wolves and the water

troy falls a thousand times // in every dream i dream

A chime of a laugh leaves her at Remi’s comment, beaming a grin that certainly has Rexanna written all over it back at the Bastion. It’s a smile that remains while they enter the establishment, as she glances up at the menu boards and decides, making their idle chatter before they’re next to order. His question of Fox certainly comes off as paternal, and there’s a sensation of playful pride that blooms in her chest when she casts that grin back at him. “Have you met him?” She asks curiously, before nodding in regards to the fake voices calling for help.

Regardless, she tells him her favorites and the orders go in, and while they wait she focuses her attention back on the Bastion more fully, returning the conversation back toward Fox. “We met… Gods, a year ago now?” She trails off, counting on her fingers the seasons that have passed before her brows pinch in surprise.

KIADA

( like ashes, like ashes // like a star burning out )

but that was then, and this is now

"Mmm, I do not think so." Remi says, racking his memory for a face other than Ianto's to want to pair with fox and coming up empty-handed. "Ah, well, if that is the case, Ronin and I were still hiding away in the mountains." He says a touch apologetically, and though for a long while he thought running away into the Cordillera had been his right, only lately was he coming to terms with how cowardly and unfair it had been in the big scheme of things.

'And he's good? For you, I mean?' Colour brightens Remi's cheeks, aware of just how utterly inappropriate the question might be but feeling some lingering duty to Rexanna to ask it of her daughter anyway. "Does he live here too?" The Bastion wonders, glancing over his shoulder as the bell over the cafe door tinkled.

the lullaby

Table by the wonderful SKY

troy falls a thousand times // in every dream i dream

She doesn’t begrudge him for running away into the mountains, if that’s what he might think – given that apologetic tone. “I hid away too, it’s okay.” She admits, her own tone shifting a bit apologetic too. She hadn’t been there to fight with the rest of her Ascended family. But given the results, minus just a couple of them… Well, she’s glad she did, if only to see what life was like now, to stand here arm in arm with Remi as if nothing had happened, like they hadn’t stood on opposite sides of the war that had torn Caido apart.

Whether or not Fox is good for her, Kiada practically beams, nodding her head. “He is.” She begins, her excitement palpable. “He’s a monster hunter like I used to be. He also used to be Ascended and changed to Ancient like I did.” A lot in common between them, that meeting him had felt like fitting herself into a puzzle built just for her.

She ignores the bell from the café in favor of loosening her hold on the Bastion’s arm to retrieve their food, guiding him over instead to a seat in the corner so that they might be able to dive into eat.

KIADA

( like ashes, like ashes // like a star burning out )

but that was then, and this is now

Though Remi tries to force his lips into a paternal frown, there's a twinkle in his eyes that soon alights his entire face until he's beaming right with her. 'Well, I am glad to hear. You deserve someone like that.' Whatever her dating history has or hasn't been, Remi doesn't need to have been around for it to know what he said was true. 'What do you mean used to be? I cannot imagine Danta has you that busy these days.' He jokes before softening and nodding. Selfishly he found himself wishing the same for his two remaining children, and wondered if perhaps he shouldn't set them all up on some strange adult play-date that Kiada might rub off on them.

Either way, it was with a smile of thanks that he parted from Kiada, moving over toward an unoccupied table. Pulling out the seat opposite from him for Kiada to sit down, Remi waited for the ancient to sit before doing the same.

"Ronin and I always mean to come back to the Grounds after the first snow. One of the first years we spent here we built a rather large snow-penis out of memory snow. We always wondered how it had fared."

the lullaby

Table by the wonderful SKY

troy falls a thousand times // in every dream i dream

He beams at her, and when he tells her that she deserves to have someone like that, the smile only grows on her face. She’s happy – so intensely happy, that she’s sure if you were to cut her open she’d bleed pure sunlight and warmth. It’s a smile that remains even as the question occurs, a bright chime of a laugh leaving her as she shrugs lightly. “I will still help out when needed, but… After everything, it’s easier to not have to deal with it.” She reaches up to rub at the scar on the side of her neck. “After I came back when I died it just didn’t feel as priority.” She’d been reckless, careless of herself in the face of trying to squash threats, but now? Now she’s embraced her selfishness.

It only took dying to realize that.

