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!
"You aren't the only one by far, at least." Ronin flashes her a world-weary sort of smile, the Star resisting the urge to lean back on his hands as if they're just chatting to one another. Or to offer her a fist-bump, a sort of solidarity, bro gesture. He has to resist the urge to snark about her warming up the stethoscope first, glancing away towards where Sugar has made herself thoroughly comfortable. "An oUtLaNdEr thing, huh?" He scoffs. "That's presumptive of you, isn't it? Assuming we are all the same."
Doctor Hart instructs him to lay on his back, and Ronin absolutely raises his eyebrows at her in an expression that's as close to playful as he can make it under the circumstances. "Be gentle with me, doctor," he says, tittering to himself before lying down so she might continue her examination.
"Mm, fully recovered. It's this that I'm worried he won't recover from," he admits, trying to watch as her fingers feel down his ribs. "Why would it hurt?" he asks, peeking up as if he might see anything broken. But it's just ink and mottled scar tissue from where the Voice done got him. And, y'know, hand shaped bruises. But that's what sexual escapades in the woods get you.
'I wouldn't know. You're the first one I've met, actually.' You admit, biting on your lower lip and crinkling your nose that you might look the least little bit ashamed. You aren't, not by a long shot. "My parents are Stormbreak's resident experts on Outlanders though, so I've picked up most of what I know from them." You continue, happy to chat away that it might make the exam feel as though it's going by faster than it is.
Tilting your head to the side and giving the Star a withering look for his obvious joke, your hands slide down to his abdomen. You tilt your head to the side, looking for a moment like a dog hearing a high pitched sound, as you feel his organs through his stomach muscles. "Can you not, please." Giving Ronin the stink eye and nodding back toward the pillow, you want him to put his head down so that his stomach muscles relax. It hardly helps though, given how fit he is. "Oh I don't know, because you seem like the type to be walking around with a cracked rib." You reply, before looking down at the lovingly-made bruises as evidence of what you mean.
"The war?" Having never been in a serious relationship, it doesn't even occur to you that he's talking about the distance between them.
"Oh?" That surprises him, though she offers a more than reasonable explanation as she continues to speak. "Outlander experts," Ronin echoes, seeming to enjoy the prospect of such a job. "Did they meet many Outlanders, in their time?" he asks. Then Tobi is scolding him and he shoots her an apologetic smile, settling back against the pillows to let her get on with it. And there doesn't seem to be a cracked rib, and if there is, it's neglect rather than bravery that makes Ronin not notice enough to tell her.
"When you've been walking around dead for while, things like broken bones feel weirdly normal," he says. "Though they still hurt like a bitch when they happen."
Chewing at the inside of his lip, he shakes his head almost imperceptibly in response to her question. No, not the war. "Couldn't care less about war," he mutters. "We've just had a son. And we were... travelling Caido. Free, for the first time in years. It's hard, to be apart from each other. I'm worried about him."
"A few, yes. Before the majority of you came in threeish years ago, there would be an outlander who popped up everyone...Oh, I don't know...5 years? All around the continent, so it was hard to keep track of them." You shrug. "It's how I got my name." Realizing you introduced yourself as Doctor Hart, you add, "—October. A word from one of the Outlander worlds for a certain time of year." You aren't one to brag, but this really is one of your favourite facts about yourself.
Everything seems to be where it's supposed to (you're a bit disappointed at this, having hoped that maybe Outlander's would have an extra spleen or hearts with fewer chambers or something). Rather than offer Ronin sympathy for the plethora of breaks he's apparently experienced in his life, you just chuckle under your breath. 'Well, no more of that. Next broken bone and you come straight to me."
Continuing down past Ronin's groin, this not turning into a predictable porno, you feel the ligaments and connective tissue in the Star's knee, before checking his feet. 'Congratulations.' You say automatically, before glancing up the length of the Star's body to flash him a genuine smile. 'I'm sorry to hear that." It isn't your place to offer compasses or any of the other things in Stormbreak which might help Ronin. Not when he's now part of the dragoons. So instead you sip in a breath of air. "Perhaps...when you're more acquainted with the dragoons, you'll be able to leave regularly."
Ronin raises an eyebrow to hear her name, genuine surprise and a little bit of delight shooting across his face - it has been a very long time indeed, since he has heard October. "It's for this time of year," he tells her softly. "Autumn. LeafChange, you call it. That's where your name's from," he explains, though he's more puzzled to hear that he's to come straight to her should he break anything. "I thought the dragoons had their own medical wing?" he says. "Or is this an Outlander thing? Or a 'demigod' thing?"
