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's true that Ronin's current emotional occupation is that of a porcupine, and Remi is the most upstanding gentleman in his eyes (he's seen the Lullaby in a wedding suit, after all), and so he doesn't dignify the remarks about the Valkyrie with a verbal response. He does, however, sneak in to blow a raspberry against Remi's cheek. "Either way, I suppose we should just be grateful that Tal is not going to be eaten alive," he says by way of closing that subject down. Eaten alive. You know. By a harpy. The harpy that is Hotaru.
"It makes sense, in as much as it possibly can," he murmurs, giving his husband a reassuring squeeze as if to persuade him not to stress about it too much. The memories were gone and so, apparently, was Varus, so any hazy peripherals should at least stay dead and buried where Remi is concerned.
More than happy to let their people watching move on, Ronin relaxes against his husband and snorts out a laugh, reaching for the bottle on their table to take a hearty swig of his own. "What do you mean? You think Phoebe needs a bit of rough in her life?" he asks. "I reckon she'd give as good as she got."
Flinching slightly, but only in surprise given the relatively childish nature of the gesture, Ronin will feel Remi suddenly bright with joy and love. "Is that so?" Remi wonders mischievously. "Should I be jealous at all of just how protective you seem to be over the Messenger? I daresay you'd snap him in half if you tried even half of the things I know you like.." Jealousy and a boyish sexual interest flourish in equal measures within the Lullaby as he imagines, or tries to, what escapades Ronin and Talyson might get up to. It's really just a fumble of hands before even his imagination fails utterly at conjuring a plausible mashup of the two men together.
Shrugging agreeably enough, content to let the ghosts of ghosts fade away if Ronin declared them not worth chasing after, he set his sights on Phoebe with a smirk. "Yes, but she might have better luck with someone she can't get so attached to." From Emmett to Sunjata, to Harper...In Remi's humble opinion, the former midwife could probably benefit from a bit of carefree pleasure in her life. Alas, he certainly wasn't going to be the one to suggest it to her.
"And...that?" Nodding toward where Paige had her arms around Mateo, Remi tries to keep the judgment out of his voice even if he was unable to keep it from colouring his emotions. 'I wonder if he is taking after you..?" Which was just to say being bisexual. No part of Remi, especially with his memories of Isla gone, could imagine their son not being a little gay.
I'll stay here with you Until this dream is gone
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Given that I know what you like - and that I know what you are like, you'd still be jealous even if I told you there was nothing to worry about," Ronin counters, and if Remi is feeling bright, then the Supernova becomes bright in turn, his dazzle softly illuminating their little corner of the bar. "Either way, I'm all yours." Equally as boyish and trying to school his fingers from trying to sneak beneath the collar of Remi's shirt, Ronin instead takes another long pull from the bottle before offering it out to his husband.
"Oh, that is a good point. I hadn't considered it," he admits, gazing between Jack and Phoebe as if expecting sparks to suddenly start flying, or for the two to disappear into a backroom somewhere for a quickie. "You ought to pass her a note telling her to go for it," he says with a grin; not that he expects Remi to leave his side, but with both men possessing duplicates, anything is possible. (Especially the sorts of things Remi knows Ronin likes).
But their attention moves on, and Ronin can't help the warm laughter that spills from his lips as his gaze lands on their son. "What about that?" he inquires. "And of course he is taking after me. Look how charming and confident he is." Nudging his husband, he considers the couple for a moment before shaking his head softly. "I'm pretty sure they're high," he admits.
"Listen," Remi objects, despite knowing that Ronin was absolutely correct. "Non è colpa mia se credo che non ci sia una sola persona qui che non ti accoglierebbe a braccia e gambe aperte. Inoltre, non è colpa mia se il pensiero di uccidere chiunque lo farebbe mi eccita." He continues, the words a vibrant and dark melody from his lips as the Lullaby describes just what it was he'd do should those around them welcome Ronin into their beds with open arms and legs.
