[se] this isn't typical

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Whether or not it was rude to invade the dreams of others wasn't something Remi had ever actively considered. Their own subconsciouses invaded and ruined their dreams all the time with monsters and horrifying truths that had been ignored during the waking hours; could the Lullaby's presence really be any worse than the horrors of the mind? (Probably best for Remi's mental health that we don't answer that).

Despite being in his own bed with an entire mountain range between them, Remi drifted through the dreaming wide awake rather than tangled in a dream of his own making with Ronin. On this night he'd set his sight on a very particular dreamer; quite when Hotaru would fall asleep the Lullaby had no way of knowing, and so until he could sense her mind in the vastness of the world laid out before him, Remi was forced to drift through landscapes of his own making. It would have been easier of course to send a letter ahead to her as he'd planned, or to have told Talyson to deliver her a message, but what would it have said? We should talk? Or perhaps, I heard you left, hope you are doing well, if you have a moment we should talk about our children? It all sounded so absolutely nonsensical to even think about, and so, as was Remi's wont in most situations, he decided instead to simply show up and hope for the best.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

HOTARU

I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world

She’s not expecting company as her pillow cradles her head that night. Preemptive grief has made her unnaturally celibate, or perhaps it is the strings of a half-realized relationship that keeps her tied down in the snow like a hare beset by a patient hunter.

Either way, if her dream had previously held any lucidity or shape, it is forgotten as a familiar presence makes its way into her own awareness. Bringing consciousness with it like a slow-brightening candle until she is blinking her eyes and turning on curiously bare feet. The snow beneath them is not cold, but she can’t determine which of them is causing that. “Remi?” she calls softly, slowly spinning until his dark curly head appears. Confusion curls in slight lines between her brows as she turns and moves towards him. For all their strange history, she has no fear in approaching him, only the worry that this might be the portent of something terrible. “Is everything alright? Do you need me?” For what, it doesn’t matter. He has her loyalty, no matter how strangely won.

Don't forget it, don't forget it
respect that and bow down bitches

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Tendrils of sunlight try and streak through a stormy sky that thickens and churns to keep the warmth at bay. Though the snow beneath their feet isn't cold, it is quick to crack and whine and groan ominously with every step.

"It is." The Lullaby offers with a soft smile, "-and I do." He adds as the quality of his smile grows in appreciation if not in size.

"I am sorry I was not there to say goodbye when you left." Remi hadn't expected Hotaru to last long in the Woods once the twins had decided to move to Torchline, and yet still her departure had caught him off guard. But then, that was what happened when you spent so much of your time inside your own mind, instead of paying attention to what was going on around you. "Are you planning on staying there, during the war?"

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

HOTARU

I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world

It is as if the entire world is attempting to thaw in the span of one golden hour, but she only has eyes for the sea-glass siblings of her own. Worlds end, she has lived enough storybook endings to see it happen time and again. There is only one Remi.

“You look good, Remi,” she says with a smile that blooms slow at comforting the sight of his own. Better than she recalls most recently in brief glimpses after Vai’s death. A hand elegantly waves away his apology, and - exercising what she can remember of the other times she has been here - envisions a simple oak bench for them to sit upon, solitary figures in a world that only philosophers could debate the reality of. “Would it have truly been a goodbye when I knew we would see each other again? Borders mean nothing to us.”

Childlike, bare toes dig beneath the snow as if it were sand, fingertips tapping idle rhythm on the edge of the bench. Contemplative. “Yes. They need me more than the Greatwood ever could. I was told you would be called to the Draig?” He can surely assume the source of her information, but she has far-reaching networks, webs that shiver under her touch. Sunjata, Phoebe, Wessex, Deimos, Remi, Frey. Who’s to say who it really was?

Don't forget it, don't forget it
respect that and bow down bitches

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi chuckles at that, giving his head a soft shake as he takes a seat on the oak bench. Leaning back, he tips his chin upwards; inhaling slowly, the Lullaby's exhale is a stream of concentrated violet that smells like honeysuckle and lilac. "No, but..I suppose I thought I should have helped you move, or..." Tilting his head towards her, Remi smirks looking both boyish and very old and tired all at once. "..I am not sure. It is a strange thing that you and I have together." A strange thing indeed that involved jailbreaks, unexpected orgasms, and twins.

