one and only

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Sorry, should I have not said hello?" Ronin said with a quiet laugh, holding onto his friend tightly and closing his eyes as Remi reached back to pull him closer. Sugar was giving the odd unhappy squawk at being squashed, though even the dragonling hardly seemed to mind, her silver slip of a tail wiggling in as close to excitement and happiness as she could manage just then. Ronin didn't want to let Remi go, but he most certainly wasn't as strong as he had been, and he was forced to let the other man move back and clasp his cheeks. He searched sea glass eyes, one of his hands moving over Remi's, and he couldn't resist a smile even at the promise of violence that he knew lurked in the usually gentle alchemist's words. "That's why I asked you to take care of her," he mumbled. "I'd expect nothing less." Feeling strangely empty as Remi stepped back, Ronin still couldn't wipe the smile off his face - hearing about his daughter made his heart swell and his stomach flip over on itself, and he nodded since he didn't trust himself to actually speak. Sugar had clambered up to drape herself around his shoulders as she had done when she was very, very small - though there was still plenty of space, evidently - and Ronin followed after Remi on bare feet, footsteps uncertain. The guildhall was a different beast to the place he had left - it smelled different and it seemed darker somehow, Ronin glancing around uncertainly right up until he heard his daughter's cry. His chest tightened as he stepped into the greatroom to see Remi lifting her out of the bassinet; whilst he had been watching from the sky, nothing could prepare him for just how much she had grown in such a comparatively short space of time. Wiping at cheeks that were suddenly wet, Ronin slumped against the doorframe and let out a long, shaking breath. "I don't think I ought to really... not until I at least have clothes," he said through a broken laugh. "Do you... are there still some of my things upstairs?"

all we are is skin & bone trained to get along

For a moment Remi could only grumble a strange sort of acknowledgement. Never having been particularly prone to violence, it was a foreign sensation indeed to be so sure that he wouldn't even hesitate if he found out the man before him was actually an impostor. Perhaps the most worrying part though was that Remi didn't even mind. He would indeed throw it all away for Aoife's safety.

Turning with Aoife snugly in the crook of his arm, her starry-eyes blinking away sleep as she looked about uncertainly, Remi watched the way Ronin leaned against the doorframe. It was strange to see his friend so, with a body he didn't quite fit, naked as he had been the first time Remi had met him (and he found it just as distracting), but seeming a little less Ronin. "Oh, so you are shy now?" The alchemist quipped back, though his understanding expression detracted from the playfulness of the words.

Glancing up the staircase, Remi bit the inside of his lip and hugged Aoife closer to him. "I...yes. They all are. I have not gone up there. Vai did once, to take some of your shirts to make a blanket for Aoife, but..." Shrugging slightly the alchemist shook his head. He hadn't the heart to go up there, to see the intimate places that Vanya and Ronin had lain as if it were still off-limits. He had known that one day he would need to, especially with more joining the guild, but he'd never found the time or the strength to do so.

forever going with the flow, but you're friction

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RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Ronin was finding it altogether too difficult to keep his eyes off his daughter; a bittersweet moment where he was both entranced by her and saddened that he had missed so much already. No more, he told himself. Not everyone got a second chance - not many at all got one like this. He vowed then and there not to waste it, giving Remi a weak smile at his attempted quip. "Maybe I am," he mumbled. Not out in the front of the guildhall where he could swagger and put on a show. But in here, faced with the reality of what he had lost and found and left behind... yeah. Ronin felt shy. "You... oh. I thought you would have..." Would have what? Moved in? Moved on? Gotten rid of all of his things? They all sounded silly when he thought about them now, but still... he hadn't expected the place to have gone untouched. Clearing his throat awkwardly, Ronin nodded. "Alright, well... I'll be back in a second." Walking upstairs to the place he'd called home with Vanya - to the place, he realised, that he hadn't looked at since cleaning it up after Longnight - was beyond strange. Ronin was gone more than just a second, his footsteps creaking above the greathall and echoing about them, but eventually he did return. He had Ashetta's cloak and Kalt's tunic folded over one arm, placing them over the back of a chair as soon as he had the chance. At least his clothes still felt like him, Ronin having pulled on a loose linen shirt and a pair of black trousers, busy rolling the sleeves to his elbows. "Sorry," he said, Sugar already coiling her way back around him. "This is... it feels strange all of a sudden. I don't know how to act around her... around you, either."

all we are is skin & bone trained to get along

The honesty behind the words, the awkwardness he saw in Ronin's face, was surprisingly reassuring. Though Ronin was hardly ever at a loss for words, he was always genuine as well. And just now, the sort of broad-stroked insecurity did more to persuade the alchemist that this was real than a witty-rejoinder would have.

Before he could think on it properly, Ronin had headed upstairs. Panic shot through Remi's chest and his lungs inhaled a worried torrent. Was there still blood? Would the bed be made, or would it still be the tangled sheets with a map that depicted Vanya's last moments? He couldn't remember whether or not Vai had dealt with the scene, and suddenly Remi felt very, very stupid and cowardly for having not dealt with it all sooner.

