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!
if you make it all wrong then i'll make it all right
True to his word, it wasn't long before the alchemist wandered back into the woodlands, towards an all too familiar cabin, seeking out the huntress turned healer turned witch. While it was true that Remi had told Sam of his engagement to Roni through sheer happenstance, Vai was intentionally going to be the first person that he planned to tell. She deserved that much, serving as a mother-figure for both she and Ronin, but also because...well...he'd come to her so often with bad news, heartache, death, and sorrow. It was about time he showed up at her door with a smile on his face.
"Vai?" Remi sunnily called out, head tilted to the side as he listened for sounds of life whether inside the cabin or out.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Back here!" Vai's voice rang out from the back of the cabin. If Remi headed around he would see her, bow in hand to take shots at one of the trees. (The number of wounds the tree had already received was testament to her aim). Felix burbled up at the alchemist from a wicker basket under the shade of the cabin porch, and Vai lowered her next shot so she could turn and smile at Remi.
She looked tired. More than physically so; she looked as though she had about had enough. "How's tricks, Remi?" she asked, keeping her tone bright for the alchemist she had taken in as one of her own.
if you make it all wrong then i'll make it all right
Happily the alchemist followed the sound of the voice—not surprised at all that Vai would be outside on such a lovely afternoon—and greeted her with a sunny smile as she turned. Looking down at the gurgling and bright-eyed Felix, Remi dropped to a knee to address the boy eye-to-eye, making soft tittering sounds in the back of his throat.
Looking up at Vai and shielding his eyes slightly against the light (his vision could indeed still be blinded by the sun), he rose and immediately went to bury his head against her shoulder. "He said yes.." Remi whispered, the laughter and joy far too buoyant in the back of his throat to let him properly form the words.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It said something that as Remi moved into her arms, Vai instantly assumed the worst. So rarely did good things happen to the alchemist that she was already prepared to sit Remi down and help him through whatever this next trial was... so when he spoke and it was to say that he was engaged, her bow and arrows slipped to the ground in moments. "He said yes!" she echoed, a broad grin on her face.
Arms moving around Remi to hug him tightly, Vai felt laughter bubbling up in her throat rather without permission, banishing her stormy mood entirely. "That is just what I needed today," she gushed, stepping back and cupping Remi's cheeks in her hands to beam at him. "I am so pleased for you. We need to celebrate!"
if you make it all wrong then i'll make it all right
Remi laughed, fully able to do anything other than beam with boyish brightness. "To be fair, he was concussed at the time...though I made sure to check and see if he still agreed in the morning." The alchemist added with a snort, his cheeks comically round as he continued to fight against his expression that wanted to stretch the proportions of his face with joy.
Taking her hand and leaning his cheek against it, Remi's smile softened ever so slightly. "Why today? Has anything happened, or.." Glancing back towards the house and hearing the telltale signs of...well, the lack of a large man-bear, Remi swallowed and turned back to the huntress.
"No, no. I did not mean to interrupt. Were you practicing?" He asked, nodding towards the training dummy stuffed with arrows.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"A wise decision, Remi. So your big, grandiose plan ended up being a sloppy, random event?" Vai's expression was knowing, her fire blue eyes bright with it, though her smile was just as warm and jubilant. It faltered ever so slightly, however, as he continued to speak, and she squeezed his shoulder with her free hand.
"Yes, well... I was there at the Spire, you see. When what happened happened." Because the rumours were spreading like wildfire, weren't they? About the tulmhainar, about Safrin... "I left," she muttered, shrugging. "The air was choking us, and I would have fallen unconscious..." Her gaze moved to Felix and she sighed. "So I left them there, alone to face whatever happened. It's not a good feeling."
Glancing back to the training dummy, she smirked and nodded. "I was, yes. I was thinking maybe I ought to go exploring a bit. Would you like to practice with me?"
if you make it all wrong then i'll make it all right
Crinkling his nose with a boyish chagrin, Remi nodded. "Yes, all the pretty words just went out the window. He came home just after some...expedition into the Spire and I just...he and I have not had the best luck keeping safe, and it struck me then that there was no reason to wait." Looking properly surprised at what Vai had to say, Remi shook his head with confusion. "There is so little preparation...since coming here I feel we have all gained so much, and yet no one seems to share it. To prepare.." Glancing at Felix just as the huntress' did, Remi gave his head a defiant shake. "Surely they knew the risks. Your ability to heal does not mean that their lives come before his." Or yours, he wanted to add, though he was in absolutely no position to give such advice.
Pulling away from the witch and smiling mischievously, the alchemist nodded. "Especially given your ability to heal, I do not mind serving as a moving target, if you like. What'll it be: lion, hawk, or raccoon?"
