What do you get when two ruthless assassins raise their daughter travelling through the wildest reaches of Caido? Take one look at Theea and you'll get a pretty good idea. Cheerful and tenacious in equal measure, and curious beyond all else, she began her journey on a mission to find those her mother once called family. And find them she did, soon rubbing elbows with demigods, leaders and even ghosts from the past. Her determination is resolute, her thirst for knowledge unmatched. We can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her!
Congratulations, Theea!
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Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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07-15-2025, 10:12 PM (This post was last modified: 07-15-2025, 10:13 PM by Kaisel.)
I'm not giving up, kicking off the rust
Oh yeah, being invited over to Koa's house, no biggie. He hasn't been avoiding his cousin at all. Hasn't been dodging the truth that he's not moving back to Stormbreak, that he can't stay a Dragoon then, that he's making that insane sounding choice because he fucked shit up with Caly, which is in part because he sleptover with Flora in all the ways parents worry about after a certain age. The same Flora, let it be known, that Koa recently told him he's still in love with. The same Flora, in fact, that Kaisel hoped Koa would continue to love.
NO SWEAT.
He'll just pretend everything's normal while doing the dull task of sewing with all manner of sharp objects at close range for someone who's been known to crash out easily as of late. Everyone knows Kaisel is real good at pretend, that's why he never gets nightmares after watching plays that are too realistic or hearing particularly spooky stories late at night. Hahahaha.
"I got the shit!" he announces as he shoulders open the door into the familiar home, arms laden with bags spilling with every manner of dark colored cloth and ornament he could find. He might have been prolonging this inevitability by shopping for as long as he could, buying enough supplies to create their own Ludo costume pop-up shop if they wanted. Koa meanwhile has been in charge of arranging snacks and drinks, which Kaisel fully intends to stuff into his face to avoid anything stupid coming out of it.
He sets all the garments bits down with a dramatic heave onto the table a canister of iridescent beads immediately spilling across it.
Koa had never thought he'd find it weird to be home but, well... it is. Weird, like returning to your elementary school ten years later, even though he'd only really been gone a handful of weeks. Inviting Kaisel over tonight a step toward shaking out that weirdness; his cousin had always been a fixture at the Carpenter house, and Koa hopes the bright enormity of his presence will be enough to chase out those last cobwebs and ghosts.
The loud bang of an opening door followed by a familiar voice heralds Kai's arrival; Koa places his beer on the coffee table and hops up from his seat on the couch, striding over to take one of the bags that's precariously perched in his cousin's arms. "Did you buy the whole shop out?" Koa laughs as he leads the procession back inward, depositing the package of fabric and beads and strings and are those feathers? onto the living room floor. Stepping back, he puts his hands on his hips, shaking his head amusedly as he surveys the preposterous haul. "Pretty sure there's enough shit here to make costumes for the entire squad."
Big words for someone who also overshot, as Kai will discover when he makes the journey to their kitchen. The counter is covered with an orderly smorgasbord of indulgences: chips of various flavor, jerky, cookies, gummy worms, and even an obligatory platter of fruits and vegetables cover the granite top. "Beers are in the fridge," Koa calls, though he doubts that Kai needs any prompting, "And I've got the good stuff out here." Indeed, in the center of the coffee table sits a familiar wooden bowl, filled to the brim with a childhood favorite: furikake chex mix, a family recipe passed down on their mothers' side, and one the boys had overindulged in on many a sleepover, back in the day.
07-26-2025, 10:15 AM (This post was last modified: 07-29-2025, 10:52 PM by Kaisel.)
I'm not giving up, kicking off the rust
It's surprisingly easy to feel comfortable the moment he's here. Everything still holds the familiarity of past moments they've worn into present selves, of conversations wreathed in laughter and dreams discussed like inevitable blueprints they'd build. He remembers losing a tooth to that doorknob, and skinning the fuck out of his knee on that stone edge when he tripped and fell during one of the made-up games that had them dashing around the house like mad. Even the smell of it still seems tinted with the warmth of home-cooked meals shared with even better company.
