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!
07-06-2023, 08:08 PM (This post was last modified: 07-06-2023, 08:20 PM by Isla.)
ISLA
"Do you know, I think of you whenever I eat calamari?" Isla informs Remi, her amusement palpable in her tone. Feeling as though the Hanged Man is a little too close to home and still reeling from the fact that she's having lunch with Remi Taliesin, the man who didn't remember her until like two hours ago, the Remedy sits comfortably cross legged on her side of the picnic bench.
They're at some seafood shack, seated at a table outside with a beach umbrella plonked in the sand to shade them, and the food is plentiful and humble and Isla is very into it, which might be a surprise given her duchess beginnings. At present she's busy cracking open a lobster claw with a pebble, pausing to reach for the margarita she'd ordered with it. "And not in that way, either," she adds as she takes a drink, knowing his likely association with the tentacles of her comment.
Unable to help it despite the fact that they've only been together for a little over two hours, Remi nevertheless raises his eyebrows in a sure, whatever you say expression that makes him look like that gif of Jim from the Office. He doesn't really mean it of course; if Isla ever did think of him while tearing something between her teeth, it likely been in an eat glass and die sort of way, rather than a ooh tentacles are so sexy kind of way.
Still, low-hanging fruit and all that.
Fascinated by the way Isla was eating (and drinking) for so many reasons, Remi had all but forgotten his hunger in lieu of the way the Remedy's fingers cracked apart the lobsters shell or the sheen of the margarita salt sparkling on her lip. "They are rather sad creatures, you know." The Lullaby begins awkwardly. "Octopuses, I mean. They are one of the smartest ocean creatures, but both male and female die after mating. The males right away, and the females prioritize taking care of the eggs such that they stop eating entirely."
Listen okay, Remi hasn't done small talk in years.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Having slaked her thirst with tequila and lime juice, Isla settles back to dismantle the lobster claw and dip it - duh - in butter, listening with interest as Remi speaks. It's probably more awkward for him than it is for her, given that (from what she understands of it, anyway) he's just been smashed in the feels with the entirety of their history all at once, and so she forgives whatever small talk he chooses.
"That's your cue never to have sex with anything as a kraken, then," she points out with a fanged smile. "I find the word to be interesting too," she adds - octopus, she means. "It's got three plurals, because of some linguistic argument about which language was oldest. Octopuses, octopi, and octopodes."
Wiping off her hands and raising an eyebrow as she realises Remi hasn't touched any food, it strikes Isla suddenly that this might not be to his taste. Or worse, he might be deathly allergic. "Did you want to order something else?" she asks. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think to check if this would be alright."
Inhaling swiftly, Isla never failing to find ways to shock him with her wit, exhales loudly as he nods. "You know, I do not think that would be a problem. Besides, kraken do not have sex so much as...males just...hand over their sperm." He says with a half shrug. "It does not sound good for anyone." That said, Remi didn't think he'd ever had sex as an animal, though just now that didn't seem to be a thing he needed to mention.
"Octopodes?" Frowning over his shoulder at Isla, Remi scowls and shakes his head. "If I have anything to say about it-" And of course he absolutely didn't. "-I like that one least."
Clearing his throat, a white lie forms almost instantly on his tongue. He nearly says it too - old habits and all that - before laughing under his breath. "Sorry no, it is not that. We just...we have never eaten together." He explains, shooting a look at her before grinning stupidly out at the sea and shrugging. "It is just weird. You know, I had thought with you being a duchess and everything you would have some manners, but.."
Smirking, the Lullaby rolls his eyes and picks up his own lobster shell, only rather than using a pebble as Isla had, Remi is able to simply peel away the shell and cartilage with a heavily barbed tongue.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.
You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)
"Is a kraken not an octopus?" Isla wonders, tilting her head. "Also, thank you so much for the mental image." Handing over sperm, indeed. "Do you think a female kraken would be bigger than you? Most females of a species are." Licking the butter from her fingers, naturally this is exactly when Remi decides to make mention of them sharing a meal together and her manners, and it's with an unladylike snort that she responds - naturally - by throwing the empty lobster claw at him.