Regardless, food is in hand and they move to sit, and she takes the offered seat with a smile and a “thank you,” as she waits to dive in until he sits opposite of her. What she doesn’t expect to hear is the memory snow object, a thought that has her snickering. “I haven’t seen one, but, to be fair I haven’t looked.” She admits through the snicker before she settles enough to take a bite. Once she’s swallowed it, she tilts her head a little while she looks at him. “I’ll keep an eye out this year, though, and if I see anything I’ll be sure to send a message.” Speaking of messages, though, with Remi and Ronin living in Torchline now, a thought occurs. “Or I’ll come visit you in Torchline? I’ve been meaning to take a trip there. I’m looking for something to help with sea sickness.”

KIADA

( like ashes, like ashes // like a star burning out )

but that was then, and this is now

"When you..." Pausing, Remi's brows flinch together as his eyes search Kiada's for some small clue that will help him understand. When she'd died?

How had..when had..?

The Festival of Lights. The Voice. The year he hadn't gone.

"Gods, I..." Blinking himself back into the moment, it's with cheeks flushed with guilt and latent sorrow that he reaches out for her hand. "I do not even think I realized. I'm so sorry." For her death. For not even knowing.

Picking at his sandwich for a moment, it's only as the conversation turns to giant snow penises that he cracks and smile and grins his appreciation. "I mean, it is pretty big. You wouldn't miss it." He says, eyebrows raised and smile crooked.

"Oh, sure! We have a houseboat now, just off the coast. It isn't huge by any means, but you are welcome to stay. Not that it will help with your seasickness." Looking curiously, the Bastion narrows his eyes slightly, once again fighting the overly paternal urge that keeps wanting to take over. "Is this...seasickness or seasickness." You know, the sort that time can heal. 9 months of it, to be precise.

the lullaby

Table by the wonderful SKY

troy falls a thousand times // in every dream i dream

She hadn’t realized that he hadn’t known. A part of her just assumed that everyone knew, or he might know specifically given his status with Ludo. As it stands, she finds that she isn’t too upset that he hadn’t known, even if he makes his apology known – sometimes people got… Weird about it. “Don’t be. I like to think I helped out when it was needed.” She offers, taking his hand and squeezing lightly. “I was helping Tanau with my aunt, Hotaru, and a few others. I fell into the lava and Tanau kind of… Embraced me, I guess? That’s all I remember. And then I came back as an Ascended when the Voice brought us back.” And then she’d walked in the same shoes her mother did, an Ascended in body yet not in mind. And she’d remained a husk, selfish and hidden during the war.

But she was here now, having this wonderful conversation with an old friend, gentle and amusing topics such as giant snow penises to look out for, one that sparks a chime of a laugh as she nods. “Good to know.” She teases him lightly before she takes a small bite of her sandwich and lets his questions hit the air, one that has her almost choking slightly with a laugh.

“Oh!” As if realizing how it might have come out. “It’s not for me. I don’t get seasick.” She can’t say the same for Fox, though. “It’s for Fox to help him travel.” She flushes lightly with the insinuation, though, the realization that she has been thinking more about that given Deimos’ own pregnancy announcement with Evie, realizing it’s never been something she’s thought about until only recently.

KIADA

( like ashes, like ashes // like a star burning out )

but that was then, and this is now

"Wh—" Gods, where had he been? Squeezing her hand in return, Remi tried to couch the thoughts of Hotaru's naked body firmly between the things he was learning as if he might replace them. "If Hotaru is your aunt, then are my children your..." Remi had never learned the names for different branches of a family tree given how sparse his had been as a child. Gazing at Kiada, all he could think was the word family, and honestly, that alone seemed enough.

'I feel like an absolute idiot.' He admits, the stress of all he didn't know or understand finally forcing him to laugh at himself under his breath.

'Uh..huh...' Was I don't get seasick her way of saying she couldn't get pregnant? 'Well, I would say the peppermint bark in the Greatwood is good for that sort of thing, but I am not sure it even grows given all that has happened.' Remi offers, helpfully? before taking a sip of his coffee.

the lullaby

Table by the wonderful SKY

troy falls a thousand times // in every dream i dream

Kiada flashes Remi a bright grin, head tilting slightly as she realizes it the same time he does – a chimed laugh leaving her. “Cousins, I think?” Though, not blood related. She pauses a little before she clarifies. “Not blood related, Hotaru and I. But her and my mother were very much like sisters.” She explains with a little wave of her hand before she settles in to take a small bite, swallowing it down with another soft laugh alongside his own.

