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!
an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth a knife for the ribs
The sandy shores leading to the Northaven's current mooring are marred with veins of glass, made that way by errant starbolts thrown by a bone-weary demigod. Ronin feels guilt and rage with each one summoned and detonated, both hating the source of the power and also trying to use up the strength so recently bestowed upon him by Safrin. The dark shoreline is empty but for the houseboat bobbing merrily nearby; emptier even than when Ronin first set foot on the sand.
And though he isn't trying, by any means, to broadcast his feeling outward, the Attuned bond boils over with the words he keeps locked behind his tongue. By the time he steps up and onto the pier he's already feverishly unbuttoning his shirt, as if the garment is trying to strangle him. There's no need to call for his husband by name - he's sure Remi knows he's there.
For all that the pair have been through and all that they are together, it should surprise no-one to learn that as Ronin storms his way home, Remi is there to meet him. Rather than rushing out to greet the Nova on the sand, instead the Lullaby lets his husband expel the worst of the emotions that weigh heavily on his shoulders and tie his tongue, knowing that a few flung star bolts are far from the worst that Ronin is capable. Shrugging out of his own shirt that he might bear more of a canvas for his husband to paint his feelings upon, it's with a silent outstretched hand that he welcomes his husband home.
Home to the Northaven, the shores of which had been a sweet memory between the two before it had been borrowed as a code phrase should Ronin ever have to do anything for Safrin against his will. Wondering if he'd now hear those words from his husband's lips, the Lullaby swallowed back his own feelings about the goddess, sealing them tightly away that he might not taint whatever was to come with his own wayward experiences with the herald.
"Whatever has happened, I love you."
You trace my lines, stirring my soul shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth a knife for the ribs
"And you'll never know how much that means to me." Seizing the familiar warmth and calloused touch of his husband's hand, Ronin steps onto the houseboat and into a waiting embrace. The Nova's lips are against Remi's before he can consider doing anything else, his kiss slow and greedy and all consuming, his arms possessive, his touch desperate.
Against bare flesh the Lullaby will be able to glean much more than with mere words; he'll feel the sting of what feels almost like a break-up, but not - an ending, nonetheless; he'll feel the needle-like spines of jealousy coated in thin strands of something akin to relief; he'll feel love, marrow deep and complete, for the man Ronin has come home to.
"She treated me like a stranger," he mumbles against Remi's lips, and though it's a difficult admission, the Nova knows his husband will feel in it a sense of victory.
Not releasing Ronin's hand once it was in his own, Remi pulled the Nova to him eagerly, already leaning toward the kiss he knew was coming. The immediate vastness of his husband's touch nearly had the Lullaby sipping in a surprised breath, but with a lungful of air for precisely that reason, instead Remi leaned into the kiss as if he might fill the nothingness he felt pouring from Ronin.
Curling an arm around Ronin's waist before intertwining the fingers of their other hand together, Remi drew in a breath against his husband's lips. Trying to stifle the urge to tell Ronin all he knew of Vanya and Aoife, instead, he bit back the desire, placating it with promises of seeing Ludo as soon as he was able.
"Do you think anything you could do for her would ever be enough?" Remi wonders in returning, brushing his nose softly against Ronin's. "Short of dying for her where she could hold you as a perfect martyr, you would always be in the wrong." Remi knew well why Ronin had stayed away from the goddess until now, knew he had been gathering his strength in case she needed to take it from him again and based on the twisting semi-hatred and relief he felt in Ronin's touch, she'd laughed at him for his mortal concern for his life.
You trace my lines, stirring my soul shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth a knife for the ribs
Melting into the touch offered so freely by the other man, Ronin backs up until he can lean against the side of the Northaven, bolstered by his husband's presence and the steady rock and sway of their home. "No, I really don't think so," he admits, eyes closed and each breath shared with Remi enough that he doesn't have to speak beyond a murmur. "Abandoning you - or better yet killing you - might come close. And then dying in her name, perhaps."
As Safrin had said - and the bitterness sours any soothing feelings he might have been harbouring thanks to Remi's touch - there was nothing that Ronin could give her that she could not provide herself. Pressing sweet kisses against Remi's cheek and the corner of his mouth, the Nova lets his head loll against his husband's shoulder, exhausted. "I don't think I will go to see her again," he admits in a whisper. "I think... this is it, for me. This is all I am, until she decides to strip that away as well."
"A murder-suicide." Remi agrees, grinning humourlessly against Ronin's lips. "What better act of devotion." Gods but she really would enjoy that, he was sure. "For everything I feel about her, I do understand what it is to want all of you to myself." Remi whispers, unsure if his words would help or hurt, and mildly hating himself for finding common ground with Safrin.
Curling his fingers up the back of Ronin's neck to cradle his head against his shoulder, Remi sighed softly. Flooding their bond with thoughts of purple mountains and sex in snowbanks in worlds fashioned by their own imaginations, the Lullaby hugged the Nova all the closer for his admission.