He still finds it strange to refer to himself as such, but unfortunately there's so much about him now that isn't even considered Abandoned in nature that there's nothing else to really call it. Still, his confusion melts into another smile as she continues - congratulations feel rare, and he nods to Tobi in thanks. "You think so? That would... help," he says, only to suddenly try to squirm his feet away - Ronin is ticklish, and she's about to find that out.
"Autumn." You repeat. The urge to delay Ronin's exam that you might extract more of these tidbits of information is overwhelming and were you not married to your work, you might be tempted to break your own rules. "What's it like? Here..autumn is just...moderately long days with slightly warmer weather. Though I've heard in places like the Greatwood all the leaves look as though they're on fire with colour."
To hear of what is a glorified medical kit referred to as a medical wing, you roll your eyes unhappily. 'Sure, if you want to live a life filled with ugly scars, bones not set quite right, and infection." You're being too hard, and it shows in the playful lilt of your voice, but you take your work very seriously. Anything less than your high standards is simply not acceptable.
As Ronin, chiselled jaw demigod that he is, flails in your grasp of his feet, you grip your fingers onto one of his toes and shoot him a stern look for good measure. "Am I going to have to tie you down Mr Taliesin?" You lay the upset-doctor voice on thick, though given the easy flow of your conversation thus far, it probably doesn't hold up as well as it might have done earlier.
"Mm, Autumn. It's... mostly like the Greatwood, actually. The leaves drop from the trees, but they turn all kinds of warm colours, first. Red, orange, yellow, brown..." He smiles at the memories of them from just a few days ago. "The days get cooler, and crisp. The days grow shorter, the nights draw in. Prepares you for the winter - I mean, Deepfrost. We have no Longnight, though. That was a surprise." The tone of his voice drops to something almost monotone, suddenly, Ronin stumbling blind into his own worst memories by accident.
Luckily it's difficult not to recover when the doctor tries to grab his feet, and Ronin is snickering and forcing himself to hold still as she grips his toes and gives him the stern-doctor-Hart-voice. "I wouldn't - I might just enjoy it," he remarks, a soft glow of starlight starting to suffuse his skin from the unexpected glee of the moment. There's wearing one's heart on one's sleeve, and then there's whatever the fuck is going on with the Star.
You bite your lip to keep a girlish sigh from pushing past your lips. But honestly, it does sound amazing. "Stormbreak is probably one of the most boring places you can be on the continent in terms of aesthetics, I'm afraid. I think everyone has focused on safety for so long that there's little time for much else. The Skyport and Celestine are worth seeing though." The mention of LongNight has you nodding with a distant sort of understanding, having never experienced the hellish week in quite the ways in which Ronin has. 'All the more reason she must be stopped." You mumble under your breath.
"Gods, if you aren't the absolute worst patient I've eve—" You're just about to claim down on his toes even harder when the man starts to glow. Now, you'd wanted him to have weird anatomy as an outlander, but magic? You all but gulp, letting his foot fall back to the bed as your eyes widen, taking in the beautiful, and terrifying state of him. "Is that..uhm...is that...?" You don't know what you're trying to say. It's something like: Is that magic? Not the bad kind, but the good kind? The sort you're allowed to have?
"Oooh, sell it to me more," Ronin says, a shit-eating grin on his face as Tobi manages to paint Stormbreak in the greyest, most uninteresting colours ever. The Celestine and Skyport, though - they're interesting. "What makes them special?" he asks her, mostly as a distraction to stop him from accidentally kicking her in the face and cementing this as one of the most spectacular first meetings he's ever had.
"Yeah, I owe her a few licks myself," he agrees, assuming she means the Voice and rubbing absently at the scar on his chest. There's that, and the fact that she called him not-man, and that's just rude.
But suddenly she's letting him go, the Star noticing the dazzle and clearing his throat awkwardly. Propping himself up on his elbows, he lets out a self-deprecating sort of chuckle. "Uh... Safrin stuff," he explains. "It happens with strong emotions. My personality lights up a room." Ronin's wink couldn't be much more obnoxious with that pun.
"If you like that, you should see what I can do with clouds. And... the rest of it, I guess."
