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!
Oh hush, Isla tells him, much as she knows that it will make no difference. There's no need to get all morose on me, Remi. I will keep fresh flowers in the infirmary regardless, and I'll just offer you one when you pop up. I also much prefer to enjoy your company than your bouque-- oi! Her laughter rings like a bell through the Attuned bond, and Remi is successful in grabbing onto her. The result is that she ends up ferrying him along, giggling as she goes.
Hardly mastered the form. I just know you, she protests, her limbs flailing. Except suddenly she stops, as if there's a creeping realisation on the periphery of her senses. A ship, she says quietly.
It sweeps across him like a shadow over the sun. Gradual, impossible to pinpoint just when things started to get cold, but unmistakable once he'd noticed it. It starts deep in his core, radiating outward until the lip of every suction cup seemed to vibrate with awareness. A ship. Remi agrees, and quite without thinking, he's released Isla in favour of moving steadily in the direction of the shape high above them.
Do you feel it? The lightning in your veins? The urge to affix yourself to the hull and drag it down? The ease with which the ship might snap in two? There had never been anything like this when Remi was an octopus, but then, this was a far cry from that shift. He doesn't have a throat with which to gulp or swallow, but mentally he goes through the motions just the same. I want to drag it down. I want to hear it snap. Remi thinks, still gliding toward the surface; his mental voice a mixture of slow-restraint and an enthuisiastic horror.
& it rained and rained and rained
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
I do. Isla almost purrs through the bond, and quite without permission, she's gliding through the water after Remi. I want it to crunch. I bet the waves will churn when it goes down, she agrees; unlike Remi, Isla has only ever attained glimpses of Attuned shifts, and it's impossible for her to ignore the lure of instinct. Overhead is what looks like a teeny tiny toy shadow. Between them she's sure they could play catch with the ship, right?
What shall we do? I want them to know we're coming. Maybe she'll peep a tentacle above the waves. But oh, it's so dark - what if they don't see it. With tentacles flexing, as if each one is a palm grown itchy, Isla frets and warbles through the deep. They probably don't even realise the danger they are in.
No one will believe they were attacked by a kraken, much less two.. Had he a mouth capable of salivating, Remi was sure his tongue would have been heavy with spit. With two of us...do you think we could hold it in place? Let them notice that they are not moving with the current or the winds...they might shine their torches down into the water, then..
When he'd first become a lion, Ronin and Vai had thrown him into a pit lest he kill those around him. When he'd been a manticore, he'd hurled himself into the wilderness to get a handle on his instincts before any harm could come to those around him. But here now, with only Isla to act as his conscience, Remi wasn't entirely sure what was right and what was wrong. All he knew was that regardless of the lives on board the ship bobbing unassumingly above him, he needed to hear the wood splinter and crack. He needed to feel the hull burst in two.
& it rained and rained and rained
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The laughter that echoes through their bond is not nearly as girlish or amused this time; no this is a laugh that suggests a plan in action, that knows there is violence and blood to follow. Yes, she decides, I think we could do that easily. See, I'll go first... Unfortunately Isla is no conscience with the same violent instincts roaring through her body, and she surges up towards the surface until she can spread all of her limbs out beneath the ship, like an eerie, terrible blanket.
And then with a delicacy that belies the horror in her thoughts, a few tentacles pop up to sucker along the hull, hoping to drag the ship to an abrupt halt. And Isla's still chuckling, able to imagine the confusion, the horror, the abject fear as the sailors realise just what's about to happen to them.
He hates her with a sudden and violent passion, as Isla reaches for the boat. He hates her if only because she stretches out against the wood as he wants to, and though his mind can instinctively guess at what the boat would feel like against him, a terrible fury comes over him. Isla.. He has no teeth to clench together, but his mind supplies the feeling of that as well, as he watches her blot out the hull of the ship with the vastness of her body.
I think...there is a reason kraken are never seen together.. Sounding both hot and cold, Remi's mind rings with dissonance as his long limbs stutter in the water. Isla has taken his prey, and no part of this new form seems fond of sharing. He doesn't know if she hears him, far away and preoccupied as she is. Above, screams of terror fill the night as canons are loaded and shot; none come close to reaching the massive beast that tangles and twines itself along the ship, though.
& it rained and rained and rained
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Isla feels the rising fury as if it has just shuddered directly through her. She hears Remi, too, hears the logic in his words, but in response to his rage she feels nothing but possessiveness. Is it because ships rarely travel in twos? she wonders, another tentacle reaching up to slap along the side of the ship, giving it a playful tug that probably feels a lot more life-ending up on deck.
I did see this one first, she reminds him, clinging all the harder to her prey. And whilst she tries to sound reasonable, everything slipping between the Attuned bond suggests that she's not going to let it go without a fight.
She moves with all the casualness of a shrug, but as her arm slaps against the ship Remi feels something stiffen inside of his mind. He wants to tear that arm away; boneless though they might be, suddenly the alchemist yearns to hear Isla snap just as he'd momentarily wanted to hear the ship.
