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!
Even in Deepfrost, it is dangerous for Isla to be here in Torchline. But on a quest for knowledge, the medic is insatiable. And call it itchy feet from the whole being dead thing, but she just needs to get out there and see the world. On two feet this time, and with less clip-clopping. So when she arrives at the islands, it's at dusk - even then, she still has a parasol to shade her from any lingering rays of light.
People talk, and Isla prides herself on listening, especially when it pertains to her profession. And she has heard of a medical centre set up in Torchline by a fellow Ascended, though she's unsure of his name, or the guild's name, or... anything else, in that regard. Hopefully at least some of those questions might be answered before her return to the Grounds.
For now Isla walks the streets of Haulani with careful and lingering steps, her golden hair pinned up in a simple style which leaves a few curls escaping down her back. She is in no rush, and the closing darkness does little to impede her wandering. If it takes all night, it is still a worthwhile trip.
we're gonna separate ourselves tonight we're always running scared but holding knives
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
A few last minute preparations are in order, but he’s going a bit crazy in the attempts to keep it all organized. Luckily for the Governor, he was on his last item, one quick little hop in and hop out of the shop with a box under his arm. But that’s not all — the merchant snagging his attention as he slips through the door, pausing briefly to offer a quiet rumbling laugh and a crooked smile her way. “I know, I know!” He says back to the woman, continuing through the door fully now. “I’ll tell him.” And with that, he’s out of the door, focused elsewhere.
So focused, in fact, he doesn’t realize as his tall frame collides with a passerby, the box in his arm wiggling and almost getting dropped in the process as Sunjata fumbles to try and catch it. He manages to, just barely, recovering enough to draw up to his full height and peer at the woman he’d run into. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Are you alright?” He half expects to recognize her, but is surprised when he doesn’t — evident in the raise of his brows.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
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.
Isla has performed surgery in the dark, in the rain, in the middle of a battle. And yet as she walks head long into a very tall wall, the sound that leaves her is much more of a squeak of surprise than anythin resembling an unflappable surgeon. She stumbles back, arms pinwheeling, and the parasol slips from her fingers to go tumbling down the street. Carried by the sea breeze, she doesn't think she'll see it again.
"Oh no, it's entirely my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going - I should have been more careful." She smiles up at him (and up, and up - gosh this is a tall man). "Perhaps you might be kind enough to help me, though? I am looking for a medical centre. I'm told there was one in Haulani, but I seem to have gotten turned around on myself. Do you know the way?"
we're gonna separate ourselves tonight we're always running scared but holding knives
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
The parasol goes flying down the alley of Haulani, but Sunjata doesn’t notice where it stops. All he can do is focus on ensuring the woman is okay. Luckily for Isla (though Sunjata doesn’t know this at present), the sun has dipped below the horizon and washed the city in purples and blues of the dimmed sunset. “I should’ve watched where I was going.” He rumbles, agreement with her on how they both hadn’t been paying attention. Still, he flashes her a softer smile as she appears okay, Sunjata grasping onto the box on his hands as he hears her question.
“Ah, that I do know the way to.” He offers with an easier grin, stepping out slowly at first to ensure she’s following, before he’s guiding her the way to the clinic. “Interested in the clinic itself or the Wren Society?” He asks, tilting his head back her way with a raise of his brow, completely forgetting that they haven’t introduced themselves yet — too focused on ensuring the other was alright.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
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 one was hurt and there is only a missing parasol to show for it. I will take that as a positive." Isla smiles back at him, her pebble blue eyes lighting up as he clearly seems to know what she's talking about. "The Wren Society...? Is that what it is called?" Brightening further, the medic does indeed fall into step with him as they meander down streets blanketed slowly in darkness.
It's as she glances up at him again that there's a flash of recognition, her footsteps faltering slightly. She knows this man but she doesn't, having seen him dozens of times through eyes without the keen mind of the Ascended who now stands before him. "Sunjata," she blurts suddenly, having to skip a few steps to keep up. "I mean - I..." With a sudden bubbling of laughter, she shakes her head.
"It's Isla."
we're gonna separate ourselves tonight we're always running scared but holding knives
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
It is a positive, all things considered, and he relaxes a fraction as he guides the way toward the clinic, trying to specify where exactly Isla was looking to end up. “It is, Nate made a guild out of it.” He explains easily, hoping she knew at least something about his husband, otherwise he’d be needing to explain a whole fair amount more. As it was, however, the explanation falls under her sudden realization of him.
