little gods

the earth has music for those who listen

"You mean like when we tickle Pa's feet while he's sleeping and he gets all red?" Mateo grins - the Star's ticklish feet are a well kept secret from the rest of the world, and it is a miracle that the boy hasn't been accidentally mule kicked by a demigod for his audacity. "Or when the flower lady next door has too many posies that are all brown and dried up, and she swears a lot?"

Drawn back to the matter at hand, to the sieves and the riverbank, Mateo's blue eyes grow big and he nods. "Yes, the rocks!" he gushes, turning as if to walk back to them before remembering the reptilian friends they had made. Humming out loud to match his father's expression, he shifts from foot to foot. "They might like the Celes-team?" he suggests; the gardens would have a lot of trees for them to play in. "But... they already have a home here, don't they Da? We should put them back."

REMI

the lullaby

"Exactly like that." Remi agrees, finding no flaws in either of his son's examples. 'She over waters them' The alchemist adds as he leans down, whispering conspiratorially in his son's ear.

As Mateo turns with bright enthusiasm, the alchemist just waits for the boy to remember what it was they were in the process of doing, and discussing. Predictably Mateo does remember, earning a grin from his father. "They might, yes. But the Celestine is just a place for animals to rest while they are healing. I do not think our little friends are in need of that." Finally the boy arrives at the right conclusion, and it's with a smile that radiates pride that Remi nods. "They do. And friends." He agrees. Walking toward a tree, the alchemist nudges the snakes up into the branches. With small pulses of their tongues they eventually leave Remi's shoulder and curls, looping themselves back amidst the vines.

"Okay." Looking back toward the Waterways, Remi tilts his head and offers his son a studious look. "Do you remember how to say ocean, in the travelling tongue?"

Maybe it's my fault for forgetting
Who I was when I was mine.

I've come to realize this one thing:
You couldn't fix what I couldn't find

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

the earth has music for those who listen

"Oh no." Mateo's whisper back is not so much conspiratory as it is devastated, the boys hands coming up to press over his mouth, like his father has just told him something truly awful. He will likely tell the florist as much in the days to come, and will probably get away with it too, being a child. For now, though, he watches Remi feed the snakes back into the trees with twinkling blue eyes and round, dimples cheeks. "And friends," he confirms, bobbing his head in a nod.

Then it's back to the waterways, and the boy winds a hand up to clasp his father's fingers, the gesture automatic for when they go walking down by the water. "Mmm...?" He sucks in his bottom lip, before releasing it with a gentle pop!

"Oceano," he replies, beaming up at Remi. His pronunciation is still getting there, but the music in the word, the lilt and intonation is all an identical mimicry from the alchemist.

REMI

the lullaby

"Perfetto!" The boy who had once learned such words himself would have never imagined that he would have son to teach them to one day. Nor would the young man he grew up to be, believe that he could do so without feeling the constant sting of loss. It's still there, in the recesses of his mind, but nestled as it is amongst much more sweet memories, it doesn't hurt quite the way Remi always believed it would.

"And how do we say sky?" He wonders, reaching out for their sieves and handing one to his son. What Ludo needs these stones for, especially collected in this way, Remi has no idea. That it makes a perfect outing for father and son was likely not at all part of the herald's thinking, but the alchemist is happy to take it as such just the same.

Shoeless, it takes but a moment for Remi to roll his pant legs up to the knees and wade into the water. "Now, why don't you show me how to do it." Mateo has never done this before, and the alchemist is all too eager to hear how this is meant to go from the creative and curious mind of his son.

Maybe it's my fault for forgetting
Who I was when I was mine.

I've come to realize this one thing:
You couldn't fix what I couldn't find

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

the earth has music for those who listen

"Sky...?" That's a bit more difficult, Mateo bending down to clumsily push his own pant legs up (one falls back down instantly and he neither notices nor cares). "Chello," he tries, remembering it was something like that and blinking up at his father for confirmation. Accepting the sieve, he doesn't wade out too deep into the water, sticking to splashing around up to his ankles.

