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!
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
Noah remembered their conversation, so long ago now, about demigodhood. The Forsaken had shared outright and without hesitation the benefits as well a the pitfalls of being chosen. It was a great honor, with great responsibility. Noah lifted a brow towards Hadama, letting the question fall over the bond. Is this Safrin’s doing, then?
He still beamed over his children as Hadama interacted with them. Sah came over then, stirring Noah to swivel his head. His eyes ran over the crowd after he greeted the once-wolf to their breakout group with a smile. He couldn’t help the instinct, snapped into watchfulness despite the Festival being well attended by the most powerful people in Caido.
When his eyes fell on a familiar face — dark hair, freckles, striking eyes — the Forsaken nearly choked on his tongue. Was that Seren, returned from her mother’s sky?
No better version of me I could pretend to be tonight
Usually a social animal, today Koa stands alone, his hands in his pockets and his eyes terse as he scans the gathered crowd. Every absent face is a punch in the gut: no Noe, no Sohalia, no Anju. His family, his loved ones, they haven't come. They are still in Stormbreak, where he cannot go.
At least, he hopes they are.
His lantern is purchased; a lost few months in the Wilds afford surprisingly little time for arts and crafts. Pip clenches the metal between her teeth, climbing delicately up a nearby tree and seeking a perfect nook in its branches. With a small flicker of her tongue she ignites the wick within, calling down a mournful song to her bonded.
Grim-faced, Koa nods in response, his copper eyes reflecting the dancing flame for only a moment before returning their search. He doesn't want to think of his mother now, of the disappointment she would no doubt feel if she knew of his current state: exiled and forsaken, a brooding Dragoon with a monster looming between him and his Nest.
04-23-2024, 08:17 PM (This post was last modified: 04-23-2024, 08:19 PM by Hotaru.)
Hotaru
I'll be yours until the sun no longer shines until the poets run out of rhyme
She arrives with her arm looped through Sunjata's, a softly glowing figure that luckily doesn't stand out too much amidst the lamplight. Hotaru usually adores the spotlight, but the Festival of Lights is one place where she'd rather fade into obscurity and be left to her own thoughts. Grief has become more than a knife to her now, but she'd rather bleed alone than find community in her pain.
Sunjata is the exception to that. One of the lanterns in her hands is Nate's, and they grieve them in the same way. As he goes to hug Melita, Hotaru opens one arm for the same if the young woman desires it, understanding the difficulties others are going through at this time and the space they may need.
She hangs Wessex's beside Nate's. Then she moves to a different section of branches - alone, this time - and hangs one for Ru'in and one for Enzo. And if her eyes then skip and rove above the masses trying to find Flora, it's only to bring her daughter close as she watches the lanterns sway in memory of her sons. Her daughter's kiss on her cheek makes her smile despite herself, a soft laugh escaping as all others are ignored. "I have to retain my lead, don't I?" She drops a kiss onto her daughter's shoulder - certainly not hiding away from the people that flock near them.
- - -
Ru brings lanterns for Nate, Wessex, Ru'in, and Enzo.
until the mountains crumble into the sea In other words, until eternity
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
So many lanterns, so little time - and yet, on this particular occasion, the gorgeous array of glowing tributes are not the first thing on Ludo's mind.
The season has not been kind to it.
It has let the veil grow thin between this world and the next, distracted by Starfall, by the Family, by the void.
Its only chosen has gone on to bigger and better things, which is no bad thing (it never is, to stand in Mort's presence), but it means more work and less play for Ludoodles. Metaphorically speaking.
Let's just say it's a stressful time to be a masked, tricksy demigod.
But many hands make light work, so they say.
And so within the crowds of many, a small and frostbitten hand reaches up to grasp at Melita's, and a youth in a raggedy shawl wearing a porcelain mask peeps up at her. "Hallo," Ludo says to the Honeybee. "Remi has gone, so would you like to play with me instead? It will be a lot of fun, I promise. I can give you all the best tricks."
Ludo is offering for Melita to become its demigod!!
LUDO
Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own
It's a hustle and bustle to say the least, and Evie sticks close to Deimos both for physical support so she doesn't tire early and because she's a little up to her ears in people. Not that she isn't gracious; smiles abound for Kiada and Fox, who trails behind and greets them both. "It's great to meet you, Kiada spoke of you highly," she assures, extending a hand to shake. Given how impassable Halo is for Ancients, she will humorously assume that's the only reason why they haven't met before.
