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!
They've stepped through the portal, emerged at the Mathair, and Ianto has spent some time explaining to the Lullaby how to get the wagon to do its thing where it shows up when they need it. A lot of it pretty much involved Ianto whistling a tune and getting Remi to copy it while Ronin made himself and Mateo busy.
But now the fox has gone dashing into the undergrowth in his furs to enjoy the full, entrapturing beauty of the Greatwood during LeafChange, leaving the little family to enjoy it at their leisure.
And Ronin fully intends to enjoy it, Mateo wrapped securely against his chest as they traipse through colourfully falling leaves and the crisp air that's so different to what he's used to from Torchline. Honestly, Ronin can't keep the smile off his face, and he's tilted his head up to look at the blazing canopy overhead.
"Do you find it strange, not hearing the sea?" he asks Remi as they walk, his fingers reaching out to brush over the bark of a tree as they pass.
'Well now that you've just gone and said that, I do.' Remi huffs playfully, though in truth, he'd noticed the lack of background noise as soon as they'd left. Sure, to the Stonesong sang her own tune which filtered through the forest, but it couldn't match the roar of the Arclight. "But the hush of it all..." Stopping almost midstride, the Lullaby closes his eyes, sensing deeply into the world around them. The moss lurking up the sides of the trees to dampen the sound, the brightly coloured foliage not quite ready to fall onto the twisting pathways, the silent (and yet very much alive) trees of the Greatwood. Breathing a deep sigh of relief as he opens his eyes, Remi flashes Ronin an adoring smile, before leaning forward to press a kiss into Mateo's curls.
"This is exactly what I wanted." Remi says with all the hesitation of a confession despite the fact that Ronin is already well acquainted with the truth of these words.
Glancing around the forest and the pathways which will inevitably lead to Ludo's quarter of it, the Lullaby tilts his head slightly to the side. "You know, this is my first Leafchange as...a demigod. And given what this season normally represents..." Awkwardly running a hand through his curls, the alchemist looks to Ronin to fill in the gaps of what he isn't saying. "Do you ever...feel differently, during Safrin's season?"
it's like sunshine and whiskey
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi stops and Ronin falls to a halt alongside him, the Star smiling to watch the peace roll over his husband. Sad as it is to say, it's a very rare thing for him to see Remi look so weightless, so free of obligation, so free in general. He nods gently as he explains, not that he needs to, and grins down at Mateo as his father's kiss causes him to stir a little. It's not enough for the babe to awaken fully, and soon enough he's back to drooling against Ronin's chest.
They set off again, strolling casually through the undergrowth, and the Star reaches out to catch one of the leaves as they fall. "Well, enjoy it," he murmurs softly. "Because this is every day from now on, for as long as you want it." His sunny smile fades to something interested and curious to hear his husband speak about his status as a demigod (not a word that either of them uses all that often). Sighing and nosing at Mateo's soft curls, Ronin can only shrug a bit.
"I do, but... I never know if it's because of Safrin or not. FlowerBirth was the season when I died, as well as it being Safrin's time. So... it's a bit difficult to tell. Why, how are you feeling?"
The mention of Flowerbirth being the season when Ronin died has the Lullaby wrinkling his nose and clearing his throat. It will probably never cease to be one of the strangest things he's ever heard, no matter how well acquainted he becomes with death and the nuances of Caido. That his husband has died, even for the Lullaby, bringer of death, still chills him to his core.
"It's a bit like..." Remi's teeth worry at his lower lip for a moment as his eyes scan through the trees, as if the words he's looking for might be hidden somewhere out in the Greatwood. "...seeing a large pile of leaves, and wanting to jump in them. A branch, nearly broken that you can't help but snap. Crunchy ice, perfectly swill water, a falling leaf." Remi says, this last example clearly inspired by his husband's actions. "It just all feels like...potential. An itching in my bones, that I'm supposed to be doing something." Whimsical as Remi's examples had been, the things he was most often meant to do in service of Ludo was not quite as bright or beautiful.
