[SE] the same coin

REMI

Having already sourced a playing board from one of the merchant stalls in town—Remi might still have had the skills to create something like it but he no longer had any of the tools—now all that was left to do was find the necessary pieces.

By the time the sun was more than halfway beneath the horizon Remi had collected most of the shells that he needed, though he was still two black and three white short of a full board. Most likely he could get away with it, but knowing Ludo if the Bastian did try and play this game with the herald, he'd fine some way of forcing the game such that the missing pieces ended up being crucial.

Straightening, the Bastion placed his hands against his lower back before leaning into the pressure and sending a delicious crackle up his spine. The release was welcome if temporary given that he immediately leaned back over, sea-glass eyes fixed on the coast's pale sands in search for shells.

There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Code stolen from Queen Sky

"What are you looking for, Remi Taliesin?" The voice that carried from the waves was low and deep and curious as the evening tide washed in a mermanta towards the shore. Hadama gathered his tail underneath him as he beached himself into the shallows, and a moment later he stood upon a pair of trouser-clad legs. The Leafchange sea breeze was far from warm this time of day - the very tail end of it, as the sun retired and the stars waited eagerly to peek out from behind the wisps of cloud that glowed red and golden high above - but the King bore the cool air stoically as ever.

He finished leaving the water to head onto the dry sand, approaching Mort's demigod with an inclination of his head in greeting. "It is good to see you again." Especially without the immediate threat of a Void monster or infected flower to interrupt their chance meeting!

REMI

Raising his eyebrows to hear his full name called out, the Bastion straightens, an expression of polite skepticism hardening his features somewhat as he turns to see who it was interrupting his shell gathering. "You have me at a bit of a disadvantage," he chuckles, spying the Tidebreaker rising out of the ocean. "I am not sure I have ever heard your last name." As for what he was looking for? Holding out a handful of black and white shells, Remi nods at them. "It's for a game board I was putting together for Ludo." He explains. "I think I am a few pieces short of a full set." A metaphor for his life if there ever was one.

Placing the shells into the small bag he'd knitted, Remi once again places his hands against his lower back, leaning into the pressure and releasing the muscles which had grown tight from hours spent hunched over.

"How have you been?"

There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Code stolen from Queen Sky

"I do not think they are as common among the Mer," the Tidebreaker admitted, looking at the shells that Remi had gathered curiously. Emerald eyes lifted at the phrasing of the explanation, a gleam of wry humor in them. He tilted his head in acknowledgment and turned his attention to the beach to help his fellow demigod search.

"I have been... well." The answer held a pause of consideration as if he needed to be sure of the word before he used it. "Torchline has been quiet. And it has given me time to see old friends." The look he tilted at Mort's demigod was quiet but warm, including the Bastion among that number should he care to be counted. "And to appreciate the time that I have with them." Before the next big upheaval, whenever and however it would come.

"Here--" He bent to sift through the sand, rising with a black shell with gentle ridges that he handed over to his companion. "Would you teach me this game, sometime?"

The tides have shifted the sand just so to reveal an elegant statuette abandoned on the beach. It looks like it once depicted a young woman standing tall, lightning clutched in her hands, but the water has eroded much of the detail by now.

REMI

"Well, for however common they are on land, it is not as common to call people by their full names." Grinning, the expression rendering the Bastion a touch boyish, Remi shrugs. "Not unless they are in trouble, anyway." He adds.

Lifting his eyebrows at the pause, more than happy to hear the Tidebreaker out if he had more to say or to let the sentiment simply trail off, Remi turns his attention back to the beach to continue to comb for shells. "That sounds quite wise." Remi's smile is perhaps a touch self deprecating, if only because despite being Mort's demigod, taking the time to appreciate the things he had while he had them, was certainly not his strong suit.

"Ah! Perfetto!" Adding the shell to his collection, a look of masked surprise tugs at the Bastion's lips. Perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised at all that Hadama was interested in games—frivolity might not have been what the Tidebreaker was known for, but certainly strategy and cunning were—and yet here he was. "I can show you now. We're a few shells short, but so long as neither of us plays too brilliantly it shouldn't be a problem." Pausing, Remi cocks his head slightly to the side, glancing toward the last sliver of light on the horizon.

