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!
Roana was shoved back against the wall, her glare turning onto Remi. Only her training and reflex alone had one hand lifted, guarding the front of her throat from his talons as he pinned her there. Of course, with talons like those, suffocating wasn’t really her biggest concern. ”What the hell is wrong with you, Remi? Are you blighted now too?” she said, anger coloring her tone. What had gotten into him? Where had this anger come from?
”Well I don’t. She threatened the safety of my children to get my sword, and it was all I could do to get it back. You knew I was trying to protect my children and you told the only person who has ever directly threatened them.” she hissed at Amalia, frankly much more angry about that than anything else. Her boys were her world, and now they were in even more danger than they were before. But she was still stuck in Remi’s hold which was problematic. She shoved her palm forward to strike with an open hand at his elbow, shoving her weight up and to the side to try and roll his hand away. He was a much bigger person than her though, so she could only hope that his own inexperience as a fighter by comparison to her would give her a slight edge.
”Well unfortunately they are being used to do the Voice’s bidding and clearly none of them have gone to the Voice to get her to relent, or else they’ve been unsuccessful. It isn’t mine or any one else’s fault she is using them but that’s part of the consequence.” she said her voice constricted from the pressure on her neck. ”Safrin is blighted and doesn’t get on with me. Phoebe told me Frey simply doesn’t care about wars and power struggles enough to help me. And I am pretty sure, again, in their infinite years, the gods have tried everything else.” she huffed, growing increasingly aggravated, glaring at Remi again.
”Go ahead then, Remi. Kill me to save the Ascended, just as I would kill the Ascended to save everyone else. Your act of murder is no more righteous than mine.” she said in a near growl.
ROANA
This table brought to you with considerable help from Sky and Odd!
The prick of claws against Remi's arm only further fueled the hot blaze within his belly. Instead of hearing Amalia's words, he only saw Sam collapsed on the floor. Sam, hyperventilating, fearful for his life. "What is wrong with me is that you are threatening those I love and I will not stand for it." He growled back to Roana.
That the ex-captain tried to turn the tables on Amalia was not Remi's main concern, and he fixed her with a steely stare. As she moved to thwart his grasp, with wings already outspread it was all too easy to throw his appendages forward to try and use the strong upper bones of his wings to knock away her arms. Unlike bird-wings, manticore wings were not hollow.
Blinded with fury now at the indignant rant he was hearing, of excuse after excuse, the alchemist could only ruefully shake his head. "It may not be more righteous, but at least I am not willingly being a pawn in a war that is not my own. Leave this fight to the gods. You are a coward and nothing like the woman I thought you were, to think this is the way forward."
THE
ALCHEMIST
Table coding by Sky
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I didn't tell her. You did, with your actions." Amalia speaks from between gritted teeth, Remi's anger at last beginning to spill over into her mind, an overwhelming tide of fury pressed forward by the stronger man. "If you didn't want to be a target, you should not have threatened to kill an entire race of people." What had she anticipated would happen? That she would be allowed to carry out her threats without repercussion?
Then Roana goads the Manticore onward, and for a brief and terrible moment she considers letting Remi do it. Wouldn't it be safer? Easier? Isn't it worth it to let this life go, if it will save so many?
Are you prepared to walk that line, Amalia?
"Remi, we should go." Exhaling a slow and shuddering breath, the baker attempts so slip under the wings and in front of the alchemist, to put space between him and the woman locked in his grasp. "You're better than this. You're better than her. You're not a killer, Remi. Don't let her make you one."
Roana could keep her cool usually. But something about Remi'a words, his anger, that he thought this was somehow her first recourse, coupled with Amalia's abdication of guilt in the whole thing sent her into a fury. Her arm as easily tossed aside by his wing, but it shot forward again to hold him by the throat, anger radiating off her in waves. "Get off your high horse, Amalia. You're so self righteous but when the going gets tough you just piss and moan about how unfair it all is, as if life isn't exactly that." she snapped at her. "I am doing what you wanted me to do and you're still unhappy. Defy Ludo if you wish but they are the only being in this world besides Ronin to think I've something to offer in this place so death alone will stop me from doing their bidding."
As it was, Roana did not fear the consequences she could face at Remi's hand. She had faced death so many times that if this was her end now, so be it. She would walk towards her old friend calmly, her head high, knowing she had used every second of her life to her fullest ability. "And you Remi, have no room to talk to me about protecting those you love. Because when the man I loved died before my very eyes I set out to accomplish what he couldn't while you curled up in the Guildhall and wept." she snapped at him,
ROANA
This table brought to you with considerable help from Sky and Odd!
Beneath the weight of Amalia's words, the alchemist could only bristle guiltily. If only that were true. He thought towards her with a detached sadness, even as Roana's hand clamped around his throat. Rather than struggling, the alchemist merely grinned for a horrifying second, before his face and upper body contorted. Strong as she might be, Roana's hands were simply not big enough to throttle a lion. Roaring loudly in her face before shifting back, whatever disorientation she likely experienced hopefully giving the alchemist a chance to capture her hand anew and pin it against the wall, the alchemist merely shook his head with a snarl.
Without context (or, a large billboard sign with the message in large illuminated letters), the alchemist could only narrow his eyes with a brief puzzled stare. "What are you talking about?" He snapped, hands tightening hopefully around her wrist. "Ronin died and I had Aoife to take care of."
The pieces were right there, but his hands were more worried about where Roana's were, than fitting them together.
