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!
Having been rather joyously ensuring that his 'snack' is roasting adequately over the fire, Ronin is almost loathe to leave it - especially as an unknown Ancient comes to warm his palms - but there are more important things. And so, taking a seat next to Remi and letting his hand rest casually on his husband's knee, he hears Deimos out before continuing.
"Safrin couldn't tell us what the threat was, only that it came from beyond Caido." At least that's the vibe he got, from her faraway glances off into the stars. "She hopes that her intervention will stop anything from manifesting, but in case she's unable to prevent it... Well. Here we are, warning you."
With a soft sigh, he tugs up his sleeve to reveal the gifted bracelet from Safrin and the muted stars upon it. "Deimos and I were given these. When the stars light, it means the threat is growing closer. When it's entirely illuminated... whatever will happen is imminent." He furrows his brow. "Safrin mentioned asking Frey whether this Refuge might be used again to keep artifacts and people safe, and asked that Deimos and I step in to represent her where we can. Otherwise... prepare as best you're able, though for what, I can only imagine."
Though Remi would sass Safrin to his husband, given the gathered group, he opted instead to hold his tongue. No doubt someone else would point out the fact that prepping for "something" was about as useful a warning as telling someone to "be careful!" when setting out on any given day. Still, it wouldn't take the attuned bond for anyone looking at the Lullaby to know he clearly wasn't moved by Safrin's ominous predictions.
"Perhaps Delphia and I could seek out Ludo, or even Mort." Raising his eyebrows toward his fellow fellow deathly demigod, the Lullaby tilts his head slightly. "Unless there is some reason to think that only Safrin is aware of this danger?" AKA that it was fake, and drummed up merely for dramatic flare.
I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
// ships are launching from my chest some have names but most do not //
He remains silent, watchful, listening to what Deimos has to say. And while he’d gotten a glimpse of it from the letter Ronin had sent him, the further explanation is cause for some amount of worry. Enough that he shifts from where he sits, leaning forward in his seat. He casts a glance toward Phoebe and then following to Remi who wonders openly if Safrin is the only one to have noticed.
With this, though, he can offer an answer. He clears his throat before he speaks, his accented voice filling the air. “Frey had mentioned to me a season or two ago that something was amiss in the air but they couldn’t say exactly what it was.” He pauses, as if that were answer enough to whether Ludo might have an opinion on the matter. “I will ask them if the Refuge can be reused in case of emergency.” Sooner rather than later, of course, in case he needed time to redo some of the things he had done in order to make it a reality the first time.
He does, however, seek out Phoebe ’s gaze, as if in silent question to his fellow demigod over whether she had anything else to add.
the flood
// if you find one, please, let me know what piece i've lost //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Ooooh, well isn't this exciting. Having been otherwise occupied (read: stone) throughout the past few hundred conflicts, this is Danta's first involvement with one as a leader or otherwise. Remaining clad in his warmer garb despite being next to the fire, he absently picks some crackling from the roasting pig (suck it, Ronin) and munches on it as he listens.
"I'll check with Dygra," he informs them, because Ludo and Frey pale in comparison to Caido's entropic not-waifu, in his humble opinion. "What does this Refuge do, exactly?" He's felt strange since arriving here, though given how he's had to wait to thaw out before even conducting a conversation, he's not paid too much attention to it.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Delphia listened to Deimos and Ronin with intense curiosity, but her stomach sank to hear the news. For Safrin to have left Caido entirely because of a looming threat was alarming. She had never heard of a god leaving like that. It made her stomach churn. Could they not live in peace for just a little longer?
But Remi spoke and pulled her from her reverie. Without hesitation she nodded to his words. "We will seek out the guidance of Ludo and Mort. Surely they know of this and will have advice on how best to prepare." she said. She and Remi could coordinate later to see if they would visit them both together or divide and conquer - which seemed the best option to her.
Phoebe was unsurprised by Demios and Ronin's message - though Safrin's departure was unsettling - given the warning she had heard through the grapevine from Frey. She glanced at Sunjata as he spoke, nodding along with his words. She could corroborate everything he said.
