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!
It is an awkward exchange, and he focuses the best he can on what’s happening around them, using Nate as some sort of pillar despite not really needing to (gods knew that looking to Nate to be the rock here was probably the worst idea), and he can’t help but notice as the Ascended moves closer as well for comfort of a sort.
Maea lets go of his hand, though he keeps one around her, his other reaches for Nate’s shoulders to squeeze gently. Though he’s surprised as Maea shifts slightly to unbutton her sleeve, a dark brow raising as she leans into him and searches for his hand when he doesn’t have one to give her as it resides near Nate.
He hasn’t expected this turn, hasn’t expected Maea to want to go again so quickly, and he knows how well it had gone when he’d done the same. A huff of breath leaves him as he looks back over to Maea, searching her face, before his gaze flits to Nate. “Is it a longer bite you need?” He asks, a muscle feathering lightly in his jaw with the uncertainty. They could just leave it as is, leave it alone.
if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?
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 hand on his shoulder draws Nate’s eyes back up to the attuned, and for maybe the first time, there is a hint of uncertainty in his gaze, a question that maybe Sunjata can answer, if it was ever said out loud. It’s a surprising show of vulnerability, but this is a surprising situation. Even more so than the first time he had been in it.
At this point, Nate honestly isn’t sure how to work through what’s happening. There is a cocktail of conflicting emotions circling in his chest. Concern, confusion, a lingering warmth in his body, and that’s before Maea reaches over, unbuttons her shirt sleeve. He takes a deep breath, more out of habit, to try and steady himself, and turns to look at her again. She’s so trusting, so quietly eager, and he can feel himself slipping, despite everything. Sunjata is right to think he is a terrible rock.
”Longer... would help me to pick out more specifics.” The words come out slowly, like he has to think about them before they come out. Nate tips his head towards Sunjata, the ends of his hair brushing along the other mans fingers as he speaks. ”But it’s going to be hard on you.” This is directed at Maea, though he’s already leaning in again, weak, and trying to fight it.
She did not know why they hesitated, what kind of difficult Nate spoke of, why Sunjata seemed so leery to continue. Had no idea what this did to them, what they might do to her if things got out of hand. The girl was practically high on this first real taste of true pleasure, and it had robbed the caution from her. Stolen the ability to think beyond the next fix bite.
The hand Sunjata didn't take hovered uselessly for a moment, unsure. Then Maea let it move on to Nate instead, to brush pale fingers across his cheek. To soothe the worried question, show how she wasn't scared anymore. Look, her fingers were not even trembling.
"I'll be fine," she assured, and thought it to be truth. Pupils dialated as she focused on him. Expressing nothing but trust and hope and want...
Maea angled her head away, exposing the tender skin on her beck him. If it helped with more blood... she would not mind a few more bruises. "You can come closer if you want to."
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Sunjata should in theory be the one that has the clear head on his shoulders – but as Maea draws Nate nearer, he can’t help but to feather his jaw, clamping it tight as he listens to see what Nate needs. A longer bite, though Sunjata can tell that Nate’s words come slowly – thinking through the haze, a haze that Sunjata’s all too familiar with. He keeps his hand on the Ascended’s shoulder, a brief shake of his head to Nate if the Ascended looks.
Maea and him might want to continue, but Sunjata knows she’ll regret it. He pulls his hand from her shoulder, pulling himself away from her as he looks between the two. He sees Maea’s exposed neck, knows the hunger that thrives within her at the sensation of the bite, knows how he’s given into it as well. But it shouldn’t be done like this – so he stands from the couch to move beside Nate. His hand flits to the Ascended’s cheek with a gentle brush, mouthing a ‘later’ before he turns toward Maea and looks to her full on.
“Maea, no.” Another hint of that rough demand within his voice. “You’re going to regret it. You can find out the extent of the illness later… But not like this, not tonight.” A spark of sanity, perhaps? A spark of someone addicted to the bite and knowing the dangers of it as well.
if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?
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 promise of a bite, of the pleasure, of getting to take drew a haze over Nate’s mind again, the hand on his cheek drawing him in closer, not so far that he pulls away from Sunjatas hand, but only barely. He leans couldn’t lose his only tether to sense, after all. He doesn’t look back at the attuned though, just stares at Maea, unblinking, unmoving.
There is that snake she had seen earlier, and she doesn’t have the sense to run away anymore. Neither of them do. It’s as if they’re the only two in the room, Nate’s eyes slipping slowly, languidly to her neck. Then Sunjata moves, breaking the spell, but not the haze, not the want. The hand on his cheek has Nate turning, eyes wide and hungry, a gaze the other man has to know well by this point. Later. Later. It sounds reasonable enough, like something Nate doesn’t mind nodding to, before he pulls a hand away from Maeas arm to rub at his face instead.
Honestly, it’s a little insulting that Sunjata is the voice of reason here, makes the thing in Nate’s chest that demand to be in control grumble, but he is appreciative of the soft hand, the explanation that he’d been unable to make. With his eyes shut so tightly now his face is pinched, Nate nods. ”He’s right...” And it’s clear Nate hates to say it. ”At this point it... it’s going to make you worse.”
