Youʼre yellow rays and burning fire

Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

A new land to explore, Vai had said. Go get some air, Vai had said. And though Remi did not much at all feel like exploring nor like getting any air, he nodded amicably enough as she more or less shoved him out of the guildhall, promising that Aoife would be alright. She would be of course, he knew, and yet some strange paternal instinct had taken over and he didn't want to leave her. Vai left him little option though.

Walking seemed...far too social. He'd inevitably run into someone he knew, and they'd ask how he was and how he was coping and how Aoife was and his soul was still far too ragged and bruised for such discussions. Everyone meant well, but for once in life, he just couldn't.

And so he flew.

For a moment he couldn't remember the last time he'd actually flown, until, well...he did. It was the night his memories had been taken and Sam had touched him and called him darling. The thought of it now, combined with the note the bookmaker had left him made Remi internally wince, his heart crying out for simpler times.

And so he flew higher.

As he passed over the jagged scar in the earth that marked where the bubble had been briefly Remi tensed wondering if he'd be zapped unceremoniously from the sky. But he wasn't, and so he continued. Flying over trees more thick than any he had ever seen, Remi had the sudden and silly urge to breath it all in. Hawks did not gasp, couldn't really swallow down the sweet taste of air the way humans could. Angling himself downwards, Remi gently burst through the canopy of trees to land on a tree branch. Shifting into his human form as he leaned back against the trunk, Remi inhaled deeply.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, he smiled.

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Ianto

"Whoa--"

Ianto's cry of surprise echoed around the forest as a hawk landed upon the branch he'd about to grab onto. Even more surprising when the (very familiar) hawk became a (very familiar) man, Ianto losing his grip completely and falling from the tree. It was a saving grace that he wasn't that high up, though the fall did knock the wind out of him and left him covered in dry leaves and looking thoroughly bewildered... and delighted.

"Remi?" he breathed, trying to blink back the prickling he suddenly felt in the back of his eyes. He had seen Roana - spoken to her, led her back to the border-that-wasn't so he could see for himself that the Hollowed Grounds existed - but he hadn't dared to believe that he'd find his friend so close.

Scrambling to his feet, blue eyes wide, a crooked grin on his face, he gazed up into the tree at the other man. "You're a sight for sore eyes," he muttered.

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

For the second time, Ianto was falling off of something and Remi was thoroughly confused about it. With a start, as for once in his life Remi was actually trying to be careful, and so the sudden appearance of a man—an annoyingly attractive one at that—had him scooting back slightly against the tree blinking down at him.

Brows furrowed in amused confusion at the sound of his name, Remi opened his lips to respond and then closed them again. Something tickled in the back of his mind, but this strange set of circumstances made it far too difficult to diagnose, and so the alchemist merely gave a muddled shake of his head.

As it always had been, even without memories of him, Ianto's smile was infectious and Remi found his lips twisting ever so slightly upwards. "Sorry, do I know you?" He asked tentatively, wonder if this man was somehow a ghost of his past (the implications of which...well, he would leave that for now), or if it really was a misunderstanding.

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Ianto

Remi was confused and, as the easy camaraderie that they usually fell into was so suspiciously absent, so was Ianto. As the other man shook his head his smile faded somewhat, Ianto taking a couple of steps back so he could make sure that Remi wasn't an illusion or another cruel trick (he had been played by the forest before).

"I... if you don't know me I'm more than a little offended," he commented, trying not to seem too bruised by the unexpected brush-off. "Ianto. I fell off your roof, tried to make you a hammock to sleep in, purchased some stars from you... and we had fantastic sex?" He tried another smile, hoping that would bring the usually quick-witted alchemist back.

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

Had he a heart that wasn't in tatters and pieces, it would have wilted at hearing the bruised way the fox replied. With an apologetic fluttering of his lashes, Remi tried to hide the disbelieving smirk that awkwardly tugged his lips up and down at the mention of roofs, hammocks, stars, and—

—Remi's lips fell open, and the way he awkwardly both gasped and gulped made his throat tighten painfully. Running both hands across his eyes as if that would hide the ferocious blush and the way his heart was hammering, he nodded distantly.

