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!
Tumbling down from the Climb, following veins of magma and boiling, heady waters, eventually one will find themselves near Apopo in Torchline. Did you know that? Danta didn't - but he has just learned.
He's also learned that sometimes travellers come up this far, and they get awfully lost and hot and bothered. And then, when they run into his marvellous self, they get dead. So that's that, he supposes.
Thing is, though, he's always been somewhat of a dramatic soul, and one of the delightful arcs of blood he'd cultivated had the audacity to catch him right across the face. And that simply won't do - he isn't uncivilised, for Dygra's sake.
Having stripped off his rags clothes to abandon them on a rock so hot they might catch fire before he's through, Danta lets himself slip into the steamy salt water that laps at one of the volcanic shores. It's diabolically hot, and his head tilts back to enjoy the heat that soaks readily into his skin.
It's got nothing on Frey's Breath, but it will absolutely do.
11-26-2022, 06:47 AM (This post was last modified: 11-27-2022, 06:20 PM by Sunjata.)
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
It’s been a year since the news and a year of the Flood being more of a ghost than he has ever been. Effort is little, love and attention, even further from the forefront of his mind. He’s become checked out, removed from the things he usually enjoyed, and without the rest of the war and his attempts at being a middleman before it hit, he really lacks a purpose at this point. He hasn’t dared to try to go to Frey, too afraid of what he’d see the second the deity appears.
He isn’t ready for that yet. He doesn’t know if he ever will be.
But one morning he tries to make an active effort in actually embracing his feelings rather than suffocating them and bottling them up, approaching the newly changed landscapes where there were some familiarity with the landmarks there. Memories, too. Apopo specifically, seeing how it seems to have started it all for him and Nate.
He still isn’t ready, but he pushes himself up the volcano further, wondering if perhaps this might be the time it erupts again and blasts him away into oblivion too.
No luck so far, but he does stumble across an incredibly warm spring that steams and bubbles and has a person within. And where he might otherwise greet the stranger, this time he ignores them to get a better lay of the new to him land.
the flood
with the pain that they gave you, like the pain is gonna save you
totally sniped from odd ilu
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.
Naked and buoyant and very, very content in the spring, it takes a few moments before Danta feels that tell-tale niggling; you know, the one that says someone's watching you. But when he does, blue eyes open with a predator's ease, spying the figure up on the rocks, and a smirk curls across his face.
"Enjoying the show?" he calls up, shifting to stand properly in the hot water (which comes conveniently to waist height, wouldn't you know). "Or can I tempt you to join me?" Bouncing his eyebrows, because he's quite sure that most people would boil in these temperatures, he can't help but ask anyway.
Who knows, maybe this passer-by is heat-proof? Maybe he's one of those nEw-Ancients that have been cropping up? Not that Danta will judge his mother's decisions, no sir. (He'll just judge you).
11-27-2022, 05:41 PM (This post was last modified: 11-27-2022, 06:20 PM by Sunjata.)
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
What show? He almost bites out as he glances back toward the stranger, sighing internally as his attempts to ignore and move on are dashed horribly. He can see the steam rising from the pool and feel the heat of it from here, so when the offer is given to join him, well, the answers a definite no unless he thinks his dragon shift might hold up to it.
But he turns to the stranger anyway, taking a few steps closer toward the edge of the boiling pool, eyeing the horns on the other man’s head before he speaks. “I think I’ll pass on that, thanks.” His voice is a hint raspy, noticed himself when his lips twist, the scar on the side of his cheek twisting and bunching with the movement.
But he lifts a hand anyway, guiding some of the too hot water to slither and snake around the stranger’s body like little reaching tendrils along his stomach and chest. “I’m perfectly warm enough where I am.” He rumbles, reverting back into a part of himself that’s long since disappeared. The one that focuses on distractions and latches onto whatever he can. After all, his memory hunt has already been ruined by the stranger’s appearance anyway.
the flood
with the pain that they gave you, like the pain is gonna save you
totally sniped from odd ilu
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.
