plunge

I will fight the end

Thanks for doing this with me. They'd mentioned going for a swim back in the desert and, having made it through the Sea of Dreams and home again, the itch in the soles of his feet continued. And so together with Remi they'd flown out across the Arclight, and with a manta crystal around his neck had splashed like meaningless droplets into the surging ocean, down and down and down.

Unbeknownst to Ronin, the reason behind his draw to the sea is already making itself clear in subtle ways he isn't even considering. For instance, he moves through the water with an ease that he puts down to nothing more than their ridiculous amount of strength and dexterity, and he sees clearly in the depths because of... he doesn't know. Dragon vision or something?

I never realised there was an entire city down here... As they swim further into the murk, the shapes of the magnificent structures begin to emerge, and Ronin looks quietly awed, his hair a dark halo about his head, his fingers questing out as if to touch a passing clam as it flaps through the water.

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

then it went dark

It feels good to be unfathonobly large in a way that Remi can't quite articulate. It's as if so much of himself is always caged in the body of a man, that when it's allowed to stretch, only then can his muscles properly relax.   I have come here only twice I think. The first was when I was Governor here and I met the leader of the Merfolk. Gods, how many lifetimes ago that seemed; so long in fact, that calling himself the Governor felt like a lie.

Too large to take note of passing clams or other small fauna, instead Remi had his sights set on the coral cathedrals and spires that beamed out of the seabed. We should really bring Mateo with us. I think he would love this. Remi notes fondly, though no part of him wishes that they'd brought their son today. Selfishly the Lullaby still covets these moments with his husband with a ferocity that should have faded over time, but hasn't yet.

Speaking of leaders...I received an interesting letter from Morgan in Halo. Saying that she was going to remain NeuTrAl in the war and suggested we all do the same. She also mentioned that all Order members were banned... Kraken aren't expressive, but Ronin will feel the strong pulse of malfeasance through their shared attuned bond, as the alchemist wordlessly expresses his willingness to immediately break the Warden's new rule.

& it rained
and rained and rained

I will fight the end

Remi isn't the only one who covets these moments, and even though his husband looms, impossibly large and dark in the backdrop of this place, Ronin still sends a pulse of warmth through the Attuned bond to him. For some reason, the idea of sitting himself in the crook of one of the kraken's tentacles actually seems quite alluring right now; Ronin could let himself drift, weightless through the water, and enjoy the sights as they appear.

We'd struggle to get him back out, he says of Mateo, rumbling a laugh to Remi and kicking his feet to bring himself closer to a pillar wrapped in seaweed. As the other man continues, the boiling feelings rippling through the bond with his message, Ronin finds himself pausing with a hand pressed against the pillar. Oh, he says quietly, darkly. How strange that neutrality doesn't extend to everyone. That puts them quite on the opposite side of neutral, wouldn't you say?

Perhaps it's the dragon in him (it's not, it's the other thing), but he shares his husband's feelings on the matter, kicking off the pillar to glide through the water back towards Remi's general massive shape. And what if I decide to go anyway? he wonders.

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

then it went dark

Precisely what I was thinking. Especially when Morgan has been protected and supported—and sleeping with—the ascended for years now. The kraken agrees, his tentacles curling dangerously around a pillar. Reminding himself not to snap the Merfolk's architecture, Remi releases the coral and forces himself a few meters back.

Well I would have to go with you. To protect you from all the ways Morgan plans to back up her mandates. Remi purrs in response. Quite how someone like the Warden thought she could stand against Ronin was laughable, but just now he'd love to see her try. I sent her a reply saying that the Greatwood has been for the Old Gods longer than Morgan has even held the throne. Longer than she has been alive, actually. Unsurprisingly she has not replied.

Remi's long tentacles twitch with a predatory amusement as he imagines toying with the Warden as a lion might a mouse.

& it rained
and rained and rained

I will fight the end

I don't even want to go to the Citadel. But being told I can't just makes me want to pay a visit, Ronin admits, able to be petulant with Remi in a way that he'd likely never allow himself to be with anyone else. He swims closer to the wavering tentacles he can (surprisingly) make out through the murk - and whilst Ronin doesn't realise it, his bare chest and arms are flecked with silver-black scales. Protect me? Gosh, I hope you're ready for a full tme job. I can get myself into all sorts of trouble, he purrs back.

