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!
11-12-2020, 03:47 PM (This post was last modified: 11-12-2020, 03:47 PM by Remi.)
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
It had been...years since the alchemist had last properly been in the Sidhe village. Those were easier days; attending the Cloister of Trials or trying to offer his wares to the Fae (never forgetting how unimpressed Jiao had been with his pen-idea). Now it was an entirely different man who approached. Stronger, heavily scarred, and with less frequent smiles.
Leaning against one of the trees, Remi folds his arms loosely across his chest as he prepares to wait. A messenger raven will surely come sooner or later, and with Mateo napping with Ianto and Ronin half a world away, it wasn't as though the Lullaby had anywhere to be.
Eventually, Remi would need to do something about the instructions given to him by Mort and Ludo. For now however, he simply wanted to complete his quest that he might have a method of contacting his husband that didn't involve forcing himself into unconsciousness.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
News of an outsider in the Village spread like wildfire. It had been a long time since anyone had visited their home. Alina had groaned when she heard about it. Scooping up her bow and quiver, which she put on her back and her hip respectively, she grabbed her spear.
Then she took to the air. It didn't take long to spot the brooding figure. Narrowing her eyes at him, she went to perch in a tree next to the one he leaned against. Kicking her legs, she stared down at him. "What brings you to our village?" She was careful to keep her weapons pointed away even as her gaze was trained on him.
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
Remi had once been welcome in this village. But he'd also killed the fae's leader—not that anyone but Delphia knew that though—and with who the fae were as a race, Alina's rather frosty reception was perhaps to be expected. Then again, the Lullaby had become a rather untoward figure as of late, even more so with Ronin's sudden absence, and so her reaction might have just as easily been caused by that as well.
"Ludo. Mort. Vi. The Ascended...messenger ravens. Take your pick." He replies, glancing up at the bough upon which she perched. His pale eyes rest on her for just a moment, noting her arrows and quiver, the look of distant disapproval, before looking back to the perches upon which the ravens normally landed.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Alina hummed in response to Remi's answer. Still peering down at him, she set the bow and quiver aside. Hopping off the branch, she half-flew half-glided to the ground. Leaning against the trunk now and looking up at him, she felt her lips curl up. "That's quite a list," she replied.
Folding her arms, she drummed the fingers of one hand against her arm. "What have the messenger ravens done to displease you?" She glanced up at the tree they normally perched in before returning her gaze to him. "I can guess why you're unhappy with the Ascended, but what's going on with the old gods?" She shifted into a more comfortable position, one where the bark didn't dig into her back or wings.
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
It was quite the list, and not one word of it was an exaggeration. Not the herald, not the Big God name drop; Remi didn't look proud of it, didn't fancy himself special for this position he'd been forced into.
"Why would you think I'm displeased with them?" Remi asks dryly, raising a brow. "I was merely hoping to trade them for one of their feathers." Reaching into his pocket, Remi reveals a shiny bit of flint from the Climb.
Sighing slightly and running his fingers across his eyes for a moment, the alchemist tries to order his thoughts into something more neatly aligned. Failing to do so, he gives the fae a tired look. "I was going to call a meeting once...I'd gained more information." He begins, almost apologetically. "They called us all together. The demigods. Half of us were placed in a city called Stormbreak..and Delphia and I were placed here. With...more of the ascended gathering in the Hollowed Ground, we're to make this place something of a stronghold against them."
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Alina's lips twitched slightly further up. "Because you don't seem happy about much of anything right now." Raising an eyebrow at his explanation, she brought her fingers to her lips. She let out a piercing whistle, one that would hopefully signal to whoever cared for the messenger ravens that she needed one.
"A meeting with who?" Eyes widening further and further as he spoke, she frowned when he finished. Tapping her foot, her gaze slid past him as she considered his words. "I'll help you make this place into a stronghold. It's what I was hoping and planning to do anyway, unfortunately without much success."
Taking a deep breath, she met his gaze directly. "But you wish the old gods hadn't placed you here?" It was half-question hafl-asking for confirmation of what she was already pretty sure was true.
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
"No, I can't say that I am." Remi rumbles in response. Once upon a time he'd have been the sort to put on a brave smile, to be polite no matter his inner turmoil. Now, the Lullaby merely offered the fae a dull sea-glass green stare and nodded.
"With you. The fae. These are your Woods after all, no matter what orders the gods give." Or at least, such were the alchemist's thoughts on the matter. But then he hadn't grown up with stories of Mort and Vi; his piety, despite being a demigod, did not run terribly deep. "I would appreciate the help." The Lullaby admits with a greatful smile that goes as quickly as it came. "My husband is the soldier...I...really don't have much experience." Her next question helps him answer what he'd been poorly trying to say, and he takes the opportunity to explain himself a touch further.
"I gave up being the governor of Torchline, because I didn't want the responsibility. We came to the Greatwood to adventure. To just..live our lives." He'd not burden Alina with his woes of and we've never even had a honeymoon. "Just after we all went into the Storm, Ronin and I were...called to a meeting. With the Big Gods and the heralds." Remi's jaw feathers and his eye colour fades to a frosty white. "Ronin was sent to Stormbreak. So no, it isn't that I necessarily mind being placed here. I've always loved the Woods. It's that I mind being placed here without him." There is no bitter loss in Remi's words, nor in his appearance. It's quite the opposite in fact: eyes that blur to a ferocious white, as feathers and mane flit between his curls.
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Nodding at the man's response, Alina chose not to comment on it. Instead, as a raven flew down from above, she held out her arm for it. It closed its talons on her wrist and cawed.
