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!
see the sunset turning red let all be quiet in your head and look about
It is an annual tradition as old as time: the great Post-LongNight-Debauchery Cleanup.
As a boy, you'd been drug out by your ear to participate, bitching and moaning the entire way. You were tired after LongNight, and it was bright, and you didn't wanna, but there was always some stubborn Auntie or other rounding up the local hooligans and setting your asses to work.
Eventually it had become something you looked forward to. Getting up and combing the beach for treasures was actually pretty fun, and as you got older you became the one to wrangle hooligans and drag them out to shore. Surrounded by exhausted, furious boys, you'd prod and chide and harass them into joining you on your morning, and reward them with the chance to dunk you underneath the waves.
These years your morning cleanup is a solitary activity. You walk along the water's edge enjoying the light, shirtless, a couple bags slung over your shoulders: one for treasure, one for trash. A shanty tune leaves your lips and mixes with the sound of the sea.
Spotting a particularly interesting piece of sea glass bend over to grab it before it it can be reclaimed by the tides, blissfully oblivious of the mull of the world around you, content to focus all your attention on cleaning up the beach.
The voice would trill at the same level that Zeph was leaning to peer at the sea glass, and should he glance up it would be to see Vai crouched before him, her elbows on her knees, a smile bright on her lips. The huntress much preferred the daylight, even if the skies were overcast and rain threatened at any moment, and it showed on her face.
”Beach is a bit of a mess after all that partying. Want a hand cleaning up? I came to take a walk, but... there’s not really much to enjoy right now, is there?” Time out of the house with Remi and Ronin home and in their current conditions was very much preferable.
Straightening up to stand, she stretched her arms above her head and glanced around. ”Is Flowerbirth always so... grey...?”
see the sunset turning red let all be quiet in your head and look about
The voice and the face that accompanies it are both welcome distractions indeed. A smile flickers at the corners of your eyes when Vai comes into view. "Sure am," you say easily, offering her the piece of smooth, bottle blue eyes.
Straightening up you extend a very unnecessary hand to help her to her feet. "Dunno, I see plenty worth enjoyin'," you tease while she stretches, making no effort to hide your admiration as your gaze slides over exposed skin. "Wouldn' say no to help. Clean up's a tradition. Been doin' it since I was a boy. These days... dunno. It feels nice, gettin' things in order again. Like wakin' up from a long dream." You shrug, looking out into the ocean, your expression faltering a bit. Back to the real world and all of its doldrums, where fun liaisons under cover of darkness are hardly guaranteed.
You snort at the comment about the grey skies, brushing off some of your own melancholy- or trying to hide it, at least. "Hasn't even started rainin' yet. Gonna get a lot more grey before too long. Might wanna go on that first swim 'fore the waters get muddy."
She accepted the glass with interest, turning it in her fingers and running a thumb over its surface. ”The beach must be full of treasures,” she remarked, before meeting his eyes with a playful smirk. ”Is that so? Make sure you watch this one close, then,” she said, before slipping the glass into a back pocket where a broken arrowhead had once lived.
Scanning the beach as he accepted the help, Vai could see their work cut out for them, nodding in agreement with Zeph. ”Feels a bit like a dream, doesn’t it?” she said. It certainly did to her anyway; salt sweat and the taste of whiskey, heat building between bodies entwined, the hush of waves.
Blinking herself out of the daydream (naughty, naughty), she glanced back to Zeph with a raised brow - there was more than one storm brewing, she thought, and not all of them were in the clouds above. ”Oh...? Maybe I ought to go after this. Maybe you’d like to join me.”
see the sunset turning red let all be quiet in your head and look about
"Does," you agree, thinking back to that stolen experience, the way it felt to feel her body against you, the heat and pleasure underneath the unquestioning blanket of dark. Now in the grey and filtered light you have to wonder what it means. You're grizzled and scarred inside and out, and as much as she may have promised a next time... well.
Maybe don't bury the opportunity before it has a chance to happen, you broody fucking fart.
Turning back to the wild woman, you offer her a smirk. "I could be convinced," you reply with mock reluctance, as though getting you into the water takes any amount of work. Shrugging you broad and bare shoulders, you once again bend down. "Work t'be done first, though. Glass don't pick itself up."
This time the piece you've found is fresh and wickedly sharp; you scowl as though it's personally affronted you and tuck it into one of your bags. "Idiot kids. Never think about what they're doin', til it's their feet all sliced up." You've a solid scar on the sole of your left foot from your own years as one such idiot child.
In the cold light of day there was something sharper about him, Vai noticed - or maybe it was that they were both sober, and the shoreline, while beautiful, was a lot more solemn than when the bonfires had been high. Still, there’s some banter between them, and she leant down to pick up the remnants of another bottle, this one mostly intact. ”I’d better get convincing, then,” she said with a smirk right back at him, reaching up to tuck the glass in the same bag he’d used for the shard he’d found.
Walking a little further down the beach to find other trash and treasures, she couldn’t help but laugh warmly, glancing over her shoulder to him. ”Luckily for those idiot kids, they’ve got a mature and caring soul like you looking out for them, eh?”
07-03-2020, 10:06 PM (This post was last modified: 07-03-2020, 10:07 PM by Zephyr.)
see the sunset turning red let all be quiet in your head and look about
She comes close enough to pack away the trash, filling you up with her scent again and making your mind slip to other places. You'd like to snatch her up right there and push through all the awkwardness, to speak with your body instead of your voice because clearly you're better expressing yourself when words (and clothes) are not involved.
Instead you watch her walk down the beach, following the sound of her warm laugh, the brightness of her eyes. "Eh, they could do worse," you reply, feeling some warmth in your face at the flattery. "More like I've been in their place often enough."
