[SEASONAL EVENT] empty chairs at empty tables

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Maybe. Are they stupid? And is that better than the rest of them being stupid?" Ronin asked with the barest hint of a smirk on his face. The wine was making his head cloudy too, if not nearly as much as Remi, and with the alchemist and his good nature there to distract him the alcohol was lending him a buzz instead of dragging him down. How long that would last, though, was anyone's guess. Remi was right - their monster hunting count probably was nearly on par at this point, and they could both kit out as adventurers within a moment's noticed, companions included. Sugar only snorted at Remi as he quipped at her, as if to say she didn't care about healing powers when she had a professional shit-shoveller on hand. "Wait, move in? Be serious, Remi." Ronin snorted and shook his head. "I suppose it is like it never happened..." he agreed with a sigh. "Well... all I can do is try to help you get that mask back. And if Ludo returns your memories, at least you can decide how you feel about things again."

"Listen. I've now had far too much wine to know what parts of my body are the most clever." Remi said with a huff, as if this was some lofty philosophical conversation he wasn't equipped to be having, rather than mundane and completely vacuous fire-side talk. "Who says I am not?" Remi replied indignantly, suddenly fully behind this idea and properly offended that Ronin would think he was joking. "It isn't like you don't have the room." The alchemist added with a shrug. "Mm." Remi said with a sigh. "I did tell a man about it. His name is Lucas. He knew a bit about me, which I found a bit strange at the time, but now I wonder ... I mentioned that I had brought the mask with me to the Rathskeller, and the next day it was gone." Saying it like that, did make the culprit sound a bit obvious. "Perhaps it just got moved with all that was happening.." remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Well it's definitely not your shoulders. I'd have taken a bet that it was your brain but now I'm not so sure about that either," Ronin said with a smirk, setting his mug down once he had finished his wine and peeking in to check on Aoife - she seemed thoroughly happy to nap around her stuffed dragon and sea-bird. At Remi's indignance, the guildmaster was far too bruised emotionally (and far too anxious about staying in the guildhall by himself) to continue to fight him. "Thank you, then," he murmured instead, giving his friend a grateful nod. Frowning at the story about Lucas and the mask's disappearance, Ronin let out a long sigh and itched at the stubble on his chin. "Then our first step should be to check in with Vervain and to look through the Rathskeller and even the rest of the Temple. Rule out it having gone missing. I've not heard of this Lucas, but our next step after that would be to talk to him, right?" He smiled. "Before that, though... I'll be going after the monster at the Spire. Soon, probably."

Remi rolled his eyes with a goodnatured smirk on his lips. No it certainly wasn't his shoulders, his head, nor his heart. If there was a clever part of him it was probably gone now, deleted along with his memories. "Well, that's that." Remi said with a decisive nod. Whether it was to close the subject of his shoulders, their housing situation or both, was a bit unclear. But given that both of their gazes had shifted to Aoife, it seemed not to matter. "Mmm, that seems wise. I was hoping to give her a bit of a reprieve before bothering her again but ... I suppose she expects little else." He said with an amused and adoring snort. The mention of the spire monster was sobering, and yet in response Remi merely drank once again from his mug. "Issues of my shoulders aside, I would like to come with you." The alchemist said, though his expression suggested he wasn't necessarily asking permission. Then again, former captain of training and the proper monster hunter in the room, a decline from Ronin probably would go far to dissuade the alchemist. remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Remi was right - that was that - and as much as Ronin tried not to show it, the relief in him was evident, from the way his shoulders relaxed to the suddenly less nervous countenance about him. He smiled faintly, content that Aoife was alright and rising carefully to his feet to stretch. "Bothering her is better than her finding the mask by accident. Who knows what Ludo would do," he pointed out with a gentle shrug. Hearing that Remi wanted to join him was hardly surprising, and Ronin had almost expected as much. "Your decision is your own," he said warmly. "You and I have been through a lot together, and I trust you more than most - more than almost anyone, I think. The only reason I would ever think of dissuading you is because... well. If we both die, she really does have no one," he muttered. "It will be getting dark soon. Shall we...?"

