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!
Hours and hours and hours, miles and miles and miles.
Exhaustion draped over the alchemist like a second-skin, and by the time the guildhall came into view, so weary was the manticore's mind he thought perhaps that even if he dropped from so great a height, that Isla could patch him up. Wouldn't it be nice just to fall? To stop everything all at once and simply be?
Animalistic preservation though didn't yield to human guilt or angst, and so unlike the fall from the heavens his husband had once made, Remi's was simply a controlled downward spiral. Just like the rest of his life, as of late.
With hands shaky from exhaustion, lips dry from dehydration and a soul entirely sand-blasted and raw, Remi opened the door to the guild hall and peered into the darkness. It was the middle of the night by now, nearly early morning. The storms weren't close after all, and Remi wanted Skyler's body as far away as possible, as if proximity was the root of his guilt.
Remi
Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Aoife was safe, warm, alive - happy, even. She hadn't moved from Ronin's side since they had gotten home, and in all honesty he had been glad of the company. But her napping had been disturbed, and she was prone to fits of crying and clinging that he could only understand. As she had slept he had snuck off to shower, to try and scrub his actions from his skin, but all it had done was reopen the cuts on his knuckles; evidence of Skyler's fate.
Those were nicely bandaged now, though, and the day had been spent with his daughter, spoiling her rotten to keep the demons well at the back of his mind. They had eaten pancakes sweetened with syrup (more than she was usually allowed) and had gone out to play with the wooden swords in the training grounds, Ronin pretending often to dramatically fall beneath the might of her heroism.
But now all was quiet, and she slept soundly next to him in the space where Remi would usually be. But Ronin couldn't quiet his mind, staring up at the stars through the skylight and wondering if they judged him now. If Vanya judged him.
The sound of the door opening had the hunter out of bed in moments, making sure their daughter was still tucked up and slumbering before he snuck out and downstairs. Muted starlight suffused his skin, lighting the way as he headed downstairs, and only moments after seeing Remi, he was before him, arms moving around him as if to hold him close and away from the things they had done. "I'm glad you're safe," he whispered into the alchemist's curls, trying to warm the chill from his skin.
08-26-2019, 08:28 PM (This post was last modified: 08-26-2019, 08:30 PM by Remi.)
cut up our losses into doable doses
ration our tears and sighs
Like a ghost burning bright, Ronin descended and Remi felt his heart catch. It was the overwhelming surge of love for the hunter that would ultimately be his undoing. Thoughts of senseless violence all fled as he caught sight of his husband, something inside of the alchemist forever releasing in the face of the knowledge that, if given the chance again, he'd likely do it all the same.
And so it was that Remi found himself forever changed.
Sluggish in his movements, for a moment the alchemist merely let himself be held, be pulled close, be warmed by a body with infection-levels of heat to spare. Not realizing he had been holding his breath until his vision began to blur and his knees threatened to give out did Remi exhale, though rather than a controlled stream it was a mangled and wounded cry. Though Remi pressed his face against Ronin's shoulder, it wouldn't last, for soon the alchemist's knees did in fact give out and he found himself sliding down his husband into a heap at his feet. Head against whatever part of Ronin he could latch himself onto, not unlike Aoife had done to them both earlier, Remi found himself entirely empty of words.
He couldn't ask what they had done, for he knew.
He couldn't say he wouldn't do it again, because he would.
He couldn't say he was sorry, because he wasn't.
Terrified, worried, mad with the knowledge of how little everything seemed to matter in the wake of Ronin's impending death? Yes, but that wasn't new information.
And so, with a voice he found hard to locate he mumbled, "I love you so much", before tears closed his throat and eyes entirely.
Remi
Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It was treacherous, the way that Remi could make it all seem right - as if Ronin could be absolved of anything as long as the alchemist was there with open arms and a boyish smile. However exhausted his husband undoubtedly was, the hunter felt all tension drain out of him the moment he held Remi close. He was back, unscathed and without a body in tow. Nothing had happened throughout the day even to suggest that what they had done was common, uncommon, or rumoured knowledge. All was normal.
And yet.
"Hey--" he whispered as he felt the alchemist buckle, Ronin trying and failing to hold him up, and eventually he found himself on his knees with him. The cry that had been drawn from his throat was unlike anything Ronin had heard, and he was at a loss, truly, for what could he say in the face of all of this?
But of course, Remi already had the answers, and Ronin smiled despite himself. "And I you," he whispered back, fingers smoothing and teasing through the alchemist's curls. "I'm so sorry, for..." For killing Skyler? No. Not remotely. But sorry that Remi had to be there? That he was involved? That he had helped to clean up after? He'd apologise for that forever.
"Aoife is sleeping upstairs," he said instead. "She's okay. She's been missing you all day."
