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!
As his date-prep helpers left and the hour of the actual date crept closer, Adam felt a cold nervousness begin to creep into his chest and curl around his heart. He'd purposefully invited people over and told them what he was going to do so that he would actually do it, but suddenly public humiliation was beginning to sound okay.
Better than saying to Peter that he loved him.
Adam wasn't really sure why, but the words clogged up his throat. He'd thought to say it a few times while they'd been together already, but whenever he'd tried all that had come out was a whispery sound somewhat like 'eeeoovvvuuu'. He'd managed to excuse it with being drunk, but that wouldn't work forever. At some point he was going to have to look Pet right in the eyes and say I love you.
Hopefully the cake would help; the flowers and the words too and the many, many candles. Waiting for the knock at the door Adam sat at his table, feeling rather sad alone in the midst of all the romantic decor, tapping his foot against the floor.
It was handy, Peter thought, that he had had a meeting with Adam on the very day they needed to talk. Though, he liked to talk to Adam most days, so maybe that wasn’t necessarily special, though it felt special every time they spoke. Peter huffed, shaking his head as his feet propelled him on a path they had memorized now. It wasn’t the time to be spiralling around his thoughts for Adam, not when he had important things to say.
Zariah had scared him, truly, for maybe the first time. And it had been so easy, (did she know? She had to know.) a thing Peter had been utterly unwilling to put thought to. If the dark corners of his mind stayed in the dark, it was better, safer, right? Until lightning flashed, and put it on stark display, long enough that he couldn’t ignore it anymore. So he still couldn’t bring himself to think of it too closely, but the more he tried to do the more his focus moved to it, like the moments he suddenly became aware of his nose in his periphery.
He liked Adam. A lot. Maybe the most he’d ever liked anyone, or at least, in a far different way than he’d ever liked anyone else. It was difficult to compare when very close. He might have even more than liked Adam, which was uncharted territory (therefore, paralyzing).
Peter shook himself out of the circling thoughts again, standing in front of Adams door, his hand automatically knocking, more of a warning of his arrival than a request for an invitation. He was going to, he did open the door anyway, letting himself in, trying to find the words for what he needed to say. And then he stopped.
Looked around.
Then looked to Adam, confusion and surprise on his face. Honestly, Adams place was usually a mess, but this was more deliberate. The flowers and candles, the sweet sticky smell of spices, lingering over the warm familiar scent of Adam. ”What’s this?” He asked with a smile, his voice small and soft.
Pet entered just as Adam was starting to stand up. When he was actually asked what the room was decorated for, he found an embarrassed, awkward grin spread across his face as he stayed still, stood with a hand on the table and his eyes looking about and suddenly wondering if all of this fuss was intensely childish. "Oh, um....well, I thought I'd make it so we have a really special night tonight, y'know..."
With a laugh more wooden than ever he walked forward and kissed Pet, more just to distract himself and try to get the mood closer to romance and further way from mortifying embarrassment than anything else. At least it was easy to get into that - with a smile on his lips he put his hands on Pet's waist, pulled him close.
Finally as he pulled away, he kissed Pet's nose. "We've got some dinner to eat and stuff and I..wanna talk to you about something."
Pet couldn’t help but smile at Adams strange... everything. He stood at the doorway until the other man came over, the kiss returning some normalcy to the visit. His arms came up to wrap around his lovers shoulders, where they stayed as Adam pulled away, and all but dragged him over to the table. ”Is... tonight special for a reason?” He asked hesitantly, worried he’d maybe forgotten something1.
Worries2 fluttered in Pets chest at the idea that Adam wanted to talk. Talk could mean a great many things, that he wanted to split up, that Pet was doing something wrong, that Adam has realized he could be doing much better. He tried to swallow those thoughts down, to smile as he sat down. ”What’s uh... what’s dinner?” His voice was light, as fake and wooden as Adams earlier laugh had been.