"We will also seek out Frey's counsel on the matter. I have no reason to suspect that they will deny use of the Refuge again though." she said. Her gaze then turned to Dantalion and his question. "The Refuge protects those within from conflict outside in greater Caido. It also suppresses magic to keep major conflict from happening within." she explained, glancing at Jata to make sure she got all the details right.
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
With everyone gathered as needed, the meeting went underway. Deimos, nor Ronin's, words were a surprise to him. Ronin had written him, after all. But the fact that she was gone sent his blood running cold. He knew her attention had been called, her focus on something else, after his visit with Artemide. But knowing she was gone from Caido made the hunter's stomach lurch and the rest of his organs sink. He swallowed, glacier eyes impassable as he looked from each person who took their turn to speak.
Unable to react to anything else, and keeping himself in the present moment, Noah cleared his throat. "Vi will know better than anyone else the goings on of his herald." Noah shifted, arms crossing over his chest. "I will seek him immediately." Though, that could have gone without saying. No one had asked him to confirm what was happening with Safrin, although he alone was called by the one who could give her commands.
Noah stood, unable to keep sitting as his brain whirled. "Leaders should focus on informing and protecting the people. If the refuge was suggested again, and it can be used, we must get people to it." A leader in his own right, a warrior hardened by conflict, a heart of gold bursting for the people he loved and cared about, Noah paced. "Artifacts -- she mentioned artifacts specifically?" His eyebrows drew together. Then, he looked to each of them that he knew held and owned relics of war. He could feel the basilisk pendant on his chest, the weight of it on the cord around his neck. "That seems significant." Perhaps, whatever this threat was, needed to be kept from getting possession of the powerful artifacts of this world.
Hadama smiled warmly up at Evie and gave a small shake of his head. The waters inside the Refuge were chilly without his cold resistance, but he was used to the cold of the deep ocean and it was nothing he couldn't handle. "We should get together again soon," he murmured, having missed his friend in the busy days of Leafchange when their duties had kept them apart.
He nodded politely to Delphia when the young demigoddess joined him, but before he could introduce himself the meeting was underway and the shock of what Deimos and Ronin revealed stunned the stoic mermanta into a deep silence.
Safrin... had left Caido? To confront a looming danger... He tilted his head, surveying those gathered and their reactions. Amidst this company of demigods, what could a mere Mer do to help?
He looked to Harper, but without access to the Attuned bond he could only give his friend and co-ruler a tilt of his head and a small nod, hoping it would be enough warning of his intentions. Neither of them were the type to stand by when they could otherwise be helping.
"If Torchline can assist the other lands in preparing defenses, please let us know," he offered the gathered assemblage. "Once we know more of what threatens us." They could either swim together or be beached separately, it sounded like.
Though, Safrin willing, the goddess would succeed in her task and they would never have to find out.
Not wanting to be the this meeting could have been a letter guy, Remi is thankful for the first time that none present are tuned in to the attuned frequency such that the only thing the Lullaby needed to disguise was his face, rather than his thoughts and emotions too.
"So...Delphia and I check with Mort, Noah with Vi, Phoebe and Sunjata with Frey, and then..." Raising his eyebrows, he glances vaguely at Deimos given that it was the Sword who called the meeting. "If this is not like the war, then really we are just here to provide more information, correct?" We meaning the demigods.
There were no demigods in Stormbreak, Torchline, or the Hollowed Grounds (yet), and if only Deimos and Ronin had been given specific instructions, then were the rest of them simply free to help out if and where they saw fit?
I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate
It doesn't wanna live in a cage,
A feeling that I can't housebreak
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
// ships are launching from my chest some have names but most do not //
His lips part, immediately about to respond to Danta when Phoebe speaks. It’s with a nod of approval that’s aimed at her before he continues. “In the war it remained hidden and locked so that everyone inside was safe from everything that happened outside of it and only lifted when it was over. It was made to be self-sustaining without the use of magic or shifts or any abilities inside of it, and as Phoebe said, it suppresses those abilities as a safety measure.” Unlike the majority here, it seems, Sunjata’s the only one used to the nullification. It doesn’t bother him at all, but he knows, just as he’d experienced the first time it had gone into place, that it was a strange, nearly uncomfortable feeling.
Until one got used to it, that is.
