From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
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!
Listen mate, if the gods saw fit to chuck an entire group of people in a bubble for a few centuries, I don't think I'm overstepping by saying they probably aren't worth much. The danger noodle replied with as much of a shrug as he could muster.
Not that his eyes were large enough or anatomically-fixed such that they could roll, but hopefully James' deadpan stare did the trick. Thiiiink. He hissed, booping Ianto on his nose with the tip of his snake-like snoot. If I become Arduinna's ward how're you gonna find the ocean? It's a big big world out there. Jungles, swamp. This eerie desert thing with bones everywhere. I heard there's even basically a big pit that'll swallow you whole. Only you don't even know it's there until you step on what just looks like ordinary grass, and then BAM—" So saying, Ianto's newest neck-accessory tightened around his neck for emphasis. —you're balls deep in a whole lot of suffocation. Or damnation. Or something else equally bad. Point is my friend, you need me. It won't be me we'll be trading. But don't worry. We'll find someone.
A fox? Well now who has the predictable shift, eh? James asked, running the length of Ianto's collar bones and then turning back on himself to peer up at the man.
Arduinna's a right nasty piece of work. How'd the likes of you end up with her collar round your neck? She tempt you with a delicious piece of fruit? And not that his snake-face could portray any sort of emotion, but through the bond Ianto would feel a comical expression of horror. Did she trick you with her lady parts?
The other man could be unpleasantly blunt at times, Ianto decided, and he felt himself prickle - perhaps not exactly because of the people in the Hollowed Grounds, but because of those he knew who had been thrown into the same place without warning. "I wonder if you'd feel the same way about me and my wagon, had I been spat into the Hollowed Grounds instead of the Greatwood," he murmured, playfully narrowing his eyes as he was commanded to think.
"I think I'll be able to manage," he said, verbally waving off Oli's spooky jungles and hungry deserts and the dramatic tightening around his neck. "You know nothing about me, after all. I am a traveller myself, and between where I have been and what Arduinna has shown me, the ocean ought to be a doddle. Besides, you might like being her ward. You never know."
All very entertaining, but of course he knew the wild Fae would never actually go for it. He tutted at the accusation of predictability, shrugging his shoulders on purpose to try and make the route the snake wanted to take a little more difficult.
"Not really. I fell into the Greatwood from another place, and I was stuck here. She showed me through the woods and gave me good standing with the Fae who live here. In return..." He waved a hand at the collar. "It seemed like nothing at the time. I was alone, so... anything better than that was great."
Pish posh. James said, and had he hands he would have waved them sarcastically. Oh so you are one of those. The Outlanders or whatever. Thought that was all a bunch of nonsense really. Having just heard that one of the wildest tales he'd ever heard in his life was apparently true, James didn't seem all that bothered by it. Right, right. Suit yourself. But don't says I didn't warn ya when the devil's fingers are creepin' over you at night.
Hissing (an incredibly un-worrying sound) at his route having been upset by Ianto's shrug, James knocked the fox on the side of his head with his tail. Oops. Must have lost my balance. He bleated innocently.
The fae. James scowled mentally. Right nasty gits, the lot of 'em. What with the wings and the tree-speaking...honestly, I just wanted a bit of bread. Did I deserve to be fed to that giant thing they've got in the woods? You tell me. The snake grumbled unhappily.
The justification of being alone and taking what was offered was a sentiment that James took easily in stride, the pulse of understanding through the bond suggesting that it wasn't just mere empathy that made the snake hold his snarky remarks for once. Slithering towards Ianto's shoulder and beginning to wind around his arm now, James tried to weasel his way into the fox's hand.
"So did I," Ianto said of Outlanders, smirking to himself. "Until the barrier fell I assumed I was one of the only non-Fae in the Greatwood. It was all very much a surprise for me as well." He snorted at the warning for him to be wary; the devil's fingers had nothing on the illusions, nightmares and torture inflicted on him on a regular basis. It sounded like a nice change, in fact. (If actually faced with such a thing, of course, Ianto might have a very different opinion. But that wasn't the case just yet).
Flinching automatically at the serpent's tail knocking the side of his head, Ianto couldn't help but chuckle. He supposed he deserved that. Hearing out the other man's story about the Fae, it wasn't difficult to put two and two together about how he had come to be scrounging around the Wishing Wagon. "Are you hungry?" he asked, before nodding at the two cups of tea beside them. "Watch it doesn't go cold."
So saying, Ianto plucked up his teacup in one hand while the snake surreptitiously made his way into his other, the fox lifting his arm so he could look at the serpent. "Enjoying your journey?"
08-24-2019, 02:14 PM (This post was last modified: 08-24-2019, 02:15 PM by James.)
from mixed drinks to techno beats it's always
And here we might have met sooner. A real shame. It was, actually, given that both men were basically alone and outsiders and handsome and lonely and partakers in the not-so-occasional drink and smoke.
Well, if you're offerin'. The snake replied and while serpentine bellies couldn't rumble, James' mind could certainly give off the same effect. Maybe I like mine cold. James retorted, though he absolutely didn't.
With beady black eyes and a gaping smile that was anything but intimidating, James extended his upper body away from Ianto's hands towards the man's nose. What? Of you? Immensssssssssssssssley He hissed, hamming up the stereotypical snake-drawl. But actually he did quite want that tea now that he'd seen it in Ianto's hand. Shifting back without actually bothering to fully extradite himself from the fox's person and so ending up with one of his legs wrapped around the man's arm and a devilish grin on his face, James languidly untangled himself as he reached for his cup.
"You're not a very good listener, y'know that?" The snake said with a twinkle in his eyes and an all-too innocent expression on his face as he tilted the cup up towards his lips and breathed in deeply the dark and earthen scent.
