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!
Predictably halfway through their flight, legs swinging on Ronin's nimbus, Remi had shouted RACE YOU (probably in the middle of something Ronin was saying), and then promptly jumped from the cloud. Whatever they'd been saying was lost in a blur of curses and mostly idle threats as the pair raced toward the twisted and gnarled Hanging Tree.
With talons outstretched toward one of the branches (you didn't win unless you touched the tree first, and even slamming into it at blinding speed would hardly leave a mark on the alchemist these days), Remi leaves deep grooves and sheers off a good amount of dried bark on his fly-by. Flapping his wings to avoid careening into yet more trees, the hawk spirals lazily around now that the race was done. Shifting back into himself, breathless and grinning broadly, Remi plants his hands on his hips in a clear stance of victory.
"Pretty sure I won." He calls out confidently, despite having absolutely no evidence to support this claim.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Oh yeah, sure. Never mind what I was saying." Ronin rolls his eyes, continuing to talk to the air even after his husband has shot off in a ball of feathers towards the exceedingly brooding tree in the distance. Rather than take the bait, the Star lets his husband burn off the excess energy (as best he can anyway) and lazes his way to the Hanging Tree.
He's done his reading about this thing, and he's wrinkling his nose already as he approaches; crimson oozes from the gouges in the bark left by Remi's claws, Ronin skirting out of the way of a sticky black leaf as it twirls down.
"I should have decided to tell you a ghost story here," he remarks, smiling across at Remi and holding a hand out for him. "I wonder how many people were executed here..."
"It is not as much fun when you don't even try." Remi complains, though it isn't no fun; the alchemist's cheerful smile says as much. He might not have burned away even 5% of his energy, but with his muscles happily abused by the sudden burst of exertion, Remi is certainly more content.
"Do you know any more?" The alchemist wonders as he slips his palm against his husband's, inwardly feeling something sigh and click into place as his fingers wrap around the Star's. "If Delphia was here I am sure she could tell us." He muses of his counterpart. "I am sure if I left my body I would see a fair number of ghosts lingering about as well. It is a marvel there are not more cat sith' here to try and hoard them." Then again, for all the secrets the swamp seemed to hold, a few demon cats would be the least surprising.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Consider it your punishment for starting the race without any preparation," Ronin says, stepping a little closer to his husband as their fingers lace together. Leaning in, for a moment it appears as though Ronin is going to kiss his husband, only for his free hand to slip around the small of Remi's back, guiding him out of the way of another flurry of tar black leaves. "If these touch you, they can leave quite the blister, so I've heard."
As for ghost stories, Ronin smiles and shakes his head. "Not off the top of my head. Do you?" he asks, glancing up at the tree again only to freeze, furrowing his brow. "You don't see that everyday..." Nodding to the other man, above them in the boughs of the Hanging Tree, dozens of pairs of eyes are suddenly watching, hissing, chittering. "How did they even get up there...?"
"And if I refuse?" Remi wonders, about to ask if his punishment would double, and if so, when could they start, until he's suddenly tugged away from something. "mm?...oh" Frowning at the dark leaves, the alchemist cocks his head to the side, torn. "Might be good to rub onto a blade if that is the case." He says, having opted for a slightly more serious approach to the plants, rather than his other thought of: can you imagine wiping accidentally with one?. No doubt Ronin will feel a pulse of mischief from Remi just the same as he imagines it.
"Oh, just the usual: things that go bump in the night. As shapechangers we had all sorts of stories about creatures in the woods. It was normally along the lines of trapping bluebloods and killing them though. We were always okay."
Looking up as Ronin does, Remi is filled with a predatory glee to see all the eyes suddenly snarl to life. "Half the time I think they just will themselves into wherever they can cause the most annoyance. Maybe they have made a pact with one of the spirits." It wouldn't surprise him, prone to mischief as spirits seemed to be.
"Hypothetically...if you were going to try and attack one of them...what is your least effective abilitiy do you think?" Remi's smile is sly and suggestive, despite how innocent he's attempting to sound.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin decides that silence is the best response to Remi's question - let him imagine what might happen if he refuses, and how much more rolling around in the swamp it might involve. Hopefully that's a thread of conversation they can pick back up on later, and he gives the other man a gentle nudge with his hip as he feels the pulse of mischief and he knows where the alchemist's mind has just gone.
"Gosh," he gushes in response, tilting his head. "I have to wonder how many times I was brutally murdered in your horror stories." He's only teasing, though sometimes Ronin does feel as though he has to remind Remi that he was actually one of those dreaded bluebloods, once upon a time.
Thankfully, there are some hissing distractions far above them to deal with first, and Ronin raises his eyebrows. "My least effective ability?" He hums. "Well... apart from the dream stuff, probably my nimbus?" And even then, it's only not effective at killing things. "Why?"
"A fair amount, if what you have told me of your nightly activities is true. One of the stories tells about a shapechanger woman who was exquisitely beautiful." Weren't they all? "She would lead bluebloods for a romp in the forest, promising them a night of bliss and pleasure that they could return back to their boring lives feeling fulfilled for a time." Remi grins. "Only...once alone, she would shift, and trample them to death with her hooves." Looking quite smug, the alchemist bounces his eyebrows at his husband. "Knowing you though, you likely would just end up having sex and leaving with your life." Ronin really was so unfairly charming.
