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!
Finn arrives first at Torchline, and then navigates the Oerwoud to get to the Peepholes. It's no small feat during Longnight, not to say the least, and the Spyglass is scanning the ground before him even as he finally pauses outside the strange, blacker-than-black voids of the Peepholes. He can see very little with the naked eye, but he is more than able to track the things and people who have (or have not, in this case) been here through his glasses.
And there is no one around, as far as he can tell, and nor has there been for the last 12 hours. That might be considered a good sign, but he hasn't decided on it just yet. And so, in a black coat and holding a lantern which illuminates him with an eerie glow, Finn waits for them to come together.
Remi is nearly silent the entire journey. Though Ronin knows why, the Huntsman's assumptions will be reinforced through quick flashes and pulses of textured colour each time they touch, and whispered in wordless dissonance through the attuned bond. The alchemist's jaw tenses and his lips move into approximate snarls as he holds entire conversations in his mind. Maybe if he has them now, they'll be easier to endure when they happen for real. Or if they don't happen, perhaps he won't be so disappointed.
With eyes partially shifted there was no real need of a torch, not when a few words spoken low and in the travelling tongue were enough to light his husband up. So it is that the light from Finn's lantern is all the more apparently in the consuming darkness that he and Ronin are able to navigate with ease. Tense, unhappy, and itching to have this over and done with, the alchemist keeps his eyeline low and says nothing.
Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
It's true; they provide enough light between them that even with the facility to see in the dark, it's really not needed. Ronin needs no crown of antlers - his starlight pulses out of him to shine the way towards the lantern flickering eerily up ahead.
And when he realises it is Finn, he steps casually in towards Remi to slip his arm around the other man. From the Huntsman comes a wave of stoic peace and calm; a port in the storm of his husband's emotions for him to hide out in.
"Hello," he greets once they're close enough, his fingers slipping into Remi's back pocket. "Is it just the two of us, or are we waiting for anyone else?"
10-21-2021, 10:10 PM (This post was last modified: 10-21-2021, 10:12 PM by Noah.)
NOAH
Noah had discovered that many, many things had changed about him--particularly, the animal attunements carved down into his soul.
He wanted to travel along using his lynx eyes, ears, and other senses, but he could not summon them. He searched and searched and within him, but it was gone. His reindeer was gone, too. He walked and flexed his hands, feathered his jaw, and only felt the bear within him. It was still there, taking up the room that his other shifts once occupied, filling his chest wholly in the way that his reindeer shift had done in his adolescence. He thought idly about what he had lost as they traveled, and wondered what he had gained. Was he only going to bring a bear to this endeavor? Somehow he did not believe that Vi would leave him with only that. But he stayed silent beside Finn, thankful that the man couldn't reach his thoughts and feelings over the attuned bond. It would be too much to keep them so blocked in for so long. But as they approached their destination, Noah worked to keep himself blocked away within his own mind and heart. Without Eira, it was almost a lonely place there.
He fell behind Finn some, a habit too hard to kill from all of his years hunting on the tundra. He was several paces behind him, using only the bobbing light ahead from the man's lantern to guide him. When he approached the trio, finally, Ronin had finished asking. "According to his letter, I believe Deimos will also be joining us." He looked to each of the demigods, nodding to them. "I'm Noah." He extended his hand first to Ronin (having a guess between the two of them based on descriptions), the stony look on Remi's face making the new demigod wonder if he would welcome such a gesture.
i'd fashioned my own cross been crushed by its weight there's no stronger message than dirt in your face
ache first, but then let the cuts close spit out the blood
The Sword masked his dread, apprehension, and everything else mixed within. Instead, he marched dutifully, like a good soldier, tucking all the nuances behind. Only the lingering glimpse of confusion as he carried his torch, as he spotted Noah amongst the crowd (with multitudes to say but not within the looming denizens), solidified, before sparking that away too.
A nod was given and granted to each individual, and the only unknown was treated with the slightest arch of his brow, presuming this was the Spyglass from the letter. Without his companions, left behind with Cordelia because he had no inclination of risking them in these circumstances, he stood alone for a moment, before drawing up beside the Sentinel. “Deimos Ignatius,” by way of greeting towards Finn, extending his hand, and then awaiting whatever was to come next (nothing good; he could surmise).
watch your body pull itself back together then let your soul do the same
Finn extends his hand to shake all of those offered, watching as the group of men assemble before him. To say that he is uncomfortable in an organisational or leadership capacity is an understatement, but for this he must do his best. "Thank you all for coming," he murmurs once all the necessary introductions are made (where they are going to be).
"My name is Finn Rosencrantz, and I am the Spyglass for the Order. This is Noah Olsen, who I believe some of you have already met. Beneath our feet, there is believed to be a relic, though we are unsure what it is or how it is guarded. We do know that the Ascended have attempted to retrieve it but they were unsuccessful. That is why the three of you have been invited here." He nods between Remi, Ronin and Deimos.
"I will remain out here with Noah to keep watch. Whenever you feel you are ready, go ahead and proceed into the Peepholes."
"You don't want me to touch you." Remi says, his voice a touch gravely for lack of use, something he remedies by clearing his throat. "I..can feel things, when I do." He adds, raising his eyes to Noah and offering the man a nod instead. The urge to look at Finn has his ears burning, and it's with a frustrated huff that he folds his arms over his chest and drops his eyes again.
