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!
Well, truth be told, Sunjata has never been to the Atheneum. But with Longnight approaching and the offer from Jigano to explore should he need information, he decides that it’s perhaps a good opportunity to take it up. That and with the blight receding day after day, it makes it easier to focus on the things that are important – like what the fuck is going to happen come a few weeks. And since it’ll be his first, he focuses on searching for information regarding it.
His luck is easy, it seems. The icy pathway he takes toward the Temple goes by swiftly, and upon entering the Atheneum, he can spot chairs and couches, dimly lit lights and candles about, and it reminds him of the libraries of home – mostly from when he was forced to remain in them day after day to study. At least this is by choice. So he drifts nearby a couch he plans to claim, shrugging out of the furs and jacket he wears, a buttoned up shirt in a dark navy blue is what he remains in, buttoned only half way up to not bother a recent tattoo of his – one that peaks over his breastbone, an arrow with flames along the arrow tip and the rest of the shaft.
Then, spending a few long moments figuring out where to start, he begins to go through the rows, a finger tracing the old spines as he reads the names of each book, searching for anything. And luckily for him, he finds roughly four different books with different things on Longnight that he takes back toward the couch, pulling a small table in front of it. And he opens one up, flipping through the old pages, looking for anything he might need.
get a load of this trainwreck
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 luck would have it, Phoebe was also in the library, searching through the various tomes it held. But she wasn't looking for books on LongNight. No, she was looking for works of fiction; fantasy, fairytales - anything that might fairy her away into another world to escape the fears caused by the week of darkness.
But there were lots of things on her mind, not just which adventure novel would be the most interesting. The realization that she had almost had another child, one that perished because of her own folly while gravely ill, sobered her. Her life had gotten out of control and she needed to regain it. As she stepped out from the rows of books though, a familiar form caught the corner of her eye. Was that Jata?
There’s a slight sound of movement, when he opens the cover to the first book, and he pauses just briefly. He’s not sure why he expected to be alone, but there’s a part of him that enjoyed the solitude when it came to libraries. But it didn’t matter that much, wasn’t like they were going to come and sit with him after all. But curiosity gets the best of him, steel eyes lifting to see who passes the row of books.
And then he sees her, a muscle feathering in his jaw as he quickly pushes the book away and shifts into navy feathers — praying to Safrin that she hasn’t seen him, before settling stop one of the bookshelves, pressing himself into the shadows. It’s the least he can do, after all, and yet all his things still stay on the couch. Furs and jackets that are very much his, the scent of cigarette smoke and a small amount of alcohol added to the mix.
get a load of this trainwreck
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 she turned to look, what she thought was Jata turned into a mass of bright blue feathers and took off for the top of a bookshelf. Phoebe blinked in confusion, staring at the spot where he had once sat, his things strewn everywhere, as if she wouldn't recognize them. Was this his way of trying to respect her wishes of staying away? A small smile curved her lips. Well. He was trying at least.
Quietly she approached the bookshelf he had just perched atop of, clasping her hands behind her back. She was fairly certain she could make out a bird pressed into the shadows above. "Jata...I saw you. You really don't have to hide...this is a public space after all." she said, unable to stifle a bit of laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.
She did see him. But despite that, he’s even further surprised when she approaches the bookshelf, while he does his best to keep pressing himself into the shadows. And when she speaks, he swears he can hear the stifling of laughter? His confusion gets the best of him as he slides to the edge of the bookshelf, dark navy head extending over the side to peer down at her. “Space.” He repeats, in a very parrot-like sound.
But then, well, his covers blown. Spreading his wings, he makes his way back down to the couch before shifting into himself and placing the books back on the table for later, to give his attention to her. Standing beside the table, he takes a moment to adjust the shirt that’s bothering the new tattoo since his shift back, and he gives her a small smile. “I tried to give you space.” Shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. “Just trying to find out more about Longnight. What’re you here for?” He asks, trying to avoid any awkwardness.
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
She smiled a little, almost warmly at him. But her gaze was distant, unfamiliar. Seeing him brought back memories of her conversation with Frey. What almost was, what could have been, and what wasn’t. ”That’s sweet of you, but it’s alright. You’ve every right to be here, my presence shouldn’t change that.” she said. ”I’m just looking for a book or two of fiction to read during LongNight, something to take mine and my nephews minds off the scary things outside.” she said quietly.
