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's felt like days, but she knows that it's only been hours. If that. She helped him get ready. Maeve collected the flowers from her garden with his help, selecting the sweetest smelling blooms, cutting them all with care. They made the bouquet together, arranging them all so that they came together in perfect harmony before tying it all with a bow. She sent him off with a kiss and his offerings, wishing him luck and ignoring the anxiousness she felt bubbling up in her chest, knowing that it would go well. That side of Frey was kinder than their counterpart in her opinion.
Now she's left pacing, worry twisting in her belly, chewing on her bottom lip as she practically paces a rut in the floor. Aidon stays perched on the window, watching for any sign of Locke so he can let Maeve know as soon as he sees her partner, sending reassurance along the bond occasionally as she continues to walk back and forth in front of the couch. Seaglass gaze occasionally darting towards the window and the door, unable to help herself, finding it hard to be anything but uneasy while she waits.
But the cut of your love never hurts, baby it's a sweet butter knife
He hasn't stopped running, which is honestly pretty horrific for the townspeople. It's not ever day a literal jaguar comes traipsing through town. But he doesn't care. About anything really. He just wants to get home. He shifts just outside of their home, stumbling a little as he tries to reorient himself to being vertical and two legged.
It's clear he's on something when he pushes their door open, grin spread across his face as he finds Maeve, pulling her into his arms. He buries his face into her neck as he hugs her. He's just got a lot of adrenaline in his veins at the moment. He stays there for a moment before leaning back to look at her. "I saw Frey. They didn't comment on my nipples though." He's clearly not sad about it.
Aidon sees him first. Not him, but a jaguar and immediately he's trilling out a warning, notifying Maeve of the intruder before he's falling quiet as the jaguar shifts into Locke. Happiness filters along their bond and she lets out a breath of relief just as the door pushes open, indicating that Locke is back, but before she even takes a step forward he's scooping her into an embrace. Her arms go around his neck, squeezing him tightly as she lets out a laugh, melting in his arms as she presses her face into his shoulder. "Did it go well?"
She asks breathlessly, letting the words wash over him in an exhale as she draws back to look up at him, cupping his face between her hands. "It seems like it went well." Maeve hums, lifting her eyes to meet his gaze, searching for any change and not finding one that she can physically see. "What did you ask them? What did they say?"
But the cut of your love never hurts, baby it's a sweet butter knife
"Think it went as well as it could." He turns to press a kiss into her hand before leaning down to press another to her nose. Locke isn't sure where to start so he lightly pushes her back, looking her over in turn. "Well, they liked the flowers. They even planted them... Or something. I'm not entirely sure. If you ever go to the shrine here, I'm sure you'll see them. And they liked the pie. Said I should be a chef.." He's rambling at this point.
He's also not entirely sure how to explain what happened though. "I didn't get a quest or anything, like you did. But they were nice. It was different than what I expected but.. Not quite." He runs a hand through his hair, clearly struggling to articulate how he feels. Words were never his strong suit.
"Go sit down. I have something to show you." Once she's well enough away, he shifts. It's somehow familiar and strange to him, this new form. He gives her a low rumble, almost like a purr but not quite. He feels so big, so powerful in this form. But as he approaches her, he merely rubs against her, a massive housecat it seems.
He presses little kisses into her skin where he can reach her and each one soothes the anxiety that managed to build up over the time he was gone, leaving her with a sense of restlessness in her chest that is just now easing. Maeve takes a small step back as he grips her shoulders, holding her at arms length, golden eyes running over her as if checking to make sure she's okay and for a moment Maeve swears she sees them bleed more gold than green, slits appearing where his pupils are. It's gone in a flash, but it makes her breath catch all the same. "Really? That's good. That's really good. I told you that they would like them."
Maeve cocks her head to the side, brows knitting together as she tries to follow his line of thought, jumping from one thing to the next before he's urging her to sit down, pushing her gently back towards the couch. She allows him this, sinking down onto the worn cushions and gazing up at him expectantly, bottom lip caught between her teeth as her pulse flutters in anticipation.