And for a moment he tries to filter his mind for her face, coming up empty completely despite his attempts. And so he assumes she knows him because he’s the governor and possibly been spoken about before. But it gets stranger and stranger, his lips parting to comment that he’s at a disadvantage, that he doesn’t know her name until she offers it up.
It still doesn’t ring any bells as he looks at her, filtering her name in his mind until it pops up with a unicorn and his brows furrow, his steps stop, floundering. “The… Unicorn?” He asks, an awkward laugh leaving him as he shakes his head. “I don’t think we’ve met before…? Unless…” The first thought that courses through him is that he’s fucked if Haai dies and comes back as a person.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
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.
Nate also seems to ring a bell, and Isla finds herself subconsciously relaxing as they meander through the city towards a clinic that she imagine she would have been far closer to had she not been in hooves at the time. "I see. I was told that an Ascended ran the clinic, so I was hoping to go and speak with him. I missed him in the Grounds when he was there, you see," she explains, as if it makes any sense whatsoever.
His awkwardness and incredulity are met with a kind smile and a fanged grin, Isla giving him a friendly pat on the arm. "The very same, though I did not start my life as a unicorn," she explains. She gives him the lowdown in the briefest terms as they walk - I was a person, I Ascended, I was killed, Remi bargained with Ludo and I became a unicorn, etc. etc..
"Then at the Festival of Lights, I came back," she finishes. "I was a medic when I was alive - I ran a clinic in the Hollowed Grounds. I'm reopening it, and I thought I might work with Nate in a larger capacity."
we're gonna separate ourselves tonight we're always running scared but holding knives
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
“The information’s correct.” He begins with a quiet huff of laughter. “Not entirely sure if he’s there right now or home, but we’ll find out.” Either way, the box in his hands is meant for both him and Nate. So he guides her, until she confuses the hell out of him and he’s coming to a dead stop in the middle of the Haulani alley, brows pinching together as he focuses on her statement of not being a unicorn first.
That alleviates the fear of Haai turning into someone that’d readily kick his ass if he so much as looked at her wrong.
And Isla continues to explain – a person, ascension, death… Bargains with gods, companions brought and dying again. He can’t help the low whistle that leaves him. “You’ve been through quite a lot.” He murmurs thoughtfully, glancing back to her with a softer smile on his lips. “Not to speak for my husband, but I imagine he’d enjoy that a lot.” They’re still walking, though, and the clinic is still a bit of a ways off. “Do you remember much of being a unicorn? Like… The things that happened?” He can’t help the curiosity that plagues him.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
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.
Isla feels herself relax further as he confirms that yes, Nate does run the clinic and she isn't completely off track with the information that she's heard. And it's a really small world, apparently - of all the people to run into, and of all the people who might run the clinic, and it's these two. Still, she almost stumbles right into him as he stops, Isla blinking in confusion right back up at Sunjata.
"Oh! Yes, I suppose I have." Her smile is a touch bashful, a soft shimmer on her cheeks as she shrugs to him. "I'm glad you think that, though. I don't know how much things have changed since I was in the Hollowed Grounds last, but while I was there I definitely noticed a lack of doctors."
As for her days as a unicorn? She tucks her curls behind her ear. "I remember things from when I first became one. But slowly things started to fade," she explains. "I recognise you, and Nate, and I remember Torchline. But..." Her head shakes. "It gets hazy."
we're gonna separate ourselves tonight we're always running scared but holding knives
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
She almost stumbles into him and he peers down at her, the confusion lacing away ass the explanations grow, his concern shifting into something of an almost awkward, easy smile. “Lots have changed in the Grounds. I’ll be honest, though, I tried to get out as soon as I could.” He snorts before he shakes his head. “But, that being said, as far as I know there aren’t any doctors there anymore.” Nate was here and in terms of medics? Phoebe was here too, squirreled away in her brothel he assumes despite having not seen her in quite some time.
The rest of it, however, he continues to walk down the path, cutting a corner as he guides her toward the clinic, listening as she speaks of being a unicorn. “That makes sense.” He rumbles thoughtfully. To be placed into another body with the same soul as before, perhaps it had gone to war with the body she’d been placed in and in the end the unicorn Isla won out.
