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!
Whether or not Zeph had done anythin’ with what she told him has yet to be seen, her birds hadn’t caught whisper of it, so Raza has to assume that he’s been waylaid by Vervain (or maybe just forgot, which she wouldn’t put past ‘im) and that if you want a job done right, ya gotta do it yourself. Or somethin’ like that. It’s odd, because he’s usually real reliable. Anyway. She’s sent a note on the day before to request a meetin’ with the Governor at his place, and when the time comes, she gathers the mix’a notes she’d made of the overheard conversation and folds ‘em neatly, placin’ them in an inner pocket of a well-worn leather vest.
She strolls casually through Haulani to the new Governor’s new house (guess her tunnel is useless again, huh?) and knocks on the door, assuming this will be as informal as her usual meetings are.
// now take what i offer, straight up the nose down the throat, it's a bearable bruise on your conscious but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer? i am the way and the life in the best looking truth //
He seems brighter than he has in days, but it’s a good sign for Sunjata as the knock to his door catches his attention. There’s a brief howl from Haai to also alert him, though he ignores her for the most part to slip toward the door in the center – looking fairly well enough put together, that when he opens the door and peers at who’s arrived, confusion sparks in those steel eyes of his. “Hey Raza.” He rumbles, figuring she’s likely here on business.
What else would she be here for?
So he steps aside, opening the door for her to come in, before gesturing toward the government side of the wing, the one that would host most of the business side of everything. “What brings you by?” A dark brow raises, uncertainty lingering within him that he tucks away to give her his full attention.
i am the driver, i am the shadow, and i am the hearse
SUNJATA
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.
Indeed, it could only be business that brings her here.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Raza replies dryly to his confusion. “I do still live here.” And like any good citizen, she knows when she needs to tell the ‘boss’ somethin’. Not her boss-boss, but the other boss… who isn’t really her boss. Anyway, don’t think too much on that turn of phrase. When he opens the door further to let her come inside, she accepts with a nod, not even needing to dip her tall arc of hair to come in. This place was made size-appropriate, apparently.
Following him dutifully to an area that screams business, the bar owner waits until the Flood asks what’s up. “There was a conversation in my bar,” she begins, “A bit ago. Somethin’ felt off about ‘em.”
// now take what i offer, straight up the nose down the throat, it's a bearable bruise on your conscious but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer? i am the way and the life in the best looking truth //
Oh, he knows that she still lives here. But he hadn’t expected her to show up on his doorstep of all things. But he also knows when to draw silent, and so he does – stepping aside to let her in before closing the door and moving toward the more official office spaces of his home, a place where they can talk in private, officially, of course.
It’s his office, a splattering of books along the wall, some on the dark wood desk, sketches and notes of the groynes and Ark’s pathways flitted throughout them for the quest given from Safrin. As for the rest of it? A few notes of who was planning to do what, all things that would be fine for Raza to snoop at, it’s not like Sunjata cares much. But he gestures for her to take a seat on the other side before he sinks into his own chair, looking at her over the notes and items, leaning back with his elbows on the arms of the chair. “What felt off? And what was the conversation about?”
He’s not sure what it could be, but he recalls Melita saying Finn had been back, talking of the storms, and if anything that in and of itself got him a bit anxious for what Raza’s news could potentially be. But he makes a move to grab a fresh sheet of paper, a pen, to scribble down some notes as to what she'd heard.
i am the driver, i am the shadow, and i am the hearse
SUNJATA
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.
How to describe it? Honestly, she ain’t sure she can, but that gut feeling is part of what makes her a good secret-dealer. “Ya ever just look at someone and know something’ off about ‘em? Like they don’t belong there?” Pursing her lips together, Raza decides that’s a good enough explanation. “That’s what it felt like. They were outsiders.” Not Outlanders, because somehow that, too, is different.
As for what it was about, well that part is a little fuzzy. Sure, she could hear it, but that doesn’t mean she understood most of it. “Seemed personal. Half argument, half debate… an' they talked a lot about a plan an’ somethin’ called The Order.” Which is ominous sounding, actually. She pulls out her own set of notes, filled in with question marks and underlines, trying to make sense of shit she’s never heard of it and things so far outside her realm of expertise. What she's giving the Governor is just cliffnotes right now, but there's obviously more.
That’s what she’s here for, right? That’s what she does, to some extent. "Does that sound important to ya? Cause it does to me."
