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!
kidnap me from my reality & crushed pieces of my soul
"This place...I don't feel like me, in it." Remi says of the nightmare shadows that linger when Ronin is gone. He isn't one to be squeamish after all, not one to recoil at poor phrasing. His expression is apologetic even as he's tugged onto Ronin's lap. Turning to side astride the Star with his legs overhanging the back of the swing, the Lullaby closes his eyes and exhales softly, savouring everything about the lightness he feels.
"Oh, you've given yourself a promotion have you?" He asks cracking an eye open and flashing Ronin a grin. "From being around others. That doesn't mean you won't catch anything by going to where it all started." The Lullaby points out with a twist of his lips. "I'm not sure, though I suppose there's no way of telling now."
colour me outside the lines until my shattered heart is whole
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”I’m not surprised... you were alone before I came to get you. I’d not feel like myself without you for so long, if the roles were reversed.” Ronin smiles sweetly up at his husband, letting his arms slip around Remi’s waist, leaning in to drop a warm kiss against his collarbones. He wishes the roles were reversed, even for just a day so Remi can remind himself of the real world, of the place outside the cage of his mind.
Fingers strumming against the Lullaby’s lower back, Ronin could happily sit forever like this, and he grins back at the other man. ”Gotta get those ruffians to take me seriously if I’m standing in for you.” He winks, nudging him gently. ”I can make an educated guess, if I find out enough. And regardless of the risk, you are worth it, so enough worrying about me. If I do get infected, it will be whilst doing something stupid and devilishly handsome, and it will probably earn us the cure. So I’ll get better the same time you do.”
kidnap me from my reality & crushed pieces of my soul
"I have no way of knowing how long it is, between when I see you and when I don't. There's no light, no hunger. Just...space I can't seem to move through." It was the strangest thing to try and describe. Remi hadn't quite reached the level of nightmares yet; fever-dreamed though his brain was, it still seemed to be working out the kinks of how to manage in its super-heated state.
Slipping his arms around Ronin's neck and bringing the Star close, the Lullaby just lets himself stare into blue eyes he knows impossibly well. It's strange to think he'll forget them almost as soon as Ronin departs. "Well, don't show them your antlers if you want them to take you seriously." Remi chuckles, his cheeks round with boyish mischief.
"Regardless of the risk, I feel like that should be the Taliesin family motto." Sliding his fingers through Ronin's hair, the Lullaby rolls his eyes as if entirely unimpressed that Ronin should ever do something stupid. "Well, if you're going to be doing it handsomly, then I definitely want to be awake for it. It's so rare I see you doing anything other than eating, or lounging in sweatpants." He adds, his grin crooked. Tensing, fully prepared for Ronin to nudge him in the ribs, Remi leans in quickly to stifle Ronin's arguments to the contrary with a tongue that threatens to curl with laughter.
colour me outside the lines until my shattered heart is whole
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”Use your spoon,” Ronin says, grinning up at his husband like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and he all but purrs into the pleasure of having the other man’s arms wrapped around him. He gazes deeply into sea glass green, not noticing as the world around them paints itself in the same hue. He’s serious, though - bright and glowing as he is, he reaches to grasp the spoon sticking out of Remi’s back pocket, setting it aglow as well. He’s timed it, and he’s known it to last up to an hour... so at least when the glow fades, Remi will have knowledge of that much, at least.
Gasping, he brushes his nose against the Lullaby’s. ”They’re growing, I’ll have you know. But you don’t get to enjoy them until they’re magnificent again. Unless you say pleeeease.” Chuckling, easily able to imagine their family living up to such a motto with ease, Ronin lets one of his hands sneak down onto Remi’s thigh. ”Hey—” he begins, predictably outraged as he gazes back up at his husband, but suddenly there’s a tongue in his mouth and gods if he can’t help the way the kiss sends heat shooting straight south.
Moaning softly, as if to wordlessly try to encourage more of this, he grasps the Lullaby close, like he can freeze them here in this moment and the rest of the world will fall away.
kidnap me from my reality & crushed pieces of my soul
"Oh, I'll use my spoon." Remi repeats, though his tone is far more menacingly as if he means to reach into his pocket and wack Ronin with it. Looking down at the spoon, realizing what it is Ronin intends him to do with it, the Lullaby smiles a touch sadly as he takes it back. "Does that mean you're leaving soon, then?" This is said with as little despair and guilt as Remi can possibly manage. It's nearly clean of it, but not quite.
"Oh please, please, pleeeeeeeease" Remi laughs against Ronin's neck, each p beginning as a kiss before elongating into a whine.
Much as one might expect dream sex to be one of the first things the pair tries out, caged here as Remi has been, it feels...lacking, somehow. In any other situation he and Ronin could quite literally dream up whatever they wanted here, but then they could wake up together, in each other's arms, solidifying what had happened. Now, the memory of these moments would be stolen away the second the Star left the Lullaby's orbit.
