[se] floor it through the fences

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

"Just down here."

Leaning over the bow, Remi glances over his shoulder to ensure that Tal heard him, before gesturing with one hand as well. From the height the Peregrine flew, the Greatwood was a tangle of dying purple leaves and twisting black-ish vines that seemed to writhe and slither with an almost predictable beat. Like a pulse.

Grimacing unhappily, Remi gave his shoulders a roll as large wings sprouted from them. The wings of a pixiu were not as large as a manticore, but he could still get the job done with them, albeit with a bit more effort. Stepping off the side of the little skyship, Remi tried to beat her descent just in case there were any nasty bits flora that would hinder her landing in any way.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

The nice thing about the Peregrine was that when the ground was shitty, the trim little skyboat was still safe as houses a dozen feet or more above it.

The shitty thing about the Greatwood was that the trees were a whole lot taller than that.

Tal maneuvered the Peregrine grimly down in Remi's wake, for some reason not in any hurry to race the Bastion towards the writhing tentacle-vines below. A sturdy bracelet around his wrist held the little charm that had brought him here today, conveniently close to hand in case he had the unfortunate opportunity to brush it against anything voidy, but he was already realizing just what a difficult task Safrin had set him.

"Ugh. Is the Shrine still okay?" he called down, wrestling the tiller with one hand and tugging on a rope he'd jury-rigged to allow him to furl the mainsail one-handed so he could keep his precious ship under control and as far from the grasping branches of the trees as he could manage while he brought her under the dying canopy.

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

With his fingers made sharp by the addition of talons, the Bastion snarled and swiped at anything sentient enough to be intimidated, before slashing away at the violet underbrush that tried to claw at his knees. "I can't see it yet—" He called back, before carving a chunk out of a wandering vine that seemed intent on threading itself around his neck.

"It isn't great though. Let me know if you want me to come up there and get you." Remi wasn't sure if the courier would be upset about being carried down not unlike a baby in the Bastion's arms, but unless he had his own means of making the descent or wanted to risk the integrity of the Peregrine's hull, it might be his best choice.

Either way.

Allowing his vocal cords and associated muscles in his throat to shift, the Bastion let out a fearsome roar. While it didn't quite echo through the trees the way it had once when he was the Guardian of this place, he judged it would still do to make any lingering fauna thing twice before ambushing the two men.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

"Come get me!" Tal called without a second thought for his dignity. He'd never been able to maintain much to begin with, and if it came down to a choice between that and the Peregrine, he'd chose his ship every time.

Throwing a tie around the wheel to keep the Peregrine turning a slow, tight circle overhead, he quickly scampered up the mast to properly secure the sail up so errant winds wouldn't carry it too far while they were down in the ...

Well. What had been the Greatwood before Leafchange, and was now the Voidwood.

He gripped his Dagger grimly, ready to lean over Remi's shoulder and slash anything that tried to tangle the Bastion's wings while he was being airlifted down into danger. "So, uh... congrats on things with Mort," he offered, proving once again that his conversational timing was...

Unique.

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

Nearly the same size but of vastly different builds thanks to Remi's divine attributes, it was with an awkward grimace of apology that he reached out for Tal, meaning to hold the man beneath the armpits like one might hold a berry-stained toddler. "Oh, yeah. Thanks." Chuckling slightly, it was only once both had their feet on the ground that Remi exhaled and allowed a proper smile.

"It feels really good to not always have murder on the mind, I must admit." No more notes appearing in his pocket with names and addresses. No more abilities that sung of death constantly alight beneath his skin. True, he could still pack a punch and possessed more than a few predatory shifts, but that the focus of his entire life was not on the ending of someone else's was a wonderful thing indeed.

'The shrine should be over here.' Frowning, the Greatwood looked entirely different now that it was covered in violet and black. Even the trees seemed to have changed; no longer vibrant and proud, now they seemed to sulk.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

Hey, it was better than being hauled down by the scruff of his Vest, so Tal accepted the manhandling without complaint and only minimal toddler-esque squirming. It would have been nice to say that it was a relief to get his feet back on the ground again after that...

But given what they were sharing the ground with, it wasn't quite true.

Tal listened to the demigod intently - because the sense that Remi could accidentally squash him with a pat on the head lingered in his lizard hindbrain, even if he'd long since outgrown his initial scrawny origins - but his eyes scanned the unfriendly forest with the alertness of a rabbit dropped into a snake pit. At least until he got a glimpse of a smile on the Bastion's face and paused, blinking in surprise at how much younger it made the demigod look. "Uh... yeah? I'm real glad that's not... y'know. A thing anymore," he agreed fervently. He was definitely in the pro-not-murderous-Remi camp!

