In time you'll find, I've got baggage too

Maea

give me shelter, or show me heart

It was a great relief to know they could talk about this without any tempers rising. At the heart of the matter, they did agree; they wanted out, wanted the world to be open and free for them to see and live in. Maea was simply more cautious, more prone to ask questions, perhaps because of her own role in this whole situation... one she realized she had not told Sunjata about. His squeeze was gratefully accepted, and she listened carefully to what he told about Safrin and the shrine, of The Voice's interference.

"I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, since she had access to the Temple shrine before," Maea mused. "I do think you might get more from Safrin than you might think however... if she is as adverse to The Voice as I'm guessing?" She twisted her head around, to see his expression. Check if her guess that the shudder had not been a pleasant one. "Angry people like to vent their grievances... perhaps angry gods are not so very different. Why don't you try? I can ask Ludo, and check with Jigano if there are any records not yet uncovered... I might not be a guild member, but I'm still a Loreseeker. I've no doubt he will help find out as much as possible."

Stroking his wrist with her thumb, Maea considered the question about other deities. Tried to recall what she knew, anything she had heard. "There is one... It's a lesser god, in Halo. I think it's called... Eirachi? But I don't know anything about it. I could ask Loren to see if he can find out more, as he's got access to Neron."

Taking a deep breath, Maea tried to shift her focus away from the list of tasks mounting up before her, to hone back on a missing detail her lover might want to know about.

"I guess... it's my time to make a confession now. I... the reason I'm so concerned about all of this, is because... I helped set The Voice free. I was part of the groups that entered the Spire, and brought the Barrier down." It was her turn to look up, waiting for a reaction. Not sure what he would think of this.

watch me fall apart
and I'll be yours to keep

SUNJATA

the flood

but is this what you want? what you wanted?
do you need love? am i enough for you?

“That is true.” He rumbles a small amount unhelpfully, filtering it away for later for when he gets to a shrine and hopefully gets to see his goddess. Hopefully she wouldn’t bite his head off, but regardless he figures it’s at least worth a try — a shot or a chance to find out more. And if Safrin denied his attempts to hear about it? Well, at least he had tried. But she turns and he continues to look ahead, holding her close, some small amount of tension to his jaw.

But then he questions her on whether or not she knows or the other gods, and she strokes his scarred wrist. Glancing down to her, his free arm gives her a light squeeze to him. “She’s the goddess of Deepfrost.” He explains. “I was told she’s the ‘wild card’ deity.” A brow lifts wondering what she might think of the information. “I guess there’s gods for the seasons as well but they’ve been mostly forgotten.”

And Wessex had met it.

But she begins to draw in a deep breath, begins to explain that she has confessions too, and he watches her from whatever part of her he can see. And to be honest? It’s so far from what he expects he chuckles quietly, a reverberating sound that she’ll feel course through his chest. “Did you really?” He asks, voice dropping lower in his surprise. “What was it like?”

in time you'll find i've got my baggage too

Maea

give me shelter, or show me heart

Well, this day was just full of surprises, wasn't it. Maea's brows rose high as Sunjata told her more about the new goddess, startled to find he knew more than he'd let on. But then, perhaps she shouldn't be. Information broker and all that. "Well, there you go. Seems you know more than me," she teased, torn between irritation and interest. "What else can you tell me about her?"

She leaned back against his chest, sighing softly as she thought back on the delve into the Spire. "It was awful," she replied quietly. "People died. One in each group... and I got hurt pretty badly. Almost had my lungs destroyed by corrosive gas. Lucas... was part of my group. Don't know if you knew that?" She recalled the connection between the men.

watch me fall apart
and I'll be yours to keep

SUNJATA

the flood

but is this what you want? what you wanted?
do you need love? am i enough for you?

There’s the ghost of a smile that crosses his face with her surprise that he knew of the Eirachi. But her questions aren’t entirely easily answered, and he puffs out a quiet sigh as he tilts his head somewhat to watch the waves again. “That’s basically it. But she wants a shrine here, in the Grounds in exchange for information.” He muses, looking back down to her to see what she thinks of that — whether it’s a good idea or not.

He doesn’t think it is, but he’d offered his help regardless, and in the end it wasn’t him putting the shrine together. He was just… Helping inadvertently.

She leans back against his chest and he rests his arms around her, settling his hands in her lap with his wrists open to her, focusing on both her and the world around them. “I didn’t know that.” He rumbles, moving to rest his head along the top of hers, content that she’d made it. “I did hear that the gas even affected the Ascended, though.” Which he thought was saying something, considering they hadn’t gotten the blight. “What happened when it fell? Was there a lever to pull or was it simply by breaching it that she was released?”

in time you'll find i've got my baggage too

Maea

give me shelter, or show me heart

A shrine to a goddess they knew so little about... Maea merely shrugged. "What harm can it do? Perhaps she might help combat the monsters of LongNight. I doubt any goddess of Deepfrost would see their season sullied by them."

He left his hands in her lap, palms open. She traced the lines of them with light fingertips, touching callouses and small nicks and marks from combat and training. Strong hands. Far bigger than hers.

