black hole sun

you're my guiding light, when there's no guiding light left inside

Knowing just as little about the spirit shenanigans going on between hand and companion as her bonded, Sugar maintains her position half nesting in Remi's hair - that is, until Ronin forcefully peels her away (she lets out a dramatic shriek of protest). It's during this (comparatively small, honestly) episode of chaos that Remi's hand stages its great escape, and if Ronin werent busy prying small dragon jaws off his forearm, he might have gasped.

Instead it's with a slow dawn of understanding that he gazes at his husband, at the replaced - if not ghostly - digits on his right hand, on the hand and arm itself that are freely moving. "I..." he begins, somewhat lamely. "I... but... we haven't even danced." Obviously he assumes this is some strange and instant gift by Ludo.

RONIN

that's the thing about pain // it demands to be felt

Glaring at his hand as it twirls for Oria's benefit, Remi is on the verge of snarling something at it when Ronin takes notice. Wiping his face clean of anger, the Lullaby dramatically raises his eyebrows and gasps. "It..it is a miracle!" He declares with a bright smile for his husband, before turning to look at both his companion and right hand with equal annoyance. He'd been planning on having Ronin give him a handy, brushing his teeth for him, dancing, and tucking him into bed. Granted he probably still could have all of those things, but what fun was there if it wasn't under false pretenses?

Gods Remi, do you even hear yourself?

"Amazing!" He murmurs, now actively moving his fingers about as he turns back to Ronin, holding out his hand for his husband's approval.

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you're my guiding light, when there's no guiding light left inside

It's the see-saw between annoyance and drama through the Attuned bond that does it in the end, and the catlike smile spreading across Ronin's face is equal parts impressed and amused. "It is absolutely a miracle," he says dryly, willingly accepting the offered hand to carefully examine it with soft fingers. "There is no quest," he guesses, kissing the alchemist's knuckles and gazing over at him, suddenly (mostly) whole again after so long that he doesn't know what to do or say for a second.

"It doesn't hurt any more either?" he asks - assumes, rather, scooting closer to reach out and gently grasp the other man's upper arm, as if to check that Ludo hasn't replaced it with ghosts. Or sand. Or sock puppets.

RONIN

that's the thing about pain // it demands to be felt

Running his tongue across his teeth in a gesture that screams his innocence, Remi allows his fingers to be taken as he shakes his head stiffly back and forth. "Well, I wouldn't say no quest." He argues, frowning slightly. "I did have to ask Ludo, so.."

Ronin would find Remi's upper arm just as he'd always remembered it, but no, there was no pain. Shaking his head, it's with a sudden flurry of movement that Remi's index finger zoooooms towards Ronin's belly button, floundering its way beneath his shirt to find its target. 'Ah, so..there is that." Remi explains, reaching out for his own wrist and tugging his hand back.

'I would not say that it has a mind of its own, but it has something of its own." Twisting in his own grip, his right hand wriggles, before Thing-walking its way onto Ronin's knee and up his thigh.

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you're my guiding light, when there's no guiding light left inside

"Oh is that so?" Ronin drawls, though to say he's pleased is an understatement. So much so that he's more than willing to play out the rest of the imagined quest, even if Remi won't have the glee of feeling like he's somehow tricking his husband. Except apparently some iteration of tricking him is now a permanent part of their lives, and it's with a yelp that Ronin instinctively scoots his chair back away from the hand trying to poke its way into his bellybutton.

"I'm sorry, what?" He blinks, instinctively reaching out to capture the hand trying to crab along his thigh, gently squeezing it between his fingers. "So you got your arm back, and your missing fingers, and it doesn't hurt any more... but you don't actually have control of your hand?" Ronin raises his eyebrows, as if to say this is the exact sort of fucking bullshit Ludo would pull.

RONIN

that's the thing about pain // it demands to be felt

'Well,' Remi starts to argue, but just as begins, his hand warbles and waves in Ronin's grip as if it were trying to do the YMCA. Clicking his teeth together and frowning, the Lullaby gives his head a slow shake for a moment before exhaling a defeated breath. "I have control of it sometimes." He concludes lamely before focusing on his right hand which suddenly goes limp in Ronin's grip.

"See?" Huffing out a sigh, Remi leans back into his chair and crosses his arms over his chest to keep his hand secure. "Ludo said that it was a spirit. I ... do not feel like it has any sort of consciousness, not the way a companion does in my mind, but there is something. Just...pure animation is the only way I can think to describe it."

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you're my guiding light, when there's no guiding light left inside

"I see," Ronin says slowly, the raise of his eyebrows skeptical at best until the very animated hand suddenly goes limp in his own. And he can't help it, letting out a soft chuckle as if unable to really believe it. Because weirdly 'sentient' (even though it's not, but it sort of is) or otherwise, it's still such a novelty to see Remi with all his fingers and being able to move his arm that he can't not be happy about it.

"Are you okay with it...?" he asks, because regardless of how he might feel about a potential third party (ish) involved in their day to day lives, if his husband can live without pain, with ten fingers (and thumbs, yes) and he doesn't mind his hand occasionally misbehaving... well, Ronin absolutely isn't going to complain.

Much. Because it's Ronin, and zero complaints about a finger in his belly button is unreasonable.

RONIN