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!
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
This certainly hadn't been here when he'd ruled over Stormbreak.
Not that Ronin is complaining about the observatory in the slightest - the Spyglass rivals what he's seen in the Greatwood and then some, honestly, and the Supernova is left gaping up at it from the ground. It's a clear day, the sky an endless, drowning blue, and he imagines the reflecting glass can be seen winking from all the way down in Torchline.
Still, shielding his eyes against the glare of sunlight and trying not to pull a muscle in his neck from craning it upwards, Ronin eventually steps back a few feet and puts his fingers to his lips, whistling sharply to summon his nimbus cloud. He could just walk inside and explore, but he feels like he wants to fly to the top of the observatory first, to see what the view is like up there.
He's moping out for a stroll with Pipsqueak when he sees him, a figure recognized from a childhood spent watching Dragoons train, more mythological than real in the young man's mind but now here in the flesh at the foot of the Spyglass, as though plucked straight from a story. Koa's breath catches when he spots him, his copper eyes widening, his heartbeat picking up. He stops a moment to check that his hair is in place (it is) and Pipsqueak isn't covered in dirt (she is) before striding forward with a half-shit-eating-half-shy grin.
That's right: Koa is a bona fide fanboy.
"Commander Ronin, sir!" He stops a respectful few yards away, pulling into a salute. Pip, confused by all this, emits a trill and attempts to slither down Koa's shirt like an oil leak, forcing him to break posture and contain her. "Koa Carpenter. My mother was a Dragoon in your service, during the war. It's an honor to meet you, sir!"
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
Ronin's nimbus has just appeared in the sky when his name - nay, his former title has him reeling, and hopefully the shock and surprise looks more as though he's just spinning on heel to look around. (Yeah, sure, that's it). "Oh! Er..." It doesn't feel right to salute back, especially given that it's been a couple of years since he was anywhere near Stormbreak, but mention of the young man's mother - and in the past tense, no doubt - is enough to mentally shake him free of his confusion.
"The pleasure is mine," he assures Koa, offering him a warm smile and stretching out a hand to shake. "You say was? I hope that's because she's now happily retired from the Dragoons," he remarks, though already the smile fading from his expression suggests that he knows the truth.
Koa can't help but find it jarring, seeing qualities of Mateo's face so clearly in his friend's father. It catches him off guard; he'd known, of course, that Teo's fathers were demigods, but to see it makes him a little lightheaded. He's engaged in some very questionable shenanigans at The Party King's side. Hopefully Ronin doesn't know about that, or won't judge him too harshly.
(Koa, of course, has no idea that it's Ronin who Mateo gets much of his Party King Energy from.)
He takes the Commander's hand eagerly, Pip slithering down his arm to try and investigate Ronin's glittering wings. "Pip, no," Koa chastises, slightly aghast, once more pulling the dragon to his chest. His grip grows a little tighter at Ronin's question, bright grin faltering. "No, sir... she fell during the Battle of Stormbreak."
He swallows and bites down on his cheek, willing his eyes not to mist over. The smile returns, but shadowed by grief. "She always spoke very highly of you though, sir. It's been an honor to serve in her footprints." In Koa's arms Pipsqueak squawks, her little dragon face full of concerned confusion.
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
"Oh, she's quite alright," Ronin says of the little dragon, tilting his head at Pip. "Reminds me of my own, when she was just a hatchling." Of course, Sugar hadn't really grown past housecat size so she's still considered tiny, but her personality more than makes up for it. Koa's fingers squeeze against his grip and the good humour between them quickly fades, the Supernova reaching out to clasp the boy's hand between both of his own.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he says, and he means it. "I'm sure she fought very bravely." Releasing him, Ronin inhales deeply and lets it out again, conjuring a softer smile. "Please, call me Ronin," he says. "And you are part of the dragoons, too? I imagine your mother would be very proud."
"She's barely more than a hatchling herself," Koa explains with the exasperated fondness of any new parent. "Are they always so... ornery? Pip won't even fly." He glares at the dragonling in his arms, Pipsqueak responding with her best Who, me? expression.
He focuses back as Ronin clasps his hand, looking down to find authentic apology in the Commander's eyes. "She did, sir," Koa confirms with quiet pride, the boyish admiration he holds for his mother ablaze in copper eyes.
