[SE] hark the heralds

RONIN

I'd have given her all the bells she wanted, Ronin all but sings down the bond, warmth suffusing all that he says, and he tosses his head for good measure to make the bells round his antlers chime out. She'd have insisted you walk next to her, though. She wouldn't be able to handle you being out of sight there on that sled. He chuckles, his hooves much more suited for the snow, as well as having four legs; he even picks up the pace a bit so Remi can enjoy the ride.

Don't you insult my shoulders, he huffs playfully, jostling Remi by daring to prance for a couple of steps. I think he said he wanted to make sure all of his plants were safe in the shop, then he'll come to stay for a week, he says brightly of their son. This is his first proper Deepfrost. I wonder how he's handling the cold up at Stormbreak...

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi laughs as Ronin colours in the lines he'd sketched. Maybe I'd just perch on your antlers. He can see it so clearly; Aoife's rosy cheeks, her fingers (ever pudgy in his mind), brushes against Ronin's bells. How she'd kick at him constantly to go faster and never once complain about the chill in the air.

Snuggling himself deeper into the sled and the blanket around his shoulders, Remi sticks out his tongue at the back of Ronin's head. He and I really should take a trip to see Nature Frey. See if we can't have the shop kept at one temperature. Or maybe different zones of temperatures... It's only the rhythmic chime of Ronin's bells that keep Remi's thoughts from running away with him, leaving the alchemist shrugging a touch guiltily. I'm sure he's handling it like he handles everything else: with a witty comment and a shockingly adult grasp of the world.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

She'd try and grab at your feathers, then, Ronin reminds his husband with a mental grin, continuing down the riverbank at a fair pace now that he's found his balance in the snow. I did give you that terrarium, he reminds him thoughtfully. Maybe we could set it up near the boat, or inside it if there's room. That way he could keep some of his plants growing here, or bring them with him if he's worried. Would their son do that? Absolutely.

Still, he can't help but feel the twang of guilt from his husband as they speak more about Mateo, Ronin slowing to draw to a stop beside a thick copse of trees - perfect for collecting firewood. "Do you worry about him?" he asks softly as he shifts back, shrugging out of the harness and unlooping the bells left draped around his head. "That maybe he's getting too used to being by himself to deal with things?"

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Stilling, Remi turns a thoughtful and speculative gaze up toward the sunlight filtering through the trees. You know, I'd forgotten all about the terrarium. He admits with a hmmph of surprise. When had Ronin brought it back? After the last time he was in the desert. Hadn't that been in it?

Lost in the recollection, Remi turns blinking toward his husband as Ronin shifts back, sighing softly. "I do." Letting the blanket fade back into memory, Remi rises out of the sled and lets his feet crunch down into the deep snow. "No it's almost the opposite. I worry he's getting too used to being alone such that he automatically thinks he has to deal with things." Their son hardly came around asking for advice. Hardly ever asked them for much of anything. Itching at the back of his head, the alchemist gives the trees around them a cursory and uninterested glance. 'Were we wrong to do this?'

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

Ronin would have done it anyway, but as Remi speaks there's nothing to stop him from trudging through the snow to wrap his arms around his husband, giving him a reassurring squeeze. "Maybe we were," he admits. "That's the thing with kids - you don't know, and any choice you make might be the right or wrong one." Kissing his forehead, he steps back and takes his hands that they might walk beneath the trees to collect their firewood.

"Luckily, it's not something that's too late to fix," he muses. "I think we could probably give him a better routine - specific days where he can expect to come and stay with us. And I imagine we could be more interested in his schoolwork than we have been." Wincing, Ronin will be the first to say he hasn't the foggiest idea what their son is studying.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Ronin's cavalier agreement that yes, perhaps they had fucked up entirely as parents, as the alchemist's expression wilting despite the Huntsman's squeeze of reassurance. With too many layers of clothing between them, it's only Ronin's soft kiss that has Remi softening with the flow of his husband's emotions. 'Maybe we could plan to go see him as well. He's been spending a lot of time with Finn and October I've heard." Both seemed good enough influences, but Remi would be lying if he said he didn't feel a prickle of jealousy that was entirely his own fault.

'You have any energy you need to get out?' Remi asks as he fells a tree with sheer strength alone. They could absolutely start hacking away with their claws and such, but if Ronin was feeling calm enough Remi was content to quite literally pluck the trees from the earth.

"I left some packets of kindling and flint around the woods in the hollows of the trees." Remi muses under his breath. "I thought Ludo might like that. Did I ever tell you that it froze one LongNight, as a boy?"

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

"That would be a good idea I think. You and I don't need to wait for a skyboat either. I can use my compass, fall asleep, and you'll be there in seconds." Ronin smiles - when they put it like this, it seems ridiculous that they haven't been doing more to provide their son with a real routine. And his guilt is readily available through the bond, the Huntsman only releasing his husband so he can watch in lovestruck awe as he deals with the trees.

"I think I got all of my energy out in Leafchange," he admits, reaching behind him under his coat to draw out Emmett's axe. It's quick work to start chopping the wood into logs and firewood and kindling, and he's more than happy for Remi to provide them with more fallen trees.

Raising his eyebrows, he smiles softly to hear Remi's small acts of kindness, and that warms him just as much as how effortlessly handsome the Lullaby looks. "I remember you told me once, when we were making the Ludo dolls," he murmurs, straightening up. "I think it's what makes you so good at what you do."

