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!
08-29-2019, 12:36 AM (This post was last modified: 08-31-2019, 07:48 PM by Sunjata.)
SUNJATA
when I go into that ground
i won't go quietly, i'm bringing my crown
For somebody that didn’t quite drink as much as he used to – not needing a reason for the memory of frequenting the bar, a memory that didn’t pain him as it used to, he finds himself walking toward the Rathskeller one night. Perhaps having Lusea back is enough to give him a bit of a will to drink once more, never in a bad way, but a shot for nostalgia couldn’t hurt in the slightest. And besides, he knew Ezra well enough, worked with the effeminate man enough, to know that he usually frequented and ran this place.
Least he could do was forward the business, right?
He steps in, dressed in dark clothes, steel eyes watchful for the room he meets. His eyes adjust to the flickering light before he reaches the bar, leaning against it enough to ask for a drink. He’s not expecting to find anything, but just a means of getting out and about. And besides, he doesn’t imagine he’ll find Phoebe here this late at night.
The thought makes him take a deep drink of his liquor when he gets it, before he takes it to the edge of a table, beside a branded marking saying Edrei was here. It quirks his lip up, and he settles near it, looking around the room until his eyes land on a rather large spider, clinging to the underside of the table he sits near. And he finds he’s content, watching the bumbling spider try to make its way up.
and when I go into the ground
they gotta bury me, bury me face down
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Loren didn’t know why he’d come to the Rathskellar again, given that he didn’t drink and didn’t much like people. But perhaps he still held onto the hope that something of Edy might be lingering in the tavern, and it was true he’d had a good time the other night with Rexanna and maybe, just maybe, that second part about not liking company was becoming less true. After all, people had (mostly) been more welcoming and understanding than he had deserved, given all he’d done and not done. Regardless of the reason, he found his feet wandering down the increasingly familiar path.
As soon as he arrived and his eyes had adjusted, the Launceleyn scanned the interior, hoping to see a familiar and friendly face. It was good that he hadn’t hoped too strongly, as no one was there; that wasn’t too surprising, given how small the overlap between faces familiar and friendly to him was these days. That just meant the summoner would have to settle for familiar and hopefully not actively hostile, so he made his way over to the one person he actually recognized, Sunjata.
”Hey, it’s Sunjata, right? I wanted to thank you again for all your help with the hunt.” Then, Loren ran a nervous hand through his hair. Gods, he really wasn’t good at or comfortable with socializing. ”Mind if I join you?” He nodded at the empty seat next to the other man, which was conveniently near the message the summoner and Rexanna had carved. Seeing it soothed him, somehow, reminded him that he actually might not be hopeless after all. Plus, it made him feel closer to Edy, who'd never once met a social situation she couldn't squeeze her way into somehow.
He’s far too intrigued by the spider and it’s clumsy movements to focus on the entrance of the bar. He doesn’t notice when someone even scouts him out until he leans back and Loren speaks, steel gaze shifting from the spider to the man with a small nod of greeting, before his face registers and Sunjata actually gives him a brighter smile. “Ah, yeah, you’re welcome.” He says with a light shrug, glancing away from him as he runs a hand through his hair.
When he asks to join him, Sunjata gives a dip of his head to the librarian before chuckling lightly to himself. “Don’t mind at all, could use the company actually.” He tells him, sitting back and sliding his drink away from the gluttonous arachnids. His gaze slides over to Loren once more, before he takes a deep drink of the alcohol. “You’re… A Launceleyn, right?” He hums thoughtfully, turning that gunmetal gaze of his away from the librarian to the rest of the Rathskeller.
“I worked with Edrei for a time. My condolences.” His voice is sincere here, but he finds his formal training biting him back – all condolences with hardly any feeling behind them, even if he didn’t have a lot. He was sorry. Edrei made the best rigged underground bunker he’d ever seen, and he knew he’d miss her tremendously.
and when I go into the ground
they gotta bury me, bury me face down
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Loren only noticed the spider under the table next to them after he approached Sunjata, and the librarian gave it a fond smile before sitting. Now that he knew the creatures weren’t hostile in the slightest, he lumped them together with the other strange beasts of Caido: infinitely better than most people and usually more worthy of his attention. ”That’s one of the biggest I’ve seen, how about you?” The summoner nods towards the spider so that the other man doesn’t think the librarian is talking about something else.
