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 had only come because Lusea had died in the Tundra, she knew that, but at least he had come.
Phoebe was walking through the little town of Snowcloak, thoroughly bundled up, looking for any sign of plant life she might be able to get a seed from. She needed it for her quest from Frey, and she hadn't wanted to go alone. Her last visit to the Citadel hadn't gone well, and she wasn't well equipped to defend herself if she needed it. Jata's gruff demeanor was actually helpful here, even if he hated the cold every second of the way.
So she was silent as she walked next to him. Someone have mentioned some rough shrubs on the edges of the town that she might be able to get some seeds off of, and so that was where they were headed now.
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
He hates everything about it. Hates the cold when it’s summer back at the Grounds. Hates the shiver that creeps down his spine as he keeps his attention ahead. He’d come because she’d asked, and because he had still meant something for her, despite the resentment within his gut. Fingers curl in his pockets, bundled up, unable to refrain from the dark horns that spiral from his head while they walk.
At the very least nobody would mess with her based off the slight curl of his lip, the frustration, wondering if he’d stumble across Weaver or Ingrid here, a deep heavy sigh coming over him. He glances to Phoebe then as they walk toward where they’d been pointed to, tilting his horned head slightly. “What do you need this for again?” He asks quietly, slightly hoarse, looking away from her toward the expanse of snow and hard weathered people, thanking the gods he hadn’t dropped in here. He’d forgotten what they were here for, the quest, too caught up in thoughts of something else to recall it at the forefront of his mind.
love will save you, but it won't save me
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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 glanced at him as he questioned - again - the purpose of all this. She remained expressionless, save for the slight furrow of her brow. She knew he wasn't happy. She knew things hadn't gone as he wished. But he could at least try a little bit she thought. It wasn't like she had neglected her wifely duties despite the distance between them emotionally. "To piss you off." she said a bit dryly, looking ahead again as she decided to give him the snotty answer rather than the truthful one. He was determined to be unhappy, so why even try?
Thankfully though, the hearty shrubs were easy to spot. Low to the ground with bright red berries that she recognized as bearberry. Such a hearty plant would be found in a place like the citadel, and given the medicinal properties of its leaves and edibility of the berries, it was no wonder the people of Snowcloak made sure it stayed around. Kneeling down in the snow, she pulled out a small knife from her pack before carefully plucking a small berry, ensuring she did not damage the precious plant otherwise. Then she set to carefully peeling away the flesh of the berry, revealing inside four hard seeds. Perfect!
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
There’s a point where he doesn’t care about what she does or doesn’t do for him, wifely or not. He didn’t want her to, had never asked her to, and so when he asks what it is they’re doing here yet again, unable to keep it along the thoughts of his racing mind, he clenches his jaw at her response. To piss him off. Original.
He exhales a rasping sigh at first, keeping his gaze ahead along the snow and penetrating ice cold chill to his skin despite the layers he wears, hands firmly shoved into pockets. “Good. You’ve accomplished it.” ‘Can we go then?’ A gruff, blunt answer, stopping to stand as she finds the bush she needs the berries from, watching as she cuts open the fruit to reveal the seeds.
He doesn’t move closer to help her with any of it, just a pillar and a statue, to watch briefly before his steel gaze drifts around the piles of snow around them, the vibrant light of it in comparison to what he thought of this place. A terrible, shit place to be.
love will save you, but it won't save me
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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 had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she worked, listening to his curt response and unspoken request. "It's not like it's hard. The fact that I am still breathing pisses you off." she muttered as she cleaned the knife on the snow before putting it away. From her pack she also retrieved a small bag, something she could easily secure the seed in so it wouldn't get lost or start to sprout before she could get it back to Frey. This pouch was pale blue with a snowflake embroidered on it, which would make it easy to remember that the seeds within were from Halo.
She stood then, brushing snow off her knees as she did so. "I guess we should go back to the inn. We don't want to be travelling when it's dark." she said with a sigh, glancing at the sun and seeing it was already rather low. In the cold, desolate land of Halo, the days seemed far too short. If they set out for the portal now, no doubt they would be caught in the Tundra in the middle of the night.
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
Her response, well… it’s a good one, but not what he means by his upset. She can breathe all she likes so long as he’s not chained to her. But he still is, the ring still sits on his finger despite how he’d taken it off once before. He’d placed it back on, came back to more storms and shadows of a marriage that would never be roses and sunshine. And she knew this going into it, enough that her response does invoke an eyeroll from him. “You know that’s not true.” He tells her, finally deigning to look at her with a dark unreadable look in his gaze.
But when she suggests going back to the Inn, and not back to the portal because it would be getting dark, well… As much as he hates to agree with her, he does, exhaling a short plume of white as he nods, waiting for her to finish up. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.” He says, with no room for argument. Either she’d come with him or he’d leave on his own. His task here was done.
love will save you, but it won't save me
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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 lips pressed together in a thin line as he struck a chord - and not a nice one either. It was exhausting putting up with him. Once upon a time she would have quietly kept up the guise to keep the peace but now? Why? What did it do for her other than make her feel increasingly awful until she broke down - which always earned her pity she didn't want. She stopped in her tracks, honeyed eyes glaring at him uncharacteristically. "Do I, Jata?" she near hissed, white steam pluming from her own lips. "You are constantly an ass to me, you make clear you loathe being around me, and every chance you get you try to leave. That you haven't tried to kill me in my sleep so far seems a damn miracle." she huffed at him, anger ringing clear in her tone.