"I think th'last time we were here y'were a manticore." He looked around again himself, trying to find familiar landmarks which - ha! - had never been particularly reliable in the Greatwood to begin with. Now it was like an entirely new forest, and Tal bit his lip hard and then started walking in the direction Remi indicated, swinging his little charm from his fingers to let it soak in the whole infected voidyness of it all. It seemed about right, if that boulder over there was the same one he remembered...

"So, uh... about that Starfall place. Were you the dad that went there?" A totally smooth segue, if he did say so himself. He'd seen the Haulani notice board and Flora's last warning posted there, and it had been weighing on his thoughts given his current quest. Now seemed like as good a time as any to learn what he was up against if he decided to make an even worse life choice than usual.

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

"Me too." Indeed the demigod likely did look younger, if only because the scowl which had long creased the space between his eyes and constantly lined his forehead had all but smoothed away. Remi found himself smiling more often than not, and, if you could believe, making new friends.

"Was that when you attacked me?" The Bastion wondered looking amused. Tucking his wings against his back, Remi took the odd swipe or two at vines that stretched down from the canopy, but it seemed at least the worst of what might be lingering was keeping its distance.

"Was I the....oh! Yes." This sort of confusion was only to be expected when his children referred to both he and Ronin as dad in almost equal measure. "It was...not a good time. I would not advise going there." Glancing over his shoulder to emphasize these words with a bob of his eyebrows, Remi pressed on through the Greatwood wondering if perhaps he was wrong about where he thought they were, or if the trees were being particularly tricksy.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

Well, amusement was better than the last time they'd run into each other in Ludo's Woods, but at the thought of attacking the demigod Tal paled a little. "What? Nnnno no no no I don't think I've ever, uh. Attacked you, sir. I mean, I'm still alive, aren't I?" The 'sir' slipped out on accident as the courier shot an alarmed glance back at the winged Bastion. "Um. But... y'were sighin' an' rubbin' your face a lot, for some reason...?" He'd looked a lot more tired that day, but maybe it was from the all the murdering that had apparently been on his mind?

Probably just as well that Tal hadn't learned about that until now.

Something wriggling and purple started to drop down from overhead and Tal almost bit his tongue on the yelp he tried to keep behind his teeth as he barely dodged it. There was no time for fancy dagger-work; he just used his steel-toed boot to punt the Shadow Serpent back into the underbrush and then swallowed hard, looking back just in time to hear Remi's advice.

His very good, very sane, very life-saving advice.

"Uh... what if I told y'that I kinda. Maybe had a quest... t'take somethin' there?" he asked uneasily. There was a big rock sticking up nearby that looked familiar and Tal bit his lip before veering off to the right - though making sure to stay close to Remi as he did so.

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

"Maybe I am thinking of someone else." Remi says a touch apologetically before gesturing toward his head. "My memories have been removed more than a few times in the past few years." It was Sah, in fact, but given they were (or had both been) Halovians, in the scope of it, the Bastion hadn't been too far off. "And you really do not need to talk me sir. Remi is fine."

Having watched his husband coated in serpents in these very woods not more than a week prior, as the void creature made its presence known, Remi only stared at it with a frown and took a slight step back as Tal kicked it back into the undergrowth. Saying nothing, he shrugged and continued to try and track down Ludo's shrine.

"Well, if you told me that, I would repeat what I said. I would not advise going. It isn't just dangerous, it is deadly. Even Ronin has said that I am not allowed to go back." Not even with his daughter's invisibility ring and the merking's illusion ring. The Knight, then Nova, hadn't budged.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

At the mention of memory removal Tal winced, especially at the thought of it happening multiple times. It was probably just as well that he didn't realize that Remi was getting him mixed up with Sah, though, or the courier's indignation might have ended worse for the snake that made the mistake of dropping in on the pair of them.

"Sorry, s--uh, Remi," he tried to apologize, biting his tongue against the slip he'd almost gotten out of the habit of before today. The Bastion's calmer, friendlier mien helped, at least, though it was hard to relax when they were surrounded by crawling purple tentacle-roots and miasma. Tal pulled his Goggles down over his eyes, just in case, and reached up to affix the little charm to them even though it didn't do anything yet.

