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!
Softly, Remi tiptoes out of the house. The door is opened and closed with as much stealth as the alchemist can manage. Had he not been holding a bottle of gin he'd have flown out of the window to ensure a silent approach. He probably still could have done, but that took far too much planning. As it was, with Ronin and Mateo napping from having been up all night, the Lullaby was happy to seize his chance at a mischievous awakening and an uninterrupted conversation with a certain merchant.
So as he steps out onto the porch, he suddenly leaps into the air and brings both of his feet thundering down at the same time, hoping to startle a snoozy fox from his den beneath the stairs.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
In this heat, of course Ianto is spending his time lounging away in the shade beneath the porch. He is dozing quite happily in fact, when the whole world crashes down around his ears, and there’s a great deal of whining and yipping as the fox scrabbles to escape. When he bolts out into the open as a streak of red, he’s quivering a bit, low to the ground with amber eyes flashing around to spot the threat.
And when he notices that it’s Remi? Well, Ianto’s still panting from the adrenaline, but he does let out a high pitched bark of disapproval. And what did I do to deserve that? he wants to know, shaking out his fur and going trotting up the steps to sit before Remi, assuming he wants something.
"Plenty of things, I expect." The alchemist replies with a sideways smile, still looking boyishly pleased for having caused the fox such a scare. "But also I just absolutely wanted to. I've had to be so quiet inside lately." What with a newborn often sleeping. At some point, Mateo was going to have to get used to sleeping through all sorts of sounds, but for now, Remi at least was doing his best to be quiet.
Waggling the bottle before the fox, Remi uncorked it with his teeth. "I didn't bring a cup, so if you want some, you'll have to have hands. Or...I suppose I could pour it into your mouth?" Either way, he shrugs and sets it down next to him. "Things are.." Scratching at the back of his head and offering the merchant a rather awkward stare, Remi sighs and lets his hands fall between his legs. "..going to change, soon."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
I could always just shift back, Ianto suggests with a mental chuckle, seated quite comfortably next to the alchemist and cocking his furry head to one side as if to look properly at the bottle. Remi doesn’t skimp on quality, and so the fox already knows it will be good. Quiet, though? You could have fooled me. I’ve been awoken by many a nap by what I’m sure is a baby crying. Has Vai adopted again?
Jaw lolling open in a foxy grin, he snuffles around the porch on autopilot, trying to sniff out the new addition. Then Remi mentions changes, and it at least grabs Ianto’s attention again. How so? he asks, returning again to sit in the same place. Is everything alright?
"Hence the comment about hands." The alchemist replies with a nod. Not that Ianto needed his permission, but they both knew what a distraction the fox could be as a man. Despite that, with everything on Remi's mind as of late, he didn't think he'd have a problem with it today. "Not Vai..and not adoption either.." Looking down at his fingers, now interlaced between his knees, Remi's brows furrow despite the slow smile on his face. "Ronin and I...we....it all started out as a dream, actually. It's magic of ours, that lets us dream together.." The Lullaby poorly explains. "And then Ludo...made the baby we'd created in our dream real." Glancing over his shoulder at the fox, Remi smiles with stupid adoration to think of Mateo's face. "His name is Mateo." He adds bashfully.
"Well..I've resigned as Governor. I'm not sure if you'd heard or not." Taking another drink of the gin, he eyes the merchant, tilting the bottle between his fingers. "And now that I've no more responsibility here, I thought... travelling might be nice again." Which of course meant many things. That he and Ronin would be gone. That the house would...be empty (or not, depending).
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Taking the hint, where a fox sits, a man soon takes his place. Looking predictably eclectic and charmingly unkempt, Ianto flashes a golden smile up at Remi and leans backs on one hand; the other, of course, reaches out expectantly for the gin. It’s needed, he realises, as the other man starts to describe whatever-the-recent-fuck has been happening in his life, and coppery eyebrows threaten to disappear into his thatch of hair.