"Would that really be so bad?" Ghosting his fingertips across Ronin's lower back, Remi tilted his head to press a kiss in the soft cleft behind his husband's ear. Ronin's powers were all but ineffective against the current threat, and gods, hadn't he been a hero for long enough? Was retirement truly such a taboo subject for the demigods? "You are not your abilities. You never have been." Likely that's what Safrin had always coveted most about Ronin; he'd shone with his own light before she'd found him, and would do so long after her as well.
You trace my lines, stirring my soul shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth a knife for the ribs
Scoffing against the side of Remi's neck and leaning all the more into the offered embrace, Ronin lets his eyes press shut. "You have me all to yourself," he mumbles, his voice a little muffled but he has no doubt that the other man will understand every word. "Now more than ever. I'm sorry you ever had to share me." A shiver runs the length of Ronin's spine with each touch and caress, and he breathes in the scent of botanics and woodsmoke and salt that has become Torchline's version of his husband's scent.
"Were we still in the Cordillera... were it not for that out there... I'd say it would be fine." That, of course, being the purple hued island marring the horizon even during the night. "But I am worried." It's true that he's next to useless against the new threats with any borrowed celestial power... but he had hoped he might at least gain some insight from Safrin.
"You think too highly of me," he mutters with a wry smile, shaking his head. "I suppose I will have to start training properly again."
Pressing his teeth together that he might somehow cage the flush of victory he feels wafting up the back of his throat, he knows Ronin will feel it no matter how much he grinds his teeth. Sorry, he thinks guiltily, before pulling the Nova against him all the more tightly. "Safrin brought you back from the dead. Whatever else she has done to you or for you, I would have not had the chance to love you as I have were it not for that." Though the Lullaby wasn't entirely convinced that Ronin wouldn't find reason to go back to Safrin—or she wouldn't find some excuse to call him back to heel—for the moment it was simply enough that Ronin was in one piece.
Hating the obligation that still fell to them whether they liked it or not, Remi could only graze the side of his cheek against Ronin's as he continued to trace the patterns of long-healed scars that sliced across his husband's tanned skin. "Maybe we start digging. A giant tunnel and hide underground until all this is over. We can bring our loved ones and let the gods sort it all out." Only half kidding, Remi smiled boyishly for a moment before leaning back to gaze into his husband's eyes.
"Of course I do." He countered, lips crooked and sea-glass eyes full of affection. "I always will." As for training? Wrinkling his nose slightly, Remi sighed and nodded. "But not today. Maybe not even tomorrow."
You trace my lines, stirring my soul shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth a knife for the ribs
"Don't be," Ronin whispers darkly, the touch of a smile in his words. In this of all seasons, having and being had in return brings no shortage of satisfaction to the Nova. Perhaps that's why his departure from Safrin and her rejection has gotten its claws in him so deeply. Letting out a long, shuddering sigh that drags as much tension from his shoulders as he can allow, he does nod his agreement. Regardless of all else, he still draws breath thanks to a goddess's grace, and that is not something to squander.
Even if it means obliging some world-ending threat again, though Remi's idea does seem tempting. "I'm already my own light source," he agrees, drawing back enough to gaze up and into his husband's eyes. "I love you," he murmurs; such small little words, but they mean just as much now as they ever have. "Let's go to bed?"
"For now. Perhaps we should start stocking up on candles." Remi says with a crooked smile, bobbing his eyebrows playfully.
"It is always you, for me." The Lullaby agrees softly, and though the words have been said often enough so as to lose their meaning, gods but they've never felt more true than they do now. Letting his one hand fall away from the Nova's neck, Remi smiles before tangling his fingers back into Ronin's. "I was hoping you would say that." He had been on the fence as to whether Ronin would want to go devastate some hidden bits of ocean floor, snarl bolts of light at the stars, or go to bed. Each had their own merits, but with the Nova's blue eyes fixed on his, Remi had known which he'd prefer almost right away.
You trace my lines, stirring my soul shoot sparks at the heart of the world
& I watch it explode
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth a knife for the ribs
"Gods, you might be right there," Ronin agrees with a soft wince, one that he chases away with another taste of Remi's lips, as if it might allow him some reprieve from whatever the night has brought thus far. "And you for me," he replies like a vow, before pressing another kiss to Remi's cheek and ushering him back into the houseboat, their fingers warmly entwined.
And so, glass aside, there is no further devastation wrought along Torchline's shores, and despite the strange magic in the Leafchange air, Ronin really does just go to bed with Remi, their limbs sweetly entangled, his lips pressed to the soft space beneath his husband's ear. For the first time, though - in years, perhaps - it's his husband's name that leaves his lips last thing in the dark; a decision, a step back, a handshake.
