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!
the tightrope that i'm walking just sways and ties, the devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
Instantly, Remi shakes his head. It's perhaps too immediate of a gesture, suggesting that this is something he's already decided before the question has even come up. "No, I.." Smoothing down a feather or two which has appeared in his curls, Remi pulls in a breath, trying to measure the next words more carefully than those he'd just blurted out. "I only meant that because I can leave my body, you could try and see me."
I can't know how I look to you.
He can't help how handsome he thinks Finn looks as he almost roguishly gives Remi a look. It must be the epitome of narcissism to think so, but if anything, the Alchemist is merely drawn to the change that overcomes his pseudo-friend at times like these when they both accidentally let down their guards.
THE ALCHEMIST
but i just want to be there when the lightning strikes & the saints go marching in
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”So long as you assure me that you will sit somewhere I can see you and won’t trip over you,” Finn says, only half joking, and he falls to a halt and nods to the other man as if to tell him to go ahead and leave his body if he likes. They can walk spirit to man, see what Finn can make out from it. I see you just fine, though, he wants to say but doesn’t, sliding his glasses back up his nose and pushing his hands back in his pockets.
He nods out through the trees, recognising suddenly where they are. ”Up ahead that way, you’ll find a trail that leads to the edge of Ludo’s Woods. Delphia has a yurt there, where she makes her home. If she isn’t there now, she will be eventually. So whenever you are ready...” You can leave, is what goes unsaid. Whenever Remi is too uncomfortable with their conversation, he has an out.
the tightrope that i'm walking just sways and ties, the devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
"I think I can manage that." Remi agrees with a nod, awkwardly coming to a halt at Finn's side. He largely and seemingly intentionally ignores what the other man has to say about their stroll together coming to an end. Obviously Remi can't say why he does this, but he thinks they both know. At least he hopes that they both do.
As Remi sits against a tree, he looks up at Finn with a crooked smile, his voice far louder than it needs to be. "I'm sitting here, Finn." So saying, he takes a breath and closes his eyes. It isn't long before his body slumps against the tree as if deeply asleep, and the shadows of the woods are quick to blur away his body as if he wasn't there at all.
Spirit!Remi, meanwhile, has stood, and moved towards where he'd been at Finn's side before. It is such a strange feeling, believing himself to be invisible. Can Finn see him like this? All sorts of ideas pulse through his mind, some mischievous and harmless, but many that he should feel ashamed in himself for feeling. He doesn't though and had he blood in this form, it would have rushed to his cheeks.
THE ALCHEMIST
but i just want to be there when the lightning strikes & the saints go marching in
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Finn gives Remi a sidelong look as he moves to sit up against the tree, not quite glancing at him but nodding nonetheless. ”Thank you,” he says in the same, exaggeratedly loud tone, trying not to smile too much because he’s afraid in his exhausted delirium that if he begins laughing, he might not stop. But then the other man is gone, faded into the shadows... and another one takes his place, one that Finn knows well, has seen with his glasses many a time.
He waits until the spirit draws close, keeping his eyes ahead, innocuously, almost. And once Remi is right by his side, he turns suddenly, locking eyes with him. ”Boo,” he says, knowing that in all likelihood the other man will not be able to respond, but finding himself wanting to enjoy his response nonetheless.
the tightrope that i'm walking just sways and ties, the devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
Remi does draw near, and it's a good thing indeed that Finn breaks the charade when he does, before the Alchemist does something embarrassing, or something they might both regret. He had no hands with which to touch the Spyglass, but he can speak well enough, and it's entirely possible that Finn is good enough to read lips. And oh, the things Remi might have said.
What happens in reality, is that the Alchemist jumps. Not out of his skin, as he's already done that, but enough for it to be comical, and for him to feel justified in reaching out to give Finn a shove. It's meant to be playful, and physical way of saying, yeah, yeah, you got me. And while his fingers do move through the Spyglass as he now realizes they will, it isn't without coming into contact with something.
THE ALCHEMIST
but i just want to be there when the lightning strikes & the saints go marching in
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Finn breaks into a boyish smile that, even with the glasses, probably makes he and the Alchemist look a lot more alike than they have any right to, and he’s just about chuckling when the other man reaches out and gives him a shove. It’s a strange sensation, even at first; the hand that goes sinking into him, feeling like nothing at all. Only then it does feel like something. Something is dislodged and Finn can see himself, suddenly.
And not just in the Remi sense. He can see himself, his lifeless body crumpling to the ground while he’s still standing nearby. His breath stutters in his chest at the same time as he’s acutely aware that he doesn’t actually need to breathe any more, but there’s pure terror in his eyes as he gazes back at Remi.
the tightrope that i'm walking just sways and ties, the devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
Remi nearly trips directly into Finn—both of them, as it happens. He was expecting some sort of resistance (stupidly), and so when it doesn't come, he has to stumble over Finn's dropping body so that he doesn't make the same mistake the Spyglass did earlier with his body.
