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!
there's a feeling i get when i look to the west, & my spirit is crying for leaving.
He can't reach Hotaru as fast as he'd like, and given that he can't use portals, he doesn't even reach her as fast as someone else might have. Instead, Remi has had to stop in the Greatwood to drop Mateo off with Vai, before flying up and over the Draig Cordillera. It's as harrowing as it is dangerous, and on more than one occasion he spies dragons lingering below the cloudline. Whether they ignored him or simply didn't notice, he neither worries about nor cares. Even Remi's endurance has its limits, and as he nears the redline of what he's capable of, he sees the spa Hotaru had mentioned like a shiny stone amidst the snow-wasteland below. Descending and shifting, it's with shaky hands, fluttering lashes, and a body that's actually tired for the first time in months, that he pushes open the door.
With cheeks flushed crimson with colour but not from the cold, Remi pushes back his curls from his face. They sit windswept and tousled on his head as he blinks into the warm light of the spa, trying to catch his breath without breathing loudly or rapidly as his body seems want to do.
in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees & the voices of those who stand looking.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
She is willing to wait, but with the urgency of the letter she’d received she doubts it will be necessary. Sleep doesn’t come easy most nights, it’s not as if she would be sacrificing much by waiting into the twilight hours for Remi to arrive. The firelight washes over her skin, warming her where she sits curled in the seat of her chair as close as she dares to place it by the hearth.
The door opens, startling her, and she turns over her shoulder to watch Remi enter in a swirling cloud of tiny snowflakes. Standing, her hand finds the back of the chair, sudden nerves striking her to stillness. His letter had betrayed nothing of his emotional state, and as such she is hesitant. Protective of the life inside her to all ends, even if she has no reason to distrust a man who already has children of his own.
“I pulled a chair for you, I can’t imagine the journey was easy. You didn’t have to rush,” her smile turns sardonically playful, missing the glib teasing by a mile, “the baby certainly isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” In fact she’s scarcely showing. A small bump to be sure, only prominent because of her diminutive frame, but existing nonetheless.
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
there's a feeling i get when i look to the west, & my spirit is crying for leaving.
It's strange to see her again, in an entirely different setting as this is. It steals his breath and yet he feels nothing of the sorts of things one might imagine in this situation. There should be love, attraction, fear, joy—and yet all the alchemist can identify in the pit of his stomach is confusion. Just naive and deep-seated confusion.
'Of course I did.' He replies immediately with a shake of his head. Pressing the door closed behind him and then rushing clumsily across the room to her. "I am so sorry," Remi adds, his accent hugging the words and making them sound like some horribly sweet melody. "I did not even think...that is, because I do not—" Words fail him now as they normally, do and Remi's lips are left opening and closing around the fragments of things that aren't worth saying. I only have sex with men and ascended, so I didn't think about you getting pregnant.
Swallowing down the rush of thoughts and emotions that threaten to spew from the back of his throat, Remi tenses as he forces himself to still and shut up. Reaching out a hand for hers, Remi forces himself to exist only in this moment. "How are you?" He asks at last, his words competing with the pounding of his ears and heart as he tries to hold her gaze.
in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees & the voices of those who stand looking.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
He looks impossibly lost in her doorway, and though she has no expectations of him or this meeting, she regrets having put that look on his face in any way. It may have taken two (or three if you count Frey) to tango, but it’s easier to blame herself for this.
He rambles, and she smiles quietly where she stands, waiting for the torrent to slow as he rushes to her side. Only then does she reach for the hand he extends, letting their skin brush and fingers intertwine so he might gauge her emotions for himself. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I’ve been a mother many times, it is no burden to be given the chance once more.” At her touch he will feel the grief that still lingers in her soul, but layered above there is peace, trepidation, and a tremulous, wavering joy. It is matched by her smile. “I should be the one apologizing. I can’t imagine how this will impact you and Ronin...and Seren, gods.” Her free hand moves to rub at her brow, shoulders curving inward. How she cares for the girl already, and what havoc Ru is wreaking on her family.
“I’m so sorry, Remi. I’m so very sorry. But I swear you don’t need to worry - you don’t have to be involved at all, if that’s what you want.” She won’t obstruct him if he desires to be in the child’s life, but if there is one line Hotaru has never crossed, it was being a home wrecker.
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
there's a feeling i get when i look to the west, & my spirit is crying for leaving.