She really ought to tell him. He deserved to know.
”I spoke with Frey recently though so it is actually good that I ran into you because…well you should know something.” she said. Why beat around the bush and wait and fret over it and get herself worked up over that which she could not control or change? ”They…they told me that I was very briefly pregnant with your child back when we were still together…but the blight killed it before I even knew.” she said softly, her eyes falling for a moment. ”I…I don’t expect it to change anything, but I thought you deserved to know.”
Ah but it is awkward, either way you spin it. Even the smile, the warmness of it has him inhaling sharply as his hands find his pockets – the wound she had given him healed now, but scarred beneath a tattooed compass as he looks to her and nods. “Where will you be staying?” He asks quietly, hoping that perhaps he’s right in his assumption that she might be remaining in the Temple, while he can keep his distance in the Guildhall. Part of him also wonders why she’s caring for her nephews, but he makes no comment on it – deciding that she could tell him if she wished to, not wanting to pry, to find out more.
But she grows withdrawn and his dark brows furrow slightly with the sight of it, and she speaks of Frey and something that he should know, and he’s not sure he understands. But she stumbles along, going over the results of her conversation with Frey and his eyes widen slightly, brows lifting as he huffs out a sigh. Her eyes fall, she doesn’t expect anything from it, but for all the care he usually took with it… Well, it was helpful to know, that the one time he wasn’t something could’ve happened.
Well, something did, but the blight snuffed it out.
“Phoebe I… I’m so sorry.” He finally manages, wanting to comfort, to hug but staying still like a statue. “I’m glad you told me.” It’s a quiet admission, his eyes remaining on her with a sort of clarity that hadn’t been there since before the blight, before the Festival of Lights. He doesn’t know what else he can say to try and make it easier, wondering how something she so clearly had wanted got snuffed out so badly.
Let alone that something being half his. He finally looks away from her now, running a hand through his hair as he averts his gaze toward anything else but her.
get a load of this trainwreck
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 College.” she said easily. She would be exactly where she promised to be this year, ready to heal and help those who might need it. And she doesn’t expound on why her nephews are with her, or her plans beyond LongNight. Instead, she simply waits and watches as Jata processes the information she gave him.
He apologized, made his gratefulness for the information known, but it did nothing to fill the hollowness she felt inside. ”You don’t have to pretend to be sorry. I know you didn’t want children anyways.” she said softly, smiling at him though just barely. ”Frey doesn’t think I am ready to be a mother anyways, so I suppose it is for the best.” she added, shrugging slightly. Neither one of them had any real sympathy for her, nor should they. She had done this to herself.
He breathes a bit easier at first before the information processes. That she will be here rather than where he’s going, and that’s enough confirmation he needs. But when he apologizes next, uncertain what to do with his hands and his thoughts, and she tells him he doesn’t need to apologize because he had never wanted them anyway, his eyes lift back toward her. “Well, yes… but there’s a difference between not wanting them and possibly having them anyway.” A light frown finds his lips at this.
While he doesn’t want kids at all, if he happened to become a father, he hopes he’d at least make a good one.
But she tells him Frey told her she wasn’t ready yet and all he can really do is nod to her. “I suppose that makes sense.” He offers quietly, chewing on the inside of his lip. “Will you be okay with waiting? Figuring yourself out?” His head tilted in an avian like manner as he looks to her.
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
She smiled a little and shook her head. ”Every time you sleep with a woman there is a possibility of having them anyways, so either you might secretly want them or else the bird and bees were explained to you very poorly.” she said with a light laugh. ”I just mean you don’t have to pretend to be sorry for my sake. I understand if you’re more relieved than anything.” she said gently.
”Why do you think it makes sense? Do you think I’m not ready too?” she asked, brow furrowing. It was one thing for Frey to say, but something else entirely for Jata. He wasn’t an all knowing deity after all. And was she fine with waiting though? She shrugged. ”That’s sort of an odd question, as I don’t really have a choice. I have to wait. It’s not like there are men just lining up waiting to impregnate me.” she said with a hint of a smirk. Quite the contrary, there was a stark lack of anyone even remotely wanting anything to do with her, much less make babies with her…and she would learn to be fine with that if it killed her.