At the comment that Sunjata might need some company, Loren tilted his head. ”Oh? Is that so? Well, I can’t promise to be good company, but I’m hopefully better than nothing.” Then, however, the other man asked about the summoner’s family, and he narrowed his eyes, wondering whether or not Sunjata was one of those who held a grudge against the Launceleyns. However, Loren decided the other man wouldn’t have come on the hunt that the summoner had hosted if Sunjata had not been a fan of the librarian’s kin. ”Guilty.”
Of course, Loren felt like an idiot when it turned out the reason Sunjata was asking was simply because he’d known Edy. ”Oh. Thank you.” Awkwardly, the summoner turned his head to look back at the spider, not wanting the other man to see the sadness that flashed across the librarian’s face when he thought about his cousin. ”How did you know her?” Because Loren had not been there for Edy during her final days—a fact he regretted more than pretty much anything—he was trying to collect stories about her from everyone he could. Thankfully, she’d been such a colorful presence that it wasn’t difficult.
Steel eyes drift toward the wine spider as Loren begins to speak of it, and a slightly crooked smile crosses his face with a snort – watching as the librarian nods toward it as if to avoid the comment being misconstrued. Ah, but Sunjata is great at that, and the man huffs a quiet chuckle of laughter as he leans back in his seat, swirling the drink around in his hand before his eyes lift toward Loren once more. “I’ve seen bigger.” He jests before laughing and putting the comment aside as he mentions he would use company.
The man offers the librarian a small shrug of a tattooed shoulder, letting him take a seat before he looks back down to his glass. “I’d waste away watching these spiders go at the wine for hours, please indulge me.” He notes before he turns his attention fully onto Loren now, eyes that also host a fair amount of secrets. But he won’t ask, nor does he care to, when Loren pauses at the question briefly until he finally confirms.
He gives his condolences, and averts his gaze when Loren looks away from him, nodding slightly to him even if he couldn’t see it – instead he knocks back the drink in his hand before he sets the glass on the table. “She helped us fix up place a few friends of mine were putting together.” He offers easily, avoiding the mention of the Devil’s Advocates carefully, and the deceased Queen’s involvement with such things. “She had quite the… red-hot touch.” He articulates the best he can in the common tongue before snorting, all his time spent with Lusea has made him want to revert back to the language far more comfortable – but so few knew of it.
He finds he prefers it that way.
But he tilts his head to the man after asking for another drink from behind the bar, as he clears his throat. “Want anything?” He asks with his accented voice, raising a brow in curiosity.
and when I go into the ground
they gotta bury me, bury me face down
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Well, Loren could hardly fault Sunjata for picking up on the innuendo the Launceleyn had just left lying there. Still, the laughter sounded good in his ears, and the corner of the librarian’s lips quirked upwards ever so slightly. As the other man indicated that he’d waste away in the Rathskellar with no company the summoner gives him a sympathetic look. ”What, the spiders aren’t company enough for you? Shocking. I find them to be better conversationalists than most people.” It felt weird to be joking around like this with a near stranger, but after all the awkward reunions and harsh words he’d exchanged with pretty much everyone else (excluding Rexanna), Loren was honestly relieved to be doing something so normal.
Edy helping people build something did not sound like the cousin Loren remembered. ”Was it built out of sex toys or something?” The summoner’s voice carried an honest curiosity: she was much more likely to burn things the ground than she was to raise them from the ground up. Then, however, Sunjata mentioned Edy’s touch and the librarian nodded. That was much more like her. ”She certainly had a knack for fanning the flames.” Both literal, magical, and metaphorical flames of passion, that was.
