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!
He hasn’t been back to a shrine in awhile. But with Remi’s words fresh in his mind, and Lusea’s sudden capabilities, he wonders if it’s possible — possible to become attuned when he was particularly just the boring version of himself he always had been. He doesn’t know why he goes to this shrine for such things, having only seen Frey there, but it’s the only shrine he knows of, which leads him wandering through the snow. Maybe it’ll make him feel better about himself, better about it all, as he tries to figure out how to survive in this world. How to thrive.
He reaches the Shrine, and before when he’d stood, there had been worry and panic — for Phoebe, for the midwife, but now all he can feel is uncertainty and doubt. Is he even doing the right thing? He feels so certain in some aspects, doubtful in others. What would Lusea say? What would Phoebe think? Does it even matter what they have to say about it?
The answer is no.
So he takes a deep breath, having brought one thing as an offering. A flower of sorts, stark red compared to the snow around the area. And he’s bundled up in furs and leathers to ward away the cold, of snow he finds he really loathes. And he bows his head, clearing his throat. “I don’t know who to talk to about this… But if any of you are out there, I wish to become attuned if it’s possible…” His head lifts to look at the snowy clouds above him as he sighs.
Maybe they won’t even answer. Maybe they won’t care.
Jata is asking to become Attuned!
throw the man you used to be away
bury him with rivalry, entirely
SUNJATA
the flood
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.
Suddenly everything grows dark and starlit. The world is a gentle and dusky periwinkle, and though it is not within Safrin's power to warm the air, there is a cosmic stillness that falls all around. "Possible?" Safrin softly and elegantly sings. Restored to her former glory, the goddess seems to step out from a curtain of existence to appear before Sunjata. Cloaked in midnight clouds with eyes as radiant as any star in the heavens, she traces her fingers upon the man's back. Covered in pelts as he is, still he'll feel her warm touch radiating through her skin.
"But of course, sugar. All you have to do is ask." She concludes, completing her revolution to stand before him.
The world around him, as soon as the words leave his lips, grows dark, and he realizes he can’t see anything in comparison to the light there had once been. It takes a moment for his eyes to adjust, hearing a woman’s voice — soft, lovely, wonderful — and a touch upon his spine. He can see the starlight, see the pause of the world around them that brings some warmth to his craving bones, and he exhales with a sigh, eyes shutting ever so slightly until the goddess reaches the front of him.
And gods is she beautiful.
Slate eyes follow her a moment before he dips his head, a somewhat crooked smile to his lips as he settles before her. “You must be Safrin.” He says with a light accented rumble, running through all he knows of the goddess of this world before he smiles wider. He realizes she’s asked him to ask her to become attuned, and a small snort of laughter leaves his nose as though he had forgotten simply because he held her in his gaze enough to have skipped over it. “May I become attuned?” He reverts to old noble habits, much to his own surprise, how he had been trained to ask questions.
Always ‘may I’, never ‘can I’.
throw the man you used to be away
bury him with rivalry, entirely
SUNJATA
the flood
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.
"Oh indeed I am." She purrs, slinking forwards. Though he is much taller than her, physics bends such that she seems to fit next to him, eye to eye. Perhaps she is merely standing on dark matter, but so captivating are her eyes she very much doubts Sunjata will look down to see. Slinking her arms around his neck to pull him close, the goddess smiles broadly at him.
"Oh you may, sweetness. You absolutely may." So saying she reached forward to rub a finger against his lower lip. As she did so, a galactic sort of tingling would sparkle there, echoing throughout his entire body. Leaning forward she'd press her lips softly against his, and as she did so, the world would forever be changed.
Stars would swirl behind his eyes as the core of who he was morphed and changed. His body would feel entirely refreshed, balanced, light.
Safrin meets his gaze, eye to eye, and he’s surprised with the purr that leaves her, but he can’t help but to enjoy it. He’s entirely captivated, by stars and beauty and light and nothing that he wonders for a moment if he is still breathing. As if his breath had hitched in his lungs the closer she had come. Her arms, starlit and beautiful slink around his shoulders, pulling him close and he’s hopeless in avoiding it.
Not like the thought even crosses his mind.
