perfect prisms

Mildew

Woo hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies

It had been a gradual change from the Wilds to Torchline, but the arrival at the coast had marked Mildew as officially away from her home. The sand beneath her feet, tentative but still burning Flowerbirth sun in the sky, bright and vibrant animals reflected in the exciting people milling about the port and shore. She must have looked naive to them, a bare-footed, seemingly young girl humming as she walked along the shore, but Mildew paid them no mind; she just wanted to see the sea.

Mildew had been here before, but it had been centuries ago, before most of Haulani had been built. One of the pleasing things about entities as massive as the sea was that they didn't change all that much, even as everything around them grew and evolved; stepping her feet into the cold water felt just the same as it had done back then, when she had been a different person, a younger God.

She was quite happy to stand there for a long time, feet sinking into the soft underwater sand and hands out stretched to catch the sea air and droplets of water that breezed about. Eventually she began to walk down the edge of the foaming surf, picking up shells and seaweed and gathering them into her bag that hung on her hip.

She got the moon in her eye

he said "i bet you don't remember me"

Gods but it has been a weird few days. From reaffirming his sexuality thanks to one of the strangest sexual encounters he's ever had, to going on a date with someone who wasn't his husband, to learning Phoebe was now a demigod....it was all a lot. To distract himself from all the high-level drama he's found himself in, Remi is currently trying to collect a rainbow assortment of stones to bring home to Mateo.

"Same—" Remi calls out toward Mildew. He points to the bag on his shoulder, before nodding her way. We're both collecting things, his boyish smile seems to suggest. Having been accused of wallowing, and not making friends, the alchemist had decided to try and be nice for a change. It had once come so easily to him, but stepping into it now was like putting on a pair of shoes that fit just a bit too snuggly. Whether they would stretch to accommodate what he'd become now, only time would tell.

THE ALCHEMIST

and i said, "only every other memory".

Mildew

Woo hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies

She was peering down through the bubbling waves at what looked like a particularly nice striped shell when Mildew heard a shout; still unaccustomed to hearing other people around after so long in the Wilds away from human contact, she immediately looked up and saw that the owner of the voice was actually directing it at her. For a moment she blinked, trying to work out what he meant; when she realised, Mildew laughed and raised up her bag too.

It had been a long time since she'd been on the beach, but she remembered once collecting things on the shore with friends long ago. Eager to meet new faces in Torchline, she took advantage of Remi making the first contact and walked towards him, stepping confidently on the wet sand and stone without looking at her bare feet.

"What are you collecting, dear?" Mildew asked, peering a little closer at Remi's bag. "There are a lot of good ingredients here. Enough that I don't mind sharing." The smile on her lips, teasing and bright, implied she'd still share anyway.

She got the moon in her eye

he said "i bet you don't remember me"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that." Remi replies in an attempt to match the witch's playful tone. "I've recently started making alcohol again...Back when I lived in the woods, infusing them with berries and whatnot was all too easy. But here? I thought maybe I would try something new." So saying he opens his bag, revealing healthy clumps of kelp. In all likelihood, it would be too salty, but so what? "I will probably have to find something to balance it out. Have you got anything sweet in there? I could trade you..." Frowning, Remi peers deeper into his bag. All that is within, other than the kelp, are shiny stones that vaguely look like animals.

"Those are for my son," He explains with a crooked and proud smile, before realizing he hasn't a single thing at all to trade. "Or I could help you? What are you out here searching for?"

THE ALCHEMIST

and i said, "only every other memory".

Mildew

Woo hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies

"Alcohol?" Mildew asked with a surprised smile, tilting her head. It had been a long time since she'd had a drink and she'd never thought to make one from kelp. Potions, balms, skin treatments...but not alcohol. Maybe it was worth a try. "Oh, I have sweet things, dear. Hold on."

Holding her bag up closer to her face, Mildew rummaged through it; she liked to keep a good amount of various things on her, in the chance she'd need to make something on the fly. So far though, the trip to Torchline had been going well enough that she didn't think she'd need an emergency potion. Drawing out a little linen bag, she unfolded it in her hand, revealing a bunch of cloud berries collected from the Wilds. "These should add a good flavour to any drinks. I put them in tea, usually, but I think they'll do fine in yours." Handing them to Remi, she peered in at the rocks he said were for his son.

