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!
I don't know where I'm gonna go But I don't care, I'm on the road
It really wasn't a surprise that Nate had left some things behind when Sam kicked him out. He had been expecting to have some more time, some time at all to get his shit together, and had been blindsided. Horribly. But, he had seen Sam recently, and it hadn't resulted in any violence. Maybe some sniping, a short back and forth, but they had done a task, together.
It was this line of thinking that brought Nate back through portal, back into the Hollowed Grounds. Immediately his nose curled, it was easy to remember why he had avoided coming back here, other than Sam. It was just depressing. Familiar, but depressing. He sighed, pulled his cloak around himself tighter, and made his way through the fields, heading to a place he had once called home.
The walk from the portal to the Domiciles wasn't long, and the whole time Nate went over his words in his head, tried to figure out what he would say, what appeals he would make. Nothing had really settled by the time he stopped outside the door, but that didn't stop him from knocking, heavy thumps with he side of his hand, and waiting patiently for Sam to answer. Or not. It wasn't like he didn't know how to get into the house, where he'd left his things.
Never been a perfect soul But I will not apologize
Sam was tidying. Having Loren over recently had made him conscious of just how dusty a lot of his house was now and a lot of his towers of books bore cobwebs on their bottom-most parts. Also he'd realised how much of his house still had traces of Nate: two cup-rings on the table, his things stored in the back of Sam's wardrobe.
As a part of his clean, he had taken away the remnants of Nate's presence and gone to throw them away, give the things that were still useful to people in the market that could use them. When he came back, the room felt much more his.
Humming as he put things away and wiped down his surfaces, he was beginning to feel pretty good. Thinking after he cleaned he might get a bath, he was even dancing a little bit - the knock at the door caught him completely by surprise. Once he'd gotten over his shock he turned to open the door...and the second he did, his face fell. Nathaniel.
"What do you want?" Sam asked, all his usual pleasantries gone.
I don't know where I'm gonna go But I don't care, I'm on the road
Well. So much for niceties. Nate didn't even get a greeting apparently, just a sour look and icy tone. He could roll with that, it was fine. He forced a pleasant smile to his face, folded his hands behind his back, and hummed, working his words over in his mouth one last time. "I can't come by just to reminisce, huh?" It's a weak attempt at a joke, one that will not go over well, and yet... what else does he have?
"No, it's... When I left, it was sudden, right? I didn't really have a chance to get my affairs in order." Nate shifts, leaning back, and gestures towards the house. "I left a few things here. I don't really expect any civility, but I would like to pick up what I'm missing. I'll be out of your hair quick, okay?" It was... succinct enough, he thought, if not necessarily convincing. Nate was determined to be as civil as possible for as long as possible though.
Never been a perfect soul But I will not apologize
"There's little to reminiscence about, at least as far as I think." Sam retorted, Nate being here rather ruining his new look on life being Nate-less.
Luckily he got to his point relatively quickly; Sam watched with a grumpy expression as Nate described his leaving as 'sudden'. "I didn't want you in my house after what you did." He said bluntly, as if Nate needed this explaining to him: which apparently he did. When he finally realised what Nate's actual request was though, he paused and gritted his teeth, immediately feeling awkward.
"Um. I threw out your things. Sorry, I've done some tidying, and you weren't around..." Sam looked down to the floor, shrugged his shoulders. Hopefully Nate wouldn't mind too much..?
I don't know where I'm gonna go But I don't care, I'm on the road
Little to reminisce about seems a little harsh, in Nate's opinion. He'd thought they'd had some good times, didn't consider how the memory of them might be tainted by what he'd done, what Sam thought he'd done. Oh. Oh, that was an angle to use. "What exactly did I do? It's not whatever you're imagining, whatever you thought it was you know." He crosses his arms, brow raised in a challenge. "I was treating a patient. Yes, things went... well, a little too far, but it's not like I fucked him." Never mind the fact that he couldn't, technically.
The admission that his things had been thrown out sparks some irritation, obvious in the way Nate grinds his jaw before responding. "So you kick me out, without ever giving me a chance to explain myself, and then you throw out all my stuff? Really?" His voice grows rougher as he continues, as he works himself up into genuine anger. "Where'd you throw it out? And, everything? Really?" He huffs, shaking his head.
Never been a perfect soul But I will not apologize
That Nate had the sheer nerve to argue with him about semantics and technicalities now, when they both knew full well that he'd broken Sam's heart regardless of what the details were...Sam felt his jaw set in place as his teeth clenched together and his hand on the door handle became white-knuckled.
"You listen to me." He said, surprised himself at the amount of confidence and anger in his voice. "I gave you a home here. I took you in and I told you all you needed to know. I trusted you enough to take you to my Goddess and let you join my family. You promised me you wouldn't let the bite get the best of you. You say you didn't sleep with him? Wonderful. I'm sure you would have done if you could have done and besides, you still used your first day after promising me to be with someone else." Once there might have been a break of his voice here but now there was just a dry tiredness.
"Yes, I did throw out your things. Clearly they weren't anything important because you've been fine off spending weeks gallivanting about with Sunjata, haven't you? Sleeping with anyone that'll give you a second glance? I don't work like that, Nathaniel. I don't have enough love left anymore to waste it on someone that'll just..toss it away. I'm done letting people walk all over me and that includes you, or...or anyone else who might want to." With an annoyed sigh he turned into the door for a moment then reached out holding a small bag. "This is all I have left. No one at the market wanted it."
