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 trip to the Climb has come full circle, and the Taliesins are home. Vai wishes she could have greeted them with the knowledge that everything was exactly as they had left it. Vai wishes she could have greeted them at all, but busy as she has been, she’s not yet seen Remi or Ronin. The smoke from the ruins of the Senzaok household is still billowing in a thin stream up into the sky; a sky so blue that it belies how quickly the sun can burn.
Vai is back at the Governor’s House now, at least, and she’s been able to clean and organise it ready for when its inhabitants get home. She’s humming as she moves to open the shutters and the windows, letting in the hush of the distant ocean and a sweet and salty breeze. Leaning against the window sill for a second, the witch gives herself one whole moment to stand and bask in the silence, in the knowledge that it might just be okay in the end.
He returns weary, hopelessly in love, and sane. Were it anyone else, Ronin would have told them promptly to fuck off. For Vai through the Star has graciously uncoiled himself from around the Lullaby (and the Lullaby from him). Opening the door, sweaty and sand-covered from the walk back from the portal, Remi lets his eyes adjust to the indoor light before he calls out. "Anyone home? Any witches perhaps? Or huntresses? Mobile-makers?"
His voice is sing-song despite the fact that he's ready to collapse into bed. Dropping his bag of things noisily by the door and kicking off his shoes, the alchemist spies just the witch-huntress-mobile-maker he was looking for by the window. Moving hastily toward her, Remi opens his arms to grab her into a tight hug, meaning to burry his face against her shoulder. "No scolding about what I might have broken or who I might have threatened. Not until after you've hugged me."
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The door opening jolts Vai back into the here and now, and she turns abruptly to hear the melodic sound of Remi’s voice. The last time she’d heard him it was some furious rant about the headboard from behind a closed door, the Lullaby barely sounding like himself, and she’s already grinning as he sweeps towards her. ”No scolding at all,” she promises, hugging him back just as tightly and burying her face against his curls.
”I’m so glad you’re alright,” she whispers; the height difference and the fact that Remi is built like a brick you-know-what means nothing currently. She gives him a motherly squeeze, her eyes prickling. ”You are okay, right?” Sniffling a bit, Vai tries to gaze down at him to check him over.
He nearly squeezes her and sweeps her off her feet, but already his magic has fixated his mind on the bright golden-green tangle of her emotions and he finds himself temporarily paralyzed by her joy and maternal relief.
"I am. And if the water continues to work, I should stay that way." He says, smile entirely crooked as her eyes look him over. He's not exactly clean but he's certainly no worse for wear. Or at least, not any more than usual. "I'm sorry for...everything you've had to do while I was sick." Ronin has mentioned it a bit in passing, though his hesitation in saying just how much Vai had done to help out was an indication that it was probably more than Remi would have liked.
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
In her excitement to see Remi again, Vai has momentarily forgotten everything about his new magic, caring only about hugging him close and making sure he’s okay. Her relief is vibrant and her love all-encompassing; it’s a familiar feeling, the Lullaby might notice, to how he feels about Aoife even now. ”Good. You’re drinking your whisky with water from now on,” she mumbles, smoothing his curls out of his face so she can grin at him, a shoulder coming up so she can wipe the tears from her cheeks.
”Oh, hush. I’d do it all again in a second if it means you stay well,” Vai tells him, leaning in to kiss his forehead. ”How was the Climb? I almost expected you to come back with a tan,” she says; gods know he hasn’t been able to get out in the sun much when he’s been sick.
Remi wrinkles his nose a touch at that as if incredibly put off by the idea of having to water down his evening (afternoon, morning..midmorning..). He doesn't protest though, instead pressing a kiss to her forehead even as she wipes away her tears of relief. Releasing her slightly, his hands moving to her shoulders as if not wanting to let her go quite yet, Remi hums a note of childlike contentment as she kisses him.
"A tan? No, more like burns. It's all...smoke and fire. Above ground, anyway. Below is much nicer. We found Frey's Breath which is a series of hot springs." Wickedly perhaps, he grins at the witch. "The water is very relaxing. A good place for a date...so long as you're up for a trek across the Tundra first." His eyebrows bob leaving absolutely no question as to whether or not Remi had experienced this relaxation firsthand.
"So, how is old Zeph?"
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”Hot springs? Explains why you were gone for so long.” Vai chuckles to him, the witch letting him go enough to hold him at arm’s length, but she’s similarly reluctant to release him entirely. Raising her eyebrows, she doesn’t deny that the sound of a date - of a break - is incredible. And she imagines that Zeph would thoroughly enjoy a hot spring. (She has no idea how much he would enjoy the Tundra, but that’s something they can find out for themselves).
Nudging Remi, she raises her eyebrows and offers him a crooked grin. ”He’s very well,” she says, ”and still younger than I am, so watch your language.” Hugging him close again, just for a second, she tries to guide them over to the cupboards so she can get some tea out of the ice box. It has been difficult to maintain since Sugar left with the boys but Vai finds a way. She always does. ”How’s young Ronin?”
