you could have been all I wanted

the lullaby

Love isn't all that it seems
I did you wrong

It's a fine balance, this knife's edge that they stand on. Holding each other that neither should fall off, the swing of words causes each to pitch forward and back. There is leeway when it comes to what Ronin can say about Hotaru. That anger, at least, Remi understands. But against his children? Strange as it is to even think that they exist apart from Ronin, it's a fact now that they do. And insofar as they do, they fall fully within Remi's sphere of protective hostility.

Significantly smaller than the celestial reptile before him, as Remi shifts in response, his paws give not an inch. His kraken-shift would have dwarfed Ronin as a dragon it's true, but the bastardized flesh of the manticore feels more like home than the monolithic ocean-dweller ever will. They are. Comes Remi's voice, as even as the current that flows around them. Whatever and whoever might find its way into Ronin's path, monstrous as he now properly was, the twins would be exempt.

I'll stay here with you
Until this dream is gone

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!