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!
but am i too late? or hearts to your spades, if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?
He expects the pause – given the state of Ascended in the world. Nate’s attack, the box of body parts of an Ascended appearing in Torchline’s center. There’s a variety of reasons why Mabel likely expected some condemnation from him – but he has none. Still, curiosity gets the best of him, because Nate wasn’t a fan, didn’t care for being Ascended after changing. And it wasn’t like he’d arrived Ascended – no, as far as Sunjata was concerned, Nate had been led on by Sam who had a patch that made him almost normal.
Almost.
A deep inhale starts before his gaze finds hers and her answer resonates in the air – a smirk crossing his face as she tells him the exact opposite of what Nate had often said. “I’m glad it’s worked out for you.” He offers, naught much else to add. Genuinely he did want people to be happy, to get whatever they strove for. Sunjata had done it, by less than favorable means, but still means nonetheless.
so we're not written in the stars, but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything
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.
She tucked the remainder of the shells in her pockets, until the sides bulged and she must’ve looked quite foolish – dipping the parasol around to continue covering the sun. The man’s words brought her further pause though, only strictly in thought and not in motion, wandering along crests and rises in the tides, toes consumed and succumbing for periods at a time, before the water receded. Mabel felt none of the cold, but all of the restlessness, peeling her gaze away from the shoal, and back to Sunjata, one brow cooly, impassive arched.
The notions didn’t correspond to her own alterations on the matter. “Has it not for others?” Naïve, young, and ignorant perhaps; but she and Evelyn had made their choice, had cut the ties, nooses, strands, and tethers their parents had set, and ultimately failed to utilize or prosper. They were their own keepers now, slaves to naught but ambition – no dying fires, no disastrous wake of perished families. Just one and the other, twins honed and poised for something on the horizon. More than they’d ever thought possible.
but am i too late? or hearts to your spades, if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?
‘Has it not worked for others?’ Nope, not quite. He debates between telling her of Nate or Samuel, preferring to shift toward Samuel for this – not wanting to slander his fiancé. So he picks the easy culprit, sorry Sam. “I heard a rumor that someone made a patch for the Ascended once. Allowed them to feel and what not.” He avoids mentioning other body parts that were affected as he mulls it over, chews on the inside of his cheek.
“Some were under some false ideas before they Ascended about what they'd keep and what they'd lose.” He shrugs, walking along the sands – gaze flickering up toward parting clouds of the lighthouse allowing it to be somewhat visible from where they now stand. “But, you work with what you’ve got, right?” He asks, glancing over toward her with a small grin – sure that she might notice he’s no stranger to Ascendeds – not with the scars on his skin of many bites. Regardless, he nods toward the looming lighthouse in the distance, the light illuminating the clouds that still surround it.
“That is a lighthouse.”
so we're not written in the stars, but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything
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.
A patch for feelings, for weaknesses, made her roll her eyes, the gaze pinpointing back to the surf. “Then they should’ve known before Ascending. Or asked.” There was no doubt in her mind that the Voice would’ve answered their questions, granting and giving as much as the Brightened goddess could. Ignorance and stupidity was not a gift, and while they all floated around the ethers, attempting to find footholds in sagacity, aligning themselves with notions of information, they could’ve inquired further into what they’d be missing.
She wasn’t certain if she missed those things at all, if they were being honest. The implications when she and Evelyn asked had been there, had been presided and chewed upon, and they hadn’t looked back. Not to Old Gods and their constant ruins. Not to their perished family, gone under the reverence of their constant prayers (not doing a damned thing to save them from starving).
Mabel shrugged off the remains of any apprehension, believing herself fully justified in her response, giving a small shrug to the man on his next statement. Then her eyes went to the horizon as they meandered, closer and closer, and she hadn’t noticed the large tower-like structure from under her parasol, until it was mentioned. On those notes, she tilted her head for a moment, staring at the vast array of structures, clouds, and light. “Oh.” Which was a stupidly bland statement, but she was briefly transfixed.
but am i too late? or hearts to your spades, if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?
There’s a huff of a laugh at Mabel’s answer. And ah, wouldn’t that be true? Unfortunately, he wonders if she will grow to miss the perks of being Accepted when it comes to touch and what not. She was still new after all. Either way, Sunjata simply nods in response – unable to say much else, unable to even think of where to begin to try and relate to this girl.
At least the lighthouse proves to be a bit of a distraction – a thankful one as far as Sunjata’s concerned. And he continues to trudge through the sand toward it, to get a bit closer where the clouds and mist from the sea aren’t so thick. “I think it’s magic up there that makes the beam so bright and powerful. But you can see it from fairly far away.” Provided they worked as they did back in Korofi, which he assumes as much. “Tall enough that the ships can’t miss it.”
so we're not written in the stars, but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything
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.
He said nothing more on the subject of Ascending, and so Mabel concluded she was correct in every conceivable way. Her Goddess didn’t manipulate, didn’t lie, didn’t deceive like so many of the Old Gods. She wouldn’t have taken in someone, wouldn’t have changed anyone, if they weren’t committed to the facet. With a little confident, arrogant spring to her steps, ignoring his huff of laughter, taking it with a grain of salt and utter indifference, her eyes merely preceded to the lighthouse – another small wonder.
Magic – combining beams of light and potency, to ensure those out to sea didn’t come to a pivotal point of crashing into cliffs and ramparts. She understood it better now, could trace lines of imagination with ships coming too close, gnarled and mashed against sections of rock that would never give, never bend, never sway. The girl wondered if she could be like that someday – so potent, so powerful, so unyielding, that the world would register warnings at her presence. At her existence.
She altered the subject lines minutely, gazing up and up, then away and out. “Would you ever go so far out to sea?” That he’d need a compass, a light, a beacon, to send him home?
but am i too late? or hearts to your spades, if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?
The question she returns is one that has Sunjata quiet as he mulls it over. He can recall venturing out that far a few times – but never with a boat, never with an endpoint in mind. A way to get away with the means to do it, however small it was. “Yes.” He replies at first, a simple answer for quiet a complex thought. So he picks over his words, glancing over back toward Mabel with a small half smirk.
“I have a whale shift. I venture out a lot.” He adds – though not like it was adventures that had him gone for long periods of time – another benefit to the whale shift, fast swimming. So he focuses on that instead, shifting his attention back to the lighthouse, tattoos along his arms swirling a bit with the stars as if they’re edging ever so much closer toward the shrine within it. “Always find my way home, though.”
so we're not written in the stars, but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything
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.
“Oh,” again, trying to sound less stupefied, surprised, or baffled. She had heard of whales, big, long, massive creatures below the depths. “What sort of adventures?” Curiosity piqued and edged, from below the depths of her twirling parasol. Maybe it was because she wanted to know each and every possibility laid out before them. Maybe she too would prefer to journey as far as she could, to see everything imaginable. Because isolation had ensured none of those things – education by perishing farms and failing Old Gods and the world crumbling, falling to pieces, only made her bones yearn and crave something well beyond those reaches. There had to be more, more, more, and she was insatiable, greedy now, for the hunger of it all scorching her chest. She’d take the offerings, the spoils, the knowledge, wisdom, and sagacity of others, to shape and design her commitments.
but am i too late? or hearts to your spades, if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?
“Hunting, mostly.” He says, honestly. There’s only so much to do in the oceans and between hunting for food and trinkets, it all was the same. A hunt for something, usually resulting in a full belly, or beautiful shells and items to bring back home. Certain pearls come to mind with that thought, before he’s shrugging his shoulders.
“Sometimes it’s fun to see how far you can go before you think you will get lost. The ocean is powerful, wild, yet calm at times.” The equivalent of swimming through emotions, really. But he focuses on her at his side, glancing over toward her. “Would you ever want to venture out that far?” He asks, nodding his head toward the waves that lap along the beach.
so we're not written in the stars, but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything
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.
