I live for the applause

a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind

Soooooooo fuck Torchline, land of beaches and sun and dragons who bite out feathers. The Greatwood makes a decent change, truth be told, and portals? Portals are weird. Still, the hows and whys of getting there are far beyond Arsen's thoughts as he freewheels through the trees in full shift. Ink black feathers sharply contrast the vibrant colours of the leaves - but everything here seems to be bright. He likes it. Reminds him of home, a bit.

It's time for a break, though, and he's stopped for a bit. To an onlooker he's either very interested in his own reflection in the Crimson Cataract, or he can't decide whether to take a drink or not. And honestly? It's a bit of both, the harpy cocking his head at the ruby depths, admiring the red self that looks back at him. He wants to dip a talon in, just to see what happens. Just to ruin it, in case it's perfect.

Arsen

my heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb

Hope you like red.

The growl isn't a warning so much as a casual observation. The longer the harpy looks, the longer he's looked at, and feathers and talons aside, the Lullaby can't imagine it'll be much longer before the red lichen that colours the crimson cataract reach up to try and encourage the harpy into a watery death.

It isn't often that new faces appear in the Greatwood. Luckily the alchemist is here alone today, and not chaperoning Ianto and Mateo. Had they been with him, his reaction to seeing a fellow mythical creature would have been decidedly more hostile. As it is though the manticore merely raises his articulated tail as if waving to the harpy, that Arsen might have some idea where the voice has come from.

THE LULLABY

it's no coincidence i've come, & i can die when i'm done

a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind

Feathers ruffle, only for a moment, rippling across the harpy's form in a display that causes blues and greens to shimmer in the shadows of his plumage. Eyes as deep and dark and black as the rest of the feathers flash up in a face that's ghost pale in comparison, flecked with markings that make him appear splashed with ink. Depends on where it's comin' from, he purrs through the Attuned bond in comparison, the great, curved talons of his feet digging further into the mud.

Sight of the manticore has suspicion prickling through the bond, then - after a recent encounter with a dragon, and with flight feathers still growing back in, he's not keen for a repeat performance. Still, doesn't really stop him from making decisions that some would consider stupid, or reckless. You throw somethin' in the pool, make it bleed? he wonders, jutting his chin at the crimson waters.

Arsen

my heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb

I should think that's fairly obvious. The manticore rumbles back in return. This is the strange thing about the meeting of two mythical creatures: both are apex predators in their own domains, so neither fear the other in ways other animals might.

Turning a pale seaglass stare toward the water as if trying to remember if he was the cause of the red, the manticore shifts his wings across his back as he shifts in his mossy-bed against a tangled treetrunk. Not this time. Remi replies with a hint of a feral smirk in his mental voice. There's a predatory laziness there too, his relaxed posture suggesting that, despite the harpy's plumage display and brazen attitude, there's nothing he finds intimidating. By all means go ahead and see for yourself what causes the water to be so red. The Lullaby adds, flashing a shark-toothed smile.

THE LULLABY

it's no coincidence i've come, & i can die when i'm done

a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind

Merely grunting in response, Arsen does peek a little closer at the water again, though there's no doubt that he's already made measure of the hulking creature across the water. Predatory laziness drips from Remi's presence, but the harpy is all bunched muscles and feathers primed to fly. Part of it is nature - birds are always ready to fly, after all - but the rest is knowledge that he's in another's territory. And things can and do change at lightning speeds. Shame. I'd like to see what you kill that makes so much red, he mutters.

At the suggestion he see for himself, the harpy gives a smirk of his own, though humanoid as his shift is, he needs no mental grins. Granted, neither does the stranger before him, what with the shark teeth and all. Still, with his eyes still fixed on the manticore's, a talon snaps out, pinning, grabbing, snatching, and when Arsen lifts it, along with a clump of dirt and a great deal of grass, there's also a wiggling dormouse in his grip.

He removes it from the talon with clawed fingers, tossing it into the water. Where it immediately comes into contact with the lichen, and disappears into a plume of red. "Gross," he grates out, hopping back instinctively.

Arsen

my heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb

I don't leave messes behind, when I kill. It might be menacingly said, but it's quite true. When the Lullaby is the last thing seen he is careful to make sure that their bodies reach an appropriate resting place with family or friends. When it comes to animals and killing for food? The manticore's appetite is such that nothing ever goes to waste.

Remi licks his lips.

Green eyes dart at the sudden movement, and when it's a mouse that Arsen has found for himself, the manticore's eyes nearly darken with boredom. However as the harpy carelessly throws it into the water, Remi's ears flatten slightly amidst his halo of mane.

If you're looking for excitement, why not take a swim? Better yet, I guarantee there's something that will hold your interest behind the waterfall.

THE LULLABY

it's no coincidence i've come, & i can die when i'm done

a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind

Yeah, right. Killing's always messy, he drawls back, scrunching his nose at the lichen covered mouse and finally straightening up. Feathered arms fanned with wings stretch high above his head, and he regards the manticore for the first time as something that might be worthy of proper attention.

Who said I'm lookin' for excitement? Besides, I ain't swimmin' in there. he snorts at the pool, though black eyes do flash towards the waterfall. Why, what's behind there? Obviously he wants to know, talons sinking into the soft earth as he slowly, almost innocuously, brings himself a bit closer to where the beast rests beneath the tree.

