[SE] through the night water

RONIN

Bathed in cool moonlight, Ronin Taliesin crouches at the edge of a large, craggy jut of stone, a breeze tousling his dark hair, blue eyes seeming near black against the inky waters of the Saltkiss. The plummet in temperature has been rejuvinating, and though he's enjoyed the Longheat, he isn't sad to see the back of it. Granted, the arrival of Leafchange brings its own challenges, but (for the time being, anyway) the Supernova's attention is consumed by his current task.

Fishing for sharks doesn't sound easy, granted, but given that these particular animals are the chatty sort, he's hopeful that if they wait long enough, they'll be able to pinpoint a school of them nearby. And if they need a little encouragement, he's sure that he and his husband will be able to provide it in the form of conversation. "You know, I never expected the Greatwood to end up like this." So saying, his remark carries across the rush of water towards Remi.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

i found cynicism, i found criticism
i've been zero to hero & i have been the villain

Though the primal facets of his personality had little to say about the change of season, Remi quite enjoyed the personality shift that came along with Leafchange. It was the one time of year when he could count on Ronin to forgo etiquette and manners in lieu of possessiveness and selfishness, and gods if Remi didn't take full advantage of it.

"I never expected much of anything to end up the way it has." Remi counters, sounding both childishly argumentative and also wise at the same time.

Positioned just a little way down the bank from where Ronin crouched, the Lullaby leaned against one of the monolithic trees with a single tentacle splashing around in the water. Though he assumed Echo Sharks wouldn't know a Kraken if they saw one, he hoped that the small cut on the inside of his tentacle would be enough to attract their attention. If nothing else, the way he was flailing his limb around roughly matched a fish with a death wish in his humble opinion.

RONIN

"Mm, I don't know about that. I always expected you and I to always be together, from the second we said I love you for the first time," Ronin says with a sly smile in his husband's direction, watching the careful splash of a bloody tentacle in the waters. His lips part to speak again only for other voices to suddenly call out from across the estuary; a cacophony (still love that word) of cries for aid ringing towards them.

Raising his eyebrows - Ronin can neither hear the associated splashing with a crowd of people he assumes are pretending to drown, and this is the exact sort of thing echo sharks are known for. "Shall we wait for them to come to us, or shall we go and say hello?" he asks, grinning.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

i found cynicism, i found criticism
i've been zero to hero & i have been the villain

"Not that I expect you to remember anything as important as the first time I told you that I loved you, but you rudely went and died immediately after, so. I, for one, did not expect us to always be together at that point." Back then, Remi had expected to simply raise Ronin's child alone and to be miserable for the rest of his life. He'd done a good job of it too, until the hunter came back to life, anyway.

Glancing downstream the Lullaby narrows his eyes and tilts his head, the angle of which was decidedly predatory instead of merely curious. "I wonder how many people do in fact drown around here, their cries mistaken for echo sharks?" It's a horrific thought to be sure, but just now quite certain that the sounds are mere mimicry, Remi doesn't sound too concerned. "No, let's go. I can think of much better things to do with our afternoon than standing around waiting on a pack of sharks." A pack? It was actually called a shiver, though there were other words like frenzy, herd, gam, shoal, grind, or college, not that Remi knew them.

So saying, the Lullaby shifts more of his lower half until he had gone full Ursula, his tentacles allowing him to slither quite easily through the rushing water.

RONIN

"I meant the first time saying it when we were officially in a relationship," Ronin clarifies, but the memory of that first-first time, while bittersweet, does still bring a smile to his lips that he shows to his moonlit reflection in the water. Equal part horrified and intrigued he might be by the idea of someone's cries for help going ignored, as his husband moves into the water properly, Ronin follows as if Remi is the one he's hunting.

His half shift isn't nearly so tentacled; steel grey scales glitter menacingly beneath the waves, and while there are certainly extra appendages, Ronin's end in sharp tips and fronds of undulating ridges. But here they are, two sea monsters on a shark hunting date, and he resists the urge to reach out and hold hands.