Gods if Remi wasn't sick of having his mind fucked with.
Still, Remi kisses his husband back with a bright need, desperation for this evident in the way the muscles of his legs twitch and tighten and how his hands have begun to methodically wander across his husband's back.
colour me outside the lines until my shattered heart is whole
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
09-08-2020, 10:08 PM (This post was last modified: 09-08-2020, 10:18 PM by Ronin.)
everything has its wonders
”Please do, I’d love to see how creative you can get with it.” Ronin chuckles, though his amusement fades with his partner’s question, and he shakes his head softly. ”No,” he vows. ”No, not at all. I only just got here, Remi. I can tell, now... normally. If I’m waking up. But no, I’m not leaving you yet.” Turning his head, he kisses the inside of Remi’s wrist, as if to help banish the worries with a simple touch of his lips.
Turning back again, Ronin can’t help but laugh at the assault of kisses, his grip tightening on the Lullaby. Huffing, he relents at last and shakes his hair back from his forehead, letting the partial shift take hold. He could dream up a full set of antlers, bone white and glowing, but the last thing he wants to do is lie to his husband. So Remi will see the budding, velvety nubs in all their tiny glory, along with a bashful smile from the Star. ”Happy?” he asks.
He has to imagine so, because the next moment he’s captured by legs and lips and the taste of Remi on his tongue. And Ronin doesn’t want to stop at the exact same time that he knows he needs to, the huntsman both wanting Remi and wanting to savour his time here all at once. ”I miss you so much,” he whispers against his lips, eyes pressed shut.
kidnap me from my reality & crushed pieces of my soul
"You say that now." Remi interjects, waggling his eyebrows to suggest all sorts of mischief he might get up to with only a spoon in his arsenal. "Ah." His relief is palpable, slumping in Ronin's arms with a worried smile. "I had thought...lighting the spoon as if it were a counter." A counter which was going to start now.
"Nubs." Remi purrs affectionately, running his fingers on top of the velvety stumps that will shortly grow into a proud and admirable rack. For now, the Lullaby is endlessly amused by this arguable shortcoming on Ronin's part.
"I didn't want to say it." He agrees, the world around them softly thudding with the sound of their combined hearts as if they're in some massive heart-like cathedral. "I didn't want to make it harder when you had to go." Remi admits, holding a breath he doesn't need here before shakily letting it out. Leaning back if only so that he can rake his hands unhappily through his hair, Remi looks up into the canopy of leaves that have formed overhead, watching as they turn from crisp spring green to a burned autumn-gold. "I am so very, very sick of having my memories messed with like this." He says, eyes dropping back to Ronin's. "If I find out this was anything but unintentional..." Tilting his jaw to the side, the skin feathering as he clenches his teeth together, Remi lets the silence fill in the blanks.
He'll stop at nothing to exact vengeance, should this prove to be something other than just a natural disease.
colour me outside the lines until my shattered heart is whole
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”Mm, you can use it as a counter. But not right now. I’ll light it again for you before I have to leave. Magic spoon.” Ronin winks, and while he pretends to duck his head out of the way of Remi’s wandering hands, his husband’s delight is more than enough for him to still, allowing the alchemist to have his way with the velvet protrusions sprouting out of his forehead. ”Nubs,” he agrees affectionately.
With a sad sort of shrug, he can only smile up at the other man. ”I’d prefer to say it and have you know. It’s easier for me - I know where I am the rest of the time, and how long it will be until I see you again. I only wish I could give you the same.” His brow furrows suddenly, a sneaky sort of smile on his face. ”I wonder,” he murmurs. ”If I could leave my projection in here with you.”
Following Remi’s gaze up to the canopy of beating leaves, the Star notices his husband’s rage... and does nothing to rein it in. The golden leaves begin falling around them, and Ronin reaches up to press a hand to Remi’s chest. ”If it was anything but unintentional... You can have first dibs. I’ll obliterate whatever is left.”
kidnap me from my reality & crushed pieces of my soul
Rubbing at his hair, anxiousness and a strange sort of nervousness making his fingers stiff as the rake through his curls, Remi can only nod sheepishly. "I don't like saying goodbye to you." He admits. "And I don't like missing you. Not like this." It all feels so incredibly hopeless, that the Lullabye has to resist the urge to ball his fingers into fists. Instead, he allows a slow rumble of thunder to purr in the distance as he softens, gazing sadly at Ronin instead. "And leave you all alone up there? To run things?" Remi shakes his head. "Now a third projection.." He jokes, as if his loneliness and torment in this dreamworld was some sort of shortcoming on Ronin's part.
Gods how he loves this man. This man who never tries to change him. Who lets him feel all of his complicated and dangerous emotions. Placing a calloused hand over Ronin's, Remi nods with a feral sort of determination.