// now take what i offer, straight up the nose down the throat, it's a bearable bruise on your conscious but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer? i am the way and the life in the best looking truth //
He nods, an understanding on how it was different. Not Outlanders, but ones that weren’t around Torchline much, ones that hadn’t grown accustomed to the way and life of the bustling town, who hadn’t tried – yet still knew enough about Caido that they hadn’t simply landed in. But he remains silent, twiddling the pen in his hand as his gaze lifts to meet hers, to hear of a personal argument which isn’t that surprising when it comes to a conversation in a bar, but –
He pauses, gaze narrowing as she comments about the Order, and Sunjata’s jaw clenches hard. “Yes.” He rumbles with a bit of frustration. Not at her but at the news of what was going on in his home. “The Order is quite the big deal lately.” Comes the quieter rumble, setting the pen down so he might rub at his temple, an elbow planted on the desk, his gaze lifting to meet Raza’s face. “It’s a group of people trying to stop the Voice.”
i am the driver, i am the shadow, and i am the hearse
SUNJATA
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.
The significance, the magnitude of what Sunjata says is lost on her; without walking in the same circles he does, all she knows is that there’s a group of people trying to stop a Goddess and woooo-eeee does that sound dumb. The look in the Flood’s eyes, however, suggests that it isn’t dumb.
“Alright,” she says, settling into a chair. “I only heard it, I didn’t see it, but there were two guys, Cian and Finn.” Pullin’ out her own notes, she runs down the piece of paper chronologically. Unfortunately she’d missed a bit of the conversation until its tone and unique words clued her in, and then it was a race against writing speed and listening speed. Some of it’s gone, but there are phrases that still resonate.
“This is a little scattered, so bear wif me. Cian seemed to be in charge an’ Finn had read a book that had a plan, or - or a lot’a information in it. Then there was a machine and the Ascended’s plan. Finn has an owl from Safrin? Then a bit more fightin’, something’ about the Order always havin’ an eye, but not a spyglass.” Shrugging, Raza can make guesses about this, but its still just reportin’ phrases. Flippin’ the page over, she studies the other side.
“Finn then talked a lot, about the demigods an’ how everyone they found had agreed to join their cause, but some were dead, and Ronin’s kid was in Stormbreak. Ah, about the sickness an’ its origin. Then research about old demigods and how there’s a correlation or somethin’ now that points to the possibility of a second war.” There’s a bit of a smudge on the sheet, “Then my pencil broke, an’ I missed some. Came back an’ somethin’ about the Eye is for doin’ and the Spyglass if for seein’. An’ that the weather - some storms - are changin’. Whether or not it’s the Old Gods or the Voice wasn’t clear, but Finn suggested that maybe it was to give access to something or someone. Then he said somethin’ about a compass, but it couldn’t take him into the storms, just near-ish to ‘em.”
And that’s that. Raza shrugs again. “Course this was awhile ago. I thought maybe Zeph would’a said somethin’ first, I went to him initially.”
// now take what i offer, straight up the nose down the throat, it's a bearable bruise on your conscious but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer? i am the way and the life in the best looking truth //
Sunjata hasn’t seen Cian before, but he has seen Finn. Ironically within the Hanged Man as well. But even though he hasn’t seen Cian, he’s heard of the man. And the two names bring quite a bit of unease to the governor, who picks up the pen again, scanning Raza’s face as she details out what she’d heard, his stomach sinking with every bit of it.
He remains silent, however, for the most part as she details it out, his gaze focused on her even if his mind filters through all the implications. An owl from Safrin, specifically, has his own Safrin inked gifts swirling along his arms. He doesn’t know the Ascended’s plans, doesn’t know much about what the Voice has planned, wishing to remain as out of the loop as he could with Nate, for as long as he could.
But it seems as though the Order has other plans, and it sets his jaw tighter as he scribbles out the notes from Raza’s own, little bullet points, nodding as he heard the demigods having been spoken to – it was why he’d received a letter from Stormbreak from Ronin, why he’d heard Remi was still in the Greatwood, why Wessex had relayed her worries.
