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!
In the quiet of the evening, Ronin can find the closest thing to peace he believes is possible. It's a strange, witching sort of hour, where the light is dying enough to free the streets of people, but it isn't yet dark enough for stars. The Supernova isn't sure he can bear to look at the stars tonight, or for a thousand nights to come.
So instead he walks streets that were familiar even before Stormbreak rose skyward, feet knowing each cobblestone and curb, fingers relishing the feel of brick buildings and tree bark. A chilly breeze snags at his coat, causing him to turn his collar up against it, and quite without permission his legs carry him towards a familiar coffee stall.
Finding himself there before he can admit to not wanting to speak to people, he goes ahead and orders himself something for old times' sake. He orders two, in fact - one for Remi, because if he's too cold to wander, it's time to head home. Or wherever home is when they visit Stormbreak.
We made plans to kiss the sun at night Hopeless dreamers, hopeless types
There were lots of days in the clinic that were harder than others. Even with advanced technology (and even Doctor Hart's unicorn shift, which Ellyra didn't personally know about) there were still days they lost patients. Today it was one of those days. It sucked, too. An accident from a skyboat training that left a young man with injuries too far gone to repair by the time they made it to the clinic.
Ellyra was getting tougher skin, the longer she stayed. But today sucked. And tomorrow would probably suck. She contemplated heading towards Mother Molly's and paying for someone to take her stress away physically, but truth be told she hadn't had as good of sex there than she had at the House of Midnight with Thorn.
So coffee it was.
She made her way through the city until the scent of chocolate and coffee beans pulled her towards a mediocre looking cart, but one she knew well. Stepping up in line, she couldn't help but notice the man ahead of her ordering two coffees. She looked around briefly, but they were the only ones really there, so she stepped forward. "Who's that one for?" Ellyra asked boldly, a broad smile showing off straight and white teeth to the very handsome, brooding figure beside her.
Shedding skin you show your beauty scars Don't forget me or who you are
Once in the not too distant past, a charming interruption and a lady's presence would have been all it took for Ronin to crack a smile; alas, his socialite nature has been dampened significantly in recent times. So as the stranger pipes up next to him, he responds with a slow glance between the two coffee cups, and then back at her.
"Not you?" he murmurs, an eyebrow raised, as if that had been her implication. Clearing his throat and offering payment to the stall by way of a couple of shiny dragon scales, he offers the merchant a gruff nod before collecting up the cups and stepping back out of the way.
Presumably for the woman to make her own order.
The merchant, for his part, offers Ellyra an awkward smile and an apology, beckoning her forward to order her drink. "Ain't seen a bad mood like that since the Tower fell years ago," he tells her.
We made plans to kiss the sun at night Hopeless dreamers, hopeless types
Appallingly unused to having such a response from her flirtations, Ellyra was taken a back. ”Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to—“ She stepped to the side and then to the counter, making eyes with the barista that mirrored the feeling in her chest, as she fumbled on her sentence. She mumbled her order to the man as the color rose in her cheeks. She didn’t have many pieces to put together about the mood and the tower and all that was said between, focusing only on how he hadn’t responded in the way of the normal man.
It didn’t take long — a simple order with no frill — for her to have her coffee. It wasn’t enough time for the man to leave, nor was it enough time for Ellyra to decide to look away from him instead of further the awkwardness by studying him. Then she sipped on her coffee. And the pencil drawing one of the students in her apartment building was working on solidified in her mind. ”Oh shit.” She said, nearly choking on the sip of too-hot coffee she had taken. ”You’re Ronin.”
Shedding skin you show your beauty scars Don't forget me or who you are
Having been off to one side, fussing with emptying as many little sugar packets into his drink as could reasonably fit (none for Remi, all for him, and that's dandy), Ronin is using a dragon claw to unceremoniously stir the drink when his name hits the air. Glancing up and shaking the coffee off the appendage before shifting his hand back, he crams the lid back onto the coffee. "For my sins," he rumbles; and there certainly seem to be a lot of those lately, in his opinion.
And it's that lingering thought that perhaps has him speaking again, clearing his throat and forcing his shoulders to relax ever so slightly. "Sorry," he offers. "About just now. It's been a long few days." And they aren't getting any shorter, if the season and its delights have anything to do with it.
We made plans to kiss the sun at night Hopeless dreamers, hopeless types
"No, no, it's fine." Ellyra said, red hues darkening her cheeks. She offered a smile that wiped the shocked look off of her face. She knew that Ronin was married, of course, to Remi (a man, remind yourself, Ellyra), and that's certainly why he didn't have time to entertain her flirtations. "I had a long day too. I uh, I work at the clinic. Doctor Hart, you probably know her. I'm one of the nurses." She stumbled and sputtered, herself apologetic. "We lost a patient today and, well, flirting is easy." She offered in explanation, tucking a strand of goldenrod hair behind her red ears.
She sipped her coffee more carefully then, her eyes lowering to the lid of her cup for a moment before she let out a short breath. "It's uh, nice to meet you." She gave another smile, eyes strolling up his frame properly now.
Shedding skin you show your beauty scars Don't forget me or who you are
Standing rather more awkwardly than usual with his two coffee cups, Ronin tries to compartmentalise the darkness that has been haunting his thoughts lately and does his best to focus on the here and now. Luckily, the mention of the clinic and a certain Doctor Hart is enough to bring recognition to his eyes, and he nods his head yes. "I do know her, she's a good friend," he confirms. "Sorry for your loss."
Because it still counts as her loss, even if the patient had been someone else's friend, family member and so on. Ronin has been responsible for enough death to know that much. "Good to meet you, too," he replies automatically. "I don't think I caught your name...?"
