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's lips do indeed part to argue, only for a huff to leave them in its place, because it's no fun to bicker with Remi unless the other man is tangled obnoxiously against him. And so instead the Huntsman watches his husband from the comfort of the blankets as he potters about. Quite how Remi manages to make even domestic tasks look alluring he simply does not know (spoiler alert: it's his mighty fine ass), but Ronin takes full advantage of ogling while he's got the opportunity.
"He what?" he blurts, blinking back to himself as their son's name punctuates the air. Gingerly shifting to get up, Ronin manages to shuffle over to the table, but he does nuzzle into the side of Remi's neck for a kiss before he sinks down into his seat. "Why did he think that? I hope you corrected him," he murmurs, his brow furrowing. Whenever there's a miscommunication with their son, he can't help but feel it's because as parents they've forgotten to do something important.
Grinning like a fool, the pair looking almost like the picture of domestic bliss (until you noticed the mess of scars over each of them, the various trophies of war scattered casually about their little houseboat, and of course the wealth of power between them), Remi hums after his husband's kiss.
"Because we are terrible parents is probably the most accurate answer." He replies, sounding halfway between being sarcastic and unhappily truthful. "I think he thought he might hear news of what was happening if he was not in the Haven." Setting down the bowl before his husband, Remi shakes his head sadly. "He is quite worried that we will not come back." And honestly? He was right to.
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Wincing - because as right as Remi's words were, Ronin hates that they are true. He has never seen himself as a terrible parent, and yet in the throes of war with their adolescent son believing he has to stay among the fighting... it's difficult to avoid that painful fact. Grumbling a note of something as close to pain as it can be without receiving a physical injury, Ronin glowers into his soup and gives it a listless stir with his spoon.
"Gods, Remi," he whispers, suddenly not hungry at all as he gazes up at the other man. "If we do come back from this, we have to do better. We have to." It's fair to say that this is not the type of men they ever expected to be, but to still fail so consistently at something so fundamentally easy... it's shameful. "I am not ready to die yet. Not if these are the kinds of memories our children will have of us."
Were it anyone else, the Lullaby might have nodded and offered some plattitude like of course we'll do better, or it isn't all bad. But this was Ronin, and they might not do better at all, and it really was that bad. "I do not even know what it means to say that I always put my family above everything else, when this is all I ever manage." Remi says with a sigh, similarly looking down at his soup, though perhaps without quite so much despair as his counterpart.
"My only consolation is that we both had less than ideal fathers and still made it out alright, and at least we love Mateo more than they ever loved us." This was perhaps more true in Remi's case than Ronin's, but the Huntsman hadn't escaped childhood without his share of familial trauma.
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It must be serious for Ronin to abandon a meal, but that's exactly what the Huntsman does as he turns to draw Remi closer, aiming to pull the alchemist right into his lap at the kitchen table. "I'm not sure I want to think about it," he admits, winding his arms around the other man to nestle against his shoulder. "But you are right. We do love Mateo more than our fathers loved us. I just hope that counts for something in the longterm."
More than that, though, he hopes that they can make it out alive from this to find out what will happen in Mateo's future. And morose as that might be, all of a sudden that's exactly how Ronin feels, the Huntsman drawing all the warmth he can from the Lullaby in his lap, as if that might help to chase a chill from his bones that has nothing to do with the Eirachi's shrine. "I love you," he mumbles, dropping a kiss onto his shoulder.
Nearly dropping his soup, Remi quickly abandons it onto the table so that his hands are free to twine around his husband's shoulders as he's snagged. 'We can do better.' Despite having tried to steer himself away from saying precisely this, Remi finds the words spilling from his lips and into Ronin's dark flop of hair. 'We can.' Quite who this is meant to convince Remi doesn't know.
Pressing the pads of his fingers against Ronin's skull and rubbing out patterns that vaguely resemble ripples, Remi sighs and leans his forehead against his husband's. 'No one ever told us that this would be easy, and yet...I realize now I thought it would.' He mumbles on the heels of another sigh. 'Or at least...gods, but I never realized it would be so hard. So easy to screw up." Slouching against Ronin and doing his best not to let thoughts of last meals colour his thoughts too much, the Lullaby shakes his head softly.
"I love you more than anything I have ever known, and everything which is to come."
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"We can," Ronin agrees, complicit in their attempt to convince themselves of it all. His hands tease beneath Remi's shirt almost automatically by this point, his blue eyes slipping shut as he rests his forehead against his husband's. "I know what you mean. I just... it feels as though we're..." The words stumble on his tongue, Ronin shaking his head gently. "It feels like this is bigger than us. Like it should be someone else's job," he confesses.
And for him to say as much given their position in the world, the things they've seen and accomplished... it really does feel too massive to comprehend.
Still, if there's one thing Ronin can count on, it's the Lullaby's love, and Ronin shifts to press his lips against Remi's as if that might hold all the answers he's looking for. "If you love me, then love me," he whispers, his smile ever so slightly crooked as he parodies the words he's heard from his husband previously.
Ronin's anguish bites coldly where the Huntsman's hands wander across Remi's body, but Remi, unsurprisingly, leans into the touches all the more for the pain. It's what he--they--both deserve. They've faced far too many monsters in this life to shy away from the pain of parenthood. "I know." Remi agrees guiltily, the words coming out as barely more than a whisper. Selfishly he wants to argue that they should somehow get a pass on being absent in their children's lives given the magnitude of what has always been asked of them, but who would even hear them out? Mort? Vi? Gods who could quite literally keep the world running while finding time to be appropriately present?
The sound Ronin's kiss draws from the back of Remi's throat is like a whimper that's been thrown into a deep-fryer; it starts out low and keening only to hiss and harden. Where their skin touches, the Lullaby's emotions are a melting pot of indecision, anxiety, and lust that bubble and broil against one another until they're a bronze haze.
Sliding from Ronin's lap while being careful to never let his lips part from the Huntsman, Remi lets his hands slide from Ronin's hair to his upper back as he coaxes him to stand. Feeling the broiling mist of her bonded's emotions, Oria trills a warning to Sugar indicating that they should go somewhere else, for which Remi is distantly thankful.
who's got their claws in you my friend?
into your heart i'll b e a t again
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Rising to his feet is easy when he's being coaxed by warm, strong hands, and Ronin is more than practiced at ignoring his aches and pains for Remi. Their emotions are a tangle of regret and love that's as bittersweet as anything they've been through together, and the Huntsman finds himself wanting to press into it even though it hurts.
Sugar and Oria make their swift exit, and Ronin is already looping his arms back around Remi to back them up towards the bed. "Be gentle with me," he rumbles, smiling against their kiss and tugging them into the soft comfort of the furs and pillows. And even if it feels like this might be the last time, even if neither man wants to say it, it will take much more than an apocalypse can stop the Taliesins from their amorous activities.