Accepting the bottle, the mouthful Remi takes would likely have caused a lightweight like Everest Hart to pass out; for the Lullaby though, it just burns pleasantly and makes his nose feel a touch numb. "Should I? Perhaps I will just start a rumour that she likes him and he likes her, and let the grapevine do the rest." He drawls, his smile as boyish as his suggestion.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Remi starts as Ronin points out what an idiot should have been able to see clearly. "They're..?" Leaning forward slightly as if being two inches closer would reveal some hidden truth about his son's state of mind, Remi leans back with a huff. "I do not like that." He complained grumpily, knowing full well what Mateo was like and that being socially high was the least of their son's vices, but that didn't mean he wanted to see it.
So, turning to Ronin suddenly, Remi presses his lips against the huntsman's as if in doing so he might blot out everyone and everything of which they'd just been speaking.
I'll stay here with you Until this dream is gone
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Listen, Remi hisses to him, and so Ronin absolutely does, only for his husband to pull out the dirtiest trick in the book. Breath hitching in a shaky inhale, the Supernova does his best to watch the crowd rather than imagine the what the music rolling from his husband's tongue would sound like from between his legs, or muffled by the press of a mattress. The travelling tongue is to Ronin what an antidote is to poison; providing, of course, that said antidote also made one horny and impulsive.
"Starting rumours, now? And you said you weren't practiced in the art of being social," he drawls, and though the words still make sense, the low rumble of the Supernova's voice indicates that his attention is only half there at best. Indeed, now it's Ronin's turn to perform his best impression of The Witcher, because although he really does care about Remi's feelings on their son's recreational decisions, the Lullaby has just raised the stakes beyond a point where he can keep up.
As a result, while the way Remi turns towards him might very well be sudden to all those watching (and shame on them for spying if so), Ronin makes it seem like a well choreographed dance with how he melts into the kiss pressed to his lips. He doesn't quite pull the Lullaby into his lap, and the moan that thrums from his throat is lost in the crowd and the music, but he's no less enthusiastic for his relative self-control.
"I never did say that, actually." Remi replies in a low voice, the words coloured by the barest hint of a smirk. "Once upon a time I was a charming if not incredibly awkward alchemist, you may recall." It was quite a few years ago now, but there had been an iteration of Remi before daughters and deaths and demigods that saw him as quite the conversationalist. Nowhere near Ronin's level of charm but nearly unrecognizable to the man Remi was today. Save perhaps, for moments like this.
With sudden and ferocious intentionality, Remi cups the curve of Ronin's jaw the way he might cup his thigh, and the forceful care with which is tongue meets Ronin's own is every bit as passionate as it would be elsewhere. "Non ho idea di cosa intendi." Remi whispers back. The green of his eyes glimmered all the more vibrantly for the golden dazzle brimming from Ronin's shoulders and the scarlet blush on his cheeks. Reaching for Ronin's hand, Remi surreptitiously tugs it into his lap, pressing the flat of his husband's palm up where the tenting of his pants couldn't be blamed on the position of the fabric alone.
"Why don't you be the tease, then?"
I'll stay here with you Until this dream is gone
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Once upon a time?" Ronin whispers, his words warped by the smile on his lips. "You are still a charming if not incredibly awkward alchemist to me. Maybe you ought to practice it in front of other people more often." Not because it might help Remi ease back into being social - though if that's a happy side effect, so be it - no, Ronin just wants to watch the Lullaby interact with others. He wants the sort of smile that only shows one dimple, wants the way he bites at the inside of his cheek when he's deep in thought or the way his eyebrows pinch together when he's puzzled.
And of course it's true that Ronin gets all of that already, but there's something more about seeing it as an outsider that makes the Supernova all the more possessive over his husband, the good traits and the bad. Before he can try to wrap any of these thoughts up in pretty words, however, it appears that possessiveness is a vice they both share, and his breath stutters in his chest as he's caught by Remi's fingers, his jaw feathering beneath the firm touch as his tongue fights to respond to the challenge his husband throws out.