Strong fingers run through thick black hair, Koa's face curving into a bashful smile. "Yes, sir-- I mean, Ronin." Pip, taking advantage of his slacking grip, squirms up to reclaim her perch on the boy's shoulder, where she begins to groom her tosuled fur. "Enlisted about a year ago. Anju Rao is my Captain," he adds with a student's fondness.
"What brings you to Stormbreak? Are you visiting Mateo?"
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
"In my experience, yes," Ronin admits with a chuckle. "I don't know about any other dragons, but Sugar is as grouchy now as she ever was as a hatchling." And the fact that his voice lowers a fraction here, suggesting that the pale reptile might be nearby, says it all. "Give her time, though. She might just need to grow into her wings."
Releasing Koa's hands, the Supernova's eyes light up a little to hear Anju's name, Ronin nodding. "I know of her," he says. "You're in good hands. How are you finding the training?" Gods, call him a military nerd, but it's been so long since he spoke with a fellow soldier, he can't help but fall back into old habits and topics of conversation.
Hearing his son's name lilt from Koa's lips brings a somewhat amused slant to his smile. "Not especially to visit, but I will be dropping by. You know him?" he assumes. "I'm actually here on Safrin's behest. She's been kind enough to let me rest up since the war, but it's time I got to work again."
"Maybe," he concedes forlornly, looking down at Pip and her large, useless wings. It has felt like forever that he's waited for her to figure them out, and nothing he's tried has helped matters much. But maybe he needs to be a little more patient. Maybe.
Gods, he hopes.
"It's been going well!" No little bit of a nerd himself, Koa straightens, clearly far more interested in this topic than his deficient dragon. "I'm on regular patrols, taking on some training duties. I've actually been working on a project to renovate the Needle into a new Dragoon HQ." He's clearly very proud of this, his copper eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and warmth. "I'm hoping we can build the Dragoons back up, maybe even expand to other regions. Make us into a real peacekeeping force, and make sure people will be safe if there's ever another war."
Koa softens as the topic shifts to Mateo, nodding his assent. "He's a friend of mine, yeah," the boy confirms, his smile growing sunny and fond. But then he says he's here on Safrin's orders, and Koa can't help it: he exhales an appreciative breath, his eyes wide with the awe of a boy raised in a city devoted to the gods. "Oh, wow, that's right, I almost forgot you were a demigod. What's, um... what's that like? If it's not rude to ask."
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
Biting back his smile to see Koa look down at his dragon with such youthful impatience, Ronin tilts his head. "Perhaps she needs a teacher?" he suggests. "If she doesn't mind putting up with an aloof, slightly grumpy ice dragon, one day we could go to the Celestine and see if Sugar can help her figure it out." He doesn't actually know if his dragon is any good at teaching, but there's only one way to find out.
Eyebrows raising to hear the young man gush about the Dragoons and his place in them, the Supernova feels a pang of something shoot through him that's almost like nostalgia. He's been Koa, he realises, and before he can stop himself, here he goes throwing himself into things again. "That's amazing," he says, and he means it. "If you need a hand with anything, I'm more than happy to help. Especially if the Dragoons expand." Maybe he could even form a part of it.
Before he can fully appreciate that his son has created a healthy social circle in Stormbreak, Koa is looking up at him as if he's some kind of demigod (har har har) and Ronin rubs at the back of his neck with a soft laugh. "It's not rude at all," he assures him, nodding to a nearby bench as if to ask if he wants to go and sit down. "It's probably exactly how you imagine it to be," he admits. "Amazing, but also quite daunting at times. It was a lot of responsibility, especially during the war. But I wouldn't change it at all. Safrin saved my life by bringing me back to Caido as her chosen, and I'll never not be grateful for it."
07-02-2023, 04:55 PM (This post was last modified: 07-02-2023, 04:55 PM by Koa.)
"Oh, that'd be awesome," Koa breathes, raising his eyebrows to the beast now wrapped around his arm. "Whaddya think, Noodle? Get some lessons from the most famous dragon in Caido?" Pip looks speculative- then abruptly launches herself out of Koa's grasp and goes scurrying with weasel-like speed toward some nearby underbrush, clearly in search of prey.
Or dirt.