"If you have time, that is?"

There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Hadama absorbed the lesson with his usual solemn consideration before inclining his head deeply in gratitude. "Thank you. Then I will call you 'Remi.' Since you are not in trouble... as far as I know," he added, a slyly teasing tilt to his head as he raised his gaze to the Bastion once more. There were still pleasantries to exchange, and a small amount of catching up to do as they ambled along the beach, combing it for shells of the right size and colors.

A nod of acknowledgment was given to the compliment, but then a shell was found that met the other demigod's requirements, and Hadama's curiosity earned him an invitation to the game. "I have time," he assured the other demigod, serene in the face of falling night. "Once it is dark I will be able to teleport to where I want to be." And save himself however many hours it might take to walk or swim there. If he noticed Remi's surprise at his request he gave no indication of it. "What are the rules?"

REMI

"Oh?" Lifting his eyebrows at the mention of Hadama's ability to teleport - apparently needing darkness to do so - Remi nods thoughtfully. There were so many manners of teleportation that he could hardly keep track of them, though only being able to do so at night seemed a strange restriction. But then, Hadama was a demigod of Safrin's and the Bastion had long since stopped trying to make any of her decisions make sense.

"It is one of the easiest games to learn, I have found." Remi explains. Directing them up from the shoreline a touch toward the softer sand and away from the infringing waves, the Bastion sinks down onto his knees before pulling out the gameboard from his bag. It would look not unlike a slighter smaller chessboard, only all the squares were the same colour. "The game always begins like this." So saying Remi shook out the bag of shells and placed four in a square in the centre of the grid in alternating colours. "Whoever starts with the darker shells goes first. You must always place a shell against your opponent's shell, and when you do.." Sandwiching a black shell above one of the white ones, Remi reached down and flipped the white shell over so that the row was entirely black.

"You see?"

There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Hadama followed Remi as the sun sank into the west and the stars began to peek out from behind the thinning veil of light high above. He listened attentively and then studied the board as it was placed between them on the sand. He settled cross-legged on the other side of it from his fellow demigod, his eyes on the shells that were placed at the center. Though the game was unfamiliar, the demonstration that accompanied the explanation was easy to follow and he nodded slowly in understanding. "I believe so," he agreed.

Reaching for the white shells that had been shaken out beside them, he lifted one and considered it thoughtfully before returning his gaze to the board. He did not make a move rashly, even as the torches along the coast flared to life and cast a cheerful glow over the game, but eventually he set the shell down gently in parallel to Remi's move. Then he flipped the sandwiched black shell over, replacing it with a white one. "Like this?" he asked, seeking confirmation from his teacher before he removed his hand from the board.

REMI

Not in any sort of rush, Remi merely shifted into a more comfortable position as he waited for the Tidebreaker to make his first move. The beginning of the game was not terribly uninteresting; unlike something such as chess, there were only a handful of opening moves one could take. "Mmhm. Just so." The Bastion agrees with a boyish smile, before quickly placing down a black tile and changing the colours of the opposite row.

"I find Ludo likes when games are not overly complicated, but where winning is still satisfying." Tic-tac-toe, for all the times he'd etched out the board in the soil when visiting the herald in the Greatwood, had more often than not been met with the raggedy god throwing pinecones at the board, whereas more complex games had the herald growing bored.

There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Enjoying his time spent learning a new game with the Lullaby, Hadama was also in no great hurry. A faint sense of quiet pleasure whispered through the Attuned Bond at the assurance that he had made the play correctly, and he met Remi's smile with bright eyes that crinkled at the corners before he watched the other man's next move.

