Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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She nods, giving him the understanding of gods not exactly seeing eye to eye. “Oh, I know well enough.” She comments with a slightly dry laugh. “Frey never particularly liked me regardless. Guess it comes with the territory.” She shrugs with him, smile alighting in a delicate smile as she fiddles with her fingers, before sending out a small firework to dance along the ground in front of them before it fizzles out.
But she talks of Bastien, of Pittore, and the comment of what kind of creature it was… Well, she’d never seen anything like him before. “I’m not sure, actually. Human-like, enough. Likes to paint, babble, even tried to recreate some of my embroidery.” She smiles fondly at the memory of the gremlin settled in her lap while she worked on some needlepoint, while Bastien and her talked and he painted.
And then she asks him how he’s been, and her green gaze lifts back to him as she pushes some dark hair from her face. A small frown begins to form as she nods, shaking her head slightly. “LongNight is always a rough endeavor. Send my regards to Rory over what happened.” She trusts that he can, since she hasn’t seen the other man in awhile and it’s been nearly a year since she’d apologized to him anyway. At the mention of staying busy, the smile begins to return. “None, really. Bastien and I will absolutely dance, I can assure you that.” She hums with a light laugh. “But last Fiat Lux was the first time since the barrier fell that I felt well enough to partake in anything. And now? Well, now I’m Queen, at least for the time being. I just want to go and fully enjoy it.” She admits.
"I suspect Frey wouldn't much like me, either," he admitted wryly. "Ever since you and Remi told me about them I've been careful not to pray to them. I probably take myself far too seriously for their taste." And he held his more intimate pleasures private, a mindset it sounded like Frey would have little patience for. His smile widened into an easier and more relaxed expression as he followed her firework with his eyes, grinning at its brief but merry dance. ”At least you’ll always be on the guest list for our merely mortal celebrations?” he teased lightly.
Her soft smile at Pittore’s antics reinforced how truly happy she had become, and Jigano felt his own smile warm a little more at her obvious happiness. ”What a curious sounding little being. He sounds perfect for Bastien,” he chuckled. ”And you, lady? Have you ever considered bonding to a creature of Caido?”
LongNight, as always, proved a more difficult topic, and he nodded in agreement and gratitude to her request to pass along her regards. He was quick to turn the conversation back to Fiat Lux, and the light and joy they had to look forward to with it. ”Excellent,” he declared with a smile. ”Try to find a time when I’m with the musicians, will you? I’ll get them to play something nice and slow for you.” Not that Rex couldn’t cut a swift and vigorous rug with the best of them, he had no doubt, but a nice slow dance was just the thing for young love – and even better for the happily married. ”And stop by the Loreseeker’s booth if you’re in the mood for some riddles,” he added with a wink. ”I even got Deimos to contribute a few this year!”
Suddenly Rexanna will feel a pull in the core of her. An indistinct directional tug that will direct her gaze to one of the nearby trees. Cracked long, long ago by lightning (or the Sparkbird, mayhap), there is a jagged and grizzly looking opening in the bark. No match for her ascended strength, should the queen fit her hand through (or pull the wood off), she will find a smooth flat device with a single 'button' in its center.
“You probably do.” She agrees, amused at the thought but finding it for the most part likely truthful. She had gone on and on when she met Frey the second time, when the deity cared to stay and speak with her, and she had found that the god was tired of her continual monologues – she can only imagine what it might have been like for Jigano to experience such a thing. “Oh I do hope so!” She chimes to his comment, giving a smile his way before she softens at the comment of Pittore.
“I’ve thought about it.” She begins with a soft tilt to her head. “I had one in Helovia. A polecat named Marembo. He watched out for Kiada and her twin.” She remarks softly before shaking her head. “Both Kiada and Kianzo had companions, and sometimes when you couldn’t get either one to do anything, Marembo would go and get their companions and wrangle them into a place to herd the two of them.”
But for a moment, they speak of LongNight and Fiat Lux and the light hearted festival that celebrates all those that had survived and the hardships of the longest night, and she smiles to him softly at that. “I will. I appreciate that, thank you Jigano.” It’s an honest thank you, before she pauses at the mention of Deimos writing riddles. “Oh how exciting!” A brief laugh at that, before suddenly…
A tug so powerful her gaze snaps toward it, pausing all of her thoughts with the intense need to look for this thing that had attracted her attention, had caused such a sensation. And so she stands from the small rock they sit upon, glancing back to Jigano with a soft smile. “I’m sorry… I need to check something, I’ll be right back.” She says lightly, though the Bard is welcome to join her should he wish to.
