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!
11-03-2021, 06:01 PM (This post was last modified: 11-09-2021, 05:44 PM by Ronin.)
RONIN
the darkstar
A Flowerbirth sun has peeped out after LongNight, and Ronin has no intention of being caught unawares this season by a tricksy Stonesong deciding to burst its banks. So he's pre-emptively going to try and mitigate the rains that are sure to fall. Does it partially have to do with the fact that he's currently living on the Stonesong? Perhaps. Either way he's there at its banks on a relatively dry day with tree saplings, flowers, sand and shovels, ready to go.
All he needs now are a few pairs of willing hands who don't mind getting muddy and or wet, and away they can go. For now, though, Ronin waits patiently and watches the racing current, absently chewing on a sprig of peppermint bark and enjoying the sun on the back of his neck, however weak it might be.
This is a Seasonal Event to brighten up Ronin's home territory of the Greatwood! Anyone who calls the Greatwood its home can join to fulfil the SE requirement, and if you don't care about the SE, you can join regardless!
11-04-2021, 12:14 AM (This post was last modified: 11-13-2021, 07:16 PM by Nephele.)
NEPHELE
down in the forest we'll sing chorus
Nephele has no real reason to visit the Stonesong yes she does she needs a PQ to level and part of the joy in doing so is the unplanned nature of it. While she doesn’t hate the cold, spring is undeniably the scientist’s favorite season; when all things grow and consume and change.
Of course being unplanned, it means she is empty handed when she ventures across their General. Hers, for a short time, before she’d had to stay her hand from killing the baby Ascended in the Grounds and realized her status as a Guardian only hindered her. They’ve yet to meet formally or intimately, but luckily Nephele doesn’t give two shits about that - descending through the barely budding branches to alight more than land at the demigod’s side.
Eyeing the shovels with a birdlike tilt of her head, Nephele cocks a hip. “Shovels usually require being held in a pair of hands to be of any help. Or is this your strange offering to the Morgen?” The quirk of her lips spells teasing, eyeing the demigod and scanning the beach for any he may have called to help him.
we are like birds of a feather, we are two hearts thrown together
Ronin's home territory?
Ronin's?!
From the sky descends a large hawk, pale in colour with startling green eyes. Fluttering onto Ronin's shoulder, the bird adjusts his talons just so, before stretching out its neck to snap the peppermint bark that the Huntsman had been chewing on, in two. I had thought you left to get us lunch. Remi remarks, clicking his beak next to his husband's ear with feigned maliciousness. Rather than biting him though, the hawk rubs his sleek face against the Huntsman's neck like some feathery-cat, before stretching out a wing in greeting to Nephele.
Trying your hand at some landscaping? Remi wonders, spying the assortment of tools and plants that Ronin has presumably gathered.
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.
They come from the sky, and Ronin smiles as he watches Nephele land first, followed by the familiar avian shape of his husband. Wincing at the beak that comes clicking against his ear, he leans into the silken feathery touch, reaching up with a careful finger to rub at the down around Remi's neck. It is nowhere near lunch time. I told you I had an errand to run first, he informs him, his amusement pulsing through the bond to both Fae and Lullaby.
"Well I am so glad you brought that up," he drawls to Nephele with a grin. "Since you're here, maybe you can grab one and help me out? You too?" Smiling hopefully up at Remi, Ronin bends to grab his own shovel.
The first round involves digging some holes for the tree saplings!
11-09-2021, 06:10 PM (This post was last modified: 11-13-2021, 07:16 PM by Nephele.)
NEPHELE
down in the forest we'll sing chorus
Nephele tilts her wing in intentional mimicry of Remi’s as it is extended in greeting, a reserved smile playing at her lips as she watches the men interact. For all they are godly, they are still like young boys to her, and as such inspire a strange endeared exasperation in her. It makes it easy to tease, and to be teased in turn as Ronin turns to her and sets her to task.
“I suppose my convenient presence can be put to use,” she sniffs haughtily, though the glimmer of amusement in her sharp eyes belies her willingness to help. Hefting the shovel, she wanders a few steps away to assess the earth and the roots from the trees further up the bank to determine the best places for new sprouts, and begins to dig.
Who are you and what have you done with my husband? Remi wonders, just as mischievously as his husband. It is never not near lunchtime with you. Unless of course it's near dinner or breakfast.
Fluttering off of Ronin's shoulder, the hawk lands on one of the shovels and pretends to try and lift it with his talons. He probably could have summoned the strength to do it if he'd really wanted to, but this was merely for show. Eventually, with a trill, the alchemist shifts back into his regular body, fixing his husband with a crooked grin.
"A new season, new holes to dig. I should not be surprised that this was your errand." The Lullaby remarks dryly, lifting his shovel with a practiced ease and sliding it into the soil.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It could very well be all of those things, Ronin informs his husband as they all take up their shovels, spreading along the bank of the Stonesong and beginning their work. And between them, whether they're using intuition and knowledge of the forest a la Nephele, or whether they are going in with brute force (likely a la Remi), the holes are dug with relative ease. That shouldn't really be a surprise given exactly who is working on it, and soon there are a row of neat placeholders for shrubs and saplings.
