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!
Fun implies that Danta's patience doesn't have a limit, which it very much does, and as her voice once more echoes from absolutely-not-in-front-of-him, he considers calling it quits and finding an easier fuck at the Halenani. Indeed, he's already half turning in that direction when an unseen hand snags at his own, the Ancient's brows furrowing together to feel rather than to see what Flora is doing.
"How many more tricks have you got up your sleeve?" he wonders, letting his palm grace across her breast before reaching back for the towel she'd dropped. If he's quick enough, he hopes to snatch it around her and pull, pinning them together whether or not she's invisible. "Or is this it, for now?"
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Dropping a sheet over something invisible is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but even as Danta moves to corral her with her own towel, Flora finds herself utterly delighted to be so playfully caught. Though he might be running low on patience, when it came to being a cock tease, in the immortal words of Cady from Mean Girls, the limit does not exist.
The towel catches around her lower back, tugging her forward. Curling both arms around Danta's neck, she presses her fingertips against the base of his hairline and lets them scratch up toward the base of his horns. 'It?' Flora repeats, infusing her pout into the word. "Is this not enough?" She asks, nubile body pressed firmly against him with her hips shifting back and forth slightly to try and determine just how frustrated he either was or wasn't growing with her.
The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true
The sensations, while pleasant and then some, don't quite make up for being able to see what he's getting into (wink wonk), but at least the towel has caught against Flora such that Danta can believe there's an actual person before him. Given that he's unable to see her, the sudden fingers scratching along his scalp cause a flinch rather than being something he'd usually (very much) enjoy, the Ancient's spaded tail lashing like a whipcrack.
"It's definitely something," he says in a low voice, having nowhere to look and yet somehow finding a warm body grinding against his own. Danta isn't not interested - seeing Flora naked, whether an illusion or otherwise, is guaranteed to get the blood rushing southward - but the teasing aspect of her game is still somewhat working against the cock part. Maybe she can help rectify that.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Flora, who'd found most of her partners (even Jack to some extent), more than willing to put up with her escapades, found Danta's lack of immediate enthusiasm frustrating and alluring in equal measure. "They don't call me the Doubletake for nothing." She says softly. Ceasing the twist of her hips, Flora instead balances against Danta that she might stand all the way up on her toes without fear of tipping over.
Placing her lips near his if only so that his mouth might have a moment to sense the nearness of hers, Flora lingers for a second or two longer to enjoy the tension. Danta might not appreciate it, but the tales Flora's mind was telling made the lead-up all the more worth it (and therein explains Jack's willingness). Her mind painted a picture of this handsome nomad quivering with need for her (despite how still he was against her), and how hard it must be for him to restrain himself. Whatever the truth was hardly mattered, because despite Danta's compatible reluctance to play along, Flora was very much enjoying herself.
Pressing forward, her tongue aiming to part his lips, Flora's fingers comb through his sandy hair itching to feel their way toward the base of his horns.
The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true
"I didn't know they called you the Doubletake at all," Danta points out, before Flora is suddenly leaning against him(? he isn't sure) and there's a breath against his lips that might be her mouth. The pictures Flora paints are in quiet opposition to the reality of the puzzled and increasingly horny Ancient she's draped against, and given that he's captured her (more or less), her continued lack of visible presence is off-putting to say the least.
And so rather than quivering (and if the good captain ever got within range of Flora's thoguhts, rest assured he'd likely come running), Danta merely drops his hands and steps back away from her. Capricious and predatory, simply put, invisible kiss-chase has now lost his interest. "You win," he trills, slinging her towel around his neck. "I did tell you I wasn't a patient monster."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Well they do." Flora purrs, before everything promptly goes tits up (and not in the fun way).
What Flora wants is Danta's hands all over her, desperate to map what little he'd seen of her with what he could feel beneath his hands. His searching and grabbing hands. What she got was him pulling away and taking her towel in the process.
"Are the only kind of games you like the sort where you don't have to put in any effort?" Flora wonders a touch bitingly, feeling stung and dejected. Were it not for the hot flush of embarrassment on her cheeks, she might have just pulled off her ring and given Danta his prize. But that he hadn't even kissed her back had the Doubletake confused and angry.
The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true
"The sort of games I like are the ones where I can see where my effort is going," Danta corrects, and he'd aim a mischievous smile over his shoulder at Flora if he fucking knew where she was standing. "Perhaps next time I can play the invisible one and you can see how enjoyable it is," he suggests, hopping back down towards the very edge of the Miana Pool and discarding her towel, tossing it onto one of the sun-baked boulders nearby.
Kissing the appearance of thin air; fondling something and nothing at the same time... Danta doesn't know what he's learned, if anything, from this experience, but maybe it's that he's not the sort of guy who gets hard thinking about fucking ghosts. "Still, you've got a beautiful body - I think, I only saw it for a second. If you ever want to plat a game where we can see each other, you just let me know."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"I would have thought that a clever monster like you could have made do with his hands for a few seconds before giving up." Flora says, rolling her eyes before realizing that the gesture would be utterly lost on Danta. "Oh? Is that something you can do? Or are your talents limited to just talking a big game..?" Unsure if she was trying to bait the ancient so that he might come back to her or annoy him into leaving, Flora trails along after, padding silently on the stones.
Only when he tosses down her towel does she realize that the game is well and truly over, and with a sigh, Flora opts to grab the sundress she'd come here in instead. Tugging it over her head, the shape of her body now clear beneath the fabric, the Doubletake tugs the ring from her finger. Peering at Danta, Flora ruffles a hand through her long hair. Later that evening she'll wonder how and why she went wrong, but for now she suddenly wanted out of the sun.
