From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
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!
It sounded like he was talking to himself as much as to her. Maea certainly couldn't make much sense of it, other than the question marks that kept hovering over the whole situation. Nothing concrete, nothing specific, until... The Voice. She frowned.
"Do you know, that's the third time this season I've been offered to come and see her? First Sam, then Amun, and now you..?
"I'm not sure if I should be honoured or terrified." She tried to make it sound like a joke, but there was a question in her eyes as she looked up at Nate. Was it all just coincidence, or was there some agenda going on here that she was unaware of?
His hand on her shoulder eased a little but did not relinquish its hold. It was beginning to feel a little intimate, especially with the way he brushed her hair back. Goosebumps rose along the neck at the light touch, and Maea shifted. But he was finally smiling again, finally acting like normal - as far as she knew - and she didn't want to pull away. Not wanting to fall back into that awkward tension.
I'm bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
"I didn't know that." Honestly, he would be a bit worried too if three times he'd been offered the chance to see a god, but he stays upbeat, the smile not slipping at all. "I didn't mean you had to come with me though. I would ask for the tools I need, and we could go from there. Unless," here his grin grows a little suggestive, "you've just been waiting for the best company to take you along." It's very clearly a joke, and not even a very good one.
As for whether she should be honoured or worried though, all he could offer was a shrug. It depended on a lot of things, and he really was not the person to make that call. "I can't speak for the others, but all I want is to help out. If you don't want me to ask, I won't."
Nates fingers tap on her shoulder, thought claiming most of his focus again, though mostly silent this time. There was nothing else he could really do in the moment, nothing else he could say, unless she had questions, but he was loathe to move away, to break the contact now that it was approaching normal again.
Not a conspiracy then. Always something to be grateful for, Maea supposed. "I don't know," she hesitated. "On the one hand, I don't want to shun help when it's so freely offered. But... I follow the Old Gods. To ask her for help feels... as though I'm betraying them, somehow." It was a conflict of gods, and should really not affect someone like her, who was shunned by all of them anyway for the magic in her bones. And yet... Maea had picked a side. Was toeing the line already, by standing here. Making friends with the ascended, accepting their help... being bitten by one. It all went against everything she had been taught.
Yet still she was not running. Felt like the rabbit caught by the eyes of a snake, realizing it was creeping closer but unable to decide on running or remaining. It seemed harmless, after all. Gleaming scales glistening in warm sunlight. Beautiful. Tempting. So very dangerous.
His fingers were tapping on her shoulder, a distracted kind of gesture. Why wasn't he pulling his hand back? "I was healed recently," she offered, trying to find some escape from the need to accept or decline his offer. "So I should be fine for a while. Loren said he'd do it as many times as necessary... maybe if you worked together, you could figure something out?"
I'm bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nate nodded along through Maeas explanation, understanding even if he didn’t necessarily agree with her viewpoint. He was the type to take what he needed, or wanted, from whoever offered it. But it was good, healthy, to have lines, even if they were tested, pushed against and remade. ”I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.” He offered warmly, winking as he said it, and immediately regretting it. Really, Nate should work on maintaining his own lines, on actually being a professional.
Instead of actually addressing it, Nate just pressed on, latching onto the escape she created eagerly, albeit for an entirely different reason. ”So the infection in your lungs was taken care of?” He asked, managing to keep his nose from wrinkling this time as magical healing came up again, this time with a name that Nate desperately tries to match to a face. He’s heard it before, but never had a formal introduction. ”Maybe we can.” He agreed softly, not wanting to get her hopes up at this point.
”Maea...” Nate’s voice was thoughtful, his tongue running over his teeth as he said her name. ”...what is it you want?” The question hung just long enough to be suggestive before he continued, clarifying:”Out of a cure, I mean.”
There was something in the way he spoke, in the wink, the way he lingered on her name - as if tasting it, running his tongue over sharp teeth like there was a lingering flavor there - that put Maea back on edge. Wary, like that rabbit when the snake shifted too much in the grass and made it rustle. He would not do anything she did not want... and what was it she wanted? His hand on her shoulder made it a little too personal, just on the inner side of too close.
"...yes. It should all be gone now. I feel much better."
Maea was surprised to hear her own voice sound so calm, when her heartbeat had begun to pick up again. There was a tightness building in her stomach, worry mingling with a different something that sent images flashing through her mind, of the last time he had been this close. She tried to shake them away, but... it did not quite work. "I... want to be well? Keep my strength up, so I can work. Train. Live, to the fullest extent." Teeth began to worry at her lip again, and she looked up at him, questions in her eyes.