"Mmmmmmm." Remi hums, having assumed as much, before nodding a decisive yes. "I am not sure what it will entail, but yes, that is where I will be." Concern lines his forehead then as Remi shifts towards Hotaru. It was strange how familiar someone could be and yet so wholly unknown, that for a moment the Lullaby lost himself in simply noting the way her eyelashes caught and held the sunlight, finding himself surprised to remember what it was like to have his arms wrapped around her.

"Have you heard from the twins? When last Flora and I spoke she mentioned something about she and Enzo remaining in Torchline rather than going to the Haven."

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

HOTARU

I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world

It’s a curse, to look so young and feel so old. A curse she knows too well. Somehow it makes it easier to laugh, to breathe in the smell-taste of his colored breath. Like old war veterans sharing stories to keep the shadows at bay. “Strange is an appropriate word. But I don’t regret it.” None of it. Not even the worst, most painful parts.

She feels his eyes, and after a moment of tilting her face to the sun, she opens her own to find them. He is much the same; a familiar stranger, whose soul resonates on a frequency so close to her own it may well harmonize. The peace she feels with him is inexplicable given his temperament and power. Strange, indeed. “I will worry for you, though you have no need of it,” she shares freely and simply, not needing an answer nor desiring comfort. War is war. Hotaru needs no comfort to contend with it anymore.

Sighing, she kicks a small foot through the snow, watching it spray in the gold of sunlight. “Enzo wrote to me most recently of the two. He was intentionally vague on their decision, so if that is what you know from Flora, I fear that is their choice.” Not that Ru hasn’t considered using her compulsion on them to get them there. But who is to say they would remain?

Don't forget it, don't forget it
respect that and bow down bitches

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi's smile is slow. He feels like a boy who has so long worn the clothes of an older man that he's convinced himself that they fit; so long that he feels they belong to him. In rare moments like this though he feels the weight of what he wears, the too-long sleeves, the mismatched buttons. In the Dreaming he could take it off and remind himself who he is underneath, but something holds him back, as it always does. "My worry will do you little good, though..." What Remi pulls from his pocket is a shimmery scale that takes up his entire palm. "If ever there is a creature too formidable for you to face, be it man or beast, shove this down its throat."

Taking a breath, Remi nods unhappily. "I cannot say I would not do the same were I in their position, but gods I wish they wouldn't." He mumbles, knowing Hotaru would likely feel just as similarly understanding and resentful of their twins' free will.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

HOTARU

I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world

It will do her little good, but it warms her all the same, what little need for warmth they have in a world of their own creation. Intrigue, however, is far stronger. The scale gleams attractively, attracting wanton magpie eyes. What it does is only implied, but her eyes go wide, not unaware of the magnitude. Though her hand rises slowly to take it, holding it gently in her palm, her eyes don’t leave Remi’s. “Are you certain?” She, of all? All he knows, loves, lays claim to? She, to wield this protection, this gift he could bestow upon anyone? It’s an honor that makes her marrow ache, so unworthy of it is she.

Off-balance now, she can only huff a laugh, long fingers enclosing the tiny item in her palm. “Are children not often revenge upon us for our own teenage idiocy? They’re the clearest, most cringeworthy mirrors we could ever gaze into.” And cringe she does at times, with fear yes, but also awareness of how very like herself they both can be.

Don't forget it, don't forget it
respect that and bow down bitches

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

"I would not leave our children without their mother." Remi says with an easy laugh. He'd not see the world deprived of Hotaru either, though that was a bit harder to put into words, even now, and even in this place. "I will send it to you properly in the morning." He murmurs softly; should he survive this war, the ability to send items through dreams might be a smart thing to ask Ludo about.

Grumbling in agreement, Remi leans back against the bench and huffs out a laugh of his own. "I would say that I wish they were more like me when I was younger...more obedient and careful, but if that led to the man I am today, perhaps it is better that they are on a different path." Shrugging, a gesture that becomes a soft rolling of his shoulders. "I am going to give them one of the compasses, so that if any danger comes too close that they can teleport away from it. The journey is not pleasant when the compass has to move two bodies, but it is better than death."