Snorting through the bond at the Lullaby's response, Ronin swims past one of the twitching tentacles and turns himself in the water, which is about at the same time he realises the partial shift trying to stretch itself beneath his skin. Oh, he says quietly. I think there's a reason I needed to come out here... what'd you think? Has Safrin given me a pretty angel fish for a new shift?

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

then it went dark

Bad things happen when the pair encourage one another like this, but gods Remi adores this petulant side of his husband. You are a demigod. I am not so sure that you can just be banned. If Safrin were to tell you to go, you would go. He counters with a weightless shrug.

I suppose that means I will have to keep more than just an eye on you, mm? Reaching out to corral the Huntsman closer, it's then that Remi notices the scales as well. Assuming they're draconic and paying them little mind until Ronin calls attention to them, Remi twists to regard his counterpart. An angelfish or one of those fighting fish. Something for Safrin to bait and play with.

Pushing himself backward to give Ronin space, Remi waggles his tentacles enticingly. Go on then. Let's see what beautiful horror she has made you into this time.

& it rained
and rained and rained

I will fight the end

Well of course I would go, he agrees, almost hoping that his goddess does ask him to go to Halo, if for no other reason than to rub it in Morgan's face. Also, Morgan is only really Warden of the Citadel, right? I could go to, say, the Sea of Glass. Or the Fangs. She's not in charge of that. Is he trying to find loopholes on purpose? Perhaps. It's a fun thought, either way, to pace around outside the city walls, just because he can.

As Remi moves back - a considerable distance, though it doesn't look like it - Ronin kicks out his legs to try to do the same, though it moves him a pitiful amount in comparison. Alright, alright. But you mustn't laugh at me, he says playfully. A sensation swells through their bond, as if the Huntsman is taking a big, deep breath and letting it out again. But then he gives in to the itching in the soles of his feet and the back of his throat, allowing the sensation to flood through him, to grow and warp and change.

And honestly, he expects to become a tiny goldfish. So when his form stretches and elongates - and then keeps going - a sparkle of surprise and even fear shoots through towards Remi. Oh... Ronin isn't capable of much more than that, starlight scales blazing along his shift's underside, in complete contrast to the sleek, pitch black shape that those who look down on him would see.

It isn't a growl so much as a vibration through the water as Ronin surges forward, a creature not un-draconic in nature, but still markedly different. A sea serpent large enough to encircle the kraken of all things, ridged along his back and with a maw so full of teeth that they seem nearly endless, this is a patient, ancient sort of wickedness that settles in his bones. This isn't the vibrant chaos of a dragon - this is a deeper monster, one capable of much more destruction if only it could be unleashed.

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

then it went dark

Good point. She did address the letter to the Sidhe, so maybe I will listen to her instructions as far as Sidhe-Remi is concerned, but not as far as the remainder of Greatwood Remi is concerned.

As for laughing? Remi holds up a tentacle as if he's going to swear upon something with it. I am not even capable of laughter in this form. If you hear any, it will quite literally be all in your head. Remi too expects a tiny goldfish. A seahorse maybe, or a kelpie. Something adorably Safrin. So when a creature as large as a kraken roars from his husband's bones and contorts his proportions, the alchemist feels an immediate and bright eruption of jealousy and anger bubbling in his belly.

Well...you are not a fish. Remi thinks curtly, though as he thinks of blue eyes a stubble-lined jaw and unfairly expressive eyebrows, some of his primal jealousy begins to abate. But...I do not know quite what you are.

& it rained
and rained and rained

I will fight the end

It feels like a dragon but not. A... a snake. A serpent? Ronin tries to articulate, but even though he's now able to freely breathe beneath the waves as well as if he had still been in human form, he sounds as if he's just sprinted for miles. Continuing to swim and cut through the water, as of to get away from himself somehow, he does catch the jealousy through the bond and, although this newly awakened part of him wants to challenge and to mock, he holds it at bay in order to fully enjoy the freedom of all of this.