Maybe this was for the best. A snide, traitorous voice3 whispered in Peters mind. They had to talk about Zariah anyway, how to avoid that minefield in the future. An easy conversation to make of there was no future. Resignation settled in his gut like a cold, heavy stone, and he tried to enjoy this time as much as he could. Might as well have something to look back on fondly.
1. It had nearly been a year since they’d first met, but that meeting had been disastrous, and it didn’t seem like the kind of thing people celebrated anyway.
2. You know, those things Adam wanted to avoid.
3. The old part of him, trained to spin things so they were never so bad he broke down. The part that had kept him safe for a long time. A part he didn’t necessarily need anymore, but that he couldn’t get rid of.
"Well, nah. Not a specific reason, no. I just wanted to treat ya." Really, he hadn't chosen this night for any reason at all; it had simply been when he'd gathered up the courage to finally express his true feelings.
Adam saw the sudden anxiety on Pet's face, but he wasn't sure of the cause of it - had Pet already guessed what it was he was going to talk about? Was he preparing himself to have to cringe through it then awkwardly turn Adam away? Not wanting to know just at the moment he stayed quiet, only speaking up when he was asked about dinner. "Uh, well, I've got some bread and meat and jam, but for dessert we got a cake and some scones for later. Amalia helped me." He pointed to the desserts on the table, a small proud smile on his face.
Reaching the table he sat down and motioned for Pet to take a sit next to him. "I'll serve it up in a moment. First though...did you have a good day?" He asked, leaning in to kiss Pet once before leaning back to listen. This was how he knew he loved Peter: he really cared about the answer.
”That all... it sounds nice. Really nice.” Peter was glad his words did what he wanted for once, coming out genuine and soft. Blue eyes lingered on the desserts, the promise of sweets, home made sweets blanketing over his worry. He sat when Adam gestured to, moving his chair closer to the other man unconsciously.
Did he have a good day? This was still strange, but Peter let himself relax into it, smiling at Adam a little crookedly. This was a lot of effort to put in to break up with a person, and the idea actually lost some credibility in his mind. ”I had a good... a pretty good day.” He admitted with a shrug, not leaning back after the kiss. ”It’s... I’ve had a weird week. Weeks? Weirds weeks, maybe.” Everything had felt very hectic, and it felt like he hadn’t had a chance to really tell Adam any of it. Maybe over dinner?
But first, there was the urge to echo the question back, out of politeness or some old rule of conversation. ”Was you day uh... was it good?”
"Doesn't it just? Hell yeah, let's get it out, actually. I'm hungry." Hoping that perhaps conversation might help to steady his nervous hands, Adam set about putting out the food that had been prepared across the table, laid out like a buffet so Pet could choose whatever he liked. Putting two plates down he sat back down and began to pile things on his own plate, never one to turn down a big meal despite his skinny stature.
In Caido, he was pretty sure every week was weird one way or another. "Oh yeah? What's been happening?" He asked, already eating some bread and sipping at cider he'd poured out for the both of them.
As for his own day... "Yeah, it's been okay. Mostly setting all this up...Jigano and Amalia helped and two other people too...errr...Amun and Ingrid? I think? I've never met 'em before, but they showed up to chip in. It was kinda fun getting it all ready." He smiled around at the decorations surrounding them. "And I think it looks nice and romantic now."
Peter smiled in quiet relief, glad Adam decided to get to the food sooner rather than later. He started piling his plate full even before everything was fully set out. They were alike in the way where they could eat anything, and Peters plate was full, though he waited for his partner before actually eating anything. ”It all looks good.”
”Lots. Lots has been happening.” Peter tried to huff out a laugh between bites of food, though not all of it had been good happening. It was best to try and stay positive. ”I uh... I met Safrin. And she... gave me a gift. Kind of. I... meant to show you earlier, but I was...” He shrugged, no excuse actually coming to mind. It had just been a busy week. ”And... Zariah came back. And talked to me.” This part is said quickly, under his breath, and just before a bite of food. As much as he could to gloss over that part.
