From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
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!
"Pressed against you for my last moments? I can think of lots of worse ways." Remi replies, both very serious in his answer and yet grinning just the same.
"X?. Gods, you're the worst." Huffing hard enough that it makes his curls bounce, Remi just shrugs. "Fine. This time, only body parts that start with the letter...x.." Were there any?
'Oi! No feet.' Remi grumbles. That was unless Ronin could think of a way to refer to them that started with an x. As the gourd bounces and rolls toward Remi, navigating the swamp muck with surprising efficiency, the alchemist merely retreats a step, and then another, desperately trying to think of an x-related body part. "Uhhhmm..." Swallowing as he has to leap back a step as the gourd advances, Remi grimaces down at the thing, drawing a mental blank. 'Why did you have to pick x." He complains disparagingly.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Ooh, you charmer." Ronin slants a smile at his husband, one which bleeds into a fully shit-eating grin as he's criticised on his choice of letter. "You didn't tell me what it was for," he points out, lifting his foot as if it's the appendage's fault. "What? my xeet? What's wrong with them?" he calls out with a chuckle.
Only Remi is actually taking this seriously, it looks like, and when Ronin turns around it's to see his husband, the mighty Ludo's chosen, backing the fuck up away from a fat pumpkin. "How about your Xtremely well-muscled arms?" he asks with a waggle of his brows, as if that might help with the situation.
'Well no of course I didn't. That would defeat the purpose.' Remi complains grumpily, flashing only half a smile in Ronin's direction. he is taking this seriously, and xeet don't cut it. It sounds like something Mateo and the other kids would say, besides.
However as the moments tick by and Remi realizes that no amount of stalling is going to allow him to suddenly come up with an x-named body part (x-rated, yes), the alchemist is forced to concede. "You win. You and your x-tremely clever mind." So saying, he grins and shakes off his frustration before punting the pumpkin toward Ronin with all his might. This of course means that despite it being larger than the others, it explodes in precisely the same way that they had.
"You really think my arms are x-tremely well-muscled?" He asks once the orange debris settles, flashing Ronin a boyishly endearing smile.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
A hand flutters to Ronin's chest, his bright and surprised smile saying what he doesn't need to with words - me? x-tremely clever mind? - before there Remi goes ruining it again by punting an enormous pumpkin in his direction. It explodes, of course, showering them in all manner of orange gunk, and Ronin lets out a cry of alarm and raises a hand to shield his face. "Remi!" he complains, though he only half means it, grinning as he swipes the goo out of his eyes and moves to make his way towards his husband.
"Why yes, I do," he informs him with a bob of his eyebrows, reaching out to run his hands along those x-tremely well-muscled arms. "I wouldn't have said it otherwise. Do you want to wrap those lovely arms around me and save me from the rest of these horrible gourds?" He grins.
Feathers trickle-down Remi's neck, which might be thought of as the avian opposite of raising his hackles. 'I would like nothing more. Well...except maybe lunch." But surely they could both agree to that.
And so, like the damsel Ronin both was and wasn't, Remi lifts him in his arms bride-over-the-threshold-style, as wings sprout from his back. Flying them out of reach of the gourds below, Remi takes a moment to look at the Hanging Tree with a crumpled expression. 'I know me calling anything barbaric is laughable, but...a hanging tree?" Frowning all the more deeply, wants as gourds leap into the air as if they might suddenly grow wings too. They don't of course, and because they don't, the ground around the charred tree is now bright with orange pulp.
Better than red, he supposes.
What is time "Do you think we could talk about something SeRioUs for a minute?" The alchemist asks a touch hesitantly, if only because their afternoon had been so fun thus far and he was reluctant to ruin it with AdUlT TaLk.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Ooh, lunch," Ronin pipes up with a lopsided smile. "Why not both? I'll feed you lunch while you keep your arms around me," he suggests, only to break out into a chuckle as his husband so effortlessly lifts him off his feet. Hooking an arm around Remi's shoulders, he's already trying to wipe the alchemist's cheek to create a space where he might be able to kiss him, even as the world starts to shrink away.
He can't really forget the Hanging Tree, though, wrinkling his nose as Remi makes his remark on it. "Mm, it's... yeah. Nobody lives out here either, though. Do you think they would have brought people from Stormbreak here to be executed?" It wouldn't surprise him. Did the tree always look like this, he wonders, or was it made this way by the amount of death nestled in its boughs?
