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!
i don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand
He's in the middle of the Sidhe Village, and it's on bloody but swift wings that Remi returns to the houseboat only to collapse into bed. Not wanting to leave Ronin asleep on the tundra, the Lullaby follows the beacon that is his husband, letting them wake up before the dreamworld could become too enticing.
Dark is the houseboat as it bobs cheerfully on Stonesong as spring melts rush ever onward in a constant flow. Sitting up, feeling dazed and unmoored, Remi glances over his shoulder only to realize that in his haste he'd both soaked and bloodied the sheets of their bed with his thoughtless collapse. Looking woefully sad about this for some reason, Remi tucks his bloody arm to his chest as he weakly rises. "I'll...I will deal with this if you want...to make us some tea, or...?" Tentatively phrased as if they're in the middle of some argument where circumstances have forced them to switch gears for a moment, Remi somberly swallows back a lump of blood and saliva and grimaces.
when everything's meant to be broken, i just want you to know who I am
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It's with a soft gasp that Ronin awakens, still feeling as though someone has rubbed his bones with glass and sand, but he's in his own bed with Remi, and that does more for him than he expects. Blood and soaked sheets aside, it still smells like home, and Ronin is naked (obviously) as he shuffles to sit up, rubbing at the side of his head. "Hmm...?" He feels like he's far away, at first, until Remi looks like he's trying to get up, and Ronin reaches for him on autopilot.
"No, wait..." Fighting feebly with the sheets, he shifts to sit behind the Lullaby where he won't accidentally knock his wounded side, slipping his arms around him and pressing his face into the crook of Remi's neck. "I love you," he whispers. "And today was weird, and dangerous, and it was scary for me. I'm not going to lie about that - we don't do that any more." And that's why this feels so important to say.
"But even if it's messy and even if things aren't tied up with a neat little bow, I still love you. Gods, I love you so much." Kissing the side of his neck, Ronin swears he'll let Remi go after a couple of moments. Just a few more.
i don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand
Ronin, who only moments ago had been worried about not being able to stop the Lullaby, stills Remi instantly. Feeling like some obedient animal who has been called to heel with the full knowledge that he's about to be whacked with a shoe, it's with a flinch of surprise that he feels Ronin's arms slipping around him. Tears, surprising and unbidden, slip silently down Remi's cheeks as he tilts his head slightly to press his cheek against the top of Ronin's head. "No, we don't." Remi agrees hoarsely, twisting as much as his wounded body would allow.
Ignoring the pain trying to bind him into certain ranges of motion, Remi turns, breathless but undeterred. 'I love you more.' He says through a shivery breath that might have been the beginning of a laugh or a sob. 'And I need you. If I could just...everything feels fine, when I can keep you top of mind.' Shifting with a groan that has his stomach tensing, Remi reaches his good hand around Ronin's bare waist to help stabilize himself as much as to keep them together. It was only when Ronin's brightness was overshadowed by blood lust or selfishness, that Remi found himself wandering down roads better left untravelled. Only in those moments was he reckless in the face of death, or with others.
"I don't want to be someone who makes you feel this way." He adds soberly, his fingertips growing delicate against his husband's side.
when everything's meant to be broken, i just want you to know who I am
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
11-21-2021, 10:04 PM (This post was last modified: 11-21-2021, 10:04 PM by Ronin.)
RONIN
the darkstar
light is easy to love.
Ronin helps, as much as he's able to without letting Remi go, and his arms settle around the other man again so he can lean in and press a bloody but warm kiss to his forehead. "We'll figure this out," he whispers, as if the admission from his husband is all he needs to pull himself together. "Maybe you and I can meditate under waterfalls or something." It's a feeble joke, and an even weaker laugh, but Ronin means it all the same.
Inhaling a shivering breath and reaching up to cup one of Remi's cheeks, he shouldn't feel relief to feel the wet streak of tears there, but something unknots inside him all the same. "The sheets can wait - we need to bandage up your arm. Do you think I ought to get in touch with Vai? I..." Wincing, he glances down at the injury. "It bit off your fingers..."
i don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand
Remi finds himself releasing the breath he's been holding, laughing without meaning to. "I'm willing to try, if you are." He agrees, imagining himself as a kraken and Ronin as a phoenix, both sitting miserably beneath a waterfall and wondering if they'd reach nirvana before lunchtime.
All too aware that if he let them lay down they'd likely not get up until morning, Remi instead sags against Ronin, relieved and hungry for the warmth of him. Raising his right arm, Remi tries to stretch his fingers straight and finds that he's unable. At some point his hand had relaxed into itself and now seemed unwilling to move. "I knew at the time that it had bit off part of my tentacle, I just..." He gives his head a slight shake. "I wasn't sure what it would mean for me." Turning his hand off to inspect the side where bone was clearly visible, he frowns.
