a whisper of ghosts

REMI

the lullaby

I don't know who I am,
& I don't know who I'll be

Beneath the candles that flicker and glow for Ludo and Mort, there lays the body of a certain alchemist. He looks nearly dead, tucked away among the ivy as he is, with his body bleeding away into shadow. But for those who can see such things, the Lullaby's body is empty just now. In the darkness of the woods he moves as a spirit; soundless and without form, Remi's mind us entirely untethered and free of the primal urges which have weighed so heavily on him since the season changed over in a whirl of colour.

"I can't decide if I would be better or worse at tag in this body. On the one hand, I'm less bothered by the physics of the world. On the other, I suppose you could always threaten my body and then I'd be forced within your reach." spirit!Remi muses into the hollow night.

But there's a light up in the attic
and i swear it's calling me

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own A small and ethereal hand reaches out to shove at the small of Remi's back. When he turns, it will be to find the pale and dark haired youth standing within reach, sucking on a piece of peppermint bark. "Worse at it," Ludo concludes. "Tag." Then it's gone again, but not so far away - Ludo sits among the candles and the offerings at its shrine, blackened fingers absently braiding Remi's curls where his body lays prone. Taking the bark from between its teeth, it flings it petulantly at the Lullaby's spirit form. "Just because you are favoured by me, sweetling, it does not exclude you from the duties of a shrine visit. Or am I to presume that you have left me this empty husk of your body as an offering?" Raising its eyebrows at Remi expectantly, Ludo returns to its braiding. "The forest does not agree with you," it muses. "Or it agrees with you too much. Have you decided which, yet?"

REMI

the lullaby

I don't know who I am,
& I don't know who I'll be

Turning, the strangeness of being shoved despite not having a body sending shivers down Remi's...well, the spirit equivalent of his spine he supposes, Remi gives the dark-eyed youth a thoughtful nod. Turning as Ludo disappears, only to find it seated near his body, black-tipped fingers working at his curls, the Lullaby studies the scene with a strange sort of detachment.

Remi doesn't move as the bark is thrown his way. Instead he merely offered Ludo a crooked smile. "No, I shouldn't think my body is any fun without me in it." Taking a step closer, and then another, the Lullaby leans against one of the trees, his arms folded. "Not all games require pieces, or physical gameboards."

Remi's body, lifeless only seconds before, inhales sharply, pale eyes snapping open to look up at Ludo. "Tag." He says with a breathless grin, reaching for one of Ludo's hands, before his soul rises up and out again, dashing through the trees.

"I think like you, it likes toying with me." The Lullaby calls over his shoulder, though there's no reason to suppose Ludo is still behind him.

But there's a light up in the attic
and i swear it's calling me

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own "Mm, if you say so," Ludo muses, and it's entirely unclear whether or not it's referring to Remi's body being no fun, or games not requiring toys or pieces. Either way, it finishes the braid in the Lullaby's hair by the time he suddenly surges to sit up, tagging the god and fleeing his body once more. And he's got it there - that is kind of fun. So off they flee into the darkness of the woods, the branches a blur around them, and as Remi runs he'll find himself ploughing straight into a blanket of rags. "Tag," Ludo announces, and then surges up and away again. "Toying with you? How rude. You offered to play, and I am playing. What else did you want?" it inquires; usually there is some deep and morose reason for Remi coming to see it. And here in its woods, when the alchemist has just been freed of his obligations at Torchline? They're due a chat.

REMI

the lullaby

I don't know who I am,
& I don't know who I'll be

Unable to stop himself, Remi is momentarily smothered by Ludo's not-body and a swath of rags. "All I meant—" Turning around in the darkness, struggling to see black rags in a black wood. "—was that the forest likes to play, and it isn't always a game I understand. It was no different with you in the beginning." Even now it wasn't so different.

Deciding that chasing after Ludo would be futile, Remi instead sinks himself into the body(ies?) of a nearby cluster of Will O' Wisps. Floating errantly about, the Lullaby will try and make a crown around Ludo's hooded-head, should it come near.

