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!
How do I learn my dreams to mold To lay them bare in the morning cold?
Remi doesn't like that this is happening in a bar. He tries not to think about how it feels both too casual and too intimate all at once. He tries not to think about the Launceleyns or how alike Neron and Loren once looked, but how even now, he'd bet the blue of their eyes was the same. Remi thinks only of the heartbeat ring on his finger, and the long and lasting kiss he and Ronin had shared before the pair had parted. He thinks of starbright eyes and the promise that after, they'd flee across the tundra. Perhaps they'd kill something on the way to the hot springs.
Opening the door and having not decided between trying to look intimidating or if he should blend into the shadows, Remi merely stands for a moment while his eyes adjust, kicking the door closed behind him. Spying Neron behind the bar is enough to turn his stomach, though that might equally have been the stench from a local hunting party who'd entered just before him. Setting his jaw and shoving his hands into his pockets, the alchemist makes his way toward the barm hovering awkwardly like some teen who was too nervous or shy to butt in and give their order.
If they're still out there then the chasm grows For all you know, for all you've known
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Unlike Remi who, despite being leader of the Greatwood still found time to take a jaunt here there and everywhere, Neron still has a job to do. So yes, this is taking place in a bar. And the Launceleyn has been watching the door for days now (not that he would admit it to anyone, not in a thousand years), waiting for the Lullaby to make his entrance. And when he finally does, it's remarkably understated.
Glancing up only briefly - Neron is serving ale to a few patrons, his black shirtsleeves rolled to the elbows and his fair hair boyishly tousled, as usual - it's a few minutes more before he can saunter his way over to Remi, feeling unfairly glad for the bar between them. (Not that it would do anything at all).
"What can I get you?" he asks with a slow smile. "I like to wine and dine first. It is only polite."
How do I learn my dreams to mold To lay them bare in the morning cold?
Looking out of place despite the Kraai being full of muscley-men with expressions just as stern as Remi's was, the Lullaby nonetheless seemed to stick out despite his lowered eyeliner and hunched shoulders. Rubbing at the ring on his finger as Neron approaches, Ronin will feel Remi's pulse stutter uneasily as the Hailstorm has the nerve to sound casually charming. Loren had never been charming, though the things Loren hadn't been was enough to fill a book.
Glancing up sharply, Remi is torn between wanting to get a measure of this particular Launceleyn but also wanting nothing to do with him. Inhaling deeply enough to make his nostrils flare, the Lullaby gives his head an angular shake. "I don't think so." Glancing over Neron's shoulder and wondering how to ask for somewhere more private without making it sound as though he were here for some lusty rendezvous, the alchemist returns his stare to the man before him. "Unless you want claw marks in your bar, I'd suggest we go somewhere else for this."
If they're still out there then the chasm grows For all you know, for all you've known
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"No? Suit yourself - I am quite good at wining and dining," Neron laments. Without a pulse, it's impossible to tell whether or not it would be hammering in his ears or stuttering in the presence of the Lullaby, but despite his charming exterior, make no mistake that he knows the deal here. And it's terrifying in the same way that the Longnight monsters had been terrifying (twice), in the same way that the giant frozen dinosaur had been terrifying.
But here they are. And Remi wants to go somewhere more intimate. Gesturing at the bar - where there is no shortage of claw marks - he gets the feeling that won't be good enough for Ludo's demigod. And so, rolling his eyes half playfully, Neron straightens up and gestures for the other man to follow him. "If you do want anything, the shelves are yours to peruse."
How do I learn my dreams to mold To lay them bare in the morning cold?
"Liquor works about as good on me as it would on you." The Lullaby remarks dryly, and though he'd happily take the burn of something dark and warm, he also wasn't intending for this to take any longer than it had to.
Trying to notice as little about Neron as he possibly could as they meandered away from the front of the bar and presumably to some stock room or back office, Remi makes a fist with his left hand that he might feel Ronin's pulse all the more clearly. It was a good deal slower than his own, which was both reassuring and maddening.
Pulling out a vial with his ruined right hand, Remi rolls it against his palm. "I know how this works." He says in a low voice that makes his cheeks burn with guilt and uneasy anticipation. "I would advise you not make it last any longer than I needs to." For both their sakes.
