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!
"No one has been much help," Ronin mumbles in agreement, letting Remi collapse against him and pressing his cheek to the alchemist's curls, relishing this moment of quiet comfort. His eyes slip shut so he can better focus on pretending that the warmth and the weight of the other man is real; that they are both here, together, and that it won't disappear the second he wakes up. If he focuses hard enough, it doesn't seem so bad.
And it's bolstered too, of course, by the the prospect of really being there, a smile spreading across Ronin's face. "I have to learn to better focus myself. Being in two places at once is..." He sighs, drawing back enough to cup Remi's cheeks in his hands. "I know you're not her biggest fan. But Safrin was worried I'd hurt myself, projecting so far. She's given me something to teach me how to do it. She's helping me get to you."
He explains, more or less, about the flowers he's been given and what they're for. "So once I'm able to keep control no matter the emotion, I'll be ready."
soft spoken with a broken jaw we step outside, but not to brawl
"To better focus." Remi repeats dryly, predictably incredulous about this. Ronin...can focus, if he really needs to. Though rarely does the occasion call for it; even when it does, normally the Star is able to multi-task and charm his way through any situation. As his cheeks are taken, Remi looks momentarily placated, before he puffs them out childishly upon hearing Safrin's name. "Uh huh. And how is she helping you do that?" Of course the alchemist's mind traitorously conjures images of a plethora of Ronins pleasing the goddess, all tied up in this pretty package of teaching him.
Looking a bit confused at the notion of flowers but shrugging it off, Remi offers his husband a much more open-minded stare. "Has it been difficult so far? To be in two places at once, even in these small ways?" The alchemist thinks he has some idea of what it might be like. The different predators that lurk inside of himself might scratch the surface of it, but then, there has never been more than one of him physically. Just rolling around in his own mind.
Who are you? They ask. Death? Sometimes... I say. But not today
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi pouts and puffs out his cheeks and Ronin's grin is utterly adoring; he leans in to steal a kiss from his grumpy husband, holding him all the closer for it. Every moment spent together seems to recover the Star in ways that sleep never can, and he settles back contently to hear out Remi's questions. "Not anymore," he says with a gentle shake of his head. "But when I could first do it, it was really difficult. It took a long time to get where I am now."
Years, in fact, of training, of using his projection in menial ways, let alone in combat situations. "I think I would struggle at first, with this. I'll have to make sure I'm somewhere safe before I project, just in case I have to drop it and pass out. I'll not be multitasking, that's for sure." He smiles lopsidedly.
soft spoken with a broken jaw we step outside, but not to brawl
'Mmmm, you say that now.' Remi chuckles, offering his husband a suggestive stare. "Just imagine, never having to choose between eating or sex. Bathing or sex. Sex or sex." He grins. What Remi actually had in mind was Ronin being able to spend time with both himself and Mateo, but long as it had been since he'd properly seen his husband, his mind was slightly cluttered with other thoughts.
'Is there anything I can do to help?' Ronin's flowers probably weren't the sort of things which would work the same way in a dream, and certainly, the alchemist wasn't going to be much help when it came to exercising self-control (not anymore, anyway). But if it sped up the task given to Ronin, the Lullaby would offer himself in any way he could.
'I wonder if Ludo would ever let me travel like that. Maybe I could...slip through shadows, or something.'
Who are you? They ask. Death? Sometimes... I say. But not today
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I mean, I can do that now," Ronin reasons with a grin. "Just not from Stormbreak to the Greatwood. Or did you forget my feeding you soup while also showering you with affection?" Kissing the other man's cheek, it's enough right now to remember, though he feels the pulse of love and the longing to be a family again from his husband; and Ronin most definitely understands.
With a long sigh and a smile so sweet it makes his cheeks hurt, the Star rests his forehead against his husband's. "You are already helping," he says, honestly. "Just being here with you, being able to catch up with you like we're actually together... it means everything." Ronin can already feel his resolve knitting back together, his motivation kindling to get it done.
"Mm, maybe you could travel through dreams," he suggests with a secretive whisper. "If I lead you out of this dream, you wake up next to me wherever I am." That would be exquisite, put simply. "Maybe you ought to ask."
soft spoken with a broken jaw we step outside, but not to brawl
"You're the one who said no multitasking." Remi points out, his grin deepening his dimples as he rubs his cheek against Ronin's the way a cat might—or simply to be annoying.
