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!
In all of his travels in the surrounding area around where he’s moved, Sunjata finds Meadowreach to be one of his favorite places. Especially in Flowerbirth, where the flowers have finally emerged from the snow and ice cold, their colorful tops sprinkled out among the green of stalks and stems and of course the deep dirty brown color of mud, given the rain. It’s peaceful, though, and it’s also a spot where Sunjata figures he’s alone enough to train and practice.
So he does, spending the better part of the morning testing out each shift before settling as himself again, a bit of a mess – a sheen of sweat and the darkening of his clothes from where he’s sweat through them, remaining in his small corner and imagining a punching bag connected to a tree (quite dearly missing the one from his boxing ring in Torchline, but for now? Imagination will have to do.)
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar If you're a pretender come sit by my fire
The attack she suffered served only as glue, mortar mixing with her fear of the Grounds and everything that transpired there. It felt safer to fly away on wing, although her advance was slow and sluggish. Either because of the blood she lost or the weakness that lingered in the pit of her stomach, pressing down.
She would often have to stop and rest in nooks along the way, but sleep didn't linger. So when Azure came upon Meadowreach, she didn't see fields of grass and emerging flowers, but a plump, jade bed. Landing gently between the flowerbeds, she felt a calm creeping. The morning sunlight covered her like a blanket as she listened to the softest breeze rustle the grass devoid of predators that would disturb the peace.
When she woke up, the sun was high in the sky and something big was rustling the grass not far from where she lay. But then, its steps became a lot smaller. Jumping up from her bed in stealthy, choppy leaps she sought out the source of the noise. That's when she saw it. A macaw ascending. She watched it dance in the air in unusual, aggressive patterns before it returned to the ground and became... a rather strange ram. Or was it a buck? Intrigued, she kept watching, head cocking in surprise when the attuned showcased one shift after the another.
When the spectacle appeared to be over, she decided to shift back into her own skin. She stepped over the moss-covered rock behind which she'd been spying and sat on it. "Hi there," she chirped in a most innocuous tone, leaning forward, elbows resting on her knees, failing to resist the urge to scratch the bite marks on her neck. "That was quite a show."
He doesn’t expect to be watched, not with the way he thinks he’s hidden himself away. The only company in the form of the wildlife, so he thinks. So it’s no surprise that when she acknowledges him, he tenses up, a voice filtering from the air that has him stiff and tense, head snapping her direction with calculating steel. He loosens himself after a second, noticing that she isn’t a threat, and he loosens his posture a bit to shake out his arms, to pop his neck.
“Didn’t know I had company.” He offers her in his accented rumble, flashing a small smile as he shrugs. “Might’ve prepared a bit more had I expected anyone else out here.” So saying, he straightens up again, nodding to the tree he’d essentially made into a little makeshift punching bag. “Have you been here long?” A quiet way of asking just how long the stranger had been watching him.
Another quiet way of trying to figure out her motives, whether he needed to be cautious or not.
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
Azure observes the wariness in his eyes, ready to jump back into the grass if the steel shining inside them turns deadly. But she didn't think it would come to that. Why did she trust the stranger in the grass? It was hard to say. She got a good feeling about him, watching him charge at the air.
So when he offered a smile, Azure returned it, easy and amused, creasing the bags under her eyes. "More? Maybe prepare another shift for next time," she suggested with a quick laugh, still slow after her much needed nap. Her hand rubbed the back of her neck as she looked up at the sky, attempting to gauge the time. "About three and a half shifts long." Dark eyes went back down to the meet steely blue and her hand fell into her lap. "I didn't want to interrupt. Say, how does it feel? Taking so many forms?". A childlike awe crept into her voice, momentarily disregarding how unsettling it must be to be spied on from behind a rock.
Her suggestion, followed by a laugh, is mirrored by a quiet hum of a chuckle of his own, a shrug of his shoulders, the dip of his head. “I’ve got quite the array, not sure how I can go about preparing another one.” He offers a bit unhelpfully, hands clenching and unclenching in small fists as he keeps himself warmed up, keeps the blood pumping through his fingers. “I mostly meant the shitty punching bag.” But he supposes her idea is a good one too, one that he tries not to delve too much on given his current one sided drama with his goddess.
Regardless, he asks how long she’s been waiting and she informs him it’s been three and a half shifts long and he thinks back to all the shifts he’d used, fully on display for her to view without realizing it. He hums, a sort of ‘ah, I see’ kind of sound, before the question and awe seeps into her voice and he takes up a position to strike the makeshift punching bag of a tree again, still in his human form. “Honestly? It feels powerful.” But it also felt weak in a way that he knows he relies on them so heavily. “Each shift having their own perks, their own temperaments, their own cons.” He strikes twice at the tree, before stepping back to cast a glance back at the stranger.
“Are you Attuned?” He asks curiously, unable to help himself from asking the question.
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar If you're a pretender come sit by my fire
Taking not being shooed awy as invitation enough, Azure stood up from her mossy perch and approached the shape shifter. Clearly she'd missed a significant part of the show. "The gods must favor you, to be able to obtain so many." Azure had only ever asked one thing of the gods. Any good Halovian knows that an overreliance on dieties brings only trouble.
