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!
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
Melita wouldn’t admit it, but traversing over the land by dragon was much easier, and quite frankly, more amusing, than meandering through sky ports or wandering. With Fangorn safely tucked in her arms, her hands grasping hold of scales along her uncle, and Sila flying alongside, the journey towards a jungle (?) portion of Hak Etme was far better.
“Huh,” she muttered and uttered as they landed, sliding off easily. “What the fuck is all of this?” She’d been used to the intense, dry heat of the desert – especially the last time she’d scorched her way through, with bone monsters and massive mistakes. Not the opulent, sprawling vibrance of this sudden oasis, waves upon waves of greenery and abundance. “Have you seen this before?”
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
// i came from a broken home, so look at all my broken bones count me in, but count me out, i know what this is about //
If he had to pick a way to travel, this would be it every single time. Granted, Sunjata’s never taken a skyship – never felt the need to when his own wings were capable of taking him places. So he’s more than content to chauffer his niece into the desert landscape, casually avoiding the one spot where Haai’s demise had torn his soul in two. And luckily, with this banking of direction, it guides them toward the jungle portion, lush with life and so at odds with how Sunjata remembered this barren wasteland to be.
He lands and she dismounts and he shifts back into himself, rubbing at his cheek with his brows pinched as he scans the area – not needing to worry about water this time when he’s got magic now to ensure that they have more than enough here. “No, I haven’t seen it before.” He answers her, taking a few steps further in, head tilting slightly. “How does something like this bloom when the rest just over that ledge are anything but?” It’s a rhetorical question, but one nonetheless that he airs, looking back to Melita with a glimmer of adventure in his gaze. “Do you wanna check it out?”
the flood
// i'm the next, so get in line just let me have my fucking time //
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.
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
“Fuck if I know,” had become somewhat of a residual answer, but truthful just the same. Setting Fangorn down, he meandered around her ankles, vines poking at some plants nearby, while Sila landed and perched on her shoulders. “Could it have just arrived after the war?” And Caido splitting portions and pieces of lands? The why or how probably didn’t matter, but the Honeybee couldn’t quite help herself into those infernal notes of information, beginning to stroll forward at the insistence of adventure.
“Sure. Might as well see what it’s got. Can’t be any worse than that weird ass bone island.” Still regretting not leaving Talyson to die there, she started on a slow pace, tracing over the foundations of vines and shrubbery, trying to instill some sort of path. “Doesn’t look like many come through.”
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
// i came from a broken home, so look at all my broken bones count me in, but count me out, i know what this is about //
He has to agree with the sentiment, even if it’s all just a repetition of them both having no fucking idea what’s going on. His gaze drifting from the grown over entrance to watch as Fangorn pokes and prods at some of the plants. “Seeing as the Grounds changed as much as it did, it might make sense that this did too.” He agrees, before following her into the lush and humid jungle-like space.
“I’ve never been to the bone island. Though, Isla told me about it recently.” Another space he should perhaps investigate, if it was worse than this was. Regardless, he tries to pick a path behind her, needing to duck a few times to ensure the draping vines and branches don’t smack him in the face as she carefully and easily steps underneath them. “I wonder why that is. Maybe people don’t go this far in the desert?” Or maybe more nefarious reasonings like danger.
But he doesn’t know and couldn’t say – choosing to simply keep a careful hold on the magic in his soul just in case he’ll need to spring it to life in a split second.
the flood
// i'm the next, so get in line just let me have my fucking time //
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.
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
Fangorn grabbed hold of one of the plants but then quickly let it go – giving forth a vicious and wild sneeze thereafter. Melita gawked for a moment, before shaking her head and pressing onwards, brushing and moving vines aside when they impeded their wayward march. “Yeah it’s kinda shitty,” she uttered. She probably would’ve enjoyed it more with better company. Though her eyes narrowed at the name dropping of Isla – she had seen the woman during Flora’s opening – but didn’t know of any connections between her and the Flood. Presuming, well, the usual, she glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Isla?”
Sila remained firmly on her shoulder, tail occasionally maneuvering a fern. “I can’t imagine why they would,” she uttered, remembering the marketplace deeper into the sands and dunes, though that had been a surprise too. “Unless it’s to get something…here.” Smuggler tendencies made her wonder what lurked within the depths, wrinkling her nose for a moment before grabbing a nearby stick and swinging it along.
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
// i came from a broken home, so look at all my broken bones count me in, but count me out, i know what this is about //
He can’t help the snort of a laugh in agreement at Melita’s ultimate decision on the new island (and also poor Fangorn’s sneeze). Any place with skeletons littered about and plants that bit and probably caused a decent chunk of those skeletons to stay there would be a shitty place to be. “I heard the plants bite.” He says by way of conversation, until she glances over at him and his steel gaze catches her look with the question uttered, realizing he likely needed to explain.
