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 gives her a nod at the first fact, agreeing that it isn’t fail proof, but it has sufficed since. But she continues and his brow raises lightly as he recalls which exact time it had been and he puffs out another breath, running a hand through his hair. “Ah yeah, wasn’t exactly my finest moment.” He rumbles thoughtfully. He couldn’t even blame that on the blight, since that day he had been fine, safe, his blood had been the same.
But the next thing she says causes him to frown, uncertain where to start. “I mean, she would have to deal with it. It happened before she came here anyway.” He shakes his head lightly. “It’s different. I’m not like Melita’s father that would’ve abandoned them after they were born because I didn’t want to be a father.” He tells her, all seriousness in his tone. “I don’t want to be one, you’re right. But I would have been there for you, for them, to do what I could.” However awkward that might have been. (let alone the exact same thing happened in Helovia, a one night stand resulting in the most beautiful daughter he had ever seen, and he had been a good father, until she disappeared in the Rift with him).
He puffs out another bit of a sigh before nodding to her next comment. “Well, Remi inspired me about the whole Attuned thing, and I went to the shrine I saw Frey at last and Safrin showed. So I’m learning.” He flashes her one of those classically him rogue smiles before he continues on. “I hope you find out too.”
And what she says next isn’t exactly what he wants to hear. “I’d still worry.” He replies quietly, arms folding across his chest again as he leans against the bookshelf.
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.
"I recall it being pretty fine." she said with a small, teasing smirk as she shrugged. But of course, that was for much different reasona than he was discussing.
She tilted her head at him as he described what it would have been like from his perspective. She wasn't completely convinced, but it was noble of him to think he would have stepped up like that. "That is much easier to say knowing you don't actually have to than if you did." she noted softly, shrugging her shoulders. Not that it mattered. It was a reality that would never be now.
"I was wondering when that happened. Are you pleased with the change?" she asked. It didn't surprise her that Safrin graced him that way. Like Ronin, Sunjata could be very charming when he wanted to be. "I am sure I will in time. I'm working on it." she said with a small smile. But her head shook as he insisted he would worry. He was missing the point. "But you don't. Lusea is who you worry about and keep tabs on, not me anymore. And that's fine. It is as it should be." she said.
She can recall their time in the shower being pretty fine, and the comment does manage to get him to snort, head lowering as his shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. Well, at least that was the whole point of it, even in that tiny shower she had. But the conversation shifts when Phoebe seems unconvinced by his statement, and his head lifts a bit higher at what she says.
He does spend a moment to gnaw on his lip before his gaze lingers on her pale face. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I would have. You underestimate that of me.” He puts it rather bluntly, a softer smile to his face before they talk about his new attuned status, and he nods in response to that. “A few weeks ago, actually. I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit so far. Now that I know how to fly, at least.” He rumbles with a light smile that turns something akin to a smirk. “Remi taught me.” He acknowledges.
But still he listens to her as she mentions as if he’s not quite understanding the point to the conversation, and he nods a small amount. “Don’t have to worry about Lusea all that much. She has magic, actually?” He tells her with a small tilt to his head, though his eyes seem a bit shadowed at the recollection of when she had created the illusion. “I think if I were to worry about her she’d probably chew my head off for it.” He finally responds. And besides, based off the blight, based off of his time with her? He could still worry. Doesn’t have to be with her to do that.
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 shrugged a bit as he spoke, wrapping her arms around her waist. It wasn’t like it mattered if she did or didn’t. Their child was with Mort. They would never know for certain what he would have done. And for the time being, she was trying to focus more on what actually was than what might have been. ”That was very kind of him.” she said with a small smile. ”I am glad you have enjoyed your decision.” it had passed her mind once or twice, becoming an attuned herself, but she wasn’t particularly ready to commit to that. She struggled enough as she was without adding all the extra senses and abilities that came with being Attuned.
”Possibly.” she said with a little shrug, a motion that was becoming increasingly habitual and reactionary to most things she encountered and experienced. ”But I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually would appreciate it on a small level. Most people like knowing there is someone out there who cares enough for them to worry after them.” she said.
“It was a bit impulsive, but it worked out.” He tells her with a light nod, a smile crossing his face at the recollection, but keeping himself from voicing the fact he’d kissed Safrin. Judging by their own interactions recently, he thinks it’s perhaps best to keep it quiet. And so he does, nodding to her as she continues on, uncertain where the conversation has gone but still not quite ready to go yet — despite what happened, he still enjoys her company.
She mentions Lusea wanting him to care subconsciously and he nods lightly to that. “She knows. But I can’t voice it, you know.” He gives her a wink before pushing himself off the bookshelf he’s leaning against and looks along the spines. “Is there anything in particular you’re looking for? I can help you look?” He asks quietly.
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 bit at him. "If it hadn't been impulsive, it would not have been you." she said softly. Impulsive was his middle name, her opposite in so many ways. Perhaps that was why the fire had flared so quickly between them - opposites attract and all that. It would be easy to wonder if they would still be going strong now if Lusea hadn't appeared, but she forced herself not to. If she allowed her mind to wander down all the paths of what if, what if, what if she could never focus on what is.
That he couldn't so openly voice his concern for Lusea didn't surprise her. She was a formidable woman. "I am sure you have your ways of showing her in a way she can receive." she said with a soft smile. Lusea's love language had to be much different than her own. They were such different people that she doubted they had any similarity aside from their love for Sunjata.
"Oh, well..." she said with a wistful sigh, looking back over the shelves. "I'm looking for some fiction books. Things I can read and things I can read to the boys."
