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!
Hissing out the equivalent of a very spiteful and filthy curse - mostly because Flora is absolutely right - Jack grabs the bottle back a little testily and takes a very generous swig. "Seen a lot of Governors," he mutters. "A lot of Queens and Kings, too. None of 'em last. Didn't feel like workin' for nothin' again." And apparently it has been a terrible idea, based on Torchline's current situation.
Wrinkling his nose at the mere prospect of the pirates they'd come across, he opens tired blue eyes properly now and lets his head loll to the side to look at Flora. "Maybe they all sailed away," he suggests with a raise of his eyebrows and a huff of laughter. "Maybe they know somethin' we fuckin' don't."
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Grinning like a kitten with cream still dripping off of her whiskers, the Doubletake chirps a sound of contentment in the back of her throat as Jack snipes the bottle away from her. "Maeve did. For a while, anyway." The Nightshade had outlasted the majority of them, as far as Flora could remember. For some reason that only seemed to reinforce Flora's idea that Torchline absolutely should be under female lead. "Sure, sure. But how long until it all goes too far? I want to do something Jack, I just..." Swallowing, the alcohol shoving the girl between being flirtatious and coy, and being too serious, Flora reaches to take the bottle back.
"Maybe they do." She agrees in a whisper, wondering what gave Jack the right to look so painfully attractive despite the blood drying on his hands and her couch. Maybe instead of doing something about Torchline, Jack could just be the thing she did, for that night anyways. Maybe in the morning she'd pack her bags and say to hell with Harper and Hadama for good.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
"For a while," Jack punctuates, letting the bottle slip between his fingers with relative ease, which says everything about the blood-to-whiskey ratio in his system. "Always for a while." Never for good. Sunjata had been the same, and Jack had arguably revealed more of his hand to the Flood than to any of Torchline's other leaders, for all the good it had done.
Her thoughts spike at him, breaking through his brewing pity party, and it's with a sudden reproachful glint in his blue eyes that he gazes across at the Doubletake. "Then do something, Flora," he says quietly. He doesn't know quite why the thought of her packing her bags and leaving riles him up so much - maybe that petty determination is starting to leak into his own mindset - but he's very keen to keep her on Torchline's beaches all of a sudden.
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
"Yeah, well." The girl doesn't have anything cute or witty to say in response. Jack was right, and Flora didn't think there was enough silver in the world to shape any words she might say to change it. Gods, she wanted it though.
Or...maybe what she wanted was Jack? She couldn't quite tell, but with his eyes so terribly blue, fixing her in place, her thoughts were growing confused. Jack and Torchline, Torchline and Jack. Maybe she could have them both?
Bold enough because of the alcohol and the history between them had grown quite long while she wasn't looking, Flora pushed herself away from the couch and settled onto Jack's lap just as surely as his cat occasionally did. Even though her aqua gaze was unsteady, she still fixed it on Jack; that she had to tangle a hand into his hair to keep herself steady on his lap was totally irrelevant. "I want it." She whispers, and though the way she coils herself against Jack suggests that what she wants is in his pants (and that isn't untrue), it's Torchline she's actually speaking of.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
If Flora is confused then Jack doesn't stand a chance, what with the bloodloss, the lingering migraine, the copious amounts of liquor. He's able, just about, to foresee what's about to happen before it does, and it gives him a chance to try and direct Flora away from leaning directly into the wound on his side. Regardless, its with her warmth draped against him and her fingers tangling in his hair that he finds himself gazing up at her.
"Even if you have to share it?" he wonders. Whether it's sharing it with Hadama, with Harper, with anyone else who might show up to be involved, however temporary it tended to be. (Or in the case of what's in his pants, sharing it with the world at large). "If you'd have won the vote, we'd never be in this mess."
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
11-05-2023, 09:47 PM (This post was last modified: 11-05-2023, 09:47 PM by Flora.)
flora
The question makes Flora pause, and for a moment all she can hear is the pounding of blood in her ears. Slowly, her lips curve into a smile and though the majority of the Doubletake's confidence is put on just for show, there is a quiet certainty that shimmers from her as she leans forward. "It's only ever for a little while. Isn't that what you said?"
She could share, if it was only for a little while.
"No," Flora agrees, reaching a hand between them in order to fumble between Jack's legs. (She was tipsy now too, and it was an awkward position, okay?) "-we wouldn't." Emboldened by her own bullshit as much as the whiskey, Flora chased her words with her lips, pressing them firmly against Jack's as the flat of her palm found a rhythm between his legs. Knowing what she did about the captain and how weirdly giving he was as a sexual partner, she pulled back enough to whisper instructions against the shell of his ear.
"I want you to tell me I could rule this place." She moans softly. "Tell me they should have picked me."
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
"Mm, that is what I said," Jack agrees, his smile growing a touch more crooked as her quiet confidence gives him something to hang onto. And given that he's had the sort of night where the world tries to swim away from him every time he closes his eyes, it's more than a little necessary.
Were it not for her hand snaking between his legs and awakening parts of his body that give zero fucks about the past few hours, he might have happily dozed off on her couch. But now the captain has a job to do, and apparently it's telling Flora what a good girl she is. Hissing in a breath that she promptly steals away with her lips, Jack's fingers skate across her body with a clumsiness that's uncharacteristic of the captain, but no less happy to oblige.
"You could more than rule this place," he murmurs between kisses against the side of her neck. "These islands would fuckin' worship you. And I think you know it."
