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!
A lot's been changin' lately and I can't tell
If it's me or if it's everybody else
If you had thought that Remi's renewed friendship with Isla would have seen an increase in the amount of sexual activity between Lullaby and Nova, you would be wrong. (That there was an increase was purely coincidental and entirely seasonal). The actual effect on the once-alchemist was a return to the boyish fascination he'd once held for the world and thus an inclination toward exploring.
So it was that Ronin would awake that morning to the feel of an insubstantial weight on his chest, and with his husband quite literally bright-eyed and bushy-tailed staring intently at him. Nearly nose to nose and having already been up for an hour or so shoving snacks into a picnic basket before deciding to see if he could simply stare Ronin awake, in the end Remi had opted to hasten the Nova's return to the waking world by ever so slightly covering his nose and mouth with his tail. A little light suffocation never hurt anyone, and as Ronin spluttered his way into consciousness, he'd be greeted by the press of a cold nose against his.
Oh good, you're awake!
we're only human but w?'ve got hands & hearts & noses
So stop and sm?ll the fuckin' roses
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Yes, for his sins, Ronin is awake. It isn't by choice, granted, and only the sight of a button nose and bright eyes in his immediate vision prevents him from uncharacteristic grumpiness. Instead, Remi gets a sleepy smile and a Supernova promptly rolling onto his side, hoping to gather his husband's fluffy body into his arms so he can gently wrestle him back to sleep. "No I'm not," he tells the Lullaby, voice muffled by his pillow, and it's with a shit-eating grin that he tries to become a dead weight that Remi can't move in his current form.
"Are we late for something?" he wants to know, the words yawned out; that's the only reason his husband is usually out of bed before Ronin. As morning people go, the Nova is more of one than Remi, and vaguely he wonders if it's actually still the middle of the night. "And if we aren't, is there at least coffee?"
Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night
The strength in one of Ronin's arms is more than the raccoon has in its entire body such that he's summarily bound by his husband's limb despite his adorable wiggles to free himself. Having absolutely no choice (you brought this on yourself, Ronin), Remi curls his tail up and into the Nova's face, where he both tickles Ronin's nose and tries to block his breathing again.
Yes, we are. So saying, the raccoon shifts and stretches until there is a significantly larger lump pressed against Ronin's side; one who is more than capable of rousing the Nova from sleep. Now it's a pair of bright sea glass eyes that peer at Ronin with a good deal more intensity than he'd been able to manage as a raccoon.
"Come on, you love doing things in the morning." Remi adds, nudging one of Ronin's shoulders both playfully and annoyingly like Simba in the Lion King trying to wake Mufasa up. "And of course there is coffee." He huffs, glancing over his shoulders and raising his eyebrows toward Oria and Sugar that they might turn on the kettle.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Ronin wants to continue this back and forth, but of course as the raccoon shifts and warps into a shape he finds much more difficult to ignore, he huffs out a sigh of reluctant acceptance against the side of Remi's neck. "I love doing one specific thing in the morning," he objects with a crooked smile, warm hands already lazily swarming across his husband's body to get their fill.
While Sugar and Oria organise morning coffee, Ronin lets himself properly arrive at wakefulness and peeps up at Remi with a soft smile. "Good morning," he rumbles, rolling onto his back again and drawing the other man with him so he can peer up the length of Remi's body and into seaglass eyes. "To what do I owe the pleasure of a wakeup call?"
Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night
"Waking me up?" Remi guesses with a lopsided smile, before pressing his nose gently against Ronin's now that it isn't cold and vaguely wet. "Good morning." He repeats quite cheerfully, before letting his expression grow mischievous. "Do I really need a reason to want to spend time with you?" The Lullaby wonders as if offended before his dimples get the better of him. "Today, we are going exploring."
Leaning away from Ronin only slightly that he might nod at the picnic basket he'd already prepped (and that Sugar seemed to have un-prepped if the empty wrapper of cheese as any indication), Remi turns back to the Nova and grins. "I thought we could go check out the amphitheatre. Mateo and Flora both want to come visit and I thought that we should have a better idea of our surroundings in case they want to go exploring as well."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"In not so many words, yes," Ronin drawls, letting his fingers ghost along the top of Remi's thighs, his smile dark and lustful. But it appears his husband has other things on his mind this morning, Ronin peeking across at the mostly-packed picnic basket and raising his eyebrows. Getting his elbows beneath him, the Nova peers up at the Lullaby as if trying to tell whether or not he's getting sick.
"I would love that," he says softly, after concluding that Remi is, in fact, quite serious. Leaning in, Ronin delivers a gentle kiss against his husband's lips, before ushering him out of his lap. "I think we've flown over the amphitheatre a couple of times. Isn't it the place that looks like a big, rippling puddle?" The ripples being carved stone steps, of course.
Slipping out of bed once he's able, Ronin busies himself yawning and dragging on a sleevleless shirt and some pants, giving his dark hair a tousle in the equivalent of 'styling' it. "Do you want to take coffee in a flask?"
Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night
Inhaling deeply through his nose, the Lullaby is all but putty in his husband's hands, and should Ronin decide that no, he needs a moment before they get out of bed, Remi will be all too gracious but to comply.
