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!
"Mmmm, well I can tell you now that there will not be a single buckle." Remi quipped back with a bashful shake of his head.
"Too big he says." The alchemist playfully mocked under his breath. His magic was at the ready should things go south. However as Ronin hefted the axe and threw it...nothing happened. Raising a brow, his face instantly one of scientific concentration, Remi narrowed his eyes, looking from Ronin to the bale.
"Maybe you...have to think about it returning?" He ventured. Sure Remi made the axe magical, but he was still very far from understanding precisely how the magic actually worked.
nobody hangs hard times on the wall
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"But the buckles are so much fun," Ronin protested with a playful grin, not being serious at all about it. As good as he had looked in the armour on their wedding day (judging by Remi's reaction he thought he'd looked pretty decent), the buckles were a pain in the ass. "Oh ha ha. Look, a dick joke. We made it almost an entire conversation without one and you had to go and ruin it."
Smirking to Remi, he followed the other man's gaze to the axe in its target, Ronin arching an eyebrow as he waited expectantly. "Uh... maybe?" He shrugged, gazing down at his hands and trying to imagine the axe dislodging itself and flying back into his waiting hands.
"Well if you want to call it a joke, that is up to you." The alchemist retorted with a shrug, his eyes lazily dropping down to Ronin's waist before rising with a wry glint.
Perhaps all it took was those stupidly expressive eyebrows to do their thing, but no sooner had the thought left Ronin's mind, that the axe came flying back his way. Leaning back against the fence, Remi flinched slightly but didn't release his magic. The handle should simply slot itself back into Ronin's hand without the hunter having to make any real effort. If Remi stopped it now, they'd never know.
nobody hangs hard times on the wall
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I never said we were talking about my di-- oh shit!" Ronin didn't quite know what to do as he gazed up to find the axe flying towards him, wanting to shield his face but remembering just in time that his hands were precisely where it ought to go.
So, cringing all the while, he let it happen. And the weapon did, indeed, slot easily back into his grip as though he had been holding it all along. As he blinked down at it, a broad grin spread across his face and the glow about him only intensified.
"You are a genius," he gushed, beaming across at Remi.
The alchemist could only laugh, happy that his husband wasn't down a hand as good as he might look with a hook. Placing a hand to his chest and bowing deeply as he might have done once in Northaven, he flashed the hunter a bright grin in return. "Only the best for a king." He replied, far too smugly.
Set after {KQ} the pumpkin king
It was nearly dawn by the time the alchemist made it back to the guildhall. There was not a scratch on him, yet his expression was nevertheless pained and weary. Standing before the guildhall with trembling fingers, Remi looked up towards the open window to his and Ronin's room. Never before had he worried about sharing anything with his husband, whether before or after he had that title. Now though...now he worried something had changed.
And the thing that had changed was him.
On silent wings Remi fluttered up towards the open window, shifting back easily into his own body once he was inside. Glimpsing his sleeping counterpart in the bed, the alchemist frowned, clenching his hands by his sides, more than ready to simply sink into bed beside him and ignore entirely what had happened.
i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me
There would have once been a time when Ronin and Remi might have strolled the night together, getting into trouble and adventures and likely stumbling home after it. But Aoife aside, it was increasingly clear that Ronin wasn't up to it right now. He could barely make it through the day without falling asleep in a chair, so when the sun set, whilst he fought the fatigue (and fought it hard), eventually he had to accept that he would stir in the night and Remi might not be there.
Which was one of the reasons the window was open, just in case he decided to forego the doors. In this case, the presence of another person in the room along with the predawn light had Ronin stirring a little - enough for him to peek his eyes open and spot Remi across the room. "Just gonna window shop, or are you gonna get your ass in here?" he asked with a sleepy, playful smile.
The easiness of Ronin's voice made Remi's breath hitch in his chest and had the alchemist biting down on the inside of his lip. "Ronin.." He whispered, not moving from where he stood. "Something happened." He added softly into the darkness. Despite the dimness of the room, his vision let him see Ronin quite clearly. Etching this moment into his mind should what Remi had to tell his partner, or rather, show him, change everything (he was a monster now, to be sure), the alchemist wanted a last image of marital bliss to hang on to.
i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me
Something happened was pretty much everything Ronin needed to hear to have him lurching out of bed. Blight be damned, no matter how tired he felt, nothing would keep him from his lover when he sounded so sad, so uncertain.
Closing the distance between himself and Remi, the hunter smoothed his curls out of his face, gazing at him carefully to try and discern whether or not he was hurt. A flicker of light ignited within his chest; panic and concern, no doubt, but it was enough to see by at least.