Tilting her head to one side, she smiled, as unexpected and fleeting as his own had been. "Not many feel as you do." Expression neutral one more, she sighed as he continued speaking. "I can't say I'm much of a soldier either. In general, the Fae...we are not the army type. Warriors, yes, but not the kind to meet our opponents on the open field." Shrugging, she rubbed her wrist.
Looking away from him, she frowned. "Ah. So the old gods ripped you from your husband and that is understandably distressing to you." She tapped her foot again. "What, exactly, were your instructions from them?" If she had thoughts about his shifting, she kept them to herself.
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
Watching the raven fly to Alina, and wishing he was still an attuned that he might actually speak to it, Remi holds out the shiny bit of flint toward the fae. "Just one feather. It's all I need. Unfortunately, mine won't do." Given the corvid's familiarity with the huntress, Remi thought perhaps she'd have an easier time negotiating.
"Well...perhaps we can learn together then." The Lullaby offers, knowing that, divine right or not, godly strength or not, Remi couldn't (and didn't want to) simply waltz into the woods and delcare some sort of martial law. "Well...no reason to think we'll ever have to meet the ascended on an open field. I had...thought perhaps to ask Mort and Ludo for help in that. In...trying to broaden the Greatwood's natural defenses." If the ascended couldn't get in, that would always give the fae an advantage.
Not looking for sympathy or a shoulder to cry on, the alchemist takes the fae's curt gesture in stride. "Distressing." He chuckles, his eyes returning back to their natural colour as the magic bled away. "Something like that."
"To create a stronghold, here." The Lullaby replies. "Vi said that the Order in Stormbreak would work on devising a plan to stop the ascended, and we were to create a fortified base here, given how many of them seem to be gathering in the Grounds."
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Nodding at Remi's explanation, Alina clicked her tongue at the raven. With her free hand, she reached into her belt pouch and took out a small chunk of meat. Holding it out for the bird, she waited until it snatched it up. Then she ran her fingers along its body until she found a loose feather. When she pulled it out, the corvid snaked its head around and bit down on a finger hard enough to draw blood.
Hissing, she threw up her arm and tossed it into the air. It jumped off and cawed at her, circling once before returning to the cote. Handing the feather over to the Lullaby, she pressed down on her bleeding digit.
"That was my idea as well. Well that and laying traps for any Ascended that did make it into the woods." She smiled at the thought, though it was closer to baring her teeth. Turning to study his features, she raised her eyebrows. "That's all? Once you've created this stronghold you're free to go?"
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
He thought a trade would go over better, but food was a good option. Then again, any animal would likely be riled at having one of its feathers taken. "Thanks." Remi says with an apologetic wince, accepting the feather. "Ludo will probably appreciate that it came via blood sacrifice." He adds, not sure which way this particular fae leaned with her piety.
"Maybe if the trees could emit sunlight...to make it uncomfortable for the ascended to be here. " The alchemist suggests. No doubt something like that would require assitance from Frey, which...he probably wasn't the best candidate for.
Not minding her stare the way he once might have (the scars on his neck still quite grotesque after all), Remi shrugs. "The gods weren't entirely forthcoming if you can believe that." He replies with a bitter laugh. "Whether I'm supposed to stay here until the Woods are fortified..until the war has been initiated..until its been won? I have no idea."
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Shrugging at Remi's comment about Ludo, Alina ripped a bit of cloth from her sleeve and used it to wrap her finger. "You'd know better than me. I've never met it, though I've heard it sees potential in me." Her lips quirked to one side in something halfway between a grimace and a smile.
"Or maybe we could make them emit a mist to obscures their vision but not ours. Or excrete some substance that reacts violently with their fluid." Tilting her head to one side, she pondered the possibilities.
However, as he admitted the gods had been less than clear in their instructions she grinned. "Well then. Seems to me that if all you were asked to do is fortify the woods then all you're obligated to do is fortify the woods." The Fae were nothing if not masters of the exact word. Raising her eyebrows at him, she inclined her head. "And since you don't want to be here and I don't particularly want you here, surely we can figure something out to that effect."
oh but that's the irony: broken people are not fragile
"Potential, mm? If you're asking if I know if that's a compliment or not, I don't." Remi replies with a slightly amused snort. He'll profess to knowing almost nothing about the raggedy herald, despite being one of its demigods.
"I wonder who we could ask. I...have had my dealings with Frey in the past, and I can't say they've all been positive." Absently, Remi rubs at the back of his neck. "And given the sorts of things they normally require...with Ronin gone...I'd rather not complicate my life." Vividly the alchemist can recall having visited the god with Rexanna, and how they'd suggested the pair out to fuck, right then and there. Remi had come a long way since then, but lonely as he was apt to be in the coming weeks and months, he saw no reason to plague himself with divine temptations.
Not insulted by her words, the alchemist nods. "Let me confer with Delphia and see if she has any thoughts. If not, we'll come back to the village and perhaps bring it to a vote?" He paused, waiting to see if Alina had anything to say about this; was democracy something the fae practiced?
The Lullaby
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Neither do I," Alina muttered. As they continued speaking about the gods, she began to pace, pushing off the trunk of the tree. After Remi requested they steer clear of Frey, she nodded. "Ludo seems like the best option. Might as well see what it sees in me, and Delphia is the daughter of Mort." She had her own reasons for not wanting to approach Safrin, not yet at least.
"Good luck finding Delphia. She's been scarce of late." Ever since the first foray into the sand storm. Snorting at the concept of a vote, the Fae shrugged, wings fluttering as she did. "Not sure a vote is required. Other than myself and a few others, the Fae are...not what they once were." She grimaced.
Jumping up, she flew to the branch to retrieve her. "Until then, I suppose." She inclined her head to the Lullaby.
