From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
05-31-2019, 06:13 PM (This post was last modified: 05-31-2019, 06:13 PM by Remi.)
sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man
The...whatever had happened with the fae had happened. And, not wanting to push his luck, the alchemist had decided he'd begin to make his way home. Of course he couldn't do that without talking to Ianto first. Every time he caught a glimpse of coppery-hair or heard his musical and endearing voice a part of him internally flinched and cooled.
I come to you today on Arduinna's behest, with traders from beyond the barrier. Ianto had said.
Something about the lack of openness made Remi feel flighty and fidgety. "Hey," Remi said softly, trying to catch the fox's gaze. "Can we talk?"
sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I'm not sure that any conversation starting with can we talk has ever ended well. But of course we can." Ianto's hands were buried in the pockets of his trousers (it was too hot by far for his coat), his blue eyes following the glow of will-o-wisps in the darkening Greatwood night. Whatever had happened with the Fae had happened, indeed, but that wasn't really so important to him right now. He had an inkling of what he might have done to earn Remi's... well, not ire, exactly. Wariness, he supposed.
But not everyone could be as open as the alchemist. Ianto's past and present cast a shadow far greater than the man himself. And it was from that shadow that he spoke. "What is it you want to talk about?"
sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man
"Well I take it back then. I will just start talking at you, and you can listen if you want." Remi replied with a laugh, his gaze falling softly on the fox. The alchemist was not the type to be cross or angry, and even now with the lingering cloud that was Ianto's misleading narrative swirling above him, he couldn't help but smile boyishly at the roguish figure of Ianto.
Clearing his throat, Remi reached a hand across his chest to clasp his opposite arm, holding it and appearing both defensive and apprehensive at the same time. "So all of this...was because Arduinna asked you to bring us?" Remi began, trailing off but his voice rising speculatively at the end, inviting the fox to fill in the obvious gaps.
sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Unable to help himself, Ianto smiled back at Remi and snorted at his comment, rolling his eyes as they continued to walk. He had sent the wagon off before them, so he could walk his friend back to the Settlement in his own time. "I can't argue with that, I suppose," he said with grin that fell away at the start of the conversation in earnest. He cleared his throat awkwardly, one hand coming up from his pockets to ruffle through his red hair.
"Yes and no," he muttered. "She told me to do it. So it was always going to happen." His shrug gave no room for 'but's. "It helped that it was something that I wanted to do. That I would have done, had I gotten the idea first. So... like I said. Yes and no."
sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man
"Yes and no." Remi echoed, wanting very much not to fall into the gaping holes in Ianto's story, but finding it impossibly hard to avoid them. Mirroring his friend's gesture, the alchemist ran a hand through his own curls, back to front and then back again with a sigh.
"With all that you have told me about her...not wanting me to meet her, not wanting to talk about the..ahh.. relationship that you have...I suppose I was just surprised that you would include us in one of her plans, without at least mentioning it. To me, if not the others." Halting, Remi reached a hand to lay it against the fox's arm, if he could. His gaze was softly wounded, but the boyish optimism and hope was perhaps the most sad thing about his expression.
sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ianto hummed a note of discord to himself at the mention of his relationship with Arduinna, plucking absently at the collar about his neck only to find the same arm captured by a gentle hand upon it. "You would never have been in any danger," he murmured, though he knew himself that it was a weak defence at best. The kicker, the twisting of the knife, came when Remi singled himself out. Ianto cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't want to involve anyone in things like this, but I don't have a choice sometimes. Arduinna wants peace between the Fae and those from the Settlement. This seemed the easiest and safest way to go about it."
sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man
The alchemist raised a brow. The fae had been anything but welcoming, the last time he'd been to the village he'd had to hide in the body of a raccoon, and Ianto had said nothing of Arduinna, other than that she was to be avoided. But that he'd never been in any danger? "Are you certain of that?" Remi asked softly, biting the inside of his cheek, his expression wary.
Nodding, his fingers gently whispering out patterns against the fox's arm, Remi took a breath and held it a moment. "That makes sense." He agreed, exhaling slowly. "All of it. Arduinna's hold on you, trying to make peace with the fae...but what does not make sense is that you did not tell me ahead of time. You let me think that this was for you."
Trying to find the fox's gaze, his heart both in his throat and also falling to his feet, he tilted his head gently, that optimism still alight in his pale stare. "Why?"
sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ianto's frown said everything that his reassurance didn't, and he fidgeted with one of the sleeves of his shirt as they walked, even as Remi's fingers danced across his arm. He avoided the alchemist's gaze like it was something that might burn him, focuing on the trees around them, the way through, the earth beneath their feet.