"You..have?" The alchemist isn't sure why that news is so surprising to hear, but it rattles something loose in the back of his skull that trickles like liquid glass down his spine. Perhaps it was his naivety, his lack of intimate knowledge of babies or birthing or midwifery, but that Hotaru had been a mother more than once—that his child would have siblings on her side—makes his heart and rattle and thunder in his chest. That is, until her fingers close around his and he feels yet more loss stemming from the impossible woman before him. "No.." It slips from his lips before he's realized that he's doing anything more than breathing, and without thought, he's tugging her against him. "I am so sorry." It seems he'll never stop finding things to apologize to her for.
'Seren? Why..?' Pulling back to gaze softly down at her, his expression painfully naive and boyish in his lack of understanding.
But then she says something that he does understand very well. Shaking his head immediately in such a way that leaves no room for confusion, Remi meets her gaze firmly. "It is not. It absolutely is not." Though his tone is stern, his expression is kind. Warm, even, if not awkward and unsure about what that made he and Hotaru, in light of all of this. "I..." Looking up into the rafters and smiling faintly at the images that dance in the shadows he sees, Remi exhales a shivery sigh before beaming down at the woman before him.
The mother of his child.
in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees & the voices of those who stand looking.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Her answering smile is sad, a grief far older and heavier than Atlas’ loss like a yawning pit in the very heart of her. There’s no answer that needs to be given, he can read it in her face long before her emotions tell him. It’s why she’s so damn scared of this moment. Of hearing what he has to say. Motherhood is all she has ever wanted, and yet each time it has been cursed with tragedy.
He pulls her close, and she burrows into him, chest feeling tight with a tsunami of emotions she can’t parse. Pregnancy hormones are a bitch, but Remi is warm and steady beneath the surface outside chill that clings to his clothes, and his embrace gives steel to her quaking form. Pulling away isn’t her choice, but she bears it for him. This moment is entirely his and Hotaru is merely at the mercy of it.
As he looks into her eyes her heart scarcely seems to beat but each time it does it hammers in her chest like it’s gasping for air. She hasn’t allowed herself to hope at all, so the intense surety of his answer buckles her knees, making her sway closer. His beaming smile is benediction, and her own is distinctly watery in answer. “Seren is very keen on calling me aunty Ru. She was the first person to find out,” she semi-answers, trying to find her footing. “It’s going to be hard,” she warns tremulously, nervous to truly scare him off but unwilling to leave it unspoken. But there is a relief that flows across his magic, a heartbreaking gratitude that she won’t have to do this alone. More alone than she has ever been before when it comes to raising a baby. “I don’t want to cause a wedge in your family. I won’t ask to be included myself, or for you to introduce the baby to Mateo or Ronin. I want to make this as easy on you as possible.” It feels wrong to explain this when celebration feels like the correct response, but it needs to be said with their convoluted ties.
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
06-14-2021, 02:16 PM (This post was last modified: 06-14-2021, 07:24 PM by Remi.)
REMI
the alchemist
there's a feeling i get when i look to the west, & my spirit is crying for leaving.
'Oh.' His laugh is watery as his lips threaten to shiver in response to the tears now prickling behind his gaze. "That is..." Laughing to hide his awkwardness, Remi gives his head an uncertain shake. He doesn't know what it is, only.."I suppose that is more true now, in a sense." He and Hotaru certainly weren't together, but it made more sense to think of her as a sister than any sort of wife in this weird family tree that was suddenly growing.
"What makes you say that?" All joviality is gone, and Remi looks suddenly very much like a man capable of murder by the hundreds, such is the sudden sternness of his gaze. "Oh." He murmurs again, clumsily, as his shoulders sag with his exhale. That wasn't the hard he thought she'd meant, and instantly he's filled with a rather fleeting relief. "Ronin will be...surprised, I am sure. But..I have already told him what happened, and why."
His hands rise softly to the curve of her shoulders, resting there gently. "There is something I would like to show you. Do you trust me?"
in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees & the voices of those who stand looking.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
06-14-2021, 07:23 PM (This post was last modified: 06-14-2021, 07:23 PM by Hotaru.)
HOTARU
He is like a whirlpool beneath stained glass, but the waters rise to his eyes and the turmoil becomes readily visible. Overwhelm perhaps, or so she hopes it to be. Something shaded away from darker, more depressing reactions. Like the one that makes him go hard and implacable, melting like an iceberg that leaves only the dangerous shadow below the surface. Hotaru doesn’t believe him, and he can probably feel that, but she has all the reason in the world to be wary. Retaliation is a potential from all sides right now. “I intend to ask Frey to keep them safe while I carry them,” she says instead, unwilling to put words to her doubt about his husband. “With Nate and Sunjata, and the war, and…” Deimos’ quest and burning the Advocates, Hotaru shakes her head slightly, refusing to spill such secrets. “I don’t want to risk anything.” Whether that includes Ronin, Safrin, a variety of others, well. Hotaru would rather have all her bases covered.
