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!
Most of all, though - not so strange perhaps, all things considered... he was just very, very tired. The fatigue showed in his blue eyes, in his smile, in his ruffled copper hair left loose around his face, in the two day old scruff on his chin.
But he was still happy and willing (oh so willing) to lead Remi carefully up the steps into the Wishing Wagon. "You won't have to whistle for it any longer," he assured the alchemist over the gentle melody of the Stonesong. "Since we met with Delah, this is where I'll be living for the foreseeable future. So you shouldn't get lost."
He wouldn't get lost anyway if Ianto had his way, because he didn't plan to leave Remi to fend for himself in the woods ever again.
"Mind the step," he mumbled, guiding the other man into the wagon and shutting the doors behind them.
06-04-2019, 09:05 PM (This post was last modified: 06-04-2019, 09:09 PM by Remi.)
loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Taking the fox at his word was a dangerous thing to do, but of course it was all Remi had now. He could feel the scruff on his friend's face, but couldn't place it as indicating weariness, just as he couldn't see the bags around his eyes or if and when his smile disappeared a little too fast.
And so at Ianto's word and his behest, Remi happily followed.
"Really?" Remi murmured, his hand gently laced through Ianto's for guidance as much as affection. "No more wagon-wandering for you? Why?" Humming a note of acknowledgement Remi testing the stairs with the toes of his shoes, eventually making it up and into the wagon. Clumsily tapping his hand against the various surfaces until his legs hit the bed, Remi happily let himself collapse into a sea of blankets, kicking off his shoes and snow-angeling his way into absolute comfort.
just pull me down hard and drown me in love
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Smiling endearingly as Remi made his way to the bed, more or less, Ianto made sure everything was properly locked up before following. "You know why - you were there," he reminded the other man, though he couldn't at all blame him for not remembering. "I told Delah I would have this place stationed here as a trading post. That way at least everyone from the Hollowed Grounds knows there's a safe place they might come to interact with the Fae."
And Remi would always know where to go to find him - that was an obvious plus as well. With a long, almost wistful sigh, Ianto flopped onto the bed with Remi in his fox form, thinking nothing of hopping up into the alchemist's lap and getting comfortable on his chest, chin resting on his forepaws.
Comfy enough? He laughed mentally, ears twitching at the sound of the river outside.
loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips
"Right, yes." Remi murmured, touching his fingertips between his eyes and pressing slightly. "It feels like so long ago, all of a sudden." He added with a laugh, letting his hand fall back into the sheets.
The sudden weight on his chest made Remi's muscles tense briefly. It was amazing how much more jittery he was now that he couldn't see anything. Almost everything came as a bit of a surprise. Immediately relaxing though, Remi immediately brought both hands up to the fox, massaging into the coppery fur and imagining the face he knew was right in front of him.
Well now that you mention it— Remi replied back silently, almost as if he were about to make a complaint. Instead though, he just wriggled slightly to bring the blankets more around him, doubling down on his efforts to scrich and massage the fox.
Do my eyes look strange? Remi asked suddenly, opening his eyes and lifting his chin up slightly, staring down his chest (or where he thought the center of his chest was, anyhow).
just pull me down hard and drown me in love
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It does feel like a while ago, Ianto agreed with Remi, whiskers twitching, though he was soon putty in the alchemist's hands as they came up to scritch and fuss over the fox. Letting out a whining growl of contentment, Ianto turned his head so Remi could get to a particularly hard to reach spot, his ear twitching wildly with pleasure.
Snuffling closer as if he might sneak up and lick Remi's face, Ianto was suddenly stopped at the other man's question. Lifting his head, he blinked up at the other man, ears perking forward now. Different? I mean... Well, yeah. When you were blinded, they... well, they look like the eyes of a blind man. He didn't know how else to phrase it.
loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips
As Ianto tossed and fussed on top of him, Remi could imagine his expression so vividly in his mind's-eye that it was hard not to let a wide smile creep across his face Only...that was all it would ever be now. Just an imagining.
Oh. Right. Remi murmured. He wasn't a vain man, he just...wondered what it was he looked like now. Ronin hadn't really been forthcoming with details since there had been too many other things to worry about. But now? Hmmmmm. The alchemist hummed, a sound that reverberated through his chest. I suppose that means you will not ever have to dress up to see me then. But you will have to promise that you are in fact you, since I cannot look at the lens Safrin gave me to make sure. He added with a grin, using both hands to smooth out Ianto's cheeks and then simultaneously scratch behind each ear.
just pull me down hard and drown me in love
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Your eyes are just... paler, I suppose. Lighter than they were before. Ianto explained as best he could. You were right about what you said with Isla, though. The rest of you is healed up so well that you wouldn't even know... Which just made it more difficult to deal with, sometimes. Still, Ianto was momentarily distracted as skilled hands came up to scritch behind both of his ears, the fox letting out another yip of pleasure, playfully nipping at Remi's fingers and finally shaking himself off.
In a moment, Ianto was sitting astride Remi as a man, just as he had done a few weeks before. "I still want to dress up to see you," he murmured. "I don't want anything like that to have changed. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean I can't." He smiled weakly, tracing warm fingertips across the other man's cheek. "I promise you though - I am me."
loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips
"Mmmm." Speaking of Isla, Remi decided that the next time he saw her, he'd have her show him what he looked like to her. Whether being a unicorn affected the way she saw things, he didn't know. But at least he'd get an idea.