Making her way to the tree, she lets her green gaze look upon the jagged, lightning struck trees, cracked and charred slightly. She can see the opening and feel the tug, and she sticks her hand into it to find something flat with a strange circle on one side of it as she removes her hand from the opening. Inspecting it thoughtfully, she eyes the button curiously, wondering what might happen should she press it.
He could hardly be insulted by his own words, but he pulled up a comically wounded expression for how quickly Rexanna agreed with him, turning the full force of his puppy dog fox pup eyes on her for a moment. Her firework distracted him, though, and his grin returned as they turned to more festive conversation, and talk of companions.
He had never met a Kianzo on Caido, so he stayed silent on further questions about the lost twin, not wishing to cause Rex further pain. "Have more memories of that life come back?" he asked softly instead. "When we've spoken before it sounded more like a dream that you remembered bits and pieces of than a part of your past, as Halyven was." He could understand not being eager to bond to another if she had already lost one soulmate. He couldn't imagine losing Isuma, or how much pain it would leave behind on his soul if he did. It was what had made Safrin's punishment so cruel...
But there would be no wallowing, no. There was Fiat Lux to look forward to, with music and dancing and games, and he smiled and offered her a seated half-bow for her gratitude. "It will be my pleasure," he murmured, before her attention was torn from their conversation and he looked up sharply at the sudden silence. "Rex...?" he asked in confusion, rising to trail in her wake, though staying several feet back.
He watched her reach into the tree as if drawn there, and a frown pulled at his lips as he saw her remove some strange, inorganic object, though her hands concealed any details from him. "What is it?" he asked softly, a flicker of worry - and resignation - in his voice as he considered the source of most inorganic objects in the Hollowed Grounds.
She nods to Jigano’s inquiry. More memories have returned, and it was strange to have that sort of veil removed. But it had been as soon as she’d spoken to Kiada, as soon as it had segmented and became more concrete in her mind. “Many more, actually.” She comments with a tilt of her head. “Like the veil has been removed. I can remember all of it now. Now that Hotaru is back and I have my trio.” She adds softly, the trio of Deimos, Hotaru, and her. Her winter family, returned.
But she grows distracted by that tug, the pull that guides her to the trees, and as soon as she reaches in and pulls the item out to inspect it she’s uncertain of whether she should push the button or not.
Jigano’s question brings her a bit back to reality, and she lets her green gaze drift up to his face with her dark brows raised in a quiet question. “An item of sorts.” She murmurs softly, opening her hand to let Jigano inspect it too, if he has any thoughts or ideas regarding it. She wonders for a moment if she should inspect it further with her eyes, with the new abilities she holds, but she doesn’t. She waits.
"I'm glad," he said with a softer smile. "It is good to have family back." But since most new Outlanders seemed to come from Helovia he had long since lost hope that any of his family would ever be reunited with him. Still, in spite of the twinge of pain and envy he was glad that his friends could be reunited with theirs again, even through death, it seemed. "Did you know Hotaru well, then?"
Ah, but there is strangeness abroad in the woods tonight, and the trees were hiding secrets that Rexanna was able to uncover. Jigano tilted his head, frowning softly at the obviously man-made - or at least, unnatural - object, and nodded at her incomplete explanation. He didn't have a better one, but his lips quirked in a wry and painful smile. "A button? Such things tend to be associated with machines, but I don't see any obvious function to it." He shrugged lightly, stepping away to avoid crowding her. "Perhaps it causes something to explode? Or to turn on? Without knowing what it does, it could be risky to push it... Or, if it's old, it might not do anything at all. We can stand back and try to push it with a stick if you're curious," he suggested, his grin turning lopsided in brief amusement at the pair of them taking such precautions over something that might prove to do nothing.
It is good to have family back, and she nods to his question of Hotaru. “She's like a sister to me.” A quiet pause before she moves on. “Enough so that Kiada calls her ‘Aunt Ru’.” There’s a twinge of amusement there, but nothing about it is strange. Rexanna and Hotaru weren’t related in the slightest, only related by the need of the Basin and the man that had made them such in ways of positions and abilities.
But she’s distracted by the button and her gaze lifts to Jigano’s face in equal amusement, dark brow raising in an almost conspiratory look as she regards the bard. “Well… If this is tech, which I think it is… it’ll only work if I touch it.” She tilts her head thoughtfully, regarding it as her thumb ghosts over the button without pressing.