Ronin is a pleasant surprise - and only in the sense that he diverts from his husband - but Evie titters and her cheeks glow as she grins. "That's more a side effect than anything, but thank you," she laughs, reaching to squeeze his elbow. "You seem lighter yourself. I hope you're doing well." She had been there when Aoife had died, had been alongside Amalia helping to heal Remi, and she knows the kind of grief they are sharing today. Anything to help ease that is good in her books.
In your hands I am mine, you take me to myself The tenses I knew now they bring me to you
I've done nothing wrong Except for all the atrocities
Make no mistake, Melita wasn’t one to make any regards or notions towards the future. Not with her impulsivity, not with her emboldened nature, not with the way the world had worked against her in youth, and how she’d managed to live by fighting it day after day.
So while being swept up in hugs, she had no expectation of raggedy shawls and youthful glances, of a small, frostbitten hand suddenly swarming hers, of masks peering directly into her eyes. “Hello,” she responded to Ludo in kind, in the way she always had – with a smile, with an impish glow, with the delight of so many chaotic semblances.
The question only gave her the barest of pauses – the news ricocheting around her skull like a battering ram, before reality sunk and clung and whistled against her. There was only one answer. “Of course,” she promised and pledged, the lightest wrinkle to her nose. Simplistic; with all the undercurrents beneath - a pattern of power, something she'd always grasped for and utilized. “What sort of tricks did you have in mind?”
She was late. But no amount of running or sailing along skyships or flying would’ve made the notions any better – not with the way her body still trembled and nerves still frayed, wrangled and mangled on the ends. But her sister’s lantern was in her hand, and that would be enough.
Rather than be social and carefree, because gods she didn’t feel up to it, the Caretaker found a free space amongst the lights and sounds, the freedom and liberation, the somberness and cheer. From there, she crouched beside the river, whispered words of graciousness to Seraphina, and bowed her head, waiting for the inevitable.
"The best tricks," Ludo assures Melita, its head bobbing almost comically with the force of it. And though Mel won't be able to see it behind the mask, she will get the sensation of a very wide smile indeed in response to her acceptance. "Come and see me very soon, and we will talk," it whispers to her, trickster to trickster. "But now I have to choose my best lantern."
Patting her sleeve, Ludo will appear to completely dissipate into a swathe of writhing smoke, a darkness that appears to flood the proceedings, dimming all lanterns in the vicinity...
All except one.
A lantern dressed in golds and ivory.
Perhaps the newly minted Bastion has sprinkled some extra luck into it as the dark haired Penumbra admires the lantern crafted for her by her daughter. Her sapphire eyes are only for her Harpy as she arrives, though seeing as she’s surrounded by so many of those Rexanna had loved, perhaps seeing her arrive might settle some worries about where she’d ended up after everything happened for everyone else watching the reveal.
All she can offer to start with is a soft little “I know, sweetheart,” when it comes to the young woman’s internal commentary that @Kiada’s held close to her chest. The Harpy had finally understood that it wasn’t a lack of Rexanna’s caring, but that priorities change, and for a renewed life in Caido, mixed with those memories of another time in Helovia, Rexanna had tried to do her best.
“I have and always will love you, my darling girl. I’m sorry it took so long.” She says, tucking a lock of her dark hair behind her ear before she embraces her daughter tightly against her lithe frame, to stay there however long she can.
Melita has accepted Ludo's offer of demigodhood, and Kiada's lantern for Rexanna has been chosen for this year's festival!
LUDO
Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own
It’s completely and wholly unexpected, so much so that in Fox’s touch, the Harpy stills so fast one might think she were still Ascended as a figure appears beside the ivory and golden lantern, and she seems to forget momentarily of everything around her as she hears her mother’s voice, brows pinching and eyes glistening immediately. She had been so angry for so long, until she’d been reborn again and realized the hard truth. And to hear that Rexanna had not held any of it against her?
Well, it’s all seen in the way she seems to move again, tail slipping around her leg as she moves toward her mother, still as radiant as she’d always been, a soft little “Mom?” croaked from her lips, stepping forward until the ghostly figure of her mother has wrapped her arms around her tightly, leaning into the touch that tucks her hair behind her ear as she can’t hide the tears anymore, slipping from her cheeks as she murmurs her quiet little apologies into the air for the Penumbra’s ghost to hear only.