'I don't know if I have it in me to see her tonight...but we can, if you think it will make a difference.' As far as he knew Vai couldn't regrow body parts, so if it was all the same, he'd much rather just collapse with Ronin.
when everything's meant to be broken, i just want you to know who I am
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
11-21-2021, 10:19 PM (This post was last modified: 11-21-2021, 10:19 PM by Ronin.)
RONIN
the darkstar
light is easy to love.
"Always," Ronin mumbles about being willing to try, pressing a bloody twin to the kiss he's just delivered to Remi's forehead. Neither of them are in particularly good shape, but Remi is arguably the worse off, and so Ronin is more than happy to take the weight of the alchemist as he sags against him. Vai is a good idea, but Ronin doesn't have it in him either to go traipsing out into the Greatwood right now, so he shakes his head to the other man.
"We'll patch you up for now, and see how things are in the morning," he suggests. "Though if you're desperate, you can always stamp on my foot really hard and I'll see if I can cry for you." He gazes, as well, at the bloody bone visible at the side of Remi's hand, and he resists the urge to reach out and kiss it; a gesture that he's sure the Lullaby would appreciate in its own macabre way.
"Come on - you sit at the table. I'll make some tea and get the medicine box down," he suggests, though it's his projection, feeble and flickering as it might be, that hops to it. And, because he has to before he can relax fully with Remi, "I'm going to have to go to Stormbreak at some point tomorrow, to check on Noah. Do you want to come with me?"
i don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand
"Better than that, I could always dip some untoasted bread in our wine and eat that in front of you. That's sure to make you shed a tear. Especially if it's our good wine." Remi muses, sighing appreciably at the second bloody kiss on his forehead and the way that Ronin always seemed to smell of home.
Nodding, though not making an effort to move just yet, Remi slumps that he might press his forehead against Ronin's shoulder. "I don't know. Ask me in the morning." Just now he wants to go if only to...what? throw a rock at Finn's window? Gods how little he cares about the Spyglass just now. But it was as he'd told Ronin: wrapped up in his husband's arms, everything was so much easier to deal with. "If I don't...tell Noah I am sorry. That I could have done better by him."
when everything's meant to be broken, i just want you to know who I am
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Not the good wine," Ronin whispers through a dramatic sigh, though he only holds Remi closer as his head comes to nestle against his shoulder. Behind them, his projection has dutifully stoked the woodstove to life and lit a couple of lanterns, bathing the houseboat in warm and comforting light. The smell of tea leaves fills the air as astral!Ronin prepares their cups and waits for the kettle to whistle, and a dull thunk sounds as the medicine box is deposited on the table.
"I will," he says, both to asking him and to apologising to Noah. "He did well, all things considered. I... we ought to have listened to him more, I think. He was suspicious that it was Wessex right from the start." Furrowing his brow, Ronin leads them over to the table where he can sit Remi down and examine his injured arm properly. "Gods, you never do things halfway, do you?" he teases, though the shine to his eyes gives him away.
i don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand
Running his tongue along the back of his teeth, Remi nods. "I suppose I should actually...meet him at some point." The alchemist says, of Noah. Thus far they'd only been around in relatively high-stakes situations which wasn't indicative of forming any sort of relationship. "It's hard to take someone seriously you don't know. But then...I suppose I hadn't been expected the ascended to start attacking us until after we'd found the relic." Remi adds, frowning. "Is that where we are now, in all of this? Just attacking each other onsight?"
With a hmphh of reluctance, Remi allows himself to be led toward the table, if only because Ronin was naked and there was little else that was so thoroughly distracting as that. "Would you have preferred I lost the whole hand, then?" The alchemist wonders with a smirk. In response to all the attention, his hand begins to throb, dulling some of the amusement in Remi's eyes.
"I feel tired, mostly." He admits, covering one of Ronin's feet with his own. "And annoyed that Neron, or Wessex, got away. It makes me want to stomp into the grounds and do something to her that she can't just redirect back at me." Remi adds darkly, but honestly.
when everything's meant to be broken, i just want you to know who I am
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I think you should too," Ronin says with a small smile. "He's got his head screwed on properly. I think if we can help him a bit, he'll be an even bigger asset in the future - and then you won't have so many people nagging you to do things," he points out, knowing all too well that freedom from Order bullshit was a top priority for his husband.
As for the Ascended, though? His smile fades away completely. "I'd like to think it was because of the situation," he says slowly. "Neron made the first attacks at Noah, and they've clashed in Halo before. And with the relic at stake..." He shrugs his shoulders. "But after tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if that is where we're at now..."
