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[SE] Rose red - Hadama - 03-18-2024
From the shrine in Ludo's Woods they traveled south. The journey was a quiet one, Hadama lost in thought after his offering to Ludo's shrine. He missed Ray, but he had nothing on him of hers that he could easily leave for the god. But he would make a lantern for her this year, to light her way at the Festival.
Assuming there would be one. Strange, that he had not yet heard of where it would take place...
There had been no celebration in Longheat, either, for Safrin or Dygra.
His thoughts circled, deep and heavy, but he kept his eyes sharply open as he swam along beside Noah, seeking the tell-tale crimson and gold of the roses that had brought them there. "There is supposed to be a shrine at the Cataract," he said slowly, thoughts shifting slowly back to their current task. "Perhaps we should leave an offering there, too? For Frey's guidance in finding the flowers." At this point any help would be most welcome.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Noah - 03-20-2024
Solemn in many ways, Noah didn’t have the energy to keep up any small talk. It gave him more appreciation for the merking, because he knew his friend did not need him to hold up conversation as they traveled. Both men were comfortable with the silence and didn’t feel the need to use useless words. Noah kept his eyes scanning and moving, keenly keeping himself aware to any unsettling purple glowing.
”That’s a good idea.” Noah agreed, eyes flicking around as
RE: [SE] Rose red - Hadama - 03-30-2024
As for Hadama, he swam in a stream near to the Cataract, but avoided the red waters for the moment. Remi had warned him of the water's staining properties, and as curious as he might be to see what swimming in the floating current was like, dying himself a bloody red from head to fluke was an unappealing price to pay.
Besides, being lower down made it easier to gather flowers as they moved along, and Hadama was building a colorful bouquet for his impromptu homage to the shrine they sought. The trick was in holding the flowers high enough out of the water as he swam that they weren't damaged by the flow of the stream, but it did make swimming somewhat awkward and took more of his attention.
And then there were the odd splashes coming from the Cataract near Noah. Nothing was immediately visible as other than a chill in the water that seemed to chase his fingers as they withdrew, but there was a sense of motion and a small trail of bubbles that followed along beside him, and a long tangle of seaweed being carried through the floating river at the same pace he was walking that streamed out almost like hair...
RE: [SE] Rose red - Noah - 03-31-2024
As Noah and Hadama wandered through the forest on this autumn evening, a surreal aura enveloped the surroundings. Golden rays filtered through the canopy, illuminating a tapestry of crimson and gold leaves that danced gently in the breeze. Mist curled around ancient trees, lending an ethereal quality to the enchanted woodland scene. Tendrils of mist even danced delicately at the bases of flowers picked, and reached up longingly as the merking drew them away and held them above the water.
Removing his hand had caused some disturbance, which made the hairs on the back of Noah's neck stand on end. The splashes, though subtle, were enough to draw the seasoned hunter's attention. Noah stopped and sidestepped away from the Cataract, chin lifting slightly as his magic danced beneath his skin. The seaweed in the red stained water held his attention as Noah tried to focus in on what it was.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Hadama - 04-01-2024
It was like something out of a dream, with the hazy golden light and the oranges and reds of the leaves melding with the red of the floating river. The late-season flowers that Hadama picked almost seemed to glow amidst the ambience; white and yellow and red petals taking on an almost pearlescent sheen as the spray from the water settled on them.
It was a peaceful evening, one that would all-too-soon be nothing more than distant memory once the Family gained their foothold on the region. For the moment, however, there was only the quiet chuckle of the Cataract and the hum of sleepy insects near the end of day mingling with the dwindling songs of birds.
And the face in the Cataract.
As Noah stepped away, Hadama paused, looking to his friend and then to where Noah's gaze rested with sharp focus. The seaweed tangle stopped its drifting in spite of the current that continued to stream lazily past it, floating in place. A trick of the waterflow parted the strands of weed, revealing the hints of a face: a twist in the water outlining the curve of a young, feminine cheek; eyes that caught the light but lacked the definition of iris or pupil; a snub of a nose with a scattering of loose seeds floating by that might have been freckles. There was a sense that she was pretty but not truly beautiful, though finer details were harder to determine.
