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!
i wish I could say I am a light that never goes out. but i flicker from time to time
Nothing makes the alchemist simultaneously burn and feel utterly content in everything he is and has done, quite like hearing Ronin say his name like that. That it's hard to stay balanced, to breathe without gagging, or to ignore the way the bottom of their shower grates against the open cuts and rock-burns on his knees is all precisely what he'd wanted. Able to feel both the gravity of Ronin's orgasm as well as the violent blossom of testosterone that sings of destruction is enough to make Remi feel dizzy and complete and stupidly in love.
Knowing well what it is to be overstimulated, Remi's lips immediately soften around his husband, though he remains in place until Ronin has shivered away the last pulses of his orgasm. Releasing his grip on the Star, Remi steadies himself against the wall to make his way shakily to his feet, ignoring the groans of protest from his knees as they're straightened. Immediately his lips seek out Ronin's as if they haven't yet had their fill of trying to make the Star breathless. I only want you. Remi whispers soundless as his tongue lazily approximates the words against his husband's. Only you.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
He's putty as Remi draws away, his fingers relaxing where they've curled into a fist, and as the other man drifts up the length of his body it will be to Ronin's waiting lips. He hums a note of need into the kiss, his other hand slipping out of Remi's curls to twine around him and press him close. The words fill him up and intensify the dazzle shining out of him, and all the while the steam continues to climb and to fill the room.
As the Lullaby speaks, though, whether it's directly into his mind or not, there's a splinter of something in the starlight that rings of discord. Until next time. It comes out unbidden, Ronin drawing back with a breathless huff to gaze down at the floor with clear guilt and shame on his face. "I'm sorry," he mumbles. "I didn't... I mean, I suppose I did mean it." He shakes his head.
i wish I could say I am a light that never goes out. but i flicker from time to time
Having already cum once that evening, Remi's erection is lazy despite the heat that broils almost smugly in his belly. Pressing himself against Ronin makes his skin feel fresh and properly cleansed from the sea and the sand. He might have begged Ronin to stay beneath the water until it all ran dry such was his utter contentment until the Star's words whispered into his mind. Remi's tongue slows and tenses against Ronin's as they both drawback at the same time. There is a flash of adrenaline and fear that sparks in Remi's veins, fading quickly to a dim pulse of contrition and understanding.
Swallowing hard, the pleasant relaxation ebbing away drastically, Remi nods unsteadily as he reaches up to comb his curls back from his forehead. Introspecting to see what it was Ronin's outburst inspired in himself, Remi was (naively, pleasantly, stupidly) surprised to find only understanding and instant relief. "Then there will not be a next time." He vows softly. They had been different men when they'd made the rules for their relationship. Different men when Ronin had handed in his half of the pass and were different now.
"I only want you." Remi adds, reaching up to clasp Ronin's jaw between his palms and lift his husband's gaze. "So I will only have you."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"You don't have to--" Ronin's backtracking is interrupted by the sound of the Lullaby's voice, and as strong fingers clasp his jaw to guide his gaze back up, he's heedless to resist it. With hands splaying across his husband's back, it's impossible not to feel the truth in Remi's words, and it's enough to inspire a soft and boyish smile on the Star's face. "Gods, I love you," he whispers, leaning in for another kiss, his tongue slow and sweet and teasing.
"As long as you're sure," he mumbles. "Though if it means anything, I've never been happier since it's been only you." His fingers reach up to comb back through Remi's hair, before he's drawing him closer all over again. "How are you doing, after all that happened?" He's noted the injuries, for one, but there's more than the physical to keep in mind.
i wish I could say I am a light that never goes out. but i flicker from time to time
Remi's smile is interrupted by Ronin's lips such that the kiss the Star will receive is sloppy with joy. A strange sort of giddiness that wants to be a scream and a laugh bubbles up in the back of Remi's throat, forcing him to pull back that he might awkwardly let the emotion loose. "I have always wanted you more than anyone else. We...tried this. I will never enjoy being with anyone as much as you. To give up a bit of timely satisfaction for us?" He tilts his head imploringly. 'It is not even a question.'
That, and thus far, Remi was actually rather terrible when it came to using his pass in a way that didn't invite criticism or hurt.
'Oh?' Looking adorably pleased at that, Remi schools his expression into something more earnest as he releases Ronin's cheeks in favour of sliding his arms around his husband's neck. "I feel...strange. I do not believe I have ever used sex as a means to an end, before." Remi answers, nibbling at the inside of his cheek. "On the one hand, if someone said that...using me to orgasm would remove the taint of being an abandon and win a god's favour...I..." His head shakes and though his lips seem to continue to form words, he doesn't say anything more. Internally, Remi doesn't quite know how to reconcile both wanting to help a friend with the strangeness of that help necessarily being sexual.