I don't know where I'm gonna go But I don't care, I'm on the road
The look on Nate's face twists into a sneer, and he leans in, using every inch he has on Sam to impose on his space. Some skills are beaten into him, some suit him naturally, and intimidation has always been one that comes both ways. "I never asked for a place in your house. Or your bed. Or your fucking family." God, that was really the worst part of this, wasn't it? He never asked for a single thing Sam had given him. "It's not my fault you were so fucking desperate for some attention you let me do this." Nate huffed, clicking his teeth together. "I mean, fuck, I told you I was a shitty person. You thought you could change me."
Then, he scoffs, and leans back, like realization just hit him. "Wait, I'm so sorry. You did change me. Convinced me to join your shitty family and lose out on the things I had that made me me." A hand comes up to rub over his face, to scrub at his mouth like he's trying to get a particularly bad taste out of his mouth. "You fucking used me to feel better about the nothing you had."
Nate listens to the annoyed words Sam has to say, just long enough to throw them back at him. "Oh yes, you're really different. Chasing after some fucking sad sack who'll sleep with everyone else too. You haven't changed, haven't done anything different. And when fucking Loren breaks your heart, you'll do the same thing again." A hand reached out quickly, snatching the bag of his things away viciously. "People like you don't change. At least I'll be enjoying myself, while you cry over your new flavour of the month."
Never been a perfect soul But I will not apologize
Sam was usually riddled with self doubt whenever he was in any given confrontation, but in this specific matter he was so sure of his morally correct position that he found himself incensed rather than intimidated. Nate was still taller than him though and his overcrowding presence combined with his unbelievably bitchy words was beginning to make him feel increasingly claustrophic.
Before he could even think of any words to say in response his fist was clenching in anger and electricity crackled out from him without a single thought, demanding space from Nate in the most obvious way he could.
Assuming Nate was knocked back onto the floor, Sam would stand in his doorway and say simply: "You are one of the worst men I have ever known, Outlander or Natural. Get away from my house."
04-04-2020, 11:59 PM (This post was last modified: 04-05-2020, 12:01 AM by Nate.)
NATE
I don't know where I'm gonna go But I don't care, I'm on the road
There's no response, and for a single, shining moment, Nate gets to be smug, be superior. He knows he's pushing hard, maybe too far, but he's not wrong either. Then there's a burst of energy in his chest that knocks him back. It's not quite accurate to say the wind is knocked out of him, but the smirk is gone, and his eyes are wide.
He doesn't even bother getting back up to his feet, not at first. Nate just sits up, the hand not holding his shit reaching out blindly for something to retaliate with. He grabs a clump of dirt, whipping it at Sam, at the house. "Worst man you've known? Fuck, I should be proud, considering the men you know!" The words come out a snarl as Nate pushes himself back up to his feet, leaning in to point at the other ascended, though he's careful to keep enough space between them that he doesn't get knocked on his ass again.
"You deserve every fucking thing that comes your way Sam." He had tried to be civil, in his opinion. Tried to be fucking nice, tried to maintain some niceness between them, and this is how he got thanked for it. "You fucking do it all yourself because you have this fucking need to be needed, and no one needs you. Fuck you!"
Never been a perfect soul But I will not apologize
There was admittedly a decidedly petty pleasure in seeing Nate knocked back onto his ass in the street and Sam found very little guilt inside him about this. The Voice would probably be annoyed about the misuse of his barrier against another Ascended...but just this once, he was willing to go against his mother's wishes.
He stepped back from the dirt as it came through the shield, though some did scatter across his shirt. Frowning he looked down and tried to wipe it off, ignoring whatever nonsense Nate was saying about the men he knew. Nate didn't know anything about his relationships; the only thought that struck him was how differently Loren had treated him when he came..then something else came to mind. Coldly, he looked up and said: "Clearly you don't dislike them too much, because I know you've bitten Loren. You just can't keep those teeth under control, can you?"
Nates words would probably hurt him later but now when he was incensed and aware of eyes on him from the street, Sam only let out a frustrated huff and shook his head. "Well I certainly don't need you." With that, he slammed his door shut.
04-05-2020, 04:11 PM (This post was last modified: 04-05-2020, 05:19 PM by Nate.)
NATE
I don't know where I'm gonna go But I don't care, I'm on the road
Sam's retort, the words that he thought were so affecting pulled a laugh from Nate, dry and humourless and loud. He had noticed the eyes in the street as well, and wanted to make this a scene, make it as ugly as he possibly could. If he was being thrown out, he was making it as ugly as possible. After all, he wasn't the one who had to stay here, who had to see these people again. Hell, he could avoid the Hollowed Grounds for the rest of his life if he wanted not knowing that he would be summoned back anytime soon.
"I did more than bite him! Loren I fucked! And he didn't say a word about you, practically begged me for it!" He's just being spiteful at this point, it's not like he had gone into that particular tryst without some prior knowledge, hell, he had nearly felt bad for it. But now? He was going to revel in every single thing he took from Sam.
The door slammed shut, but Nate couldn't resist getting in one more snipe, the last word. "Yeah, run away! Just like you always do!" He stalked away, taking the few things he had left with him and glaring at the people who had stopped to watch the show like he was daring them to do something.
~End
Never been a perfect soul But I will not apologize
