how i wonder what you are

Maeve

"Accident or not, doesn't change that I liked the way it sounded." Maeve lifts her shoulders in a shrug. Remi might not be a poet and there were often times that he spoke plainly to her, but Maeve found a beauty in the simplicity of his words. Likely because people tended to try too hard. Flowery language was pretty to listen to, but the words were often empty. At least in the Nightshade's experience.

The Nightshade hums, dipping her head in a nod as she places her empty cup back in the picnic basket. "When my smallest problem was Locke." Maeve huffs a humorless laugh, the exhale little more than a breath, the air puffing out in a white mist before her. Jade eyes flick up to his face, seeing the tense of his jaw and the way he seems to go still, but nothing else gives away anything being amiss.

She's quiet, lips parting in surprise and she shrinks back slightly. "I didn't know... Safrin didn't say anything, but Remi, you must know that I would never hurt Ronin." And should he doubt her, the Nightshade extends her hand, pulling her glove off quickly so he could judge it for himself. "And I highly doubt that she would actually give me something that would kill him. We both know she wouldn't give him up so easily."

'Cause it's too cold for you here and now
so let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater

the lullaby

How do I learn my dreams to mold
To lay them bare in the morning cold?

It's a difficult thing at times, to be so strong. Remi merely clenching his fists had the ability to break fingers or wrists, never mind the damage he could do with one uncontrolled outburst of anger. So it was that the Lullaby merely closed his eyes tightly and exhaled a long and slow breath. "I do not think you ever would." He confirms on his exhale such that his voice caused the plume of white to warble. Sensing movement, Remi opens his eyes and looks at Maeve's naked hand. Smiling weakly the alchemist takes it, his thumb brushing against her palm.

"A falling star is the only thing that can kill him, just as love is all that can kill me." Remi explains. "I do not worry about you, Maeve.." Turning slightly that he might properly peer into her eyes, the pair of them looking like lovers beneath the stars were it not for the hardened expression on Remi's face. "But if someone were to take it?" The corners of his lips twitch upwards but there's no warmth in the smile that fleetingly appears on his face.

If they're still out there then the chasm grows
For all you know, for all you've known

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Maeve

For all of his strength, there is a fragility to the Lullaby that Maeve sees for perhaps one of the first times. She's quiet, waiting with bated breath, pulse pounding in her ears so loudly she fears she might go deaf from it. Finally, he speaks and the tension that's holding her so tightly like a marionette on a string loosens. He takes her hand, thumb tracing a line across her palm and her emotions are an open book for him to read as he likes. The honesty of her words are a flash of bright red, blinding and bleeding across everything else, but concern is an dark navy undercurrent that swirls through the rest in inky clouds.

"Do others know?" She whispers, afraid that if she spoke too loudly someone else might hear her. That the trees would still this secret and share it with those they desperately need to keep it from. Her eyes hold his, brows knitting so a little line forms between them, worry marring her pretty features as she looks up at him. "I understand... I won't tell anyone what it does and should someone try to take it... I- I'll kill them myself, Remi. I swear it." Maybe she could have Safrin put in a failsafe, keeping it for working for those who aren't followers of her. It was worth asking. If this ended up doing what they thought it would.

'Cause it's too cold for you here and now
so let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater

the lullaby

How do I learn my dreams to mold
To lay them bare in the morning cold?

Indeed, any sort of vulnerability from the Lullaby is a rarely seen thing. Not to Ronin perhaps, but to the public at large? Even to those Remi considered friends? Sighing against the strains and strings of blue and red that muddled to a bruised purple in his thoughts, the alchemist gives his head a slow shake.

"A few. The ascended do, certainly, or at least Wessex does." She had the knowtbook, after all. Peering into Maeve's eyes, it's with heavy lashes and deep lines across his forehead that Remi regards her. A snarl of emotions sparks from his fingertips, looking to his minds-eye the way that static in a sleepy limb feels. "When you go back to Safrin..." He begins, though the implications of what he's about to say has his lyrical speech growing slow and then stopping altogether for a moment. "..tell her I will do whatever she likes, if she makes your weapon safe for Ronin."