Well that's no fun. Danta rolls his eyes, about to say just as much when - wouldn't you know it - the water rises up to tickle across his torso. Raising his eyebrows, because he's never seen anything like this before, the smirk that curls across his lips is lopsided - and entirely devoid of the scar on the stranger's face. "You don't see that every day," he remarks, wading through the steaming water towards the rocky edge of the shore.
Leaning his forearms against the hot stone (conveniently at Sunjata's feet) and with the water still swirling across his body, he tilts his head up at the other man. "Well fuck, the distance doesn't do you justice," he purrs. "Sure I can't tempt you? Pretty thing like you would look great in the steam."
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
“I’m sure you don’t.” He murmurs offhandedly, not loud enough for the stranger to hear (so he thinks, anyway). He’s never met an Ancient before, but heard the rumblings of them in his wandering. So as far as he knows, this stranger’s just a unique Attuned that likely has some sort of connection to a heat shift that keeps him from boiling himself alive within the heat of the pool.
Still, his steel eyes watch him wade closer, a scarred brow rising at the compliment (as if in confusion, as if his most recent resting bitch face was enough to ward everyone off, let alone what he’d done before the war). So he crouches, by the edge of the water, closer to the horned stranger as he tries to alleviate some of the height difference marginally. “I’m not exactly into getting cooked.” He drawls, guiding the water to create little circlets of hot tendrils around the stranger’s biceps now.
But he does feel like he can actually relate a bit more to the other man – at least a little bit. Black horns spiral from his skull, curling around the sides of his head through his short crop of brown hair. “My shift’s more at home in a more tempered climate.”
the flood
with the pain that they gave you, like the pain is gonna save you
totally sniped from odd ilu
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.
Danta could get used to this, the whole water flirting thing, as long as it stays the same temperature. "Sounds like you just need the right sort of cooking," he says with a chuckle; it's not his best line, but so sue him, he's really rusty at this. A few thousand years as a rock will do that to you. Still, as Sunjata leans down he leans up, water dripping from his chin and a spade-like tail lazily thrashing in the water behind him.
"Well would you look at that." Grinning at the sight of the horns that spiral up from the other man's head, he tilts his own admiringly to the side. "My shift has feathers - it isn't as impressive as yours must be." Assuming him to be an Attuned, perhaps Danta leans up a little further, his fair hair made darker by the water, his lips lingering mere inches from Sunjata's.
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
The tendrils continue to spiral around his arms, tailing up along the stranger’s neck. “And what kind of cooking do you think I do need?” He asks, before the horns spiral and the stranger seems enamored, grinning at the black horns that protrude from the Flood’s head. It’s enough to break through Sunjata’s cloudy exterior, a small amused smile twitching at the corner of his scarred lips. “I’ll let you in on a secret.” He hums, leaning a bit closer to the man in the incredibly hot, steamy water. “It’s a dragon.” Scaled and large and battered, but a dragon nonetheless.
But then he’s leaning up further and their lips are inches away from one another and there’s a hint of surprise that crosses Sunjata’s face at the boldness – how long has it been since someone had been such with him? Too long, too sad to think about. So he remains in that mere inch space between them, his steel gaze scanning the man’s eyes briefly before he introduces himself. “I’m Sunjata.” It comes out like a whisper, the water tendrils wrapping around the strangers neck a few more rounds before Sunjata leans back a fraction on his heels.
the flood
with the pain that they gave you, like the pain is gonna save you
totally sniped from odd ilu
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.
"I haven't decided yet," Danta informs him, his hands braced against the volcanic shore now, as if to lift himself out of the water as much as possible without actively touching the other man. He swears he can practically smell the power rolling off him, more than any Attuned he's encountered previously. (Then again, when was the last time he actually met an Attuned? Come on, Danta).
But then Sunjata is leaning away again, all horned and scarred and terribly untouchable, and the Ancient lets blue eyes linger on those Cupid's bow lips for a few moments more. "A dragon," he rumbles, lifting himself out of the water; his skin is a little pink from the experience, but nothing that suggests he's taken more than a wonderfully hot bath. With steam curling about him along with the lingering tendrils of water - he hopes, anyway - he stretches languidly.
"Believe me when I say it is a pleasure, Sunjata."
