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+---- Thread: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words (/showthread.php?tid=6238)
[SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Mateo - 09-19-2021
The mother tree is a sight to behold at any season, but at Deepfrost it has something like a haunting quality about it. Mateo shouldn't really be here because of the portal, but he can't help taking a detour on the way back to his fathers' boat. There could be who-knows-what growing around the Mathair's roots, and he might be able to get his hands on her fruits or her seeds.
Would the boy try to grow a tree goddess given the chance? Yes, yes he absolutely would. And it's as he's crouched among the hulking roots that a pale visitor comes to see him, unbeknownst to the boy. It's a hanging snake, but not one that Mateo will have ever seen before, and it's quite happily looping its way around his neck without his notice. It'll be fine, probably.
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Sunjata - 09-19-2021
He doesn’t usually delve too far into the Greatwood, sticking mostly to King’s End where he can. But there are times just like now that he wants a change in scenery, a change in the everyday that’s slowly becoming his life now that Haai is gone. So he delves further and further into the Greatwood until the large Mathair is stumbled upon, recalling the time where he’d been coming down with the blight and had arrived to grab the roses that Vi had instructed they plant.
This time, though, there’s no roses. There’s not much at all aside from the buzzing of burrowed insects, tucked away beneath the snow, and a ribbony type of snake that appears as soon as he rounds the corner. It isn’t the only one, though, because as soon as he sees the one nearby him, he spies someone inspecting the tree? He doesn’t seem to notice the snake wrapping around his neck. “[say]Hey, uh, looks like you’ve got a friend.[/say]” He calls out to the young stranger, hoping not to startle him.
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Mateo - 09-19-2021
[say]"Mmm...?"[/say] The boy glances up at the sound of a voice, whipping around to offer a dimpled smile in Sunjata's direction. [say]"A what?"[/say] he asks, before noticing the snake around his neck. Startled, the ribbonlike reptile is now striped with red, and Mateo is clearly delighted by the sight of it. [say]"Ciao, piccolo serpente!"[/say] he greets the snake, reaching up to let it glide into its hands.
[say]"And ciao, uomo alto!"[/say] He nods to Sunjata while he's at it, the travelling tongue spilling from his lips like music, lending a melody to his accent. [say]"My name is Mateo, what's yours?"[/say]
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Sunjata - 09-19-2021
There are some of the kid’s movements that are reminiscent to Sunjaya of both Remi and Ronin, but it isn’t until that language spills from his tongue that he realizes he’s heard it many times before. From Nate and Remi, and his head quirks and tilts to the side much like the dog shift within him as his mind works to catch up. Luckily it doesn’t take long, though.
The name is offered and Sunjata’s brows pinch in surprise, his body straightening up as he offers a small smile to the boy. “[say]Oh, hello Mateo. I’m Sunjata.[/say]” He pauses, scanning the boy for a moment longer before he’s taking a step forward to inspect the striped snake. “[say]I met you when you were still a baby.[/say]” Held him, actually, much to his shock and displeasure. That’s besides the point though.
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Mateo - 09-19-2021
[say]"Sunjata,"[/say] Mateo repeats, like he's trying the name on for size. He must like it, because the smile doesn't leave his face, and he steps closer too so they can examine the snake together. [say]"It seems friendly, doesn't it?"[/say] he says, the reptile slithering up to nose at the Flood. And around them, the distinct scent of peppermint appears, Mateo raising his eyebrows at the smell of it.
[say]"You did?"[/say] He tilts his head, bemused to hear that a stranger has known him since he was so small. [say]"Was it in Stormbreak?"[/say] he wonders. [say]"You must be a friend of my dads."[/say] Maybe another member of the Order - maybe even a dragoon! [say]"Oh - I think he wants to say hello."[/say] This of course is said about the snake, who is trying to loop itself around Sunjata by now.
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Sunjata - 09-19-2021
His name rolls off the boy’s tongue and Sunjata finds a bit of relief flickering through him as Mateo’s smile remains. “[say]It does.[/say]” He agrees, breathing in a deep scent of peppermint that helps distract him away from everything else. His gaze drifts from the snake to Mateo’s face, however, as the commentary ensues and Sunjata shakes his head before stilling himself enough to let the snake wind around him too. “[say]It was before you moved to Stormbreak, actually.[/say]” He offers gently.
As for being a friend of the boy’s dads, he nods to that — even if Remi and he were on okay terms now he was definitely more of Ronin’s friend than the former.
As the snake slips toward Sunjaya he reaches up with the lightning scarred hand, the galaxy tattoos swirling around his wrist as he reaches to run his fingers along the side of the snake, whispering a quiet hello in greeting.
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Mateo - 09-20-2021
Mateo willingly lets the snake go, since he's busy looking up (and up and up) at Sunjata by now. And besides, as fun as the candy-striped and peppermint smelling serpent is, the boy really hoped he'd find some seeds here. Alas, the snow makes it all but impossible. [say]"Before Stormbreak?"[/say] he echoes, trying to rack his brain. [say]"So when I lived here the first time?"[/say] he guesses (naturally, he remembers very little at all about being a newborn).