Pulsing his fingers against the sudden teeth, Remi finding it actually easier to avoid Ianto's playful nips by the sensation alone rather than by sight. Suddenly snapping teeth turned into a dramatic increase of weight upon his stomach, and Remi exhaled a surprised sort of gasp as his mind caught up to what must have happened. His hands still suspended in mid-air, Remi smiled weakly and nodded, letting his fingers drop down onto Ianto's thighs.
Leaning gently into the fingers almost as Ianto had done as a fox, the alchemist sighed. Losing the mask had resulted in the loss of his memories, and thus the dissolution of his relationship with Sam. Would removing the collar and losing his sight have a similar result for he and Ianto?
"I am so sorry that I did this...I just...I just wanted you to be able to feel free sometimes. That's all."
just pull me down hard and drown me in love
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Smiling softly as Remi slipped into a bout of solitude, Ianto let his free hand drift to rest over the alchemist's, his thumb stroking over the back of it. When the other man finally did speak again, Ianto was scoffing away his apology already and giving his hand a squeeze. "You didn't do anything - you didn't know. Neither of us could have anticipated the reaction that she would have..." Except, was that true really? Could Ianto have known better, thought faster...?
Always, was the answer. He could have always done something different to what he had actually allowed to happen. "I'm the one who is sorry," he muttered. "I feel free whenever I'm with you, anyway. So... forget the collar. It doesn't matter, as long as you're here."
loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Looking up towards the fox (presumably), Remi nodded gently, his head lolling to the side. "I can still regret it. I am sure she was not pleased with you. I can be sorry for that as well. It was selfish of me, to want to see it off of you." Which in a way, is exactly what Remi got. Not because the collar was removed, but because he could no longer see it.
The alchemist hummed a note of sly agreement, running the hand not capture by Ianto's up the side of his unshaven face. "That meeting could have gone better, with the fae." Remi remarked absently. "Is it even worth all this effort? If they really do not want us in their woods, perhaps we should let them be."
just pull me down hard and drown me in love
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I wanted to see it off me, too. So... I suppose the blame belongs with both of us." That didn't mean that it didn't break Ianto's fucking heart to know he could meet Remi's eyes and the other man wasn't seeing him. And Arduinna was a great deal more than not pleased, the fox wincing openly at the mere mention of her, before trying to squash down the memory of claws and nightmarish illusions and suffocating earth.
Bringing Remi's hand up to kiss his fingertips, Ianto finally moved out of the alchemist's lap so he could lay down beside him, rolling onto his side and smiling down at the alchemist. It wasn't a smile that lasted very long, unfortunately, and Ianto couldn't help but sound a bit bruised as he had to reiterate, again, the nature of his relationship with Arduinna.
"It isn't my call to say whether it's worth the effort, sorry," he mumbled. "I would like to leave well enough alone, given the choice. The Hollowed Grounds are in need of a merchant like me more than the Fae."
loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips
No longer shifted, Remi couldn't feel the wince wafting off of the fox. The steady pressure against his hand was reassuring and, tricksy as Ianto might have been, Remi trusted that he would tell him the truth.
Smiling sunnily as his fingers were raised, his pale eyes fluttering closed with soft happiness at the kiss pressed against him, Remi sighed with boyish disappointment as Ianto rolled off of him. Leaning his shoulder against the fox, wanting to regain the closeness, he simply shrugged and nodded. "I suppose that is true. I was just wondering. Sam told me that a group was captured...and that was after I had put up a notice saying not to wander too far into the woods as the fae wanted us to stay out. So I suppose Arduinna will get her way no matter what."
The mention of Sam made Remi's lips twitch slightly into a crook grin, and he turned his face towards the warm puffs of air leaving Ianto's lips. "I...told someone that I was seeing you." The alchemist admitted with a tittery and unsure laugh. Not quite dating, but not quite single either. He thought it captured their relationship quite well, though as far as he knew, in the past he and Ianto had never labeled what they were. Whether the fox would want yet another person who held some sort of claim to him, Remi didn't know.
just pull me down hard and drown me in love
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I remember," Ianto muttered regarding the group that had been captured. "I was there - I'd seen them exploring, and I was going to lead them to the Stonesong when Delah sprung her ambush." He sighed, letting a warm hand wander down Remi's chest, merely enjoying being able to take such innocent liberties. "Arduinna was involved in their rescue. I think those people who were trapped in the barrier so long... well. I'd want out after three hundred years, you know?" The fox's smile was audible in his voice.
Raising his eyebrows at hearing that Remi had told someone he was seeing Ianto, the merchant grinned and leant in for a gentle kiss, his fingers brushing across Remi's cheek to let him know it was coming. "Oh?" he murmured against his lips, "...Ronin?" It was a wild guess, of course, but he knew that Remi lived with the other man.
loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips
"Oh?" Remi blinked with slight bewilderment. Sam had not mentioned that part, whether intentionally or unintentionally. "Out? Sure. But there are other places to go, yes? I cannot imagine that this place is just the Hollowed Grounds and the Greatwood. Surely there is more to it."
Though Remi sighed beneath his friend's fingers looking outwardly content, his heart thundered within his chest. Rising ever so slightly to meet the fox's lips, the alchemist savoured the sweet gentleness of it, adoring their passionate kisses just as much as their tender and sweet ones. Hearing Ronin's name made Remi start for a moment, before he chuckled awkwardly and shook his head. "No, though I am sure he is more than aware. It was Sam, actually. He...he mentioned before that perhaps he and I might one day...date again. I think I just wanted to give him some closure. An ending."
just pull me down hard and drown me in love
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