She frowned. Looked up to Sunjata with a little injured touch to her eyes. He left her? To stand beside Nate. And Nate.... she met his dark eyes and saw her own hunger reflected there. It thrilled her, pulled her in, tempted with promises of more ecstacy. He inched closer, gaze raking over her neck.... and Maea shuddered. From the need. From the realization as the meaning of their warnings began to finally sink in.
The growl in Sunjata's voice was the final tether that lashed her down, reining in her scattered reason and hauling her back into some semblance of sanity.
With a deep breath, Maea swallowed. Hard. Sat up a little straighter in her chair.
Her eyes cleared, just enough for that blush to come crawling back.
"I'm... sorry," the girl said, a little awkward. Feeling suddenly all kinds of exposed, as if she'd just pulled open the front of her dress and invited them to help themselves. In the end, perhaps it was not that far from the truth.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
He’d be lying if the piercing stare Nate gives him, full of hunger and drive doesn’t send a shiver down his spine. But now isn’t the time, and his fingers delicately brush along the Ascended’s cheek as Nate releases Maea’s arm to rub at his face too. But Sunjata’s focus returns to Maea, that sanity clear in the air as it breaks through the haze they’d both been in. A nod is granted in addition to Nate’s words, though his stormy gaze lingers on Maea.
And she blushes, pulls out of it, and all Sunjata can do is offer a gentle smile toward her, lowering himself to the same position that Nate is in – to make it seem a bit less intimidating. “Don’t be sorry. It’s… Overwhelming.” He admits, offering her a small shrug. His head slips toward Nate with that same hint of a smile along his face. “You’re lucky I’m here.” He teases the Ascended with a wink, his hand coming up to rub against the bite marks at his neck.
He goes to stand, then, turning back to Maea and offering his hand to her. “You should rest, I can walk you to your room if you want?” He asks quietly, unsure what she’d rather do. All he knows is that he’s made a promise to the Ascended – something the fire lingering within his bones craves. He's not sure Maea wants to be there for that either or it might still end up with more regrets.
if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?
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.
For Nate, it’s not the words, the tone that tethers him back, but the fingers on his cheek. He knows how flimsy the the growl can be, if he really pushes at it, if he wants it bad enough, but the touch is deliberate, surprisingly so. As sanity returns to him, filtering through his pinched face and worrying fingers, a numb sense of guilt settle in. Why does he think the best way to forget about a scar is to put a new one on top?
When he finally opens his eyes again, the blue that focuses on Maea is bright, clear, free from the dark hunger that had consumed him before. ”I’m the one who should be sorry.” He adds, rolling his eyes in Sunjatas direction. ”You’re probably right about that too.” He concedes to the attuned, trying to be just as grumpy as the first time, but not quite managing it.
Nate stays firmly planted on the ground as the others move around him, almost lounging. There is a look on his face like he’s considering something, before he shakes his head, looks at Maea again. ”Let me see if I can find some way to do more specific testing at the college.” Where they really should have done this in the first place, specifically to avoid this situation. ”For now, take things easy. Don’t push yourself if you can help it.”
He pushes himself up in one smooth motion, stepping back out of the way as much as he can. Which is less than it should be, but he’s still craving closeness like a fix, and Sunjata’s later is still echoing in his head.
Gathering herself back into a semblance of normalcy was not the easiest thing Maea had ever done. She felt unsteady, out of sorts. Like she'd been turned inside out and now had to figure out where everything fit again, what parts of her was her and which were brought on by Nate. By Sunjata.
Sensing the passing messages between the men, she shook her head to the offer of escort back to her room. That slithering, nasty blackness was back in her guts at the touches Sunjata doled out - not to her, though - and there was a strong impulse to say yes, to drag out whatever promise he'd given Nate. Make them suffer by postponing it.
But that line of thought was not her. Not really. Maea realized it as soon as Nate stood and backed off... because when she could no longer feel him there just an outstretched arm away, she grew unsure of whom it was she wanted to to hurt. Sunjata, for not having all his focus on her? Nate, for not insisting on going through with this? Or... herself, for not being able to accept what she could see plainly before her own eyes?
"No, thank you. I'll be fine."
She stood. Adjusted her clothes, buttoned the sleeve again. Made sure to avoid looking at either of them, head a little bowed.
Something hurt quite a bit in her chest, and for some reason she felt like crying. That, if nothing else, would drive her away from the room. Even if her blood did still sing with the dregs of whatever substance it was that Nate had injected her with through that bite.
Even if a part of her didn't really want to leave.
Maea started for the door, feeling like a dog slinking away with tail between the legs.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
The offer to walk her back isn’t taken, and his eyes remain on Maea as she stands and fixes her clothes and her composure. But the head ducked between her shoulders causes a ping of something to shift through him. But ultimately, it’s her choice. And he follows her to the door when she agrees to leave, gaze lingering on the back of her form. “Sleep well.” He offers her when she departs, going to close the door and lock it behind her once she leaves.
— FIN
if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?
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.