He tried to move on quickly, focusing on Adams day, even leaning in a little. ”You... other people came to help? I... why, you... I thought this wasn’t special?”
Pet could really eat for someone so small - it made Adam laugh. He was aware it was probably because the man had had nothing at some points of his life, appreciated now that he could eat...but that was depressing; he preferred to believe Pet just really liked bread (which there was probably some truth to).
"Safrin? Ooh, she's hot." Adam nodded enthusiastically, chowing down himself on the various things he and Amalia had prepared. "What was it you got?" He was expecting to see perhaps a new dagger, or a cloak of stars. Perhaps some magic, though as far as Adam knew that wasn't really the Old God's style.
Though his enthusiasm was quickly drained at the mention of Pet's families' Matriarch. "...Oh? What about?" He asked, trying as best he could to act casual. Perhaps it had had nothing to do with his visit to the manor (though somehow, he doubted it).
He'd really dug himself a hole with this evening already. "Okay, okay, it is special. You'll see after dinner."
The words that came out of Adams mouth1 made Peter choke on his mouthful of bun a little, coughing and reaching out for his cup. When he caught his breath, he looked up at Adam reproachfully, his voice high. ”You can’t... you can’t say that!” At the question though, Peter sat up a little, leaning back in his chair. And he smiled at Adam, the grin growing wider, until it shone out of a hyenas face, paws and legs awkwardly balanced on the chair.
Peter shifted back to a human skin slowly, almost reluctantly. He was just as reluctant to meet Adams eyes again, instead looking just past his head, at a gauzy bit of fabric pinned up. ”Zariah... wanted a few things. She said that uh... that you went and talked to her?” His eyes moved to Adam here, a deep worry in them, though it wasn’t clear if it was for what he’d said, or what he was about to say. ”She wants me to... she wants me to go to Halo. For a bit. To meet uh... Neron.” He tried to make this sound as casual as possible. No part of him wanted it to become a thing, not right now at least.
A smile played over Peters lips as his beloved admitted that it was special. That, at least, alleviated the last vestiges of worry, gave him reason to think that maybe this wasn’t going to be something bad. ”Why... why does it have to wait?”
1. Immediately, without hesitation, like the other man didn’t even think before saying it.
"Why not? It's true, isn't it? And from what I know of her, she'd be happy to hear it." Adam laughed at Pet's prudish reaction, though his face then became frozen in the smile as his eyes widened as Pet began to transform. First his mouth, then everything else, an almost horrific event; had Adam not already known some Attuned, he would have screamed. "Oooh, shit. You're one of the animal guys!" Reaching out with a grin, he petted Pet's head as a Hyena. "How'd you get that?"
Though his curious joy wasn't going to last long; he cringed as Pet mentioned that Zariah had in fact told him of their disastrous doorstep meeting. "Uuhhh...yeah...it didn't go too well. I'm okay, though - Loren healed me, actually, so I guess not all your family is crazy as shit." However, it seemed Pet was quite alright with the crazy. "...Neron. He's a dick, you know. ...Why does she want you to go meet him? Are you gonna come back?" For the moment, Adam kept his voice carefully questioning but not desperate, not as worried as he actually felt.
"It has to wait--" Adam took a bite of his food, remembering it existed. "-Because it's important and I don't want to just blurt it out while my mouths full of bread. Some things you gotta say when it's quiet and the moment's right, y'know?"
Peter mumbled something completely unintelligible and half shrugged, unable to summon an actual reason that Adam shouldn’t say Safrin was hot, at least not beyond an irrational jealousy. The feeling passed as soon as Adams excitement was redirected onto him, his new form. Peter couldn’t help himself, he leaned into the hand pressing against his head, mouth lolling open like he didn’t have a care in the world. He had to shift back to answer Adams question, but he was happy to do so, the bright tone still permeating his words as he said. ”Safrin couldn’t drown me, so I... I got this.”