"There, I see them," he whispers, eyes pinned on the dark water up ahead that has started to churn. The sharks clearly think they are victims come to help their echoing cries - how wrong they'll turn out to be.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

i found cynicism, i found criticism
i've been zero to hero & i have been the villain

"Well, that's too easy." Remi replies with an offhanded shrug. "That is like saying you knew we were going to be together from the day we got married, which is sort of the point." Similarly, by the time they'd both said they loved one another in a relationship, things were more or less set in stone. But up until that point? "I still stand by what I said." Remi concludes with a crooked smile before turning his attention back to the water and the predators he hoped it was hiding.

The fact that he and Ronin had gone from casual strolls along the beaches with a simple snack of bread and wine to top off the afternoon to moving in tandem as sea monsters on an errand from his (their) daughter just served how truly strange the trajectory of their lives was.

'Would you like the honour?' Remi asks in a low voice, his eyes having grown quite dark as he marks the movement ahead with predatory accuracy.

RONIN

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were doubting my words," Ronin says playfully, smiling back at the other man. "Am I going to have to prove my intentions to you again, husband?" Oh no, what a shame that would be. They definitely both don't want Ronin to spend a night doing that. Help. Someone.

Already sinking a little deeper in the water, the Supernova offers little more than a soft nod in response to Remi's offer; it's with eyes that have also grown dark and movements that are entirely predatory in nature that he stalks their prey. And when he attacks, it's a sleek force of movement, leviathan and dragon morphing into some monstrous, scaled and taloned creature that spears through the water.

The blood isn't visible in the estruary, but the metallic tang on the air is evidence enough of it, Ronin surfacing as (entirely) himself with a pair of echo sharks held by the tail.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

i found cynicism, i found criticism
i've been zero to hero & i have been the villain

"Oh no, I just think you are far too confident in thinking we would always end up together." The Lullaby returns. "The fact that only one of us died at the beginning is frankly a miracle." He adds with a shrug that invites further argument if only because teasing the Supernova at this time of year almost inevitably ends with closing arguments made with tongues and bruising touches.

No part of Remi's predatory nature would normally like to be outdone by another. A manticore is not the sort of creature that considers anything else its equal for example, and yet as Ronin streaks forward, the Lullaby's mind is able to manipulate his instincts toward approval and lust rather than hostility.

"Good gods," Remi breathes, his mind able to superimpose the red of the blood he knows is coating Ronin's shoulders if only by the smell. Overcome with the tang of copper and of the strange dichotomy between Blueblood Ronin striding out from the ocean and Supernova Ronin emerging just now, Remi bridges the distance between them now that stealth is no longer required, and reaches out to slide his palm along the hunter's jawline before tangling his fingers into the sleek mop of Ronin's dark hair. Tugging the Supernova close, Remi draws his husband's lips against his own.

RONIN

"No gods," Ronin breathes through the dark. "Just me." It's with a flick of his wrist that he yeets the sharks back onto the rocky outcrop, and even that movement is a feat of strength that goes well beyond the human. Ready as the Lullaby closes the distance between them, a rumble of something vibrates through the Supernova's chest and throat, silenced by the press of Remi's mouth against his own.

Heady with the scent of the alchemist mingling in with the blood in the water, Ronin's hands plunge beneath the waves to grasp the backs of the other man's thighs, hitching his legs around his waist. Trying to express his impatience as much as his passion with tongue and teeth and bruising fingertips, Ronin starts to wade back towards the shore, but he has no idea if he's going the right way.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

i found cynicism, i found criticism
i've been zero to hero & i have been the villain

Responding with a pulse of agreement rather than words, it's a testament to the combined strength of the pair that neither the yeeting of two sharks nor the effortless way Ronin is able to scoop Remi up around him draws the Lullaby's attention at all. Instead, Remi is focused only on chasing away the chill of the water with the press of his husband's body and if his hands leave claw marks against his husband's skin, so be it.

Shedding his tentacles that he might simply wrap himself around the Supernova with limbs which would have to grip rather than sucker themselves against his skin (something about the use of his muscles seemed so much more satisfying), Remi sips in a shaky inhale that burns all the way down his throat and into his belly, before moaning an incoherent and yet undoubtedly understood plea against his husband's lips.

