From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
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!
Carry me through this world alive I feel no more, this suffering
Maea put up with the poking, the prodding and the bumping without complaint. Figured, it was a good compensation for the horrible way she'd treated him before. If she'd been a little less exhausted she would have retaliated, but right now she could barely walk upright. Snowball fights just weren't possible.
"Does anything ever get to you, Amun?" she smiled, reaching up to poke his cheek with a finger. "Or do you laugh your way through life all the time? I'm sorry I haven't seen your shop yet; I have many excuses and all are quite invalid. Forgive me?"
Bury me in this cold light I feed the wolf, and shed my skin
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Grinning a bit wickedly, Amun waggled his eyebrows. "How quickly she forgets the sad period after I lost my hand!" However, he wasn't bothered by Maea's reading of him in the slightest. Indeed, he was almost inordinately pleased by it.
However, he grew a bit more serious. "Things get to me, yes. I try not to let them, though." He shrugged. "Life's hard enough without me adding to my burdens by being grumpy and introspective." The words came out with the sort of genuine honesty that rarely colored his speech. Then, of course, he winked and reached over to boop her on the nose. "Don't worry, all is forgiven so long as you come visit me soon." He made the suggestion eagerly.
Carry me through this world alive I feel no more, this suffering
Maea blinked, and stopped dead. Turned on him with surprising dexterity for someone supposedly on the brink of collapse. Reached out to snatch up his arms by the wrists and studied his hands closely, shock and horror on her face. She hadn't known. Hadn't noticed. Both his hands looked fine to her, and she could not recall them being anyting but whole, hale and in working condition.
"How? When!? Gods, Amun, I didn't even... didn't notice..." Shame stifled her voice and cut the words off. Some friend she was. Some family. Why was it that he showered her in affection and all she managed to give back was ignorance and prejudice? She didn't know where he lived, what he did in his days (and nights), who his friends were or what he sought from life. And still she dared call him brother, like she had any right.
"I'm so sorry" she pressed out, too mortified to look at him properly. "All you ever do is help me, and I don't even realize when you're hurt..."
Bury me in this cold light I feed the wolf, and shed my skin
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun raised his eyebrows, legitimately surprised by Maea’s shocked reaction. "Wait. You mean you...didn't see the giant metal prosthetic in the place of my right hand last time we spoke? You thought I was just moping for no reason?" Unable to stop himself, he burst out laughing, the sound cheerful and not at all cruel.
Thankfully, he couldn't tear up like normal people from laughing too hard, so he just grinned at the end of it. "It's okay. I was trying not to advertise it for, well, what I hope are obvious reasons." Reaching out, he ruffled her hair playfully. "No harm done, and The Voice gave me a new hand soon enough, so I'm happy to forget about it if you are."
Carry me through this world alive I feel no more, this suffering
"I... no," she admitted, a bit lamely. "I thought you were angry at me, for good reasons, and... and I tried to look at you as little as possible. Obviously I did it a little too well."
Maea still felt bad, but the way he laughed was a relief. Lured her to smile back, unable to stay downcast when he was this bright. He ruffled her hair and Maea leaned her head into the touch, heart bleeding at the simple gesture. It seemed so affectionate.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked him then, quite serious. Unable to keep the question back any longer. "It's not that I don't appreciate it, or don't like you back, it's just... I don't understand." And she truly didn't. Was his heart really that vast, that forgiving? Was it she who was closed off and cold, unable to let people in that freely?
They hardly knew each other, yet here he was, ready to defend her from magic and monsters and her own mistakes, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Bury me in this cold light I feed the wolf, and shed my skin
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Letting out a few last chuckles, Amun shook his head with amusement. "Ah. Yes. I can see how that could be confusing for you." Unsurprisingly, his voice was gleefully teasing.
As Maea leaned into his touch, he grinned. However, it softened into a smile as she asked why he cared. "What, you don't think I'm just a nice person?" he quipped, raising his eyebrows in challenge even as his eyes sparkled with mischief.
However, he winked at her to let her know he was just messing with her. "I like people to be fun and happy. You are a fun person, when you're not getting all worried or broody or philosophical. Maybe I just want to see that side of you more." He shrugged, not really feeling the need to figure out why they seemed to get along so well.
Carry me through this world alive I feel no more, this suffering
"You are, but I'm not," she said, and looked regretful at this admission. "At least... I haven't been, lately. Thank you for putting up with me anyway." There was an attempted smile. A bit weak and trembly around the edges, but.. hey. Effort?
"I promise I'll come visit you. Maybe doing something different will keep the brooding away." Though... somehow she doubted it. As long as a certain tall bar-owning spymaster was around, her mood was bound to be unstable. Going from giddy and elated to this dark place full of doubts and despair without warning... it shocked her to realize how much Sunjata's presence or absence was affecting her.
Maybe she was just tired.
