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!
It hadn't taken much effort to request and approve a bonfire during Longnight. As a woman who had briefly lived in Torchline, she sometimes misses the beach fires and the drinking and music that heralded the sunless days there. Given Halo's obsession with fire, why not combine the two?
Hotaru had utilized her magic to help the flames grow to the peak they now occupy, consuming the massive pyramid of logs and tinder with an avarice that draws the eye. Even with its greed, it will take hours for the wood to be burned through, and Hotaru finds she doesn't mind the wait.
Sitting alone just within the fire's glow, the Valkyrie stares unfocused into the flames, silent and lost somewhere in memories. The red hues tint her golden hair, and the glow brings life back to skin gone pale away from the sun. Though there are no monsters now, there is still so much loss to mourn and reminisce over.
Hotaru
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
A lifetime of habit still kept many indoors at LongNight; memories of the killing cold that used to stalk the streets ingrained too deeply into the elder generations for them to easily step out into the Dark. But there were many - younger folk, those from other regions, Outlanders - who had taken to the last few years of protection with relish and moved between the homes of friends and families and those few businesses that had begun to open their doors even through the last week of the year.
One such man ghosted silently over the snow, his path unmarked by torch or lantern but guided by the Goggles that rested over his eyes. There was no announcement of his presence until a covered mug of something hot and sweet (cocoa with a strong dash of cream liquor) descended in front of Hotaru's face a heartbeat before a friendly croon rumbled out and a scaly head tried to nose under her hand for scritches or treats.
Boreal wasn't picky as long as she got one or the other.
A little tipsy and deeply mesmerized by the flames before her, Ru startles when a mug interrupts her line of sight, stray hairs rising as her oldest and most familiar magic reacts in the early beginnings of self defense. Relaxing when she looks up the arm to find Talyson, the Valkyrie gives a small smile and takes the mug gratefully, sniffing at it curiously before taking a sip and sighing a small sound of contentment. Meanwhile her other hand smooths over Boreal’s scaly head, scratching idly behind the jaw and the crest of her brow.
“I was hoping for someone I could take to bed, but you’ll do - this more than covers the fee of scaring away any suitors,” Hotaru remarks dryly, motioning with the cocoa to emphasize it. Clearly it was meant to be more of a teasing phrase, something to make Tal make a face or blush, but there’s a wooden tone in her voice that reveals it was more frank thank she would have had him believe.
Some habits die hard. Chasing her misery away by pretending to be cherished by someone for a few hours is a vice Ru can’t kick.
Hotaru
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
"Anyone scared off that easy ain't worth your time," Tal scoffed unrepentantly as he settled beside the Valkyrie. He sipped from his own mug and leaned companionably into her shoulder from one side while Boreal made happy little grumbles and rolled her head against the other hip, pressing into the fingers that knew all the best spots to soothe itchy scales.
If Hotaru was hoping for a blush she'd have to try harder than that tonight. Being outside and the anonymity of the dark had relaxed the courier and he was more at ease than he'd been in awhile.
Still, he cleared his throat with a hint of his usual social awkwardness as he rested his mug on his knee. "Hey. So uh. You an' Remi aren't... y'know. Together anymore, then?"
The easy acceptance is unexpected, evidenced by the pale brow that rises in almost appraising pride, casting deeper shadows over her eyes from the firelight kissing her brow. “Couldn’t say it better myself,” she murmurs, half-hidden in another long sip of her drink. The cream liquor is a subtle warmth instead of a burn in the back of her throat, and heats her from within. Talyson’s body warmth as he leans into her shoulder is the last piece of the puzzle, enveloping the Valkyrie on all sides with heat and support.
Whether it’s the buzz she has going or the hilarity of the question alone, Hotaru snorts a laugh and hides it by turning her face into Tal’s neck. “Oh, my. No. No, no, no.” Shaking her head she turns her face back to the fire, resting her head atop Tal’s. “Remi’s heart has only ever belonged to Ronin. What happened between us was purely physical, and a rather grievous mistake. Though we don’t talk much anymore, he is my friend - nothing more.” And he never was, and never would be, anything more.
Turning her face to the glittering sky above with a pained smile that she tries to pass off as wry, the Valkyrie huffs self-deprecatingly. “No, I…haven’t been with anyone romantically in a very long time. Not since Sunjata and Nate. And that ended in a surprise goddess-child, pyromanic grief, and having my companion killed.” Her hand tightens slightly on Boreal’s back, spasming with grief. Her voice doesn’t waver, but as Ru’s eyes fall back to the fire, she marvels at how people always feel they know her so well.
They never even know half.
Hotaru
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Tal grinned to himself, enjoying the sweetness of his drink and the chance to catch Hotaru a little off guard for a change. He wasn't able to let a good thing last, however, and since he had a moment of privacy with the Valkyrie he plunged right into a question that had been bothering him since...
Well, since Flora had revealed that Ru and Remi were her parents, back before the War. There hadn't been a good time to ask before and in truth tonight still wasn't particularly good for it, but Tal figured it was now or never.
And boy, was he in for a doozy of an answer.
