heroes of the heart

the lullaby

Heavy like a landslide
That's the way my heart beats now

Though Mateo had told him before they set off, for the life of him Remi couldn't recall what the name of the mushroom they were after, was. It didn't matter much, he could understand his son well enough, and Mateo was not above yanking at his mane or kicking behind his wings if Remi was flying in the wrong direction.

The roots of the Grotto were gnarled and twisted, and while Remi had initially thought his son was just humouring him and trying to make him feel helpful by requesting he fly them, the Lullaby now saw firsthand why Everest couldn't fly the Schooner down here.

Spying the strange reddish stalk he believed to be the fungus Mateo was after, the manticore drifted cautiously higher so that his son could cut it carefully down.

Up until the last sunrise
I'll be reaching for you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Mateo

"Yes, that is the one!" Mateo is beaming, heedless for his wellbeing as he scrambles to kneel on the broad, furred and feathered expanse of his father's back. With his curls blowing around his head like a halo and a satchel hanging from his shoulder, he wouldn't look amiss in some adventurer's guild or another, if the boy were into that sort of thing. "Just a bit closer..."

Having to practically sit in the lion's mane, Mateo stretches out an arm and lets his free hand twine through tawny snarls of fur (just in case he tumbles, you see) and tries to snick the stalk of the mushroom. And he manages it, just about, except he's left with no hands to do the catching. The fungus bops and bounces on his forearm and chest, leaving Mateo flapping to get hold of it, before he ultimately succeeds with a long whoosh of relief through his lips.

"Okay, I have it."

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

the lullaby

Heavy like a landslide
That's the way my heart beats now

Much better at gliding or diving than hovering in place, Mateo's feet will have to be clever to keep himself balanced no matter how broad his father's back. Of course there's no danger for the botanist even should he fall; Remi and Ronin have already tested to ensure they could both fly faster than their children could fall (because of course they have, and they absolutely can).

Feeling the jig of his son's feet but with no mouth with which to ask if he was alright, all the manticore can do is grumble with concern until he's given the all-clear. Wanting to spend as little time as possible hovering within eyesight of Starfall Island (no matter how objectively far away they were), Remi fanned his wings and let the ocean thermals carry them back topside.

When his paws settled upon the ground, he knelt and shifted a wing for his son to dismount, before shifting back himself.

Up until the last sunrise
I'll be reaching for you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Mateo

Very pleased with his find in the Grotto - and keeping an eye out for any other interesting specimens, for later if not for now especially - Mateo spends the journey back to solid land fussing over the mushroom and making sure it's placed just so in his satchel. As they land and he slips down from the manticore's back, the botanist plops to sit down on the stone and enjoy the Longheat breeze through his curls.

"Thank you, papa," he trills to his father, turning his face up to the sun, and Remi, and offering him a warm smile. "Hopefully I can cultivate this and see if it has any interesting properties. It will give me something to do when the days begin to grow shorter." You know, because the world being in grave danger is irrelevant to this Taliesin, and he's more interested in his botany.

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

the lullaby

You are colors in the sky after forty rains

"Prego," the Lullaby returned as he ruffled a few last feathers from his curls before straightening. "Cultivate, is it?" He wonders skeptically, raising an eyebrow while donning a crooked smile. Though it absolutely was as likely for his son to cultivate mushrooms as to smoke them, it was an intrinsic trait of the Taliesin's never to let a bit of low-hanging fruit go unplucked.

"Things here are going well, then?" Glancing over his shoulder out toward where Skyfall burned a hellish purple, Remi looked back to his son. "With the shop, and La Verbena, and all of it?" That he and Ronin had moved closer hadn't instantly made them better parents to be sure, but at least now they were here to ask how their children were before said children channeled them in a moment of near-death panic.

Storm or drought, Surrounded by fire or flood
With You I'm never without

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Mateo

"Quite so," Mateo says with a conspiratory wink in his father's direction. "I would not want to do anything else with it before I know what it does. If it happens to be wonderful, I will end up calling you to come back to the Grotto before long, no?" Which, honestly, is no bad thing with Remi so close, and Mateo straightens up next to him and adjusts his satchel on his shoulder.

Humming out a gentle sigh and nodding, the botanist's brows furrow a little, because things aren't not going well. "The shop and the boat are fine," he confirms. "But I think we are going to have someone take over Stormbreak. A demigoddess. I do not know if you have heard of any new ones popping up? Ones that can heal with kisses?"

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

the lullaby

You are colors in the sky after forty rains

"Mmmmm." Remi agrees, aiming to look the part of the skeptical father, but instantly cracked and was able only to offer his son a crooked smile. "I am at your disposal. Next time though, you wear softer shoes." He says, pointing at the fashionable boots his son had donned for their trip and frowning at them before theatrically rubbing at his ribs as if expecting bruises there in the morning.

"Bene." Frowning then, the Lullaby's lower lip puckered somewhat as he tried to think. "Maybe Phoebe...?" It was all he could think of, though surely Mateo remembered her from when he was young. Though healing with kisses absolutely sounded like a Frey-demi.

"What happened to Sohalia?" Remi wondered, not sounding particularly surprised. She was only a teenager after all, and leading was a good deal harder than almost anyone expected. "Your father was going to see her about a statue."

