[audio] @remmidemmi; move along; [open]

[axegirlfriend]

So, um...

[A heavy, heavy pause. Cool, good start, Remington. Really nailing this whole thing.]

I haven't had a chance to say anything about it earlier because of...you know...everything.

[Quentin's post below his is telling enough as it is.]

But I used some, um, leftover wood scraps from the church rebuilding to make these, ah, ornamental markers? I gave them to the forest spirits and asked them to hang them on eye-level tree branches on the trees that they call home, so we don't accidentally knock something down for lumber that we shouldn't.

[He clears his throat.]

So that's all. If you see them. Um, that's what they are. I'll make more every so often so it'll reach places farther in...but...yeah...okay, bye. Thanks?

Comments

[itselbitch]

[ god. how is remington always so precious? from their past interactions, he can practically imagine how remi's face lit up. it's only unfortunate that eliot couldn't witness it in person. he's willing to bet remi has a handsome smile. ]

There are spirits where you're from too?

[ he chuckles. ]

I do quite like the ones here. They're always so. Ah. Insistently gentle? In how they do things. Well, the nice ones that live near us, anyway. It's really sweet, even if there are only so many things you can do with their tokens of gratitude. Sometimes I do wonder if there would be a way to use them. At least to let them know how grateful we are for their eager hospitality.

[ really, they'd probably all be a lot worse for wear without all the help the spirits have given so freely. ]

[axegirlfriend]

Yeah. My town's a lot like this place but, um, more modern and less...dark. It's one of those little everybody-knows-everyone kind of places and it's surrounded by this huge forest with really only one main road that goes out of it, and it's full of spirits.

[He feels his hackles raising, his voice taking on that paranoid, worried edge it so often has.]

Yeah, they're, um...they've been nice! So far. So far, they've been nice. Just, um, don't get too comfortable? Maybe? I mean, just in case. I don't want anything to happen. To anyone.

> private

[itselbitch]

[ oh, boy. remi always seems to do this, find something else to set him on edge, and it's not always so obvious what it might be. in this case though, eliot thinks he can take a guess, and this being such a place that's proven itself full of dangers, he doesn't know if it's even safe to question openly. ]

Was that a thing too? In your town. Spirits turning on people.

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[axegirlfriend]

I mean, um, it depends?

[One can practically hear the flinching in his voice.]

They'd usually leave people alone unless people went out of their way to find them, but you always have your odd cases because spirits are incredibly changeable creatures so sometimes they just kind of latch on and maybe they're not even trying to be mean or show ill-intent but before you know it you're practically living in a haunted house and finding dead things in your yard...

[Projecting? He's out of breath.]

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[itselbitch]

[ well that sure sounds way too specific to be a joke. also remi's jokes tend to be more bland and. way less creative. ]

So they're. Malleable. Okay. Like. To anything specific or predictable? Or is this like a "keep a cross above your bed and always say a few Hail Mary's before going to bed" kind of thing?

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[axegirlfriend]

Not really predictable, no. At least not that I've ever found? Honestly I tried to avoid as much interaction as possible just because I was never very confident in my next move. I mean, you can definitely kind of get to know them? But it's like how with regular people, everyone's different. Every spirit is gonna react differently to certain things, though they all generally follow some typical rules. Like, they don't really "get" lying, so they don't take very kindly to anything that feels like double-crossing.

[It takes him a second to realize how much he said.]

Sorry. If I, um, information overload.