fourstrings | the woods are lovely, dark and deep

the woods are lovely, dark and deep

[ What’s so special about this tree, huh?

For Wolfwood, the answer is simple. He’d done a job that pissed off the wrong people, was going to have to move again and dreading packing up all his shit, when a man pale as moonlight and broad in the shoulders as your average wagon had walked up to him like he was trying to put his feet through the earth instead of on top of it and told him he was now a guard. And Wolfwood had laughed – guarding is a shit job, too much sitting around, the payoff too brief when someone finally tries something – until the man produced a bag of more money than Wolfwood had ever seen in one place. He'd said yes, obviously. Before he’d asked what he was to guard.

He should have asked.

He’d roared with laughter when he saw the tree, which had gone… badly. The man who was paying him told him (in a voice that sounded very like he hadn’t used it in a long time) that he had already accepted the payment, and if he wasn’t going to take his job seriously there would be more serious repercussions than paying the money back. So Wolfwood thought… fine. It was out of town, there was a little cottage for him to stay in – not right next to the tree, but close enough to see it. Tough not to, really; it was big, must have been old as hell. And it was… nice, out there. Quiet and green with a well for fresh water, a river running to a lake that would be good for fishing, plenty of game to hunt, and a few wild fruit trees scattered around if he got a sweet tooth. He could use some peace and quiet after things had gone so badly. So he settled in, and became a guard for a tree.

It's still hard to imagine why a tree is worth enough money that Wolfwood will never need to obtain more of it, but he’s grown fond of it. He’s not sure what kind of tree it is; the bark is pale and smooth but knotted and burled in ways that mean Wolfwood almost sees pictures in it when he runs his hands over the trunk. The leaves change colour with the seasons; riotously green in spring and summer, bright and cheerful gold and red in autumn. But trees like that drop their leaves in winter, and this one… doesn’t. Those leaves turn dark but they stay on, providing shelter for all manner of woodland creatures while everything is cold and wet. And he starts to imagine he understands why the moonlight man is so fond of it, too. There’s… a feeling about this tree. Wolfwood find himself returning to it often, sitting under its branches to whittle (other wood, not this one – you don’t take risks like that when you’re paid this much), sometimes talking to it because there’s not another speaking being out here since the one time a dude approached it with an axe and Wolfwood had sent him off with a promise that if he came back the axe would be going through his skull. He gets attached. He rests under it as he makes things, eats his lunch under the shade of its branches. Gets drunk one day, tells a story about his escapades as a street urchin and thinks he hears the leaves rustling on this still and breezeless day, lets himself think that the tree is laughing along with him and pours a little of his wine at its roots like sharing a drink. When summer comes and the sun beats down hot he strips off under its branches, goes for a swim in the lake, and when he returns to the tree to doze while he dries off before dressing again he could swear the branches shift until the shadow of them keeps the sun off him, safe from burning. A woodpecker lands in the branches one day, starts hammering at the bark with its beak, and Wolfwood is nuts enough out here with no company but the tree by now that he swears he feels a wave of disapproval when he pegs a stone at the bird to move it away.

Sorry, tree, he says, but some lunatic paid me good money to make sure you’re not damaged. He runs a hand over its smoothly knotted bark, and tells himself next time he’ll just shout.

It’s a quiet life, but nice. He’s been there nearly a year. Complacent. Which is why it’s the thud of an axe that wakes him, not the sound of people. He rushes out, dressed in the pants he fell asleep in but sword in hand. There’s a brief yelling match – apparently this tree is magical and the men want the wood for – some shit, Wolfwood doesn’t listen. Swings his sword instead. He doesn’t actually want to kill them, because then he’d have to deal with disposing of bodies. That’s probably what gets him, in the end. They leave, injured but not imperilled, but one of them throws an axe at him as a parting shot. Not as bad as it would be if they’d swung it, but he knows from the sick, hot pain deep in his thigh that the bone is broken. It’s some kind of mania that keeps him on his feet until they’re far gone, and only then does he allow himself to go to the ground, drag himself back under the shelter of the tree and wonder how the fuck he’s going to get back to his cabin and tend this wound. He puts a hand over the shallow gash they’d made in the tree like the one he has pressed to his own leg, and counts himself lucky that these idiots apparently didn’t know how to use axes on men or trees. ]

This is a fine fuckin’ mess we’re in, huh?

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It's not you! [ there's an edge of frustration in his voice, but it's hard to say if it's directed at wolfwood or the pants. which... aha! finally managing to get one leg free, and then shake them off his other foot. ] I don't want a human here, risking his life for me, just because my brother paid him to.