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Mm... it's important, to say everything you mean when you get the chance. I'm so pleased, for both of you." She smiled softly. As they spoke of what had happened in the Spire, Vai still felt guilt curl low and heavy in the pit of her stomach... but every time she looked at her son, it dissipated somewhat. At both of her sons, in fact, because Remi more than counted too. So, giving a slow nod, she vowed to try to put it behind her.
An easy task when Remi went and suggested she shoot arrows at him. "You don't seriously expect that I'm going to try and hit you?" She raised her eyebrows. Healing or not, that did not seem wise. Still, she bent to take up her bow and arrows. "All three would be best - if that was what we were doing."
07-06-2019, 08:50 PM (This post was last modified: 07-06-2019, 08:51 PM by Remi.)
if you make it all wrong then i'll make it all right
"So I am learning. It could easily have been my voice taken from me instead of my sight." He said with a humble nod of agreement. But even Arduinna's attack on him couldn't sullen his mood; indeed it felt as though he'd never be sad again, as naive as that was. Would it last? Likely not. But that didn't mean he couldn't hold onto it for as long as it did.
"You have shot me with an arrow before." Remi said with a grin, glad that after all the horrors he and the huntress had endured together, that at least they could laugh about some of them now.
"Familiar first, then. Long distance." So saying, without giving Vai much of a chance to argue, Remi jumped into the air, shifting easily. His body began to shrink and lighten, covering itself in feathers as he propelled his new body upwards. Flying high above the trees, the hawk issued a piercing cry down to the huntress, flying in lazy circle
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"At least if it were your voice, you could write pretty love letters to your man," Vai pointed out with a wink. "Your handwriting is beautiful, after all." This was not a practice in calligraphy, however, and the witch knocked an arrow in her bow and let out a long sigh of resignation as Remi made his point. Yes, she had shot him before. And she was much more adept at healing now than then.
Even so, she wasn't going to aim for anything vital, and she offered a curt nod as he suggested long distance. Her arm drew back in a fluid motion, already tracking the hawk as it ascended and circled above. Remi issued his call to readiness and Vai didn't miss a beat, loosing an arrow up and at the Attuned, aiming for a wing if she could.
if you make it all wrong then i'll make it all right
"My writing perhaps. My words...less so." Remi countered with a laugh, still finding something extremely uplifting and wordless about hearing Ronin spoke of his man.
High on the thermals which would quickly disappear as the seasons changed, Remi banked easily. With his sight in this form as it was, regardless of the disparity his blindness caused, avoiding the arrow was all too easy. Especially when he knew it was coming of course.
Dodging easily out of the range of the arrow, it was Remi's turn to dive back towards Vai. Spreading his wings as he hit the tree line, rather than crash landing into the boughs he quickly shifted between forms. Running from branch to branch, grabbing hold with dexterous fingers, there was only a billowing black tail to indicate where he had been.
He was closer to the witch now, but in the foliage he'd be a much harder target to hit.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Hissing a curse under her breath, Vai was already reaching for and knocking another arrow as the first sailed past the hawk - she'd have to go looking for that later, given how valuable they were as ammo. Drawing her arm back and keeping a keen eye on the descending avian, she scowled as the treeline rustled and the movement within suggested Remi had shifted.
This, in some ways, was much more difficult than close or long range; the cover made it a very thorny task, indeed! So Vai decided not to take her chances - Remi would find himself needing to dodge not one, but three arrows, all fired in quick succession in the direction that Vai assumed he was taking.
if you make it all wrong then i'll make it all right
The first arrow made the raccoon stamper, the second hit the space between his paws, and the third...well, the third would have struck him square in the shoulder had the uneven branch not become far too weildy to hold on to.
Falling from the bough of a vibrating limb was a ball of black and grey that suddenly expanded and burst into golden colour. Landing on his feet as cats are want to do (save for some extremely inelegant twisting in the air), the large lion peered at Vai with hungry but subdued eyes. A flash of green therein was meant to indicate that the alchemist was still in control despite the rather predator-prey nature of this training session.
With a snarl, the lion lunged forward, aiming for Vai.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
For just a moment, a small smirk of victory flickered across Vai's face. She didn't want to hurt Remi at all, but just as the alchemist embraced his predatory nature for the purposes of the training, so too did the huntress in Vai. The raccoon dropped from the branches and already she was drawing back another arrow - only to have the small, fuzzy creature become a target that was much easier to hit.
And much easier to be hit by.
As the lion lunged Vai swore and had to dance back a few steps. An instinctive force of will had a sharp gale whipping through the trees, Vai hoping to at least obscure Remi's vision if not push him off balance as she let the arrow loose with the wind.