Like tepid water which feels blistering when applied to skin that is too cold, Remi all but winced beneath Ronin's gentleness. Such a stark contrast to the man who'd smiled in the lifeless non-face of Skyler, that it made Remi both want to recoil as well as delve deeper into his husband. As dark as Ronin was prone to being lately, he was still Remi's tether in this world. Utter blackness or no, the Fallen Star would always be his home.
Pulling Ronin to him, hands tangled against hair so fresh and clean compared to the alchemist's own sweaty and dusty curls, Remi stole a kiss that soon crumbled beneath newfound tears hearing Aoife's name spilled from his husband's lips. "And the two of you have not even burned the house down." The alchemist replied with a laugh that sounded more like a strangled croak as he sipped in a breath.
Pulling back, Remi held up trembling hands and gazed down at them. One had blood and bits of skin embedded beneath the nails, from where the lion had severed away the hand that had choked their daughter. Indeed his wings, hidden as they were now, were still mottled with blood, meaning strange as it was, the blood flecks from earlier now dotted his back. "Sit with me, while I clean off?" Remi asked in a low voice, tinged with a sly sort of madness.
Remi
Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Eyes closing against a kiss that didn't feel real, Ronin slipped his arms around Remi to hold him - whether that was holding him close, or holding him up, it didn't matter. His eyes stung with unshed tears, to see and listen to the gentle alchemist before him, so torn and ruined by the world. And not just by the events of today, either - in a moment of clarity that, whether Ronin knew it or not, was becoming more and more rare, the hunter saw the blight through Remi's eyes; his worsening temper, the encroaching Longnight, the vanishing time left for them together.
Each one a weight pressed so heavily, now, upon Remi's shoulders, that Ronin was amazed that his husband could even stand upright. Guilt and disgust coiled within him, but at least that made a fine motivator to do better for as long as he had available. "I'll do more than that," Ronin said softly, his hands slipping into Remi's and giving them a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "Come on. We didn't burn the house down, but I could always risk flooding it before morning."
With a lopsided smile that was emptier than he'd have liked, Ronin helped to get Remi on his feet again, leading them away towards the shower. "You're amazing, you know," he said softly, his arm firmly around his husband. "The shit you put up with from me... I'd have taken Aoife and left by now."
Blood on his hands and bandages around Ronin's, Remi would not have believed when the day started that this is where it would end. But the pair were together—and Aoife was safe—and so despite everything that had happened, the alchemist dared not hope for anything more than that.
Rising and letting himself meld against the familiar shape of Ronin at his side, the alchemist shot the hunter a crooked smile. "Leave? But all my things are here." Remi quipped, waving a hand vaguely to indicate what an utter hassle it would be to ever leave the guild-master. Nudging his hip against Ronin's affectionately, the alchemist pulled away as they reached the bathroom. His clothes didn't disappear into flower petals this time, but nor did Remi simply strip them off. He'd not wear any of today's ensemble again, mostly free of blood though it was. Falling away in a slow shower of feathers, Remi waved a hand indicating he'd tend to the mess later. Blood flecked his back, the ridges of his body coated with sand from the outskirts and the stormy-winds that accompanied the elemental barriers.
"I cannot fly above the storms. I would run out of air before I made it over." Remi said almost conversationally as he turned the water on.
Remi
Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Ah yes, you hoarder. I should have known that I would have you forever when you started moving some of your alchemy ingredients in here," Ronin remarked fondly, letting Remi go with obvious reluctance but watching as his clothes scattered to feathers around them and smiling. But the alchemist would not be alone in his shower, Ronin stripping off as well as Remi turned the water on.
"Oh?" he said, mildly curious as if they were talking about the weather. Which in a way, they were, he supposed. "Is it that bad, then, up there?" To have to hold his breath... Ronin conjured visions of hurricanes and sandstorms, lightning and tornados mingling into the imagery, and he wrinkled his nose at the mental picture of Remi having to fly through it, battered and thrown by the currents.
In the meantime the water had warmed, and Ronin ushered them both under the stream of it so he could help to clean the blood from Remi's back, the dust from his hair, the salt and sweat from his skin.
08-26-2019, 09:28 PM (This post was last modified: 08-26-2019, 09:28 PM by Remi.)
cut up our losses into doable doses
ration our tears and sighs
"I suppose it is a good thing you married me, rather than someone else, because I was here to stay as soon as I moved in." Surprised (but pleased) to see that Ronin would be joining him, Remi flashed his husband a sunny and crooked smile
"Mmmm. They go quite high. If I could make it so I did not need to breathe, perhaps then." He said with a shrug. Then, realizing Ronin hadn't actually been out there yet, elaborated. "It's all ruined ground and then quite literally a wall of storm. You can see it, but magically held as it is, the effects don't take hold until you are quite close. Last time we only made it...maybe half an hour in and by then the winds and lightning made it near impossible to go further."