”Well,” he says, clearing his throat. ”I suppose a huge congratulations is in order, then.” Now he’s beaming again, genuine joy in his expression. ”That is the best news I think I’ve had this year. I... got some bad news, a few days ago. A friend of mine died. So this is... yeah.” A pick-me-up to say the least.
But to hear that they’ll be travelling? He furrows his brow. ”With... a baby? Like a tiny, just born baby? Are you... I mean, obviously you know what you’re doing. You’ve probably got it all covered.”
Not looking at Ianto, Remi is content just to bob his head in happy agreement. At least until the fox's tone shifts and the Lullaby finds himself glancing at the merchant over his shoulder. "I had no idea.." He mumbles apologetically. Holed up in the house as he had been, he had no way of knowing, not that that counts for much. "I'm sorry to hear it." Nodding toward the bottle so that Ianto knew to take another sip, Remi then reaches for it before holding it in the air. "To...?" He asks, waiting for the merchant to fill in the toast. "Are you alright?" Really, Remi should have reached out to offer Ianto a hug, or a squeeze on the shoulder, but he doesn't, instead choosing to pulse as platonic an expression of sorrow that he can.
'Well, tiny at least. I'm not sure that he was properly born, but yes." As for having it covered? Chuckling and shaking his head, returning his gaze to the sea rather than the fox, Remi snorts. "Not even a little. It's why I woke you up with gin, actually. I don't really have the time to make a wagon, and the magic I do have...well." Biting the inside of his lip and glancing over his shoulder at the merchant again, the alchemist pulls in a breath, as if weighing the consequences of asking what he's about to. "I can...make items from people's memories. The stronger the memory, the better the duplication. I had thought...with the wishing wagon..it wouldn't last long of course, but maybe it would be long enough for me to start on my own?"
It was probably a terrible idea, but most things in Torchline were made for beaches and smooth roads, not for the type of journey the Lullaby had in mind.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ianto smiles in that half-genuine way known by those who have to accept condolences, and he does indeed take another generous sip of gin. ”James,” he says softly. ”To James.” May he be sucking Mort’s dick now, or whatever the hell the snake would find most fun and depraved. Is he alright, though? The fox shrugs. ”No, but I will be. I just... don’t really know what to do with myself now.”
He scoffs, waving off the caveat that his son hasn’t been properly born - because who the hell gets to decide that anyway - and sits back to listen as Remi continues. And he nibbles at his lower lip, glancing out into the sun and across the cliffs to the sea. ”...Or you could just have the Wishing Wagon,” he suggests suddenly. ”I don’t have much use for it any more. I’m barely a merchant. I live under a porch.” He scoffs. ”You’ve got a family to take care of. Have it, Remi.”
James. The...prostitute? Well, Remi wasn't one to judge, and so he merely nods and toasts to the thief. "I know that feeling." The Lullaby offers, smiling sadly, though his gaze radiates hope. Lost for so long, it's only now that Remi knows exactly what he wants. He can only hope that his friend finds the same, sooner rather than later.
"Wha—I couldn't." Remi protests immediately, giving the fox a stern look as if he's just suggested that he lay down and die. "Pfft. Don't give me that. You've lived under porches before. That doesn't mean anything." He adds, shaking his head. But then as the gin works its way to loosen his lips, the pieces laid out suddenly seem to click together in his mind. Turning, his back against one of the porch columns, he gives the fox a sideways and sly smile.
'We both know it would take some doing to get the wagon to listen to me anyway...and if you don't know what to do with yourself..why not come along?' Holding up a finger to stop Ianto's protests, Remi continues. "You wouldn't be a burden. In fact, you'd be helping us out with the wagon. You'd get to see the world again, and the Wishing Wagon could get up to her old tricks every time we stop."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”That’s true, but this time it sort of feels like I’m doing it to hide from the world,” Ianto says, wrinkling his nose and reaching out to take another sip of gin. ”Like I said, you need it more. I couldn’t stay here, doing nothing with it, knowing you’re out there with a tiny kid and struggling,” he reminds him, itching at the copper scruff on his chin. Then Remi levels that slyest of smiles in his direction, and already Ianto is opening his mouth to protest, only for the alchemist to jump right in.
