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!
so put your faith in the devil and the deep blue sea put your trust in the light that you cannot see
He puffs out a quiet sigh, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he peers down at the flyers that had been spread around Torchline. There’s a shallow dip of his chin in the form of a nod, following along her thought process. “It’s not unlike how the resistance undermined him in Korofi.” The resistance of which Sunjata was a part of. The rebellion sought to overthrow the throne. But it had been for good reason, not spite or pain, though he supposes now that the tables have turned his father has placed all that rage into spite.
So far it was working.
“Do you think, maybe, that we could go down to the Firling?” He asks, chewing on his cheek. To get an idea of how Torchline felt. “I have my dog shift that only you, Hotaru, and Nate know of.” He offers tentatively, releasing her hand and moving to the drawer in the kitchen to pull out the bauble he’d made with Zeph before everything had gone to shit. “You could hang this for me and we could get an idea of what it’s like down there.” In secret, of course, and should anything happen to her he’d be right there.
there's a darkness up ahead i will see you where the shadow ends
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.
Her eyes went back to the posters, to the notations of lands from before. Perhaps he was using methods he felt effective, instigating a cycle, a pattern, for Sunjata to recognize, but no one else. Some other method of contortion and torment. Compositions of a crafty, cunning, ruthless individual – the sooner he was gone and vanquished, the better.
And despite all the warnings she’d just unfurled and pointed out, her uncle still wanted to leave. Her features rendered immediately into a deadpan expression, blinking once or twice, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing – a shake of her head to follow. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Not that such a notion had ever stopped any of them in this particular family. Melita didn’t fear for her own safety; any and all apprehension was reserved for this illogical notion. Her jaw clenched tightly, and once her hand was released, both palms went immediately to her staff, gaze flickering to the door.
It wasn’t the bauble that was important, but the relevance of what laid outside these doors. “Only if we go quickly,” muffled on a sigh, standing, a silent signal sent for Fangorn, who bounded out of the next room immediately thereafter.
hey young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out? I'm gonna change you like a remix, then i'll raise you like a phoenix
She reminds him that she doesn’t think it’s a good idea, and that’s fine. But they’d be quiet about it, secretive, letting his shift be silent and obedient at her side. A dog, not too surprising given the trio of kittens that bound around the home harassing Haai. Eventually, though, she relents, and he slides the feathery bauble her way, offering her as much of a smile as he can muster. “We’ll be quick, Mel.” He assures her, moving toward the door.
He shifts into his canine shift, long tail sweeping a bit back and forth, before sending a mental note to Haai to remain and keep an eye on the house and whether anything attempted to happen while they were gone. But they’d be quick, just as he’d promised Melita. And so he moves toward the door to slip out of it when she opens the door to the darkened outdoors. His ears are perked, steel gaze looking to Melita as he bounds out the front door, waiting for her with a leg lifted (trying to get a hold of his canine shift as it wishes to run away without him keeping the reins).
wearing our vintage misery, no, i think it looked a little better on me
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.
Quick, indeed. Her limbs swept out into the evening, presuming he could keep up with her swift strides, eyes striving to adjust to the dim darkness. She snagged at a lantern nearby, also occupied with the bauble in her hand, and the other holding onto her staff, just in case. Fangorn served as another being capable of seeing, of witnessing, of warning, and his vines collected and contorted while he leapt and grumbled.
The rush into the evening was made up of more cacophony, more noise. LongNight’s debaucheries, so different towards the one in the Hollowed Grounds, filled the air – a nightlife rampant with song, dance, merriment, drink, and fire hastened, billowed, and beckoned from all around. She wound her way through the crowd, blending in effortlessly after more than a year within their confines, habitual and inclined to weave against the tide, encouraging motion along the sidelines. Communication quite limited in this state, every so often she’d ensure Sunjata was nearby, not distracted, not taken, not wandered off elsewhere, and eventually, they would reach the firling itself.
Not many were around it – perhaps the amusement had died off, or other moments sought and occupied their time. It’d be easy enough – countering no other issues – and her eyes went to the baubles she and Nate had made not a couple evenings before. Several others caught her gaze (she muffled a laugh at one that was definitely a penis), and then placed Sunjata’s beside the rest of the family’s.
hey young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out? I'm gonna change you like a remix, then i'll raise you like a phoenix
He follows suit, quickly, bounding up to Melita to catch up when her strides take her further away. His gaze is attentive to everything that goes on, watching and waiting for the ball to drop, for something to come out of the dark, something to perhaps snatch him up. But he’s kept this shift quite sealed from everyone except for those closest to him, trusting them that they hadn’t let it slip, and for nothing else? He looks just like any other stray the Governor’s family has picked up.