They're already on a fairly sErIoUs conversation, so it doesn't really trouble Ronin much to glance up and nod to Remi. "Sure. As long as you keep flying us towards lunch, I'm all ears."
Grinning enough that his cheek will turn taut and dimpled, Remi tilts his head that Ronin might more easily be able to scrape away the goo. "How do I taste?" He wonders, not quite liking raw-gourd himself, though he'd be absolutely ravenous for that which coated his husband's body if given the chance.
"Maybe. But...is that not what the Needle is for?" Or was that just dramatic punishment? Maybe the quiet, proper violence happened all the way out here. The thought of it made him shiver, despite the heat of the man in his arms.
"Well.." Below the marshlands begin to slowly bleed into the greyish and lackluster rock that will eventually turn into the Righteous Road after an hour or so. "..it actually seems like quite a few people are interested in going to the Greatwood to protect it. One of your dragoons actually, and Sera as well.." Unease and excitement slither in equal measurements from the alchemist, braiding into a rather chaotic pattern. "Part of me thinks that if ever there was a time to move there and actually defend it, it is now, especially with all this relic and war talk. But..." Remi's emotions fade away, utterly overshadowed by thoughts of their son.
"Mateo seems so happy in Stormbreak. He has a normal life there, and in the Woods..." Remi shrugs, bouncing Ronin slightly with the gesture. "He is young enough that he would transition alright, but I don't know if it is the right thing to ask of him. Or you."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Delicious," Ronin murmurs against his husband's cheek, drawing back enough to offer him a grin that promptly fades at the mention of Judgement Needle. "That is what it's for, yes. But... I don't know why they would come all the way out here when... well. You've seen what lies beneath the falling, under the waves." Bodies and bodies, as far as the eye could see. Potentially from shipwrecks - potentially not.
Ah, but then they are talking about Serious Business, and Ronin takes a second to relax in his husband's arms as they fly, paying little notice to the way the land bleeds into vague colours beneath them. He raises his eyebrows, bemused to hear Remi speak in earnest about things like protecting the Greatwood or moving there, or moving some of the dragoons there.
Mateo is another matter entirely, and anything Ronin was about to say dies on his tongue as he considers their son. "Oh, he says softly, eventually, though he doesn't sound as though he objects to the idea. "I... well. I suppose I would need to speak to Cian - you too, if you're going to take two of his Order members away. And the same with Mateo. He's got a mind of his own now... we should let him decide what he wants."
'You are being very reasonable about all of this.' Remi complains as if it's a bad thing. They were very good at playing opposites to each other, with one always somehow being level and calm when the other was spiraling. It was only when they found themselves on the same side of an issue—either too heated or too apathetic—that there was trouble.
"Why would I talk to Cian? Surely you..and Sera can talk to him on your own?" Frowning, the nature of what it is to take away members of the Order as the self-proclaimed Guardian of the Greatwood hasn't quite dawned on him.
"While we're on the subject of asking everyone..how do you feel about it?" Remi's emotions were awash in nervous energy as he turned his eyes properly on his husband. It wasn't as though flying in a more or less straight line took much navigation at this point, and if anything Remi flew better when he just let his instincts manage things for him. "Part of me really wants this, though I do not really know why. I've felt...like I am not sure what it is I'm supposed to be doing. And with Ludo telling me I was a mistake....maybe it hit me harder than I thought." He admits after a moment, frowning at this realization.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I am, aren't I?" Ronin says with a sudden rumble of laughter, as if he has only just noticed it himself. Offering his husband a warm smile that's punctuated by the streaks of orange on his face, he leans in for a proper kiss, caring nothing for how it might unbalance his husband or knock him out of the sky. Still, he can't help but chuckle again to hear Remi simultaneously know what he wants, but also have no idea about it.
"Remi, we will be going to the Greatwood on your behalf. It's not up to us whether or not we're released. You need to ask for us to be able to come with you," he points out with a gentle raise of his eyebrows, not that he feels all that worried about it. "How about we both go to speak to him together? I can bring a few more dragoons along to the Greatwood. Make it a proper stronghold."