Part of him hopes that it was intentional, that there might be a target for his rage. If it's all just..happenstance? Again?
"I remember what it was like. When you were blighted. I remember the optimism at the start...and how it waned. How I thought I was going to lose you." Swallowing, Remi's fingers press between Ronin's that he might peel the Star's hand off of his chest to hold it between his. "I know how this feels." The frustration. The grief. The guilt. The determination. "It seems as though most of our friends have this as well..and I can only imagine what that is like. But I didn't talk to anyone about how I was feeling when I was alone." Pressing his lips to Ronin's knuckles, the Lullaby exhales softly. "Don't make my mistake."
colour me outside the lines until my shattered heart is whole
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”I don’t like it either,” Ronin says softly. ”It feels like I’m just abandoning you to whatever might happen between now and when I can light up your dreams next.” He shakes his head, thumb brushing across Remi’s chest, and he lets the other man take his hand. ”A third projection?” he repeats, raising his eyebrows at his husband and grinning. ”Not asking for much, then. Is one functioning copy of myself not enough for you?”
Would that their levity could continue, that this could simply be a wonderful dream to soothe and replenish that which neither of them could get in those times between. Ronin’s eyes drop to Remi’s lap when he continues, the words true and tragic and not something he could rebuke even if he wanted to. ”I know you do,” he says, shoulders slumping as if realising, suddenly, how heavy it all was. ”There isn’t anyone for me to talk to.” Between he and Vai, there was never a spare moment. All his friends were sick. And Torchline and keeping Remi alive was a full time job.
Still, the Star slouches forward to lay his head on Remi’s chest, his arms winding around him anew. ”I’m a long way from broken yet. Let me have my hope for now.”
kidnap me from my reality & crushed pieces of my soul
"It isn't real." Remi says more dismissively than he should have. They both know how little that matters in the big scheme of things. Teeth graze along one of Ronin's fingertips as the Lullaby grins against it, shaking his head. "I'll always want more of you." He whispers, though the Star's projections are a strange example of that, because they don't always feel like Ronin. Or at least, Remi constantly finds himself wanting only the real one, especially in certain situations.
Softly sighing with no real argument or solutions at the ready, Remi merely chews the inside of his lip as his mind considers the numerous dead-ends before them. "Then take lots of naps." The Lullaby advises at last, straightening to give Ronin more purchase on him, and then similarly wrapping his arms around the collapsed Star. "Alright then." He chuckles quietly, fingertips rising and falling down the huntsman's spine.
"So when do we leave for this frosty adventure?"
colour me outside the lines until my shattered heart is whole
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”It might not be, but it’s all I’ve got of you right now.” Ronin sighs, humming against Remi’s chest as he relaxes into the fuss, listening to the thud of his husband’s heartbeat and trying to sink into it as much as he can. All he cares about is right now, with the Lullaby’s arms around him and his words echoing in his ears. A smile tugs at his lips, and he nods an enthusiastic yes at the suggestion. ”Permanent naps. Just with you. If anyone asks, I’m curing you from the inside.”
When do they leave for Halo, though? Ronin grumbles something incoherent, shrugging against Remi and peeking up at him. ”A couple of days I think. I have to make preparations and put up notices and all that. But I imagine we’ll set off soon. I’ll be sure to describe it to you the whole way. Maybe my voice will be able to reach you in your sleep.”
kidnap me from my reality & crushed pieces of my soul
Remi can't help the way his mind twists the sweet sentiment into something filthy. He grins into Ronin's shoulder, his dimples so deep with mischief he can't form words for a few seconds. "Is that what we're calling it?" He wonders, though the steady stream of love and trust that flows through the attuned bond more than suggests he knows Ronin's words aren't just a euphamism.
"Notices." The Lullaby huffs flatly, lips twitching. "Since when did saving the world come with so much paperwork. It shows how much the Star has grown, if anything, that even in his haste to find a cure he's still going about things the right now. It both frustrates the hell out of Remi as much as it further endears Ronin to him.
"I'll be sure to listen." It's a wistful sentiment, and they both know that he won't be able to hear a thing. Not without Ronin's light to banish away the monsters.
colour me outside the lines until my shattered heart is whole
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”That is exactly what we are calling it.” Ronin grins against Remi’s chest, his fingers slipping up and beneath the Lullaby’s shirt; dream or no dream, he can’t get enough of his husband, and if he has to abandon him to monsters and horror, he’s at least going to show him how much he loves him while they’re together. ”Mm, about the time we decided to sit on top of the world to lead it,” mumbled. ”I believe it was you who decided to run for Governor? You’ve only yourself to blame.”
Sighing, Ronin presses a kiss over Remi’s heart, peeking up at him and relaxing further into the sway and rock of the swing, of the weight and warmth of the other man in his lap. ”I wish I could leave you something, to remind you how much you mean to me. Something you could keep with you until I come back next time.”