He loses Melita for a brief moment in the crowd, but he manages to slip under some feet, pass through some legs, hop over the edge of half of a wall, in order to catch up to her. The Firling is bright compared to the absolute darkness of everything else, and he peers up at it briefly when he comes to sit beside where Melita’s placing the bauble. He spies the penis shaped one, his tail flicking in amusement with it (one of the only feelings he can muster at the moment, influenced heavily by the carefreeness of the canine shift) before his dark head is tilting toward Melita with wide grey blue eyes.
It doesn’t take long before he’s standing again, nosing at her leg and at Fangorn, pleased to know that the crowds are continuing on as they were while his life had been in quite a bit of danger. So he begins to head back toward the home, pausing at the edge of the crowd for Melita to catch up.
wearing our vintage misery, no, i think it looked a little better on me
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.
Nothing untoward occurred; though she waited, the moments and seconds ticking by. With the baubles hung along the boughs, and several shifting stares, there wasn’t much else to do. She didn’t hear of any idle chatter or gossip. The parties were in full swing, bonfires ignited down along the shorelines, and the crowd dissipated down market streets and alleyways, immersed in LongNight traditions that didn’t equate with monsters. There was some sigh of relief imbedded in there, and she grabbed hold of Fangorn, ensuring the gourd was secure in her arms, before they proceeded.
Sunjata seemed to feel the same – though she couldn’t be sure given the incapability of communication – but with him maneuvering back the way they’d come, she nodded, following after. And within the interim, she still listened, for any sign, for any semblance, for any hints of animosity.
hey young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out? I'm gonna change you like a remix, then i'll raise you like a phoenix
It was relieving, to an extent, to find that no monsters have crossed paths into Torchline. Of course, he should have known better from last LongNight but given the fact all of them (he and Nate and Melita) had been deep within Rae’s Fingers fighting a lava octopus and otherwise occupied had made him not pay as much attention to that LongNight versus this one. This one is bad for other reasons, like the whispers on the wind that he can hear in his canine form, straining large satellite ears toward the sounds, trying to glean more.
He breaks through the crowd, however, hearing the quelling whispers of how he’d beaten Vervain, little comments here and there of how anyone could be on his council if that was how he treated them. Vai was the peacekeeper, after all, what could be said for him who had beaten the one that was supposed to keep it in the first place. That perhaps his rage was something unleashed with Nate leaving, that perhaps he’s truly gone and lost his mind after all.
It’s only reflected by the dip of his ears, by his heart that feels as though it’s crushed by thorns. He waits for Melita, trotting alongside her back up from Haulani toward the house, keeping himself close to her until they reach the door again.
wearing our vintage misery, no, i think it looked a little better on me
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.
Steps to follow, to bend, to slide after familiar paths – and then she heard it. Gossip, louder and louder, likely encouraged by drinks and merriment, slinking and slithering along the roadways, foaming from passersby. Sometimes a group, immersed in their slander, appalled by the antics of their Governor. She bent her head and grit her teeth, because they were striving to be unknown, unseen, and if she slipped a punch or a throwdown in the middle of the streets, there’d be more talk. More chatter. More noise, noise, noise, until the cacophony burst and flooded, floored, the void.
Instead, her palms twisted into fists, and Fangorn grumbled from her arms. A warning, a placating, perhaps; her eyes flickering back to Sunjata. “Home,” she whispered, knowing at the very least the dog’s ears would be able to pick up on the subtle nuance, and they wouldn’t have to listen to this anymore. They shouldn't have come out.
He’d heard it. She could see by his stance anyway. No hiding, even within the wares of a world he’d tried to protect and salvage. So she increased her pace, her tempo, ducking her head down amongst the people, mind gnawing away at the discrepancies, at how much could change and alter on a single web of lies.
so put your faith in the devil and the deep blue sea put your trust in the light that you cannot see
It was disappointing, so much so that Sunjata focuses on literally anything else he can. He focuses on the looming house that they approach, the lights that burn on within it. He focuses on the way the grass grows longer here, greener, less battered by waves and sand. He focuses on the porch that leads to the door, waiting idly for Melita to open it to let him in. He’d be damned to shift out front of the house when this shift was supposed to be a secret anyway.
Once she’s opened the door, he lips inside, the clattering of nails on the hardwood floor the only sound he can muster until she’s closed the door and he shifts back into himself. “Thank you.” He murmurs, moving in to sit on the couch in the living room of the home, leaving plenty of room for Melita to join him. “What did you hear?” If anything, he can’t be so sure.
He chews on the inside of his cheek as he w aits.
there's a darkness up ahead i will see you where the shadow ends
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.
Once they reached the edges of the roads, of the canals, of everything else but the flood and flicker of darkness and lantern lights, her steps increased. Her strides were swift, sure, and certain – that they needed to get back inside, that they needed to return, that she didn’t need to hear anymore. She’d managed to conform into a tight ball of anger by the time she lowered Fangorn to the ground, opened the door, and permitted them all back into the safe, secure confines of the house.
