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!
Remi doesn't knock, he doesn't even go in through the door. Instead, he taps against the glass of Vai's second-story window with his beak. The glare from the light outside makes his pale feathers all the more white looking, but it's unlikely that the once-huntress will mistake the hawk at her window for anyone else.
Its been long enough that she's probably more than mended, and with Shaju dead (presumably), he hopes that an offer of an afternoon stroll won't be out of her comfort zone. If it is, he'll make due, though...just now Remi has no real interest in seeing Zeph. Not just because of what happened, but the things on the alchemist's mind are meant for a mother's ear.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Vai naps a lot, these days. It wouldn't be a lie to say that what happened to Shaju has knocked the wind very much out of her sails, and whilst her air of confidence is as iron as ever, she isn't as much for lonesome wanderings any longer. So when Remi taps at the window, the huntress is enjoying the suntrap of the bedroom, snoozing atop the blankets and blinking blue eyes open at the sound.
"Remi," she murmurs, still very much half asleep, but the smile on her face is very telling. Slouching out of bed, she pads barefoot across the room so she can open the window and let him inside. "It's good to see you," she trills, reaching out to gently rub at the soft feathers around his neck, before stepping back that he might shift if he wants to. Overall, Vai looks mostly unchanged by the ordeal, but for the pink scar that strikes a vivid line down her cheek. No lasting damage - just lasting mementos.
He does want to, and as much as he preens as she strokes his feathers, her invitation is immediately acted upon. The change is swift and elegant, this being Remi's oldest and most well-known shift. "Vai." His smile is soft and sad, but as he gathers her into his arms his heart flops joyfully in his chest. "Gods I've missed you." They've gone longer without seeing each other, but this time it felt different. So much had happened between now and when he'd last seen the witch that years might as well have transpired in the time it took for the cuts on her face to become slender scars.
"I can't say I miss much about Northaven, but I miss living close to you." He mumbles, his hands feeling the temperature difference between parts of her that had been bathed in the sunlight.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I've missed you too, Remi." Vai opens her arms for him willingly, folding into his hug and giving him a warm squeeze that says more than words can. It does feel different this time, and Vai can tell when Remi has something on his mind occasionally before even he can, such has been their relationship for so long. Drawing back just a fraction to peer up at him, she smiles and reaches up to playfully rub at the scruff on his chin. "Mm, I miss that too," she murmurs, a nostalgic pang to her voice.
"Still... maybe I'll move back to the Greatwood, one of these days. You never know." She smiles, and maybe she's a bit more serious about it than she sounds. Little does Vai know, of course, that Remi is not in the Greatwood any longer. "Shall I make us some iced tea?" she asks, that being the usual routine between them.
'Tell Ronin. He's threatening to make me shave.' Remi chuckles, his adoration for the witch a bright and sweet glint in his pale eyes as he reluctantly lets her go.
"You would suggest that, just as I've moved out ." He huffs, frowning. It has only occurred to him just now that Vai likely can't come visit him in Stormbreak. Knowing nothing of the actual mechanics in place, his mind simply starts concocting ways of spiriting her inside. "Please." Remi hums with a nod, not bothering to close the window behind him. The air is refreshing, especially the scent of the sea that it carries with it.
"Is...Zeph home?" The alchemist asks casually, following her downstairs and trying not to sound like he's an overprotective son despite being exactly that.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Threatening, huh? How bad has it gotten?" she inquires with a grin that doesn't entirely reach her eyes. Vai is no fool, and whilst the boys have had their troubles and since sorted them out, she was able to tell that things weren't quite right when they were at Torchline last. Stepping back as Remi lets her go, she stretches her arms above her head and swans on out of the room, clearly not having a problem with leaving the window open either.
They'll find a similar situation downstairs, with the sea breeze drifting through the house and hels faintly calling from outside. "Oh, no - he's out at the docks," she tells Remi, smiling over her shoulder at him and leading them into the kitchen so she can pour them some tea. "So where are you living now...?" she wonders, tilting her head at him.
Remi chuckles, not at all surprised by Vai's sixth sense—or 18th sense, for all he knows—especially where he is concerned. "Really bad, for a while. I thought.." Shrugging boyishly as he trudges down the stairs, it both feeling like something that only just happened (which is did), but also something that was years-gone now, Remi heaves out a sigh. "..I thought things were over. So I suppose I'm wanting me to shave is really not so bad, if that's the worst thing between us." He concludes a good deal more brightly.
That Zeph isn't here has Remi nodded, but unsurprised that he was gone, and also annoyed by it despite not wanting him around. "Stormbreak." The alchemist replies, his cheerfulness dimmed somewhat as he flops into one of the chairs, waiting expectantly for his tea as any son might. "It isn't my favourite place to be...but Ronin has joined the Order and...it wasn't fair to Mateo to only ever be with one of us at a time."
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Oh?" Vai sounds surprised, but obviously it's what she had figured would be the case. Still, she's genuinely shocked to hear that Remi had thought it might be over, and although he's bright and chipper and - for all intents and purposes - completely fine, now, she still turns to cuddle him quickly before he slouches into his chair. "You could have come to me," she murmurs. "I won't press, but I'm really glad you two are alright."