A smile appeared as he spoke of his transformations. He offered little information, but she filled the gap with her own imagination. Thoughts of what exprience such versatility can provide, the feelings it can evoke, made her awestruck.
His question seemingly brought her back from her musings, and she gave a quick nod in response. Then, her brows creased, and her hand went once again to pick at the scars on her neck. "My shift has many advantages. It makes me quick, mobile and incospicuous. It lets me see things normally hidden to the human eye." She looked over the stranger's numerous scars, reading them as experience she might draw from, if he felt generous. "It's just... Not any good in a fight." She took a step back. "Maybe I can borrow from your bag of tricks? As one Attuned from another."
Her body began to morph and compress, twisting and turning inch by inch into a modest little singing bird. She flew out of the grass in a flash, landing on the tree above, finding the way to a low branch that brought her face level with the Attuned. She let out a melodic chirp, something that might mean 'Over here' to someone who understood the tounge of birds.
you promised me sunshine, why's it gloomy? we'll wait 'til the night to catch the moonbeam
Her compliment does draw a chuckle out of him, something deep and resounding as he shrugs his tattooed, starry shoulders and heaves a heavy breath inward. “You could say that.” He pauses, to squint over at her with an amused, crooked grin. “Safrin, in particular, if you’re wondering.” And there’s a part of him that wonders if she even knows who he is, that not only was he favored by Safrin, but he was the father of one of her children, too.
But he keeps that tight behind his teeth, hidden under his tongue for a later time and whether she probes or not. She speaks of her shifts’ pros and cons and he listens easily, comparing and contrasting to the variety of his own to try and figure out what kind of shift she has. He perks up at her offer, though, stilling in whatever it is he’s doing to watch her. “Sure.” He offers easily right when her shape morphs from a beautiful woman in the grasses to a songbird, his steel gaze tracking her from the grass to the branch above him.
It doesn’t take him long to figure out which of his would be more common for her, something of ease. So he shifts into his own bird shift, the macaw’s navy wings helping take him to the branch beside her, a dark steel eye surrounded in vibrant yellow peers at her curiously. So if there was a large, lumbering beast – lets say the tree trunk is one, where would you strike first, little bird? He muses, using the Attuned bond to speak to her, amusement coating his side of the bond.
His head tilts back toward the tree trunk to see the knots and whirls in the bark that could almost be a face if you thought about it long enough.
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.
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar If you're a pretender come sit by my fire
Azure was glad to be joined by the macaw, several small jumps along the branch betraying her impatience. She was excited to see where the exercise would take her, letting her instructor's amusement overtake her. When he posed the question she took to the air, as if getting a better look at her leafy opponent would provide the answer.
She embarked with enthusiasm, but as she came around the tree trunk, all she could see was the threat of being swatted out of the air. The small of the back, where it can't reach with its lumbering tree hands. She decided, finally. Maybe I'd peck at a chunk of thigh too.
She landed back on the branch next to the bigger bird, pecking the bark once to simulate a half-hearted attack and blinking at the macaw. Then, once I've made it mad..., she gingerly tapped her foot on the branch, Honestly, I'd just fly off, she concluded, reckoning that that was altogether the wrong answer to the riddle.
you promised me sunshine, why's it gloomy? we'll wait 'til the night to catch the moonbeam
Good call. Sunjata praises, shuffling his wings a fraction to settle them along his back better. But as she continues and flits back to the branch beside him, he hears what she has to say and it takes an admittedly unexpected turn, causing a surprise hum of laughter to echo down the bond between them.
He eyes her again before he sits up a bit more on the branch. Just leave it to be mad at everything else? He asks, a hint of wonder at that.
But he’s here to teach her a few things, isn’t he? You have your beak and your talons. If I were you, once I’ve pissed it off and had it focused on me, I’d go for its eyes. He offers her, hopping down from the branch and extending his large navy wings, searching for the knots and whorls in the trunk to strike at with his talons and his beak, flitting around it until he returns beside her. You could blind it.
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.
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar If you're a pretender come sit by my fire
Pleased with the modest praise, Azure stood a little bit taller. She arched her neck to watch the demonstration, hopping past the fresh leaves that obstructed her view. Even when attacking a defenseless tree, the large bird quickly turned into an intimidating sight. Beak and talons left indents in the bark while the batting of cobalt wings disoriented her and the imagined opponent. She let out an impressed trill at the display.
Just one problem, teach', she said with amusement when he landed back beside her, songbirds don't have talons. Azure lifted a tiny foot in demonstration. And the first thing Treeman will notice about me is how easy I am to swat away. Maybe... She flew lower, positioning herself just above the wide trunk. Maybe if I approached from where he can't see me. She puffed up her chest, and crept up to the edge of the branch.
From above the tree trunk's "face" where she stood, Azure slipped off the edge, spreading her wings. She dove at her target headfirst, giving the tree's "eye" a quick peck before using her feet to push herself away from the trunk and working her wings hard to curve her descent. Steadying herself, she landed in the grass. One eye down.
She looked up to observe the damage. The mark she'd left was barely visible, and quite possibly imagined. Uninvited, thoughts of the attack she'd suffered crept into her mind. The memory was hard to shake, and reason had a hard time dissipating the emotions it carried. She felt silly and discouraged.
Felling exposed in the attuned link, she shifted back. Azure remained sitting in the grass and leaned back on her hands. Looking up at the Attuned, she blew a strand of hair out of her face. "This might chase away some people, but an Ascended would hardly feel it. How do you fight someone who doesn't feel pain?", she asked, frustration creeping as the feeling of helplessness persisted.
He knows it’s a bit contradictory, the advice he plans to give her, but he settles once he’s demonstrated his attack to watch as she acknowledges him beside her. You have nails, don’t you? He hums his suggestion toward her through the Attuned bond, letting a hint of amusement slip from him as he silences himself to let her continue. She’s right, though, that she could very easily be swatted away – but depending on whether or not the creature is large enough, she might be quick enough to evade such an attack.
Either way, there’s a pulse of appreciation sent toward her as she figures that she can attack it where it can’t see her, a nod of agreement leaving the navy bird. Good call. He hums, waiting until the songbird lands in the grass and once the flickering sensations drift down the Attuned bond, Sunjata shuts it off on his end quickly, following her down as she shifts back and the macaw lands among the grass beside her, shifting into himself and smoothing down his hair where the curls have gone wild around his face.
His head whips toward her as she brings up the Ascended, his hand threading through his hair before it runs along his neck and chest where dozens of bite scars remain, pale against his sunkissed skin. “You don’t necessarily need to hurt someone with pain. You can still immobilize an opponent who can’t feel it.” He admits, before he works his jaw and casts a sidelong glance toward her. “Why… Do you ask specifically about the Ascended?”
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
In the corner of her eye, Azure saw the bite marks peppered amongst other scars. It seemed that her mysterious meadow guru was well versed in all the things she needed advice on.
To immobilize, he said. She wanted to know more. "How would I go about that? Do I hurt their feelings?", she asked, wrapping her curiosity in a joking tone. It seemed as if he was going to tell her more about how to hurt one of the Voice's people, when he questioned her instead. Maybe he was hesitant to share the information. Compared to the bite on her neck, his scars looked like love bites, while there has been little love between the races lately.
She instinctively tilted her head to the side, letting her hair fall over the scar on her neck. "It was... Uh..." She bit the inside of her lip. Talking about it brought up a strange breed of embarrassment. A familiar, distant, carnal feeling brought on when you realize you are not predator but prey.
"I got careless close to the grounds. This crying Ascended was low on fluids and tore into me." She grimaced, lips spreading thin. "I'd like to avoid that sort of thing in the future." Her tone turned joking with some strain. "Any advice?", she asked, her eyebrows and the corner of her lips turning inquisitively upward.
The joking tone she has is reflected in a soft snort from Sunjata, a shake of his head as he pulls his gaze away from her. Her inner monologue would be correct – love marks, from a star-crossed relationship, looked down upon by the gods. And yet, if gods weren’t involved, they would be perfectly happy together. Even with the gods, they still were, it was only made more difficult when their respective gods intervened.
But he listens, because he wants to know where her fears and worries come from. And with the result it certainly does cause him to raise a brow, to pull himself up into more of a sitting position, tilting his head over toward her. “You should be safe in the Grounds regardless. They’re not… Usually like that.” He admits, though he can recall just how fiendish Nate had been behind the mask that had trapped him from attaining any fluid – something the two of them hadn’t talked about.
And likely still won’t.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.” He offers her quietly, mulling over the ideas. “I’m married to an Ascended... So I'd prefer that what I tell you is only used in self defense.” He lets his steel gaze scan over her before he huffs out a sigh and stares back at the tree trunk. And he’ll only tell her once she’s agreed to him that she wasn’t going to be some vigilante, slipping into the Grounds to go attack the Ascended.
get a load of this trainwreck
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.
"Right." Her clipped response was distracted, distant, while her thoughts roamed over the Grounds and all that had happened to her there. Before the young Ascended's attack. Before she'd left. She scuffed the ground with her heel. "The Grounds are shit." For a second, surprise flashed across her face. She didn't expect the curse she was under would allow her to say that. It seemed to her that even a curse couldn't stifle the truth about that place.
Clearing her throat as the telling expression left her face, she gave a small, appreciative nod when he gave his sympathies, and listened, sensing he had more to say. And she was right. So those were love bites. Go figure.
It was a difficult position to be in, she thought. For a beat, she considered saying something comforting. She picked at the grass as empty phrases and obvious truths went through her mind, quickly discarded. She realized that whatever she said would be meaningless, or otherwise, a lie. "I promise."
Azure spoke lies the same way she spoke truths. After all, that was the only proper way to utter a lie. This wasn't to say that she lacked a moral compass, only that she set it herself, by the course she chose.
She was a stranger that had just jumped out of the bushes. She hadn't even given him her name. He owed her nothing. Most of all not the lives or safety of those closest to him - and yet, he considered teaching her. Azure respected that.
So when she spoke, there was no smile meant to endear her to him, no exaggerated claim or invocation of the gods to bear witness. Only her word.