"I don't know how to do it, Da," he says to Remi, as if his father might have forgotten that much, but the alchemist is right in that it won't stop Mateo even for a moment. Standing with his sieve in both hands, he blinks between the tool and the sand and silt beneath them, before suddenly turning the sieve upside down and throwing it at the water. "You can't run from me, rocks!" he shouts, crouching down to peek under the sieve to check if he's caught anything.

"I got one!" he announces, digging around under it to pull out a stone, showing it off proudly to Remi.

REMI

the lullaby

"Do not put so much emphasis on the l sound." Remi advises with a smile. "Cielo—" As he says it, Remi uses his fingers like a wave to show where the emphasis should be. "You were very close."

"Well if you do not know how to do it, how will we catch the rocks?" The alchemist wonders, looking playfully flustered and unsure. Watching Mateo's strategy, Remi taps a finger against his chin. "So are you using the sieve for shadow? Is that how you are catching them?" Wonderingly, Remi mimics Mateo's antics; tossing the sieve upside into the water, Remi begins to paw at the sand beneath but succeeds only in disturbing it until the water is no longer clear. "Mmmm. I wonder if putting the sieve on top is making them harder to see? What if I put it below, do you think?"

Maybe it's my fault for forgetting
Who I was when I was mine.

I've come to realize this one thing:
You couldn't fix what I couldn't find

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

the earth has music for those who listen

"Ch... Ss... cielo." Mateo sounds it out until he thinks he's got it right, all the while clutching his little stone and toddling back to the bank to place it down. "Like that?" he asks, returning to his sieve and watching triumphantly as his father copies him, only for the expression to fade when the water grows muddy and the alchemist emerges rock-less. "Oh," he says, tilting his head and listening carefully to the ongoing investigation.

"Maybe," he says slowly, flipping his sieve and digging it deep into the sand and water. When he hefts it back up, there's a lot of silt and pebbles in it, Mateo gasping and picking through the sieve to get to the rocks. (He is neither strong nor knowlegeable enough to think of picking up the sieve and shaking all the sand away). "You did it, Da! You figured it out."

REMI

the lullaby

Patiently Remi waits, though inside his mouth his tongue is performing the acrobatics necessary to complete the sounds properly. Finally stumbling upon it, the alchemist beams proudly down at his son, nodding a resounding yes "Last one. Today we are going to learn a new word. Sognare. Can you try? So - na - re." Remi repeats, slower.

Watching as if unsure of what will happen, Remi gasps loudly at all the stones collected in Mateo's sieve. "We did it." The alchemist beams. "I would never have thought of it without watching you try first." Failure was never a bad thing. One never knew what triumph would lead from a dead end. Scooping up some sand, wordlessly Remi sifts it through, letting the water wash away all but the rocks. 'Ah! How easy it is now!"

Maybe it's my fault for forgetting
Who I was when I was mine.

I've come to realize this one thing:
You couldn't fix what I couldn't find

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

the earth has music for those who listen

"A new word?" Always thirsty for knowledge, Mateo smiles brightly up at his father, straightening up with his rocks in hand to try and listen for the pronounciation. He adds his stones to the pile and turns around, thinking hard before trying it on his tongue. "So-na-re. Sognare." Like a sponge to the language, the accent hugs around the word just as Remi's does, and Mateo splashes back into the water. "Sognare," he repeats. "Cielo. Oceano. What does the new word mean, Da?"

Knowing that they have worked together to achieve their success has pride swelling in the boy's chest, and he wades in a bit deeper to look as Remi sifts the sand with such ease. "Do we have enough rocks to make Ludo happy, do you think?" he asks, playfully splashing some water at his father at the same time.

REMI

the lullaby

It does wonders to Remi's heart to hear his son speak so. Years are carved from his face as the callouses around his heart are worn away and softened by the blue-eyed child beaming up at him. "It means dream." Remi replies with a sunny smile.

