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!
A few deep breaths later and Vai is feeling a lot better than she imagines Sunjata is, the witch smiling gratefully to Zeph and accepting the glass of water from him. Leaning into his touch for a moment, she takes a sip of water and sets it down on the side table. ”Yeah,” she says, riding the answer out on a side. ”I’ve got a lot of strays. If he wasn’t officially one before, he is now.” Gently squeezing Jata’s hand again, she gets to her feet so she can collect up a damp cloth from a small basin along the wall.
”I think so,” she says quietly to Zeph. ”The lightning did a number on him, on the inside,” she tries to explain. ”I think Zuriel stopped it from getting bad, out there on the beach. But...” She shrugs, not wanting to say he was a ticking time bomb or I didn’t know what would happen. So instead she returns to her seat, reaching across to carefully wipe blood, sand, sweat and tears from the Flood’s face with the cloth.
Was she okay? Zeph received a crooked sort of smile at that, a wordless indication that they could talk more later. ”You okay in there, Jata?” she asks, glancing down at Haai and giving the gryphon a nod of reassurance. ”You can just tap the bed once for yes, if you prefer,” she jokes.
Unbeknownst to Sunjata, he had become a stray for Vai long before she’d even offered it. A few too many drinks and too dark of conversations, a few too many stumbles home with either her by his side or cradling him in another form, and she’d already taken that place easily in his mind.
Zeph releases his hand, however, and Sunjata remains relaxed — a hum of a sigh slipping through his throat as he works to catch his breath. Eventually, however, the exhaustion in his bones takes over and he sinks and melts into the bed with Haai protectively watching from where she’s settled at the foot of the bed. He works his jaw, listening, not needing to tap whether he’s okay or not. He just needs to formulate the words in his fuzzy mind. “Yeah.” He says quietly, voice hoarse, eyes opening to spy Vai as she cleans up his face from the day’s events. “M’okay.” It’s a bit of a jumbled together mess of words, but coherent enough, as his gaze moves to Zeph then.
“Thank you.” For getting him here, having him looked at, constantly dragging him back from the panther on the edge of the beach.
are we laughing at the danger?
are we dancing after death, you and I?
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.
You follow Vai to the basin, not picking up a cloth - feels too intimate - but ready to spring into action as directed. The way she trails off has you feeling uneasy; gently you reach up to cup her cheek and press a quick kiss to her forehead, a promise that you're here. "Ya saved him, Vai. He's gonna be fine." Is this true? Your uneducated ass has no idea, but it feels like something she needs to hear.
Again you follow, lingering behind her as she sits down, your hand rubbing gently over her back. That your patient (and her adoptee, apparently, which is not the best news you've ever gotten) can speak seems like a pretty good sign. That he's thanking you? "Sure ya didn' hit yer head?" you ask, raising an eyebrow. Sometime in the future you will bring this up and never put it back down; for now you're mature enough to keep from rubbing his nose in the fact that you probably saved his life.
"So, Sparky. How's it feel t'be a fuckin' hero?" Reaching for the bottle of whiskey, you extend it toward the invalid on the bed. He needs it more than you.
never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive
08-19-2020, 10:45 PM (This post was last modified: 08-19-2020, 11:04 PM by Honey.)
Vervain
She smiles gently to Zeph, not realising how much she needs to hear those words and appreciating it more than she can express in the moment. Sinking into the reassuring touches he delivers, she works further to clean up Sunjata, wiping blood off his neck and his hands, enough to see if there’s anything else to worry about imminently. Not that Vai thinks she has the juice for it, but there’s always the traditional method.
”You’ve definitely looked better,” Vai remarks to Jata, a sad smile flickering across her lips. Putting down the cloth, she raises an eyebrow up at Zeph as he offers the boy whiskey, wondering whether she should stop him before realising that she had literally offered it to him as well. ”Water would be better,” she advised gently, but obviously it’s up to Sunjata. ”Do you want a hand sitting up?”