From waterfall back to manticore, Arsen drops into another crouch, as if trying to get the measure of both.

Arsen

my heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb

There is a confident smugness that radiates from the manticore at that, a silent conviction that no, killing is not always messy. Not for experts. I can show you, if you want. The manticore's tail flicks in the moss.

You just seem like the type. Remi replies with a leonine shrug. Arsen seemed all brash answers and youthful bravado. If he was right about that, he probably was right about the harpy looking for adventure. But then again, the Lullaby wasn't well versed on the difference between looking for adventure and just looking to be a shit.

The real cause of the red water. A creature who can bless any she chooses.. And probably kill them, too. Once, long, long ago, blinded from Arduinna and uncertain about the world he was living in, Remi had been blessed by the undine. Now, guardian of this wood in a strange way, he felt protective of her, but that didn't mean he was opposed to leading this interloper into her lair and letting her deal with him.

THE LULLABY

it's no coincidence i've come, & i can die when i'm done

a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind

Yeah? Go ahead. Bet you leave a carcass, The hulking size of the creature lounging beneath the tree speaks of blood spatters and violence, and he's keen to see this delicate work - of course believing none of it. An expert. He snorts, hopping closer still - the movements are reminiscent of a corvid, which probably explains a lot about his nature as well. Listening to tales about the creature behind the waterfall, Arsen scoffs and pulls a face at Remi. "Nah," he decides, breaking their telepathic silence.

"I'm blessed enough, thanks." Have you seen him? He's close enough now to the manticore to practically be dwarfed in his shadow, crouched in the grass, plumage spread about him to soak up the Leafchange sun. "What the fuck are you, anyways? King of the forest?"

Arsen

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

Come a bit closer and you can see first hand. It isn't like the alchemist to be so outwardly snarky to complete strangers, but given the limitations on how he's able to spend his time these days and with no one around to call him out on being an asshole, the Lullaby was falling back into old habits.

Close enough now for the Lullaby to get the full measure of the man before him—another with blue eyes, which was just par for the course by now—Remi shifts into his human form, though keeps his wings. It seems only fitting, given the winged man before him. He doesn't comment on just how blessed Arsen is, though once upon a time such a rugged face would have been his undoing. Now he just meets the man's stare with cool green eyes and shrugs.

"What, never seen a manticore before?" The Lullaby asks, making no attempt to smooth out his accent for this stranger.

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind

The shift to human form is perhaps more startling than anything else that has happened so far in this meeting, and Arsen pauses in the way one of his talons has been stretching languidly across the grass, maybe inching towards a fluffy tail so that he might have been able to tug at it. Now there's no tail, just wings, and a man whose reputation precedes him. "Fuck me," he drawls, "you're the Lullaby, ain't you?" Flopping back to sit on his backside, a position that makes the harpy look more gangly and awkward than the graceful crouch, he looks Remi up and down.

"A'right, I take it back. I bet you don't make a mess when you kill," he says through a scoff - somehow, the move to human form makes the Lullaby seem less intimidating and dangerous, though every tale Arsen has heard says that the very opposite is true. "What you doin' out here?"

Arsen

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

Tempted to say, no thanks in response to Arsen's exclamation, Remi merely studies the man for a moment before slowly nodding. That his reputation proceeds him is not new, and though infamy is not something he draws any sort of pleasure from, it is perhaps fortuitous just now. For Arsen's sake anyway, that he doesn't challenge the alchemist to make good on any of his offers.

"Well, if you know who I am, then you likely know what I do." Remi smiles, looking boyishly harmless. "Perhaps it isn't just happenstance we're here at the same time. Maybe I was told I'd find you here." Remi plucks a piece of grass from beside him and begins to slowly and dexterously tie it in a knot.

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind

"Obviously. Sorry about the mouse, I guess." It's a belated apology and it doesn't sound as though he means it one bit, but it feels like the sort of thing you should say to a demigod who gives people nice, pretty, happy deaths. Still, too young and brazen for awe to properly bleed into respect just yet, Arsen merely wiggles his talons in the dirt and watches for worms while Remi ties his knots in the grass.

Still, his black gaze shoots up to hear that maybe the Lullaby has been waiting for him, before promptly narrowing Arsen is caught between arrogant pride and worry that he's apparently at death's door, given the nature of the man before him. "Oh, yeah? And what'd you want with me?" he wants to know. Suddenly he's not so keen to be close.

Arsen

REMI

the alchemist

Walk me home in the dead of night,
'Cause I can't be alone with all that's on my mind

The Lullaby shrugs slightly. "Killing for sport sets a bad example." He muses, eyes on the blade of grass in his fingers. "How would you like it if I did the same to you?" The question is casually enough asked, and though he was sure Arsen would put up a good fight, there was no doubt in Remi's mind at all who the victor of the two of them would be.

"Well, if that was the case, I'd want to kill you. I do make it as pleasant as possible." Stretching forward a relatively innocuous hand, a knotted blade of grass hanging off one of his fingers, the alchemist waggles his fingers toward the other man. "Take my hand, and I'll show you what I mean." Would Arsen immediately die? Was the alchemist just weirdly lonely and looking for physical contact? Had too much isolation made him finally lose his mind?

So say you'll stay with me tonight.
'Cause there is so much wrong going on outside

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!