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!
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
Bidding an apologetic smile to Isla as he departs, he wants to get it over with sooner rather than dwell on it the entire night. At the very least the drink Ronin brought earlier has helped his mind soften to the thought of speaking to his ex-best friend. So he grabs a couple more, one for himself and one for Ronin, if only to return the favor.
That and, you know, Ronin kind of sort of maybe saved his life when Safrin killed him though he wonders if that would’ve just been easier.
But anyway. He winds his way through the crowd — easier because he towers over everyone it seems, and so spotting the other demigod is easy, as is stepping up beside him to offer a drink to the other man’s hand, unabashedly taking him from whatever it was he was doing. And eloquently, offers a soft “hey” in greeting.
Set during the party!
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.
Ronin has been out at the bonfire as he said he would be, though his husband has seemingly left to socialise; something which still has him suspiciously glancing around when Sunjata sidles up beside him. (He's never sure whether to be proud or worried when Remi goes to speak to other people these days).
The hand holding a fresh drink interrupts his reverie, the Supernova blinking a couple of times and glancing back at Jata, the two of them bathed in amber from the flames, almost like they're covered in blood. "Hey. Thanks," he rumbles, accepting the drink and raising it in a small cheers before taking a considerable sip; it isn't as though either of them can get properly drunk these days.
"How are things?" Gods, aren't there like... icebreaker placards for things like this?
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
“You’re welcome.” He offers quietly, looking at the Supernova beside him bathed in the amber light, reflected in the Flood’s own gaze. He can’t help but to follow suit with the light cheers, downing a fair amount himself, knowing it’s easier for him to get closer to getting drunk than Ronin could.
The question, though, makes him laugh. He isn’t sure why. “Things are… Going. I’ve made a brothel in King’s End.” A casual shrug, given that his skin is notably absent from any marks that might suggest that he participated in the business he created.
“I am… Trying to find a new normal.” He admits a little more honestly, downing another bit of his glass, internally cursing Ronin for his uncanny ability to get Sunjata to just speak whatever he didn’t entirely want to. “What about with you?”
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.
Sunjata laughs and Ronin can't help but smile out at the bonfire. "Sorry," he adds, for his terrible small talk, before falling quiet to listen; he hadn't expected the Flood to give much of an answer, honestly, so this is a pleasant surprise in itself. And no one is arguing yet, look at that!
"A brothel?" he repeats with a raise of an eyebrow, before recalling, not for the first time, Sunjata's change of godly alignment. "Doing Frey's good work," he adds with a hint of humour in his voice; no malice now, too many bodies under the bridge for that any more.
Following suit and taking another sip of his drink, Ronin finally hazards a glance across at the Flood. "Is it working?" he wonders of his new normal. And when the question is fired back at him, the Supernova almost has to look away again, as if afraid that the smile on his face might be rubbing something in.
"I almost don't want to say," he admits. "Things with me have never been better." He has everything he wants or needs, he's hopelessly in love with an occasionally-homicidal alchemist and they live in paradise. Oh, and his goddess didn't kill him the last time he saw her.
"I know it's late, but... I just wanted to apologise for... well. You know." The loss. The grief. The guilt.
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
It was terrible small talk, honestly, but between the two of them there isn’t anything else that could be said. So much sat beneath the waves of their friendship, things that had started off great and bright and promising, only to crash and burn into the endless abyss alongside every other hope and dream Sunjata held.
“They offered me an opportunity to find a new purpose and I took it.” He adds, letting the soft smile start to fade when Ronin’s question hits. Is it working? No. But he can pretend. Sunjata’s always been great at pretending his life wasn’t falling apart. He’d learned to do it when he was simply a child, after all. All he offers instead is a slight little shake of his head, subtle enough that Ronin would be able to see it while everyone else would think nothing of it.