"It did. There was a portal in the basement, where we went... I think the gas was meant to keep Ascended away from it. There was a Guardian too, but... it died." We killed it was the unvoiced continuation... but Maea only left pained silence in the place of those words.

Thinking back on the events that followed, the girl shook her head, suggesting she wasn't sure. "I was at the infirmary when it happened, so I only have second hand accounts... But it seems one of the Ascended sacrificed themselves somehow. Within the chamber... there was The Core. Another New God. And when something was removed from them, the top of the Spire exploded. And the Barrier fell with it." She could still remember seeing the shimmer in the air, the first real stirring of wind she'd ever felt... Maea shivered.

watch me fall apart
and I'll be yours to keep

SUNJATA

the flood

but is this what you want? what you wanted?
do you need love? am i enough for you?

He considers her words, palms up as he lets his fingers run over unmarred skin as she traces his own. “Wouldn't that be wonderful.” He says with a small half smile. He’d only spent one LongNight here and he didn’t want to ever have to experience it again. “Speaking or LongNight… It seems like the Greatwood didn’t have any of the monsters we did. I’d like to spend LongNight here instead of the Grounds this coming year… See if it’s true.” And if it is, to not have to worry about it at all.

Perhaps with her experiences, too, they could simply just remain hidden away.

But he focuses on her when she talks of the Core and the Voice, of the barrier falling. And when she shivers, he tightens his arms around her and buries his face into her neck and shoulder, chin resting along the top of her collarbone. “I arrived a few weeks after that.” He says quietly. “I went and saw the scar for myself when I learned about it.” Another gentle squeeze. “I’m glad you made it out, though.” He says softly, pressing a kiss to the column of her neck.

in time you'll find i've got my baggage too

Maea

give me shelter, or show me heart

In his tightening grip, the girl relaxed again, sighing softly as he buried his face into her shoulder, lips finding her neck to kiss it. Leaning her head back against his shoulder, Maea closed her eyes, humming in agreement. "So am I," she murmured, with dry amusement. A few weeks after... He never experienced the barrier then. Never knew what a cage it was...

"You must have showed up just when I took ill again," she mused. "That's why I never saw you..." How different would things have been if she never disappeared? If she was there to see him with Lusea, with Phoebe, seen the mess he made with her own eyes... would she still love him now?

Pointless speculations.

"A LongNight without monsters... sounds impossible," she admitted. "I can't even imagine it. Jigano said... they're really Ascended?" But the provost had not delved into the topic, and she had been too overwhelmed by a barrage of information to ask more.

watch me fall apart
and I'll be yours to keep

SUNJATA

the flood

but is this what you want? what you wanted?
do you need love? am i enough for you?

He listens to her musings, smiling softly against the softness of her skin. “I spent a lot of time in the Oasis.” A deep rumble to that, as if it explained everything. “Other than that I was usually either at the Advocates or the Clinic. Then I was blighted, so.” He resists the urge to rub at the scar Phoebe had given him when she was too far into her blight. “Id say you didn’t miss out on much, but…” He trails off, a warm breath caressing the side of her neck.

The mention of LongNight, however, has his smile faltering a small amount though he continues to press soft kisses to her neck. “I haven’t heard too much on it. I know that they don’t have heartbeats.” His lips twitch slightly at the thought. “We reinforced the Temple with sensors that would only open if a heartbeat was sensed… But the monsters took someone out there, used him to open it and killed him tossing him inside with us.” He shivers lightly with the thought.

“I tossed the body outside but the monsters had already gotten in. That’s when Lusea and I helped Loren burn down the Rathskeller.” He pauses, recalling what happened after that and buries his face into her neck a bit further with a quiet sigh.

in time you'll find i've got my baggage too

Maea

give me shelter, or show me heart

"Mmh, and I was home... Until I wasn't.." she mused. Wondering if he ever walked past her house on his way to the Glade. Wondered, if she would have run into him there, had she gone swimming to cool her fevers, rinse off the illness. Maybe. Maybe not. Who was to say... he was here now. Raising goosebumps on her skin with gentle kisses, with his breath as he spoke, talking of less than fun subjects. She listened, but was distracted by the shivers running down her spine.

Until... "You did what!?" Maea turned her head and looked down at him in shock, where he nestled in the crook of her neck. She knew the Rathskeller had burned, Peter said as much, but she had no idea it had been done on purpose. By Sunjata? And Loren? Her mind reeled, but eventually honed in on the most important part, what she always came back to.

"Thank goodness you made it... I can't believe you went outside in the dark, and survived!" She took his hands, squeezed them tight. These Outlanders and their reckless bravery! Fools all, to risk themselves and others... But heroes too, for doing what no one else dared.

watch me fall apart
and I'll be yours to keep

SUNJATA

the flood

but is this what you want? what you wanted?
do you need love? am i enough for you?

“That you were.” He agrees softly, but then he’s explaining the adventures of LongNight, of burning down the Rathskeller, why he felt it necessary to make the VlamVloed. Atoning for burning down a place of gathering for so many Naturals? By Outlander bands nonetheless? Perhaps. Perhaps he just wanted to give people something back. It’s hard to say.