"How sweet. How old is he? I haven't seen a child in..." She paused, trying to think back, not realising how odd this might sound. "...Well over two hundred years."

Was she looking for anything in particular? Mildew glanced at her collection of shells and random bits and shook her head. "I'm just taking what I can find for my work. A bit of everything, really. You never know what will have the right power."

She got the moon in her eye

he said "i bet you don't remember me"

'Mmhmmm.' Flashing her a bright smile, unsure if her questioning tone was merely out of surprise or if she was conflicted about his alcohol creation somehow, Remi patiently waits to see what his demigoddess counterpart might have. "Oooh. What are these?" With an appreciative bounce of his eyebrows, Remi raises his palm to his nose, inhaling deeply. Had this been any sort of poison, the alchemist would have been done for. But it smells sweet and blue in a way that makes the tip of his tongue tingle and his smile grow wide. "These smell incredible. Where are they from?"

Smiling sweetly to think of Mateo, the alchemist's expression changes drastically at what follows the question. Mildew certainly didn't look like she was being sarcastic, and yet..? "He's ... well. His age is a bit funny, really." Remi says, itching at the back of his neck. "But he feels about five or so." Did that make sense? Did it make any less sense than Mildew having not seen a child for two hundred or so years?

'Oh, well....if you'd like any manticore feathers or poison, I'm your man.'

THE ALCHEMIST

and i said, "only every other memory".

Mildew

Woo hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies

"They're from... The Feverlands, they call it here, I think. Not a wonderful name, but...it'll have to do." To her it had always just been home, or at most a swamp; when she'd gone there so many years ago it hadn't had that name. "They grow along the edges of the rivers in bunches and I take as many as I can without taking from the animals." Because Mildew always knew to respect the life that had been there before she had, the bugs and creatures that made the swamp thrive.

Remi's confusion was missed, Mildew assuming he was taking a moment to think of his child's age; she'd met a lot of fathers without any idea. Though it seemed Mateos age was an actual mystery. Tilting her head, she smirked and raised an eyebrow, wondering why it was 'funny'. "Well, can he speak? Walk? Would you leave him on his own, or let him go off on an adventure?"

As for Manticore feathers and Poison...what a combination. "The feathers...I would love some of those, indeed. Where do you get them from?"

She got the moon in her eye

he said "i bet you don't remember me"

"The Feverlands?" Remi inhales sharply, straightening by degrees. "I...have business there. Are you familiar with them?" It sounded as though she might be more than one who merely passed by, if she was concerned for the ecosystem, but one could never be sure. Someone like himself would likely do the same.

'He can speak and walk. I would leave him on his own in his room, but not with a Wicker Woman.' He felt as though he was suddenly speaking in strangely prophetic prose, but found it difficult to answer Mildew any other way. "He does go on plenty of adventures, though not the kind likely to take his life or injury him in any way."

With an easy smile wings sprout from the alchemist's shoulders. Tawny and large, he curls one out that Mildew might select the feathers for herself. "I am about to start moulting so...they should pull out fairly easily." Which was both permission that she might go ahead and tug without worrying about him, as much as it was an answer to her question about where he sourced them.

THE ALCHEMIST

and i said, "only every other memory".

Mildew

Woo hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies

"Business, darling?" Mildew asked, clearly confused by that (unless he had to discuss trades with beetles, there wasn't much to do) but supposing she was willing to hear what it was he wanted to do. "I'm very familiar with the Feverlands. Some people have even said I am the Feverlands." She put her hand to her mouth and grinned mischievously, rather liking that insinuation.

Mildew nodded approvingly of what Remi had to say about his child. It had been a long time since she'd been involved in any raising of children, many names and lifetimes ago, but she was a firm believer in letting them go on their own journeys. "Well, you wouldn't want that. And does he have a mother or father other than yourself?" She asked politely, knowing most young families loved to gush about their partners and children.

Seeing the feathers appear on his shoulders was a fun surprise; Mildew laughed and reached to take one without hesitation, her desire to experiment with the new ingredient overtaking concerns about making Remi sting a little. Pinched and plucked away into her fingers, she overturned the feather a few times, holding it up to the light. "Would love to see you in all your glory, dear. Shifts like that are such a gift."