Melita shrugged off his thank you, pausing to glare at the floor, placing her staff back into its hold on her belt. If she weren’t so immersed in the tactical ranges of her fury, she might’ve winced or avoided the question. “Enough,” she sighed, trudging along, dragging her feet, following Fangorn as he found his way into the living room too. But instead of sitting down, she yielded only to the doorframe, leaning against it, shoulders touching the rim, while her gilded gaze found his. “I don’t know what you want to do about the gossip.”
so put your faith in the devil and the deep blue sea put your trust in the light that you cannot see
She doesn’t sit yet, she leans against the doorframe and Sunjata angles himself to glance over his shoulder at her when she speaks, muscles feathering in his jaw as he debates whether or not it’s a good idea to divulge what exactly he had heard too. So he doesn’t, instead he takes a settling breath, a calming one that has him watching her for a brief moment before his lips part to speak. “I’m not sure there’s much to do now until Flowerbirth.” He admits quietly.
His head tilts slightly, an arm coming up to prop his head on, fingers extended to press against his temple. “Most we can do is prepare for when the sun rises again and get to work dismantling it.” Where to start, though? Could he use what happened between him and Remi as an option to prove his innocence? Could he use Vai in an attempt to relieve the slander to his name? He doesn’t know.
In the end, it’d likely all go sideways. “For now, though, please be safe.” He lifts his head to regard her again, pausing before he stands again and moves toward her, a hand extended to open himself up for her, to offer a hug (because gods does he need one).
there's a darkness up ahead i will see you where the shadow ends
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 plausibility and ineffectual worth of nothing clawed at her, started in her veins and worked its way through her lungs, until she felt the need to choke and stifle it down. Back, back, back, where it couldn’t be a feral howl or a blistering screech, formed in her throat and bellowed, frustrated airs for the world to know and hear. They’d be useless and drifting for now, until Nate returned, until LongNight was over, until murmurs either became louder or dimmer. And based on the previous descriptions, and any knowledge she had of the terrible beast that was his father, she would pinpoint on the latter.
“And how are we going to do that?” Followed and flickered – because she didn’t know. Ignorance was in bounds, layered against her mind now. All other interpretations of threats, throughout childhood until now, had been dealt with violence and upheaval. Swift. Keen. Quick. Easier. She had no wherewithal or stance in propaganda, crafty, or cunning fixtures. Action, action, action cut through her heart and sliced through her entity.
The last statement instigated a snort. “I’m always safe.” Which was a lie – but Melita knew how to protect herself. At least, in the ways that mattered and counted.
What she didn’t expect was for the statement to end up muffled in his shoulder, on the intricacies of a hug – and the youth sighed, following through on her own, wrapping her arms around him.
so put your faith in the devil and the deep blue sea put your trust in the light that you cannot see
“Hotaru has some plans in regards to that.” He offers, by means of how to dismantle the rumors that plagued Torchline about him. Sunjata, himself, doesn’t harbor the know how for that in the slightest. So he’s content to leave it in her hands should she want to continue on with it. For now, though, he focuses on telling her to be safe, to stand and approach her, to wrap her in a tight hug should she let him.
He half expects her to not let him, but she does. Her arms wrap around him and he wraps both of them around her in turn, his cheek coming to rest atop the crown of fiery hair. “I know you are.” He rumbles to her, taking a slow inhale. “I know I’ve been a prick lately and I’m sorry for that, Mel.” He tacks on toward the end, trying to let his honesty win out. “I get scared and I push people away and I’m trying to get better at it… It’s been rough with everything.” The sickness, his father, all of it. But he hopes it comes off as an explanation and not as an excuse, because he isn't saying it was right. He's just saying it to ensure she hears it.
there's a darkness up ahead i will see you where the shadow ends
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.
Hotaru, returned and alive and whole, set to do something about the propaganda matters. Perhaps it was best left to her then, or Melita could bother her about it later, when the time was right and everything didn’t seem so murky, cloudy, and veiled. Instead of settling into that current pursuit, she simply took the moment for what it was, biting down a platitude of statements that rushed into her mind. Maybe it was some manner of growth that she managed to ensure they didn’t make it out into the air – less and less impulse.
“I’m tired of being shut out,” she said, as she had many times before. Maybe this time it would stick. “I’ve always been here, unless I’m at sea, and -,” her teeth ground together, words muffled against his frame, but she figured he’d be able to hear them, regardless. If not, they’d echo as a roar, as a howl, as a bellow, so they couldn’t be ignored any longer. “You just act like I don’t matter, or…,” there were more statements that could’ve followed, and they flared at the edges of her mouth, biding their time. “I can take care of myself. I don’t want to be pushed away or forgotten. But you don’t need to protect me.”
Melita had never wanted to be a burden. Hadn’t she shown that many times over? Hadn’t she persevered? Hadn’t she countered? Hadn’t she dug her stubborn, tenacious heels into the earth, into the sand, to show her might, her persistence. Still lived. Still extended her hand out to her family. Only to be treated like another piece of ash, while he sunk further and further into the abyss.
