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!
01-22-2020, 05:57 PM (This post was last modified: 01-22-2020, 06:04 PM by Samuel.)
SAMUEL
Stretch out my life
And pick the seams out
The Voice had brought them another new portal; as a Portal Calibrator, Sam felt it was rather his duty to at least peek at what was on the other side. He still had ties to the Hollowed Grounds that meant he wouldn't spend too long here, but it was ungrateful to not see what The Voice had given them. Going home to gather supplies and leave Nathaniel a note saying to follow if he'd like (if not, he'd be back in a week or so), he'd headed to the Spire to go across into Torchline.
As he came out of the portal he was suddenly greeted by a vast expanse of water lit by a moon brighter than he'd ever seen - the sheer beauty of it all nearly brought him to his knees. Never having witnessed the ocean before, he found it hard to comprehend, to see it all at once; it was impossibly big.
Walking down the port (quiet, but he could tell it was a civilised area and did his best to seem casual so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention) he climbed down to the beach, needing to feel it for himself, what he'd only read of before in books almost too fantastical to seem real. Kneeling down in the sand, orange hair caught alight by the shine of the moon, he reached his hands to the surf, letting it roll over the tips of his fingers with a joyful gasp.
walked out this morning and i wrote down this song. i just can't remember who to send it to
There was no need of a shirt even at night, given how warm Torchline is. No need of one to cover up the immense amount of scarring that covered Remi's sternum and throat either; he had never been one to care for his appearance. Perhaps that was all the clearer now, given his dishevelled curls and bearded-cheeks, his appearance made all the more unkempt given he was currently living on the beach or out of the back of a wagon that he and Ronin had stolen.
Conjuring rocks into his hands, the alchemist was skipping them out across the dark water. They didn't make it very far given the lapping waves, but that wasn't the point. Remi couldn't sleep (not uncommon these days) and draining his frustrated energy this way was marginally better than going to the Hanged Man to start a brawl. It was closer, if nothing else.
Nothing but muscle, scar-tissue, and anger now, Remi threw each new stone with more zeal than the last, his lips curling into an ugly smile each time his efforts were drowned by a wave.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Between the cold water on his fingers and a strange pinkish glow in the distance (when Sam focused, he could see large pink fish, lit by the moonlight, swimming just under the surface of the water - he would have to ask later), it took a couple of stones before Sam noticed the sound of the skipping over the water. Hearing the plop plop, he looked over to see a stone being consumed by a wave.
He followed the line of the throw back to the shore...and had to rub his eyes to make sure what he saw was real. The person skipping the stones looked like Remi. While it had been confirmed for him that the Alchemist was indeed alive, Sam had not thought he would see him again, had already begun to mourn for his friend and once-love; taken over by a rapturous, overwhelming excitement he scrambled to his feet and ran, feet unsteady and unused to sand but determinedly making progress forwards.
"Remi! It's you!!" He called as he attempted to pull his friend into a close hug; physical affection was a relatively new area of comfort for him, but there was no question of it here.
walked out this morning and i wrote down this song. i just can't remember who to send it to
The alchemist's arm braced, suspended in the air for a moment as Sam called out. There was no mistaking the sound of the voice and so no reason for Remi to turn and look at the man running unsteadily towards him. Resuming the action, Remi hurled the rock farther and harder into the water. As Sam's arm wrapped around his (once?) friend, he'd find that Remi felt...harder, than before. Only slightly more muscular, this was due to the fact that there was no give in his body. No arms that returned the gesture, no relaxing and melding into the hug.
"I suppose I should have expected you. You always seem to turn up after someone I care about dies." Remi said in a voice that was oddly toneless. He didn't even look at Sam, just waited for the bookmaker to release him so he could hurl another stone in the sea. "Well you're already a bit late, so maybe we can just skip over the part where you try and force yourself on me and jump right to the memory-loss part. Don't worry, I won't be upset to be forgotten by you again."
So saying, Remi threw another stone into the water.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
As his hug was not returned, Remi's body remaining stiff like that of a strangers in his arms, Sam slowly backed off, confusion creasing his brow as he awkwardly held his own elbow instead. It was then that he noticed there was something different about the Alchemist, something he hadn't seen in his rush and the dark before. Not anything physical, not quite, hardly even visible...a harder set to his jaw, a lack of light in his eyes.
Then there were his words.
Had this been the Sam of the year before, he would have turned and run at the first hint of cruel anger (or...lack of care?) in Remi's voice. As it was though, he felt the hurt in his chest but held his head high anyway, seeing in this a symptom of Remi's grief more than a genuine hatred towards himself, not that that stopped the thick lump in his throat that he was forced to swallow down.