"Alright," Ronin pipes up, stretching out his back and swiping the back of his hand across his forehead, leaving a streak of dirt. "Let's get planting!" For the Huntsman's part, he goes for the heavier saplings, planning on interspersing them between the smaller shrubs and flowers.
Time to plant! Ronin has gone for the heavy saplings. There are also small shrubs and assorted flowers to plant as well!
Shooting an affectionate look towards his husband, Remi is grinning as he turns back to his holes which he's able to make with predictable ease. Straightening that he might crack his back, the alchemist turns an eye toward the saplings and various other things to be planted. Smirking at his husband's choice, Remi finds himself gravitating towards the shrubs rather than the flowers.
Duplicating himself that he might be able to create an assembly line using four of his hands, the alchemist begins to nestle the shrubs where he judges their roots will help fortify the bank, but also where they'll provide some visual relief to the flowers and saplings that Ronin has brought. Every now and then he pauses, raising a leaf or bush to his face, and simply inhales the earthen sweetness of it before continuing.
Remi duplicates himself and plants the shrubs!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Nephele is grateful that neither man seems inclined to busybody chatter. While she is far more partial to them in their godliness than the other humans, Nephele has never been the best conversationalist. And though she’s certainly not a gardener, she is a botanist, and that provides her with more than enough experience to plant the far more finicky flowers that are left to be chosen.
It’s easy in the mindless sense, labor aside. Hands gently scooping soil, fingers plucking seeds and starters with an easy repetition. It’s soothing, and the river’s song behind them fills the silence far better than conversation.
It does seem that sort of task, where conversation is not needed, and Ronin also welcomes the hush of the Stonesong and the whisper of the breeze through new leaves. He goes about his task with gusto, likely the same as his companions, though it's true that he does snatch a glance or two at his husband, if only to enjoy seeing him so at ease with the world. Suffice to say that it is not very often that either Huntsman or Lullaby gets to do something so comparatively mundane, yet huge in its significance to the Greatwood.
"It already looks great," Ronin remarks as he straightens up, swiping a hand across his sweaty forehead and leaving a streak of dirt in its wake, not that he notices. With clusters of shrubbery and flowers interspersing the saplings, the bank seems brighter and busier. "I was going to use sand to protect the worst spots - shall we get on that now?"
The next task is to stack some sandbags along the parts of the bank most likely to burst. We need TWO people to move the sandbags to the right areas, and ONE person to stack them! No post order!
"You already look great." Remi mumbles instinctively, making the words sound like an insult before seeming to remember that they weren't alone. Glancing up with a look of bashful surprise, the alchemist schools his mischievous expression into one of focus, clearing his throat and looking back at his work.
Dismissing his duplicate, the alchemist straightens and places his hands against his lower back. Leaning into them, his bones realign with a delicious crackle that has him sighing. "I don't see why not." Remi replies cheerfully enough, reaching down to retrieve an armful of sandbags and moving them as if they contained nothing more than feathers.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Though it's not her relationship to voyeur upon, Nephele snorts inelegantly all the same at Remi's childlike repetition in compliment of his husband. Shameless to have been caught listening even halfheartedly, the Meadowhawk brushes her hands off on her leggings and straightens, surveying the flowers on last time as Ronin's words filter in somewhere in the back of her mind. Nodding in satisfaction to herself, the Fae turns and tunes back in only to twist her face up in distaste at the mention of sand.
"Horrible stuff, sand. I'll leave the maneuvering to those with longer legs," she comments dryly, and flits over to begin stacking them as they're dropped into place by Remi. Flying while holding the bags sounds like a back ache waiting to happen.
Ronin, of course, would never draw attention to his husband's mischievous faux pas, and he smirks at the other man and nothing more as they get to their next task. "It is," Ronin agrees with Nephele about the sand, "but it can be useful if it's put to work in the right way." Which, with any luck, these sandbags will be. Between Remi and Ronin the work is laughably easy - though there was never any doubt about that - and they manage to heft and move all of the bags of sand to where they need to be.
In fact, both men are able to help out Nephele as well, such is their swiftness, and before long the banks are bolstered by sandbags and spruced up by foliage. Seeming quite proud of all they've achieved, Ronin stretches his arms above his head and nods. "I think we're almost done here," he says. "The last thing is a little messy, though. I was going to move some of the stones in the river up against the bank - I don't mind getting wet, but I might need a hand to get them in the right place!"
Last but not least - Ronin is wading into the Stonesong to move some larger stones from the riverbed up against the bank. Everyone pitch in however you like!
Nephele concedes Ronin's point with a twist of a smile and tilt of her crown, biddable for the moment. It's a good workout if nothing else, though her twin had always been the more physically fit of the two. Since earning Ludo's Rags, it seems she has been finding herself in far more physical roles, so the burn of muscle being used and built is strange but a necessary thing to adapt to.
The day ticks onward with far less drudgery than the Meadowhawk anticipated, which is more a compliment of the men around her than the work itself. "Shall you joke about his wetness as well?" Nephele snipes playfully at Remi, grinning as she flits over to the bank on lazy wingstrokes, ready to take the stones from Ronin's hands here and there to make the trips shorter, flying them over to the bank to settle them by hand.
