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!
Deimos tried, with great difficulty, not to laugh at the ridiculous nature of their current gathering – muffling it all behind his mouth and teeth in a strangled chuckle. Ronin was prancing about, spooking and snorting at snakes, Remi was explaining the nature of his alterations, and the Sword could unfurl any amount of trepidation he’d had in coming here – for now. The antics seemed to put him at ease, rather than alarm, and so he shook his head in the stag’s direction, before utilizing his Mastered Air components – billowing the will-o-voids away as they tumbled about – and then picking up the snake.
It too twirled about in mid-air, while he held a conversation, all of them seemingly equally unbothered, unless Ronin’s sprinting and bucking counted. “Good for you then. I hope that gives you some peace.” They all deserve more measures than they’d had, but such was Caido. “More so than before?” His brow arched at the Lullaby; for what he recounted were massive shifts absorbing blow after blow as they chased after relics, as they scalded about in war.
Were he in a more juvenile mood, he might’ve sent the minor serpent after Ronin in chase, but instead, he left it to hovering as they talked, blank-eyed and clearly wanting to be anywhere else.
Whilst his fellow warriors converse, Ronin (obviously) hypes himelf up by bolting around the outskirts of the Greatwood for a few moments, offering a wild little buck or kick for good measure when the flighty energy in his bones grows too much. Only once he's got it out of his system does he return to Remi and Deimos, offering a snort and a haughty toss of his antlered head before promptly shifting back onto two legs.
"Well I got them to follow me," he says in his own defence, cheeks flushed from the exertion and his dark hair wind-tossed and messy. Glancing at the flat-eyed serpent hovering in mid-air, it's with narrowed eyes and a boyish pout that Ronin summons a single starbolt and zaps at the reptile, blasting it straight back into the thicket of trees. "At least that does something to them," he mutters.
The way up and the way down are one in the same I'm calling an audible late in the game
"Mmm. Much moreso." Remi confirmed with a nod. "It seems as though most of what I can do now is simply absorb damage, even if it is cast toward someone else. " He explains with a small shrug. How effective he was in terms of causing damage, he had no idea, knowing only that it was far less than what he'd been able to do before.
As Ronin returns, it's with an eyebrow raised in a playful expression that Remi grins at him, nodding obligingly. "You certainly did do that." He confirms, lips twisting into an ever-more crooked smile. Sniffing lightly at the scent of charred snake, the Bastion raises his eyebrows in earnest. "Well, it certainly seems your abilities are not hindered at all." Starbolts and air magic might not be an exhaustive test, but it did bode well.
If love is everything, love is pain Certain spirits are too bright to be tamed
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Starbolts and rampaging aside, he arched his brow again at the inclinations. Remi’s absorption of blows, rather than dealing out damage, was an alteration in the way he’d existed for years. A shield and bulwark, defensive and extending preservation; a systematic change. Or maybe not at all – there’d been many layers to the Lullaby, and now the Bastion’s methods – subject to alterations in the scheme of how things might’ve been dealt with. “And how do you feel about that?” He quirked a slight smile, before his attention diverted once more.
The sound of water twisted and turned nearby, and the Sword focused his gaze towards the distinct clatter of streams and rivulets. “Would you like to try on any of the river stars or encantados?” Uncertain of how deeply they should be focusing on the ramparts, or if it meant anything at all – different scales, different measures, for the things they fought against.
Letting an arm slip automatically around Remi's waist, Ronin tilts his head to rest it against his husband's curls, even as he continues to watch the treeline with the satisfaction of knowing he wasn't entirely useless in whatever fight might be to come. It's true that he might not be able to do much against The Family, but if he could at least dispose of the void creatures, that was something.
Blinking his thoughts away at the sound of Deimos's voice, the Nova glances towards the sound of the stream and offers a gentle nod. "It can't hurt. Maybe you can see if any of your other magics work the same way," he suggests, already turning to pick his way through the shrubs and undergrowth to the water nearby.
"Do you suppose the Greatwood is done for, now?" he asks softly. "Is there a way to bring it back from this?"
The way up and the way down are one in the same I'm calling an audible late in the game
With an almost shy smile, the Bastion can only shrug as he half-glances at Deimos before looking back toward the treeline. "I am not entirely sure, although...I do think it will be good for me." One could only deal with death and murder for so long before being all consumed by it, and gods if Remi's patterns over the previous few years weren't an indication he was already well down that road...
But then Ronin is back, being dramatic, and it's with an entirely adoring smile that he pulls the Nova against him before pressing a kiss against his temple. You are a hot mess, in every sense of it, he thinks, and though Deimos will no doubt hear the mental whispers, it's the best he can do to try and keep his affections toned down.