Even more so when the Supernova admits that he almost doesn’t want to say. It does feel like bragging – but Sunjata has to remind himself that regardless of how he felt about it, they were always going to win. He’d known from long before, but hope blindsides. It had blindsided him into thinking that love was enough to make sure his husband came back from the war.
Love was never enough, though, was it?
So he simply hums a soft sound and a little bit of a bitter “I’m glad you’ve found some peace” in a tone that seems to suggest he means it if it weren’t for the way he completely avoids looking at Ronin and downs the rest of the glass he’d brought over like he’s a fish without water.
Surprise does overcome him, however, when there’s an apology, and his head tips back toward the other man, his scarred brow (the scar Ronin had given to him) raises. And maybe it’s the bitterness of the conversation from earlier, but he does clear his throat and find a place to abandon his glass, before stopping himself from seeking out another. “I appreciate the apology.” He admits, with an undertone that seems to say I can’t forgive you yet. “Not sure if you do really need to apologize. You did revive me, after all.” In the grand scheme, they were square the second Ronin let him out of Stormbreak’s prison if Sunjata's feelings weren't involved. But he can’t help but to add, “though for a time after the war, I thought it was a worse punishment than letting Safrin just kill me.” He admits, searching his pockets for a pack of cigarettes to pull one out because gods know he needs one right now.
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.
"Can't fault them for looking out for you," Ronin says of Frey; an opportunity, a new purpose, it's all something he'd have thought the Flood would need as well, after the sinking ship of the war and the Ascendeds' parts in it. But the other man hides, as ever, behind his smiles, and having been close friends, he can't not know Sunjata's tells. "Not as bright and shiny as you'd hoped?" he hazards. "It looked as though you and Isla are doing well."
And it's absolutely none of his business, especially because the only reason he ought to care about the Remedy before is because his husband had once - and yet here they are. Maybe one day Remi would want to know. Talk of peace, though, has his shoulders relaxing, and although Sunjata shoots back his drink in one, Ronin doesn't, for once, follow suit. "Thanks," he murmurs.
As for the apology, the Supernova can't help but wrinkle his nose a little, though he can't really say much in response at first. Perhaps part of him had wanted that to be the case, for Sunjata's life to be difficult. Now, though? Well, he'd not have invited him to talk if that had been the case. "I always think how easily things might have swung the other way. The different choices we might have made," he says. "Easy to do that now though, I guess. War's over."
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
He doesn’t fault Frey for that. But even as he hides behind the smiles and masks and more professional tone to his voice, Ronin sees through it easily, and the question has him shaking his head, depositing his glass on a passing helper’s tray, wishing he had another to replace it. “Frey has been understanding. They gave me a blindfold to visit them, after all.” Because he still can’t look upon them without breaking his heart again. As for him and Isla looking as though they’re doing well, he nods. “Isla and I were in similar boats once the war ended.” And like calls to like, after all.
He’s silent at Ronin’s thanks and finally scouts that next drink when he continues on about the war swinging sides. But again, they’ll never know, because Sunjata had stood on the losing side after making himself enemy after enemy time and time again. He snipes the drink from the tray as the helper passes and turns to look at Ronin a bit more fully. “I will always blame the gods for what happened.” He admits. Because it wasn’t like people just woke up one day and decided that they’d start a war and murder people who were once friends.
No, instead, the gods had pushed and pulled their followers into a war with his least favored outcome. “Speaking of, is Safrin as vicious as always?” He asks, taking an easy sip from his new glass.
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.
"Ah," Ronin says with the verbal equivalent of a wince. "That's kind of them, yeah." Honestly he has no idea what he'd have done in the Flood's shoes. Or perhaps he does, but he's too prideful to admit it when things seem to have slotted into place so perfectly. Either way, a familiar thought comes sneaking from the Supernova's subconscious, that Sunjata is much stronger than he thinks he is, and that he always has been.