Swim with me? I just... I feel like I need to go, to move and figure this out. He even manages a pulse of apology to the other man. It had never been his intention to try and outshine Remi - and it never would - and honestly, he'd have been comfortable with the sea horse. Everything is so small...

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

then it went dark

Narrowing his eyes hardly helps, not with the lack of sunlight down this far, but both snake and dragon come close in precisely the same ways they don't. Remi, knowing well the intricacies and difficulties of a new shift, also pulses a warble of apology through the bond. Of course I will. Propelling himself easily and trying not to immediately try and measure which of them was now the larger, Remi instead fixates on the ease and speed with which the pair are able to attack the sea.

Mmm, just wait until you try and interact with someone as a person in this shift. Remi chuckles, diving deeper. Though the water temperature has plummeted, he's quite unaware of it, and silently assumes Ronin will be as well. I am glad you are as large as me. The emphasis on Remi being pleased, as opposed to the entirety of his predatory menagerie. Now we can both be the monsters that haunt the Maw.

& it rained
and rained and rained

I will fight the end

Humming a note of thanks through the Attuned bond, Ronin twines himself through and around the largest of the coral structures of the Underwater City as though they are nothing at all, and it's only when he remembers they're in an ocean and this place is inhabited does he turn for the open water. As fun as it would be to explore the city as if they are in some big aquarium filled with toy buildings, it probably wasn't respectful to the merfolk.

It doesn't matter to Ronin which one of them is larger - he's more interested in the way everything just seems to flow as they move together, his serpentine body able to navigate the way with ease. I have no idea how you were managing it with me, he admits - people seem like tiny distant things in this shift. So do ships, now that he thinks about it.

I'd love to haunt the Maw with you, he rumbles, flexing new muscles that propel him more quickly. Remi will practically be able to hear the steady pulse of his heartbeat, slow and calm as any predator, ready and willing to wait for something to stumble into their way.

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

then it went dark

Carefully. You are not as breakable as others are, but... But still, Remi could have knocked his husband unconscious without even knowing it had he not control over himself. Propelling himself rather than the undulating motion Ronin was using, they were certainly as strange of a pair together as they were horrifying, but then, weren't they always? I have always wondered what would happen if we swam the entire ocean. Would we simply reach the other side of the continent? Or is there more here, hidden far, far away? Perhaps now they could find out. Together.

do not have any abilities in this form. I just...am. Remi says, suggestively. Do you feel as if this has unlocked anything else?

& it rained
and rained and rained

I will fight the end

Perhaps I'll take my cues from you, Ronin says, a touch of playfulness injecting his words. Though that seems a little unfair, given that you've had to work this all out for yourself, he adds, directing himself both beneath and over the top of the kraken, as if encircling him as they swim to create a vortex of water.

Bemused and delighted at the prospect of looking at the other side of the continent, Ronin thrums another growl through the waves. Like the dark side of the continent, he says, only partially joking about it. Shall we find out? he offers. Right now? Would that be so strange?

I don't think so. This isn't like the dragon or the phoenix. This is just... big. And monstrous. The things we could do to a ship. And just like that, thoughts of traversing the ocean are gone, and Ronin finds himself twisting upwards towards the surface.

'til the end is here

Coding base by Sky!

REMI

then it went dark

Chuckling, the sentiment accompanied by a strange air of humbleness not normally associated with Remi anymore, the kraken shrugs. I have been part animal since I was young. I am happy to share what I have learned. So saying he ignores the way his limbs want to twine mercilessly around the leviathan as he spirals around and around, instead focusing on the speed with which they were effortlessly moving.

Just so. I heard things like that once referred to as the counterweight continent. He says reflectively, wondering if he'd picked up that name from one of his mother's stories, or Vai's. I do not think we are that fast. Remi chuckles. Not fast enough to encircle the world and still be home before their son notices.

Knowing precisely what it was his husband was feeling and not just because of the bond, Remi follows like some ill-fitting shadow. You have to be very slow and patient to even get near a ship. If you swim too fast toward it, your waves will cause it to capsize before you reach the surface.

& it rained
and rained and rained