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

"I'd forgotten all about your compass, too." Remi admits with a small laugh. He had a poor memory and a head full of far too many things, but so long as he could keep Ronin looking at him the way he currently was, the alchemist supposed he was doing alright. "The Order hasn't really been...up to much lately, have they."

Nodding at that, Remi continues to tug trees from the rapidly freezing ground as if they were just sticks in the mud. Depositing them in neat pyramids for Ronin to deal with, the musicality of his husband's chopping soothing something in Remi's soul in a way he couldn't quite describe. For far too long their goals had been lofty—godly—and it was a relief to be doing something so simple and yet just as necessary.

"Did I? Ah." Frowning for just a moment, the alchemist can only shrug. He'd had his memory erased a handful of times now and was never quite surprised when he couldn't recall things. 'I think providing ways of not dying is the opposite of what I do.' The Lullaby counters, if only because Ronin's praise makes him feel mildly uncomfortable.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

"It has been quite quiet," Ronin agrees of the Order, his brows furrowing as he continues to chop at the trees and break them down into usable lumber. Remi isn't the only one who finds this kind of work soothing, and even though he has already started to sweat beneath his coat and scarf, Ronin is quite happy to continue into the morning. "Maybe I'll send out a letter, see if everything is alright. But then I will need to make sure I get on that skyport, too..."

Had he forgotten about his work for the Order? Maybe. Just a little. But he'll get on that like... tomorrow, he swears. "I didn't mean that," Ronin says of death and Remi's role in Ludo's plans, the Huntsman setting down his axe for a moment to stretch out mightily. "You're very good at helping people to feel better. Those little things no one would think about... you always remember them."

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

"Mmmmmmmm." Remi hums agreeably enough, not caring much about the Order aside from how it impacted his husband. 'Maybe Cian has been hand-sewing more robes." He suggests with a grin as he wipes the sweat on his forehead away with the crook of his arm.

Not needing to stretch quite yet, or perhaps just enjoying the frustration of his muscles given how rare a feeling it was, Remi only stops to inspect the sap which had accumulated on his palms. Sniffing at it (no, it doesn't taste how it smells, don't do it, he tells himself), the alchemist peers at the Huntsman from between his curls and scarf. "I always tell myself I want to be better. To be kinder and more patient, but in the moment I seem to forget all about it."

Then again..."I did bump into Phoebe the other day and it went well enough."

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

"Maybe he's making you one," he suggests of the robe, grinning and rolling his shoulders before starting to gather up the wood he's chopped up to stack it neatly on the sled out in the snowdrift. "Patience is a skill, not a talent," he reminds him, sounding appropriately smug in the delivery of his rhetoric. "I used to be a lot angrier than I am now, remember." Probably not the best point to make, Ronin, given how Leafchange just went.

Still, he's surprised to hear that Phoebe has even been around, let alone that she'd met with Remi and it had gone well. "Was she here in the Greatwood?" he asks, taking up the axe again so he can keep going. "Either way, that's encouraging isn't it? We ought to have a drink tonight to celebrate. Phoebe can be your new friend."

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Scrunching his nose, the alchemist swallows hard as if on the verge of throwing up. "Don't even joke about it." He grumbles, wondering if it came to it, if he'd be able to politely decline Cian's offer or if it would end in violence.

'You're a skill, not a talent.' Remi childishly snarks back, though he is trying to listen to his husband's advice. It's just difficult when the delivery sounds like it ought to be on a greeting card.

"Mmmhm. As a unicorn, no less." Which was just to say that approaching the alchemist, when he'd been with his twins, as a prey animal when he was already cross with her, was a ballsy move. Rolling his eyes and tossing an entire tree at Ronin for his mischief, Remi shakes his head. "She already is my friend." He points out. "Though we could not be more different if we tried. Was Phoebe best friend material? Maybe once upon a time when Remi had been a different man. Now though? "I wonder if I could make a friend." He hums to himself. "Remember when I could animate plants?"

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

Ronin's grin is absolutely shit-eating, both at the retort about Cian and the snark, and he shrugs his shoulders as he swings the axe down onto the logs. "Will you whisper that to me in the travelling tongue later?" he wonders, half under his breath, and it's quite a difficult thing to get his mind back onto Phoebe and Remi's meeting with her. "A unicorn?" he repeats. "I met her at Mother Molly's once, when we still lived in Stormbreak. I knew she'd become one of Frey's chosen, but she's really coming up in the world."

His strikes slow as Ronin catches on to what Remi is suggesting, his blue eyes narrowing playfully across to the Lullaby. "I love you," he says with a smirk. "But there is a difference between making friends and making friends. I do remember, though. I still can't decide if I was horrified by them or not." Again, the sound of chopping wood fills the air. "I bet Oria would make you loads of friends."

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Raising a brow, the alchemist feels a tingle in his cheeks as blood rushes to the surface. "Only if it's true." He counters with a bob of his eyebrows. Had the conversation not switched to Phoebe, Remi might have tried to persuade his husband that even a few seconds constituted later, but then again no one reinforced the feeling he was gay quite like Phoebe.

"Did you now? Huh." It was a surprising place to find the Nightingale right up until you really thought about it. For some reason it was rather easy to forget Phoebe had once been the Madame of the Halenani.

Looking entirely undeterred, the alchemist shrugs his shoulders before clasping his hands above his head and leaning side to side. "How would you know?" He wonders both sincerely and just to be a shit. "I wonder if this is how the Voice got started." Remi muses a touch blasphemously. "Just wanting some friends and not liking anyone she knew."

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!