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!
Dante had laid out his clothes (neatly he might add; his mom would be proud) to dry after being soaked through by the snow outside. Sure, maybe along the back of pews wasn't the most respectful place to hang them to dry, but this wasn't his God anyway. Not that he was entirely sure such a thing existed, but hey, to each their own and all that. His mom sure knew how to put the fear of God in his heart at least, for whatever that was worth.
In nothing but socks and his unfortunately chosen flying cow underwear, Dante trusted the strangers around him not to run off with his clothes and set off down the halls. Evie was up to her own thing, and he couldn't blame her for not wanting to babysit a kid, but it meant he also had free reign of a totally new place until this whole Longnight thing was done with. It had only been a bit since he was left alone but he was already feeling cramped up with no option to leave. And as it turned out, the stone flooring had just enough slip to them that with a good running start, Dante was able to go flying down hallways with a yell as his only warning to those in the way.
It only took two trips to the bathroom (look, he'd had a lot to drink before this whole falling into a portal thing) to realize that this method of travel was obviously the best.
And with all things and teen boys, something was bound to go wrong.
So it wasn't a surprise when he ran into someone. Someone that happened to be just an inch taller (just one! He had measured to make sure), with chestnut hair that always looked windswept (they were inside, how did that even work?). And Dante felt his heart leap into his throat even as he's sliding with all 148 pounds of him, straight into this person's back. Clemente. As if he wouldn't recognize his friend's backside! Wait- not like that though. You know what he meant! He briefly wonders what he's doing here, not that he's not happy to see him (duh), but the thought is quickly pushed aside as his feet refuse to gain traction, stumbling towards the Ascended like a newborn deer.
"WHOooOAA, watch out!" Dante yelled out but there was no point, his face was just seconds from crashing into the base of the other boy's skull, but he still manages to shove his hands out to at least avoid more brain damage as they connect with Clemente's lower back.
"Clementine! What the fuck dude!" Is all he manages to get out before making impact.
Clem likes to think he's a good person. He's kinda not, but he likes to think it anyway, if only to keep things fresh. So, dear reader, Clem would like to propose one single, important question: what the fuck is happening?
See it all started in some approximation of normal. Cried all over Bastien, sucked it up like the man he'll never be now, and went for a walk in this glorified prison in order to get his chill back. The Temple is rightly huge, at least to Clem, and there are so many interesting rooms to explore that it takes up most of his day. Night? Whatever. A lot of the rooms contain things he's not really supposed to touch, and won't for fear of some asshole somehow finding out and eating his fingers, but they're interesting nonetheless.
He's halfway down a random hallway when he hears the thudding of feet. It's easy enough to shrug off, because there are a metric fuckton of people holed up in the temple right now. Except then, moments later, it's succeeded by a shrill voice (Satan? Is that you, coming to claim my soul?) shouting out in warning. Of course, Clem gets about half-turned, startling like an alley cat, when the next words are shouted helplessly.
And then he's face down on the floor, unrealistically grateful for the fact that he can't feel the pain of slamming his whole face into hardwood. He does lay there for a few long moments, soaking up those last few words before their collision, and forces his forearms beneath him to turn and look stupidly over his shoulder at the gremlin laying on his back. Because holy shit, this cannot be real.
"Dante?!" Clem flips over immediately, likely sending the tiny monster flying, but he's grinning like a loon and reaches out to grab the other boy by the biceps so he can shake him like he's a particularly annoying baby and Clem is a terrible mother. "Holy shit! Dante it's you! How the hell did you get here?!" And then he drags the boy forward with his now not-inconsiderable strength, ruffling his knuckles over Dante's curly hair and laughing euphorically, perhaps a little crazily, at being reunited with his shithead best friend.
Dante has been through some rough patches in terms of being dragged around by others but never in his life has he felt quite so much like a ragdoll. He doesn't remember Clemente being so strong (of course, he'd always been stronger than his noodle self but still), but maybe it was his perception being shaken just as much as his body was. He doesn't get a chance to respond between the daze of watching his best friend's head bob in and out of his vision and then being smothered into his broad shoulders. They really needed to work on this whole personal space thing.
That was rich coming from someone who had just run into another.
There's a muffled snort of laughter before he makes an effort to push himself away from his shoulder, one hand swatting at Clem's hand ruffling his hair and the other using his chest as leverage, and the whole time his heart continuing to hammer against his ribcage in a way that was almost painful (obviously just from the adrenaline lighting every one of his nerves on fire). It's hard to believe that Clem's actually here, in this weird other world. Sure he'd set out to find him, but he'd more or less given up on seeing anyone from his home again.
It was a sobering thought he refused to dwell on when Clem was right there with him.