You can't help but grin. "I spend...oh, about 99% of my days inside this Tower. Half the week I end up sleeping in my office, so you'll forgive me for not being able to describe the sky well enough for you." You snark back, more than rising to the level of this man's sass. "Well...The Skyport is..." Then, realizing he likely has no idea what it is, you soften your grip on his foot for just a moment. "You can take out a boat, and sail right into the clouds." You say this with an appropriately dreamy voice. "And the Celestine is like...a suppose it's like a sanctuary for wounded creatures all over the world. Frey finds the ones that need help and bring them here where they and Safrin have created enclosures specifically for their needs. The rest of the place is constantly starlit." Realizing just who you're talking to, you blush slightly as you look down (at his foot, gross). "You'd probably quite like it."
Now, you're no Falke, but it doesn't take a genius to connect the scar tissue on Ronin's chest to the Voice. "Ouch." You offer absently, your eyes falling upon the messy silvered flesh on his chest. Muscled as Ronin's body might be, you see only the anatomy of him, wondering just how much sensation he's lost across his abdomen and chest from the wound.
'Safrin stuff.' You repeat, as if it's some mantra to calm yourself with. And actually you could use a little calming just now. Breathing in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth, you flash Ronin a crooked smile, clouds? really? and clear your throat apologetically. "Sorry it's just...well, there's no magic here. None at all. And I know you're not a...that you're a demigod, it's just..." Flustered is not a thing you are, and so you mentally give yourself a shake. "It's new to see."
With a smirk, you fold your arms across your head, cocking a hip challengingly. "The rest of it, huh." Your lips fold into a smirk. "Well it's good to know that if I ever need to defend myself against you, all it takes is a bit of cold metal and a feather on your foot."
"Gross," Ronin offers cheerfully, honestly not able to remember the last time he spent so much time indoors. It's not something that he's attuned to any more, he doesn't think - and even when it wasn't so common to spend most days sleeping under the stars, he was never one to sit quietly inside. But she's sold him on tails of ships sailing through the clouds and starry gardens, the imagery so dreamlike that he doesn't even connect it to the place where he stood with the gods. It'll hit later, probably, but not just now.
"I think I probably would," he agrees, letting his hand fall away from his chest again. Remi probably would as well, especially the boats and their strange abilities, but he tries hard not to think about that too much. Especially when suddenly his doctor his freaking out / trying not to show that she's freaking out, and he focuses on calming down enough that the glow might stop for a bit.
Oh, but then Tobi continues to sass him, and Ronin can't resist. "You don't have enough hands," he says, but his lips don't move. His projection is grinning over where Sugar is determinedly making a permanent place to sleep, the fake-Star reaching in to try and pull her out. "Don't mind me, doctor. Please, continue your exam."
"We all have our burdens to bear." You agree. "Some of us more humbly than others." Though soon you'll realize just how big that divide can be.
Even if Ronin stops glowing, it isn't' going to help. He's already gone and done it. And the mental image of one of your patients glowing is not something you're going to readily forget. Neither is what happens next.
Now, you've seen a lot in your time. If what Ronin did was tear open an artery and spray blood everywhere, you'd have been fine. If he's dislocated every bone in his body just to play you a song with the cracking of his joints, you could handle that. But a duplicate? Your heart is suddenly in your throat, and you stumble backward, knocking over a tray of various medical tools. "Wha—!" You demand, looking from the projection, back to Ronin. "..are you...!!?" It's only the fact that the dragon seems entirely fine with all of this that keeps you from panicking. And so, with as measured a tone as you can manage despite the flush in your cheeks, you round on the man looking all too smug on the bed.
"Well now I suppose that's twice as many feet for me to inspect."
Oh, the dragon is far from fine with this, but it's the removal from her nest rather than the duplicate that seems to be the issue. With much screeching and snapping of teeth, she very grumpily swamps around the projection's shoulders, letting out a mournful croon at the napping space that is no more.
And Ronin is smug, right up until she's knocking over tools and threatening his feet and all the rest of it, the Star on the bed growing a touch pale and widening his eyes. "I'll be good, ma'am," he promises; his projection is already diligently getting to work in clearing up the tools she has knocked over, Sugar continuing to complain all the while.
You look both victorious and extremely unsatisfied, leaving your mind unhelpfully blank. "That...must be convenient." You manage after a moment, rubbing at your forehead with the back of one hand as you watch the duplicate right the things you knocked over. You can't help but agree with Sugar's appraisal of the situation as you turn back to the Ronin-in-the-bed. "Doctor." You correct, trying on a shaky smile. "Not ma'am."
Having known Ronin for all of five minutes, you're suddenly quite sure that he's hardly ever good.
'You're not going to...do anything...well, anything if I take a sample of your blood, are you?" You pause, suddenly horrified and fascinated all at once. "Is your blood...I don't know, star...something?" Star-something? You went to medical school for 8 years, and that's the best you have?