Shaking his head at the question, Loren smiled slightly. ”Thanks, but the company is enough for now.” Not really wanting to get into the fact that the Launceleyn didn’t drink for a variety of very good reasons—not least of which was his tendency to start bar brawls, summon monsters to wreak havoc, then sleep with his friends (plus his tolerance was shot), and not necessarily in that order—the summoner decided to see what was on Sunjata’s mind. ”So, what brought you down here?” Seemed that it was something more than spiders and wine and the presence of a stranger.
If Loren imagines Jata’s laughter will end at the innuendo, he’s wrong as the man chuckles lightly about the arachnid company before he shakes his head, reaching up to scratch at his stubble with a light shrug. “I don’t particularly find myself fond of the things.” He admits with a snort. “Had scorpions back home, those were more fun.” Steel eyes lift to Loren with amusement lingering within them.
But he actually barks out a full laugh at the honest curiosity that Loren gives, swinging his head to the librarian with a grin. “Something like that, yeah.” He manages through the slightly dying laughter, commenting on the hot touch Edrei had. At Loren’s comment, he nods with a slight smirk. “Oh, she absolutely did.” He agrees, before he asks for another drink and poises the question to the man that sits with him.
“Ah, suit yourself.” He jests with a wink. He doesn’t know much about Loren, but he understands that well enough, a dismissal to it. Yet, he sits forward, head shifting back to the wine spider with a raised brow as it now begins to try and pull at the glass holding the candle – thinking there’s wine within the flickering glass.
The drink arrives, and Sunjata reaches forward to push the spider away, watching it momentarily as it moves around confused before trying to toddle back to the glass, where Sunjata pours a small amount into the empty glass he now has and sets it to its side for the gluttonous creature. “Haven’t been before, surprisingly. I knew Edrei ran it so I thought I’d pay back a favor for missing out on the funeral and wake and all of that.” He says, turning his gaze back to Loren. “What about you? If you don’t plan on drinking, what brings you by?”
and when I go into the ground
they gotta bury me, bury me face down
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Loren didn’t know how anyone could dislike the friendly, cuddly spiders. They were completely harmless, and while they looked monstrous, that was nothing to a summoner like him. However, the other man’s laughter soothed an ache deep in the Launceleyn’s soul, so he didn't press Sunjata on the comment. The one about scorpions, however, was another matter entirely. ”Scorpions? I’ve never actually seen one. And, if I may ask, where did you come from that had such dangerous wildlife.” Asking that question around the Hollowed Grounds was always fraught, but the other man had opened the door to it. Scorpions were not native to these parts, after all.
Sunjata laughed easily, it seemed. Loren might’ve been jealous, but he’d had more than his fair share of joy lately, given how he’d treated his friends, so he just smiled at the other man. Apparently the summoner’s guess was not too far off the mark. ”Wait, really? Well now I’m really curious what building it was.” However, when Sunjata agreed with the librarian’s assessment of his cousin, Loren had to pause. ”So uhhhh...did she ever you know, get you all hot and bothered?” Honestly, the summoner probably shouldn’t have said anything, but Edy’s sexual proclivities meant that pretty much anyone in the Hollowed Grounds could’ve been her partner at one point another (especially considering the orgies). And the Launceleyn wanted to know that sooner rather than later.
As the spider tried to get at wine that is not there, the Launceleyn smiled at it. ”Well, I suppose I could get a glass for this poor fellow.” It would cost the librarian basically, and he liked to think that even small kindnesses helped to balance his ledger. While he was too far in emotional debt to his former companions and his family to ever be fully comfortable here, every little bit helped fill in the void where his heart used to be.
When Sunjata’s drink arrived, Loren put in his own order, then settled in to wait, and to listen. Of course, then he felt incredibly silly when the other man poured some into the glass the spider had been attempting to get into; when the Launceleyn’s own drink arrived, he topped off the spider’s treat and then sipped slowly at it to cover his embarrassment. One not quite full glass wouldn’t kill him. ”Oh, that’s thoughtful of you. But I can safely say you didn’t miss much.” The sadness in his voice was apparent, so the summoner took another sip to cover it. ”Me? Oh I...didn’t really want to be home.” It wasn’t the most pleasant place for him at the moment.