"I don't know about you, but I could use a drink, and I happen to know a place." She says, a touch stiffly if only because of how recently she'd been rejected, but finding herself parched just the same.
The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true
"What can I say? I'm a very visual person," Danta says equally as stiffly (his tone is the only thing that is by this point). Straightening up from where he'd crouched back at the Miana Pool if for no other reason than because he's worried this invisible siren is going to shove him into the water, it's with pleasant surprise that he glances around to see Flora suddenly visible, all tousled hair and full curves and golden skin.
And of course now Danta regrets giving up so quickly, but therein lays the irony. Still, he absolutely lets his gaze drink her in properly now that she's available to ogle, the Ancient eventually flicking his eyes back up towards her face. "I could go for a drink," he agrees, a smile cutting across his face as he hops back up to stand with her, offering his arm for her to take.
"How did you disappear, by the way?" he adds, referring to the Vanishing Flora that had duped him.
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Normally quite keen to be on display, as she had been earlier, now Flora just stands stock still, making no attempt to emphasize any of her assets. Her body needs little help given how form-fitting her sundress is, but still feeling jilted the Doubletake doesn't think she owes this impatient monster anything more than she's already offered.
Rolling her eyes a touch indulgently as she loops her arm through Danta's, Flora flirtatiously nudges her hip against his. She's still a touch cross, sure, but she is who she is regardless of her mood. "You don't really think I'd just give up my secrets that easily, do you?" She wonders, tutting under her breath.
Given the sloping set of Torchline now, it's regretably a bit of an uphill walk to the Hanged Man, such that there's a sheen of sweat glistening across Flora's brow. There's no much makeup to melt off of her skin, but the hair near her forehead has gone a touch wild with curls, and because she knows better, the Doubletake doesn't even bother trying to tame it.
On the door of the Hanged Man is a large sign that says CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS. It doesn't stop her because she can't read!, and after making a show of checking to see if anyone might be watching, Flora forces the door open. "Tadaaaaaa." She purrs, leading Danta into the twilit-interior of the bar.
The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true
"Not easily, no," Danta replies with a crooked little smile, the implication being that he thinks he'd be able to get her to give her secrets up eventually. Perhaps if she'd been a touch more visible for their playtime earlier he'd have made some headway with it - oh, well.
While the sun might pinken his skin, the heat of the day is nothing short of blissful for the Ancient, and he's more than content to dawdle his way into Torchline; alas, it doesn't seem to be on the cards for his beautiful companion. His eyebrows raise to see the not-yet-open Hanged Man, even as the skies darken to twilight around them, but before he can make mention of it, in goes Flora.
With a smile that's a touch wild (he isn't to know that she's the owner, is he?) Danta slips into the establishment after her. "Breaking and entering? Now we're talking."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Breaking?" Flora wonders, spinning on her toe to flash him a smile before turning her back to him once more. "What's broken? I don't see anything broken." Making a show of scanning the empty tavern, Flora shrugs her shoulders. "Besides, I heard that the gin here is brewed from botanicals found only in the Cordillera. You have to fight dragons just to get near the ingredients, and then once it's all made, it's left to cool and stew beneath a waterfall." So saying, Flora has opted to heave herself up and over the bar rather than opening the half-door.
Popping up with a bottle of something the colour of faded blue sea-glass, Flora waggles her eyebrows. 'Unless you aren't a gin man in which case there's probably some wine around here...' There was, but certainly it wouldn't be as refreshing. Inside the bottle the gin seemed to sparkle despite the magical twilit hush of the room. As it turned out Remi had added a bit of what had formerly made his stars glow to the liquid, once he'd devised a way to make it non-toxic, of course. Flora just thought it looked pretty.
The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true
"Good point," Danta concedes, though the wordplay makes sneaking around in a bar that (he thinks) doesn't belong to Flora a lot less fun. "Oh, did you now?" He grins. "The last time I was here it was pretty average. How do you know the gin is so good if the place is under renovation?" In his recent experience of Caido's bars and taverns, people tended to give liquor a mystical history even if it was brewed in a bathtub, so he doesn't necessarily credit much to waterfall gin.
But the glow is pretty cool. "I am both a gin and a wine man," he informs her. "So I guess I'll have what you're having." So saying, he sidles into one of the seats against the counter, crossing long legs and propping an elbow up on the bar. "And maybe a cocktail umbrella, if there's one going."
if we're in love or if we're in pain?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Winking, and unaware of just how incredibly mismatched the pair are in reality, Flora lets her fingertips dance over Remi's gin with another exaggerated waggle of her eyebrows. "Well, because this gin is made by one of the demigods who lives up there. " She purrs, before uncorking it with a satisfying poP! "But don't take my word for it."
Reaching beneath the bar where she knows the glasses are kept, Flora fumbles about feigning ignorance before pulling up two mismatched cups. One is clearly for whiskey, while the other is a coppery thing. 'An umbrella, mm?' They didn't have cocktail umbrellas (not yet, but Flora would add it to her mental list of things to pick up. Or for Ronin to pick up), but she makes a show of glancing around just the same.
'I'm so sorry good sir, but there's not an umbrella to be found. Please don't give us a bad rating.." She pouts theatrically. While she's been talking, Flora has been pouring Danta's drink, and at the culmination of her sentence, she's leaned forward to pass it toward him, making sure that by leaning on her arm her cleavage presses against the neckline of her dress.
The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true
