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!
i'll love you till the day i die, even if it's just a bold face hell of a pretty lie
Most times when Shaju had conducted business with him, it was a separate room. This time, however, in front of so many people? Well, Sunjata had been restrained by officers, with guns and knives pointed at them from all sides. “Yes.” He finally says simply, easier to explain that part without diving into a tangent.
But he pauses so she can ask questions if she’d like to and the question that reaches him has him pausing, considering, the flicker of emotions so raw within him he can’t help but to laugh. It’s a short, humorless thing that has him shaking his head. “No. There was no talking with him.” He pauses, deciding that she’s likely gotten the wrong impression. “That particular business was with me and Lusea. So he had us restrained by officers. He made me watch as he killed her.” His fingers itch to rub at the scar at his neck again, but he refrains.
But his gaze does lift to Isla’s face after that. “So of course I fought those holding me, got sliced in the neck pretty deep. They let me hold her as she died and I eventually blacked out.” There’s a slow inhale of breath, a loud exhale of a sigh. “But they fixed me up and a few short hours later I was dragged back into that stupid fucking foyer like nothing had happened and was told my sister and I were engaged.” Tattooed shoulders rise and fall in a shrug.
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.
He's a knitted patchwork of trauma and abuse, Isla realises, and it runs deeper and more completely than she could have anticipated. Whether the mistake with his medicine had been accidental or otherwise, the medic cannot help but feel that it is an unbearably cruel thing to happen to someone with so many skeletons already in their closet, waiting to be baited out. "What a remarkably callous thing to do," she says softly as he continues to explain, Isla nibbling gently at the inside of her cheek.
"Do you think that is why they let you hold her? Because they were always planning to make you live?" she wonders, before raising a hand in apology. "You don't have to answer that. I tend to think out loud." Letting her gaze drop to her hands, Isla furrows her brow. "Quite the family you have," she remarks. "And how did that go?"
i'll love you till the day i die, even if it's just a bold face hell of a pretty lie
It was a horribly cruel thing to do, and yet it was all Sunjata truly knew back then. It had only been his mother (whom had been taken away) and the resistance (which had also been taken away) that had shown him any form of love and understanding, even if it was hard fought and well won. Her question ignites something within him, a confusion in wondering if that’s why they had let him. Because they knew he wouldn’t go with her regardless of how much he had wished to, how much he had tried.
So he swallows down in his confusion. “It’s okay. Thinking back on it now, that makes sense.” Just one more cruel thing for them to do, to give him the hope of it just once. His gaze lifts to her face after as the next question is aired, his tongue running along his teeth as he considers it. “Horribly, as per usual. I caused a distraction and grabbed my sister and we self exiled from Korofi. In that time, though, my father had convinced everyone that I had been a double spy. To get the resistance where he wanted them to take care of the problem at its roots. So then I was hunted by my father and the resistance.” Which is why they had exiled, why he had gone to a completely different land because nowhere was safe.
“A year or so after that, I ended up here.”
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.
There isn't much to say to that, and so Isla doesn't try. She merely lets out a long, slow sigh (unnecessary but it's habit) and leans back in her seat with her gaze upon the ceiling. If Sunjata looks close he might even be able to sense the cogs turning, the pieces of the Flood's psyche knitting together in her mind to make a fuller picture, a dawning understanding that does, in fact, help her to help him further.
"If I might be bold, may I offer you something?" she asks eventually, shifting to get to her feet and moving to her desk. She opens a drawer and withdraws something from it, before crossing back to hand it to Sunjata. It's a key to the office - a spare, obviously. "If you ever need some solitude, let yourself in. The place is locked up when I am out, and no one will look for you here. And if you need anything, you can just leave a note."
She's interrupted, at that point, by a tap at the door. "And that will be food." She smiles.
i'll love you till the day i die, even if it's just a bold face hell of a pretty lie
Her gaze is on the ceiling and he absolutely does end up scanning her face, to try and read her. He can’t, however, he doesn’t know her well enough to see through anything. But he can tell that she’s thinking, and that’s enough for him to swing his attention away. And then she’s offering a question, a bold question that has a dark brow raising, his wings shifting in the seat as he listens. And he watches her as she stands to retrieve something, to come back and hand it to him. His gaze slips toward it curiously, his tongue running over his teeth again as he considers it.
He doesn’t expect it to hit as hard as it does, and he takes the key from her with a slow nod, the sheen of tears glimmering in his eyes as the wave returns of his inner battle. “Thank you.” He offers as she’s thankfully interrupted, Sunjata slipping the key into a pocket as she moves to retrieve the food, spending a moment to suck down the show of emotion he’s let out to pretend they hadn’t been there before. “What did you get?” He asks instead, wondering what food she’d decided would be good for him after being out for so long.
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.
"You're very welcome," Isla tells him with a soft smile, before departing to answer the door. There's a rattle of bowls and cutlery and she returns with a tray laden with food. "I've got a pot of stew with some bread from the bakery, and a canteen of coffee for you. The baker threw in a cake as well, by the look of it. I hope you're hungry, because it's not like it's any use for me." Laughing, she sets everything down on the table and carefully ladles some stew into the bowl for him.
Lighter conversation follows after that, mainly directed by the medic - it is one thing to help the body, but another entirely to try and heal the mind. Only when Sunjata is full and warmed through and caffeinated does she let him test his balance, and even then, she performs a quick check up before letting him leave. The Flood disappears out into the snow and the darkness, and Isla is left with her thoughts to wait for the inevitable.