Everything else that goes on, those that potentially remain around her, are nothing more than a dull sound behind her from the thunder in her ears and the familiar chime of her mother's voice.
heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Tal’s lanterns were already floating with the ones on the water, but he flashed Hawthorn a small, grateful smile as the other man welcomed him and Zavien. There was a time when he would have been perfectly content to stay off to the side, brooding and alone, but this year… this year it was surprisingly nice to ease the old ache of loss with some friendly faces.
”Food sounds good,” Tal agreed, perking up a little as he spied one of the tables that as given over entirely to desserts. His own losses were years in the past now, thankfully, and there had been plenty of time for scabs and scars to take the raw sawblade edge off his grief. ”D’you think that Ludo will—“ But before he could finish his sentence the lights around them all grew dim and a hush fell over the clearing as all eyes were drawn to the single lantern that still burned bright. A woman Tal didn’t know stood beside it, but he recognized Kiada as the Ancient fell into the strange lady’s arms.
Tal bit his lip against the familiar stab of jealousy and turned away, drawing a slightly ragged breath. ”Um. So. Yeah. I guess that answers that. Thorn, can y’get me somethin’ sweet? I’m… gonna go find th’drinks. Can I bring anythin’ back for you guys?”
More familiar faces appeared, and the King inclined his head to Koa and Lena as he spied them at a distance. They seemed focused on their own mourning rites, however, so he did not call out to them.
Instead he focused on accepting the courtesy from young Marcus with a gentle nod, and tilting his head at the newly-arrived Sah. ”Likewise,” he replied politely to the Wild Thunder’s greeting. It had been some time since he had seen the Abandoned, but he looked well enough, and the King was content to step back and let him speak with Noah’s children if it would make the young ones more comfortable.
Indeed, he replied to Noah himself, emerald eyes flicking up to meet his friend’s, bright with quiet joy and the echo of starlight. May we meet after the Festival? Your thoughts and advice would be welcome. Noah had already given a great deal of both, but now his experiences as a demigod were no longer a matter of merely academic interest to the Tidebreaker.
A flicker of movement in the water caught his eye, and Hadama spied a familiar tentacle curling through the shallows. He nodded a greeting to Nysadeia but before he could offer a proper greeting, Kaiden ’s grouchy demand cut through the Attuned bond. The King did not sigh, but he contemplated the shark for a long moment in silence. Before he had come to a decision on how to deal with them, Ludo’s appearance and the choosing of a lantern proved to be an effective distraction. He recognized neither mortal nor spirit and felt no discomfort in politely turning away to give the pair some privacy for their brief reunion.
”Excuse me,” he murmured to the Halovians he had gathered with. ”I will be back in a moment.”
He stepped away to the food tables, selecting a combination of meats and sweets on one plate. After a moment’s thought he set it aside and made up a second of desserts before returning to the water’s edge to offer them to Kaiden and Nysa, respectively.
Kiss a lover, dance a measure Find your name, and buried treasure
Kaiden's demand for food was the more amusing of all the things that happened here tonight. Snickering under breath at his crudeness, the tentacled mermaid nevertheless slurped her way towards him, just in time to catch Hadama literally serving his people. She gazed critically at his legs, not overly impressed.
"You're different," she remarked, accepting a selection of land food to pick over. "Are you going to be a mouth breather now?" She couldn't think of any reason that was good enough to leave the sea for.
But then, that was probably why he was king and she was not.
Just as she had wanted, no one talked to her. They talked to each other, as if everyone knew everyone else, and somewhere between the glittering lanterns and the food and the milling throng, Ravenna realized that she didn't love being left out after all.
When a hush fell over the crowd and the lanterns dimmed, she gasped and skittered back to Noah and the safety of his looming presence. Amply spooked, she didn't understand the sudden appearance of a woman, or the way some people looked happy-sad, while others looked away entirely.
It wasn't her lantern that remained lit in the end, though. That was something she did understand.
There was such a bounty of food and shadows to hide in that Isar began to feel quite at ease with the whole thing. Without any connections to concern himself with and uninvested in the god's pick of lantern, he was content to merely observe.
When Kiada became the focus of attention, a rumble of approval rolled from the Fyrhund's massive chest. He did not go over there, because there were too many others around already, but he did watch the reunion as mother and daughter shared a moment.
He lingered for a while longer after that, but once he had eaten his fill, Isar melted into the shadows and left.