A smirk finds his face as she broadly smiles back to him, breathless and captivated as her thumb runs along his lower lip — and the tingling he feels has him exhaling gently, reminding himself to breathe. Before it extends to the rest of him, and he almost vibrates with the sensation. He doesn’t have time to make a comment, a playful statement —
Because it dies the second her lips meet his.
It’s honestly nothing like what he expected (though he had absolutely zero expectations to begin with when it came to gods) and his eyes shutter closed, starlight dancing beneath his lids — his body soft and gentle and light despite the heaviness in his heart, in his mind.
But he obviously can’t help himself from kissing her back with all his roguish charm, somewhere deep within him against the shift toward the light within him. “Mhmm…?” He manages in lieu of a question, wondering what else Safrin would have him do. At this point he’d do anything.
throw the man you used to be away
bury him with rivalry, entirely
SUNJATA
the flood
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.
Her laughter is light as she feels him move against her, kiss her back. It is a rarity among mortals to touch her this way, moreso to kiss her. But this is a rare moment indeed, one of transformation and change and she would indeed mark it with an intimate gesture. "Keep your eyes closed..." She whispers against his lips, as her hand softly reaches back, before plunging straight into his chest. There is no pain, only a white-star tingle emanating from where her arm has disappeared into his flesh. Her fingers dance and flicker within with galactic precision; his soul in her palm.
It is strengthened.
Changed.
Attuned.
Pulling back there is a whisper of blue and gold, of feathers and claws, and then...
Ironically, Sunjata doesn’t think he’ll be able to brag about it even if he wants to. It’s too… close to the mistakes he has made, but at the same time Safrin is a goddess — a true goddess, nothing like what his family had been considered before, but leagues beyond. So he savors, cherishes it with her hum of laughter as he can’t help but to move against her, move with her —
To kiss the stars.
She whispers against his lips and he dutifully obeys, eyes remaining tightly closed to watch the stars that dance behind his lids, to feel the starlit candor as it centers him. He is here, certainly. Not an illusion like what Lusea had done. This was real, this was real, and —
And he feels her hand shift back away from him only briefly before it plunges into his chest, but with his eyes closed, he has no idea. Just a surprising feeling of starlit tingling, of warmth and comfort, strength, power. A sigh leaves him, though content or surprised it’s hard to discern.
It’s like she’s holding his soul in her palms.
It’s like he feels like he’s a changed man, different, stronger, better, lighter —
And his eyes flicker open when she withdraws, something akin deep down to a primal whine as she does so. But he can sense blue and gold, colors that were his, and his head tilts toward the goddess before he notes shes… bigger than he can remember. And in his moment of surprise, he reaches up to try and touch Safrin before now-dark eyes capture navy blues in the darkness, feathers sprouted and beautiful and shining beneath the weight of the stars. The colors are remarkably like his tattoos, and he swears perhaps the wings he bears on his skin was molded from this beautiful form. But he’s not certain. O-Oh. He thinks… Says? Too captivated by feathers where tattooed arms should be to notice much else. Is he perched on her? Is he floating? He has no idea.
But one thing he does know, is that he’s a bird. And he loves it.
throw the man you used to be away
bury him with rivalry, entirely
SUNJATA
the flood
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.
As he moves, her hand withdraws with starlit precision, his soul intact but forever altered. He is one of hers now. An attuned yes, but to the stars as much as anything else. As for what he is on? It's nothing, yet it is sturdy and stable. Vines of dark matter that allow him to perch steadily before her, looming larger than life as she gazes into navy eyes with a dazzling smile.
How does it feel, to know that the stars are now within your reach? She cooes softly, extending a hand to softly stroke the jewel-toned feathers.
All he knows is that he’s perched before the goddess of the stars, his darker eyes ringed with gold, focus and zone in on her easily, happily, pleased and content as he feels the shift within him. Where his heart had been heavier, where his mind had been straying, it disappears in her looming presence, in once-steel eyes that have shifted darker. And he can’t help but give her a beaky grin in response to her question, his mind racing through all the options of what he could say.