And as she looked longingly at Noah from within the water, a small stream of bubbles leaked from the corners of those almost-eyes, floating towards the surface of the Cataract and being carried away with the flow.
"Remi said there were lost spirits about," Hadama murmured quietly to his friend. "Is she...?"
RE: [SE] Rose red - Noah - 04-01-2024
Keen eyes found every detail of the woman -- spirit -- within the water. He took everything in and finally settled on the only thing that mattered. She was not trying to harm them. He did not step closer, but simply let his head tilt some and his shoulders soften a bit. He prayed above to Vi that the spirit was not trying to take advantage of them, but the way her eyes looked at him and the bubbles came from their corners, Noah knew deep within him that it was not her intention.
She was simply lost.
Hadama's voice stirred him and Noah looked to his friend, then back to the reddened waters. He nodded. "She is." Noah confirmed. He turned to look above and beyond Hadama, and then back to the spirit. "I wonder if she followed us from Ludo's shrine." He wondered aloud, taking a step to the right, to see if the spirit would follow his movements.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Hadama - 04-01-2024
The spirit flowed in the direction Noah stepped, losing cohesion as she moved and then gaining it again once she stilled and the water moved around her, not quite stopped by her presence, but flowing as if slowed by her. Hadama watched curiously, brow slowly furrowing in thought.
"Mmh. I have heard... stories," he mused. "Of humans who have drowned themselves over lost lovers." Or any number of other accidents or acts of violence. This sad-eyed spirit seemed fascinated with the ruggedly handsome Halovian, however, far more interested in him than the mermanta. "Perhaps she is bound to the Cataract?"
He paused and then sorted through his bouquet, selecting a beautiful white bloom and offering it up to his friend with a half shrug that indicated it was, at least, worth a try.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Noah - 04-01-2024
She followed Noah's experiment, so he stepped again. She followed, and Noah smiled at her. The movement of white caught in the corner of his eye, and Noah turned to look over at Hadama. He took the flower offered to him, and held it out for the woman-spirit. Hadama's words made his heart ache for his own wife, knowing how much he could even contemplate such an act should she die.
"If she is bound to the water, perhaps you can take her in a section of it with your magic and we can give her a proper burial." Noah wasn't sure what that quite meant, but if she was so desperate after a lover that she was willing to end her life...then perhaps the waters her spirit was trapped in could give that same level of love to the flowers growing around Frey's shrine.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Hadama - 04-01-2024
The bubbling tears slowed at Noah's smile, and the spirit in the water watched the demigod with eyes that first widened and then eased. A hint of fingers and what might have been a delicate hand formed at the edge of the Cataract, as if pressing against the side of the stream and then the flower was being offered and she pulled back in surprise.
Hesitant, as if she couldn't quite believe what was happening, she reached for the blossom as it passed into the crimson stream and was swiftly dyed red. The flower floated beneath the waving waterweeds that marked her hair, cradled into a chest that was no more solid than a dream, but that still resisted the current.
But she was growing more solid, the evening light seeming to fall within her and sharpen her edges into something almost real. A young woman but not a child, wrapped in a flowing dress, curled happily around the bloom she had been given.
"Perhaps," Hadama murmured to Noah's suggestion, but his eyes were soft as he watched what was occurring. "But I do not think it will be necessary..."
And indeed, as they looked on the light within her brightened further. She flashed the Forsaken a smile as bright as the noon sun and slipped from the water at last, still floating as she drifted over to the demigod to press cool lips to his cheek. Again there was that sensation of chill, but this time it was followed by warmth--
And then silence as the light faded. There was no sign of woman or scarlet flower, only the lingering heat against Noah's skin.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Noah - 04-04-2024
Noah let his smile soften rather than let the tiny pulse in the back of his mind that was reminiscent of a danger bell, an alarm, take over. He stepped back only to let the water-spirit-lady step out of the crimson water. Her half-formed lips pressed against his cheek as droplets of red water fell on him. He let out his breath from the chill, and the quickly spreading warmth thereafter sent a shiver up his spine.