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
It’s a shame, because at this point Sunjata’s pretty sure that he can’t feel much when it comes to his emotions, too closed off to actually delve into the hows and whys that this stranger appears to be so enamored by him. So he has to break it before he lets himself get caught up in it all, watching as Danta rises out of the water, pink and steaming and stretching out – nude (as if he hadn’t realized it before with the clothes hanging on the rock beside them).
The tendrils do continue to stretch around the Ancient, reaching with little warm wet fingers along the man’s neck and arms and chest as if chasing the stray drops of water that wish to run down his body. “Is it?” He drawls, unsure of whether or not it’s him that’s a pleasure or the gifts that Frey’s given him that convince those around him he might just be worth the shot.
Ah, and there goes his mood again. He works his jaw a moment, shifting so that he can kneel instead of applying more pressure to his joints, steel eyes watching Danta for a moment longer before looking back over the pool of hot water.
the flood
with the pain that they gave you, like the pain is gonna save you
totally sniped from odd ilu
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 absolutely is," Danta confirms readily, flashing a fanged grin over his shoulder and watching (and enjoying) the hot water racing across his skin as if it has a mind of its own; and only then does he consider that Attuned don't do that. "Are you a water dragon, Sunjata?" he wonders, shifting to flop down on the (honestly ridiculously hot) rock like some content salamander, watching the demigod on his knees through hooded eyes.
He smells like blood and incense and an old red wine they probably don't make anymore - to Danta, anyway - and so what's not to like, honestly? "And if you are," he continues, his tail continuing to lash across the stone, "what brings you up to an active volcano?"
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
Is he a water dragon? No not quite. Electricity and lightning, the very same that race up his right hand and arm and across his chest, little pink scars of arcing light that had once tried to kill him and he again, wonders if it would have been better if it had. “No.” He says softly, bringing his gaze back to Danta as the man drapes over the hot stones, Sunjata drawing more water up from the hot pool to coat the Ancient in more of those tendrils of warmth, raking across his body. “Lightning, actually.”
As for what brings him to the volcano? Well, it’s something he doesn’t particularly want to answer, so he comes up with some random bullshit excuse, dredging it up from the dusty shelves in his mind. “I’m a demigod. Just trying to get a new lay of the land.” He hums, chin nodding toward the shift in Torchline and the strange new layout that he certainly isn’t used to – after all, it isn’t at all like the place he used to rule. It isn’t at all like anything he knew.
So he flips the conversation back, steel eyes focusing on Danta’s face and not any lower, despite his curiosity with the way the Ancient’s tail moves. “And what are you, Danta?” He asks, cocking his horned head, a gesture to the other man’s own horns as he drawls his name.
the flood
with the pain that they gave you, like the pain is gonna save you
totally sniped from odd ilu
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.
"Lightning," Danta repeats, his grin full and fanged at that. And before he can gesture at the little streams of living water that are tickling all the right places on his body, Sunjata is answering that question as well.
"Oh, a half-god? You ought to have said sooner. My sincerest condolences to you." His blue eyes sharpen a touch, and he waves a hand imperiously, as if the other man has just informed him that he's living with a death sentence opposed to demigodhood.
As for him? "I'm a top or a bottom depending on what you like best," he drawls. "And I am very turned on, Sunjata." Oh, was that not what he meant? Sorry about it.
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
A half god isn’t something he’s been told before – somehow it sounds far more powerful than a demigod in his mind, and yet he still feels stuck in ways he can’t quite say. Of course, the comment Danta makes certainly makes it make more sense, and the Flood can’t help the soft snort that leaves him, a shoulder rising and falling as if to say it didn’t matter.
Besides, he’s more interested in what feathered shift Danta has that allows him to not boil himself alive in the volcanic heat while also allows him to look like some sort of demon. And the answer he gets certainly isn’t one he’s expecting, brows rising as he focuses further on Danta, straightening up as he realizes. “Is that so?” Sunjata asks, unsure of just what to say – caught off guard entirely by that response.
He waves a hand, however, and the tendrils of water slip lower along Danta’s body, racing along his torso and skin, running further down his body as if he’s testing something.
the flood
with the pain that they gave you, like the pain is gonna save you
totally sniped from odd ilu
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.