Why don't you be the tease sends a bolt of dark desire directly up through the base of his spine and into his throat, Ronin teasing his teeth against Remi's lower lip, even as his hand is guided against the growing arousal hidden by the position of the table. "It would be my pleasure," he hisses, and while it most certainly looks as though the Taliesins are enjoying a drunken makeout session - which, who isn't at this point - the Supernova has no qualms in dialling it up a notch.
The flat of his palm presses hard against his lover's caged erection, even as he flutters soft kisses across the corner of Remi's mouth, and it's with deft fingers that he tries to create as much friction through clothing that the Lullaby can bear. It's far from his first rodeo, and if teasing isn't enough, he's fairly confident he can sneak in a happy ending without anyone noticing.
06-04-2023, 09:05 PM (This post was last modified: 06-09-2023, 04:36 PM by Remi.)
the lullaby
Love isn't all that it seems I did you wrong
Talk of practicing his social skills might normally have drawn Remi's lips into a thin line, but pressed beneath the crook of his husband's arm the way he is and with the intoxicating dazzle of the huntsman all around him, at most Remi can just hum a vague sound against Ronin's lips as his tongue aims to re-write their wedding vows. There is very little that feels dangerous to Remi these days, but even he isn't so far removed from societal norms to not be the least bit wary of being caught.
Removing his hand from Ronin's, Remi very nearly slams it down onto a table in an effort to keep himself from sinking his claws deep into his daughter's new furnishings. Instead, he balls his fingers into a fist while trying to keep his hips from rising off of the seat. Eyes closed, Remi's thoughts flutter from the fire spreading out from his husband's touches to trying to block out the hum of the music and idle chatter that flows throughout the room.
I'm...imagining being back at the guild. Remi thinks, his mental voice patchy and broken by every deep inhale of breath that tries to stifle a moan. ..there's a party happening, but we've gone into the back room. He continues, his lips parting even as Ronin flutters soft kisses against his mouth. You press me against the wall, with one arm around my throat.. In his imaginings, their pants are already magically gone. He isn't a stickler for details like Everest is. ..and gods you are so hard. You shout at someone that you will be out in just a minute because no one knows about you and I, and..
I'll stay here with you Until this dream is gone
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
And it's the wariness of being caught that somehow feels all the more enticing for it; perhaps this is the night the Taliesins unlock the exhibitionist kink, who knows? It's with eyes that are almost shut that Ronin decorates Remi's jaw and neck with kisses, though they do widen to shards of blue as he feels his husband stifle the electric impulse to slam his palm down on the table. Smiling against the Lullaby's throat and giving his still caged cock a generous squeeze for his trouble, Ronin is feeling relatively in control of the situation - right until Remi starts sexting in his thoughts.
His breath stutters across the other man's cheek, their magic and bond combining to let the scene bloom to life behind his eyes. ...and I can't get enough of you, but gods you can just never keep quiet, he continues, picking up seamlessly from where Remi began. I'm worried you'll pass out if I cover your mouth or squeeze too much, so it's the hardest, messiest fuck we've ever had. You're so tight, though, and we both know I won't last long...
Though Remi wants to smile, his lips are pulled into something like a grimace as unarticulated words cause his lips and tongue to flinch, half open. His exhales are shaky and short as his eyelashes flutter in response to the images that their combined thoughts have blurring behind his closed eyelids.
They're rattling the door handle. Remi thinks, imagining the clanky sound of the brass knob as someone gives it an experimental shake to see if it's locked. The tension he's creating in his mind creeps into his thighs, the muscles of which twitch and tighten as somewhere very far away, some part of his brain tells him to keep still. Gods we have to hurry and something about that makes it so much better. He continues; the voice calling for Ronin, a woman as it turns out, is also imagining being fucked by the hunter in precisely the same way as Remi is being fucked by him now. It's all jerky movements, parted lips and sweat-lined foreheads. In reality it wouldn't feel satisfying at all, but gods in his mind the impulsiveness of it, the danger of being caught, the forbidden nature of it, absolutely stokes whatever itch of Remi's this tableau was in response to.