Remi offers her a knowing look before shrugging his shoulders. "To be fair, it is the place the healing waters come from." He points out. His shenanigans with Ronin aren't the entire reason they were gone for so long. In fact, those shenanigans themselves hadn't even lasted that long.
Remi dramatically oooofs as he's nudged, before holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "Well, one of you has certainly aged much better than the other." He says, unable to help trying to weasel the last word in.
Following her into the kitchen, the alchemist plops himself into a chair and immediately picks up something off the table to fidget with. "Oh well, three years older and one inch shorter Ronin is doing predictably well. Amazing what it will do for a person when they don't have to take care of a crazy spouse."
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
With a fiendish smile, Vai allows that particular last word (since it’s a flattering one), and she musses Remi’s curls on her way to the ice box. ”Then maybe Zeph and I should take a trip to get more of that water,” she suggests. While they’re collecting it, they can have that break they were just talking about. Maybe they’ll even spend longer there than is strictly reasonable. They have to be thorough about these sorts of things, after all.
Getting two glasses and pouring them both some iced tea, Vai returns to the table and sinks down to sit with Remi, letting out a musical laugh. ”Three years older and one inch shorter? How precise,” she says through her giggles. ”Yes, I imagine he is over the moon to have you back to making your regular mischief, opposed to what you were up to when you were sick.”
"Not that I'm keeping track." Remi adds with an entirely crooked and smug smile. Reaching for the glass the alchemist spins it slightly in his hands as he grins across the table. "Mhmm. Given I've destroyed our room, nearly gave Sunjata a blowjob on the beach, and had to be kept asleep for fear of what else I might do, I'd say he's more than earned this break."
Rolling his eyes at himself Remi takes a healthy drink of his tea, savouring the taste of it. He's back to eating and drinking regularly now, but even so he can't recall the last time that he fully appreciated food this much. "Has...Ronin mentioned anything about my plans for Torchline at all?" Vai, the most level-headed out of anyone Remi knew, would likely offer the best advice for how Remi should handle his transition, despite having never held any sort of position like this. The witch always seemed to know the best course of action.
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”More than earned it,” Vai echoes, lifting her glass in a toast to that, sipping at her iced tea and letting out a breath of relief for the respite it brings from the heat. ”Still, it could have been a lot worse, had you not had someone watching over you.” Her smile fades a bit at the mere thought, and silently she reaches across to touch her hand to Remi’s. He’ll feel the surge of protectiveness from her, no doubt, but she’s forgotten all about it for the time being.
Then he brings up Torchline and her hand slips away again, Vai nibbling at her lower lip. ”He mentioned that you didn’t want to be Governor any more,” she says with a gentle nod. ”It’s a brave thing, to step down. Braver still to do it in a way that puts Torchline’s people first.” She brightens a bit again, at that.
Squeezing Vai's hand in return the alchemist wonders if one day his magic will allow him to transfer emotions back to others, the way he receives them. It's hard to put into words the love he has for the witch, and in this moment he wonders if he's done enough for Vai to know just how much she means to him. "I love you." He offers after a moment, a touch sheepishly that he doesn't tell her more often, though by no means embarrassed by the sentiment.
"Well...we'll see. Only Sunjata has really shown any interest in taking my place, which I suppose makes sense given he was the only other one to run." The Lullaby's shoulders rise and fall with an exhausted sense of obligation. "Maybe I should talk to Zeph about it actually...I know that there's some...tension between Jata and some of the others." The others primarily being Zeph and Jack.
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Vai shouldn’t be surprised to hear Remi speak so candidly, and by the way her cheeks flush with delight, it’s a very welcomed gesture. ”I love you too,” she offers back easily, a finger drawing patterns on the condensation that lines her glass. ”And I’m proud of you. For all you’ve been through, you’ve become quite the young man.” The witch grins, settling in again to listen as talk turns to his impending retirement.
She lets out a thoughtful sigh, leaning back in her seat. ”Sunjata has a habit of getting himself into an awful lot of trouble,” she says honestly. ”I’d be worried if he ended up out of commission over something silly, and Torchline suffered for it.” Rolling her shoulders, Vai grins. ”Then again, with the right council around him I also think he’d be a great governor. He and Zeph have been getting along better. I don’t know whether Zeph wants all the responsibility of governing, but I imagine he could be persuaded to help out. I’ll do my best, too.”
Remi chuckles a touch at that, his grin wide and sunny as it once so easily used to be all the time. "You know, someone called me old the other day." He muses, watching her fingers part the moisture on her glass. "I know I'm not, but just the same...it is rather strange to think I might keep living this amount of life for twice as long as I've even been alive."
Mirroring the witch and leaning back as well, Remi reminds himself that whatever Vai's relationship to Zephyr might be (and how he's intertwined with the Flood in all of this), that she's still one of the most objective people he knows.
"You'd want that?" Looking almost pleasantly surprised, Remi can't help the childish way his head inclines to the side as a smile slips from ear to ear. "To help out, I mean? In an official capacity that is, it isn't like you don't do plenty around here as it is." Vai was like a benevolent marionettist: always behind the scenes, but pulling strings that those they were connected to mind find the paths they were best suited for.
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