All of the good mood left him as Adam admitted to his meeting with Zariah, adding an extra detail that the matriarch had left out. ”She hurt you?” There was a sick feeling rising in Pets throat, worry and upset and disbelief all curling together. ”You’re okay though, you’re... you shouldn’t... you shouldn’t talk to her. It’s...” He didn’t want to say it wasn’t Adams place, he knew that was right, but he didn’t need Adam going out of his way to put them both in danger. ”You can... you can tell me if somethings wrong. Not her. It’s... it’s safer. I know how to... deal with it.” There was an attempt to make his voice as confident as possible, to really bring across a sense of experience.
”Neron though, I... he’s family, and... I want to meet him.” Pet shrugged. It was only right, wasn’t it? To know your family, even if they were just adopted. The second half made his heart ache, but he tried to put a soft smile on his face, and reached out for Adams shoulder. ”I’ll be back. I won’t... I won’t leave you. I’ll be back.” There was something else behind the words, something Pet still couldn’t say quite yet.
There was a soft huff that left Pet when Adam said he had to wait, but he turned back to his food, trying to finish it off quicker now, to get to the surprise. But he was curious. What could be so important that the evening had to be right?
Pet was cute when he got flustered; Adam grinned and leaned over to kiss his cheek, whispering in his ear: "Hey, you're hot too. No need to be jealous, babe."
It seemed that now in addition to a boyfriend he got a cute dog (though this would not help Jigano's whole Pet 'pet' thing, he suspected - oh well. If he and Pet were happy with it, did it matter?) to pet. Adam saw in his future a lot of cuddly mornings with a hyena. "Wait..." The words 'drown me' finally broke through his mind and he looked at Pet with some concern. "...She tried to drown you??"
Adam should not have been surprised that Zariah neglected to mention that she'd ended their meeting violently, but he somehow was. "Uh, yeah. We got a few sentences in and she tried to fry me alive with her fucking lightning. Lovely." He was still pretty huffy about that and crossed his arms, shaking his head as he looked away. "I'm not getting you to do my dirty work." (Somewhat ironic, as he was trying to do Peter's dirty work without asking, but he had never been amazing at deep self-reflection).
Hearing Peter insist Neron was 'family' didn't help Adam's mood at all. With a sigh he tried to bring his frustration down at the people who had so thoroughly suckered Pet into their strange gang. "Okay. Don't be gone too long." They'd have to talk about it soon, he knew. But not tonight.
He hurried through his own food, now anxious to get to his confession. The reminders of Pet's 'family' had made him concerned now that perhaps he had overvalued his importance in his partner's life; if Zariah had told him to avoid him, would he? When they were both finished eating he looked up to the living room. "...Come with me?" He asked, standing up and holding out a hand for Pet.
The kiss filled Pet with a fuzzy warmth, soothing over any last prickles that has risen up. He couldn’t help the crooked half grin that spread over his face as Adam at first ignored the details of his attunment. ”She did. try. I uh... she said I had to... to earn it, and... put me in a water... bubble?” He shrugged lightly, and took another sip of the cider, a soft flush rising in his cheeks from the drink. He had never been able to hold alcohol well.
Talk of Zariah did sober him up quickly, a hand rising to grip Adams shoulder and look him over more carefully. ”What did you... what did you ask her?” The words came out strained, a whisper and a shout all at once. ”It’s not me... I’m not... Adam I want to... I need to keep you safe, and I... I can. You just... gotta let me? Please?” This was something he knew, keeping people happy, kept nag things together. This was something he could use to keep Adam safe.
”I’ll come back to you.” Peter promised, moving his hand up from where it sat on Adams shoulder to cup his cheek. Even if he tried he didn’t think he could stay away from the other man for long, there was a coil in his chest that was only at rest when they were close together.
The plates and the conversations cleared, and Adam stood, Pet looked up at him curiously. He cocked his head at the offer, looking past the other man into the living room, but standing and accepting the hand nonetheless. ”What is it?”
