(SE) step on paper thin glass

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

A note has been sent to Ronin, inviting him out to Queen’s Gambit, a place he’d flown over but never quite visited before. Why? Well, because it’s a maze and he doesn’t want to be alone, and he and his best friend have a… Lot to talk about. He arrives early, the sun having only been in the sky long enough to turn the clouds a bright pink, about to fade into the blues of morning. But he doesn’t enter the maze yet, because something seems off.

And also he wants to be sure Ronin would find him.

But when Ronin does, he’ll be standing there, arms crossed, staring at the beginning of this maze with glimmering bits and bobs of shimmering glass and mirrors with in – head cocked and brows pinched as if he’s not quite sure what it is he’s looking at. If the Labyrinth was supposed to be like this one, why the fuck did this one have mirrors?

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

Ronin has never been to Queen's Gambit either, and at the sound of a maze, he's very excited. Only, when he does fly over the area in his dragon shift, there's a weird, tinny sound of... carnival music, maybe? Ronin sure as hell doesn't know, but then he's spotted Sunjata and, with a shriek of greeting, he swoops down to land. He's shifted back by the time he does set his feet on the ground, by which time the glint of mirrors are getting in his eyes.

"Jata!" he greets brightly, spreading his arms for a hug. "You didn't tell me this weird place was full of mirrors. Did you see the lights and hear the music, too? It almost sounds like the circus is in town." What circus and which town, Ronin has no idea. He'd be suspicious if it weren't for the fact that almost everything is dangerous these days.

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

The shadow of a dragon passes overhead and it thankfully distracts Sunjata from the glinting mirrors long enough to pulse an appreciation for his friend joining him. He steps aside as Ronin lands and approaches, immediately moving to clasp Ronin on the shoulder, a smile tugging at his face and pulling at the scar on the side of it. He seems lighter than he did the last time they’d talked – the grief of losing Haai a bit less on the forefront of his mind. “I didn’t know it was going to be full of mirrors, honestly.” He admits with a huff of a laugh, a rumbling chuckle that leaves him.

“I heard a bit of the music, wonder if we can find the source. I think we’ve got to go through the mirror maze first though.” He tips a wink back at the demigod, before he stretches out his arm and takes a step toward the entrance of the maze. “Did you have a good LongNight?”

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

Sunjata's lightness is contagious, and Ronin has made sure to bring his most cheerful self to the maze just in case. Stepping back from the hug, he smirks over Jata's shoulder and into the labyrinth beyond, wondering if this is just a for now thing, of if this is how the Queen's Gambit is always supposed to look. "I am never one to say no to games. I just hope this isn't like the one back in the Grounds," he says.

Still, flashing a smile over his shoulder to his friend, Ronin of course swaggers into the entrance of the maze. "It... went?" he says of Longnight. "It's been the first one that hasn't been an entire shit show, and we still ended up in the Oerwoud fighting a giant basilisk that ended up being an Ascended in a shift." Pulling a face and shrugging his shoulders, he doesn't really know how else to explain it.

"How was yours?"

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

“What happened at the one in the Grounds?” Sunjata asks curiously, wondering if he’d missed something. Unless, of course, Ronin means that getting lost in it was something like the Grounds one. Though he supposes it doesn’t matter much when the two of them were bolstered with a dragon shift each to slip out of an infuriating maze.

He dutifully follows Ronin, though, squinting at the mirrors as they pass by them – looking specifically at one that makes him look about three feet tall with incredibly large feet. He frowns, and frowns further at the mention of killing a basilisk that turned out to be an Ascended. His nose wrinkles slightly, and there’s some slight amount of unease in his stomach as he shakes his head and walks past the mirror. “Uneventful, actually. Aside from a snowball that was thrown at Nate from god knows what.” He pauses, before he picks up his pace to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ronin.

“Oh, and a couple weeks before LongNight we rescued twins from a daemon attack in the Barrows. We uh… Well, originally, we took them to an orphanage in the Grounds but…” He huffs a sigh, shaking his head and offering a soft laugh. “We couldn’t leave them there… So. We have twins now? And Ria, of course.” His head tilts back toward Ronin with a crooked smile.

