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!
Amun just raised an eyebrow at Josh's insistence that there'd be nothing sexual between them. "Suit yourself." Shrugging, the potter frowned at the newcomer's question. "As far as I know, no." The Ascended's voice wasn't certain about that though.
Brow furrowing, he glanced at the basket. It was mostly full, so he shouldered it. "Alright, follow me." Without even bothering to see if the other man was following Amun started leading Josh through the Glade, away from the Oasis.
Nodding absently, the potter's eyes scanned their surroundings. "If you change your mind you can always crash with me." Glancing at the newcomer, the potter grinned and placed his hand over his heart. "No funny business, I promise."
"Worth testing. If I could prepare a cup of blood for you, would you drink it?" There would be variations he could attempt on this experiment too; animal blood, blood from people of different ages and races...a willing Ascended test subject research partner could be useful.
He followed Amun closely through the forest towards the town. "Do you have much success with this method? Are you this outwardly sexual towards everyone you meet?" Josh asked, a tint of sarcasm to his question, though it was only slight, the words still delivered in his usual monotone way.
Shrugging, Amun nodded. "Probably. Not sure it's going to do anything though." Surely if it would, the Ascended would've known about it, and people wouldn't be so squeamish about the whole drinking blood thing to begin with.
Still leading the way through the trees, he chuckled at Josh's question. "Not everyone." Glancing back, he let his eyes rake over the other man's form. "Just the cute guys." Then the potter smirked at the newcomer, before the Ascended looked front again. "Even if they could do with a bath."
Ducking under a low hanging branch, he shrugged. "To answer your first question, yes, I usually have success with this method." However, he couldn't help the slight bit of annoyance from creeping into his voice.
"That's the point of the experiment. It seems surprising you haven't tried it yourself." If he was beholden to blood drinking, he knew he'd want to try and make the process as efficient as possible, would probably keep several bags in his fridge at all times if it would work - though admittedly, he'd never been great with people.
If Josh was at all offended by the Ascended's comment on his hygiene, he didn't show it, calmly continuing to make his way through the trees. "Water was scarce where I was staying. No point using it for hair when I don't see anyone." He'd only ever cared about his appearance as far as wearing smart clothes made people respond to his questioning better, had never been one for preening his face or body.
"Do you sleep with other vampi--Ascended?" He asked, shaking his head midway to remind himself to change words. "Are there any rules for your people about it?"
Amun shrugged at Josh's surprised response. "Why bother when I can get it from the oh so appealing source?" Smirking, the potter raised his eyebrows almost challengingly at the newcomer.
However, the Ascended found himself glancing back at the pool they'd just left behind. "Would you like to take a bath in the Oasis while we're here, then? I'd even promise not to peek if that'd make you more comfortable." Tone teasing, he slowed to a stop as he waited for the other man's response.
Chuckling at Josh's question, Amun shrugged. "Me personally? No. But other Ascended do." Leaning forward, he dropped his voice to a conspiratorial and suggestive whisper. "They say it doubles the pleasure."
"Hm. I suppose the sexual benefit would add incentive." He still thought if he were to be an Ascended he'd take the convenience of having blood readily on hand over the pleasure that drinking might bring...but he tended to be a more practical man than most.
The idea of a bath in the Oasis made him pause. Were he a more conscious person he might have been offended, but Josh found himself nodding. After all, better hygiene would make people more willing to speak to him. "Yes. You can stare openly if you want, I don't care. I have never understood why people are shy about their naked bodies. I've seen much worse." There was a certain point where you saw so much horror that the sight of a penis or breast really couldn't do that much to you.
Walking with Amun to the Oasis now he mentally made a note of what he'd been told. "Interesting...can you drink the blood of the Ascended? Biologically speaking, if there is no blood gain from them I wonder why the pleasure would be greater."
Chuckling, Amun nodded at Josh's observation. "It certainly does." The potter winked at the newcomer.
When the other man actually agreed to a dip in the Oasis, the Ascended paused. Turning, he gave Josh a once over. Then Amun began leading the newcomer back towards the water. "Well so long as you don't mind..." The potter let his voice trail off suggestively, and he raised his eyebrows at the other man. "I'm not weird about naked bodies." However, Amun cocked his head to one side. "What have you seen that's so much worse?"
It didn't take them long to reach the water's edge again. Shrugging, he shook his head at Josh's question. "We don't have blood, we have fluid. I imagine it's something to do with the fluid interaction." It was clear that the potter didn't know the answer and didn't much care to find out.
Josh really didn't care if Amun stared at his body; he didn't want to engage in sexual activities with the man, but he was free to imagine and ogle all he liked (not that Josh really felt he had anything worth ogling over).
As for the things he'd seen....a lot of them were things he didn't want to share, at least not in detail, mostly because they were secrets that if they got back to certain people on Earth, could immediately put an even bigger target on his back than there already was. He could relay some images though, as long as he kept out some of the context. "People turned inside out. The eyes of a being who did not care about humanity at all. The infinite darkness of the universe. Someone putting the milk in before the cereal." The last bit was a joke, but ill-timed and said with the same monotone voice as usual.