"I was totally following you, dude! You didn't show up for a few days and I got worried something happened. So..." Dante shrugged as he laughed, reaching out to pinch Clemente's cheek with his free hand, making no move to get up from where he had been pulled on top of his friend. He didn't need to tell him the whole story, not right now anyway. It wasn't that exciting anyway. "Doesn't matter though, 'cause I found you! What do you think the odds are that we fell through the same weird magic portal thing-y? How long have you been here? Does time work the same here?"
He pauses, hand still pinching his cheek before his eyes narrow to really look at the other. "Wait, are you okay? I hit you really hard. Have you been eating enough? What you eating? Are they treating you okay here?" The torrent of questions don't stop even as he takes a deep breath to continue.
11-04-2019, 09:36 AM (This post was last modified: 11-04-2019, 09:37 AM by Clemente.)
Clemente
If Dante is confused by Clem's newfound strength, he should take a walk in Clem's shoes. Because he'dprobably trip over every microscopic organism in one flailing tumble like Goliath being felled, all because he wouldn't be able to feel a damn thing. If Dante had come to Caido as an Ascended, he probably would have been dead within the hour. Luckily the little gremlin has Clemente now, Hulk-strong as he is here, and while the boy might use that against his friend frequently - case in point, tossing Dante around like a sack of squirmy potatoes - he will surely use it to defend him in the future as well.
Of course the demon starts to struggle, and Clem laughs as he withdraws, a spark to his eyes that hasn't been present since he'd portaled in. Though that light is smothered by the foxlike squint of his eyes, mischievous and hell-bent on blackmail. "Awww, you did miss me!" He's careful not to hit too hard when he swats his hands out at Dante, not quite dodging the cheek pinch and snapping his fangs at him playfully in return when he gets grabbed. Knowing their luck (which when in each other's presence dropped exponentially) he'd probably end up breaking Dante's hand trying to slap it away, so he lets it stay. The kid had always been fragile with his "job". Even compared to Clem, who was literally homeless.
Good times.
It's not like he lets it stay there for any other reason. They're a pair of repressed, emotionally stunted idiots, but they make do.
There's a torrent of questions that follows, and Clem knows Dante well enough to just grin silently until the steam runs out. He's a bit like an out of control train, easily derailed and a danger to the general populace. When Dante finally takes a breath, Clem reaches up and covers the hand pinching his cheek comfortingly. "I've been here like a month, I was taken in by 'nother Ascended. That's what we're called here. She's super nice, you're gonna love her!" In fact he desperately wants to introduce them as soon as possible. The two most important people to him definitely need to meet eventually. "I don't really feel things the same anymore," he admits, pale eyes darting away. Clem doesn't want to admit that he longs for the sensitivity he used to have. That he wishes he could feel more than a full pressure where Dante's hand is on his face.
"And we don't eat as much either. It's fuckin' weird dude, we're like robots inside!" Eagerness returns on a wave, hoping to distract the both of them from the sad reality of the changes he'd gone through. "What about you? How'd you get here? Are you okay?" He'd probably been hurt worse in the impact. But Clem can't help but grab at Dante's free arm, habitually glancing over the marks in the bend of his arm. "How long has it been?" Hopefully Dante hadn't fallen into Caido immediately after "donating", but Clem would happily track down food and water for his friend if he needed it.
"Shut up, no way! A month?!" Dante starts at the admission, racking his brain for an answer on his end. After his donations time always seemed a little warped for a few days until the next one, keeping an almost constant haze around him when overdrawn. But if he counted back to the last draw and then skip a few days... "I think it's been about a week since you came by. Not counting the days I've been here, uh..."
He holds up his free hand, the other remaining right on Clem's cheek and refusing to budge, to count the days since he'd fallen through the portal head first. "Three days since then I think? I dunno dude, the whole Longnight thing is weird and I think I'm going crazy cooped up in here. Did you already replace me with some chick though? Dude!" Despite the flash of fangs, he only laughs and rests his forehead against Clem's for a brief moment before pulling away and watching Clemente inspect the scabbing marks on his arm. If it was anyone else he'd cover them up among the myriad of scars that past draws have left, but it isn't anything that Clem hasn't seen before.
"You didn't show up when you normally do so I followed you. You go to some sketchy places without me, Clementine. Should knock that off." He grins, knocking his forehead against Clemente's. "Some angel found me though and brought me here before all the monsters came out and stuff. Her name's Evie; she even healed my head! Kind of took a hard hit."