His head reluctantly lifts from her neck as she turns to look at him with her surprise. “We got the monsters out.” He says softly. The Temple had survived, even if the Monster Hunter’s Guild had not. But Maea’s squeezing his hands with her own, and he reaches for hers to squeeze them back. “I got really drunk and went out again a couple days later, went to check on the Luxere.” He snorts, one of his less finer moments.

“Loren found me and we got into a small spat but… Doesn’t matter much anymore.” He says softly, shrugging his shoulders as he presses his torso a small amount more toward her to offer more of his warmth.

in time you'll find i've got my baggage too

Maea

give me shelter, or show me heart

So many threads woven together into the past. Stories, lives, weaving and braiding together to form this future where they sat now. Maea thought the seer's who could gaze into the future must see and endless skein of possibilities, threads branching off from one another, creating an infinty of events, all fleeting and faint, all possible until something happened to steer events into one course of action. How much easier it must be to look into the past, simply follow the current threads back towards their origin.

And in the end? No, it was like he said. It really did not matter. Things were as they were now because they had been what they had been in the past, and the future... would be what it would, based on what they did today.

Enough to give anyone a headache.

Maea turned in his arms, shifted around until she could straddle his thighs, wrap her own legs around his hips and bring her arms around his neck. "I liked the Rathskeller," she told him, and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "But... I like the VlamVloed too." Another kiss, placed with soft lips onto his stubbled jaw. "And I like you." Trailing lower, Maea breathed a sigh of warm air against his ear. "Please don't be that reckless again... unless you really have to?" Then she kissed his earlobe too, for good measure.

watch me fall apart
and I'll be yours to keep

SUNJATA

the flood

but is this what you want? what you wanted?
do you need love? am i enough for you?

She turns in his arms, wrapping herself around him to where he can look at her, her legs wrapping around his hips as she straddles his thighs and wrap her arms around his neck. He leans into the touch, leaning down to meet her a small amount as his hands find her hips, idly running his thumbs along the points of the bones there through her clothes and skin.

Her kisses travel, and he tilts his head into each one with a softer smile. “Some of the wine spiders survived… They’ve started making a home in the VlamVloed.” There’s some small amount of excitement in his voice at that — having never minded the little creatures. In fact, he thought they were adorable when they got too drunk to walk.

His excitement and amusement fade a small amount as she asks him to not be reckless, and he lifts his head from her lips to let his gaze wash over her. “I can’t make any promises.” He rumbles with a small half smile. “I don’t go out seeking for it. Usually. But I’ll try.” His hands tighten around her hips a small amount as he leans forward to plant a kiss on her forehead.

in time you'll find i've got my baggage too

Maea

give me shelter, or show me heart

"Just be careful about them becoming too many," she hummed in amusement. "Or they'll drain your stock dry for you." Maea didn't mind spiders, especially not the wine spiders. She too was glad that they had found their way to the VlamVloed... it felt like a good omen.

Smiling as he kissed her forehead, she laughed quietly. "Trying is good enough, for me," she assured him. She lifted her chin to kiss his lips, and let her gaze trail off over the horizon... and stiffened, sucking in a sharp breath at what she saw.

"Love... I.. think we have a problem," she said. Voice very strained, as she tapped his shoulder to make him turn around.

All around them, on the side of the rocks they had not been looking at, scanning, gazing out over, the water was full of shark fins. At least a dozen, probably more; they did not remain in place long enough for her to count. Dark shapes patrolled the water in agitated movements, as if they were searching for something.

With horror, Maea looked down at her hand. The one she had cut with the knife, bled from... washed clean in the ocean. It had closed, for the most part, but... not healed over completely. There was still blood beading on her skin, from the little cut.

"Uh oh..."

watch me fall apart
and I'll be yours to keep

SUNJATA

the flood

but is this what you want? what you wanted?
do you need love? am i enough for you?

“They’re adorable, at least.” He muses, but leans into her touch as he kisses her forehead and her head tilts up to capture his lips. He gives in, none the wiser to what occurs around them. And perhaps he should have, should have sensed the blood from where she’d cut herself. But he hadn’t, too enveloped in her as he usually was. “Mmh?”

But he notices a second after she does, spying the fins that stick out of the water and his gaze travels to her hand now, the bearing of blood along the cut. “I’ll get rid of them.” He hums to her with a soft smile, kissing her cheek before he tears a piece of fabric from his shorts to try and tie around her finger to stop the bleeding. A makeshift bandage.

And when he’s satisfied that’s good enough, only then does he stand and ensure she has the pearls in her possession. He stretches out his leg when he goes to stand, padding to the edge of the rock to peer down at the sharks. There’s… A lot; but he’s got a sheer amount of confidence that he can handle it. He gives her a rogue grin over her shoulder, completely forgetting the idea already of not getting into reckless situations.

Looking back down to the water, he takes a form to take a plunge, to dive down in a perfect arc. And he jumps, diving into the water, human form shifting to that of his orca form — giving into that predatory nature of his that threatened the single shark before. He hopes it works now, diving beneath the waves and rising with sharp teeth outstretched to either take a bite at whatever dares to come near or give off a warning.

in time you'll find i've got my baggage too