There’s no real reason to trust him. Certainly not considering how guarded and suspicious she is as a woman. Gods help her if she doesn’t though, and she looks into his green eyes that mirror her own as her heartbeat calms. “Yes.” Nothing more and nothing less.
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
there's a feeling i get when i look to the west, & my spirit is crying for leaving.
Remi can indeed feel the walls within her that rise like so much stained glass. He can see shapes and darkness, but nothing more. It makes his heart skip a beat as his blood pressure drops and his fingertips turn cold. "What are you going to do..?" He whispers, knowing that it's unfair to be able to pry so easily, but feeling some sort of entitlement to her safety, now that his child grows in her belly. Remi really should have learned his lesson about making promises, and yet without thinking he finds himself saying, "I can protect you too. In whatever it is you are doing."
The change in tempo of their conversation is abrupt, but they both are able to make the transition easily enough. Smiling a touch hesitantly, Remi nods almost sweetly; almost nervously. "Will anyone come in?" He asks, hazarding a glance to the door. "Or...is there somewhere else we can be?"
in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees & the voices of those who stand looking.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
For all his trepidation, her meager walls do not waver. And for all her trust, she hesitates. “Atlas died because I helped burn an empty building of a guild I helped head in Torchline,” she whispers, but her eyes are flinty. For all her regrets, she cannot help the bitterness at the reactions she has incurred over something that had no casualties. “I don’t intend to be caught, and there is enough doubt to shield me. But Safrin has decreed this land should turn to the Old Gods. Morgan wishes to remain neutral.” Treason will not touch her tongue, but she is certain enough of his intelligence that he will surmise it on his own. To what lengths is up to him. Her hand gently squeezes at his forearm. “I cannot ask for you to shield me from my own actions. I must do my part in the war.” For all she has conflicted feelings for Safrin, she will do as the Goddess commands if it means creating another stronghold against The Voice. Hotaru will not be caught unawares when the chips fall.
Glancing backwards at the door, she takes his hand without a word and leads him to the back room - her bedroom, though it’s a sad excuse for one, added on as an afterthought when she left Torchline. It is private and only ever seen by her eyes however, which makes it perfect. Turning the lock with a quiet click, Hotaru faces Remi, reaching for him anew. His warmth and strength a source she cannot help but want to leech. “This is as private and concealed as I have.” Her smile is encouraging, trusting and placid as she waits for him to do or say whatever it is he intends to.
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
there's a feeling i get when i look to the west, & my spirit is crying for leaving.
Remi listens, and though his lips part to interrupt her, he manages to remain silent. The bar. The Advocates upstairs. He thinks to himself, and even as he does, no anger or surprise shows on his face. Sunjata's Bar. Nate's Guild. He supposes he understands. "You, I believe can take care of yourself." Remi says warmly, his fingers squeezing her shoulders. "But there is more than just you now." Not that it needs pointing out of course; Remi is no one's hero, but he is a fastidious defender of his children. "I have no love for Safrin. And..if I cannot convince you to wait, then it seems I have only one choice." To join.
Upon entering the small room, the alchemist doesn't let his eyes linger on the surroundings. Instead, he too reaches for Hotaru, that he might softly cup her face in his hands. " I know we do not know each other well...and...I know this certainly complicates things." The side of his mouth twitches up into a smile at that as he laughs quietly. What an understatement. "But this is something that will never change between us now and I want you to know that I will always be here for you. For both of you." Kissing her seemed as appropriate as not, and though Remi's gaze drops from her nearly-mirrored stare to the blush of her lips, he remains where he was.
"On the bed, if you would." He whispers.
in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees & the voices of those who stand looking.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
She is ready for many reactions, but his acceptance had been low on the list. Are they not the same in this way though? Violent and precocious at times? Feeling everything so mightily, led by heart more than mind. “There may even be two,” she warns, even as she leans into the firm squeeze of his hands on her shoulders. “My family has a strong history of twins.” It seems at odds with the entire conversation, but her mind is a little scattered. “We can wait - but only so long. And it’s why I am hoping for magical intervention, so I may play my part.” While Remi’s power was nearly nuclear, Hotaru was an integral part to their plans simply by way of existing and her ties to each person. She could not sit out entirely. “I will protect them no matter what. I promise.” Her hand lifts to rest over one of his, green eyes burning. Pride, power, freedom, none of it matters when weighed against the health and safety of her - their - child. If they can find a way to remove her from the equation, she will sit out and grind her teeth in silence. It would be a small price to pay.