Right. Ianto. He had heard that name before, this was one of the men Ludo had taken from him. A man, presumably, given the company of memories he'd been placed in, Remi had loved.

And apparently had fantastic sex with.

"My memories were taken." He mumbled from behind still closed fingers. Remi could feel his face becoming even more red as his mind buzzed.

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Ianto

Ianto raised a coppery brow expectantly as he watched the emotions flicker across Remi's face, even letting out a throaty chuckle at the way he blushed and hid his hands. Shaking his head, the fox shrugged. "And here I thought you'd finally thrown off the chains of coyness," he said, folding his arms across his chest and opening his mouth to say something else, when--

"My memories were taken."

The fox blinked, the words having stopped him dead in his tracks. He frowned gently and cleared his throat, absently tugging at the cuff of his coat and turning up his collar. "I see," he murmured. "Well, in which case... Hi. I'm Ianto. I've missed you, and I've been looking for you for months."

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

Remi couldn't help but chuckle and then drop his hands wearily. "If I ever did, they are back on now I suppose." Although knowing what he did know, even if he couldn't remember it, made his bashfulness seem almost inappropriate.

The words I missed you touched something asofyet unbroken, and Remi's awkward and uncomfortable smile turned softly genuine for a moment as he gazed down. "Hallo Ianto." He said with a small wave. "I...have been told I was looking for you as well. I put up a notice when we arrived, and I think I was meant to have seen you through the barrier? As a fox?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

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Ianto

At least Remi didn't seem to actively dislike him, even if the memories they had built together had disappeared. Ianto smiled weakly at hearing that he'd apparently been searched for in return, the fox rubbing at the back of his head and absently brushing the leaves from his clothes. "No matter," he said quietly, the nonchalance and warmth in his voice evident. "I pulled 'em off you once, I'm pretty confident I can do it again."

Sighing, he gazed back up at the other man, his smile surprisingly sweet. "Hallo, Remi," he said softly in return, sounding as though he had wanted to hear his name on the alchemist's lips for a lifetime. Still, he arched an eyebrow at hearing Remi had seen him.

"I... yeah. I used to walk the area around the barrier as a fox from time to time. Though I don't know how you saw me... I didn't see you. I didn't see anythin'."

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

With a shy look towards his feet, Remi gave a non-committal sort of nod. On the one hand, on the heels of Sam abandoning the memories of them it was rather nice to hear that someone else didn't immediately have the same reaction given the alchemist's lost memories. On the other hand, the rather casual but confident way that this (not-really) stranger seemed to want to break down his walls was a bit disconcerting.

Smiling bashfully despite himself, Remi glanced towards the ground. Probably too far to jump, but not enough space to become a hawk and then a man again. Which of course left one option. Shrinking suddenly, glass-green eyes replacing themselves with black-ringed golden ones, Remi dexterously climbed his way down the tree is a bushy raccoon. Shifting as he neared the bottom, he jumped the last few feet.

Standing, he inhaled rather sharply. The perspective from above had made Ianto seem quite tall, but now he noticed that they stood perfectly eye-to-eye. Not only that, but now a good deal closer than he'd intended to be, the startling blue of the fox's gaze was quite disarming. Clearing his throat, he stepped back until his back rested against the trunk of the tree once more. "I had a mask, given to me by Ludo. It let me see outside of the barrier." The alchemist explained. "Everyone told me that it could not have been you. That it was just a fox. I do not remember it now, but apparently I was quite adamant. " He added with a chuckle.

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Ianto

"It's alright," Ianto said, shrugging his shoulders and smiling crookedly. "This is already goin' better than the first time. You haven't run away yet." He laughed, before glancing up to watch Remi tackle the descent from the tree. His blue eyes widened considerably at the alchemist that suddenly became a raccoon, Ianto taking a couple of steps back.