He grows silent again as Remi starts to summarize, and while it burns him a little internally to agree, he can’t deny that he does. But he can offer more than just relaying information, whether or not those in attendance want his help specifically. He has to suggest it anyway. “Or to help prepare. I am available, if needed.” He doesn’t know what’s out there that Safrin could be facing — nor does he particularly care when it came to the starry goddess — but for the people that live here, he is willing and able to help.
the flood
// if you find one, please, let me know what piece i've lost //
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
How deeply are you sleeping or are you still awake? A good friend told me you've been staying out so late
As the youngest and least experienced person in the meeting, Sohalia already felt out of her element. It was easier to sit in silence next to Harper and Phoebe than it was to speak up, but being a leader wasn't easy, was it? So she listened, trying to keep the confusion and anxiety from her face, as news of Safrin's departure and potential impending doom filled her mind. Gods, what in Caido was she supposed to do with this information?
Well, what did Stormbreak have to offer. "Stormbreak will be glad to help prepare defenses as well," she said, her voice only quivering slightly as she spoke up into the crowd. "And we can provide the Dragoons for protection." They were expanding anyway, and wanted to be a worldwide peacekeeping force, so this seemed like something that they could and should be deployed for.
Be careful, oh, my darling, oh, be careful what it takes From what I've seen so far, the good ones always seem to break
Given Deimos had already told her privately, the news isn't shocking to the Evergreen, and she merely listens with a somber and reflective expression as the others begin speaking and contending with the information in real time. Ironically, though it might be because he knew ahead of time as well, it is Remi who makes a point that prompts Evie to speak.
"Exactly as Remi said, information will be more valuable than ever given we know so little of why she left or what she is fighting." It is a blindspot that makes Evie deeply uncomfortable, but one she has no way of fixing. And to the group at large, she spins off Sohalia's heels on a similar topic. "Personal and regional growth and defenses will be important, but it's vital that we disseminate information as swiftly as possible among not only the leaders and demigods, but the citizens at large." She recalls the Halovian deaths that could have been prevented in the war, including the death of Hotaru's son. "To that end I'm sure we will all be letting our citizens know, but if any new information is found - or even anything is suspected - I think we should at minimum send letters to each other to keep us all abreast of the situation." Perhaps if they'd all worked together when the bloodless animals had shown up, Dygra's rebirth could have been foretold, and more people might have used the Refuge.
If Harper needed any more news to saw at his tenuous sanity these days, it's this. Half of the people in the little meeting seem to already have known, while the other half rally with admirable speed. Harper...doesn't. He simply stands there, feeling adrift at sea.
Even Sohalia manages to keep her composure, and Harper couldn't be prouder of her, even if he envies her in that moment. Clearing his throat softly, he catches the look Hadama throws him, and nods in a manner only the Tidebreaker will take note of. "Precisely. Individual alliances are meaningless on the surface - we all need to be working concurrently to keep information circulated and assist with preparations." He hears his own words as if from a distance, and he longs for the Attuned bond with a new sharpness, wishing he could buoy himself with the emotions of other people. "Even if only an extra pair of hands is needed, I'd be happy to help." No matter the region or what needs to be accomplished.
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
He waited, only shifting slightly so others might see his corresponding bracelet as Ronin announced the gift, and then he was listening. To the notions of what to do next, with visiting other heralds, or that Safrin was prone to drama. Sunjata’s mentioning by Frey gave him the slightest pause, enough to narrow his eyes in speculation but say naught more, as the decision was made to inquire about utilizing the Refuge again.
Then lands were intending to either reach out to others, or their own. He made a sidenote in his head about this Dragoon force from Stormbreak, uncertain about its expansion. Evie’s own input was something they’d already intended to do – ensuring their citizens were well aware of the situation growing at hand.
From there though, he presumed not much else could be done. “Continue informing everyone of what is occurring, and in the meantime, we fortify,” nodding to Remi to ensure it was merely an informational gathering. “If no one as has anything else to add, I think we can leave and begin said preparations.” As they all certainly had enough on their plates. Pausing, his gaze flickered back to those who offered their services to asking further deities. “Please let us know if anyone else changes or if you gain more information.”