Smiling reassuringly, not wanting Ronin to think that he was just going to abscond into the night to satisfy this feeling with a bunch of murder, Remi falls into step with the Star as they move through the Greatwood.
it's like sunshine and whiskey
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
They stroll along together and Ronin smiles to Remi, both enjoying his descriptions but also understanding what it means for his husband's bones to itch. Still, it's not as though the Lullaby is the only person who has trouble in LeafChange, and there's a very good reason why Ronin is the one cuddling Mateo close. Much as the Greatwood is a wonder to behold currently, it is the exact sort of place where the luxere in him wants to be king of the forest, and with his family so close by, it would be better for them to stay close by right now.
"Mm, well... I don't know if there's anything we can do about the Ludo situation, but if I see any giant piles of leaves, I promise I'll let you jump in them," he says sweetly, his free arm slinking around Remi's waist so he can draw him close and kiss his cheek. "Maybe we can drop by Ludo's Woods as well, and you can..." His blue eyes narrow a bit, and he tilts his head through the thickets of trees. "...Sunjata?"
It is indeed better for Ronin to be holding their son. As the Lullaby and Star have realized already, the boy brings out...a good deal of hostility in the alchemist, especially when it's fueled by protectiveness. It takes almost nothing to set his teeth into jagged mountains inside his mouth, whenever Mateo is the least bit inconvenienced while in Remi's care.
Flashing his husband a smile, content to be drawn into the Star's gravity, Remi hums a note of appreciation. "I'll soften them for you, and then you can join me." He says of their pile of leaves, before he too catches sight of the incredibly tall Governor. At his side Remi is fairly certain he sees Nate as well. "I wonder what they're doing all the way out here. Do you think it's Torchline, related, or..." Remi trails off with a suggestive bounce of his eyebrows.
Come on, let's sneak up on them and ruin it, if it's time together they're trying to have. Remi thinks, his mental voice vibrating with boyish mischief.
it's like sunshine and whiskey
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It is strange, that their son melts Ronin to putty and hardens Remi to marble, but then that's always how they are; perfect opposites, suited for any occasion the world might throw at them. He's grinning to hear that the Lullaby will be so kind as to soften the pile of leaves for him, placing second kiss in his unruly curls when they are both thoroughly distracted by their friends. He sees Nate as well, eyebrows raising, and soon enough he's creeping through the undergrowth and tugging the alchemist along with him.
I thought they were going to the Hollowed Grounds for their, ah... He finishes the sentence with a mental titter and a waggle of his eyebrows, already stalking after the Governor and his husband. Where the heck are they going? Wherever it is, they're moving quickly, because the Star can barely spy them as he follows.
Ahh yes. The room. Remi finishes, being far less subtle than his counterpart, as his mind supplies them both with all sorts of lewd imagery. Or well, attempts at lewdness anyway; imaginative as the alchemist is, he hasn't the mental vocabulary to flesh out what Sunjata and Nate might be up to.
Maybe another ascended has been attacked. Remi thinks in a rather toneless stream, hoping that his and Ronin's presence will simply be amusing, rather than serendipitous.
Pausing a step so that he can turn his head, a feline ear poking through his curls, Remi listens hard for the telltale sounds of scampering through the woods. Nate might be near-silent thanks to being an ascended, but Jata isn't, and it suddenly strikes him as strange that he can't hear them at all.
How are they doing that? He asks, trotting after Ronin. That being in any way able to evade he and Ronin, both far more seasoned hunters.
it's like sunshine and whiskey
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin absolutely does have the mental vocabulary for it, but no sooner does Remi start feeding him the mental images when the Star gives him the psychic equivalent of a retching noise. Nate is very handsome and probably a fantastic lover, and Sunjata is Sunjata, but the latter has become akin to a son or a baby brother to Ronin, and unfortunately it ruins everything about whatever might be happening in tHe RoOm. Either way, it's surprising to find them here instead of there, and the Taliesins are hot on their tails.