Crinkling his nose in response, the Lullaby sits up and shrugs. "I think we have, but I am not sure I paid much attention." He murmurs, finding himself quite disappointed in just how ignorant he'd been of all the mountains' had to offer since they'd moved here. Watching Ronin ruffle the sleep from his hair has the Lullaby smiling rather boyishly. "Gods but you're handsome in the morning. Maybe I should start waking up earlier." He murmurs, waggling his eyebrows and tugging on a chambray shirt and pants as well.
"Mmm, good idea." He says of the flask, before eyeing Sugar suspiciously as he fetches another cheese from their icebox.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
"I suppose now we can have a good look at it, either way." In the name of their children, if not just for the sake of explorations. Lacing his boots just as his husband's compliment sings through the air, Ronin offers Remi his favourite lopsided smile for his trouble, shrugging his shoulders and straightening up. "All those chances to ogle that you're missing," he agrees.
With the decision made and Remi restocking their basket (Sugar eyes him right back for his trouble), Ronin sets about flasking their coffee, offering Oria the tiniest of fist bumps with his fingertip in thanks for her help. "Alright, I think we're ready to go 'sploring," the Nova says, his words struggling out around a mighty yawn, and as he shuffles to the door he's already summoning his nimbus to sit down on.
Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night
Truly, Remi was the luckiest man alive. Who else could suffocate their partner out of sleep, receive snuggles for his trouble, only to watch said partner rise without complaint out of bed looking unwaveringly attractive? It doesn't just end there. Who else was married to a man who would both pour their coffee and summon a cloud on which they could float to their destination while drinking it? Sighing lovingly, Remi beams and nods as he climbs onto the nimbus.
Kicking a leg out over the side and letting it dangle precariously, the Lullaby gazes adoringly at the Nova, before nudging him with one shoulder. "Hey, guess what."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Feeling equally as lucky as they settle on the nimbus, Ronin busies himself in pouring them a cup of coffee to share from the flask, taking that first, necessary sip before offering it out to Remi. One of his arms has naturally slipped around the other man so he can let his head loll against the Lullaby's curls, and though he's squinting into the morning sunshine, it's not a bad way to start the day, he admits.
"Mm... let's see. Mateo has created a new species of man-eating plant? Oh, or has Flora become Torchline's queen after all? Ah, no, I know-- you've gotten a haircut, haven't you?" With a shit-eating grin, Ronin is unashamedly pleased with his guesses, before he gestures for Remi to give his real answer.
Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night
Very nearly does Remi yeet Ronin off his own nimbus for his sass. Restraining himself (just barely), the Lullaby nudges his husband with an elbow while huffing theatrically. "No, and besides. If any of those things had come to pass you would have already known about it." Especially if Remi had gotten a haircut, given how infrequently it happened.
"What I was going to say," The Lullaby begins, pausing to see if Ronin was going to add any other incorrect guesses before continuing. "Was that I love you more than anything." So saying, Remi twists slightly to press a kiss against the top of his husband's head before leaning a deeply-dimpled cheek there instead.
"I really do, and it really is more than anything."
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Still beaming and feeling even more proud of himself for having been able to get under Remi's skin about it, Ronin accepts his nudge of punishment only to settle with his head on the other man's shoulder. Slipping an arm around the Lullaby and stealing the coffee cup back for another sip, Remi will feel the gold-bright pulse of Ronin's emotions in response to his declaration. Even after all these years, after saying it in so many different ways, it still has butterflies flopping around in his stomach.
"And I love you more than anything too," he vows, tilting his head up to catch Remi's lips in a real kiss, drawing back just as they rise over a hill and the Amphitheatre comes into full view. "Wow," Ronin blurts, not having appreciated the true magnitude of the structure; the scale of it always seems off when seeing it from above.
Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight
& pray for love enough to last all night
Sighing indulgently into the kiss and noting the additional woody warmth from the coffee on both of their lips, Ronin's own golden pulse of affection was met by a verdant swirl from the Lullaby. What he didn't want to say was I love you this much even having gone to see Isla, but of course it was there in the canvas of his feelings for Ronin to see.
Owen Wilson's Ronin's wow redirects the Lullaby's gaze and as he too looks down at the colossal bowl of seating below them. "And...this was used for entertainment?" He wonders, an eyebrow raised. "Do you think the mountains were once...inhabited? Or at least less dangerous?" Sure, the pair had wings or clouds on which to reach the Amphitheatre, but imagine having to walk? As anything less than a demigod or Deimos ?
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
It's true; it's there and Ronin reads it plain in the pulse and swirl of Remi's emotions, and though it might not be something that the Lullaby particularly wants to admit to, he takes reassurance from it nonetheless. And so, as they take in the huge swathe of steps leading into the amphitheatre, the Nova is surprisingly relaxed about the whole thing, despite the wide open setting causing both luxere and dragon within him to shift uncomfortably.
"Apparently," he murmurs, letting the nimbus carry them to the centre of the amphitheatre so there's no chance of Ronin falling down the steps before setting them gently down. "They must have been," he says in slow agreement. "Someone must have constructed those stairways, right? And it's a lot of space... unless dragons used to come here to see performances?" He grins.