[ ... okay, he doesn't want someone risking their life for him at all, but! something about it had felt different when the act seemed like devotion instead of obligation, even though it's been ages since any human seemed to remember the gods of woods and mountains and rivers.

and now he's wrestling open the door, striding back outside. ]

[ Confirmation that they're brothers, at least. It's mildly embarrassing that Wolfwood didn't notice as soon as he saw Vash as a human, but as alike as their faces are everything about their bearing and attitude is totally different, so... Wolfwood's gonna cut himself a break.

Not Vash, though. He left the door open with that little it's not you, so he doesn't get a break at all. Wolfwood just trots after him, leaving those pants right where they are. ]

Finally admitting you're the tree, huh? You've been quiet, but I've been here pouring my heart out to you for damn near a year and you don't know enough to know I wouldn't risk my life just for money? A guy could get offended.

[ maybe that's a fair point! but it's also pretty hard not to see it as an attempt at pacifying him, especially in light of the fact that wolfwood stands to lose his gig.

it's always been harder to keep a proper lid on his magic when he's upset, and now is no exception. it's the reason for the little blooms of greenery left in his footsteps, the faint stir of something like wind in the leaves of the trees around them. (although it's just as likely that the trees are gossiping about the two of them, rare as it is for their little grove to see any proper drama.) ]

If you're offended, then stop chasing me. [ with a huff! ]

I said a guy could get offended. Not me. Lucky for you, I'm real mature about that stuff.

[ It's honest, at least. Some of the things Wolfwood's had directed at him in his time, it takes a lot - or a very specific little - to offend him. So he stays dogging Vash's steps, taking in the verdant growth in his trail with a low whistle and trying to avoid standing on any of it. ]

Didn't see any ears on ya when you were a tree, after all. Even if it felt like you were listening.

[ ugh!!!

maybe if vash really wanted wolfwood to stop chasing him, it'd be obvious enough in his magic. roots tugging up from the ground to trip him, vines trying to snag a limb and hold him in place. but there's... none of that, which just means vash is even more embarrassed with himself.

he turns sharply on his heel to face wolfwood again. ] Why're you following me?

[ That's enough to stop Wolfwood dead in his tracks, and there's a moment of consternation on his face because...

well, he hasn't really thought about it. ]

'cause you're upset. You don't just let your friends pitch a fit and run away when they're upset, you try to help 'em.

I think. [ He huffs a laugh. ] Been a while since I had one.

[ that makes his expression twist, something achingly vulnerable and lonely making itself known before vash turns his head away. ] You can't be my friend.

[ he just sounds tired, wrapping his arms around himself like they'll offer up some sort of protection. ] Not if someone paid you to be here.

Hn.

[ He pauses a moment, considering. ]

Is that some kinda nymph rule? 'cause by human standards, it's stupid. No offense.

Your brother didn't tell me to come out here and chill with the tree and get all attached to it. He just told me make sure no harm comes to it. Didn't even tell me it was anything other than a tree. I headed out here plannin' to spend a lot of time drinking away the money he gave me and just hollerin' at anyone who came by with a choppy look in their eye. I decided I liked you all on my own. Seems like tellin' the baker he can't be friends with the miller just 'cause he needs her flour.

Edited 2024-01-05 01:03 (UTC)

[ that's...

vash hesitates over that one, turning the idea over in his mind. does it make sense? or does he just want it to make sense? ] I don't want you to --

[ he pauses again. if only because he might be realizing that wolfwood is more bullheaded than he is. ] ... what you did today, putting yourself in harm's way because of me. I don't want you to do it again.

[ finally looking at wolfwood again. ] Please.

[ Aha! Progress. Wolfwood shoves his hands in his pockets, makes a face like he's contemplating these terms. He's not, not really - he might be iffy on whether you're supposed to run after your friends when they're upset, but he's pretty solid on the rules about letting them be chopped up. ]

S'pose I was pretty reckless about it. Coulda done a lot more talking and a lot less sword-waving.

'course, it'd be easier if you were shaped like this more often. How much time do you have to spend as a tree, anyway?

[ a little bit of the tension eases out of vash's shoulders, but maybe mostly because he wasn't expecting the question that follows. it makes him blink, head tilting slightly. ]

There's not a rule. It's just... safer, I guess? People catching glimpses of things like me in the forest start rumors, and it's --

[ his voice catches on something, and he looks away from wolfwood again. and this next bit sounds a lot like he's reciting a belief that belongs to someone else, the ruins of an old argument. ] ... it's better if we're forgotten about.