Gods, don't even joke about it, he grumbles through their bond, slowing to a creep as all sight, sound and scent of them seemingly disappears. Remi pops up beside him, and Ronin fails to stifle his awwwwwwh as he reaches out to scritch his husband behind an obnoxiously fluffy ear. I don't know - I've never known them to be the subtle sort.
And neither is Ronin, which explains why he straightens up suddenly and calls into the woods. "Hey, Sunjata! Are you following us or are we following you?"
Unable to help the way he snaps his teeth at his husband, offering Ronin a look that is both apologetic and hostile, Remi's ears return to normal as he frowns. The woods seem to grow all the more silent in the wake of Ronin's call, and Remi finds himself holding his breath as if that might help.
It doesn't, because there's nothing to hear.
If you were hoping for some privacy, we're here to ruin it, so you might as well give up now. Remi offers in the wake of a falling leaf, which hits the ground with what feels like an obnoxious amount of noise. Also, Ronin says you're a shit fighter, Jata. That's sure to get a response.
it's like sunshine and whiskey
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin offers a cool look to Remi in response to his snapping teeth; an expression that bleeds right back into warmth and love as he obnoxiously tousles his curls instead. There's nothing in response to the Lullaby's call, and another falling leaf falls and lands in Ronin's hair. Yet more silence follows in the wake of Remi's attempts to antagonise and call out, and the Star presses onwards for a few more steps, rocking Mateo gently in his arms and peering around tree trunks.
"They were definitely here, weren't they?" He glances back over his shoulder at his partner, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "You saw them too?" It's useless trying to call for them again - if they were going to show up by now, they would have, and the Star suppresses a bit of hurt that the Flood and his husband haven't come to say hello. "Maybe they were busy..."
Remi doesn't follow, at least not right away. Instead, he merely stands, feeling the strangest sensation humming through him. It's only his human-side that feels a flight response to anything these days, his predatory nature always ready to fight. Even so, the battle wages in his bones and the bright flurry of adrenaline it inspires makes the alchemist want to reach out and tear the bark from a nearby tree with a clawed hand.
"Yeah, I absolutely did. Unless the Fae have stretched themselves out to nearly 7ft, that was definitely Jata." Not sensing into Ronin's wounded friendship feelings, the Lullaby is instead off-put by the soundlessness of it all. "Maybe it's the woods playing tricks again. Maybe they couldn't even hear us."
it's like sunshine and whiskey
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The woods stretch into silence, and Ronin lets his shoulders sag, the Star nodding gently at Remi's assumptions about what might have happened. "Mm, I forget how tricky this forest can be," he agrees. "Either they didn't hear us, or they weren't really here. There isn't a reason for them to have come out here other than to see us, unless something bad has happened." In which case, they'll figure that out sooner or later nonetheless.
Glancing to the Lullaby, it doesn't take a genius to see the tension that ripples through the other man, and Ronin is attuned to these shifts in instinct and mood. He approaches his husband slowly, carefully lacing an arm around him to lean in and kiss his forehead. "Do you want to whistle for Ianto's wagon?" he asks. "We'll set up camp somewhere close by, and you can go and let off some steam? Maybe even go to Ludo's Woods, see if you can get some answers from that ball of rags at the same time."
Remi chuckles a touch at that. "Not really here? What do you mean?" Slipping an arm around Ronin's waist, the alchemist tugs the Star close. "I think Ludo and I are past those sorts of tricks. At least, I hope we are. Even so, why tease us with images of Jata and Nate?"
Happily embraced Remi nods. "Is it that obvious?" He asks with a bit of a wince. "Sorry. Being out here...it just...it brings it out." Despite the apology, Remi was only sorry for how it affected Ronin. He wasn't sorry full stop for who and what he was. And after behaving himself for so long in Torchline, he was in fact ready to let off a little steam.
Whistling a quick few bars of a melody that sounded far more like birdsong than Remi's lips had any right to replicate, sure enough, the wagon appears from the woods as if it had always been just a few trees away.
it's like sunshine and whiskey
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