It's part of why he doesn't want to come back. Not any time soon at least. There's too much history for him here. Too much habit. He needs to shake out of this comfort zone and test his limits, find out who he is when he's stripped down to nothing but himself and the clothes on his back. Find out if he's worthy at all.
"Yeah, well, always good to have choices when it comes to fashion," he chuckles back, content to let Koa arrange the goods while he slips into the snack zone. He grabs a handful of gummy worms as he counter surfs in passing to the fridge, opening it nearly at the same time Koa announces it. He reaches in almost without looking to paw at a beer, the can cracking open as he saunters back to the living room, another handful of gummy worms in tow, surprisingly tasty even with the beer, like a redneck version of boba. He surveys the 'good stuff' Koa mentions as he stands in the threshold of the kitchen and the living room, a lopsided grin breaking in at the sight of the family chexmix. "Oh you went all out!" There's a bounce to his step as he crosses to the prize bowl, gummy worms abandoned for the time being in a heap on the table edge while he funnels some of the chexmix in like a conveyor belt.
If only it could stay like this, golden and full of promise, but time has never been fond of staying still. He learned that once already in the sheets of the Sugar Tide, where forever felt like something he could tame into one night.
"Is Noe coming?" he asks around a mouthful as he wipes his hands on his pants, a sip of beer helping him swallow the overly large mouthful he'd claimed. "Feel like she'd know what to do with all of this," he gestures at the pile of darkness, reaching down to lift up one black feather and spinning it between his fingers like it's a bizarre artifact.
"Well, yeah. Gotta do our moms proud." Koa's certainly doing a great job of channeling Mahina, lips twisting in disapproval as he watches Kai inhale his chexmix with the grace and manners of a starved chihuahua. "Speaking of, how're your folks?" He hasn't checked in with his aunt and uncle since coming back to Stormbreak, but can only assume they're in the process of making their return.
A return he fully anticipates Kaisel to make, too.
Koa grabs a length of black fabric from one of the canvas bag, figuring it would make for a solid raggedy shawl. He runs his fingers across the coarse material, frown deepening at his cousin's question. "She... isn't ready to come back yet." Understandable, given all his sister has gone through, but it hurts nonetheless. For ages he'd held onto the hope that once they took Stormbreak back that would be it: the hard part over, the world restored, their lives resolved into the Happily Ever After that the boy so desperately craved. But it turns out reality isn't that easy, and his world is still fucked: Stormbreak in tatters, his family spread to the wind, Sohalia devastated by the lack of her companion, and Koa feeling thoroughly let down by the lack of fairytale ending to this chapter of his life.
But he's decided not to be a mopey asshole, so he rallies, forcing a smile on his face. "But I'm sure she'll be back soon," he declares, his voice just a shade too bright. "And our folks, and everyone else. It'll be great, y'know? Having the whole family back in one place. It's been way too fucking long."
07-29-2025, 11:04 PM (This post was last modified: 07-31-2025, 03:35 PM by Kaisel.)
I'm not giving up, kicking off the rust
"Yeah, they're good. They've settled back in already. The house didn't really take any damage and they didn't really have much time to grab anything during the evac, just a matter of cleaning up all the random dust and debris. Especially since a window got left open this whole time." He had tried to help them a little bit, but then they argued about him not coming back and the guilt became a little too much so he split before he crumbled completely. His mom didn't cry often, but fuck when she did it felt like every other time he'd let her down. He can't remember her crying over anything other than him, other than when her sister had died, of course.
He pushes those thoughts away with a sigh, feather discarded as he reaches for some nice light fabric. Something that'll catch a lot of wind and movement, the right sort of drama for bouncing around like a Ludo clone all night. "Oh," Kaisel says softly, surprised by the answer of Noe's waylaid return. Shit—he'd kind of been banking on Noe being here with Koa, finally back to normal after all the Family bullshit, to make his absence not so profound.