Storm or drought, Surrounded by fire or flood
With You I'm never without

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Mateo

"You are lucky I did not wear the ones with the spurs," Mateo points out with a grin that, to passers-by, will almost seem identical to Remi's, and he lifts his boots accordingly to show the lack of sharp metal points. "Would you like to come to the Plaza with me for a drink?" he continues conversationally, given that, you know, Remi is visiting and all. (And he daren't say it out loud in case his father disappears).

Maybe Phoebe is a good point, though he does furrow his brow at that. "I do not think Phoebe would kiss Everest on the mouth, would she?" Chuckling, he at least tries to clarify for Remi. "I have not met her - only Ever did. But she kissed him and he... well... he is happy." He doesn't know how else to explain it.

"He said Sohalia was going to take a vacation. I think leading may have left her a little burnt out. Perhaps Dad can see this new leader about it."

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

the lullaby

You are colors in the sky after forty rains

"I think that you are the lucky one." Remi counters, offering his son a singularly Italian look of condescension, before nodding and holding out his hand with a flourish for Mateo to lead on.

"Oh, no. I do not think she would either, and...yet..." Grimacing a touch, he also absolutely could imagine a situation wherein Frey's demigod would do such a thing. Phoebe had offered to have sex with he and Ronin to make a baby at one time, so really, there was little he thought was below her when she was trying to help others. "Well that certainly sounds good? doesn't it?" His son's friend had always come across tightly wound, though given the Lullaby's complicated relationship with Ever's father, Remi tried not to think too hard about how the boy might have come to be that way.

"Ah, well, that can happen to the best of us." Certainly leading had left a bad taste in both he and Ronin's mouth often enough for neither of them to be keen to see themselves in precisely that position of power again.

Storm or drought, Surrounded by fire or flood
With You I'm never without

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Mateo

"I am the lucky one whenever you are in town, papa," Mateo says airily, instantly breaking his own rule and bouncing his eyebrows at Remi over his shoulder as they make their way from the sparse ground and back onto well established roads and pathways. "And yet," he agrees, a musical laugh leaving his lips. Even if it was Phoebe, at least it seems that Everest has benefited from it.

"I think so," he says, on that vein, dropping back to walk properly with his father; the biggest hint that this is now a conversation rather than small talk. "He reminds me of how some of the Ascended said they were overwhelmed when they became Ancients." Isla's remarks, especially, come to mind. "He has gone so long without being able to enjoy the most simple things, it is like he wants to make up for lost time, you know?"

And don't get him wrong, Mateo is 100% on board with it, but there's part of him that wonders if he should be.

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

the lullaby

You are colors in the sky after forty rains

Softening, the Lullaby has to swallow down the urge to wrap Mateo up in his arms and cover him with kisses as both an act of love and apology for having been away from the boy for so long. Instead so as not to embarrass the botanist who has his own reputation to manage in Stormbreak, the Lullaby merely shoots him a crooked smile and a wink that promises he'll embarrass Mateo with his words when they are seated with their drinks.

"I suppose that is understandable." Remi says slowly as he frowns. "Not that there is a demigod gazette that goes out, but normally we are all made away when a new one of us has been made." Or born. Amhran and Hotaru are perhaps evidence that this isn't actually the case, but ignorant of them, the Lullaby finds it odd.

"Well, I suppose you are already keeping an eye on him?" It seemed a needless thing to ask, but in the interest of trying to be a BetTeR ParEnT it seemed necessary just the same.

Storm or drought, Surrounded by fire or flood
With You I'm never without

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Mateo

"Oh? Maybe you have missed the latest edition. Or it is really just Phoebe," Mateo reasons, smiling to himself at the mere idea of a demigod gazette. It's something he imagines his other father would probably help to run if such a thing did exist. Once they are on the proper pathway it doesn't take them long to meander through the streets and into the Pacifist Plaza; a place Remi might notice has really not changed all that much since he lived there.

"I am, yes," Mateo confirms of Ever, leading them into a little bistro only a few doors down from his shop, taking a seat at an empty table on a comfortable, cushioned bench. "As much as I can, anyway. It would be nice if he could experience everything without having to go through so much trial and error, you know?" Like the rest of us.

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am

the lullaby

You are colors in the sky after forty rains

"Could be. Or perhaps Sugar and Oria took it for arts and crafts." The companions had become notorious for their efforts to decorate small sections of the houseboat that they deemed their own, and it wouldn't surprise the Lullaby at all to know that letters sent to find the demigods had been used to paper a nest.

"Mmm, if only he had a friend with the benefit of experience to show him the ways." Remi suggests, elbowing Mateo's arm. Of course had the Lullaby known precisely the sorts of experiences Everest was currently after, and the ones the boys had already engaged in, he'd have chosen very different words indeed. "Perhaps you could suggest he go home to visit his mother. At least that way if there was anything medically amiss with him someone would know."

Storm or drought, Surrounded by fire or flood
With You I'm never without

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Mateo

"I would not have blamed them. I read somewhere that you need to provide your companions with enrichment or they may become resentful." Mateo's grin says that he absolutely hasn't read anything of the sort, but with creatures like Oria and Sugar, who honestly knew? Scoffing at the elbow to his arm, once the botanist is properly settled in his seat and a waitress swans over, he orders himself some sugar-rimmed nonsense and gestures for Remi to get whatever he likes.

"I wonder if he would want to," he confesses, of Ever going to see Tobi about all of this. "If there was something wrong to cause this, I am worried that he would not necessarily want to fix it, if you know what I mean." And he can't begrudge his best friend any amount of enjoyment, especially knowing who he is on an average day.

i've told you time and time again
i'm not as think as you drunk i am