Hunting; something she would’ve liked to do. To stretch out claws and weaponry, to hone abilities until the world sank beneath her fangs, feared her existent, but could never see her coming. To snatch and snag along the wayward sea would be a whole other obstacle, but as her eyes roamed back to the ripples of tides, merry and incandescent by her feet, and out into the vast unknown (powerful, dangerous), she strived to imagine it. To be upon the waves, to be against the current, to rise, rise, rise, and never fall.
Getting purposefully lost sounded downright deranged, but she let the thought go. His question lingered in her mind for an instant though, and she drowned out the rest of any other ruminations. Then it slid between teeth, her gaze still upon that great, wide plain of enigmas, secrets, and duplicity. “Yes.” She nodded, firmly, committed. “When I’m strong enough.” When she was ready to conquer and divide, to seek her vengeance, to poise devastation and ruin. It sounded far, far better than wasting away at a farm, toiling and tilling fields that would never grow.
but am i too late? or hearts to your spades, if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?
He listens as his question is aired, for an answer of whether she’d venture out just as he had. And with the answer, it leaves more to be desired. Most importantly, would she venture out as herself, or with help. But then again, help would require a benefit from the Voice, or power granted via bite. And given her recent reaction to the idea of a bite, he doubts that’s the route she’d take.
So he mulls it over, pausing briefly in his steps when he finally comes to a stop under the clouds with a perfect view to the lighthouse – before his head inclines toward Mabel once more. “When will you know?” It’s an easier question. Is she a survivor like he is? And if so, she would either be ready or resourceful enough to become ready.
so we're not written in the stars, but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything
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.
Truth be told, the girl wanted a lot of things, and most of them resided in notions, in thoughts, of power. But how to get there would likely require a lot of patience, persistence, action, and time. It was up in the air, out in the ether, amongst and amidst the interfolds of the unknown. She had no way of comprehending until she was immersed in it, until she walked those lines. So Mabel didn’t have the answer he might’ve been looking for – too young, too ignorant, too inexperienced – ready to take on the world with very little notions of everything intertwined.
Her eyes went away from the sea and back to him briefly, an actual inquiry rather than a blasé, indifferent sort of poise. No shrug to her shoulders, no layer of nonchalance fixtured on her features. Very juvenile and lost, for a brief moment, the voice quiet and uncertain. “When does anyone know?” Then she shifted her head back towards the ocean, the parasol a shield.
but am i too late? or hearts to your spades, if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?
“That is the question.” Sunjata offers with a quiet huff of a laugh, a small shake of his head as he turns away from the lighthouse to look at the foot prints through the sand they’ve left behind – watching as waves lap up and brush away a few of them much like a paint brush would swipe away a rogue line. Hidden, as if they were never there.
His gaze flickers back to her then. “In my experience, you never know until you try.” He shrugs, flashing her a boyish grin, before nodding back the way they’d come. “Shall we head back, then?” See how the sandbags were holding up in terms of a barrier, not wanting to prolong Mabel’s exposure even with the parasol. At the very least, this way the can get her back under fuller cover.
so we're not written in the stars, but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything
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.
No straightforward answer awaited her, other than to simply seek it out, to commit, to do it. But for a girl with dreams beyond farmlands and no experience in how to bring them to fruition, the task seemed, and sounded daunting. If she were to fail, what would it cost her? These worlds weren’t gentle, kind, or compassionate – one need only look at what happened to her family, and countless more, in the wake of droughts, famines, and weakness. Fangs came to gnaw on her own lip, and a soft sigh was embedded back out into the air. “Okay,” she nodded, a solid formation along pretenses and thoughts, plans sinking into her blood. Maybe she’d simply try anything, everything, and see what came of it.
At his suggestion, the Ascended nodded again, turning around with one last view of the lighthouse and its potent beams over her shoulder. The shells in her pockets clung into fabric, and maybe it’d be a sign of better, greater, grander things to come; mementos to remember moments of alteration and change, as they stepped back through footprints in the sand.