Then she was gone, a whisper, the flower gone with her.
Noah raised his hand to his cheek where her spectral lips had brushed against his skin. He let out another breath before he let his head drop and shake some, a hearty yet breathy laugh escaping him. "Guess she couldn't resist these good looks..." He jested to his friend, glacier eyes sparkling with both boyish charm and joking, and a soft tenderness that came from some deep well of understanding between him and the spirit.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Hadama - 04-04-2024
Ghostly lips had left a scarlet imprint on the Forsaken's cheek, but it would be scrubbed off long before he returned home with a new story to tell. Hadama looked away, waiting quietly in contemplation of what they'd just witnessed until Noah was ready to speak of it and then the mermanta's gaze returned to his friend with a shared warmth for the peaceful transition they'd just aided. "Who can?" he murmured back, willing to let the moment slide into humor rather than sadness for the soul who had finally found her way to Mort's halls. Whatever tragedy had caused her to remain caught within the Cataract, the kindness of a handsome stranger had given her peace and set her free.
"Have you decided on an offering for Frey?" he asked after they had traveled a little farther in companionable silence and the small, charming shrine came into view. His own bouquet had not grown much in size; instead he had become more discerning in his choices, picking only the largest or most unique blossoms within reach of his stream to add to it as they neared their destination.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Noah - 04-04-2024
”I do.” Noah said, looking at Hadama’s offering bouquet and standing before him quite empty handed. He didn’t need to collect anything for the offering he was going to leave the herald. Even without having anything that Hadama could see for the dual natured herald, Noah knew that the offering would be pleasing to them.
”I knew Frey before I knew Vi.” Noah said as they moved towards the shrine. ”So my prayer will be more intimate than it was with Ludo.” Whom Noah only knew from the lantern festivals throughout since the barrier fell. ”You can go ahead and go first and then, maybe, if you wouldn’t mind trying to find us something to eat? Maybe some fish.” Hopefully, without it being too awkward, Hadama would catch on to the level of privacy Noah was requesting for this offering and prayer.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Hadama - 04-04-2024
The mermanta tilted his head in silent curiosity as Noah made his ambiguous statement, though he had nothing in hand. Still, as they made their final approach and paused before the altar the demigod's apparent segue into his history with the deity was enough for the King to pick up on the threads of the offering being... perhaps less tangible, if no less sincere.
"Of course," he rumbled agreeably. Swimming as close to the shrine as he could get, he wrapped the bouquet's stems gently in a tendril of water and lifted them into position before he bowed his head. Frey and Rae, thank you for a bountiful harvest and gentle tides. For the beauty that surrounds us, and the fertility and health of our schools and flocks. Please continue to grant your blessings over Caido in the seasons to come. He remained in prayer a few moments longer before straightening and taking a deep breath. He gave Noah a nod to indicate that he was done and then he backed away and headed deeper into the streams that flowed near and underneath the Cataract, leaving the other man to his own devotions while Hadama focused on hunting down a worthy dinner after their long day.
RE: [SE] Rose red - Noah - 04-06-2024
Noah kept watch for any void creatures encroaching upon them as Hadama swam up and drew closer to the shrine for his prayer. The Forsaken made to stand a certain distance to give the merking as much privacy he could. He didn’t hear any details of the prayer, so when Hadama motioned for Noah to take his turn he felt successful.
Trading places with the king, Noah lowered his head. Frey, thank you for all you’ve done for Halo. Thank you for all you’ve done for my wife. Thank you for taking Hotaru. Protect and nurture them as is your way. He prayed, and once he knew Hadama was far from his presence, he made his offering. Body relaxed and lowered to the shrine’s base, Noah left his life’s seed at the altar.
Finished, Noah readied himself to reappear back with Hadama and hopefully some food.
But all of that would be cut short, once the broadcast happened and the shaking of the earth followed, and Noah left his friend to fight a ghost Landshark.
FIN