Octave was not doing well. The man had mushrooms growing from him, so maybe that was an understatement. Noko fussed around him like she could do anything beyond look worried when the coughing fits started or he winced with pain. All he wanted was fresh air though, and so despite his clearly unwell state Octave would wander beyond his den, approaching the river and falling to his side beside it. He wanted to push himself under the surface of the water, wanted to feel it's chill numb him but he dared not risk infecting the water, instead letting the noise of it at least fill his buzzing mind. Octave coughed again, a pain welling in his chest as he did so, his lungs straining to breathe in. Noko hovered nearby but there was nothing she could do to lessen her friend's suffering. "Ocatve" "Noko" Think You

Art by EquestrianJade

The world he had known for so much time had shifted suddenly. His wife, his son, they all seemed to slip away suddenly and Hymn found himself standing in a place he recognized instantly. If he had ever tread here specifically while alive he could not say. But Hymn would have known the land of his birth anywhere. More importantly, Hymn would recognize his only surviving son anywhere. The man approached, though his paws did not seem to connect with the earth as he moved he still seemed able to move as he did in life. Octave was rough, mushroom grew worryingly from his eye and he watched a hacking cough wrack his son's frame and Hymn's heart ached. Would he be bringing yet another child back into the fold too soon? Allegro's passing had hurt in it's own way, though he loved his son and was glad to have the rest of eternity to spend with the man he had mourned for his too young son, and mourned when he learned of the children he'd left behind... Hymn's own grandchildren. "Care to fill your old man in?" He asked as he approached, seating himself beside the prone form of his son. ""

Octave hacked again, the pain throbbing in his head and his eyes. He wanted to desperately scrape the offending fungi away but he and Noko had learned the hard way that doing so would only cause immense pain... And the larger mushroom that spouted from the outer corner of his right eye, it had grown in so quickly and so much bigger. His vision was significantly obscured by it already and so they dared not try to remove any more, lest one of them crowd his eye out of its own socket. Still her jumped when a familiar, but distant, voice reached him and a shape settled beside him and Octave gazed up incredulously up at... His father? It took a moment for the words his father had spoken to process and Octave started to speak, voice croaking from lack of use and the spores that filled his lungs. Noko meanwhile approached Hymn with a wide-eyed stare. She lifted up on her hind paws and leaned forward to hold herself up on the man's legs but tumbled through him... Rolling away from him and looking more than a little surprised and mildly disturbed that she'd... gone through him. "I went to tell mom's side of the family about Allegro..." Octave started, his breathing shallow. "I came back for a bit and things started getting weird, the sun hasn't properly risen in weeks and the continent has been taken over by fireflies, crystals and mushrooms... I guess I caught something from one. Now I'm stuck here..." Oh god. He hadn't planned to stay here for so long, he'd always meant to get back to Kite. His eyes stung and fear thrilled through him, Octave's body was wracked with a painful coughing fit. "I have to get back to Kite..." He looked up at his father, practically begging him, or whatever had taken his father's shape, even if it was just a delusion of his fevered mind. "I can't leave without saying goodbye." He couldn't die here. "Ocatve" "Noko" Think You

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Well, that felt weird, as Noko tumbled through him Hymn had to fight the instinct to stand up to avoid being hit by the lemur, though maybe feeling was the wrong word. It tickled his brain in a strange way to see her going right through him but he didn't actually feel anything at all. Which in and of itself was a strange sensation. Octave started to fill him in though and Hymn watched his son, his heart breaking all over again. He lowered himself onto his stomach and pushed his head forward, tipping his skull forward so that if he was corporeal he would have rested his forehead on his son's. "Tell me about him." It was all he could do to try and help his hurting child. ""

Octave was so tired, his chest hurt and felt tight from the lack of air moving through his system and his eyes hurt, a pressure felt like it was building up behind his eyeballs, like a thousand tiny mushrooms were straining to push their way free. He was suffering and yet his own mortality was only a fear for him as he realized he didn't want to leave Kite behind with nothing to hold onto, no sign of where he'd gone. His father asked him to tell him about Kite and Octave would oblige, between wheezing breathes and full-body coughs he would tell his father about the man he loved, the absolute adoration he felt for his tiny little friend and the circumstances of their meeting and as he talked he felt his energy waning, his body was tired of fighting whatever he was infected with and the comfort of his father's presence (whether real or not) had finally lulled his poor overstretched mind into sleep.   "Ocatve" "Noko" Think You

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Hymn listened as his son spoke, he watched and listened and tried to suppress a frown every time Octave was wracked by a coughing fit. Hymn silently prayed his son was not wasting away in front of his eyes. Finally, Octave seemed to lull himself to sleep and Hymn reached out a paw, desperately hoping he could gently embrace his son but predictably his toes went through Octave's shoulder. Hymn sighed and rose to his paws. Noko approached her tiny face full of concern. "Are you here to take him away?" She stared up at him. Hymn shook his head. "I do not know why I am here, but I am no angle of death. I do not know how long I will still be here, please watch after him in my stead." "I'll do what I can... " The Lemur looked up at him and nodded sadly. "I think seeing you helped to settle him at least." She gently brushed one of her forepaws through Octave's snowy white fur. "Losing his brother was hard on him... I think he's scared of leaving Kite behind the way Allegro left his children and Octave." Hymn nodded. "Noko, thank you for being his friend." Hymn stepped away, though he flashed the lemur a smile and she gave him a nod. He stalked away from his sleeping son, wondering if he would get a chance to see his grandkids. ""

Octave

The sickness deepens... You get a blinding headache as if something is trying to grow through your skull.

Hymn

You are allowed to temporarily exist again, that in itself should be enough for you...