He's never been more grateful for arts and crafts than this moment. His downcast gaze is just him focusing on the stretch of the coal fabric he selected, pulling out enough length to wrap around himself, not him avoiding Koa's gaze as he continues to talk about how great it'll be when everyone is back and happy. "Y-yeah, definitely." He reaches for the scissors, not that he thinks Koa would stab him, but maaaaaybe it's best if he has a grip on them while he does his best to explain. Besides, he has to cut his pulled amount out from the roll.
"What if—what if the whole family didn't come back? At least, for a while?"
An idea begins to crystalize in Koa's head, a way of killing two birds with one stone. Putting the fabric he's been handling down, he begins to rummage through the bags of material, looking for something soft. It means he's distracted enough to miss the way Kai pointedly avoids his gaze, or to catch sight of any expression that might give his poor cousin's guilt away. Not that he's looking for it - there hasn't even been a shadow of a doubt in his mind as to whether or not Kai would return.
But his lips still twist unhappily at the picture Kaisel paints, even if he's still oblivious to the scope of what it implies. In fact his misunderstanding is total, and his tone conveys a little surprise that Kai would begrudge Noe the space she needs. "If she needs more time then we can't blame her," the young man murmurs firmly, a furrow between his brows as he looks back to Kai. "The shit she went through... all we can do is be there for her. And rebuild, until the last stains of those shits are washed out and she feels safe enough to come home." A nod seals his conviction; he needs to believe in this eventuality, that one day things will finally be set right.
Not wanting to dwell on all this dark shit, Koa quickly raises a length of slate grey velvet for Kaisel to admire. "Okay - what do you think of this? Is it giving Ludo, but a moth?"
07-31-2025, 03:58 PM (This post was last modified: 08-03-2025, 10:30 PM by Kaisel.)
I'm not giving up, kicking off the rust
The noise of fabric cleaving under the weight of the scissors sounds eerily like his tact fraying instead. His selected material falls away from the rest easier than expected, leaving him just the proper length to do something with in his hands, and now only the hard part is left.
"Right!" Kaisel agrees, perhaps a touch too loudly, a tad too excited, as he grabs for this tether of thinking that Koa is on. "We can't blame her if she needs a different place, and time, to figure her shit out. It'd be CRAZY to be mad at her for that." He has since picked up some needle and thread, placing seams with the rapid-fire plan of someone who has absolutely no clue what they're doing, but means to lay waste to the idea of achievement all the same. A cloak? So last season. Try an extra long sleeve that he can barely get his head through.
His gaze is pulled up at Koa's request, the normal smile since lost to worry and concentration, but it sputters back to life a bit now. "It has some moth vibes," he confirms, "just needs legs." Maybe ones that could pass as fringe, but arranged just so. Koa could tease his hair up with some gel in a specific set of fuzzy feelers too.
That thought drifts from Kaisel with a sudden, hollow ache that threatens to become regret. If he's in King's End, will he miss moments like this, where hours whittled away in his cousin's company will become few and far between? Will their time will be forced into careful consideration with the distance of travel and responsibilities branching in opposite paths rather than the two of them coming together for every menial and mild task out of convenience? He had traveled here already, for this, but the gradual departure of each Stormbreak member to reassemble in the city had made it easy. Eventually they'd be utterly separate, and the flow of their different lives would be more set than this brackish mix.
"I'm staying in King's End!" he blurts out, needing to force the truth of it out before the threat of holding it in changes it to a lie, and he too easily would find himself back among this city where he belongs.
Koa raises an eyebrow at his cousin, a little confused by the sudden volume but happy they're on the same page. He stares at Kaisel for a beat before nodding his emphasis and agreeing slowly. "Yeah. Exactly." Heck, he'd had a rough enough time coming back to the rubble of the Tower and the overwhelming amount of everything that needed doing, and the Family had never actually managed to get into his head.
Glad that discussion is out of the way, Koa settles into sewing. Every Dragoon gets some basic training in stitching and handiwork - it's important to be able to manage a wardrobe malfunction while out in the field - and Koa's family being so crafty means both boys had been forced to learn their way around a needle. His stitches may be big and sloppy, but they get the work done, and Koa's very focused on his wing-ish poncho when Kai's announcement bursts out like gunfire, startling the young man.
