[se] they probably deserve it

Dantalion

but you can't be free

So far, the Hollowed Grounds has either impressed Danta more than it probably ought to, or it has caused him to question everything about his potential decision to move to the place. And now we come to Jack Tar Landing, which is curious, because it's evoked a sort of por que no los dos reaction in the Ancient. On the one hand, cool, docks. Ships, fishermen, a few merchant stalls selling supplies and the like, and even a skyport. More than he'd expected, by a thousand degrees.

On the other hand, everything - e v e r y t h i n g - is covered in a thick layer of cloud spider webbing. Though the cretins are nowhere to be found (likely squashed in similar expeditions to the one he'd led in the Inner Quarter), their steely silk is draped over stalls, along the boardwalk, and is even caught up among the sails of ships and skyboats. All in all, rather less impressive.

"Well this is some kind of bullshit," he remarks to nobody in particular.

'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

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

"Really? I thought it rather looked like spider silk." Comes a voice from behind the ancient, and though Remi isn't particularly known for his Dad-Jokes, the times they are a'changin'. With his arms folded comfortably over his chest and his sea-glass stare appraising the thick blanketing of spider silk that hung from every bow, masthead, and sail, the Lullaby huffs a sound to himself as his lips move with commentary he doesn't verbalize.

Turning his attention from the docks to the ancient, Remi regards the other man for a moment before something very like recognition sparks in his gaze. "Have I seen you somewhere..?" The Lullaby wonders, head inclined at an angle that might be avian or just downright predatory. In fact Remi had seen Danta before, though the man was just glimpsed between bodies during Flora's grand opening when the Lullaby's attention had been decidedly focused on just one man.

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!

Dantalion

but you can't be free

Glancing sharply over his shoulder, whatever sass is about to fizz off Danta's tongue promptly melts away at the sight of the hulking demigod on the approach. One might think it's intimidation or respect that renders him silent - and one would be fucking wrong. Wildly attracted in a way that doesn't really have words, Danta lets out a low, slow whistle and shakes his head.

Meeting the predatory (avian?) gaze with an equality he absolutely can't back up - not that he knows yet - the Ancient prowls a step or two closer. "If you have, I didn't see you," he purrs. "I'd remember a face like yours." Would the other man mind if he reaches out to squeeze his bicep, to see if it feels like marble as well as looking like it?

"Danta," he introduces himself.

'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

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

Looking a touch confused and off-put by the sound of the whistle, the Lullaby simply raises a brow in response as Danta stalks closer, opting to ignore it rather than, say, tearing the man's throat out. Gods help him if Ronin was here, though.

Given the only place the Lullaby had been recently had been Flora's opening, he assumed it must have been there. Certainly based on the colour of Danta's skinm the man seemed to have spent some time in the sun, but then the presence of his horns could equally well have meant he was bronze in virtue of being an ancient.

"Remi." The Lullaby responds in kind, before shifting his gaze from the ancient and back to the trappings of spider silk covering the harbour. 'Is it flammable, do you think?"

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!

At first it’s a murmur, then a symphony. Voices all out with laughter and conversation. As you look around the voices change to cries, screams. The words ‘Sparkbird’ and ‘Lady!’ call out in fearful tones. As a fin cuts through the water it becomes clear. You’ve just heard the fall of the Hollowed Grounds to the Sparkbird, recorded by the voices of passing Echo sharks. Good luck sleeping tonight.

---

You’ve encountered a pack of echo sharks. 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.

Echo Shark (common) - A dwarf species of shark known for hunting in packs, the Echo Shark can live in both freshwater and saltwater. They are able to mimic any sound they’ve heard and band together to increase their range of vocals. The sharks use the words and sounds they’ve learned to lure unsuspecting prey into the water, where the sharks will then leap up and drag them into the waves.

Dantalion

but you can't be free

Cool cool cool, but Ronin isn't here, and Danta is quite content to continue trying the luck he doesn't know he's pushing. "Remi," he repeats, tasting the name in his mouth and furrowing his brow as if trying to gauge whether it's familiar. And then, because ding ding! correct, he has spent some time in Torchline, and around Flora, it dawns on him. "You're the Doubletake's father," he purrs.

Glancing fleetingly back to the spider silk he doesn't really care about any more, Danta shrugs, and he's about to ask whether Remi tastes as good as he looks when, and how very rude, some traumatic fucking noise interrupts them. Glaring towards the water, though he's not all that sure it's the source of the noise, he straightens up. "What the fuck was that?" he mutters, peering over the side of the boardwalk as if he might see swathes of people suffering and burning beneath the surface of the waves.

'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

REMI

the alchemist

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

"I am indeed." Remi confirms. "Might it have been the Hanged Man's grand re-opening where I saw you..?" He wonders, green eyes narrowing thoughtfully as if trying to superimpose Danta's face into the scenery of that night's memories. Alas, there was only Ronin to be seen within that particular landscape.

Having heard the mimicry of echo-sharks before, though adrenaline spikes up through the balls of Remi's feet at the first cries, immediately his shoulders relax down from his ears as the wails and screams continue. Snarling a touch at the piercing sounds, it's only once they've finished their reenactment that the Lullaby bothers to answer that he needn't compete with their voices. "Echo sharks. And, given where we are...I would say that is a snippet of what the war was like in the Grounds."