"Why not." Remi agrees, letting his hand find Ronin's as they walk toward the sound of running water. "Honestly...as much as I hate to even think it, I wonder if they took over the Greatwood as a distraction. If we focus our attention up here, so far from Stormbreak, they might be able to accomplish much while we are looking elsewhere."
If love is everything, love is pain Certain spirits are too bright to be tamed
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
From what he’d known and understood about Remi throughout the year, it was that the man deserved some happiness. So he took the answer with another slight smile and a nod, letting it all rest between the unknown and particles already altered and changed, as they began to thread their way through undergrowth. He could ignore the affections between the pair, unbothered, while they perused, listening to the flow of water and the questions mired within.
Stepping out along the path, his eyes narrowed in speculation at the rolling river, watching and waiting for any sign of bubbles or emerging beasts rising from the brink. “I would not be surprised,” going along with both mens’ theories. “Between Starfall, Stormbreak, and now the Greatwood, there are many footholds for them.” What that meant was anyone’s guess, but he didn’t like it – clenching his jaw as he continued scrutinizing the liquid below. “Perhaps any of the lands could come back from the Family’s influence, but we are still left with how to be rid of them.” Especially when Remi, and by extension Ronin, had been so threatened on the isle.
Ronin the hot mess is happy to walk hand-in-hand with his husband, and as they reach the babble of the nearby offshoot from the Stone Symphony, he falls to a slow halt to keep an eye out for anything looking to cause trouble. "That doesn't fill me with joy, I'll admit," he mutters, of the situation in the Greatwood being a distraction. "Maybe I'll pay a visit to Stormbreak in the next few days, make sure that things aren't getting out of hand."
From what they've heard from Vox, though, he's no longer certain that he'll be able to do anything about it regardless.
His gaze is drawn by movement downriver, and he nods at a void riverstar dragging itself towards them, clearly intent on trying to make them into a feast. "Would you like to do the honours?" he asks Deimos.
The way up and the way down are one in the same I'm calling an audible late in the game
"...Yeah." Remi agreed on the heels of a sigh before rubbing at one eye with the heel of his hand. "They have Stormbreak, but I wonder how long it will be before they come for somewhere more substantial. King's End or the Grounds are probably the easiest targets." King's End was led by a demigod and his demigoddess lover, but the Grounds were more heavily populated. "Perhaps we could learn something about their strengths by what they do next? So far it seems they have just been opportunistic in their approach."
Frowning a touch at the riverstar and backing up to let Deimos have it, Remi folds his arms comfortably across his chest as a small smile tugs at his lips. "Speaking of strengths...what would you think about a friendly competition between us? Not now, and not just the three of us, but ... you know, those inclined to really take things on. Us, Noah, Hadama probably, Sunjata and Hotaru...even Melita I should think." All demigods and those with stats over 50, in short.
"We could have it be friendly, just the sort of thing to really put our abilities to the test."
If love is everything, love is pain Certain spirits are too bright to be tamed
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 riverstar’s appearance didn’t mar anything within the discussion – Deimos nodded, content with unrelenting apathy and barbarity towards any of the void creatures. Altering the capacity of incantations used, he unfurled intangible threads and lines of life drain, comfortable in the familiarity of his oldest magic. It rippled and unwound and sank viciously towards the beast, so much so that the animal seemed to stop entirely in its tracks, either confused, rattled, or bewildered, by the sensations whittling it down to nothing.
All the while, he continued conversing, unbothered. Ronin’s intentions of visiting Stormbreak was certainly a worthwhile approach, if only to garner and snag at further information. “Did either of you know Sohalia well?” Perhaps the youth simply had disappeared or been rid of the rank; the lack of experience had been well-known, despite her forthright and honorable intentions. But the sudden gaining of power was unsettling to him, left to wonder how it was so easily snagged.
Hence the turn of note from Remi, leaving his nose wrinkled, jaw clenching once more. King’s End meant Hotaru would be potentially in danger, and the Hollowed portions with Kiada. “The Grounds have been working on a way to keep the void creatures out,” and whether or not that would permit the Family was another story. But he didn’t like the idea of leaving another land to be squandered and mired, overrun and taken, just to see and ponder the outcome.
He didn’t expect the Bastion’s next suggestion, displayed in a sudden arch of his brow and an inkling of his head. The riverstar sputtered again, angry and discontent, and Deimos surged another round of the siphoning aspects, watching as the creature dwindled, while contemplating other notions – half-smiling and shaking his head. “I would not mind,” because he was often juvenile and when given over to competitions….rallied quickly. “I do not believe we have had anything similar since the Greatwood Guardian tournament,” and those rules had been muddling in their own way – and based on how things were nowadays, no longer necessary. “When were you thinking? Deepfrost?”