As for what he wanted? Well. It was what he needed which had brought him here. Remi would be just as happy with there being no way for his friends to contact he or Ronin, but of course that wasn't what he'd told his husband he'd do. For now though, poor at it though he was, he was simply enjoying this act of utter frivolity.

But there's a light up in the attic
and i swear it's calling me

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own Ludo's laughter is an exaggerated mwa ha ha ha overhead, the deity disappearing into the woods and seemingly waiting for Remi to give up his search. When the alchemist finally does slip away into the Will-o-Wisps, it pads through the foliage on black toes, grinning at the glowing orbs which come to flood around its shoulders and head like a crown. "Mm, I suppose that is correct," it says with a shrug. There is likely a reason that its woods reside within the larger Greatwood. Remi, of course, does not need to speak the words for Ludo to know why he has come to seek him out, and it strolls now back towards the shrine. "You're going to be a very lonely man if you continue down this path," it informs him bluntly. "Far be it for me to stop you. But if you wish for an item to speak with those back at Torchline, I am sure there is something we could arrange."

REMI

the lullaby

I don't know who I am,
& I don't know who I'll be

The lights bob and weave, illuminating the darkness within Ludo's garbs; which of course is still a different sheen of black. Rather liking the fact that it's his turn to dance about Ludo's shoulders, it's almost with a sigh of reluctance that the Lullaby slips back into his own body. Opening a dark made nearly black by the low light, the Will O' Wisps dancing back off into the forest, Remi sits up with a tempered nod.

I have Ronin and Mateo, he wants to say, but he does take the herald's meaning. "I am a rather dense man, you know this." He replies instead, with a crooked smile. "The empathy you've given me is helping, and I'm sure I will find myself in a position where I care more easily." For now, Remi still stands at the edge of one of those storybook gardens. The ones where lifetimes in the real world play out in only a matter of minutes within. And even now, the alchemist's soul is the sort drawn to such places. He can dress up his selfishness however he might like, but it's still there, just as fierce as any other predator inside of him might be.

"If you'd be willing...I was thinking...rather than something which gives away our location, perhaps it's just...a way for the messenger ravens to always find us. I'm far more trusting of corvids than of humans these days."

But there's a light up in the attic
and i swear it's calling me

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own "You are a rather dense man, sweetling," Ludo agrees, sitting cross-legged near Remi's body as the alchemist sits himself up and gets used to being properly alive once more. Drumming black fingers on bony knees, Ludo considers the Lullaby's request and hums thoughtfully, only for Remi to offer his own suggestions. "You must have very strange friends, if you do not want to share your location with them," it says with a crooked smile that does not belong on such a youthful face. "And here I was all geared to make you some communication mirrors." With an exaggerated sigh, it leans back on its hands. "Very well, sweetling. We shall make you a charm to allow our flying messengers to find you more easily. I will need a raven feather - one of yours won't do. I'll also need something from each of those you'd like it to affect. Hair or a bit of clothing from yourself and that Dark Star, if it is just the two of you. That, and the sap from a Wicker Woman might just about do it." Remi has received a quest from Ludo! - Complete a thread getting a feather from a messenger raven - Complete a thread collecting samples from those who would be included in the charm's radius - Complete a thread collecting the sap from a Wicker Woman

REMI

the lullaby

I don't know who I am,
& I don't know who I'll be

Raising a brow, the alchemist can only nod in agreement. Strange friends he had indeed. And ones that he didn't always want to make himself readily found by. But then, perhaps that was merely more of his selfishness that he needed to get over.

Narrowing his eyes a touch at the raggedy god, Remi just shakes his head. "Well I should think not, given I'm not a raven." He says a touch briskly, though no doubt the comment was made to reinforce the continued notion of his denseness. "Oh, more sap is it?" The alchemist grins, a dangerously pleased curve revealing white teeth beneath. A wicker woman sounded precisely like the sort of thing he might like to sink his claws into.

"Until then..." Shrinking down, the pale hawk lifting off of the forest floor and aiming a wing toward Ludo, the Lullaby trills brightly as he rises toward the tree tops

...you're it.


~FIN

But there's a light up in the attic
and i swear it's calling me

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!