He’ll need a shower when he gets home, but at the very least this will make the carnage of the day look a lot better than it is when he gets home. He does feel better, his heart calming and the tremors slowing unless he goes to apply pressure. His bloodshot vision is still somewhat blurry, however, finding a bit of panging headache whenever he tries to focus on any one thing. Zeph’s comment does arise a small half-smile to cross Sunjata’s face, however. “Maybe a bit.” He blacked out before he landed back in the sand, after all.
He absolutely could’ve hit his head.
How does it feel to be a hero? The term of it is something that he internally shies away from. He manages to try and push himself up a bit with Vai’s help, however, Haai comes crawling further into his lap, a wing crossing over his leg and her fuzzy head pressing against his abdomen. He takes the whiskey, taking a sip from it and leaning back to hand it back to Zeph in order to try and take some of the water next. “I feel like shit if we’re being honest.” He mutters a bit, tired steel finding Vai and Zeph. “Was supposed to have an easy Flowerbirth.”
are we laughing at the danger?
are we dancing after death, you and I?
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.
Maybe water would be better, but some things call for booze. Almost dying multiple times in a day? Definitely one of them. You take the whiskey back in silence and then pass it on to Vai, raising an eyebrow in silent question. Saving someone's life unexpectedly in the middle of the night also deserves a drink.
You shrug, pleased to see he's back to his snarky self. "From what I hear you lot don' do easy," you remark. Everything you've heard about the Outlanders-turned-Grounders-turned-thorns-in-your-side suggest that they're uniquely skilled at attracting trouble.
Suddenly you feel very weary. You stifle a yawn behind your hand and wander back over to your chair, resting your feet on the edge of the bed. "So what's th'verdict? Keepin' him here for observation, or is he good t'get inta more trouble tonight?"
never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive
For all of her chiding, you’re damn right that Vai accepts the bottle of whiskey, taking a healthy swig and handing it back to Zeph as he and the Flood exchange the closest thing to pleasantries that she can imagine. ”Oh, I don’t doubt it,” she says of how Sunjata is feeling, affectionately smoothing back his sweaty hair now that he’s sitting up properly. As for the verdict, though? She smirks at Zeph, watching him get comfortable.
”Not quite into more trouble. But once he’s feeling steady enough maybe he can be trusted to go home,” she murmurs, knowing him well enough to know that there’s only one place he’d likely want to be right now. ”Tell Nate what happened - I know he’s not a fan of magic,” she tells him, moving back from the side of the bed so she can prepare more of the medicine she gave him. ”Give him this as well, so he knows what you’ve taken.”
After another quick once over, she leaves him to rest until he can get himself on two feet (or four paws, or wings - however he wants to go).
There’s a bit of a roll of his eyes at Zeph’s comment, though it’s good natured as can be with how Sunjata feels as if he might’ve been hit by a train. The Flood glances back at Zeph with his unfocused gaze, mulling it over. He has a point, but there’s that more… Sunjata-y part of him that doesn’t want to admit it.
The question Zeph poses to Vai, however, has Sunjata’s lips parting – ready to object, how much he absolutely has to go home. But he’s cut off by Vai saying exactly that. “I think he makes excuses when it comes to me.” Sunjata manages, offering Vai a softer smile, before taking the medicine to put aside for when he does go home.
It takes a bit of time, but between him and Haai, he’s stable enough to make the trek home – able to shift into his bat shift and sit along Haai’s wings as she trots them back toward home, only to shift back into himself once he reaches his doorstep and awaits the inevitable.
- Jata out <333
are we laughing at the danger?
are we dancing after death, you and I?
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.
With Jata given permission to leave it's a matter of sitting around and staying out of the way until Vai deems him ready. You desperately want to go home to your bed, but there's no way you're leaving her after this, and besides. You've just had a brush (adjacent) with mortality. It's.... good for perspective, on what you want.