Needing no more of an invitation than what the Spyglass has offered, it's with a relieved and reckless pulse through the attuned bond that they almost all share, that Remi wordlessly sets off for one of the Peepholes. Knowing Finn well enough to assume that had there been more information he'd have given it, and made impulsive by the knowledge that whatever was below their feet couldn't kill him, the Lullaby didn't see the point in dallying.
~Remi out
Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
Ronin is the light to Remi's dark, literally and figuratively, and he offers Noah a warm smile and a firm shake of the hand as he introduces himself. "Ronin Taliesin," he greets, "and this charming fellow is Remi." Giving a nod to Finn and, when he appears, Deimos as well, it appears they aren't going to waste time with small-talk, and so the Huntsman listens closely to the summary of events.
He's about to suggest what he thinks might be a good idea when off Remi goes, and he bites the inside of his cheek to stop from smiling. "Shall we, then?" he asks Deimos. "Remi can take more than enough hits for the two of us combined, I think. And good luck out here, the two of you. Be safe."
With his advice given, Ronin follows after Remi into the Peepholes.
They aren't gone long. 10, 15 minutes? How much of Ronin's light made it back out of the cave, and how much the Sentinel and Spyglass heard, were not questions on Remi's mind. Right now he forced his mind to be blank as he left the cave, wounded and frustrated despite their victory. Nothing had bled other than him. There had been no flesh to sink his claws into, no warmth to soothe his muscles. There had only been stone, a body, and an amulet.
Whatever the word for the violent-equivalent of blueballs was, Remi had it.
With his clothing made lacklustre and grey by the stone grit and his curls suddenly looking as if they belonged to a much older man given the dust that made them silver, Remi rubs a bloodied hand over a bloodied ear as he emerges squinting into the torchlight.
Now don't you look so grand, runnin'
Through the reds of my traffic lights
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
Ronin isn't far behind Remi, the Huntsman checking the Peepholes every few paces to make sure that the giant snake wasn't just the starter, that the amulet he held wasn't little more than a trinket designed to hide the real thing lurking in the dark. But when nothing jumps out to eat their faces, he forces himself to relax and to take in the arguably bigger problem, that being his injured and frustrated husband.
He looks just as dusty but otherwise only a bit bruised by the antics, Ronin offering a smile between Noah and Finn as they emerge into the light. "It's done," he says to them. "It was a big fucking snake, but not. When it died it turned back into an Ascended - I think this is what it was using to shift." He holds out the relic for Finn to take, given that the instructions had been given to them by the Spyglass.
"While I'd love to stick around for a drink in Torchline with you all, I'd like to make sure Remi is okay. He took the most damage down there. Maybe next time?" He smiles between them.
ache first, but then let the cuts close spit out the blood
Deimos was the last out, and seemingly no worse for wear either. His brow neither furrowed nor arched; impassive, reflective, contemplative as he looked out towards the enduring evening, his mind calling out for his companions. No doubt somewhere in the midst with Cordelia, who’d promised to keep them safe.
A nod was given and granted towards Noah and Finn, listening to Ronin succinctly digest the information from recent violence and vehemence. Before long, Zuriel advanced from wherever she’d been (with a rather nasty look given in his direction, which the Sword would endure with only a slight wrinkle to his nose).
While the unicorn walked promptly over to Remi, a silent offering and bowing of her head to at least mend and soothe some of the damage given in the fight before they all departed, Deimos glanced back at the party. “Was there anything more you needed?” Mainly to the Spyglass; for there were other discourses necessary with Noah.
watch your body pull itself back together then let your soul do the same
Finn has been in his natural state of awkward silence, though it's true that neither he nor Noah seem to be chatterboxes. Even so, he has taken to watching the fireflies weave through the jungle trees, trying and failing to ignore the flashes of starlight that blink within the Peepholes every now and then. When the three men emerge he seems to blink himself back to life, glancing from one to the next to the next, parting his lips to ask a question only for Ronin to supply the details readily.
"Thank you very much," he says, the gratitude in his tone making him sound all the more earnest for it. "I am glad that you are all safe, and that the relic was recovered. You are truly making a difference in this." His hand closes around the amulet, Finn slipping it safely into the inside pocket of his coat.
"I believe that is all, unless anyone has any further questions," he says, glancing again to Noah. "I have a compass which will take me straight back to Stormbreak. If you would like to stay a while longer, the skyships are still leaving Torchline regularly. It will only take about half a day to get you back to Stormbreak."
Noah paced silently when the others left. He knew they were strong. It was why they were called, but Deimos was his closest friend in these dark days and to say that he did not worry about him and his safety was an understatement. He had suggested the man, that was true, and Noah believed in him with all of his being, but he just wanted his friend to be okay at the end of this. He expected it would be difficult and trying, and that Zuriel would need to use her skills and abilities to mend broken bones and torn flesh -- but that was not what happened. Before Noah could ease in to conversation with the Spyglass, the trio returned. In the lamplight, they all seemed okay. Remi had taken the brunt of it, Noah noticed even as Ronin's words solidified it. Deimos and Ronin did not even walk with a limp, nor were they out of breath. Noah sighed, clasping Deimos' shoulder to celebrate their victory.
He turned his attention to each of them as they spoke, and even waited for the incoming unicorn to work her magic before he spoke. "I'll return to Stormbreak shortly. In the mean time, I have other matters to take care of." And with that, Noah nodded to each of them as they departed, and headed with Deimos and Zuri back towards Torchline, letting Deimos take the lead. He knew where Cordelia was, after all.
FIN
i'd fashioned my own cross been crushed by its weight there's no stronger message than dirt in your face
