these mountains you carry

"Come for a walk with me?" Normally this sort of thing might have come from the lips of a fellow demigod - more specifically, the demigod tangled in Remi Taliesin's arms while they snooze away the night on their houseboat. But this time the words are spoken by Ludo, deep in the depths of the Dreaming, summoning the Lullaby from wherever he has been whiling away his unconscious hours. When Remi appears, it will be to see Ludo in its preferred form for its chosen; a child, dark eyed and dark haired, in rags with blackened fingers and toes. It holds up its hand to the Lullaby expectantly, and around them the world bleeds into spectral forestry, splashed with colour like a toddler spilling paint. LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own

& doesn't the white page seem unfinished
without the dark stain of alphabets?

These days the herald's instructions came to Remi in the form of pieces of paper which appeared in his pocket. When last he'd been summoned he couldn't recall which only added to the unhappy anticipation he felt as he found himself strolling through the Dreaming toward the raggedy god.

"Hello Ludo." Reaching out his hand instantly, the unreality of the world they find themselves in makes it such that his magic relays none of what the herald might be feeling. Likely, that was a good thing. "You know, I was just telling someone about our early days together." He muses with a sad smile; times when the god had worn the face of his mother or his father, times when it had tried to tempt him into an early death. "It all feels so long ago, now."

Wondering if perhaps a similar test were about to be offered to him, Remi inhaled deeply despite knowing the air here would never reach his lips.

the lullaby

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

"It was a long time ago," Ludo agrees. "I wasn't my best self behind the barrier." It would apologise, for the times it tried to trick Remi into death, or scare him to the point of trauma, but that would imply that it is sorry. It is not. With hands clasped, they proceed into the strange, colour splotched forest. Figures move within it, distant and blurry, and the sense of otherness goes beyond mere dreaming. Indeed, with luck Remi's sleeping partner will not wake for the time this takes, for if he does, he will find the Lullaby still, pale, breathless. "The spirit world is a lot like dreams, isn't it?" Ludo says conversationally, smiling up at Remi and finally stepping into a spectral clearing, not unlike the one where its shrine sits in Ludo's Woods. "I have something to tell you." LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own

& doesn't the white page seem unfinished
without the dark stain of alphabets?

Giving the herald's hand a soft squeeze, it was hard not to fall into a paternal mindset walking with the god as he was, Remi shook his head. "Nor I." He agreed. Not unlike Ludo, the Lullaby wasn't necessarily sorry for all the things he had done which led him to this particular where and when. He was still the sort of man who would bind his soul to Ludo in order to save his friend, but unlike the Remi of the past, this iteration was far less likely to be surprised by the consequences of doing so.

Gazing around only vaguely for staring at any one thing too long left him feeling slightly dizzy, Remi glances down at the herald. "For you, maybe." He chuckles. "I have far less control here than I do in the Dreaming." With a look which normally would have painted the world in flakes of gold, precisely nothing at all happened.

Inhaling another non-breath, the Lullaby regards the herald's dark eyes as he nods. When Ludo had freed his son from their arrangement Remi had promised the raggedy god another favour. That it hadn't taken years before coming to collect was not entirely surprising. "I am listening."

the lullaby

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

"Mmm..." Ludo's smile is enigmatic, but being that of a child, Remi might easily be able to discern that there is something it isn't saying, even if he doesn't know quite what that is. (Yet). Now, as they stand in the clearing, some details begin to settle. And it isn't necessarily an aspect of control, merely that the world has a chance to catch up with the two figures now. Some trees gain a little more colour, though the Lullaby might notice that they bear the marks of all seasons; some blaze with Leafchange foliage, where others peep with the new greens of Flowerbirth. The figures, too, gain some semblance of features. Perhaps a woman with dark curls strolls towards a blurry cottage in Remi's periphery. Maybe she holds the hand of a toddler. Releasing Remi, Ludo takes a step back and away from he Lullaby. It puffs out its chest, and if it weren't for the rags being so quintessentially a part of it, it might have even put on a bowtie for the occasion. "Remi Taliesin, I do not want to play with you any more," it announces. "But he does." LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own

It is far from the first time Remi has seen Mort, but of course, they have never met quite like this. Sitting upon a blue checkered picnic blanket that simply seems to appear between the trees, he offers Ludo a joyful smile to see that he has delivered the Lullaby safely this far. Inviting both demigod and raggedy herald closer, he spends a moment embracing Ludo, tussling its dark hair and offering it a cake from one of the (many) plates set out, before sending it on its way.

And Ludo goes, trotting barefoot away through the ghostly trees, offering little more than a wave over its shoulder to Remi.

"Please, sit," Mort invites, beaming.

mort

Table base by Sky!

& doesn't the white page seem unfinished
without the dark stain of alphabets?

Glancing at the shapes that meandered timelessly around them, Remi's entire chest tensed as he caught sight of dark curls and clasped hands. His heart had placed names and faces upon the spirits before his mind could really register what he was seeing, and it was with their names on the tip of his tongue that Remi inhaled stiffly, wondering if Ludo had brought him here to die. Both Aoife and Vai had died in his arms, perhaps it was fitting that he die in theirs.

Allowing Ludo's fingers to slip from his, the herald's words seem only to solidify the thoughts taking root in his mind. Reaching for his left hand as if touching the ring he wore might somehow stand in place for the words he'd never get to say to Ronin, Remi turns dry-mouthed to see the God of Death himself.