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

"I don't know that anything happened to it, per say, but it's weird," Ronin says of the Labyrinth in the Grounds. "There are these speaking squirrels that try and make you lose your way, and the hedges move all by themselves." Wrinkling his nose at the memory, he pauses on his way into the maze only to see Sunjata catch himself in one of the ridiculous reflections. Snorting, Ronin joins him briefly as a squat bigfoot, before grinning and strolling on.

"Maybe there are abominable snowmen in King's End," he suggests, before Sunjata gets into the really big news, Ronin stopping in his tracks. "What?" he says dumbly, a smile lighting up his face. "Jata! Congratulations," he gushes, moving to clap the other man on the shoulder and drag him into a hug. "Tell me all about them!"

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

A chuckle leaves Sunjata, a conceding nod leaving him as his shoulders shrug and he watches the way Bigfoot Ronin joins the mirror. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.” He rumbles, before he launches into the story of the twins. He doesn’t expect Ronin to be as excited as he is, but there’s a part of Sunjata that is a bit relieved with it, given the usual comments about him expanding his family.

But it helps to fill the slight void of Haai at least. “Don’t make up snow monsters.” He whines, shaking his head and trudging after Ronin. “Thanks Ronin.” He murmurs softly, giving into the hug before they continue to trudge through the maze further. “They’re about eighteen months old. Romeo and Amadeus. They’re vocal bit they have their sweet moments. It’s nice having a full house.” He offers easily with a small smile before his gaze shadows for a second. “I’m nervous but excited. And with things with Safrin and I lately, I think it adds to the anxiety of war and having a family and all that shit.” He huffs rolling his eyes.

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

"If I don't make them up, then Caido might spawn something even worse," Ronin informs the other man, already ducking around a corner in this weird house of mirrors, pausing before a reflection of the Huntsman that seems very skinny and stretched. "I love that age," he says softly, referring to Sunjata's twins, and when he smiles over his shoulder at his friend, it's with a sort of pride in his eyes. "I think they'll be really good for you," he murmurs.

Of course, things can't remain warm and fuzzy, and Ronin huffs out a breath and nods to the other man. "If it helps, you're far from the only one who is worried about that. I think, between us all, we should be able to find a way to keep our children safe." He doesn't know about Maeve and her ability to keep Caido's children out of the war, not yet at least. "Have you spoken to Safrin since coming out here?"

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

“Or,” Sunjata begins to drawl, “Caido could be inspired and make them just out of spite.” He counters, flashing a small smile at Ronin, pausing around the corner with his friend to find the next set of mirrors – one that makes him look even taller, but his head is pinprick size and his feet are about as big as if he were wearing clown shoes.

“I think they will be too. We’re excited.” He admits, flashing a brighter smile, something warm in his gaze that hasn’t been there since before Haai’s passing. It fades, because of course it does, given the conversation of war and the way Ronin agrees. Sunjata also doesn’t know about the deal Maeve’s made with Safrin, and all he can do is try to remain strong enough to protect his family as well as fight in the war. It was his conditions with her when it came to stepping down and staying out of things, after all.

As for speaking with Safrin, Sunjata nods. “I did, a few days before we left for the relic.” Before things went bad and dark and terrible. “I’m not sure how to go back to her yet.” He pushes past Ronin briefly to step into a section of the maze that seems to have an infinite hallway effect going on and the Attuned finds himself staring at himself in the mirrors. “Before you get jealous, she asked if I wanted to be a demigod for her.” He turns just enough to cast a glance back at Ronin. “I asked for time to think about it.” Because part of him felt like an outright no would be unwelcome, and he’d be lying if there wasn’t a part of him that craved the power and the abilities he sees within Ronin. But there’s another part of him that shies away from it, from letting her have that much of a hold on him.

And then, of course, his marriage.

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

"Touche," Ronin says through a chuckle, grinning at pinhead Sunjata who comes to join him in the mirror, before they're wandering onwards again. With the tinkle of carnival music and a hall of mirrors in place of a creepy hedge maze, this should be quite a cheerful adventure. If only they stopped bringing up the subject of war. Alas, it is never far from anyone's mind, these days.

