we with the trees [OPEN]

[allsongs]

Date & Time: Tuesday, Wednesday, all during the day
Location: The ruined gardens
Characters: Simmaeri, you
Summary: We're having us an old-school Disney princess moment up in here
Warnings: moderate levels of me-Jane-you-Tarzan are to be expected; homegirl's still learning



The city's dingiest tones became much more pronounced the day Simmaeri found that unkempt house of green. It had been such a long time since she'd wandered through the stuff — grass, even — that its finding was all the more absorbing. It had to have been only a matter of time, she was sure...but she came across it so suddenly, without even seeking it out. A pleasant surprise.

The stresses and cares the voices on the network had were not shared by her; there was still too much to learn before the truth of her purpose in Exsilium would be found. Welcome to Exsilium; there is much to discuss. She still remembered those first words upon arrival. Only a matter of time. Until then, it was her and the abandoned flora, sadly lacking in the birdsong she knew from lands far away. Her voice filled the void, lifting over the silent leaves of twisted, snarled trees, singing out the words of foreign places. She sat, half-shaded from the roaming sun, and sang.

The melodies were gentle and warm, full of affection for the little, green world. Farmers' evening chants, festival hymns for the turning of seasons...there were countless songs to suit her mood. Soon, though, she found herself toying and calling out Edelweiss, the little lullaby Rosalyn had sung to her over the computer. She had quickly sketched the song to heart and found herself hungry to try it, and so it went, over and over, playing with the pitch of her voice — at times the tone of a youth, and others the quiver of a worldly woman. It was her pleasure to do so, and her gift. The song pleased her well.

Once more.

Comments

[allsongs]

Very odd.

Simmaeri watched, eyes narrowed slightly in scrutiny, and wondered. Having been reluctant to enter a store seemed a stretch different than this, but it was very much part of what little experience she had with Corosa. That was different though, wasn't it? Or...

Hm.

She flexed her grip on the metal before making her decision. Stepping over shards of glass and ducking a little to avoid low-hanging frame, she slipped out of the sanctuary, smoothing down hair that was disturbed along the way. When she straightened back up, she gave Corosa a look, eyebrows lifted. Next?

The trees and things were pleasant, of course, but she was hardly going to let him slink off so soon. And if he wasn't going in, she wouldn't stay.

[rorosa]

Corosa, who'd tensed in anticipation of derision or disbelief, relaxed when he saw Simmaeri simply cross over instead. But as relief flooded in so did sensibility, and he remembered then that he'd meant to ask her about investigating inside for signs of a prison....

Then again, how would he even get that across to her? Maybe it was a lost cause in the first place. It probably was, if Corosa had thought it through a little more.

"Here," Corosa said, with a sigh. He held his arm out again. "Sorry. It's a long story. Perhaps I'll tell it to you sometime." Unlikely, but she couldn't know that.

[allsongs]

Without qualm or hesitation, Simmaeri took the arm and drew herself over to his side, paying no mind to the little snags and scratches the brambles took of her clothes along the way. Her eyes did not leave his face even after he'd uttered the last of it, seeking to pick out meaning from his countenance. Strange, sullen man.

There was still plenty of perimeter for them to walk, and she was not bothered to follow along on the grayer side. Unlike their last walk together, she took to speaking. Singing, rather, filled with those little spells for sight and understanding.

Very many years ago
A king from a rich land was loved like a god
He soon believed himself to be so and became arrogant and cruel
He made the people slaves to his will
They raised great statues of his image
The land was covered
The temples were picked bare to build them

The god under the earth stirred with anger
All the statues crumbled
The king was crushed
Many wept
Where the stones fell nothing grew again

[rorosa]

Corosa instinctively pulled the two of them a little further away from the edge of the perimeter, but only by a few steps. Otherwise he was quite content to walk along with Simmaeri, and listen.

He rather wished he hadn't listened quite so closely. Her voice was lovely as always, that was nothing to complain about, but the melody made him melancholy in a way that he was not familiar with. Corosa used to be practical, realistic, unwilling to think any further than the present and the future. Things had changed in recent years, of course, but his base instinct had at least remained the same. So while sorrow was something he was now well-familiar with, it was still something that he hated to bring to the surface.

He sighed when the song was done.

"I wish I understood your words," he said, quietly. "And your songs."

[allsongs]

She gave him a long, sideways glance, calculating. Strange, sad man. Or, perhaps, not strange; there were many things in time and the world to weary a man and leave him a sad shade of his hopes and dreams. And, granted, the song was of somber stuff; it was sensible to be affected so.

"You wish?" she prompted. "Wish is?"

[rorosa]

"Understanding," Corosa said. He sighed a little at the futility of the conversation; couldn't speak of understanding when understanding was the base problem, after all. But if they were both going to be stuck here, then he supposed they would eventually manage to work through that hurdle.

He shook his head. Never mind.

"Do you think we'll be here long enough to understand one another?" he asked, looking up into the sky. That thought was more depressing than hopeful, and that weighed heavy in his voice. He wanted to be home. He'd wanted that for the past two and a half years.

[allsongs]

Wish is understanding.

How many times had she heard understand so far? Do you understand? Can't you understand me? Why don't you understand? And now, long enough to understand? It was something to be said of her...well, understanding. The lack of. And repetition made it clearer. Wish, however...That would need more time.

She watched him, taking care to study his manner closely. He was not the most impatient teacher, nor the most energetic, but very giving. Without knowingly being so, at that. The weary note in his voice framed the question better.

"No long," she said softly, smiling a faintly wry kind of smile. Not long for her. "I will learn. More. You help."