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!

Dantalion

but you can't be free

"It might. I was there," Danta confirms with a crooked smile, though his flirtations have been somewhat ruined by the nightmarish screams and cries of those dying to the Sparkbird's vengeance. "Delightful," he comments dryly, the curl of his lip one of thanks I hate it, and it's with a quick shiver that he puts his back to the water again, uninterested in the echo sharks.

"Didn't the old gods want to do anything about it?" he wonders nevertheless, swiping at a bit of spider silk and having to work surprisingly hard to yank it away from where it spans between two mooring posts. "Fuck me, this shit's got a mind of its own." It was much easier to laugh off the cloud spiders when he was just squashing them.

'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the lullaby

"Oh?" Remi might have had a good deal more to say had he known both how Danta knew Flora and her mother, but luckily he did not such that he merely gave the other man a rather vague nod.

"Anything about what? Silencing the sharks or saving the Grounds?" Remi wonders. "Either way, I doubt it. The heralds especially seem to have their own agendas most of the time, and the big gods are...well, a bit of fire and the death of an entire region is a bit too small for their radar based on what I have seen." The Lullaby answers, scowling a touch, before reaching out to touch a bit of the silk. Still wondering if it was flammable, based on the diamond horns jutting from the other man's head Remi wasn't worried about warning him about what he was planning on doing next.

Shifting such that his entire body began to burn and blur away into firey approximation of limbs, the ifrit reached out for a bit of webbing, keen to see if the entire thing would simply catch and dissolve away.

Every shade of hurt you know
From the deep blue to the marigold
It's gonna make sense someday lookin' back

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Dantalion

but you can't be free

"Mmhm. We work together," Danta says, just as willing to keep it vague given that he's not sure Remi knows about his daughter's seedy little guild in the Hanged Man's back rooms. About to respond to the Lullaby and clarify his question, the Ancient is taken aback when the other man suddenly just catches fire, and though his eyes are wide, it's awe rather than fear that bleeds into his expression.

"That's hot," he blurts, the pun not lost on him either based on the fanged grin. Remi is quite correct, at least, the spiderwebs dissolving away into nothing at the touch of his flames, and Danta snags a little of the fire blooming out of the demigod to clumsily manipulate it into frying some more of the silk.

"Mm, saving the Grounds," he clarifies, raising his eyebrows as Remi continues. "I'd have assumed helping people and gaining their adoration would be very much on the heralds' agenda," he remarks. "Especially Safrin."

'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the lullaby

Though Remi certainly appreciates a good pun these days, it's with a rather flat expression that he looks to Danta before stretching out the limits of his fire magic to burn away more of the webbing. Feeling the tug of the other man's magic just as he'd felt Isla's, the Lullaby wants nothing more than to tug his flames away like a woman gathering up her skirts from a mouse. Resisting the urge with a slight clenching of his teeth, Remi continues to fan his fire away from Danta and out into the docks.

Glancing over his shoulder at the ancient's somewhat shrewd observations, he smirks despite himself and nods. "You certainly would think that, but remember the ascended were not people. They were mistakes. As for anyone who stayed in the Grounds? My guess is that even Safrin would not waist her time on those who had clearly chosen to stand on the side of the Voice."

Every shade of hurt you know
From the deep blue to the marigold
It's gonna make sense someday lookin' back

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Dantalion

but you can't be free

Flat expressions and private outrage are nowhere near enough to stop Danta even if he had been aware of Remi's opinions about his flame-theft. As such, the Ancient goes about his business with oblivious cheer, getting rid of the spiderwebs draped along the part of the docks where they're walking, though he has no idea how it's going to work for the ship sails. (It's also not his problem, so... winning.)

Furrowing his brows but understanding Remi's point - and the goddess's, when he puts it like that, Danta nonetheless has high hopes for the starry deity, and no one has come forward to diminish his opinion yet. "Hopefully that wouldn't be the case if anything happened again," he says. "She's no Dygra, granted, but no one can compare to her."

'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

the lullaby

Raising an eyebrow - or rather, bobbing a bit of flame - the Lullaby eyes the other man suspiciously for a moment before glancing at the sky as if expecting Safrin to appear in virtue of the compliment. "If you say so." He mumbles, clearing his throat and manipulating his fiery form to try and evade any more attempts Danta might make to pilfer his abilities. "Whatever Dygra is like, if you are not particularly inclined in having strings attached to your limbs and claws that reach down to your bones should you misstep, I would keep away from Safrin." Now Remi's stare at the sky is somewhat challenging, as if daring the goddess of whom he spoke to appear and try and deny his accusations.

"Well, it was..." Recalling what Ronin had said about politeness and lying, the Lullaby forces a smile. "..nice to meet you." He says, despite the opposite being true. "But I should go." That, at least was the truth; no part of the Lullaby was enjoying his little detour into the Grounds, and given that Danta's actions might have set a few boats on fire, he didn't particularly want to linger.

With a half-smile offered by way of a final goodbye, the Lullaby turned, shifted, and walked away from the smouldering spiderwebs and sails that were thoughtfully beginning to burn.

~FIN

Every shade of hurt you know
From the deep blue to the marigold
It's gonna make sense someday lookin' back

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!