Shifting to better examine Remi's arm, Ronin can't help but wince as he gets to work dressing and bandaging it as best he can. The Lullaby is capable of some herculean feats of strength and endurance, so he knows that the risk of infection is low, but it would probably still be wise to have a healer look at it properly, whether that came in the form of Vai or Stormbreak's infirmary. "I'd have preferred that dinosaur kept its teeth to itself," he mutters.
Only straightening up when his projection sets down their cups of tea, Ronin dismisses his astral self and carefully ties off the bandage towards the top of Remi's bicep. "I was going to kill Kiada and Neron, if there had been a standoff," he admits very quietly. "I know - more than ever, now - what happens if you attack her directly. So I'd have gone for the ones she cared about." He smiles sadly, giving Remi a look that roughly translates to and I'm supposed to shine.
i don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand
Running his free hand up the side of his cheek that he might lean against it as Ronin works on his hand, Remi considers Ronin's point of view. "Because of what happened in Halo, I assume?" Maybe Noah and Neron had bad blood from something else, but given that failed take-over, Remi wouldn't have been surprised if Neron had taken advantage of the situation to lash out at Noah.
"Mmmm." Remi hums in agreement. "The water was so cold I didn't even notice at first. Had it been my left hand though..." He grins darkly, shaking his head. He'd have torn the dinosaur apart and drained the sea of glass to get his wedding ring back if the creature had the misfortune of biting off his left hand.
Grimacing as the bandage is tightened, Remi snarls approvingly at his husband's work, before the Huntsman's words smooth out his lips. "You were the dark star, before this after all." The alchemist says softly, not meaning to have ever implied that his husband was a less dangerous being for his dazzle. "Wessex has gotten stronger than when last I sparred with her...or maybe she was holding back then, I don't know. But I think there are ways of taking her out, that wouldn't kill us. Ways of binding her."
when everything's meant to be broken, i just want you to know who I am
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Mm, I think so," Ronin murmurs, planning on asking for further clarification when he gets to Stormbreak the following day. "And he really wanted Wessex dead." He doesn't know the ins and outs of the Halo coup, but he imagines that might also have something to do with it. Sighing and letting his shoulders sag a bit once he's finished mummifying Remi's arm, the alchemist will feel his husband's heart skip a beat as he realises the significance of the left hand-right hand situation.
He releases the other man at last, so he can take the cup of tea before him and take a long and grateful sip; it cleanses the taste of blood and fear from his mouth, replacing it with an aromatic sweetness. "I suppose it's silly to think that she and the others would stay the same while we were getting stronger," he mutters into his cup. "How would you bind her, though?"
i don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand
"Well..." Trailing off, Remi shakes his head. "I suppose there is no way we could have known they would have shown up at the same time." Exhaling a huff of air that helped to dry one of his curls on his forehead, the alchemist tilts his head slightly, reading Ronin's stuttered heartbeat as surprise. "Did you not think I would?" He asks with a wry smile. "Only I get to take off my wedding ring. And only in moments of absolute stupidity." There might be a good number of things Remi wasn't in a position to promise anymore—not to go on a murderous rampage, not to get himself killed, not to accidentally start a race war—but removing his wedding ring? That was easily done.
Looking at his arm, bandaged thickly and yet already slightly marred by blood, Remi lowers it as if planning on using it to reach for his cup. Thinking better and opting for his left, Remi frowns at the lack of dexterity but manages. Just.
"Easily, I would think." Setting his cup down and waggling his fingers until they became elongated and rubbery, he raises a brow. "If I can grapple a basilisk, I think I can hold onto Wessex." But even if he couldn't? If she teleported? "All it takes is one touch. And besides, as a spirit I can move without her being able to see me. And I can go into the Grounds."
when everything's meant to be broken, i just want you to know who I am
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
All of what Remi says has merit; how to get Wessex to keep still (whether physically or subconsciously), the strange collision of circumstances that led to the Ascended and the Old Gods crew arriving simultaneously at the Sea of Glass. But honestly, the only thing Ronin cares for in that moment is the ease with which Remi promises his commitment to what they both have, and its with cheeks flushing with warmth that the Huntsman sets down his teacup.
"C'mere," he murmurs, leaning in to let his lips brush against the alchemist's in a kiss that's nothing but heat and sweetness. He might be naked, and yes, normally that would definitely escalate things, but in the moment all Ronin wants is to wrap himself up in Remi's presence, in the safety of knowing that whatever else might have happened, they are safe tonight. "I love you. Shall we go to sleep for real, now?" he asks softly, brushing his nose against Remi's.