Maea shifted backwards, ever so slightly. Wanted to see if it would be enough to remind him that he was still holding her. Perhaps he had just forgotten.
"What do you want? You're going so far to help me..." Why? When you don't even know me.
I'm bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
”Good. Good.” Nate nodded gently, reeling in his intensity, just a little. ”Really, that’s half the problem. You have to manage everything the sickness causes before you can manage it.” When you spend all your time putting out fires, you never get the chance to deal with the sparks causing them.
Her answer was met with an encouraging tilt of his head, the everpresent grin growing the tightest bit warmer. Something in Nate’s eyes warmed, glittering among everything else. ”All admirable. I think we can make it happen, with some time, and some work.” As Maea leaned back, Nate’s hand slipped down her arm, his cool hand squeezing there before dropping away completely.
”Not everyone wants the same thing from treatment.” With his hand now free, Nate was able to reach up and stroke his chin. He would look almost thoughtful if the action wasn’t so casual, so irreverent. ”Sometimes people just want to be... comfortable.” There was a far-away flicker in his face, before he shrugged, shifting focus easily. ”As long as you want to fight, I want to fight with you.”
He finally let go, hand squeezing her arm a little before falling away, and it was all Maea needed to relax again, to breathe a bit easier. Perhaps she had imagined it, that tension. She smiled back, warmer now, almost back to the easy trust of before.
"Comfortable is well and good, but I'm far too restless to settle for just that," she admitted, almost cheerfully. "There are so many things I want to do... so I'm happy to accept all the help I can get." Her allies and helpers were lining up all around; at this rate, Maea couldn't believe the solution to be impossible to reach. Even if they really had to go to a god in the end.
"What brings you out here?" she asked then, sweeping her gaze out over the fields. It wasn't much to look at in the fading light; just green crops swaying in the slight breeze, and perhaps the mist rising now that the heat of sun was easing from the air. Birds were singing in the thickets still, but would quiet soon enough.
There really wasn't any other people around.
I'm bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nate couldn’t help the laugh that left him, bright, and almost a little relieved. ”Restless is one word for it.” He agrees, unable to resist teasing her, just a little bit, and hoping that they’re in a comfortable enough place for it to come across as friendly, and not anything else. ”You know you’re not gonna be able to get rid of me now.”
Maea changed the subject easily, Nate’s eyes rising to follow hers over the fields, towards the setting sun. Even ascended and upgraded like he was, it was probably a bad idea to look directly at the sun, but he did anyway, squinting in defiance, or maybe longing. ”Its safer for me this time of day. Quieter too. I like to wander when I think, and I’ve been thinking a lot lately.”
He pulled in a deep breath that he technically didn’t need, though it would be harder to sigh without it. Then, he turned back to Maea, a sly grin on his face. ”Why are you out here?”
She laughed back, not minding the tease at all. It felt casual, easy... at least until he rounded off with the comment of not getting rid of him, where she almost choked, and only barely managed to mask it behind a cough. Wow, he really knew how to deliver those lines, didn't he.
Listening as he answered her question, Maea too squinted at the sun, but was far more careful with her eyes than he. They were a precious gift, after all, not something to be risked and damaged out of some need to dare the sun not to burn. "Anything particular on your mind?" she asked him, almost gently. So far, they'd almost exclusively talked about her. Maea's history, her problems, her fears... She didn't really know anything about this person.
"I thought I'd visit my farm, one last time," she shrugged. "But... even if I went there now, it's not mine anymore. I sold it, to the College. It wouldn't be the same."
I'm bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nate couldn’t help the way his smile sharpened at Maeas reaction. It was so easy, and she was so obvious with her reactions, it just made it that much more fun to push at her buttons.
His face sobered up as he hummed lowly, turning to look at Maea, squinting at her now as if she was the sun. ”Nothing... really specific. It’s just... I mean, I haven’t had my head this clear in a while. I never used to think about shit.” Never had to think about his actions, the consequences of them. ”I can’t do anything but think now. I can’t even sleep.”
Nate knew he was being more than a little dramatic, but it was the chance he’d had in a while. Yes, he’d caused all his own problems, but they were still problems.
Maea brought him back down to earth. Nate frowned softly, his brows pulling together. ”You know you don’t have to go there.” He pointed out softly, reaching out to tap his fingers against her arm, a much more tame expression of support than his previous grabby hands. ”You could take a walk around with me instead.”