He jerks, cursing as he stabs himself with the needle, head snapping up to stare at Kai. A series of expressions flash across his face: his eyes widen and then narrow, mouth clenching from an uncertain 'o' into a hard, tight line. "Uh... no. You're not." Koa shakes his head in emphasis, headless to the bead of blood that's formed upon his fingertip. He even manages to chuckle slightly, though it's dry and brittle - surprising given how deeply he's waded into the waters of denial. "There's way too much that needs doing for you to take a vacation, dude. If you want a posting in a different region later in the year we can talk about that, but right now I need you here."
Kaisel's a bit breathless after the word vomit he just heaved up, and the saliva that gathering in his mouth suggests the normal type is also threatening to make an appearance. He swallows, bracing for the explosion that's sure to come, practically squinting against the anticipated blast that'll throw light, heat, and debris at his face in a curtain of disapproving shouts. The trigger for it is right there, in every mismatched and moving line of Koa's face, the understanding moving like a current through him, pulling each bit of muscle along with the flow as it sinks in.
He does not expect the flat out refusal, or the humor that hums along behind it, like he'd done nothing more than drop a punny joke. It takes him so off guard he can only stare back, blinking, mouth slowly coming ajar as if he means to speak, he just can't find the means to. Is this better, having Koa just deny it? He did the hard part, he said it, it's not his fault if Koa can't accept it. Maybe he'll fire off a yes I am! via letter once he's safely returned home to King's End. He just might have too, done nothing more than nervously chuckle and get back to stitching together a cloak like it's an ordinary day, except Koa doesn't stop there. He lays on the guilt, and damn is it a scratchy, prickly bitch of a blanket to get wrapped in. All wool or something.
"It's not a vacation," he finally manages to clarify, quieter than he'd like. "It's a... it's... I dunno, it's a way to work on myself, I guess." Case in point, he can't even be here for a day without being taken seriously by any of his family. They offer reassurances in the same sentence where they re-route his plans, each word slick with disbelief and disagreement. He'll never stop being just a kid to them until he actually goes and does something on his own. "I mean I'll help you here, when I can. I still care about everyone here and this place, but I can't be here right now Koa. I fucked up too many things recently and I need some time to sort them all out, without everyone trying to coddle me through it."
08-04-2025, 08:24 PM (This post was last modified: 08-04-2025, 08:25 PM by Koa.)
the gray sky was vast and real cryptic above me
'A way to work on myself?' What is he, a self-help book? Koa's stare sits heavily on Kaisel as he waits, mercilessly refusing to give his cousin anywhere to hide. Fuck sewing, fuck snacks- the rest of it can wait. He needs to figure this shit out, to talk or smack some sense into the kid before their lives veer so far off course he can't find the way back to who they're supposed to be.
But oh, good, he'll still help out when he can, like a distant aunt sending checks on Christmas and birthdays. "Coddle you?" Koa snorts incredulously, shaking his head and digging his nail angrily into the velvet cloth. If he was a bigger, better man, he might react with more grace, but he's not: he's hurt and wounded and blindsided, exhausted from trying to keep his family in his grasp. "You're the one who almost got himself killed, who's running away--"
His jaw snaps shut with an audible click as he reigns his temper in. Finally looking away from Kaisel, Koa runs his fingers through his hair, his jaw working tensely as he tries to get himself in check. "Fuck. I'm sorry, dude. That wasn't fair." Another deep breath, and his voice is almost steady, softer now. Coddling? Not intentionally, but it could be read that way. "Look- whatever it is you think you fucked up, the answer isn't out there. It's here, with your family, in your home." He gestures to the living room, to the memories held in every corner, peeking over banisters and out from faded rugs. "C'mon, tell me what's going on. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll look better after a beer."
As Koa's timer finally ticks to zero, it seems to set off a chain reaction of detonation, each of them losing their head for a moment. First, the catalyst hits Koa, the truth of it finally hitting him square enough that his teeth come out. No, literally, they're out, because he can hear them when he puts them back, after they try and wound his pride. Well, joke's on you Koa, it's already been beaten down as of late, so what's another stick to the dead horse?