“How does it feel, to know that the stars are now within your reach?” Safrin coos, and his feathers ruffle happily around his head, around his cheeks, pressing the side of his head into her hands as his eyes shut about half lidded. The epitome of happiness. It feels freeing. He rumbles to her, accented and lighter than it had been before. A changed man, a new man.
Thank you for this gift, Safrin. He thinks to her, feathers still fluttering up in his content, a silent thank you for the kiss, too. Is there anything I can do for you? Because gods how he wished he could find a way to repay her for this. But he doesn’t know where to start, what to even do.
throw the man you used to be away
bury him with rivalry, entirely
SUNJATA
the flood
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.
The goddess meets the man's beaked-smile with a coy flutter of her lashes. For me? She sings, sweet and sultry. Perhaps you might remember my name every now and then, when you look to the stars. Safrin replies, as if she is nothing more than a wisp of a girl wanting to be remembered by a boy, rather than the powerful force that she is.
Reaching forward to stroke the feathers on his chest, Safrin sighs softly. So handsome She muses, starlight sparkling in her dark gaze.
“For me?” He hears her, dark eyes lifting to scan along the goddess’ face, full of interest and intrigue. And when she tells him, he nods with a bounce of blue feathers and golden skin. Of course, he finds it to be small in comparison to what she’d done for him, the change to his life. But if it’s what she wishes, he can absolutely spread the word about the goddess of the stars. And perhaps, spend a few more nights outside simply looking to them. I will. A vow given.
But the feeling with the question, the wisp of the answer to his question when he had been expecting something bigger, reminds him of Korofi, of Lusea, when they had planned the little edges to their world before he’d brought it to ruin. And he inhales a bit sharply, passing over it as she extends a hand to his navy blue plumage on his chest, and the feathers puff and furl with the comment she gives. He tucks his wings in tight along his back, his long tail fanning as he leans into her touch. He has no way to say that blue is his color, but it’s certainly the best. It has everything to do with the color. He admits, coyly with a beaky grin, all confidence in himself disappearing in the form of navy blues and the starry eyes of a goddess.
throw the man you used to be away
bury him with rivalry, entirely
SUNJATA
the flood
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.
"You." She admonishes with a stunning smile, sweeping a lash down to offer the newly-attuned man a sultry wink. "It having everything to do with the colours is like saying all I am is merely to do with the stars."
Her fingers press against his plumage as she tipped her head back to laugh. "And I think we both know that isn't true, sugar." So saying, Safrin stepped back with an appreciative gaze, looking the bird up and down for a moment before nodding.
"Though the colours are quite spectacular, I will say."
The way the goddess says ’you’ and gives him a wink, caused nothing but more feathers to furl, to curl and accept the praise as much as his ego does. But Safrin continues, fingers finding their place among the plumage with a prideful, puffed out appearance that he can’t help but exude under her eye. His wings spread out in response, a quirk of a feeling sent her way of their playful banter, of a wonderful meeting and unexpected end of this originally impulsive thought of his. And he realizes he needs to learn to fly with it, to join the stars as much as he can.
And when the goddess steps back, he reaches for that changed part of him, tugging and pulling at it enough to shift back into himself. He can feel the shift within him, knowing it will not leave, and sighs contently internally with that realization. “Thank you again.” He says after a moment of pause to simply look upon her, a roguish smile crossing his face. “I will spread your name and look to you in the stars.” A quiet vow, because what else would he be doing with his life? Hint: not much.
Now, he realizes he needs to learn how to fly with this form.
throw the man you used to be away
bury him with rivalry, entirely
SUNJATA
the flood
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.
"Colour indeed." She drawls as he shifts, sounding for all the world like a coquettish southern bell while being anything but.
Safrin's smile is sweet as it is genuine, a star-speckled blush careening across her cheeks. She is, at her core, a pompous and selfish woman-spirit, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Fickle and cruel as she might often be, she can be just as tender and soft, and perhaps it is that sort of touch that the world now needs. "Remember sugar, stars shine in the daylight too. Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there." She reminds him, reaching out a hand to softly stroke his well-defined jaw, before offering him a wink. As she does, starlight wavers around her, enveloping her back and leaving the world impossibly changed for Sunjata.
