From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
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!
It's all a dream, and while it's true that Remi knows this to his core, still there's something impossible about this if only because...he didn't create this. At least, not in the way he has created most things here. And yet, wasn't that the supposed aim of the lovemaking which had occurred in this room? To create a child? So what was it that he'd been expecting? A stork? An incubator? For either he or Ronin to wake up pregnant, somehow?
As Ronin reaches down to pick up the wailing infant, the alchemist inhales a shaky breath instantly stepping forward as if he might somehow help his husband with this incredibly simple, though unimaginably complex task of soothing a child that...has no business existing at all.
"Is it..?" Real? Alive? A boy? Ours?
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”He’s fine, I think. Just grumpy.” The warm, careful weight of the newborn in his arms means that Ronin hasn’t even stopped to consider that the baby isn’t real or alive or theirs. He doesn’t even know how he really knows it’s a he, but that’s what they had discussed so why shouldn’t it be so? The infant’s wails soften after a few moments, soothed by the presence of someone else in the room, and Ronin hushes him and cradles him against his chest.
He’s glowing already, barely having noticed, and the nursery fills with gentle starlight as he steps closer to Remi. ”Here,” he whispers, carefully offering the child out so that the alchemist might see it for himself. ”Much better now he’s not screaming the place down, right?”
Seeing Ronin cradling the baby to his chest, a sight which had been sorely missed when it came to Aoife (first Remi not having been around for it, and then Ronin not having been), emotion clogs the alchemist's throat and leaves him stagging toward the doorframe. Tears blur his vision as a stupidly sweet and sad smile makes his lips waver between frowning and laughter.
However as Ronin steps closer, feathers ruffle through the alchemist's curls as he looks up. With eyes all the more pale for the huntsman's starlight shining on them, Remi apprehensively looks into the little bundle of blankets and gods if his heart doesn't nearly fall out of his chest.
"Oh," He almost mewls, the sound so small and fragile as it drops from his lips. Tears streak down his cheeks as he peers over, fingers softly moving the blanket away that he might see all of his face. Collecting him from Ronin's arms and tucking him softly against one shoulder, Remi's heart flutters all over again to feel the heat of him. The weight and shape, so real and unexpected. Wriggling softly against the alchemist's shoulder, the boy coos his displeasure at having been moved but quickly settles.
Awestruck and entirely undone, Remi looks up at his husband, laughter and disbelief deepening the dimples on his cheeks and keeping his eyebrows in constant flux. "Ronin.."
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
10-08-2020, 05:50 PM (This post was last modified: 10-08-2020, 05:50 PM by Ronin.)
arms give away your need
At the time, Ronin had been much too focused on the baby to feel much more than the parental need to soothe and protect, and it’s only as he carefully passes him across to Remi that he gets to see what the alchemist could see in him. And the Star can’t wipe the smile from his face, the light within him growing brighter as he watches the father and son for the first time. Stepping up beside Remi, he reaches out to carefully wipe the tears from his cheeks, replacing them with a warm kiss.
”It still suits you,” he whispers, an arm slipping around his waist so he can enjoy simply standing in their presence. ”I guess we’ll have to wait... To see if he has my smile, I mean.” With as sunny a grin as he can conjure, Ronin kisses the alchemist’s cheek again.
"Gods, can you quit with the light? You're going to wake him up." Remi protests, though the words are hiccuped between sips of air and lips fumbling desperately to settle on just one emotion, so it ruins any illusion at all that the alchemist is actually upset.
There they stand, the baby on Remi's chest and Ronin snuggling in close, starlight filling a room tenderly and lovingly crafted, just as the infant was. Is.
Laughing at that and shooting the Star a crooked smile as if scolding him for daring to make light of such an important moment (though making light was one of Ronin's talents these days), Remi merely leans his cheek against their son's head and breathes deeply the scent of their child. Emotion whispers across his face—the joy, the surrender, the fear and anticipation—and more feathers appear in his curls as his fingers softly curl around the baby's body.
"What...will happen to him when we wake up?" Remi wonders, having never before thought about the dreamworld he left behind upon awakening.
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”I can’t help it,” Ronin whispers, and he does sound apologetic even if he’s still smiling through the softly shining light in the nursery. Taking a few slow, deep breaths and letting himself try to calm down, by degrees the glow fades to something like a night light, and he kisses Remi’s messy curls. Needing nothing to fill the silence, he’s content to just stand and enjoy the presence of his husband and their son.
When the alchemist speaks again, a frown flickers across Ronin’s face, and for the first time he feels the tug of something insidious, of wanting to stay forever in this dream. ”What happens to everything else when we leave?” he whispers instead. ”It just... stays. Everything will just be here, waiting for us, when we get back. Him as well.”
"I'm not here to know what happens.." Remi points out, biting the inside of his cheek and protectively laying his chin over the newborn's head. Staring pointedly at the ground as if somewhere in the architecture of the world he's made the answer might be hidden, he tightens his fingers (gently) around their son's little body.
"Does it...cease to exist and then come back? If we leave, will he just..disappear? And if not, what if he cries? What if there's no one here to take care of him?" The living things in the world, the rabbits and wolves and deer, there is an entire ecosystem to support them. Houses and such have no need of a caretaker, and suddenly the alchemist is furiously upset for having no thought through this before.