He continued to place his shells cautiously, sometimes mirroring his teacher's moves, other times trying a new line. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, his play style tended towards the defensive and the white shells on the board lagged well behind the black ones, though he seemed to be enjoying the game itself more than how well he was doing at it. "I prefer those games as well." A comfortable admission, from a man who did not have much time for games anymore. It made this chance encounter all the more appreciated, and he played to the best of his novice ability.

Though he paused in lifting a shell, his gaze resting on the board a long moment before he raised it to meet seaglass green eyes. "Earlier this year," he began, slowly and with the care of a man who held his grief deep and out of sight. "Ray Lunarium spoke to you. Through you. About the Lily in the wand." He paused again before continuing in a voice that was quiet with the scars of old loss that bound his throat. "Have you... heard from her since?"

REMI

"Taking a corner is always the most important." Remi explains, nodding to where both of their shells were edging toward the corner of the board. "Because once you do that, you always have an anchor. Taking all four corners almost always assures a win." He adds with a shrug; not always, but certainly at the most unskilled level of the game, it was akin to taking out a queen in chess.

Flipping and placing shells in companionable silence, the attuned bond let both demigods communicate in minute and subtle ways, such that just before the Tidebreaker mentioned Ray's name, Remi was already glancing up through his curls, a soft furrow creasing into his brow. "I have not," Apologetically said, the Bastion winced before turning over a number of shells. "Despite being what I am, I am not entirely sure how it works on the other side, though I have found...if you ask them to speak to you, or ask them something in particular, it's much easier for them to answer." While there was often a hum of voices in the back of the Bastion's mind, rarely did they solidify into clear sentences with an obvious recipient.

"I try not to...eavesdrop, as it were." Wincing a touch at the phrasing, he can only shoot Hadama a crooked smile, unsure quite how to explain the phenomenon of hearing voices meant for others.

There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Code stolen from Queen Sky

"Mmh. An anchor?" he rumbled, glancing up with mischief in his eyes. "I see..." It made sense, even if it was a particularly landwalker way of putting it. It added more depth and complexity to the game as Hadama adjusted his burgeoning strategy to include trying to make it harder for Remi to reach a corner. He was ultimately unsuccessful in his cautiously defensive play, and black claimed the first corner shortly thereafter.

It was a learning experience for the Tidebreaker, and his disappointment at losing the edge was tempered by admiration for how Remi had maneuvered his way into it. He was relaxing further and enjoying himself until the memory of Ray slipped into his thoughts, reminding him of the way she had helped earlier in the year. Of how Remi had heard her, and passed along her insight from the other side. The Bastion's apology was met with a silent wash of reassurance from Hadama, who had no real understanding of the other demigod's powers, or his limits, and accepted the explanations with simple gratitude. The crooked smile was met with an inclination of the mer king's head and a flicker of wry humor in his eyes and in the bond.

"Is there a limit to how many questions you can ask? Or how long you can speak to someone?" His own questions were not simply hypothetical; there was true curiosity in the Tidebreaker's voice, and he was not quite so detached from what he asked as he usually was.

REMI

"If there is, I have not reached the extent of it." Remi says with a boyish shrug. No doubt a (mer)man like Hadama would have fully researched the extent of his own abilities, but given how much death the Bastion had been exposed to in his life, he was content to let his abilities manifest and reveal themselves as he went.

"All I know is that they can communicate with me. Because time doesn't quite work the same in Mort's halls, I am not sure it makes sense to put a limit on it. I have never heard from any of the spirits who have spoken to me that they have tried and failed in the past."

On and on their game went, with turns taking longer and longer as the Bastion and Tidebreaker mentally turned shells over in their mind before committing them to the board. Eventually before a winner could be declared, the lack of a complete set of shells made completing the game impossible such that Remi declared it an even draw.

"If ever there is anyone you would wish to speak with, let me know and I will see if I can....think my way into receiving a message from them." As he'd said he wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but if Hadama had someone in mind, the Bastion would happily try. Perhaps he'd even ask Mort about it when next he saw the god.

Packaging up the board, Remi bid Hadama a good night just as stars properly began to twinkle in the darkening sky overhead.

~FIN

There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Code stolen from Queen Sky