"Don't let Stormbreak hear you calling them unsubstantial," Ronin remarks with a smirk. "The ghost of Cian will appear just to smite you. It's Caido's capital, you know." Not that it means a damn thing, but he's still a little worried that the floating city's positioning alone puts them at an advantage when it comes to seeing everything. He nods nonetheless at his husband's ideas - a shame that he doesn't yet know about the orb in his starlit daughter's possession. Ah, well.
Impressed and not bothering to hide it as Deimos snags the river star with magic and it seems to visibly wither beneath the hybrid's power, Ronin takes a second to come back to the conversation. "Mm? I met her once or twice," he says of Sohalia. "But I can't say I knew her well. I just hope she's alright - she seemed very young, to lead a whole region." Which isn't a bad thing, but all of them present know how difficult it is to be in charge.
As for the tournament, now the Nova is grinning as well, and he nudges Remi with his hip. "Keen to show off your new skills, huh?" he teases. "Deepfrost might be fun, as long as I can use snowballs in my matches. We'd need a safe place to do it, though."
The way up and the way down are one in the same I'm calling an audible late in the game
"Ah, that is right. I always forget Dygra is more than what the heralds are." Remi says with a nod in Deimos' direction. "Maybe not there then. Unless...do any of the ancients know what Dygra makes of all of this?" All the Bastion knew is that the God seemed fairly hands off, which might mean she'd let harm befall her chosen race rather than stepping in to keep them protected.
As for Stormbreak and Cian, Remi can only grin and roll his eyes. "I do very well against ghosts, lest you forget." He chuckles.
About Sohalia, Remi can only shake his head. "I know her face I think, but the most we ever spoke was in letters." The same letters that likely Ronin and Deimos received from Stormbreak as well. "What do you make of all of it?" As believable as it was to think that the teenage queen had simply burned herself out, the arrival of the Family didn't seem to have just conveniently coincided with her abdication.
Snorting under his breath, Remi can only shake his head before nudging Ronin right back. "I may be able to take more than just a hit now, but I do not pack much of a punch anymore. But also...yes." He was.
"DeepFrost sounds good. Would you make the trip from Halo for it? I cannot say I am all that keen about venturing west during the coldest season of the year."
If love is everything, love is pain Certain spirits are too bright to be tamed
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 not been permitted within Stormbreak until very recently, Cian’s name gave no recognition. He saved his confusion though, working on obliterating the rest of the river star as they talked. The magic coursed again through his veins with no remorse, and he was content, satisfied, to watch the remains seemingly extinguish before their eyes. The animal slowly withered and died, before sinking to the bank. “I have not heard of Dygra’s opinions.” He’d heard little of her at all, really, save for a relish in chaos and primordial factions – and her allowing Kiada to improve the jacket he’d made.
Any notions of Sohalia were rendered be gone and fleeting – which struck as a shame to him, for a being capable but young. “She appeared overwhelmed. Willing, but in over her head much of the time,” of leadership; unaware and uncertain of the parallels of anything else. It would’ve been a believable thing for the teenager to have disappeared or deserted, but he wasn’t certain how much that actually applied to her. “But the way they took power seemed far too easy.”
Ronin’s comment about a safe place for such a tournament, while Deimos simultaneously burst the river star’s corpse into flames, gave way to other impending notions. “Depends on what portion of the season and where,” he admitted, if a little quieter, eyes narrowing to gaze out over the scenery, before allowing a grin. “Evie is pregnant, and due early on in Deepfrost.” He wouldn’t have to explain the need for close proximities; not to them and their experience with such matters. "But we can make things align and work. What are your preferences?" Besides not Halo.
Listening with a furrowed brow and an arm that slips around Remi almost without his permission (ghosts, indeed), Ronin sighs and watches, absently, as the river star shrivels and becomes nothing but a husk under Deimos's magic. "I feel almost as though we should have done more, with Stormbreak," he admits. "I knew Sohalia was young and feeling the pressure. Now Dahlia controls the place." And she won't give it up easily, if he knows anything about the threat on their shores.
But anyway, there's a tournament to plan, and the Nova's eyes light up at Deimos's comments; clearly he has skipped over the whens and the wheres and has snagged upon Evie's pregnancy and nothing more. "Congratulations," he says through a wide grin. "She should come as well, in that case." To cheer him on, of course, but also to bring the baby, so Ronin might fuss over it accordingly.
