Beautiful Dreamer

Communication wasn't the easiest between sea and shore, but Hadama had been coming to help with the drylander's stargate often enough to send and receive a few messages. At the appointed day and time he surfaced within the Miana Pool and began a slow, unhurried swim towards the shallow verge where land met sea.

Twilight was a cool shore breeze and the smell of liana and hibiscus flowers carried over water, falling gently over the tropical coast. The last rays of the sun still painted the sky in vibrant pinks and lush violets, but the light faded swiftly towards the east where the first stars were already beginning to sparkle around the shy, pale curve of a slender crescent moon. The waves of the open ocean were low and calm tonight, a distant murmur along the shadowed shore, but the Pool's surface was only ruffled by the wind and the passage of the mermanta.

Dark skin and dark scales blended into the night, but the metallic coloring of his hair and tattooed scars still sparked with reflected light as he glided to the very edge of the oasis and found his favorite large rock to drape over, half-in and half-out of the water while he looked around curiously for the Dreamer.

Remi

REMI

the lullaby

Soon darkness would overtake the stars and all would be lost into the velvet pitch of LongNight. For now, though, the world was ablaze with colour and light for those who knew where to look and how to appreciate such things. Indeed, the glint of Hadama's scales and the reflection of his eyes in the low light seemed to reach out, prodding the Lullaby's predatory senses and capturing his attention. Despite the near-immediate urge to grow claws and prowl towards the shoreline, Remi instead raises a hand to offer a single wave as he makes his way closer.

"I am sorry I could not come sooner." He offers with an apologetic chuckle and boyish tilt of his head. "Things have been busier than I expected in the Greatwood." They would become busier still in the coming days and weeks, but that was not for Remi to know.

"How have you been?"

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

Hadama pulled himself onto an upthrust rock that had tumbled down from Apopo in some distant age, lower half comfortably submerged in the Pool while he could regard Remi without quite so much crick on his neck. "Busy here, too," he agreed, unbothered by the delay in his calm, patient way. "But I have been well. I have," he added slowly, green eyes sparkling with that subtle humor that was often hidden behind his stoic expression, "learned about chocolate." Thanks to Melita and the sweets they had procured for Ludo in Leafchange.

He tilted his head courteously towards Remi in return. "Have you and your family been well?"

REMI

the lullaby

Remi's eyebrows raise both out of genuine interest in what Hadama is about to say, but also because of the drama the mermanta's expression suggests. "No" The alchemist whispers in a disbelieving tone. Placing a hand to his chest and turning his head as if unable to stomach the idea, he gives his head a stern shake. "You have only learned of chocolate just now? And to think of how much time I spoke to you of dreams when I could have been filling your mouth with candies instead." Tutting at himself, Remi offers the mermanta and apologetic smile.  

"Well?" He muses with a soft shrug. "Well enough I suppose. Two of my children, my twins, have taken it upon themselves to visit Frey and age themselves into their late-teens. I...had not been expecting it, but.." Again, he shrugs as if to say, children.

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

His slender whip of a manta tail sliced through the water beneath the still surface of the pool in appreciation of Remi's performance, and Hadama nodded mock-solemnly. "I am afraid so. I have also learned that it does not survive well underwater." Truly a travesty the merfolk unknowingly suffered every day.

The mermanta listened thoughtfully to the strange tale that Remi spun, bemused at the unexpected turn of events. The silence stretched for some time after that as found himself at a loss for words. Eventually, he admitted: "I had not realized... that was an option, for a child." Though in his own childhood there had been no herald gods to grant such wishes.

Green eyes rose briefly to meet Remi's before glancing away in quiet concern. "Do they seem happy with their choice?"

REMI

the lullaby

"Perhaps you could use air magic to create a barrier around it? Or—" Remi leans forward. "—you could be the first to invent a water-resistant chocolate." Tilting his head encouragingly, the alchemist grins.

"Mmm." Like the waves, the conversation turned over and with it brought a solemn expression to Remi's face. "Yes. From what I understand the old gods and the Voice do their best to make sure that they are presented with all the information needed when making a choice like aging themselves up, or attuning or what have you, but..." Like any father might, Remi can only shake his head.

"Flora does, from what I can tell. She has moved here, actually. Quite quick to assert her independence, that one. Enzo will likely follow shortly behind."

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 merman paused at the suggestion of water-resistant chocolate, eyes unfocusing a little as the intriguing idea took hold and began to work. "Hmm... perhaps..." he mused distractedly, gears turning. It was certainly something to tuck away for further consideration later.

At the moment, talk of gods and prayers and miraculously-aging children were more pertinent and he turned his attention back on Remi as the tale continued to unfold. He listened quietly, learning something new about the world and the recently-returned gods, but at the name the demigod mentioned he tilted his head in cautious recognition. "I think I have met her," he said slowly. "Blonde, and lively? Maeve introduced us. A charming young woman." Someone he would have liked to introduce his young friend Chrysaora to, as another vivacious young lady of the coast.

His eyes returned to Remi contemplatively for a moment, warmly curious. "Will you come visit Torchline more often?"

REMI

the lullaby

However you might describe Remi in terms of being a parent, protective was certainly an adjective that would be at the top of the list. Narrowing his eyes as his jaw takes on a predatory stiffness, the alchemist nods, not likely the way the mermanta used the words lively or charming. "She might not look it, but she is still very a much a child." He says carefully as if the implication of your mental youth might be enough to dissuade the merman from the thoughts Remi could only assume were swirling about in his head.