He froze as Ru nestled against him, but the warmth of her laughter kept his reaction from being anything other than surprise at the sudden physicality. Muscle by muscle and word by word he slowly relaxed again until a pale, perfect face tilted up to the stars and he exhaled slowly, trying to pretend like she wasn't hitting back with a cross, a jab, and a surprise hook as the revelations just kept coming.
It was the last, though, that had his arm circling her shoulders and pulling her closer to his warmth even as Boreal crooned softly and wriggled her broad head into Hotaru's lap, looking up at her human friend with pale, sad eyes.
"Shit, Ru. I didn't know..." Half? He barely knew a tenth of it. If that. Without a free hand to rub his neck he could only take a gulp of his cocoa and swallow hard. "Sorry. Put my foot in it again, huh?"
Boreal’s head is more than welcome on her lap, and one hand strokes lightly around the dragon’s cheek and behind her head in soothing motions, comforting instinctually even as the dragon tries to do so herself.
“Many don’t,” she murmurs simply, absolving him of any guilt he may feel, and pointedly doesn’t mention that her first companion had not arrived with her when Helovia burned and The Voice took her. Instead she squishes the cup in her left hand down between her thighs in order to free one hand, using it to reach and squeeze Tal’s knee comfortingly. “If you’d ‘put your foot in it’ as you say, I wouldn’t have answered. Your bluntness is refreshing; it’s why I like you.” So she tries to use it herself in this moment to say so, in honor of him. Or maybe it’s just the alcohol loosening her tongue.
“Though perhaps tonight you’ve soured my bad habit of finding love in the wrong places; reminding me of Remi and all. So take my praise with a grain of salt.” It’s clear by the way her shoulders shake against his that Ru doesn’t mean it seriously - if she returns to an empty bed tonight she won’t have the heart to sleep at all - but it also vaguely strikes her as sad (likely due to the alcohol again) that even these most heart wrenching topics can’t make her truly hurt anymore. They are just another deep, gnarled scar amidst the multitudes. It’s almost a comfort to press against them and feel only the smallest ache.
Hotaru
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Hearing that he was one of the 'many' who didn't really know the Valkyrie wasn't particularly comforting, but Tal figured it was fair enough since he'd been the one to bring up a painful topic. He cleared his throat and started to duck his head but Hotaru's hand found his knee and her unexpected compliment - ...? Ish? He was going to take it as one, at least - startled an amused snort from the courier. "'Refreshin'' ain't what most people call it," he admitted, but with a grin.
"An' anyways, salt's expensive," Tal protested smugly. "I'll save it for cookin' with." He hesitated for a moment, then squeezed her shoulder awkwardly. "An' no one's sayin' y'have to go home alone tonight, anyways. Wouldn't be. Um. The first time I've spent the night." His voice was gruff with self-conscious awareness of how his words might be taken, and there was a flush of tell-tale pink at the tips of his ears as he tilted his head up to look at the featureless black sky above where the rising sparks of the fire made brief-lived stars. "If y'don't mind us just sleepin' togeth- uh, next to each other, I mean."
Boreal's tail thumped quietly in the snow behind them but otherwise she was still; a warm, quiet weighted blanket of a dragon that curled around Ru and Tal. A soft rumble escaped her broad chest as clever fingers soothed her cheek, a bass whimper of approval as she let both humans know that they were loved.
"And I am not 'most people'," she replies primly, as dismissive as it is queenly. The goal of life to Hotaru was not to be liked, but to achieve your goals. Talyson's honesty and social blindness is as intriguing as it is novel for the Valkyrie.
His arm around her shoulder squeezes in a strange spasm that brings her alertness sluggishly to the fore. Snorting her amusement her mug, she lets him simmer in the awkwardness for the length of time it takes her to take another deep swallow of her cocoa. "Of course I don't mind. Not exactly the bed sharing I had in mind, but I suppose one must make do sometimes." Her touch starvation would be mildly reprieved, even if that old ache she despised calling a desire for love remained behind. Lolling her head onto his shoulder as her hand continues petting Boreal's cheek, the Valkyrie closes her eyes. "Shall we, then?" No sense in lingering if she was going to be abandoning the hunt before it even began.
Hotaru
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Oh, so Tal was a most people, but Ru wasn't? Figured. The courier huffed and tried to get annoyed by it but it was no use. Between the boozy cocoa, relaxed companion, and a good friend snuggled against his side he just couldn't muster a proper pout.
His blush didn't fade under her light teasing but he relaxed into a grin as she accepted his awkward offer. "Aw, c'mon, I'm not that bad at cuddling!" he protested playfully. Neither he nor Boreal were in any particular hurry to get up, and he rested his cheek on her hair for a few minutes longer while he finished his own drink.
Halovian-born as he was, Tal waited until a curious passerby stopped to enjoy the fire and passed its tending over to them before he tucked in beside Hotaru and accompanied her home. Boreal was perfectly happy to curl up in front of her hearth, leaving the bedroom to the humans, where Hotaru wasn't the only one to find some relief from her touch starvation in the comfortable embrace that followed.
