True Colours

remi Rocketman; burning up his fuse out there alone The alchemist shook his head. "I remember Ronin coming in...but I was alone." He said, placing his fingers against his forehead as if expecting there to be some physical wound there. Taking the bottle, Remi pressed it to his lips, ready to lean his head back to take a sip before stopping. "Ianto?" He repeated, brows furrowing as he lowered the bottle. The alchemist shook his head again to indicate his confusion. "Who..?" Placing the bottle bottle his legs, Remi stared blankly at the huntress now. She was perhaps one of the people he trusted most in the entire world, if not the most. But the things she was saying didn't make sense. "My mother? Why would it do that? She died in childbirth...I do not know what she looked like, or have any memories of her. Why would it.." I do not have any memories of her. Remi stopped breathing.

"You... were alone?" Vai furrowed her brow, having to make herself concentrate and recollect the memory as best she could and make sure she recalled Samuel being there. Remi's insistence was so pure that she fully believed that he had no idea what she was talking about. But that just muddied the waters all the more. Sighing, she continued to try to rack her brain when Ianto's name left his lips with such confusion and her expression grew sad. "The fox," she said. "The one you... Remi. You've been looking for Ianto since you arrived, you..." But it got worse, Vai's eyes widening as he explained about his mother like it was nothing. "No, Remi..." she half whispered, shaking her head sadly. "They're gone? All those memories? Remi, you... Ludo took them from you. Sam and Ianto, and your mother..." vervain well i'll rest my eyes and i'll let the earth breathe

remi Rocketman; burning up his fuse out there alone "Well, not alone I suppose. You were there. And Edy, and ... well everyone else. But there was no one with me." The alchemist continued to protest, though now his voice had lost nearly all of his confidence. The fox? He mouthed silently, gulping almost audibly as she said that whoever this Ianto was, that Remi had been looking for him. Lashes fluttering with uncertainty, the alchemist shook his head. "But.." He began, wanting to say but there were no memories of my mother to take when he simply fell silent. "Ianto." He whispered the name, as if it might spark something, but of course it didn't. "And this...Samuel. He said we were...together. He said that everyone knew that I was—" Gay. "That I —" Like men. His mouth opened and then closed. Placing his head into his hands, Remi blinked at Vai's crossed legs, trying to make sense of all of it. "I...I do not even know what to ask. Where to start.."

Knowing why this might have happened did not make it any easier for either of them to deal with. Vai let out a long, slow breath and shuffled to sit beside Remi, a gentle arm wrapping around his shoulders. Her brow furrowing, there was another missing piece of the puzzle, she realised, as Remi spoke about everyone knowing about him. "If I said the name Loren, would that mean anything to you?" she asked softly, expecting the answer to be no, but needing it nonetheless. "Well... I can start by saying that you are well-liked and well-respected in the settlement," she said slowly. "Devrum treats you like a son and you have close friends, and you have no reason at all to feel anxious or scared about things." It didn't mean he wouldn't, but at least he didn't have to feel paranoid. "Since I met you, I've never seen you so comfortable in yourself. So whatever has happened, we'll fix you up. Okay?" vervain well i'll rest my eyes and i'll let the earth breathe

remi Rocketman; burning up his fuse out there alone The alchemist shook his head. Lauren? No. Just another ghost of someone he'd apparently known. Leaning against Vai, Remi sighed a long and solemn sort of note. "It feels so strange. I feel like I remember everything, that everything is normal. I remember Devrum. I remember coming here..I remember Northaven, Bellamy, Ronin...I remember the weddings, our hunting trips. You found me when the invention I was working did not go as I had planned. I remember Ashe, her missing finger, seeing a book of stories in her apartment and making the connection that she was your daughter. I remember ... it feels like all of it." He said with a helpless sort of shrug. Remi rubbed a hand across his eyes with a distant nod of agreement. But how were they meant to fix something that Remi didn't even know had been broken?

Vai pursed her lips as he confirmed that he didn't remember Loren either, though she didn't push the matter any further than that. Of all the things that Remi had forgotten and the fallout from that, perhpas it was better that those memories stayed hidden, taking their heartbreak with them. "It is strange," she agreed, her brow furrowing; she wanted to tell him all the connections those fairy tales had with his mother, but already this conversation seemed like too much, too soon. "For now, I suppose the only one this affects directly is Samuel," she said, giving his shoulder a squeeze and tilting her head to rest it against his curls. "We'll stay here for a bit longer, you and I. Then you can come and tell me all the things you remember about LongNight. Any further than that is madness. I don't know everything, but if there are any important details you've lost, I will jog your memory." And that, regrettably, would have to be enough for now. {END} vervain well i'll rest my eyes and i'll let the earth breathe