Planting the hand not tangled around Ronin's on his hip, Remi narrows his eyes further at the creatures whispering death from above. "Well, I just thought perhaps we might make this a fair fight." He says nonchalantly. Reaching out his foot, Remi kicks at the trunk with staggering strength, hard enough to cause the tree to groan and shiver slightly. One gourd loses its balance, falling so as to land right on Ronin's head...
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin bounces his eyebrows right back at Remi, as if to tell him that he has entirely missed the point about what he was trying to say. Still, at least he got a story out of it, the Star scoffing and shaking his head, drawing the other man closer until he can feel the heat rolling off him. "Being trampled to death by hooves is certainly a way to go," he says with a shrug of his shoulders. "Shame, though. If it were to happen right now, that shapechanger woman wouldn't stand a chance. I'd be far too distracted with another shapechanger."
It's a shame that he can't keep flirting like this with his husband, given that it's suddenly raining pumpkins down on them. And one of the gourds would have found a home directly on Ronin's head, if his least effective ability hadn't promptly come into play. The nimbus whizzes overhead, taking the vampire gourd with it, and Ronin lets out a very victorious ha! "A fair fight, huh? Go on then. What's yours?"
Gasping as if his virgin ears could hardly take hearing such a thing, Remi melts against the Star as a wicked grin pulls at his lips. "A shapechanger not wearing his golden cuff either. The scandal of it all." He purrs with a bounce of his eyebrows in return.
Watching the nimbus effortlessly carry the gourd away, Remi scoffs and rolls his eyes as if unimpressed. He absolutely isn't, but as with all of their games, the alchemist toes the line between taking things way too seriously and being flagrantly careless. "This I suppose...but now I worry I am about to lose at my own game." Frowning at that, Remi glares up at the tree before giving it another kick.
As two gourds descend upon him with teeth snapping, shadows spring up from the ground and curl around the alchemist veiling him from view. The vampire gourds bounce off, their teeth chewing at the bleak shielding around Remi but finding absolutely no purchase at all for their teeth. Kicking the gourds as if they were nothing more than footballs, they explode instantly on contact. Whether this counts or not is up to Ronin's interpretation, but even Remi isn't feeling very good about this first effort.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Well, you know what they say. There's always some scandal or another." Is that what they say? Ronin neither knows nor cares at this point, and with Remi kicking the tree trunk and sending gourds tumbling all over them, he doesn't really have time to ask anything more about it. Forced to part from his husband to take care of the threat, he seems really rather proud of his nimbus as it dumps the pumpkin onto the ground from a height (it lands with a satisfying splatter).
But whether Remi believes it or not, the shadows that leap up and shield his husband are impressive, and a few of the rolling death balls end up being bounced Ronin's way. He reaches out to strike them, where they similarly explode on contact. "Alright, alright. Let's change up the game - you can only use your hands and feet now. And if you get bit, you're out!"
'Hands or feet," Remi repeats with boyish intensity. 'Got it.' Happily he throws his shoulder against the trunk of the tree that more gourds might rain down on them. Starting off with hands and feet is easy, but Remi imagines that the intensity will only ramp up from there.
"Aaaaaand incoming!" Clapsing his hands together as if about to hit a volleyball, what is meant to bounce the gourd toward Ronin that the Star might spike it into the ground, instead leaves Remi covered in orange with small teeth biting into the skin around his wrists. Grumbling under his breath, Remi shakes out his hands before clearing the innards of the gourd from his eyes with his shoulder.
"I do not mean to be that guy, but it really is not as fun when they are so small."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin is ready for it, his hand already clenched into a fist as he prepares to spike the gourd into the ground. Only then physics and gravity rudely take effect, and the Star is left biting his lip hard enough to make it bleed with his attempt not to burst out laughing. "Oh I don't know, I'm having a really good time!" He chuckles, turning to kick another pumpkin away, but of course it just squelches and covers the Star's boot in its guts.
"Alright, alright. Shall we try and find a bigger one to satisfy you, husband?" Bouncing his eyebrows at Remi, he peers around through the swamp, only for another gourd to splat onto his back. "Oh, for fuck's sake," he grumbles, though he does manage to point through the undergrowth. "Think there's a big 'un hiding in the weeds."
"If you would be so kind." Remi calls back adoringly. Straightening as a gourd kamikazes onto Ronin's back, the alchemist doesn't bother hiding or dampening his laugh. "What a way to go, though." He muses under his breath, before his eyes are directed toward the weeds were apparently a much larger target hides.
"Hey, pick a letter." What for you ask? Shenanigans of course. Running his tongue over his teeth and tasting squash on his lips, Remi rakes his fingers through his curls to rid them of orange debris. Waiting expectantly for his husband to do as asked, the alchemist's eyes partially shift that he might better be able to spy motion from within the thick weeds.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Is that how you want to go?" He grins over his shoulder at his husband, though his attention is limited at best if he wants to keep an eye on the Big Gourd hiding in the undergrowth. "Hm, a letter? Okay... X." He has no idea what the fuck it's for, but knowing Remi as well as he does, shenanigans are definitely afoot, and Ronin needs to make sure he's in a good place to either enjoy them or contribute.
Circling around the weeds now, careful not to tumble into the swamp or get caught by any of the Hanging Tree's sticky leaves, Ronin absently kicks one of the gourds, but not enough to kill it. He simply sends it rolling and cackling into the bubbling mire. "Pretty sure it's focused on you, Remi."