This was about Aoife, and it was natural. Last time he had run away from the difficult part of Remi's grief - he wouldn't make the same mistake again.
"Well. I see." He nodded, wide eyes looking down to the sand, and took another step back. "You're right -- I should have approached more respectfully. I was just happy to see you...we were unsure if you'd died." Purposefully, he ignored the insults and assumptions thrown at him. Arguing against them would only make himself upset and take the focus away from Remi, where it needed to be. "I...am really so sorry, Remi. For what happened....a-and I know my sorries are useless. But they're all I have, other than my company, which you do usually seem to like."
walked out this morning and i wrote down this song. i just can't remember who to send it to
Turning towards Sam as he mewled his words like Mia come to life, Remi crossed his arms across his chest. In the moonlight, the horrific and poorly healed mass of scar tissue where he'd been skewered by ice was only partly covered, but the claw marks where he'd tried to gauge out his own throat were more than clear.
"They absolutely are useless." He agreed, the tension in his jaw clear beneath the unshaven hair. "Yes, who wouldn't want your company. Speaking of, I do hope that patch I made for you is serving you well with your new boyfriend. Though I see you're alone. Did that get too hard for you as well?" Mock sympathy coated Remi's accent as he looked Sam up and down for a moment before shaking his head.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
As Remi turned and Sam caught sight of the poorly healed wounds on his chest and throat, his lips opened in a question he didn't dare to speak, not in the current tense atmosphere. He couldn't stop his eyes from taking it in though, the shock and concern in his expression. It had never really occurred to him that Remi might have been hurt in the Fiat Lux disaster too; the man always seemed so strong.
Swallowing hurt away for another moment he forced his eyes up. "No, we're doing well." Simple, curt answers. He'd learnt that a lot of his problems came when he said too much, so it was best to keep his words to the smallest amount they needed to be.
"Remi..." He paused, knowing the way he said Remi's name, soft and almost simpering, would be an easy target for mockery - well, no stopping now. "I am your friend who is concerned about you. I'm very excited to see you well and I'd like to help if I can, or just be an ear for you. I'm..." Sam hated that it took him so long to think, that he had to still wait between words now to find the right ones on his tongue - it ruined the confident approach he was trying to take.
"I'm not going to run away or forget you. I was a much weaker person then. And you...you are not this person. You are kind and good." He had always loved that about Remi, his kindness and gentle nature, his way with the world.
walked out this morning and i wrote down this song. i just can't remember who to send it to
"You can touch it if you want to." Remi encouraged in a dark voice. "You do like sticking your fingers where they don't belong, after all."
The alchemist's face, once boyish and always possessing a bit of warmth no matter the circumstance was about as cheery now as stone. Dark sea-shattered eyes narrowed as Sam spoke about friendship and concern. "An ear for me, mm? That makes sense. Listening is probably all that you're good for." It wasn't like Sam was strong or capable. Not like he could actually help. But listen? Oh sure, he could probably do that. "The only thing is Sam, I don't need you to be an ear for me. And I certainly don't need you telling me what sort of person I am."
Stepping forward, a slight snarl curling Remi's lips up, he'd move to stand intimidatingly and almost intimately close to Sam, unless he moved back. Even if he didn't, the claw-marks that had been made to end his own life would be right at Sam's eye-level. "I helped murder a man, Sam." Remi whispered in a dangerously low voice. "I nearly killed Roana. And I would do it again" He added, lips hardly moving.
"Tell me how good I am. Because I sat around meekly while the world insulted me and the decisions I made? Because I was too cowardly to say no when everyone bled me dry? Because I went along on absurd quests?"
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi coming so threateningly close to Sam combined with the venom in his words would have once scared him away, but this was after some of the most harrowing arguments of his life - he'd argued to the very end of philosophical difference with Jigano, had kept on a brave face when Wessex pulled out a knife to threaten him; He would not let himself be hit down by this...person, whom he felt was an enemy of the Remi he knew as well as his own.
He didn't know what man Remi was referring to, nor that he had 'nearly killed' Roana - but what did that change? He defended The Voice after the many deaths that were arguably her fault. Life was hard here and sometimes, good people had to do bad things to survive, to continue; he considered himself lucky rather than moral that there was no blood directly on his hands.
"No, Remi. Because you cared about your friends. Because when I was considering weapons over Longnight you told me who I was -- and you were right. Because you love people and...I think that's whats making you so hurt now, but don't...don't turn hard." He shook his head, then took in a breath and said something he would immediately regret, but that felt right for a fraction of a second: "Aoife would not recognise you as her father like this."
walked out this morning and i wrote down this song. i just can't remember who to send it to
"I told you to avoid weapons because you're incompetent and would have hurt someone." The alchemist hissed. "Not that it mattered. You're just as dangerous to the world on your own as you are with a sword." Both he and Rex could attest to that.
