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!
Somethings can be mixed and then separated again. Some, like whiskey into syrup, cannot. Day and night might be like that. Like the whiskey. They've blurred together, such that the stars have now taken the place of the breeze and the ocean holds the face of the sun at all hours of the day. Remi thinks about that often actually, the ocean boiling the waves until the atmosphere becomes heavy with condensation and the sky falls down around him.
But he reinforced the roof against the monsoons. It will probably hold up the sky as well.
If the sun is in the ocean, then that only leaves one place for the moon to be: in the volcano. Though he can't quite remember why, Remi vividly had been reciting the word moon over and over in his mind. Wrapped up with sweet connotations as well as his mind's insistence that to burn in fire would be the most rapturous end, the Lullaby has set off towards the volcanic rise of ash and rock.
THE LULLABY
give me an oar 'cause you're the shore that I've been trying to reach
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
If Finn wants to dream of the stars, then he has to get very high up indeed. And he’s escaped Tobi (or the monster outside his door at the inn pretending to be Tobi, he is sure of it) and fled into the Greatwood. It’s been, like, time since then though (weeks, years? He dunno) and he feels so cold and the big tree showed him how to get to the hot place. And there’s an even hotter place within the hot place, and so... yeah. Finn finds himself at Apopo.
His once-white shirt is a damp sort of grey colour now, and he’s not changed his clothes in longer than he can remember - which in fairness, doesn’t really count for much right now. With sweat beading on his forehead, he sways halfway up the incline of the volcano, having stopped up to his shins in the ashes. His mouth is so dry, and he should get a drink. The water is dangerous, but he should really get a drink.
So Finn leans down and scoops some ashes into his hands, prepared to take a long awaited sip... when he spots himself coming up to join him. ”Oh. Thank goodness you’re here.”
"No I'm not." Remi isn't there. Finn isn't there. There is only one face, one head of curls, and eyes that can't quite settle on a colour. One hand is rough and the other smooth, but their lips are dry and their bellies broil, cooking ash into diamonds. So precious and beautiful with edges that will cut their insides to ribbons.
If Remi is wearing clothes, he isn't sure of it. But the wind screams in different frequencies over his skin, so it's very probably that he is. His shoes are long-discarded though. You can't walk on water with shoes.
"I broke your soul in half." The Lullaby admits, standing over Finn as he cups water which is already flowing quickly through his hands. Strange how it turns to ash when it hits the ground. "I meant to give you half back, but now..I think I will keep them both for myself."
THE LULLABY
give me an oar 'cause you're the shore that I've been trying to reach
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
09-03-2020, 06:42 PM (This post was last modified: 09-03-2020, 06:43 PM by Finn.)
FINN
He watches himself stride overhead, overshadowing himself, and Finn smiles. It’s a smile that doesn’t deserve to be so sunny and carefree, as the water dribbles out of his hands and spills all over his shoes. Or it would, if he weren’t already standing in the water. ”But I need you to be here,” he whispers; Remi wears a crown of stars, and as sweat drips into Finn’s eyes and makes them sting, he wants to laugh and scream all at the same time.
”I haven’t got a soul?” he whispers, pressing a black hand to his chest, leaving a sooty print on the already dirty fabric. ”Is that why everything hurts?” Is that why he thinks he might have burned outside of his own body? It that why the tide is pulling him so violently, making him tilt and sway? Is that why he’s so thirsty? ”I’d like it back please.”
"There is a hole on one of your ribs. Like a lock, for a key. That's what you need me for." To release? To be released? As the key, or the lock?
The sun, released from the sea momentarily, moves across the sky in a heartbeat, scattering Finn's shadow like a sundial. But there is only shadow. There has only ever been one shadow.
"Yes." Remi takes a step, the ripples underfoot growing as they move, splashing down the side of the volcano. "It has to be cleansed first. In fire, like mine was. It's the only way." Once, his soul like a soiled blanket had been scrubbed and made new. The cancer had been burned away, and though what was left was weak and soft, it was shiny and bright.
THE LULLABY
give me an oar 'cause you're the shore that I've been trying to reach
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”There is?” Finn’s hands go patting at his shirt, finding a hole that’s been torn in it, a splash of old blood where a thorny vine in the Greatwood has gotten to him. ”You’re right. There is. It’s here.” He pulls the shirt apart, gazing down at the small scratch on one of his ribs like it might open into an eye, blinking out at the two of them. He grins again - it all makes sense.
”Do you need to open me up, and fill me with fire?” he wonders, thinking it sounds like a delightful idea. He tries to walk up to Remi as well, but his feet give way. Finn finds himself on his knees in black, black water, panting in the soot, his fingers prying at the spy hole in his ribs. There’s fresh blood, but no pain. Gods, he’s thirsty.
Red fingers find their way to his lips, and it’s the sweetest water he’s ever tasted.
"It's letting all the light through until there's nowhere for the shadows to hide. So they're leaking out your eyes." Remi says this almost distractedly. It's a fact, a broken facet in the mirror he's looking at. But it isn't hard to fix. If a mirror is cracked, it doesn't need to be fixed, it needs to be broken. That way you have a hundred new mirrors.