The act of shifting doesn't really surprise her. Not when she's seen Sunjata do it many times over, but Locke shifting does come as a surprise. Her eyes go wide, a soft gasp of surprise pushing past her lips as they part, instincts telling her to draw back as he stalks towards her. Locke presses against her, rubbing his head on her knee as a rumble travels through her chest, large eyes looking up at her. The shift is larger than she was expecting, filling up the small living room, displacing the coffee table that rests in front of the couch. "They attuned you? Holy shit.." Maeve laughs, reaching out tentatively to pet his head, nails scratching behind his ears and marvelling at how silky the fur actually is against the tips of her fingers.
But the cut of your love never hurts, baby it's a sweet butter knife
He growls in something like agreement as she speaks, eyes fluttering closed in contentment as she pets him. He pulls away but only to put his paws up on the coffee table, letting her look at how big they are before he extends his claws. He's careful not to hurt her or Aidon or the table. A moment later and he shifts back, grinning at Maeve. "I told them I wanted to be a cat and this is what they did. Maeve, they were so kind. I know your thing with Frey didn't go down so well but it was amazing. I feel amazing." Except how incredibly weak and frail he feels as a human. But that was always there.
He sits down next to her, pressing against her side. "They gave me claws, so I could protect you." And others of course but let's be real, Maeve is always going to be first on his list. "They didn't even ask for anything in exchange. Not my loyalty, not my life, nothing." Maybe just that he be open to change. But still. He had always thought the gods were keen on tying their followers down. Frey changed him because he asked, not because they needed him as a tool.
Maeve can't help the soft laugh that bubbles up in her chest at the growls her offers, knowing that he's agreeing with what she's saying despite the fact that she can't understand him like this, something that they might want to address. She draws her hand back when he goes to move, flexing his toes to unsheath his claws, the tips of them clicking against the wood of the table. Her brows raise at the sheer size of him, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth, reaching forward to take one of his paws into her hand as if to compare the size of it to her own palm. It easily covers her hand, the pads of his paw extending past the tips of her fingers, but he draws away to shift back.
"The Frey I met wasn't the same as the Frey you saw. They have two parts and the Frey that reigns over nature is much kinder than the one who reigns over sex." Maeve huffs, shaking her head as she turns to look at him, a smile curling on her lips. She was happy for him. Thrilled even. He had been so worried about how things were going to go, but this outcome was better than they could have hoped for.
She leans back against him, snuggling into his side, dropping her head to nuzzle his shoulder with a soft hum. "And yourself, mon amour." Maeve murmurs, pressing a kiss against his throat, breathing in deeply, the smell of the sea and sweet flowers cleaning to his skin. "I knew Frey was going to be a good match for you."
But the cut of your love never hurts, baby it's a sweet butter knife
She plays with his paw and admittedly it feels kind of weird. Watching her push his claws out and when he shifts back, he shakes his hand a little, flexing his fingers. But the feeling only lingers a moment now that he's got people hands. She leans against him and he leans against her, the adrenaline finally replacing itself with something closer to exhaustion.
"You say that like it makes me not want to call on sex Frey at some point. Some of us like being bullied in bed. Also I kind of wonder if Frey wasn't sure what you were asking for? They seemed to really only respond once I had made a decision.." He shrugs though. Asking for claws is less vague than asking for help but he doesn't know gods or what they're thinking.
"I still don't know about a good match but it felt good at the time." He's not sure if he'd call any of the gods a good match but it was kinda nice. If he was going to go pray at a shrine, it would be their's. "I'm kind of craving meat now though, which is kinda weird.."
As if she isn't one of those people. Maeve doesn't comment, rolling her eyes at him even as she presses closer, uncaring of the heat that will surely make them uncomfortable in a bit. Maeve huffs out a laugh, "No, I was very clear. I asked for help with materials or the building. To which they said I had plenty of others who could do my errands and that my nipples weren't pretty enough to persuade them." She was only a little bitter about it, but she didn't need their help anyway. Not when she was doing it all on her own. Take that, Frey.
