body and her warm pant in his ear. "I said I would hel—" Having every intention of saying the words as calmly as possible, as Frey's hands begin to touch themselves the alchemist all but pitches forward as phantom pressure strokes up and down his erection.

"You—" Remi's eyes grow dark and predatory as his cheeks flush, heat blooming between his legs as he turns to the woman at his side. "—you—" He tries again, but the world has gone too bright and hazy. Remi's tongue is tied by the movement of Frey's hand and the want to stalk toward the deity and be had by the Ronin look-alike. Though there isn't much rationality left to use, what is left recalls a promise made only moments ago to Hotaru, to help in any way he could. Right now that meant two things: not cumming before her, and making sure she came faster than Frey.

"Tell me how you want me." He manages as last, breathlessly, twisting to the side that he might face Hotaru fully. His cock, his tongue, his hands were all on offer that he might help achieve her goal.

remi

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

How do I keep myself from fallin' apart when I ain't never felt part of a whole?

Oh Maeve. Their connections never cease. Hotaru doesn’t find fault in his preferences the way Frey does, but even her own open mind is narrower than a god’s. So when Remi’s pupils blow wide and her nails sink into Adonis muscle, she licks her lips as her brain ticks away to find a way to make this good for him. To reward his selflessness.

“Entirely,” she breathes, and pushes at his shoulders to lay him out like a fallen angel in the water, kaleidoscopic colors like ichor and blood surrounding him. Maneuvering up his hips she straddles him, aligning the slick heat of her core over the not-inconsiderable length of his erection - sliding him between her aching folds. Leaning over his body as she grinds against him she places her fingertips to his chin to tilt his head towards Frey, sure that what he sees there is far more familiar and enticing. “See him while I take you.” Reaching behind herself she grasps his cock in her hand, tracing the pronounced vein with her thumb before sliding the fat head inside her pulsing cunt. Even just that is like fire in her skin, and she tosses her head back with a gasp as she slides slowly backward to take him fully inside. It surely won’t take long - Varus’ bite had been one thing, and Maeve’s mouth another, but she has not been filled and fucked in so very long that even her own touch against her clit as she tentatively bounces in Remi’s lap feels like a static shock.

HOTARU

"Off we fuck, then."

No stranger to themself, Frey's hands glide over their body such that it will feel as though there is an extra set of hands roving over Hotaru's breasts and groping at Remi's balls. The pair will find tongues lapping between their thighs, fingertips pinching nipples, and moans whispered in their ears. But oh, don't focus on it too long little loves, or Frey will beat you to the punch.

and my heart ran away with me

Remi's shoulders press against the warm sand and opalescent water, his wings splayed out from his sides. The mess of scarring that is his body does indeed make him look like some broken and fallen thing, though as Hotaru moves to sit astride him, Remi's mind is far, far from wondering how he might look in the moment. He would tell Hotaru she was beautiful if only his tongue wasn't tied up in Frey's phantom ministrations. He might explain, too, that he'd been with women before and could be more of an active participant. But the thoughts—and the words with them—are stolen as she grasps the base of his cock, sliding down against him until their bodies melt into one shape.

Instinctively his hands reach for her hips, and she's so petite therein that it feels as though his fingers might meet at the small of her back. In his grasp she feels weightless, such is his strength and her build, that it feels like nothing at all as he aids her motions. His undoing though, is the way Frey's blue eyes stare at him from beneath thick and expressive eyebrows. Remi's lips part, very much wanting to feel the cock that they stroke between his lips and thighs as Ronin's-lookalike tenses with pleasure.

"No, I'll—" Watching Frey touch themself while wearing his husband's smile would make him cum instantly. Forcing his gaze away and looking for a moment like a predator denied its kill, Remi releases Hotaru with one hand that he might press his own fingers, suddenly pointed with claws, against his hip. The pain is bright and flaring, and though it can't compete with what's happening around him, it does dull the build of his orgasm somewhat.

"You look." He pants, his wings arching up to flex around her that she might lean against them or find purchase in his feather. All the while his hips thrust up and down in a rhythm that makes the pounding of the waves on the shore seem lazy, his fingertips pressed into her flesh for purchase.

remi

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

How do I keep myself from fallin' apart when I ain't never felt part of a whole?

He is everything and more in this moment. Surrounding her, filling her, taking each wave of emotion as skin meets with each frantic movement. So used to taking control is she that the notion of mutual aid seems distant. Ru takes what she wants when she wants it; few ever seem inclined to fight her for the honor, secreted away is her desire to give up control. But his hands are calloused and strong where they cradle her in near entirety, and her voice jolts with pleasure as he helps her bounce - staccato ah, ah, ah’s that mewl from her throat.

The jolt of his claws into his own skin and the sight of blood do nothing to dampen her arousal - in fact her walls clench around Remi’s cock, squeezing and trembling overtop him at the sight. As his hips crest to meet her she hooks her ankles back around his flexing ass, leaning into the canopy of feathers and cartilage until she has sunk as far as she can get onto his cock, until she is certain were she capable of focusing her gaze she’d see the protrusion somewhere in her navel that is how deep he feels. The added ghostlike additions of Frey’s attentions make her feel wild and untethered in the storm of lust and pleasure.

Ru is sure she could orgasm from this alone (and embarrassingly quickly at that), but it is still a race to the finish. So she reaches her fingers down between them, pressing and rubbing at her clit, already slick with how wet she is. “Remi,” she whines, an unfamiliar name for all it doesn’t sound misplaced in her moaning mouth. Thighs tremble around him, and she leans forward on the arm that isn’t currently tracing the way he splits her open to let him better thrust into her to bring her to the final crest. It is there, just within reach, and she pursues it with a single-minded selfishness.

HOTARU