"Similar boats?" He can't help but pick up on that. "Oh, did Varus..." He'd only met the Ascended incredibly briefly, hearing about him mostly second-hand from Remi, but he'd assumed the man had lived and was simply too busy to attend the party. "Shit. That's... yeah. Shit."
Furrowing his brow, he takes another measured sip of his drink while Jata scouts another out, Ronin humming an agreement even though he knows how useless blame has become in recent seasons. It doesn't make the Flood's point any less valid. As for Safrin, though, Ronin can't help but chuckle. "Would you even believe me if I said no?" he murmurs. "She's been good to me. Good to all of her followers, since the war. Healed everyone up once all was said and done."
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
It was kind of them. Kinder than he felt like he deserved — or maybe it was just their attempts to keep Sunjata from becoming too brittle under the weight of this impossible world Sunjata woke up to when the war ended. So he hums a soft agreement, having nothing else to add.
At least, until he brings up Varus and Sunjata nods. “There aren’t any Ascendeds left.” As far as he’d known. “Isla was the last before she became Ancient.” And a lot of that had been his doing, he thinks. Giving her a reason to want to feel things again.
But he’s scouted a drink and sips from it, relishing in the taste while he focuses on his question of Safrin, even if the thought of the starry goddess still made him want to bristle. To hear that she’s treated everyone well is something that Sunjata tuts his tongue to, turning to look at Ronin more fully. “Maybe she’s learned.” He shrugs, fully prepared to drag the goddess of the Stars name into the ground if ever given the chance.
She did kill him, after all. It’s only fair. “Is… uh… Do you know if Kamaria with her?” His voice, while steady, has a part that cracks ever so slightly, covered up with the clearing of his throat. He’d never gotten confirmation of it, nor has he been able to even go to the goddess and ask.
It wasn’t his place, even if he were her father. They’d parted on terrible terms and he’d never seen her again.
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.
"Shit," Ronin says softly, though it seems as though it's just something to say. He can't very well claim to be sad that all of the Ascended are gone, given that it was the very point of the war. But the fact that those who survived have likely become Ancients... well, that sits better in his chest. Hopefully the world can keep healing from here. Maybe we can too," he murmurs, taking one last sip of his drink to finish it and rolling the glass between his hands.
Maybe Safrin has learned, but Ronin doubts it, mainly because the mercurial goddess has nothing to learn in his eyes. She is, just as the sun simply is, whether it warms the skin or burns it. All they can do is stand in its orbit and its light. Kamaria, though, isn't a name he expects to hear, and the warble in Sunjata's voice has the Supernova glancing across at him.
"I don't know, sorry," he says. "...But I can ask her for you. You're staying in King's End, right? I can get a letter to you if I find out." And then, in a softer voice tinged with a smile, "Perhaps she's in the stars with Seren." Their two daughters, half-sisters, half-goddesses in his eyes, together in the sky. It's a nice thought.
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
There’s a petty part of Sunjata that wishes he had the numbers – wishes he knew just how many Ascended didn’t make it to get the chance to become Ancient. But he doesn’t, so it’s a comment that dies as soon as it comes to the forefront of his mind, humming a soft sound of agreement and reigning himself in before he tells Ronin that there’s only so much healing that can be done to repeated scar tissue injuries. At least, in the Flood’s case. He’s always been a pessimist, but at least before the war he’d had something to hope for. Now he’s a shell that drifts from whim to whim, whatever anyone wanted him to do, he did it. “Maybe.” He says instead, taking another sip of the drink he’d snagged.
As for Safrin, he doesn’t know whether or not she has learned. He’ll never know. Not that it bothers him any – the hell he’d gone through following her had only added to the reason why he didn’t get to spend more time freely with Nate, time he’d never get back. And likewise, he’ll never know about Kamaria either unless someone else asks, and he doesn’t mean for his voice to break when he asks Ronin if he knows.