“Yeah. We made the brothel together.” Granted, it was his idea from his deity, but Isla had been a big helping hand in making it. “She ran the infirmary downstairs until… She left to go and explore what else the world had to offer.” He imagines she doesn’t care to know the details, and if she did then she’d ask. But for the first time, Sunjata had kept to his word, his choices, his actions. And for that, he is a little bit proud of himself.
He starts to notice some little plumes of pollen start to float up from the plants they walk through, and with that careful hold on his magic he lets it conjure a slow sweep of water to push the pollen back down to the ground. “Some big treasure, maybe?” He suggests, before he shakes his head and does give into his initial thought. “Honestly, it's probably something dangerous, knowing this place.” His nose wrinkles as more pollen starts to lift and he drowns it out.
the flood
// i'm the next, so get in line just let me have my fucking time //
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.
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
“Yeah, and some have bones in ‘em,” adding to the commentary of Metacarpal Island, as if that were a normal thing to occur. And perhaps it was in Caido, where the unexpected was more of a standard procedure.
But her attention meandered and focused on the whole Isla thing, since she’d hadn’t been privy to the brothel building (wouldn’t be interested anyway) nor infirmaries within the refuge. Perhaps there were modicums of layers left unsaid there, and she arched her brow at his response, waiting for the inevitable turn of relationship building or burning – and then nothing more. “Huh,” came on a breath, before she pushed another layer of ferns away from her ankles. Then she shrugged, unbothered by the outcome. “Good for her then.”
The pollen was weird, and made her nose curl. Fangorn sneezed again, and she clutched tighter onto the end of Sila’s tail. “Probably should expect something like that,” though grateful he could push all of the filaments back down. “Maybe its poisonous,” she offered, gesturing to the grains, though not at all alarmed.
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
// i came from a broken home, so look at all my broken bones count me in, but count me out, i know what this is about //
Somehow, the information of some of the plants on that strange island having bones within them cause Sunjata’s nose to wrinkle in distaste. Finding it a stranger occurrence than blood thirsty plants – though, realistically, Korofi likely had some of those too but given that the place he’d grown up in had been very much a modern day city, it wasn’t like he could go out into the wilderness and find them.
Regardless, as he offers the information of Isla, he hums a note of agreement. “Yeah. Sounds like her and Remi are talking again so she’s got quite the guide to take her around.” Someone that wasn’t like him who didn’t know whether he was welcome anywhere these days. Perhaps that’s why he still remained such a hermit, out of everyone’s way in King’s End.
Fangorn sneezes again and draws him from his thoughts, and he continues to spread the water around before looking to Melita with a raised brow. “I think you’re right.” It would explain the way the pollen keeps trying to rise. “Can I hold Fangorn? Get him out of it and cleaned up just in case it is?” Hopefully the gourd wouldn’t try to bite him or mind the little quick shower he’d receive so that they can venture deeper to see if the poison seems to be hiding something of worth within.
the flood
// i'm the next, so get in line just let me have my fucking time //
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.
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
The whole Metacarpal Island thing sounds just like something that should exist on Caido – amidst all the other shitty places. She watched for any other sign, save for the wrinkle of his nose, and shrugged her shoulders.
As for Remi – well she hadn’t seen him in years either, save for in passing. She was half-inclined to maneuver her limbs again in that haphazard wake, but then opted to smack at a low hanging branch with her stick instead. The pollen scattered, snagged at the water, and dissipated entirely. Opting to alter some of the subject, her eyes went towards the horizon, struggling to see anything beyond the wild and incandescent plumes. “Have you been to many of the new lands?” Besides this one, of course.
Concern for Fangorn caused her brows to furrow, shifting downward, to gaze upon the gourd. He seemed all right, but if there was anything venomous within these parts, looming, he’d probably get the brunt of it. “Sure,” and she crouched to lightly lift the eerie lad, handing him over to the Flood. Presuming Fangorn could take very good care of himself if her uncle pissed him off, she kept her eyes on the companion, regardless, hoping something else wasn’t wrong.
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
// i came from a broken home, so look at all my broken bones count me in, but count me out, i know what this is about //
“There’s a new dreaming well in King’s End that I visited. Aside from that, I haven’t gone out much admittedly.” He offers her with a twist of a smile on his face, before he spreads the water around enough to keep the pollen down as he airs his question of Fangorn. Her agreement is met with a decent amount of relief from the Flood, pausing the water magic for the moment so he can reach for the gourd – taking him to cradle him into one arm, sparking more water in the air in front of him.