"I should have experimented. I could have left water running and then come back to see if things were flooded...I could have found out—" The baby stirs at the sound of raised voices and Remi's rapidly beating heart and instantly the alchemist is quiet again.
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It’s heartbreaking for Ronin to see his husband panic, and as the boy starts to stir and squirm, the Stars arm moves around them both so he can hold Remi close. ”Hey, it’s okay.” He whispers a kiss against his temple. ”Let’s see if we can try something... We could dream up someone to take care of things when we go?” Nuzzling against his curls, a thought strikes him. ”Or...”
Ronin steps away from himself, his astral projection stretching mightily as if it has just woken up (like they both have). Slowly it walks across to the rocking chair, sinking down into it and smiling gently to Remi. ”We could see if I can stay, as well as waking up.”
Remi's teeth clench and unclench, the muscles of his jaw pulsing nearly in time with his pulse, though not quite. "Who..?" Of course the first person to pop into his mind is Vai and for a moment the image of the witch flickers in his peripheral vision before disappearing.
It's so strange, to both think of the astral projections as Ronin, but also not. (For instance, it would be strange to leave the 'original' to kiss the projection for some hard to articulate reason, despite them both being very real in that sense). So it is that Remi glances with almost distrust at the man now seated in the char. Leaning against Ronin, the alchemist's brow furrows. "But if you wake up...I won't know if this is actually you, or just a version of you I'm holding here." Has he dreamed Ronin into existence before, while the huntsman was off doing awake-things? You know he has.
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin sees her too, the witch bringing a soft smile to his lips. ”As a last resort, you know she’d take care of things perfectly,” he murmurs to Remi. Smirking at the strange distrust between the alchemist and the other him who gently rocks in the chair. ”Then we will have to both wake up and I’ll see if I can still feel myself here,” he suggests, reaching out to carefully smooth out the fine curls that crown their son’s head.
”Or we just make sure there are things in place before we go, like you say.” Vai, or some other nameless caretaker to ensure that things did not fall to pieces when they were awake. ”For example... he doesn’t even have a name yet,” he whispers to his husband, grinning down at the sleeping infant.
"And if you can't?" Remi wants to know, a rising panic in his voice despite the low tone of it. The muscles in his arms shake slightly as they had done previously when he'd been holding himself back from Ronin: an indication that keeping still and calm was very much an internal struggle.
He's being irrational, which is hard for Remi to talk himself down from, precisely because rationality was of no use in this dream world. Fidgeting with his feet, unable to keep still though forcing himself to ensure his shoulders and hands were gentle upon their son, the alchemist gives Ronin a distracted sort of nod.
"Oh." Blinking a touch at that, Remi looks up with a shy and crooked sort of smile. "Oh." He hums again, looking down at the bundle of newness in his arms. "I hadn't even thought of that." Remi admits with a light laugh that gets stuck low in his throat. "If you even suggest Ronin Jr, you'll be out in that lake before you blink."
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”Remi,” he whispers, tilting his head to rest it against his husband’s and smiling gently. ”If I can’t then we’ll go right back to sleep and figure out something else. It’s not like either of us are morning people.” Drifting into a doze is something they are perfectly capable of doing - and do frequently. ”But I think the other idea is better anyway. Make sure there’s someone in this house when we leave, so things will be taken care of until you or I come back.”
Talk of names at least seems to cheer the alchemist a bit, and Ronin grins down at their son. ”I wouldn’t dare,” he murmurs. ”...I named Aoife. You choose.” He doubts that Remi has ever been given the opportunity or consideration of such a thing, and it feels suddenly very important that he get a say in it.
Continuing to watch the projection warily, Remi shrugs one shoulder so as not to disturb their son. "Or I could just stay." He murmurs in a low voice, not meeting either blue gaze he's sure has just hardened upon him.
Shaking his head slightly as if to suggest Aoife's naming didn't matter—this child wasn't Aoife, and he wasn't Vanya—nevertheless Remi smiles slowly as he gazes down at the small spool of curls. "Mmmmm.." He hums sweetly, struck by a wildly unfair idea. Though the alchemist was more than capable of saying their daughters name, his accent could never pronounce it quite as brightly as Ronin's could. What might it be like for the huntsman to endure the same linguistic hardship?
"Mateo." He whispers, the romantic curl of Remi's particular way of speaking adding emphasis like flourishes around certain parts of the name. The name rang musically in his ears, as it did flowing off of his lips, starting out as a hum and leaving in an easy breath. Glancing up shyly, green eyes still alight by Ronin's dazzle, he smiles slowly, head tilted slightly to the side.
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
10-08-2020, 08:06 PM (This post was last modified: 10-08-2020, 08:06 PM by Ronin.)
arms give away your need
The projection winks out just about at the same time as Ronin’s starlight, but the huntsman doesn’t give Remi a response on it. If he pretends the alchemist hasn’t suggested it then he can’t feel the tangle of emotions about it that he wants to. So instead he takes a slow breath in through his nose, lets it out again and closes his eyes to listen as the Lullaby, unaware that the choosing of their son’s name hinges on how difficult it will be for him to say.
Still, he brightens again as the name falls from Remi’s lips, Ronin smiling and blinking his eyes back open. ”Mateo,” he repeats, his own accent wrapping around it in different places, creating a different sort of music. ”I love it. I think it’s perfect.”