If they're still out there then the chasm grows
For all you know, for all you've known

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Maeve

Remi has never seemed more of a man than in that moment. Concerned for his soulmate and baring his heart to Maeve so that she might understand. The severity of the situation isn't lost on her and to see a Remi, the person that she has come to rely on so heavily in this new light only serves to deepen her feelings towards her friend. She gives his hand a gentle squeeze, meant to be reassuring as he speaks, confirming her suspicions.

"And until now it wasn't exactly a possibility..." She surmises quietly, meeting his gaze with a benign understanding. Even as his emotions snap back at her own, seeming more like a caged animal scared of being hurt than anything, the Nightshade doesn't withdraw from him. Instead meeting him head on and feeling all of it, sharing in his anxieties as she draws a trembling breath, brows lifting as he begins to speak. "Remi-" The implication hangs heavy between them, both knowing what the starry goddess might do with such a statement. Still, she nods, "I will. I won't leave there with something that will hurt him."

'Cause it's too cold for you here and now
so let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater

the lullaby

How do I learn my dreams to mold
To lay them bare in the morning cold?

Beneath his unshaven cheeks, the muscles of his jaw work furiously as Remi continues to try and keep his emotions in check. It's in moments like these that normally he'd dig his claws into a nearby tree, flaying away the bark with enough force that most wouldn't even remain standing when he was done. Only with Maeve's oh-so-breakable fingers in his own, it was all the alchemist could do to focus on breathing in and out.

"I know what I said." He interrupts with a slight shake of his head, though his eyes don't leave hers. Had this not been Maeve and had they not years of shared experiences between them, Remi would have chosen a different tactic entirely. Instead of pledging himself to do whatever Safrin might demand of him, he would have instead told Maeve he'd destroy any such weapon she was trying to create had it the power to kill his husband. Maybe he'd even have killed her; that would have been easy to do, especially here in the Greatwood.

Instead, Remi simply sighs as his gaze drops away and his shoulders slump away from his ears. "Alright. Well...let me know what she says."

If they're still out there then the chasm grows
For all you know, for all you've known

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Maeve

Maeve sees the struggle written clearly across his face and she hates that she's part of the reason that it's there in the first place. Heaving a sigh, the Nightshade draws her hand back from his, not wanting to put anymore stress on him by keeping it there. Instead she places it on his knee, squeezing lightly before drawing back completely, intent on giving him space to breathe without her emotions mixing with his own.

It's easy to realize that the only reason she's being afforded such a luxury as breathing right now is because of their history. The hurt that they've gone through together. "I know, Remi. I'll handle it, okay? I won't tell her unless I absolutely have to." Because she knows what position it puts him in. What that promise means.

"I'll let you know as soon as it's over." She murmurs, finally drawing her hand back completely from his person. "I can go if you'd like some space."

'Cause it's too cold for you here and now
so let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater

the lullaby

How do I learn my dreams to mold
To lay them bare in the morning cold?

Pressing his teeth together with his tongue between them to try and temper his emotions, Remi tries to recall what it was Ronin had said about thinking about things you could see, or touch, or hear in moments like these. Finding it was only making him more frustrating to think of the stars or the silence of the Greatwood, it was with a sigh that the alchemist extracted himself from the lovely scene that Maeve had set up for them.

"I am afraid I will only bring the mood down, from here." He admits, offering the queen a boyish shrug that only makes the lines on his face seem all the darker for the contrast. "Let me know what you need from me." Remi adds, both in relation to her quest as well as finding a way not to have his husband killed.

"Stay as long as you like." He mumbles, though this is more for the trees around them, that they might not harass the Nightshade. With a wave that's little more than a flop of his wrist, Remi disappears into the darkness.

~FIN

If they're still out there then the chasm grows
For all you know, for all you've known

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!