[se] horizons sing

Isla

It's of absolutely no surprise that Isla thoroughly enjoys travelling by skyship, even though she turns out to be worse at steering the thing than Mateo (and that's saying something - there's a reason Ever is the one who moves the ship around). In the interests of safety, then, she's very happily playing her part as passenger, leaning out over the railing to take in the Greatwood from above.

The sun has almost set, and with Leafchange already painting the forest in a riot of colours, the dying light almost makes it seem aflame. Sighing out her awe and resisting the urge to try and jump onto one of the treetops as they start to glide by, she instead prowls up to stand with Remi, a wild look in her eyes and a fanged grin on her face. "Was it always this beautiful?" she asks. "I feel like I've been missing out."

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

Having taken a page from his husband's book and used his duplicate to do some of the flying for him so that he could once again play tour guide for Isla, nevertheless, there was just one Lullaby aboard the skyship when dusk started to settle around them. It was a strange thing to say he didn't trust his duplicate to pilot the ship, and yet...well, that's basically what it came down to.

"Yes and no." Remi's eyes glance down at Isla, his breath momentarily caught in his throat by the fading light in her predatory stare, before he sips in a small mouthful of air and smiles. "Back in my day, this was called the Stone Song. As you can imagine a symphony is meant to imply just how much larger it is now." He explains, sounding somewhat whistful and oddly jealous as well. "You can see how broken up it is now-" Remi nods with his chin toward the fractures in the earth, making the Greatwood appear like a series of islands. "It was never like that before, though..." Narrowing his eyes as if he might be able to see the Mathair's tentacles roots holding everything today, Remi shakes his head and huffs out an amused breath. " The Mathair, the goddess of this place, holds it all together. She is quite the character. I think you would like her."

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

Soaking in everything that Remi wants to tell her about the Greatwood, old and new, Isla tries to peep around the cascade of lavender that covers one side of La Verbena, leaning out precariously over the railing. "And does it really sing?" she asks, of course having read more than one history of the place. From this height the only thing Isla can really hear is the hush of falling water and the chirp of songbirds at dusk, but that's plenty of music, if it's what the Greatwood is able to offer.

"Of course you've met her," she says of the goddess of the Greatwood; even if Remi hadn't been Guardian of the woods at the time, she'd expect as much from him. "Maybe we should go and pay her tree a visit while we're here, then," she suggests, but already she's distracted by the banks of the Stone Symphony that are growing steadily closer. "You know how to land this thing, right?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

"It absolutely does." Remi confirms as something inside of himself tenses and twists. "If you know how to listen." He adds before rolling one shoulder that he might stop the creeping tension that was trying to spread through his body.

"I...Yes, I have." Mentally backtracking to try and see if he'd sounded too arrogant in having mentioned the Mathair, the Lullaby smiles a touch bashfully. Not only had he met the Mathair, but he'd been among the group who had brought her back from the Feverlands, though perhaps that wasn't worth mentioning. Already the Lullaby felt as though he were too much when in the presence of anyone who wasn't Ronin, such that he simply cleared his throat quietly and didn't elaborate.

Conveniently Isla's question snaps Remi out of the strange reverie his mind was trying to drown him in, such that he shot her a flat stare over his shoulder and cocked his head. "No Isla, I built a skyship with my son and offered to fly us out here without knowing how to land it. I thought I would just crash her and then spend the rest of the time repairing her in the hopes that Mateo would not notice." Nuding her with a shoulder (gently, he hoped), Remi smiles and shakes his head as he turns his attention back to the wheel and the bow of the ship, looking for a place to set down La Verbena on the shoreline.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

There’s a nice smell in the air. Sweet, almost like vanilla? If you glance over you’ll notice some of the grass along the banks is in bloom, its flowers light and welcoming. Maybe you should collect some?

---

You’ve encountered sweetgrass. This counts as a common creature encounter for the purposes of levelling, but does not count as a Random Event for levelling or MP. There will be no further admin/re intervention. If you choose to follow this creature, you do so at your own risk, however, just having it in this thread is enough to satisfy your levelling requirements.

Sweetgrass (common) - A tall green grass that lines the banks of the Stone Symphony. It produces a slightly sweet, vanilla smell that attracts bugs to pollinate its light purple flowers. It is a common substitute to sugar in baking and can be found in many teas as well for its calming effect.