"It didn't seem important," he lied, before catching himself and shaking his head. "...I was afraid you would want to speak with her about it. Or about anything," he muttered. He was undoubtedly already in a lot of trouble for trying to talk Remi out of it the first time - because Ianto was certain that Arduinna could hear anything and everything he was up to. Putting himself in a position where he would have to do the same thing again made him cower from the prospect of the pain it would provoke.
sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man
Ianto's slippery gaze made Remi remember what it was that one of the fae had told him once. That they didn't lie, and because of that they were very tricksy when it came to their words. Similarly here it felt like one look from the fox would have been the most honest part of their discussion so far. Biting the inside of his lip as they walked, Remi kept his gaze focused intently on the ground before them, feeling his cheeks redden slightly.
"But...you knew I would find out eventually." Remi countered, eyebrows knitting together. "I guess I just...she is so much of who you are now. What your life is like; what you do, where you live, it is all because of her. I suppose I was just surprised that you kept it from me, that is all." Remi concluded a bit lamely.
sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I did," Ianto agreed quietly. "But I knew you would find out at the same time as everyone else found out. And you wouldn't... There would be more important things than asking about her." He scowled at the ground, both hating what he was saying but seeming powerless to stop it. Ianto didn't have an answer for Remi beyond what he had already said, and that didn't sound even close to acceptable now he was speaking it out loud.
Swallowing hard, Ianto let out a long sigh and straightened up a bit, subconsciously, as they walked. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Sorry that I'm not as free as when we met in Northaven. I know you don't... I know it's not something you remember, but I do. And I feel like I made you a lot happier then."
sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man
"Mmhmm." The alchemist agreed, the silence he left between them seeming to say, which is why I am asking about it now. And also, perhaps in a vein far less understanding than Remi was used to being, thanks for lumping me in with everyone else.
Remi stopped suddenly then, reaching out to grab the fox by the shoulder and force him to stop as well. He bit absently at the inside of his cheek, his head shaking in a restrained sort of arc. "No, I do not remember." There was no use saying that Ianto made him happy now. The merchant knew he did, but not as he once had, apparently.
Something unsaid stretched out, and the alchemist frowned at his friend, the slow shake of his head eventually stopping. "I do not want us to be too different." He said, jumping straight to the end of the inevitable dialogue of I am happy now — Yes but not as happy as we once were, we've both changed. "I thought...finding you again...I feel like I am almost my old self, who ever that is. You pulled me out of all that I was going through. "
sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ianto's jaw clenched at the sudden touch on his shoulder, at the way they were forced to stop in the middle of the woods. "I don't think you are much different," he muttered. "You're... well. You know exactly what I think about you." The fox smiled crookedly, some of the old warmth and mirth making its way into his expression, his cheeks colouring a bit. Even that, though, couldn't stop the march of the conversation.
"I'm glad... Glad that I could help you, that you don't have to worry about the world and what it might think about you. It seems like I'm the one who has changed, Remi." He scowled, hating that it was so true. "It doesn't matter what I want or what I do. Everything I am is dictated by what she wants of me. If she told me never to speak with you again, I..." He paused, as if hit by the reality of having to actually obey that order. "I'd not have a choice."
sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man
Remi felt the coldness in his belly for a moment entirely warm and he found himself positively melting beneath the crooked and roguish stare that he'd come, not metaphorically, to love.
The head-shaking began again, in earnest this time. Remi didn't like the fox's phrasing, as if the alchemist had someone just been using Ianto like a shot of antibiotics to get himself back on his feet again. However what Ianto said next only made Remi flinch, his whole body ceasing any movement as he merely gaped at the fox.
"Wh..." He began, though whether the word was what, or why it hardly mattered. "No." Remi nearly whined, his expression looking pained as his gaze dropped to the collar. Reaching forward as he had before, his fingers trembling as they nearly touched the leather, he took a breath. "I think I can do it now...can I try?"
sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Hearing Remi react to what he had said was more painful than the realisation it had brought on himself, Ianto sighing shakily and fighting not to look away from the other man, much as he wanted to. He winced as Remi's hands came up, the fox holding himself stock still so he wouldn't instinctively grab at the alchemist's wrists and stop him from getting any closer.
"Do what?" he said softly, knowing the answer and asking anyway. Swallowing hard, he gave the slightest of nods as if to give permission to Remi, to let him do what he would in an attempt to free Ianto, however metaphorical it might be.