The apology is met with a soft nod, before he clears his throat again. “Yeah. The House of Midnight.” He offers, in case Ronin needed a name of a place to send a letter to. His shoulders do relax ever so slightly, however, at the idea that both their daughters were together up in the sky, and Sunjata exhales a soft sigh. “I hope so. She’d have loved that.” Even if their last interaction had been detrimental, she was still his daughter, and he wasn’t his fathers son despite how Safrin had designed the careful manipulation of the young woman.
“You don’t have to ask if it doesn’t come up. I do… Pretend that there’s a star up there that’s her anyway.” Even if he glares at the rest of them as if he could grow large enough as a dragon to tear the majority of them down.
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.
Maybes and shrugs are the flavour of the night, it seems, but even so, Ronin will take what he can get. From spitting venom at each other through the bars of a prison cell, this reunion with Sunjata is still more peaceful than he could have ever anticipated, and the realisation has the Supernova releasing some tension from his shoulders that he's barely aware existed. "I'll remember," he says, of the House of Midnight; if nothing else, he could scrawl THE BROTHEL IN KING'S END and he's pretty sure it would arrive. How many could there be?
"I think Seren would enjoy her company as well," he adds, about Kamaria. Smiling to himself, he thinks for a moment about their daughters, freewheeling through the stars as comets or dancing on the rings of some distant planet. Wherever they are, he hopes the world is being kind to them.
"Well," he says, thinking of the questions he'd yet to ask about his own daughter with Safrin. "I will still see what I can do. Closure is a powerful thing." Glancing across at the Flood, he reaches out tentatively to give Sunjata's shoulder a gentle pat. "Listen," he mutters, failing at icebreaking all over again, "I know the way things went was... yeah. It didn't make either of us look great. But letters always know how to reach me, so..." He shrugs. The ball is in Sunjata's court, if that's what he wants.
no one's coming to save you, swing that sword that you made
Sunjata nods as Ronin tells him he’ll remember – not that it matters all that much given that he’s absolutely correct in that he could say it’s the brothel in kings end and it would still find its way to him. Hell, even a Sunjata in King’s End would probably still find its way on the doorstep of the House of Midnight. But either way, the conversation drifts toward their daughters – a time where they’d been close and still at each other’s throats, of course, a machination of Safrin that the Flood soon realized after.
Regardless, at the mention of closure being a powerful thing, Sunjata can’t help but to bristle slightly with it – covering it up with another sip from his glass. Closure was something he didn’t get with Nate, either. His life suddenly starting to feel like he’s choking on all the loose ends. Even as Ronin reaches out to pat his shoulder, Ronin would find the skin beneath it still just as tense.
But he can give the Supernova his attention – his steel gaze focusing on Ronin’s face when he speaks, and he’s silent for a moment as he mulls it over. Things went, for lack of a better term, to shit, and with the option to reach out to Ronin, Sunjata has no filter for the first time when he asks “is that a good idea?” Because for all he knew, Sunjata was still considered an enemy to many. It’s a habit that will be difficult to break. And for the Betrayer of Safrin to reconnect with her Star? Would it be something Ronin could suavely talk his way out of with her?
One thing is clear, though, is that evidently he cares more about Ronin’s reputation and safety than his own. Even if Sunjata can’t see it that way at this moment.
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.
Ronin expects many things from the Flood in that moment, from having his hand shrugged away to his drink smashed against the side of his head, and to have none of the more obvious outcomes play out is as surprising as it is relieving. Indeed, at Sunjata's question the Supernova can't help but scoff out a soft laugh, giving the other man's shoulder a squeeze as if he might be able to press the tension out of it, before letting his arm drop back to his side.
"I have survived much worse things than receiving a letter from you," he points out with a crooked grin directed at the heart of the bonfire. "The war is over. We are just... demigods of Safrin and Frey. And last I checked, I'm still allowed to pick my own friends." For better or for worse, as it might happen. "The offer is there, anyway. I'm down from the Cordillera more often these days, so if you do want to touch base, it's more doable than you might think."