"Um. It... might be important though?" Not that Remi could make himself any clearer on the subject. Tal had a sinking sensation that he was biting off more than he could chew if even the newly-minted level fifteen Mortly demigod and his equally dangerous husband judged it too risky. "It's this charm, see? Since that Dahlia lady didn't look Voidy in th'reports, I'm questin' t'get somethin' t'let me see void-infected stuff an' people that don't look infected but are." He dodged a purple vine that made a lazy swipe at wrapping around his throat as he peered through the shadows, perking up and hurrying his steps when he thought he saw two tall tree-pillars through the underbrush. "An' if I can get it t'Starfall, it'll make it stronger right off th'bat." So he didn't have to get within touching distance of someone before he felt the urge to bravely run away. "There weren't any requirements on how long it had t'be there, though. I was kinda thinkin' maybe just... sneak onto th'shore, touch it t'th'island, an' then run like hail?"

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

Raising an eyebrow as the courier pressed the subject, Remi glanced at him over his shoulder before pressing on through the thick violet underbrush. "Well, I wish you the best of luck." The Bastion could count on one hand the number of things his husband had ever banned him from doing, and to the surprise of no one who knew them, Remi would let the world go to hell in a handbasket if his husband asked him to leave it be.

"I was chased by a pack of fyrhunds and two dragons when I tried to leave, nevermind what might be living below the surface of the ocean, so take that into account when you prepare to run." He calls with a shrug. Deimos had just had a baby, and Sunjata had already done his part with Dahlia once already. "Maybe Noah can help?" The Foresaken was next on the totem pole after all, and Remi was pretty sure he could teleport.

"Ah." Recognizing ruins carved into the trunks of a few trees, the Bastion sighed softly as he thumbed over some of the markings. "Here we are." So saying, he nodded toward one of the larger willows with a large chunk carved out of it.

"For you, Ludo. Since it was far too easy last time." Placing a scroll with a rather challenging game of hangman inside, Remi grinned crookedly as he patted the old tree.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

When it became obvious that the newly-minted Bastion had no intention of budging on his stance the courier deflated a little; shoulders sagged and curved inwards, making him a little shorter as his half-formed plan came apart at the first bump in the road. His steps slowed, and Remi easily overtook him to the shrine. "Yeah... thanks," he mumbled to the well-wishes, like a child who had just received an avocado for christmas. Disappointed, but doing his best to sound appreciative. It didn't stop him from listening keenly to the dangers that Remi listed, however, and he sucked his bottom lip between his teeth in anxious worry at the mention of multiple dragons.

"Uh. Yeah... yeah, I'll ask 'im," the courier agreed distractedly, images of his doom playing out in front of his eyes.

He hung back a bit, letting Remi make his offering and pay his respects before the courier edged forward. His fingers brushed the hilt of his newly-Honed Dagger in memory and he took a deep breath before reaching into his Bag and pulling out a handful of glass cat's eye marbles, brightly colored though in the Voidwood's miasma they looked dull. "Hey, Ludo. I know you've been busy this season so, uh. Good luck? I'll try an' come visit next season, okay?" He set the spheres on the inset alter and then had to scramble a bit to place some twigs around them to keep the slippery orbs from rolling off and out onto the ground.

honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago

Standing aside that Tal might place his offering, the Bastion narrowed his eyes at the Woods around them. It was almost impossible to distinguish what was merely the gentle swaying of the canopy overhead from intentional movement, but gods if it didn't seem as though the entirety of the forest was slowly hunkering down around them.

"Do you have more to do here? If not, I can fly us back to your ship." He wondered when it seemed that the other man was done. Given his line of work Remi wouldn't be surprised if this was only the first stop for the courier, though his imagination couldn't stretch far enough to think of anyone living in the Woods that Tal might have a delivery for.

innocence died screaming, honey, ask me i should know

So, lingering in the creepy Woods was actually very, very low on Tal's list of things he would like to be doing with his day. When Remi offered to give him a lift the courier nodded very hard in agreement. "Let's get outta here!" And sure, it was a little demeaning to hold his arms out like a little kid asking for a hug so the Bastion could lift him up into the air, but it beat pretty much every other alternative.

"Hey, uh... thanks for today." The awkward gratitude came about halfway to the ship, right after they'd cleared the writhing canopy and were safely into clear air. "Comin' with me here an'... y'know. Tellin' me about Starfall. Even if y'can't come with me, knowin' what's there'll help a lot."

Who knew? Maybe it would help him decide to take Remi's advice and not risk it at all! Stranger things had happened, and the courier was no longer as young as he used to be. Perhaps he was even a little wiser after all he'd been through.

Then again, this is Tal we're talking about.

~Fin~