[say]"Aw, I think he likes you,"[/say] he says of Sunjata's new snake friend, grinning and glancing around the Mathair and the rest of the Greatwood sprawling beyond. [say]"How come you're in the woods? Is it for a visit?"[/say] he wonders, plodding around the clearing and watching his own footprints form in the snow. [say]"I was going to go to my dads' boat, if you want to come."[/say]
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Sunjata - 09-21-2021
It’s a strange timeline of events, but it’s enough to drag Sunjata out of his sorrow and sadness to offer a soft hum of a laugh. “[say]Sort of. It was when your fathers moved from here to the Greatwood. The day you all left for there, actually.[/say]” But he doesn’t have much to add because the snake is winding its way around him and Sunjata’s more than content to let it.
“[say]I’m Attuned. A lot of animals like me.[/say]” He informs the young man. He straightens up and let’s Mateo peer up at him as he moves to follow the kid while the snake continues to coil around. “[say]Sort of. I live in King’s End. Just ventured out a bit too far.[/say]” But as for heading to the house boat he’s content to follow and moves easily with the snake around him to follow.
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Mateo - 09-21-2021
[say]"Oh, it was? I must have been very small,"[/say] Mateo concludes, already having pretty much confirmed this to himself, and he ducks under a snowy branch so he can lead them through the woods. Naturally, he moves without realising that he's very small compared to Sunjata, and the Flood might find the going a bit tough as Mateo squishes himself between trees and around snowdrifts.
It's with a dimpled grin that Mateo hears that Sunjata is Attuned, and he peers over his shoulder. [say]"Lots of my friends are Attuned. At least the snake likes you!"[/say] he says; indeed, said snake is very much comfortable around its host's neck, and the red ribbons are fading from its scales. [say]"King's End? Where the party was, at the end of Longheat?"[/say] He blinks. [say]"That's a very long way."[/say]
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Sunjata - 09-22-2021
“[say]You were very small.[/say]” Sunjata confirms, struggling to slip beneath the branches that Mateo moves under with surprising ease. It takes him a bit longer, but at least the snake is secured enough around his neck that he can use his hands now to part the branches so he can continue to follow.
As for many of the boy’s friends being attuned, Sunjata nods to that – imagining that none of them have the array or variety he has in terms of his shifts, but that’s a small little ego boost he usually keeps to himself nowadays. “[say]He seems content.[/say]” Sunjata agrees, managing a soft smile, and once he’s broken through the rough patch and is crunching through the snow after Mateo, he presses his fingers to the scales of the snake in soothing strokes.
“[say]Not too long if you can fly.[/say]” He tips a wink toward Mateo once he’s caught up to the boy. “[say]Last I heard you were studying in Stormbreak, how is that going?[/say]” He asks curiously, head cocking to the side.
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Mateo - 09-24-2021
[say]"Does he? That's good. I wonder what he eats,"[/say] Mateo says of their serpentine friend, the boy stretching now that he's managed to slip through the branches enough to walk the forest pathways, snow and frozen branches crackling underfoot. [say]"Oh? No, I suppose you are right about that. My dad flew me to stormbreak once when he was a manticore. It was cold,"[/say] he notes, though his dimpled grin and rosy cheeks suggest that he didn't mind it all that much.
As for his studies? [say]"They are good! They don't cover all of the things I really like to learn though, so I go and do that on my own. I like to grow plants,"[/say] he explains, blinking as the trees suddenly part to spill them out onto the riverbank, right before his fathers' boat. [say]"Aha! Thank you, Greatwood!"[/say] the boy trills back (because obviously the forest was responsible for their quick trip). [say]"Shall we go and say hello?"[/say]
RE: [SE] forked tongues and whispered words - Sunjata - 09-25-2021
“[say]Mice, I’m guessing.[/say]” Sunjata murmurs – imagining a snake that small likely went for the smaller prey, using his own snake shift as inspiration for that train of thought. As for the rest of it, though, he struggles to get through the branches and the brambles, but when he does he shakes off the snow that’s collected onto his jacket. The idea of the child riding on the back of a manticore sparks a small crooked smile, a huff of a laugh from the Attuned, but not much else.
The studies, however, catch his interest and he’s content to let Mateo speaks about all of it – realizing that plant life was something that resonated a bit deeper with the Flood, given his mother’s hand in her rose garden’s upbringing. “[say]Sounds like you’ve got it figured out.[/say]” He offers easily with a small smile, before the forest is opening.
“[say]Yes, I think we should.[/say]” He agrees to Mateo, pausing to let the snake slither off back to where it had come from or a new location for it, before he’s following the young boy toward the house boat, idle conversation the rest of the way.
- FIN <3