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

HOTARU

I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world

Even the facsimile is powerful enough to dismantle defenses she rarely keeps around him. Though they don’t touch here and now, he has seen the raw, unseemly parts of her enough times to make such things meaningless. “Thank you,” she murmurs, touching his knee gently with the fingertips of one hand, wondering - and hoping - if the garment will protect him from feeling her emotions.

His self-deprecation is familiar, though she tsks her tongue at it anyway. “Hopefully they will be better than the both of us. Though if traveling via the compass for their safety leaves them with some aches and pains, perhaps it will be a lesson to keep their noses out of things like war.” Nothing wrong with a little tough love, and seventeen was far too young for bloodied hands and battlefields. Turning her eyes to the golden glow over the snowy horizon, she crosses her ankles and leans back against the bench. “How long will you stay with me?” It’s unclear which answer she’d prefer, but for all his social stumbling at times, Hotaru is certain he can guess with some measure of accuracy. She has missed him, quite unexpectedly, but time is funny in dreams; she will enjoy his company while it is given, free of context and husbands and politics.

Don't forget it, don't forget it
respect that and bow down bitches

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

The small bit of cloth between them indeed keeps Hotaru's emotions veiled from him. Though he would happily take the weight of her thoughts and feelings anytime they became too much for her, just now with so much on his mind, the potential that his own insecurities might ripple her way was simply too high. "Of course." He hopes that she knows he means it too; for all the strangeness that brought them together and the distance that had pushed their meetings farther away, Remi might not be thought of at all as the sort of man who would care about a woman who could, on less kind readings, be simply thought of as a one night stand. But gods, he did care, even if he was terrible at showing it.

'As long as you like.' He replies, smiling crookedly such that only one dimple pressed itself into the skin of his cheek. 'I do not sleep much anymore, so this is a welcome change.' Breathing deeply of the mountain air, Remi exhales slowly.

"Is Halo prepared for what is to come, do you think?"

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

HOTARU

I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world

He is terrible at showing it, undoubtedly, but Ru has made an insidious career of reading people even when they do not wish to be. It works somehow for them. Nobody else may ever deign to understand, but whittled low as her number of friends and companions may be, the Lullaby remains among the number. Rarity of visitation would never change that.

A slight draw of pale brows is her only outward concern at his offhand comment, but there is little she can do to fix it. Her own nights are lonely and fraught with nightmares borne of worry and anxiety, it would be hypocritical to nag and fret. "Do you awake rested as I do after these, or does it leave you tired as you might after prolonged magical use?" Curiosity has her torso turning more towards him, though his question has her humming and turning her head away in contrast to stare out over the horizon. "I believe so, yes. Much was pulled together in the late hour, but the fighters that intend to remain are stubborn and fiercely loyal. Oftentimes I find that more meaningful than battle prowess." She doesn't ask about the Greatwood, doesn't need to. There are so few there, and Remi had ensured their borders were fiercely defended yes, but the Fae would not allow their forest to fall even if the Lullaby's paranoia and overkill somehow faltered.

Don't forget it, don't forget it
respect that and bow down bitches

the lullaby

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Pulling in a breath, Remi considers her question only briefly. "I..." There was no easy way of saying that, near godly as he now was, fatigue rarely got to him. "...physically I awake fine. It is only my mind that is tired, though I doubt if sleep would ever help to relax my thoughts." He replies.

That Halo is more or less prepared has the Lullaby feeling simultaneously relieved (that Hotaru might weather this war unscathed) and also guilty (for he has done absolutely nothing to prepare the Greatwood).

As golden tendrils of light wander out from behind cloud cover to douse the Dreaming into a warm sheen, the pair continue to talk with the sort of familiarity that few would think possible of them. Eventually, the world yawns and stretches, indicating that at least one of them is ready to wake up. There is no use postponing the inevitable—this both Hotaru and Remi know from experience—and so it's with gentle utterances of see you after, and good luck, that the Lullaby pulls himself away from the bench, but not before placing a gentle kiss to Hotaru's brow.

~FIN

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!