“If it had not been impulsive, it would not have been you.” She tells him, and he can’t help the laugh that comes from it. Giving her a nod and a small amount of side eye, he smiles easily. “I didn’t realize I was that easy of a book to read.” He jests to her, but if only for the moment. At least he appreciates the idea of the pun in its entirety. They’re in a library after all.
It was easier than he expected, to talk with her, without the blight and the frustrations of everything. Perhaps it is a dangerous line for him to walk, but he wants to regardless. So at her next comment, a hand lifts in an easy wave. “Called it smothering, I think.” He responds with a snort. But he’s turning toward the books now, scanning along the spines as he focuses on titles and themes.
“Are they interested in fun stories of warriors beating the odds? Or…” He trails off thoughtfully, fingers dancing along the spines as he seeks out anything of interest. For her, he has something in mind — just… depending on it he can find 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.
She smiled at his pun a little, but didn't outright laugh. That didn't seem to come as easily as it once had. "I am quite literate so that helps." she said, continuing it. He wasn't that easy to read, but she had spent enough time with him to figure him out. But she did laugh a little at Lusea's description of caring. "It can be smothering, but that isn't necessarily bad either." she said softly, shrugging a bit.
Phoebe glanced over the rows of books as Jata perused them. "Jax likes stories with happy endings. Cormac likes warrior stories. Rhett...likes books period. He reads well so he might prefer to read a simpler book on his own." she said, slowly stalking the rows of books as her brown eyes gazed over them. Rhett was always the hard one because he could easily become bored or frustrated with the children's books his brothers were capable of reading. He was a bit too smart for his own good.
“Believe it or not, I am too.” He tells her with a wink. There’s still so much about his own past that she doesn’t know, and he doesn’t know if she even wants to hear about it now — too late, he had been in opening up, the time has passed. So instead, he nods to her comment, a soft smile finding its way to his lips as he searches the spines of the books.
She tells him what they like and he seeks out anything of interest, flipping a book here and there open to scan for anything to summarize what kind of story it was, before he settles on one that’s a bit more detailed, drawings ladened inside of a boy who meets and befriends Luxere and Sparkbirds, who fights the Varmis of Flowerbirth, and he pulls it to add to the crook of his arm while he continues looking.
“My favorite stories when I was younger were rather boring. Mostly avoided the ones with princes saving the princess in favor for the ones about fighting against injustice.” He says thoughtfully. “Those we’re always restricted though, to keep from giving people ideas. But my father’s scholar was like an uncle to me and would sneak them to my room after their meetings.”
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.
Phoebe perused the shelves as well, occassionally picking up a book to look at more closely. "I suppose such texts would be looked down upon in Korofi. I am surprised they were even allowed to exist." she said thoughtfully. She was pretty sure that if something similar had ever existed in Northwind, the monarchy would have destroyed it. Same for Northaven too, where the Master Chief had seemed to quietly overthrow the the monarchy and make everyone believe it was a mutual decision.
"Books were expensive, so I read whatever I could get my on when I was younger." she admitted. "And my town didn't have a library so it was mostly letters and work orders. Sometimes school books." she said softly.
Her thought process on it makes sense, and he would have agreed, had it not been a point they made to keep them around specifically for the lawmakers to ensure things didn’t start to go down those pathways. So he continues to search the books, thinking back on it. “They wanted us to be aware of how it could start so we could prevent it.” He mentions thoughtfully. “I read them before my trial, I guess they imagined if I lost it wouldn’t be a big deal. And if I won, it just helped me be that much more prepared to follow my fathers footsteps.” He shrugs his broad shoulders despite her likely not seeing. They had never expected him to turn, he was the first Senzaok to disown his family in hundreds of years, after all.
At the mention of her past, he continues to peruse the book shelves while he listens. “Ah.” He says quietly, refraining from mentioning his own home had a library — didn’t seem like the best time to admit it. “Was it different when you went to the finishing school?” He asks quietly, pulling another book from the shelves and glancing over to her.
Can’t say the man didn’t listen.
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.
"Ah, I see." she said, tutting softly as she perused the first chapter of a mystery novel. "That is a very risky line to walk." she noted. Wanting to be informed could so easily lead to the exact behavior they wanted to discourage, a reality that Jata clearly proved. Find the book she held far to pedestrian and predictable, she set it back on the shelf and continued to peruse.
"A little bit." she said. "My sponsor purchased all my school texts which I read and near memorized. Then we were encouraged to read one novel a month. Usually romance or something that reinforced the lessons being taught. Dreamy, flowery narratives with flimsy female characters with zero personality." she said dryly.
“They never had someone do what I did, so I suppose it didn’t cross their mind.” He offers a bit unhelpfully, but it was true. They certainly realized their mistakes later. But as he asks about her own reading, of school and what not, he nods and pulls a couple others from the shelves. “Ah.” He rumbles with a light chuckle.
Pulling another from the shelf, he manages to find her, handing her the ones he’s found. “Seems to me you might enjoy the tales of being your own hero.” A light shrug, but in the mix there’s a few books the boys might like, a couple for Phoebe too.
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.
Phoebe tsked and shook her head. "What an egregious oversight. If I was your father I would have fired every last one of them." she said primly, laughing a bit though since it really was a joke. When he appeared around the end of the aisle with a stack of books though, she looked a bit surprised. The midwife took them and quietly scanned through, smiling a little. "Well, you've certainly a knack for picking out good looking books." she said.
But when he mentioned her being her own hero she glanced up at him, but laughed lightly and shook her head. "That would require me being a hero first, and I am far from it." she said with a grin.