She got the moon in her eye

& i sing hallelujah, ripped through my veins

"Oh...?" It takes the alchemist a moment because of course it does. Clever as Remi is, putting the puzzle pieces together into a uniform picture has never quite been his strong suit. "Are you Mildew?" Frey had mentioned that there was a demigod who lived in the Feverlands. Who else but that sort of being would boast of literally being the swamp?

"Indeed. My husband Ronin." Remi replies with a warm blush he makes no effort to hide. "Though it was Ludo who helped our son into being." He adds, with no less warmth, though his smile does fade slightly.

Rather than answering, the Lullaby nods and retreats a step or two. Moulding and contorting such that the only thing which remains constant is the green of his eyes, the manticore spreads its wings to let the breeze ruffle softly through his feathers.

i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain

Coding base by Sky!

Mildew

Woo hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies

Mildew laughed again, further delighted to hear him use her newer name, the one she had come up with on a whim some years ago; she nodded. "Yes. I am. Any business you have in the Feverlands I should probably know about, hm?" It wouldn't pass her notice anyway; not much in the swamp did.

It was nice to see him smile as he did at the mention of his love; Mildew had gone many seasons without that kind of affection herself and now considered it a little beneath her, almost quaint. "I didn't know Ludo was in the business of making children." She commented, tapping her chin - usually she would have put that at Frey's doorstop, but maybe things had changed while she'd been away. "It has been so long since I've seen it though. Is it still all rags and darkness?"

Remi was truly charming her; he indulged Mildew's curiosity and shifted. "Oh, you are gorgeous!" She exclaimed, reaching out without hesitation to touch his side. "I don't know that I could spend time as a human after being this."

She got the moon in her eye

& i sing hallelujah, ripped through my veins

"Ah, probably, yes." Remi agrees with a blush. "I went to see Frey not so long ago months, and months ago now. I have taken up residence in the Greatwood you see. More than a year ago the Mathair was attacked. Frey said that I could find her in the Feverlands, recovering." All this he explained with a pained look, both because he hadn't known the Mathair was anything more than a tree, but also because of the continued tension between the ascended and everyone else.

'I do not believe it normally is." The alchemist agrees. "Usually, yes. Though it has taken to looking more and more like it once did." He adds; the black-eyed youth, with frozen skin and a shock of black hair.

Remi's manticore-instincts are not riled as Mildew appears. No part of him views her as a threat or as a meal. Stretching his wings over his fellow demigoddess like a canopy, he takes care to curl his tail high overhead to ensure she doesn't inadvertently prick herself and succumb to his poison.

i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain

Coding base by Sky!

Mildew

Woo hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies

Mildew normally would not have revealed the location of her special guest, but Remi was a fellow Demi-God (Remi Demi hehe) and mentioned the Goddesses name first; she nodded. "Yes, shes staying with me. Are you to guide her back to the woods? I'm sure she's eager to go home." Not having seen quite the level of Ascended destruction that had occurred to the Mathair's home, she didn't think it a problem that she could simply slip back into the branches and roots of her last body.

"Oh? That must be a sight to see." She tapped on her chin, wondering if she ought to leave an offering for the God of death; once she'd made toys quite regularly for it, carving them from dried gourds and wood found in the Feverlands. She could make a wonderful grass doll.

Spending a moment more admiring his coat and feathers, Mildew finally stood back, very impressed indeed. "Your child - can he transform like you?"

She got the moon in her eye

he said "i bet you don't remember me"

'That was the hope, yes. Frey had mentioned she might still be weak. I was planning on hunting for her that she might have some sustenance in order to make the journey. I..." Rubbing at the back of his neck apologetically, the alchemist shrugs. "..can normally bring others through dreams with me to cover vast differences, but I am not sure a tree-goddess could be so easily moved about." No, likely they would have to trek, unless of course the Mathair had a better solution.

The manticore gives his head a shake before Remi slips back into his own skin again. "No. Perhaps one day, if he chooses it. When I first came to this land I was an attuned, as I had been in the world I was in before. That was a life I...believed I chose at the time, but looking back, I never really had an option one way or another. I would like for Mateo to know all the paths that are before him, before he makes a choice."

THE ALCHEMIST

and i said, "only every other memory".