Back in the Tavern though, with both Remi and Ronin's mind doing the work their bodies normally did, the Lullaby was shockingly close to finishing without even really realizing it. Harder. I want you to cum, and say my name.. The Lullaby thinks, imagining Ronin pitched forward, his lips pressed against the alchemist's ear on the precipice of orgasm.
I'll stay here with you Until this dream is gone
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Lost in the illusion they are painting behind their eyelids, the Taliesins will discover - likely some time tomorrow, actually - that they are very, very lucky in a lot of ways. Given that their table is tucked away in the corner, they're out of sight, out of mind for much of the party. Combined with some very questionable dancing between Ancients and Halovians, along with Mateo and Paige causing an impromptu rave, and they're about to get away with this scot free.
One of them is, anyway.
Prompted by his husband's words vibrating through his mind, Ronin becomes painfully aware that he's left wanting, and though he absolutely hates the idea of it, lust and need drag his attention back to the present. Forcing his hand to slow it's teasing of the front of Remi's pants, it's with a rough nip to the Lullaby's jawline that he pulls away.
"Outside. Now," he half growls, before they really do fuck on the table and Flora's opening night becomes memorable for all of the wrong reasons.
Like being suddenly shaken from a dream, Remi's eyes flutter open with absolutely no comprehension whatsoever. His mind gropes to hold onto the small backroom of the guild house he had placed them in, finding it suddenly shrinking away in his thoughts for the sudden brightness of the Tavern all around him. 'Wh-' He breathes uncertainly, turning toward Ronin only to feel the now painfully tight nature of his erection.
Had there not been a violet pulse of colour to accompany Ronin's words the Lullaby might have continued to sit in stunned silence, gaping around the Tavern to try and make sense why everything had come to a sudden halt. Instead, through lips still slightly parted and with a mouth gone quite dry, the Lullaby rises from his seat, tugging out the front of his shirt from his pants and pulling it down in an aim to be inconspicuous.
'Where?' He whispers, half-shuffling behind the Supernova if only because of how uncomfortable it was to move.
I'll stay here with you Until this dream is gone
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Gods if they aren't lucky that being inconspicuous is easy in a place and time like this, because Ronin is about half a minute away from shoving people to the ground to make space. Unsurprisingly, the cool night air does not help matters, and as the loud hum of voices reduces by more than half, it's far too easy to be dragged back into the imagined backroom of a guild that no longer exists, to hear the rattle of a doorknob and the call of a woman's voice.
Groping to grab hold of Remi's shirt, the Supernova manages to fumble them around the corner of The Hanged Man, where they are somewhat fenced in by empty crates and barrels, and the light from the bonfire is little more than a faint amber glow. "Gods, you are too fucking much," Ronin hisses to Remi, clutching him closer only to turn and press him against the wall of the tavern.
His hands drop instantly to the other man's belt, even as he presses flush against his back to make it obvious that the Lullaby isn't the only one with a problem right now. Roughly unfastening both of their pants, Ronin is hardly elegant or romantic in his efforts to recreate the scene in their minds, but he's certainly enthusiastic.
Not quite sure what his husband has planned, but only knowing that he hasn't the willpower to endure very much, it's with a huff of relief and rising need that he finds himself pinned against the tavern. The sea salt air is nothing like the grainy freshness of the Grounds, but his imagination can more than compensate. "Gods I want you." Remi half pleads, half demands, as he tilts his head back slightly against his husband's shoulder.
One benefit of imagination is the ability to smear away details that are inconsequential and to give more weight to moments that hold the most pleasure. Real life wasn't like that of course, such that as Remi shifted his hips back and into the Supernova, it wasn't as though he could pause them in the moment to draw out their combined anticipation and need. What he could do, was to breathlessly beg for "..your duplicate.."; what younger, guild-fucked Remi couldn't have imagined at the time, was what it might be like to be simultaneously fucked and sucked by the hunter. Now, not only could Remi imagine it, but it could be a reality so long as he kept his hands from getting too rough. To that end, he buried his claws into the wood of the Tavern, creating deep grooves that he'd have to apologize for later.
I'll stay here with you Until this dream is gone
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