Peeling away, Vai takes out the jug of tea and adds some crushed ice to a couple of tall glasses. Filling said glasses to the brim, she brings both to the table, and the rest of the tea in case Remi is still thirsty. "Stormbreak, huh?" They've all heard the rumours about that place - and Vai is too over the world to judge, honestly. So she merely kisses Remi's curls and sinks into her seat beside him with a smile. "Not fair for the two of you, either. Never underestimate being close to each other."
"I know, I could have. I just..needed time to think. And it was still LongNight and I found myself in the Grounds, and then.." He shrugs. So much had happened in such a short amount of time that it was honestly hard to visualize the timeline anymore, leaving Remi just shaking his head apologetically.
Reaching for the tea, not thirsty but nearly draining the glass in one go anyway—gods how he'd missed this—he puts it down and nods. Wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand, Remi offers the witch a crooked smile. "Doesn't mean I miss you any less." He counters, picking up his glass again and drinking the last of it. It's sweet without being overbearing, leaving him feeling cooled and refreshed, the likes of which he hasn't felt in ages.
"How are...things here?" He asks, not wanting to pry, but not wanting to let the fact that Vai had nearly been killed just be glossed over because he and Ronin had had a fight.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"And then suddenly you turn around and it's the middle of the night and you can't remember the last time you spoke to any of the people who care about you?" Vai ventures, and it very much sounds as if she's speaking from experience. She sips at her tea, not nearly as eagerly as Remi but enjoying it nonetheless, and she reaches out to rest a cool hand over the top of his. "I'll always be here for you, night or day - just give my window a tap like you did just now." She winks.
She doesn't need to tell Remi me too, not when her emotions will ring brightly from her and into the alchemist. He'll sense too, as he asks his question, just how Vai is and how she isn't. Her trust in Torchline has been broken, and she misses the whisper of the wind in the trees and the feel of soft earth underfoot. "I'm tired," she tells him honestly. "I don't enjoy going out the way I used to. But things are... good, I guess? Felix is thriving. Zeph is Zeph."
The alchemist sinks into his chair, ashamed and relieved and full of nothing else but love for the witch. 'Something like that.' Remi agrees, rubbing at the back of his neck before letting his fingers tangle in his curls that he might tug them off of his forehead.
'What a loving answer." Remi says with a slight frown, reaching for the pitcher to top up his glass. Why are you even with him? He wants to demand, all youthful indignation. He can't protect you, he's never around. What does he bring to your life? But he can't bring himself to ask, because love is love, no matter what else it brings, And so Remi just glowers slightly into his tea.
"Do...you remember when I came to you in Northaven. After Ianto kissed me for the first time?" Remi asks, looking laughably youthful and awkward as he peers across the table at Vai, his fingers fidgeting with his glass.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Vai only needs to smile her reply to Remi, running her thumb across the back of his hand before releasing him so he can top up his tea. "Not now, please, she murmurs gently in response to his quip - a quip that undoubtedly invites a darker conversation that Vai isn't quite ready for at the moment. She takes another sip of her drink, letting the silence draw out between them until it becomes comfortable once more.
Then Remi is calling back the past again, and smile that is pure delight spreads across Vai's face. "Yes," she says softly, nodding to him. "Of course I remember. Gosh, finding you on my doorstep like that. I don't think you could even speak to me at first, you were so upset." He had been such a desperately gentle soul, and Vai couldn't help but want to scoop him up and protect him.
Remi huffs a sigh of acknowledgement, crinkling his nose and lips but otherwise letting the conversation go. But, as he'd learned so recently with Ronin, ignoring things simply didn't fix them the way he once thought they did.
Remi too chuckles at the memory, his cheeks flushing pink as he smiles stupidly down at the table. "Gods, he just..I remember him just kissing me, and..." Even now, after everything he's done, it's still one of his fondest and sweetest memories. "..and, well...speaking of things I can talk to you about..." Remi bites the inside of his lip to keep his smile from growing too wide, but then his confusion and embarrassment dampens it for him.
"I..uhm.." Vai was both like a mother and one of his closest confidants, but even after all these years, having almost the same conversation he once had with her, was shockingly hard. "..I think I.." Exhaling and puffing out his cheeks at the same time, Remi's eyes roam toward the ceiling. Closing one of them, Remi forces the words out in one long wooosh "IsleptwithIslaandIthinkIlikedIt."
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"And you lost most of your faculties, if I remember correctly," Vai says through a fond laugh, reaching out to give his shoulder a motherly squeeze. "Even now, you're still the sweetest little thing when you get like this. I don't care what you call yourself or what god you work for, that's who I see when I look at you." To punctuate her point, Vai reaches out to give his cheek a gentle pinch, as if to draw more colour out of it even though it's already flushed pink.
To hear that he does have something he can talk to her about has Vai sitting up a bit - all teasing aside, she's ever been a listening ear for the alchemist. So she doesn't force or hurry him along, though he does a fantastic job of that himself, and when it does come tumbling out, her jaw all but drops.
"The dead horse?" she blurts, before clapping a hand over her mouth. "Oh gods - sorry - just... explain?"