RONIN

The pain combined with the sweetness and lust in their kiss is everything Ronin needs to catch fire - and he barely needs anything at all to begin with, given the season. Moaning a response into Remi's mouth, it's by pure chance that they drift up against a smooth boulder, the Nova hissing in a breath as the friction between them grows tenfold. Almost swatting at the water in an attempt to undress them to the bare minimum, Ronin kisses a necklace of bruises against his husband's throat as he works.

"I want you," he breathes into the side of Remi's neck - as if it wasn't obvious by the hard press of his cock against the other man's body. It's with impatience and reluctance both that he peels himself away from the Lullaby, aiming to turn him in the water and press him against the boulder. "Fuck, look at you."

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

i found cynicism, i found criticism
i've been zero to hero & i have been the villain

Hooking his claws through the material of his own pants, Remi summarily shredded them without a thought. There were moments of sweet tenderness between the two in which buttons were reverently undone and clothing removed with all the anticipation of a present, and then there were moments like this wherein Remi hadn't the patience to breathe let alone worry about the state of his clothes.

"Is that really what you want me to be doing?" The Lullaby answers and though it's a blessing that the boulder is smooth and large enough to brace himself against, the strength of the two demigods would have seen any surface do. Tilting his head back against his husband's shoulder, Remi hisses words that sound more like the rustling of silk than anything properly coherent, and it might as well just be a sound for all that Ronin will understand. That's half the point of course, but just in case the Supernova is somehow confused, Remi shifts his hips back against Ronin's even as his feet slightly widen their stance and one of Remi's hands grips the rock for purchase. "Perché in questo momento voglio che tu mi scopi. E se non lo fai, brucerò tutti questi boschi finché non lo farai."

RONIN

It absolutely is not what he wants Remi to be doing, and as the remnants of the Lullaby's clothing are carried off into the estuary, Ronin is left with the scarred and well-muscled canvas of his husband's body, begging to be painted with finger marks and bruising kisses. One hand is already grazing down the other man's ribcage to grip his hips when the travelling tongue spills tantalisingly from his tongue, the Nova's inhale nothing more than a shivery hitch in his chest.

"You know that's too much," he hisses warningly into Remi's ear, his free hand snaking up and around his chest to grip his jaw, as if daring him to bite down on Ronin's hand. Pressing closer, if it weren't for the smell of blood in the air or the Lullaby's moonlit silhouette in the blackness of the water, this might have been a time for teasing, for pause. Unfortunately, all the worst parts of Ronin are at the helm tonight, and it's with very little regard for prolonging the moment that he adjusts himself and surges forward, entering the Lullaby with an open mouthed moan against the side of his neck.

Fingers flinch against one of Remi's hips, sure to leave imprints, Ronin drawing him back with each thrust in a pace best described as bruising.

soft spoken with a broken jaw
we step outside, but not to brawl

i found cynicism, i found criticism
i've been zero to hero & i have been the villain

Hidden by the darkness, Ronin might see a sliver of teeth as Remi grins, though the Supernova will no doubt feel the dark coiling of his husband's thoughts as the Lullaby submits more or less to the rough guidance provided by his hands. Not taking the bait—that is, Ronin's fingers—so close to his lips, instead the Lullaby becomes ever so slightly malleable if only so that the teasing lilt of his words wouldn't be lost in the rush of the water as he presses his mouth against his husband's ear.

Though Remi expected Ronin to understand a word or two at best, what he did expect from the huntsman was for each and every name, whispered without context but in a tone that would have been at home in any brothel, to serve as bone-dry kindling on the blaze already well stoked within. Ti ricordi di Loren? Pensi che lo metterebbe in ginocchio per vederci così adesso? Remi asks before the thrust of Ronin's hips forces the air from his lungs. Sucking in a breath, the Lullaby grips the stone and laughs darkly. "Pensi che Amalia ti pensi ancora quando si tocca? Pensi che Hotaru desideri mai il mio cazzo?"

Remi's lips are drawn in a tight snarl that shifts between a sneer, a smirk, and a wince of pain. Indeed his skin will be quite bruised come morning and if his muscles did not tether his bones together so tightly his pelvis might be at risk of fracturing given Ronin's strength, not that Remi minds.