[SE] cinders

Mateo's laughter has faded as the boy leaves Ludo's Woods for somewhere warmer; he's told them in no uncertain terms that he's got enough firewood (read: he is fed up of this manual labour business) and he's going to get some cocoa from the Sea of Branches. Looking at the small pile of firewood he's actually collected, Ronin can't help but smirk. "At least he's honest about his dishonesty," he remarks. Between the two of them it should be easy enough to collect the rest, and with snow starting to fall around them again, Ronin can't blame the boy for wanting to be somewhere toastier. Besides, it means he can enjoy adult conversation with Remi. "I was thinking of investing in a onesie for Longnight," he remarks, heaving a log onto their sled. "Maybe one with feet. And a fluffy deer's tail." RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

"He knows we aren't going to let him freeze during LongNight." Remi agrees with a sigh that's as exasperated as it is amused. Pushing over a tree with his shoulder, the yawning snap of its bark echoes throughout the Greatwood in a way which should have come across as ominous; between the two demigods though, there were few sounds that either of them found particularly chilling. This wasn't one of them.

"A...onesie." Remi repeats, raising a deeply skeptical eyebrow in Ronin's direction. "What happens when you need to pee and hold it because you do not want to move, and then have to race towards the bathroom?" He wonders, grinning boyishly, already imagining Ronin screaming for assistance while hopping from foot to foot.

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"His ego is probably bruised as well, watching you shove over trees like that while he collects twigs," Ronin remarks with a flash of teeth. Whilst he could uproot some of the trees with his bare hands, he's got an axe for a reason, so he persists with that and leaves Remi to his more barbaric methods. Chopping the logs into more manageable sections, he chuckles triumphantly as he starts to load up the sled again. "I'm one step ahead," he informs him. "You can get those onesies with the button-up panel on the ass. I won't need to take it off to pee, among other things." And should he look quite so smug at the implication that Remi will fuck him in a deer onesie? Probably not, but here they are. "Or I suppose I could just be naked all Longnight and hide in a pile of furs with you." RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

What some see as BarBarIC, others (Remi) choose to see as natural and efficient. There was a reason one of them was significantly stronger than the other that probably have nothing to do with MP. Refilling Ronin's pile so that the Huntsman wouldn't be able to stray far and would instead be forced to continue chopping wood where Remi could see him, the alchemist continues to bulldoze through the surrounding trees.

"You pee out of your ass, now?" He wonders, narrowing his eyes and indeed picturing all the things Ronin likely intended to bring to mind. "I an sure no one would complain. It would save on doing laundry, too." Remi points out helpfully. "Maybe you just want to be covered in a onesie so that you can safely have a lot of deceitful thoughts." He adds with a flash of teeth and a bob of his eyebrows. "About Maeve, or maybe Nate."

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"No," Ronin protests, hefting his axe on his shoulder and wiggling his hand as if he can somehow explain the manoeuvrability required for peeing using a onesie. Eventually, of course, he gives up, grumbling affectionately at the tree trunks stacked nearby for him to hack up. "If I'm wearing it during Deepfrost and LongNight especially, you'll be one of the only people around to complain," he points out. "Though I suppose without the LongNight monsters, things should be pretty peaceful." And thus Ronin damns them all to war, something he realises with a sunny smile flashed in Remi's direction. "Define deceitful," he says with a wrinkle of his nose, stacking more logs onto the sled. "One more trunk should do it I think," he adds, of their firewood. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

Reaching out to rap his knuckles against the trunk of one of the trees, Remi shoots his husband a warning you look. "You know better than to be that optimistic. Especially given where we are." Would Ludo make their LongNight dangerous just because it could? Not in person perhaps, but via some annoying possessed bear, that breathed fire?

At Ronin's request, the alchemist falls adorably silent as he glares up into the winter-bright sky and tries to think. "Uhhh...in this context, it's anything sexual that doesn't at least have me as a supporting character, how about that?" Grinning before exhaling a puff of white, Remi heaves his shoulder against the trunk of a rather skinny tree that, despite how narrow it was, wouldn't budge. Standing back and narrowing his eyes (Luuudooo!), Remi nods his head vaguely over his shoulder.

"Oh strong Huntsman, would you be so kind as to give me a hand with this one? And before you suggest picking a different tree, no. I do not like to lose. Not even to trees."

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"But without optimism, I'm nothing but a handsome realist, and we can't both be like that. There'd be no spice to life," Ronin croons, adjusting the logpile on the sled so that it sits more securely. And as Remi continues, the Huntsman peeps over the pile to bounce his eyebrows at him, and though the rest of his face isn't visible, he's definitely smiling. "Remi, you are always the main character in my sexual fantasies," he informs him. "Everyone else is a supporting character." He has the audacity to watch for a couple of seconds as the other man wrestles with the tree, eventually propping the axe back over his shoulder and stepping out to join Remi. "Since you asked so very nicely, it would be my pleasure to start this one off for you, oh mighty Lullaby, defeater of forests." Giving the axe a swing, he chips a wedge out of the skinny trunk, hopefully giving his husband more leverage. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

"There is plenty of spice in Vai's garden." Remi counters dryly before smiling stupidly in Ronin's direction and muttering something under his breath that might have vaguely sounded like ..unfairly handsome.. followed by several grumbles.