Regardless, he pauses before the door to the clinic, offering an easier smile her way as he shuffles the box to open the door to the clinic for her with a scarred hand. “Well, this is it.” He gestures for her to enter first before he follows in behind her.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
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's no awkwardness in Isla, at least, and the smile she directs back at Sunjata is warm and understanding. "It's difficult when it feels like you are stuck in a bubble," she agrees. "Even more so when you are literally stuck in one. I cannot blame anyone who decided to get out and see the world. Especially when it is somewhere like this - Torchline is beautiful." And it continues to be that way as they head deeper into town towards the medical clinic.
And then they are there - Isla doesn't comment on anything making sense when it comes to what she's been through and how she's gotten here, because... it really doesn't. It doesn't make a lick of sense. So instead she merely looks upon the building, examining it carefully and taking it all in, as if she's trying to collect mental notes for her own clinic back in the Hollowed Grounds.
She'd offer to hold the box, but Sunjata seems to have hold of it alright, and instead Isla offers a murmur of thanks as she sidles in through the doors. "Those are a lot of scars," she remarks of his hand, unable to help herself.
we're gonna separate ourselves tonight we're always running scared but holding knives
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
“I was lucky enough to arrive after the barrier had fallen. But only the Greatwood and Halo were around at that point and… Well, let’s just say the first time I’d seen snow was when I landed in the Grounds.” It wasn’t something he was ashamed of, if anything it was more amusing now than anything else. Gods knew he’d already had a lifetime fill of it, between his Halo trips and avoiding the cold as much as possible. He decides that now, among the beaches and warmth of Torchline, the further away the snow stayed, the better. It wasn’t like he was going to go and seek it out. “Torchline’s closer to what I’m used to. Never get tired of the ocean.” This comes out a bit softer, more appreciation in it than anything else.
But they arrive at the clinic and Sunjata’s opening the door for her, gesturing for her to enter while he holds onto the box in his hands easily. Her comment ignites a quiet snort from him as he follows her in, the door closing behind them as he moves toward the center where the entrance desk sits to set the box down. “Got struck by lightning a few seasons back. Called down a storm right when someone handed me a lightning rod rather than throwing it at the beast. I wasn’t paying attention and grabbed it.” This is said with a hint of a grimace but some hidden amusement as well. “Very lucky to have survived it, to be honest.” And it was this very building that he’d been taken, worked on, treated – and lived. “They go all the way up my arm and halfway across my chest.” The little pink spiderwebbed scars, turning whiter with every passing season.
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
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 do not remember my first time seeing snow." It brings a soft smile to her lips, imagining a grown man experiencing something like that for the first time. Isla lives for those moments, those first times, and she follows after him into the clinic to peer around, her curiosity snatched by the sight of it. It's her first visit to a functioning medical space like this in a very long time, and she drifts over to the reception area as Sunjata continues.
"What's in here?" she asks, having noticed his consistent fondling of the box he's been carrying. Then of course the conversation goes back to his scars, and her pebble blues track all the way up his arm, beneath his clothes to where she imagines the pink, spiderwebbing lines continue. "That sounds painful - I'm glad you're alright. I'd offer to try and make something for you, to help fade them. But your husband is a doctor." There's no need doesn't have to be said, she assumes.
we're gonna separate ourselves tonight we're always running scared but holding knives
with every breath and every intake tip toe further away
There’s a moment of memory that strikes him, of Phoebe mentioning snowmen and snow angels, both of which he hadn't known what they meant. He knows now, of course, but the idea of it was only something Sunjata could equate to sand, it was the only thing that seemed to make sense at the time. And since then? He’s absolutely had his fill.
As for what’s in the box? There’s a lighter half smile that crosses his face as he moves to place it on the reception desk. “I’m having my belated reception party in a few days.” He explains, turning to Isla with that same smile. “Just a small gift for Nate in the meantime.” But with that explanation gone and out of the way, Sunjata’s focused on the lightning scars, the story, a shrug offered in response at first. Because he’d managed to live through it with the help of Vai.
As for fading the scars, he shakes his head. “I don’t mind the scars.” He rumbles, a wider smile crossing his face. “Where I’m from they’re a big deal. A sort of, look at what you survived, type of deal.”
further away from this mistake i'm no savior, i'm no saint
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.
