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!
Clenching his own teeth in response, the Lullaby feels the first needle-sharp shards of tears prickling at the back of his eyes. "I know it is unfair," He whispers, if only because doing so hid just how unsteady he knew his voice would be. It does not good of course, not pressed so firmly against Ronin as he is, but Remi can at least shield his husband from the tremble of his words for what little that is worth.
Desperately kissing Ronin back and not caring at all for the tears that slip between the press of their lips, Remi hitches in a breath that desperately wants to be a sob. His stomach and back tighten in response but he'll be damned before he lets it out. Stretching to both cradle Ronin against him but also to tightly comb his fingers through the Nova's dark hair, Remi's gaze grows slack as he's both swayed by the force of his husband's emotions even as he tries to stand against them.
"I don't know." He whispers at last, and to say he was stuck between a rock and a hard place wouldn't even come close to the indecision currently racking his mind. "You are my best friend." Remi counters forcefully, the words unapologetically aggressive and followed by a tightening of the Lullaby's legs around Ronin's waist. "It is not that I do not understand what you are saying...and I know I do not know the things I have forgotten...but gods. To risk anything at all between us, for the sake of a woman who I now cannot stand to be around and who seems to hate me?"
THE LULLABY
i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Hissing something incoherent under his breath that's lost in the way he's held so tightly against Remi, the Lullaby will feel the traitorous sting of Ronin's emotions nonetheless. Because the primal parts of him that shrug off common sense during this season are glad of his husband's indecision; they relish the parts of him that want to cling to the status quo, that hold their love above all else.
Clever fingers (still blunt for now, thank goodness) are already sneaking beneath Remi's shirt, as if pressing his hands to the other man's back will somehow close the distance further between them. "She doesn't hate you," he manages at last, the words mumbled into Remi's embrace. "She just can't get the answers she needs from you." Which he imagines is very frustrating, but also fuck Isla because it's been years, and surely what Remi wants now is just as important as what he wanted back then?
Letting out a shuddering sigh as he realises he could just as easily talk himself out of supporting his husband as into it, Ronin closes his eyes. This isn't a decision I can make for you, he says. All I can say is that I support you whatever you decide to do. If you want to remember her, I'm here for you whatever happens. I love you.
Ronin's response is precisely what he'd expected from the Nova - impossibly understanding, selfless, and born from a love that could eclipse the sun - and everything he didn't want to hear. Realizing just then for the first time, that for all of his (their) ridiculous strength, that tears still stung just as succinctly, Remi almost recoils against the pain before surging forward to press his lips desperately against Ronin's.
Leaning forward into the kiss with all the clumsy urgency of a drowning man, Remi's mind gropes for an answer but finds only the warmth of his husband's skin as his claws inadvertently shred the Nova's shirt. Only you, he thinks, as reverently as a prayer and with all the wild recklessness that has made their love what it is. The words are repeated like a mantra, his hands shaping the sounds against his husband's skin as his tongue adds the flourishes his handwriting has always been known for; only you, only you, only you..
Mindlessly Remi's fingers continue to seek out the Nova's skin as heat kindles low in the Lullaby's belly. It doesn't burn with the same passion as it had just days previous but instead lights his bones on fire until the Lullaby feels as though he's smouldering into nothing but ash and indecision. It can only ever be you.
THE LULLABY
i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
About to point out that this is neither a yes or a no in the Isla conundrum, Ronin is quite cunningly silenced by the press of Remi's tongue and the silent roar of his emotions. Caught as if in a riptide he has no intention of escaping, it's with a shredded shirt and his lips locked against the Lullaby's that he dismisses his partial shift, plunging them into starlight and shadow.
Shifting back to lay on the blankets with his husband astride him, Ronin reaches up to carefully wipe the tears from Remi's cheeks, offering softer kisses in the moments where they need to breathe. "If that's the case," he finds himself whispering sweetly into the dark, "then what in the world are you worried about? Nothing comes close to what we have. Remember her - it's nothing compared to this."
Following helplessly in Ronin's wake, Remi shifts and adjusts that he might stay pressed firmly against the huntsman. With an arm braced above Ronin's shoulder, the Lullaby gives his head a weak little shake. "I don't know." He admits, the words strangled between a laugh and a feeble gulp of air. Just then, perhaps spurned on by the bite of his own tears, Remi shakes his head. Whether it's in defiance of something or meant to cement something to himself the quicksilver pulse of his emotions won't clarify. Whichever it is, it has the Lullaby's wings rising and tugging forward and in, not unlike the way a hawk might protect the food it's about to consume.
Shakily, but only because he can't seem to catch his breath, Remi begins to descend down the length of his husband's body. His fingertips trail in the wake of his lips, smoothing away the feverish kisses which all bear the shape of Ronin's name. Whatever fabric is left the Lullaby summarily shreds, and it's only because it is easier to remove Ronin's belt than to gnaw at the leather that Remi bothers with the buckle at all.
THE LULLABY
i’ve been chasin the storm of a lovesick lonely lie
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Smiling in the wake of Remi's laughter, however shaky it might be, Ronin manages one more kiss to the Lullaby's lips before he's suddenly descending down the length of his body. Already on fire in all the places they touch, the friction created by lips and fingertips and feathers only serves to further kindle the Supernova's lust for his husband. Hitching in a breath and closing his eyes, Ronin turns his face towards the night sky to better indulge in Remi's affections.
Not for the first time, the rest of Caido is likely grateful for the fact that the Taliesins have no immediate neighbours. The flock of birds scattering from the treetops and the uneasy shift of dragons in their nests is enough of a disturbance as it is, without considering what human ears might make of their passions.
In the end, spent and exhausted and thoroughly in love, Ronin wraps himself possessively around the Lullaby, succumbing to sleep beneath a blanket of softly twinkling stars.