'I'm working as fast as I can here, too...I spoke with Frey about things, and I think we have a plan for the Greatwood. I learned some surprising things about the Mathair, too' He doesn't elaborate yet, having not actually heard those things as of this moment.
"Oooh. Now wouldn't that be a trick." Perhaps not so useful in combat, but then, almost none of Remi's abilities were. His battle strength was in pure physicality; he was predatory through and through. "Gods that sounds divine." All but wilting against the Star at the mere thought, Remi inhales a breath that approximates Ronin's smell nearly perfectly. Of course the only thing it's lacking is realness. 'Well maybe I will. And maybe I'll even get it done before you.' Leaning up to press his lips against Ronin's, Remi trails his tongue against his husband's before pull back with a menacing grin. Race me He teases silently, as if Ludo has already agreed to this plan of his.
Who are you? They ask. Death? Sometimes... I say. But not today
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"No multitasking when I'm projecting to you from a million forevers away," Ronin reminds his husband with an exaggerated huff of breath that cuts off as his cheek is assaulted by the scratch of Remi's stubble. Still, he relishes every annoying little part of the Lullaby tonight, smooshing their faces closer and letting his fingers tangle in Remi's shirt, as if to stop him going anywhere. (As if he thinks he would).
Nodding wisely (because yes, it is a remarkably good idea), Ronin melts himself around the other man and resists the urge to rock them to the side to lay down. If he gets too comfortable he'll fall asleep here too, soothed as he is by Remi's presence. Granted, his husband has a great method by which to keep him awake, and he moans a note of hunger into the kiss that has nothing to do with food.
Easy, he purrs back through their bond. You're always chasing me, so I must always be in the lead.
soft spoken with a broken jaw we step outside, but not to brawl
"Don't say it like that." Remi protests miserably. He prefers to think of Ronin as just being in another room, working on a separate project. That he'll be down for dinner is a welcome lie that the Lullaby often tells himself. And what that lie rears its ugly head? Well then Remi goes for a walk, wherein he either masturbates, demolishes a tree, or kills something. Sometimes all three.
Oooh, he's sharp-tongued tonight. Pressing his tongue against Ronin's as if to test the truth of what he's just thought, Remi reaches up for Ronin's dark mop of hair, tangling his fingers into it as if he had cause to think that the Star might slip away from him.
It was true enough to think that Ronin was always in the lead, Remi always prowling and following behind; that dynamic had never bothered the alchemist one bit. Where the Star lead the Lullaby would happily follow. Into dreams, into adventure, and one day, into death as well.
Who are you? They ask. Death? Sometimes... I say. But not today
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Sorry. With his tongue otherwise occupied, Ronin has to apologise through the bond they share, and as deft fingers move up into his hair to anchor him closer, the Star has absolutely no intention of going anywhere. He'll apologise until their dream is nothing but the restful sleep of two exhausted souls, if that's what Remi wants. He's whatever you want tonight, he continues, his fingers slipping beneath the Lullaby's shirt to seek warm skin and familiar scars.
One day, I'm going to have you all to myself again, he vows, something sweetly and dangerously possessive in the Star's tone - it is still Leafchange, after all, and much of Ronin's behaviour might be blamed on the luxere stag in him itching for a fight (or sex, or sometimes both). And when I do, I don't think I'm ever going to let you go, Remi.
But for now? This is about as perfect as it gets.
soft spoken with a broken jaw we step outside, but not to brawl
He's already everything I've ever wanted The Lullaby sends softly. Remi could lose himself in the feeling of Ronin's lips alone: the familiarity of them, the combined way their unshaven skin presses against the other's, scratching and making soft whispering sounds. It's the same for everything else as well: where Ronin's fingers curl into his hair, the resounding warmth of their bodies together, the weightlessness of being together on a cloud. His mind can hardly keep up, overwhelmed with sensations that he's doing his best not to recognize aren't real.
Hissing in a breath stolen directly from his husband, Remi can feel something dark shift within in response to Ronin's tone. The predators within want to stir, to clamp teeth and claws around the luxere's throat to dissuade that sort of response. But the man is revelling in it. For now, Remi agrees, shrugging off his shirt and reaching to do the same for Ronin. ..but not for always.
~FIN
Who are you? They ask. Death? Sometimes... I say. But not today
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