We made plans to kiss the sun at night Hopeless dreamers, hopeless types
the lioness gave a smile as Ronin recognized Doctor Hart. The more people she met that knew the doctor seemed to really enjoy her, and Ellyra was growing to like her more and more each day as she worked beneath her. Taking another sip of coffee, Ellyra whispered a thank you in reference to her loss, and swallowed another si[ of coffee behind it to take away more of the pain.
"I'm Ellyra. Ellyra Fox." She said, remembering to use her surname. She didn't expect Ronin to know who she was, or her family, but there was at least a chance. After all, she had lived in the Grounds her entire life and her family for as many years before her as long as she knew. She had been there, young and innocent and wide-eyed, when the outlanders appeared -- and still as young and innocent and wide-eyed when the outlanders had freed them. She was less so now, but she guarded herself enough from the current goings-on in the world, having practiced many many years, fueled by her parents' prejudice against the Voice.
"You know, Safrin attuned me." Ellyra said, not knowing she might get to taste how her foot was today, as she looked to Ronin with eyes now not laced with flirting, but respect and admiration and -- was she looking starstruck?
Shedding skin you show your beauty scars Don't forget me or who you are
"Ellyra," Ronin echoes, committing the name - the first name, at least - to memory and linking it inexorably with Doctor Hart's clinic. Perhaps if they'd still been in those early days in the Grounds he might have shown a little more familiarity at her potential history; alas, the Nova has been reborn a number of times since then, and can barely remember his own previous iterations.
Safrin's name, formerly a song from people's lips that Ronin would join without hesitation, now causes something shadowed and bitter to shroud his expression, and in response to her starstruck awe, he can only offer a stiff nod. He almost utters bully for you, or a similar sharp equivalent, instead clearing his throat and taking a sip of his coffee.
"I hope it didn't cost you too much," he says instead.
We made plans to kiss the sun at night Hopeless dreamers, hopeless types
She didn’t notice the way her heart started to beat faster and her palms got slightly clammy. She took another drink of her coffee as the color in her cheeks darkened. An innocent curiosity, a feline tilting of the head, and a simple statement. ”It didn’t cost me anything. It was a gift.” She didn’t understand his statement, really.
Her (albeit, one) interaction with Safrin had been a blessing more than anything else. The goddess, so radiant and full of wonder, had brought the young woman an awe that nearly brought her to her knees. She had unlocked something within her that Ellyra didn’t know was there. A lioness, of all shifts, pulled right from the depths of her very being.
Shedding skin you show your beauty scars Don't forget me or who you are
"Aren't they always?" Ronin says with a smile that seems anything but happy, and it's with another long sip of his coffee that he schools himself to react in a more adult way. "My apologies," he tells Ellyra. "I'm not on the best terms with my patron these days - don't let my bitterness spoil the gift she bestowed upon you." But maybe don't ask for anything else too soon, he nearly adds, barely stopping himself.
"What shift did she give you?" he asks, forcing the sort of curiosity and smalltalk that would usually come so naturally. Perhaps one day he and the nurse can meet again, on different terms, and Ronin will be much less of a killjoy.
I must become a lion hearted girl Ready for a fight
The woman, with her head tilted, was losing the rose-colored tint to her vision as Ronin took another long drink of his coffee (and something told her, deep down somewhere, he may have wished it was another substance). Storm clouds gathered around her and she felt the thunder rolling through her stomach, the images of the memory of Safrin darkened by them.
A pang, hurt and deep, rushed through her at his own apology and explanation. ”I’m sorry.” Ellyra said with a smile full of sympathy as her fingers brushed against his forearm before stopping. She didn’t let her hand rest there out of both respect for who this man was standing before her, but also because she and the rest of Caido knew that he was very, very, very married. ”That’s probably very difficult.”
And probably the reason she didn’t get the same reaction out of her flirting that she may have from him, seasons ago.
His net question, however, had her lips shifting up into a slight smirk. She set her coffee down on the station filled with sugars and stirring sticks and then shifted. Before him stood the great lioness in all her glory — rippling muscle and sleek golden coat.
Ronin's smile is sadder but at the same time more genuine, and he nods his agreement at her assessment of his situation. "I have fought monsters that were easier to face than this," he admits. "She wasn't who I thought she was. Or perhaps she always was that way, and I just finally stopped being blind to it."
Shaking it off - both because he doesn't want to completely sour any experience Ellyra might have had with Safrin, and also because the change of subject is welcome - the Nova is surprised to see her shift right before him. Around them, a stir of activity shows that the lioness's presence hasn't gone unnoticed by the general public, and Ronin raises a hand in placation as if to tell passers-by not to worry.
"That's quite something." He smiles. "My husband has a very similar shift these days. Only his has wings. This suits you, though."
We made plans to kiss the sun at night Hopeless dreamers, hopeless types
She didn't stay shifted long, but it was long enough for her to nearly swell with feline satisfaction at the praise. Shifting back to her born legs she smiled at the demigod, brushing some golden hair behind her ears. "That's so interesting." Her eyebrows lifted towards her hairline. "I'd love to fly someday. I know Safrin would give that to me, if I asked." She said with confidence, though her face immediately sunk thereafter. Ronin had literally just told her not to ask for too much too fast, and here she was, boasting about all the herald could give her.
She wasn't sure she liked the taste of her feet as much as she liked the taste of the coffee. So, with new crimson hues touching her face, she picked that back up again and took a nice, long drink. It nearly burnt her throat to char but she ignored it, using the liquid to safeguard herself from any more stupid words falling from her lips.
Shedding skin you show your beauty scars Don't forget me or who you are
