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!
"It breathes lightning," Vai repeats, her expression one of incredulous amusement. No, the irony is absolutely not lost on her, and she's already tracking the now familiar topography of lightning scars along his form when he pulls her into a sudden hug. Her oof is lost against him, given that he's still half armoured scales and wings, but she hugs him back regardless. "Hey, maybe the lightning got into your blood," she suggests with a smirk, thinking it quite a fitting revenge for Jata to take the storm into himself to use on others.
As he speaks about wanting to try it out on something, though, she gives him a good-natured elbow to the ribs; Vai is far too accustomed to living with predators not to heed the edge in his voice. "You are Governor, and you will wait until something attacks your islands," she informs him, before lowering her voice a bit. "Or you can wait until it's dark, fly out to sea, and practice on sea panthers and ghost whales."
“Now there’s a thought.” Sunjata nearly trills, amusement flickering through him as he squeezes her in the hug. But his grip loosens when he continues to speak, the suggestion and need of the predator beneath his skin, burrowing and brimming with thoughts. Her elbow to his stomach ends with him letting her go fully, wings flaring in a bit of an outburst. “Hey!” He protests, a laugh leaving him. “That was a bit uncalled for if you ask me.” He feigns pain, unable to keep the crooked and toothy grin from his face.
He puffs out a bit of air as if he takes her words into consideration. “I’m not a monster, Vai.” He rumbles, though the gleam in his eye is still very much that glint of something other. The armor on his skin retracts until tattooed and scarred skin remains, the wings disappearing soon after. “Can’t help it sometimes with how many shifts I have at my disposal.” Besides the fact how now, his shifts have been relatively even. Only the dragon had dipped the scales in the other direction.
i can tell just what you want // you don't want to be alone
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, I am terribly sorry. I'd kiss it better, but I think you've got a husband better suited to that sort of thing," Vai tells him sweetly, though there's something positively wicked in her grin that's still riding the high of flying all around Torchline on the back of a dragon. She glances out at the sea as the rest of his shift bleeds away, having lived with Attuned and other shapechangers for long enough to know that staring is sometimes frowned upon, and only when Jata speaks again does she glance back at him.
Softening a bit, she smiles and reaches out to pat his arm, gently guiding them off the beach. "I know you aren't, Sunny," she murmurs. "I just... also know what it's like. Felix's father had the same struggles. Worse, in a lot of ways. The way he came into his shift..." She wrinkles her nose. "They pit the shapechangers against one another. He had to kill in his animal form to win and to survive. It never left him." There's more, too. Worse, but she hesitates to say it.
“Gods, what a kiss it is.” He replies incredibly smugly, a smirk crossing his face as he starts to disband his partial shift, not minding either way whether Vai watches or not. But tattooed skin flexes along his body once again, Safrin’s starry sleeves spinning slightly as the stars rotate within it. His gaze flickers back to her when she speaks next; his amusement fading incredibly quick.
She guides him off of the beach, his gaze focused on the path ahead until she comments how Devrum had gotten his shift. There’s some split second of horror, of memories that flicker back to the surface that he swallows down, feathers ruffling down his shoulders. “Oh.” He rumbles quietly, jaw feathering slightly as he turns to look back at Vai and offer a softer smile of an apology. “I’m sorry.” He doesn’t know what else to say.
i can tell just what you want // you don't want to be alone
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.
"Ew." Vai smiles brightly to him, her expression totally at odd with her words - exactly what one might expect when someone she considers family gives TMI. But then they're headed up the beach and as she glances to Sunjata again, it's to see feathers rippling over his shoulders.
"No, I'm sorry," she says. "All I mean is that... Devrum understood that there was a nature in him that needed to be kept fed and sleepy so he didn't accidentally put anyone in danger. Now there's a dragon in you, so just... don't neglect to feed it, yeah?" She winks to him.
The sand becomes stone beneath their feet, Vai stretching and glancing back over her shoulder to the bob and roll of the waves. "I think he'd have quite liked this place," she remarks. "For about five minutes, anyway. He always was more of a woodsman. I blame the bear in him."
’Ew.’ His voice raises slightly, mimicking her voice the best he can, a flicker of amusement crossing his face before it all fades at the drop of a hat. Feathers spiral down his neck, his head tilting toward her as they walk, focused on the words that leave her. “I’ll try not to.” He offers, giving her a rather sheepish smile, unsure how much the shifts affected him (though it was obvious as the days went on, the protectiveness of a dragon and his hoard growing more and more).
The streets of Haulani are met under his feet, his gaze trained ahead while Vai looks back to the waves. “That makes sense.” He offers with a quiet laugh, a small rumble. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here.” A brief pause, gaze slipping back over to her, a small half smile creeping up the corners of his lips. "And thank you for lunch." He doesn't feel like he needs to pay her back, not with the dragon ride still weighing on his shoulders with a bit of exhaustion, with the way he can see it lighting up her face still.
i can tell just what you want // you don't want to be alone
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.
Vai doesn't respond to him with words so much as with a wolfish grin and a prod to the ribs, and although their conversation has hinted towards the serious again, she's not all too perturbed. Slowly she turns from the sea to stroll along the streets of Haulani, nudging her shoulder gently against Sunjata's upper arm (closest she can get to his shoulder, given the height difference).
"I know you will. And you're pretty good at it, from what I've seen." Grinning, she lets the subject drop and hums out a content sigh, only glance back up at him. "No need to thank me. It's practically routine at this point," she murmurs, though there's something warm and happy in her blue eyes as they head back towards the Slagveld. "I'm glad to be here. I never thought I'd be so at home in Torchline. But I guess it's the people who count more than the place."
