Blind as night that finds us all

Remi wasn't praying, not really. Thus far all of his interactions with the divine had been more or less happenstance, and even now when he needed Ludo, his posture and tone was decidedly not pious. Then again Remi came by his lack of piety honestly, but even he knew that would probably mean very little. It hadn't with Frey, and though Ludo had been...well, a rather interesting sort of generous with him so far, the alchemist wasn't so sure his luck would continue to hold. But he wasn't one to lie. And so, nervously, he stood before the shrine. He'd been here only the day before with Sam while his boyfriend (even thinking the word felt so new and strange, but it was what they were now, after all) had called to the Voice. Staring at the exact same Shrine made the alchemist pause, wondering idly at the metaphysics of it all and how it worked. But that was merely to distract himself from what he'd done (or rather, hadn't done), and what he had to do now. And so, closing his eyes, the alchemist took a breath. "Ludo, I...the mask you gave me. I believe it has been taken." No. That was just shifting blame, another thing Jigano had accused him of pointed out. So, clearing his throat, he clarified. "The mask. I lost the mask." remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own "I know." Ludo's voice was not merely within the shrine - it echoed all around it in the darkness, coming from nowhere in particular. The shadows, though, seemed to crawl forth, creeping up and about Remi, threatening to strike at any moment. "I would say I was not angry, just disappointed. But that would be a lie." Somehow Ludo's tone grew deeper and higher all at once, like a tortured choir, and the shadows seethed and snatched out to fasten around Remi's wrists and keep him in place. "Have you any idea what your carelessness might cost? Did you think I gave you a trinket, sweetling? A little token to see beyond the barrier?" From the blackness, they crept. Loren. Ianto. Isla. And Remi's dear, sweet mother. "I was a fool to align myself so closely to an Outlander." They spoke in unison. "Not a mistake I will make a second time."

Swallowing, Remi glanced down as the shadows slithered towards him. He didn't even bother to look for Ludo, far too focused on the darkness that slipped ominously towards him. Flinching at the depth of fury he heard in the layered tones of Ludo's voice, Remi hissed in a breath as his wrists were caught and bound by the shadows. Breathing in shallow sips of air, the alchemist hazarded a glance around, but saw little other than the lingering darkness of the temple, and so his eyes returned to the empty shrine before him. "I thought it might help me to see during LongNight, which is why I brought it to the Rathskeller rather than leaving it at home." To see. The alchemist swallowed. Lucas. Only the green-eyed man knew that the mask was here at all. Was it possible that he— —Remi gasped at the sight of the four moving towards him. With a primal sort of whine he wasn't even aware he had made, the alchemist fell to his knees, pale eyes wide as he looked at the four pairs of blue eyes glaring down at him. "Ludo, I am sorry. Let me make this up to you—" Remi urged, his eyes moving from face to face, his heart wrenching in his chest. Loren, who he had loved firstly and fiercely. Isla, who he had not been clever enough to save. Ianto, who he'd lost the ability to see. And his mother, who he'd never deserved. "Please. You are right. I have been careless. Let me make it up to you." Looking at the faces before him, his eyes landed on Isla's in particular. "You have done so much for me. Please, let me fix this." remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own "And yet throughout LongNight it stayed tucked away while you rolled around the Temple like a bitch in heat," the four snapped, the shadows quivering with the god's fury. "You are not sorry. But you will be. This is not something your spineless nature can fix." Isla stepped forward as he locked eyes with her, expression blank. When Ludo spoke next, it was in her voice alone. "Look close at those you see behind me. Look close. Your dreams and memories of them will burn to nothing. The memories of your mewling Ascended will burn to nothing. I take your comfort, Remi, and I leave you nothing but guilt and shame."

Heat coursed through Remi's stomach, making him instantly feel ill, light-headed, and beyond shameful. There was nothing incorrect about what Ludo had said. Remi had indeed had sex with Sam in the temple, and he hadn't used the mask once. Swallowing hard, his ears felt as if they were practically on fire, his cheeks as red as they had ever been. He wanted to cry, to plead, to try and barter for another chance. But the tears would not come as he looked with an awestruck expression, and he was entirely without voice. He deserved nothing, but as Jigano had recently pointed out, Remi was coming to expect so much more. Lulled into a false sense of safety but how he'd managed to dance through the hazards and risks of this place, Remi had come here thinking that his honesty and his so-called puppy-dog eyes might help him evade this too. It was just a mask, a mistake, surely something that could be fixed. Only apparently it couldn't. With parted lips he looked up at Isla, the sound of her voice instantly soothing. At least until he listened to the words she spoke. "My—" Remi's eyes filled with horror as latent understanding filled him. "NO—" He suddenly yelled, the tears from before blurring and stinging his vision as his voice cracked around the word. "Not them. Anything but them." His voice was shaky, heart unsteady, breathing short and verging on hyperventilating. remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own Isla leant in close, her pebble blue eyes as hard as their colour. When she spoke it was full of spite. "Yes," she hissed, and all at once the shadows surged forth, wrapping around Remi like suffocating rags, squeezing and pulling this way and that, as though Ludo was physically ripping the memories away. One by one the three behind Isla would fade from sight, fizzling away to nothing. Ianto first. Loren second. And finally his sad, sweet mother, an expression of hurt and confusion on her face as she disappeared from sight. When the shadows retreated, Ludo was gone as well. "I will return again when I decide what you owe me for the healer," it said as it departed. Uh oh! Remi has lost all of his memories of the following characters: Loren Ianto His mother Samuel If these characters affected his personality or growth, he may experience... changes... based on the loss of these memories.

Hope sparkled in his pretty, pretty eyes, but nothing could save him now. Gasping and grasping at his throat as Ludo lunged, Remi tried to breathe in a strangled breath, his eyes scrunching shut as he gasped for air. Even so, his lips tried to form the words of repetence and the names of those who stood behind Isla. Through tear-dusted eyes, Remi saw Ianto's smile, the permanent tail, the twinkle in his eyes. The need for chicken and stories of tea houses and stars and how one day they might find themselves in the constellations... Then Loren, and all the things they'd planned on building and doing together, the slouchy smile, and the overwhelming and impossible things he felt for the librarian. Then Samuel, with his gentle kisses and dates that never went as expected but always ended up so right. Sam, the only one to ever confess love for the alchemist. And then his mother. The pinnacle of goodness and sweetness. The only person to whom Remi would immediately and easily pledge his entire heart and soul. The tightening of the cloth was nothing compared to the anguish of having the memories sucked from him, his mind grasping after them with useless effort. It was all slipping away, all of them. Four pairs of blue eyes, then, three, then two, then... then.. then nothing. With a gasp, Remi sat up. His face was stained with tears, and as he absently wiped away at them, he glanced around the Temple. Running a confused hand through his hair, he tried to still the beating of his heart as it hammered in his chest. He remembered telling Ludo that he'd lost the mask, and most of the god's words following that...Ludo had named some sort of price, though Remi couldn't recall what. But he felt ... fine? for the most part. Emotionally he felt unsteady, even if he could not give a name to the origin of his upset. "I am sorry Ludo. I will find your mask." He vowed, as he rose to his feet. Dusting off the knees of his pants, Remi paused once again, caught in what felt like the afterimage of something important. But... Holding his breath, he tried to remember. But of course he couldn't. remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me