THE
ALCHEMIST
Table coding by Sky
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
If only that were true.You didn't kill that boy, Remi. Because Amalia assumes she knows what he is talking about, assumes that she already understands, assumes, assumes, assumes it all with single minded concentration and dedication to a pointless cause. Maybe that's why Roana calls her self righteous and tells her to get off her high horse, and honestly, the soldier has a point.
But pissing and moaning about how unfair things are? That the Shield does not do. That is all the soldier.
She's angry now, furious, egged on by Remi's wrath and her own crumbling mental health. Dark eyes flashing with a hidden fire, the girl snarls feline teeth as she snaps back her reply. "Ever since I met you, Roana, you've been telling me who I am. What I think. How I feel. You thought I wanted to hurt you, but you only wanted to hurt yourself. You thought I would absolve you, because you couldn't grant yourself absolution. Now you're accusing me of pissing and moaning? What the fuck have you done, Roana, besides agree to murder and then throw a fit when anyone dared to say no?"
No, you cannot ask her to stand by as you threaten to murder a group of people. No, you cannot hide behind your children after taking this task upon yourself. No, Amalia will not be her scapegoat.
And then - and then - she attacks her friend, and Amalia could take Remi's place if allowed, feral and protective, ferocious and raw. "You act as though you're better than everyone, Roana, but you fall apart the moment anyone dares to question your actions. And yet you have the fucking gall to lecture us about giving up."
Just as suddenly as Remi had pinned her to the wall he was a lion roaring in her face. She winced, ears ringing loudly and painfully at the sheer volume at point blank range. Remi pinned her hand with ease but she tugged against it, if on instinct alone. "Think on it a second." Roana snapped at Remi, her patience all but spent and not willing to stand there and spell it out for the alchemist.
"I'm not falling apart or throwing a fit because you're questioning me, I'm fucking pissed that you barged in here and attacked me for doing exactly what you told me to do!" she snapped at Amalia. "You told me to do something, I sought the counsel of your gods and this was the only solution - which I know because I did ask! If you aren't happy with it go complain to Ludo. I agreed to do what needed doing. End of story. The fact of the matter is that the Voice is using the Ascended as her pawns and the only way to stop her is to take those away from her." Roana was shouting now, furious at the baker for her accusations. She asked the questions, she followed the rules she had done as she was asked and still she wasn't happy.
"What the fuck else do you want from me, Amalia?! Even when I do as you ask you're pissed. I can't help the fact that you don't like the answer to the question."
ROANA
This table brought to you with considerable help from Sky and Odd!
09-18-2019, 02:26 PM (This post was last modified: 09-18-2019, 02:26 PM by Remi.)
aúsi, nos paramas // & still we stand
The alchemist is nothing if not willing to follow most instructions, and so as the soldier tells him to think on it, despite the ferocity in his mind and the blood lust on his tongue, he does let his mind wander. The only time he curled up in the guildhall was after Ronin died at the Spire. But to his knowledge Ronin was the only one who died that night.
"Did...did you just say you are in love with my husband?" Remi asked, brows furrowed and unfettered confusion shining across his features. It made no sense. #1 What the fuck, and, #2 What the fuck did that have to do with anything? If Roana was so irrational to think that whatever task Ronin had sent her on someone trumped the raising of their daughter, she was more mad than he thought.
"Let me make this as clear as I can, for the last time. I claim no righteousness, no high ground here. Decreed by a god or not, I will not let you wipe out an entire race. Will not let you harm my friends. Ludo said to me itself that we always have a choice, so no Roana, this is not the only option. But it is your only warning."
And seriously, had she just said she was in love with Ronin? I need air. He thought gruffly towards Amalia, releasing the delusional soldier and stalking out the front door.
THE
ALCHEMIST
Table coding by Sky
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
As quickly as she inflated in rage, the girl deflates down again, finding that the wall that is Roana is not something she has it in her to throw herself against. Fighting is pointless. Arguing is pointless. Trying is pointless. Amalia should know that by now, should have learned her lesson from the last time and the last time, but she is not a wise girl. She is stubborn, and ardent, and yes, a self-righteous fool.
But she is tired, too - tired of failing, tired of being blamed. What Roana does not know, as she hurls her insults and accusations, is that the Shield has heard them all and more, that they are her mantra. That the soldier cannot be more disappointed in her than Amalia is in herself. Amalia is too exhausted from fighting her own demons to have the energy to take on Roana's, who apparently is also in love with Ronin, which is apparently relevant to this.... somehow.
Amalia shakes her head and steps back, dark eyes dull as she stares ahead. "I never wanted anything from you," the baker murmurs softly, sighing. Remi seems to be done at last, and as she follows him out the front door Amalia turns back to Roana one last time, something broken in her face. "And I never wanted this. I'm... I'm sorry."
Then she follows her friend out into the cold, more lost and exhausted than ever.
At least Remi had been shocked enough to release her, and the former captain was quick to take steps away. Was it an admission she had wanted to make? No. But did it do its task? Absolutely. Situation diffused and she was let go. Of course, there would be consequences to follow for this, but she would deal with those when they came. As for his question, Roana simply gave Remi a sidelong glance. She didn’t think she had to answer that for him to know the answer.
”You’re right, there is a choice to be made. To do what needs to be done to end the threat that is the Voice, or not.” Roana said in a low tone to the alchemist. She had sought other options. She had asked after other solutions. They had already been tried. The Voice had many chances to save her people, and she chose the path of their destruction.
She watched as Remi promptly stomped out the door, and Amalia made to follow. But the baker paused and looked back at her, and the former captain sighed at her words. ”I didn’t want this either.” she admitted quietly. At least for once, they seemed to agree on something.
ROANA
This table brought to you with considerable help from Sky and Odd!