Snorting softly, he shook his head, obviously impressed. "Someone's been learnin' some new tricks, haven't they? You couldn't do that before." Still, it was damned handy by the look of it. Then as Remi straightened up, Ianto had to mentally restrain himself from stepping forward. The last time he had seen his friend (and it was so long ago now that the memory was old and faded and didn't seem real) it had been with an easy kiss and a casual caress.

And while he remembered it all, it was not the same for the alchemist. Ianto chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Ludo - the soul guide? Then it's true... they were within." Shaking his head, Ianto ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't want to talk about gods. "Well... you were right," he said, laughing softly.

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

Sheepishly, the alchemist ran a hand through his curls starting at the nape of his neck and grinned. "I suppose that does sound like me."

"I have learned quite a few things since Northaven actually. It has been...strange to say the least." Remi replied with a breathless sort of chuckle. "For instance—" The alchemist nodded towards Ianto's feet where a vine suddenly sprouted and began to twist itself up and up and up until it had wrapped itself around the fox's waist.

"Soul guide?" Remi repeated with a soft tilt of his head. For all his interactions with Ludo he actually knew precious little about him, though soul guide did certainly cohere with what he did know. "I suppose so, yes."

Shaking his head again, Remi looked up into the light-dappled branches for a moment and sighed. "Lot of good it has done me." He said with a wistful sort of sigh, which quickly turned quizzical. "But..if we were all on this side, how did you manage to be outside of the barrier?"

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Ianto

"Does it? That's a shame. You'd broken the habit by the time this whole mess started," Ianto assured him, winking and seeming all too comfortable in the conversation, even though there was far, far too much distance between him and the alchemist at present. "Oh? Don't tell me that you and Loren have gotten married or something," he said, unable not to sound just a little bitter about it all.

But then a vine leapt from the ground and Ianto let out a yelp, stumbling back only to be held fast by the plant. "You do magic now? I... I mean, that's great and all, but could you get it to let me go? Most things in the forest are weird enough without you helpin'." He chuckled.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much of an answer for his friend, Ianto shaking his head and glancing away. "I don't know. I just... I woke up alone, in this place. I searched for anyone I could, but the forest kept turnin' me around and spittin' me back out. I thought I was goin' mad, here."

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REMI ABRUZZO When these weary days, when these days are done We'll be in the sun Unsure how to take the fox's commentary on his previous behaviour, Remi shrugged a bit uncertainly, happy to let issues of the past lay where they might. "Lor—" Remi repeated unsteadily before his conversations with Vai and Ronin came rushing back, and he shook his head solidly. "No. Certainly not that." Ought he mention Sam? Was...that the sort of thing appropriate between them? Biting the inside of his cheek he looked into Ianto's eyes, again unsettled by the blue brilliance of them. But the yelp and scramble of the fox broke whatever tension the alchemist felt, and he laughed instead. "I could do that, yes. But from what I have been told, you are a bit of mischievous sneak. So perhaps it is better that— I hold onto you "—you stay put." Raising a skeptical brow, Remi glanced around. The forest looked perfectly content to stay where it was. Returning his stare back to the fox, Remi tilted his chin slightly. "Spitting you out?" When these weary days, when these days are through I'll be working my way back to you

Ianto

"No?" Ianto didn't try to not sound hopeful, the fox just about resisting the urge to smile at the news. That most certainly wouldn't be appropriate. Instead, he positively cackled at the alchemist's comment about him, folding his arms across his chest even as the vine refused to let him go. "I dunno who you have been talkin' to, Remi, but I assure you that we were nothin' but professional with each other the entire time we were together."

The shit-eating grin on his face said otherwise, and there was not bit of about it. Ianto was a mischievous sneak, through and through. As they spoke, then, he dug into his pockets to find his pipe, figuring he may as well pass his time trapped enjoyably. "Mm? Yeah. Until you learn the ways the forest likes you to walk, it will turn you right around and you'll end up back where you started."

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