Oh, she was an open book alright. Had never learned to mask her feelings. Never had to. It was far easier to bottle those emotions up and not feel anything to begin with... but lately, they were all bubbling back up to the surface of their own accord. Bringing her to life, in the most unexpected ways, as people stumbled into her once lonely life and made themselves part of her story.
One of them stood before her, claiming that no specific things made him walk the deserted Fields alone at twilight. It smelled of excuse and avoidance to her, and Maea tilted her head as she regarded him. Wondered how he had numbed his mind before, if none of it worked now.
"Now, this might be a novel idea," she mused, a hint of a smile in her eyes, "but some say it helps to talk about your problems. You know... with other people? They're not likely to tell you anything you don't already know, but... sometimes, just saying it all aloud helps make sense of what feels a tangled mess in your head." Said like someone who tangled herself in rather frequently. A consummate overthinker. A god had even called her out on it, once. Made it official.
And her words sounded almost like an offer to listen, if he was inclined to talk.
He reached for her again, with soft words and an offer to join him. His fingers were cool on her arm, and did not try to grab her again, and MAea allowed the touch. Did not flinch away. Even smiled, gratitude ghosting over those expressive features of hers.
"Thank you... perhaps I will, at that. Were you headed some particular place?" The settlement and the domiciles were behind her, along with the Spire, the Glade, and most other interesting places. Around here... well, there were farms. And fields. And Safrin's shrine... though Maea had a feeling he probably wasn't headed there.
I'm bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
It was easy to tell when he was being teased. Nate could hear the smile in Maeas voice, even if he didn’t see it in her face, too busy rolling his eyes and leaning away. ”I don’t really have a mess. I just...” He wrinkled his nose, knowing he was doing exactly what she’d suggested, immediately after dismissing the idea. ”I should feel bad, shouldn’t I? For the shit I’ve done. All I do is think about it, even when I try not to, and I just... can’t bring myself to really care.”
That was only the tip of his issues, uninterrupted time to think, without the interruption of sleep or blackouts, was something close to his own personal hell. Even his distraction was almost completely temporary, a drop of bliss and blinding pleasure in the bucket of everything else.
He shook his head, both to try and clear it and in response to her question. ”I like to go along the paths I don’t know. Try to get lost.” He grinned, the stretch of his lips strained, and leaned back against her to elbow Maea gently, conspiratorially. ”Think it might be a little harder with you alongside me though.
Her smile was sly, knowing, realizing what he was doing and not doing. Talking, but without actually revealing anything. Now, she could pressure him to talk about this 'shit' he had done, and see if she could help him reason it out... but if he really did not care?
She shrugged. "I mean... If you really don't care, then why feel bad about not feeling bad? Unless perhaps you actually do care about what you've done, and not done... and this is just an excuse not to deal with it.
"Either way, the past is in the past, and what really matters is what you do from now on." Maea dragged her fingers through the hair, pushed back the white tumble from her face and left it messier than it had been before, not seeming to care about it one way or another. "Often, I find that when you can't get something out of your mind... it's because it's supposed to stay there. Or possibly because I don't have enough work to block it out with.
"Got any projects to busy yourself with, besides my interesting case?"
The smile she gave him was rather mischievous, her mood brightening and opening up now that the tension was draining away. "Oh, go ahead and get lost all you want. I won't spoil the surprise for you... and you can always count on me to find the way back for you, if you need it." Her elbow jutted back at him, accompanied by a quiet laugh.
I'm bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
”It’s just... I dunno, the difference between choosing to do something shitty and doing it mostly accidentally.” Nate pushed a hand through his hair, frustrated to have to actually be facing this particular dilemma, without his usual mind numbing distractions. Though... he looked over Maea, considering, for the briefest beat, a different distraction.
That was how he’d gotten into this mess though, wasn’t it?
”I can’t exactly say I’m planning to be better either. I’ve never exactly been good at it.” He laughed, trying to bring some levity back, to deflect some of the interest, the vulnerability, with a joke, a wide smile. This was still a casual conversation. Casual enough that he reached out to fix a strand of Maea’s white hair, pulling it back into a slightly neater line. ”I don’t have enough of anything to block out my thoughts. It’s a lot harder being ascended, after all.”
”Your case is the only interesting one, I’m afraid. I don’t know if it’s my ascension, or the fact that I’m an outlander,” -or the unfortunate habit he’d picked up of doing things with his patients-, ”but I don’t actually have that many people come to see me.” Nate chose a direction along the path and started walking, making turns as they came available and drifting in the rough direction of the spiral. ”You know, I don’t usually have a safety net to keep me from getting lost.”