A poor argument given how weak you are. Remi reminds her, aiming to be equally as reasonable in his tone despite the anger that propels him upward. It isn't a thing he'd ever have said to her, not even one that would ever have crossed his mind. But now, watching her hug the ship like a petulant child, he mentally sneers as he rises toward her.
You do not deserve it. He growls as one of his arms lashes out to try and curl around her neck. Pulling, he'll try and angle her body to make it all the harder for her to keep her grip on the boat.
& it rained and rained and rained
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
You say that, and yet I am the one who has the ship, and you are the one who does not, she points out, again very reasonably, even if her instincts and her mental voice are all but shrieking for him to keep his filthy tentacles to himself. And so she clings on all the harder, the ship creaking very uncertainly as Remi approaches, as he slings a tentacle about her neck.
Neither do you! she snaps back, forced to let go of her toy with at least one limb to try and turn and swat him away. Their movements are slow and lazy in the water, but the sea about writhes and churns like chum has been scattered upon its surface, and sharks are approaching. Get your own, Remi! You might be strong but you're dumb and slow. I got here first.
That will change in a few moments. He snaps back, already envisioning her monstrous corpse falling away into the depths. Or would she float? Well. Time would tell.
More than you do! Strong as they are, their power is muted by the sea and the scale of their bodies such that they appear to be dancing or swaying like kelp to anyone watching. But no one is watching; on the ship, gods are channeled, attuned shift, and those with water magic try and control what's going on below.
Make me. The words have a ring of finality about them, as Remi moves to wrap three of his arms around Isla's body as if he might encircle and collapse them against her arms. Like gathering a bunch of flower stems together in one hand, he'll aim to use his considerable strength to wrench her free of the boat above them. So much the worse for those still onboard.
& it rained and rained and rained
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The ship gets away - barely. And that's only because as Remi wrenches her away from the hull, she's forced to focus on the strength of the tentacles trying to squeeze the life out of her, and the roar of anger and anguish through the Attuned bond is such that any on board the ship with the facility to hear them will likely wet themselves in their panic. Let me go, Isla snarls to him, writhing fruitlessly in his grip as they sink deeper and deeper back into the depths.
The ship becomes little more than a dark speck on a darker water, and Isla feels the urge to crush and break and snap the vessel begin to fade. Remi...! she tries again, the flailing of her tentacles becoming something more urgent as she struggles to breathe (or whatever it is they're doing underwater). Remi, let me go - please.
If only I was not so dumb, I might understand what you mean He growls as his tentacles tighten. Isla's body might not groan and pop the way the ship would, but dumb as he is, Remi has the imagination to supplement an appropriate soundtrack.
The water darkens as does Isla's consciousness, and it's only when the ship has run her way into the shallows and out of sight that Remi's dark fury begins to abate. Both releasing Isla but also wanting to keep her close, a wariness and unease shivers through the alchemist as all but one arm pulls away. I...I don't.. He should apologize, surely, but he was still too overcome with the lingering ripples of what he'd just experienced. That, and she knew she'd felt it too, so hopefully Isla would be able to forgive him his manners for a moment.
Noticing the chill of the water around them for the first time, Remi shivers, if only mentally. I do not believe I have felt like that before..None of my instincts have ever been quite like that.
& it rained and rained and rained
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
He releases her just before her vision clouds black for good, leaving her floating listlessly in the grip of the remaining limb wrapped about her. It's a good thing he is holding onto her, in fact, because without him Isla would likely be swept away in the undertow. The manticore was not like that, she agrees quietly, a mental nod thrown his way. Of course she can forgive him, and as feeling returns to her limbs, she tucks herself closer if anything.
Do you think we could head back? she asks. Only I quite feel as though I need a hug, but definitely not the kind that has as many arms as you currently do. Not when those same arms had been about to throttle her not one minute before. Might want to practice this shift without any ships around, eh? she says with a soft chuckle.
No. Not like that at all. He agrees. Predatory and primal to be sure, but nothing like that deep-seated need to kill anything around him. Tugging Isla closer, Remi coils an arm about her. It's hard to offer comfort when you're all gelatinous limbs and rubbery surfaces, but the alchemist adds an outpouring of affection into the gesture.
Remi's thoughts are momentarily bound by guilt and the horror of what he'd done and how he'd felt. We should swim higher before we shift back. The pressure down here...well, I do not know what it will do to you, but I doubt I could survive it. Well, no. He would survive it. Just not in a way that would be useful.
With slow movements and an aim far away from where the ship had disappeared, Remi fans his limbs until he's within 10ft or so of the suface. Already anyone above would see his massive shape, but luckily there's no one about. Shifting, and immediately gasping at the chill of the water, Remi looks about for Isla.
i went broke believing that the simple should be hard
Table inspo from kae!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
