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!
These being various shells and rocks that nearly look like things a child might use in a game of jacks. Placing them around Ludos shrine, Remi rubs at the space between his eyes, before looking out toward the sea which already looks choppy and foreboding thanks to the coming monsoons. Dressed as anyone else in Torchline might be, in a chambray shirt open at the collar, threadbare shorts and no shoes, for those ignorant of who the Lullaby is, he's easily overlooked.
Unlike others, the alchemist has no need to linger at the shrine. He knows Ludo hears him, and he also knows that until his tasks are complete he really has no business loitering about. So with his hands in his pockets Remi turns away from the shrine.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Maeve has found herself wandering. Not heading anywhere in particular and simply enjoying the sunshine before it's chased away by the encroaching monsoons. While the Lullaby might have been mistaken for just another Torcher, Maeve recognizes the form of the large man from a short distance away. Her brows knit together as he stands from the shrine and her voice calls out to him over the waves, "Remi? I thought you went back to Stormbreak. What are you doing here?"
She's curious what business the demigod might have back in Torchline so close to the point in the season when most visitors are fleeing the coastal town. Maeve approaches him, her own feet bare as her the light cotton dress she's wearing get tugged by the breeze. Her hair is a mess or curls, tousled and mused either from her own fingers or the wind that seems to constantly come in off the ocean. She smiles when she gets close enough, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
Not paying much attention to his surroundings, hearing his name has Remi blinking up with surprise, gazing around for the owner of the voice. If there should be any awkwardness on the alchemist's part given how he knows the woman calling out to him, he isn't aware of it. Nevertheless, his smile is still boyish as he adjusts his path, offering her a small wave. "Ah, well. I had some things to finish up before this became a no-fly zone." He replies with a shrug. Remi very likely could still fly despite the monsoons, but other than to see Phoebe, there was really no reason.
'Ronin and I were just...doing a bit of fishing for something I needed for Ludo.' He adds. They hadn't been fishing for fish, but that hardly seemed relevant. 'Are you ready for monsoon season? I expect things probably pick up a bit for you given that it's a few weeks of indoor activities."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Her brow arches and before she can ask for further explanation, Remi is providing it easily, "Ludo, huh? I'm assuming that's your chosen god, then?" Maeve asks, dropping her hand and shifting herself to stand where the sun isn't so bright in her eyes. His question earns him a hum and her slim shoulders shrug, "It depends on how bad it gets. Some people won't venture out into the storm even if the promise of a lover and warm bed is waiting for them." She chuckles, shaking her head as she looks down for a moment, noting his bare feet and not really thinking too much of it. This was Torchline, after all.
"I hope we've prepared enough. I'm not too sure if things will hold, but we're hopeful that things will stay upright." She tucks a bit of hair behind her ear, eyes shifting back to the shrine he just left before flicking to him again, "Can I ask you a question?" Maeve tilts her head back just enough to look at him, lips pressing together as she waits for his confirmation. "I never really gave the gods much thought. For a lot of different reasons, but I kind of just figured out that one of those reasons isn't really a good one." She won't go into detail on this unless he asks, wishing to save herself a bit of embarrassment while she can. "Everyone always talks about the good, but no one ever wants to mention the bad. I guess I was hoping you could maybe tell me about both?"
"Oh, I'm not sure I would say chosen. That implies I had more a say in it than I did." The alchemist replies, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck. Snorting, Remi lets his fingers comb up the back of his head to ruffle through his curls. "I remember Ronin and I nearly going crazy being stuck inside of a whole month. And we did venture out, realized what a mistake it was and...then did it again." Offering the madame a crooked smile, the alchemist just shrugs unapologetically.
He nods of course, happy to answer anything she might have in mind. Still, he doesn't expect the conversation to be about the gods, though perhaps that's just because the last time he saw her he'd failed to have sex with her and she was kissing him goodbye on the cheek. "Ah well, I could likely fill a book with the bad, so.." It's as if a cloud passes over Remi's face, all warmth gone despite the sunlight that falls on him. Feathering his jaw a few times, eventually, he exhales and nods toward the beach. "Let's sit, and I'll tell you bad stories of the gods until you've heard enough."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Oh? I thought that we did have a say in who we choose?" Was that another misconception or was it because the average individual wasn't doing all the things people like Remi and Ronin were? Either way, it has her interest piqued and she's curious to hear more. Especially if she was planning on actually trying to talk to them again. She was still unsure if she was going to go through with that or not.