She explains to him, that there’s the possibility of having children all the time and he snorts to that. “No, I know that.” He rumbles to her, a slight half crooked smile crossing his face. But when she mentions that he doesn’t have to pretend, he sighs once more. “Not pretending. I know how much of a goal it was for you.” He pauses briefly. “That and… would’ve been half mine, so.” It’s a lot to take in, and he focuses on one thing at a time while he can.
But she asks him if he thinks she’s ready, and his gaze snaps back to hers. “I just think that maybe some time is important. Get to know the world, the place you now live in before focusing on the longevity of it.” It’s a rough explanation, but with the barrier falling and new places arriving; well… he thought it might be important to not be saddled down with children.
Though it’s not as if he has a choice.
“Well, it sounds much better in any other wording other than the one you used.” He manages with a light chuckle, a wink sent her way. “Doesn’t have to be the end goal.” And for him, it never was. Just loving and appreciating, enjoying one another.
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
”Then that look of surprise shouldn’t have been so dramatic.” she countered with a slight smile. It was…odd…speaking to him so cordially, knowing the hurt between them, knowing her heart would hurt later for it. They hadn’t been together for no reason after all – there had been real, true chemistry between them that had taken off like fireworks. Just because Lusea appeared didn’t mean that all went away so quickly. ”Is half yours.” she said softly. Just because they had died and had not been known in the very brief time they were alive did not mean that they ceased to exist entirely. He was a father as much as she was a mother; their child just lived with Mort instead of them.
Her expression fell a bit but she nodded at his observation. ”I am not really that concerned about the world I am in…but it would be nice to find myself again.” she admitted quietly.
Again she shrugged, her vibrancy and light was tempered. She wasn’t sad per se, but she was certainly more than calm. ”Yes well…in any other wording the answer is the same.” she said quietly, a soft smile curving her lips. ”I’ve no one waiting for me at home. Or even outside my home. Or anywhere. The only person that keeps track of where I am is Pim.” It wasn’t that she was unloved, she just wasn’t the integral to someone’s existence. She was a nice pretty flower in the backdrop, nice to look at but forgettable and easy to overlook. She had to learn to be okay with that.
“Well, normal me versus the blighted me, tends to think a bit more toward precaution.” He retorts, a dark brow lifting momentarily before she corrects him to say is and not would have. Something he can’t respond to other than nod quietly in silent agreement, rocking on his heels briefly. “Still, I’m sorry.” And he is, that she doesn’t get to experience. The fact that it’s his only adds to that sentiment. He’s not pretending, nor should he have to.
As she mentions that she’s not concerned about the world they find themselves in, his hands finally leave his pockets to fold across his chest, wincing lightly as he forgets about the tattoo with the movement brushed against it when he leans against one of the shelves. “I’ve seen a bit of the Greatwood now. I met Safrin, actually. She made me Attuned.” He offers her, in case she had thought he had hid the bird form from her in the time they were together. “I suppose I’m doing a bit of self-searching myself.”
Because gods don’t they both need it.
His reply to her gets answered in the way he expects it to, and his head lightly tilts as he leans against the shelf a bit more. There’s nothing he can really say to it, nothing he can add that won’t bring up the rift between them, and for a moment he thinks he might stay silent. But he can’t, instead he puffs out another small sigh. “Doesn’t mean there won’t ever be. I came in pretty recently compared to you and Remi and many of these other Outlanders.” He says, refraining from tacking on ‘I was there for you.’ Because it doesn’t matter now, does it?
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
"While generally effective, it isn't failproof." she said with all the confidence of someone who knew what she was talking about - because she did. "And based on the conversation with Frey, this child was conceived before you were blighted...so perhaps the time we were in the shower?" she said. He pulled out but there wasn't really protection there.
But he was still sorry...and it did mean something. "Thank you...and for whatever it is worth...I wouldn't have used that to make you stay with me over Lusea." she said softly. To the contrary she would rather be a single mother than tied to a man who didn't want to be a father.
"I'm glad." she said with a small smile at him. "I hope you take advantage of every opportunity this new world offers you that you didn't have in Korofi." she said sincerely.
But she hesitated before responding to his next point, looking down again. "Yes. And you have Lusea. Remi has Ronin. Rex has Bastien. Deimos has Amalia..." she bit her lip and shook her head. "I think it is very clear what and who the issue is. I will accept my lot in time. It'll actually be a good thing. If no one expects me to be anywhere whenever then I can't worry anyone."
