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"And so what if you did?" Ronin whispers back, his hands running up the length of Remi's thighs even as his husband's touch trails across his shoulders and down his back. The nature of their discussion does bring the further glitter of scales beneath the Lullaby's fingertips, and if Ronin's teeth are a little sharper than usual as he nips at his husband's lower lip, so be it. "I love you," he murmurs, making it sound like a vow. "And I hate to see this hurt you so much."

With a sigh that seems longer and deeper than the situation permits, Ronin forces himself to relax back into Remi's arms, as if catching the way the creature that now slumbers within him has started to shift and stretch. "I do think this call is up to you, this time," he admits, regardless. "You're their father. You have the final say on their care, now that their mother has proven that she can't be trusted."

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Talons appear on the tips of Remi's fingers, not peeling at Ronin's scales but flirting with the idea just the same. Part of him wants to rake his claws up his husband's back despite the incredible pain it would cause the Huntsman, if only because Remi is quite sure it would sound exquisite to hear the ruffle of scales against his talons. "It is a well deserved punishment, I think." He replies as the muscles of his thighs tense beneath his husband's hands.

As Ronin sags back against him, the thing awakened within the alchemist coils and snarls in the hollows of his bones, refusing to be ignored. "Can I be trusted?" Remi wonders in a voice that sounds sweetly tinged with murderous intent. 'How many things have I done in my life that have made others not trust me, that I stand by even now?" Swallowing hard and tasting a flourish of blood on his tongue—whether it's his or Ronin's he doesn't know, nor care—Remi tries to sit a touch straighter. "I do not know what is right or wrong, in this. I really, really don't."

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"It is not," Ronin protests, trying to relax even as predators both within and without refuse to settle so easily. His fingers squeeze at Remi's thighs, gentle and dangerous all at the same time, and at the feel of sharp claws tickling along his back, he can't help but shudder and flex beneath the touch. "Careful," he mumbles, for all the good it will do, sitting up as well and rolling his shoulders like he can dismiss the dragon stirring awake inside him.

"Perhaps there is no right and wrong in this," he mutters. "Not one so easily distinguished, anyway. They are your children, though. And as you said yourself... you would have been better off without knowing your father. Can you say that will be the same for the twins...?" His eyes narrow a bit. "And can you really see Hotaru giving up?"

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Careful, Ronin warns, but the alchemist only smiles boyishly. "No." He whispers back.

Ronin's question does have Remi pausing, his fingers stalling their ministrations upon scales and skin alike. "I know so little about her." He admits. "But in the past few seasons, she has burned down a building in Torchline, been imprisoned, started a coup in Halo, and subsequently lost that throne only days after gaining it. She gave birth and then treked two newborn twins who were born prematurely halfway across the world without saying so much as a word about it." Feathers bristle in the alchemist's curls as his upper lip threatens a snarl before Remi sighs it away.

"If she was the sort of mother I thought she was going to be, no. I could not see her giving up...but then..." Looking at Ronin with guilt and pride both in his seaglass stare, the alchemist shakes his head slightly. "..with who I am, that hardly matters." Because at the end of the day, it was only the man in his arms and the gods who could force Remi to bend when he didn't want to.

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It's quite the track record that Hotaru's got, and he scowls and glances away from Remi until he can feel the other man's eyes on him. "I was going to point out that she wasn't like this with Sunjata and Nate, but... she did disappear on them, too." His frown deepens, and he reaches up to smooth at the feathers that ruffle through the alchemist's curls. And as Remi points out what they both know, he can only let his shoulders relax, the scales beginning to sink back into his skin.

"Then it doesn't matter what is right or wrong, does it?" he points out, a little sadly. "There is only what you think is best. And for what it's worth, I support you whatever that might be." He may not be able to help his husband when it comes to these difficult decisions, but he can definitely keep them from spawning more difficulties along the way.

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The alchemist nods, having not considered that. "We are certainly past the point where I can ask them their thoughts on the matter, but...that is true." And all those long months she'd apparently been with them, and yet no one had heard from or seen her.

Though Remi is smiling, it's sad and resigned now. Dimple free and with deep lines that crease the corners of his lips, he swallows hard as his fingers grow light against his husband's skin. "But it should matter. Isn't that what you keep telling me? That I cannot simply do what I want, just because no one can stop me?" Wanting to turn his talons on his own skin now, Remi merely pulls his hands back that he might fold his fingers tightly into one hand.

'What would you do, were you in my place?"

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"Do you want me to ask Sunjata?" Ronin tilts his head, finding himself surprisingly open to the idea. (Later, when it's dark and he can't sleep, he'll consider that perhaps all of his rage and turmoil has been conveniently hidden away behind scales the colour of night - and that nice as it is to have coherence back, this also comes with a price). "I can at least get his thoughts on the matter. He knows Hotaru a lot better than either of us do," he points out.

But then they're talking morality, and gods if Ronin doesn't just want to scoop Remi up against him that they wouldn't have to think about this. He does lean in, before he can stop himself, to kiss the other man as if he can smooth away the stress in his expression, as if his hands can simply wipe away all that's happened. "You're right," he murmurs. "And we can't always do the things we want to do, just because we're able to."

Drawing back a bit, he considers the question carefully before answering. "I would want to speak with her," he admits. "To try and understand what happened. More than that - to try and understand why it happened, and if it will happen again. Because if she was sick, then that is different to simply being neglectful. We have both done things we regret when we've been unwell." The blight, the Longheat sickness from Tanau... neither man has been exempt.