There's a brief pause before he continues, eyes rolling to avoid staring straight at Clem for a moment as he thinks. "Do uh, you need to feed the same way? 'Cause I haven't eaten today but you know I'm always here." Dante's mood sombers as he sniffs, pulling his hand from Clem's face to wipe at his nose, a shiver running through his body. Stone walls didn't offer the best insulation for a half-naked young boy. "The other, uh, Ascended? Too, if she needs it." He'd never willingly offered his blood to anyone but Clemente before, but if she had taken care of him for the month that he hadn't been around, sharing was the least he could do.
"If not, that's cool too! Like, I totally get that things are probably different here and uh," Dante trails off, refusing to verbally acknowledge the fact that without being Clemente's donor, the thought of the other leaving him behind is too much for him to consider at that moment as anxiety grips his heart in an iron vice that sends it hammer in his chest and refuses to let up even as his throat closes despite clearing it. Ignoring the way his body fights back, he offers a grin as he flexes against Clem's palm. "But these bad boys are ready!"
Clemente laughs automatically at Dante's outburst, eyes shining with mirth. "I don't control the time physics, asshole!" But the word is said with unbearable fondness, because Clem could never call Dante by any kind of nickname that wasn't spoken in such a way. He does playfully slap at him though, rolling his eyes at the notion Clem could ever replace him. "She's like, mom material! Unless you're gonna start doing my laundry you can shut it!" But he pauses, a shy look overtaking his face as it always does when he has to be sincere with the other boy. "Could never replace ya, Dante. 'm so glad you're here."
Of course the boy knocks their foreheads together right after, and though Clemente doesn't feel the pain anymore he still wrinkles his nose up and startles at the connection. Drops his gaze away, unable to bear the knowledge that Dante knows - even in some small, insignificant way - how far Clem had fallen back home. He'd always known that Clem was a street kid, but he'd hidden as much as he could from Dante, not wanting to add to his already significant burden. "An angel? So she's just a regular girl then," he says with a heavy eye roll. Even so, a smile tugs at the corners of his mouth stubbornly. Dante's obsession with girls was amusing, but sometimes it grows tiresome, and Clem doesn't like to think about it.
Sharp eyes immediately take notice of Dante's shiver, and Clem removes his outer layers immediately. He dresses in them out of habit, but he doesn't feel the cold anymore, so what use is it? He drapes it around Dante immediately, glad that he cannot blush anymore as he becomes hyperaware of all the skin suddenly on display. "You know I wouldn't even if I was starvin', Dante. If you ain't eatin' then I'm not either, ya know the rules." Clem's rules, really. He'd put them in place when they'd first met and become close to try and put a stop to Dante's sacrificing nature. Which clearly worked. Clearly. And he twitches himself at the offer to Rexanna, shoulders growing stiff and face twisting up at the idea of...of somehow sharing Dante with her. Not that he'd ever objectify Dante that way, not when his friend was seen as a walking supplier of liquid money most of his life. But he shakes his head firmly anyway. And then like an anvil to the head, Rexanna's voice from their first meeting comes to him: “Essentially yeah… But, our bites do a similar feeling.”
Oh right. Fuck. Uh, kinda literally.
Hands lift to scrub a hand through Dante's hair again, somehow sensing his anxiety even if he doesn't know the root of it. Brushes his hand down and pinches Dante's cheek in revenge before releasing him with a warm smile. "Nothin' like that, dude. The Ascended here are different, we only really get fed through our goddess. And uh...the bite uh...it's different here," he admits, voice squeaking with embarrassment, and though his cheeks cannot turn pink anymore he is still ridiculously obvious about his flustered state. "It...it's like a weird sexual reaction." And that's all he can bear to spit out. But he does lift a hand back up to place over the curve of Dante's inner elbow, forcing himself to lift his gaze and find Dante's. "You don't ever gotta give us your blood again if you don't wanna, Dante. I promise. I can keep us safe now, we're stronger here." No more feeling weak and useless, unable to spirit Dante away from his terrible parents. No more getting his ass kicked in alleyways, unable to crawl to his best friend for help. So much had been lost, but even more had been gained in their entry to Caido.
"You haven't seen her dude! She's gorgeous, and she can do magic! How cool is that? And not like some stupid magician stu—" Dante's words trail off as Clemente pulls off his clothes, holding them out to him.
This is it.
Dante has died and gone to the place where best friends strip in front of each other and now his heart is hammering for reasons that have effectively killed the building anxiety.
He doesn't say anything, mouth suddenly too dry to consider forming words that wouldn't come out as a mumbling mess of uhhh and various oral typos of Clemente's name. But he shrugs on the outer clothes that he's handed without questioning it, his hands pulling the material closer to his body and resting against his chest, ensuring that his heart wasn't about to literally beat out of his chest, not for lack of trying. If it got any such ideas he'd just shove it back in, Clem didn't need to see that sort of thing, is the only thought crossing his mind when he stares at the exposed skin of the young man in front of him.