Chewing the inside of his lip and worrying lovingly over Aoife, Remi strained to listen to the sounds upstairs. Only ... it all seemed to be fine. Vai, Remi thought with a sweet sigh, pressing a kiss into Aoife's dark curls and watching as Ronin eventually reemerged.

Glancing across at his friend as he made his way over, Remi couldn't help but laugh in awkward agreement. "I know. It should not...there is no reason for it to feel strange, but it does." The alchemist agreed. Hands wrapped around Aoife, for a strange moment Remi found that he didn't quite want to give the girl over. She was Ronin's and Remi had never pretended that she was anything but that, and yet for some reason he felt an overwhelming surge of protectiveness. "Well, your noodle arms are going to need to catch up. She eats more than you ever did." Remi said at last, hoping the joke might help break the tension as he held Aoife out for Ronin to take.

forever going with the flow, but you're friction

Coding base by Sky!

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Yeah," Ronin agreed, rubbing at the back of his head and glancing about the place, the evidence of Remi having made it home all too clear now that he had a chance to look properly. Not that it held his attention for long, not with his daughter in plain sight. Strangely enough, while Remi felt a surge of protectiveness, Ronin felt guilt. He had left and Aoife was... well. She was Remi's, he felt. He knew her better than Ronin had been able to, and he realised that played a big part in the awkward conversation they were having. The mention of his 'noodle arms' did make him laugh, however, breaking a little of the tension. "I'm not sure what happened," he confessed. "I don't feel at all like myself. I think I'd be out of breath if I ran down the street and back. I guess the landing knocked the Storm Guard out of me." Smiling to Remi, he finally reached out to very carefully take his daughter, bundling her close in his arms. And at first she let out a naturally unhappy wail, upset at being passed away from warm, familiar arms and the only scent of home she really remembered, though she calmed somewhat as Ronin made sure that Remi was in plain view, hushing her and rocking her gently. "I think I've got a lot to learn from you," he murmured to his friend. "I've missed everything."

all we are is skin & bone trained to get along

"Don't let Roana here you say that, or the question of who would have won that election will finally be settled." He joked back with a tentative and crooked grin.

As Ronin took Aoife, the alchemist wrapped one arm around his ribs and ran the other through his curls in an attempt to keep himself occupied as Aoife initially began to fidget in her father's arms. He felt his fingers twitch with the desire to snatch her back and soothe her, and the words the guildmaster offered seemed to only gently stroke the top of the strange amalgamation of things Remi was feeling.

Uncomfortably Remi merely shrugged and looked down, his eyes focused on his crossed arm as if the hair there was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. Then, realizing what an absolute idiot he was being, looked up and offered Ronin a shaky and apologetic look. "So...what happened? How...how are you here? Like this?"

forever going with the flow, but you're friction

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RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Hey. She called me general on what was technically my deathbed. I'm not going to dispute that any further, okay?" Ronin smirked back at his friend and shrugged his shoulders, before turning his full attention over to his daughter. The awkwardness was like a physical presence in the guild with them, though it was obvious to anyone looking that Ronin was thoroughly enamored with Aoife, holding onto one of her tiny hands and kissing her dark curls. He pressed his eyes closed for a moment, merely standing to feel the weight of her in his arms, before glancing back up at Remi. "Let's sit?" he suggested in a voice rougher than he would have liked, already padding over to sink down before the fire with his daughter cuddled close. "I... well. As far as I understand and was told, Ashetta made a... a bargain for me, I guess you could say. She's... she was immortal. Mort, the god of death, he... fixed that inbalance, in exchange for my life. But I was a star - Safrin pulled me out of the sky, and I - I don't really know what I am now, Remi."

all we are is skin & bone trained to get along

Remi held up his hands as if in surrender, and nodded through a wide grin. "Alright. We can call it settled then, general."

Nodding, Remi glanced near where Ronin had sat near the fire, chewing the inside of his lip. The last time he'd seen the guildmaster he'd hugged him close and told him that he loved him, and now he felt uncertain how close he ought to sit near him. With a quick mental shake, Remi sat across the fire from father and daughter, leaning back against the large stones.

"Ashe had mentioned she was going to see Safrin..?" The alchemist interrupted slowly as their basically-sister's name was mentioned. Immortal? Remi mouthed looking appropriately shocked at this revelation.

Holding up a hand as if to force Ronin to pause, Remi tried to get his lips to stop quirking up at the edges. "So you die, are made into a star, the god of death somehow strikes a bargain with Ashetta...and then you show up naked at the guild." Remi was grinning in earnest now. If he hadn't seen Safrin ascending the ex-captain with his own eyes he would never have believed any of it. Truthfully he still wasn't so sure.

"You are scrawny is what you are. And unscarred." Remi added with a laugh, drawing his knees to his chest. "How do you feel otherwise? No extra limbs?"

forever going with the flow, but you're friction

Coding base by Sky!

