Hey, it was better than being hauled down by the scruff of his Vest, so Tal accepted the manhandling without complaint and only minimal toddler-esque squirming. It would have been nice to say that it was a relief to get his feet back on the ground again after that...
But given what they were sharing the ground with, it wasn't quite true.
Tal listened to the demigod intently - because the sense that Remi could accidentally squash him with a pat on the head lingered in his lizard hindbrain, even if he'd long since outgrown his initial scrawny origins - but his eyes scanned the unfriendly forest with the alertness of a rabbit dropped into a snake pit. At least until he got a glimpse of a smile on the Bastion's face and paused, blinking in surprise at how much younger it made the demigod look. "Uh... yeah? I'm real glad that's not... y'know. A thing anymore," he agreed fervently. He was definitely in the pro-not-murderous-Remi camp!
"I think th'last time we were here y'were a manticore." He looked around again himself, trying to find familiar landmarks which - ha! - had never been particularly reliable in the Greatwood to begin with. Now it was like an entirely new forest, and Tal bit his lip hard and then started walking in the direction Remi indicated, swinging his little charm from his fingers to let it soak in the whole infected voidyness of it all. It seemed about right, if that boulder over there was the same one he remembered...
"So, uh... about that Starfall place. Were you the dad that went there?" A totally smooth segue, if he did say so himself. He'd seen the Haulani notice board and Flora's last warning posted there, and it had been weighing on his thoughts given his current quest. Now seemed like as good a time as any to learn what he was up against if he decided to make an even worse life choice than usual.
But given what they were sharing the ground with, it wasn't quite true.
Tal listened to the demigod intently - because the sense that Remi could accidentally squash him with a pat on the head lingered in his lizard hindbrain, even if he'd long since outgrown his initial scrawny origins - but his eyes scanned the unfriendly forest with the alertness of a rabbit dropped into a snake pit. At least until he got a glimpse of a smile on the Bastion's face and paused, blinking in surprise at how much younger it made the demigod look. "Uh... yeah? I'm real glad that's not... y'know. A thing anymore," he agreed fervently. He was definitely in the pro-not-murderous-Remi camp!
"I think th'last time we were here y'were a manticore." He looked around again himself, trying to find familiar landmarks which - ha! - had never been particularly reliable in the Greatwood to begin with. Now it was like an entirely new forest, and Tal bit his lip hard and then started walking in the direction Remi indicated, swinging his little charm from his fingers to let it soak in the whole infected voidyness of it all. It seemed about right, if that boulder over there was the same one he remembered...
"So, uh... about that Starfall place. Were you the dad that went there?" A totally smooth segue, if he did say so himself. He'd seen the Haulani notice board and Flora's last warning posted there, and it had been weighing on his thoughts given his current quest. Now seemed like as good a time as any to learn what he was up against if he decided to make an even worse life choice than usual.