"If you ever find a way to eat lobster in the shell like a blueblood, you let me know," she sasses, only to scrunch her nose as he opts to remove said shell with his tongue. "No wonder you're gay," Isla remarks under her breath (with an entirely shit-eating grin, she might add, given that she's actually been on the receiving end of that tongue in the past).
"And just for that, the next time we go out to eat, I'll take us to some fancy restaurant. We'll have to wear shoes and everything."
"Oh no, I mean..." Remi blushes a touch. "..there are no other Kraken around to have sex with, save for the grumpy one at the bottom of the maw." About to say you're welcome in a sing-song voice, the Lullaby swallows and itches at the heat on one cheek. "I am not sure. Were you bigger than me...?" Glancing over his shoulder at her, eyes falling from the blue of her eyes to the butter-bright colour of her lips, Remi raises an eyebrow..
..only to be hit with Isla's shell. "This is why you belong on that island." He grumbles conversationally, before shaking his head. "A commoner like me would not know anything about that." As for being gay, Remi looks from the shell he's holding back to Isla, and then back to the shell. "What is that supposed to mean?" He asks innocently, before using his index and middle finger to slowly crack open the shell. "Better?"
Groaning, Remi nearly considers flopping back into the sand to play dead, but now that he's started to eat he doesn't want to stop. "Fine, well, when I take us out to eat, we will go somewhere shoes are not even allowed."
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"The grumpy one at the bottom of the where?" Isla tilts her head. "And I'd make some comment about feeling bad that you didn't have any other kraken around to fuck, but given that you'd both die right after..." Full circle in the conversation, look at that. Well, almost. "I don't remember to be honest," she admits with a small smile. "My main memories from that night are you using me as an action figure."
Triumphantly belonging on that island, Isla wipes her fingers and lips clean on a napkin and settles in with the remainder of her margarita. "Well until you do know anything about that, you can keep your chit-chat about manners to yourself," she says haughtily, only to nearly choke as she watches him crack open the shell in what could arguably be deemed a seductive way. "Just eat the damn lobster." She chuckles.
Wondering if a restaurant exists that doesn't allow shoes, Isla merely offers her friend a challenging raise of her eyebrows, taking a fresh sip of her drink and letting him 'win' that round.
"The Maw." Remi repeats, searching his friend's face for an indication of where her confusion was. 'You know, the big underwater volcano?' Snorting, the Lullaby tucks his chin and smiles down into his lap. "Mmmmmmm, I suppose the memories seem much more recent for me. We had a race at first, while you got used to the body...then..." Remi's smile turned crooked and his eyes grow slightly darker. "..we drowned a ship. And then I carried you back like an action figure."
It's his right hand which had done the cracking, and as Isla sputtered, it waggled its fingers triumphantly. Finishing the lobster all while glaring at Isla out of the corner of his eye for her to comment on it, Remi intentionally sets the shell down slowly as to emphasize the fact that he hasn't thrown it at her.
"Hey, what's that?" Furrowing his brow suddenly, Remi looks sternly down the beach. Should Isla look as well, she'll find her margarita being pulled from her hands that Remi might take a sip.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"Mm, I've read about it," Isla says, having read about most things in her time as an Ascended. "I just didn't know there was a giant grumpy kraken living at the bottom of it." Intrigued enough to want to brush up on her knowledge about the place, she nevertheless parks the topic in her subconscious to listen as Remi relives their memory out in the Arclight. "That's right. Gods, I forgot about the ship..." It's far too late to be worried about it now, but she still feels a small pang of guilt for the sailors.
Scoffing at his ghost hand's victory, Isla absolutely falls for the Lullaby's distraction, turning to glance down the beach only to feel her drink slipping from between her fingers. "WH- hey!" Trying to frown but finding her smile trying to take over her lips, she resists the urge to swat at him and instead - very diplomatically, she might add - calling over a server to order another one. "You can have my half finished drink," she tells him - isn't she kind?