[ Ha! Fat chance. Wolfwood liked Vash plenty when he thought he was just a tree. Now that he knows how hot he is, has felt his magic and seen it blossoming in his footsteps, there's no way he's gonna be able to forget him. ]

I can see why. You're pretty impressive.

[ Okay, but also - his eyes narrow. ]

You gettin' pestered by those nymph-fuckers you mentioned?

[ ... it's a terrible idea to let himself fall back into that almost-flirting they'd been playing at earlier, but with a line like that? vash can't help it. it's why he slants wolfwood a look that's almost playful, something that's almost a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. ]

Still trying to figure that out.

Oi, watch it.

[ But he can't help grinning at that look, something that's not quite a smile but definitely seems... coquettish. ]

I started thinkin' about taking you to bed before you told me you're a nymph. Doesn't count.

When you thought I was just a tree?

[ like he doesn't know what wolfwood means! but the thought tickles him enough to get the smile to widen. ]

Sorry to disappoint.

What, you didn't pick it up from the way I kept catching naked naps under your branches?

[ He's joking, but the thought settles in his brain after it's out of his mouth and an expression of mild horror dawns over his face. ]

Wait, could you... see that?

[ Thank god he never decided to embrace his new woodsy persona by jerking off under there! ]

[ is it mean to laugh? probably.

vash does it anyway. ]

I'm not just a tree. [ a little impish. ] I'm the forest.

[ well. sort of. but that's not important! what matters: ] I saw all the moonlit baths, too.

Can't believe I offered you pants to protect your modesty when I've been givin' you a show this whole time.

[ Trying his best to sound brazen, despite the colour blooming in his cheeks. That laugh, though! It's beautiful. He wants to hear more of it, as often as possible. ]

Doesn't really help my case when I say I wasn't really trying to fuck a tree, huh?

[ oh. that bloom of color in wolfwood's cheeks is enchanting, and vash jerks his eyes away from the sight like he's been caught looking at something he shouldn't. ]

... a long, long time ago, sometimes people used to come here because -- [ he flushes, almost like he's embarrassed to admit to it, but. ] ... they thought we were gods? So they tended to the forest, lived off the land, and... worshipped.

For awhile, I thought maybe that was why you were here? It seems pretty stupid now, but...

It's not stupid.

[ Wolfwood can feel the smile returning softly to his face after the horror of the realization that he's had his dick and balls out in front of some kind of spirit of the forest all summer has passed. Of course people worshipped them. Just the serenity being around tree-Vash would have been enough to convert someone inclined that way, probably, but after seeing what he can do? It makes sense. He kinda wants to worship Vash as it is, although a lot of his ideas about how he'd like to do so are maybe less-than-holy. ]

Sounds a lot like how I was actin'. Livin' off the land, tryin' to keep this place safe, talking to a tree like I thought it could hear me. Hell, it's peaceful enough out here that I'd have probably figured some mystical shit was up if I was that kinda person.

[ A laugh, low and warm. ]

I guess mystical shit was up, huh?

Edited 2024-01-05 04:21 (UTC)

Well...

Even if that's not why you were here, it was still nice. Having company.

[ very handsome, sometimes naked company, at that! ]

Hey now. What's this about was? Is it 'cause I'm slacking on the worship?

[ He - just barely - manages to resist adding a wink to the grin that unfurls across his face. ]

I already told you I'm planning on sticking around. I can stay out of your hair if that's what you want, but... I'm hoping it's not. You're good company. Even as a tree. Gotta say I like this better, though.

[ oh! vash flusters a little, almost like he really did need the reminder that wolfwood's still planning to stay. and that grin! not helping. ]

You weren't worshipping at all. Laying around naked doesn't count! [ but his own smile is back, and there's a lilt like laughter in his voice. ] And only one offering?

I wasn't raised with tree religion! How was I supposed to know what a tree wants for an offering? And if witches getting around naked is a sign of their devotion I don't see why it doesn't count for me.

[ There's a shot here though, and he decides to grab it. ]

Tell you what. I'm not a bad cook. You stay man-shaped for a little longer and I can make you a real nice dinner from the bounty of your woods, how's that?

[ sure, wolfwood mentioned liking his company, but! the offer still catches vash off-guard enough that it takes him a moment to answer. ] I --

[ his voice drops down again, back into something that's almost shy. ] You want to? I was only kidding about the offerings!

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