The alchemist watched Ronin rise with a lopsided and not entirely sober smile. He was right of course, and Vai would expect no less from the pair of them, if indeed Ronin was going to tag along. Especially with the memory of his mother removed, he felt entirely like one of Vai's adopted sons, Ronin being the other more or less. Remi's smile was warm and Ronin's words were needed. It soothed something still ruffled and unhappy within the alchemist that worried about his lost memories. But to know that some things were still the same, better even, was a balm he hadn't realized he'd needed. "That is true..." Remi murmured, though altruistic or not, the alchemist couldn't see himself being a good parent to the child without Ronin. "Will she stay with Vai while we go?" He asked. Rising, Remi looked sadly down at Aoife, offering the oblivious child a small smile, before nodding to her father as he glanced at the dusk falling swiftly through the window. "Yes. Isla is out as well. I can make a wagon to pull ... everything with." He said, unsure if it was respectful or not to refer to the body as the body or as Vanya. "Do you want to go and get her? And I will get everything else..?" remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Ronin even managed a smile back to his friend that reached his eyes, and while he was not as in his cups as Remi, the wine had taken the sharp edges off what they were about to do. He nodded. "Yeah, she'll be staying with Vai. Vai is good with her." Good being the understatement of the year; he couldn't help but watch in awe, the way people like Vai and Remi and Phoebe interacted with his daughter. As much as he would have liked to continue this conversation indefinitely and avoid facing the final truth of things, there was no putting it off. Sugar couldn't keep the room upstairs frozen in time forever. Clearing his throat, Ronin nodded again about the wagon and let out a long sigh, like he was making himself brave. "Yes. I'll go and get her, and I'll meet you outside," he mumbled, eyes lingering on Aoife for a second before he padded away upstairs again. Ronin was longer, perhaps, than it would have reasonably taken him to collect anything else from upstairs. Whether it was to steel himself to what was going to happen or to say his final private goodbyes would forever remain a mystery between guildmaster and sea-bird, however long ago her soul had fled her body. He stepped outside into the dusk and the still melting snows, carrying with him a bundle wrapped painstakingly in the beautiful ocean linens that Remi had prepared.

"Okay." Remi agreed softly. Picking up Aoife in her basket, Remi added a few extra skins just in case. He knew babies were fragile and were perhaps more susceptible to the cold. Naively though it was like he thought by bundling her up he could somehow protect her from what she was about to be a part of, even if she wouldn't ever remember it. Outside, Isla had already come. Though she was respectful of the way she could now invade Remi's mind so easily, she'd tried to give the guildmaster and the alchemist their space. Still, she had sensed when she was needed and had made herself ready outside. "This is going to be so hard." He confided to her softly, to which she simply nodded in agreement. Swallowing, Remi indeed partially-created and partially-transmuted a wagon into being. Though Isla was less than pleased at being demoted to cart-horse, for the purposes of this she was more than willing. Attaching a series of crude harnesses to her, Remi placed Aoife on a separate seat from where Vanya would be laid in the back. He and Ronin would have to walk, but he thought that would be alright. It wasn't as if they were in a rush. "Ready?" He asked his friend with a respectful smile. remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "No," Ronin said softly, though he doubted Remi had seriously expected any other kind of answer from him. Quietly and carefully, he approached the wagon and set Vanya's body carefully in the back of it, where it was shielded by the kindling they would use as her pyre. He very nearly didn't let her go. From Northwind to Northaven to Caido, Ronin had always found strength in himself, but he had given it all away, it felt, to Vanya and their hopes and their dreams. It was a broken man who climbed back down from the wagon, circling around to check on his daughter (she was sleeping soundly for now) before falling into step with Remi. "Let's just go," he mumbled, glancing over his shoulder at the darkened guildhall and feeling a sudden, inexplicable hatred for the place, like it was to blame for the death that had occurred within its walls. Once Isla began to walk, Ronin would step alongside the wagon in silence, lost deeply in his thoughts.