If they're still out there then the chasm grows For all you know, for all you've known
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Neron does check whether or not Remi takes him up on the offer, and although what the other man says is true - he hasn't been drunk in so long - he'd have also liked something to take the edge off if possible. It's a stock room that he leads them into, cooler than the bar area and stacked with crates and boxes, and the Hailstorm shuts the door behind them to maintain some privacy.
Hopefully if he's gone for too long, someone will poke around and find his body.
"Noted," Neron murmurs, ruffling a hand through his hair and arching an eyebrow at the vial. "You first," he says, motioning for the other man's wrist. "If I'm going to get my head ripped off and my blood drained - potentially - I'd like to know it was worth it first."
12-06-2021, 07:45 PM (This post was last modified: 12-06-2021, 07:49 PM by Remi.)
the lullaby
How do I learn my dreams to mold To lay them bare in the morning cold?
Though the request makes the alchemist press his teeth together hard enough to make them whine, he had expected as much from Neron. Of course, Remi could decline and there would be nothing for Neron to do. But he had offered this as a trade, and he supposed it was only fair that it be done this way. That, and it wasn't as though post-bite he was going to be in a good headspace to remain.
"I don't drain blood." The Lullaby says mildly, pushing back the jacket he wore to reveal his wrist. There were several layers bundled against Remi's skin to prevent any sort of contact other than through his wrist. "And you're too full of metal to eat, anyway." So saying, he gently sets the vial down if only so he didn't shatter it in his grasp. Holding out his hand, palm up, the Lullaby bites the inside of his cheek and turns his head over his shoulder and away from Neron. Already his pulse had quickened and he hated the frozen swirl of adrenaline and anticipation that had begun to churn in his stomach ever since Neron closed the door behind them.
If they're still out there then the chasm grows For all you know, for all you've known
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Maybe not on an average day, but you came here for my blood, and I doubt it would bother you if you took a little more than that vial." Or wasted most of it on the floor of the stock room, leaving it to freeze. "Don't knock it until you try it," Neron says of eating, running his tongue across his teeth and tilting his head as Remi's wrist is revealed. "Ah, keeping it business like," he laments, reaching out to grasp his hand, drawing it up.
Layers or no layers, his teeth are still going to make contact with the Lullaby's skin, and they all know what comes after that. "Alright. Let's not go starting any wars, now," he mutters. Code for don't kill me, please. And Neron doesn't waste any time, his lips pressing to Remi's wrist, and a moment later, his fangs slipping into his blood.
And it's like a whipcrack of ecstasy; the Hailstorm doesn't know whether it feels better than usual, to drink from a demigod, but gods, it feels good. Humming a note of pleasure and need, being quick has entirely escaped his notice.
How do I learn my dreams to mold To lay them bare in the morning cold?
Breathing in deeply to try and dissuade his tongue from answering the ascended, Remi flinches as Neron's perfectly temperature-controlled fingers wrap around his wrist. Trying to block the frosty stream of emotions he feels—the fear that comes in wary slices from Neron has the hairs on the back of Remi's neck standing up—before it all ceases to matter.
Remi's moan is instant and low. Part of him knew he'd succumb to this more quickly than he'd like, and yet still he feels betrayed by his body. Already the urge to turn toward Neron and draw him against something solid has Remi's fingers twitching, keenly able to anticipate exactly what it might feel like. The cocktail of the ascended's bite has the Lullaby's eyes rolling back into his head as his lips part; desperately he tries to recall the feel of his husband's parting kiss against his lips. It helps as much as it hurts, as the blood rushing south begins to descend in earnest.
Breathing in jerky intervals, Remi's mangled fingers are suddenly tipped with claws that curl toward Neron's cheek as he drinks. The muscles of the alchemist's bicep shake slightly with the effort to remain still, but even so, his wrist rises needlessly breaking more skin against the hybrid's fangs.
If they're still out there then the chasm grows For all you know, for all you've known
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
In the back of his mind, Neron knows he ought to step back. He's done it before - this isn't his first rodeo, not by a long shot - but he has never been in a situation quite so exquisitely dangerous before. For all of the monsters he's faced (accidentally or othewise), this could be he closest he's danced with death, and it comes in the form of claw tipped fingers very nearly against his cheek.