Isla

"That sounds like some Fae bullshit, if you ask me," Isla drawls of knowing how to listen, but given that this is Remi's old stomping grounds, and the Greatwood is, in fact, the sort of place to hold secret songs in its rivers, she tries to reserve judgement. Similarly, despite the Lullaby's bashful tone, she doesn't begrudge him his goddess meetings, his leadership stints, his adventures; he'd paid for it with war, after all, the same as everyone else.

"Well I'm glad you're the one who said it. I was worried we were just going to bluster our way through a landing without anyone admitting that w--AH!" Remi's gentle nudge has either coincided with an unfortunate sway of the boat, or it's nowhere near as gentle as he thinks it is, because the resulting shift in gravity has Isla falling ass over tit over the railing.

Luckily for them both, they're practically at ground level as it is, and she lands with a whump in a bank of sweetgrass. "Hey, Remi?" she calls up a few seconds later. "What the fuck?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

'Say that a little louder and you will absolutely find out what fae bullshit really is.' Remi says; the words are a warning but the smirk on his lips very much suggests that while he won't let any harm come to Isla, that he's more than happy to have her make her own mistakes.

As he inadvertently hip-checks Isla over the railing, Remi is torn between safely landing the boat and rushing to her. Rationality wins out and he manages to set La Verbena down in the sweetgrass where the current won't pull her out, before lunging over the side of the boat with his wings already unfurled so that he'd able to more or less glide to Isla's side. "Are you alright?" The brightness in Isla's voice has Remi more worried if anything, and as he kneels at her side he's scanning her body for any obvious signs of injury.

'I'm sorry, I didn't realize...I didn't know...' There was no succinct way of saying what he felt, such that he merely let his apology stutter out as his hands remained splayed over her, now far too afraid of touching her.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

If Fae bullshit is anything like Lullaby bullshit, maybe Isla will reconsider her views on respect for the Greatwood. For now, though, winded as she is and finding it impossibly funny such that catching her breath is even more difficult, there's very little reconsidering going on - or any thinking at all, as it happens. By the time Remi glides to her side the Remedy has at least got air back in her lungs, and though there's dirt streaked across her face and sweetgrass in her hair, she seems cheerful enough as she smiles up at her friend.

"Okay, but next time I get to push you overboard, how about that?" she asks with a sly raise of her eyebrows, the grin on her face barely contained. "On the plus side, I had a soft landing, and it smells great. What is this stuff?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

Recalling a certain moment wherein Isla had told him I won't break, Remi is hesitant to do much of anything save for gaze uncertainly down at the Remedy. Chuckling with relief, the Lullaby rolls his eyes and nods agreeably enough at her request. "I am starting to think I am never going to be out of your debt." He says with a huff, sitting back on his heels and recalling his wings with a soft wmmphh.

"This is what Mateo was after. It is called sweetgrass." So saying the Lullaby plucks a small sprig, twirling the purple blossom in his fingers before putting the stem into his mouth and biting down. "A little like vanilla, but distinctly its own." He explains, before the amusement disappears from his expression and he regards Isla with concerned green eyes. "Are you sure you are alright? I...' Ruffling a hand through his curls, Remi bites boyishly at the inside of his cheek. "..it is less that I do not know my own strength and more that I forget how.." Don't say weak. "..delicate everyone else is." Remi says with a shrug; everyone who isn't Ronin, anyway.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

"Good - that is exactly how I like it. One can't go wrong with a demigod in your debt, you know," Isla says with a wry smile, glancing around at the sweetgrass as Remi explains and letting her fingers dance through it for a moment or so. "And it just grows in the Greatwood? I can see why people enjoy coming here," she says, chuckling. As the amusement fades from Remi's expression, though, Isla at least gets herself into a sitting position in the hope that she can alleviate his worries.

She'll be sore and with a few bruises to show for it, and there's a bit of sweetgrass caught in her hair, but otherwise she feels relatively unharmed. "Well, at least you know now," she points out. "At least in the context of shoving people out of skyboats." Carefully rising to her feet and brushing off her clothes, Isla smiles to see La Verbena safely moored.