"Good match or not, I'm glad it went well." Maeve murmurs truthfully, drawing back just enough so she could offer him a smile, eyes soft as she met his gaze. The confession draws another soft giggle from her, nose wrinkling with it, "I would imagine so... What's it like? What made you pick a jaguar? Did they pick it?"
But the cut of your love never hurts, baby it's a sweet butter knife
"They clearly have poor taste then. I think your nipples are great." It will get uncomfortable with the heat but there's a breeze and showering is a thing. He kind of wants to go swimming actually. Maybe tomorrow. He's got a lot of fiddling with this new form to figure things out. "You do, admittedly, have a lot of powerful friends. But that seems par for the course in your line of work." She's also just good at people-ing. Maybe not gods, but people. "I wonder if Safrin having favor in you had anything to do with it though."
"They picked it. I just said I wanted to be a cat.. Guess I'm glad they went with that instead of a house cat though." Not that he'd mind being that small. He could curl up in her lap.. Can still kind of do that. He holds a hand out, wiggling his fingers so she'll lace her's with his. "Told them I wanted to be something else and this was what they did. Not sure what I was expecting." He's not upset, not really. If anything, it went well.
Another giggle, another wrinkle of her nose, and a playful shove at his shoulder. "Your opinion is biased, mon amour." She tells him, rolling her eyes even as she tugs off her shirt, leaving her in nothing more than a bit of scrapy lace that covers her tits. It's better than all the layers. Maeve snuggles against him, tucking her head against his shoulder, pressing a kiss to the underside of his jaw. He's right, the heat will become stifling, but there were options for it. A dip in the ocean, a shower, striping naked... All of them viable. "Not all whores manage such a thing." She hums softly, drawing back just enough to look up at him as their fingers lace, giving his hand a little squeeze. "I'm not sure. I haven't told too many people that I'm aligned with her."
The idea of him being a housecat isn't unappealing. She's always liked cats. A jaguar is more suitable, though. If only because it can actually do some damage. Real damage. "Isn't that a thought? You as a housecat... I wonder what color you'd be." Maeve muses softly, playing with his fingers idly as they lounge lazily together on the couch, a soft breeze coming in through the open window. "I like it. Like it a lot."
But the cut of your love never hurts, baby it's a sweet butter knife
"The opinion of me and every other Torcher is not biased, thank you." He shoves her back lightly before turning to kiss her. He can already feel the sweat starting to creep up onto his skin where they're touching but it's fine. It wouldn't be the first time nor the last time they've been sweaty together. Its just part of living in Torchline. "Nope. Then again there aren't many whores as ambitious as you." He sure wasn't, his mom sure as hell wasn't. Maeve truly is a breed all of her own. "You don't think the gods pal around up there..?" Wherever there is..
She's playing with his hand and he imagines, faintly what it'd be like to let her play with his paws again. He's got some big ol beans now. "Probably something scraggly. Or brown. Or both. Fancy myself a little alley cat, all spitting and no bite." He's really smoothed out recently, hasn't he? Her next comment makes him hum and he wants to say something but he doesn't, letting it go for the time being to tilt his head against her's.
"You say that like every other Torcher has seen my nipples. I don't go around topless all the time." Maeve huffs, rolling her eyes at him as a laugh pushes past her lips, tickling against his throat as she presses close. He pulls back for a kiss and she easily gives in to him, humming softly against his lips, nipping at his bottom lip as he draws back. "No, I suppose there aren't." Just how ambitious is yet to be determined. The Madame might not realize it yet, but she could be moving into a lot more power than she originally thought herself capable of. Only time will tell. "No. Absolutely not. Maybe Vi and Mort, but the heralds? No." Not when she knows at least two of them aren't fans of each other.
The idea of it makes her grin, nose wrinkling as she tangles herself up with him further, "I wonder what that would make me? Black? Sleek and spoiled?" She hums, dropping her head against his shoulder, content to lounge there for a while longer. Eventually they'll get to hot and find their way either down to the beach or beneath the spray of the shower. Whichever doesn't matter to her. She's content as long as she's with him.
~FIN <3~
But the cut of your love never hurts, baby it's a sweet butter knife