"Well and even if I am occasionally not, I am just saying that if I was fully absent, that would be deceitful." It wouldn't, probably, and by this point Remi had lost the conversational point he'd been trying to make earlier in light of the tree's stubbornness.

"I will defeat your forest." Remi snarks under his breath, watching the head of the axe cleanly slice away a wedge in the trunk. Positioning his shoulder against the tree and sipping in a breath which he held deep down in his lungs, Remi heaved and ho'd and despite his best efforts, was only able to make the tree crack and groan ever so slightly.

"WHY." He demands suddenly, glaring at the bark and then leaning forward to give it a sniff. "Have I picked some sort of protected tree?" Remi wonders, before glancing around the tree tops as if he might see Ludo there waving to him. "Just...cut it down. That seems to be working."

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"There will be if we sneak in there at LongNight," Ronin says with a smirk; between spicy gardens and defeating forests, the innuendos are reaching a bit, but the Huntsman is still confident in their ability to make most anything sexual. "And luckily for you, fully absent is never my preference when it comes to you, fantasy or otherwise." Having obviously heard the mutterings under Remi's breath, Ronin tips his husband a wink as he steps back to watch him... fail to push over the tree, apparently. "Are you unwell?" he wants to know, giving the Lullaby's bicep an experimental squeeze as if it might just be balloons in there. "Shall we swing by Vai's after all and get you some chicken soup?" Regardless, Ronin hacks at the tree trunk another few times until it looks as if it's barely holding on. "There, I think even I could push that one down now." He gestures for Remi to finish the job. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

'You say the sweetest things.' Remi purrs, and though it all is indeed quite a stretch, the alchemist feels a bloom of warmth in his stomach which has the decency to spread upwards first before swiftly descending south.

"Hey." Remi grumbles, swiping at Ronin's hand before flexing his arms defensively. It had been years since the alchemist was made to feel weak or incapable, yet all those feelings of helplessness rushed right back up the surface as if they had been there all along, just waiting. "No..." Said tentatively, Remi ruffles a hand through the back of his curls and takes a small step backwards. "You are almost all the way..you might as well finish." Winking in Ronin's direction despite his unease, Remi nods at the tree for the Huntsman to finish.

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

"I do try," Ronin purrs back, instinctively dancing a few steps away as he's swiped at, only to return before the tree trunk. "If you're sure. We'll call it a team effort," he says, adjusting his stance and severing the rest of the tree trunk with the axe. Moving to the side to catch it and brace it against his shoulder, he glances around at Remi. "Have you considered that maybe Ludo's fucking with you out here?" he asks with a small smile. "These are its woods, right?" Offering out the axe, Ronin moves to drag the trunk in front of their sled. "You can at least enjoy chopping it to pieces, right?" he asks, assuming (and maybe vaguely hoping) that the log won't cause Remi any further issues. RONIN Darkness is a funny thing. It creeps up on you.

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

Remi's only response to this is to grumble indecisively under his breath. Scanning the treetops again with narrowed and focused eyes, the alchemist found that there was little to see at all save for sparce branches, clumps of hanging moss, and the occasionally slithering hanging snake seeking out patches of sunlight.

Grabbing the axe Remi watches Ronin load the cart a touch warily, before sniffing and shrugging. "Mmm. Sure." Imagining his claws somehow causing sparks to fly off the bark should he use them on it, Remi decides to mark the tree for later investigation. Taking Ronin's axe and carving a star into the trunk, he gives it an approving nod at last.

"Anything else before we tuck ourselves away?"

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

the huntsman

when the city goes silent

Ronin watches as his husband marks the offending tree, resisting the urge to smirk because he knows that for all the grumbling and bravado, Remi is rarely so annoyed over trivial matters. "Just one thing," he murmurs, waiting until the Lullaby is done with the axe before swooping in to steal a chilly kiss from his lips. "I love you," Ronin hums, smiling into the kiss before drawing back again and swiftly shifting into a luxere.

Climb on the sled and I'll pull us home, he says with a vibrant toss of his head, though he does prance trot to the front of said sled with the expectation that Remi will help him into the harness tethered there. And so it's to the sound of sleighbells and crunching snow that the Taliesins return to the houseboat, and if Ronin flutters his tail at Remi more than is appropriate, well, so be it.

~FIN

the ringing in my ears gets violent

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!