"The rumour for the longest time was that I was the Kraken, so you can imagine how surprised I was to find out that actually something was down there." Remi chuckles, shrugging, before nudging her. There's nothing he can really say, no it happens, or it's nature, so instead he simply nods his head, understanding well the feeling of guilt.
Slurping it down, tequila not being his favourite liquor but it tasting all the sweeter for the look on Isla's face, Remi's lips pull into an O of surprise as she sends the waiter off without even ordering anything for him. "-and a gin!" He calls, hmmmphing sarcastically at Isla.
Remi's right-hand uses the cup to make shapes in the sand as Remi regards the clouds and sighs. "We are good. He always gets...in a mood come Leafchange, but luckily Safrin has him off on some mission to spread her name around, so.." Rolling his eyes, Remi can't quite help the way one corner of his lip turns up in a sneer. "It gives him something to do, at least. Normally he spends all of Leafchange perched above our home and threatening the ravens that bring our letters."
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Putting together the pieces at last - because of course the Ascended had been in possession of the Knowtbook at the time - Isla realises that Remi would have been down in the Maw to collect a relic, and she promptly vows to forget all about it instantly. Fuck the relics, and the Prince-shaped hole it had left in the wake of the war.
"--please!" Isla finishes Remi's sentence for him as he calls after the server, offering him a sly raise of the brows as if to ask that he notes it down, how well her manners came into play. "I can't wait to hear you judge the fuck out of this gin when it comes," she adds, grinning.
The Lullaby watches the clouds and Isla watches the sand shapes his hand is making, smiling even before he mentions Ronin. "In a mood?" she repeats, sounding befuddled. "Do I need to have a strong word with him?" As if she could get close to Ronin 'in a mood' with her throat intact. Unable not to chuckle to see the familiar curl of Remi's lip, Isla reaches out to gently pat his arm. "Still Safrin's biggest fan, I see?"
As for Ronin threatening the ravens, now Isla is very confused, but since Remi doesn't seem at all concerned, she tries to take it in her stride.
Grimacing comically to have forgotten his manners, Remi also grins and shrugs. "Flora has been importing so much of my gin lately this may well be mine. I think she sells it on the side." It was a good business plan too, given she was getting the gin for free and because Remi didn't have much else to be doing, he didn't mind providing it.
'Mmm, it is the dragon in him.' Remi says sagely before pulling a face and shaking his head. "Oh, I wouldn't. Not this season, anyway. Not unless those words are entirely flattering and complimentary and you agree with everything he says." The Lullaby only survived Leafchange with Ronin because he was the thing the Nova wanted.
Isla's fingertips interrupt the souring of his thoughts with pulses of warm emotion that have Remi sighing reluctantly. "Surely if Safrin wanted to spread the word around of just how valuable an asset Ronin was, she could do it?" He frowns darkly, his jaw feathering beneath the scruff on his cheeks.
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"What a shrewd businesswoman your daughter has become," Isla says with a chuckle. "You know, I don't think I've ever had tastebuds to properly appreciate your gin. Maybe I'll have to become an expert in it, so I can try all of your newest creations." And the fact that she has the time to do such a thing now absolutely isn't lost on her, the Remedy smiling sunnily beneath the shade of their parasol.
The dragon in Ronin certainly makes sense, and Isla winces accordingly and nods her understanding. "Perhaps I won't bother him at all this season, then," she decides. "Is he alright with you coming to find me?" Glancing around, she almost expects to see the glint of blue eyes peeping around the corner of a building, or the shadow of draconic wings overhead.
As for the talk of Safrin, Isla's expression turns somewhat apologetic, and she shifts on her side of the picnic bench to nudge Remi's foot gently with her own. "At least he can still come home to you. I remember when you two were forced to be apart."