It's the only way.
"I am already inside of you, remember?" Blue eyes looking up into the spaces between the trees where a ghost stood, evicted from his own body. "The ocean has swallowed the sun...so we have to get the fire from up there." Remi doesn't turn to look towards the mouth of the volcano. It whispers in his bones, but the sound stays there. All of his holes have been plugged with the eyes of the dead. "I thought you hated the water."
THE LULLABY
give me an oar 'cause you're the shore that I've been trying to reach
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”Out of... my eyes...” Red fingers go to red-rimmed eyes, now, painting Finn with a mask of blood. Maybe that will stop the shadows from shining out. ”I just wanted to dream of stars, with the sun wrapped all around me. Golden... warm...” He smiles like he can imagine it, in streams of gold and viridian, in colours that shatter the night and roar through the world like a song.
He’s smiling up at Remi, even as he realises it’s true - they are two halves of one whole, and he’s known it all along. He’s known it. But now Remi has both of them, and what does that make Finn? What does he do, without a soul? ”Please give it back,” he whispers. ”I’ll swim if I can have it back. If you can fill me with the fire. Please help me.”
"The stars will burn you, if you aren't clean. They're fire...so they're only trying to help." Sadly said, the Lullaby can only frown at his displaced face. It's so easy on this side of the looking-glass, to know what the problem is. So easy to see the remedy. It's right there: beneath the red rings and black lines.
"Show me you can swim." He offers, palm open and directing his hand up the volcano. Wings sprout from the Lullaby's shoulders. Reaching up, he plucks a single feather and hands it to Finn. "In case you start to drown." He says softly, lovingly, leadingly.
THE LULLABY
give me an oar 'cause you're the shore that I've been trying to reach
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
They always only trying to help. Finn is beyond help, but maybe if he’s clean, maybe if he can swim through the fire, he’ll be better. He’ll be worthy of it. Still smiling sweetly up at himself, he accepts the feather between fingers stained black and red, running the silky soft surface over rough and unshaven cheeks. ”I’m so sorry,” he whispers, wobbling to his feet to where the angel with his face gestures so prophetically.
”I will,” Finn says, tottering forward through ash so deep he nearly buries himself in it, smoke and heat belching up where he disturbs it all. ”I will swim. Will you come with me? To make sure that I’m clean?”
"You don't know how to be sorry." Finn says to himself with eyes like molten fire. But both angels and demons wield blades of fire, so who is to say to whom this heat belongs? "You only know how to be wrong." The man with the shifting eyes smiles and frowns at the same time, his lips a mobius loop on their mouth.
Indeed he does come. The climb takes them through several lifetimes and often they switch positions. It's the only way to swim after all: it takes two hands, two legs, two eyes. But they share a body even if Remi hoards both souls. It's why he's the stronger of them, after all. "I'm always with you." The Lullaby sings softly, and then an infinity later he adds, "You're falling behind, Finn."
THE LULLABY
give me an oar 'cause you're the shore that I've been trying to reach
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”You don’t know how to be wrong,” Remi says to himself in return, trudging through water that shifts and breathes under his feet. ”You only know how to be sorry.” The stars are calling him, if only he can clutch this feather and fly. But before flying, he must swim. Before flying, he must fall and burn. His breath catches the ashes, tightening in his chest, but he still presses on. He can’t die yet, not without his soul.
From in front he hears that he’s falling behind, and he slows his steps to let himself catch up. ”I’m here,” he wheezes. ”We go together, so I can burn. So you can give me back what’s mine. I won’t drown. I can go farther.” He clutches the feather to him, like a lifeline.
"I only know how to be sorry." He agrees. That's why together we are perfect. He's pretty certain he hasn't said this out loud, but his lips are static and the taste of blood is acting like a magnet, so he can't be certain.
Sweat and water which is brackish and thick with clay has turned the feather gray. It's heavy now, the lightness tarnished and rusted. "You have always been afraid of the water. Why do you risk drowning, after all this time? What's changed?"
Wings wide; a barrier. A question asked, like a test. Through sticky lips held shut with blood, it must be answered.
THE LULLABY
give me an oar 'cause you're the shore that I've been trying to reach
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Finn is watching the feather as he swims, ashamed to have made it so blighted, so tarnished. It’s his fault - it’s always his fault. He’s blotted out the light. Gritting his teeth, he pressed the feather to his bloody side, letting it stick there. Maybe he won’t drown now. Such is his distraction, he bumps right into himself with wings spread wide. Blinking, head tilting to look at the other man, Finn unconsciously imitates the gesture, spreading his arms out.
”You aren’t going to drown,” he says softly. ”So why would I? Together, we’ll scratch the sky, and break it like glass. Once I’m clean, we’ll do everything.” Finn closes his eyes. He’s crying, but he can’t remember when he started or what has made him so sad. Or perhaps he’s happy?