Fuck, why is this so awkward? You trail behind her another couple feet, frustration steadily growing as you silently curse yourself. What the fuck you doin', mate? She's clearly not weirded out, and you can feel this situation getting away from you by the minute.
One thing left to do, then, and one way left to do it. Deep breath. Put on your big boy pants. "Vai... Shit looks different in the daylight," you murmur without any eloquence, looking at the sky beyond the pair of you. "I look different. But... I still like the look'a you. With or without clothes." This last part you add with a lift of your eyebrow, trying hard not to look for all the world like a suave and dapper smuggler and not a boy with a crush. "An' if you still like the look'a me, well..."
”That’s how maturity is gained,” Vai pointed out with a scrunch of her nose and a chuckle. ”Gods know I’ve been scraped off the floor of a bar enough times in my younger years; all the more reason to know what to do when it inevitably happens to Felix.” It was awkward, the silences between their conversation uncomfortable in a way that it hadn’t been even when they’d been speaking at the bonfire, and Vai was doing her best not to mull on it when Zeph’s voice echoed behind her.
Turning to gaze up at him, expression softly puzzled, she backtracked across the sand until the distance between them was hardly that. ”Why would I not still like the look of you?” she inquired with a raise of an eyebrow, reaching up to brush her fingers along the scruff of his jaw, barely touching the still healing scar on his face. ”Because of this? Or something else? I don’t see anything I don’t like.”
see the sunset turning red let all be quiet in your head and look about
Gods, what a woman. You raise your hand to rub your neck as she draws closer, not really sure what to expect except something straightforward, without any stupid dancing around. That much is obvious in everything about her: she's not here to play dumb games.
So what the fuck are you doing?
You raise an eyebrow as her hand cups your jaw, her fingers making your scar tingle. "Scars are sexy," you remind her, eyes crinkling in a smile. "Nah, it's just... hell, Vai. You walked outta some sorta fairytale forest and fucked me better'n I've been in years. Can ya really blame me for bein' nervous I'll hold up in the light'a day?"
You chuckle at your own stupidity, running fingers through your hair. "Guess what I'm tryin'a say is... well, fuck." Dropping your arm you reach out to grab her around the waist, pulling her close against you while you attempt to steal her lips.
”Actually, I think you’ll find we fucked each other and that I was left thoroughly satisfied,” Vai murmured with the flash of something wicked in her smile, not one for unequal flattery. It took two to tango, and damn but the boy could dance. She would have let him know what she thought about his nerves, but suddenly a warm hand slid around her waist and drew her close, her words stolen in a sudden kiss.
It was different to the whiskey sweet rush of Longnight, all pawing urgency and stolen breath, but that didn’t make it any less... something. Humming a note of enjoyment against his lips, her free hand slipped around his shoulders, Vai melting against his chest for just a moment (maybe two or three).
”Mm, you said we had work to do,” she reminded him, making no attempt to step away.
see the sunset turning red let all be quiet in your head and look about
You let yourself sink into the kiss, trying to tell her all the things you're too dumb to say out loud. That you like her, that you like that she likes you, that you aren't looking for strings or a mess but you're willing to keep scratching those itches for as long as she may like. Your tongue slides in between her lips, your hand reaches for her ass. A moment, longer, and when it's broken.
Work to do. Yeah. Yeah, you were here for a purpose, and definitely not to slam this woman down for another roll on the sand. Licking your lips, you chuckle softly. "Yeah, better get to it. 'sides- it just ain't as good when I can see you proper," you declare with a cheeky grin, your unyielding hold upon her and the hunger in your eyes clearly belying any possibility that this is the truth.
So much work to do, and neither of them going anywhere at all. Vai gasped a dramatic note of offence at his remark, the smile on her lips betraying any sense of seriousness she might have been trying to create. ”Is that so? Just you wait until the sun goes down,” she purred to him, the mischievous narrowing of her eyes suggesting all sorts of things not suitable for broad daylight on the beach.
But damn - they’d never get anywhere at all if this was the kind of thing that happened within five minutes of them being around each other all the time. Leaning in for another kiss - this one an infuriatingly chaste brush of her lips against Zeph’s - Vai peeled herself away and decided to ignore any warmth in her cheeks, any heat in her belly.
”So,” she said brightly, lingering close to him now so they might walk together along the beach - a stroll, one might say. ”What’s the best thing you’ve ever found out here after Longnight?”
see the sunset turning red let all be quiet in your head and look about
Well. Awkward exchanges laid to rest, you feel a great weight off your chest. "I can wait," you reply with a flashed, rogueish grin, your fingers gracing fleetingly over the back of her neck. Her parting kiss earns a chuckle, and when she moves away you spend a moment adjusting your pants before following along.
You walk alongside her, barefoot and feeling younger and spryer than you have in years. Her question earns a cheeky grin, an obvious answer so easily in your reach. Hnng, don't be that guy, you cheesey motherfucker. "This year?" you ask, looking her over with a grin. "Probably this."
You lean in close... Then stoop to scoop up a large purple cowrie, holding it out for her to inspect. "This poor bastard's still alive- see? Gettin' t'return it to the water... That's pretty good."
Unlike their previous meeting, Vai was the one wearing more clothes than Zeph this time around, so she (naturally) stole glances at him as they meandered along, able to see him properly now that the sun was up. Then he was looking at her and laying it on thick, but the huntress found that she didn’t mind at all, her laughter echoing along the beach. ”Smooth,” she told him, raising a brow as he leaned in - only to promptly crouch down to the sand.
Having never seen anything quite like the cowlie he picked up, Vai examined it with interest, a smile playing at the corners of her lips as she looked up at him. ”You’re a very warm soul under all that scruff, aren’t you?” she murmured, nodding over her shoulder at the waves. ”Come on, then. Let’s get him back in the water.”