Taking a breath to clear his thoughts, the Lullaby rolls his shoulders in an effort to relax. "Possibly. I have had strange associations and ties to Torchline over the years. Sometimes I find it relaxing here, other times...not so much. I was Governor for a time, and my first child has a grave by the lighthouse." He adds in a significantly more subdued and soft voice.

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 tension that slid through the air was palpable and Hadama went very still and watched Remi warily. After a moment he nodded slowly much as one would to appease a much larger predator. "Yes," was all he said; acknowledgment and agreement in one, uncertain of what had triggered the shift in atmosphere.

Some of it drained away and the mermanta dared to breathe again. The governorship he had heard of. The child, he had not. He offered no condolences but bowed his head deeply in respect for the man's loss and let the silence rest for long, slow heartbeats before he looked up again.

"What is needed for our dreaming?" A simple question for a fascinatingly complex magic and the man that wielded it.

REMI

the lullaby

With a heavy sigh, Remi rubs at one of his eyes with the heel of his ruined hand as if whatever had irritated him was behind his lashes instead of festering in his soul. "Sorry." He murmurs, sounding tired but apologetic even so.

Letting his hand drop, Remi glances around the pool before returning his stare to the mermanta within it. "You need to remain partially in the water, yes? We will both need to be asleep, so I wonder.." Shifting to lay down at the water's edge, Remi shimmies his shoulders until one of his arms was comfortably in the water. "If you were to be put to sleep, floating near the edge just here, would that suit you?"

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 apology was unexpected, but Hadama relaxed as the danger bled out of the air and gave a quiet nod of acceptance. No harm had come to him and the awkwardness washed away with the tide, easily put behind them.

Seeing what Remi was up to, the mermanta slipped off his rock and swam to meet the other man at the place he had chosen. The water was shallow enough to be of some concern, but he was mostly submerged while lying flat and this way he wouldn't float away in the current while unconscious. "Indeed," he agreed, reaching out to meet the outstretched hand and close his own fingers gently around it. "Are you comfortable?" A relative question given that they were both laying on the ground; but the sand was soft here and the dusk was peaceful.

REMI

the lullaby

Hissing in a sharp breath as Hadama's hand finds his own, the alchemist tries not to break the contact even as his eyes squeeze shut against the sudden surge of the mermanta's emotions. "Sorry, I...I should have said." Remi mumbles on an exhale, lost in a swirl of deep green curiosity and endless blue patience wafting from the mermanta's fingertips. "When I touch someone...I can feel their emotions." Even after all these years it was easy to forget, but quickly Remi settled again.

"Comfortable enough." Remi agrees with a nod, before giving the mermanta a last moment or so to back out before setting him to sleep. Closing his fingers more tightly to keep them together, the Lullaby closed his eyes as well, and then...

...sunlight filters through the thick foliage of the Greatwood. Will 'o wisps dance back and forth between the beams as if playing some sort of game followed by a small conglomerate of spriggans. Standing with his arms folded comfortably across his chest is Remi, looking more boyish for his lack of scars. "I was not sure what sort of body you would want and I did not want to assume..." He says, his accent thicker here, as he nods towards Hadama, who, was still in possession of his aquatic lower half.

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

There was a sense of surprise quickly followed by calm acceptance to Remi's revelation; emotions were often shared through the telepathic bond and though Hadama was a quiet man he was not an intentionally secretive one.

Nor was he the type to back out once he'd set his mind to trying something, and his curiosity had not dimmed in the seasons since Remi had shown him the vision of the Greatwood in the setting sun. He waited for the magic to take hold and when it did...

... He looked around the Greatwood, in the Greatwood as a human would see it, for long moments, drinking it in. Eventually green eyes settled on Remi, taking in the changes there before turning down towards his own body. As if he'd needed proof that they were dreaming he floated just above the forest loam. "Some among my people can take a human form. Briefly." He tilted his head in consideration, looking to Remi once more as if fixing the man's shape in his mind before nodding to himself and willing the change in dreaming.

Tail became legs, formed as he had come to recognize them in his human acquaintances, but mostly hidden beneath a long skirt of gold-streaked manta skin wrapped around his waist that fell demurely to his ankles. (Less for modesty than self-conscious concern that his dream-legs were not quite right.)

"What is your favorite place here?" he asked then, trusting to his guide's experience in this strange and magical land.

REMI

the lullaby

Politely the alchemist waited. In dreams where one could become anything at all that they wished, some took quite a long time to puzzle out precisely what that was. Hadama’s difficulties were perhaps the most understandable of any that Remi had encountered, and so it was with a quiet smile and his eyes on the sunlight dripping through the foliage (his mind ensuring that it was all just as it should be), that Remi waited for the mermanta to settle on his appendages.

Dropping his gaze with a warm smile, Hadama’s question had Remi inhaling a thoughtful breath that seemed to colour his expression into something boyish and considerate. “My favourite place is perhaps not something you would be very interested in, given that it is a waterfall.” He admits with a chuckle. “I am more than happy to take you though. Time will bend around us here, so we have no need to hurry.” So saying he turns slowly that Hadama might infer the direction they were going to walk, and, with Remi’s back turned, he could work out for himself how his legs were meant to work.

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