I won't lie: Ronin's praise gods straight to Koa's head, the young man's sunny face awash in almost bashful pride. "Yeah? I mean, that'd be... wow." He rubs at the back of his neck, for once rather thorough lost for words. All he can give is a stupid, grateful grin. Later he will send Ronin the proposal he's been drafting, for new offices and structural changes. It will all be very meticulously researched and typed, and the misspellings will be numerous. There's only so much you can expect from the boy.
He follows Ronin to the bench, wandering attention rapt. "We learned about it in school - how you fell during a battle with the beast in the Spire, and the Lady of Stars stole you from Ludo to name as her Champion against the Voice." His tone is reverential. "That she granted you the ability to call the stars themselves to your aid, and loved you above all others, and that someday you will rise to stand beside her as her consort."
Ok, that last bit might be less learned from textbook and more bar rumor mill.
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
Laughing to see Pip's reaction - hopefully Sugar isn't within earshot, because there's no telling what being called the most famous dragon in Caido will do to her ego - Ronin watches her scurry away into the brush. "I'd feel the same way," he says, of her antics.
"Yeah, of course," he reiterates, nodding encouragingly to the young man. "Even if I'm not in Stormbreak, letters always reach me, so if you ever need anything or want to run something past me, just drop me a line." He even checks his mail as soon as he gets it each morning these days, rather than leaving it to a couple of times a season.
Sinking down onto the bench, now it's the Supernova's turn to be bashful - never in a million years did he think he would be a subject on a school curriculum, and he breathes out a laugh that's equal parts disbelieving and humble. "Well, we'll see about that last part. I am still very much devoted to my husband," he points out. "But that doesn't mean my allegiance to Safrin is any less. It's a pleasure to do her work, even now we're living in peacetime."
"D'you think you'd ever re-enlist? Even just in an advisory role," Koa's quick to add, not wanting to ask too much of Ronin. But, gods, if he could get the Supernova back on board? It would lend a legitimacy to the Dragoons that they've sorely lacked at late, and the prospect of having someone like Ronin as a mentor has the young man rocking eagerly onto the balls of his feet.
Koa listens raptly, flushing a little at the open declaration of marital bliss. His own parents had never been so effusive towards each other, and the poor emotionally stunted soldier finds himself a little wistful, especially in the face of his own recent romantic failure. "It must be incredible, to have that sort of purpose," the young man muses, rubbing his thumb over a well-worn F carved into the park bench.
"Mateo doesn't really talk about it - you guys being demigods, that is. But I always wondered what it must be like, being so close to the gods. So powerful," he adds, staring down at his own mortal hands, scarred and bruised and incapable of miracles.
there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
Furrowing his brow as he thinks, eventually Ronin bobs his head in a nod. "You know, I think I'd quite enjoy that," he admits. "I'd be happy to advise, mentor, even give some training if anyone wants it. And obviously if something comes up that feels dangerous, I'd probably have shown up anyway, so..." He shrugs, grinning. Why not do it in a Dragoon's uniform?
As for his purpose, his grin turns a touch self-deprecating. "It's close to enjoyable now," he admits in agreement. "Back when we were gearing up towards the war, though, I would be lying if it wasn't stressful." No one is infallible, after all, and there had been a reason why he and Remi had gone pretty much AWOL for seasons after it had all ended.
Following Koa's gaze down to his hands, Ronin holds out his own next to the young man's, as if to compare. Equally as scarred if not more so, glimmering with the odd ring, and with faint golden constellations along his wrists, they're not not dissimilar. "I'm of the opinion that anyone can be powerful," he says gently. "It doesn't take a demigod to be someone people look to for direction. Or to be kind, or smart, or to protect people. Sure, tossing around fireballs is flashy, but it doesn't make you better than anyone else."
"I mean, I would love to be trained by the Commander of the Storm." Koa's eager reverence is nearly palpable, his copper eyes wide with excitement at the prospect of such a thing. First he meets his hero, now he might be able to train with him? It's possibly the coolest thing that has ever happened in his entire life, and our lad is fanboying, hard.
Ronin's words do wonders for his morose mood, bringing Koa out of the dregs of inadequacy and into the normal realm of do-what-you-gotta-do. "I dunno, man - shooting fireballs sounds a whole lot cooler than just punching real good." He laughs at the notion, shaking his head, but the smile on his face speaks volumes. Ronin has hit the nerve of what Koa longs to be: nothing spectacular like a demigod, but someone who other people can turn to, a reliable leader capable of protecting who he loves.