"A crying shame," Ianto agreed with a warm smile, sipping at his tea and relishing the warmth and sweetness; it felt, truly, like a centuries ago that he'd last been able to sit in his wagon and enjoy something so simple.
He hadn't expected that the other man would refuse food, and despite himself there was a great deal of amusement on his face as he watched the snake lift himself up and towards his nose. Unfortunately, snake became man once again and Ianto found himself having to juggle his tea around the sudden appearance of a leg hooked around him.
Grumbling and swatting the snake away as he rose to his feet, Ianto took his tea with him as he moved to rifle through the cupboards for food. "You think? Maybe you just talk too much, and all the important bits of what you say just slip through like sand in a sieve."
James ignored the grumbles of his counterpart with a bright and lazy smile, bringing his cup to his lips as if absolutely nothing was amiss. As Ianto pulled away, the snake temporarily tried on a pout, before realizing all the real estate the fox's absence had opened up. Happily he flopped down fully onto the bed now, staring up at the wagon's ceiling with his hands clasped loosely on his chest. "You asked me about the seven statues and then all but gave up on that once I started talkin' about the city and merfolk and whatnot."
Letting his head loll casually to the side as the fox scoured his cupboards, James flashed him a toothy grin. "You'd think at least those chunks of information woulda been caught by your sieve. You know. If the sieve was...good at its job." That was, listening. But the metaphor was getting away from him really fast.
"Maybe—" James said, rolling onto his side with his face alight with a sudden flash of inspiration. "—you just wanted to get me talkin'. Didn't matter at all what I was sayin. Ohh. it's so sweet." He added, hand clutching invisible pearls as he sighed dreamily and mischievously up at the fox.
"That isn't a sign of bad listening, that's a sign of bad storytelling on your part. You got distracted." Ianto waggled a finger at the other man and grinned, still moving things here and there in his cupboards; the wagon moved them independently, he swore. Still, it also seemed to keep things fresh, and despite Ianto's being away for so long, the loaf of bread he took down looked as though it had been made that day. A jar of berry jam joined it a second later, the fox closing the cupboards again.
"Well?" he said expectantly as he cut the bread into thick slices. "What of these statues, then? The least you could do is finish what you were saying." He bounced his eyebrows across at the snake, as if pushing the responsibility back onto him. "Maybe so," he agreed, smirking at the dramatic display. "All the more reason for you to keep talking, no?"
"Can you blame me?" The snake replied, eyes falling unsubtly down Jigano's body for a far too long a moment, before snapping back up with an innocent smile. Leaning up slightly if only to see what it was the fox had found for them to eat (apparently looking quite satisfied, and so letting his head hit the pillow again), James merely sighed.
"Right, right. Well there's seven of them, y'see." The snake's voice started out mysterious but rose up into a succinct and clipped ending. As if that was it. The story in its entirety: Seven statues that existed.
Turning only to see why James had paused, only to offer a golden grin in response to the apparent compliment (he was taking it as a compliment anyway), Ianto rolled his eyes and grabbed a plate for the bread and jam. Bringing it over to set it down next to the tea, he made no attempt to sit around James, moving the other man's legs so he could sink down onto the bed.
"There's seven of them," he repeated, raising an eyebrow expectantly only to realise, a bit belately, that there was nothing left to that particular story. "Oh," he said with a lighthearted chuckle, grabbing a piece of bread. "Well. That's... that's something, isn't it? What are they statues of?"
As if on springs, as the fox shoved the snake's legs away, they immediately moved back to retake the lost space between them. Though it appeared entirely unconscious of James' part. His body craved touch and his mind simply didn't think it had the authority to control the whims of its fleshy carrier.
"It is indeed something." James agreed, his nimble fingers reaching to snag a slice of bread. Mashing it unceremoniously and messily into the jam (and flashing Ianto a broad smile while he did so as if anything about the motion was flirtatious), he popped the entire thing into his mouth.
"Of?" The snake tittered through an incredibly full mouth. "-ooh 'says they got to be 'of anythin'?" Which of course meant they were just stones.
Raising an eyebrow but not bothering to move the snake's legs again, Ianto grabbed a slice of bread and jam, picking up his cup once more as well. Listening to the other man's outlandish story (but luckily not feeling remotely put out by it), Ianto munched on his snack and smirked, licking his fingers as the narrative concluded - vaguely and mysteriously.
"I don't believe you," he said simply. "But that's alright. Perhaps when the world opens up again I can go and visit these seven statues myself, and work out for myself what they might look like."
"No- with-ut me you -on't" The snake said, grinning ear to ear despite all the jam coating his teeth. Swallowing and promptly following it up with a sweet-smelling burp, James gave an ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh of culinary satisfaction patting his too-flat stomach. "I'm the gaurdian', remember? So we'll call it a date then. Once the storms fuck off, you'n me vacate this land of winged-cunts and trees and find us some ocean and sun." The snake tilted his head back as if basking in the glow of some bright star.
Ianto arched an eyebrow at his rude, yet endearing new snake friend. (Friend? Was that a bit too strong a word right now? Whatever). "But of course," he said. "How silly of me to presume that I would be able to go and search out these seven statues without their glorious guardian." Snorting under his breath, Ianto rolled his eyes and helped himself to another slice of bread and jam.
"A date," he echoed, 'cheers'ing the other man with his snack and settling back to eat, his head tilted as if he, too, were enjoying some glorious sunshine. However the conversation continued, Ianto really wouldn't be able to say. With the snake at his side, topics came and went like ships in the night, but suffice to say it was company that was long overdue for the merchant.