The alchemist says nothing as Mateo wades deeper—he's already given the boy a warning once, and if he has chosen to forget it, then he will learn a lesson about the importance of swimming lessons sooner rather than later—though he does shrug his shoulders. "I never know with Ludo. Maybe we should get one extra. That way we can bring it home for Sugar if Ludo does not want it."

As Remi is splashed, he looks toward his son with eyes suddenly dark and predatory. With a roar!, Remi lunges forward and just to the right of Mateo, shifting as he does so. Towering over the boy, the manticore half-rears into the air, slamming his massive paws down into the water to create mini tidal waves.

Maybe it's my fault for forgetting
Who I was when I was mine.

I've come to realize this one thing:
You couldn't fix what I couldn't find

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

the earth has music for those who listen

"Dream. It's very pretty," Mateo murmurs, wiggling his toes in the sand and pebbles. The water is up to his waist now, and it's true that he has forgotten all about caution in lieu of sieving for rocks and learning about the sky and the ocean in the travelling tongue - his attention span is not as big as his capacity to learn language, clearly. "When will we go dreaming again, Da?" he wonders, having collected up the rest of the stones (and one extra, for Ludo or for Sugar) only to see the alchemist give him the look.

Most might consider this terrifying, but for Mateo it means play, and the boy is already splashing back towards the shore when the manticore bellows and drenches him. It's with a scream of glee rather than horror that the boy is caught by the waves, washed right up onto the bank where he ends up tumbling and soaked and rolling along, surrounded by his rocks.

"Da, you made the pebbles run away!" he protests.

REMI

the lullaby

"Tomorrow evening, perhaps. I think we might even go dreaming into the Woods to find Vai. Would you like to visit nonna vai in the boschi?" Learning from context was likely much easier than simply vocabulary lessons.

Strange as it is to see a large bastardized lion like Remi pouncing in the shallows, pounce he does. Delicately he mouths the back of Mateo's little body as the boy splashes away, roaring his success much to the dismay of those walking along the waterway. Shifting back, on his knees in the shallows with his arms around his son, Remi huffs a breathless laugh into Mateo's dark curls. "They had the good sense to run away unlike some one." He points out, pretending to gobble away at Mateo's ear.

'You do not always need to be the fastest, but when out running a predator, you just need to be faster than the slowest of them. And unfortunately, it seems the rocks were faster than you this time."

Maybe it's my fault for forgetting
Who I was when I was mine.

I've come to realize this one thing:
You couldn't fix what I couldn't find

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

the earth has music for those who listen

Mateo very much wants to visit nonna vai in the boschi, but unfortunately he's not able to continue the conversation in the travelling tongue or otherwise, because here he is being swept away and nommed on by his beast of a father. "Da, nooo! He cackles his protest, wiggling around but of course being unable to do anything with Remi's arms around him and his ear being devoured.

"They didn't run away! They had help, Da," he continues, pointing at where the rocks have scattered due to Mateo dropping them when he fell. "I was being their legs, see? I helped." Because apparently that is the boy's role, when running from predators. To self-sacrifice and help. "And we all made it, because you are bigger and scarier than any other predator, right?"

REMI

the lullaby

Whispers of what??? and should we help him?? go unanswered as Remi lavishes his son in beastly affection. As far as he's concerned, he's been Governor in near enough memory that seeing a manticore along the shores shouldn't be too concerning. For those newer to Torchline, they're free to come introduce themselves to Remi anytime they like.

'Oh I see. So you sacrificed yourself so they could be safe? That is very admirable.' Pressing a kiss again the side of Mateo's neck, Remi grins. "Well, not always bigger." Sunjata and Jigano were certainly larger. "But scarier? Yes." The word is said with a growl, as Remi stands and sweeps Mateo up into his arms. Fluttering kisses into his son's curls, he sets him back down in the shallows. Both thoroughly soaked and now without any stones, Remi retrieves their sieves that they might start this process all over again.

~FIN

Maybe it's my fault for forgetting
Who I was when I was mine.

I've come to realize this one thing:
You couldn't fix what I couldn't find

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection