black hole sun

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

Remi has gone to visit Ludo, leaving Ronin alone at the Tramezzino. The world around their houseboat is thick with a layer of snow, and though the roar of the distant waterfall is still audible, he knows that crags of ice surround it from the freezing evenings. And so as night draws in, there's only one thing for it.

When Remi arrives, whenever that may be and in whatever state, it will be to a veritable beacon of glowing string lights and a warm glow from within the boat. Ronin has stoked the fire and left soup to slowly warm through on the hearthstones, the Huntsman watching the gathering blizzard at one of the windows.

Dressed in a threadbare red sweater that almost hangs off one shoulder and with a mug of hot, spiced cider in his hands, the sight of him from outside likely belongs on a greetings card somewhere. All that's missing are sugar cookies and caroling (if those were traditions Ronin was aware of, that is).

RONIN

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

There is likely no world at all or season therein within which the Huntsman wouldn't shoehorn baked goods. This is just to say that surely there are cookies somewhere.

Flirting across the various thermals that ebb and flow with the shifting winter winds is a pale hawk who has absolutely no business flying at such an altitude. Though its wings are not meant for the Cordillera's thin air, it flies with boundless energy, emitting a few bright trills of joy, that, for anyone familiar with this particular hawk, might seem wildly out of character.

Angling himself toward the warm glow surrounding their houseboat, Remi fans his wings with ease such that he's able to gracefully step out of his hawk-form and into their doorway in one motion. Reaching for the handle with a hum in the back of his throat, the Lullaby lets his right arm hand at his side as if nothing at all had happened. Poking his head inside, his curls already covered in a layer of snow, Remi grins sheepishly in his husband's direction.

"Waiting for someone?" He wonders with a smile before stepping in and removing his jacket.

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

Remi is lucky, and Ronin has not been expecting a hawk to come spearing down out of the sky. So in that curious way that minds sometimes do, he completely ignores any sign or sound of the bird, glancing up only at the sound of the door. Assuming that he's just missed the Lullaby's approach, Ronin offers his husband a warm and lovestruck smile, setting down his cider so he can better help Remi out of his snow-laden clothes.

"Not any more," he assures him, kissing the cold from the apples of his cheeks, hanging up his jacket for him and dusting the snow from his hair. As wild as Leafchange makes the Huntsman, the coldest season renders him docile and domestic, and so it's likely no surprise to Remi that Ronin is already trying to sneak a smooch to his lips as well.

"How did it go?" he asks. "There's cider, or soup if you're hungry."

RONIN

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

"Oh good. I would not want to interrupt." Remi replies with a waggle of his eyebrows. Turning that Ronin might tug his jacket off of his (formerly) bad arm, Remi continues the charade of still being down an arm as he tangles his left hand into his husband's hair to better allow the smooch.

"Oh, you know." He says with a shrug. "A ridiculous quest to complete." Sniffing at the air, Remi tilts his head thoughtfully to the side. "Both." He decides, thinking that the cider would go down quite nicely alongside some soup.

"You would not be interested in helping with said quest, now would you..?"

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

"Ah," Ronin says with an air of apology, knowing Remi's love of ridiculous quests. He had hoped Ludo really would consider an act of goodwill, if nothing more than to be spiteful towards Safrin, but... well, here they are. "Both it is," he murmurs, pressing another soft kiss to his husband's lips before drawing back to act the part of proper house-husband.

Glancing up only as he's setting down the bowls of soup and the mug of cider (having served some for himself as well - he won't let Remi eat alone, gods), Ronin flashes his husband a grin. "You know, there is nothing I can think of that I would enjoy more," he informs the other man. "What are our tasks? Collect this, visit that, kill something or other?"

RONIN

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

Ronin turns, at which point Remi's right-hand pinches at his own thigh hard enough to have him hissing in an annoyed breath. You just wait he thinks to himself, though he has not idea whether or not this has any effect at all on the spirit in his arm. Clearing his throat casually and offering Ronin an appreciative smile, Remi slides into one of the chairs, making sure to sit on his right hand lest it ruins the shenanigans he has planned.

"Oh? Because I can think of about a thousand things I would rather do." The Lullaby replies with a slight flare of his nostrils. Reaching for his spoon (and trying to ignore the feeling of his own fingers trying to creep out from beneath his leg), Remi sighs wearily. "It is all quite a bit more...domestic this time. I have to have someone act as my hand while doing a regular task, have them help me with something intimate..I think there was something about dancing.." He tries to shrug this off that Ronin wouldn't catch onto the ruse too early.

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

"I know you can," Ronin says sunnily, casually playing footsie with his husband under the table as he enjoys his own soup, "but I'll do any quest for any god if it means being with you. The fact that this will help you as well is just the cherry on top." Capturing one of Remi's feet between his own, the Huntsman is blissfully unaware of the Addams Family-esque shenanigans going on.

"Oh? Something intimate, huh?" He grins. "And I almost expected Ludo to have you using your bad arm as a sock puppet." Honestly, it seems like the vaguely cruel and childlike thing the herald was capable of. So more domestic requirements are simple enough. "I can help you eat?" He suggests for the regular task, waggling his eyebrows at the soup.

RONIN

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

'Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine.' It's likely because he's up to something that Remi is immediately skeptical of Ronin's kindness, but never mind. "Shhh. It will hear you and make that part of it." The Lullaby immediately complains, tilting his head to the side as he focuses on trying to win the game of footsies.

Pausing as if to consider whether or not Ronin's assistance would suffice, Remi nods slowly, puckering out his lower lip. "It sounds like the sort of thing I would need help with. I was going to suggest brushing my teeth, but given that this is already all setup..?" Shifting his chair over to the right to encourage Ronin to his left side, Remi reaches out to give his husband's shoulder and appreciative squeeze. 'You are the best.' He hums.

In the bathroom where they'd been making a complicated ice-rollercoaster with cars made of soap, Oria suddenly nudges Sugar into the hallway. With complicated hand gestures she hopes the dragon understands, the spriggan begins to stealth her way into the kitchen.

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

"I mean, I do try," Ronin says with a brief bounce of his eyebrows, a smile kicking up one corner of his mouth as he sidles his chair up next to Remi's left side, letting one hand strum affectionately down the length of the Lullaby's spine before he moves to concentrate on the quest at hand. "Ah, you're right though, of course. No sock puppets here, not even a single suggestion."

If his hands weren't full, he'd mime zipping his lips shut. As it stands, though, he merely works at feeding Remi a spoonful of soup, fighting not to make whooshing noises (since he doesn't know what an aeroplane is to do those noises instead).

Meanwhile in the hallway, Sugar has managed to stop from trying to eat the soap rollercoaster cars for long enough to slip away after Oria, huffing a cold breath onto the spriggan as if to ask what could possibly be more important than the bullshit they were already up to.

RONIN

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

"Do you ? I always thought it just came naturally to you." Remi murmurs, shifting in his seat to better prepare to embark on this stage of his quest. "Ronin." He hums flatly as the Huntsman mentions the idea of sock puppets again, before opening his mouth wide for his spoonful of soup. Though being fed in this way wasn't as satisfying as Remi thought it might be, the fact that it was being done under such laughably false pretenses did make it worth it. The Lullaby could only hope that whatever mangled joy his husband was feeling through the attuned bond would be interpreted as appreciation mingled with annoyance at having to do a quest at all.

"Any ideas for the intimate task?" Remi wonders as he nods his head toward the cider.

Chittering something low in the back of her throat, the ghostly sprite pointed toward where Remi and Ronin were. Specifically, she was pointing at Remi's arm, not that Sugar could likely see that from their low vantage point. Turning to Sugar, the spriggan points at her, then makes a big gesture with arms, mimes flapping wings and blasts of cold air.

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

"Sorry, sorry," Ronin says, trying not to even think about sock puppets (which is easier said than done once that idea takes hold, don't you know) as he dutifully feeds his ailing husband his soup. And mangled joy does seem to hit the mark, as it happens, because as he trades soup for cider, the Huntsman remains none the wiser. And why should he suspect anything? His husband would never, right?

(False.)

"Well," he murmurs, lowering the mug of cider once Remi has been able to drink his fill, "we have already danced together in this kitchen before, so that's easy enough. Safe to say the only thing I've been thinking about is the intimate task since you mentioned it. And I think I have a few ideas."

Said ideas might have been murmured against the side of Remi's neck between kisses, were it not for the companion-interruption-extravaganza. Because obviously Sugar is in - whenever there is an opportunity for shitfuckery, she needs no reasoning - and without warning she comes bursting into the kitchen, wings spread and beating hard at the same time as she huffs a breath of bitingly cold air at the couple.

RONIN

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

Grinning foolishly despite himself, Remi's cheeks flush a tell-tale crimson as he leans against Ronin as innocently as he can manage. "Oh?" He hums, fluttering his eyelashes that his husband might fill the silence with his thoughts.

Oria had merely meant to communicate be a distraction to her frosty counterpart, and whether or not Sugar understood the task or was simply acting on impulse, hardly mattered. A distraction was had, and as the Lullaby and presumably the Huntsman turned mirrored stares of surprise towards the dragonling, Oria scampered across the floor and up the right side of Remi's chair. Though she couldn't be certain what was happening, she could feel that something was wrong. That, combined with feelings of I'm trapped! shining brightly in her mind left the spriggan absolutely no choice: she had to free Remi's hand.

"Hey-" Remi mumbles, brows furrowed first at Sugar and then at Ronin. "No, you absolutely cannot be part of the intimate task." He adds, assuming that's what had so offended the dragon.

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

"Mm. I considered I could--" Ronin begins, before they're assaulted by mad, flapping wings and an arctic temperature that cools any desire starting to pool low in his belly. "Hey!" He raises an arm to shield his face from the gale Sugar is whipping up, though he's smiling crookedly at the mere idea that she'd want to be involved. "I always knew she liked you more, but I didn't think it extended to that," he adds.

For Sugar's part, it's all impulse, all the time baby (and a healthy dose of sass and pettiness, of course), and whilst she has no idea what Oria is up to, she does like Remi more. And so she moves to settle around his shoulders, one wing stretched across the side of his head and face like he can make it so he and Ronin can't interact.

RONIN

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

"I did not either." Remi replies, frowning in Sugar's direction as if she were a child who had decided she wanted to marry Remi when she was older and he had to softly break the news to her that it would never happen.

Reaching for Remi's sleeve, Oria begins to tug and tug, wanting to free whatever was caged within his bones. The spirit hummed in her mind at a frequency slightly lower than it did in Remi's, but being a spirit-creature herself, she was all the more drawn in by the ghostly buzz of consciousness.

Distracted by oh so many things, the Lullaby huffs, then sighs, then inhales sharply as he's tugged at, preened upon, and then blocked from his husband. "Okay, well that is just unnece-OW." Remi's right hand has inverted itself in an attempt to get his attention and aid Oria. Straining backwards enough that his fingers threaten to snap beneath his leg, Remi is forced to shove himself back from the table in order to raise his leg and keep from breaking his own hand.

Freed of its prison, both Remi's hand and Oria begin to celebrate, with the spriggan flying up into his palm and grabbing his right index finger so that she can examine his new ghostly digits.

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