"It is not for the faint of heart. The girls and I try to make it as enjoyable as possible. We'll bunk together and play games. Especially with the little ones." The Halenani is a brothel in name, but it is also a home to many different people. They're the closest thing to family she has and they try to treat each other like one. Everyone pitches in. Everyone takes care of each other. It's just how it goes. "When it isn't too bad we let them play in the rain out in the garden." Her lips twitch up into a small smile as she recalls last season when the children insisted on having a tea party in the rain despite them being told that it just doesn't work like that. They let them do it anyway.
That smile falters at the shift in his demeanor, but she nods, motioning towards the nearby beach. "Thanks.. I'm sure we could find somewhere on the shore." They do after a short walk find a spot suitable to sit in the sand and talk. "Alright, give me your stories. I'm ready."
'Well...normally, you probably do.' Remi says, knowing he isn't explaining well but finding his own thoughts getting in the way of being more clear. Isla had been quite clear that she...didn't exactly want Remi speaking about what was going on with them, and so instead of saying oh, yo know that woman I was confused about? Well... He instead says, "Years ago now, I had a friend who died. I was...seconds too late." His smile is a faltering thing as he draws in a breath. "I asked Ludo to save her and...it did. In a way. The price was one favour." Remi shrugs; his demi-god origin-story was perhaps the least dramatic out of the lot of them. "One day it showed up on the beach and called in that favour. That's why I am who I am today." Who he was, being the demigod of death.
Sitting in the sand, Remi takes a moment to dig his feet into the warm grains. His fingers become sieves that he creates golden rain with, before nodding obligingly to Maeve. "Well, there was the time that Frey stole all feeling I had for the first man I loved. The time Ludo stole memories of everyone I was, or had been in love with. Perhaps the time Vi and Mort forced me to live apart from Ronin? Or of course, when Safrin decided to have sex with my husband and showed up soon after with a child.
Take your pick."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Well that would certainly do it. She was learning very quickly that bargaining with the gods could lead to trouble. Even if the reward for doing so was great. "So the favor was you following them? I see... I guess I didn't realize it could work like that." Maeve buries her toes in the sand as they settle, enjoying the bit of sunlight that warms over her skin and makes her cheeks pink the longer she stays out. Her arms wrap around her knees and she leans forward slightly to brace herself there as her head turns to regard him.
She blinks, brows raising in surprise as he suddenly lists off a lot of truly awful things and that uncertainty about the gods raises just a fraction. "Fuck... I- I mean, I was expecting bad, but I don't really know what I was expecting that bad." What does a person even have to do to earn such punishments? "Why would Ludo take your memories if you're following him? Was it a punishment?"
"Well...that's when I was made a demigod at least." Remi replies with a dull shrug. He did follow Ludo he supposed, but it was more complicated than just a snap of the fingers. Or was it?
Her question has Remi smiling a touch wryly as he shakes his head. "No, it was long before. But it was a punishment, yes." Ruffling a hand through his curls, Remi places his palms behind his back in the sand that he might lean back as if this was just a casual conversation amongst friends and not a discussion of his past failures. "It had given me a mask, like the one it wears. Someone stole it from me and when I told Ludo about it..." Glancing over at Maeve and finding it rather sweet to see her cheeks flushed for reasons other than the ones he'd come to know in the past, the alchemist boyishly shrugs again. "It took all memories of the men I'd ever loved. And they were all here, in Caido. One I was currently dating, which..." It felt like a lifetime ago, really. Now it just made him shake his head wearily. "...well, it ruined the relationship I was in, as you can imagine. And though I tried again with one of the others it...wasn't the same."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Maeve's brows draw together and she's only a touch confused. It didn't occur to her that other gods might want to punish her for something. She listens to everything he says, that normally easy smile on her lips twisting into something almost pained as he shares his past. "That's awful... I can't even imagine." Maeve shakes her head, brows still drawn together, "All because someone stole the mask? That seems incredibly cruel." Anxiety stirs in her belly at the thought of something like that happening to her. Could she possibly do something so bad that one of them would punish her in such a way?