When they reached the water he immediately began to strip down, folding his clothes and laying them up on branches and rocks to keep them out of the way. "Fluid. I wonder what composes it..." Mumbling more to himself than talking to Amun he stripped off his underwear and went to step into the water, pausing as he discovered it was colder than expected. Still, he'd never been one to hesitate for long and soon he was walking in to his waist. "Do you have alligators in this world?" He asked, though didn't seem too concerned, idly pulling water up to rub on his body.
Smirking as Josh explained what he'd seen, Amun shrugged. "Caido's got its fair share of surprises. We might shock you yet." He winked at the newcomer. It was clear the potter wasn't bothered by the other man's attempts to scare the Ascended. He did chuckle dutifully at the cereal joke.
Surprisingly enough, Amun didn't actually get much pleasure from seeing Josh undress. Granted, the potter didn't really feel pleasure in the same way anymore, but he still smirked and let his eyes take down the newcomer's body. Then the Ascended began to strip himself. Tossing his clothes carelessly aside, he waded into the water as well.
"You're welcome to examine me all you like." The words were seductive, yes, but the offer was genuine. Grinning at the other man's question, Amun made a show of looking around. "Not that I know of."
With that, he began making his way closer to Josh. "Want me to wash your back?" The words were playful, though the potter's eyes glittered with mischief.
"I haven't been shocked in a long time." Josh stated, but did give a shrug; it was possible Caido could through something unexpected at him. After all, in a new dimension, anything was possible. He would not have been completely surprised if water had run the wrong way here.
Amun undressed too and Josh showed an absolute disinterest in looking at him (yes, he was an objectively attractive man, but unless Josh was in that kind of mood, looking at Amun was as exciting as staring at growing grass); he did glance over at the assurance about alligators and nod. He'd had too many close calls growing up with the snappy assholes.
It really did seem Amun was just never going to get up trying to get in his pants. With a sigh, Josh looked over, though something in his expression seemed more dryly amused than just annoyed. "If it would please you, go ahead." If Amun did go to wash Josh's back, he would see across the skin there there were hundreds of long, thin scars hard to see from a distance with an odd, almost silvery holographic sheen to them when seen in the right light.
As Josh expressed some doubt about Caido's ability to surprise him, Amun just grinned. Reaching out, he clasped the newcomer on the shoulder briefly. "Yeah, I thought so too, when I got here. I'd say give it about a weak before you stumble upon something shocking." The potter was teasing, though there was more than a bit of truth in the statement.
Not minding the disinterest from the other man, the Ascended grinned when Josh agreed to let Amun wash his back. Smirking a bit, he cupped some water in his hands. Lifting them, he let it dribble across the newcomer's shoulders. Then the potter placed his skillful hands on the path the water had followed, massaging the other man's shoulders and back. When the Ascended felt the scars under his fingertips, he paused momentarily before resuming the motion. "What are these scars?" It came out quietly, more breath than anything else.
Josh shrugged at Amun's words; maybe he would find something shocking, but he'd seen many things from beyond Earth and after a while they had stopped reaching him deeply. Nowadays everything was another case to be studied, something else to be analysed; he had less memories than he did purposeful bookmarks in his mind for sights and quotes to add to a knowledge base.
Amun was certainly stretching out the motions more than he had to but Josh said nothing, staring ahead and trying to close his eyes for a moment of slight rest. He did not often allow himself to come to a stop and was just beginning to fall into a more relaxed state when Amun's question came.
A rare show of emotion, his shoulders tensed. "There are...entities, between dimensions. They are not welcoming to visitors." The less he could say about that, the better.
Josh's shrug caused Amun to grin. However, given that the newcomer couldn't see it, the potter kept his amusement to himself. Instead, he just continued softly washing the other man's skin. As the Ascended's fingers drifted downwards, they grew bolder, started to rub a bit more.
When Josh began to speak though, Amun stilled. Pausing, his hands flattened against the newcomer's back for a moment. "Sorry to hear that." It came out in a whisper, and the potter lifted his fingers to begin gently massaging the other's shoulders. The Ascended managed to find knots and tension and did what he could to ease them. Given that he didn't tired and his hands didn't feel pain, it could go on longer than most massages could.
Amun's fingers were certainly beginning to encroach on 'happy ending' territory, and Josh was sure he had not asked for a massage...but for the moment he didn't say anything, watching the trees before them and thinking. It all looked so familiar that he could have believed he was somewhere on Earth. He'd always imagined a different dimension, a different planet, not just another version of his world, would be wildly new.
He made an 'mm' noise after Amun spoke, though whether this was in response to his sympathies or his massage was not clear. For the most part Josh was silent, until he turned his head to ask: "Are you homosexual? I assume you are, but I don't know if the same concepts apply here." After all, maybe they had different genders, sexes, historical contexts - he had no idea.