Remi nodded and the odd little group walked on into the night. Conversational by nature, Remi knew well enough when silence was the most appropriate. Under his breath he began to hum something from his childhood. He didn't remember the words, most were in another language anyhow, and so he merely inserted made-up sounds that seemed to fit the rising and falling of the melody. His voice wasn't exceptional by any means, but not bad either, and it was enough to help keep his mind off of just what it was they were going to do, even though his thoughts inevitably returned to it. "Ronin..." Remi said a bit thoughtfully as he glanced over towards his new house-mate. "When we were at the glade with Safrin .. she mentioned something about Vanya and something she was meant to drink?" remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Outside Ronin was silent, calm even as they walked, but internally he writhed. Grief, rage, helplessness and fear at what raising Aoife without Vanya really meant, he could barely think in a straight line. He glanced up at the sound of Remi's voice, drawn from the deep depths of thoughts that were likely darker than any he'd had before. "Hm? Oh... yes, she gave me a vial of... starlight, it looked like. She said I ought to give it to Vanya, to keep the baby healthy." He smiled fleetingly, shaking his head. "I did, of course. Van said it tasted like her favourite wine. It sounds silly, but that must have been playing on my mind without my noticing. Because sometimes I look at Aoife and I swear she has stars in her eyes. I'm going crazy." He sighed, like he was resigned to it. "Why do you ask?"

"Ah." Remi said with a nod. He hadn't known that it was for Aoife's benefit. Some hidden and dark part of him wondered if this was perhaps Safrin's doing. He knew how highly Ronin spoke of her and yet .. a vial of liquid? A dead mother? But perhaps it had been an act of mercy. "I was not going to say anything.." Remi said, glancing over his shoulder where Aoife lay nestled in her basket. "But I did think the same thing. You might still be going crazy though. It just means I am too, which..." The alchemist shrugged with a light smile. "Oh, nothing. I had just thought perhaps Safrin was involved, that's all." Biting the inside of his lip, Remi stared down at the ground, hazarding a quick look towards Ronin's profile before glancing back ahead. "Do you think she knew? That Safrin..knew? Is that why she gave you the vial?" remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "She wouldn't," Ronin said softly, even at something as small as Remi's ah. "She would never. As for whether she knew..." The guildmaster fell silent, glancing at the wagon at his side and placing a hand upon it. He swiped angrily at his eyes with his free hand. "If she knew I wish she would have told me, so I might have spent the rest of my time with Vanya more wisely." He shrugged, helpless against the outcome of that fateful night. Soon enough the wagon had arrived in the long grasses of the fields. It was dark now, the stars just beginning to peep out. Blowing gently upon the ring on his finger, light bloomed around them in a wide arc, suffusing the fields with a soft glow. "Somewhere on a rise would be good," he said, keeping his eyes peeled for such a place and nodding when he spotted one. That way they might stand a little above the surrounding woodland and watch the sky awaken.

Remi would put nothing passed any of the gods at this point, but he said nothing to contradict his friend. Safrin was the god he was least well acquainted with, and Ronin...had a way with people. It didn't surprise the alchemist at all that if the goddess really had given Aoife her favour it was in no small part because of her father. Feeling his heart clench at the thought that Ronin might have regrets, Remi bit down on the inside of his cheek and turned his eyes upwards towards the stars which were slowly emerging. With a little oh of surprise as Ronin suddenly lit their way, Remi nodded. "You heard the man." Remi said softly to Isla, who bobbed her head amicably enough and pulled the cart towards the mound. Halting her, Remi took a breath and gazed up into the darkness. Part of him wanted to scream, to cry, and then to do nothing at all. Instead though, he simply filled his lungs with the sweet evening air and turned back to Ronin. Looking at the ground, Remi reached into it make a flat platform with his earth magic. It would be much easier to create a pyre on such a surface, and having raised it slightly, would be easier to keep the fire under control as well. remi Don't pretend it's such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me