"Exactly!" Kaisel exclaims with a stomp of his feet as he rocks forward over his knees, resting on his elbows as his fingers, still clutching needle and thread, punctuate the air with a gesture as if he means to stitch a nice throw pillow for Koa with the explanation spelled out on it. It'll just read, home sweet home but with a giant X over it. "I almost died Koa, and then, because of that, everything with Caly is ruined!" He scoffs, like it's obvious. "Which, by the way, Jack is the fucking father of those three, so guess who's stank ass was at her birthday party, and might be at other future family dinners!" He's absolutely lost it now, laughing absurdly as he leans back heavily into the couch with a defeated flop of his hands after all their attempts at leading an orchestra just before. "Not that it fucking matters since there won't be any more dinners since Jack told her Flora and I slept together."
He'd gotten so invested in the story, which by the way, all happened with him living here. Except, well, he'd been in Kings End for the birthday bust, which perhaps should be considered the worst part of all this and maybe discredits the notion that King's End will help him soul search or whatever, but that's all way too complicated for him to think about right now because OH FUCK what did he just say, out loud, to Koa?
The vomit wants to make a return now.
Maybe he doesn't recognize the weight of him not returning to Stormbreak would have on Koa, but in his mind, sleeping with the girl that Koa has flat out told him he loves, seems way worse. Hell, why not blow everything up at once, who needs limbs these days.
Koa's heel bounces on the carpet as he listens, biting his tongue to keep from snapping the counterpoints that ring like buzzers as Kai's word vomit begins. First of all there's the almost-dying thing, which, yes, a pretty big fuck-up but hardly Kaisel's fault, and doesn't have any bearing on Caly as far as he knows. Second, yes, the whole patriarch of that trio being Jack thing isn't fantastic, but Koa's impression of the pirate (YEAH YOU HEARD ME) has never been that he's the protective father type. Plus Jack can go swim in a sewer full of hungry swamp rats as far as Koa's concerned, a blessing the Dragoon would happily say to the dickwad's face. And thirdly, family dinners? As far as Koa'd been aware this was more of a hook-up deal, but if Kai's already planning so far in the future all the more reason to fight the good fight.
But the crux of the counter he's forming is that of Kaisel's problems seem to center on Torchline, not Stormbreak, which makes his entire argument pretty fucking weak.
Yeah, Koa's feeling pretty good about his ability to talk Kaisel down. Foot still bouncing, he's ready to start.
Then Kaisel takes the other shoe and hurls it into his face.
Koa's knee stills. Fuck, all of him stills, and for a handful of seconds he doesn't even exhale because there's no way he heard what he heard because that would be...
...that would be....
"I'm sorry, what?"
His voice is oddly pinched, lilting at the end, like he's trying real hard to keep a lid on a box of rampaging rhinoceri. "You... and Flora? And Jack knows?" Which really shouldn't be the part he's stuck on, but's a helluva lot easier to think about than his cousin sleeping with his ex-girlfriend who he explicitly told Kai he wasn't over yet, but I guess family means fucking nothing when there's pussy to be had, and--
Nope. Stop it. Take a breath. Keep ignoring your ugly feelings.
Kaisel clearly had.
And with that last thought the box snaps open, and Koa can't keep it in. Like a tsunami he surges to his feet, hands clenched white-knuckled at his side, a tide of hurt and anger leaving flotsam on his his face. "WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?" he roars at Kaisel, and with his heartrate pounding and his emotions heightened it's impossible to say what's more likely to happen: that Koa will take a swing at his cousin, or burst out into tears.
Before a tsunami comes there's such a departure of the sea along the shore that it feels almost inviting. Peaceful even, all this new ground to walk across, released from the restless heave of the tide and its endless roar. It's an unnatural calm though, but no less quiet because of it. You don't usually have long to run once you see this, and depending on the storm, you might not be able to run far enough anyway.