"Do I love people? Like who Sam? Loren? You?" He smiled, though it was a cold smile. Moonlight flashed dangerously across his eyes. "It's all worked out so well, hasn't it? Even Ronin said he wished that I had died back at the festival instead of showing up here. But do tell me more about the people I love. Go on."
There should have been some sort of ominous rumble of thunder in the distance or the gasp from a studio-audience. There was only silence of course, as Remi's feet made no sound upon the sand as he moved to bridge all remaining space between he and Sam.
Tentacles appeared from his sides, writhing out to try and grip Sam's arms to restrain him as a still-human hand tried to catch Sam's jaw. Smiling down at him with an amusement that didn't reach his eyes, Remi leaned forward as if he meant to kiss the bookmaker, but it was only so that his whispered words wouldn't need to travel very far.
"Lucky for me that she isn't here to see it, then." He snarled.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi seemed determined to take the worst of everything and make it the truth; Sam especially recognised this because it had once been his approach too, though his had been framed by sadness rather than anger. Make everything into something to despair about, turn it all into a plan against you, justify the hurt inside yourself. A strange kind of way to cope, but one he understood deeply.
If only he knew how to help it - he'd only managed after years of self torment and still dipped into it regularly.
He half-expected the explosion after he'd said something frankly very stupid indeed, though he still stiffened with fear as Remi came close and grabbed him with...tentacles? Sam looked down with wide eyes, never having seen before this particular power. The smile was ice-cold and felt like it was made with the shard that had gone through Remi's heart.
Sam wouldn't give up just yet. That was his crime last time, it was how he had hurt them so irreparably; he had left too soon and too easily, let his weakness win. Determinedly he kept a straight face and looked into Remi's eyes, asking a simple question: "Are you going to hurt me, Remi? Kill me?" He'd promised not to, after his moment of panic at Sam's door during the Blight; Sam hoped this would be the same thing. A moment of panic, soon forgiven and behind them.
walked out this morning and i wrote down this song. i just can't remember who to send it to
The alchemist's reply was immediate, which was perhaps even more chilling than the words he spoke. For someone who had been for all intents and purposes, a veritable ball of joy and sunlight, anger and darkness came oh so very easily to him. "Would anyone even miss you, if I did?"
The tentacles tightened. Did you know that an octopus has control over each sucker individually? And thanks to Remi's oh so thoughtful gift, Sam would be able to feel the pressure of every single one. The fingers on Sam's jaw were suddenly punctuated with claws and as Remi smiled, he'd reveal teeth more fanged than even Sam's were.
"I have more than enough reasons to. For forgetting me. For leaving me. For trying to bite my husband. For daring to say my daughter's name." Remi tutted under his breath. "Look around Sam. It's the middle of the night. I could fly you out into the ocean and you've be devoured by creatures that we don't even know the names of before anyone even thinks to wonder where you've gone."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It was a testament to his newfound strength that Sam's mind immediately replied: yes, they would, to Remi. Nate would miss him, as would Maea, Jigano, Evie, Wessex, Rexanna...even Amalia in her own way, might, especially given their new family revelations.
Though it was true he'd made plenty of mistakes when it came to Remi. Remi had been his first relationship after a very long time alone and he'd gone into it blindly, knocking over everything he could in the panic of trying to be a good partner. The more recent things...well, he didn't feel any guilt at all about attempting to bite Ronin. The man had been trying to bring down the temple and if he hadn't been stopped, who knew what destruction could have come next?
That Remi could so easily threaten him was devastating. Yet Sam found that his instincts told him not to give in - that that would lose the Alchemist forever. No, he had to challenge this, no matter how hard it was. He had to let Remi try his best to be the darkest he could be, so he'd see he wasn't destined for it.
Pressing his hands into fists (and mentally saying goodbye to Nate, just in case), he spoke. "Do it then, Remi. Go on."
walked out this morning and i wrote down this song. i just can't remember who to send it to
"Tell me how good I am, Sam."
That was all Remi said before he released the bookmaker's face, retracted his hand and curled his fingers into a fist. Thrusting forward without any reservation, he aimed a punch for Sam's jaw, though unbeknownst to Remi, his former-friend would actually be able to feel the pain inflicted now. At the same time, he'd release the ascended with a shove, hopefully landing the man on his back in the sand.
It wasn't a leonine tail that appeared moon-lit behind the alchemist, but a barbed and insect-like one, topped-off by poisonous barbs.
"Go on Sam." Remi goaded.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
