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 has never prepared for a trip so meticulously before, especially given that he has no intention of staying in King's End for a particularly long time. Usually he and Remi set off on a wing and a prayer and hope for the best. Perhaps it's guilt that has him carefully folding and putting clothes into a bag, along with supplies, some ink and parchment and other wholly unnecessary items. The longer he takes to pack, after all, the longer it will take to set off.
And the longer it will be until he has to spill blood all over Sunjata's life.
Finally, though, there's nothing left to pack unless he decides to physically fly off with their houseboat on his back (and he's tempted), so Ronin heads out front to dawdle further make sure everything is secure and clean and ready for them to leave. It's as he's looking over the boat that he notices some moss and scum building on the prow, and well, they can't have that.
The Huntsman dilligently gets to work with a scraper, removing the green fuzz from the wood with slow and careful strokes.
i’m only a man in a funny red sheet i’m only a man looking for a dream
October's moans had followed Remi home, clinging to him in place of the shadow he no longer had. He heard the rise of her orgasm, felt it like someone pulling on individual strands of his hair. Only when Finn's own moans joined it did the alchemist find himself rooted in place, gasping and on the verge of throwing up. Gripping a tree just as October was, Remi clenched his eyes closed, feeling his blood run south only for it to congeal heavily in his stomach on the way. "Fuck." He groans unhappily, feeling dizzy and hot and cold all at once. Only when the couple climax together does the Greatwood have the decency to release Remi from its acoustic tricks, leaving him drowning in his own thoughts as he makes his way home.
Disoriented and pale, Remi stumbles out of the trees, not really seeing their houseboat. With eyes only for the man scrubbing at it, the alchemist pauses with his hands in his pockets and carrying none of the lichen that he'd gone to get.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Unaware of his husband's turmoil - or the fact that the houseboat's prow is clean and has been for some time - Ronin only pauses to look up when he feels the weight of Remi's eyes on the back of his head. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he turns to gaze out at the Lullaby, offering him an awkward little smile as if he can explain himself.
"I thought we should leave the place squeaky clean ready for when we get back?" he tries, before recognising the tell-tale signs of unease in the other man's posture.
"What's happened?" he wants to know, vaulting down to the riverbank and abandoning the scraper so he can approach Remi properly. "Come on, we'll go inside..." He reaches out a hand for him.
i’m only a man in a funny red sheet i’m only a man looking for a dream
He hears Ronin's words like the indistinct hum of the waterfall he'd just left, and it's only when the Huntsman nears that Remi's eyes focus on him properly. Shaking his head and leaning back slightly as if to reinforce his wish to stay outside, the alchemist numbly lets his hand be taken that his emotions might do the explaining for him.
Awash in the bright greys of distress are threads of bitter understanding and dawning horror. October's sentiments of Remi being a nightmare and a bad smell aren't verbalized, but are represented in garish splotches of red and brown. 'I...came upon October, and...Finn, on my way to the Cataract..' Remi begins to explain, his words disjointed as if the retelling was of someone else. "October, she...gods, she was furious." Shivering slightly the Lullaby finally raises his eyes, revealing them to be bloodshot and wounded.
"I've become so hated." But no, that wasn't quite it. "So hateable." He clarifies soberly.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It's a rarity for Ronin to ever want to pull away from his husband, but the feelings that warble out of him are sickening enough that the Huntsman has to think twice before drawing Remi closer. "Gods," he whispers, the piecemeal retelling knitting together with the emotions that flood through him to paint a fuller picture. "Hey... Hey, no. That's not true." Slipping his arms around Remi, Ronin doesn't try to keep the other man close if he doesn't want it, but he's there for him if he needs.
"October might be angry and she might be justified with it - this time - but that doesn't mean you're hateable, Remi." Furrowing his brow, he gazes into the Lullaby's eyes and reaches out to brush his fingers across his stubbled cheek.
12-21-2021, 06:46 PM (This post was last modified: 12-21-2021, 06:46 PM by Remi.)
remi
i’m only a man in a funny red sheet i’m only a man looking for a dream
Remi doesn't pull away, but nor is he out of his stupor enough to return Ronin's embrace. Instead, he'll feel stiff and lifeless in his husband's arms, despite the emotions pouring out of him. 'Isn't it?' He wonders, not meaning for the question to sound as rhetorical as it felt. "Sunjata, Nate...Phoebe was married without telling me. Isla won't speak to me. Ianto is gods know where, neither October nor Finn will look at me..Even Ludo has hinted that it's fed up with me." And that wasn't even mentioning those he would probably just consider acquaintances, who'd likely think of him as just a menace.
Trying to focus on the blue of Ronin's eyes and not the gray haze that threatens to envelope him, the alchemist shrugs helplessly. "Aside from you and perhaps our son and Vai—" So, family. "—I cannot think of a single person who genuinely likes me anymore. What does that say about me, if not that I'm unlikable?" It was his strength and his position of power that rendered him hateable, he thought.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin orbits Remi like a planet around a star; his hands smooth down across the Lullaby's shoulders and along the tips of his curls, and he leans in to press a warm kiss against his forehead. "Not only do I like you, I love you very, very much," he whispers, sending a pulse of reassurance and affection along the Attuned bond. Drawing back and brushing his nose against Remi's, he sighs out the next breath.
"I say this as kindly as possible... but when did you last try to be likeable?" He pauses and holds up a hand, aware that this might be taken very much the wrong way. "We've spoken about it a lot in the past. How it's difficult to care about the sorts of things that bother other people, these days. I know you've struggled, and it might make you come across as aloof. Distant, maybe. I didn't even think you cared about people liking you anymore."
i’m only a man in a funny red sheet i’m only a man looking for a dream
The familiar smell and feel of Ronin shining all around him did more than the alchemist could ever say when it came to dulling his edges and softening his hurt. Relaxing his shoulders and leaning forward to steal a kiss as the Huntsman's nose brushed against his, Remi pulled back enough to offer his husband a genuinely quizzical look.
