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!
Ronin shrugs away Remi's hand on his shoulder, still too wrapped up in his own hurt and anger to want to immediately turn back to the one who had caused it. And as the other man continues he refuses to meet the alchemist's gaze, though of course he's never been one to be able to stay angry for very long. Allowing his hand to be taken, his feelings will be all too apparent - shame and humiliation and fury like a burning weight in the pit of his stomach.
"I'm not confident," he whispers, shaking his head. "Not right now, anyway. I've only used the shift once before and I nearly killed you. I can't trust myself to draw those lines yet. And I..." He shivers, shaking his head to Remi. "I'm only alive because of Safrin. I already know that I'm nothing without her. It just... hurts, to be reminded sometimes. Especially by you."
hope keeps us breathing, just to kill us in the end
Contrasting Ronin's emotions will be the bright glitter wash of Remi's. Like sunshine cut into thousands of pieces and then let loose on a breeze, the alchemist is full of a rather infectious and persistent love.
"That's okay." The alchemist whispers, still clutching his husband's hand as if afraid if he lets go, Ronin might try and disappear again. "No," Shaking his head slightly such that his lips brush back and forth against Ronin's skin, Remi presses his eyes closed for a moment before straightening.
"You are alive because of her, yes. You are powerful because of her, yes. But who you are? The man I love and adore? The man who is brave, and clever, and everything I have ever wanted..?" For a moment Remi's smile stops the words, unwilling to form the shapes as his affection causes his breath to stutter. "That is all you. And it always will be." He says gently.
"I never meant to hurt you. I am sorry for that." Remi adds quietly and sadly.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The bright sunshine of Remi's love is almost enough to bring tears to Ronin's eyes, and his blue gaze flicks up to his husband's face with a wobbly sort of smile. And as the other man speaks he's heedless not to draw him close, wrapping his arms around him tightly to clutch him against his chest, burying his face against his shoulder. "You're sure?" he mumbles, as if Safrin might somehow have been responsible for the fact that he's an utter idiot at times, as well as all the good stuff.
"It's okay. But next time can we just... let me get used to being a dragon without you throwing insults at me and showing you having sex with everyone?" he asks, peering up at his husband and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "This was a bit much for a first attempt. Is this what happened when you had to get used to being a lion?"
hope keeps us breathing, just to kill us in the end
"I have never been more sure of anything." Remi agrees, resisting the urge (only just) to make a joke of things. Instead, he just hugs Ronin back hard, losing himself in the unmalleable strength of his husband's body.
Beaming at Ronin, Remi twists his lips into a contrite shape as he nods. "To be fair, I did not have sex with Maeve, and Isla was before us." That time with Isla, anyway. "But yes, of course." He agrees easily.
"Back then...I was dealing with the aftermath of all things Loren, but otherwise I did not have as many triggers as either of us does now." Remi replies with a small shrug. "It was just...blind hurt that the lion twisted in anger. And the man I was before...It was hard for me to reconcile who I thought I was with the desire to tear things apart with my bare hands." Now of course Remi was quite at home with his more primitive needs, for better or worse.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Letting out a shaky sigh, Ronin seems to relax against Remi, his fingers slipping into the back of the other man's curls as if to keep him held close for a few minutes longer. In truth he needs it more than he enjoys it (though he does enjoy it a lot too), the weight and warmth of the Lullaby enough to slow his racing pulse and ground him back on the forest floor. "Thank you," he whispers, pressing another kiss to his cheek and straightening up to give his shoulders a grateful squeeze.
"Ah," he says, understanding dawning on him. "I think my problem is that I quite enjoy tearing things apart with my bare hands. The dragon is just an excuse to do it." It's not an easy admission, but it's nonetheless true. "Maybe I should practice... I don't know, meditation or something? Something to keep me zen when I'm like that."
hope keeps us breathing, just to kill us in the end
It's with all the love and adoration that Remi laughs at Ronin. Not riotous laughter, just a small chuckle really, and free of any animosity. "Or," the alchemist says carefully, leadingly. "You could let yourself believe that for as good as you are, there are dark parts of you now. And that is okay." Did Ronin need to learn how to keep himself in check when his buttons were pushed? Yes. Did that mean becoming a zen monk and sitting still with his eyes closed on a cloud? Not in Remi's opinion.
"You do not need to avoid your new instincts and inclinations, only to...redirect them if they aim in the wrong direction." Certainly the alchemist had taken out innumerable bouts of anger and rage on the migratory deer in the Greatwood as well as her trees. It was a necessary thing, and Remi saw no shame in it.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It's with a grumble that's about as lighthearted as Ronin is going to get right now that he lets himself admit that Remi is right, and already he's twining his arms back around the alchemist as if that alone might be enough to protect him against the things that live inside him now. "Would it be so bad if I just redirected them into having sex with you all day every day?" he grumbles, not that it's a remotely plausible idea.
Pressing his eyes shut and slowly stepping back, he takes hold of Remi's hands and gives them a gentle squeeze. "Do you want to go hunt something?" he asks, as if subconsciously echoing the other man's thoughts. "I don't think I've ever done that before, not with a predator in me. And as the Huntsman, I guess... I don't know. It seems something a dragon would enjoy."
hope keeps us breathing, just to kill us in the end
'Gods I wish.' Remi all but purrs in response. 'Though there are times that sex helps.' He adds with a shrug, having pawed Ronin awake in the middle of the night, or come home only to assault his husband with unexplained kisses and fingers reaching instantly for the buttons of his pants.