The librarian quirks interest in scorpions, and Sunjata smirks lightly to himself. Strange little insects with stingers attached to their tails, curled, poised, ready for a fight. Perhaps if he hadn’t gotten his wings tattooed he would have gotten a scorpion or two. Too late now, at least. Instead, he looks over the spider for a brief moment while he contemplates how to describe his home. “Mostly a desert kind of city, but we had terrible floods we had to adapt to. The summer months were the best, though, the sun dried out nearly everything.” He shrugs with a reminiscent smile.
Hence the scorpions.
But he smiles at Sunjata at the mention of the place, and he’s not entirely sure how to answer it. So instead, he bypasses it, a small huff of a smirk and a joke. “It’s a secret.” He winks, a tilt of the drink in Loren’s direction as if to say he’s not going to tell him, but it’s something like he thinks – hidden away, private, quiet. It’s better that way.
But the librarian pauses, and Sunjata’s head snaps toward him with a hint of surprise. “Me? Never.” He admits with another chuckle, finding the alcohol relieving and perhaps making him a bit more giggly than he usually was. “I belong to someone else.” He admits with a light smirk before tilting his attention back to the wine spider as Loren also orders a drink, for the spider and for himself, while Sunjata pours a bit of his own drink into the cup for the poor thing.
Yet when he tells Loren what he’s doing there, he lounges in the seat as he looks back to the other man. He offers a shrug in response, though nodding along. Sunjata wasn’t much one for funerals and wakes, having planned his own in his head a few too many times. He shakes the thought when Loren mentions he didn’t want to be home, and Jata’s dark brow raises. “I can understand that.” He says lightly, though the thought of skipping out on his family for the bars and the boxing rings are a bit more fresh with Lusea near him once more, that he trails off slightly.
He takes a sip of his drink before he settles in again and looks around. “So who’s going to run this place next, do you think?” He asks casually, curiously. If not Loren, then who would take the mantel?
and when I go into the ground
they gotta bury me, bury me face down
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Loren listened to Sunjata’s description of the man’s previous home without commenting on it. ”Sounds beautiful.” And it did, if a bit harsh and extreme. The summoner filed away the knowledge about scorpion’s habitats for later: with his luck, he’d find himself in such an environment sooner or later. When the other man withheld the information about what and where this mysterious building was, the summoner nodded. ”Fair enough.” He of all people couldn’t judge others for their secrets.
”Oh, ah, good to know.” The awkwardness was practically palpable and the Launceleyn flushed, clearly quite embarrassed. Running a hand through his hair, he gave Sunjata an apologetic smile. ”She was quite...active. So I uh, never know who...you know.” It was a poor explanation, so Loren was quite relieved when the other man changed the subject to his current love. ”Oh? Is that so?” The summoner, on the other hand, was very much alone.
Tipping his drink in acknowledgement of the other man’s response, Loren was then surprised at the question about who would run the Rathskellar now. ”I don’t know. I’m not exactly up to date on everything going on in the Hollowed Grounds.” Tilting his head, he gave Sunjata a considering look. ”You want the job?”
Maybe they didn't notice you there, ya know, running the fucking bar. Serving drinks. Handling shit. But boy howdy have you noticed them.
Oh, your ears are always open- you're a goddamn concubine spy, after all. And oh, you hear as this scraggly ass character attempt to offer up your job to Sunjata, who better know better than to steal another devil's role.
But you're angry now, something that happens so very rarely you're not even sure what it feels like anymore. Leaning over on the table, you flutter your long lashes dangerously at the spindly fuck, a wolfish grin on your beautiful face, your brown eyes sparkling with daggers.
"I'm sorry, darling, am I not doing a good enough job? Would you like to come back here and show me how to run my bar? I'm sure you have a huge... amount of experience."
“It had its moments.” He tells Loren with a nostalgic smile, thinking about Korofi. It wasn’t nearly as painful as it once had been, the worst part of his memory of the place having miraculously come back from the dead, and he finds that it’s perhaps not so bad after all. Still, he glances over to Loren with a light smirk. “Our technology was better, though.” Maybe he’s bragging, maybe he’s not, but he misses the tall buildings and neon lights, the gunfire and smoke.