“I’m just going to rinse you off really quick.” He says to Fangorn, moving the water to rinse him of the pollen that sticks to him (more than likely the poison that sticks to him), before he nestles the gourd into his arm and uses his free hand to continue pushing the plants attempts to get them all sick, down. “Which new places have you been to? Aside from the bone island and here, of course. Have they all seemed… This, uh, threatening?” It’s not exactly the word he wants, but he can’t think of a better one.
the flood
// i'm the next, so get in line just let me have my fucking time //
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.
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
“Dreaming well,” she murmured in response, wondering if it was anything like a Torchline counterpart, with all its legends and the L’ma lurking underneath, biding its time and opportunity. Knowing Caido it’d either be something along those lines, or hiding a monster, barely contained within stone and marble. “Was it like the Miana Pool?”
Fangorn squirmed at the facets of water pouring over him, vines scrambling outwards as he grumbled, but Melita reached over to pat him through the streamlined portions. “It’s for your own good,” she whispered, checking at Sila over her shoulder to see if any of the pollen was sticking to her either. It didn’t appear to be, and the dragon wasn’t sneezing as the gourd had been – pondering it was simply because he’d been along the ground. “Not much, really. There’s some underwater stuff nearby, but I haven’t gone in it lately.” And she didn’t think those parts would be threatening – but given their encounters with ghost whales, that might’ve just been wishful thinking. “I did get to hit the Spire,” came along a Cheshire grin.
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
// i came from a broken home, so look at all my broken bones count me in, but count me out, i know what this is about //
“It wasn’t, actually.” His brows pinch as he thinks on it. “It looked like any other regular well. Stones and everything, just… You never hear it hit any bottom. Like it’s an endless drop.” One that he wonders belatedly if it’s possible to explore. His bat shift might be small enough to go down it and see if there’s a bottom to it, but there also might be something hidden within it. Or maybe, it would ruin the mystery surrounding it.
All of it’s hard to say.
And he’s luckily distracted enough by Fangorn’s squirming as he rinses him to huff a soft laugh. “We don’t want you getting sick, alright?” He tries to appease the gourd just as Melita had, before tucking him in at his side to continue pushing the pollen down, squinting through the branches and foliage around.
“Oh shit, recently?” He asks, turning his attention toward his niece with an approving – if not, shit-eating grin. He’s always hated the Spire, just as much as she has. “Was there a reason or was it all for fun?” Because he knows he’d take any chance he could to just strike out at it. No reasoning required.
the flood
// i'm the next, so get in line just let me have my fucking time //
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.
your dreams are all full of war you are from another time
Her brow arched, head turning quickly towards him at the description, not unlike a bird. “Weird,” she murmured, opting to imagine what the fuck caused all of that. “I bet there’s still a monster in it somewhere,” lurking – maybe at the center of Caido. Managing to laugh at the presumption, but still admit it was just as likely as the rest of the things on this earth, she shrugged her shoulders.
Fangorn being tucked under an elbow was a usual habit for him, but it didn’t mean the squirming ceased. Opting to tangle his vines around Sunjata’s arms for support, he rumbled and grumbled all the while, half-tempted to hiss out something not very nice.
The shit-eating grin to coincide with her uncle’s attention was eagerly reciprocated. “When the Ark was in the Grounds. We opted to hit some of the spiders there. The Spire just happened to be there too.” Off in the distance, a main source of ire and hatred and bloodshed for years. “And it was fun.” To watch some portions of it fall and crash to the ground – she’d only wished the whole thing had toppled over, a desecration and demolition. “Big chunk out of it now.” Maybe one day she could go back and finish it entirely.
salvation doesn't look like light So what remains?
// i came from a broken home, so look at all my broken bones count me in, but count me out, i know what this is about //
“That,” He starts to rumble with a snort, “is exactly why I haven’t investigated it yet.” Sunjata hums a softer laugh, scarred lips twisting in a smaller smile of half amusement and grimace given the fact that here in Caido, he’s started to get used to things having unknown monsters all around.
As Fangorn settles, Sunjata lets him wrap whatever vines around his arm he needs to feel like he wasn’t going to fall out of his arms. Sunjata certainly wasn’t going to drop him, but he keeps the gourd well situated in his arm all the same, despite his grumbling.
Talk of the Spire has his attention as he continues to spread water across the rising poison, though, looking to his niece with a crooked smirk. “Gods,” a laugh leaves him, brightening his face. “Maybe I have to go to the grounds now just to see.”
the flood
// i'm the next, so get in line just let me have my fucking time //
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.