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
"Of course I know it." Flora hisses, and if her next kiss has a bit more teeth than before, so be it. What's a little more bloodshed between friends.
What happens next isn't entirely elegant, but it hardly mattered. Able to free enough of Jack to be serviceable, and slinking out of her shorts, Flora settles herself back on top of him with a self-satisfied moan that isn't entirely genuine. Without much build-up to this moment, it's all a bit lack lustre, but sometimes the sex isn't just about the sex, you know? And even if you don't, conveniently Jack will.
That Jack had come to her—or her bar, anyway—for help, that he'd come back here, and that enough history had been made between the two for this moment to even happen, gave Flora more of a thrill than Jack's cock could currently compete with. Which, given that he'd been stabbed, was probably for the best anyway. "I could do so much better." She moans through ruddy cheeks, her lips parted over Jack's without actually kissing him.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
Feeling pleasure ignite up the back of his spine that has more to do with what's going on in Flora's head than in his pants, Jack growls a possessive note against her kiss and feels his fingers flinch against her hips. It's all hurried, rushed - lacklustre for some, passionate for others depending on how hard you want that itch scratched - and either way, as she settles atop him, he's more than content to let her take the lead on her own pleasure this time around.
"You could," he agrees, nipping against her lower lip and letting one hand snake around to tease at her breasts. "Better than any queen - you'd be Torchline's goddess." And a bit of sacrilege is just fine when Torchline's actual goddess isn't around to hear it, right?
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Perhaps someone just a touch more clever might wonder at how Jack, a man who seemed to care so little about others, someone always knew the right thing to say, but as those perfect words always came in moments like this, Flora was utterly overwhelmed by validation and daddy-issues to think too hard about it.
A goddess; he'd call her Torchline's goddes.
Pressing the swell of one breast into his palm, Flora's mind was suddenly filled with the sparkle of power, of revenge made sweet with triumph, of the crown she'd absolutely wear if she had half a chance; that she was currently fucking Jack on her couch was an ancillary pleasure.
"I want it," she moaned again, though this time the words were shaky with the first tugs of her orgasm as it prickled and licked at the soles of her feet. Reaching between them, Flora's fingers found her clit as her other hand tightened in Jack's hair. "I want it, I want it, I wan-"
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
He drowns in the kaleidoscope of her thoughts; pride, sweet and golden, underpinned by the dark violet of validation, of vengeance, of knowing she was worthy of being Torchline's darling. And as enticing as Flora finds it, as much as it tugs her towards orgasm, Jack is ferried along in her wake. His hands press and grasp and seek, his kisses come with teeth against her throat, and he groans a note of mounting pleasure that's swallowed up by her own demands.
You'll have it, he might have vowed. I'll bring it to you. In the chaos of these moments he might have even meant it, although - and Flora might well agree, given the situation - he might forget it just as quickly. Either way, as the Doubletake hitches them both over the precipice and into white static and ecstasy, Jack might very well agree that she's a goddess.
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Her orgasm yawns lazily up the back of her thighs, spreading like a late-blooming flower whose petals fold beneath the first strong breeze. Normally the girl would be annoyed at having rushed too quickly without letting it build up, but actually, she felt even more fulfilled for the thoughts this impromptu fuck had awoken in her. They were the sort of thing that Safrin might strike her down for—or curse her to look old and ugly for a time, as she'd once done to Bastien—but as the goddess wasn't here, Flora was free to think all the ludicrous thoughts she wanted. Thoughts like, had Safrin started out as a mortal, would she have been like me? is this what it feels like, to take the first step toward real power?
Only the uncomfortable twang caused by post-orgasm oversensitivity has Flora blinking back into the moment, not having realized that she'd been whispering these thoughts into the side of Jack's neck. Sobered somewhat for having fucked the captain, it was with a coquettish little smile that the Doubletake slipped herself off of Jack's lap. Tossing him a blanket to either clean up or cover himself with, Flora tugged down her skirt and leaned back against the couch once more. Determination sparkled brightly in her eyes, as she reached for the discarded bottle of whiskey.
"Thanks, Jack." She murmured, not meaning the sex.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
The oversensitivity for the captain is all mental rather than physical, Jack slouched against the couch and its messy cushions, his side bleeding lazily once again from the overexertion - though not nearly as badly as before, granted. He's been drifting in some ethereal sea, his head lolling against Flora's shoulder when she extracts herself, leaving him lost for a second.
"Always a pleasure," he mutters with a weary, lopsided smile, ending up swatting at the blanket rather than actually managing to catch it. Either way, as Flora settles against the couch, the captain shifts to lay down, and her lap is a very convenient place for him to lay his head. Don't mind if he does, Flora.
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
Surprised at first by the captain's cuddliness? Flora's expression quickly contorts to one of dark joy. Sure, Jack's posture probably had more to do with blood loss, dehydration, and sexual satisfaction, but the Doubletake chose to believe instead it was something a good deal more intimate. Like some unspoken agreement passed between the two and now cemented by Jack's head in her lap.
Spreading her fingers through his hair, careful to avoid the blood clots, Flora massaged his head around the temples the way she had so often done to Enzo when he couldn't sleep. Looking down into the black swirls of Jack's hair, the Doubletake imagined the days to come, and the things she might do.
The things she would do.
i scream for whatever it's worth "i love you" ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?