Luckily for him, however, Loren drops the conversation about the Devil’s Advocates, and Sunjata offers a light nod in response until the conversation shifts toward being a smidge awkward – which he was no stranger to. But he can feel the relief in the conversation from Loren as it shifts and he gives a light smirk and a nod in response to this too. “It’s odd. She died three years ago in my arms and yet here she is, appearing beneath the Spire as if she’d died hours before.” He lets his steel gaze slide over to Loren, unsure why he’s telling him this, but finding that it doesn’t matter much anyway.
It’s no secret, after all.
But he questions who’s going to run the Rathskeller now, and his head tilts when he’s offered the job. But yet, a familiar voice approaches and Sunjata smirks toward Ezra in greeting, despite the obvious frustration of the man. Ignoring Loren for the time being, he leans forward toward Ezra with a beautiful grin along his face. The fact he had forgotten Ezra worked with the Rathskeller under Edrei is something that Sunjata had conveniently forgotten, though he’d never admit it. “Ezra, sweetheart, nobody’s taking your bar away from you. Hadn’t seen you in a while, I was getting worried.” He says raising his glass to his lips before he looks over to Loren with a smirk. “But I suppose that settles that?” Easing the air, easing the tension.
If Sunjata knew one thing, he knew not to cross his coworkers after all.
and when I go into the ground
they gotta bury me, bury me face down
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
When Sunjata mentioned that his homeland was far more advanced than the Hollowed Grounds, Loren tilted his head, curiosity writ large on the Launceleyn’s features. ”Oh? How so?” Normally, the summoner tried to avoid learning about other worlds, since it just gave him a headache. However, learning about technology might give him useful ideas for object that could be created in Caido, even without the full knowledge of how they worked. Magic was useful like that.
It was clear from the way the other man spoke that he was still trying to wrap his mind around his love’s return. ”Well, that’s a miracle. And no odder than anything else in Caido. It isn’t as if we haven’t seen resurrections around here before, and at least this one seems unequivocally good. How’s she handling the transition?” Loren almost asked how Sunjata was dealing with it, but the summoner held himself back at the last minute. It seemed too intimate a question to ask someone who was barely an acquaintance.
Speaking of people he didn’t know, great, Loren was offending total strangers now. The bartender popped over as the Launceleyn made a tasteless joke, and the summoner found himself flushing from embarrassment and maybe just a bit from the alcohol. Before he could say anything, however, Sunjata rescued the summoner. Still, Loren needed to apologize. ”Sorry! I didn’t mean any offense, uh, Ezra. And yes, yes, you’re doing a fabulous job. ” Hopefully that would placate the bartender, since the summoner really couldn’t afford to make any more enemies. To prevent himself from making even more of a fool of himself, Loren tossed back the last of his drink.
He asks how the technology was better, and Sunjata actually has to spend a moment to think about it, what parts would make sense and which ones wouldn’t. So he opts for the easiest ones, a nostalgically glazed look crossing his face while he does. “More advanced weapons, like guns for instance.” He hums, wondering if Loren knows what those are, shooting a glance to the man beside him in curiosity. “Better healing and medical needs.” He pauses, thinking back to Phoebe who had lost her mind when he told her the oldest leader they had, had lived to be eighty something.
But they’re talking of Lusea now, and his expression softens in a way that’s between love and predatory, a smirk lingering on his lips. “About as well as a resurrected woman can, I suppose.” He says with a light chuckle. “Bit my head off for spending time with Phoebe, but it is what it is.” Shrugging his shoulders, he figures it doesn’t matter much in the long run. He had what he wanted, and that is what matters in the end.
Ezra appears, and Sunjata soothes the effeminate man with his words before Loren apologizes, and he glances sideways to the librarian as Ezra moves on, a smirk crossing his lips. “Don’t stress on it, I thought he’d disappeared.” He pauses as he takes a sip of his drink and leans a bit closer toward the man. “But hey, if he ever does, I would be interested.” He winks before chuckling and leaning back after topping off the spider’s treat.
and when I go into the ground
they gotta bury me, bury me face down
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