"I would, yeah." Remi agrees, feeling heat rise and swell from the base of his spine into his fingertips. "There will likely be parts of you that...do not want to hunt with anyone else. Dragons are large enough predators that I do not imagine they typically hunt in pairs or packs." He says, squeezing his husband's hands (and trying to ignore the urge to shove them down the front of his pants given that they've just been talking about sex as an outlet).
'So we can start small...as I should have done before." Crookedly, Remi leans forward to softly kiss Ronin's lips, before shifting into something quite small indeed. On his head now, Oria trills, grabbing hold of his feathers and looking quite appropriately sized on the hawk.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Mm, but I'd want to hunt in a pack with you I bet." And have sex with you all day every day, especially since we've already suggested it. Ronin leans into the kiss pressed to his lips, releasing a content sigh when they part that has him looking the complete opposite to either the dragon or the man who had almost stormed away into the woods. "I'll not fully shift this time either, if we're going to start small. It'll be easier to hunt if I can actually move..."
And so as Remi shifts into a hawk (and Oria riding upon his back earns a very adoring grin from Ronin), the Huntsman takes a long, deep breath and turns to face the woods ahead. Scales shiver down the back of his neck and across the backs of his hands, where black talons push through the skin. Tilting his head up to scent the air, it doesn't take Ronin long to catch on something tasty, and he lets himself sink into it for the first time, the instinct to prowl and take down, to rend and bite and tear the flesh from bones.
Setting off at an easy lope through the forest, it soon becomes apparent by the tracks and the path that Ronin is taking that he's managed to catch the scent of a deer, the ex-Star being careful not to approach too closely, or to move too eagerly. This is more like it.
we are like birds of a feather, we are two hearts thrown together
Remi's grin very much suggests that Ronin ought to wait and see before committing to hunting in a pack with another very deadly predator, which is convenient given that his lips have gone in to steal one more kiss.
Unsure what to expect from Ronin's partial shift, any ideas about being able to perch on his husband's shoulder disappear quickly as he witnesses the hybrid thing Ronin has become. I have so many thoughts about how you look right now. The hawk trills, finding himself abruptly thwacked on the head by Oria for the roguish thoughts sifting through his mind.
A sight hunter as a hawk rather than one that scents its prey, Remi drifts lazily through the canopy of trees before bursting through the leaves where he could fly unimpeded. What do you smell? He asks, unsure if it will be the predator or the Huntsman who answers.
THE ALCHEMIST
we will be forever as one, my brother under the sun
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
What kind of thoughts? Ronin wants to know, easily vaulting over a rotten log that has fallen in his path before prowling forward once more. He turns sharply at the sight of the hawk bursting through the leaves, every scent honed and sharp for changes, though he relaxes somewhat to see his husband and his spriggan rider. Crouching down to examine the earth, the tracks lead deeper into the forest, something that doesn't surprise Ronin one bit.
The earth, he mumbles in response to what he can smell. But so much more than that too... I can smell the deer that was here not half an hour before. It's like sunlight and grass and hot blood. The answer to Remi's musings, then, is both, sort of. And Ronin slows his steps almost instinctively as the trees thin up ahead, the Huntsman careful of every place he might put his feet.
we are like birds of a feather, we are two hearts thrown together
Thoughts about——ow! Relentless in her mission to keep Remi on track not least of all because we already have one smut thread going, Oria yanks with all her strength, pulling out one of Remi's more delicate feathers to get his attention. I will tell you later. He grumbles, albeit with a smile in his voice.
Learning to tell time using my senses was one of my favourite things to discover. The hawk sings back, his wings stretched wide to glide on the thermals that carry him around on its invisible current.
There are deer grazing just over that knoll.. Remi says in a low voice as he banks higher into the sky. I could scare them toward you...or you could try and stealth your way up to them. The wind is with you, so you might be able to..
THE ALCHEMIST
we will be forever as one, my brother under the sun
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
About ow...? Ronin glances up briefly, a knowing smile flicking across his face as he realises Remi has a chaperone now, and his amusement pulses down the Attuned bond so as not to scare away any prey. And it is prey nearby, as his husband confirms, and Ronin has subconsciously lowered himself into the undergrowth where he can't be seen, where anything unwitting might wander right into his path.
No, flush them out, he suggests. I'll wait here. I think if I start chasing I won't want to stop... Indeed, as the scent of the deer grows stronger and the imagined feel of it beneath his claws invades his mind, he can already feel his mouth start to water. Send the whole herd if you like.
we are like birds of a feather, we are two hearts thrown together
I am not a collie, Ronin. Remi replies a touch haughtily as his lazy flight becomes more intentional. I cannot just separate out one from the herd. The deer give little notice of him of course; wounded Remi might be able to take one down, but they have nothing to fear from a hawk (even one as large as he is). Even as he swirls in the air to abruptly come about, only one of the deer raises its head to scent the wind.
Diving down, Remi emits a piercing cry into the air that seems to linger far longer than it should in the stillness of the meadow. With his claws outstretched toward the rump of one of the deer, the herd jumps to life. Darting forward with wide dark eyes, they bolt for the safety of the trees, unsure what exactly they are fleeing from, but instinctively carried away by their flight instincts just the same.
THE ALCHEMIST
we will be forever as one, my brother under the sun
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