“I can press it and we can listen and see if something happens?” She suggests with a quiet tilt of her head, hoping it doesn’t explode at all.
"Kiada and you..." he started hesitantly then trailed off as their attention was taken by the tree and its unexpected treasure. It was a welcome distraction from a conversation that was about to take a potentially uncomfortable turn, and even though he had lost his previous comfort with Ascended tech since the arrival of the Blight, he only shook his head ruefully. "Oh, I don't know. I've seen things refuse to react even when Sam licked them," he pointed out with dry humor. "But nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the wisewomen say. Maybe it will call a swarm of Chorus Bees to serenade us?" They could only hope to be so lucky, and he stayed dutifully near as he nodded his head in readiness.
"Press away, and I'll carry you to a unicorn if the worst should befall us." He promised gallantly, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that. If it truly was Ascended technology it would be unlikely to explode or do something that would lights its user on fire... as long as it was working correctly, at least.
Due to odd not answering in time we'll just make some things up now about why the button didn't work earlier. The longer the device remains in Rex's hands, the more potent it seems to become. It feels light, weightless nearly.
Now as she clicks in, all light is sucked from the area. In a 5ft sphere around Rexanna, a darkness so thick as to be nearly impenetrable has descended. Though Rexanna and her ascended sight can still see quite easily.
Rexanna's item is:
Dark Sphere | When the button on this small piece of tech is pressed, all light within a 5ft sphere is immediately darkened regardless of conditions. Ascended can still see.
He begins to say something, but he trails off as she focuses on the tree and the contraption within it. As she cradles it in her hands, questions him, her verdant gaze drifts up to meet Jigano’s with a quiet snort at the thought of Samuel licking something to see if it would work. She absolutely wasn’t going to put her mouth on this one, but it was interesting nonetheless to hear what someone who had been Ascended longer than she would try to get something to work.
“Alright, here we go.” She says quietly, almost hesitantly, squinting briefly as she goes to press the button. It feels weightless, and suddenly all the light is gone in their small bubble – her eyes widen, brows lift in surprise. Turning her head toward Jigano – with her ascended sight she can see him clearly. “Do you see anything?” She asks softly, as though she might disturb the peace of the darkness with her question.
He tensed as she gave her warning, not sure what would happen and therefore not knowing how to prepare for it. Between one moment and the next all the lights went out and he drew in a sharp breath, freezing in place. He wasn't sure if he had been somehow blinded, if they had been transported somewhere, or if something else entirely had happened, but until he knew he was wary of taking a step that might put him in more trouble than he was ready for.
"Rex?" he asked, voice calm in spite of the way his blood sang with spiking anxiety. Her voice a moment later was reassuring; at least they hadn't been separated."No," he responded with a grimace. "Not a damn thing. What about you?" It would be too cruel if they had both lost their vision again so soon after she had just regained hers. He frowned, sending a pulse of Healing magic to his eyes just in case, though he didn't feel anythign wrong with them.
Her stillness is evident as she notices Jigano stiffen, as the darkness cascades and she questions him if he can see anything. It seems impossible for him to see, the way he seems so uncertain, grimacing as she looks at him with surprising ease. Well, that certainly confirms that. It’s almost as though it were made for her and her Ascended sight, and she smiles a slight fanged smile to him.
“I can see fine for the most part.” She comments quietly, reaching out to grasp his arm gently in a friendly manner as she releases the click of the button to let the light of the night shine through once more. “I think it just sucks the light out… And with the enhanced eyes, might make it easier to see.” She muses thoughtfully before shaking her head slightly as she pockets the trinket.
Her smile went unnoticed in the dark as Jigano forced his breathing to remain calm and quiet, turning to his other senses to try and learn what he could. His hearing picked up little since Rexanna remained still, but the chirping of sleepy nightbirds and the soft buzz of the evening insects around them was a reassurance that they remained where they had been standing a moment before, when moonlight and glowstones still lit the world. The scent of the Oasis was still thick in the air, heavy with the perfume of new life and growth, and that helped ease his concerns so that he didn't flinch when Rex reached out to him.
And then the light was back, the darkness sucked away back within the box, and Jigano gave her a relieved grin. "Useful," he murmured wryly. "If you need to hide. Were you able to see how far out it extended?" He paused, eyes lighting up with potential. "I wonder... if no light can penetrate it, could you use it to walk around unharmed in daylight, so long as it was on? It might make it easier to pass between buildings during the day, at least, if you have somewhere you want to be."