Another one of his stories catches her attention. Safrin had a child with Ronin? Her teeth chew at her bottom lip and she debates asking, but her interest has been piqued. Perhaps because of what is happening with Sunjata, but she finds herself curious anyway. "And the thing with Safrin..?"
Holding in a breath, Remi just shakes his head as he releases it slowly. "I suppose I should have been more careful with it." He replies as if he deserved what had happened to him. "Luckily though, Ronin and I were only just friends at that point. And had my memories of someone else not been taken...I think I might have ended up with him instead." To this day how things ended with Ianto, both in terms of their romance as well as their friendship, was a weight that was hard for him to bear.
'Ah. Well. Not all of it I can tell you.' Remi says with a tight-lipped smile. His son's life was on the line, after all. "But..Well, understandably Ronin and Safrin have always been close. And then one day, he slept with her in what he thought of as a dream." Pausing to regard the waves, Remi swallows as colour blooms on his cheeks. "And soon after she showed up with a child...Seren." Raising one of his hands to rub unconsciously at the scar tissue on his chest, he glances over his shoulder at Maeve. "We had only lost our daughter a few months before that, so the timing was...well, gods it was awful. Nevermind that Ronin wasn't ever asked."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It all left a hollow feeling in her chest. The idea that he went through so much heartache at the hands of the gods. There was so much she doesn't understand when it comes to them. They love them and yet punish them severely. It made her wonder how exactly one was meant to stay on their good side when everything seemed to have some sort of price affixed to it. Maeve watches him, sitting quietly at his side as the waves crash against the shore.
"He didn't get a say at all?" Maeve asks softly, shaking her head as she draws in a deep breath. "I can't even imagine. Having lost your daughter only to have another child you weren't expecting to be brought to you instead." And she regrets asking him, bringing it up at all, but she needed to know what they could do. It was important. How else could she make a proper decision?
03-31-2021, 02:24 AM (This post was last modified: 03-31-2021, 02:24 AM by Remi.)
i've got a river for a soul
"No." Remi replies with a simple shake of his head. "He thought it was a dream. I mean, I think he would have slept with her just as well if he knew he'd been awake but...there was no mention of a child." Remi's jaw softly feathers as he turns his eyes up toward the sun as if might burn away his hate for the goddess. It doesn't of course, the secret he keeps—that he's forced to harbour—eats away at him all the more in moments like this, and no amount of blurred or burned vision helps.
"Mmm. I made it quite clear that I wasn't Seren's father, nor did I want to be." It was harsh, perhaps, but far kinder than pretending to love someone whose mere presence nearly broke him every single day. "And now? Seren was with us for..a season? perhaps two? And then Safrin whisked her up into the sky. Ronin has always wanted a large family, and...knowing that she's out there, but unreachable..." His jaw tenses again. "It's cruel."
Forcing himself to relax, Remi digs his toes deeper into the sand as he turns his gaze toward Maeve. "I love Ronin. But I will always hate the goddess he serves."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
04-01-2021, 02:37 AM (This post was last modified: 04-01-2021, 02:38 AM by Maeve.)
I'm a bad influence
As Remi speaks, her mind goes back to her conversation with Aurelia. The smuggler had been so intent that Safrin just wanted them to need her. If that was the case it made her question why she did this to Ronin. Was it manipulation? A ploy to keep him in line? She understood why Sunjata did it. The deal having been made to save his husband no matter what happened during the war. Of course, Remi isn't telling her everything, keeping some of it to himself. The message was clear, though. Safrin had a reason for everything she did and sometimes that reason was unbearably cruel.
Maeve presses her lips together, brows drawn together as she tries to find the words to say to him. There was nothing she really could say. Clearly his hatred for the goddess ran deep and likely always did. "I guess I just don't understand the purpose behind it... Why do that? Was it to teach a lesson? Keep him faithful? It just doesn't make sense to me. None of it does really. I don't understand how you could keep serving a goddess who is so willing to do that to you." The words come tumbling out. A series of questions strung together as she works to understand the appeal of it all.
"When people talk about the gods... The good sounds so good, but the bad is truly bad. I don't know if it outweighs the bad enough for the risk to be worth it." Maeve admits truthfully, looking back at him now as she finally tears her gaze away from the waves.