"Fine." she huffed, starting forward once again for the inn, arms crossed around her torso as she did her very best to ignore him now.
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
They begin to walk, only to have her stop in her tracks and send the accusations toward him. He turns back to look at her then, as her words reach him and strike something deep within him that he can’t quite place — the way they’d always been able to get under each other’s skin. “There is a difference, Phoebe, from wanting you dead and not wanting this marriage that you said was what you wanted.” He explains, not moving from where he stands. “That you think so little of me that I’d go to that level—” He pauses to snort, turning away from her. “—Says a lot.”
Thankfully, his demand is met with an agreement of ‘fine’, an echo of when he’d agreed to marry her. A sharp toothed fine laced with frustration and anger and disbelief. If she wanted to ignore him, he’d let her. Thankfully the walk to the Inn was relatively close and perhaps within he would be able to shed the layers that only added to his irritation.
love will save you, but it won't save me
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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 nose wrinkled as he tossed words back at her, twisting the issue to verify he had a right to do what he did without a hint of guilt. Typical. "Sure, yes, you're mad about the marriage which means you've every right to treat me like garbage. I forgot, thank you for the reminder dear." she said dryly, glaring at the snow covered ground. "It has nothing to do with what I think of you, but everything to do with how you act." she quipped back, not willing to take the burden of this on her shoulders. She had been trying. He had been pissing and moaning. There was a big difference.
Fortunately the Inn was close and attached to a Tavern which she desperately needed now that they were officially fighting. Again. Gods would it ever stop. "Whatever's hot and strong." she said to the barkeep after beelining to it, shedding the heavy coat and gloves she wore, paying absolutely no attention to if Jata followed or not. Absentmindedly she twirled her ring around her finger, still unaware of the affect it would have on her ball-of-friggen-sunshine husband.
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
Of course he’s mad about the marriage, he’s mad at all of it. Mad that he’d let her put him in this situation, mad that he was too prideful to stop it. So when she responds he offers a quiet chuckle, dark and raspy and deep as he shakes his head and continues to walk forward toward the Inn. “And how am I supposed to act? Like it’s everything I’ve ever wanted? I made it abundantly clear that it wouldn’t be like that.“ He huffs to the open air.
Regardless, the Tavern, both a place he was intrigued by and yet even further annoyed with seeing as he can’t drink. And so he lets her, asking for a water instead, sitting beside her ever an annoyed, pissed beast. Perhaps he’d fit in well here in Halo based off the rest of the rough hewn features of those living within. He takes a moment to glance around, until suddenly he can feel a flush to his cheeks rising, a burning soaring within him.
His steel gaze snaps to Phoebe as she twirls the ring, and his eyes narrow, hand reaching up to cover hers, to stop it. “Stop that.” He says, hoarsely, trying to suppress the feeling, swallowing hard.
love will save you, but it won't save me
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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.
"Actually I recall you saying you were actually going to try at the wedding. Good lie that one." she said dryly, thanking the bartender quietly as she was handed her hot drink. She didn't know what it was, but it was some kind of mulled liquor, and from the smell of it it could put hair on the back of anyone. But at this point she didn't care. She just needed something to take the edge off of the pounding headache that was her dearly beloved.
Or whatever the hell this ill-tempered growth was she was now attached to.
She startled a bit when he grabbed her hand, and she glared at him one she came down from the momentary shock "Let go of me!" she huffed in irritation, not aware what it was that the ring did quite yet, never having really put two and two together.
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
“This is me trying.” He huffs back to her, despite it not being entirely true. He’d kissed Maea then, after a couple of weeks of being good and doing his best, before he’d broken down and kept the secrets within him, buried down. Regardless, his glass of water arrives, and he only stares at it before looking around, until the feeling sets in and sets his insides aflame.
He tries to stop her fiddling with the ring, watching her startle and snap at him. And gods how irritated she is. He removes his hand from her, staring at her with all seriousness as he can muster, cheeks aflame and his frustration evident from a different reason. “Stop playing with it.” A rough command, watching her in the hopes that she’ll listen. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if she doesn’t.
love will save you, but it won't save me
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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.
"No. It's not. It's you throwing a temper tantrum like a toddler." she said dryly before tipping back the drink to take a long draw from it. And for Frey's sake did it burn! Her nose wrinkled and eyes squeezed shut as she managed to swallow the bitter drink. It lacked all the smoothness and oakyness she liked from a good whiskey and seemed to be straight alcohol. Of course, what else was likely to be found in a place like Halo? Time was better spent on survival than crafting decent liquor. Though really, given its warming properties she might've thought it would be an ever so slightly higher priority.
She took her hand back as he let it go, carefully readjusting the ring on her finger. "What do you care if I play with it? It's the only nice thing you've done since all this started pretty much." she grumbled, glaring at her cup.
loving you was the most exquisite form of self destruction
A temper tantrum, sure. He snorts to that in what sounds more like a scoff, glancing over to her as her nose wrinkles, and he looks back to his water. “Heard it tastes like piss.” He rumbles indifferently, taking a sip of his drink, before he’s trapped in that flaming feeling as she twirls that stupid ring along her finger.
His eyes find hers as she readjusts it on her finger, feeling every movement of it acutely, and he looks forward to run a hand through his hair, pinching the bridge of his nose as he exhales a shuddering sigh. “Because. You’re doing it to get a rise out of me.” Head angled toward the bar table, teeth grit. He’s sure she can feel it too, knows exactly what she’s doing.
love will save you, but it won't save me
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
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.