"Wh—" The boyish smile is gone and Remi feels more cheated about not being able to properly catalogue it in his mind than he is upset about the current situation. He does straighten, blinking down at the Finn on the forest floor, before turning a confused green stare to the man who seems suddenly both less and more real to him. "Well, I think I've..." The Alchemist's mind turns, considers, concludes. "I think I've pushed your soul from your body."
And then, because gods he can't help but tempt fate, he takes a step forward, chin tilted slightly as an idea clearly comes over him. "Can I...try something? It won't..it shouldn't hurt. It shouldn't...harm, anything."
Only he doesn't know that.
THE ALCHEMIST
but i just want to be there when the lightning strikes & the saints go marching in
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi feels cheated and Finn feels... he doesn’t know what he feels, but it is not that. The Spyglass is clearly horrified, as for the second time this afternoon he’s staring down at himself, practically dead. Every meeting with Remi sends him tip toeing closer to an edge that he doesn’t know the way back from, and as the Alchemist reacts with curiosity over panic, Finn takes an instinctive step back away from him.
”Well if you’d be so kind as to put it back,” he just about manages, staring at his hands and forcing out a huff of breath that’s entirely unnecessary. Remi wants to try something? ”You might as well,” Finn mutters, mainly because he has no other choice.
the tightrope that i'm walking just sways and ties, the devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
It's fine that Finn moves back...at least, the spirit-iteration of him. That isn't the one Remi has eyes for anyways. Will he be apologizing for this? Will this send Finn away again? His mouth nearly waters with the implications of it, the sensation something like hunger, but also not dissimilar to the way your mouth will salivate just before you throw up.
"I won't...do anything." He says, utterly without context, before he does the thing.
The thing of course, is trying to step into Finn's body. The Alchemist can already inhabit the body of others, he knows that. He can struggle with them for control, can sink behind their ribcages and hide in the back of their skulls. But what if there is no soul to grapple with? Will it be the same as sinking back into his own body?
God how he wants to know.
So he steps into Finn's body the same way he'd do with his own, and if he can, he'll try and sit up.
THE ALCHEMIST
but i just want to be there when the lightning strikes & the saints go marching in
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
What won’t? Finn wants to say it, but his voice won’t make the words, especially as Remi prowls closer to the corpse of himself that has slumped so dramatically to the floor. The Alchemist knows the answers to his questions. They both know them, and yet they both wait for him to do it anyway. He steps into Finn, manipulates his form so that the body twitches and moves, and the Spyglass feels as though he’s caving in on himself.
He watches Remi move him around, but he’s not seeing it, not really. He’s seeing himself in the water with drowning children. He’s seeing himself walk on waves, smile mocking, cruel almost. He’s seeing himself throw glasses against walls, screaming in the rain, with his hands around Cian’s throat, with his lips on Amalia’s, all bruising kisses and taking, taking, not asking.
”Get out.” His voice is trembling. A small and desperate thing, like a trapped butterfly beating against the glass tomb of a jar.
the tightrope that i'm walking just sways and ties, the devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
It's a strange thing, this dynamic. Remi is far the stronger of the two, at least in this. Finn can make demands all he wants but if the Alchemist chose to push (or worse, to dig) the Spyglass would be helpless to stop him. It's like a knife which is newly sharpened, pressed against the plump flesh of an inner thigh. It would only take a whisper to break the skin. That is not to say Finn can't have the upper hand if he wants it. This dance only works with the both of them, and the threat of leaving is bright and clear. That it might not even be a threat is something Remi feels keenly, and so immediately he obeys.
With a deep inhale he is back in his own body. Leaning against the tree, his eyes are locked on Finn where he is on the forest floor. Intimate moments though the two have shared, this was an invasion and they both know it. Remi's cheeks flush with shame and hunger, his fingers digging into the soil around him. "I"m sorry." He says in a rushed voice, but sorry for what? I wanted you before you were ready, so helped myself behind the curtain before you allowed it. His eyes seem to want to hold Finn in place, reaching out for him in a way he knows his hands absolutely cannot.
THE ALCHEMIST
but i just want to be there when the lightning strikes & the saints go marching in
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi has crossed a line and they both know it. Finn is still left trembling as the other man leaves his body and lets it go slumping to the ground again, and gods, does he really look that tired? His lips part, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes as he tries to ask how he’s supposed to get back to his body, when... he suddenly just is.
Gasping, his chest heaving with it, Finn rolls to his knees and seizes the glasses from his face, unable to face what the world has to offer given what his own mind is already feeding him. He struggles to his feet, not looking even remotely in the Alchemist’s direction. He doesn’t know that he wants to see him. Not now, not ever again.
”No, you’re not,” he mumbles of the other man’s apology, stiffly turning up the collar of his coat and turning away, the opposite direction to the one he’d been leading Remi. He says not one more word to his dark twin, determined to leave him were he belongs - in Finn’s shadow.