Kaisel's running now.
He's on his feet the second Koa is, edging around the table between them like this is just a game of tag and he can annoyingly play ring around the rosie with it to avoid getting tapped. Except, he knows Koa's got extendo-reach, but other than back flipping behind the couch he's a bit out of barriers at the moment, and as athletic as he is, he's no gymnast. Maybe going for reason would help, because talking his way out of situations has never failed him before. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" His volume is up, but there's a strain to it that's thin, nothing like the bellow Koa produced. It's the plea for understanding, but even with it Kaisel stands with his guard down. No one really wants to get thei ass beat, but he's had time to consider this moment over and over. Telling Koa this way had not been on the list, but him deserving to hit Kaisel? That'd been at the top.
He quiets, trying to model the behavior for this negotiation about his face. "I-it was after the pool party, and everything was so fucked. The tower fell, we just moved to King's End, the party was chaos, Noe and you were a wreck, and Vox threatened to chase us down." The sort of episode recap that isn't because Koa missed any of the season and needed to be quickly clued in, but because there'd been so much all at once it's worth the reminder of the tone and the pacing. Not so much an excuse, just...an explanation. "And she'd been there, in the middle of it all, Koa. So when you and Noe were good I ran to see if she was too. She was in hiding, but okay. We talked, but it was late and the day had been long and—and—" And he's secretly been falling in love with her too but denying it for the sake of friendship and family because if he can't have her that way, he can at least have her a way, if they're friends, until one night fucking changed everything.
Nope, shouldn't say that.
He inhales loudly, hands flopping at his sides. "Honestly, I didn't even know if there'd be a tomorrow. For any of us." So he'd tried to stretch out the night and the comfort and the dream. Even after all of this, it'd been worth it. He'd never call it a mistake, but things would definitely be easier if he hadn't let all the jumble of worry splinter the resolve he'd built up for so long when it came to her. "I'm sorry, Koa."
"Oh, so you just tripped and felldick-firstINTO MY EX?" Okay Olivia Rodrigo.
It's the shock and hurt that have him rocking back, their powers combined shifting them into a roiling anger that threatens to burn this whole place down. As effusive and riotous ad Koa can be, it's all a form of control. Rarely does he truly split to breaking; even now he fights to maintain some composure, hands balled and muscles shaking as he glares his cousin down. His teeth are clenched tight enough that he feels his jaw might splinter. He hasn't moved since the initial explosion; if he lets his body succumb and swing into action, he doesn't know if he'll be able to hold back.
But gods the kid isn't helping himself, and it's taking everything in Koa's arsenal to keep from... well, he doesn't know what. What he does know is that he doesn't want to hear Kai's stupid excuses, how hard it had been, how fucked it was, blah blah blah blah blah. Because it had been hard and fucked for everyone. When he finally speaks again his voice is low and dangerous, vibrating like the air before a storm, when any shift in pressure could make the thunder surge and snap. "So what you're saying is that while I was taking care of Noe - your family - you were sneaking off and getting laid." He'd wondered where the boy had gone; good to see where his loyalties lie, out in the cruel clear open.
And then there's the apology, which carries all the weight of a wilted rose bought at a gas station the day after Valentine's. "Sorry? For what? Fucking Flora, or getting caught?" He's breathing heavily enough that anyone might believe he'd just completed a marathon, but it's all he can do to keep his mind from going completely red.
"You realize that was months ago, right? So since then you've been... what? Seeing her and Caly? Getting your dick wet wherever you could and hoping nobody would find out?" Now disappointment curls out of him like thorns; he makes no attempt to hide it in his expression, still preferring to project his anger than acknowledge his pain. "What was your plan here, Kaisel? Or did you really not give a single shit about how stupid you were being, or who'd get hurt along the way?" Koa'd been the other guy, and Kai had seen how much it hurt him.
But Kai has proven how few fucks he gives for his cousin's happiness, hasn't he? A flash of raw hurt escapes the mask of anger, then Koa's lip is curling in disappointment again. "I thought you were better than this."