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Your assistance is appreciated, citizen," Ronin said with a grin in response to the moniker, nodding at Remi in what was supposed to be a regal or military gesture (it failed at both). He got comfortable with Aoife before the fire, speaking to his daughter gently as she cooed and wiggled and nestled close, seizing one of his fingers in her own. Still, her starlit eyes moved to Remi every now and then, as if to make sure he hadn't gone anywhere. So when the alchemist chose to sit comparatively far away, Ronin felt the not-rightness of all of this twist low in his stomach all over again. Still, he cracked a smile at Remi's explanation nonetheless, nodding to him. "Yeah, that's pretty much it I guess," he murmured. Glancing down at himself, at his clothes that smelled old and unworn, at the body beneath it that was so different and yet so similar to the one he'd lived in his whole life, Ronin's shoulders sagged. "No extra limbs, but... I feel... sad. Lost, maybe. Confused? I feel like everyone was starting to heal, and to move on, and I've just shown up. I feel like I'm an intruder."

all we are is skin & bone trained to get along

With a laugh, Remi offered a quick bow of his head and chest. "That is a much nicer response than I ever got when we were in Northaven." He said with a light shrug. "Being a filthy shape-changer commoner and all."

"Well, you have just shown up." Remi pointed out, glancing across the firelight. But Ronin was right. They had all begun to heal, even if reluctantly. This was like a strange sort of panacea that only cured the scars and burns and physical wounds the captain's departure had left. "I know this will sound silly...but I feel sad too. Almost like you are still gone. I know you are there, and I even almost completely believe that it is you—" Here he flashed his friend a wry smile that disappeared just a little too quickly as he shrugged. "—but...you died. I know you are back and that should just...fix it. I do not know why it isn't, though."

forever going with the flow, but you're friction

Coding base by Sky!

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Ah, you were never a filthy shapechanger commoner to me," Ronin said, tutting and smiling easily back to his friend, though it faded all too easily as they both began to voice the strangeness of his homecoming. "I know, but... I didn't choose to just show up." He pressed his eyes shut, tilting his head back as if he could see through the ceiling and up into the sky. "I was... happy. It felt like I lived lifetimes up there, with Vanya. On a sea of stars..." Drawing a shuddering breath and letting it out again, Ronin blinked his eyes back open and glanced down to Aoife. "Yeah, I... I don't know why, either," he murmured to Remi. "I'm sorry for just... barging back into your lives. Perhaps it would be easier if I left for now, and just... came by to visit at first."

all we are is skin & bone trained to get along

"Only because you did not know better. And by then I had saved your life." Remi quipped back with a wide and easy smile.

Glancing across as Ronin closed his eyes, Remi felt ashamed of his own sadness. He hadn't taken into account at all the fact that Ronin might not have wanted to come down...that surely his place in the sky was better than all of this?

"A sea of stars..." The alchemist echoed with a faint and sad smile.

However as Ronin mentioned potentially leaving, Remi immediately conjured a pillow in his hand and leaned across to hit Ronin's shoulder with it (careful to avoid Aoife, of course). "Absolutely not. You will stay here, and when Aoife cries in the middle of the night it will be you who gets up with her. You owe me a full nights sleep if nothing else." Remi said with a boyish look of certainty that said he wouldn't take anything but yes as an answer.

forever going with the flow, but you're friction

Coding base by Sky!

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "And never have I been so happy for a filthy shapechanger commoner to save my life and become a fast friend." Ronin grinned back, his free hand pressing over his heart as if to swear that truth. Nodding quietly as Remi echoed his memories of the sky above, Ronin absently rocked his daughter and gazed into her star spangled eyes. "It's strange, though," he admitted. "When I was here last, it felt like Vanya died and cut a hole in me, and I was just... trying to survive it. But I don't feel that anymore." And that in itself was like lifting the weight of the world off his shoulders. So lost was he in the warmth and comfort of Vanya's presence, he absolutely didn't see the pillow coming. "Ah--!" He was about a lifetime too slow to dodge it anyway, laughing as it bounced off his shoulder and glaring playfully across at the alchemist, though there was something steadfast and grateful about the way he held his gaze. "I'll get up as many times as I need to. I owe you more than a good night's sleep, Remi," he said, before glancing around the guildhall sheepishly. "But you have got to stop living down here. We're cleaning this place up - now."

all we are is skin & bone trained to get along

Listening, Remi nibbled the inside of his lip as he nodded. "Does it ... " Pausing, Remi reconsidered his words for a moment, shifting so that he was facing Ronin in earnest now, one shoulder against the stone-slabs. "How long does it feel like you have been gone?"

As Ronin said he owed the alchemist more than just a nights sleep, Remi had half a mind to agree with him. Instead he just hrrrpp'd playfully under his breath, happily returning Ronin's gaze. For a moment he let his eyes linger over this strange new face, free of scars and appearing strangely youthful for its lack of lines. But there were the same prominent and expressive brows, the obnoxiously dark eyelashes, the deep blue eyes.

"Now?" The alchemist protested with a tilt of his head. "It is hardly morning. And if you try and get the little miss to do anything other than squawk before she has eaten, you are in for a rude surprise."

forever going with the flow, but you're friction

Coding base by Sky!