Bury me in this cold light I feed the wolf, and shed my skin
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Maea's comment that she hadn't been a nice person recently earned her a playful shove against her shoulder. "Well, you could always be nicer to me, that's true. I certainly wouldn't mind." He grinned mischievously at her. It deepened as she offered her own tentative smile. "And I'll put up with you any time."
As she agreed to swing by his studio, he smirked. "You're going to get so sick of clay by the end of this experience. It'll be great!" With that, he held out his arm for her to take. "Shall we get you back to warmth and civilization?" His tone had grown teasing again, and he jerked his chin down the road they were following.
Carry me through this world alive I feel no more, this suffering
Comforted by his words, reassured by the promises made, Maea nodded and began to walk again.
"I''m not really cold, but it would be nice to get out of the wind," she agreed.
Hooking her arm through his, leaning on him for support; she made a silent vow to do better, to make it so that she too would become someone to lean on. Someone worthy of all this kindness and trust thrust upon her.
"What do you do for fun, beyond pottering and sailing?" she asked him. Perhaps fishing a little, so she would find out ways to be that kind of nice, that kind of interesting he seemed to think she was.
Bury me in this cold light I feed the wolf, and shed my skin
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun grinned at Maea's response. "I agree." Then he gave her an appraising look. "Though I know how I survive this weather in totally inadequate gear. You never told me how you did." His eyebrows quirked up as he looked at her almost expectantly.
However, her question caught him off guard. His brow furrowed as he considered it, though it didn't stop him from setting a still slow pace back towards the Citadel. "Well, I like to travel, see new places. As for more normal things, I like to dance and sing, though I'm only really good at the former." Shrugging, he glanced at her. "How about you? When you're not wandering through Halo or seeing your boy, what do you do to occupy your time?"
Carry me through this world alive I feel no more, this suffering
The smile she returned was a bit smug. Maea raised a hand and janked meaningfully at the shawl that wrapped close about her shoulders. "Ludo gave this to me," she told him, expression brightening considerably as she got to talk about her favorite god. "It protects me from the cold, and from any damage it might cause. I could sleep in the snow and it would only be mildly uncomfortable... As long as the shawl stays on."
Shifting about a little to get access to both her hands without actually letting go of him, the girl pulled a fold of the black rags up over her head, so that it covered her white hair and framed her face, making it look almost like a porcelain mask. "What do you think? Spooky enough?" she grinned.
His tally of amusements made her smile even wider; both from effort of trying to get herself out from the pitfall of self-doubt and moodiness and because she enjoyed the idea of Amun dancing very much indeed.
"I can sing, but not dance," she offered in return. "Not very good at playing anything though, never got the knack for instruments. Aside from that..."
She considered, looking on to the road ahead. Tried not to cling to the way he said 'her boy' about Sunjata. like it was any kind of truth. It wasn't.
"I read a lot. Both for work at the Loreseekers and because I enjoy it. I've started weapons training, and that's... actually a fair bit of fun, not just a chore. But beyond that... there was never really time for much fun. It was all work and chores.
"I did like to play board games when I was little though," she recalled, surprised to realize she'd actually forgotten about it.
Bury me in this cold light I feed the wolf, and shed my skin
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Now Ludo was definitely not Amun’s favorite god (probably least favorite, if he was being honest), but it was impossible for him not to grin at Maea's happy reply. As she asked if she looked spooky enough, he gave her an over the top once over, stroking his chin in dramatic fashion. Finally he shook his head. "I don't know. Something seems to be missing." Then he snapped his fingers. "I know!"
Slipping a hand into his pocket, he placed the patch he'd acquired onto his palm. He ordered it to glow an ominous crimson, then held it over her head so it illuminated her masklike costume. "There. Perfect." Winking, he found himself chuckling at the sight of her.
"Well. Perhaps I can dance while you sing sometime. Or you can teach me to sing and I can teach you to dance. That sounds more fun." He waggled his eyebrows at her. As she went on to say she liked reading and board games of all things, he smirked. ”I like things that are a bit more active.” It was clear what he was insinuating, even if he couldn’t participate the way he used to.
Carry me through this world alive I feel no more, this suffering
Her eyes widened at the sight of the glow that streamed down from his hand. "What is that?" she asked right away, eyes kindling with curiosity as she held out a hand, mutely asking for permission to have a look.
"Singing for dancing, sounds like a fair trade," she mumbled, clearly distracted by the glow; enough so that she didn't pick up on the insinuation - Maea thought he still talked about the dancing.
Bury me in this cold light I feed the wolf, and shed my skin
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
At Maea's incredibly interested question, Amun chuckled, the sound dark and low. Lowering his hand, he held out the patch for her to examine. "Just a thing I picked up." His tone was teasing and deliberately obfuscating. With that, he reached out with his mind, shifting it to a softer glow, followed by turning his skin scarred and pockmarked.
When the innuendo went completely over her head, he grinned. "Works for me." He let her continue her examinations of his hand as he kept his eye on the horizon. Thankfully, the Citadel was just beginning to loom in the distance. The sight caused him to pick up the pace slightly.