Stepping into the stream, Remi shivered. Part of him felt relieved beneath the water as if it might wash away his sins. The remainder of him felt as though he deserved to stay stained forever. The scars on Remi's sides and back made the feeling of Ronin's hands there inconsistent, but welcome just the same. With a sigh, he lowered his head under the water, his curls forming a sopping wet mane around him. "Would that I could control water, I can only imagine what fun we might have." He said over his shoulder with a distracted smile, as if this was a shower like any other, and the blood of a deadman was not draining around their feet.
Remi
Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I can only imagine, had I brought home another spouse. 'Yes darling, and this is Remi - no, no, he lives here. You see, he was here first'. I bet that would go down really well." Ronin laughed softly, shaking his head and closing his eyes for a moment against the warm stream of water. He had stood like this alone not so long ago, likely thinking the same as Remi. But... together, Ronin felt he was starting the process of healing from whatever they had done to themselves. (Let alone Skyler).
He was a rapt audience for Remi as the alchemist explained the storms, absorbing the information like a sponge; all the while, his hands painted gentle patterns along Remi's back, torso, arms, until all the blood and sand was gone. Reaching up to carefully scrub at his curls, Ronin grinned and leant in to drop a warm kiss on his husband's shoulder.
"Who said we couldn't have fun now?" he asked. Ronin might not be up to the task in earnest (a fact that would have been embarrassing had the blight not taken so much more from him lately), but his mouth and hands were still very much willing and able.
"Listen. Isn't love about accepting all parts of a person? They'd just have to understand that I was part of you. Or the house, at least." Remi agreed with a smile that felt far too good.
The exfoliation from the sand and Ronin's fingers were welcome, some repressed part of the alchemist's mind finding solace in the harshness of it, in the wake of wrong-doing. Closing his eyes as his husband lathered and scrubbed the day away, Remi let his head tilt back as he hummed appreciatively. Not that the proceeding hours were any easier on Ronin, but having just got back from a half-day flight there was no part of Remi that wasn't worn and needing of rest.
Well. Maybe one part wasn't.
"Mmmm?" Remi hummed, eyes opening as he looked slyly over his shoulder. To say that his belly didn't immediately kindle at the implication would have been a lie, as would it have been to say that the alchemist hadn't desperately missed the more physical aspects of his relationship with Ronin. All that took an easy back-seat given just what Ronin was going through though. But oh, it was hard to resist. "You don't..have to.." Remi murmured in a voice suddenly contrarily husky to the words he said.
Remi
Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Definitely part of me. The house can come and go, but I think I'd always be finding feathers or ink stains somewhere or another," Ronin said, his tone sweet and his smile easy. This might only be momentary - the duration of the shower might be the only thing keeping the wolves from their door or the nightmares at bay, but it was still worth it. It was worth it to stand like this, close and happy, with the water to wash away all of their sins over and over, for as long as it took.
Slipping an arm around Remi's waist, the hunter drew him back against his chest, his kisses travelling from shoulder into the crook of the other man's neck. "I know," he murmured against skin jewelled with water, "I want to. A lot. I've missed you, Remi."
As if to punctuate Ronin's sentiment, Remi plucked a feather from seemingly nowhere, trailing it along Ronin's arm for a moment with a laugh. "You asked me to move in. You did it to yourself." He reminded his husband with an affectionate laugh.
Letting his head lean back as he was tugged against Ronin, Remi leaned his head onto Ronin's shoulder and sighed deeply. Raising his hand to find Ronin's, their wedding rings clicking with a muted sound beneath the water, Remi closed his eyes. Shivering beneath both touches and words, the alchemist felt the prickle of tears behind his eyes in response to the utter goodness of the moment. An oasis they'd somehow found in the unrelenting lives they were now leading. That, and hearing his husband say I missed you, seemed to sum up entirely all that was happening. Though Ronin hadn't ever left, he'd been gone more and more often. Starlit as he was, the blackness was taking its toll.
"We're here now." Remi whispered, turning in Ronin's arms and diverting the flow of water onto them by sealing his lips against the hunter's as if breathing was secondary to what it was Ronin's tongue could provide instead.
Remi
Table coding by Sky, inspiration from Jae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Mm, that I did. Best decision I ever made," he remarked, his smile audible even though his lips were still dancing across the soft skin of Remi's neck. Their hands clasped and Ronin relished the thrum of the heartbeat against his fingers, determined to coax it into something a little more lively before their shower was done. An easy feat, as Remi turned, Ronin's free hand coming up to twist through the alchemist's curls as they kissed.
Breathing was important, yes, but the taste of Remi on his tongue and the heat of his body was just as much so, especially given the events of the past day. Whilst, frustratingly, his body refused to cooperate with the heady feeling of attraction that clouded his mind, that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy themselves.
Moaning encouragingly into the kiss, Ronin gently backed Remi against one of the walls, smirking and knowing it would likely be colder than the shower itself. "We are here now," he agreed, panting softly to catch his breath, his fingers roaming across the alchemist's chest and down to his hips.