Remi pushes his wrist further against his teeth and Neron complies, because of course he does, and if he angles himself closer to the other man, it's through no fault of his own (or so he tells himself). But eventually, of course, the creeping sensation of getting too close starts to bristle at him, and he drags himself away from Remi with a muted grumble of frustration. "There."
How do I learn my dreams to mold To lay them bare in the morning cold?
As Neron pulls away, the Lullaby instantly invades the space the ascended had tried to create. Should the other man retreat farther, he'll find Remi less than a step behind. The same height but of remarkably different builds, it's with shallow but quick breathes that Remi regards Neron through pale eyes that are still partially unseeing, but full of deadly desire.
The traitorous feeling of arousal pressing against the front of Remi's pants has begun to grow tendrils, one of which had already slithered up Remi's spine to grasp the back of its skull, whispering its demands into his ear. Simultaneously it has him imagining the ease with which he could break Neron's neck with one hand, but also what it might look and feel like to see those chilly blue eyes looking up at him from between his legs.
Tilting his head slightly to the side as if to kiss Neron or perhaps utter a warning or a threat, Remi reaches for the Hailstorm's wrist. Rather than pressing his teeth into the ascended's skin, instead the Lullaby extends a single talon to draw a neat line across the other man's wrist. Never do his eyes move from Neron's.
If they're still out there then the chasm grows For all you know, for all you've known
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
12-06-2021, 08:52 PM (This post was last modified: 12-06-2021, 08:52 PM by Neron.)
Neron
It is like a dance, the way Neron steps back and the way Remi prowls in his wake. Only when he feels a crate press against his spine and shoulders does he realise that there's nowhere left to go, steel blue meeting seafoam green. And the Hailstorm knows that to look away right now would be to submit and to die, from one predator to another.
He doesn't feel the talon against his wrist but his body registers it nonetheless, and Neron swallows hard. His lips are still stained red, he has no idea where the vial is that Remi is supposed to use to catch the fluid, and he still sort of wants to kiss the Lullaby, or bite him again, or ask him to please not rip out his throat.
"Any time you like," he all but purrs under his breath, referring to the fluid dripping from his fingers. Probably.
How do I learn my dreams to mold To lay them bare in the morning cold?
The skin around Remi's nose and upper lip twitch in response as if he isn't sure whether or not to snarl or speak. The vial is behind them, somewhere, forgotten in the haze and haste of the moment. Selfishly Remi thinks of Isla as his body prevents Neron from moving, wishing that it could be the Remedy before him, while also knowing exactly why it couldn't—and shouldn't—be her.
Not wanting to turn his back on Neron for a multitude of reasons, Remi instead raises one of his hands to reveal a nearly identical glass vial. He'd worked with them often enough that conjuring one from his memory was easy, even in this state of mind. Lowering it to where Neron's fluid was dripping in lazy tributaries down his wrist and onto Remi's fingers, the Lullaby adjusts his grip that the vial might catch the silvery fluid. Pressing his thumb into Neron's skin to encourage the flow, Remi considers something for a moment before cocking his head slightly to the side.
"The things I can do...I can feel everything someone is feeling just by touch." He whispers, his fingers tightening around Neron's wrist as he leans forward. "The things you can learn about a person..." The corners of Remi's lips edge dangerously toward a smile, or the shape of a kiss perhaps. "Go on. Give it a try."
If they're still out there then the chasm grows For all you know, for all you've known
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Unblinking and silent, Neron is aware of the vial, of the thumb pressing into his wrist, but he never breaks his gaze with Remi. Now that the sensations crackling through his sensors have died down, it is easier to see the danger for what it is, easier to know how backed into a corner he is. And yet the offer, when it comes, it a tempting one, the Hailstorm's bloody lips parting and his head tilting back slightly to regard Remi with lazy blue eyes.
"And use the gift you so generously just gave me?" he almost whispers. "I would prefer not. Or did you think me stupid?" His hand closes into a fist, muscles tensing to indicate that the other man has collected sufficient fluid from him, thank you very much. "I have a bar to run, if you wouldn't mind."