"Hello Mort." The words are nearly enough to have the flood of emotions Remi feels pouring from his lips, and perhaps it's because he has slightly more control over this realm than he'd given himself credit for, that he's able to stay composed. Still twisting the ring on his finger, Remi does as he's told, watching the embrace between god and herald with an unintentional smile that wavers as he sits down.

the lullaby

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

"Oh, Remi. Please don't be afraid here." Mort's smile grows warm and radiant even as the Lullaby's wavers, and he reaches out to clasp both hands over Remi's left, as if to still the fussing of his wedding band. "You are perfectly safe and alive, I promise. Now, and when you leave this place." Squeezing his hand, the God of Death sits back, turns, and offers Remi a pastry from one of the picnic plates.

"You have been with Ludo for a long time now, haven't you?" he continues, voice soft and melodic. "Longer than many of its other chosen, I daresay." Setting the plate down and going about pouring some tea, his expression turns sad; the ageless sort of sorrow that comes from an eternity of knowing. "It has taken its toll on you, becoming this. Ludo knows it, and so do I."

mort

Table base by Sky!

& doesn't the white page seem unfinished
without the dark stain of alphabets?

"I am not afraid, I just—" want to tell Ronin I love him, one more time. The thought is halted, in part by Mort's warm smile and the joy it always invokes as much as the god's words. "..I...?" More than a touch baffled, the Lullaby looks down at the offered pastry with confusion, before nodding his head uncertainly.

"It feels longer than it probably is." Remi admits, turning the pastry over in his hands, unable not to think of his slumbering husband who was in fact likely pressed up against him at that very moment. Frowning, the Lullaby tilts his head to the side for a moment. "I might not have known what I signed up for when I made my promise to Ludo, but I will continue to do it." Even if this wasn't the end of his days, it still seemed to Remi that the reason he'd been called before Mort had to do with some failing on his part.

"I am managing better now than I was. The raccoon shift certainly helps. Thank you for that."

the lullaby

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

Around them the very forest seems to burst with colour, and though it might be due to Mort, it's because of Remi's words. "You are so, so wonderful," the deity whispers, smiling deeply enough to round the apples of his cheeks, and he abandons the tea to reach out and take Remi's hand - his right hand, this time - such that the spirit within it will fizz with delight.

"But I mean to offer you much more than a change of shape." Scooting closer, as if they are two old friends meeting after a long time apart, Mort smiles out at the spectral forest. "I find," he says softly, secretively, "that those who have been through the most hardship are the most beautiful souls of all." Glancing sidelong at Remi, death shoots him a playful smile.

"It would be my pleasure to make a place for a soul like that at my side."

mort

Table base by Sky!

& doesn't the white page seem unfinished
without the dark stain of alphabets?

Like any man who is painfully aware of his shortcomings and all the things he knows he doesn't know, Remi stares at Mort with ignorant awareness of just how little of this he understood. Feeling as though he was being made the butt of some joke he was too simple to understand yet also knowing Mort was not the sort to make it, the Lullaby swallowed thickly as he merely stared at the god.

Inhaling sharply as weightless joy sang through his bones, Remi couldn't help the smile that dimpled his own cheeks as his fingers clutched Mort's entirely of their own accord. "I thought you said I would leave here alive...?" Surely a place by Mort's side would be in the halls of the dead?

"I'm sorry, I..." Glancing over Mort's shoulder, half expecting to see Ludo sticking its tongue out, Remi returned his stare to the god. "..I do not think I understand."

the lullaby

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

"You will. Of course you will." Mort smiles, squeezing Remi's fingers warmly between his own. "By my side does not mean dead. Just as death does not always mean killing." Despite Remi's role with Ludo all these years. "Take my daughter, for example - sweet Delphia soothes those lost souls caught between here and my realm. But she does not take them herself." Not unless it cannot be helped, in any case.

"And you - a man who has endured so much for so long - you who would stand in death's place for those you care for... I would never say it to dear Ludo, but I think you may have outgrown it." Still smiling, Mort's eyebrows raise as if Remi might be able to guess, now, at the deity's meaning. But just in case, he makes it clear: "I would like you to become one of my chosen, Remi."

mort

Table base by Sky!

& doesn't the white page seem unfinished
without the dark stain of alphabets?

Tears were beginning to bead in Remi's eyes like dew upon the petals of flowers reaching desperately for the sunny warmth of Mort's words. Swallowing, the Lullaby nodded unsteadily, wanting desperately to understand the god's words to mean only what they did and not to jump to conclusions. "Of course." He heard himself agreeing easily, his voice full of laughter despite the tightness in his throat and chest.

The Lullaby's nod has a tear or two streaking down one cheek. "I owe so much to Ludo though. Isla..Mateo..not to mention I would have died a thousand times over without its protection." He whispers despite knowing that the point in time when his abilities and mindset aligned with the raggedy heralds' was long behind them.

With trembling fingers Remi lifts his gaze, searching the kind soil-soft eyes that looked back at him. "Yours?" He whispers, before inhaling against a laugh. "It feels as though I have belonged to death this whole time, only..." If being one of Ludo's chosen had taught him one thing, it was just how deeply a blind-contract could bind. "What would you ask of me? What would I be for you?"

the lullaby

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

"It knows, Remi," Mort whispers through a laugh, reaching out with his free hand to catch the tears falling down the Lullaby's cheeks. "For every time it has protected you - and more - you have taken away the pain of someone's passing, just as it has asked you to do. It asks no more of you. In fact," he continues, leaning in close, curls to curls, "between you and I, this was Ludo's idea."

Sitting back, a spectral sun dappling through the trees to cast them in rays of golden light, Mort listens with patience to Remi's questions and concerns. "You are already doing it," he says, grinning. "Each time you take a blow intended for another, you brush your fingers against the door to my halls. You are a safeguard, Remi - a bastion of hope for others to gather beneath. They see you and they know I whisper your name instead of theirs, each time they make it out alive."

mort

Table base by Sky!