"Try?" He repeats, dumbfounded. "I thought...do you try? I always just...thought you were likeable. That's just who you were." Frowning, Remi straightens slightly. "I suppose I thought that the person I had become was just...not someone they liked. I was fine with that. But it's the hating part. The you follow us around like a bad smell, part that I hadn't realized." It's hard to articulate the difference between passive not-liking and actively hating, and Remi finds himself huffing out a frustrated sigh and shaking his head.
"I...don't think I realized that you're supposed to try." He mumbles, itching at the back of his neck.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
12-21-2021, 07:34 PM (This post was last modified: 12-21-2021, 07:35 PM by Ronin.)
arms give away your need
His arms move around Remi properly as he feels him respond, Ronin sighing and holding him closer. "Mm...?" Drawing back from their kiss to raise his eyebrows down at the other man, he coughs back the laugh that threatens to form. "I'm sure some of it is personality," he murmurs. "Charm, a sense of humour, being able to tell stories and all that... But yes, of course I try. Learning to listen, to ask questions, to form friendships... it's just as important as being physically strong, right?"
One never knows where a connection might prove invaluable, where a good deed might be called upon later.
Letting his fingers tease through Remi's curls, his brow furrows. "You can always change it," he says. "If you know you don't want to be seen that way, you can do something about it."
i’m only a man in a funny red sheet i’m only a man looking for a dream
Previously the Lullaby would have shaken his head. No, it was not the same. Feelings were just that; they didn't impact on reality, not really. Not when it came to being decisive and logical. "But I can't just be charming." Remi argues, twisting his lips. "And I doubt having a sense of humour different to the one I have is going to make Isla or Finn hate me any less."
Feeling suddenly very and tired and small, Remi leans forward until his forehead is against his husband's. Closing his eyes he breathes in deeply, wondering not for the first time, if the pendulum of his personality might ever simply stop in the middle. "How?" He wonders. "I have never known how to be nice in a way that does not make me a push over, or easily abused. I don't know how to stand up for myself, especially not the way I am now, without it coming across as threatening."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Well, no," Ronin says with a smile that, of course, positively beams with all the charm he can muster. "Everyone is different, Remi. And you could be the most charming man in the world and some people still wouldn't like you. I have no doubt that I am very much hated by a few out there in the world, at least." He shrugs his shoulders, closing his eyes as he leans his forehead against the Lullaby's.
With Remi clasped close, suddenly things feel easier than they have any right to, even with the thorny issues that lay before them both. "Yes you do," he objects, leaning in for a sneaky kiss. "You stand up for yourself around me. And you are kind, and funny, and thoughtful and considerate as well. You know how to do it, Remi. I just... I think you stopped wanting to, for most people."
i’m only a man in a funny red sheet i’m only a man looking for a dream
Though he raises an eyebrow, Remi decides not to argue this point. He does however, very much doubt that there is anyone who properly hates Ronin, the way that Remi is hated.
Pressing an inappropriately long kiss against Ronin's lips, that, despite its length is free of tongue or teeth, the alchemist pulls back with a slow and mischevious smile. "Have you ever considered that I am all of those things with you, because I want in your pants all the time?" This of course is the truth, but not the whole truth. (Although...Remi's best friendships were also with people he was inclined to have sex with, so perhaps there were more than
a few parallels to be drawn).
Growing slightly more serious, Remi inhales softly. "It is true that I have stopped caring. But...is being nIcE simply because I don't like the feeling of being so despised, a good reason to do it?"
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin raises an eyebrow right back at Remi, though any remarks he wants to make are cut off by the kiss pressed against his lips. Leaning into the Lullaby's touch, it would utterly be a lie to say that the same couldn't apply to the Huntsman, and he shrugs as he parts from the other man. "I have considered it. You might say that we're not very different to... oh, every other relationship out there in the world? Except we're sexier and more gorgeous than all of them put together."
Scattering kisses along Remi's cheek, Ronin sighs out a laugh and lets his head loll against the Lullaby's shoulder. "Fake it until you make it." He grins. "Does it matter if it's a good reason? Does everything have to be so noble and far-reaching? You're a brilliant, handsome, awkward, intelligent, curious man who is incredible in bed and has a wit like a whipcrack." Ronin presses a kiss to Remi's neck for good measure.
"You're also strong as an ox, a tiny bit arrogant, and you've got a temper as black as sin. So if you want to be liked, you're going to show people all your good bits. On purpose." Get good at lying, Remi. Like me.
i’m only a man in a funny red sheet i’m only a man looking for a dream
"You say that, but so far from what I have seen, ours is the only relationship not to have ended in divorce or death." Ronin had died before they'd gotten together, for anyone about to object. Smirking, for a moment Remi forgets all about the words October had shouted at him and the pale look of disgust on Finn's face. Instead he thinks only of Ronin's terribly blue eyes and the way his husband seems always to taste of mischief and charm.
Chuckling at the smattering of kisses as well as Ronin's compliments, Remi rolls his eyes up at the treetops. "I think my skills in bed are probably less applicable if I'm trying to make friends." He muses, pressing the fingers of his good hand against Ronin's lower back. "Unless this is your way of asking for your hallpass back, in which case we are going to have a very different conversation." Smugly he tilts his head to press a kiss against Ronin's cheek.
"My good bits, mmm?" He wonders, thrusting his hips obnoxiously forward. 'Honestly, I am getting mixed signals here, Ronin.'
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