"Have you ever had to..?"
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Remi's arms slip around his neck and Ronin holds him close so they might both benefit from the warm shower. And he turns his attention properly to cleaning the Lullaby of sand and salt and sweat, eyes half closed as he listens. "Then it's settled. We tried it, we're over it, and we don't need it any more right now." Right now because Ronin is not foolish enough any more to think in certainties, and he'll roll with whatever comes in the future too.
For the present, though, he wants nothing more than the man in his arms and all of his scars and dimples and beastly tendencies.
And while Remi still wrestles with all that has happened, Ronin presses kiss after kiss to his cheeks and his temple, holding him close. "I can't say that I have - not that I remember, anyway," he says slowly. "Which I know isn't all that helpful. But I would probably feel strange as well."
i wish I could say I am a light that never goes out. but i flicker from time to time
Enjoy utterly into the water falling on his shoulders as much as he does all the places it doesn't reach because of Ronin, Remi hums his agreement. Like Ronin, he doesn't think or promise in absolutes anymore, save for vowing to love the Star forever. That, nothing would change.
"Mmm." The sound is about as ambiguous as Remi's pulse of emotions are, as he lets himself be washed and held. "I use my body to help people in all sorts of ways, so in a sense I...almost do not view this as any different. Especially with things between us as they were." The but is weighty and obvious even though Remi doesn't say it.
"It was certainly the strangest sex I have ever had. You and I have tried to finish quickly because of work or Mateo, but this?" Frey made everything pleasurable to be true, and Remi had finished. Still, without time to savour or build things up properly, Remi would forever feel as though he had done Hotaru a disservice, strange as that was. Shaking his head and sighing, Remi can only shrug his shoulders. "Well. That is now...three? woman in a year? And yet still very gay. It is probably best that I will not be sleeping with anyone but you. I do not seem to have used my time wisely." Grinning mischievously at that, Remi tucks himself close to the Star so that he might put his husband directly under the water for a change.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Almost," Ronin reiterates with a kind smile and another kiss to Remi's curls. "I think I would be the same. I would understand it, but... there's still something about it that doesn't feel the same as carrying some boxes, or killing a monster." Still, he lets the Lullaby explain himself as best he can, ensuring that all the sand and grit is washed away in the meantime. Until suddenly he's the one being guided beneath the stream of water, and a hum of pleasure leaves his lips.
"Still very gay? I think all but one of those women would disagree," he teases, though there's little to it; instead Ronin winds his arms around Remi and holds him as close as he can beneath the jet of water, letting out a long, relieved sort of sigh. "Let's go back to bed?" he suggests. "I'll patch up your knees for you. And then I get to be little spoon." He smirks.
i wish I could say I am a light that never goes out. but i flicker from time to time
'No, it really does not.' Remi agrees emphatically, knowing it was true even if he couldn't say why.
Running his fingers through Ronin's hair and then taking extra care to scrub annoyingly beneath his arms and behind his ears, Remi cocks his head to the side and raises a brow. "Who is the one?" He wonders. "It should be three for three, I would think. Isla and I have never had sex or fooled around at a time that wasn't preceded by a bite or occurred in the sex room, Hotaru literally happened in Frey's presence, and I stopped Maeve before anything happened." Tilting his head to the side to see how Ronin might counter, Remi nods and reaches around to turn the water off (taking the opportunity to bite at Ronin's ass-cheek on the way).
"Oh leave it. Mateo can patch me up in the morning." Their son would have to learn sooner or later, given how often his fathers came home injured. Planting a kiss on Ronin's shoulder, the alchemist grins and nods. "Alright little spoon. Let's go to bed."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin's lips part to try and counter, but in one breath he finds himself stumped by Remi's swift reply, and in another there's a very handsome man biting at his ass-cheek. "Oi," says, barking out a laugh and helping to draw Remi back up, accepting the kiss to his shoulder as penance. "Alright, fine," he concedes, mumbling an apology to Remi's knees before they step out of the shower.
Smug at his status as little spoon, Ronin at least grabs up a couple of towels to he can make sure they're dry as they head into bed. And if he also turns up the heat a little thanks to his phoenix shift, so be it. Either way, as Ronin settles comfortably beneath the blankets, curled against Remi's chest, he finds his eyes growing heavy with remarkable ease. Sleep claims him, tugging him into sweet dreams and warm arms, and there's nothing else he needs.