As for Zeph, Sunjata rolls his shoulders. “We’ve all been a bit busy.” He rumbles, having not really seen much of anyone else for that matter, his mind a spiderwebbed fragment of what it had been before. But he sucks in a breath, sets the pen down again, and moves to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Sounds like that war is coming quicker and quicker.” He murmurs, acknowledging the point Raza had brought up, that they’d spoken of a second war. “I’m not sure what the whole Spyglass and Eye mean yet but I’ve been trying to keep tabs on them. I’ll talk to Ronin and see if he can glean more.” A muscle feathers in his jaw, leaning back in his chair to let his steel gaze land on the woman that sits across from him. “In the meantime, if you could keep tabs of whether or not more of the Order shows up in the Hanged Man, I’d appreciate it.” And they’d work toward finishing that quest for Safrin before the storms hit, and maybe – just maybe – that would be enough time for Sunjata to not have to have so much on his plate if war were to truly come to Torchline’s shores.
Nor what it means for him, aligned to an Old God and his husband. Whether it would tear them apart or if they could survive it out.
i am the driver, i am the shadow, and i am the hearse
SUNJATA
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.
“Mmmmm,” Raza sits back and humms her general agreement to - well, something - perhaps to more than one statement Sunjata’s made. And then she suddenly sits forward, latching on to a word. A word that had been repeated, but like many things, doesn’t sink in until you really think about it. “War?” her brows furrow. “Really?”
War was a distant idea; a thing of the past and an inconceivable possibility for the future. War wasn’t spoken of except in stories of the past, in things that ended with shrugs and make-believe. War made Raza’s stomach roll. She ain’t on the Flood’s government, but this kind of thing seems like something he should be talkin’ about, that folks should be aware of - but even after her gut reaction, Raza knows that the whispers of war would only create a panic amongst the ordinary people. It’s a tricky situation, ain’t it?
// now take what i offer, straight up the nose down the throat, it's a bearable bruise on your conscious but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer? i am the way and the life in the best looking truth //
War certainly catches her attention, and Sunjata’s steel gaze lifts to meet her face, jaw clenching as he considers everything it all involved. Nodding after he takes a deep breath, sighing it out as he speaks. “The Voice’s influence is growing and as far as I’ve heard, the Order wish to stop her, with help from the Old Gods.” His head tilts this way and that as he considers her, considers the position they’re both in.
“I’m sure you can imagine how that complicates things.” Not only for the world, but for the fact that there were few Ascended in Torchline at the moment, one of which quite important to him. On the other hand, there were many that aligned with the Old Gods, and what war might mean if it came to their shores.
It’s a bit too sad and anxiety inducing for Sunjata to linger on it for too long, given the obvious. “The goal is that if it does come, it doesn’t come here.” In the meantime, though, Sunjata’ll do his best to keep the peace, keep everything neutral, to try not to venture out into the midst of it all unless he’s forced to.
Even that thought sets his starry tattoos swirling again.
i am the driver, i am the shadow, and i am the hearse
SUNJATA
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.
Ohhhh, Raza can imagine it, alright. Her gaze grows dark and troubled, warm brown eyes muddying with emotion and revelations. Her jaw sets itself against the world and its determination to race towards something so unnecessary; what had war done for them last time? Who were the Gods to say they should enter into it again? Leaning forward to place her elbows on her knees, Raza finally exhales. “Aight. Yeah.”
It’s a shock to her system. Everything she immediately imagines can be taken a step further, and it makes her stomach churn in a way that all those casual crimes and threats do not. “Thanks for tellin’ me. I’ll keep me ‘n Mik’s ears open.” Head bobbing up and down as Raza rises, her head is already clearly elsewhere. The idea of war has the hard-edged Torcher shaken in a way that deep-sea monsters never could.
// now take what i offer, straight up the nose down the throat, it's a bearable bruise on your conscious but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer? i am the way and the life in the best looking truth //
She understands, not like Sunjata had expected her not to, but he breathes a quiet sigh of relief among the rest of the tension at her offer. A nod of his head is given to her, watching as she moves to rise, Sunjata leans forward along his desk toward her before her departure. “Let me know if you find out anything.” He rumbles, knowing that she’d know how to get ahold of him, and even still she knew where he lived. “Thank you Raza.” This is quieter, earnest, honest.
He leans back to open a drawer in his desk, pulling out a bottle of something strong and a glass as she leaves, sure that she can find her way out, and he pours himself a decent amount of the liquor before downing it in one go, left to try and figure out what to do next.
- FIN <3
i am the driver, i am the shadow, and i am the hearse
SUNJATA
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.