The two are a flustered pair as Dante takes a moment to calm himself through various fidgeting— a bouncing knee against Clem's side and bottom lip gnawed between dull teeth —and Clem continues to speak. The idea that a bite might be sexual was news to him, having only associated pain with the bites previously. The relief he remembered when letting Clem feed was an anomaly in comparison to the way his veins burned with each draw.
He doesn't let the moment of embarrassment last long as he's already shoving at Clemente's shoulders before he lets himself dwell on the new information much longer. Ascended sure seemed like a group of weirdos if they were super strong and got off biting people, but who was he to judge? Love is love and all that shit.
"Sure dude, you and your noodle arms?" Dante's laughing as he leans into the touch though pulling away just as quickly as he feels the pinch. "Hey! Don't be jealous just 'cause you don't have magic like some people around here." He refuses to admit even to himself how calming hearing Clem's promise. The mere idea of safety in a world that threatened to eat him the second he had arrived seemed farfetched coming from Clemente but not a single cell in his body waved in the belief of those words.
His voice quiets before he speaks again, gaze falling to where he's placed a hand on top of Clem's with a small squeeze. "Just don't get yourself in trouble for me, Clementine."
Clem can't help the gratitude he feels when Dante cuts off, feeling itchy and uncomfortable the more he gushes about this strange woman. Hates that already he has lost Dante to someone else. But it warms him internally to see Dante stutter to a stop, to know that he has in some way helped his idiotic best friend who thinks that running around in winter wearing only underwear and socks is somehow appropriate for his health. "Ya gotta remember you're a squishy human, 'kay? I can't just keep strippin' without you payin' me." His grin is boyish and warm, unashamed at even the slightest mention of his sordid past. Clem knows that Dante will never hold it against him, understands why Clem needs to be able to laugh about it.
He doesn't know why Dante is nervous, but recognizes his normal tics in the way his leg bounces quickly against Clem's side. All he does is place his hand on it, not forcing it still but just as a way to acknowledge that Dante is struggling with something. Providing his own support in the way that he can. Unwilling to force the truth out of him, the way they always did for each other.
But the insult can't stand, and Clem pouts fiercely, his whole face twisting up childishly as he shoves back at Dante in turn. "You're never gonna upgrade from noodle arms either, dipshit!" His face quickly melts into a shit-eating grin though, aware that they both have so much growing to do. Well...Dante does. But the years ahead of them are full of opportunity, which they'd never had back home. All Clem had in his future was an early death, and probably a lonely and painful one. Dante's future had been doomed to living beneath his parents and their rule over his body for an agonizingly long amount of years. Here in Caido there may be more dangers, but at least they finally have a chance to be happy.
So when Dante's voice goes sotto voce, he smiles softly and turns his hand over to squeeze Dante's back. "Y'know I can't promise that. But I'll try." He'll get into any kind of trouble if it means giving Dante a chance at a life he deserves. Free of pain, of expectation, of chains.
"What, Ascended aren't human?" Clem's words throw him for a moment but he laughs as he takes in the warm look on his friend's face. His voice is light despite the question, the smile for once not reaching his eyes in Clem's presence. He'd always been weaker than Clemente, that was just a fact (dammit), but even he needed to stay warm in the cold hallways despite their slightly differing biologies. Sure, he was enjoying the view, but no matter how much the other insisted he was fine, Dante would always worry.
It was kind of his thing.
”What am I gonna pay for anyway, it’s not like I asked to see your scrawny ass!” The pressure of Clem’s hand on his knee calms the train of thought from being voiced any further than his already posed question. Even back home, their last home, Clem's physical presence had always been reassuring. No matter how painful or exhausting the donations may have been, scarring the insides of his arms to the point of his own disgust, he could always count on his best friend to calm the nerves. He'd always been gentle when feeding on him, taking no more than he needed despite Dante's protest to take care of himself first.
He'd always been too considerate for his own good.
Dante nearly topples over from the playful shove, Clemente's newfound strength still catching him off guard. His grip on Clem's hand is the only thing keeping his ass on the ground with the unexpected force suddenly being thrown at him. "You better not, or I'll kick your ass, dickwad!” Dante snorts as he rights himself again. ”I followed you to this weird place, the least you could do is stay out of trouble, right? Otherwise I’m gonna have to jump in another magic portal to find you again and the last one nearly gave me a concussion.” He ends his sentence with a wink as he taps the side of his head. ”Good thing mom always said I had a thick skull.” Regardless of the joke he’s completely serious as he settles back with his hands supporting his weight against the stone floor. There was nowhere in this world or others that he wouldn’t follow Clemente to.