"I'm here," he said softly. "Whatever it is, we'll sort it out. What happened?" Dropping his hands gently to Remi's shoulders, he gave them a reassuring squeeze.
Remi smiled weakly in the face of Ronin's trust that it would all be okay. Indeed a harrowed and broken smile tried to creep across his face as the hunter's hands tried to soothe him, but quickly it fell away.
"Not here...outside. I..." Remi glanced towards the ceiling, shivering at the thought that there was now a part of him too large to be indoors.
Too large to be safe. "Bring your axe." He whispered doubtfully.
Grabbing at Ronin's hand, the alchemist pulled him from their room, down the stairs and through towards the door. Unlocking it as soundlessly as he could, he made his way towards the training grounds. Once there, Remi turned, his face pale in the morning light that filtered softly down.
"Do...do you remember what happened when I first became a lion." He asked, his smile hesitant and plagued with doubt. So saying, he nodded towards the axe.
i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me
"Outside...?" And he needed to bring his axe? Wh... Ronin's face paled somewhat, his smile falling away, and he moved soundlessly to grab the weapon and pull on a pair of boots. Once he had both, he followed obediently after Remi, his hand secure in his husband's as they headed outside and into the training grounds. He clenched his fist as Remi's fingers slipped out of his grip, Ronin left standing opposite the other man in the middle of the grounds.
Already he could guess what Remi was getting at, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Nodding, Ronin hefted the axe from his shoulder, hoping against hope that he wouldn't have to use it. "I remember," he said. "Go ahead. I'm ready."
Another smile crested across his lips, wanting to look hopeful. Instead the alchemist looked merely like a man destined to be drowned at sea. "I love you." He whispered, taking a step back. And then another, and another. And then, "Do not hesitate."
So saying, Remi shifted.
Bones expanded, his skin stretched and furred. Wings sprouted not from where his arms were but instead his shoulders. His body elongated and articulated in places. Paws the size of dinner plates with claws that dug deep into the soil grew from long and sturdy limbs, while a body the size of a large car rose upwards. The manticore stared down at the Fallen Star, with a shattered sea-glass stare equal parts intelligent as it was ferocious. Remi's claws sank into the soil like a fist clenching as his tail rose, poison dripping from a series of barbs that he could let loose at any moment. The manticore's lip twitched upwards in a snarl, revealing not simply fangs, but rows of teeth.
i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me
"I love you too. You know I won't," Ronin murmured, smiling easily back at his husband - then again, he had no idea what he was in for. And as Remi began to shift the hunter staggered a few steps back, lips parting in true awe at the sight unfolding before him. Not well versed in his fairytales, Ronin didn't know the word manticore, but he didn't know what he was looking at was completely and utterly other compared to everything he'd seen an Attuned do before.
Still, the axe remained steady in his grip, and he felt some primal part of him quiver and cringe away as the lion's lip twitched and teeth upon teeth were revealed. Taking a slow breath in through his nose, Ronin lifted his chin and sought out the shattered sea-glass stare. "Well," he said slowly, softly. "You definitely win the dick-swinging contest for a while after this."
The alchemist waited. He waited for the blood lust to arise, for the primal need to kill and crush and ruin to fog through his thoughts and utterly blank out rational thought. He waited for his claws to want a similar satisfaction to what they'd experienced when they crushed through the punking only a few hours before.
Nostril's twitching, the manticore looked blankly down at Ronin for just a moment, before bearing his enumerable teeth in a grin. Unable to laugh really, he half-growled as he was want to do as a lion, shaking his maned-head slightly as if to silently rebuke Ronin his poor adjudication of the situation.
Remi had won the dick swinging contest forever.
Stepping towards the hunter, the large creature lowered a shoulder before shooting his counterpart a silent stare. A question, an offering.
Hop aboard.
i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
they say it's all been done
but they haven't seen the best of me
Somehow, the grin did not soothe Ronin. Weird, that. He still waited, axe in hand, for the inevitable fury to come raining down upon him - though quite what Remi had expected him to do in the face of the creature he had become was beyond him. A lion was one thing, but this? He didn't stand a chance. Still, he snorted at the maned head shook in his direction, rolling his eyes. "Fine," he said. "You win the dick-swinging contest until I get cooler than you."
His smirk came a little easier, though when the manticore's shoulder lowered, inviting him on, Ronin raised his eyebrows. "There are so many jokes to make right now, I just can't pick one." He sighed, like it was a shame. Still, kidding about 'riding Remi' aside, Ronin was still a bit dubious. A lion bird drippy tail thing was not exactly reassurring.
But then again, things like that had never stopped him before. And so Ronin did as his husband had suggested and, tangling his fingers carefully in mane rather than feathers, he hopped on.