He shouldn’t feel like an idiot, and she hopes that he realizes that she doesn’t see him as one in the slightest even if the question was one she’ll have to mull over later. (especially with the slight realization that could Ancient’s even get pregnant??)

Mention of the Greatwood has her nodding and wincing a little as she takes another bite. “I heard… From that strange voice thing. I haven’t been to see the changes, though. Have you?” She can’t imagine how terrible it must be.

KIADA

( like ashes, like ashes // like a star burning out )

but that was then, and this is now

"Cousins sounds good to me. Now you definitely should meet them." Now it wasn't just a playdate, but a family reunion. "I never knew that either." Remi says with a frown, feeling suddenly very strange about carrying so much about someone he was realizing he knew very little about.

"Yeah, that voice is really something." He grumbles before exhaling particularly sharply. "I have actually. Ronin, Deimos and I went up to see and it is fairly widespread. I am not sure how much time you spent in the Greatwood before, but it is nearly unrecognizable now." Perhaps he should have felt guilt over that, given he'd once ruled the place, but he had no desire to overextend himself simply for the sake of a land. Not when so many that he loved could use his protection instead.

"Things here look alright though." He noted, bringing them back full circle to so you're helping to run the Grounds. "Torchline is doing a quest at the moment to try and keep the void flora and fauna out from the main city, which I think should help."

the lullaby

Table by the wonderful SKY

troy falls a thousand times // in every dream i dream

“I hope they’re prepared for me to drop that little bomb onto them.” She says with all the air of mischief that Rexanna had when planning – though she’d never admit it. She had picked up quite a few of her mother’s traits. But it settles while they eat and in the face of Remi’s frown, she’s all cheerful and bright, hoping to lull him out of the not knowing.

He had a whole hell of a lot to deal with. She gets it. She’s not upset. And now they get to have this wonderful time together.

So much so that she winces at the Greatwood being unrecognizable. “I spent a fair amount of time.” Once in the Fae’s prison, even. But she doesn’t admit that aloud, right now. Not when he was already feeling bad about not knowing much about her. “That’s a shame.” She says of the Greatwood, though, sad to hear of such a vibrant and beautiful place turning into the mess that’s been overcoming their lives slowly and surely.

She nods at the mention of it being alright here, though, and with Torchline’s quest news, she flashes a softer smile of agreement. “We’re working on that here, too.” She’s happy to hear that the two regions would at least have their own little safe havens within them. “I already can't wait for it to be done.”

KIADA

( like ashes, like ashes // like a star burning out )

but that was then, and this is now

"It is, yes." He agrees, sighing into his food before lifting a forkful into his mouth and chasing it with some coffee. "But if I have learned anything about the fae or the Greatwood in general, there is nothing yet that they have not been able to survive." Wars, the Voice, the arrival of Outlanders; always the Greatwood had prevailed and though it was infected now, there was no reason to think this wasn't something it could overcome.

Then again, perhaps Remi was just trying to ease his mind.

"Oh? Excellent. I was speaking with Deimos and Ronin the other day and we were trying to think where the Family might try and intervene next. We thought of the Grounds if only because you are so far away from everyone else, but if you are working on a way of keeping them out..." He smiles, straining for optimism. "..if they are as opportunist as they seem to be, I think that should keep us both safe for the time being."

the lullaby

Table by the wonderful SKY

troy falls a thousand times // in every dream i dream

In between her own bites, she murmurs her own agreement with that sentiment. They had always been a hardened people, protective and masterful at protecting their region in ways that they could. She hopes that the same remains, even with how awful it sounds like the Greatwood has become. Maybe the fae have gone underground, hiding away until Caido can come together enough to figure out how to stop this increasingly terrifying threat?

Whether it eases Remi’s mind or not, it does ease hers all the same.

Hearing that they had talked about the Grounds being a potential target, Kiada winces slightly in a playful notion before nodding – agreeing with that thought pattern. While she wasn’t exactly a fighter anymore, she was raised to think like them and understand how to focus on weaknesses in battle and which spaces would be best to attack. “It should hopefully prevent that from happening.” She assures him with a small smile. “I think we have one or two tasks left? I’ve already collected a few awful things.” Her nose wrinkles and she hides it with the sip of her drink. “Danta’s office is quite the buzzkill these days.” She laughs, because making a joke of the dread raven and all the awful sensations it has is so much easier than the latter.

KIADA

( like ashes, like ashes // like a star burning out )