As for how he is feeling? Ronin thinks on it for a few breaths, leaning his head against his husband's shoulder and humming out his decision. "I really want to go," he whispers, as if he is worried about admitting it. "Maybe it's LeafChange talking, but I... it's where we wanted to explore first, after Torchline. I want to go with you." Peering up at Remi, he leans in to brush his nose over the Lullaby's. "You aren't a mistake. Ludo will see that soon."
Ronin's kiss is welcome and warm, and with his wings already spread, he wonders how long he could coast with their lips together before an inevitable crash. Probably a good while, given how high they were. They'd survive the fall, too. Or...well, no. Maybe it would kill him. With a sigh, Remi pulls back, but not before stealing just one last kiss.
"Well..why can't you ask. I am not asking anyone to come. Sera volunteered." Confused by the bureaucracy of it all, the alchemist just huffs and nods, as appreciative of Ronin's assistance as he is frustrated by the logistics.
When what Ronin says begins in a whisper, Remi prepares for the worst. I'll go, but only because you're asking, is the nicest version of what he expects. It's basically what Remi had told Ronin of Stormbreak after all. So when the Star says what he does, it properly steals Remi's breath and makes his knees feel weak and his stomach feel as though it's become water. "Wh—really?" If he wasn't already holding Ronin, he'd have picked him up to spin him about. As it was, Remi just nuzzles his face into Ronin's wind-tossed mess of hair, with a huff of relief that sounds both like a laugh and a sob.
"Gods I love you so much." It's all he can manage, and only after a moment once his throat opens again.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"You need to ask," Ronin says, gently insistent about it even though the smile never leaves his face. "It's your decision. Start as you mean to go on, and own it." Winking, he leans in to steal a kiss from the corner of Remi's mouth - hopefully not enough to have them spiralling into freefall. "You won't have to do it by yourself, at least. There's plenty I can get on with in the Greatwood., so I'm confident I can make my case regardless." He smirks.
Laughter bubbles out of him, both at the nuzzling and the way Remi's feelings fizz and flutter through their Attuned bond, and Ronin shifts in his husband's arms to hug him close - at this rate, they'd probably be better off with his nimbus, but Ronin's thoughts are not on that currently. "Really," he murmurs. "I love you too - so much. And," he adds, as if foreseeing it, "if Mateo wants to stay in Stormbreak - that is okay. We're only ever a dream away."
Not that it'll be easy, regardless of any decision made.
"How will this work?" he wonders. "Are we going to have to make a semi permanent camp in the woods? What will the Fae think? I know they still won't let anyone in the Sidhe Village, so..." He shrugs.
'What if I start like this...?' He whispers, hopefully capturing Ronin's lips even as the Star means for it just to be a peck. "Because I can assure you that I mean to start what I finish." Remi adds, doubtful as ever that his attraction to the Star will ever fade. But Ronin, predictably, was right.
"That...is true." Considering, it wasn't crazy, he supposed. Mateo was fairly independent already, and with both of his parents a dream or a letter away at all time, that he could continue school in Stormbreak wasn't the worst idea they'd ever had. And that was if Mateo decided to say.
"Mmm, oh. I spoke with Nephele about it a bit. She did offer the Village but...I think it would probably be polite to leave them alone there. Perhaps we might start off by the Stonesong? I know Sera has had some thoughts about how we might lay things out." The hand around Ronin's leg adjusts slightly, his fingertips pressing against the Star's leg as if he were a keyboard. "I think so long as we are respectful of the Wood and leave as small a footprint as we can, the fae will be alright. Both Juniper and Nephele know that on their own they cannot hope to stop the ascended."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Mm, I think that's a strong start," Ronin says, smiling against the sneaky kiss and reaching up to use his sleeve and clean the rest of Remi's face off. He doesn't mind the taste of raw gourd (no surprises there) but it's rather distracting from their Very Serious Conversation. His fingers slowly start to thread through sodden curls, the Star far too busy watching Remi to care about what's going on around them, so hopefully the other man's instincts and navigation are on point. "I can speak to Mateo, to break the ice. Let him have a proper think about it," he suggests.
Raising his eyebrows, Ronin is clearly surprised (and not in a bad way) to hear that Remi has already made his inquiries. He nudges his husband, unable to wipe the grin off his face. "You really want this don't you?" he murmurs. "I think that's a good idea. Do you think we might talk about using the Village to some extent, though? I was considering a second skyport, between Stormbreak and the Greatwood, and that's the only place I can really think for it to go..."