"Nice job," she remarks. "Shall we light some lanterns? It's almost dark."

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

Rolling his head to the side and huffing as if to suggest that Isla had missed his point completely, something in the shimmer of her gaze suggests that she hadn't, which makes the Lullaby both feel better and worse about the whole thing. 'Mmm. The fae use it in many of their tonics and the like. It can be brewed into teas and gins quite easily, but can also be used for more medicinal things as well." Whether that was just to make the taste more palatable or if it had any actual healing properties, Remi wasn't sure.

Glancing at the sweetgrass, it's Remi's right hand that reaches out to pluck it softly from her hair as he grins and nods. "Sure, now I know." He agrees. "Another successful experiment completed." Remi adds, rising only after Isla did and glancing around. 'No partial shifting for you then?' He wonders; surely molten tigers had night vision, but if Isla was worried about the dark, then perhaps the lack of attuned-traits went further than just the lack of the bond.

Reaching down, Remi gathers a handful of sweetgrass in one hand as his entire body suddenly bursts into flames. It's a quick enough shift that he has time to only light the tips of the sweetgrass before pulling the fire all the way back into himself that the entire bundle wouldn't go up. Thick white smoke erupts from the lilac blooms, sweetly scenting the air as he hands the firey bouquet to Isla.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

Her interest in the sweetgrass only grows as Remi describes its uses, Isla making a mental note to gather some to take back with them once they're done with their jaunt through the Greatwood. "Have you ever made sweetgrass gin?" she wonders, her smile growing a touch softer as the ghost hand teases the sprig from her fair hair, Isla getting gingerly to her feet and spending a second to make sure she really is in one piece.

"Mm? No, unfortunately not." She smiles apologetically. "And I'm so used to being able to see as an Ascended, I feel like I'm missing out nowadays." She's about to suggest going into the boat to gather some kindling, but of course here comes Swiss-army-Remi, and Isla can't wipe her smile off her face as she accepts the fragrant, burning bouquet.

"The first flowers you've given me in over two years, and they're on fire. There's some kind of fable in there, I think," she remarks, before padding back across to La Verbena and using her fire magic to tease the flames further to life. They wend through the air under her influence, lighting the various lamps on the exterior of the ship until the lavender glows in a halo of merry light. "How's that?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

REMI

the lullaby

there's a light that you give me
when I'm in shadow

"Not yet, no. Though..if I am already bringing some back for Mateo, I might as well experiment, mm?" Tilting his head thoughtfully, Remi nods, confirming that this is exactly what he'll do.

"I would tell you that it is all the same in the dark as it is in the light, but... we both know that is not true." The splay of colours was more subtle to be sure, but no less beautiful, nor was the world any less active for the lack of sunlight either.

"I think what you mean to say, is thank you Remi, they are beautiful Remi." The Lullaby quips immediately as if this might conceal the sudden flush of bashfulness he feels at realizing that yes, in a sense, he really had just given Isla a bouquet of flowers.

'Perfect. Now every predator and thief will know exactly where she is." The Lullaby jests. No doubt La Verbena, while filled with any number of valuable and eclectic items, would be quite safe here. The boat had been moored long enough in the Greatwood for most to know just whose son it belonged to, and for any predators ambling about? No amount of sweetgrass could conceal Remi's smell from any creature smart enough to take note.

there's a feeling you give me, an everglow

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Isla

"Exactly. I will even make the sacrifice of offering to be your first taste-tester, unless Ronin enjoys that particular job." Isla grins to Remi from the railing of the ship, quite enjoying meandering around on the deck by the light of the lanterns. "Thank you Remi. They are beautiful, Remi," she trills to him automatically, raising her eyebrows to ask whether that's good enough. The bouquet in question has long burnt to cinders now, of course, but it has provided light to the rest of the boat.

Which is a good and a bad thing, as Remi points out. But they've got a similar mindset, it seems, because Isla looks equally as skeptical that anything will come for La Verbena. "I'm sure the Lullaby's presence in the Greatwood hasn't gone unnoticed either," she points out for good measure, lingering next to the lavender cascade and inhaling the scent of sweetgrass mingling with the fragrance of the flowers. "Did Mateo cultivate all of this himself?" she asks.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything