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 found hope in a hopeless home found my father but i lost my soul
He’s followed the Rainbow Road, aimlessly, because his mind is still sluggishly coming to terms with what he’d just done – as well as the fact that he’s still so fucking exhausted from the toll it had taken on his body. He doesn’t even know how long it’s been – he just knows that he burned and burned and burned, and when he came to again? His beard is longer, the curls longer, and gods he feels like he needs a shower and a warm bed for at least a decade.
But beneath all the exhaustion, there’s a huge amount of relief.
His clothes are hanging off him a bit haphazardly, buttoned only on two of the lower ones, hair pushed back and pants relatively put together, and he squints as he tries his best to avoid the brightness of the clouds as the storms start to roll in. Soon enough, his feet hit the comfortable sands of the Ahi Coast and Sunjata finds himself drawn to the waves once again, watching them with that same, numbed mind, deciding he can stay a few moments longer to watch the winds tug and pull at the waves.
i tried to trace it, i aimed to scope been tryna kill it, but it's all i know
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.
Where there are storms to be found, Hotaru is rarely far behind.
The ocean is still briskly cold in the spring, even at the edge, but it doesn’t daunt her. Her skin is accustomed to the biting chill of Halo, of The Basin. Her skirt tangles in her legs as she walks barefoot down the shore, shoes hanging from one hand. It feels strange to be alone still even after all this time without Atlas. Even longer without Alice. It will likely never feel the same again. Even so, it’s easier with every season. Time heals all wounds, even those you desperately try to cling to.
There is no one to alert her to the presence of another. No eyes but her own to stare in bewilderment at the tall figure on the beach, so familiar to her she would know it with all her senses stripped. It’s a hard-won gift to be able to approach without trepidation, and her it still comes when she is close enough to see how bedraggled he looks. Frowning, her stride hastens, and her free hand reaches automatically to cross the distance even before he is within reach. “Jata? Are you okay?” Speaking over the wind, senses sharpening and going on alert.
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
i found hope in a hopeless home found my father but i lost my soul
His mind is still so fuzzy that he doesn’t register her presence at first, either. Not until she’s close enough, her speed quickening that he focuses on her finally, and he swallows against the parched sense of his throat. “Hey Ru. Yeah, I think so.” He murmurs, turning just enough to look at her, where she’d likely notice that he’s missing that constellation tattoo – the same on that had moved from his chest to his thigh when she’d stabbed him to heal him.
He’s still a bit bedraggled but he does his best to focus on her, to offer her a small relieved smile. “I just got back from visiting Frey like I told you I was planning on doing.” He offers her the small tidbit of information, knowing that anything he says will cause her to realize that perhaps he hadn’t changed. That perhaps, when Safrin had offered demigodhood to him that perhaps it wasn’t the prospect o fit that had caused him to decline, but perhaps the starry goddess anyway.
And now? Now there’s freedom within him, one that he only hopes Nate shares when he gets to tell him.
i tried to trace it, i aimed to scope been tryna kill it, but it's all i know
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 wording is what slowly skims her hackles back. If he were trying to convince her, to lie his way through it, he wouldn’t word it with any kind of dazed lack of surety that she sees her. Though he’s correct; as her eyes skin his entire body to ensure he isn’t lying - even unintentionally with his self-sacrificing ways - she immediately notes the lack of the star tattoo and her eyes widen and then narrow. Uncertain what that means. It had moved before, so was he injured?
Eyes snapping back to his face to take in the relieved smile, the sharp words of worry pause on her tongue, allowing him to speak. It gives her a clue in the form of her God’s involvement, and a tentatively hopeful look overtakes her face. “They’re amazing, aren’t they?” she murmurs on a small smile. Ru had encouraged him to seek out Frey in the first place, knowing they were the least likely to object to his connection to Nate. “What happened?” Because clearly something had, and Sunjata admittedly doesn’t have a good track record with visiting shrines and striking deals.
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
i found hope in a hopeless home found my father but i lost my soul
“I was nervous to see them after everything.” He admits when she makes her murmur paired with a small smile. It’s reflected on his own and he reaches up to run a hand through his hair, dropping it to the back of his neck where he rubs along the sore muscles a bit. The way the stars in his arm tattoos had shifted once no longer move, and only one remains (having not had any Safrin influence), and when he tears his gaze away from her to look back out at the wind whipped waves, he pauses in how he wants to word what he says.
A few seconds pass and his steel gaze flicks back toward her dual toned gaze. “I asked for the item and I got my quest… And… Sorry, I’m still a bit dazed I think.” He comments, snorting, some relieved amusement pouring through him for the moment. “We fucked and just when I thought I was done they made me the most incredible offer, Hotaru.” There’s a bit of hope and relief in his gaze, the insistence in his words that he needs to be sure she understands before he continues.
i tried to trace it, i aimed to scope been tryna kill it, but it's all i know
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.
“Understandably,” she snorts, and is unashamed with how her cheeks don’t even color recalling her boldness that day, kissing him as he stood upon an altar opposite another woman. It’s precisely why she isn’t sure she’ll ever keep her promise to Seren now that the girl has disappeared again, why she’ll never bring herself to court Safrin’s ire - more than she already has. There’s no use in chasing ghosts when the only similarity between Safrin and her old goddess is the physical realm they embody.
Though his gaze travels, hers never strays from his face. A wry smile expressing he can take his time sorting out his mind. She has nowhere to be. Though she does preen a little, pleased that she’d been right yet again and he’d been granted the quest he desired. But talk of offers…
Expression turns more hesitant. Hotaru trusts Frey, far more than Safrin or Ludo, but something heavy and grandiose sits in the cradle of his vowels. “What kind of offer?” It stretches slow and slightly wary, but willing to listen. Her faith in her God holding her fast.
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
i found hope in a hopeless home found my father but i lost my soul
He hasn’t even had time to fully process what Safrin might do. He fully expects the fit as Frey had called it, but aside from that? Only the promise that he couldn’t be hurt by her again – not in the way that it likely mattered, anyway. Physical harm, well, it was something Sunjata wasn’t unfamiliar with. So when it comes to thoughts of Safrin, he pushes it aside for later, not wanting to sour his mood.
And as it stands, he can hear the tentative tone to her voice, the way it’s slow and probing and Sunjata knows she’s going to see just how much of a fool he was after they’d talked just the other night. When he’d mentioned he was getting better at talking to Nate before making big decisions, and yet…
And yet.
“An offer to be their demigod.” He says it in a whisper, just above the roar of the ocean’s waves, as if he’s not quite sure it’s real – but it is, he has the redness around where the tattoos should be indication enough, if the hell of starfire running through his veins hadn’t been proof enough. “To keep my shifts and to hide Nate and I away during the war. To be this… In between.” A brief memory of Frey saying that he might be the man that makes it so the Ascended can get laid out of the Grounds room. “And I don't have to worry about Safrin pushing me into something I don't want to do. I don't have to be one of her blades in the war.” That's the biggest part for him, really.
i tried to trace it, i aimed to scope been tryna kill it, but it's all i know
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.
It’s clear Sunjata himself barely has a grasp on what has occurred, whatever it is. Hotaru is well practiced in the art of patience, but in this particular moment it’s more of an effort. As much as she loves him, the Flood has a way of explaining things to himself to make agreeing to offers seem like the right path, or an excuse to do so urgently - as if the offer would disappear if he delayed. With Gods, it may well expire yes, and so she cannot let herself judge too soon.
“An offer to be their demigod.”
Her next breath doesn’t come.
“Oh,” she exhales. It hurts more than she expected, but not for the reason he likely would think given their history with these things. The hand holding her shoes falls limply at her thigh, and she taps them idly there as she stares out over the ocean. Ear still tuned to each word, each promise better than the last. His relief is her own even in her disappointment. “That’s…wow. Sunjata that’s amazing.” She summons her joy for him, turns back and gently lays her hand on his elbow, pushing down, down, down on anything and everything else. “You did it. You really did.” Breathed out on a gust of astonishment that is barely loud enough to be heard over the wind and shore.
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
i found hope in a hopeless home found my father but i lost my soul
He does know how close she is with her god, and yet nothing of what he says occurs to him that it might wound her somehow. So all he has is the quiet announcement of an offer, the explanation, the reasons why. And why, internally and to himself, he certainly thinks that Nate would agree with it. Of course, it requires Sunjata seeking out the Voice as well, but truthfully? He can’t help but to feel relieved with that as well.
A trip to the Voice didn’t mean he had to explain himself. A trip to the shrine to speak with Frey didn’t mean that he had to prove his love for Safrin above all else. It didn’t mean that he had to sit there and pretend that he was okay when Safrin’s poisoned words about his husband were uttered.
“They burned her out of me.” Hence his ragged appearance, his dazed mind. “It went on for what I thought was going to be forever.” He admits a bit softer, a small huff of air leaving him that could be considered a laugh if he put more effort behind it. “I… I’m not sure how much time did pass, if any, or if Frey had slipped me into some other realm for it.” Indeed, his beard had grown a bit more since the last time they’d seen one another just a few days prior.
His gaze flickers back toward Hotaru, flashing an exhausted smile her way, relief palpable. “I couldn’t say no to that, right? An actual promise to keep Nate and I safe?” He says it like he isn't sure its real, but a part of him knows is as real as it can be. A promise that he wouldn't have to suffer any more heartbreak.
i tried to trace it, i aimed to scope been tryna kill it, but it's all i know
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.
Close? No. She may wish it, but she is merely another face in the sea of Frey’s supporters. Here, in Caido, where being ascended for demigodhood is the pinnacle of…everything, really, is it any surprise that they would all desire it? Or perhaps it is only her own desire to be loved, to belong, to be more than another number. It’s not so different to how she feels - felt - about Nate and Sunjata. But she is adept at hiding her hurt, especially when he cannot feel her side of the bond when she is in her human form, and this moment deserves to be celebratory instead of…whatever mix of emotions she’s feeling.
Admittedly she’s stunned that Frey was not only able to burn Safrin’s shackles from Jata, but that they had. She’s unaware of the relationships between the different heralds but it seems like quite a bold move against a fellow deity. Frankly, Hotaru loves that Frey was shameless enough to say ‘fuck you’ to Safrin so boldly. It’s just as interesting an idea as the passage of time he suggests, and her eyes drop to his beard, taking in the impossible increased length given how she’d seen him mere days ago. “Fire cleanses,” she murmurs, understanding deep in her tone. “It may have lasted an age, but it wasn’t forever. You made it through, and now you’re free.” Free of Safrin’s possessive tendencies, of her shackles and strings, the various manipulations and promises she’d wrung out of the man.
His relief makes her smile back in return, eyes soft with understanding. Though she’s a bit taken aback as he seeks some sort of validation from her. “I can’t say how Nate will feel, or how this will impact Kamaria,” a far more terrifying notion to her, “but I think it was the best choice you could have made. The only way out that gave you more than you would have otherwise lost.” Because she believes without a doubt that he would’ve lost so very much if he’d chosen to Demi for Safrin. “Frey is…amazing. One of the best to be a demigod for, biased as I may be. Promises aside, it’s a far better outcome.”
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
i found hope in a hopeless home found my father but i lost my soul
Fire cleanses. Of course it does. But Sunjata’s had the affinity for the water long before and long after any fire. Even still, the water is tempting despite its storminess, if only to get the sheen of sweat and exhaustion out of him, to replace the numbed burning sensation of his veins into something that can be shocked into normality with the cold ocean. His gaze does drift toward her though, nodding quietly in agreement. “They said the same.” He murmurs, something softer, something still hardened as if he can’t believe it still. “Better to be free than to wear golden chains.” He repeats, one of the points he remembers before everything quite aptly did hurt like a bitch.
More importantly, though, is the question he has, the one that now comes crashing in on himself. Nate would understand – he has to. It’s a ball dropped, yes, but one where Sunjata wouldn’t be forced or manipulated into hurting his husband, wouldn’t have to live with the worry that it might be his dagger at Nate’s throat.
Nor would it have to be Nate’s to the Flood’s.
“It’s… Going to be bad, I imagine. I have hope with Nate, though.” He pauses, working his jaw, his gaze focusing on her as she offers her thoughts, his head bobbing in another agreement. “I feel so relieved. The only thing expected of me right now is my quest.” He shakes himself out of it, taking an unconscious step toward the water before he turns away from it and faces Hotaru a bit more fully, glancing away from the beaches edge and toward the path that leads up to the Port and Haulani.
i tried to trace it, i aimed to scope been tryna kill it, but it's all i know
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.
A smile quirks at her mouth. “They’re wise in ways most people wouldn’t expect,” she agrees. It’s easy to see Frey as a creature of sex and fulfillment, instead of the dual-natured herald of Rae that they are. “It’s the best of a bad situation. Being a demigod beholders you to certain tasks and assumptions of which side you stand on, but at the end of the day you know that they’ve promised to keep you and your family safe.” It stings unexpectedly to word it that way, and yet there’d been no hesitation in the words themselves. That hurts, too.
“He’ll understand. It’s better than Safrin - that’s a big motivator already.” Nate is part of the Hate Safrin club, established and headed by Remi, which is hilarious because with Ru in the mix it’s quite possible the worst club membership in existence. Good thing they don’t have meetings. Tilting her head curiously she lifts her free hand to absentmindedly tug hair from where the wind had caught it against her mouth. “What quest did they give you?”
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
i found hope in a hopeless home found my father but i lost my soul
“The only thing they said I needed to do was show up in Stormbreak. To say I did.” Sunjata snorts with this, the amusement of such an uncaring requirement – likely something the god would find relatively boring in all reality – and a task that he can absolutely do. As for her announcement that he knows what’s required of him, even if it’s judged by others.
That’s not something he’s unaware of. If anything, it’s a normal occurrence. Everyone always had something to say about the things he does.
He’s actually excited, instead of dreading the result. “That’s exactly it. And… Some other perks regarding the Ascended as a whole.” This is said with a hint of a flush, before he takes a deep breath and rolls his shoulders back, loosening himself in a more open position, nodding toward heading up the path from the beach as goosebumps start to rise on his heated skin. “Some way to teleport me and someone else – in this case, Nate, to the Ascended room in the Grounds.” That’s the item that they had settled on. “It just means I need to help four pairs to have sex.” Sunjata tacks on, his gaze flickering back to Hotaru in case she had any ideas or suggestions.
Though part of him wonders if when Frey mentioned that it could, but didn’t have to include him, if they may have been thinking of the question down the pike when they’d made that slight comment.
i tried to trace it, i aimed to scope been tryna kill it, but it's all i know
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.
A chuckle slips through unbidden, amused by Frey’s continued flippancy in the face of demigod politics. “I’m not at all surprised, they’ve never played by the same set of rules.” Fondness suffuses each word. She wishes she had more reason to visit. Asking for things is not her style - obtaining things herself had been her first foray into the life she led for years as a thief and then a ruler.
His embarrassment is endearing; enough for her to spare him a slight smirk. Oh, she knows exactly what those perks are well before he sees fit to explain it. “Lead with that and he may be more amenable to the demigod bit,” she teases, though it’s still tentative. Still just that little bit uncertain of where they stand. At least it would warm Nate up before the bomb drop.
That tentativeness is the precursor as the Valkyrie clams up immediately when his questioning gaze turns her way. This, still, is territory she cannot venture into. Her gaze sharply averts from his to stare back across the tempestuous waters. “Unfortunately I don’t have any suggestions. The only couple I know in any capacity is Remi and Ronin and you and Nate.” Which is absolutely depressing and far too revealing of her lacking inner circle, but it’s better than offering or something else equally preposterous. Or more painful. “Unless you have a death wish, in which case feel free to ask Neron and Morgan or Maeve and Locke.” There. Humor is much safer in this situation, and she snorts to herself at the imagery of it all, ignoring the elephant that never really leaves the room.
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