Right now, you want to be here with her.
You're half-asleep in your chair when Sunjata finally leaves. You raise a hand in half-hearted farewell before yawning widely, straightening up and stretching out so your bloodstained shirt rises enough to show your midriff. Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes you rise and walk over to Vervain, slipping your arms around her from behind and pressing a kiss against her hair. "You okay?"
never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive
Jata is gone and Vai has just finished cleaning up the room, everything clinical and pristine and ready for the next disaster. She hasn’t even realised that she’s been distracting herself until strong arms encircle her waist. Letting out a long, deep breath, the witch rests back against Zeph, her eyes slipping shut, leaning her head against his. ”I will be,” she says slowly, hands drifting gently over his forearms.
”Those kids keep getting hurt.” She doesn’t mean to sound as angry as she does, turning in his arms to hug him back, kissing the side of his neck. ”There’s always something out there waiting to maim or murder them.” With a sad smile, she straightens up and touches her fingers to the blood on his shirt. ”Are you okay?”
"We gotta do our best to protect them." You don't mind her angry tone, keeping your arms wrapped around her, your hand moving to gently stroke her hair. Some dark strands have escaped the plait; you brush them back with surprising gentleness, grimacing and looking down as she points to your bloodstained shirt. "Yeah, I'm fine. Physically, anyway. Got lucky."
You can feel your shoulders slumping with exhaustion as the last remnants of adrenaline give way to the full weight of what you've experienced. Suddenly much too tired to stand you step back toward an empty bed and flop down on it, scooting over to leave her space, should she care to join. "There were voices in th'water, an... fuck, Vai, they sounded so real. I dunno who the 'Biter heard, but..." Your voice evaporates into a weighty sigh, your dead wife calling out through the mist once more filling your ears.
never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive
”Luckier than Sunjata was, at least,” Vai agrees, though the caveat - physically - isn’t lost on her. She leans into Zeph’s touch, following him to the bed and slouching down to sit, letting her fingers reach out to lace through his. A frown passes over her face to hear about the voices in the water, the witch gently leaning her shoulder against Zeph’s. ”But it was bad?” she guesses, remembering the state of him sitting on the docks. Remember how badly he’d wanted to go for a swim.
Huffing out a long sigh, Vai suddenly feels her limbs grow heavy as well, like she might just flop back and fall asleep after the excitement of the evening. ”At least it’s been taken care of now,” she mumbles. ”The sea panther is gone and the beach is quiet again, right?”
"Yeah. It was bad." Not go for a swim bad, but... bad. You squeeze her fingers between yours, closing your eyes and turning to lean your face against her hair. There's something deeply reassuring about the physicality of it, the way the strands feel and smell on your skin, tickle against your nose. This is real, not voices in the mist. This is something you can hold.
Something you can lose.
Absently you kiss her head, before giving in to your exhaustion and lying back on the hospital bed. "Aye. The big guy- dunno, he fuckin' evaporated it or some shit." Your voice is a tired murmur, weariness blurring the memories and descriptors. It'll be a great story one day, but not tonight. "An' Ludo showed up t'take th'dead with it. Poor sods followed th'voices right into its teeth."
never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive
Vai is technically still supposed to be manning the clinic, but as Zeph leans back she isn’t far behind, settling snug against his side and splaying an arm across his chest. If anyone needs her then they’ll have to call, and she’s sure that if it’s an emergency they’ll be screaming about it. ”Sounds like it’s been a long, bad sort of night,” she says softly, letting her fingers draw absent patterns across his skin.
”Ludo?” she repeats, blinking up at him and having to focus hard not to let her eyes slip shut again. ”I... you can tell me all about it tomorrow,” she decides, leaning up to kiss his cheek. ”Shall we just... rest a bit, for now?” It doesn’t sound as though she’ll have much of a choice about it - Zeph has doomed them, by pulling them to lie down.