He stares back at their duplicates for a long while as Jata explains about Safrin, and even though he warns him not to get jealous, the Huntsman visibly bristles to hear about the offer of demigodhood. "It's fine," he murmurs, before turning abruptly as if to continue, only to BONK right into his own reflection. At least that does wonders to break him out of his mood, Ronin snorting at his own fucking idiocy.

"Ow." Rubbing at his nose, it's with tears in his eyes from the unexpected mirror-attack that he turns to his friend again. "Honestly, I can see it both ways," he admits. "She already pretty much owns you, let's not beat around the bush. And it definitely has its perks. But I'll level with you, Jata - it's taken me a long time to grow into the things I can do. A lot of training, a lot of work. With war on the way, do you think you could get ready for it in that amount of time?"

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

Is it fine or did Ronin just manage to time his collision with the mirror on accident as perfect timing to get out of confrontation? Either way, Sunjata’s hand shoots out to try and catch Ronin before he collided only to have his hand crash into yet another mirror, the echoing sounds of carnival music echoing through the maze as he winces slightly when Robin turns to him. Hell, at this point he’s not even entirely sure that the Ronin he’s looking at is the right one.

“You okay?” He asks, unable to keep the small frown from tugging on his face when Ronin begins to level with him. There’s a huff of a sigh that leaves him, a nod, the Attuned carefully trying to step around a mirror to get past the Hallway of Walking Into Shit. “That’s part of the reason why I’m leery about it.” He admits with a hum of an almost defeated tone. “The other is that I’m not sure my marriage would survive it.” He’s already fucked up once in that regard and it nearly hadn’t come back. It certainly hadn’t come back the same as it was before. “The biggest issue is telling Safrin no, I think, is what I’m most worried about.” He steps around another mirror only to step on something that shrieks like an airhorn that has Sunjata visibly jumping, feathers sprouting and lifting along his neck and arms in his surprise.

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

"I'll live," Ronin says, checking to make sure he hasn't earned himself a nosebleed before paying attention (sort of) to Sunjata and the ongoing conversation. And maybe he reaches out to grab at the back of his friend's shirt, just to make sure he's got hold of the real one. "I know this is going to sound like I'm talking from Safrin's shoulder, but... didn't Nate agree to be a demigod for the Voice? Your marriage survived that, and as far as I know, he didn't check with you about it."

Far be it for him to stir any sort of pot between Nate and Sunjata, but it does need saying, he thinks. "I don't envy you, though, saying no to her. The last time I did, I ended up without any abilities for Longnight." And it's not a mistake he'll be making again. With a weak smile, he gives Jata a nudge. "Sorry. I imagine that didn't help."

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

He slows when Ronin grabs his shirt, using the moment to guide his friend out of the strange hall of mirrors, but of course he doesn’t manage to make it before he steps onto the air horn, jumping at the blaring sound of it. His feathers are ruffled and he grits his teeth a second before he’s trudging on, trying to get out of the strange spot for a moment of clarity.

“I think it’s a bit different. I mean, Safrin cursed him and he became one of the Voice’s Demigods to fix it.” He frowns. “And the only reason I’d consider it is…” He huffs a moment, suddenly a bit ashamed at the reason. “Immortality? Power?” It comes out a bit quieter and he shrugs his shoulders heavily, a blue feather or two sneaks out of his neck and flutters toward the ground.

He does cast a glance back at Ronin to offer a small smile, a tinge amused despite the wince. “Yeah that didn’t help. It’s kind of what I’m afraid of.” Without his shifts and items, what was he?

And if he was a blank slate of an Accepted again, would he still choose to Attune?

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

Having missed the airhorn at first (oops), Ronin belatedly jumps at it, and he's brushing a couple more feathers from Sunjata's shoulders as they continue on their mirror adventure. "Be that as it may, it has still put you at odds with each other. I don't think you becoming a demigod for Safrin would put you any further at odds than you are right now." He's wincing, because of course it's not the kind of thing he wants to tell his friend, but it doesn't make it any less true.

"Listen - immortality and power are nothing to sniff at. I wouldn't blame you for seizing on that, especially with what's on its way." War, violence, horror... and with children to worry about now, the draw of extra power would be stronger than ever. "...Only you can make the decision, Jata. But have you spoken to Nate about it? Since you'll have that time to think about it anyway. He must know the consequences of you denying Safrin as well."