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Remi shakes his head immediately. "No..no I really don't." Running a hand through his curls, the alchemist shakes his head again. "I don't like how much you are a go-between, with this as much as with everything else. If Sunjata does not want to get past what happened, then so be it." Not to mention there was his lingering hurt and jealousy from what had happened with the three of them months ago.

Feeling frustratingly placated now, Ronin will find Remi's lips slightly less yielding against him as a cold flush of green unhappiness sloshes through their bond. 'This is not helping.' He says of the kisses that aren't enough, of the advice that tracks back on itself too often, of there not simply being a magic wand.

"Talking to her is a good idea. I can't help but think that even if it is a sickness just now...what about everything else she's done?" Biting at the inside of his cheek, Remi offers Ronin a weak smile, not wanting to seem ungrateful for his husband's efforts.

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"Then perhaps you should be the one reaching out to him instead," he suggests gently. Whether or not Sunjata can get past what's happened, Remi is the one needing advice now, and only by asking will he be able to get the Flood's thoughts on it from the source. Sagging back against the pillows, the Huntsman can only nod his agreement that this isn't helping, and he ruffles a hand through his dark hair as if to chase away the crimson feathers before they appear.

"Can you really judge her on what she has done when you compare it to the likes of you or I?" he asks, his hand chasing back down now to rub at his eyes. "You can only really judge her on her actions as a parent so far. And that has been to do something reckless and dangerous while she's sick. So I think talking to her really is the only way to move forward," Ronin admits, offering an apologetic smile as well.

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"He was less than welcoming when I spoke to him only a few weeks ago." The alchemist says with a weary shake of his head. "Regardless, I am not sure I trust his judgement." Remi adds, watching Ronin out of the corner of his eye as he pulls away leaving Remi floating alone in the ocean of their bed.

"Except we are not the same as her." Remi counters. "Besides there is a big difference between when you and I have done fullstop, and what she has done just in the past few weeks." Giving his head another shake, Remi tugs absently at a blanket to cover his feet. "She was not sick this whole time. Not during the fire, nor the coup, nor the invasion. Just this latest mishap."

Feeling himself grow more and more frustrated by this conversation rather than less, Remi eventually shuffles himself to the edge of the bed that he might get up and start water boiling for another round of coffee.

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"Ah," Ronin murmurs, nodding his understanding; Sunjata was a no-go, then. "It's true that he can see things in black and white, sometimes..." Either things would come out in a rosy lens, or Hotaru would continue to be public enemy #1. And that doesn't really help Remi either way.

Neither does the distance between them, as it happens. And neither does the conversation. "Wait," Ronin says softly, scrambling after his husband as he reaches the edge of the bed. Perching himself behind the other man, he slips his arms around Remi and holds him close, savouring the thrum of his heartbeat and the heat rolling off him from having been under the blankets.

"We both have a habit of overthinking things," he mumbles against Remi's shoulder. "Talking to Hotaru is a good start. I think you'll be able to gauge your next steps by how she is. And..." Ronin takes a long, long breath in. "If it would help you for me to be there as well, then I'll come with you."

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Sharing none of the same affection as the Huntsman did for the Flood, the alchemist can only shrug his shoulders and nod.

Feeling cagey and slightly untethered, Ronin will find the alchemist's body quite tense as he wraps his arms around him, and not simply because of his muscle. For a moment Remi wants to shrug him off, to be childish and petulant, but that's only on the surface. Deep down he wants nothing at all but his husband's arms around him, their bed, and the life they were fighting for every day.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be..." Vaguely he gestures with one hand, before letting it fall to drape over Ronin's. "I do not think there is a solution here that is not full of holes. Not a way forward that we both couldn't question." Spinning in his husband's grip, Remi leans down to wrap his arms around Ronin's shoulders and hug him close. "I do not think it would help, but...if I could be with you before and after? I think that would be what I would need." Bookended by the Huntsman, Remi thought he just might be able to have the conversation he had now apparently agreed to have.

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For Remi, Ronin will be as patient as it takes, and so as his husband remains tense in his embrace, he's prepared to both let him go and draw him closer, whatever the other man wants. "I don't blame you for it," he says, kissing Remi's bare shoulder and smiling as he turns in his arms, shifting back that they both might be more comfortable on the bed. "It's a stupidly complicated situation, and it's messy and it doesn't have anything like an easy answer, and I hate it too."

Hugging Remi just as tightly, the Huntsman smooshes another kiss against his cheek, as if that alone might make up for it. And the compromise he offers is a perfect one for Ronin; he nods easily, scattering more kisses (feather light, annoying ones) over the alchemist's jawline and neck. "Then that's what we'll do. I'll make sure my schedule is empty for you," he mumbles. "And now back to more important matters - will we have roast angry-bird for dinner?"

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Grumbling into the kiss, but adoring every moment of it, he tugs Ronin overtop of him even as the Huntsman showers him with painfully sparse kisses. 'You're stupidly complicated and messy.' Remi mimics haphazardly, feeling his heart skip a beat between each flourish of Ronin's lips against his jaw.

Wrapping his legs around Ronin's waist as he'd done not so long ago, the alchemist grins wickedly up into his husband's blue eyes. "Only if you're the angry bird." He says with a crooked smile, his fingertips pressing against Ronin's back to force their bodies together.

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