”And all of that sounds wonderful,” he interjects as soon as he is allowed, ”but even though the Wishing Wagon is larger on the inside, it’s still only two rooms - the living space and the shop front,” he reminds him. ”And I know I’ll be fine, but... you and Ronin and I - and your son? Under one roof? Remi, I’m not sure.”
Remi raises a rather knowing brow at that but doesn't offer any evidence to continue to support his claims. Starting brawl fights and shirking off those who tried to befriend him might not have necessarily seemed like it was hiding, but it's what the alchemist had been doing, albeit subconsciously. "Oh, struggling, he says." Remi hrrmphs unhappily at the merchant, rolling his eyes cheerfully enough.
"What aren't you sure of? Plenty of room for the four of us, especially since I can be smaller than you, if I need to be." Technically the three of them have slept in the same bed before, though never all as men. Even now it gives Remi's heart a hiccup to imagine, but he quickly shakes the feeling off. "Once I browbeat you into coming here, and it was a disaster. So i'll not force you like I did then, but...I suppose this feels like one of those times that if I let you out of my sight too long, especially with your wagon, that I won't see you again. And I don't want that."
Whatever else might accompany the emotion that Remi sends through the attuned bond, friendship is surely the strongest. Oh, he'll always love the fox in his own way. Will always find his heart slighted twitterpated by his crooked golden smile. And though Ianto will never be seen like a brother in his eyes, he has become a strange sort of family member just the same.
"It would work. If you want to come, we'd make it work." With a smile that softens Remi's gaze considerably, the alchemist shifts his attention back to the sea, so that the fox wouldn't have to deal with his boyish green stare lingering on him while he thought it over.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ianto keeps his eyebrows raised at Remi, the fox folding his arms across his chest and deigning not to comment on the idea of him struggling; it’s not like Remi would admit it even if it were true, after all. ”Uhhh... I’m not sure about the amount of sex you’ll want to have in a room with your ex and your baby,” he says bluntly, because that is the main thing on his mind. ”I don’t want to be the cause of any problems between you and your husband. I like Ronin. He’s a good friend. Both of you are.”
And yet, for all of his logic and reluctance, his fox’s tail thumping against the ground gives him very much away. The idea of travel, of adventure, of not being alone... it’s already decided, honestly. ”Fine,” he mutters, smiling a bit. ”But only if Ronin is okay with it. The wagon is still yours, though. So long as you don’t mind me selling bullshit out of it.”
Pressing his fingertips against the bridge of his nose and doing his absolute utmost not to let his thoughts slide in the (likely unintentional) direction that Ianto has sent them tumbling, the alchemist just chuckles out a bashful laugh as he shakes his head softly. "You won't be. I've...sorted out my thoughts on you." It's a vague sentiment, but the actual explanation is a good deal more complex and probably not one the fox is keen to hear. "Also when it comes to sleep with the two of us—" And he does mean sleeping, "—we have some rather interesting abilities you might like to see." Dreamwalking was quite addictive, as both Remi and Ronin well knew.
Biting at the inside of his cheek to keep his lips from twisting into too immediately a smile, the Lullaby looks over his shoulder. "Of course I don't mind. Just so long as we get first dibs on all the non-bullshit you're selling." He adds crookedly.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ianto wants to ask Remi to tell his face that he’s sorted his thoughts on the fox, but he knows better than to risk opening up that box again. So instead he just levels a grin back at the other man, taking another sip of gin and offering the bottle back to the alchemist. ”I don’t need to know about your feats of acrobatics,” he drawls, ruffling a hand back through his hair and pulling himself to his feet.
”When are you thinking of leaving? I’d better go and clear out the wagon. Or at least make it less...” He gives a gesture that approximates messy but really means Ianto. Remi knows well about the fox’s eclectic and extravagant tastes, and he’ll have to reign that in now that he’s more travelling merchant than live-in fox.