In the sanctuary of her bedroom, the world beyond feels small and insignificant. Remi’s hands are warm and rough where they cradle her, and as she looks up into his face her heart swells with affection and gratitude. A glaze comes to her eyes, but she refuses to let tears obscure the visage he paints before her, radiant and sure like a hero in a fable. Remi has no idea how she has longed to hear these words. She may have traded romantic love for paternal support this time, but it’s a sacrifice she doesn’t mind making. Love has always hurt her. But this? It is a value greater than gold. He intends to stay, as nobody else ever has, and that singular vow shatters the weight she has been carrying ever since discovering she was pregnant, leaving her shoulders to bow and relax. Her hand lifts to cover his, turning her head so she may kiss his palm, eyes closing briefly to blink back the tears. Her lips linger for a long moment, and then she is nuzzling her cheek in their place to open her eyes to see him anew. “Thank you.” What more is there to say when he can feel her emotions, which sing so much more sincerely than any words?
Parting is sweet sorrow as they say, but she slides onto the bed without further question, trusting he will tell her what needs to be done. She leaves room at her side should he need to join her, golden hair a halo over the pillow as she gazes up at him, half-swallowed by shadows and lit only by the moon through the window and the firelight from the crack beneath the door.
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
there's a feeling i get when i look to the west, & my spirit is crying for leaving.
Exhaling sharply, the sound as much of a surprised gasp as it is a laugh, Remi raises a brow as his eyes dip towards Hotaru's still diminutive frame. "Well, I think for your sake, I hope it is just the one. Where would two go?" His hands nearly drop from her shoulders to try and approximate two children on her stomach, but he catches himself and merely gives her a crooked look instead. 'Well..Frey seems to like you, so...' He trails off with a shrug, his offer made. While he is not as powerful as a god, he is far less fickle. Usually.
Her lips against his skin are exquisitely sweet, and Remi finds his own lips parting in a half inhale. He can feel the rivers of her thoughts as they wind and wander, breaking into tributaries that either dry up or lead into larger bodies of her emotions. I might not be what you wanted for this...but I will try and be everything you need. The words are whispered into her mind as his thumb brushes softly over her cheek.
Indeed he does join her, sliding into the bed and trying to remind himself that they're in this position because of having had sex, so cuddling next to her fully clothed shouldn't feel quite as scandalous as it does. "Now sleep." He whispers to her, and as he places a hand over one of hers, the world will utterly change.
In an alpine meadow full of flowers of every shade and hue, mountains rise and fall, bordered by an impossible ocean. Though the world is bathed in the colours of dawn, there is a lightness to the world that is ill-fitting, but pleasant. Around them the sea swells and crashes against the mountains, filling the air with brine, juniper, and snow.
"Welcome to your dream." The world was as he had created it, but quickly Hotaru will notice that at her slightest whim, everything around her would bend and contort to her mind.
in my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees & the voices of those who stand looking.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
His estimations finally bring laughter back from where it had hidden away beneath anxiety and fear. “You’d be surprised, but I could barely walk when I had my last twins.” The twinge of their loss hurts a little less when framed in this new optimism. Hotaru gently grabs his hands as they waver, trying to inspire confidence in him with her gentle smile. “We’ll be a team. You and me, Frey, whoever we trust enough.” She trusts him to be there, sword and shield, and she doesn’t want him to discredit himself simply because she is also seeking magical help.
Her skin pebbles as his mind touches hers, still unused to this type of communication and shivering to feel his emotions firsthand. No lies or doubts, only certainty. She has no way of responding in her human form as she has learned - that will come with time. Instead she presses a kiss to his fingertips as they withdraw to move towards the bed. “You already are.” Scarcely a whisper in the darkened room.
Whether it’s the darkness itself, his command, or her own exhaustion, there is scarcely a blink between the rumble of his words and the entering of an entirely new world. It is a painter’s dream, vivid and bright with life in a way she has yet to find in Caido. Meadows and rivers so alike the hills she’d been born in. Not quite of course, the ocean hadn’t been - and like that it’s gone, replaced by rolling hills straight from her memory. Hotaru gasps, can’t fight it, and as the air hits her lungs she notes that even the scent has changed in the absence of the sea. “Remi,” she breathes as she spins slowly, meadowgrass tickling her bare feet and legs. “What is this? Oh, it’s beautiful.” The home she had been born in, instead of the one she’d made. Trees sprout from the earth with a thought, and flowers bloom in racing carpets that follow the path of her eyes. “Do you see it too?”
i'm the little lightning girl
living electricity
a lightning bolt in human form
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
